Cem Alptekin
This study explores the role of culturally familiar background knowledge in inferential and literal comprehension in L2 reading. Ninety-eight Turkish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) university students were divided into two groups of equivalent English proficiency. They read either the original of an American short story or a ‘nativized’ version, textually and contextually modified to reflect the learner’s own culture. They then answered multiple-choice comprehension questions aimed at checking inferential and literal comprehension independently across the two versions of the story. The results demonstrate that the nativization of a short story from the target language culture facilitates L2 readers’ inferential comprehension significantly, yet does not affect their literal understanding. As such, the results point to a noninterface between inferential comprehension and literal understanding, contrary to the commonly held assumption that an interface exists.
Jan H. Hulstijn
University of Amsterdam, The
J.H.Hulstijn@uva.nl
In this talk, I will first give a brief summary of the main topics and issues investigated in the SLA field in the past 25 years and review the most salient findings. I will then critically assess the impact of this research and consider some old and new issues that could and should be investigated with a good chance of making substantial and meaningful contributions to both theory, and of solving practical questions in language education and language testing in Europe. However, I will argue that significant progress can only be achieved when researchers in different countries bundle their efforts and resources. I will round the talk off with a brief report on efforts of myself and some others to put a research agenda on the table of national and international funding institutions in Europe.
lydia.white@mcgill.ca
In the first decades of generative L2 research, interlanguage competence and the role of UG was mostly investigated from a purely syntactic point of view (see White 1989, 2003 for overview). In recent years, there has been a growing interest in how different components of the bilingual or interlanguage grammar relate to each other. For example, there has been investigation of the syntax/morphology interface (Lardiere 1998, 2000), the morphology/phonology interface (Goad and White 2004, 2005), the syntax/semantics interface (Dekysdspotter, Sprouse and Anderson 1997; Ionin, Ko and Wexler, in press), the syntax/discourse interface (Sorace 2000; Mueller and Hulk 2000), the grammar/parsing interface (Juffs 1998; Dussias 2003; Clahsen and Felser 2006). In this paper, I will suggest that consideration of the interfaces allows for a more nuanced explanation of transfer, the role of UG, fossilization and near nativeness, without our having to give up claims for modularity. I will also speculate on what the interface should be between L2 theory and L2 practice.
Vivian Cook
This talk raises some under-discussed basic issues in SLA from the L2 user perspective that the person who knows a second language is a distinct person in their own right. It focuses on three questions:
(1) Who are the L2 users? Often SLA research has worked with a stereotype of an speaker of a idealised L1 learning an idealised L2. As both the possession of the individual and of the community, L1 and L2 are however diverse and flexible, ranging from developing (Nicaraguan Sign Language) to relatively static (‘standard’ English) to reducing (aphasia); the relationship between the L1 and L2 is varied and complex rather than straightforward. SLA research has to recognise the shifting flux of L1 and L2 systems rather than relying on a fixed monolithic image of both.
(2) What is the language that the L2 user knows? The word ‘language’ raises classic linguistic issues about the relationships between the language stored in our minds, the language used by a community, language as a set of sentences and language as an abstract external entity: if we say we know English as L1 or L2, what is it that we know? SLA research needs to be extremely careful in specifying the meanings of ‘language’ in ‘second language acquisition’. The language system of the individual and of the community needs to be treated as a whole rather than partially through exclusive concentration on the first or second languages.
(3) What is the community the L2 user belongs to? If L2 users are not failed monolingual native speakers, just what community do they belong to? They vary inter alia between: people using a language in L2 territory where it is dominant, whether residents with another language talking to monolingual native speakers or to other minority groups, incomers for temporary (L2 tourists, pilgrims) or permanent (refugees) stays; people using the language in L2 territory where it is not dominant (L1 tourists); students in both L1 and L2 territories being educated through L2; minority groups reacquiring or maintaining their heritage L1. SLA research needs to explore the nature of these communities.
The overall conclusion is that the subject matter of much SLA research has been prematurely idealised and is far more complex than we have allowed. Each of the questions leads towards treating the L2 user as a whole rather than divided into L1 and L2 aspects. The final question is then whether these features define L2 users, or the characteristics of normal human beings however many languages they know.
Elke Peters
Catholic
elke.peters@arts.kuleuven.be
This paper reports on a study which explores the interaction between vocabulary tasks, word relevance and incidental/intentional vocabulary learning amongst students of German.
We distinguished between four treatment groups:
1. incidental group, no vocabulary task (-FonFs)
2. incidental group, + vocabulary task (+FonFs)
3. intentional group, no vocabulary task (-FonFs)
4. intentional group, + vocabulary task (+FonFs)
The terms "incidental" and "intentional" are used strictly methodologically (Hulstijn 2001, 2003). Incidental means that students are not forewarned, whereas intentional means that students are forewarned of an upcoming test. Students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. First, all participants had to carry out a reading comprehension task. Word relevance was operationalized by the comprehension questions directing students' attention to eight of the 16 target words (FonF), viz. the relevant words. In order to answer the questions, students had to find the meaning of the relevant words by consulting a dictionary. The eight non-relevant words were not related to the comprehension questions. So a distinction was made between relevant (+FonF) and non-relevant target words (-FonF). Second, having answered the comprehension questions, students in the second and the fourth group had to carry out a vocabulary task (+FonFs), which focused on the 16 target words. Opposed to the second group, the fourth group was at this moment reminded of the upcoming vocabulary test. After completing the comprehension and/or vocabulary task, all groups were tested on their receptive knowledge of the target words.
Forewarning students of a vocabulary test resulted in a more intensive look-up behaviour in the intentional condition. However, it did not affect vocabulary learning. Students' dictionary consultation was also influenced by word relevance. Word retention was affected by both word relevance and the vocabulary task. The results are interpreted against the background of instructed SLA theories (FonF vs FonFs).
I-Hsin Liu
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
ihsin.liu@student.kuleuven.be
Lies Sercu
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
The implicit acquisition of vocabulary through reading in a foreign language has been much researched. Far fewer studies, if any, have focused on differences in noticing and intake while doing reading-and-writing tasks. Reading-and-writing tasks require learners to write a text on the basis of the input materials they have read. In this presentation, we report on an investigation that was carried out amongst Flemish students of English as a foreign language and which focused specifically on the full or partial incorporation in a written text of selected writing-task relevant target words in the input materials.
Our findings, obtained from a combination of product and process data, suggest a difference in noticing and intake of the target vocabulary in the reading-and-writing versus the reading condition. The respondents in the second condition had to write a text, just like the respondent in the first condition, but they were not told that they would have to do so.
Our product data include the written texts, a lexical noticing test and receptive and productive vocabulary tests. Our process data include stimulated recall interviews in which a number of respondents report on the processing strategies they used while doing the reading-and-writing task or the reading task. We also relate our findings to a number of other learner characteristics, such as working memory capacity and overall foreign language ability.
We will interpret our findings in the light of the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 2001), ask what it is learners pay attention to when confronted with unenhanced reading and reading-and-writing tasks, and discuss what instructional implications follow from our findings.
Yukie Horiba
Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
horiba@kanda.kuis.ac.jp
Keiko Fukaya
St. Luke’s College of Nursing, Japan
Task of learning from text is important for knowledge acquisition and language learning. Yet little is understood about the cognitive mechanism and representations involved in the learning process. The present study investigates the effect of task (encoding and retrieval/output) on learning content vs. language from L2 text, and how it may interact with language competence and topic interest. EFL students (N=150, nursing and nonnursing majors) read stories and later wrote a recall protocol. Data were also obtained from natives and proficient ESL students (N=100). Group 1 (the L1-only condition) were informed of a later L1 recall (and thereby encouraged to pay attention to content during encoding) and later produced L1 recall. Group 2 (the L1-L2 condition) were informed of L1 recall but later produced L2 recall (and thereby forced to produce L2 forms during retrieval). Group 3 (the L2-only condition) were informed of L2 recall (and thereby encouraged to pay attention to L2 forms during encoding) and later produced L2 recall. Each passage contained fifteen unfamiliar nursing-related target words, on which acquisition was measured with four tests (L2-form production in isolation, L2-form production in context, L2-form recognition, L2-to-L1 translation). Language proficiency and vocabulary knowledge were measured with TOEFL and the Nation’s test, respectively. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine how language competence and topic interest affect the learning of content (i.e., recall) and vocabulary under different task conditions. Data analyzed so far indicate: 1) language competence, topic interest, and task all affect recall and vocabulary acquisition; 2) language(s) involved in encoding and retrieval/output affect the quantity and quality of recall and vocabulary acquisition; and 3) the relationship between recall and vocabulary acquisition (or the problem of learning content vs. language) differs as a function of topic interest, language competence, and task.
