Exemplar-based instructed second language ...

Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Japan / Shinshu University, Japan

This multiple-case study explored exemplar-based second language (L2) development in relation to classroom experience through the traceback methodology used in usage-based research. Four Japanese undergraduates taking a task-based English course wrote essays as reflective production after class every other week during one semester. Production in an essay was traced back to the previous essays and instructional data containing their task performance. We found that most of their output was created on the basis of previous instances by simple operations including substitution. We also observed some complex traces consisting of embedding and merging, in which case at least one pattern newly experienced in class tasks was incorporated into their production. This suggests classroom experience may have facilitated the complexification process of the participants’ inventories. Keywords: exemplar-based development, traceback methodology, task-based language teaching, simple and complex traces, explicit learning

This study presents a multiple-case study of second language (L2) development of four less proficient adult learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in a taskbased undergraduate course. The analyses are conducted from a usage-based perspective. Usage-based models of language (e.g., Langacker, 2000) posit that grammar emerges as the result of an iterative process through language use. According to Tomasello (2000, 2003), who has conducted a number of first language (L1) acquisition studies from a usage-based perspective, children’s language knowledge in the early stages is item-based; abstraction gradually occurs on experiencing a number of exemplars. Recent L2 acquisition studies have also shown evidence that L2 development is basically exemplar-based (e.g., Ellis & Ferreira-Junior, 2009; Eskildsen, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015). Few usage-based investigations, however, have been conducted in foreign language learning settings except Roehr-Brackin (2014, 2015) and Yuldashev, Fernandez, and Thorne (2013). This case study examines ITL – International Journal of Applied Linguistics 167:2 (2016), 210–234.  doi 10.1075/itl.167.2.07tod issn 0019–0829 / e-issn 1783–1490 © John Benjamins Publishing Company



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 211

exemplar-based changes of four EFL learners in relation to their classroom experience. This section begins with a brief review of the usage-based approach to L2 development. It is followed by a discussion focused on adult instructed L2 learning from the usage-based perspective.

A usage-based approach to L2 development A usage-based model in cognitive linguistics is an experience-based approach to language. According to Langacker (2000), the linguistic system forms a dynamic network consisting of concrete exemplars and schemas, which are commonalities extracted from the exemplars. Knowledge in the network incorporates structures representing all levels of generality from specific forms to the abstract schema, that is, concrete expressions highly entrenched through frequent experience, partially abstract patterns called subschema, and the abstract schema. Taking a bottom-up orientation, Langacker (2000) argues that schemas “spring from the soil of actual usage” (p. 3). According to Tomasello (2000), children in the early stages comprehend adult multi-word speech as a single form–meaning unit in communicative events and reproduce it as a whole or modify it in similar situations. Children create utterances via usage-based syntactic operations, which are really cut and paste strategies. Children’s usage-based development has been investigated by means of a traceback method (e.g., Dąbrowska & Lieven, 2005; Lieven, Behrens, Speares, & Tomasello, 2003; Lieven, Salomo, & Tomasello, 2009). Lieven, Salomo, and Tomasello (2009) collected naturalistic language of four two-year-olds learning L1 English longitudinally. Each child’s corpus was divided into two parts: recordings made on the last two days of the research period (a test corpus) and the remaining transcripts of the preceding recordings (a main corpus). Multi-word utterances identified in the test corpus were traced back to see how closely the utterances were related to the ones that had been produced previously (i.e., utterances in the main corpus). Results revealed that the vast majority of novel utterances (e.g., Mummy’s bike) could be traced back to those that required simple operations such as a substitution into a semantically similar slot (e.g., Mummy’s REFERENT). Interestingly, on increasing the mean length of utterance, the traceback required more complex operations and a wider range of semantic slots. This study suggests that syntactic creativity is based on concrete items stored in memory and, initially, simple operations to modify them, and that a wider and more abstract range of slots develop with language experience (Lieven et al., 2009). Examinations of L2 learners’ usage and their development from the usage-based perspective have been proliferating in recent years (e.g., Ellis &

212 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

Ferreira-Junior, 2009; Eskildsen, 2009; Mellow, 2006; Yuldashev et al., 2013). Ellis and Ferreira-Junior (2009) conducted frequency analyses on a corpus of spontaneous data collected longitudinally from learners of English as a second language (ESL). The study focused on the development of English verb–argument constructions. They demonstrated that one very frequent verb (e.g., give in the ditransitive construction) took the lion’s share in each construction, especially in the early months, and that other verbs increasingly began to appear in the construction as time progressed. This evidence lends support to the usage-based developmental path from item-based constructions toward abstract schemas. Eskildsen (2009) demonstrates that multi-word expressions (MWEs) defined as recurring sequences of words “used together for a relatively coherent communicative purpose” (p. 338) have integral functions in developing linguistic inventory. He longitudinally examined the use by an adult classroom L2 learner, Carlos, of MWEs containing the English auxiliary can. The study showed that his can-usage development started from one or two particular locally situated MWEs and that varied can-pattern use subsequently expanded gradually. Eskildsen considers the locally contextualized nature of MWEs to be the backbone of language development, emphasizing language users’ adaptive behaviors in communication. Eskildsen (2014) analyzed every utterance of Carlos’s longitudinal corpora by means of the traceback methodology as adopted by Lieven et al. (2009), and identified MWEs and traced them backwards in development to detect their source utterances. The study demonstrated that the vast majority of his utterances could be traced to fixed MWEs and subschema and showed that his inventory got gradually more complex. Complex operations including embedding and merging, which seemed to be based on multiple MWEs and subschemas, were required to produce the target utterances with increasing experience, although simple substitution operations still constituted a high share. This study suggests that L2 development resembles the processes involved in child language learning in many ways (Eskildsen, 2014).

