Some researchers, however, have argued thatthe evidence collected in support of the benefitsof meaning negotiation is not plentiful or entirelyconvincing (e.g., Foster, 1998; Porter, 1986; Ske-han, 1998). In particular, there is little researchsupporting a direct link between negotiation be-haviors and TL acquisition.

number of global errors and local errors (see, e.g.,Burt & Kiparsky, 1972).

study has demonstrated a clear relationship be-tween the incidence of negotiated interaction andincreases in oral communication ability.

As shown in Table 2, among the strategiesfor coping with speaking problems, reported fre-quent use of social affective strategies positivelycorrelated to oral proficiency (p < .01)

TABLE

Social-affective strategies are similar to some speaking, or communication, strategies, which are means of dealing with communication trouble spots, such as misunder-standing the interlocutor or not knowing a word.

Virtually

This shows an inter-dependence of and reciprocal relationship between the two variables

n order to test this hypothesis, we divided the sample into twosubgroups based on the ‘attitudes towards the task’ variable byforming a continuum of the learners according to their score onthis variable and by assigning the upper half of the sample to the‘high task-attitude’ subsample (HighS) and the lower half of thesample to the ‘low-task attitude’ subsample (LowS). Following this,we repeated the correlation analysis reported above in the twosubsamples separately (see Table 4).

perceived group cohesiveness substantially con-tributes to language learners’ motivation complex and correlatessignificantly with various language criterion measures

therefore a learner’s performance cannot beevaluated properly without any reference to the influence ofhis/her peers.

This leads us to conclude that our SQ was only partially reliable.

the sequence in which each learner carried out the tasks, which was the same.To avoid a practice effect, the sequence in which the learners carried out thetasks should have been rearranged so that it could more reliably be claimedthat differences in strategy use were due to the influence of the task alone.

For Factor 1

Where possible

Significant difference between Picture Story and Art Descriptionb Significant difference between Picture Story and Information Gap

visual promptswere provided, no note-taking was permitted, written instructions were givenin English, tasks were performed in a classroom with the researcher presentand participants were paired with a classmate they were familiar with.

in reporting strategies as a relatively stable aptitude or trait with respect to lan-guage learning in general (Tseng et al. 2006). They have not usually taken intoaccount that learners may adjust their strategic approach depending on the situ-ation or task, as an increasing amount of research suggests (Cohen et al. 1998;Hsiao and Oxford 2002; Macaro 2006; Oxford et al. 2004; Phakiti 2003). Thereseems to be a need, therefore, for questionnaires that focus on oral communi-cation and which can be administered in relation to specific tasks.

Theone-waytaskconsistedofalinedrawingofasceneinaparkthat one participant described to his or her partner, who had toreproduce it. The two-way task involved a picture of a kitchen,with the two participants collaborating to put items into thecorrect place

The adults in the NNS±NNS dyads were enrolled in an intensiveEnglishprogramatauniversityintheUnitedStates,andthoseinthe NS±NNS dyads were enrolled in a similar program at anAustralian university.4

In both age groups the NNSs came from a variety of Asian,Germanic, and Romance first language (L1) backgrounds.

The present study exploredwhether NNSs respond differently to interactional feedbackprovided by NSs and NNSs by comparing incorporation ratesfor feedback provided by these two kinds of interlocutors.

12 weeks, it was not possible to conduct a delayed posttest that could provide information concerning the longitudinal effects of the strategy training on the students' oral profici

Reduction Strategies The following strategies were categorized as re- duction strategies: message abandonment strategies, first-language-based strategies, interlanguage-based reduction strategies, and false sta

s. I used the Oral Com- munication Assessment Scale for Japanese EFL Students (see Appendix C), which was estab- lished by an action research project at the college (Nakatani, 200

try. They were given 5 minutes to prepare a role-play in which the student test takers assumed the role of a customer and the interviewer was a clerk

, it is worthwhile to examine whether attempts by EFL learners to solve communicative problems that occur during interaction could be shaped into important components of a strategy-based program for communication perfor

s the psycholinguistic view (e.g., Bialystok, 1983; Kitajima, 1997; Poulisse, 1990). Focusing on the interaction between interlocu- tors and negotiation of meaning has come to be recognized as the interactional view (e.g., Rost & Ross, 1991; Willems,

lacked the metacognitive skills needed to learn the FL through interaction.

