Measuring language use and exposure in a naturalistic setting

Abstract

It is widely agreed that the process of learning a second language involves exposure to the target language (Ellis, 1997; Lightbown & Spada, 1999; Saville-Troike, 2012). One of the settings where exposure occurs is the natural setting. Natural acquisition contexts or naturalistic settings are defined as environments where learners are exposed to the target language in their daily activities (Lightbown & Spada, 1999). The benefits of these contexts are that learners are provided with a wide variety of communicative instances as the target language is used as the default language resulting in encounters with different types of inputs (Lightbown & Spada, 1999). This study reports the findings from a two-week study of target language exposure experienced by two Chilean postgraduate students at a New Zealand university. Exposure was recorded and measured using a Google log diary, based and adapted from Ranta and Meckleborg’s study (2013). Results show a tendency for participants to be involved in receptive communicative instances rather than productive and a predominant use of their L1 in oral interaction. The study discusses some of the reasons why participants did not engage in more oral interaction in English within this naturalistic setting and why their L1s were predominant in oral interactions.