A Pilot Study on Task Frequency Effects of Input—Output Cycles on EFL Learners’ Oral Proficiency

Abstraction：Thispapergivesareportofthefindingsofapilotstudyontaskfrequencyeffectsofinput-outputcyclesonEFLlearners'oralproficiency.Theresultsshowedthattheexperimentalgroupmadegreaterprogressincomplexityandaccuracythancontrolgroups.Wemaycometotheconclusionthatcircularinput-outbenefitslearnersmost.Thestudymaygivesomeinsightsforforeignlanguageteacherstogivesecondlanguagelearnersappropriatetasksinlisteningandspeakingclasses.

Keywords：taskfrequencyinput-outputcyclesoralproficiency

1.Introduction

AccordingtoEllis’opinion，learners’acquisitionofasecondlanguage（L2）dependsontheirexperienceofthislanguageandonwhattheycanmakeofit（Ellis2009）.Thelearners’experience（taskfrequency）playsaroleinlanguagelearning（HarrintonandDennis2002）.Thisstudyusedthemicrogeneticanalysismethodandexperimentalmethodtoexplorethetaskfrequencyeffectsofinput-outputcyclesonthesecondlanguagelearners'oralproficiencythroughstoryretelling.Previousstudiesusuallyinvestigatedinputfrequencyoroutputfrequencyseparatelybasedoninputhypothesis，outputhypothesisorusage-basedmodelwithexperimentalmethodsorcorpus-basedmethods（Ellis2002；EllisCollins2009；EllisFerreira-junior2009；Rohde2009；Rott2007；DuyckandVanderelistetal.2008；Toth2006）.Thosestudiesprovedthatinputfrequencyandoutputfrequencyplayeddifferentrolesinthecreationofthelearners'linguisticsystem.However，thosestudiesdidn'treflectwhatsecondlanguagelearnersreallydoinnaturallearningsituation.Untilnow，thereareonlyafewstudiesthathavedoneonthecombinedeffectsofinputandoutput（e.g.Rott，WilliamsandCameron2002；Gu，2005；Erlam，2003）.Thisstudymaydeepenourunderstandingofthelearningprocessinwhichinputfrequencyandoutputfrequencyarebothintegrativeparts，ratherthanseparateones.Itmayalsoprovidesomeevidenceforinputhypothesis，outputhypothesis，connectionism，constructiongrammarandsocioculturaltheory（SCT）.Thestudymaygivesomeinsightsforforeignlanguageteacherstogivesecondlanguagelearnersappropriatetasksinlisteningandspeakingclasses.

2.LiteratureReview

（1）Researchdoneoninputfrequencyandoutputfrequency

Nation（1989）examinedtheimprovementoffluencyafterlearnersofEnglishrepeatedthesameunrehearsedtalkemploying4/3/2technique.The4/3/2techniqueinvolvesfoursteps.First，alearnerspendsafewminutespreparingatalkonagiventopic，justthinkingofwhatheorshewilltalkaboutanddoesnotmakenotes.Second，

thelearnerpairsupwithanotherleanerandtalksonthattopicforfourminutes.Thelistenerdoesnotinterruptoraskquestions.Third，thelearnertalksagaintoanewpartneronthetopicforonlythreeminutes.Fourth，thelearnergivesthesametopicforathirdtimetoanothernewpartnerforonlytwominutes.Sotheleanerproducethesametalk（output）toadifferentpartnerwithlesstimetodoiteachtime.Inhisstudy，fluencywasmeasuredbycalculatingthenumberofwordsperminutespokenduringeachofthethreedeliveriesofthetalk，andbycalculatingthenumberofhesitations，repetitionsand1startsper100wordsforeachdelivery.Nationfoundthatthetechniqueincreasedthefluencywithwhichthespeakerdeliveredthetalk.Butthereisaprobleminusingwordsperminuteasameasureoffluencyinsuchatechnique，asindicatedbyNation，thatis，itmaybeameasureofpressureratherskill.Also，thetechniquemainlyusedasaspeakingactivityinlanguageclassroomsisn'tsuitabletosituationwhenoneislearningbyoneself.

