Showing papers in "Language Learning in 1986"

An analysis of discomfort, risktaking, sociability, and motivation in the l2 classroom

Abstract: This study investigated a causal model of second language learning. Particular attention was given to three situation-specific constructs: Language Class Discomfort, Language Class Risktaking, and Language Class Sociability. It was theorized that voluntary Classroom Participation mediates the effect of Language Class Discomfort, Language Class Risktaking, Language Class Sociability, and Strength of Motivation on success in classroom L2 learning. The subjects were students enrolled in first year (first and second quarter) university Spanish classes. Data on Classroom Participation were gathered by means of classroom observation and audio recording. Proficiency was measured by correctness and fluency on a storyretelling task and correctness on a written final examination. The results of the causal analysis included findings that: Language Class Discomfort negatively predicted Language Class Risktaking and Language Class Sociability; Language Class Risktaking positively predicted Classroom Participation; and Classroom Participation positively predicted Oral Correctness for the first quarter students.

Ambiguity tolerance and field independence as predictors of proficiency in english as a second language

Abstract: The fact that some adults are more successful at acquiring an L2 than others has led to investigations of individual characteristics as predictors of successful L2 acquisition. This paper reports the results of an investigation of the relationship between two learner characteristics, Ambiguity Tolerance (AT) and Field Independence (FI), and adult learners' acquisition of English as a Second Language in the United States. A Multiple Regression Analysis revealed that AT and FI accounted for a significant amount of variance on several end-of-semester language measures beyond that which could be accounted for by beginning-of-semester performance or other variables. The implications of these findings for further research are outlined.

Linguistic and cognitive determinants of lexical acquisition in a second language

Abstract: The meaning ascribed to select English spatial prepositions by adult English speakers was compared to that of advanced adult ESL learners. Two measures were used: a semantic-relatedness test and a cloze-type/sentence-completion test. The ESL learners differed substantially from the native speakers in the semantic boundaries they ascribed to the words. The differences derived from a different weighting of the words' semantic dimensions. The weighting of the words'semantic dimensions by the ESL learners was influenced by native-language transfer. The words' usage was related to the degree of similarity in the linguistic classification of corresponding meanings in the L1 and the L2 and the consequent conceptual restructuring required in the acquisition of the L2 words. The meaning ascribed to central members of the semantic category investigated more closely approximated that of native speakers than the meaning assigned to noncentral ones. The findings are shown to be related to the similar linguistic classification of central concepts of semantic categories across languages and the language-specific classification of noncentral ones. The findings are interpreted as evidence that the principle of prototypicality underlies the structure of all languages as well as the cognitive processes involved in language acquisition.

Restructuring or automaticity? reading in a second language

Abstract: In this paper we discuss the notion of automaticity as used in information-processing accounts of learning and recent criticism of this concept. It is suggested that improvement in performance can sometimes be due to a restructuring of the components of a task so that they are integrated and reorganized in new ways, thereby allowing procedures involving the old components to be replaced by more efficient procedures involving new components. We describe a study of reading in a second language that suggests there are at least two modes of learning — that achieved by the gradual accretion of automaticity and that achieved by restructuring.

THE ONTOGENY MODEL: EVIDENCE FROM L2 ACQUISITION OF SPANISH r

Abstract: This study tests a model for L2 phonological acquisition, using longitudinal data from beginning learners of Spanish. The model claims that transfer processes decrease over time, while developmental processes increase and then decrease. The data for L2 acquisition of Spanish r largely support the claims. The analysis also reveals a hierarchical organization of processes in L2 acquisition and an interaction of the L1 and L2 systems. The study further demonstrates that the same processes underlie L1 and L2 acquisition and synchronic and diachronic phenomena.

Hypothesis testing in second-language acquisition theory

Abstract: Learner hypotheses may be classified logically into two kinds depending on the relationship of the hypothesis to the data needed to test it. Type-N hypotheses require “negative evidence” (of which explicit correction is a special type) for testing. Type-P hypotheses can be tested on the basis of “positive data” (comprehensible input, for example) alone. The difference between hypotheses is related to the intuitive concepts of “strictness” and “looseness”. Answers to theoretical questions about the place of input in a formal L2 acquisition model as well as to empirical questions about the necessity of correction are dependent on this hypothesis type distinction.

Three approaches to the study of input

Abstract: Within the field of second language acquisition research, one can discern three different approaches to the study of the input requirements of second language learners: the data-oriented approach, the language-model approach, and the processing-model approach. In this article, each approach is characterized and its strengths and weaknesses are pointed out. Then one type of input, metalinguistic input, is identified, and the three approaches are compared with respect to their claims concerning the metalinguistic needs of the learner.

