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NCELP�Meaningful practice �

Half-Day CPE

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Emma Marsden

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Structure of the session

The role of practice in learning (Skill Acquisition)
Meaningful practice: Definitions, Rationales and Principles
Examples of research about practice
NCELP resources

Inflectional morphology

French regular ‘-ER’
French imparfait (habitual)

Syntax

French wh-questions
German verb 2^nd
Spanish object pronouns

Creating materials and ideas for MP
Reflecting on TRGs to date and planning for MP TRG

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

Please also remind the teachers that “Accessing meaning from rich texts” will be the focus of CPD in autumn / spring

Suggested timings”

Part 1: Learning theory. 5 minutes absolute max– the aim is to get terminology of these theoretical constructs straight

Part 2: Definitions, Rationales and Principles. This is a series of five key principles, plus time for discussion of the handouts, including reading the No Go Pedagogy document. Max 30 minutes on this. So up to here – there are 20 slides and 40 minutes – so 2 mins per slide.

Part 3: Examples of classroom research about practice. Give a couple of key points about each, and offer the teachers some time to reflect on them. They might come up with interesting critiques of the methods etc. That’s ok and what it’s all about. Each one of the summaries is linked to the resources we then present. Max 25 mins. Max 5 minutes per summary. Or, if that feels rushed, you could ask the teachers to choose their three favourite summaries and just focus on those. See how the time is doing when you get there.

Part 4: NCELP resources. Bulk of the time on this. Up to one hour 15 mins. Allow some time for really digesting. Some are long sequences that you can talk through. But for others, please note, we will be showing some resources without their preceding more controlled sequences. We want to give you a wider taste of different kinds of activities, that are a bit freer, and could be sufficiently challenging for pupils in year 8 or 9 (or 10 even, for some learners). We are working to create the more controlled sequences that build up to the freer ones we present here.

Part 5: Creating opportunities for MP in your classes. Allow up to 25 mins. There might be some really interesting issues here, which align with or challenge the ideas.

Part 6: Reflecting back (10 mins) and planning ahead (10 mins). That’s exactly 3 hours!

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Part 1) Learning theories about the role and nature of practice

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Where does practice sit in the instructed learning process? �Skill acquisition theory (information processing theory)

Practice with control, with awareness.

Errors happen, speed is variable

Practice requires less awareness

Less error, faster and there is LESS VARIABILITY in speed.

Declarative knowledge may be lost.

Procedural knowledge

Declarative knowledge

Automatised knowledge

automatisation

proceduralisation

Emma Marsden

DeKeyser (2015 & 2017)

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Examples of declarative knowledge? The letters ai are pronounced ‘ai’ in French; To say you do something to yourself in Spanish, you use ‘me’ before the verb; Knowledge that the sound string ‘habe’ means ‘have’; If you see the ending ‘aron’ in Spanish, it means more than one person/thing completed something in the past.

�It is important to understand that declarative knowledge is a type of representation in the mind – a type of memory. � - One advantage of declarative knowledge is that it is transferable – it can be used in different contexts and it can contribute to the start of the development process for acquiring a range of skills (e.g. knowledge what ‘ai’ means can be practised in a range of ways, and so feed into the development of knowledge that is useful for different modes and modalities, such as speech, writing, listening). � - One disadvantage is that it is prone to quite rapid decay – it does not reliably stay in the form that it was stored in for very long. The other problem is that, alone, it doesn’t provide the ‘useful’ knowledge that allows people do actually ‘do’ something with that knowledge.

�For that, we need to create some ‘procedural’ knowledge, so that learners can actually do something - such as, in the case of learning a foreign language, understand or produce some language. �So, learners need to do something with the declarative knowledge, over and over, so that they create this new type of knowledge - procedural knowledge. Now, procedural knowledge is much less transferable – it is most useful in the particular context or domain in which it is being practised. It is also variable – it can take different amounts of time to access it, it can be error-prone.

�Once the procedural knowledge has been activated more, then a new type of knowledge is created – automatized knowledge. This is less prone to decay and it requires (less) conscious awareness; it can be accessed at greater speeds and with less variability. Sometimes the declarative knowledge that was involved at the start is completely forgotten.

�This model of learning does not describe all learning phenomena: some learning in our lives happens implicitly, without awareness, such as learning most aspects of our first language or learning to walk!. But this model is a very useful account for most aspects of learning a foreign language where there is limited exposure to the language and where most learning happens after infancy when we are becoming ‘conscious’ learners; all characteristics of foreign language learning in the UK. The model emphasizes the need for repeated practice, on small bodies of knowledge.

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NEW knowledge type established via spaced practice

Practice 🡪 declarative knowledge gets ‘chunked’ 🡪 more accessible

= precursor to automatised knowledge

Frequent and spaced practice: Guiding principles

Frequent enough to prevent forgetting
Spaced enough so recall is challenging for your learners, for that feature
Spaced in planned ways to ensure re-visiting happens
NCELP currently working on incorporating four ‘broad types’ of re-visiting:

More immediate 3-7 days;
Mid-spaced 3-4 weeks;
More spaced 9-12 weeks;
Longer term (annual & over the years).

