Showing papers on "Second-language acquisition published in 1975"

Motivation and Second-Language Acquisition.

Abstract: This paper posits four stages of language acquisition, identified as ele- mental, consolidation, conscious expression, and automaticity and thought, and considers the role of motivation in this process. It distinguishes between two types of motivation, language learning motivation and classroom motivation, indicating how these relate to two distinct contexts, the cultural and the educational through their influence on integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation. It discusses how the two types of motivation are differentially involved in the four stages, and empirical support for this perspective is presented in the form of path analyses of two samples of students from Catalonia.

Structure and variation in child language.

Abstract: BLOOM, Lois; LIGHTBOWN, PATSY; and HooD, Lois Structure and Variation in Child Language With Commentary by MELISSA BOWERMAN, and MICHAEL MARATSOS; with Reply by the authors Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1975, 40(2, Serial No 160) Patterns of structure and variation are described in the language development of four children in the period in which mean length of utterance progressed from 10 to approximately 25 morphemes Verb relations were of central importance in the children's language learning, and there was a similar developmental sequence among the children in the emergence of several semantic-syntactic categories of verb relations Possible linguistic and cognitive explanations for the obtained developmental sequence are discussed There was variation among the children in the lexical representation in utterances: although all four children presented the same semantics in their utterances-they talked about the same kinds of things and in the same sequence in the course of development-they did not use the same linguistic means for representing the same information Two of the children learned a system of pronominal reference to persons and objects in verb relations, whereas the other two children learned categories of nominal forms relative to verbs The developments within each system were orderly and predictable across time as each child proceeded to learn the other system and thereby acquired the capacity for alternative pronominal and nominal reference

Affective and Ability Factors in Second-Language Acquisition.

Abstract: Although past research studies have failed to yield consistently positive correlations between motivation and achievement in second-language classes, teacher experience clearly indicates that student attitudes and opinions do have a decided effect on learning. The question confronting both teachers and researchers is what student affective characteristics influence learning and what influence each has. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of three affective student characteristics, in comparison with selected student ability characteristics, on course grade in elementary language courses. In this study there were as many positive correlations between the affective characteristics and course grade as there were between ability factors and course grade. The implication was that affective characteristics have at least as much influence on learning as do ability factors.

Holophrases, Speech Acts and Language Universals.

Abstract: The arguments both for and against viewing the child's initial one-word utterances as HOLOPHRASES are reviewed. Some theoretical problems – concerning the innateness of language, the acquisition of syntax, the status of prosody and the child's comprehension of language during the one-word stage – with the holophrase controversy are pointed out. We suggest that an unresolvable theoretical stalemate exists because proponents on both sides of the controversy mistakenly assume the centrality of the notion sentence in discussing holophrases. An alternative view of early language development, which takes the SPEECH ACT as the basic unit of linguistic communication, is offered as a solution to the problems with the holophrase controversy as it now stands. We propose a more integrated description of the relations between functional and grammatical aspects of early communicative competence than is currently provided by sentence-oriented theories. In particular, we suggest that the child's PRAGMATIC INTENTIONS gradually become GRAMMATICALIZED as semantic and syntactic structures. Finally, three entities – communicative functions, referring expressions and predicating expressions – are proposed as LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS, as distinct from grammatical universals.

Affective factors and the problem of age in second language acquisition

Abstract: This paper reviews several bodies of literature concerned with the relationship of affective factors such as language shock, culture shock, attitude, motivation and ego permeability to second language acquisition. These issues are then related to the problem of age in second language learning. It is suggested that affective variables may play a more important role than does biological maturation in problems associated with adult second language acquisition.

The Acquisition of Grammatical Morphemes by Adult ESL Students.

Abstract: This study was designed to determine if the reported sequence of acquisition of grammatical morphemes for second language learners (Dulay and Burt, 1973, 1974; Bailey, Madden and Krashen, 1974) would be found to exist in tasks other than that requiring speech production. A battery of five tasks: reading, writing, listening, imitating and speaking were administered to twenty-four adult ESL learners, six from each of four native-language backgrounds (Arabic, Japanese, Persian, and Spanish). After scoring for morpheme suppliance in obligatory contexts, and using the Group Score Method (Dulay and Burt, 1974) to order the morphemes, a high level of concordance was found across language groups with regards to morpheme ordering within task. There was, however, individual and language group variability apparent. When comparing morpheme sequencing across tasks for all subjects, there was not the same high degree of relationship. Speculations are made to account for these findings.

