sla symposium presentation

Input Input Processing and Processing and

Dative Dative AlternationAlternationPresenter: Denilson Amade Sousa(PPG – IEL – Unicamp - Brazil)

email: [email protected]

2008 SLA Graduate Symposium

Part 1: Descriptive

Dative Forms

Universal Grammar and L1 Acquisition

Universal Grammar and L2 Acquisition

Full Transfer/Full Access Model

Input Processing

Part 2: Experimental

Grammaticality Judgment

Classroom Interventions

Research Design

√Dative Alternation

Jane gave a present to Peter.

Jane gave Peter a present.

Other verbs: sell, send, show, tell, throw, bring

Jane baked a cake for Peter.

Jane baked Peter a cake.

Other verbs: buy, draw, find, get, make

Jane donated a car to the institution.

*Jane donated the institution a car.

Other Verbs: explain, repeat, say, shout, whisper

* Dative Alternation

Jane watched the children for Peter.

*Jane watched Peter the children.

Other verbs: finish, fix (repair), hold, keep, create

Joana deu um presente ao Pedro. Joana doou um carro `a instituicao.*Joana deu o Pedro um presente. *Joana doou a instituicao um carro. Joana assou um bolo para o Pedro. Joana olhou as criancas pro Pedro.*Joana assou o Pedro um bolo. *Joana olhou o Pedro as criancas.

1. Semantic – Possession Constraint 2. Morphological – Latinate Constraint: donate, contribute, transport, propel, release, declare, create, design,

purchase, obtain.

3. Narrow range rules: Constraints on certain subclasses of verbs which already satisfy the Possession Constraint but violate it somehow.

Constraints (Pinker, 1989)Phenomenon Description

Possession constraint: Argument structure “X verb Y to Z” (DatP) can be realized as “X verb Z Y” (DDO) if Z is a potential possessor of Y.

Examples:

(1) a. John sent a package to the border / boarder. b. John sent the *border / boarder a package.

(2) a. Bob made / got / stirred / tasted the cake for Phil. b. Bob made / got / *stirred / *tasted Phil the cake.

Language DDO - to-dative? DDO - for-dative?

English yes, but subject to the constraints mentioned

above.

yes, but subject to the constraints mentioned

above.

Portuguese no, just DatP. no, just DatP.

Brazilian Portuguese vs English

Brazilian intermediate English students will more easily accept the prepositional dative sentences and reject the double object ones (since these are inexistent in Brazilian Portuguese).

The advanced learners (English teachers), for supposedly having had more exposure to L2 input, will treat all dative sentences in a way similar to that of native speakers.

Hypothesis

Experiment I - Grammaticality Judgment Test

Based on Full Transfer/Full Access, Schwartz & Sprouse (1996) SLA model

• Grammaticality judgment task with a 7-point Likert scale: -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3•Number of analysed sentences: 40•Distractors: 10 •Instructions: Subjects read the sentences and judge them according to their intuition: -3 (the sentence is completely unacceptable in English), 0 (incapable of saying anything about the sentence), +3 (perfectly possible in English), including therein the intermediate values. •There was no time limit for the test.

Methodology


Subjects

# students Average age Male Female

n=118 17,5 54 (46%) 64 (54%)


n=117 25,2 47 (40%) 70 (60%)

Native Americans

Brazilian Teachers

Brazilian Students (Intermediate Level)

# teachers Average age Male Female

n=90 33,8 9 (11%) 81 (89%)

DDO Gramaticais

012345678

n7 Ð Jane threw Peter the ball.n9 Ð Jane bought Peter a present.

n17 Ð Jane showed Peter the picture.

n19 Ð Jane drew Peter a picture.n26 Ð Jane brought Peter the cake.

n28 Ð Jane found Peter a plate.n35 Ð Jane sent Peter a postcard.

n39 Ð Jane got Peter a glass.n46 Ð Jane gave Peter present.n49 Ð Jane made Peter a cake.

Senten�as

Gramaticalidade

Nativos (n=118)

Professores Brasileiros (n=90)

Alunos Brasileiros (n=117)

Results I


DDO Agramaticais

012345678

n3 Ð Jane explained Peter the exercise.n6 Ð Jane finished Peter the exercise.n13 Ð Jane repeated Peter the question.

n16 Ð Jane fixed Peter the car.n23 Ð Jane said Peter the answer.

n29 Ð Jane held Peter the door.

n32 Ð Jane shouted Peter the answer.n34 Ð Jane kept Peter the secret.

n42 Ð Jane whispered Peter the secret.n45 Ð Jane watched Peter the kids.