Adult instructed L2 development from a usage-based perspective Usage-based L2 development of adult instructed learners has begun to be investigated in relation to instruction (e.g., Eskildsen, 2015; Roehr-Brackin, 2014, 2015; Yuldashev et al., 2013). Eskildsen (2015) analyzed audio-visual recordings of classroom interaction in an ESL context longitudinally, focusing on the developmental sequences for yes/no and WH interrogatives of two students. The database contained afforded uses defined as “linguistic items that are provided by the environment, predominantly the teacher, and picked up by the learner” (Eskildsen, 2015, p. 46). Though such instructional input and the students’ responses were



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 213

not excluded from the analysis, the results did not contradict the exemplar-based sequences. That is to say, interrogative constructions emerged around locally contextualized items. Exemplar-based learning in an afforded setting is also demonstrated in a study examining L2 written data produced by four adult ESL learners. Macqueen (2012) conducted a longitudinal investigation of the learners’ English essays from their pre-university preparation to their university assignments. Lexical trail analysis was performed to trace lexical items or phrases diachronically through individuals’ written corpora. The analysis and its supplementary interview data demonstrated that imitation had taken place recursively. The participants had purposefully cut out new MWEs from their external sources involving the textbook and the teacher and pasted them onto their own production. Furthermore, they had experimented with the new expressions purposefully to initiate feedback negotiations. Thus, Macqueen emphasized the role of imitation (adaptive imitation in her term) in promoting innovation. Imitation can be considered as performance that enables outside resources to enter interlanguage as an open system (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008). Roehr-Brackin (2014) studied L2 development in a foreign language learning setting from a usage-based perspective. She tracked developmental trajectories of an L1 English adult learning German as a foreign language, focusing on German Perfekt constructions involving two verbs, gehen (the cognate of the English go with more restricted meaning) and fahren (go by vehicle). She assumed that proactive inhibition (Ellis, 2006) in learning gehen would occur due to the influence of the L1 English translation go while the new form–meaning association of fahren would be less likely to cause difficulties. The data of oral learner–tutor interactions collected longitudinally was analyzed to determine whether the constructions developed from reliance on item-based constructions proceeding toward more abstract schemas. The results varied depending on the verbs. In the case of fahren constructions, a bottom-up trajectory from item-based constructions toward more abstract schemas was observed. In contrast, in the case of gehen constructions, the predicted exemplar-based path was not identified. Instead, production seemingly based on abstract schemas was observed almost from the start. Furthermore, the participant’s use of explicit knowledge while producing gehen constructions was corroborated by his performance, including self-repair and hesitation. Roehr-Brackin (2014) attributes this top-down production of gehen constructions to the participant’s use of translation and explicit knowledge. The participant may have activated an L1 schema and formulated an L2 utterance in accordance with the L1 template, resulting in a non-target form; he then may have monitored his use and corrected it drawing on explicit knowledge. Roehr-Brackin concludes that explicit knowledge and its application during use may provide a shortcut to schematization.

214 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

Research questions The present study is a multiple-case study of four adult learners enrolled in an EFL course. The study analyzes changes in a series of five essays that each participant writes as after-class production over a three-month period. We investigate how change in after-class production is interwoven with classroom experience. The research questions are as follows:

RQ1. How much of each participant’s novel output in after-class production can be explained by exemplar-based production?

We identify novel output in the essays and detect the sources each participant might have drawn upon to create them. The learners might use usage-based syntactic operations to produce novel language on the basis of their prior essay production. At the same time, they might pick up and recycle language sequences they have newly encountered in class tasks (cf. Macqueen, 2012).

RQ2. How does each participant’s inventory get more complex?

The participants’ inventories may gradually get so complex that operations beyond simple substitution might be required to produce creative language as shown in Eskildsen (2014). We investigate whether and when the participants learn to employ complex operations.

RQ3. How does development of each participant’s inventory relate to his or her class experience?

We examine how the complexification process is interwoven with incorporation of linguistic items derived from class experience.

Method Participants The study was conducted in a freshman EFL course at a university of health and welfare in Japan in the second semester of 2008. Students were assigned to classes based on placement test scores, and the targeted class was for low proficiency learners. The class met once a week for 90 minutes. The course focused on reading and writing. The teacher was the first author of this paper. Of 25 students in the course, five volunteered to participate in the study and come to the researcher’s office to write essays for data collection. Because one of the five participants frequently missed classes during the study period, only the data



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 215

from the remaining four participants were analyzed. Here, they will be referred to by pseudonyms: Maki and Emi (females) and Taro and Ken (males). They all majored in speech, language, and hearing sciences and aimed to be speech therapists after graduation. Their L1 was Japanese. Each of the four participants had studied EFL for six and half years at the time of participation. They had little experience using English outside the classroom. During the period of data collection, they were enrolled in the EFL course, but no other English courses. In class, the four participants belonged to the same group in which they engaged in collaborative tasks. This means that the four participants’ classroom experiences were almost equivalent.

Data collection The collected data consisted of written production, stimulated-recall, and instructional data. Written production data were collected individually five times during the study period (i.e., every other week) in the first researcher’s office, that is, not during the task performance in class. Each participant wrote an English essay entitled “My role as a Quality of Life supporter,” each time without reference to a dictionary or class materials. The participants were given 20 minutes to write. No feedback was given on the essay production. Immediately after completing the essay, stimulated-recall data were collected to confirm what was intended in the essay. Initially, we intended to explore the conscious application of pedagogical rules while writing by collecting stimulatedrecall data. However, because we could not remove concerns about the veridicality problem of this methodology (Polio, 2012) as pointed out by our anonymous reviewers, we decided not to use it for the latter purpose, and the research design was trimmed down to the present research questions. In collecting the data, the first researcher read each sentence in the essay aloud and asked what it meant. After the participant clarified his or her intended meanings, the researcher asked what the participant was thinking while writing the sentence. Both researcher and participants used Japanese in the stimulated-recall interaction. This stimulated recall was audio-recorded, and its protocols were transcribed. Instructional data, including instructional materials, the teacher’s log, and the participants’ written production in tasks in class, were collected to examine the input received and output produced by the participants in the classroom.

