Teaching Difficult-to-Learn Items: Findings from JFL Learners

Speaker: 

Dr. Kyoko Masuda

Associate Professor

School of Modern Languages

Description:

This empirical study analyzes students' recorded verbalization or 'languaging' (Swain 2006) while working in pairs with difficult polysemous Japanese particles 'ni' and 'de', translated as 'in', 'on' and 'at' in English. These items were presented through wordless image schemata that require conceptualization instead of rule-learning. We found that the more complex 'languaging' utilized, the higher the retention. After 4 weeks, only small losses were measured. When student perception, comments and 'languaging' are examined together, one can determine how wordless schematic diagrams as well as carefully-designed pair work activities reveal effects on student progress and longer retention.