Session 5F

With the consolidation of communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching as mainstream approaches in foreign language instruction, there is a growing interest in what young learners (YLs) of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) can achieve communicatively when performing a task. An aspect of YL oral production in EFL which has recently come into the focus of SLA research is primary school children's use of interactional strategies in task-based peer interaction, on account of its numerous language learning and pedagogical implications (Philp et al., 2014; García-Mayo, 2018). The empirical evidence available to date indicates that children are able to negotiate for meaning, using a repertoire of interactional strategies, the quantity and quality of peer interaction depending on a number of mediating factors such as task type and proficiency level (García Mayo and Lázaro-Ibarrola, 2015; Lázaro-Ibarrola and Azpilicueta-Martínez, 2015, a.o.). Nonetheless, the majority of studies dealing with task-based peer interaction in YLs have not been conducted in classroom settings or as a result of pedagogical interventions.
The present study aims at exploring the impact of metacognitive instruction on the amount and type of interactional strategies used in task-supported peer interaction by primary school learners of EFL. Three groups of 6th grade Catalan/Spanish bilingual children aged 11-12 (25 children per group) participated in an 8-week pedagogical intervention (50 minutes per week). All groups did 30 minutes of focused task-based peer interaction per week (both collaborative and information-gap tasks). Before taking part in the tasks and for 20 minutes, one of the groups was given explicit instruction on interactional strategies (i.e conversational adjustments and corrective feedback strategies), the second group received explicit grammatical (past tense) and interactional instruction, whereas the third group participated in class EFL games on unrelated vocabulary. Oral production data was collected before and after the intervention by means of a focused collaborative picture narrative task.
Our findings indicate that, after the intervention, the groups that received metacognitive instruction produced more interactional strategies, in particular lexical requests and corrective feedback, predominantly in the L2. This improvement was less evident with regard to conversational adjustments, even though the children used a wider range of adjustments, including comprehension checks. In the case of the group that received combined grammatical and interactional instruction, there was a decrease in the number of conversational adjustments used, pointing at a possible effect of increased accuracy on the need to negotiate for meaning in peer interaction. Our findings will be discussed in relation to SLA research on YLs and foreign language teaching in primary education.


García-Mayo, M. P. (2018). Child task-supported interaction in the Spanish EFL setting. Research and challenges. International journal of English Studies, 18(2), 119-143.
Lázaro-Ibarrola, A., & Azpilicueta-Martínez, R. (2015). Investigating negotiation of meaning in EFL children with very low levels of proficiency. International Journal of English Studies, 15(1), 1-21.
Philp, J., Adams, R., & Iwashita, N. (2014). Peer interaction and second language learning. Routledge.

This study examines the extent that interlocutor perception, learners' self-perception, and their Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) scores present a similar picture of a learners' ability to complete interpersonal speaking tasks. The original form of the TOEIC, a popular English proficiency test measuring workplace communication ability, was composed of listening and reading (L/R) skills and continues to remain popular among learners and employers to date. While additional speaking and writing modules have since been developed since the test's conception over three decades ago, most test-takers opt out of them because of the additional cost and the fact that they are often made optional by employers and higher education institutions (Booth, 2017). What remains underexplored is whether test-taker L/R scores alone are appropriate indicators of their ability to participate in workplace environments. Drawing on research examining whether one domain score (e.g., listening) can predict another domain score (e.g., speaking) (Powers & Powers, 2015), this study explores the extent to which TOEIC L/R scores accurately indicate learners' ability to navigate the various interpersonal interactions they likely face in a professional or academic environment. 
Fifteen Korean learners of English with current TOEIC scores participated in a series of tasks designed to replicate workplace interactions with a native English speaker with no knowledge of Korean. Conducted via Zoom, these tasks asked participants to describe routine processes, resolve conflicts, present new information, and navigate uncertainty in a professional context. Each task lasted between three and five minutes, depending on participant proficiency level. Immediately after each task, both the participants and the native speaker reflected on the various components of the interaction. Their reflection took place through an online questionnaire that included open and closed-ended questions selected from Robinson's (2001) self-assessment inventory. Upon finishing all tasks, participants then joined a second Zoom room where they completed a post-task interview in their native language, Korean, with another member of the research team. In this interview, participants were invited to elaborate on their experiences completing the interpersonal tasks. 
Descriptive and qualitative analyses were performed to examine emergent patterns across TOEIC score levels, participants' self-ranking, and the interlocutor perceptions. Participants were divided into three groups based on their TOEIC scores. Descriptive statistics for the Likert scale questionnaire items were compared across the groups as well as between each participant and the interlocutor. Thematic analysis on the qualitative data from the post-task interviews offered additional insight on participants' perceptions of their performance. 
Results focus on how learners' TOEIC scores align with their self-assessment and the interlocutor's perceptions of success on interpersonal speaking tasks. Findings reveal how TOEIC scores may relate to real-world task performance and the extent to which the L/R TOEIC score alone can predict one's potential for success in an interpersonal speaking interaction.The study concludes with implications relevant to prospective test takers, test score users, and instructors as they consider whether how L/R TOEIC scores may represent future "on-the-job" performance.