Tomoko Ueno
University of Dublin,
uenot@tcd.ie
‘Kekkon o yurusu (to forgive marriage)’ in Japanese means ‘to consent to a marriage’ in English. Various lexical choices across languages reflect differences of semantic mapping of words between languages. It is argued that organisation of the bilingual lexicon may be different, depending on the developmental stage of second language acquisition (Potter, So, Von Eckardt and Feldman, 1984; Kroll and Stewart, 1994; De Groot, 1993). As acquisition proceeds, bilingual semantic organisation may move from a stage where L2 semantics is parasitic on L1 semantics, to a stage where L2-specific concepts are individually established.
Paradis (1987) suggests that bilinguals’ languages are interconnected. It is also argued that bilingual language access is language-non-selective at the initial stage (Green, 1986, 1998; Grosjean, 1997, 1998, 2001). This may also be true with regard to bilingual semantic networks and processing. However, it is not yet clear how bilingual networks connect to each other in respect of semantic systems, and how activation spreads from one semantic network to another at various developmental stages.
This study investigates how fast the activation of L2 semantics may spread to related nodes in the L1 semantic network relative to whether L2 semantics is dependent on or independent of L1 semantics. In this experiment, Japanese-English bilinguals perform a lexical decision task in the semantic priming paradigm. The results of experiment are discussed on the basis of the following three questions: i) How does Japanese-English bilinguals’ L2 semantic processing differ in accordance with their acquisitional stage? ii) Does spreading activation occur across bilingual semantic networks at the initial stage of processing? iii) If it occurs, how does the manner of cross-language activation differ with respect to the semantic organisation of the bilingual lexicon? Overall, the study sets out to shed light on the development of the organisation and processing of bilingual semantics.
Gabriele Pallotti
University of Modena &Reggio Emilia,
Italy
pallotti@dsc.unibo.it
In recent years conversation analysis (CA) has received considerable attention by scholars in the field of second language acquisition (e.g. Young & He 1998, Markee 2000, Gardner & Wagner 2004, Seedhouse 2005, Modern Language Journal, 88, 2004). This paper deals with some fundamental methodological issues that need to be addressed by CA-inspired research or, more generally, by research on the relationships among language acquisition, social context and interaction.
The discussion will begin with an examination of the different types of statements that can be made regarding talk-in-interaction. In particular, three levels can be identified. The first is the careful description and interpretation of individual cases, following Sacks and Schegloff’s (1973) question ‘Why that now?’. The second is identifying categories, i.e. constructing a taxonomy of phenomena. The third level involves producing generalizations of the form ‘speakers often/regularly/rarely behave in a certain way (in context X)’. Researchers should make clear at what level(s) they intend to make their claims and design their research consequently.
The second part of the paper will focus on issues of generalization. More particularly, the question will be posed of whether and how generalizations can be made with or without explicit quantification. After reviewing how these problems have been dealt with in CA research, the discussion will continue based on data from a research project on a child learning Italian as a second language. Taking a particular format of other-repetition as an example, a qualitative-quantitave analytic approach will be proposed and compared to that put forward by Schegloff (1996) in a methodolotical article devoted to the same type of phenomenon. It will be shown that, even preserving CA’s committment to data’s ecological validity, quantitative analyses can indeed be a way of uncovering subtle interactional phenomena, while at the same time increasing internal validity and reliability.
Evrim Uysal
Sabancı University, Turkey
evrim@sabanciuniv.edu
Yasemin Bayyurt
Boğaziçi University, Turkey
The present study examines the importance of the use of Bulletin Board Discussions in the development of students’ speaking skills in a second/foreign language. It is a comparative investigation of face to face and electronic discussions. The two types of mediums of communication are compared in terms of conversation analytic features of the discussions and frequency of the participation of each student in discussions. In the study, the following research questions are investigated:
1. How does the participation level of the 'infrequent’ participants compare in asynchronous CMC and Classroom environment?
2. How do EFL students perceive the usefulness of asynchronous Bulletin Board Discussions as opposed to Classroom Discussions?
The participants of the study is a group upper intermediate English as Foreign Language (hereafter EFL) students in a private university in Turkey. Data regarding student profiles and the students' perceptions of classroom discussions and Bulletin Board Discussions are obtained through questionnaires administered in the beginning of the study. Data relating to participation levels are collected through the audiotaping of classroom sessions and tallying the logs of the Bulletin Board Discussion postings. These were then analyzed according to frequency of turns, turn-size and the nature of turns.
The responses to the questionnaire revealed a noticeable preference for classroom discussions as opposed to Bulletin Board Discussions. The analysis of turntaking showed that, in general, students took longer but somewhat fewer turns in the Bulletin Board Discussions. However, when it came to the ‘infrequent participants’ the hypothesis was confirmed. These students took considerably more turns during the WebCT Bulletin Board Discussions and these turns were noticeably longer.
Yücel Yılmaz
yilmazyucel@gmail.com
Early research investigating synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) in SLA has found that learners participating in SCMC based L2 activities lacked accuracy (Kern, 1995; Sotillo, 2000). More recent research presented instances of dyadic interaction in which learners did pay attention to language form (Blake, 2000; Kitade, 2000; Morris, 2005). However, research, until now, has not fully addressed the issues related to this behavior that would help us understand its nature. This study, drawing on sociocultural theory (Lantolf, 2000) and Swain's (2005) notion of collaborative dialogue, examines whether or not learners participating in SCMC based tasks attempt to solve linguistic problems collaboratively. In addition, the study compares two task types, jigsaw and dictogloss, in order to understand the task type that would be more effective in promoting collaborative dialogue. The study involved 10 intermediate-level ESL learners. The learners, in two groups of dyads, carried out one jigsaw and one dictogloss task by using instant-messaging software (MSN Messenger). The results showed that the learners engaged in collaborative dialogue through SCMC to discuss about lexical, orthographic and grammatical features of language. The study also revealed that the dictogloss tasks generated more collaborative dialogue than the jigsaw.
Maria Dolors Masats Viladoms
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
Spain
Dolors.Masats@uab.es
Virginia Unamuno
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
virginia.unamuno@uab.es
Luci Nussbaum
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
luci.nussbaum@uab.es
Interactionists interested in second language acquisition postulate that learners’ competences are sensitive to the context in which they are put into play. Furthermore, learners are not believed to transfer their competences from one situation to another rather they “re-anchor” them according to the demands of the activities they engage in (Py 1194; Pekarek 2000; Mondada & Pekarek, 2004). Here we want to explore the language practices displayed in a bilingual socio-educational milieu. Our data were obtained in 3 primary school classrooms in which beginner English learners, aged 11-12, were carrying out oral communicative pair-work. The conversations were tape-recorded and the teacher role was assumed by one of the researchers involved in the study. The language tasks consisted of: (1) pairing cards -later used to play a memory game; (2) spotting the differences between two pictures and (3) scripting and enacting a role play.
A first analysis of our data, using CA procedures, indicates that the learners exploited their linguistic repertoires according to their configuration of the task and of the resources they needed to use to complete it (Nussbaum & Unamuno 2000). For example, in the first two tasks students relied on code-switching as a mechanism to solve communication failures, whereas the third task generated the use of a mixed repertoire (Masats & Unamuno 2001). A second analysis, focused on the conversational activities the learners displayed, reveals that their practices were also shaped by the degree of freedom they had to complete the tasks. In all three tasks, the students received oral instructions but in the third task, the students had a written set of performative guidelines they should include in their script. Thus, we would like to defend that a theoretical description of how learners develop their competences should not ignore the way in which students’ understand the activities they perform and the restrictions associated with those activities. Our analysis demonstrates that learners’ competences are not independent from the activities learners engage in, rather they are permanently shifting and contextually dependent.
