O n f e r e n c e

Short paper 
Approach 
A question for every language learner as well as teacher is how to become fluent in 
another language, speak that language with accuracy, and be able to use complex 
language forms. These three criteria 
–
fluency, accuracy, complexity - were first 
proposed by Skehan and Foster (1997) and subsequently developed further (Skehan & 
Foster, 2012). In particular the third component 
–
complexity 
–
is difficult to achieve as 
most grammatical rules have exceptions that can only be mastered by encountering a 
particular grammatical form in many contexts. Therefore, a common approach is to 
provide the learner with as much input from authentic sources as possible. However, 
input alone is not sufficient to acquire a foreign language (e.g., Lightbown & Spada, 
1999; Long, 1996). Rather, to overcome incomplete or incorrect knowledge of 
grammatical forms or regularities, drawing students’ attention to these forms and 
regularities as they arise incidentally in communication and texts is beneficial to the 
learner (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991). One way to accomplish this is to provide 
corrective feedback to students (e.g., Ellis, 2009; Lyster & Saito, 2010; Nassaji & Fotos, 
2010). It has been long argued that software in form of input enhancement (Sharwood-
Smith, 1993) highlighting language categories and grammatical forms can assist in that 
process 
However, many online tools that are supposed to provide corrective feedback use a “one 
fits all” approach: They do not differentiate between task types, grammatical topics, 
language to be learned, and proficiency level. The few studies that took those factors into 
account and that tested a particular software showed that technology can assist learners 
acquiring a foreign language, in particular when it comes to practicing grammatical rules 
(Belz & Vyatkina, 2005; Heift, 2004; Heift & Schulze, 2007). 
Building on this foundational research in second language acquisition (SLA) and foreign 
language teaching (FLT), we are creating and testing a toolbar supporting visual input 
enhancement of web pages freely selected by language learners. This serves two 
purposes: 
The design of the toolbar is in line with principles of intrinsic motivation that have been 
identified as playing a key role in language learning (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2002). Two of 
those principles are autonomy and self-determination, that is, if the educational 
environment provides rich sources of stimulation where students can follow their natural 
curiosity, their motivation is likely to flourish. As learners interfacing with the toolbar 
choose their own texts, pick from a variety of tasks as well as grammatical forms, and 
receive feedback, our expectations are that the toolbar is going to work effectively as it 
caters to students’ needs while providing them with options. 
For each language, the grammatical forms are highlighted and four different tasks-types 
are provided to practice them: highlight, identify, multiple choice, fill-in-the blanks. For 
each task-type, learners can choose to practice all of the forms highlighted, 75% of the 
forms highlighted, 50% of the forms highlighted or 25% of the forms highlighted. This 
accommodates learners of different proficiency levels.