The conceptual principles of linear modelling, causal relations and statistical probability that are fundamen-tal to much quantitative research are not readily applicable to researching complex dynamic systems, where the theoretical focus is on processes of change that are systemic, non-linear, adaptive, and unpredictable

L2 learners motivated by an ideal L2 self will have uniquely individual ideal self-representations that cannot easily be char-acterized (and measured) in a generic way.

qualitative methods are especially suited to the exploratory theory-building phase of research inquiry, when new constructs are under development.

the socio-educational model was primarily concerned with explaining variance in L2 learning behaviour associated with motivation as a general feature of the L2 learning process, rather than with investigating the various qualities that this motivation might take.

However, this was not the case in the context of the present study,suggesting that differences in linguistic proficiency (as measured by astandardized proficiency test) do not predict learners’ levels of attention andawareness in L2 pragmatic input

Correlations with motivation and proficiency

able 3: Correlations

was very interested in it

motivation and proficiency couldoperate on pragmatic awareness independently so that motivation mayoverride proficiency or vice versa.

features more accurately (and faster) than less proficient learners

The Noticing Hypothesis has been a driving force in advancing research onimplicit versus explicit learning at the morphosyntactic level

As I discussed in my 2010 paper, a major reason why motivation research has remained somewhat isolated from the core linguistic traditions of the SLA field is because the analysis of motivation and its role in language learning has largely been at the level of global learning behaviours and L2 achievement outcomes, and motivation research has tended not to address more fine-grained processes of language acquisition or linguistic development. As a consequence, our research can shed relatively little light on how motivation may be relevant to internal processes of linguistic development or to the acquisition of specific features of the target language (with the possible exception of features of pronunciation – see for example Segalowitz, Gatbonton & Trofimovich 2009), which constitute core concerns of mainstream SLA.

What remains relatively underexplored is the micro-level of the interface between motivation and the internal psycholinguistic processes that characterize language learning.

how far motivation may play a role in whether learners notice and pay attention to certain target features of the language or not, particularly in conditions where input enhancement is not provided

Investigate how learners co-construct their motivation to think through problems and difficulties in collaborative language tasks

ymodelling proficient foreign language performance, teachers inspire higher levels ofmotivation amongst their students.

While enjoyment of language learning is crucial for students’decision to continue with language learning, it is precisely lack of enjoyment oflanguage learning that seems to be one of the main reasons for students dropping outof modern foreign languages (Fisher 2001). Given that external pressure does notseem to play a role in students’ decision to study German at university level, one mayquestion whether making foreign languages compulsory would yield the desiredresults and lead to sustained involvement in language learning.

Based on a qualitative study of first and second year university students inIreland, Ushioda (1996) found that a positive learning history, together withenjoyment of the language, served separately as important and distinct motivatorsfor students’ decisions to study for a French language degree. In the present study,however, students’ enjoyment of the language appeared to be strongly intertwinedwith their experience of German at school rather than two separate aspects. Allinterviewees – except for one self-taught student – discussed enjoyment in connectionwith the pleasure felt when engaging with German at school

Table 2.

(r ¼.55; p 5.0001). In otherwords, 30.25% of the variance

There was a significant difference between the mean values for students’ wishfor language proficiency and for intrinsic reasons for studying (t ¼7.68, p 5.0001)

The answersto the questionnaire were coded according to the scale 1 (very much), 2 (quite a lot),3 (so-so), 4 (not really), 5 (not at all).

qualitative

Another question that remains to be answered is whether the ideal self can overcomethe fickle spirit of motivation.

Research could use the idiodynamic method to focus on the linguistic structures used by participants,

‘GIVEN my learning experience I OUGHT TO be able to answer this question.’

