The effects of motivation on processing instruction in the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement
Issue: Vol 2 No. 1 (2018)
Journal: Instructed Second Language Acquisition
Subject Areas:
DOI: 10.1558/isla.34879
Abstract:
The present study investigates the effects of motivation and processing instruction on the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement. The role of individual differences (e.g., age, gender, aptitude, language background and working memory) on the positive effects generated by processing instruction has been investigated in the last few years. However, no previous research has been conducted measuring the possible effects of motivation on L2 learners exposed to processing instruction. In addition, a reasonable question to be addressed within the processing instruction research framework is whether its positive effects can be generalized to the acquistion of Modern Standard Arabic. In this experimental study, forty-one native English school-age learners were assigned to two groups: ‘the high motivated group’ (n=29): and the ‘low motivated group’ (n=12). The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and the Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) motivation questionnaires were used to capture different variables that influence motivation in order to create the two different groups (high and low motivated). Both groups received processing instruction which lasted for three hours. Interpretation and production sentence level-tasks were used in a pre-test and post-test design to measure instructional effects. The study also included a delayed post-test administered to the two groups four weeks later. The results indicated that both groups improved equally from pre-tests to post-tests in all assessment measures and they both retained the positive effects of the training in the delayed post-tests. Processing instruction was proved to be the main factor for the improvement in performance no matter the learner’s level of motivation.
Author: Ayah Farhat, Alessandro Benati
References :
Abbasian, G. and Minagar, N. (2012) PI-based vs. DG-oriented instruction in developing grammar ability and motivation of EFL learners. Ebook 8: 121–7.
Abdullah, M., Roslan, S., Chong, M. and Haji, B. (2014) The relationship between motivation and achievement toward studying Arabic grammar in Malaysia. Proceeding of the International Conference on Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilization iCasic 2014. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Angelovska, T. and Benati, A. (2013) Processing instruction and the age factor: can adults and school-age native speakers of German process English simple past tense correctly? In A. Benati and J. Lee (eds) Individual Differences and Processing Instruction 131–53. London: Equinox.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2007) One functional approach to SLA: the concept-oriented approach. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams (eds) Theories in Second Language Acquisition 57–75. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Benati, A. (2005) The effects of PI, TI and MOI in the acquisition of English simple past tense. Language Teaching Research 9: 67–113. https://doi.org/10.1191/1362168805lr154oa
Benati, A. and Angelovska, T. (2015) The effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of English simple past tense: age and cognitive task demands. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 53: 249–69. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0012
Benati, A. and Batziou, M. (2017) The effects of structured-input and structured-output on the acquisition of English causative. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, September issue.
Benati, A. and Lee, J. (eds) (2015) Processing instruction: new insights after twenty years of theory, research and application. International Review of Applied Linguistics (Special issue) 53(2).
Benati, A. and Lee, J. with McNulty, E. (2010) Chapter 4: Exploring the effects of processing instruction on a discourse-level guided composition with the Spanish subjunctive after the adverb cuando. In A. Benati and J. F. Lee (eds) Processing Instruction and Discourse 97–147. London: Continuum.
Cook, V. (2001) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching (3rd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cox, J. and Sanz, C. (2015) Deconstructing PI for the ages: explicit instruction vs. practice in young and older adult bilinguals. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistic 53: 225–48. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0011
Dörnyei, Z. (2000) Motivation in action: towards a process-oriented conceptualisation of student motivation. British Journal of Educational Psychology 70: 519–38. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709900158281
Dörnyei, Z. (2001) New themes and approaches in L2 motivation research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21: 43–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190501000034
Farley A. (2005) Structured Input: Grammar Instruction for the Acquisition-oriented Classroom. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Gardner, R. C. (2010) Motivation and Second Language Acquisition: The Socio-Educational Model. New York: Peter Long Publishing.
Hall, G. (2011) Exploring English Language Teaching Language in Action. London: Routledge.
Lee, J. and Benati, A. (2009) Research and Perspectives on Processing Instruction. New York, Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110215335
Lee, J. G. and VanPatten, B. (1995) Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Marsden, E. (2006) Exploring input processing in the classroom: an experimental comparison of processing instruction and enriched input. Language Learning 56: 507–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2006.00375.x
Mavrontoni, M. and Benati, A. (2013) The effects of processing instruction and traditional instruction on two different school-age learners: the case of English present simple tense, third person singular. In J. Lee and A. Benati (eds) Individual Differences and Processing Instruction 185–210. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
Noels, K. A., Pelletier, L. G. and Vallerand, R. J. (2000) Why are you learning a second language? Motivational orientations and self-determination theory. Language Learning 50: 57–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00111
Robinson, P. (2001) Cognition and Second Language Instruction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524780
Takahashi, S. (2000) Transfer in interlanguage pragmatics: new research agenda. Studies in Languages and Cultures 11: 109–28.
Tashakori, H. (2013) The relationship between motivation and the language learning strategies in foreign language learning: a cognitive perspective. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods 3: 37–47.
VanPatten, B (1996) Input Processing and Grammar Instruction. Theory and Research. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
VanPatten, B. (2002) Processing instruction: an update. Language Learning 52: 755–803. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00203
VanPatten, B. (2004) Input processing in SLA. In B. VanPatten (ed.) Processing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary 5-31. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
VanPatten, B. (2007) Input processing in adult second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams (eds) Theories in Second Language Acquisition 115–35. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
VanPatten, B. (2015) Input processing in adult SLA. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams (eds) Theories in Second Language Acquisition 113–34. New York: Routledge.
VanPatten, B. and Borst, S. (2012a) The roles of explicit information and grammatical sensitivity in processing instruction: nominative–accusative case marking and word order in German L2. Foreign Language Annals 45: 92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2012.01169.x
VanPatten, B. and Borst, S. (2012b) The roles of explicit information and grammatical sensitivity in the processing of clitic direct object pronouns and word order in Spanish L2. Hispania 95: 270.
VanPatten, B. and Cadierno, T. (1993) Explicit instruction and input processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 15: 225–43. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100011979
VanPatten, B. and Oikennon. S. (1996) Explanation vs. structured input in processing instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18: 495–510. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100015394
VanPatten, B. and Wong, W. (2004) Processing instruction and the French causative: another replication. In B. VanPatten (ed.) Processing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary 97–118. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
VanPatten, B., Collopy, E., Price, J., Borst, S. and Qualin, A. (2013) Explicit information, grammatical sensitivity, and the first-noun principle: a cross-linguistic study in processing instruction. Modern Language Journal 97: 504–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12007.x
White, J. P. (2015) The primary and secondary effects of input-based instruction on the acquisition of the Spanish accusative clitic pronouns. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 53: 151–79. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0008