خلاصة:
Microgenetic method is a specific method for studying change in abilities, knowledge, and
understanding during short time spans, through dense observations, and over a relatively long
period of time. In this paper I will attempt to provide a brief overview of microgenetic method
and will point out its potential advantages and disadvantages in the context of second language
acquisition. To illustrate the utility of microgenetic method in SLA research, I will then discuss
a SLA-related issue which could be addressed via this research method, namely the effects of
written corrective feedback on L2 acquisition.
ملخص الجهاز:
"Microgenetic method was later approved by Vygotsky (1978) and further adopted by Piagetian, Vygotskyan, and information-processing-oriented researchers working in the area of developmental psychology (see Siegler & Crowley, 1991 for a brief review).
Drawing on Granott and Parziale (2002), I will summarize and categorize these advantages under three main headings and will attempt to discuss them in the context of L2 acquisition: (a) Data: The dense observations during short time-spans provide us with valuable information regarding the processes and mechanisms of change that trigger learning and the development of language.
In effect, despite conventional longitudinal research methods which normally adopt a state-oriented perspective, microgenetic method approaches language development from a process-oriented perspective and thus affords a comprehensive and dynamic picture of L2 acquisition.
Within the context of SLA, for instance, the erroneous forms that learners produce after a period of accurate production are perhaps precursors of a change process in their interlanguage systems and indicators of an appropriate time for the provision of (intensive) pedagogical feedback, for, from a microdevelopmental perspective, participants are more prone to positive change when they lose stability (Thelen & Corbetta, 2002) or when backward transitions are manifest in their developmental behavior.
From this illustration it may become clear how viewing L2 acquisition from a microdevelopmental perspective benefits both SLA research and L2 pedagogy: SLA researchers deepen their understanding of the nature of interlanguage systems and the variables which may affect its development, and since such studies are ecologically valid and explore the underlying acquisitional processes, which are essentially the same in all human beings, results could be used as a basis for empirically-informed decision making in the classrooms."