Task Variation : A Case Study

概要

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It has been argued that a second language (L2) learner's performance varies from a task to another. This is a case study which aims to investigate how an L2 learner manifests task-related variation and examine why it takes place, with special reference to the alternation between the simple present and progressive form. Two tasks were given a Japanese college student to investigate how she manifests interlanguage (IL) variation according to the tasks required: an unstructured interview and a grammaticality judgement test. The result shows that the progressive form was used more frequently than the simple present with respect to the number of the verbs used. She sometimes did not distinguish a permanent state from temporary situation and used the progressive for the permanent situation. It also shows that the percentage of correct usage of the progressive form in the grammaticality judgement test was greater than in the oral interview. It seems that although she knows explicitly that the progressive cannot be used for the state verb, she overgeneralises the rule, relying on her first language (L1) knowledge in the unplanned oral interview. These phenomena were attempted to explain by integrating the dual competence model and the gradual diffusion model.
1999-12-20