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Papers by sunama patro

In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisitio... more In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisition’ has been defined as a process of subconscious acquisition of aspects of word knowledge from the input. However, incidental acquisition of the aspects and effective retention and recall of the same can vary for each aspect of lexical knowledge owing to the multidimensional nature of a ‘word’. Research in examining which aspects are more sensitive to attrition over a period of time is yet to close the chapter. The present study, in the context of reading, investigated the above issue focussing on the following aspects: receptive and productive knowledge of orthography; receptive and productive grammatical knowledge; receptive knowledge of meaning (L2-L1); and receptive knowledge of association. The study was conducted with thirty ESL Odia speakers from class XI (sixteen-year olds) who read a specified number of reading texts to encounter the selected target words (TWs). Later, they were...

Lokratna, Vol. XI (2), 2018

The literature pertaining to incidental vocabulary acquisition has invariably highlighted the rol... more The literature pertaining to incidental vocabulary acquisition has invariably highlighted the role of L2 readingin the lexical development of language learners.A good number of studies have already been conducted to examine the effects of extensive reading, graded readers, and authentic texts in this regard in EFL contexts.However, the present study under the spectrum of incidental vocabulary acquisition investigated the possible acquisition of six selected aspects of
target word knowledge from reading of three teacher-prepared texts (graded).In order to dissuade the participants, ninety Odia ESL learners of class XI, from paying attention to the individual words and working on them for meaning, the nature of reading was kept meaning-focused. Soon after the reading they were administered an immediate post-test. The descriptive analysis of the data suggests that a significant amount of learning, in terms of acquisition of the target word properties,occurred from meaning-focused reading.The findings suggest that learners’ ability to recognize and produce the target words in meaningful contexts was effective. Moreover, it was observed that some aspects of word knowledge couldeasily be acquired before other aspects. Hence further research can be conducted to explore patterns of L2 lexical development in ESL learners from reading.

The acquisition of L2 lexical knowledge primarily follows two approaches in L2 teaching-learning ... more The acquisition of L2 lexical knowledge primarily follows two approaches in L2 teaching-learning contexts: explicit or intentional and incidental vocabulary acquisition. However, acquisition of vocabulary from contexts such as reading significantly contributes to one " s lexical development in L2 in contrast to the explicit isolated nature of vocabulary learning. Research in second language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA) has often defined lexical acquisition from reading as incidental acquisition when learners " focus is on the message of the text rather than the individual target words. In addition, researchers argue that such acquisition is made possible when learners experience the target words multiple times in reading texts. Hence the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of frequency of occurrence (1×3×7) on acquisition of six aspects of target word knowledge from reading by 60 sixteen year old Odia speaking learners of English at the higher secondary level. The research was carried out in the quantitative paradigm and followed an experimental design which included several tools. The study was conducted in two different stages: stage 1 (preparation of tools and the pilot study) and stage 2 (the main study). Sixty learners were equally divided into three groups (Exposure 1, Exposure 3, and Exposure 7) based on their performance on the 3000 word level VLT and were provided a specified number of reading texts followed by the immediate post-test. The t-test analysis of the data revealed that there was no significant difference between one exposure and three exposures in terms of acquisition of the six aspects of lexical knowledge. However, seven exposures to target words could result in significant lexical gain. The findings can inform practitioners in ELT to promote autonomous vocabulary development by exposing learners to L2 target vocabulary multiple times in reading. Introduction The importance of vocabulary in language learning cannot be overemphasized since the knowledge of it highly correlates with the language proficiency of learners in second/foreign language contexts. The concerns towards teaching-learning of vocabulary in ESL/EFL contexts were developed after Richard " s (1976) introduction of the term " lexical competence " , which highlighted the multi-dimensional nature of a " word ". Subsequently, the notion of " lexical competence " came to be perceived from different perspectives: applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistic, and paved way for research on several issues: strategy instruction, approaches and techniques to teach vocabulary, role of memory in vocabulary learning, and sources of acquisition and their effectiveness. In contexts where real life exposure

In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisitio... more In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisition’ has been defined as a process of subconscious acquisition of aspects of word knowledge from the input. However, incidental acquisition of the aspects and effective retention
and recall of the same can vary for each aspect of lexical knowledge owing to the multidimensional nature of a ‘word’. Research in examining which aspects are more sensitive to attrition over a period of time is yet to close the chapter. The present study, in the context of reading, investigated the above issue focussing on the following aspects: receptive and productive knowledge of orthography; receptive and productive grammatical knowledge; receptive knowledge of meaning (L2-L1); and receptive knowledge of association. The study was conducted with thirty ESL Odia speakers from class XI (sixteen-year olds) who read a specified number of reading texts to encounter the selected target words (TWs). Later, they were administered an immediate post-test on the above aspects and a delayed post- test (after two weeks). The results were analyzed using a paired samples t-test and the findings indicated that receptive grammatical knowledge and meanings of the TWs were more sensitive to attrition when compared to other aspects of word knowledge.

