The Effects of Written Feedback On ESL Writers’ Ability To Edit Word Choice Errors

Larysa Bobrova

Abstract


This study examines whether indirect written corrective feedback (CF) can enable 45 ESL writers with intermediate language proficiency to self-edit word choice errors classified as conceptual. Using a pre- and immediate post-test design, the study compares the effects of indirect CF under two conditions: errors are marked and coded without (1) and with metalinguistic explanation and (2) with two types of metalinguistic explanation: traditional and cognitive. Accuracy of word choice is measured in a new piece of writing. The results indicate that (1) CF with metalinguistic explanation is more useful than that without explanation (the control group) and (2) cognitive explanation (the cognitive group) appears to be significantly more effective than one drawn on the traditional account of language (the traditional group). The findings suggest that, when the CF attends to word choice errors as conceptual by addressing the mismatch between L2 forms and their conceptual content structured through cognitive frames and conceptual metaphors, ESL student writers are likely to make correct assumptions about syntagmatic connections of L2 words and correct more erroneous words in their L2 writing than when they are exposed to the feedback that approaches word choice errors as simply lexical and focuses on form-form mismatches.


Keywords


Feedback, Word choice error, Metaphor, Cognitive frame

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abbuhl, R. J. (2005). The effect of feedback and instruction on writing quality: Legal writing and advanced L2 learners. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1998). Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bitchener, J. (2008). Evidence in support of written corrective feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 102–118.

Bitchener, J. & Knoch, U. (2010). Raising the linguistic accuracy level of advanced L2 writers with written corrective feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 19, 207–217. doi: 10.1016/j.jslw.2010.10.002

Bitchener, J., Young, S., & Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14(3), 191–205.

Boers, F. (2000). Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics, 21(4), 553-571.

Boers, F. (2001). Remembering figurative idioms by hypothesizing about their origin. Prospect, 16(3), 34–43.

Boers, B. & Demechelleer, M. (1998). A cognitive semantic approach to teaching prepositions. ELT Journal, 52(3), 197-204.

Boers, F., Demecheleer, M., & Eyckmans, J. (2004). Etymological elaboration as a strategy for learning idioms. In P. Boggards & B. Laufer (Eds.), Vocabulary in a second language: Selection, acquisition and testing (pp. 53–78). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Boers, F., & Lindstromberg, S. (2008). Structural elaboration by the sound (and feel) of it. In F. Boers & S. Lindstromberg (Eds.), Cognitive linguistic approaches to teaching vocabulary and phraseology (pp. 329–353). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.

Boroditsky, L. & Gaby, A. (2010). Remembrance of times East: absolute spatial representations of time in an Australian aboriginal community. Psychological Science, 21, 1635-9.

Bowerman, M. & Choi, S. (2003). Space under construction: language- specific spatial categorization in first language acquisition, in D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.), Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought (pp. 387-428). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Caballero Rodriguez, M. (2003). How to talk shop through metaphor: bringing metaphor research to the ESP classroom. English for Specific Purposes, 22(2), 177–194.

Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary: Applied linguistics perspectives (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

Chandler, J. (2003). The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(3), 267–296.

Charteris-Black, J., & Ennis, T. (2001). A comparative study of metaphor in Spanish and English financial reporting. English for Specific Purposes, 20(3), 249–266.

Cho, S. (1994). Metaphor and cultural coherence: A comparative study of Korean and English metaphors. The Journal of Studies in Language, 10, 197-207.

Chun, L. (2002). A cognitive approach to Up/Down metaphors in English and Shang/Xia metaphors in Chinese. In Altenberg, B. & Granger, S. (Eds.), Lexis in contrast: Corpus-based approaches (pp. 151-174). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company.

Csábi, S. (2004). A cognitive linguistic view of polysemy in English and its implications for teaching. In M. Achard & S. Niemeier (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching (pp. 233–256). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.

Danesi, M. (2003). Second language teaching. A view from the right side of the brain. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Danesi, M. (2016). Conceptual Fluency in Second Language Teaching: An Overview of Problems, Issues, Research Findings, and Pedagogy. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 5(1), 145-153.

Danesi, M. & Grieve, C. (2010). Conceptual error theory and the teaching of Italian. Italica, 87, 1-20.

Davies, M. (2008-) The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): 520 million words, 1990-present. Available online at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/.

Ellis, R., Loewen, S., & Erlam, R. (2006). Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 339–368.

Ellis, R., Sheen, Y., Murakami, M., & Takashima, H. (2008). The effects of focused and unfocused written corrective feedback in an English as a foreign language context. System, 36, 353–371.

Evans, V. & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive linguistics: An introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Elrbaum.

Ferris, D. R. (1999). The case for grammar correction in L2 writing classes. A response to Truscott (1996). Journal of Second Language Writing, 8, 1–10.

Ferris, D. R. (2002). Treatment of error in second language student writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Ferris, D. R. (2006). Does error feedback help student writers? New evidence on the short- and long-term effects of written error correction. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Ed.), Feedback in second language writing (pp. 81–104). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ferris, D. Liu, H., Sinha, & A., Senna, M. (2013). Written corrective feedback for individual L2 writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22, 307–329.

Ferris, D. R., & Roberts, B. (2001). Error feedback in L2 writing classes: How explicit does it need to be? Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 161–184.

Fillmore, Ch. (1975). An Alternative to Checklist Theories of Meaning. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 123-131.

Fillmore, Ch. (1985). Frames and the semantics of understanding. Quaderni di Semantica, 6, 222–54.

Fillmore, Ch., & Atkins, B. T. (1992). Toward a frame-based lexicon: the semantics of RISK and its neighbors, in A. Lehrer & E. F. Kittay (Eds.), Frames, Fields and Contrasts (pp. 75-102). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Fillmore, C., & Baker, C. (2012). A Frames Approach to Semantic Analysis. In Oxford Handbooks Online. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199544004.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199544004-e-013.

