Rebecca J. Adams

• University of Memphis

Since an important role for working memory has been found in the first language acquisition (e.g., Daneman, 1991; Daneman & Green, 1986; Waters & Caplan, 1996), research on the role of working memory is emerging as an area of concern for second language acquisition (e.g.). The present study focused on the role of working memory capacity in the deve...

This volume contributes to the development and advancement of TBLT as a research domain by investigating the intersection between tasks and technology from a variety of theoretical perspectives (e.g., educational, cognitive, sociocultural) and by gathering empirical findings on the design and implementation of diverse tasks for writing, interaction...

Conversational interaction studies have typically focused either on second language (L2) learners participating in native speaker–nonnative speaker (NS–NNS) dyads or in NNS–NNS dyads. This study analyzes the task-based interactions of 26 naturally occurring learner dyads in an intermediate-level, university Spanish language classroom, 13 of which w...

The book seeks to enlarge the theoretical scope, research agenda, and practices associated with TBLT in a two-way dynamic, by exploring how insights from writing might reconfigure our understanding of tasks and, in turn, how work associated with TBLT might benefit the learning and teaching of writing. In order to enrich the domain of task and to ad...

Peer Interaction and Second Language Learning synthesizes the existing body of research on the role of peer interaction in second language learning in one comprehensive volume. In spite of the many hours that language learners spend interacting with peers in the classroom, there is a tendency to evaluate the usefulness of this time by comparison to...

Prior work by Mackey et al (2001) and Trofimovich et al (2007) implicates the role of working memory (WM) in learning from interactional feedback. This study sought to determine whether there is a relationship between WM and phonological short-term memory (PSTM) on the one hand and modified output on the other. 44 L1 Persian EFL learners participat...

This survey gives an overview of research into language teaching and learning in New Zealand over a five-year period, including the context of that research. The majority of New Zealanders are monolingual English speakers, yet the country faces complex linguistic challenges arising from its bicultural foundations and the multicultural society it ha...

While the use of retrospective verbalizations has increased in second language interaction research (e.g., Egi, 2010; Kim & Han, 2007; Mackey, 2006; Tocalli- Beller & Swain, 2007), limited evidence exists about their reactivity (Egi, 2008; Lindgren & Sullivan, 2003) and in particular about metalinguistic verbalizations, which may lead to deeper p...

Research on interactional feedback has typically focused on feedback learners receive from native speakers (i.e., NS-learner contexts). However, for many second language (L2) learners, the majority of their opportunities to engage in interaction occur with other learners (i.e., learner-learner contexts). The literature has suggested that feedback i...

This chapter examines the effects of task complexity [± reasoning demands] on modified output and the relationship between output modifications and L2 development. Seventy-nine adult English as a Second Language learners were divided into two groups: (1) low reasoning demands; and (2) high reasoning demands; and engaged in two sets of tasks which t...

This study compares integrated and isolated form-focused instruction for vocabulary development in an English as a second language (ESL) reading lesson. Two classes of ESL learners (N = 20) from a university preparation academic English course were involved in the study. Each class did two reading treatments in which they read an article and studie...

This study examines the relationship between learners' production of modified output and their working memory (WM) capacity. The task-based interactions of 42 college-level, native English-speaking learners of Spanish as a foreign language were examined. A relationship was found between learners' WM test scores and their tendency to modify output....

Task-based language teaching has been advocated as a means of promoting learning through learner interactions in the classroom. However, characteristics of the design and implementation of communicative tasks have been shown to influence learner orientation to form. One task characteristic that may affect learner attention to form, modality, is exa...

The purpose of this review is to give a comparative overview of current listservs for applied linguistics researchers, with particular focus on their relevance to research on second language acquisition and use. Six listservs, based in different locations and targeted at different general audiences were selected and monitored for a simonth period....

This study is a replication and extension of Swain and Lapkin's (in press) study of the developmental effects of learners noticing differences between their own and native speaker output. In their study, task repetition, noticing and participation in stimulated recalls were all factors that might have contributed to more targetlike usage in subsequ...

Learning to read in English is difficult for adult English language learners. Teachers know that their learners come from diverse backgrounds, have different experiences with literacy in their first languages, and have various reasons for learning English. They also know that there is no simple recipe to help their students become proficient reader...

This annotated bibliography was developed to present a comprehensive view of the research conducted on reading development among adult English language learners in the United States in the past 20 years. Articles included were selected through searches of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC, U.S. Department of Education), Modern Lang...

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Linguistics, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-124).