2023 Winter Research Program

Project title: 

Potential impact of learner background factors on their communication in a second language - Part 2

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

36 hours per week for 4 weeks

Except occasional face-to-face meetings, the work can be done mostly remotely.

Description:

This project is the second stage of a large project investigating how the speakers’ first language and other background factors may impact on their second language development through group activities.

Implementing task-based language teaching, a large volume of studies has considered how variables such as task type, learner characteristics (e.g., proficiency, working memory), and contextual factors (e.g., second vs foreign language setting) may impact the overall quality/quantity of task-based interaction (e.g., Ellis, et al. 2019). Despite the wealth of the literature, it is relatively unknown how learner backgrounds associated with their L1, such as their learning experience, the culture of learning and their L1 communication style, may contribute to the characteristics of the interaction. Different learning contexts originated in different education systems, and the focus on the curriculum may moderate what learners attend to during interaction. Further, learners may approach tasks and interactions based on a culture of learning in their learning context and their L1 communication style. Considering these issues, the proposed project will explore a link between varied learner backgrounds and characteristics of the interaction by conducting a systematic literature review and analysing the data collected in the previous summer project.

Week 1-2: Literature review

Week 3-4: Data analyses and write up for preliminary analyses

Expected outcomes and deliverables:

Student Scholars will have an opportunity to gain skills in research in the areas of role of learner-learner interaction in second language acquisition. More specifically, they will have an opportunity to: 1) be introduced or expand their understanding of the field; 2) be trained for critical analyses of the relevant literature; 3) gain skills required for pilot data collection and analysis and 4) write up preliminary analyses.  Student Scholars will work closely with the supervisor through all stages of the project.

Suitable for:

Have honours/postgraduate-level training in Applied Linguistics or equivalent.

Good proficiency of one of the speakers’ languages in the spoken data (e.g., Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese)

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Noriko Iwashita

Further info:

For initial enquiries, please contact Dr Noriko Iwashita (n.iwashita@uq.edu.au).