Session 7A

Following calls for more research regarding the dynamics of L2 communication inspired by complex dynamic systems theory (e.g., MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011), the dynamics of language learners' foreign language anxiety (FLA) and foreign language enjoyment (FLE), including their possible interaction, and the dynamics and details of emotion regulation (ER) directed at managing these emotions in pair- and group-work speaking tasks performed by approximately 20 advanced EFL learners were investigated. Dynamic studies of FLA and FLE and their interactions are rare and confined to laboratory-style settings (with learners producing monologues in the L2; e.g., Boudreau et al., 2018), so in this study the two emotions experienced by learners in actual L2 classes were examined by means of the innovative idiodynamic methodology (MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011). Speaking tasks were video-recorded, and while viewing the recordings after the tasks, participants indicated the levels of their emotions on a per-second basis using the idiodynamic software. In subsequent stimulated recall interviews they revealed the causes of the fluctuations in emotional intensity and the exact ER strategies they employed to decrease anxiety and increase enjoyment, including their timing (co-occurrence, sequencing), and the learner perceptions of their effectiveness. To supplement the close-up, dynamic investigation of the ER strategies, the adapted Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski et al., 2001) was used to collect quantitative data from a larger sample (n = 90) of the same population of language learners concerning their use of the cognitive type of ER strategies, which are the most popular among language learners (Bielak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2020), in L2 speaking tasks more generally. The ecological validity afforded by the classroom use of the idiodynamic methodology facilitated new insights into the triggers of FLA and, especially FLE, which has been researched for several years only, such as the finding that not only one's own success/failure perceptions regarding L2 speaking but also such perceptions concerning one's classroom partners can increase/decrease FLE. The combination of the dynamic and quantitative investigation confirmed that the cognitive change strategies used to reduce FLA, i.e. strategies related to the way one thinks about L2 use (e.g., "mistakes are OK") are the most frequent in L2 speaking, followed by attentional deployment strategies (which are also cognitive to a certain extent, e.g., distraction or positive refocusing on something pleasant). Novel findings concern the nuanced types of cognitive ER strategies (e.g. acceptance and positive reappraisal).


Bielak, J., & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A. (2020). Investigating language learners' emotion-regulation strategies with the help of the vignette methodology. System, 90, 102208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102208
Boudreau, C., MacIntyre, P.D., & Dewaele, J.M. (2018). Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: An idiodynamic approach. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 149–170.
Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., & Spinhoven, P. (2001). Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1311-1327.
MacIntyre, P.D., & Legatto, J.J. (2011). A dynamic system approach to willingness to communicate: Developing an idiodynamic method to capture rapidly changing affect. Applied Linguistics, 32(2), 149-171.

We bring together usage-based SLA and conversation-analytic SLA (Eskildsen/Pekarek Doehler 2022) to investigate the developmental trajectory of pseudo-clefts in French L2 in naturally occurring conversational data. The pseudo-cleft is a specificational construction consisting of two parts, A and B, linked by a copular element. B is said to specify A: 'ce qui est génial c'est qu'il viendra'/'what is great is that he will come' is a canonical example. The category pseudo-cleft also encompasses other formal implementations of the A-part, e.g., 'the thing that interests me' (Collins 1991) or simply 'the problem' (Valli 1981). Functionally, pseudo-clefts have been associated with information structure. Studies of talk-in-interaction describe the A-parts as projecting constructions fulfilling interaction-organizational purposes, such as projecting longer turns-at-talk.
SLA research shows that the functional use of constructions pertaining to information structure emerges late in the L2 trajectory (Bartning 2016) and that even some related formal structures, such as the French c'est-cleft, are acquired late (Bartning/Hammarberg 2007). Pseudo-clefts, however, have remained largely unexplored in SLA, possibly due to their relative rarity and potentially very late emergence in learner data (Barting/Hammarberg 2007).
This study explores a corpus of 80h of video-recordings of L2 French speakers (n=23; university students; various L1s; A1 to C1 CERL) who met regularly in groups of 3-4 for 6-18 months to practice French in a 'conversational circle'. We conduct qualitative conversation-analysis of the forms and functions of pseudo-clefts in the corpus, complemented by selective quantification, tracking individual participants longitudinally and comparing participants across proficiency levels. Preliminary analyses reveal that pseudo-clefts occur almost exclusively at higher proficiency levels (≥B2). In addition: 
(1) Canonical tokens initiated with 'ce que' are rare; most occurrences take the format 'NP c'est que' (see above) and are initially restricted lexically (NP = 'le problème'/'the problem'). 
(2) Pseudo-clefts are used increasingly not only for focus-marking, but to introduce long turns or project the speaker's stance, just as has been documented for L1 speakers. 
These observations suggest that (1) the canonical pseudo-clefts found with advanced learners might be retraceable back to lexically fixed exemplars, pointing to possible exemplar-based (Ellis 2002) roots of constructional development; (2) interaction-organizational uses of the construction emerge only with considerable L2 interactional practice. We expand these analyses and interpret their consequences for the development of L2 grammar-for-interaction.