DURATION AND CONTEXT EFFECTS ON THE PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH /r/ AND /I/: A COMPARISON OF CANTONESE AND JAPANESE SPEAKERS

Abstract: This study examines the role that duration plays in the perception of a new phonemic contrast, namely English /r/-/I/, by Cantonese speakers. Previous research with Japanese speakers by Dissosway-Huff, Port and Pisoni (1982) suggested that greater accuracy of perception of this new contrast correlates with greater duration of the acoustic signal. The results of our study show that increased duration of the acoustic signal is not sufficient to facilitate perception of English liquids by Cantonese speakers. Thus, our results provide no support for the Duration Hypothesis. We also show that differences in the perception of /r/ and /I/ by Japanese and Cantonese speakers can be explained in part by differences in their native language phonological constraints. Finally, we discuss possible causes for the perceptual difficulty that both types of speakers have with consonant clusters.

Derivational complexity and item difficulty in a sentence repetition task

Abstract: This paper reports the results of an analysis to determine whether derivational complexity is a determinant of item difficulty in a sentence repetition task. Fifty ESL subjects took a 26 item sentence repetition test. It was possible to estimate Rasch item difficulty indices for 18 items. The high-difficulty items were derivationally more complex than the low-difficulty items; however, predictions made in the early derivational complexity research about passive, negative, and interrogative sentences were not confirmed in this research. A linguistic analysis of the most difficult items suggests that this sample of ESL subjects experienced difficulties in processing adverbials, compounding and reduction of clauses, and the non-finite verbals.

A case for field‐experimentation in program evaluation

Abstract: This paper presents a case for the desirability of field-experimentation in language teaching program evaluation. The limitations of laboratory research are considered from the perspectives of internal and external validity, overall strategy, and an uncertain relationship with what happens in a classroom context. It is argued that laboratory research is not carried out with the aim of providing direct feedback to instructors, while field research is intended to have implications for teaching behavior, that is, to be useful in the short term. A procedure is outlined whereby a preoccupation with the effect of complete programs over time takes priority over dissection and analysis. This encourages an initial concern with what works in practice, which is the primary goal of the applied discipline of program evaluation.

Word order typology, lexical government, and the prediction of multiple, graded effects in l2 word order

Abstract: Lexical government refers to the relationship between a phrasal head and its complement. In this paper it is used to define a centre and periphery in word order typology. The direction of the government relation gives rise to two word order types. It is proposed that grammars in which the phrasal heads show a major split in their direction of government are more marked than those with a uniform direction. This framework serves to generate multiple, graded predictions about word order in non-primary acquisition and the predictions are tested on a broad range of available L2 word order data. The investigation indicates that while L2 learners do have access to the defining principle, they may not be as successful as L1 learners in acquiring peripheral word order attributes and word orders with a split in the direction of government.

Language proficiency, text content and order effects in narrative recall

Abstract: An analysis of the major goals of the story grammar paradigm and some of the controversy surrounding them has led to a challenge of the robustness of this paradigm's findings. The effects of text content and order of presentation on narrative recall were investigated in groups of intermediate and advanced readers of English as a foreign language. Subjects were asked to recall three narratives presented either in a standard, partially-mixed or fully-mixed order as well as a set of unrelated sentences. Data analysis in terms of story grammar categories revealed replication of category effects in six of the 18 conditions investigated. These effects were stronger than differences between standard and partially-mixed orders while they were most salient in one specific text content. This picture was not similar for the two proficiency groups. It was concluded that different text-based parameters may constrain the robustness of story grammar category effects.

Locative and directional expressions in basilang speech

Abstract: This paper forms part of a project designed to describe the pidginization found in basilang speech, the earliest stage in second-language acquisition, from the perspectives of word order, reference to time, and reference to space. The research reported here deals with locative and directional expressions in the English interlanguage of three Spanish speakers, two Japanese speakers, and one Chinese speaker. The results indicate that the oriental subjects tend to form these structures without prepositions much more frequently than Spanish speaking subjects. In addition, transfer and simplification seem to account for the structure of spatial expressions in basilang interlanguage.

Age contrasts in the learning of language‐relevant materials: some challenges to critical period hypothesis

Abstract: In order to test the claim of diminished capacity for language learning at puberty, a Hawaiian lesson was given to 182 public school children (61, 73, and 48 from grades 4, 7-8, and 11, respectively). Retention of material was evaluated immediately and after a week. The test was composed of syntactic and semantic tasks each assessed by multiple choice and metalinguistic means, with items demanding either rote memory, word rearrangement, or rule application. Repeated measures analyses of variance of second-week performance covaried for initial scores, showed Grade 4 to be poorer than both older groups, and Grade 7-8 to exceed Grade 11 on some tasks. Stepwise multiple regressions for each group revealed the consistent importance of English reading level and differing additional predictions in the three groups. It was concluded that second-language learning capacities cannot be defined in terms of age alone.

Awareness of Form Class as a Factor in ESL Reading Comprehension.

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an empirical study relating awareness of form class (morphology) to reading comprehension in which an ESL subject pool was employed. The analyses indicate that awareness of form class and reading comprehension are significantly related, but the authors note that morphology competence is but one dimension of reading comprehension and that in these data the effects of reliable method variance, world knowledge, lexical knowledge, and discourse grammar knowledge may be equally or more robust in explaining the reading comprehension variance as form class awareness. The difficulty of partitioning trait variance from trait-irrelevant variance in language testing in general is also discussed.