(Bird, 2010; Kasprowicz & Marsden 2019; Rogers, 2015 & 2017; Suzuki 2018; Suzuki & DeKeyser, 2017)

Emma Marsden

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TO RECAP: It is very important to understand that declarative knowledge doesn’t get "turned into" proceduralised or automatized knowledge – they are different types of knowledge. �That is, practice lets us make something different, that draws on the declarative knowledge! But the new knowledge types (proceduralised, and then hopefully automatized knowledge) are easier to access, more ready to ’grab’.

�SPACING – how often do we need to re-visit language?!

This is only a recent area of research, and there is not a huge amount available that is directly relevant to language learning. �There is enough research for NCELP to give guiding principles. Practice needs to be:

- Frequent enough to prevent forgetting

- Spaced enough so recall is challenging for your learners, for that language feature

- Space in planned ways to ensure re-visiting happens��HANDOUT 3: NCELP Schemes of work (KS3) rationale and principles (DRAFT)�Note: This document is a draft but we think it’s helpful to share it, here, as there is obviously a keen interest in knowing more about the SOW process.

�There is enough research for us to make some broad suggestions about the frequency. For the schemes of work development, NCELP is working on four ‘types’ of re-visiting:

- More immediate 3-7 days; (depending on frequency of lessons, but the idea is to practise a small set of features over pairs of lessons, rather than completely new material every lesson).

- Mid-spaced 3-4 weeks; (re-visiting the same language within each half term, perhaps in different contexts, modes & modalities)

- More spaced 9-12 weeks (re-visiting the same language within the term, perhaps in different contexts, modes & modalities)

- Longer term (annual & over the years) – this has to happen because knowledge is cumulative, so the language established in year 7 will be needed in year 8 etc etc.

��Please note, these types of revisiting have to be flexible, they are not strict categories. The amount of practice and revisiting needed varies for different learners, for different language features, for different proficiencies and ages.

You can see that the general effect is to reduce the amount of new content we cover, in order to accommodate more practice to embed and consolidate knowledge.

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Part 2) Meaningful practice: Definitions, rationales and principles

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The Pedagogy Review recommendations

Plan opportunities for pupils to practise and use new language, so that language knowledge is embedded and retained.
Plan practice tasks and activities that are incremental, develop automatization and lead to confident communication.
Provide opportunities for pupils to use their new language for meaningful communication beyond the classroom.
Design and use tasks where manipulation of language is needed to fill a genuine information gap.
Exploit meaningful contexts that arise spontaneously in the classroom for the introduction of new language, and/or the recycling of known language.

Emma Marsden

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Listening & reading can benefit production without practising production!

Over 50 studies, e.g., VanPatten & colleagues; Marsden & colleagues

But … production practice is definitely helpful and necessary, too!

Shintani & Ellis (2015); DeKeyser & Prieto-Botano (2015)

So, we need practice …

With input

written
spoken

With production

written
spoken

Principle 1: Practice in different modes & modalities

+ corrective feedback!

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To establish different representations in memory, for the same feature of language.

Slightly different memory traces are laid down when hearing, seeing, saying, or writing language.

These traces of declarative knowledge (e.g. of a pattern presented and practised in writing) help to establish proceduralised and then automatized knowledge.

Problem! Once automatised knowledge is established, it is much less transferable.

So, if automatization happens in just writing, this knowledge can be difficult to apply to other uses. (DeKeyser 2015)

So, declarative knowledge needs to be established and practised for each mode & modality.

Why is practising one language feature in each mode & modality important?

DeKeyser (1997); Li & DeKeyser (2017)

Emma Marsden

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Principle 2: Integrating modes & modalities

Phonics practice!

e.g, ‘listening & reading’; or ‘reading & speaking’ or ‘listening & writing’

Dictation and its more meaningful variants – all simulating events in the ‘real world’:

Dictogloss
Transcription
Aural -> written translations
Zero-error dictation (learners can ask questions after each sentence)

= Arabyan’s (1990) dictée dialogue

Error spotting (L2 oral -> L2 reading & writing)

Multi-modal presentation (listening while reading)

Can you think of other ‘unusual combinations’?

Emma Marsden

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Check that the teachers understand ‘mode’ and ‘modality’

Mode = (production mode or comprehension mode) i.e. what you are doing with the language, producing or understanding it, and ‘modality’ (oral or written modality), is the way in which the language presents, speech or writing!

So, listening is comprehension mode in the oral modality; speaking is production mode in the oral modality.

This is important to help us move away from the way we have viewed skills as ‘practising reading’ or ‘practising speaking’. It is the knowledge that underpins these activities that drives progression. The knowledge of phonics, vocabulary, and grammar.

The nature of the knowledge changes with practice: declarative 🡪 procedural 🡪 automatised

Check that the teachers understand ‘dictogloss”

Learners hear some language (the amount will vary according to their level). They hear this at a near normal rate – the critical thing is that it is faster than the speed that they are able to write it out accurately. They take notes while they are listening. Then, either by themselves or in pairs, they have to create a written text that conveys the same meaning. They might not choose exactly the same words or grammar. But they do have to convey the same meaning, and accurately.