Bartning,I.(2016). Morphosyntax and discourse in high-level second language use. Hyltenstam,K.(Ed.), Advanced proficiency and exceptional ability in second languages,43-72.
Bartning,I./Hammarberg,B.(2007). The functions of a high-frequency collocation in native and learner discourse: The case of French c'est and Swedish det är. IRAL 45,1-43. 
Collins,P.(1991). Cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions in English.Routledge. 
Ellis,N.C.(2002). Frequency effects in language processing. SSLA, 24,143-188. 
Eskildsen,S./Pekarek Doehler,S.(2022/in press). Emergent L2 grammar-for-interaction: Toward an interactional usage-based SLA. Special Issue, The Modern Languge Journal, 106,S1. 
Valli, A.(1981). Note sur les constructions dites "pseudo-clivées" en français. Recherches sur le français parlé 3,195-211.

One of the aims of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) and learning research is to explore whether explicit instruction followed by task performance results in more effective acquisition of a given grammatical structure (Ellis, 2018; Ellis et al 2020) than task performance alone. Research comparing different TBLT learning conditions (Li, Ellis and Zhu,2016; Shintani, 2018; Williams and Evans, 1998) suggests that explicit instruction followed by focused task performance leads to higher gains in explicit knowledge than task-only conditions. As for implicit knowledge, these studies suggest that if learners have no previous knowledge of the structures, neither of the two conditions leads to significant gains in implicit knowledge. The effect of explicit instruction previous to task performance on the acquisition of grammatical knowledge is mediated by the type of learner, their age and proficiency and the length and amount of exposure received, so further research should corroborate such findings on underexplored populations and learning conditions.
This study explores the development of Catalan/Spanish bilingual EFL primary school learners' explicit and implicit knowledge of English past tense after a task-based peer interaction intervention with and without explicit grammar instruction. Four groups of 6th grade EFL learners aged 11-12 participated in an 8-week pedagogical intervention (50 minutes per week) while a fifth control group only participated in the testing sessions. All experimental groups did 30 minutes of past tense focused task-based peer interaction per week (both collaborative and information-gap tasks). For the remaining 20 minutes, while one of the groups was given explicit instruction on past tense, the other group participated in EFL games on unrelated vocabulary, the third group received explicit instruction on interactional strategies (i.e conversational adjustments and corrective feedback strategies) and the fourth group received mixed explicit instruction on both past tense and interactional strategies.
All groups took part in a bi-modal Grammaticality Judgement Task (explicit knowledge) and a Self-Paced Reading Task (implicit knowledge) before and after the intervention. The GJT consisted of 54 items divided across target and control conditions. In the target conditions we manipulated grammaticality (grammatical vs. ungrammatical) and verb type (regular vs. irregular). The SPR consisted of 64 items containing the same target and control conditions as in the GJT. The results show that before intervention, all participants irrespective of group show (a) target-like responses (in both the GJT and SPR) in the control conditions; and (b) non-target-like responses in the experimental conditions. In the GJT, post-intervention results indicate that out of the five groups, only those who received mixed explicit instruction on both past tense and interactional strategies showed significant improvement across experimental conditions. Those who received grammar instruction also showed significant improvement, though only with regular verbs. The two remaining experimental groups and control group did not show any improvement. In the SPR, post-intervention results indicate that none of the groups showed significant improvement. Findings will be discussed in relation to the pedagogical intervention carried out and the development of implicit and explicit knowledge.