20.1921, Diss: Applied Linguistics: Hondo: 'Constructing Knowledge in SLA...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-20-1921. Wed May 20 2009. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 20.1921, Diss: Applied Linguistics: Hondo: 'Constructing Knowledge in SLA...'

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1)
Date: 20-May-2009
From: Junko Hondo < hondoj at sas.upenn.edu >
Subject: Constructing Knowledge in SLA: The impact of timing in form-oriented intervention
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 10:15:27
From: Junko Hondo [hondoj at sas.upenn.edu]
Subject: Constructing Knowledge in SLA: The impact of timing in form-oriented intervention

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Institution: Lancaster University 
Program: Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2009 

Author: Junko Hondo

Dissertation Title: Constructing Knowledge in SLA: The impact of timing in
form-oriented intervention 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Keith Johnson
Charles Alderson

Dissertation Abstract:

In an effort to identify an optimal timing for form-oriented treatment,
this dissertation reports on the impact of different timings of
form-focused intervention. Applying the theories of attentional control
(Cowan, et al., 2005; LaBerge, 1995), the study further attempts to shed
light on the role of preparatory attentional control at the initial stage
of form-encoding.

A reading task served as a framework for exploring different timings of
treatment with 58 EFL students in Japan. The informants were classified
into three groups: one group receiving explicit treatment before the task,
another during, and a control group receiving no treatment. Participants
took pretests and posttests immediately before and after the task in a
single class session. These tests examined comprehension of two epistemic
meanings of 'must' in two individual forms. Working with these
task-essential forms, each informant recorded real-time reflections
reporting rationales for their selections from different form options in
the task. The participants' rationales revealed that contextualized
reflections are strongly associated with higher accuracy levels in choosing
between alternate forms. Decontextualized rationales were associated with
incorrect selections of forms at a high level of probability. Group
difference was highly significant for one form and significant for the
other form in the order of Control < Pre-emptive < Delayed group. Effect
sizes were large (e.g. 2.00) for the delayed group which outperformed the
pre-emptive group. The pattern of the results replicated three prior
studies with 286 participants.

The overall results present a promising role for delayed treatment reactive
to raised preparatory attention. The outcome further confirms that it is
through making connections between form and meaning within current language
use that learners become successful in language comprehension.
 




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