Marina Tzakosta
University of Patras &
University of the Aegean,
martzak@gmail.com
Like most cross-linguistic data, Greek L1 and L2 data reveal that both native speakers and learners of Greek employ cluster simplification epenthesis and fusion, in order to remedy the syllabic structure of the target language. The focus here is on two-member /obstruent+liquid/, /obstruent+obstruent/, /s/+obstruent and obstruent+/s/ clusters in all word positions, stressed and unstressed syllables. We draw on L1 data from six Greek children, and on L2 data from 12 Turkish primary school pupils, ten Dutch and three Romanian adults.
Surface forms having undergone simplification, epenthesis or fusion, are build on the basis of markedness and positional faithfulness considerations; i.e. the produced member of the cluster is either the less marked or the initial segment, in case markedness is not satisfied (cf. Revithiadou and Tzakosta 2004a,b, for details). In the case of fusion, markedness drives the realization of certain place and manner features. Additionally, the phonological system of the learners’ L1 restricts the shape of the realized forms. For example, Dutch and Romanian learners simplify Greek clusters equivalent of which do not exist in Dutch or Romanian, or ‘transform’ Greek clusters to ‘Dutch/ Romanian-like’ ones.
In theory, we illustrate that L1 and L2 learners employ grammars drawn out of the same pool of developmental grammars. However, L2 learners adopt a subset of the grammars adopted by L1 native speakers, due to the fact that the set of potentially activated grammars in L2 is restricted by UG principles, principles of the phonological system of the ambient language as well as the phonological system of the learners’ L1 and their proficiency level. Finally, we propose that the less complex the phonological system of L1 is, the fewer the activated grammars in L2. Our claims are supported by exhaustive statistical measurements.
Barış Kabak
Baris.Kabak@uni-konstanz.de
This study investigates the role of native language (L1) phonotactic patterns on the processing of L2 sound sequences. Japanese listeners, whose L1 does not allow consonant clusters, have been reported to hear illusory vowels in L2 strings of segments that violate the phonotactic constraints of their L1 (e.g., Dupoux et al., 1999). Two questions remain unanswered from this study: (i) does the alleged perceptual epenthesis also hold for other L1s?, and (ii) does perceptual epenthesis arise due to consonantal contact restrictions (i.e., L1 disallows CC sequences), or due to syllable structure restrictions (i.e., L1 disallows coda consonants)? The second question is difficult to tease apart in Japanese since Japanese bans not only consonant clusters but also coda consonants. Here I report an experiment that replicated and extended Dupoux et al.’s (1999) findings to Korean L2 speakers of English, whose L1 has at least two kinds of phonotactic restrictions: (i) syllable structure restrictions that prohibit the occurrence of certain consonants in coda position (e.g., *[c.], *[j.]), while allowing others (e.g., [k.], [l.]), and (ii) consonantal contact restrictions that ban the co-occurrence of certain heterosyllabic consonants (e.g., *[k.m]; *[l.n]) because /k.m/à[N.m]; /l.n/à[l.l]). Results suggest that Korean listeners (n=25) perceive epenthetic vowels when a given English nonsense word has a syllable structure violation in their L1, rather than a consonantal contact violation.
These results will be evaluated in the context of Smolensky’s (1996) bidirectional Optimality Theory (OT) model, where production and comprehension are handled by the same constraints. Contrary to the assumption that L2 speakers’ percepts are identical to those of native speakers in OT-based L2 literature, present findings strongly indicate that L2 input representations can be imperfect and that L1 grammar may heavily constrain perception. Instead, L2 theories should allow for different constraint rankings for perception and production to account for the results.
Heidi Altmann University of Delaware,
haltmann@udel.edu
This study is investigates the effect of native language (L1) typological stress properties on the second language (L2) acquisition of primary word stress. Since research on the perception of L2 stress by a larger number of typologically different L1 groups using the same experimental design is virtually non-existent, advanced learners of English from seven typologically different L1 groups (Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish), as well as English native speakers participated in a perception experiment. Novel words of two, three, and four syllables length consisting of only open syllables (CV) were used. Subjects listened to a large number of tokens of various structures and marked the most stressed syllable.
The results indicate that, on the one hand, learners with predictable stress in their L1 (i.e., Arabic, Turkish, French) had problems perceiving the location of stress. On the other hand, learners without word-level stress in their L1 (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Korean) or with unpredictable L1 stress (Spanish) showed almost perfect perception scores. Thus, it was found that there is a direct connection between typological properties of the L1 and the perceptibility of L2 stress.
Two recent theory-independent typological hierarchical models of stress are considered and discussed: the Stress Deafness Model (SDM) (Peperkamp & Dupoux 2002), which proposes a hierarchy of predictable stress languages regarding the ability to perceive stress, and the Stress Typology Model (Altmann & Vogel 2002), which introduces a typological branching hierarchy including languages with predictable stress, unpredictable stress, and without stress. The current findings are in accordance with the general prediction made by the SDM that L1s with regular stress are less successful regarding the perception of stress. The more specific hierarchy postulated by the SDM, however, cannot be supported. Negative parameter settings in the STM are directly correlated with decreasing success regarding the perception of L2 stress and thus this model must be preferred.
Walcir Cardoso
Concordia University, Canada
walcir@education.concordia.ca
A previous study on the second language acquisition of word-final stops (codas) has shown that, in the context of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) native speakers learning English as a foreign language, the variable production of these syllable constituents is determined by a variety of linguistic and extralinguistic factors. For instance, the GoldVarb statistical results showed that English codas are more likely to surface as such in formal stylistic environments, if the potential coda segment is a coronal (e.g. [t, d]), and in polysyllabic words. In other contexts (i.e. in less formal styles, when the word-final consonant is a labial [p, b] or a dorsal [g, k], and in monosyllabic words), English learners favor the syllabification of the English coda via i-epenthesis (e.g. do/g/ => do[gi]) – a typical BP transfer phenomenon.
To confirm these findings from a perception perspective, a phone decision task was conducted involving 45 participants divided into three proficiency levels. Participants listened to a series of audio-recorded English non-words (e.g. [gid], [gi]) and decided on whether each word ended in consonant or vowel. As was the case with production, learners are more likely to perceive codas in higher proficiency levels and when they belong to the class of coronals. Contrary to what was found in production, however, there is no significant difference in coda perception between the intermediate and advanced proficiency levels, and between monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. In addition, the quality of the preceding vowel has a significant effect on the perception of codas, which are more likely to be perceived if they are preceded by short vowels (e.g. [kIg]), a manifestation in perception of the Loi de Position phenomenon observed in French and Dutch. To some extent, these results support the view that speech perception plays a role in the shaping of second language phonology.
Boping Yuan
by10001@cam.ac.uk
This paper reports on an empirical study of how Chinese wh-questions are mentally represented in Japanese speakers’ L2 grammars of Chinese. Both Chinese and Japanese are generally considered wh-in-situ languages in which a wh-word is allowed to remain in its base-generated position, and both languages use question particles to mark questions. It is assumed in this paper that C0 in wh-questions is essentially ambiguous and unvalued and that unvalued C0 must be valued. In English, C0 is valued by moving a wh-phrase to Spec CP. In Chinese, the wh-particle ne values C0 with [+Q, +wh] features, which licenses the wh-word in situ. As a result, no wh-movement is necessary and Subjacency becomes irrelevant. Japanese also employs question particles, such as ka or no. However, they are “defective” in the sense that they can only value the ambiguous C0 as [+Q] and they are unable to specify the question as to whether it is [+yes/no] or [+wh]. To value C0 as a head with [+wh], a wh-operator in a wh-word inside the sentence has to raise overtly to C0. The empirical study involves 111 Japanese speaking-, 107 English speaking learners of Chinese and 20 native speakers of Chinese. The results of the study suggest that although Japanese speakers’ L2 Chinese grammars can have some superficial native-like behaviours regarding their L2 Chinese wh-questions, the lexical morphological feature [+wh] of the particle ne in their L2 Chinese lexicons is permanently deficient, which leads to variability in their Chinese wh-questions. Although English speakers have initial difficulty in acquiring Chinese wh-questions, the behaviours of wh-words can eventually be native-like in their L2 Chinese wh-questions. We will propose a lexical morphological feature deficit account for the results and will suggest that the lexical morphology-syntax interface can be a source of variability in L2 acquisition.
