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WORLD LANGUAGES EXPERIENCE Southern California HEINLE Cengage Learning Making Form-Meaning Connections in Foreign Language Classrooms: Structured Input as Grammar Instruction Friday, April 1, 2011 Prof.Wynne Wong The Ohio State University. Form. Meaning. Aller – to go Je vais Tu vas
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WORLD LANGUAGES EXPERIENCE Southern California HEINLE Cengage Learning Making Form-Meaning Connections in Foreign Language Classrooms: Structured Input as Grammar Instruction Friday, April 1, 2011 Prof.Wynne Wong The Ohio State University Form Meaning
Aller – to go Je vais Tu vas Il/Elle/On va Nous allons Vous allez Ils/Elles vont
Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Répétez…
Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir. Je vais au dortoir.
Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir. Tu vas au dortoir.
Il va au dortoir.
Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir. Il va au dortoir.
Elle va au dortoir.
Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir. Elle va au dortoir.
Excuse me teacher! Can we learn the word for restaurant? It’s a little boring to always go to the residence hall.
WORLD LANGUAGES EXPERIENCE Southern California HEINLE Cengage Learning Making Form-Meaning Connections in Foreign Language Classrooms: Structured Input as Grammar Instruction Friday, April 1, 2011 Prof.Wynne Wong The Ohio State University Form Meaning
Two essential ingredients of successful second language acquisition: INPUT Interaction 1. Input 2. Opportunities to engage in interaction
Today’s Talk Focus on INPUT
What is input? Anything in the target language that communicates some kind of message.
Input in an L2 Learning Context • “Please open your books to pg.8” • “Please get into groups of three” • Ads • Radio • Newspapers/magazines • TV • Films/Videos
“The concept of input is perhaps the single most important concept of second language acquisition. It is trivial to point out that no individual can learn a second language without input of some sort” (Gass, 1997, p. 1). INPUT
Why is input so crucial? Input provides the linguistic data that a developing linguistic system needs in order to start the process of language acquisition.
All SLA researchers agree… Acquisition begins with input! Input is as important to acquisition as food is to the human body! INPUT Acquisition cannot happen without it!
Unfortunately, not all the input that learners are exposed to is usable for acquisition. Input Input Input Input Input Input
How does input become usable for acquisition? • By making form-meaning connections from input as learners attempt to comprehend messages (VanPatten, 1996, 2003)
Form-Meaning Connection A form-meaning connection is the relationship between referential meaning and the way it is encoded linguistically. Form Meaning
“I talked to my professor.” (past tense)
Sylvie regardera un film. (future)
= INTAKE Form-Meaning Connections = Intake
Model of Second Language Acquisition Acquisition is dependent on input not output. Richer form-meaning connections = better output! DEV. LING. SYSTEM OUTPUT INTAKE FORM-MEANING CONNECTIONS INPUT (VanPatten, 1996, 2003)
How can we help our students make effective form-meaning connections? Form Meaning
One way… Structured Input Activities
What are Structured Input (SI) activities? SI activities are based on information about how learners tend to make form-meaning connections on their own (which may be ineffective). Based on this information, activities are designed to push learners away from incorrect or non-optimal processing strategies towards more optimal ones.
VanPatten’s Model of Input Processing provides a set of principles to explain: • (1) what learners attend to in the input and why • (2) what strategies direct how they make form-meaning connections and • (3) why they make some form-meaning connections before others
Principle 1 (P1). The Primacy of Meaning Principle. Learners process input for meaning before they process it for form Principle 2 (P2). The First Noun Principle. Learners tend to process the first noun or pronoun they encounter in a sentence as the subject or agent.
Let’s focus on P1 • Consider the following sentence: • Last night Ann watched TV. • Temporal reference is encoded in two ways… • “last night” • The morphological form –ed • According to P1, if learners wanted to determine the temporal reference of this sentence, which element in that sentence would they pay attention to first? Answer: “last night”
An important construct for understanding P1 is the idea of communicative value • CV refers to the meaning that a form contributes to overall meaning in a piece of input. • Forms that are redundant (i.e., information carried in the form is also expressed elsewhere in the utterance) tend to have a lower CV. • Forms that are not redundant tend to have a higher CV.
Is the –ed in the sentence redundant? Last night Ann watched TV Yes. The ed encodes the meaning of pastness and the idea of pastness is already expressed by the content words “last night”.
What just happened? Anne watched TV. We just made the communicative value of ed higher because learners can no longer rely on “last night” to get the temporal reference of this sentence. They have to rely on ed for this information. We just structured the input so that the ed is no longer redundant and takes on a higher communicative value.
