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News, Calendars, and Events » Calendars » Master Calendar » Doctoral Dissertation Defense Schedule
Doctoral Defense: Melissa Baralt
Schedule information
Event Doctoral Defense: Melissa Baralt
When Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 9:30am
Where Intercultural Center 563
Event details
Details Doctoral Defense

Candidate Name: Melissa Baralt
Major: SPAN
Advisor: Ronald P. Leow, Ph.D.

Title:
'Task Complexity, The Cognition Hypothesis, And Interaction In The Cmc And Ftf Environments'

Abstract/Summary:

The construct of cognitive complexity has played an increasingly important role in studies on task design, which aim to explore how increases in the cognitive complexity of tasks differentially mediate interaction and learning outcomes (Kim, 2009; Gilabert, Barón, & Llanes, 2009; Kim & Tracy-Ventura, forthcoming; Nuevo, 2006; Révész, 2009, forthcoming; Révész, Sachs & Mackey, forthcoming; Robinson, 2001, 2007). The Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010; Robinson & Gilabert, 2007) predicts that more cognitively complex tasks will result in greater incorporation of forms made salient during interaction, and that cognitive individual differences will affect learners’ performance as the tasks increase in complexity. In addition, researchers have posited that modality may play an important and differential role for SLA; however, studies on computer-based interaction have thus far been tangential to task-based research. So far, the research on the effects of increases in cognitive complexity on learning is thus far inconclusive, with no study to date comparing its effects in different modes.

The current study sought to fill this gap by operationalizing the Cognition Hypothesis, looking at the effects of increases in task complexity and modality on L2 development alongside the provision of recasts. Learners engaged in two-way interactive tasks for which they had to come up with the intentional reasons of peoples’ actions (+complex) or not (-complex). In addition, learners carried out the task with the researcher in either the face-to-face (FTF) or computer-mediated communication (CMC) mode. 70 intermediate-level learners of Spanish were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: FTF+C, FTF-C, CMC-C, and CMC+C. The targeted linguistic item was the Spanish past subjunctive. Uptake was explored as a mediating variable for learning, and working memory capacity (WMC, measured via the OSPAN, CSPAN, and RSPAN; cf. Conway, Kane, Bunting, Hambrick, Wilhelm, Engle, 2005) was explored as a moderating variable. Independent measures of task complexity were also collected, to include time judgments of the tasks and anxiety and perceived difficulty questionnaires.

Results indicated that engaging in more cognitively complex tasks yielded higher development, but differentially so according to mode. The +complex task resulted in the highest gains for the FTF mode, but hardly any development for the CMC mode. The -complex task in the CMC mode led to the highest amount of development. Contrary to expectations, uptake and WMC did not predict learning, and in fact were negatively and significantly correlated with development in the FTF+C group. In order to explicate these findings, a deeper probe into the concurrent processes demonstrated by the participants during interaction was carried out. The follow-up analysis revealed that while some participants noticed the form, others demonstrated exemplars of hypothesis testing and rule formations, features associated with awareness at the level of understanding (cf. Leow, 1997; Rosa & Leow, 2004; Rosa & O’Neill, 1999). In fact, awareness and production of the form during the treatment appeared to be the clinching factor that explained the superior performance of FTF+C and CMC-C.

To conclude, it was found that (1) learning in CMC can be extended to the FTF mode; (2) uptake may be an inaccurate of what learners process after receiving feedback; (3) increases of cognitive complexity may lead to deeper processing and subsequent awareness, which was found to significantly predict learning in this study, not uptake or WMC; and (4) modality and task complexity interact in unique ways for SLA.
Access » This event is limited to Georgetown University students, faculty and staff.
Contact Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Academic Affairs (Attn: Doctoral Dissertation Defense) Box 571005 (ICC-302) 3700 O Street, NW Washington, DC 20057-1005 Email: gradacadaffrs@georgetown.edu Tel: (202) 687-8918
Sponsors Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Web site For more information, see http://grad.georgetown.edu/pages/doc_dissert_defense-sche.cfm
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