Representational Gestures and Tense-Aspect Improvement in L2 Grammar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/ajelp.vol5.5.2017Keywords:
input enhancement, tense-aspect, representation gestureAbstract
The English tense-aspect system is one of the most prominent and challenging areas of English language grammar for both EFL teachers and learners. The hardships in teaching and learning this system have led many researchers to look for and come up with new approaches and models for tackling them. Likewise, this study proposes representational gestures, which utilize a bunch of movements of the hands as conceptual metaphors related to time to represent the tenses and aspects of English language, as a facilitating tool for both EFL learners and teachers. Representational gestures have been devised to make up for the shortcomings of timelines. Two groups of learners participated in this study which took part in ten 45- minute intensive grammar sessions of instruction: the first group was taught the tenses and aspects through RGs. The second group, however, underwent the conventional instruction (timelines) to learn the same grammatical points. An analysis through 2- Proportion Test revealed that the first group outperformed the second regarding tense/aspect use in a number of ways.
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References
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Brooks-Lewis, K. A. (2009). Adult learners’ perceptions of the incorporation of their L1 in foreign language teaching and learning. Applied Linguistics, 30(2), 216-235.
Doughty, C. J. (1991). Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence from an empirical study of SL relativization. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(4), 431–469.
Hall, J. K., & Smotrova, T. (2013). Teacher self-talk: Interactional resource for managing instruction and eliciting empathy. Journal of Pragmatics, 47, 75–92. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.017
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Jourdenais, R. (1998). The effects of textual enhancement on the acquisition of the Spanish preterit and imperfect. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
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Nunez, R., & 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, 401–450.
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Rosborough, A. A. (2011). Gesture as an act of meaning-making: An ecosocial perspective of a sheltered-English second grade classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Schmidt, R. (1995). Consciousness and foreign language learning: A tutorial on the role of attention and awareness in language learning. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 1–63). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
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Sharwood Smith, M. (1993). Input enhancement in instructed SLA: Theoretical bases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(2), 165–179.
Shook, D. (1994). FL/L2 Reading, grammatical information, and the input to intake phenomenon. Applied Language Learning, 5(2), 57-93.
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Smotrova, T. (2014). Instructional functions of speech and gesture in the L2 classroom.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Sueyoshi, A., & Hardison, D. M. (2005). The role of gestures and facial cues in second language
listening comprehension. Language Learning, 55(4), 661–699. doi:10.1111/j.0023- 8333.2005.00320.x
Svalberg, A. (1986). Teaching tense and aspect: A systematic approach. ELT Journal, 40(2),136-145.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some rules of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass, & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235–53). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Torralbo, A., Santiago, J., & Lupi´a˜nez, J. (2006). Flexible conceptual projection of time onto spatial frames of reference. Cognitive Science, 30(4), 745–757. doi:10.1207/s15516709cog0000_67
Van Compernolle, R. A., & Smotrova, T. (2014). Corrective feedback, gesture, and mediation in classroom language learning. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 1, 25–47. doi:10.1558/71056194384
Van Patten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction: Theory and research. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Wang, W., & Loewen, S. (2015). Nonverbal behavior and corrective feedback in nine ESL university-level classrooms. Language Teaching Research. Published online March 24, 2015. doi:10.1177/1362168815577239
White, J. (1998). Getting the learners’ attention: A typographical input enhancement study. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.) (1998).Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zhao, J. (2007). Metaphors and gestures for abstract concepts in academic English writing.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Allen, L. Q. (2000). Nonverbal accommodations in foreign language teacher talk. Applied Language Learning, 11, 155–176.
Bavelas, J., Gerwing, J., Suttton, C., & Prevost, D. (2008). Gesturing on the telephone: Independent effects of dialogue and visibility. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 495–520. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2007.02.004
Belhiah, H. (2013). Using the hand to choreograph instruction: On the functional role of gesture in definition talk. The Modern Language Journal, 97(2), 417–434. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12012.x
Boroditsky, L. (2011). How languages construct time. In S. Dehaene & E. Brannon (Eds.), Space, time and number in the brain: Searching for the foundations of mathematical thought (pp.333–341). London: Elsevier.
Boroditsky, L., Fuhrman, O., & McCormick, K. (2011). Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently? Cognition, 118(1), 123–129.
Brooks-Lewis, K. A. (2009). Adult learners’ perceptions of the incorporation of their L1 in foreign language teaching and learning. Applied Linguistics, 30(2), 216-235.
Doughty, C. J. (1991). Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence from an empirical study of SL relativization. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(4), 431–469.
Hall, J. K., & Smotrova, T. (2013). Teacher self-talk: Interactional resource for managing instruction and eliciting empathy. Journal of Pragmatics, 47, 75–92. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.017
Hudson, A. (2011). Teacher gesture in a post-secondary English as a second language classroom:
A sociocultural approach. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Johnson, K. (1996). Language teaching and skill learning. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Jourdenais, R. (1998). The effects of textual enhancement on the acquisition of the Spanish preterit and imperfect. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krashen, S., & Tracy D. T. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Oxford: Pergamon.