Instruction This study targeted 10 weekly regular class sessions of the course from October 1 to December 10. D. Willis and Willis’s (2007) framework of task-based language teaching (TBLT) was adopted and adapted in order to give the students plentiful

216 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

opportunities to use English meaningfully. The class was obliged to use a textbook, which was a collection of reading materials on topics of social welfare. Because the prescribed textbook was not task-based itself, the teacher designed tasks based on the reading materials, following the TBLT guidelines by D. Willis and Willis. TBLT is an educational approach that places tasks at the center of the program (Bygate, 2015). Tasks are defined as “classroom activities intended to develop language learning, in which learners use language, orally or in writing, with a focus on meaning, in order to create, communicate, or derive non-linguistic understanding” (Bygate, 2015, pp. xv–xvi). Learners start with choosing relevant meanings to achieve a task goal, and then search their language repertoire to express themselves (Samuda & Bygate, 2008; D. Willis & Willis, 2007). Tasks facilitate meaningful activities from which grammar emerges (D. Willis & Willis, 2007, p. 7). Learners might construct language by experimenting with chunk combining or modification while performing tasks (Ellis, 2003, p. 115). Therefore, the teacher expected TBLT to promote usage-based language development (cf. Robinson & Ellis, 2008). In accordance with D. Willis and Willis’s (2007) principles of the task sequence, several tasks were sequenced and interrelated within one unit. One unit consisted of pre-tasks, a main task, and form-focused instruction (FFI). Take the unit on child abuse, for example. The task goal of the unit was to write an application form to be admitted to a child welfare department. Pre-tasks consisted of the reading of a coursebook text and a jigsaw listening activity. After reading the text on factors of child maltreatment, the students engaged in a jigsaw listening activity in groups. In the activity, students in a group listened to different parts of a minilecture on how to deal with the problem and took notes. The subsequent main task was a group writing activity based on the pre-tasks. The students collaborated to write an application for a child welfare department. They were required to include reasons to study child welfare and abilities essential for a qualified child welfare counselor referring to information they had received in the pre-tasks. The teacher expected the students to pick up and recycle some of the language encountered in previous tasks. She assumed that frequently experienced language sequences would become entrenched as MWEs. FFI was given after the collaborative writing activity. FFI consisted of teacher feedback, modifications of output, and reproduction. The teacher’s feedback was addressed to both, the individual groups and the whole class. To individual groups, the expressions to be corrected on their task products were marked with underscores and other marks. To the whole class, the teacher provided explicit instruction on errors many groups had made. The form that was focused on in the child abuse unit was the usage of the conjunction because. After the feedback session, each group collaborated to correct errors that had been marked. Finally, each student rewrote the modified version.

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Analysis To investigate the sources of novel language in each essay except Essay 1, we adopted the traceback methodology from Eskildsen (2014) with some modifications. The test corpus (i.e., the database containing production to be traced) was each essay (excluding Essay 1) by each participant, and the main corpora (i.e., traceable databases) were the essays and instructional data prior to the test-corpus essay. For example, production in test corpus Essay 3 was traced back to Essays 1 and 2 and the instructional data the participant had obtained. The instructional data consisted of the texts in the coursebook, the scripts for pre-task listening activities, and participants’ collaborative written productions in class. We mainly focused our analyses on verb–argument patterns. The reason of this focus lies in difficulties that low proficiency learners with L1 Japanese have with English word order (e.g., my car can’t drive) (Shibata, 2006; Tode, 2016, April). Thus, our interest was in the development of basic clause patterns such as the SVO pattern and the SVOO pattern. For this reason, other items including adverbial adjuncts were ignored. For example, an adjunct designating location, that place in that place I met speech handicap people (from Emi’s second essay), was left out. The internal structure of the argument of the verb (e.g. speech handicap people in the above example) was not analyzed further unless it contained another verb as in I learn how to support them. In addition to the verb–argument patterns, our research interests included how the participants learned how to connect clauses. Thus, the usages of subordinate conjunctions (e.g., if) and relative pronouns, which were occasionally observed in the participants’ written production, were also included in the analysis. Table 1.  Types of categorical abstractions Semantic category

Examples

Subschema

1

Thing (THG)

I give them happy life It give me freedom

THG give THG THG

2

Process (PRO)

I have met speech handicapped people I return heart

I PRO THG

3

Relational Predicate (RELpred)

He was alone He was worried

He was RELpred

I want to be ST I want to be care worker

I want to be RELpred

ST is very important ST is never give up heart

ST is RELpred

If we are good listeners If I have great skill

If UTT

4

Utterance (UTT)

218 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

The traceback approach examines how abstract categories are schematized on the basis of close exemplars experienced previously. The main categories abstracted from the data in the present study were Thing (THG) and Process (PRO), which are schematized meanings of nouns and verbs respectively according to cognitive grammar (Langacker, 1987). Table 1 summarizes the categorical abstraction. It shows types of categories that were extracted from sets of similar exemplars. As shown in Table 1, pronouns and nouns were categorized as THG (Category 1). Recall that this study focuses on verb–argument patterns. Thus, a noun with a determiner and/or an attributive adjective such as happy life was viewed as THG as a whole instead of breaking it down into its components. Verbs were categorized as PRO. Since our focus was on verb-centered word order, we disregarded tense and aspect. Therefore, have met and return in Category 2 were categorized together as PRO. This means that the trace of the tense and aspect system was outside the scope of our research. The lexical items characterizing the subject THG in a copular clause were categorized as Relational Predicate (RELpred). Though, typically, an adjective following the copula was coded as RELpred (he was alone; he was worried), a noun was also coded as RELpred if it was used as a complement of the copula to characterize the subject. For example, as shown in a pair of examples, I want to be ST and I want to be care worker (Table 1), ST and care worker, which described professions (i.e., characteristics) of the subject I, were coded as RELpred. We sometimes observed a clause without the copula be, especially in earlier essays (e.g., I want to ST). If we identified this as having a meaning of a copular clause, we coded the complement as RELpred as well. The next example needs more elaboration. Taro produced two clauses beginning with ST is, ST is very important and ST is never give up heart (meaning that a speech therapist is a persevering person, according to his stimulated recall comment) (Table 1). Again, since our focus was on the basic clause type, we did not break the complement part following the copula into its constituents unless it embedded another verb phrase or clause. Thus, we disregarded the adverbial adjunct very in very important and coded important as RELpred. On the other hand, never give up heart, which contained the verb, was traced back to the sequence they to help us, and have never give up heart (meaning that the speech therapists should have the spirit of “never give up” in helping us) in the first essay. Regarding never give up heart as an MWE, we coded the string in the copular clause as RELpred to characterize the subject ST. Locations were not coded because there were few instances other than adverbial adjuncts as in I want to number one speech therapist in the world. We found no location arguments of be (e.g., they are in the library) in the participants’ essays. The only motion verbs we found in their essays were come and go. Therefore, the



