What Develops in L2 Writing? An Analysis through Genre-Based Tasks

1. What Develops in L2 Writing? An Analysis through Genre-Based Tasks Heidi Byrnes, Georgetown University 3rd TBLT Lancaster University September 14, 2009byrnesh@georgetown.edu

2. SLA Research into ‘Task’ focused on… • answers to highly theoretical questions regarding immediate processes • immediate processes rather than long-range developmental issues • formal properties of output , less the ability to actually use language • oral interaction, less reading or writing tasks Less interested in exploring how literary-cultural content and language learning can be simultaneously facilitated

3. Reconsidering ‘Task’ along a Developmental Axis Focused on ‘Texts’ • expanding ‘task’ toward advanced multiple literacies • imagining ‘task’ as registerially and generically diverse oral and written texts • embedding ‘task’ in principled, extended curricular progressions • relating ‘task’ to textual meaning-making Interpreting ‘texts’ as instances of the language system

4. Genre-based Writing Tasks In Educational Settings … SOME CHALLENGES • How might writing tasks support language development within a curricular context? • How can writing tasks and, through them, writing development foster overall language development? • What fine-grained analyses might capture the dual dynamic of the ‘need to mean more’ and the • ‘ability to mean more’ within genre-oriented writing? • How can findings inform curriculum and pedagogy in a learner-oriented way? • How can writing tasks contribute to language learning and cultural content learning?

5. CENTRAL CONCERN How can a learner move from engagement with a particular text (oral or written, in production or in interpretation) as an instance of meaning-making, to acquiring the overall meaning potential of the language system she/he is learning?

6. Toward a Framework for Staging Language Development through Genre-based Writing Tasks • The oral - written continuum • The continuum from primary to secondary discourses • The continuum of dialogicality • The semiotic continuum Extensive research within SFL in L1 and, increasingly, L2 education is beginning to capture aspects of a developmental continuum. (See tabulation for GM that includes Process+ Range constructions and Fixed Phrases = ‘dead metaphors’ )

7. Grammatical Metaphor Linguistic resource for condensing and restructuring information through grammatically noncongruent language Systemic Functional Linguistics Noncongruent Language Congruent Language nouns development verbs develop processes adjectives developing adjectives stable qualities nouns stability If we act effectively, this most truly confirms that we know things accurately If we act effectively, this most truly confirms that we know things accurately If we act effectively, this most truly confirms that we know things accurately 1 2 3 ACTIONS QUALITIES The truest confirmation of the accuracy of our knowledge is the effectiveness of our actions The truest confirmation of the accuracy of our knowledge is the effectiveness of our actions The truest confirmation of the accuracy of our knowledge is the effectiveness of our actions 1

8. GM as a Marker of Advancedness Three continua for exploring GM: Mode Transition from oral, “informal” language to written, “formal” language Oral Written Semiosis Objectification allows for quantifying, qualifying, and manipulating info Congruent Noncongruent Development Mimics L1 cognitive/linguistic development in L2 Emergent Fully Developed Distinctive marker of academic discourseResults in language valued by academic and technical communities Condense clauses into phrases Enable reasoning within clauses Allow greater degree of elaboration (noun modification) Enable taxonomies of categories, generalizations that lead to reasoning/explanation Realize cohesion and coherence Impact on writing:

9. Research Focus Changes in textual meaning-making capacities of L2 German learners as they perform curriculum-based writing tasks intended to move them from intermediate to advanced levels of ability Nominalization as key feature of movement from oral to written language qualities & processes  entities Research Question #1: What functional capacities do 14 longitudinal learners of German across three curricular levels acquire through GM? analysis of syntactic patterns in relation to experiential GM use in longitudinal cohort Research Question #2: What functional capacities become available as GM as a resource is developed? analysis of textual GM use in case study

10. Data Genre-based writing tasks, completed at end of each level First drafts, written at home within a weekFocus on Levels 2-4 (N = 14, k = 42) Level 2: ~650 words/learner Level 3: ~750 words/learner Level 4: ~1250 words/learner Corpus size: ca. 37,000 words Previously tagged for 3 syntactic complexity measures (MLTU, MLC, C/TU) Use standard measures to place data within research literature