The relationship between age and second language productive ability

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between certain aspects of the second language acquisition process and age. An oral production test was developed to assess the ability of nonnative English speaking children to produce standard English morphology and syntax. The test was administered to approximately 200 children (ages 6–15) who were learning English as a second language in American public schools. The results of this testing were used to examine the relationship between age and 1) the rate of acquisition of certain English grammatical structures and 2) the order of acquisition of these grammatical structures. The results indicated that there was some relationship between age and rate of learning. Among children exposed to English the same amounts of time, the older children scored higher on the morphology and syntax subtests, whereas the younger children received higher ratings in phonology. There were, however, no major differences observed in the order in which children of different ages learned to produce the structures included in the test. These results suggest that there is a difference in the rate of learning of English morphology, syntax and phonology based upon differences in age, but that the order of acquisition in second language learning does not change with age.

The use of overgeneralization and transfer learning strategies by elementary and intermediate students of esl1

Abstract: An orally administered test requiring the written English translation of eighty Spanish sentences was administered to twenty native Spanish speaking students of English as a second language at the elementary and intermediate levels. A taxonomy of twenty error types was designed to analyze the errors in the Auxiliary (Aux) and Verb Phrase (VP) of the translations. The error types were categorized into errors of overgeneralization, transfer, translation, indeterminate origin, and errors not considered. The results indicated that the errors made by the elementary and intermediate students were not qualitatively different. However, the subjects' reliance on the stategies of overgeneralization and transfer was found to be qualitatively different. The elementary subjects' reliance on the transfer strategy was found to be significantly higher than that of the intermediate subjects; the intermediate subjects' reliance on the overgeneralization stategy was found to be significantly higher than that of the elementary subjects. These findings appear to be consistent with a theory which considers second language acquisition to be an actively creative process dependent upon a student's ability to assimilate and subsume new information into already existing cognitive structures. The overgeneralization and transfer learning strategies appear to be two distinctly different linguistic manifestations of one psychological process: reliance on prior learning to facilitate new learning. The results also tend to confirm the weakness of a transfer-based theory of errors and require an explanation which takes into account not only interference from within the target language inself, but also the learner's cognitive characteristics and his resulting learning strategies.

Error Analysis in the Adult EFL Classroom.

Abstract: Burt, Marina K. Error Analysis in the Adult EFL Classroom. Jun 74 22p. MF-$0.75 Uc -$1.50 PLUS POSTAGE *Adult Students; *English (Second Language); *Error Patterns; Grammar; Language Instruction; Linguistics; Second Language Learning; Syntax; Teaching Techniques In recent years, there has been a growing research interest in the analysis of errors adults make while learning a second language. The underlying objective of most of these analyses has been to reveal the systematicity of adult errors in an effort to understand the process of adult second language learning. This paper deals with errors from a different point of view, namely, from the listener or reader's point of view. The question asked is, which types of errors cause the listener or reader to misunderstand the message intended by the EFL learner? Based on the judgments of native English speakers about the comprehensibility of hundreds of sentences containing errors of EFL learners all over the world, linguistic criteria for determining the communicative importance of learners' errors are suggested. Areas of English syntax that cause important communicative errors usually neglected in most EFL training materials are discussed. The paper concludes with the application of this particular error analysis approach to the EFL classroom. (Author) ;1\0ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE ADULT EFL CLASSROOM Marina K. Burt State University of New York at Albany ABSTRACT t: CA. ..it 1 UF Efl.:4*ICN S .SELF %41044, S51,TUTEt: CA. ..it 1 UF Efl.:4*ICN S .SELF %41044, S51,TUTE In recent years, there has been a growing research interest in the analysis of errors adults make while learning a second language. The underlying objective of most of these analyses has been to reveal the systematicity of adult errors in an effort to understand the process of adult second language

The importance of input data in second language acquisition studies

Abstract: In investigating second language acquisition, most writers have concentrated on the speech production of their subjects, most frequently on the order of acquisition of a set of morphemes. Such studies are useful in descriptive terms especially if they consider acquisition of both form and function, but they leave us with many unanswered questions regarding the acquisition process. The following paper discusses the relationship between speech directed to the learner and his speech production, one of several areas which require further investigation.

