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EXPLORING THE INTERFACE

Explicit Focus-on-Form Instruction and Learned Attentional Biases in L2 Latin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2015

Myrna Cintrón-Valentín  and
Nick C. Ellis
Myrna Cintrón-Valentín*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Nick C. Ellis
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Myrna Cintrón-Valentín, Department of Psychology, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. E-mail: mcintron@umich.edu
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Abstract

Eye-tracking was used to investigate the attentional processes whereby different types of focus on form (FonF) instruction assist learners in overcoming learned attention and blocking effects in their online processing of second language input. English native speakers viewed Latin utterances combining lexical and morphological cues to temporality under control conditions and three types of explicit FonF: verb grammar instruction, verb salience with textual enhancement, and verb pretraining. Chinese native speakers were also tested on control and verb grammar conditions. All groups participated in three phases: exposure, comprehension test, and production test. Verb grammar participants viewed a short lesson on Latin tense morphology prior to exposure. Verb salience participants saw the verb inflections highlighted in bold and red during exposure. Verb pretraining participants took part in an additional introductory phase in which they were presented with solitary verb forms and were trained on their English translations. Instructed participants showed greater sensitivity to morphological cues in comprehension and production. Eye-tracking revealed how FonF affects learners’ attention during online processing and thus modulates long-term blocking of verb morphology.

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Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 37 , Special Issue 2: New Directions in the Study of Implicit and Explicit Learning , June 2015 , pp. 197 - 235
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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