There are several variants on this activity. E.g., have them read a short text quite fast and then remove it. They can make notes while the text is available, but not copy as there isn’t time! They have to recreate the meaning in speech or in writing.

Multi-modal presentation

The evidence for the effectiveness of this is when discourse (language that is longer than a sentence) is presented in a ‘sychronised way’ – as in teletext, where the same language is heard and seen at the same time. There is strong evidence that this helps learners ‘segment’ the input, one of the most difficult things to do in listening – where does one word end and one word begin, when language is at a rate that is quite fast. (less so with subtitles)

If it seems like the pace is going well, then ask the teachers: Can you think of any other unusual combinations? If it seems like the timing is tight, then reassure them that we are about to see examples and more are being produced as we speak!

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Why is integrating knowledge across modes & modalities important?

The slightly different memory traces (for saying, hearing, reading, writing) have to be linked!

We need to help establish connections between different kinds of representations and knowledge: oral, aural, written recognition, written production.

Emma Marsden

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Principle 3) Practice in different kinds of contexts

Contextualization involves connecting a specific learning context and meaning-making in that context.

(Activity Theory (Leont’ev, 1981; van Oers (1998); see also Lyster & Sato, 2013)

“I have to communicate something was in the past otherwise the person listening won’t understand.”

“Learners who engaged in repeated practice of the same grammatical structure (wh-questions) but with different lexical items became faster with shorter pauses during communicative interaction.”

Sato & McDonough (2019)

‘Contexts’ = �- different kinds of tasks�- different task demands�- different topic areas�- different vocabulary for the same grammar

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Why is practice across different contexts important? �“Transfer Appropriate Processing”

In sum:�

“we can better remember what we have learned if the cognitive processes that are active during learning are similar to those that are active during retrieval.”

(Lightbown, 2008, p. 27)

Knowledge learned in a certain context is best transferred to performance in a similar context.

(Morris et al., 1977).

Example study:

“isolated-training” = computerized word-naming

“games context-training” = providing learners with target words in story

“isolated training” better on an individual words test on computer

“context-training group” better on a reading passage test

Martin-Chang and Levy (2005, 2006)

Emma Marsden

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Principle 4) Production practice

4 benefits of production (or output):�

1) Input alone is not enough to lead to accurate and fluent production;

Practice in producing language is necessary.

2) When listening or reading, we can pretend to understand;

When speaking or writing, we can’t ‘pretend’ to produce something!

3) By our early teens, to understand meaning, we interpret gestures and context; we know expected events and behaviours and their meaning 🡪 we can guess a lot!

But when producing language, we need to express something as accurately and efficiently as possible – we can’t ‘guess’.
We ‘notice the gap’ – we realise what we can’t say or write!

4) Learners try out new language.

(Output Hypothesis, Swain, 1995; work by Canadian researchers: Swain, Lightbown, Spada, Collins)

Emma Marsden

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Principle 5) Meaningful interaction

That is, asking and answering questions to get and give meaning.

This can be:

Real time (online, face to face)
Offline (email, leaving and receiving oral messages)

Errors are important and helpful when they lead to modification.

The ‘surprisal effect’ of a miscommunication helps establish new knowledge or recall stored knowledge.

Emma Marsden

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Why is ‘interaction’ important?

3 benefits of interaction:

1) Learners seek clarification about meaning

…and knowing meaning, helps things to be learnt!

2) Interaction provides an opportunity for feedback.

3) Learners ‘modify’ their output.

They correct themselves!

Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (1985 & 1996); Pica, Young & Doughty (1987)

All these help attention and memory systems to establish declarative knowledge and proceduralisation.

Meta-analysis: role of interaction in vocabulary teaching

32 studies, 1,964 learners
having interaction helped more than no interaction

Vos et al. (2018)

Emma Marsden

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A short note on the limitations of

visually enhancing the input:

There is LOTS of research providing …

very little evidence that visual enhancement reliably improves:

attention on the feature,

or comprehension,

or learning over time.

(Alanen, 1995; Izumi, 2002; Issa & Morgan-Short, 2018; Jourdenais, 1998; Kubota, 2000; Leow, 2001; Leow, Egi, Nuevo, & Tsai, 2003; Loewen & Inceoglu, 2016; Lyddon, 2011; Park, Choi, & Lee, 2012; Park & Nassif, 2014; Winke, 2013; Wong, 2003)

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We just want to flag one more thing, which isn’t exactly a positive principle, but something to be aware of and to make your colleagues aware of.

As you can see, visually enhancing includes techniques such as colour, formatting (bold, underline) or changing the font size.

There is a fairly substantial body of research about the role of visual enhancement in the learning process.

This is simply to manage our expectations about what that can actually achieve.