Inacasestudy，Bygate（1996）askedalearnertonarrateavideoextractontwoseparateoccasionsimmediatelyafterviewingitwiththreedayapart.Thevideoextractwasidentical，asweretheinterlocutor，theroomandtheconditions.Thelearnerhadnopracticeoropportunitytoprepareherselfforthetaskbeforeeitheroccasion.Thekeydifferencebetweentherecordingswasthatonthesecondoccasionthelearnerwasfamiliarwiththestoryfromthepreviousencounter.TheresearcherfoundthatthelearnerseemedtoperformbetteratTime2intermsofaccuracy，repertoireandfluency.Apatternseemedtoemergewhichwouldsupporttheideathatwhenfirstcarryingoutthetask，thelearnerwouldbemoreconcernedwithplanningthecontentofthemessage，andunderpressureoftimewithfindingtheresourcessufficienttocommunicateit.Onthesecondoccasion，thelearnerwouldbemoreconcernedwithpayingattentiontotheformulationaspectofthetask，thatis，withtheselectionofwordsandphrases，withtheircorrectgrammaticalproduction，andwherenecessarywithcorrectingmistakesastheyoccur.However，thematerialchosenforthestudywasa2'50extractfromaTomandJerrycartoonwithnodialoguecontained.Thelearnercouldn'treceiveandformofthetargetlanguageandlosttheopportunityoflearningfromit.

Gassetal（1999）exploredeffectsoftaskrepetitiononsecondlanguagelearners'overallproficiency，morphosyntax，andlexicalsophisticationofSpanish.Thoselearnerswatchvideosegments4timeswhilerecordingtheirownon-linerenditioninSpanish.Onegroupwatchedthesamevideo3timesandtheothergroupwatchdifferentvideoseachtime.ATime4，bothgroupssawanewvideo.AcontrolgroupsawvideosonlyatTime1andTime4.Theresultsprovidelimitedsupportfortheimprovementovertimeforthegroupthatsawthesamevideo，butnosupportfora\"carryover\"effectwhenthecontentchanged.JustasBygate'sstudy，thesnippetsinthisstudywerechosenfromMr.Beanvideosinwhichtherewasnoaudioorinwhichtheaudiocouldberemovedwithoutinterferingwiththeoverallcontinuityorcomprehensionoftheepisode.Thelearnershadnoopportunitytolearnfromthetargetlanguage.

Zhou（2006）didastudyontheeffectsofinputfrequencyandoutputfrequency.Herarticlereportsastudythatexploredtheeffectsofinputandoutputfrequencyontheoralstoryretellingdonebytertiary-levelEnglishmajorsinChina.Itwasfoundthatasinputfrequencyincreased，thenumberofideaunitsofthestoryretellingincreased.Inputfrequencyalsohelpedimprovefluencyandcomplexitytosomeextent，butitdidnotaffectaccuracy.Bycontrast，asoutputfrequencyincreased，thenumberofideaunitsremainedunchanged.Further，outputfrequencyhelpedimprovefluencyandaccuracyanddidnotaffectcomplexitymuch.Undertheinfluenceofinputandoutputfrequency，theoveralloralperformanceachievedoptimaldevelopmentatthethirdtrialofthetask.Theresultsofthestudysupportaviewoffrequencyasasignificantvariableaffectinglanguagelearning.Balanceddevelopmentoforalperformancecanbeachievedthroughhigh-frequencypractice.Buthertreatmentwasone-shot.Thatis，thefirstgrouplearnerscouldonlylistenedtothestoryforonce，withoutfurtherchancestolearnfromit.Theotherthreegroupsonlyretellthestoryforonetime.Thethreefunctionsofoutputdidn'tplayaroleintheirlearning.