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 219

path following come or go (e.g., to this university in came to this university) was treated as an adverbial. Recall that we also examined the usage of subordinate clauses headed by conjunctions and relatives. Since semantic features of subordinate clauses varied, we coded them as Utterance (UTT), following Eskildsen (2014) and Lieven et al. (2009). In preparation for the traceback analysis, we (a) identified novel t-units in the essays (excluding Essay 1) and (b) divided each novel t-unit into clauses. A t-unit was defined as “one main clause with all subordinate clauses attached to it” (Hunt, 1965, p. 20). We found three sub-clausal units, that is to say, verbless sentence fragments ended by a full stop (e.g., Many way for communication.). We left them out of the database, because our focus was on verb-centered word order. First, we identified the t-units that were previously produced exactly and excluded them from the analysis. The remaining t-units were considered to be novel t-units. At this stage, we found two exact repetitions to be excluded in Emi’s data, one in Taro’s, and four in Ken’s. There were no exact repetitions in Maki’s data. In the second step of preparation, we divided each novel t-unit into clauses. For example, the t-unit children need warm heart because they must support for many people (from Emi’s Essay 4) was divided into two clauses: children need warm heart // because they must support for many people (the double slashes indicate the boundaries of clauses). Frequencies of novel t-units and clauses in each essay by each participant are shown in Table 2. In the first step of the tracing process, we searched through the main corpora (both previous essays and instructional data) for language sequences close to each clause in the test corpora. A language sequence in the main corpora was regarded as a close match for the target sequence in the test corpus if both sequences shared at least one lexical item with each other and its co-texts (i.e., linguistic environments of the particular lexical item) performed similar semantic functions. For example, Maki produced I want to establish mutual trust in Essay 4 (Table 3). This expression Table 2.  Frequency of novel t-units and clauses in each essay of each participant Essay  1

 2

 3

 4

 5

Participant

TU

CL

TU

CL

TU

CL

TU

CL

TU

CL

Taro

15

16

 6

14

 8

13

13

20

14

18

Maki

 6

 9

 7

 9

 6

 8

 7

11

 6

10

Emi

 8

 9

13

13

11

11

 5

 6

 9

 9

Ken

 6

 9

 9

11

 5

 7

 6

 7

 7

 8

Note. TU = t-unit; CL = clause.

220 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

was traced back to I want to have great technique in Essay 1. At the same time, the phrase establish mutual trust was traced to a script for a listening activity (child welfare specialists should establish mutual trust with the parents) and subsequent several exposures in class. Thus, I want to have great technique and establish mutual trust were coded as close matches for the clause. Recall that determiners and attributive adjectives in noun phrases were disregarded. Thus, a pair of sequences that shared only those items (e.g., the ST knew it; the patient liked music) were not regarded as close. A clause for which we could not identify any close matches in previous essays or in instructional data was coded as syntactic fail. In six clauses in total, we identified close matches only for part of the clause, not for the whole. For example, Taro produced ST role to do rehabilitation meaning that the role of a speech therapist is to provide rehabilitation. A close match was identified for part of the clause do rehabilitation, but not for the main structure “ST role (null copula) to do.” Such a clause was double-coded as syntactic fail and close match. Second, among multiple close matches, we identified the closest match that shared most fixed items with the target. For example, for the target clause my dream is to be ST in Taro’s third essay, we identified two close matches, my dream is ST in Essay 1 and my dream is to be a child welfare specialist in his collaborative writing task. Because the latter shared more consecutive lexical material with the target, we coded the latter as the closest match. Then, we coded the closest match either as a fixed string (i.e., MWE) or as a subschema operationalized as a string consisting of one or more fixed items and one or more slots. For the above example, the closest match was coded as a subschema. Table 3.  Application of simple traces Target clause

Closest matches

Schemas and MWE

Number of substitutions

1 Because I study hard

Because I study hard now

– 1 MWE

0

2 I want to be ST

I want to be care worker

– I want to be RELpred

1 (care worker → ST)

3 Children need warm heart

Many people need rehabilitation

– THG need THG

2 (many people →children; rehabilitation → warm heart

4 I can establish mutual trust

They can speak establish mutual trust

– THG can PRO 2 (they → I; speak → establish – 1 MWE mutual trust

5 I want to establish mutual trust

I want to have great – I want to PRO 2 (have → establish; great techtechnique THG nique → mutual trust) establish mutual – 1 MWE trust



