Task-Based Interaction Among Adult Learners of English and Its Role in Second Language Development

<p>The role of classroom interaction in second language acquisition (SLA) has been the subject of extensive research in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the claimed superiority of communication tasks involving required information exchange (split information tasks) over tasks involving optional information exchange (shared information tasks) on the basis of how much negotiation of meaning learners produce when performing each type of task. The study also sought to analyze qualitative aspects of negotiation and to assess the theoretical claims made for negotiation in the light of the analysis. Subjects for the study included eight adult students from an English proficiency course who were assigned to two groups each containing four subjects. Over a period of six days the groups performed four communication usks of which two were split information tasks and two were shared information tasks. Full transcriptions of the task performances provided data for the study. Results confirmed that significantly more negotiation and repetition occurred in split information tasks. There was a small movement towards more even distribution of negotiation among interlocutors in split information tasks although the consistency of the differential contributions of specific interlocutors was noticeable across both types of task. The qualitative analysis distinguished six main types of negotiating questions in the data, some of which were shown to be more effective than others in generating comprehensible modifications to input or in extending the language output of the subjects. ln addition, negotiating questions dealt with five broad dimensions of meaning: the form of the message, grammatical and lexical meaning, content, opinions, and procedures. Of these five dimensions, only the first and second sometimes involved new or unfamiliar linguistic features in the input, thus fulfilling a requirement of the interaction hypothesis suggested by Ellis (1991). Significant post-test gains in the subjecrs' knowledge of vocabulary embedded in the tasks suggested that the negotiation of lexical meaning results in measurable learning of new words. Overall however, negotiation dealt more with non-target language features of output than with unfamiliar input and it was this which provided the more promising interactional route to language development. An investigation of other features of interaction revealed no significant difference in the amount of talk produced in split and shared information tasks. Talk was more evenly distributed among interlocutors in the split information tasks although inequalities persisted, with panicular interlocutors dominating interaction across all tasks. In the shared information tasks, turns and utterances were significantly longer, and conjunctions were used more frequently. Prepositions on the other hand were used more frequently in the split information tasks. These results suggest that the greater need to express links between propositions in the shared tasks results in discourse of grearer synracric complexiry. While the study supported the claim that split information tasks produced more negotiation than shared information tasks, a qualitative analysis of the negotiation, and of other aspects of interaction, suggested that more negotiation does not necessarily provide superior conditions for language development,</p>

Task-Based Interaction Among Adult Learners of English and Its Role in Second Language Development

<p>The role of classroom interaction in second language acquisition (SLA) has been the subject of extensive research in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the claimed superiority of communication tasks involving required information exchange (split information tasks) over tasks involving optional information exchange (shared information tasks) on the basis of how much negotiation of meaning learners produce when performing each type of task. The study also sought to analyze qualitative aspects of negotiation and to assess the theoretical claims made for negotiation in the light of the analysis. Subjects for the study included eight adult students from an English proficiency course who were assigned to two groups each containing four subjects. Over a period of six days the groups performed four communication usks of which two were split information tasks and two were shared information tasks. Full transcriptions of the task performances provided data for the study. Results confirmed that significantly more negotiation and repetition occurred in split information tasks. There was a small movement towards more even distribution of negotiation among interlocutors in split information tasks although the consistency of the differential contributions of specific interlocutors was noticeable across both types of task. The qualitative analysis distinguished six main types of negotiating questions in the data, some of which were shown to be more effective than others in generating comprehensible modifications to input or in extending the language output of the subjects. ln addition, negotiating questions dealt with five broad dimensions of meaning: the form of the message, grammatical and lexical meaning, content, opinions, and procedures. Of these five dimensions, only the first and second sometimes involved new or unfamiliar linguistic features in the input, thus fulfilling a requirement of the interaction hypothesis suggested by Ellis (1991). Significant post-test gains in the subjecrs' knowledge of vocabulary embedded in the tasks suggested that the negotiation of lexical meaning results in measurable learning of new words. Overall however, negotiation dealt more with non-target language features of output than with unfamiliar input and it was this which provided the more promising interactional route to language development. An investigation of other features of interaction revealed no significant difference in the amount of talk produced in split and shared information tasks. Talk was more evenly distributed among interlocutors in the split information tasks although inequalities persisted, with panicular interlocutors dominating interaction across all tasks. In the shared information tasks, turns and utterances were significantly longer, and conjunctions were used more frequently. Prepositions on the other hand were used more frequently in the split information tasks. These results suggest that the greater need to express links between propositions in the shared tasks results in discourse of grearer synracric complexiry. While the study supported the claim that split information tasks produced more negotiation than shared information tasks, a qualitative analysis of the negotiation, and of other aspects of interaction, suggested that more negotiation does not necessarily provide superior conditions for language development,</p>

