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The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research (Second Language Acquisition Research Series) PDF

185 Pages·2010·1.19 MB·English
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The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research aims to answer key questions about the validity and uses of think-alouds, which are verbal reports completed by research participants while they perform a task. It offers an overview of how think-alouds have been used in language research and presents a quantitative meta- analysis of findings from studies involving verbal tasks and think- alouds. The book begins by presenting the theoretical background and empirical research that has examined the reactivity of think- alouds, then offers guidance regarding the practical issues of data collection and analysis, and concludes by providing implications for the use of think-alouds in language research. With its focus on a much-discussed and somewhat controversial data elicitation method in language research, this timely work is relevant to students and researchers from all theoretical perspectives who collect first or sec- ond language data. It serves as a valuable guide for any language researcher who is considering using think-alouds. Melissa A. Bowles is Assistant Professor of Spanish, Linguistics, and SLATE (Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her main research interests are instructed second/heritage language acquisition and research methods. Second Language Acquisition Research Series: Theoretical and Methodological Issues Susan M. Gass and Alison Mackey, Editors Monographs on Theoretical Issues: Schachter/Gass Second Language Classroom Research: Issues and Opportunities (1996) Birdsong Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypotheses (1999) Ohta Second Language Acquisition Processes in the Classroom: Learning Japanese (2001) Major Foreign Accent: Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Second Language Phonology (2001) VanPatten Processing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary (2003) VanPatten/Williams/Rott/Overstreet Form-Meaning Connections in Second Language Acquisition (2004) Bardovi-Harlig/Hartford Interlanguage Pragmatics: Exploring Institutional Talk (2005) Dörnyei The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition (2005) Long Problems in SLA (2007) VanPatten/Williams Theories in Second Language Acquisition (2007) Ortega/Byrnes The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (2008) Liceras/Zobl/Goodluck The Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition (2008) Monographs on Research Methodology: Tarone/Gass/Cohen Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition (1994) Yule Referential Communication Tasks (1997) Gass/Mackey Stimulated Recall Methodology in Second Language Research (2000) Markee Conversation Analysis (2000) Gass/Mackey Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research (2007) Duff Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics (2007) McDonough/Trofimovich Using Priming Methods in Second Language Research (2008) Larson-Hall A Guide to Doing Statistics in Second Language Research Using SPSS (2009) Dörnyei/Taguchi Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing, Second Edition (2009) Bowles The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research (2010) Of Related Interest: Gass Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner (1997) Gass/Sorace/Selinker Second Language Learning Data Analysis, Second Edition (1998) Mackey/Gass Second Language Research: Methodology and Design (2005) Gass/Selinker Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, Third Edition (2008) The Think-Aloud Controversy in Second Language Research Melissa A. Bowles First published 2010 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2010 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bowles, Melissa A. The think-aloud controversy in second language research / Melissa A. Bowles. p. cm. — (Second language acquisition research series: theoretical and method- ological issues) Includes bibliographical references. [etc.] 1. Second language acquisition—Research. 2. Language and languages— Research. 3. Thought and thinking—Study and teaching. 4. English language—Study and teaching—Foreign speakers. I. Title. P118.2.B69 2010 418.007'2—dc22 2009045982 ISBN 0-203-85633-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: 978–0–415–99483–5 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–99484–2 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–85633–8 (ebk) Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1 The Use of Verbal Reports in Language Research 5 History of Data Collection with Verbal Reports 5 In Non-SLA Fields 5 In L1 and L2 Research 6 L1 Research 6 Reading 6 Writing 6 Language Testing 7 L2 Research 7 Reading 8 Writing 9 Translation 9 Interlanguage Pragmatics 9 Conversational Interaction Research 10 Attention and Awareness 11 Implicit and Explicit L2 Knowledge 12 2 Controversy Over the Use of Think-Alouds: Reactivity 13 Classifying Verbal Reports: Ericsson and Simon’s Model 13 Challenges to the Validity of Verbal Reports: Veridicality and Reactivity 13 Main Predictions of Ericsson and Simon’s Model 14 Responding to Challenges: Investigations of Validity in Cognitive Psychology 15 Studies Comparing Non-Metacognitive Protocols and Silent Controls 15 Reactivity for Latency but not Accuracy 16 viii Contents Reactivity for Both Accuracy and Latency 19 Reactivity for Neither Accuracy Nor Latency 21 Studies Investigating the Reactivity of Metacognitive Protocols 24 Studies Comparing Metacognitive Protocols and Silent Controls 25 Reactivity for Both Accuracy and Latency 25 Improved Task Performance 25 Hindered Task Performance 29 Reactivity for Accuracy but not for Latency 29 Improved Task Performace 29 Hindered Task Performance 36 Outliers 37 Reactivity for Latency but not for Accuracy 39 Reactivity for Neither Latency nor Accuracy 43 Studies Comparing Metacognitive and Non- Metacognitive Protocols 46 Reactivity for Accuracy 46 Improved Task Performance 46 Hindered Task Performance 50 Non-Reactivity for Accuracy 52 Mixed Results for Reactivity 54 Conclusions 56 Synthesis: What Makes a Task Amenable to Thinking Aloud 59 Same Task, Same Results 59 Same Task, Different Results 61 Similar Tasks, Different Results 62 Different Tasks, Different Results 63 Summary 64 3 Features that Make a Task Amenable to Think-Aloud: A Meta-Analysis of Studies Investigating the Validity of Think-Alouds on Verbal Tasks 67 Reactivity Studies in SLA 67 Leow and Morgan-Short (2004) 67 Bowles and Leow (2005) 67 Sachs and Polio (2007) 68 Sachs and Suh (2007) 69 Rossomondo (2007) 70 Bowles (2008) 70 Yoshida (2008) 71 Sanz et al. (2009) 72 Contents ix Polio and Wang (in review) 73 Synthesizing Research on Reactivity 76 Meta-Analysis 78 Identification of Studies 79 Selection Criteria 80 Inclusion Criteria 80 Exclusion Criteria 81 Coding 81 Calculation of Effect Sizes 82 Combining Effect Sizes 83 Analysis of the Homogeneity of Effect Sizes 84 Results 86 Publication Characteristics 86 Learner Characteristics 87 Effects of Type of Report on Post-Test Performance 90 Effect of Type of Report on Text Comprehension 93 Effect of Type of Report on Receptive Form Learning 94 Effect of Type of Report on Productive Form Learning 95 Effect of Type of Report on Latency 96 Effects of Language of Report on Post-Test Performance 96 Effects of Language of Report on Text Comprehension 96 Effects of Language of Report on Receptive Form Learning 97 Effects of Language of Report on Productive Form Learning 98 Effects of Language of Report on Latency 98 Effects of Language of Task on Post-Test Performance 99 Effects of Language of Task on Text Comprehension 99 Effects of Language of Task on Receptive Form Learning 99 Effects of Language of Task on Productive Form Learning 100 Effects of Language of Task on Latency 101 Effects of Type of Task on Post-Test Performance 102 Effects of Type of Task on Text Comprehension 102

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