Dongfan Hua
Shanghai International Studies University, China
dfhua@shisu.edu.cn
Li Zeng
Shanghai International Studies University, China
zlmailhouse@163.com
In this paper, we will present findings of an experiment on acquisition of the syntactic properties of Mandarin Chinese renhe by English-speaking learners of Chinese. Renhe, like English any, can function either as a free-choice or an affective polarity item, and is subject in principle to the same anti-veridicality condition on the syntactic distribution of English any (Hsiao 2002, Cheng and Giannakidou 2005). It is, however, different from English any in that it involves the typical wh-paradigm which characterizes the lexical composition of free choice items cross-linguistically (Giannakidou 2001): Ren- literally means ‘regardless’, and -he ‘what’ in Classical Chinese. Given this property in lexical composition, Mandarin Chinese renhe should be, though in fact it is not, distinguished from affective polarity items by default. And consequently, it should be further restricted in its syntactic distribution to non-episodic contexts, a constraint cross-linguistically attested in languages like Greek, Catalan, etc. on free choice items formed in conformity with the above-mentioned wh-paradigm (Giannakidou ibid.). The difference between Mandarin Chinese renhe and English any in their lexical composition, notwithstanding their similarity in syntactic distribution, may then provide a ground for the examination of the respective role of L1 and cross-linguistic generalizations in the acquisition of an L2. Knowledge of any in the L1 may transfer and prompt English-speaking learners of Chinese to treat renhe as an item similar to any, encompassing both the properties of a free choice item and those of an affective polarity item. On the other hand, cross-linguistic generalizations about the formation and characteristic distribution of free choice items may provide the default, but inexact, assumption that Mandarin Chinese renhe is a free choice item par excellence, and thus should be more restricted than any in its distribution.
To address the above issue, we carried out an experiment, using a written sentence completion task consisting of five sentence structures: affirmative sentences, yes-no questions, negative sentences, sentences with modals, and if-conditionals. The first three structures were each divided into two further subtypes: episodic and non-episodic sentences. For each sentence in the experiment, there were four forced choices: the targeted expression renhe, and three other expressions serving as distracters. The subjects consisted of two groups of native English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese at a university in China, and a group of native Chinese speakers as controls.
The findings of the experiment indicate that the L2 learners knew of the impossibility of using renhe in non-licensing contexts, but there was great variability in their judgments on renhe in the licensing contexts. For instance, acceptance of renhe in the episodic yes-no questions and negative sentences was markedly lower than in the other licensing contexts. The responses provided by the less advanced learners were suggestive of an interlanguage stage where cross-linguistic generalizations about free choice items played a role, and led to the formation of interlanguage grammar distinct form either the L1 or the L2 grammar.
Shigenori Wakabayashi
Chuo University, Japan
swkbys37@tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp
Ayako Kubo
Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, Japan
ayako0513love@yahoo.co.jp
Mayumi Shibuya
Chuo University, Japan
kry-0609@khaki.plala.or.jp
This study investigates the acquisition of wh questions by Japanese learners of English at an early stage of development. Although some studies of the L1 acquisition of English reported that children tend to produce subject wh questions more successfully than object wh questions (Yoshinaga, 1996), no study has investigated whether such asymmetry exists in L2 acquisition.
We carried out an experiment with a production task using pictures. Our subjects were 40 Japanese high school students. The procedure of the task was adopted from Yoshinaga (1996). In this production task, the experimenter gave the participants cue questions in order to elicit target wh questions about pictures shown to them. The target sentence types included (1) who-subject type (e.g., who is pushing the monkey?); (2) what-subject type (e.g., what is pulling the ship?); (3) who-object type (e.g., who is the monkey pushing?); and (4) what-object type (e.g., what is the car carrying?).
The results showed that the production ratio of the target sentences in who-object type was significantly lower than that of who- and what-subject types; and that of what-object type was significantly lower than that of who-subject type. These results are similar to Yoshinaga’s (1996) data of L1 acquisition. That is, subject-object asymmetry exists in these learners’ production of wh questions. Another finding is that participants produced a number of passive sentences when the target sentences were object questions. For example, the target sentence was “What is the helicopter pulling?”, whereas the produced sentence was “What is pulled by the helicopter?”. This pattern is not reported in L1 acquisition studies. Hence, we should conclude that Japanese learners appear to have non-target like grammar, which is also different from child grammar. We try to describe and explain their grammar in terms of L1 transfer.
Xiaoling Hu
University of Sheffield, UK
x.l.hu@sheffield.ac.uk
Chuanping Liu
Dalian University of Foreign Languages, China
liuchp55@yahoo.com.cn
This study investigates second language (L2) acquisition of restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) by English- and Korean-speaking learners of Chinese. The data was collected from a grammaticality judgement test involving three types of RRCs: 1) the target-like pre-nominal RRCs with the complementizer de; 2) the non-target-like pre-nominal RRCs without the complementizer; and 3) the non-target-like post-nominal RRCs introduced by the complementizer. RRCs in English, unlike Chinese, are head-initial with operator movement in the overt syntax whereas RRCs in Korean, like Chinese, are head-final without operator movement (Sag 1997; Kim 1998). This difference would be predicted to reflect differences between English and Korean learners in acquiring Chinese RRCs. Specifically, acquisition of L2 RRCs would be hindered for English learners, given the differences between the two languages, but facilitated for Korean learners, due to the similarities between Korean and Chinese. This prediction was not observed. Analysis of results reveals substantially different patterns of acquisition between the two groups of learners. Results show that the elementary Korean learners do less well than the English learners, mostly substantially, on judgement about the grammaticality of target-like RRCs and on judgement about and correction of the non-target-like RRCs. At the advanced level, the Korean learners do slightly better on the judgement scores than the English learners, and attempted slightly higher proportion of corrections; their correction accuracy improves significantly but remains less than the English learners. We argue that acquisition of L2 RRCs could be constrained by absence of features in the L1 of functional categories that exist in the L1 and the L2 other than the match or mismatch of head position between the L1 and the L2. Consequently, the former gives rise to protracted L1 transfer in L2 grammars of advanced learners, thus providing further evidence for Hawkins and Chan’s (1997) Failed Functional Features Hypothesis.
Mitra Rabiee Faradonbeh
Islamic Azad University , Iran
mitra_rabiee@yahoo.com
During the last decade in response to the impact of collaborative lea r ning theory and a shift in the teaching of composition from an emphasis on product to an emphasis on process , many L2 writing instructors began to use peer response groups in their writing classes. Whereas affective and effective benefits have been reported in the literature about ESL contexts, but little is known about the effects of this type of learning on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. The present study breaks new ground in implementing different sources of feedback, proposing three types of feedback models and examines their impacts on students' revisions based on insights taken from sociocultural theories and activities in language teaching and learning.
The participants(N=80) divided into four homogeneous groups based on the obtained scores on OPT, were all Iranian Persian native speakers aged between 22-25 – male & female – majoring in ‘English Translation' at university level. They covered five topics in a sequence of ten written texts – before and after receiving feedback – over a 15-week period. The results of this study revealed that: first, ‘feedback' had a significant effect on students' revised drafts and students incorporated both the teacher's and peers' written comments in the process of draft editing; second, of the two feedback sources teacher & peers – the students enjoyed teacher feedback more than peers; third, those attending the ‘mixed feedback group' benefited more compared with the other two feedback and control groups; and finally, both short- and long-term feedback effects were reported on students' overall writing progress in the course of the 15-week semester.
This study confirmed co-operative learning as an effective teaching strategy that could be used to enhance achievement and socialization among students and contribute to improved attitudes towards learning and working with others especially in EFL settings.