Many laboratory and classroom studies have been carried out and there is very little solid evidence…. [as per the slide]

Visual enhancement might be useful simply so we can easily direct learners to look at feature, i.e., just as a physical ‘pointer’: “ look at the words you can see there in red” “read out the word that is underlined” … It can be a device just to actually explicitly direct learners to look somewhere. �But, the message is: let’s not pin any hopes on this kind of thing increasing attention at a level that will really engage learning processes.

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Key points from Part 2: Meaningful Practice

Declarative knowledge

SEAR: Short, Explicit, As Accurate-As-Possible-At-Present, Revisited
Prone to decay
Usefulness is very variable across different learners

Practice needed to establish useful types of knowledge: “procedural” and “automatised”

Reduce cognitive load in early stages of practice
Spacing in planned ways to ensure re-visiting happens

Frequent enough to prevent forgetting
Spaced enough so recall is challenging for your learners, for that language feature

In different modes & modalities
Integrating modes & modalities
Same language needed in different contexts

Emma Marsden

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Key points from Part 2: Meaningful Practice

Genuine information gaps to force recall

Meaningful interaction
Make the feature essential to get or give meaning

Manage expectations

a LOT of practice is needed
oral production is usually ‘behind’ written production
errors happen as part of proceduralisation

Emma Marsden

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Discussion

To prepare:

Think back to the document “Meaningful Practice: Definitions, Rationales and Principles”
Read the short document ‘No-Go Pedagogy’
Think about the ideas we have covered so far.

Question 1: Are there any aspects of these ideas that teachers in your Hub Schools might find difficult to understand or relate to their classrooms?

Question 2: How might we address these kinds of challenges?

Emma Marsden

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Part 3) Examples from research

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Erlam, R. & Pimentel-Hellier, M. (2017). Opportunities to attend to language form in the adolescent near-beginner classroom. �https://oasis-database.org/concern/summaries/2r36tx526?locale=en��

Relevance to context is high: Beginner learners of French and Spanish

Preparing conversations and role plays on topics (food, hobbies, personal information!)

Thoughts for our classrooms?

The positives of this kind of activity? �These interaction tasks steered a little focus on some language form; pupils learnt some things from these paired interactions even when not always corrected by teacher.

BUT..

Learners focussed on vocabulary, most of the time.

Learners could complete the tasks without actually having to get grammar right.

Highlights need for resources that make grammar ‘task-essential’ during interaction.

Summary 1: Asking learners to co-create language doesn’t necessarily focus them on attending to or producing the language we want them to

Emma Marsden

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(cont’d…) trapping certain language (grammar!) in �paired production-creation tasks is difficult

The hope: learners “reflect upon their own target language use…enabling them to control and internalise linguistic knowledge”

(Swain, 1995, p. 126).

But… this learner talk is variable, in amount and quality:
Most learner-initiated talk relates to lexical items and spelling
Learners don’t focus on grammar much!

Varies widely depending on proficiency and task type
Between about 10% (Williams 1999) - 40% (Kowal & Swain 1994) of what they talk about

“Work with your partner to create a conversation / letter / a role play”

Emma Marsden

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That study we have just seen by Erlam & Pimentel-Hellier is not the only study to have shown this.

Quickly go through the points on the slide. “There is a hope that getting learners to produce language together, creating relatively ‘free’ production tasks, directly feeds language learning. But …”

Summarise the key point: There are limits to what we can expect learners to say or attend to by themselves. This finding has driven much of our resource creation. We need to actively manipulate the input, and we need to actively control and plan what language will be produced in any given activity.

**********

Further information for the CPD deliverer: This extract from a very recent study nicely summarises some of the limitations and concerns about the body of evidence that can really support this kind of ‘meta-cognitive strategy’ approach, where, for example, learners are left to discuss language in the hope that language learning results.

From Ammar & Hassan (2018) Learning Benefits of Collaborative Dialogue: Language Learning.

“The learning benefits of collaborative dialogue are increasingly being acknowledged by L2 researchers (Swain, 2006, 2010). For example, Swain (2006) explained that by talking it through, the learner comes to understand the language, which in turn triggers interlanguage development. Albeit informative, findings from the extant research about the beneficial effects of collaborative dialogue need to be interpreted with caution because of methodological choices that limit the external validity of the findings (Kim, 2008; Kuiken & Vedder, 2002a, 2002b; Nassaji & Tian, 2010; Shehadeh, 2011; Storch, 2005; Storch & Wigglesworth, 2007). First, several studies have looked at the effects of collaborative dialogue on text quality without necessarily measuring its effects on L2 learning (Kuiken & Vedder, 2002a; Storch, 2005; Storch & Wigglesworth, 2007). Second, the instructional interventions in these studies have been short lived (with the exception of Shehadeh, 2011), consisting of one to two periods, sometimes targeting a single feature (e.g., Kuiken & Vedder, 2002b), thus limiting the ecological validity of the reported results. Lightbown (1983) warned that instruction that is both intensive and short lived is vulnerable to rapid forgetting. Lastly, there have been several contradictory findings as to the L2 learning benefits of collaborative dialogue. For instance, with respect to the effects of collaborative dialogue on vocabulary learning, Kim reported that learners who had performed the dictogloss task in pairs outperformed those who had done so individually on both immediate and delayed posttests. However, Nassaji and Tian failed to obtain similar evidence as to the positive effects of collaborative tasks on L2 vocabulary learning. Additionally, several studies have shown no benefits of collaborative writing for morphosyntax (Kuiken & Vedder, 2002b; Shehadeh, 2011). Attributing such unexpected results to learners’ low proficiency level, Shehadeh argued that the low-intermediate level of learners might have rendered them “unable to assist each other with the needed grammatical accuracy” (p. 295). Last but not least, although research focusing on the learning benefits of collaborative dialogue has been conducted in different contexts, it has predominantly targeted adult learners of intermediate to advanced proficiency. Thus, it is unclear whether the reported benefits of collaborative dialogue would apply to L2 learners in elementary schools and more generally to learners of lower proficiency levels. This question is of paramount importance in light of results from descriptive research demonstrating the mediating effect of proficiency level on the effectiveness of collaborative dialogue”.