Sentennas

Gramaticalidade

Nativos (n=118)

Professores Brasileiros (n=90)

Alunos Brasileiros (n=117)

Results II


Neither the English teachers nor the students have knowledge of the dative alternation in English. In other words, the hypothesis was partially confirmed, for it was expected that the teachers’ intuition would be similar to that of the native speakers.

Conclusion


Next question: How then, provide input to

teachers/students in order for them to acquire at least one

constraint on the Dative Alternation phenomenon?

- Any SLA theory must, somehow, take input into account. (Gass,1997);

- It is fundamental for the acquisition and necessary for the development of a mental representation of the linguistic system;

- One of the focuses of SLA research in the last 20 years has been to determine the links between the input and the developing system. One of these attempts is called Input Processing (IP), proposed by VanPatten & Cadierno (1993) and VanPatten (1993, 1996).

Input

Experiment II - Classroom intervention based on Input Processing

Input Processing (IP) VanPatten e Cadierno (1993) e VanPatten (1993, 1996)

Input Processing is what the learners do with the input during comprehension, in other words, how the intake is derived:

.

input intake developing system

I - input processingII - accomodation, restructuring

I II

Figure1 – VanPatten (1996)


Processing Instruction (PI)


A partir das considerações acerca de insumo, sobre PI e da postulação de quatro princípios de PI, VanPatten propõe um tipo de instrução gramatical ou foco na forma chamada por ele de Instrução para Processamento (Processing Instruction) (IP);

Objetivo da IP é alterar as estratégias (naturais) de processamento dos aprendizes e encorajá-los a realizar ligações de forma-significado mais adequadas. Para tal, a IP possui três componentes básicos:

Processing Instruction is an approach to grammar teaching that takes into account some input processing principles, either universal or L1 derived. Its main goal is to facilitate more adequate form-meaning connections and help learners acquire them.

It consists of three basic components:

Explanation:

Learners are provided with explicit information about grammar forms, structural properties, descriptions of rules and meanings.

Instructor must try to show the learner how to associate form and meaning and also show how forms encode meaning.

Example:

A):


A)Explanation

Information about processing strategies:Learners are informed about a particular processing strategy that may negatively affect their picking up of the form or structure during comprehension.

Example:

B)


B)ProcessingStrategies

Structured Input:Input from activities is manipulated in a way that it makes learners privilege the form so they have better chances of paying attention to its meaning. Learners are guided away from their natural processing tendencies in order to create more adequate form-meaning connections for a given form.

Example:

C)


C) StructuredInput

Methodology

C) Control group (C)

C1) Pre-Test

C2) Post-test1 – following class

C3) Post-test2 – a month later (retention)

B) Indirect

Traditional Instruction Intervention (IT)

B1) Pre-Test

B2) Intervention

B3) Post-test1 – following class

B4) Post-test2 – a month later (retention)

A) Direct

Input Processing Intervention (IPI)

A1) Pre-Test

A2) Intervention

A3) Post-test1 – following class

A4) Post-test2 – a month later (retention)


Pre-Test ExampleName:_____________________________________________Age:________Level:______I have been studying English for________ year(s) Date:____/____/______

Dative Alternation – Pre-Test

1. For each sentence, please put in a “C” if you think the sentence is grammatically correct or an “I” if you think the sentence is grammatically incorrect:a) Anna has given Michael a present. ( )b) Fred never buys his girlfriend flowers. ( )c) My mom made me take the medicine. ( )d) Ashley will drive her dad his car. ( )e) David keeps Natalie all the secrets. ( )f) Jessica loves it when her mom lets her to come back home after midnight. ( )g) Ben was sending his girlfriend an email when the connection failed. ( )h) I don’t know what will happen to me if I don’t find my boss a new apartment! ( ) i) Cameron thinks James is not good enough for her. ( )

2. Listen to the sentences your teacher will read and mark an X by “Unacceptable” if you think the sentence is not acceptable in grammatically correct English or mark an X by “Acceptable” if it is.a) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable e) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptableb) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable f) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptablec) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable g) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptabled) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable h) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable


Post-Test2 Example

Name:_____________________________________________Age:________Level:______I have been studying English for________ year(s) Date:____/____/______

Dative Alternation – Post-test2

1. Listen to the sentences your teacher will read and mark an X by “Unacceptable” if you think the sentence is not acceptable in grammatically correct English or mark an X by “Acceptable” if it is.a) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable e) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptableb) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable f) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptablec) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable g) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptabled) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable h) ( ) Acceptable ( ) Unacceptable

2. For each sentence, please put in a “C” if you think the sentence is grammatically correct or an “I” if you think the sentence is grammatically incorrect:a) When I was young, my grandfather used to give me lots of candy. ( ) b) Have you ever bought yourself an Easter egg? ( ) c) Husbands shouldn’t make their wives do things they don’t want to. ( ) d) I was a little drunk last night so I asked my friend to drive me my car. ( ) e) The government has been trying to keep the locals their jobs and homes. ( ) f) Sally’s parents never let her to take the chance of going to school. ( ) g) Maggie thought her boyfriend would send her flowers, but he never did. ( ) h) Have you found your dad that cool book you had been searching for so long? ( ) i) I can't make a decision about anything these days. ( )


T-Test to check:

Immediate learning: means between Pre-test and Post-test1

Long-term learning: means between Pre-Test and Post-test2

Retention: means between Post-test1 and Post-test2

Methodology


Subjects


n=22 24,15 7 (32%) 15 (68%)


n=24 22,3 8 (33%) 16(67%)

A) Group (IPI): Intervention based on Input Processing.



n=31 21,7 18 (59%) 13 (41%)

B) Group (IT): Intervention based on Traditional Instruction

C) Group (C): Control

Hypothesis

Intervention based on Input Processing will have a significant effect on making learners acquire the possession constraint underlying Dative Alternation and, therefore, there will be a significant difference among the three groups (Processing Instruction – PI, Traditional Instruction – TI, and control – C).


Results - Average scores for each test in each group


Results – Paired T-Test of the samples


Group A – Processing Instruction Intervention

Immediate significant (p ≤ 0,05) result only.

Did not last after a month.

Hypothesis partially confirmed: Good results were expected to have been

retained by learners.

Group B – Traditional Instruction Intervention

No statistically significant improvement from Pre-Test to Post-test1.

Post-test2 scores were worse than those of Post-test1 (p ≤ 0,1). This suggests

that the last Post-test may have been more difficult than the one before it.

Conclusion


Discussion

Research reveals interesting facts about the efficiency of different treatments.

Processing Instruction only had an immediate effect. Why? Possible problems:

No feedback?

No output (production)?

Lack of explanation about the pragmatic/discursive motivation of DDO sentences? ( “Who did Jane give the present to?” or “Where’s the present?”

a) Jane gave the present/it to Peter. “What did Jane give to Peter” or “Why is Peter so happy?”

b) Jane gave Peter/him the present.)

Future research: what can be done in order to promote retention of the immediately acquired knowledge?


Pragmatic/discursive motivation of DDO sentences

New information usually comes at the end of the sentence:

“Who did Jane give the present to?” or “Where’s the present?”a) Jane gave the present to Peter.

“What did Jane give to Peter” or “Why is Peter so happy?”b) Jane gave Peter the present.

Pragmatic/discursive motivation of DDO sentences.


Full Transfer/Full Access, SLA model of Schwartz & Sprouse (1996): - Initial state in L2: L1 grammar, i.e. when starting to acquire an L2,

what the learner has is his/her L1 parameters. Hence full transfer. - When the L1 grammar cannot account for properties of the L2,

the learner has access to Universal Grammar (UG) properties. Hence full access.

- Two kinds of evidence support this hypothesis: f) Existence of L1 properties in the learner’s interlanguage and g) Evidence of interlanguage restructuring, which yields to it

properties of UG, distinct from the learner’s L1 grammar.

Base Model for Experiment I Hypothesis


sla symposium presentation

Education

joana olhou o pedro

joana assou o pedro

joana deu o pedro um

joana doou um carro

jane baked peter

prepositional dative

brazilian teachers

instituicao um carro