Derya Çokal
Middle East Technical University, Turkey
cokal@metu.edu.tr
Şükriye Ruhi
Middle East Technical University, Turkey
sukruh@metu.edu.tr
Besides mastery of the lexico-grammatical system of a language, learning to write in an L2 demands knowledge of form-function mappings across a variety of linguistic domains (e.g., reference tracking and topic-comment structures), and a metalinguistic awareness of the cognitive and the socio-psychological expectations of the audience (Hyland 2005). Interpreted in terms of cognitive pragmatics, successful writing involves abidance to the Principle of Relevance (Sperber and Wilson 1995) and tracking of the hierarchical semantic relations over spans of discourse units.
The present paper aims to further our understanding of IL discourse deictic markers and their role in coherence across discourse units written academic discourse, with a view of contributing to the theoretical implications of researching IL demonstrative systems. We thus investigate the pragmatics of the discourse deictic pronouns, this and that, for Turkish learners of English by combining the relevance-theoretic approach with an enriched version of rhetorical structure theory (Marcu 2000) and findings in Çokal (2005). The analyses reveal (1) that this is the default anaphoric-cum-discourse deictic marker for backward-looking reference establishment and reference maintenance; (2) that learners are largely unaware of the modal properties of this and that in establishing focus and indicating stance; and (3) that learners experience cognitive overload in reference maintenance, leading to violations of the Principle of Relevance in making referents mutually manifest to their audience.
The findings are interpreted in the backdrop of the demonstrative systems and discourse deixis principles in Turkish and English (Küntay and Özyürek, forthcoming; Cornish 2000; Ruhi 1990; Turan 1997). It is shown that the IL pragmatic principles governing the use of this and that in IL English are different from their attested functions in written and spoken native speaker English (cf., for example, Cornish 2001). The paper concludes with suggestions on lines of cross-linguistic research on developmental sequences in the acquisition of IL demonstrative systems.
Elke Van Steendam
elke.van.steendam@telenet.be
Peer response, the practice of letting students discuss each other's written work in progress, has shown its beneficial effects on learning-to-write and learning-to-revise (e.g., Hedgcock and Lefkowitz, 1992). In addition, a number of studies into the effect of training in peer response when revising texts have shown that more intensive training in peer feedback leads to better revision quality (Tang and Tithecott, 1999; Liu and Hansen, 2002).
This paper focuses on part of the data obtained within the framework of a larger experimental study into the effect of training in peer revision on revision and writing ability. 400 ESL students participated in this study, distributed over 5 conditions which varied as to the degree of autonomy and intensity in peer feedback training. In this paper we focus on quantitative data obtained from 150 ESP students regarding 2 revision assignments, aimed at the improvement of text coherence, and address two questions: (1) Which form of trained revision in dyads leads to better writing and revision?, and (2) Does revision in dyads lead to better writing and revision quality than individual revision?
As regards our first question, our findings show significant differences between conditions, but not always in the expected direction. We will also argue that certain forms of training may be more effective for certain student characteristics. More specifically, we will determine whether poor revisors benefit more from intensive training during peer revision than good revisors and proficient writers. With regard to our second question, we found that dyads perform better than individuals. We will interpret our findings in the light of different workload models (e.g., Single Channel Theory, Single Resource Theory and Multiple Resource Theory), as well as theories of modelling and collaborative learning, and discuss which of these theories is most informative for peer feedback effectiveness research.
Randall Sadler
The
rsadler@uiuc.edu
Betil Eröz
beroz@metu.edu.tr
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), the use of computer networks to engage in authentic communication, is rapidly growing in popularity. Richard Kern sees this as “a new and different side of CALL, where human-to-human communication is the focus" (2000: 1). Among the numerous potential benefits of CMC is that it may “enhance student motivation,” provide “stimulating international contact,” and “facilitate work on meaningful projects” (Warschauer 1996: 31). Therefore, it serves as an efficient, authentic, and useful teaching tool in the language classroom.
This presentation discusses the results of a semester-long project between graduate students at the
The presentation will have a strong focus on concrete pedagogical implications, based on the successes and failures in communication over the course of this intercultural, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project. These recommendations will include tips on avoiding cultural miscommunication, the use of collaborative communication contracts, and steps in avoiding technology disasters. The presenters will also show the links between the theoretical bases of using computers for communication with their practical applications that enhance classroom instruction.
Majid Fattahipour
majifata@yahoo.com
To improve vocabulary of EFL learners, writing practice can effectively be invited, as Macaro (2003) wards off the misconception suggesting that communicative approach to language teaching favors oral communication over written (p.220). As for two varying process and product writing, it is interesting to find which holds more promise for vocabulary. Product writing is accuracy-based and students act one-off (Gabrielatos, p.c.,
Evagelia Papathanasiou
E.Papathanasiou@sheffield.ac.uk
In recent years, contradictory advice to teachers has been emerging from studies into the use of semantic links or networks in classroom materials and activities for vocabulary learning in a L2. There is some experimental evidence which suggest that learning semantically related words (e.g., body parts) at the same time makes learning more difficult (Tinkham, 1993, 1997; Waring, 1997; Finkbeiner, Nicol, 2003). There is also a theoretical framework that strongly supports the idea that it is very useful to present words of related meaning together so that learners can see the distinctions between them and gain a complete coverage of the defined area of meaning (Channell, 1981, 1990; Neuner, 1992; Dunbar, 1992). The following paradox appears: while the experimental evidence suggests that semantically related vocabulary does not help vocabulary learning, the EFL coursebook-writers present vocabulary in semantic clusters. The experimental evidence mainly derives from research using artificial language and not a natural L2. The purpose of our research is to investigate which of the two contrasting views will prove to be a useful tool in L2 vocabulary learning. We conducted an action research study in EFL classrooms with naturalistic learners in Greece. The subjects were 31 intermediate EFL children and 32 beginners EFL adults. Two different ways of organizing new vocabulary for presentation were employed: a) presenting semantically related words (topic related vocabulary i.e. knife, fork, spoon, synonyms, antonyms or homonyms) together at the same time, and b) presenting vocabulary in an unrelated fashion (i.e. book, hospital, freedom). Short and long term tests were administered to the students. The presentation will focus on the main conclusion that semantically related vocabulary impedes L2 vocabulary learning. Further data analysis of properties of words such as frequency, length, concreteness and/or abstractness provide interesting results in terms of why some L2 words seem to be more easily recalled than others.
Maria Mos
Tilburg University, The
maria.mos@uvt.nl
Experimental research using lexical decision tasks has shown that words occurring in many derivations and compounds, i.e. with a large family size, are recognized faster than equally frequent words with a small family size (e.g. De Jong, Schreuder, & Baayen 2000). Since the occurrence of a word in complex words aids in recognition, this Family Size effect can be seen as an indication that the representation of these complex words in the mental lexicon is internally structured.
In this contribution, I will present the results of an experiment using the same paradigm with Dutch fourth grade children (average age 9;5 years), both monolinguals (N = 31) and bilinguals (N = 36). The experiment consisted of a visual lexical decision task with 20 stimuli with a small family size (FS) and 20 large FS stimuli, matched for frequency and length, as well as 40 orthographically legal nonwords. Separate measures of vocabulary size and reading ability were administered. In addition, the participants performed tasks assessing their ability to produce derivations and their declarative knowledge of affixes.
The participants’ reaction times (RT) show a significant family size effect, similar to that of adults’ RT in earlier experiments. A large vocabulary and good reading ability are related to faster RT’s in general, but have no impact on the FS-effect. There are no differences in mean RT nor in the FS-effect between monolingual and bilingual pupils. The focus will be on the implications of the latter finding: what does it mean that the FS-effect for monolingual and bilingual children is the same? Can we conclude that structurally, there is no difference in their mental lexicons in spite of a clear difference in vocabulary size? I will attempt to relate this finding to the observed differences in the production task and with respect to declarative knowledge.