What Did You Ask at school Today? Is perhaps the most comprehensive book on child psychology avai... more What Did You Ask at school Today? Is perhaps the most comprehensive book on child psychology available in India, and is primarily written for teachers who are often caught between their own strongly held belief about child learning and the reality. This book supported by decade
long research issues in psychology bridges the gap between the educational questions related to child learning and the results of researches done in the field of Psychology making it relevant
for teachers. It skillfully presents the teacher‘s wonder and belief about child‘s learning, motivation, intelligence, biopsychosocial shifts in the development of the child and most importantly provides time and space for teachers to question their perceptions, establish connections between theory and practice related to classroom experiences. Each chapter of the book can stand on its own as far as the body of research done in the area is concerned yet evidently related with other chapters. Each paragraph below presents the focus of each chapter along with its relevance to Indian classroom contexts. Finally, a critique of the book has been provided in the form of conclusion.

Second language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA) research has argued in favour of incidental vocabul... more Second language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA) research has argued in favour of incidental vocabulary acquisition primarily from reading as it provides L2 learners meaningful contexts to acquire vocabulary. One of the major factors largely responsible regarding this is multiple occurrences of target vocabulary. However, the effectiveness of this in ESL contexts is yet to find a consensus. Thus, the present research under the broad category of incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading investigated effects of repetition on acquisition of the six aspects of word knowledge i.e. receptive (RO) and productive knowledge of orthography (PO), receptive (RG) and productive grammatical knowledge (PG), receptive knowledge of meaning (RM), and receptive knowledge of associations (RA). The participants, ninety students of class XI, were divided into three groups (E1, E3, and E7) according to the number of exposures to the target words. The mean scores obtained on six measures designed around the selected aspects of word knowledge for each group were compared with the mean scores of other two groups (E1 vs. E3, E3 vs. E7, and E1 vs. E7). Results obtained using independent t-tests indicated no significant difference in the performance of learners who experienced single exposure and three exposures to the target words. However, there were significant differences in the mean scores of E1 and E7 on four measures except the sub-tests on RG and PG. The difference was significant between E3 and E7 on RO, RM, RA, and PG except on PO and RG. Thus, increased exposure helped learners acquire the orthographic and semantic aspects of word knowledge.

This theoretical paper aims to highlight the four syllabus types which represent most syllabuses ... more This theoretical paper aims to highlight the four syllabus types which represent most syllabuses currently in practice and offers an account of the major theoretical insights that have contributed to the conceptualization of them in the field of language teaching. It also points out the major flaws involved in them and provides alternatives to deal with. This is followed by a discussion on the current thinking related to what a syllabus should be in terms of planning and implementation and the various alternative types available in the literature of syllabus. Prior to the conclusion, a section of this paper presents the place of these syllabus types in the three value systems.

With the growing interest in research in second language vocabulary acquisition and pedagogical p... more With the growing interest in research in second language vocabulary acquisition and pedagogical practices related to it, the teaching of vocabulary in institutions has become an integral part of language instruction. Researchers in second language acquisition argue in favor of vocabulary instruction as research suggests that language proficiency is greatly influenced by learners’ vocabulary size and the knowledge involved in it. However, it has been observed that teachers fail to measure the knowledge acquired from vocabulary instruction in view of the incremental nature of vocabulary knowledge growth; and limit the knowledge of a word to its lexical meaning, thus, ignoring other aspects of word knowledge. This underscores the ‘sensitive’ incremental nature of vocabulary knowledge growth involved in a word. With twenty Odia speakers of English studying intermediate, the researcher tried to investigate the effect of ‘sensitive’ tests designed around aspects of word knowledge such as spelling, grammatical form, meaning and association on learners’ productive knowledge of vocabulary. The findings suggested that use of such ‘sensitive’ tests helped learners use the target words productively with a mean score of 9.14 from a total score of ten in the productive vocabulary test.

Lokratna, Vol. XI (2), 2018

In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisitio... more In Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, the construct of ‘incidental vocabulary acquisition’ has been defined as a process of subconscious acquisition of aspects of word knowledge from the input. However, incidental acquisition of the aspects and effective retention
and recall of the same can vary for each aspect of lexical knowledge owing to the multidimensional nature of a ‘word’. Research in examining which aspects are more sensitive to attrition over a period of time is yet to close the chapter. The present study, in the context of reading, investigated the above issue focussing on the following aspects: receptive and productive knowledge of orthography; receptive and productive grammatical knowledge; receptive knowledge of meaning (L2-L1); and receptive knowledge of association. The study was conducted with thirty ESL Odia speakers from class XI (sixteen-year olds) who read a specified number of reading texts to encounter the selected target words (TWs). Later, they were administered an immediate post-test on the above aspects and a delayed post- test (after two weeks). The results were analyzed using a paired samples t-test and the findings indicated that receptive grammatical knowledge and meanings of the TWs were more sensitive to attrition when compared to other aspects of word knowledge.