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Summary 2: Input practice benefited freer oral production

McManus, K. & Marsden, E. (2019). Using explicit instruction about L1 to reduce crosslinguistic effects in L2 grammar learning: Evidence from oral production in L2 French. �https://oasis-database.org/concern/summaries/hh63sv92f?locale=en�

A picture narration story
Task directly contrasted need for imparfait with passé composé

Thoughts for our classrooms?

Although the instruction was input-based (R & L), the tests showed gains on oral production.
Nice example of ‘NCELP sequence’
NCELP is adapting this sequence for younger learners

we show you just one part today – the final meaningful practice component.

Emma Marsden

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Summary 3: Actively producing questions in pairs led to more improvement (than hearing or reading out questions)

McDonough, K. & Chaikitmonkol, W. (2010). Collaborative syntactic priming activities and EFL learners’ production of wh-questions. https://oasis-database.org/concern/summaries/2j62s484w?locale=en�

Group who did collaborative priming produced more wh-questions than other question types

whereas regular class mostly produced wh-questions without required auxiliary verb.

In the collaborative priming group, the improvement on post-tests was related to the number of target wh-questions they had actively produced during the activities, rather than number of questions they had heard or just been directed to ask by a written prompt.

Thoughts for our classrooms?

Importance of active (rather than heavily prompted) production practice in meaningful contexts.

Emma Marsden

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Summary 4: Daring to give more complex tasks, but still �‘trapping a form’

Révész, A. (2009). Task complexity, focus on form, and second language development. �https://oasis-database.org/concern/summaries/x059c7329?locale=en

Relevance! Photo description, with teenagers and pre-intermediates.

Describe a “burglary at Soho” - a timed picture series, in which use of past progressive was essential

Thoughts for our classrooms?

Illustrates effects of task complexity on accuracy of grammar

the idea of ‘desirable difficulty’

Need to sometimes overlook inaccuracies in aspects that are not ‘in play’ (e.g. knowledge of vocabulary or gender accuracy when we are focussing on other grammar)

🡪 progress with one structure/feature can be better isolated.

Learners made most gains when there was a) challenge and b) immediate feedback

Emma Marsden

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Summary 5: Won’t pupils be anxious about talking?

Baralt, M. & Gurzynsky-Weiss, L. (2011). Comparing learners’ state anxiety during task-based interaction in computer-mediated and face-to-face communication. �https://oasis-database.org/concern/summaries/ff3655257?locale=en

Face to face oral interaction was not ridden with state anxiety
Perhaps no more so than written online communication

Thoughts for our classrooms?

A lot of NCELP resources rely on peers interacting with each other.

These activities are carefully designed to:

‘trap’ (force!) the desired language, where possible
give both learners something to do (speak, listen, write, or read).

But how else can we help create an atmosphere where learners talk in the target language in pairs, in groups, or in a whole class setting?

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

Helpful definitions: ‘State anxiety’ is anxiety caused in that moment (versus trait anxiety = an anxious person).

This summary might be a good conversation starter about the best conditions for interaction, and how to reduce anxiety levels. Teachers might talk about the peer pressure, reluctance of a lot of students from Y8 onwards to speak in front of the class.

There are different strategies that teachers can use in the classroom to reduce the anxiety and encourage talk e.g.,

seating configurations sitting with a range of more, matched, and less proficient learners can be useful.
start in year 7 with this expectation that talking will happen in pairs
structure the tasks so that genuine two way performance is needed (listening and speaking), .

Tell the teachers that thanks to an idea from a teacher in Preston, we are looking into buying clips (menu card holders) that can hold conversation cards between learners, meaning they can’t see each others’ information, to support the information gap. We intend to give one set to each school to trial. Schools may already have something like this.

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Part 4) Sample resources for Meaningful Practice

French, German, Spanish

Morphology

Syntax

Lexicon

Phonics

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Part 4: NCELP resources. Bulk of the time on this. Up to one hour 15 mins. Allow some time for really digesting. Some are long sequences that you can talk through. But for others, please note, we will be showing some resources without their preceding more controlled sequences. We want to give you a wider taste of different kinds of activities, that are a bit freer, and could be sufficiently challenging for pupils in year 8 or 9 (or 10 even, for some learners). We are working to create the more controlled sequences that build up to the freer ones we present here.