De Bot (this volume) has suggested examining one timescale up (N+1) and one timescale down (N-1) from the process being studied. This advice has been most helpful for the present study. We see that the shorter timescale (N-1) involves the ‘okay’ / ‘not-okay’ checking of the BIS and BAS, semantic processing, L2 vocabulary retrieval and coalition formation, all of which are relevant to the ongoing assessment of approach and avoidance. The next longer timescale (N+1) captures the approach or avoidance quality of the task, captured in advance by the CanDo ratings.

The most prevalent type of motivation, by a long shot, was task-related.

The tasks were presented in one of two orders. Order 1 consisted of a mixture of both difficult and easy tasks. Order 2 consisted of tasks that became progressively more difficult.

The present study uses an idiodynamic approach to examine the degree of fluctuation in approach/avoidance motivation as time moves along and L2 communication task demands change. The idiodynamic method (MacIntyre, 2012; MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011) is a recently-developed mixed methods approach to studying communication processes by recording a series of communication tasks and asking the respondent to rate and explain fluctuations in his or her affective reactions. Eight specific L2 communication tasks, in the form of an oral interview, allow us to dynamically examine motivation. Prior to undertaking the tasks, participants completed a questionnaire measure of personality traits, integrative motivation and the Can-Do measure of expected task performance. In a laboratory setting, eight of the Can-Do tasks were completed in the L2 as the respondent was videotaped. Following the responses, the respondent watched and rated their video for changes in motivation. Immediately after ratings were completed, respondents were interviewed and asked to describe the reasons for peaks and valleys in their ratings of motivation during the 8 tasks.

Adopting a dynamic perspective allows us to draw the concept of motivation closer to a key cognitive process underlying communication: choosing what to say and how to say it. In the literature on native language communication, Greene (1984, 1989, 1997, 2006; Greene & Cappella, 1986; Greene, et al., 2000) proposed action assembly theory to explain how individuals generate and produce both verbal and nonverbal behaviours.

I have now come to believe that many of the controversies and disagreements in L2 motivation research go back to an insufficient temporal awareness... that different or even contradictory theories do not exclude one another, but may simply be related to different phases of the motivated behavioral process.

.Revised version accepted 11 August 1999Notes1. According to Deci and Ryan (1985), a fourth type of EM, integratedregulation, represents a higher degree of self-determination than identifiedregulation. It was not included in the present discussion because earlierstudies of motivation in education had difficulty distinguishing the constructfrom identified regulation (e.g., Vallerand et al., 1989). The difficulty may berelated to the age of the respondents in that particular study: They may havebeen too young to have developed an integrated sense of self with regard to

increased percep-tions of freedom of choice and perceived competence are linked tomore self-determined forms of motivation.

Vision without action is daydream

My use of the concept of imagination refers to a process of expanding our self by transcending our time and space and creating new images of the world and ourselves. Imagination in this sense is looking at an apple seed and seeing a tree. It is playing scales on a piano, and envisioning a concert hall.

The future self-image should not be regarded as comfortably within reach: The learner must believe that the possible self will not be realized without a marked increase in exerted effort.

highlighting the concept’s dynamic character and temporal variation .

in quantitative inquiries the research questions that scholars can ask are constrained by the instruments they use,

Gardner’s socio-educational model of second language acquisition (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993, p. 8)

A good way to demonstrate the extent of the recent changes in the research climate is through the nature of the research questions being asked by scholars. A typical research question in a conventional study would have asked, “What is the correlation between certain motivational dimensions and selected criterion mea-sures, for example scores on a standardized test?” However, in a research climate that eschews linear predictability, researchers are now more interested in moti-vational processes, changes, and interactions in specific contexts, as illustrated for example by the research question that was driving Piniel and Csizér’s (2015, p. 168) recent study: “How can we characterize changes concerning motivation, anxiety, and self-efficacy throughout an academic writing course?”

While the whole process in itself is clearly ametalinguistic activity (showing students’perception of textual problems), students rarely justifythe options they take with specific metalanguage, i.e., instances of type [d] are scarce.

shaping and reshaping the text.