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1981). Conceptual metaphor in everyday language. In M. Johnson (Ed.), Philosophical perspectives on metaphor (pp. 286-325). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Lantolf, J. P., & Thorne, S. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lapkin, S., Hart, D., & Swain, M. (1991). Early and middle French immersion programs: Frenchlanguage
outcomes. Canadian Modern Language Review, 48(1), 11–40.
Lazaraton, A. (2004). Gesture and speech in the vocabulary explanations of one ESL teacher: A microanalytic inquiry. Language Learning, 54(1), 79–117. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00249.
Lee, N., & Huang, Y. Y. (2004). To be or not to be – the variable use of the verb be in the interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese Children. RELC Journal 35(2), 211-228.
Leow, R. (2001). Do learners notice enhanced forms while interacting with the L2? An online and offline study of the role of written input enhancement in L2 reading. Hispania, 84, 496–509.
Maley A., & Peachy N. (2015). Creativity in the English language classroom. London: British Council.
Matsumoto, Y. & Dobs A. M. (2016). Pedagogical gestures as interactional resources for teaching and learning tense and aspect in the ESL grammar classroom. Language Learning, 67(1), 1-36. DOI: 10.1111/lang.12181
McCafferty & G. Stam. (Eds.). (2002). Gesture: Second language acquisition and classroom research (pp. 185–210). New York: Routledge.
McNeill, D., & Duncan, S. D. (2000). Growth points in thinking-for-speaking. In D. McNeill (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 141–161). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nakatsukasa, K. (2013). Efficacy of gestures and recasts on the acquisition of L2 grammar. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Nassaji, H. and Fotos, S. (2011). Teaching grammar in second language classroom. New York: Routledge.
Nunez, R., & 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, 401–450.
Peltier, I. N. & McCafferty S. G. (2010). Gesture and identity in the teaching and learning Italian. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 17(4), 331–349. doi:10.1080/10749030903362699
Richards, J. C. (2002). Accuracy and Fluency Revisited. In E. Hinkel, & S. Fotos (Eds.). New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms (pp. 35–50). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Robinson, P. (1997). Generalizability and automaticity of second language learning under implicit, incidental, enhanced, and instructed conditions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 223–247.
Rosborough, A. A. (2011). Gesture as an act of meaning-making: An ecosocial perspective of a sheltered-English second grade classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Schmidt, R. (1995). Consciousness and foreign language learning: A tutorial on the role of attention and awareness in language learning. In R. Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp. 1–63). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–32). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sharwood Smith, M. (1991). Speaking to many minds: On the relevance of different types of language information for the L2 learner. Second Language Research, 7(2), 118-132.
Sharwood Smith, M. (1993). Input enhancement in instructed SLA: Theoretical bases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(2), 165–179.
Shook, D. (1994). FL/L2 Reading, grammatical information, and the input to intake phenomenon. Applied Language Learning, 5(2), 57-93.
Sime, D. (2008). “Because of her gesture, it’s very easy to understand”: Learner’s perceptions of teacher’s gestures in the foreign language class. In S. G. McCafferty & G. Stam (Eds.),Gesture in second language acquisition and classroom research (pp. 259–279). London: Routledge.
Smotrova, T. (2014). Instructional functions of speech and gesture in the L2 classroom.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Sueyoshi, A., & Hardison, D. M. (2005). The role of gestures and facial cues in second language
listening comprehension. Language Learning, 55(4), 661–699. doi:10.1111/j.0023- 8333.2005.00320.x
Svalberg, A. (1986). Teaching tense and aspect: A systematic approach. ELT Journal, 40(2),136-145.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some rules of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass, & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235–53). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Torralbo, A., Santiago, J., & Lupi´a˜nez, J. (2006). Flexible conceptual projection of time onto spatial frames of reference. Cognitive Science, 30(4), 745–757. doi:10.1207/s15516709cog0000_67
Van Compernolle, R. A., & Smotrova, T. (2014). Corrective feedback, gesture, and mediation in classroom language learning. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 1, 25–47. doi:10.1558/71056194384
Van Patten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction: Theory and research. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Wang, W., & Loewen, S. (2015). Nonverbal behavior and corrective feedback in nine ESL university-level classrooms. Language Teaching Research. Published online March 24, 2015. doi:10.1177/1362168815577239
White, J. (1998). Getting the learners’ attention: A typographical input enhancement study. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.) (1998).Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zhao, J. (2007). Metaphors and gestures for abstract concepts in academic English writing.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson.
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Published
2017-11-28
How to Cite
Yousefzadeh, M., & Aghajanzadeh, M. (2017). Representational Gestures and Tense-Aspect Improvement in L2 Grammar. AJELP: Asian Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 5, 46–67. https://doi.org/10.37134/ajelp.vol5.5.2017
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