The interlanguage hypothesis extended to children1

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the Interlanguage (IL) hypothesis should be extended from (1)adult second-language acquisition settings to (2) those non-simultaneous child language acquisition settings where the major sociolinguistic variables is the absence of peers who are native speakers of the target language (TL). The paper first establishes the need to postulate the existence of an IL. Next, data from a Toronto French immersion program are presented which suggest that, as in adult second-language speech, the strategies of language transfer, simplification, and overgeneralization of TL rules affect the surface forms of the second-language speech of children in this program. Finally, the possibility is mentioned that, under the sociolinguistic conditions of (2) above, ILs will develop as dialects in their own right, an important possibility for theories of pidginization and creolization, as well as for general theories of language change.

Error Analysis, Interlanguage and Second Language Acquisition

Abstract: ed in: Sociology of education abstracts. Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies Linguistics, grade: 3,0, Technical University of Braunschweig (Englisches Seminar), course: Second Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: In this paper I will investigate several language productions from Polish learners using the English language and try to uncover their errors. Using Error Analysis I will describe and explain the reasons for the error production. An interesting question will be whether the Polish speakers may have typical errors which could be related to their native language. Due to the numerous kinds of errors, it will be necessary to classify them and to relate them to certain reasons. Furthermore there exists a difference between an error and a mistake. Its importance will be discussed later on. Even though Error Analysis, initially offers helpful opportunities to investigate error production in a structured way, it has several disadvantages which were criticized in past decades. In the end the conclusion will give an overview of the contents and summary the handled topics. During the last several decades linguists have investigated the way of acquiring a second language. Learners have several ways of acquiring a language and the field of second language acquisition (SLA) tries to uncover and improve them. When people try to learn a foreign language they produce a considerable amount of errors. These errors have always been made in the learning process and will never cease to occur. During the complex investigations of second language acquisition, linguists have focused on Error Analysis (EA) with its aim to take a deeper look on learner production. Around the late 60`s this particular analysis was established with an approach of Pit Corder. This system shows that errors should be investigated to understand and also improve the linguists attempts of learning a second language. Typical questions which arise are why learners make errors and what reasons do they have? Before Pit Corder, linguists used the Contrastive Analysis (CA) which examines certain errors and refers to a particular connection between the first and the second language. The differences between these two types of analysis will be examined in detail in the following chapter. Several steps are needed to analyze various errors in language. Investigators have developed procedures to collect, identify, describe, explain and lastly evaluate certain errors. These certain steps will be described and underlined with certain examples. Written for students encountering the topic for the first time, this is a clear and practical introduction to second language acquisition (SLA). It explains in non-technical language how a second language is acquired; what the second language learner needs to know; and why some learners are more successful than others. The textbook introduces in a step-by-step fashion a range of fundamental concepts – such as SLA in adults and children, in formal and informal learning contexts, and in diverse socio-cultural settings – and takes an interdisciplinary approach, encouraging students to consider SLA from linguistic, psychological and social perspectives. Each chapter contains a list of key terms, a summary, and a range of graded exercises suitable for self-testing or class discussion. Providing a solid foundation in SLA, this book is set to become the leading introduction to the field for students of linguistics, psychology, and education, and trainee language teachers. This edited volume offers critical reflections on an essential component of research method in the field of second language acquisition – data. Scholars working on diverse areas (e.g., pragmatics, corrective feedback, phonology) and approaches (e.g., corpus linguistics, conceptoriented analyses, variationism) have come together to identify challenges researchers face when collecting, coding, and analyzing data and to provide guidance for making advancements regarding these aspects of research method. This volume also showcases three types of critical reflection. One involves building a relevant corpus of published investigations and using that database to identify methodological issues in existing research. Another consists of recoding and reanalyzing published work, before reflecting on the impact that these decisions have on observations made about interlanguage. The third begins with a particular area of or approach to second language acquisition and then offers a critical examination on the challenges that characterize the selected area or approach. Researchers and graduate students alike will benefit from an open discussion on methodological issues that are in need of improvement. This book is a thorough revision of the highly successful text first published in 1994. The authors retain the multidisciplinary approach that presents research from linguistics, sociology, psychology, and education, in a format designed for use in an introductory course for undergraduate or graduate students. The research is updated throughout and there are new sections and chapters in this second edition as well. New chapters cover child language acquisition (first and second), Universal Grammar, and instructed language learning; new sections address issues, such as what data analysis doesn't show, replication of research findings, interlanguage transfer (multilingual acquisition and transfer), the aspect hypothesis, general nativism, connectionist approaches, and implicit/explicit knowledge. Major updates include nonlanguage influences and the lexicon. The workbook, Second Language Learning Data Analysis, Second Edition, makes an ideal accompaniment to the text. Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages during our early years of life, many of us will learn a second, foreign, or heritage language in later years. The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language --in the case of monolinguals-or languages --in the case of bilinguals-have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-bychapter summaries and suggestions for further reading. Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Supporting resources for tutors are available free at www.routledge.com/ortega. Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies Linguistics, grade: 1,5, Free University of Berlin (Institut für Englische Philologie), language: English, abstract: This research paper compares contrastive analysis with the error analysis approach in respect of their treatment of avoidance behaviour. It considers several researches on avoidance behaviour and shows that contrastive analysis predicts the avoidance phenomenon in most cases and, therefore, gives a complete description of the areas of difficulty for learners of a second language. The contributions to this volume by H.W. Dechert, A.K. Fathman, F. Grosjean, D.C. O'Connell, M. Raupach, K. Sajavaara/J. Lehtonen, H.W. Seliger and R. Wiese all deal with speech data from native speakers of different languages, or native speakers and language learners of the same language, or speakers in their native and their second languages. They are the results of various methodological attempts to assess speech using a cross-linguistic approach and represent an area of research which may be called «Contrastive Psycholinguistics». Errors in Language Learning and Use is an up-to-date introduction and guide to the study of errors in language, and is also a critical survey of previous work. Error Analysis occupies a central position within Applied Linguistics, and seeks to clarify questions such as `Does correctness matter?', `Is it more important to speak fluently and write imaginatively or to communicate one's message?' Carl James provides a scholarly and well-illustrated theoretical and historical background to the field of Error Analysis. The reader is led from definitions of error and related concepts, to categorization of types of linguistic deviance, discussion of error gravities, the utility of teacher correction and towards writing learner profiles. Throughout, the text is guided by considerable practical experience in language education in a range of classroom contexts worldwide.