Some are long sequences that we will walk right through. But please note, we are not presenting the whole sequences for ALL of these features and language foci. This session focuses on meaningful practice with an emphasis on the freer more complex activities, and so we are not providing the introduction, the more controlled embedding activities that would precede these. Those more structured and controlled classroom activities have been demonstrated in the previous sessions on phonics, vocabulary and grammar.

We want to give you a wider taste of different kinds of activities, that are a bit freer, and could be sufficiently challenging for pupils in year 8 or 9 (or 10 even, for some learners).

We have or are working to create the more controlled sequences that build up to the freer ones we present here in isolation.

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One of our greatest challenges: �Making language “task essential” = trapping the form!

To encourage use of the language feature we want them to practise…

…is difficult! In the materials you will see, watch out for the tension:

Very occasionally, it’s not possible to make language ‘task essential’

🡪 We call it “task useful” instead! It helps completion of the activity but isn’t essential.

Letting go	Trapping the language under focus
releasing support, tasks are ‘freer’	all the language pupils need is provided, tasks are ‘controlled’
pupils need to attend to lots of parts of the input	forcing attention (attend to and understand x)
pupils need to recall lots of aspects of knowledge	forcing recall (production of x)
…TOO MUCH? learners avoid the language we want them to understand or produce (they use other words, guess, don’t use grammar)	…TOO MUCH? activity becomes mechanical (can be done by rote-producing a pattern, without really thinking about function/meaning)

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

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Sample resources

Using prototype French verbs to narrate a sequence of events

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Emma Marsden

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Sample resources

Narrating habitual events in the past:

French imparfait

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Emma Marsden

Habitual events in the past – French imparfait�We would have covered a couple of sequences of work which focused learners attention on the role of the imparfait – contrasting present ongoing with past ongoing events, perhaps just in the first and third person singular. Also a sequence where the learners would have compared imparfait with the passé composé – the difference between completed and habitual past events. �The learners would have completed controlled listening, reading, speaking and writing activities, so that their knowledge of this feature was well embedded.

Then, this listening and oral narration activity consolidates and extends this knowledge.

It has a story to it, which lifts the level of cognitive difficulty - the learners are describing something that is unfamiliar to them, not in the here and now (but in the there and then)

(McManus and Marsden created such a sequence and we are now adapting it for NCELP materials)

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Sample resources

Word order: German verb 2nd

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Emma Marsden

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Sample resources

Word order: Wh- questions in French

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Emma Marsden

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Sample resources�Vocabulary

Information gap: Holiday experiences�WH-questions

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Rachel Hawkes

Note: I’ve inserted this ‘vocabulary’ MP resource here to show an example of varying the lexicon/semantic field around the grammar structure ‘WH-questions’ that we have just seen.�This is NOT to suggest that you would move straight from one to the other! It’s to show that the same, essential grammar needs to be revisited systematically and that, with time and sufficient practice, the level of control can be reduced and the level of spontaneity increased, gradually!

It’s important to stress (it does say this in the teacher instructions for the task) that the table of indicative language is guidance for the teacher, and DEFINITELY NOT to be used as a speaking frame. It’s important to stress that students need to have embedded this language sufficiently well before doing this task, as it does bring together quite a few question words, a variety of vocabulary etc..��Just to give an indicated, I have used the German version of this task in term 4 of learning in the past.��The Spanish and German versions are the equivalent task – it seemed important to show that we are creating equally across the three languages, as much as possible.�As the images on the slides are small, STs have handouts of this resource: Handouts 10, 11 and 12.

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Sample resources�Vocabulary

Information gap: Holiday experiences�WH-questions

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Emma Marsden

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Sample resources�Vocabulary

Information gap: Holiday experiences�WH-questions

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Rachel Hawkes

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Sample resources�Vocabulary

Information gap: Holiday experiences�WH-questions

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Emma Marsden

Word order: Direct objects in Spanish

We present a full sequence here, drawing together several different ways in which word order can fall in to Object first in Spanish.

The OVS pattern itself is difficult because of entrenched ways of using SVO word order in English – learners don’t expect to hear an object first!

The morphology is also difficult because of the lack of salience and the similarity with other forms (la has a dual function; el and le very similar)

So, we are thinking that some parts of this might be appropriate for mid to late year 7. It is important to introduce this first because soon we need to introduce them to me gusta, me interesa - but first, let’s get the idea of object first starting to embed in their minds. This will help them process the input better, without always thinking that what they hear or read first will be the subject… it is a slow drip feed.

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Practising one structure … on different topics

“learners who engaged in repeated practice of the same grammatical structure �(wh-questions) but with different lexical items became faster with shorter pauses during communicative interaction”

Sato & McDonough (2019)

Teacher holds the information (= information gap).

Students asked questions to obtain that information.

Biography: Determine the identity of a famous person
Interview: Obtain information about the teacher’s life
Picture difference: Spot the difference between teacher’s picture and students’ picture
Truth or lie? Would I lie to you? Is the teacher telling the truth or lying?

Practice, rather than quantity of initial declarative knowledge (the rules), predicted accuracy and fluency of learners’ productions.

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

*We don’t have a summary yet of this one, but it is on its way.

Sato, M. & McDonough, K. (2019) Practice is important but how about its quality? Contextualized practice in the classroom Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Full article is available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330398217_Practice_is_important_but_how_about_its_quality_Contextualized_practice_in_the_classroom_----_Studies_in_Second_Language_Acquisition

Just in case, some information about this study:

The tasks drew on three themes: work and education, environmental issues, and physical and mental health.

Variation in the communicative goal of the tasks (e.g., deciding if the instructor was telling the truth or lying versus guessing the identity of a Chilean celebrity)

This contextualized practice helped both accuracy and fluency�“effect sizes” were all medium to large between Time 1 and Time 5:

error rate (d = .72),
speech rate (d = 1.53),
and mean length of pauses (d = .66)

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Sample resources

Word order: Direct objects in Spanish

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Emma Marsden

Word order: Direct objects in Spanish

We present a full sequence here, drawing together several different ways in which word order can fall in to Object first in Spanish.

The OVS pattern itself is difficult because of entrenched ways of using SVO word order in English – learners don’t expect to hear an object first!

The morphology is also difficult because of the lack of salience and the similarity with other forms (la has a dual function; el and lo are quite similar – le then comes in later as indirect object pronoun, although of course ‘leísmo’ means that ‘le’ often substitutes for ‘lo’ as direct object pronoun in main parts of Spain, and is accepted by the RAE as an alternative standard form (with south of Spain, Canaries and South America preferring ‘lo’ Ioísmo). In our resources we use ‘lo’ for masculine DOP.

So, we are thinking that some parts of this might be appropriate for mid to late year 7. It is important to introduce this first because soon we need to introduce them to me gusta, me interesa - but first, let’s get the idea of object first starting to embed in their minds. This will help them process the input better, without always thinking that what they hear or read first will be the subject… it is a slow drip feed.

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French phonics activity

Read aloud, peer dictation, errorless dictatation, dictogloss��Sound-symbol correspondences: �SFC, ien (jɛ̃), in ('æ̃), é, u (y), en/an (ɑ̃), o/au/eau (o)

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Rachel Hawkes

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Spanish phonics activity

Interactive ‘zero error’ dictation

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Summary of key characteristics of Meaningful Practice: �Moving towards ‘freer tasks’

Contextualised (with a meaning, avoiding the mechanical)
Interaction – both the ‘producer’ and the ‘receiver’ have to do something with the language
Reducing support
Forcing attention on or recall of the features under focus
Creating the ‘Goldilocks’ of ‘desirable difficulty’
Gradually increasing the range of language needed

Be this phonics, vocabulary, or grammar
Being aware of what is familiar (a lot) and what is new (a little)

Revisiting the language focus in another context later.

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

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Activity: Creating opportunities for meaningful practice

Choose one of the following (or something else!) and develop some ideas for a resource to create opportunities for meaningful practice.

1) an interaction task that ‘traps’ a set of Sound-Symbol Correspondences

2) an information-gap that makes two grammar features essential to produce and to hear correctly, e.g. question formation (= morphology and syntax)

3) a dictogloss that makes a small set of potentially confusing inflections essential, such as: regular –AR third person past (habló), the third person present (habla), and the first person present (hablo)

4) a narration or scenario that makes a pair of forms very useful for the task e.g., describing a famous person’s past habitual events in the old year versus what is happening now in the new year.

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

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Chance for reflection, Q & A, discussion

How is the work on phonics, vocabulary and grammar going?

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

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Next steps

Teacher Research Group (TRG) �Communicate early via email – directing teachers to the meaningful practice research summaries, sending Handout (Rationale & Principles) in advance, telling them you will present a lot of sample NCELP resources.
Video parts of lessons where you provide opportunities for meaningful practice�If possible ahead of the TRG, so you can share as part of that session. Upload to VEO and tag. Let your link specialist know that the video is there, and s/he will also tag.
Plan and resource going forward�Following the TRG, keep in touch with your Hub schools.
Resources will be added frequently to the Resource Portal. Encourage Hub teachers to share with you and NCELP other examples of the NCELP activities and the principles we have covered today.
If you would like to share your resources via the NCELP Resource Portal, please send them to Enquiries@ncelp.org.uk– we will advise and are happy to help with copyright free images or audio recordings
Teach and reflect�Make meaningful practice the focus of your next planned visit.
Next key dates? Meaningful Practice TRG and The Full Hub Day

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden

About 10-15 minutes on this slide

Ask them if they intend to:

a) video some classes whilst trying out some of the activities and principles covered today

b) visit their hub schools and observe some teaching using the lesson discussion sheet. NB: There will NOT be a lesson discussion sheet focusing solely on meaningful practice. There will be a 4^th lesson discussion sheet, however, which combines key elements from phonics, vocabulary, grammar and meaningful practice into one sheet. This is currently being developed and will be emailed to STs along with the TRG slides for meaningful practice.

