Repetition in Foreign Language Classroom Interaction - 2000

Social Semiotics, 2018

Since behaviorism fell out of favor as one of the prominent learning theories, language education has done away with using repetition of linguistic forms as one of the important strategies used in second-language classrooms. As a new direction in educational philosophy and theory, edusemiotics can offer a new perspective about the use of repetition in learning a new language. When language forms are treated as signs and not as substances, as in edusemiotics, linguistic particles can never be truly repeated, but each instance of a repetition of a language particle and structure disambiguates the meaning of a form in a different context. This paper argues that the repetition of language forms at the lexical, syntactical, phonetic, and discursive levels aids language learners to intuit meaning and function in the new language. Further, it is discussed that repetition of language forms prompts language learners to look for similarity in patterns between linguistic structures rather than surface-level similarity of forms of language. Finally, the use of linguistic repetition is examined for its affective and poetic bearing, as an important aspect of the acquisition of language.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2004

The development of conversational abilities in the second language depends upon the appropriation of both cognitive and communicative skills, in addition to overall linguistic improvement. In terms of needed skills, speaking is often considered at the expense of listening, which has long been thought of as a passive exercise. However, listening and speaking must be developed together as active discursive practice, that is, in the same way in which they are used in conversation. The focus of the present project is to investigate whether or not students can be taught to use a specific linguistic tool, a feature of private speech known as repetition, as a cognitive and communicative resource in order to facilitate their interactions with other learners. Analysis of students’ production in several different classroom tasks suggests that learners are able to use repetition for a number of communicative and cognitive functions, in response to instruction and extended practice.

Second language researchers have investigated into how aspects of learner language are affected by particular tasks under particular conditions. However, most of the previous studies were limited in the sense that they only looked at one snapshot of a learner's performance. This study attempts to gain insights into second language development that may have resulted from task-based learning over an extended period of time. Changes in the productive skills of one learner are reported that were brought about by repetitive use of the narration task over three weeks in a classroom environment. The learner gained in accuracy and certain aspects of fluency not only in the familiar narrative task but also in his impromptu speech, though his language did not become more complex. When these results were compared with the performance in the same narration and speech tasks by another learner who had repeated decision-making tasks, several interesting contrasts were identified. The results may suggest that there are aspects of learner language that are upgraded by the repetition of specific types of tasks. Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has been the center of attention in second language (L2) pedagogy as a methodological innovation, and also as a target of research among L2 researchers. 1 In its essence, a task is a classroom activity that requires learners to use a second language in a meaningful context in order to attain a (nonlinguistic) goal, during which the learners are supposed to be involved in the same cognitive processes as in natural language use (cf., Ellis, 2003). TBLT is expected to provide the learners with a rich "holistic second-language experience" (Willis, 1996, p. 135) in the sense that they are provided with opportunities to be exposed to as well as to produce the target language, and also have opportunities for grammatical consciousness-raising as a post-task activity in many TBLT options. Part of the recent academic interest in task-based instruction may have grown, as Ellis (2003) points out, out of the expectation that the task is the "shared construct" (p. 34) on which the interests of L2 researchers and practitioners meet. This is noteworthy especially when we look back on the history of disconnection between L2 research and L2 teaching practices. The ultimate goal of the joint endeavor of practitioners and researchers who are interested in tasks and task-related learning/teaching should be to design a task-based syllabus in which tasks are sequenced according to their difficulty, complexity, and expected developmental gains. In order for this goal to be attained, information has to be obtained as to what type of task has what effect and how the conditions for task implementation affect the process. Previous task-related research may be categorized into two broad types. 2 One is the study of interaction among learners, or between learners and the instructor, when they are engaged in a particular type of task. Most of the studies in this tradition are heavily influenced by Long's Interaction Hypothesis (e.g., Long, 1981, 1996), and have been carried out with the assumption that input of good quality and/or corrective

Discourse Studies, 2004

System, 2018

Teacher repetition in SLA has been considered to be a vital language input that assists language comprehension and acquisition and therefore, their linguistic or functional patterns have been of analytic interest. Teacher repetition is, however, also important for its pedagogical role in leading nonnative students through English lessons. In this study, the analytic emphasis is placed on specifying teaching actions associated with repeated language use and its effect on L2 classroom interaction. Following conversation analysis (CA), the present study examined English lessons in two Korean kindergartens in which a native teacher of English interacted with nonnative children with minimum English proficiency. The sequential analyses of the class sessions identified three distinctive pedagogical actions arising from teacher repetition: eliciting synchronized English responses from the student cohort; having students recognize and practice a target language item; and pursuing particular answers. These findings provide procedural accounts of practical routines through which language teachers organize children's participation and guide them through the English lessons. From the descriptions presented in this study, researchers and practitioners can make informed judgments about what pedagogical actions are performed and what challenges are faced in teacher repetition for young learners of English.

Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos, 20 (2014)

divided into three main sections: "Interactions in L2 classrooms", "Interactions involving technology" and "Interactions in other educational settings". In the preface the editors explain that the book collect empirical research studies that analyze the topic of interaction in a wide range of educational settings. All these settings are of an authentic educational nature (classroom, conversation group, etc.) and not only established for research purposes. By doing that, the editors wanted to include contributions where at least one aspect of the research (context, design, etc.) was not typical of the interaction scene what made them, somehow, unique in the interaction field to date.

Language, 2002

2011

He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland, and Japan. His interests are language teaching methodology and vocabulary learning. His latest book is Learning Vocabulary in Another Language published by Cambridge University Press (2001) and there is a book on vocabulary teaching likely to appear in 2007 from Thomson publishers. David Beglar is a member of the faculty at Temple University, Japan. His primary research interests are vocabulary instruction and language assessment.

The aim of this paper is to look at foreign language (FL) classroom talk as a special type of interaction (Seedhouse 1996; Cullen 1998), which has two complementary modes: the natural and the pedagogical (Stern 1983; Kramsch 1985; Gil 1999). The reason for adopting such a perspective is that it seems to create a bridge between theory-driven investigations of classroom interaction and actual pedagogical practice in the foreign language classroom