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 221

In identifying fixed strings, distinctions in grammatical morphemes such as -s were not made. For example, do rehabilitation, does rehabilitation, and doing rehabilitation were categorized as the same MWE. As an anonymous reviewer pointed out, grammatical morphemes are also important indices of L2 development. We decided to exclude them from our analysis, however, in order to focus on the verbcentered word order. In identifying a subschema, a slot was established if at least two different items belonging to the same semantic category (e.g., THG, PRO) occurred in the same position. For example, we identified the “I want to PRO THG” subschema from the two instances mentioned above (I want to establish mutual trust and I want to have great technique) (Table 3). The next step was to derive the target clause from the identified MWEs and subschemas. As indicated in Eskildsen (2014), a distinction was made between simple and complex derivations. We defined simple derivations as those based on one subschema and/or one or more MWEs by way of substitution and/or repetition. Table 3 summarizes the kinds of simple derivations that were applied in this study. Example 1 shows the repetition of an MWE because I study hard. The adverb now was not coded because it was an adverbial adjunct, which was outside the scope of our analysis. Examples 2 and 3 were derived through one and two substitutions respectively. To arrive at children need warm heart (Example 3), children and warm heart were substituted for many people and rehabilitation in the closest match (many people need rehabilitation) respectively. We do not imply, however, that warm heart was processed as an unanalyzed chunk. Though more complex operations may have taken place in the participant’s mind, the derivation inside the slot not containing PRO was outside the scope of our research purpose. A trace for Example 4, I can establish mutual trust, involved one subschema and one MWE establish mutual trust. If the string establish mutual trust had not been established as an MWE, the intransitive clause they can speak could not have been a match for a simple trace. Because we successfully identified the string as an MWE, however, we regarded the intransitive clause as the closest match, inferring the “THG can PRO” subschema. Then we substituted the MWE establish mutual trust for speak in the closest match. Example 5 I want to establish mutual trust also consisted of one subschema and one MWE, but, unlike the one in Example 4, the subschema represented a transitive construction. In this case, the MWE was broken down into establish and mutual trust, which were substituted for have and great technique respectively. The dual-coding of the same MWE aligns well with the usage-based perspective (Eskildsen, 2014). Complex derivations were defined as those based on at least two subschemas by embedding or merging (Eskildsen, 2014). Even though two or more subschemas

222 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

were identified in one clause, mere sequencing of the subschemas without embedding or merging was not regarded as complex. In embedding, a subschema was incorporated into another subschema (Eskildsen, 2014). Table 4 shows how the embedding was applied in this study. In tracing if I have great skill (Example 1), which Maki wrote in Essay 4, we identified two closest matches, if we are good listeners in her earlier task production and I have great technique in her earlier essay. Because Maki produced if to introduce the conditional meaning (if we are good listeners, we can establish mutual trust with abusive parents; if I have great skill, I can use it), we judged that she had an “if UTT” subschema to introduce a conditional meaning. However, because the internal constructions of the two if clauses (we are good listeners and I have great skill) did not match, the target clause could not be derived by a simple trace. Thus, we applied “a two-step substitution” (Eskildsen, 2014, p. 14). First, we inferred a subschema “I have great THG” from the other match I have great technique, and skill was substituted for technique to derive I have great skill. Then, the whole clause I have great skill was substituted for we are good listeners. In other words, the target clause was derived by embedding the “I have great THG” subschema in the “if UTT” subschema.

Table 4.  Application of embedding Target clause

Closest matches

Schemas and MWE

Operations

1 If I have great skill

If we are good listeners I have great technique

– If UTT – I have great THG

2 substitutions (skill; I have great skill) + Embedding

2 Because I can’t communication

Because many people communication He can’t speech

– Because UTT – THG can’t UTT

3 substitutions (I; communication; I can’t communication) + Embedding

3 If I can establish mutual trust

If we are good listeners I can speak

– If UTT – I can PRO – MWE

2 substitutions (establish mutual trust; I can establish mutual trust) + Embedding

– Because UTT

3 substitutions (they; many people; they must support for many people) + Embedding

establish mutual trust 4 Because they must support for many people

Because child abuse and neglect are increasing I must support for sick people

– THG must support for THG



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 223

Table 5.  Application of merging Target clause

Closest matches

Schemas and MWE

Operations

1 The way that support them for a long timea

– Everything that has happened – We encourage them

– THG that UTT – THG PRO them

3 substitutions (the way; support; support them) + Merging (THG that UTT + THG PRO them)

2 We need establish trust with them

– We need rehabili- – We need tation THG(PRO) – Child welfare – THG should specialists should establish trust establish trust with THG with parents

2 substitutions (them; establish trust with them) + Merging [we need THG(PRO) + THG should establish trust with THG]

3 Therefore I learning many intelligent

– Therefore I study – Therefore I – I learn a lot PRO – I learn THG

2 substitutions (many intelligent; learning many intelligent) + Merging (therefore I PRO + I learn THG)

Note. aThe adverbial for a long time was not coded.

In merging, two or more subschemas were blended to produce a new subschema (Eskildsen, 2014). Table 5 shows our application of merging. Example 1 illustrates how Taro’s novel production of a relative clause the way that support them for a long time (meaning the instruments that continue to support them) was traced. Note that the adverbial for a long time was not coded. We identified two closest matches, everything that has happened and we encourage them in his earlier production. Since Taro had been exposed to some relative clauses (e.g., measures that can be taken) in class input as well, we assumed he had the “THG that UTT” subschema to modify the antecedent THG. He also seemed to have the “THG PRO them” subschema since we found other instances of this subschema (e.g., people blame them). The straightforward incorporation of the latter subschema into the former, however, did not allow derivation of the target clause. The merging of the two subschema was required to arrive at a new subschema “THG that PRO them.” A schematic representation of the merging looks like this: The way that support them Everything that has happened → THG that UTT ⇒ THG that PRO them We encourage them → THG PRO them

Example 2 (Table 5) needs more elaboration. For Taro’s novel production we need establish trust with them (Essay 3), we identified two closest matches, we need rehabilitation and child welfare specialists should establish trust with parents. From

