Similar to other second language acquisition researchers before them (e.g., Tarone, 2010), Andringa and Godfroid (2020) have raised concerns about the field's overwhelming reliance on samples of participants from Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) communities to draw conclusions about one's capacity to learn additional languages. Recognising that WEIRD samples differ from non-WEIRD ones in many domains known to mediate L2 learning outcomes (e.g., analytic reasoning skills, memory capacity, 2D visual perception, see also Huettig & Mishra, 2014), they call for research in more diverse contexts to promote progress in the field. The present study answers their call. The focus is on the implementation of input-based tasks in a literacy education and second language learning classroom for adults in a French-speaking community in Canada.
Input-based instruction has shown positive outcomes on lexical and grammatical development with different learner populations, such as young beginner students (e.g., Shintani, 2012) and low literate adult L2 learners (Beaulieu et al., 2020). However, the effectiveness of this approach has only been established with interventions that focus on relatively concrete language concepts (e.g., animals and singular/plural marking). To expand the pedagogical realm of this approach, we conducted a process-product study in which we adapted and piloted input-based tasks targeting temporal relations expressed in verb tenses (past-present-future) in an intact L2 classroom for low literate adult learners of French (N=18) in Quebec, Canada. The four-week intervention consisted of listen-and-do tasks and focused on daily actions in their third person singular and plural forms. To document the processes in which the participants engaged while carrying out the tasks, they were audio- and video-recorded. Also, to assess learning outcomes, the participants were tested before and after the intervention using a picture identification task (receptive knowledge) and a picture description task (productive knowledge). Results show the emergence of different learner profiles in relation to their capacity to process and produce temporal markings. These profiles will be discussed in light of students' engagement in listen-and-do tasks. This study shows that adapting input-based instruction for abstract concepts is not only feasible, but also beneficial for students with limited proficiency in the target language.
References
Andringa, S., & Godfroid, A. (2020). Sampling bias and the problem of generalizability in applied linguistics. Annual review of applied linguistics, 40, 134-142.
Beaulieu, S., Fortier, V., Damiens, J., Laberge, C., & Fillion, C. (2020). Développer des connaissances lexicales et grammaticales sans support écrit et sans production grâce à une approche par tâches basée sur la compréhension. La Revue de l'AQEFLS, 33(1), 12-19.
Huettig, F., & Mishra, R. K. (2014). How literacy acquisition affects the illiterate mind–a critical examination of theories and evidence. Language and Linguistics Compass, 8(10), 401-427.
Shintani, N. (2012). Input-based tasks and the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: A process-product study. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 253-279.
Tarone, E. (2010). Second language acquisition by low-literate learners: An under-studied population. Language Teaching, 43(1), 75-83.
