MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 1 Douglas Paul Margolis University of Hawai’i Department of Second Language Studies

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 2 “Nick, what is the past participle of the verb to ring?” “What do you think it is, Sir?” “I don’t think. I KNOW!” “I don’t think I know either, Sir!” Nick: Nick: Teacher: Teacher: Ugh!

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 3 Skehan, 1998 Immersion studiesImmersion studies Privilege of fluency over accuracyPrivilege of fluency over accuracy Compensation Strategies should be avoided in TBLTCompensation Strategies should be avoided in TBLT

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 4 Rote memorization study Grammar Translation / synthetic syllabus Study for tests, not communication Difficulty moving from accuracy to fluency Error avoidance tendencies Little experience with TBLT

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 5 Compensation strategies (Oxford, 1990)  active,  conscious techniques  students can adopt and teachers can teach,  to compensate for gaps in linguistic and lexical knowledge in the target language.

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 6 1.Survey (Based on Oxford’s SILL) 2.37 comp. strats / 5 self assess ability items (see handout) 3.10 Universities (100 Ss each) 4.Identify most/least used by comparing means Research Questions 1. To which compensation strategies do Korean EFL university students most/least resort? 2.Does student English proficiency level affect compensation strategy utilization?

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 7 Korean EFL university students Age range: (majority 21-24) Gender: Female 60% Male 40% School Locations: Seoul 42% Urban (not Seoul) 28% Rural 30%

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 8 StrategyMeanSD 1 st Guess meaning from context nd Find clues to meaning in other parts rd Replace unknown word with synonym or similar word th Guess meaning from gestures or expressions th Avoid difficult grammar th Circumlocute

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 9 StrategyMeanSD 1 st Brainstorm words in a topic before writing nd Use approximations like /p/ for /f/ rd Write heard words to help guess meaning th Coin words when you can’t remember one th Ask speaker to repeat w/ diff words or expression th Use an antonym to ask for an unknown word

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 10 Three types of strategies hypothesized: 1) Rising (Increase use as ability increases) 2) Falling (Decrease use as ability increases) 3) Horizontal (Relatively no change related to ability) Principal component analysis Varimax rotation, 3 components Cumulative 31.90% of the variance. Saved as regression factor scores

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 11 Component 1 (Rising, negotiation) Component 2 (Rising, achievement, guessing) Component 3 (Falling, reduction, breakdown) 32, 21, 14, 13, 31, 33, 19, 11, 23, 12, 26, 18, 20 8, 9, 6, 16, 28, 15, 34, 10, 24 38, 37, 40, 29, 28, 25, 30, 27 Interaction oriented Interlocutor assistance Reception orientedSpeaking oriented

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 12 Three types of strategies seem distinguished. Comparisons of factor scores by ability levels reveals the rising and falling patterns. There is a significant difference in strategy use at differing ability levels. Korean EFL learners in this study most used a guessing from context strategy and least used brainstorming strategies in writing.

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 13 Self reports (not clear evidence of behavior) Causal connection remains unclear The difference in range between most used and least used strategy mean = 1.67 Restricted range of the 5 pt. Likert Scale

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 14 1.Teach students rising strategies 2.Encourage students to avoid falling strategies 3.In Korea, TBLT may require compensation strategy training to help students overcome fears of error. 4.Clarification requests and confirmation checks may be more appropriate feedback types in Korean TBLT context. 5.As student communication ability increases, the types of strategies they use appear to change whether or not strategy training is implemented.

MargolisTBLT 2005Slide 15 Douglas Margolis Department of Second Language Studies University of Hawai’i