Pica, Teresa
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Publication Subject-Matter Content: How does it Assist the Interactional and Linguistic Needs of Classroom Language Learners?(2002-01-01) Pica, TeresaThis study focused on the role of subject-matter content in second language (L2) learning. It sought to identify ways in which teachers modified classroom interaction about subject-matter content in order to assist the input, feedback, and production needs of L2 learners, and to promote their attention to developmentally difficult relationships of L2 form and meaning that they had not fully acquired. Data were collected from 6 preacademic English L2 classes, whose content consisted of thematic units on film and literature. Each class was composed of 10-15 high intermediate English L2 students and their teachers. Analysis of the data focused on teacher-led discussions, because these were the predominant mode of interaction in each of the classes, and on form-meaning relationships encoded in noun and verb forms for purposes such as reference, retelling, argument, and speculation regarding film and literary content. Results of the study revealed numerous contexts in which the discussion interaction might have been modified for the kinds of input, feedback, or production that could draw students’ attention to developmentally difficult form-meaning relationships. However, there were relatively few instances in which this actually occurred. Instead, the teachers and students tended to exchange multiutterance texts, the comprehensibility of which provided little basis for modified interaction and attention to form and meaning.Publication INFORMATION GAP TASKS: Their Multiple Roles and Contributions to Interaction Research Methodology(2006-04-21) Pica, Teresa; Kang, Hyun-Sook; Sauro, ShannonThis article describes how information gap tasks can be designed as instruments for data collection and analysis and as treatments in interaction research. The development of such tasks is illustrated and data are presented on their role in drawing learners' attention to second language (L2) forms that are difficult to notice through classroom discussion alone. Because the tasks presented here are closed-ended and precision oriented and require the exchange of uniquely held information, they promote modified interaction among participants and orient their attention to form, function, and meaning. These processes can be observed by the researcher during task implementation. Thus, the tasks reduce researcher dependence on externally applied treatments and analytical instruments not integral to the interaction itself. To illustrate this methodology in use, we report on a study in which six pairs of intermediate-level English L2 learners carried out three types of information gap tasks in their classrooms. They first read passages on familiar topics, whose sentences contained L2 forms that were low in salience and difficult to master but developmentally appropriate. To complete the tasks, the learners were required to identify, recall, and compare the forms, their functions, and their meanings. Data revealed close relationships among learners' attentional processes, their recall of form, function, and meaning, and the interactional processes that supported their efforts.Publication Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics(2005-01-01) Pica, TeresaThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) research over the past several decades, and to highlight the ways in which it has retained its original applied and linguistic interests, and enhanced them by addressing questions about acquisition processes. As the paper will illustrate, SLA research has become increasingly bi-directional and multi-faceted in its applications. These many applications to and from the study of SLA reflect the robustness and vitality of the field.