ADITIVOS PARA HORMIGONES

Instances of microgenetic development observed in group, one-to-one and individual modes

Instances

of MGD M SD

Passage Editing Group (n = 15) 16 1.1 1.2

One-to-one (n = 15) 40 2.7 2.1

Individual (n = 15) 1 0.1 0.3

Written Composition Group (n = 15) 3 0.2 0.4

One-to-one (n = 15) 16 1.1 1.5

Individual (n = 15) 0 0.0 0.0

In PE, there were significantly more instances of MGD in one-to-one (40 in total) than individual (just one instance observed across the 15 participants and two tasks). While the difference between one-to-one and group (16 instances) did not quite reach significance, it still seems that MGD is more closely related to one-to-one interaction than learner-learner interaction in groups or, in particular, individual task responses.

The qualitative analysis revealed that MGD in one-to-one interaction was often observed in learner uptake following a correction by the teacher. In the following extract from Olsen’s PE task, the teacher corrected Olsen’s use of “budget” by suggesting the alternative “quote” and explaining the difference in meaning. Olsen accepted this correction by saying “that’s a quote” – which in itself did not constitute MGD – and confirmed that this word was new for him. The evidence of MGD began when he checked the spelling of the new word, which he wished to use, and continued in all subsequent utterances in which he used the new word rather than the originally preferred “budget”. He then sought to build upon his semantic understanding of the word by seeking syntactic information regarding the appropriate prepositional collocation, “a quote for” + noun, and was finally able to produce the expression “a quote for the course”:

Teacher Yeah, that… you could say concern like that, concerning this topic comma… can you…

Olsen Give me a budget… could, could you give me a budget, can I say that, budget?...

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Teacher Ah… like a presupuesto [budget or quote]

Olsen Presupuesto [budget or quote], a budget ah, ah about the course, on the course, or

Teacher That’s could you give me a quote… a quote, a budget is like, my amount of money that I have erm

Olsen For for

the money that I can expend OK

Teacher I have

a budget of 5000 euros

Olsen OK

Teacher But if I ask a company for, for a document, that’s not a budget, it’s a quote

Olsen that’s a quote

New for me, doesn’t ring, er quote, quot-e, Q U O Teacher E, exactly

Olsen OK, so I change, could you give me a, quote Teacher Perfect

Olsen A quote… a quote, a quote on? Teacher A quote for

Olsen For… this is a this things about prepositions is really tricky ah

Teacher it’s difficult…

Cos you just have to learn the preposition with the word, it’s a collocation Olsen Quote, quote of…

Teacher Quote for

Olsen Ah, for, sorry sorry sorry

Teacher for, it’s OK

Olsen For, for the course heh? Teacher Yeah…

Olsen For the course, for the course…

MGD was not always observed within a single LRE, as forms sometimes had to be languaged more than once for development to become evident. In the following extract, for example, Onora and her teacher languaged the structure “looking forward to” + gerund. At the end of this LRE, Onora was able to produce the structure correctly, suggesting MGD had occurred:

Onora “I’m sure the formation will be brilliant, I’m looking forward”, er forward I think you don’t use the to, huh? Forward studying in the UK? Or you have to use the to

Teacher Yeah you have to use the to, this is correct Onora OK

Teacher I’m really looking forward to studying, that’s correct

Onora I thought it was with looking forward you don’t have to use the, the Teacher Yeah, you need the preposition to

Onora OK, “UK but apart from the studies… I’m really looking forward to studying…

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However, towards the end of the task the same structure re-emerged, and Onora did not produce the correction preposition “to”. The form was subsequently re- languaged, after which Onora was able to produce it correctly, which seemed to confirm that MGD had occurred:

Onora So my best regards and hope and I’m looking forward Teacher Fantastic yeah…

Onora My best regards and also I’m er looking forward… of seeing Teacher I’m looking forward to…

Onora Forward’s always to, after Teacher Yeah

Onora OK… to seeing you soon Teacher Great

Onora To seeing you soon Teacher Uh hum

A similar example of a form languaged more than once before evidence of MGD was observable occurred in Olimpia’s dialogue with her teacher regarding the structure at home:

Teacher OK, this is all really excellent … here do you think proposition is in or at Olimpìa In?

Teacher No Olimpìa At @ Teacher Yes @ Olimpìa At home OK

Teacher Yes, in fact it says it up here Olimpìa Ah yes, of course @ …

However, on a subsequent instance of the same structure, the teacher used an echo correction technique in order to elicit a self-correction from the learner:

Olimpia Ah OK no while in the, in the, in the home Teacher In the home?...

Olimpia Sorry, at home @ … at home when, when people are at home

It seems, then, that development was not always linear: it sometimes regressed, and sometimes required further scaffolding in order for the process of internalisation to continue. It is also not evident whether the knowledge constructed was retained in a way that learners could recognise or reproduce at a later date. In the short (microgenetic) term, however, development was evident in these interactions.

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Regarding the significantly higher proportion of episodes evidencing MGD in one-to-one, it seems likely that MGD in learner-teacher interactions was more visible than in learner-learner interactions in group mode, because the teacher made it visible by eliciting and checking understanding in ways that students working together did not. MGD occurred in group mode, but was possibly not made visible in the same way. A longitudinal study observing learning gains over time arising from learner- learner interaction may, perhaps, help shed more light on the possible occurrence of MGD not observable in interaction. It also seems possible that by encouraging learners to make the kinds of elicitation and checking moves that teachers make, more MGD may be made visible in student-student interaction.

5.4.1.2 Individual MGD only observed on one occasion. If, as the data