11. Overview of GM Frequency by Type and Level Overall growth in grammatical metaphor use throughout the curriculum Greatest increase in both types between Levels 3 and 4, changing qualities and processes into conceptual /virtual entities

12. Overview of GM by Ratios Confirms dramatic GM growth across curricular levels Texts double in length AND average GM use grows 4x Noun use (including GM) increases AND GM/NN increases Clause length increases by 1.5 AND GM/clause grows 3.5x

13. Case Study: Lisa Analyze functional features of GM, particularly in the textual environment Rationale for Lisa • Syntactic development generally follows longitudinal cohort • Average GM performance at Level 2, followed by noteworthy growth • Data exemplify diverse functions of grammatical metaphor

14. Formal Features Greatest growth/development from Levels 3 to 4 Formal and conceptual pressure of other nouns (see handout) Bundling of grammatical metaphor (see handout)

15. Verbal Structures How GM is situated in the text in terms of verbal structures Level 2: Putting things into space (haben, sein, geben) Initial use: emotions, personal experiences: Gefühlhaben, Enthüllunghaben, Verbindungmachen Level 3: From placeholder verbs to prepositional phrases & fixed phrases nach offiziellen Druck, zuBeginn, einer Abschiebung zuvorkommen Level 4: Continued high use of sein, haben, & geben Es gibt einige Bereiche der lehrreichen Vergleichbarkeit Development: expressive verbs & further expansion of fixed phrases MeinunghabenMeinungteilen Gefühlehaben Gefühlewecken Angsthaben Angstverdeutlichen

16. Modification Increased use of nominalization allows for pre- and post-modificationsFunctional aspect: increased information density at clause level Level 2: Some premodification with adjectives ein seltsamesGefühl , ein ächzendesStöhnen, guteVerbindung Level 3: Similar premodification with adjectives ersteKontakt, äußerlicherDruck, offizielleAngaben Level 4: Adjectives, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, genitives Considerable increase in breadth and variety of modification Nominalizations allow extension of meaning-making resources that verbal system does not have Aus diesem Grund und durch die verfassungsmässigenWahlen des Staates, die im Verlauf der Zeit demokratischer wurden, …

17. Information Structuring GM as a retrospective and prospective text structuring resource Level 2: Incipient summative GM use to conclude text (see handout) Frieden – Tod– Spaziergänge–Leben Level 3: Retrospective use at the end of passages (see handout) Simple processes translated into nominalizations zum Unterricht gehen, studieren, Praktikum machen  Bildung & Ausbildung Level 4: Prospective use: outline areas of talk with GM (see handout) Herausforderungen–Schwierigkeiten–Vergleichbarkeitetc Retrospective use: reiterate & conclude passages with GM Hoffnung –Schwierigkeiten–Herausforderungen–Erfolg Development toward strategic use of GM to structure information

18. Coherence and Cohesion Includes theme-rheme, demonstratives, topicalization, semantic fields Level 2: No use of GM to create coherence/cohesion Level 3: Limited use of GM in theme-rheme (see handout) … diskriminiert worden.“ Diskriminierung und Rassismus … Beginning presence of topicalized prepositional phrases nach dem Verständnis Hanois, nach officiziellen Angaben Level 4: Increased use of GM in theme-rheme (see handout) … zu schnell bezweifeln. Erinnern Sie sich bitte an den grossen Zweifel … Reference with demonstratives Die Mehrheit der Ungarn fühlen sich… Mit diesenGefühle… Topicalizingand fronting of different entities (see handout) Useof GM to create semantic fields (see handout)

19. Concluding Considerations For writing tasks to be a suitable environment for tracing language development they must be embedded in a principled curricular sequence 2. Learning to write and writing to learn: Writing tasks conceptualized as linking languaging and knowing 3. SFL provides conceptual and analytical tools for fine-grained analyses of development. One example is the construct of grammatical metaphor. 4. GM as an environment within composing tasks for tracing the ‘hand-off’ between the opportunity to mean and the capacity for meaning-making 5. Writing tasks as instantiating valued educational goals in many educational contexts

20. THANK YOU!