Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency : Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in SLA

317 Pages·2012·18.47 MB·English

by  Alex Housen

Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency
Language Learning & Language Teaching (LL&LT)
The LL&LT monograph series publishes monographs, edited volumes and
text books on applied and methodological issues in the field of language
pedagogy. The focus of the series is on subjects such as classroom discourse
and interaction; language diversity in educational settings; bilingual
education; language testing and language assessment; teaching methods and
teaching performance; learning trajectories in second language acquisition;
and written language learning in educational settings.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
http://benjamins.com/catalog/lllt
Editors
Nina Spada Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Center for Language Study
University of Toronto Yale University

Volume 32
Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency. Complexity, Accuracy
and Fluency in SLA
Edited by Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder
Dimensions of L2 Performance
and Proficiency
Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in SLA
Edited by
Alex Housen
University of Brussels
Folkert Kuiken
University of Amsterdam
Ineke Vedder
University of Amsterdam

John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency : complexity, accuracy and fluency in
SLA / edited by Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken, Ineke Vedder.
p. cm. (Language Learning & Language Teaching, issn 1569-9471 ; v. 32)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Second language acquisition--Research--Methodology. 2. Language and
languages--Research--Methodology. 3. Literacy--Research. I. Housen, Alex,
1964- II. Kuiken, Folkert, 1953- III. Vedder, Ineke, 1952.
P118.D56 2012
418.0072--dc23 2012025516
isbn 978 90 272 1305 1 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 1306 8 (Pb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7326 0 (Eb)
© 2012 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
Acknowledgements vii
Notes on contributors ix
chapter 1
Complexity, accuracy and fluency: Definitions, measurement and research 1
Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken & Ineke Vedder
chapter 2
Defining and operationalising L2 complexity 21
Bram Bulté & Alex Housen
chapter 3
Complexity, accuracy and fluency from the perspective of psycholinguistic
second language acquisition research 47
Richard Towell
chapter 4

Complexity, accuracy and fluency: The role played by formulaic
sequences in early interlanguage development 71
Florence Myles
chapter 5
The growth of complexity and accuracy in L2 French:
Past observations and recent applications of developmental stages 95
Malin Ågren, Jonas Granfeldt & Suzanne Schlyter
chapter 6
The effect of task complexity on functional adequacy, fluency and lexical
diversity in speaking performances of native and non‑native speakers 121
Nivja H. De Jong, Margarita P. Steinel, Arjen Florijn,
Rob Schoonen & Jan H. Hulstijn
chapter 7
Syntactic complexity, lexical variation and accuracy as a function
of task complexity and proficiency level in L2 writing and speaking 143
Folkert Kuiken & Ineke Vedder
vi Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency
chapter 8
The effects of cognitive task complexity on L2 oral production 171
Mayya Levkina & Roger Gilabert
chapter 9
Complexity, accuracy, fluency and lexis in task‑based performance:
A synthesis of the Ealing research 199
Peter Skehan & Pauline Foster
chapter 10
Measuring and perceiving changes in oral complexity, accuracy
and fluency: Examining instructed learners’ short‑term gains 221
Alan Tonkyn
chapter 11
The development of complexity, accuracy and fluency in the written
production of L2 French 247
Cecilia Gunnarsson
chapter 12
A longitudinal study of complexity, accuracy and fluency variation
in second language development 277
Stefania Ferrari

Epilogue 299
Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken & Ineke Vedder
Index 303
Acknowledgements
The editors of the book wish to thank the authors for their crucial contributions to
this book. We thank the series editors for their useful comments on an earlier ver‑
sion of the manuscript. Thanks also go to Kees Vaes from John Benjamins Publish‑
ing Company for his support and patience at each stage of the project. Finally we
wish to express our gratitude to Netta Meijer for her help with the reference sec‑
tions and layout of the chapters, and to Paul van der Plank and Françoise Thornton
Smith for proofreading the manuscript.
Amsterdam/Brussels, May 2012
Alex Housen, Folkert Kuiken, and Ineke Vedder

