The teachability of conversational features through explicit instruction in the EFL classroom

This thesis reports on a nine-month quasi-experimental study which investigated the development of L2 conversational competence in a foreign-language classroom and the effectiveness of explicit instruction in learners' acquisition of L2 conversational features. The main focus of the instruction was on well, you know, I mean, sort of / kind of discourse markers. The study was carried out at a private school of English in Poland. Twenty seven advanced students of English, in three intact class groups, were offered the following treatment: I. explicit instruction in L2 conversational features, together with intensive input of target features as well as intensive, focused practice, i.e. the Illustration - Interaction Induction approach (Carter and McCarthy 1995), strengthened by focused productive practice (Group El); 2. intensive exposure to L2 conversational input and explicit instruction, i.e. the Illustration - Interaction - Induction approach in its pure form (Group E2); 3. intensive exposure to L2 conversational input only (Group C). The time-series research design used included 22 measurements: four pre-treatment measurements, fourteen measurements during the treatment proper, two post-treatment measurements, as well as two delayed post-treatment measurements: six months and twelve months after the treatment. A two-way mixed design ANOV A found a statistically significant effect for test time and group. Both experimental groups differed significantly from the Control group on all of the four post-treatment measures, which revealed effectiveness of the explicit instruction applied in both experimental groups. The focused output practice offered to Group E 1 did not result in a significant effect, as compared to Group E2. Group E2 outperformed Group EI in delayed post-treatment measurements, which may suggest effectiveness of awareness-raising, reflective approaches to teaching conversational features. A qualitative analysis drawn on the data of all the multiple measurements reveals remarkable within-group and individual variability of using the target conversational features.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo