The data in this paper are part of a program of research that has focused on the roles of output (i.e. speaking/writing) in L2 learning (Swain, Brooks & Tocalli-Beller, 2002; Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 2001, 2003). In recent years, there has been a shift in the way we view output. A sociocultural theory of mind, a theoretical orientation relatively new to the field of L2 research, has prompted us to think of output not only as a product or message to be conveyed, but as a cognitive tool that mediates L2 learning. From a sociocultural point of view, speaking and writing are cognitive activities through which thought is externalized and completed (Vygotsky, 1987). This thought then becomes an object that can be scrutinized, questioned, reflected upon, disagreed with, changed or disregarded.
In this paper, twelve grade 7 immersion students participated in a multi-stage task that provided them with the opportunity to discuss the reformulation of a text they had written. As defined by Cohen (1982), reformulation is a technique that requires "a native writer of the target language to rewrite the learner's essay, preserving all the learner's ideas, making it sound as native-like as possible"  (p.4). Inevitably for L2 learners the reformulated text provides changes that contradict what they have written. Furthermore when they disagree with the reformulation (i.e. when it brings about a cognitive conflict), there is much to learn for the student, teacher and researcher in L2 education.
If we take into account the conflictual nature of any kind of social practice, cognitive conflict is bound to happen in the process of learning. As Engestrom (1999 in Daniels, 2001) points out, in the school environment conflicting perspectives can be the "motive force of change and development"  (p. 9). Limón (2001) identifies the steps that the usual cognitive-conflict research paradigm involves:

• (a) identifying students' current state of knowledge;
  
• (b) confronting students with contradictory information which is usually presented through texts and/or interviewers who make explicit the contradiction or guide the debate in which the conflicting perspectives arise;
  
• (c) evaluating the degree of change between students' prior ideas or beliefs through a post-test measure after the instructional intervention.
  

The design of our study has done this by taking the following steps:

• (a) we evaluated the students' current L2 knowledge base on a text they wrote;
  
• (b) by means of a reformulated text and a stimulated recall, we presented students with a different text, which created cognitive conflicts;
  
• (c) by having them rewrite their text and comparing it with the students' original text, we were able to measure the effect of the students' dialogue about the cognitive conflicts as reflected in their dialogues.

In sum, in this presentation and through a pre-test and post-test design, we will demonstrate that the reformulation and subsequent stimulated recall provide opportunities for learning as it presented the students with cognitive conflicts that prompted them to articulate differences between the two texts and discuss them.
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References

Cohen, A. (1982). Writing like a native: The process of reformulation. ERIC ED 224 338.

Daniels, H. (2001). Vygostky and Pedagogy. London: Routledge.

Limón, M. (2001). On the cognitive conflict as an instructional strategy for conceptual change: A critical appraisal. Learning and Instruction, 11 (4-5), 357-380.

Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (2003 ). Talking it through: Two French immersion learners' response to reformulation. International Journal of Educational Research 37(3-4), 285-304.

Swain, M. & S. Lapkin (2001) Focus on form through collaborative dialogue: Exploring task effects. In M.Bygates, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing. (pp. 99-118) London: Longman.

Swain, M., Brooks, L., and Tocalli-Beller, A. (2002). Peer-peer dialogue as a means of second language learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, vol 22. (pp. 171 - 185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371-391.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.