224 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

his earlier production, we inferred the ‘THG should establish trust with THG’ subschema and the “we need THG” subschema. At the same time, we failed to find instances categorized as the “THG need PRO” or “THG need to PRO” subschema. This implied that Taro was unlikely to possess the modal need. Thus, substitution of need for should was not possible, nor was substitution of the verb phrase establish trust for rehabilitation in we need rehabilitation.1 On the other hand, considering that verb-derived nouns such as explosion, choice, and rehabilitation are construed as THGs (Langacker, 1987) (to put it another way, they are verbs construed as THGs), it seemed that we could assume a fuzzy category, the “we need THG (PRO)” subschema. This fuzziness might facilitate the blending of the two subschemas, leading to the “we need (modal) establish trust with THG” subschema. Our analysis may be represented as follows: We need establish trust with them We need rehabilitation → we need THG(PRO) Child welfare specialists should establish trust with parents → THG should establish trust with THG ⇒ We need (modal) establish trust with THG

Results Results of Research Question 1 Table 6 presents frequencies of clauses coded as exemplar-based and syntactic fail in each test corpus for each participant. Exemplar-based clauses were defined as clauses for which close matches were identified in previous essays or/and instructional corpora. The table shows that exemplar-based clauses constituted a large share in all the essays, except Emi’s second. We categorized exemplar-based clauses into two types: (a) Prior-Essay Production (PEP), defined as clauses for which close matches were identified in the participants’ previous essays and (b) Class-Derived Production (CDP), defined as clauses for which close matches were identified in the instructional corpora. Note that one clause was sometimes coded both as (a) and (b). After coding, we counted PEP clauses and CDP clauses in each essay by each participant. With regard to CDP, both token and type frequency were counted. The participants often reused expressions they had incorporated from class experience in subsequent 1.  Because of the MWE status of establish trust, it could be hypothesized that the string might be coded as THG as a whole (i.e., establishment of trust) in Taro’s mind. However, we denied the possibility because we identified establish a relationship in his previous use in a collaborative task.



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 225

Table 6.  Frequency of exemplar-based clauses and syntactic fails in essays Essay Code

2

3

4

5

Exemplar-Based

12 (.86)

13 (1.00)

17 (.85)

17 (.94)

Syntactic Fail

5 (.36)

2 (.15)

4 (.20)

1 (.06)

Exemplar-Based

7 (.78)

8 (1.00)

9 (.82)

8 (.80)

Syntactic Fail

2 (.22)

0 (0)

2 (.18)

2 (.20)

Exemplar-Based

7 (.54)

10 (.91)

5 (.83)

7 (.78)

Syntactic Fail

6 (.46)

1 (.09)

1 (.17)

2 (.22)

Exemplar-Based

9 (.82)

7 (1.00)

7 (1.00)

7 (.88)

Syntactic Fail

2 (.18)

0 (0)

1 (.14)

1 (.13)

Taro

Maki

Emi

Ken

Note. The numerical values in parentheses represent the proportions of exemplar-based clauses or syntactic fails to the total number of clauses in each essay. The proportions of exemplar-based clauses and syntactic fails do not necessarily add up to 1.00 because of double-coding, which was mentioned in the method section.

essays repeatedly. For token frequency, we counted every occurrence of CDP, including repeated use of the same instance or pattern. For type frequency, we counted different types of CDP. As shown in Table 7, PEP constituted a large share (78–100%), suggesting that the participants usually produced novel language on the basis of concrete items in previous essays. With regard to CDP, Table 7 shows inter- and intra-individual variations (14–100% for token; 14–80% for type). Taro and Maki seemed to be constantly oriented toward CDP (5–8 tokens per essay; 2–6 types per essay). Emi used less class-derived expressions in earlier essays, but produced four types in Essay 4. Ken’s production seemed to be different from that of the others. While his CDP use was high in terms of token frequency (4–7 tokens per essay), type frequency was relatively low (1–3 types per essay). This suggests his repetitive use of a few class-derived expressions.

Results of Research Question 2 To investigate Research Question 2, we needed to see whether the target clause could be produced by means of simple operations on previous exemplars or more complex derivations would be required. We counted clauses that could be traced

226 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

Table 7.  Frequency of prior-essay production and class-derived production in essays Essay Code

2

3

4

5

PEP

12 (1.00)

12 (.92)

17 (1.00)

16 (.94)

CDP (token)

5 (.42)

7 (.54)

8 (.47)

6 (.35)

CDP (type)

5 (.42)

4 (.31)

5 (.29)

6 (.35)

PEP

6 (.86)

8 (1.00)

8 (.89)

8 (1.00)

CDP (token)

5 (.71)

5 (.63)

7 (.78)

7 (.88)

CDP (type)

5 (.71)

3 (.38)

5 (.56)

2 (.25)

PEP

7 (1.00)

10 (1.00)

5 (1.00)

7 (1.00)

CDP (token)

1 (.14)

2 (.20)

4 (.80)

3 (.43)

CDP (type)

1 (.14)

2 (.20)

4 (.80)

1 (.14)

PEP

7 (.78)

7 (1.00)

7 (1.00)

7 (1.00)

CDP (token)

4 (.44)

5 (.71)

7 (1.00)

6 (.86)

CDP (type)

3 (.33)

2 (.29)

2 (.29)

1 (.14)

Taro

Maki

Emi

Ken

Note. PEP = Prior-Essay Production; CDP = Class-Derived Production. The numerical values in parentheses represent the proportions of PEP tokens, CDP tokens, or CDP types to exemplar-based clauses in each essay.

by simple operations and clauses that would require complex operations in each participant’s test corpus. Table 8 shows that half or more than half of the clauses (50–100 %) in all essays except Emi’s fourth could be derived from a single subschema or/and MWEs by simple operations. It shows, at the same time, that about 20–30% of complex traces on average were identified from the start although there were inter- and intra-individual variations. Taro’s and Maki’s essays exhibited relatively frequent complex derivations. They produced two to four clauses requiring embedding and merging per essay. In contrast, few complex traces were identified in Ken’s essay, suggesting that he may have produced novel output by means of repetition of MWEs and substitutions. More than half the clauses in Emi’s fourth essay required complex derivations, though her other essays exhibited less complex derivations.