Bilal Kırkıcı
The Turkish Armed Forces, The Translation Branch,
bkirkici@yahoo.com
In past L1 research (Gordon, 1985), it has been shown that regular plural nouns are not included within English synthetic compounds (e.g., *rats-lover) by adult L1 users whereras irregular nouns are (e.g., mice-eater). This dissociation has been taken by proponents of the Dual-Mechanism Model (Pinker & Prince, 1988) as evidence for their view that linguistic representations are based upon a universal language learning mechanism that dissociates between regular, rule-governed and irregular, associative inflectional processes, and which in the case of compounds blocks the inclusion of regular, but not irregular, plurals.
A number of SLA studies in the past decade (e.g., Lardiere, 1995; Murphy, 2000) have attempted to answer the question whether the Dual-Mechanism Model can be extended to L2 processing by analyzing compounding in L2 English users from various L1 backgrounds and have found that the clear regular-irregular dissociation in compounds for L1 users is not the case for L2 users, who tend to include regular plurals into compounds to varying degrees.
The present study reports on further efforts to investigate this issue with L1 Turkish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Turkey. An elicited written production task, similar to that used by Murphy (2000), was run with 22 low-proficiency and 24 high-proficiency L1 Turkish users of EFL and 6 L1 users of English. The stimuli were 25 nouns, used with 13 different verbs in 26 elicitation questions to be answered in written by all three groups.
The results indicate that both the L1 controls and the L2 participants dissociate between regular and irregular nouns within English compounds, as shown by statistical analyses. However, in contrast to previous studies, the L2 dissociation has been found to become stronger with increasing L2 proficiency, which speaks for a developmental restructuring in L2 inflectional processing that could only be explained under a weak version of the Dual-Mechanism model.
Ingvild Nistov
The relative clause has received much attention in SLA research; however, this attention has been drawn mainly from a structural point of view. This paper sets out to shed some new light on an old issue by way of a functional approach.
The problem to be discussed may be said to originate in Schachter's old classic (1974) and its reconsideration by Kamimoto, Shimura and Kellerman (1992) whose concern is that underproduction of relative clauses by L2 learners of English, with left-branching L1s, may result from transfer of functional patterns from the learners' L1.
The present paper reports from a study of Norwegian L2 narratives produced by learners whose L1 is Turkish. These L2 texts are examined in the light of parallel native narrative texts in the right-branching language Norwegian and in the left-branching language Turkish. The analysis is based on Dasinger and Toupin's (1994) crosslinguistic taxonomy of relative clause functions in narrative. Differences in word order and branching direction account, according to Dasinger and Toupin, for some outstanding differences in function found in Turkish (cf. also Aksu-Koç and Erguvanlı-Taylan 1998) compared to the other languages included, which are also confirmed for Turkish compared to Norwegian (Nistov 2002).
The question addressed in this paper is thus whether L1 transfer effects in terms of relative clause functions may be traced in the L2 narrative data. The results show a tendency to underproduction of relative clauses with discourse functions absent in the Turkish data, and moreover the L2 learners produce relative clauses with discourse functions that are not typical in the native Norwegian narratives, but that are prevalent in the Turkish data.
The results of the present study imply that a functional approach is essential to our understanding of SLA in general and of the acquisition of relative clauses in particular.
Nicolas Pepin
University of Basel, Switzerland
Nicolas.Pepin@unibas.ch
Fee Steinbach
University of Basel, Switzerland
The strong cognitive orientation of mainstream SLA-research entails a particular view of what learning is (information processing), where cognition lies (in the individual), what language is (a system of isolable, grammatical, features) and what a learner (a de-contextualized, disembodied brain). For some years now theses assumptions are challenged from different paradigms (e.g. CA, socio-cultural-theory). Shifting the perspective from the intra- to the inter-individual, they bring into focus the situated co-constructed activity character of language learning, and allow to
reconceptualize cognition as mediated, and acquisition processes as structured in and through interaction. Thus, they enable to deal with authentic settings, which make them a powerful tool for investigating language learning in classroom-interaction. Starting from this framework, we aim to integrate a factor, which has generally been dismissed: Emotion. We put forward two observations: 1) Emotions like cognition are not solely inner phenomena, they possess a constitutively socio-interactive dimension; 2) Emotions and cognition are integrated factors in the SLA-process.
In order to illustrate the relevance of an interactional approach linking emotion and cognition and to shed light on their interplay in the construction of savoir and savoir-faire in L2-classroom-contexts, we analyse one recurrent type of classroom-interaction: peer-group-tasks (the core-data of the study consisting of video-taped French-L2-lessons, collected in a compulsory school).
In these tasks, 3 or 4 pupils (13 to 15 years old) interact to accomplish on their own an assignment (role play, organization-discussion) given by the teacher. The scaffolding phenomenons between pupils in these sequences intimately link emotion and cognition. We approach these phenomenons at different levels, in terms of: 1) organisation of the task as a whole and its collaborative transformation into a specific activity; 2) involvement, interpersonal-relations, atmosphere; 3) co-construction of language forms and work on formulations (e.g. negations, prepositional constructions, verb-tense, etc). Thus, the socio-interactionist approach allows to high-light the social nature of knowledge-construction in re-vitalizing the role of emotion in SLA-theories.
Beatrice Dupuy
The University of Arizona,
bdupuy@email.arizona.edu
In recent years, fueled by the desire to develop a model of adult second language acquisition that accounts for, and allows for, the complex set of social, psychological, and linguistics factors as they relate to instructed adult L2 acquisition, a paradigm shift has been noticeable in some areas of applied linguistics and foreign language education. As a result of this paradigm shift, learning and teaching tend to be increasingly viewed from a constructivist perspective.
The implications of constructivist theory for learning and teaching are several. Learning is regarded as a self-promoted process of constructing meaning, which takes place in interaction with others. The role for the teacher is to support the learning process and guide learners towards autonomous learning. While studies of FL classroom interaction based on constructivist approaches have yielded important and compelling empirical data, few have looked at present-day FL teaching practice and to what extend it reflects constructivist principles. While FL teachers are urged to embrace this paradigm, little data exists to show that they indeed have and that changes in FL teaching practice have actually taken place.
This presentation reports on a study that expands on Sercu’s et al. (2005) research on foreign language and culture teaching by investigating the extent to which the practice of US teachers of foreign languages is informed by constructivist principles. Given that intercultural competence is a core goal of national, state, and district FL standards and curricula, this study focuses more specifically on finding out the extent to which current FL teaching practice can be characterized as leading to the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence and the willingness of FL teachers to promote it by identifying the state of their readiness. The European and US data is contrasted and compared, further conclusions are drawn and recommendations made.
Ivana Brasileiro
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Paola Escudero
University of Amsterdam, The
Our objective is to show the perceptual development of the Dutch /a:/-/A/ contrast in monolingual Dutch children, bilingual Dutch-Portuguese children, and adult learners of Dutch who have Portuguese as their native language. Crucially, this contrast involves spectral and durational cues, and it is not found (phonemically) in Portuguese.
To this end, an XAB categorization experiment was conducted on one hundred participants who were divided into four groups: the three groups of learners mentioned above and a control group of adult Dutch listeners. The learners also performed a vocabulary test and completed a background questionnaire.
Our results indicate that bilingualism does not affect the categorization of L1 sounds. This claim is supported by the fact that both groups of children proved to behave similarly to Dutch monolingual adults who use temporal and spectral information when identifying the vowels. However, the individual results show that some children in both groups fail to comply with the adult target. Importantly, the results of the vocabulary test and the data from the questionnaire suggest that this individual variation is related to age and vocabulary size.
Regarding the L2 learners, they were divided into two proficiency groups on the basis of the vocabulary test and questionnaire. The perception results show that both groups differ significantly from the children and Dutch adults. Additionally, the two L2 groups were found to differ significantly from one another, suggesting that there is perceptual development in L2 acquisition and that this development correlates with language proficiency. During the presentation, we will provide a reconstruction of the different developmental paths for the learners. Furthermore, we will discuss the implications of our findings for the two following issues in current SLA research: i) whether bilinguals and L2 learners possess one or two linguistic systems, and ii) whether current models of perceptual development are explanatorily adequate.
