1. Brian J English Ph.D. School of Global Studies Tama University
Reading for Writing as Reciprocal Reinforcement in Vocabulary Acquisition Global Teachers Forum August 18, 2014
Brian J English Ph.D.
School of Global Studies
Tama University

2. What is Reciprocal Reinforcement?
From Behaviorism…
People like people who make them feel good about themselves.
From Organizational Theory….
Investments trigger returns and returns trigger investment.

3. In Second Language Teaching…
Reciprocal Reinforcement is designing lessons so that comprehensible input triggers comprehensible output to build a deeper understanding of the targeted language structures.

4. Reciprocal Reinforcement of Vocabulary
Reading
(Structural Processing)
Listening
(Phonemic Processing)
Deep Process for Long-term Memory
Images
Meaningful Analysis
Associations
Collocations
Related Grammar
Writing
(Semantic Processing)
Speaking
(Semantic Processing)

5. Comprehensible Input vs Output
Input Hypothesis
i + 1
(Krashen, 1977, 1984)
Output Hypothesis
Learning takes place when learners encounter gaps in linguistic knowledge of L2.
By noticing gaps, learners become aware of them and may be able to modify output with a heightened awareness.
(Swain, 1985)

6. Reading a blueprint for building a house only provides a surface understanding for how a house is built. To deeply understand, you need to build the house.

7. Vocabulary acquisition is not a one-shot process; but rather, vocabulary acquisition is an incremental process that involves
moving from “maintenance rehearsal” to richer levels of encoding with “elaborate rehearsal”.

8. Pushed Output
“Being ‘pushed’ in output…is a concept parallel to that of the i +1 of comprehensible input. Indeed, one might call this the ‘comprehensible output’ hypothesis.” (Swain, 1985, 248-9)

9. 3 Functions of Output (Swain and Lapkin, 1995)
1. Noticing function: Learners notice what they do not know or only know partially in target language.
2. Hypothesis-testing function: The learner tests a tacit hypothesis and receives feedback from an interlocutor.
3. Metalinguistic function: Learners reflect on the language they learn, and thereby the output enables them to control and internalize linguistic knowledge. (Deep Processing)

10. Levels of Processing Shallow Processing (Short-term memory)
(from Craik and Lockhart, 1972)
Shallow Processing (Short-term memory)
1. Structural processing (appearance) encoding only the physical qualities of something  (e.g., the typeface of a word or how the letters look)
2. Phonemic processing – encoding a word’s sound
Deep Processing (Long-term Memory)
3. Semantic processing - encoding the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words with similar meaning

11. Reciprocal Reinforcement
in the form of
“Guided Output”
can lead to Deep Processing.

12. Reciprocal Reinforcement Teaching Strategies for Vocabulary Acquisition
Reinforcement through Topical Familiarity - Familiar topic of a text helps students focus their attentional resources more efficiently to the input into which the TWs are inserted:
Trip to the supermarket (low proficiency)
My room (low proficiency)
Volunteers take part in beach clean up (intermediate)

13. Reinforcement through Synonym Comparison
bad = naughty, evil, unhealthy, harmful, terrible
(low proficiency)
Interesting = stimulating, exciting, attractive, appealing, fascinating
(intermediate)
Reinforcement through Rhetorical Mode Practice
Describing a photo (low/intermediate)
Comparison and contrast (intermediate)
Cause and effect (high)

14. Conclusion
Long-term retention of new vocabulary words requires deep processing.
Deep processing is a metalinguistic function.
Metalinguistic analysis is a precursor for comprehensible output in L2.
Reciprocal reinforcement in Reading for Writing encourages Guided Output.