Procedure for reflective cycle two.

This reflective cycle was carried out over the course of one university semester. This

semester was from April through July and was the students’ first semester at university. The intervention was presented to the students as part of their normal course work. The

participants for this reflective cycle, the Toyo 2 group, are described in section 4.5.2. In total, 153 students chose to partake in this reflective cycle.

During the second class, the students completed an initial questionnaire eliciting information about their previous experiences studying vocabulary. This questionnaire can be seen in Appendix 14, and the findings are presented in section 5.3.4

After the students completed the questionnaire, they were randomly assigned to group A (the receptive task group) or group B (the productive task group). I gave a brief description of the term ‘collocation’. To avoid confusion, I explained that a collocation was two or more words often used together with the first word being a verb. I also gave several

examples of collocations which fit the description. During this same class, the students completed the initial spoken assessment task. The assessment task required the students to record themselves describing a series of pictures. A narrative retell was chosen for the spoken assessment because of its use in previous fluency studies (Hansen et al., 1998; Lennon, 1990a; Lennon, 1990b). I told the students that this voice recording would have no impact on their final grade and asked that they simply try their best. The picture sequence is included in Appendix 9. To ensure the students understood what was expected of them during the spoken assessment, I demonstrated how to describe a picture sequence by using a different set of pictures. Following my demonstration, I used yet another picture sequence and had the students practice with partners. After both students had the opportunity to describe the pictures, I did the exercise myself in front of the class. I repeated this last step one final time with another picture sequence.

For the weekly exercises, the students in group A completed receptive tasks targeting the collocations. Receptive tasks were investigated because researchers had questioned whether receptive tasks will lead to productive abilities for targeted vocabulary (Nation, 2001). Each week 12 collocations were targeted, and the students did these exercises on a computer at the end of class for approximately 15 minutes. There was a test in the seventh class which covered the first five sets of collocations. This process was repeated for another five sets of collocations with a test covering collocation sets six to ten. In total 120

collocations were targeted over the course of the semester. The students in group B undertook the same process with the same collocations. The only difference was that their exercises had a productive aspect. The two tests accounted for 30% of the students’ final grade. The second of these two tests can be seen in Appendix 12. Table 5.5 summarizes the weekly activities and intervention procedure for reflective cycle two.

The receptive tasks followed the same pattern for each set of collocations. There were three parts in each receptive task. In part A, the students were given a list of 12

collocations and instructed to use the collocation dictionary to search for the meaning of each collocation. The collocation dictionary was placed on a website I created, and the definitions were listed alphabetically. Other researchers have stated the merits of having students use a dictionary for vocabulary acquisition (Morgan & Rinvolucri, 2004; Nation, 2001; Nation, 2008; Schmitt, 2008; Ur, 1991). In part B, the students read example sentences containing the collocations, whereas in part C, the students answered questions based on the

sentences from part B. Each question contained one of the targeted collocations. An example of the receptive tasks can be found in Appendix 10. The answers for the part C questions were made available before the next class.

The productive tasks followed the same pattern for each set of collocations; however, there were only two parts in each productive task. In part A, the students used the

collocation dictionary to search for the meanings of the targeted collocations. This step was identical to part A in the receptive tasks and targeted the same collocations. In part B, the students completed a cloze exercise using the same collocations and sentences from part B of the receptive tasks. An example of the productive tasks is included in Appendix 11. The students checked their own answers for the part B cloze activity. When designing both the receptive and productive tasks, I attempted to include an aspect of need, search, and

evaluation. Laufer and Hulstijn (2001) believe each of these aspects contribute to the amount of involvement while processing new words, which in turn affects their acquisition.

In the penultimate class, I administered the post-intervention spoken assessment. As with the initial voice recording, I prepared the students by having them describe the same example picture sequences with partners. I explained that this voice recording would be used with the initial recording as a before and after comparison. I explained again that the recording would not influence their grade and encouraged the students to try their best. The final questionnaire, which was translated using the same procedure as reflective cycle one, was administered in the final class. A summary of the weekly activities can be seen in Table 5.5.

Table 5.5 Summary of intervention activities for reflective cycle two Week Activities for group A

(receptive group)

Activities for group B (productive group)

Class time required 1 No collocation activities were done in the first class

2 Initial spoken assessment Vocabulary questionnaire

Randomly assigned to group A or B Receptive activities for set 1

Initial spoken assessment Vocabulary questionnaire

Randomly assigned to group A or B Productive activities for set 1

35

3 Receptive activities for set 2 Productive activities for set 2 15 4 Receptive activities for set 3 Productive activities for set 3 15 5 Receptive activities for set 4 Productive activities for set 4 15 6 Receptive activities for set 5 Productive activities for set 5 15

7 Collocation test for sets 1 to 5 30

8 Receptive activities for set 6 Productive activities for set 6 15 9 Receptive activities for set 7 Productive activities for set 7 15 10 Receptive activities for set 8 Productive activities for set 8 15 11 Receptive activities for set 9 Productive activities for set 9 15 12 Receptive activities for set 10 Productive activities for set 10 15

13 Collocation test for set 6 to 10 30

14 Post-intervention spoken assessment 12

15 Questionnaire 10

As mentioned in section 5.2.8, there were several procedural changes made for this reflective cycle. These changes were made to address a different set of research questions

and to make the data collection more efficient. A summary of these changes is presented in Table 5.6.

Table 5.6 Procedural changes made between reflective cycle 1 and 2 Reflective cycle one Reflective cycle two

Participants Toyo 1 group Toyo 2 group

Number of collocations targeted each week

15 12

Collocation dictionary No Yes

Homework Writing sentences and

translations

No collocation homework

Number of groups 1 2 (receptive and productive)

Intervention activities Matching collocations with their translations

Writing sentences

Receptive group- answering questions

Productive group- cloze activity

Initial questionnaire about previous vocabulary experience

No. Yes. Contained both closed

and open-ended questions. Post-intervention

questionnaire

Yes. Contained only closed questions.

Yes. Contained closed and open-ended questions.

Spoken assessments No. Yes. An initial and post-

intervention assessment.