Joan C. Mora
University of Barcelona,
mora@ub.edu
This study investigates the differential effect of two learning contexts, formal instruction (FI) in the home university and a stay-abroad term (SA) on the perceptual and productive phonological competence of advanced EFL learners.
The learners’ perceptual competence, expected to conform to predicted degrees of difficulty in L2 sound discrimination (Best 1995; Flege 1995, 2003), was assessed through a categorial AX auditory discrimination task. Their productive competence was assessed through voice onset time (VOT) measures obtained from English oral stop productions. Catalan/Spanish and English differ with respect to this phonetic dimension (short- vs. long-lag realizations, respectively) and learners were expected to produce English stops with compromise VOT values. Data collection took place at four different times over a three-year period: before (T1) and after (T2) 80 hours of FI, after a three-month SA term (T3), and 15 months later (T4), after 80 hours of FI followed by a 6-month period without exposure to English.
The results reveal an overall significant effect of FI and SA on the learners’ ability to discriminate phonemic contrasts, such gains being more robust between T1 and T2, and at T4, than at T3, suggesting that the FI period had a greater effect on the learners’ perceptual ability than the SA term. The VOT results, however, do not parallel those obtained for perception. Mean VOT, which did not increase at T2 and decreased significantly at T4, was longer at T3 after the SA term. These findings suggest that FI and SA had a positive effect on the learners’ perceptual phonological competence. Gains in the learners’ productive phonological competence, however, were only observable at T3 and had vanished by T4, suggesting that segmental accuracy in L2 speech production (but not perception) appears to be sensitive to the amount and type of exposure learners obtain through a SA term.
Johanneke Caspers
Leiden University, The
J.Caspers@let.leidenuniv.nl
Intonation is an important aspect of spoken language – e.g., it plays a role in segmenting the speech stream (boundary tones) and in marking the location of important information (pitch accents) – but only recently it has become the object of extensive study. With respect to second language acquisition the research on speech melody is still in its infancy. This paper reports on an experimental investigation of the perception of three final boundary tone types (low, level and high) in terms of punctuation symbols (full stop, comma and question mark) by a group of native speakers of Dutch and a group of beginning speakers of Dutch as a second language. Half of the DSL speakers had an Indo-European L1 and half a tone language (Chinese) as L1.
I start from the view that the linguistic meaning of intonation is universal in some respects, but language-specific in others (Gussenhoven 2004), and that language-specific aspects may be transferred to a second language. I expected all subjects to interpret the low boundary tone primarily as a full stop (‘this unit is finished’), the level boundary tone as a comma (‘this unit is incomplete’), while the high boundary tone (the default question intonation) was expected to prompt question responses predominantly.
Results reveal that the low tone is perceived as a full stop in the vast majority of cases, suggesting that it may indeed function as a universal marker of completion. Likewise, the level tone primarily leads to comma responses and the high tone is generally perceived as a question marker. However, in addition to these similarities, there are systematic differences between the groups of subjects as well. Only the tone-language speakers associate a substantial subset of the level boundary tones with questions, which suggests that a language specific meaning aspect has been transferred to the L2.
Carmen Muñoz
University of Barcelona, Spain
David Singleton
Trinity College, Ireland
This study examines the degree of foreign accent of a group of advanced L2 learners of English. Research in this area has consistently found age of learning (AOL) (that is, age of initial significant exposure to the target language) as the main predictor of degree of foreign accent, while the influence of length of exposure (LOR) has been seen in some studies as an indirect consequence of the relation between AOL and LOR (Piske, MacKay and Flege, 2001). In addition, recent research has examined the influence of a wide variety of variables, such as amount of L1 use, self-estimated L1 ability, gender, and motivation (for ex.: Flege and MacKay, 2004; Moyer, 2004). Generally, existing studies have analysed and compared groups of early and late bilinguals, with large differences in terms of AOL and LOR.
The subjects in the present study are 12 late learners with an average AOL of 22,5 (range: 18-28) and an average LOR of 10 (range: 6-20). They all have Spanish or/and Catalan as L1. Short extracts were taken from an oral retelling narrative, and judged for foreign accentedness by 4 native speakers of English. Data about language use and ability were elicited by means of a questionnaire (see Flege and MacKay, 2004). Judges were asked to rate a total of 17 extracts (including 5 from native speakers of the local variety of English) using a 5-point Likert scale. Intra- and inter-rater reliability coefficients were high. Results showed a significant difference between the group of native speakers and the group of non-native speakers. However, two of the non-native learners scored within the range of the native subject group. The discussion examines the influence on the degree of foreign accent of AOL, LOR, L1 use, and self-estimated L1 ability, among other factors, as well as the theoretical relevance of the findings.
Chuan-Kuo Shan
University of Cambridge, UK
Boping Yuan
University of Cambridge, UK
by10001@cam.ac.uk
In English, the single argument of an unaccusative verb is generated in object position and then obligatorily moves to subject position. In the literature, L2 learners of English are reported to avoid grammatical unaccusative sentences like The cup broke yesterday and prefer the passivized form like The cup was broken yesterday. They also make ungrammatical sentences like “If the World War II is happened,…”Many researchers have considered this a universal pattern in the development of L2 English.
An empirical study is conducted to investigate whether the overpassivization and the avoidance phenomenon also occur in L2 Chinese. The study involves 52 adult English-speaking learners of L2 Chinese at high-intermediate, advanced and near-native levels. Like English, Chinese allows the argument of the unaccusative verb to move to subject position (although it also allows the argument to remain in object position if it is an indefinite NP). It is found that English speakers of Chinese at different proficiency levels fully accept the NP-V unaccusative construction, which contrasts strikingly with the widely-reported finding in L2 English. Optionality is observed in English speakers’ non-target passivized unaccusative verbs of change of state (but not in the other types). We will argue that the passivization errors in L2 Chinese are different from those reported in L2 English; while L2 learners of English inappropriately use English passive morphology to overtly mark NP-movement involved in the unaccusative construction, the passivization errors in L2 Chinese are due to L1 transfer of English speakers who incorrectly treat Chinese change-of-state verbs as causative. We shall discuss the contrast in terms of the availability of morphology for passives in the target language. We will argue that the overpassivization and the avoidance phenomenon should not be considered universal in the L2 acquisition of unaccusativity despite their prevalence in L2 English.
Dilek Uygun
Boğaziçi University & Marmara University, Turkey
Derin Atay
Marmara University, Turkey
In English a group of verbs (e.g. break, open) can appear both in transitive and intransitive frames (e.g. Somebody broke the window vs. The window broke), as opposed to unaccusative verbs (e.g. disappear, enter), unergative verbs (e.g. laugh, cry) and a group of transitive verbs (e.g. paint, cut) which do not allow such alternations. Since this transitivity alternation is morphologically unmarked in English and limited to a specific group of verbs, its acquisition is believed to cause problems for L2 learners. Recent research on L2 acquisition of this alternation indicates that learners may overgeneralize the alternation to other verb groups and tend to judge illicit forms as acceptable (e.g. Moore, 1993; Montrul, 1997, 2001; Helms-Park, 2001).
This study focuses on Turkish EFL learners’ acquisition of the transitivity alternations and aims to investigate the differences between the overgeneralization patterns of the upper-intermediate and elementary level Turkish learners. A total of 40 Turkish adult learners (20 elementary, 20 upper-intermediate) and a control group of 10 English native speakers participated in the study. Data were collected by means of a picture judgment task consisting of 40 pictures and sentences illustrating the transitive and intransitive usages of verbs belonging to the alternating, unaccusative, unergative and non-alternating transitive classes. Subjects were asked to rate the acceptability of sentences using a scale from -3 (completely unacceptable) to +3 (completely acceptable).
The study specifically aimed to find out whether there are any significant differences between the beginner and upper-intermediate groups in identifying the possibility of the transitivity alternation for each verb group and whether there are significant differences between the verb-classes with respect to the acceptability judgments of each learner group. The results will be discussed within the framework of SLA theories with reference to their implication for foreign language education.