Activity Identifying Processing Problems
Activity: Identifying Processing Problems I watched television for three hours yesterday. [Learners do not notice the ed on the verb “watch”] I purchased several magazines while I was abroad. [Learners miss the s on the end of “magazines”] Professor Lee wants us to turn in our homework before the end of class. [Learners do not notice the s on the end of the verb “wants”] John was kissed by Mary in front of the gas station. [Learners think John was the one who kissed Mary] Je doute que Pierre soit intellient.(I doubt that Pierre is intelligent) [Learners do not notice the subjunctive verb form “soit”] Antonella abita in una casa bianca. (Antonella lives in a white house) [Learners do not notice the –a on the end of the adjective “bianca”]
Target form:simple past tense in English The problem: P1. Learners will pay more attention to the content words to get temporal reference and consequently, may miss the past tense form, -ed. The activities: We need to structure the input so that learners must pay attention to the form instead of the temporal adverbs to get the meaning of pastness.
You will hear sentences that describe activities that Claude did yesterday or activities that he will do tomorrow. Listen carefully to the verbs in order to determine whether the action happened yesterday or will happen tomorrow. Claude.... 1. a. yesterday b. tomorrow 2. a. yesterday b. tomorrow 3. a. yesterday b. tomorrow 4. a. yesterday b. tomorrow 5. a. yesterday b. tomorrow 6. a. yesterday b. tomorrow Teacher’s Script: Claude... ...talked to his mother. ...walked his dog in the park. ...will call his aunt Freida. ...fixed himself a sandwich for dinner. ...will cook a nice meal for his friends. ...will repair the dishwasher.
2 Types of SI Activities • (1) Referential: Require learners to pay attention to form in order to get meaning (have right or wrong answers) • (2) Affective: Do not have right or wrong answers. They require learners to express an opinion, belief or some other affective response as they are engaged in processing info about the real world.
Affective Activity Read the following activities and check off the ones that you did last night. Last night I ... ...watched TV. ...fixed myself a cocktail. ...cleaned up my room. ...invited friends over for dinner. ...played tennis. ...worked out at the gym. ...washed my hair. ...stayed up late. …shopped at Bloomingdale’s. …dressed up my dog. Now share your responses with a classmate. Did you do the same things last night?
Target Structure: passato prossimo (simple past tense) in Italian Referential Activity A. Hieri o oggi? You will hear sentences describing some things that Pietro did yesterday and some things that he is doing today. Listen carefully to the sentences and identify whether the sentence you hear is referring to something Pietro did yesterday (ieri) or is doing today (oggi). Circle the correct response. Teacher’s Script: Read the sentences once. Ask for an answer after each sentence. After reading all the sentences, ask the students if Pietro was a good boy yesterday or not. • 1) Ieri Oggi • 2) Ieri Oggi • 3) Ieri Oggi • 4) Ieri Oggi • 5) Ieri Oggi • Ieri Oggi • Ieri Oggi • Ieri Oggi 1. Pulisce la casa (cleans house). 2. Ha data un cioccolatino al cane (gave chocolate to the dog). 3. Ha copiato il compito di matematica (copied the math homework) 4. Lavora per cinque ore (works for five hours). 5. Compra una pizza per i suoi amici (buys a pizza for his friends). 6. Ha ditto una bugia (told a lie). 7. Legge un libro (reads a book). 8. Ha dipino il gatto (painted the cat).
Affective Activity: Activity B. Instant Messenger. You are on Instant Messenger with your mother and she asks you the usual questions to find out what you did yesterday. Below is a list of her customary questions. Simply write her an IM back for each question responding by yes (sì) or no based on what you actually did yesterday. la vostro madre: Hai fatto colazione (Did you have breakfast)? voi: __________ la vostro madre: Hai bevuto un cappuccino (Did you drink a capuccino)? voi: _____________ la vostro madre: Hai letto il giornale (Did you read the paper)? voi: _____________ la vostro madre: Hai mangiato da McDonald’s (Did you eat at McD’s)? voi: _____________ la vostro madre: Hai guardato la TV (Did you watch TV)? voi: ____________ Compare your answers with a classmate. Whose mother would be prouder?
Referential Activity – French Bill Clinton: Before and After A recent French newspaper article discussed Bill Clinton’s presidency and his retirement from the White House. Decide whether each excerpt taken from the article refers to Bill Clinton’s life during or after his presidency. Pendant sa Aujourd’hui, présidence Bill Clinton… _______ ______ 1. a assisté aux réunions importantes. (attended important meetings) _______ ______ 2. rencontre des gens importants. (meets important people) _______ ______ 3. parle avec conviction. (speaks with conviction) _______ ______ 4. a voyagé en Europe. (traveled in Europe) _______ ______ 5. a passé ses vacances avec sa famille. (spent vacation with his family) _______ ______ 6. joue du saxophone pour sa famille.(plays the sax for his family) ______ ______ 7. a mangé beaucoup de Big Macs. * (ate a lot of Big Macs) * Bad item – why? X X X X X X X