Can print literacy impact upon learning to speak Standard Australian English?

Abstract

© 2019 - John Benjamins B.V. Second language learning research mostly investigates literate learners. Based on studies by Tarone, Bigelow and colleagues (2004, 2005, 2006, 2006) this small scale study focuses on low level literacy learners who are acquiring Standard Australian English as their second dialect. It explores whether literacy levels impact upon the processing of language when engaging in oral interaction tasks. Utilising Pienemann's (1998, 2005) stages of question formation, feedback given to the learners targeted questions within the learners' developmental stage. Participants were asked to identify whether the language used differed from their own, and if so, to attempt to reproduce it. The findings show that feedback was often noticed, but no significant relationship was found between literacy level and noticing. However, there was a significant relationship between literacy level and the reproduction of targeted forms. This study, like the others contained within this section, is concerned with the developmental readiness of second language learners to acquire target forms and the approach is closely aligned with that of Li and Iwashita (this volume). However, it does differ in that its participants are learners of a second dialect with low literacy levels, representing an under-studied population.