Roger Hawkins, Saleh Al-Eid, Ibrahim Almahboob, Yang Hu, Carol Jaensch, Yunju Jeon, Ingrid Leung, Sirirat Na Ranong, Martha Ortega, Anthony Polentas, Mohammad Javad Rezai, Karen Roehr, Ghisseh Sarko, Neal Snape, Konstantinos Sarantis
roghawk@essex.ac.uk
English displays an asymmetry in the distribution of ‘self’ forms in change-of-state resultatives. Some verbs require such a form, others do not:
1a Calling for her dog, Sue shouted herself hoarse/*Sue shouted hoarse.
b To his horror, after drinking the potion the mad scientist shrank very small/*the mad scientist shrank himself very small.
This is not predictable from: (i) (in)animacy of the subject; (ii) whether the verb has a transitive alternant; (iii) the denotational properties of the verbs involved (input factors). It is, then, under-determined by input. Languages vary parametrically in whether they permit resultatives; Romance languages, Greek and Japanese do not; English, German and Mandarin do. Finally, the source of the asymmetry appears not to be taught in language classrooms or available in textbooks.
The distribution in (1) appears to be the effect of the interaction of universal principles of argument structure with language-specific verb types. Adjectives used as resultative complements (hoarse and small in (1)) require what Hale & Keyser (2002: 5) describe as ‘an appropriately positioned specifier’. The argument structure underlying unaccusative verbs like shrink (age, freeze) provides such a specifier position, hence no further argument need be projected in the derivation of the sentence. The argument structure underlying unergative verbs like shout (cough, jog) lacks an appropriate specifier position, hence the resultative complement must project one, realised in English as a ‘self’ form.
If interlanguage grammars are UG-derived, and if principles of argument structure are part of UG, L2 learners of English who know that English allows resultative constructions should show sensitivity to the distribution of ‘self’ forms, irrespective of L1. To test this hypothesis, we are conducting a contextualised preference task with speakers of non-resultative L1s (Greek, Japanese, Spanish), speakers of resultative L1s (German, Mandarin) and a control group of native speakers. The paper will present the findings of this study and discuss the implications for a theory of the role that principles of argument structure play in L2 acquisition.
Alison Gabriele
University of Kansas,
gabriele@ku.edu
Both English and Japanese encode telicity syntactically via the combination of for example a verb and a quantized direct object (ate two salads) or a verb and a goal prepositional phrase (walk to the store) (Verkuyl,1972). However, the languages differ in the form that they allow the direct object to take. Japanese lacks both articles and number morphology and therefore cannot morphosyntactically distinguish mass from count nouns; English obligatorily marks the distinction (two dogs vs. *two furnitures). This study provides evidence that these differences in the nominal systems have consequences for the L2 acquisition of (a)telicity by English-speaking learners of Japanese.
29 Japanese learners and 31 native speakers took an interpretation task. We tested both ‘count mass’ nouns such as kado (card) that display count noun syntax in English and ‘mass mass’ nouns such as jyusu (juice) that are similar in English and Japanese. The results show that the learners had difficulty with nouns such as kado; they generally do not allow sentences such as ‘Ken wrote card’ in Japanese to refer to an atelic context where not all of the cards have been written. The results suggest that the learners are not aware that bare nouns such as kado, which obligatorily exhibit count noun morphosyntax in English, can ambiguously refer to singular or plural entities in Japanese. They interpret the bare noun as a definite plural (the cards), referring to all of the cards specified in the context.
While previous research has pointed to delays in the acquisition of telicity we provide evidence that the computation of atelicity is also challenging. These results support Chierchia’s (1994) proposal that learners use a form of morphosyntactic bootstrapping in their acquisition of the semantics of the mass/count distinction. In the absence of this evidence and in the presence of L1/L2 differences learners of Japanese confront a difficult learnability scenario.
Maria Juan Garau
Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain
maria.juan@uib.es
Carmen Pérez Vidal
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain carmen.perez@upf.edu
Expectations concerning the benefits on language acquisition during ‘Stay Abroad periods’ are high. An effect is expected on individual variables, as well as on linguistic gains, particularly in oral fluency (Segalowitz & Freed, 2004). One major feature correlating with SA proficiency gains has been identified in previous studies: input during SA in the form of out-of-class contact as an effect of attitude and personality (DeKeyser, 1991 & 2005).
The present study is part of a broader developmental study on the effects of a compulsory three-month SA period on advanced level Spanish/Catalan university students of translation studies. Its objective is threefold. It seeks to analyse: 1) the immediate gains obtained in the SA context focusing on the contrast between oral and written proficiency, in comparison with the gains obtained ‘at home’; 2) the long-term effects of such gains; 3) the impact of the two variables, context and contact during SA on such gains. For that purpose, 25 subjects were administered a pre-test (T1) before formal instruction, a post/pre-test (T2) after formal instruction and prior to the SA, a post-test (T3) after the SA, and a delayed post-test (T4) a year after.
Data on oral proficiency were collected by means of a cognitively demanding role-play task. The written data were collected by means of a composition on a given topic. Students were also administered a questionnaire on SA conditions and beliefs (T3). The research looks at various indices of performance gains – namely gains in Fluency, Accuracy and Complexity, as measured by an adapted version of Celaya, Torras & Pérez-Vidal's (2001) matrix. Oral competence shows gains in the three areas after the SA, and significantly for Fluency; while in the case of written competence only Fluency tends to slightly improve.
Hasanbey Ellidokuzoğlu
The Turkish Armed
HELLIDOKUZOGLU@tsk.mil.tr
Acquisition of language by children in a few years is inexplicable without some form of innate help, according to linguists who haven't been able to decipher the very same system for decades, using their advanced cognitive capacities, huge data resources and, beyond all, their collective intelligence. Underlying the amazing success of children is believed to be an innate linguistic capacity, which acts as a catalyst boosting language acquisition. Post-pubescent learners, on the other hand, are supposed to be deprived of this catalyst. This is generally explained through the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), which claims that innate rules of Universal Grammar (UG) are not accessible after puberty.
The present paper examines the validity of CPH by examining the intuitions of Turkish EFL learners on the Subjacency Principle/Parameter (SP). SP is a sophisticated UG rule restricting the movement of sentential elements which is;
a. not a part of foreign language instruction,
b. so complex that it cannot be learned through general learning capacity,
c. instantiated differently in Turkish and English.
The aim in choosing SP was to rule out 3 potential sources of information (instruction, general learning capacity & language transfer) other than an active UG. The subjects displayed proper, if not perfect, intuitions in judging the grammaticality of sentences involving SP, weakening the case for a strong version of CPH. More interestingly, their relative reactions against strong and weak SP violations mirrored those of native controls.
Finally, the pedagogical implications of an active UG in post-pubescent learners' minds are discussed in the light of a treatment-based mini-research on UG triggers. With the help of such triggers, exposure to which is hypothesized to lead to the acquisition of multiplicity of other structures, L2 learners may not only rekindle the amazing victory of children but may even outpace them in acquiring new languages.
Jean-Marc Dewaele
Birkbeck College,
Foreign language curricula typically focus on non-phatic speech acts such as asking for directions. Very little of this will be seem relevant to the individual who falls in love in a foreign language and wants to express strong feelings to a potential partner. We will look at language choice for the expression of these feelings and the difficulties facing love-drunk and tongue-tied LX users. Our sample consists of 1454 adult multilinguals (1033 females, 421 males), speaking a total of 77 different L1s and a total of 114 different foreign languages (LX). They filled out an on-line questionnaire (Dewaele & Pavlenko 2001) with open and closed questions linked language behaviour and emotions.
Statistical analysis revealed that age of onset of learning, context of acquisition, degree of socialization and frequency of use of the LX determine language choice.
Testimonies obtained through the open questions confirm the importance of socialization in the development of “expression of love” scripts in the LX. It also shows language variation according to the type of love expressed. One participant reports a preference for expression of love in French L1 “because it seems more emotional and romantic but on the other hand I tell my son I love him in English and never in French”.
These findings reflect patterns uncovered for the expression of anger and swearing in the same population, and for praising and disciplining children (Dewaele 2004, 2006, Pavlenko 2004). Classroom instruction does not prepare learners for strong emotional exchanges in an LX: one could wonder whether this crucial sociopragmatic ability merits more attention in language curricula.