ABSTRACT
Background and purpose: This chapter describes the characteristics of lexical language-related episodes (LREs) that occurred when ESL students carried out collaborative prewriting discussions and explores whether students’ participation in LREs was associated with vocabulary development.
Methods: The data consists of collaborative prewriting discussions followed by individually written paragraphs along with diagnostic and exit writing tasks from intermediate-level ESL students. Transcripts of the students’ audio-recorded prewriting discussions were analyzed for the occurrence and resolution of LREs and the students’ depth of engagement (simple or negotiated). The paragraphs written immediately following the discussions were analyzed to determine whether students used the vocabulary words that had been discussed. To explore possible longer-term benefits for participating in LREs, the students’ total LREs were correlated with the analytic ratings of their written vocabulary use on the exit task.
Findings: The majority of the lexical LREs that occurred during the prewriting discussions were simple rather than negotiated and, overall, the students resolved their LREs accurately. Students’ use of the lexical items in their written texts was infrequent. There was a positive relationship between the students’ participation in the LREs and analytic ratings of their vocabulary use at the end of the semester.
Conclusions: ESL students have opportunities to build their lexical knowledge during collaborative prewriting discussions, and participation in lexical LREs is associated with their vocabulary use in writing.
Pedagogical suggestions: When using collaborative prewriting discussions, L2 instructors may find it helpful to direct students’ attention to important lexical items and encourage them to monitor their language discussions.