Hama, M. (2005). The effects of the minilesson on advanced learners’ acquisition of English modals: A case study. (Unpublished manuscript). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

Han, Z.-H. (2002). A study of the impact of recasts on tense consistency in L2 output. TESOL Quarterly, 36(4), 543-572.

Hillocks, G. (1986). Research on written composition: New directions for teaching. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills.

Holme, R. (2009). Cognitive Linguistics and Language Teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Huong, N. T. (2005). Vietnamese learners mastering English articles. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.

James, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use. White Plains, NY: Addison-Wesley Longman.

Jarvis, S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. Routledge.

Jiang, N. (2002). Form-meaning mapping in vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 617-37.

Kathpalia, S., & Heah, L. (2011). Metaphorical competence in ESL student writing. RELC Journal, 42(3), 273-290.

Kövecses, Z. (2001). A cognitive linguistic view of learning idioms in an EFL context. In M. Pütz, S. Niemeier, & R. Dirven (Eds.), Applied cognitive linguistics II: Language pedagogy (pp. 87–115). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.

Kövecses, Z. (2005). Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kovecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford University Press.

Lakoff, G., Espenson, J., & Schwartz, A. (1991). Master Metaphor List. (Draft 2nd Edition.) Berkeley. CA.: Cognitive Linguistics Group, University of California at Berkeley.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Laufer, B. and Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22, 1-26.

Laufer, B., & Waldman, T. (2011). Verb–noun collocations in second language writing: corpus analysis of learners’ English. Language Learning, 61, 647-72.

Lennon, P. (1991). Error and the very advanced learner. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 31–44.

Lindstromberg, S., & Boers, F. (2005). Means of mass memorization of multi-word expressions. Part one: The power of sound patterns. Humanising Language Teaching, 7(1).

Littlemore, J. (2009). Applying cognitive linguistics to second language learning and teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Littlemore, J., & Juchem-Grundmann, C. (2010). Introduction to the interplay between cognitive linguistics and second language learning and teaching. AILA Review, 23(1), 1-6.

MacArthur, F. (2010). Metaphorical competence in EFL: Where are we and where should we be going? A view from the language classroom. AILA Review, 23(1), 155–173.

Matsuki, K. (1995). Metaphors of anger in Japanese. In Taylor, J. R. & MacLaury, R. (Eds.), Language in the cognitive construal of the world (pp. 137-151) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Meara, P. M., & Wolter, B. (2004). V_Links: Beyond vocabulary depth. Angles on the English speaking world, 4, 85-96.

Nesselhauf, N. (2005). Collocations in a learner corpus. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Núñez, R. E., & Sweetser, E. (2006). With the future behind them: Convergent evidence from Aymara language and gesture in the crosslinguistic comparison of spatial construals of time. Cognitive science, 30(3), 401-450.

Ortega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Peters, E. (2016). The learning burden of collocations: The role of interlexical and intralexical factors. Language Teaching Research, 20(1), 113-138.

Pavlenko, A. (1998). SLA and acculturation: Conceptual transfer in L2 learners’ narratives. In Annual AAAL Conference, Seattle, WA., March.

Robb, T., Ross, & S., Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83–93.

Russo, G. A. (1997). A conceptual fluency framework for the teaching of Italian as a second language. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Toronto, University of Toronto.

Scott. (2007-2017). Online Word Counter. Retrieved April 17, 2017, fromhttp://www.textfixer.com/tools/online-word-counter.php#newText2

Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 10, 209–231.

Sharoff, S. (2006). Creating general-purpose corpora using automated search engine queries. In Marco Baroni and Silvia Bernardini, editors, WaCk y! Working papers on the Web as Corpus. Gedit, Bologna.

Sheen, Y. (2007). The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language aptitude on ESL learners’ acquisition of articles. TESOL Quarterly, 41, 255–283.

Sheen, Y. (2008). Recasts, language anxiety, modified output and L2 learning. Language Learning, 58, 835–874.

Sheen, Y. (2010). Differential effects of oral and written corrective feedback in the ESL classroom. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 203–234.

Schmidt, R. (1994). Deconstructing consciousness in search of useful definitions for applied linguistics. AILA Review, 11, 11-26.

Sweetser, Eve (1990) From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Talmy, L. (1988), Force Dynamics in Language and Cognition. Cognitive Science, 12: 49–100.

Tyler, A. (2008). Cognitive linguistics and second language instruction. Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition, 456-488.

Tyler, A. (2012). Cognitive linguistics and second language learning: theoretical basics and experimental evidence. New York: Routledge.

Tyler, A., Mueller, C. M., & Ho, V. (2010). Applying cognitive linguistics to instructed to L2 learning: The English modals. AILA Review, 23, 30-49.

Tyler, A., Mueller, Ch., & Ho, V. (2011). Applying cognitive linguistics to learning the semantics of English to, for and at: An experimental investigation. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8, 181-205.

Webber, P. (1993). Writing medical articles: a discussion of common errors made by L2 authors and some particular features of discourse. UNESCO-ALSED LSP Newsletter, 15(2), 38–49.

Wolter, B. (2001). Comparing the L1 and L2 mental lexicon: A depth of individual word knowledge model. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 49-69.

Wolter, B. (2006). Lexical network structures and L2 vocabulary acquisition: The role of L1 lexical/conceptual knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 27, 741-747.

Yu, N. (1995). Metaphorical expressions of anger and happiness in English and Chinese. Metaphor and symbol, 10(2), 59-92.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.3p.1

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2012-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. 

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the journal emails into your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.