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 227

Table 8.  Frequency of simple and complex traces Essay Trace

2

3

4

5

Simple Trace

9 (.75)

9 (.69)

15 (.88)

14 (.82)

Complex Trace

3 (.25)

4 (.31)

2 (.12)

3 (.18)

Simple Trace

5 (.71)

4 (.50)

6 (.67)

5 (.63)

Complex Trace

2 (.29)

4 (.50)

3 (.33)

3 (.38)

Simple Trace

5 (.71)

8 (.80)

2 (.40)

6 (.86)

Complex Trace

2 (.29)

2 (.20)

3 (.60)

1 (.14)

Simple Trace

8 (.89)

6 (.86)

7 (1.00)

5 (.71)

Complex Trace

1 (.11)

1 (.14)

0 (.00)

2 (.29)

Taro

Maki

Emi

Ken

Note. The numerical values in parentheses represent the proportions of simple or complex traces to exemplar-based clauses in each essay.

Research Question 3 We investigated whether or not complex derivations relate to each participant’s CDP. To be precise, we checked if at least one subschema needed for a complex trace was derived from a closest match identified in the instructional database. Table 9 shows the frequency of complex traces with subschemas derived from class experience in each essay by each participant. The numerical values in parentheses represent the total frequency of complex traces in each essay. The table indicates that almost all complex traces except those in Emi’s second essay required subschemas derived from class experience. This suggests that the process of increasing complexification might have something to do with the participants’ classroom experience. Table 9.  Frequency of complex traces with class-derived production Essay Participant

2

3

4

5

Taro

2 (3)

3 (4)

2 (2)

3 (3)

Maki

2 (2)

4 (4)

3 (3)

3 (3)

Emi

0 (2)

2 (2)

3 (3)

1 (1)

Ken

1 (1)

1 (1)

–

2 (2)

Note. The numerical values in parentheses represent the total frequency of complex traces in each essay.

228 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

Let us give some examples to illustrate how the complexification process is related to class experience. First, let us examine how the relative pronoun that appeared in Taro’s inventory. Initially, in his earlier essays, Taro used that only as a mere connective of two clauses. For example, he produced a mixture of English and Japanese as in I’m enable and encouraging him/her to speech and hear that I think communication につながる (meaning “I will enable and encourage my patients to speak and hear, and I think it will enable them to communicate well”; Essay 2). At the same time, he had been frequently exposed to relative pronouns in reading materials. Then, the relative pronoun that appeared first in a collaborative writing task in which he and his partner wrote talk about everything that has happened (Example 1 in Table 5). Here, the language sequence everything that has happened had been an imitation from a script of the pre-task jigsaw listening activity. After that, in Essay 3, he succeeded in producing a creative relative clause as in the way that support them for a long time (meaning a tool that can support patients for a long time) by himself (Table 5). As stated in the analysis section, this novel clause was attributed to the merging of the “THG that UTT” subschema and another subschema “THG PRO them”. Maki intended to express the importance of mutual understanding between speech therapists and patients throughout her essays. Take her third and fourth essays as examples. The good technique no use to without believe (meaning “good skills are no use without patient trust”; Essay 3). … if I can establish mutual trust that they play to my think plan (meaning “if I can establish mutual trust with my patients, they will follow my treatment plan”; Essay 4).

Though the latter half of Essay 4 is still incomprehensible, its first half (i.e., the if clause) seemed to be well-formed. Between Essays 3 and 4, Maki and her peers were repeatedly exposed to instances based on the “if UTT” subschema (e.g., if we are good listeners) (Example 3 in Table 4). The verb phrase establish mutual trust was also traced to a teacher–student negotiation. First, in a collaborative writing task of writing an application to be admitted to the child welfare department, Maki and her peers wrote I want to establish a relationship of mutual trust of abusive parents. Then, given feedback by the teacher, she and her peers modified the sentence into I want to establish mutual trust with abusive parents. In addition to the if subschema and the verb phrase establish mutual trust as an MWE, she seemed to have the “I can PRO” subschema. Thus, we considered the production if I can establish mutual trust to have been derived from the embedding of the “I can PRO” subschema and the task-derived expression establish mutual trust into the “if UTT” subschema (Example 3 in Table 4).



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 229

We observed improvement in the usage of because in Emi’s essays. In earlier essays we identified the incorrectly internalized subschema “because UTT” to introduce consequent proposition as in He can’t speech. Because I can’t communication (meaning “He could not speak. That is why I could not communicate with him”) (Essay 2). At this stage, we attributed her production because I can’t communication to the embedding of the “THG can’t UTT”2 subschema into the “because UTT(consequent)” subschema (Example 2 in Table 4). After subsequent FFI including the teacher’s feedback and use of because in tasks, she successfully produced the sentence children need warm heart because they must support for many people (Essay 4), which was considered to have been derived from the embedding of the “THG must support for THG” subschema in the “because UTT (reason)” subschema (Example 4 in Table 4). Few complex traces were identified in Ken’s essay, as shown earlier. However, all his complex traces were related to his class-derived subschemas (Table 9). Take his usage of because and therefore, for example. Like Emi, he had internalized the “because UTT (consequent)” subschema initially. After subsequent FFI and use of therefore in tasks, therefore began to replace the anomalous use of because in Essay 4. At that time his use of therefore was restricted to the intransitive “therefore I PRO” pattern3 as in therefore I study and therefore I came. Later in Essay 5, he produced therefore I leaning many intelligent (meaning “therefore I will acquire much knowledge”) (Example 3 in Table 5). We attributed this production to the merging of the “Therefore I PRO” and “I learn THG” subschemas. Note that learn and learning were treated as equivalent in this study.

Discussion The first research question was: How much of each participant’s novel output in after-class production can be explained by exemplar-based production? The participants’ novel production was for the most part exemplar-based. It was based mainly on concrete items they had produced in prior essays. Some class-derived items were also incorporated although there were inter- and intra-individual variations in the extent of their incorporation. 2.  At this stage, we could not judge whether Emi had the “THG can’t PRO” subschema without knowing the verb form speak and communicate or she had the “THG can’t THG” subschema. For this reason, we used the term UTT in the slot. 3.  Initially, we did not intend to trace the usage of therefore because it is an adverb, not a conjunction. However, since its appearance in Ken’s essay was closely related to his restructuring of the because subschema, we included the therefore subschema in our analysis.

