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Elaborative Detail: Help or Hindrance to the NNS Listener?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Tracey M. Derwing
Tracey M. Derwing
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
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Extract

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of three types of elaboration—marked paraphrase, unmarked paraphrase, and unnecessary detail—on NNS listening comprehension. Participants (both NSs and NNSs) were asked to listen to instructions and then draw or alter drawings on a page in front of them. The instructions were heard in one of four conditions, the basic set or one of the three elaboration conditions. Subsequent analyses of the participants' comprehension indicated that all listeners had significantly more difficulty following instructions in the unnecessary detail condition than in any other. Marked paraphrase was found to facilitate comprehension in some cases. It was concluded that the quality of elaboration has implications for listening comprehension, in both the classroom and the workplace.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 1996 , pp. 283 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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