Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:48:37.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE EFFECT OF THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING ON THE USE OF COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES BY LEARNERS OF SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2004

Barbara A. Lafford
Barbara A. Lafford
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of the context of learning—“at home” (AH) classroom versus study abroad (SA)—on the number and types of communication strategies (CSs) used by learners of Spanish as a second language. Oral data from 46 learners—20 AH and 26 SA—were analyzed before and after the treatment period, to discern the effect of various factors on the learners' levels and choice of CS usage: type of CS category (L1 or L2 based, direct or interactional, and problem-orientedness [resource deficit, other performance, and self-performance]) and measures of language use. Posttest results showed a significant effect for context for CS categories and language use: Students in the SA context consistently used fewer CSs than their classroom counterparts, and their CS use correlated negatively with higher use of Spanish outside the classroom and with the host family. It is posited that the pragmatic exigencies of the AH and SA contexts may account for these findings.This research would not have been possible without the support of the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which sponsored this team project, headed by Barbara F. Freed and Norman Segalowitz, to study the effects of the SA experience on L2 learners. I am very grateful to the members of the CIEE project team: Joe Collentine, Barbara Freed, Norman Segalowitz, and Manuel Díaz-Campos, for their insightful commentary on earlier versions of this work. Special appreciation also goes to Nicole Lazar for her expert assistance with the methodology and data analysis sections of this paper. My sincere appreciation also goes to Julie Sykes, Rosalind Freeman, and Sharma Martineau, graduate students in Spanish SLA and applied linguistics at Arizona State University, for their assistance with the partial transcription and the coding of the CS data.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 201 - 225
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Batstone, R. (2002). Contexts of engagement: A discourse perspective on “intake” and “pushed output.” System, 30, 1–14.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1983). Some factors in the selection and implementation of communication strategies. In C. Faerch & G. Kasper (Eds.), Strategies in interlanguage communication (pp. 100–118). London: Longman.
Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Brecht, R., Davidson, D., & Ginsberg, R. (1995). Predictors of foreign language gain during study abroad. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 37–66). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Brecht, R., & Robinson, J. (1995). On the value of formal instruction in study abroad: Student reactions in context. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 317–334). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Carroll, J. B. (1967). Foreign language proficiency levels attained by language majors near graduation from college. Foreign Language Annals, 1, 131–151.Google Scholar
Corder, S. P. (1983). Strategies of communication. In C. Faerch & G. Kasper (Eds.), Strategies in interlanguage communication (pp. 15–19). London: Longman.
DeKeyser, R. M. (1986). From learning to acquisition? Foreign language development in a U.S. classroom and during a semester abroad. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, CA.
DeKeyser, R. M. (1990). From learning to acquisition? Monitoring in the classroom and abroad. Hispania, 73, 238–247.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (1991). Foreign language development during a semester abroad. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Foreign language acquisition research and the classroom (pp. 104–119). Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
Dewey, D. (2002). The effects of study context and environment on the acquisition of reading by students of Japanese as a second language during study-abroad and intensive domestic immersion. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Dörnyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication strategies in a second language: Definitions and taxonomies. Language Learning, 47, 173–210.Google Scholar
Freed, B. F. (1995). What makes us think that students who study abroad become fluent? In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 123–148). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Freed, B. F. (1998). An overview of issues and research in language learning in a study abroad setting. Frontiers, 4, 31–60.Google Scholar
Freed, B. F., Segalowitz, N., & Dewey, D. (2001, November). Comparing L2 learning in study abroad, intensive immersion, regular classroom contexts. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Washington, DC.
Gass, S. (1997). Input, interaction, and the second language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
Golonka, E. (2000). Identification of salient linguistic and metalinguistic variables in the prediction of oral proficiency gain at the advanced level threshold among adult learners of Russian. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Bryn Mawr College, PA.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics 3: Speech acts (pp. 41–58). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Guntermann, G. (1995). The Peace Corps experience: Language learning in training and in the field. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 149–169). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Hoffman-Hicks, S. (1999). The longitudinal development of French foreign language pragmatic competence: Evidence from study abroad participants. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Huebner, T. (1995). The effects of overseas language programs: Report on a case study of an intensive Japanese course. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 171–193). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Huebner, T. (1998). Methodological considerations in data collection for language learning in a study abroad context. Frontiers, 4, 1–30.Google Scholar
Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Johnson, M. (2001). The art of nonconversation: A re-examination of the validity of the oral proficiency interview. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
LaBarca, A., & Khanji, R. (1986). On communication strategies: Focus on interaction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 8, 68–79.Google Scholar
Lafford, B. A. (1995). Getting into, through, and out of a survival situation: A comparison of communicative strategies used by students studying Spanish abroad and “at home.” In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 97–121). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Lapkin, S., Hart, D., & Swain, M. (1995). A Canadian interprovincial exchange: Evaluating the linguistic impact of a three-month stay in Quebec. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 67–94). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Liskin-Gasparro, J. (1996). Circumlocution, communication strategies, and the ACTFL proficiency guidelines: An analysis of student discourse. Foreign Language Annals, 29, 317–330.Google Scholar
Marriot, H. (1995). Acquisition of politeness patterns by exchange students in Japan. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 197–224). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Miller, L., & Ginsberg, R. (1995). Folklinguistic theories of language learning. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 293–316). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Ortega, L. (1999). Planning and focus on form in L2 performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 109–148.Google Scholar
Paribakht, T. (1985). Strategic competence and language proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 6, 132–146.Google Scholar
Pellegrino, V. A. (1998). Student perspectives on language learning in a study abroad context. Frontiers, 4, 91–120.Google Scholar
Pica, T. (1994). Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes, and outcomes? Language Learning, 44, 493–527.Google Scholar
Polanyi, L. (1995). Language learning and living abroad: Stories from the field. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 271–292). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Poulisse, N., & Schils, E. (1989). The influence of task-and proficiency-related factors on the use of communication strategies: A quantitative analysis. Language Learning, 39, 15–48.Google Scholar
Regan, V. (1995). The acquisition of sociolinguistic native speech norms: Effects of a year abroad on second language learners of French. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 245–267). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Regan, V. (1998). Sociolinguistics and language learning in a study abroad context. Frontiers, 4, 61–120.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, S. (2001). The perception of requests in Spanish by instructed learners of Spanish in the second- and foreign-language contexts: A longitudinal study of acquisition patterns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Ross, R. (1975). Ellipsis and the structure of expectation. San Jose State Occasional Papers in Linguistics, 1, 183–191.Google Scholar
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. IRAL, 10, 209–230.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M. (1979). Strategies, language transfer, and the simulation of the second language learner's mental operations. Language Learning, 29, 345–361.Google Scholar
Siegal, M. (1995). Individual differences and study abroad: Women learning Japanese in Japan. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 225–244). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371–391.Google Scholar
Tannen, D. (1993). Framing in discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tarone, E. (1977). Conscious communication strategies in interlanguage: A progress report. In H. D. Brown, C. A. Yorio, & R. C. Crymes (Eds.), On TESOL '77 (pp. 194–203). Washington, DC: TESOL.
Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talk, and repair in interlanguage. Language Learning, 30, 417–431.Google Scholar
Widdowson, H. G. (1984). Explorations in applied linguistics 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wilkinson, S. (1998). On the nature of immersion during study abroad: Some participant perspectives. Frontiers, 4, 121–138.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, S. (2002). The omnipresent classroom during summer study abroad: American students in conversation with their French hosts. Modern Language Journal, 86, 157–173.Google Scholar