The Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics is pleased to present:

“The Effect of Instruction on L2 Learners’ Interactional Competence:
Listener Responses in Chinese as a Second Language”

with Wei Wang, Ph.D.
University of Houston

Abstract

This study investigates whether classroom instruction is effective in promoting L2 Chinese learners’ interactional competence (IC) as indexed by learners’ use of listener responses (LRs). LR refers to a response produced by a non-primary speaker, which provides information about how the just-prior utterances were understood by the listener.

Six types of LRs are examined in this study:

a) response particle such as o, a, en
b) reactive expression, e.g. dui ‘right’, shi ma ‘really’
c) repetition
d) assessment
e) tying expression
f) follow-up action

This study takes a quasi-experiment design, with an Experimental Group (n=17) receiving a semester-long IC instruction including LRs and a Control Group (n=11) with no IC instruction. All learners were asked to video-tape two unscripted conversations with a same L1 interlocutor, one at midterm and one at semester-end. Comparing the two groups’ changes in LR frequency, statistical tests reveal that they differ significantly in reactive expression and follow-up action; no significant effect is observed in the other four LRs. Subsequent qualitative analyses, guided by the conversation analysis framework, discover that LRs produced by the Experimental Group display increased linguistic complexity and variety as well as heightened sensitivity to intersubjectivity. The quantitative and qualitative evidence combined points to a likely positive effect of classroom instruction on L2 Chinese learners’ IC development as indexed by their use of LRs.

Join us for this special research talk on Tuesday, February 13th at 10:00 am!