Notes on contributors
Malin Ågren (Ph.D., Lund University) is a lecturer and researcher at the Centre for
Languages and Literature, Lund University, Sweden. Her research focuses on the
acquisition of French morphosyntax in Swedish child and adult second language
learners. Her special interest is the divergence of spoken and written French and
the impact of these dimensions of the French language on both first and second
language learners. She has published several articles and book chapters on the
second language acquisition of morphology in written French.
Bram Bulté (MA, University of Brussels) is a translator at the Directorate‑General
for Translation at the European Parliament in Luxemburg and a doctoral researcher
at the Centre of Linguistics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research focuses
on second language development as a dynamic system and on methodological
procedures in second language acquisition research and language measurement.
His publications have appeared in both national and international journals and
edited volumes.
Arjen Florijn (Ph.D., University of Amsterdam) is an Assistant Professor in the
Linguistics Department at the University of Amsterdam, and currently participat‑

ing in research on second language acquisition. His research focuses on Dutch
grammar: how to best present and test it for educational purposes. He has also
been involved in the development of web‑based exercises for students of foreign
languages.
Stefania Ferrari (Ph.D., University of Verona) is a postdoctoral researcher at the
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Her most recent work focuses on the
relation between interlanguage variation, acquisition and testing. She is also known
for her work on second language reading comprehension and second language
pragmatic development. She has published articles and chapters on these topics.
She is also a consultant for second language education in mainstream schools.
Pauline Foster (Ph.D., University of London) is Professor of Applied Linguistics at
St. Mary’s University College in London. Her research publications are on second
language acquisition, task‑based learning, classroom interaction and formulaic
language and have appeared widely in international journals and edited books.
Roger Gilabert (Ph.D., University of Barcelona) is a lecturer and researcher at
the University of Barcelona and a m ember of the Barcelona Second Language
x Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency
Acquisition Research Group (GRAL). He has conducted research in the area of
second language task design with a focus on the effects of task complexity on s econd
language performance. His current research also includes work on the effects of
individual differences in working memory on second language production and
acquisition.
Jonas Granfeldt (Ph.D., Lund University) is Associate Professor of French lin‑
guistics in the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University, Sweden.
His research focuses on the acquisition of French morphosyntax by bilingual chil‑
dren, child second language learners and adult second language learners. He has
published articles and book chapters on the acquisition of different grammatical
aspects of French, including gender, determiners and pronouns. One of his recent
projects combined Natural Language Processing and SLA with the aim of creating
an automated assessment tool (Direkt Profil) where the assessment is based on
developmental sequences.
Cecilia Gunnarsson (Ph.D., University of Lund) is Maître de Conférences (Assis‑
tant Professor) of French in the Department of Teaching French as a Foreign
Language at the University of Toulouse 2. The main focus of her research is the
written production of L2 and L1 French. In this domain she works on segmenta‑
tion of speech in writing; on automatisms such as retrieval of memorized instances;
on complexity, accuracy and fluency; and on the writing processes.
Alex Housen (Ph.D., University o f Brussels) is Professor of English and Applied
Linguistics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research interests include second
language acquisition, second language teaching and bilingual education. His
publications have appeared in various edited books and journals. He is co‑editor
(with M. P ierrard) of Investigations in Instructed Second Language Acquisition
(Mouton de Gruyter 2005) and co‑editor (with F. Kuiken) of the 2009 Special
Issue of Applied Linguistics on Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in SLA Research.
Jan H. Hulstijn (Ph.D., University of Amsterdam) is Professor of Second Language
Acquisition at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities, Amsterdam
Center for Language and Communication (ACLC). Most of his research is con‑
cerned with cognitive aspects of the acquisition and use of a non‑native language
(explicit and implicit learning; controlled and automatic processes; components
of second language proficiency). He held previous positions at the Free University
Amsterdam and at the University of Leiden. He was associate researcher at the
University of Toronto, Canada (1982–1983) and visiting professor at the Univer‑
sity of Leuven, Belgium (2002), and at Stockholm University, Sweden (2005).
Nivja H. de Jong (Ph.D., Radboud University Nijmegen) is an Assistant Professor at
the Dutch Department at Utrecht University. She is currently principal investigator