While teachers’talk is central to education, this talk can sometimes hinder the veryprocess of learning, turning it into a sort of ritual that consists of memorizing facts and engagingin actions without clearly knowing its rationale (Edwards and Mercer 2012).

As a tool for thought and knowledge (Coseriu1991), a language would, through its reflexive affordances, shape the very process of learningthe language.

We also note, as previously discussed, thatprevious empirical and theoretical SLA researchcorroborates the notion that IMP’s ongoing func-tion is more easily acquired (and therefore likelyto be more sensitive to instruction) than the ha-bitual function by English speakers, providing sec-ondary support for our claims.

transforming a genre of one kind into another kind, namely, a tale intoa piece of news. Content will have to be reorganized according to the communicative functionof the new text and its conventional structure.

as writing, translating, pragmatics, semantics, and language acquisition and evolution—couldnot exist without language's second‐order reflexive properties.

highlights the difficulties experienced by stu-dents when they use grammatical concepts as elements to control usage and the importanceof revising texts in order to create metalinguistic awareness in a recursive pedagogic process:

We also note that both the training and testing parameters of the presentexperiment emphasized form over meaning processing, with the identificationof morphosyntactic patterns likely being associated with higher performance,regardless of overall comprehension. Although it is not clear to what extenteach training group engaged with the grammar training task, it is reasonable toconclude that they did so at a comparable level, given that analyses of viewingtrials showed no group differences and that rule verbalization scores indicatedrule learning in all groups. The GJT can also be said to include an explicitknowledge bias (see Rebuschat, 2013, for a recent discussion of measures ofimplicit and explicit L2 knowledge).

administered in session 2

Each word in a trial was presented for450 milliseconds followed by a 350-millisecond blank screen between words.

Participants made grammaticality judgments concurrent with electroen-cephalography (EEG) recording; however, only behavioral results are reportedhere.4

All materials used for the study can be accessed by readers in the IRIS digitalrepository (http://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/index)

Unfortunately, the presence of feedback during instruc-tion was confounded with manipulated variables in this experiment becauseonly the processing instruction and structured input groups received accuracyfeedback. Thus, the question remains whether participants in the metalinguisticinformation group would have performed better if they too had received feed-back during learning.

Thus, we employ the terms in relation to each other, comparingrelativelymoreimplicit processes to less implicit (or more explicit) ones.

In all cases, the functors have to beperceived as cues before they can partake in acquisition.

becoming more sensitive to those which are psychologicallysignificant dimensions of variation amongst the stimuli, and becoming lesssensitive to those redundant characteristics which do not play any role inaccurate classification

I believe that this redundancy is much more influential in second ratherthan L1 acquisition

But, the studiesmeta-analysed in Goldschneider and DeKeyser pooled L2 learners from avariety of L1 backgrounds and did not concern the ways in which the natureof the first language might have a particular effect on the detailed pathor rate of L2 acquisition.

This simple statistic has a profound consequence: If fluent native speakerscan only hear these grammatical functors from the bottom-up evidence ofinput 40 percent-50 percent of the time, what chance have second languagelearners to hear them and thence learn their function?

of the man who was wounded six times during World War I, the first time inBelgium, the second in the morning, the third in the leg, the fourth in hissleep, the fifth in August, and the sixth inadvertently.

Their findings do not provide clear support for the benefits ofL1/L2 contrasts, perhaps because the contrastive instruction provided in their study may nothave been sufficiently explicit.

hat is, itcould be argued that the positive correlation reported in this study was due to the nature ofthe two tasks used to measure students’ performance. The grammaticality judgement andthe scrambled questions tasks were both measures that allowed and probably encouragedstudents to draw on their explicit knowledge. This may have contributed to the correlationbetween learners’ performance on these tasks and their ability to express their metalin-guistic knowledge. Different results might emerge if we were to use measures of implicitknowledge (e.g. oral production in more meaning-focused tasks and even in natural class-room environments) (see Y. Sheen, 2006).

The scrambled questions task

An example of an item in the grammaticality judgement task is presentedbelow.