Sharing quantum steering among multiple Alices and Bobs via a two-qubit Werner state

Quantum steering, a type of quantum correlation with unique asymmetry, has important applications in asymmetric quantum information tasks. We consider a new quantum steering scenario in which one half of a two-qubit Werner state is sequentially measured by multiple Alices and the other half by multiple Bobs. We find that the maximum number of Alices who can share steering with a single Bob increases from 2 to 5 when the number of measurement settings N increases from 2 to 16. Furthermore, we find a counterintuitive phenomenon that for a fixed N, at most 2 Alices can share steering with 2 Bobs, while 4 or more Alices are allowed to share steering with a single Bob. We further analyze the robustness of the steering sharing by calculating the required purity of the initial Werner state, the lower bound of which varies from 0.503(1) to 0.979(5). Finally, we show that our both-sides sequential steering sharing scheme can be applied to control the steering ability, even the steering direction, if an initial asymmetric state or asymmetric measurement is adopted. Our work gives insights into the diversity of steering sharing and can be extended to study the problems such as genuine multipartite quantum steering when the sequential unsharp measurement is applied.

Performing a mathematical and informational task “Research of the dynamics of rational functions of a complex variable as a means of developing students' creativity”

Multi-stage math and information tasks for students are a kind of creative laboratory in which they show their abilities not only as mathematicians, but also as programmers and artists. Stepwise research on the dynamics of functions of complex variables and their visualisation contribute to the development of students' creativity and the formation of skills in the field of mathematical analysis and programming. This article deals with a multi-stage mathematical and informational task, which is a specially composed sequence of tasks, exercises, problems and didactic situations.

APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES TO STUDY THE SOCIAL PHENOMEN OF «EXTREMISM»

The article describes a research method used to study the objects of social and economic area. The method is presented through a joint scheme. The essence of the method is to implement the options for solving a range of information tasks to achieve the goals set. The article presents an example of the social phenomenon of "extremism". The research carried out within the framework of this method can be based on a joint scheme as well as its components implementing various options for achieving the goal. Results of the method approbation are exemplified through such social phenomenon as "extrem-ism".

Effects of communication tasks on the grammatical relations marked by second language learners

This study reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Based on an analysis of a learners' corpus of almost 30,000 words, the study examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and, in particular, ways of marking relationships between lexicalized concepts and between clauses by means of prepositions and conjunctions, respectively. The study confirmed the main hypothesis that shared information tasks would result in the use of more coordinating and subordinating conjunctions than split information tasks. The paper suggests that both cognitive and pragmatic reasons may explain why inter-propositional relationships are marked more frequently than intra-propositional relationships in the corpus, and why the marking of inter-propositional relationships may be encouraged more by shared information tasks an by split information tasks. The results of the study suggest that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic structures. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Effects of communication tasks on the grammatical relations marked by second language learners

This study reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Based on an analysis of a learners' corpus of almost 30,000 words, the study examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and, in particular, ways of marking relationships between lexicalized concepts and between clauses by means of prepositions and conjunctions, respectively. The study confirmed the main hypothesis that shared information tasks would result in the use of more coordinating and subordinating conjunctions than split information tasks. The paper suggests that both cognitive and pragmatic reasons may explain why inter-propositional relationships are marked more frequently than intra-propositional relationships in the corpus, and why the marking of inter-propositional relationships may be encouraged more by shared information tasks an by split information tasks. The results of the study suggest that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic structures. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Steering entropic uncertainty of qutrit system

High-dimensional quantum system plays an important role in quantum information tasks. However, the interaction between quantum system and environment would give rise to decoherence. In this paper, we examine the quantum-memory-assisted entropic uncertainty relation under amplitude damping (AD) decoherence. It is found that entropic uncertainty first inflates and then reduces to a nonzero value with the growing decoherence strength. In addition, it is revealed that the mixedness is not closely associated with entropic uncertainty which is different from the previous result. Furthermore, we construct a remarkably effective filtering operator to steer and reduce the entropic uncertainty. Our exploration might offer fresh insights into the dynamics and manipulation of the entropic uncertainty in high-dimensional quantum system.