Reformulation and reconstruction

Reformulation and reconstruction: tasks that promote ‘noticing’ by Scott Thornbury (1997)

New words
-The play foregrounds the relationship between father and daughter.
-The rumor soon gained currency throughout the town.
-Research has been constrained by a lack of funds.
-The population of the United States is heterogeneous.
-Everyone is treated equally, irrespective of race.
-I found it hard to study at home because there are too many distractions.
-You need to marshall your arguments.
-Metalanguage is the words and phrases that people use to talk about or describe language or a particular language.
-She fully exploits the humour of her role in the play.
-Advertising like this is a cynical manipulation of the elderly.
-He attempted to harness the sun’s rays as a source of energy.
-The agency will make travel arrangements for you. Alternatively, you can organize your own transport.
-I met ex-wife by chance at the airport.

Main points
Two kinds of noticing
1 Learners must pay attention to input in order to become ‘intake’. Input improvement activities and procedures are effective.
2 Learners must notice the gap between the interlanguage and the target language. The term ‘matching’ is used by Klein (1986).
Reformulation
It is a technique for the teaching of writing and speaking skills. The order of instruction moves from fluency to accuracy.
e.g. Community Language Learning (CLL)-The content comes from learners and the form comes from teachers. The learner’s text is reformulated by the teacher.
Reconstruction
The teacher’s text is the starting point for the activities.
e.g. tried-and-true activities (copying; memorization and recitation of texts; dictation (dictogloss, dicto-comp(dictation/composition), grammar dictation); rhetorical transformation; translation and re-translation; storyboard-type computer games)