A comparative study of children's and adults’ acquisition of tone accents in swedish1

Abstract: This comparative study investigates first and second language learners' acquisition of tone accents in Swedish. Tone accent distribution is governed by morphophonological rules and the accents are manifested in characteristic pitch patterns. LI learners acquire the full accent distinction at around the age of five, while many L2 learners never do. The tone accent production of two monolingual Swedish children (1;11-2;5) recorded longitudinally over seven months was compared to that of American adults acquiring Swedish as L2. Both populations overgeneralized one pitch pattern to all bisyllabic words: children used Accent 2 (two-peaked) and adults Accent 1 (one-peaked), analogous to the prevailing pattern of their L1. These results are discussed in terms of comparing children's acquisitional strategies with those of L2 learners. Furthermore, the children's early acquisition of a marked phenomenon (Accent 2) forces us to reconsider markedness criteria and whether Accent 2 is marked from a production point of view.

Intake As the Locus of Equilibration in Language Learning.

Abstract: Equilibration between assimilatory (organism-inward) and accommodatory (organism-outward) processes has been described as a necessary condition of both development and learning. The difference between the two, however, is that in the case of learning, equilibration often has to be pedagogically implemented, whereas this is not true of development. Intake, the notoriously impenetrable interval between input and output, was identified as the locus of equilibration in language learning when the learners (French-speaking EFL beginners), faced with having to construct a new utterance, demonstrated minimal conceptualization through tentative expression (assimilation) and sufficient preliminary familiarity with the correct expression in a model sentence for this expression to confirm its relevance (accommodation). A dialectic interaction that resulted in adjustment was generated by this encounter of the learner's intended meaning in search of a form that had remained unanalyzed when first received. It is suggested that equilibration in intake is indicative of a cognitive similarity between the learning of a foreign language – whether institutional or naturalistic – and the learning of other subjects.

Universals in relative clause acquisition: evidence from child and adult l1 and l2 learners of hindi‐urdu

Abstract: In the search for universals of relative clause acquisition, the present research investigated the comprehension of six types of Hindi-Urdu correlative sentences by child and adult L1 and L2 learners. Group comparisons show a sharper distinction between the performance of the first and second language learners than between the children and adults. While the native speakers tend to pay attention to case markers in interpreting sentences, the English-speaking learners tend to ignore these morphological cues, relying rather on a word order heuristic. The L1 errors, particularly those of the adults, are more systematic than the L2. Many of the learners do not appear to have any functional strategy for discovering the missing noun complement in the Hindi-Urdu correlative clauses and instead resort to random guessing. The paper concludes that language universals are available for the processing of complex structures only once a certain level of proficiency has been attained.

Attempting Comprehensive and Comparative Empirical Research in Second Language Acquisition

Abstract: The Postscript of the Field Manual (FM), Chapter 10, compares the authors’ proposals to their actual progress 18 months into the project, when “no new informants were to be started” and when “the datacollection schedule was (made) definitive” (10.1). This is a revealing chapter. (Recall that informants in the main longitudinal group and the control group were to be age 18-30, have no native TL-speaking spouse, have no children of school age being educated in the TL, probably be working class, have day-today contacts in the TL, have been in the host country less than one year, have no regular TL instruction, and have the TL as a second foreign language.) The results are startling: “with seven out of ten SL-TL pairs, the schedule has proved impossible to keep exactly as had been planned” (10.1). ’ What went wrong? In addition to the strict entry requirements mentioned above, unforseen political and social factors eliminated many informants. In France the new government created a new immigration policy which made it difficult to get informants who were in the country for less than one year. Turkish informants in Germany, when they could be found, were mostly in trade schools, being educated in the TL. Immigrants to Sweden usually received

The role of core grammar in pidgin development

Abstract: Traditionally, researchers in the field of pidgin and Creole languages have supported the simplification theory which regards a pidgin as a simplified version of the colonizers language. This paper examines the process of pidgin development within the context of Government and Binding theory as proposed by Chomsky (1981). Empirical evidence given in this paper from Capeverdean creole (and others) indicates that the linguistic phenomenon generally labelled pidginization, creolization, decreolization, etc. can be explained as follows. The contact of various languages may produce a new experience which subsequently fixes the parameters of Universal Grammar, providing a pidgin core grammar. This core is guided by a preference of structure imposed by the markedness theory allowing the learnability condition to operate. The resultant core grammar can later incorporate a marked periphery. The addition of this marked periphery is what had been viewed in the past as creolization. If one of the donor languages is characterized by structures which meet the learnability criterion, the incorporation of the marked periphery will be targeted toward that language. The directionality of the pidgin periphery may then be predicted. However, if none of the languages meets the learnability condition, the pidgin periphery may develop independently of the peripheries of the donor languages.