Studies on factors influencing SLA show that learners' individual differences in language background/s, cognition, social factors, and L2 input present strong predictors for SLA. These factors are intrinsically intertwined; however, research on their combined and differential effects is scarce. 
Difficulties lie in the hierarchical nature of variables and their statistical effects. Some variables represent distal container variables ('socioeconomic status', 'migration background', 'school program'). They conceptually include other, proximal variables, such as parental or teachers' interaction with the learners. Proximal variables are aspects of social behavior or environment that induce concrete stimuli for the learner-internal system via direct interaction. 
While both distal and proximal factors can statistically predict development, only immediate proximal interaction with the environment can cause a change in the learner's internal system. In contrast, distal variables exert only indirect effects. Statistically, this can be expressed as mediating or moderating effects of the proximal variable on the relationship between distal and internal variables.
According to the Proximity of Stimulation Hypothesis (Kersten, 2022), if a distal factor predicts development, this influence will be mediated or moderated by proximal stimuli. 
To test this hypothesis, two studies were carried out that investigate mediating and moderating relationships between distal and proximal variables affecting internal learner variables. 
Study 1 investigates data from 93 primary school L2-learners of English (43 female, mean age 9;6) from conventional (n=31) and bilingual (n=62) foreign language programs in Germany. Variables include socioeconomic status (SES) and school program (distal), parental and teacher input and interaction (proximal), and working memory, phonological awareness, and lexical and grammatical L2 comprehension (internal). Variables were operationalized using standardized instruments. Parental interaction was elicited via a questionnaire adapted from PISA (2018), and teacher input and interaction via the Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS1). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out to account for nested data structure, showing a good model fit (p=.091, CFI=968, RMSEA=.069). Results reveal that the effect of distal SES on working memory is partially mediated by parental interaction, and the effect of school program on L2 grammar comprehension is partially mediated by teachers' input quality.
For Study 2, an online survey was carried out with n=39 L2-English teachers and n=37 teachers in German classrooms (grades 4-6). It elicited teachers' input strategies via TIOS, and students' language proficiency in L2-English (n=690) and L1-German (n=836) via CEFR descriptors. Two moderation analyses showed that proximal teachers' input quality moderated the effect of distal SES on learners' language proficiency with regard to English and German. These results show that input- and interaction-related strategies are able to buffer negative social effects in (S)LA, and are transferable to language-sensitive teaching in learners' first language.
Mediating and moderating effects in both studies lend support to the Proximity Hypothesis.
1https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340096869_Teacher_Input_Observation_Scheme_TIOS_and_Manual
Kersten, K. (2022). The Proximity of Stimulation Hypothesis: Investigating the interplay of social and instructional variables with the cognitive-linguistic skills of young L2 learners. In K. Kersten, A. Winsler (eds.), Understanding variability in second language acquisition, bilingualism, and cognition – A multi-layered perspective. Routledge.