230 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

The second research question was: How does each participant’s inventory get more complex? Half or more of the participants’ novel production was explained by simple derivations consisting of repetition of MWEs and substitution operated on a subschema. At the same time, they produced some creative language that required complex derivations consisting of embedding and merging of two or more subschemas though there were inter- and intra-individual variations. Moreover, complex derivations seemed to be observed not gradually but rather from the start. The third research question was: How does the complexification process relate to each participant’s class experience? We found that at least one class-derived subschema was interwoven with other subschemas in almost all complex derivations. Close examination of instructional data showed that complex derivations were preceded by class experience, including imitation from tasks and FFI. Thus, we can be fairly certain that class experience facilitated the complexification process of the participants’ inventories. This study has demonstrated that written language of adult foreign language learners is for the most part exemplar-based. Even though the study focused on verb-centered clause structures without examining other constructions, one may say that MWEs and subschemas are the heart of the learning of basic structures. The four participants produced novel language mainly through simple operations on previously produced language. This may have contributed to entrenchment of existing items or subschemas. At the same time, the participants incorporated some newer MWEs or subschemas from classroom experience to their independent production. Furthermore, complex derivations almost always involved class-derived language. Viewed in this light, class tasks may have afforded the learners some opportunities to experiment with new language to make their linguistic knowledge more complex. This study demonstrated individual differences in the extent of CDP and complex derivations. Taro and Maki actively took in newly experienced MWEs and subschemas and integrated them into performance, which exhibited constant complex derivations. With regard to Emi and Ken, on the other hand, the data showed less CDP and complex traces. In particular, despite the high token frequency of CDP, its type frequency was low in Ken’s performance, suggesting that he was oriented toward reusing familiar items, that is to say, repetition of MWEs and substitution operated on a subschema. This may have facilitated their entrenchment but inhibited more complex derivations. Identification of factors behind this variability is beyond the scope of the present study, but the interplay between learner factors and exemplar-based learning should be an interesting research focus in future research (cf. Roehr-Brackin, 2015). Examinations of instructional data revealed that the participants modified their task production after receiving FFI, including corrective feedback, from the



Exemplar-based instructed second language development and classroom experience 231

teacher in the process of the task sequence. Thus, we can infer that the participants may have engaged in explicit learning processes. This explicit process may have facilitated complex derivations (cf. Roehr-Backin, 2014). The application of explicit processes, nevertheless, does not seem to contradict the major role of exemplar-based learning because even complex derivations operate on concrete subschemas. The participants may have been processing concrete exemplars consciously rather than applying explicit knowledge in a top-down fashion.. It seems reasonable, therefore, to state that their inventories got more complex around the exemplars encountered in class. Some may argue that the complex traces are speculative since we cannot show conclusive evidence of what actually happened in the participants’ minds (Eskildsen, 2014). Although these operations are tentative concepts at this stage, it would not be advisable to abandon these constructs only because of uncertainty of empirical validity. As Eskildsen (2014) states, tracing L2 learners’ performance with the concepts of simple and complex operations can shed new light on investigating emergent creativity based on concrete linguistic experience. Even though some might question the validity of merging, we would say that this construct deserves attention and investigation. Considering that adults have developed cognitive abilities to recognize some interrelations of seemingly different instances, merging might be an indispensable construct in studying usage-based L2 development. Some may also state that the stimulated recall we conducted after writing an essay may also have mediated explicit learning and complexification; that might be the case. Considering the role of verbalization (languaging in a sociocultural term) in the learning process (Swain, Lapkin, Knouzi, Suzuki, & Brooks, 2009), it would be more accurate to state that after-class essay writing and the retrospective activity with the teacher were a part of the task sequence. Although the study showed that most of the participants’ novel production was exemplar-based, some production was coded as syntactic fail. This might contain top-down production based on L1 schema and use of explicit knowledge as discussed in Roehr-Brackin (2014). Addressing the issue of L1 transfer in foreign language learning contexts in future research will yield deep insight into usagebased investigations (Wang, 2016). There are several limitations in this study. The present study focused on a priori selected constructions. Our conclusions, therefore, have to be limited to the constructions. In order to trace the totality of language production, more massive data will need to be collected for a longer period. Though the data collected in the present study was the richest and longest possible because of the contextual constraints, more accumulations need to be built up. Another concerns the degree of density of classroom data. The classroom data of this study was restricted

232 Tomoko Tode and Hideki Sakai

to written language received or produced by the participants in class. It does not provide enough information about what was actually happening in the classroom. Considering that the L2 system emerges in interactions of learners, teacher, and environment (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008), interactional aspects need to be examined in future research. Despite those limitations, we expect this study to add a valuable contribution to the usage-based research of L2 development in that it explored exemplar-based learning in relation to instruction in a foreign language learning setting.

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Author’s address Tomoko Tode Professor Hiroshima Shudo University Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences 1-1-1, Ozukahigashi, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima 731-3195 Japan [email protected]

Hideki Sakai Professor Shinshu University Faculty of Education 6-Ro, Nishinagano, Nagano City 380-8544 Japan [email protected]

About the authors Tomoko Tode, Department of Social Welfare, Niigata University of Health and Welfare; Hideki Sakai, Faculty of Education, Shinshu University. Tomoko Tode is now at Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences, Hiroshima Shudo University. The paper has benefited from insightful feedback from anonymous reviewers. The research reported here was supported in part by grants from the President of Niigata University of Health and Welfare. Portions of the study were presented at the AAAL 2010 Annual Conference at Atlanta, GA, USA. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tomoko Tode, Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences, Hiroshima Shudo University, 1-1-1 Ozuka-higashi, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima, 731-3195, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]