Basedonpreviousresearch，wemaythinkaboutthefollowingquestions：canEFLlearnersbenefitfromthecombinedinput-outputfrequency？Willtheiroralproficiencyimprovebetterintermsoffluency，accuracyandcomplexity？Towhatwillthelearnerspayattentionwhentheylistentotheinputforasecondtimeandathirdtime？

（2）Operationaldefinitionofaccuracy，complexityandfluency

Thereareanumberofdifferentmeasuresofthosevariablesbydifferenceresearchers.Accuracycanbemeasuredwiththenumberofself-corrections，percentageoferror-freeclauses，errorsper100words，percentageoftarget-likeverbalmorphology，percentageoftarget-likeuseofpluralsandtarget-likeuseofvocabulary（e.g.，Wigglesworth，FosterSkehan，Mehnert，Crookes，etc.）.Inthisstudy，itwillbemeasuredastheincidenceoferrorsperAS-unit.Bygate（2002）suggeststhatthismightproduceamoresensitivemeasureofaccuracyasittakesaccountofalltheerrorsproduced.

Complexitycanbemeasuredaccordingtonumberofturns，meanturnlength（inconversationalinteractions），numberofideaunitsencoded，frequencyofsomespecificlanguagefunction，amountofsubordination，useofsomespecificlinguisticfeature，themeannumberofverbarguments，andtype-tokenratio.Inthisstudy，EFLlearnerwilllistentoanarrativestory，thustheresearcherwillcalculatethenumberofideaunitsinit，whichwillprovideameasureofpropositionalcompletenessandthusmayprovideameasureoftheextenttowhichlearnershaveengagedin\"conceptualization\"（Levelt，1989）.Anideaunitisdefinedasamessagesegmentconsistingofatopicandcommentthatisseparatedfromcontiguousunitssyntacticallyand/orintonationally.AsEllis（2005）saysthatthismeasureworksbestwhenelicitationtaskrequireslearnerstocommunicateapre-specificcontent，asforexamplewhentheyareaskedtotellastorybasedonpictures.

Measuresoffluencyhavebeenoftwoprinciplekinds：temporalvariablesandhesitationphenomena.Inthisstudy，itwillbemeasuredwiththelengthofrun，themeannumberofsyllablesbetweentwopausesofapre-determinedlength（e.g.1second）.Itmayreflecttheextenttowhichlearnersaccessready-madechunksoflanguage（Ellis2005）.

3.Researchdesign

Researchquestions：

Whatarethetaskfrequencyeffectsofinput-outputcyclesonEFLlearners'oralproficiencyintermsofaccuracy，fluencyandcomplexity？

Participants：3intermediatesophomorestudentsofEnglishmajorsfromoneNormalUniversitywerechosenbasedonaproficiencytest.Theyweredividedintoexperimentalgroupandtwocontrolgroupsrandomly.

Materials：astorywithmp3

Treatment：ExperimentalGrouplistenedtothestoryforonetimeandretoldthestory，listenedagainandretoldthestory，listenedforathirdtimeandretoldit.Controlgroup1listenedtothestoryforonlyonetimeandretolditforthreetimes.Controlgroup2listenedtothestoryforthreetimesandretoldthestoryforonlyonetime.

Table1：treatmentofthestudy

Datacollection：1.Learners'retellingswererecorded，transcribedandcodedintermsofcontentandforms.Thecontentwillbecheckedbasedontheideaunitsandtheformwillbecheckedonaccuracy，fluencyandcomplexity.

Dataanalysis：Thestoryusedinthestudycanbedividedinto40ideaunits.Ifasubjectcanproduceonecorrectly，onepointwillbegiven.

Table2：theoutcomeofoutput3ofexperimentalgroupandcontrolgroup1andoutcome1ofcontrolgroup2

4.Resultsanddiscussion：

Theresultsshowedthattheexperimentalgroupshowedgreaterprogressincomplexityandaccuracythancontrolgroups，butcontrolgroup1showedsimilarresultsinfluencyandcontrolgroup2showedsimilaraccuracycomparedwiththeoutcomes.Fromtheresultswemaycometotheconclusionthatcircularinput-outbenefitslearnersmost.

References：

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[3]Bygate，M.Effectsoftaskrepetitiononthestructureandcontroloforallanguage.InM.Bygate，P.SkehanandM.Swain.（eds.）.Researchingpedagogictasks，secondlanguagelearning，teachingandtesting.Harlow：Longman，2001.

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