NB: For planning the TRG. NCELP will reduce this set of slides and you will receive it via email

Please ask the STs to send to you – to your personal emails - a week or so before their TRG the materials they intend to use and their plan. It is very important that we provide this support and also that we understand what is being delivered. Please follow up if they do not get in touch with you.

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Summary of the session

Brief summary of theories and research about the nature and role of ‘practice’
Sample resources, in three languages, covering range of features, in different kinds of learning activities
Hands-on classroom activity development
Reflection and Planning for the TRG

Emma Marsden

✓

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Emma Marsden

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References / Bibliography

Bird, S. (2010). Effects of distributed practice on the acquisition of second language English syntax. Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 635–650.

Cepeda, N.J., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J.T., & Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing effects in learning a temporal ridgeline of optimal retention. Psychological Science, 19, 1095–1102.

Collins, L., Halter, R.H., Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). Time and the distribution of time in L2 instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 655–680.

Collins, L., & White, J. (2011). An intensive look at intensity and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 45, 106–133.

DeKeyser, R. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 499–533.

DeKeyser, R. (2007). Conclusion: The future of practice. In, R. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a second language (pp. 287–304). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

DeKeyser, R. (2012). Interactions between individual differences, treatments, and structures in SLA. Language Learning, 62(Suppl. 2), 189–200.

DeKeyser, R. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94-112). London: Routledge.

DeKeyser, R., & Criado, R. (2012). Automatization, skill acquisition, and practice in second language acquisition. In C.A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

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DeKeyser, R., & Prieto-Botana, G. (2015). The effectiveness of processing instruction in L2 grammar acquisition: A narrative review. Applied Linguistics, 36, 290–305.

DeKeyser, R. (2017). Knowledge and skill in ISLA. In S. Loewen and M. Sato (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (pp. 15–32). London: Routledge.

DeKeyser, R. M., & Sokalski, K. J. (1996). The differential role of comprehension and production practice. Language Learning, 46, 613–642.

Donovan, J.J., & Radosevich, D.J. (1999). A meta-analytic review of the distribution of practice effect: Now you see it, now you don’t. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 795–805.

Ellis, N. C., & Sagarra, N. (2011). Learned attention in adult language acquisition: A replication and generalization study and meta-analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 589-624.

Foster & Skehan, 2008 The Influence of Planning and Task Type on Second Language Performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 18, 3 (299-323)

Kasprowicz, R. , & Marsden, E. (under review). Distribution of practice effects for the learning of foreign language verb morphology in the young learner classroom. The Modern Language Journal.

Li, M., & DeKeyser, R. (2017). Perception practice, production practice, and musical ability in L2 Mandarin tone-word learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39, 593-620.

MacWhinney, B. (2012). The logic of the unified model. In Gass, S.M. & Mackey, A. (eds). The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 211-227). New York, NY: Routledge.

McManus, K., & Marsden, E. (2019). Signatures of automaticity during practice: Explicit instruction about L1 processing routines can improve L2 grammatical processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 40, 205-234.

Roffwarg, H. P., Muzio, J. N., & Dement, W. C. (1966). Ontogenetic development of the human sleep dream cycle. Science, 152, 604–618.

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Rogers, J. (2015). Learning second language syntax under massed and distributed conditions. TESOL Quarterly, 4 , 91–97.

Rogers, J. (2017). The spacing effect and its relevance to second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 38, 906–911.

Sato, M. & McDonough, K. (2019) Practice is important but how about its quality? Contextualized practice in the classroom Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

Sanz, C., & Morgan–Short, K. (2004). Positive evidence versus explicit rule presentation and explicit negative feedback: A computer–assisted study. Language Learning, 54, 35–78.

Serrano, R., & Muñoz, C. (2007). Same hours, different time distribution: Any difference in EFL? System, 35, 305–321.

Spada, N., Lightbown, P., & White, J. (2005). The importance of form/meaning mappings in explicit form-focused instruction. In A. Housen & M. Pierrard (Eds.), Investigations in instructed second language acquisition (pp. 199-234). Berlin: DeGruyter

Suzuki, Y. (2017). The optimal distribution of practice for the acquisition of L2 morphology: A conceptual replication and extension. Language Learning, 67(3), 512-545.

Suzuki, Y., (2017). The optimal distribution of practice for the acquisition of L2 morphology: A conceptual replication and extension. Language Learning, 67, 512–545.

Suzuki, Y., & DeKeyser, R. (2017a). Effects of distributed practice on the proceduralization of morphology. Language Teaching Research, 21, 166–188.

Suzuki, Y., & DeKeyser, R. (2017b). Exploratory research on second language practice distribution: An aptitude × treatment interaction. Applied Psycholinguistics, 38, 27–56.

Emma Marsden

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Emma Marsden