The Essential Contributions of Formal Instruction in Adult Second Language Learning

Abstract: One way of investigating what happens to the language learning capacity at puberty is to examine what the essential contributions of formal instruction are: since formal instruction is so useful for the adult and non-essential for the child language learner, it is probably the case that the main contributions formal instruction makes are in just those areas where the "LAD" is affected at puberty. A feature-type comparison of language teaching methods known to be successful in helping adults learn language reveals that the universal and presumably crucial ingredients of formal instruction are (1) the isolation of rules and lexical items of the target language, and (2) the possibility of error detection or correction. This hypothesis predicts that any new system that produces significant increases in second language proficiency for adults will contain these two features. It also predicts that adults who seem to be able to learn second languages in informal linguistic environments have some means of approaching rules and lexical items one at a time and are getting feedback. The analysis also points out direction for determining which values of non-universal features might be most useful for adult language learning instruction.

The acquisition of complex english structures by adult learners1

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the acquisition of a set of complex English structures by adult learners of English at two different levels of proficiency. The results indicated a developmental pattern similar to that reported by Chomsky for child native speakers. Interesting language learning strategies were revealed. In interpreting ambiguous sentences, beginners tended to rely on semantic rather than on syntactic information. All subjects appeared to deal directly with the linguistic data of the target language. No evidence was found that they attempted to translate or to map native language structures onto those of the target language. In no instance did we find evidence of language learning strategies different from those reported in the literature for child native speakers.

Language Acquisition in the Bilingual Child.

Abstract: The study of language acquisition in children has become increasingly important in recent years. From the normative studies of the 1930s (McCarthy, 1954), we have age related milestones for the language development of children. From the more recent psycholinguistic research based on transforma tional grammar (Brown and Bellugi, 1964; Chomsky, 1957; 1965; Meny?k, 1969) we know further that a child's language is not acquired through a simple associational learning process but rather with the grasp of a complex set of rules underlying the structure of language. The psycholinguistic research is beginning to demonstrate that there are definite relationships between linguistic and cognitive universals (Slobin, 1971). That is, when describing child language, researchers suggest thet there are relationships between psychological and linguistic processes that occur from the inception of an idea to its actual phonological manifestation and from the time the child begins to utter his first word until he becomes an adult user of the language. The best indication of these universals is that children all over the world learn language according to a set of underlying principles that appear to be the same. There appears to be a series of processes that all children progress through in acquiring language. The first stage in language acquisiton is that of one word speech. This stage occurs somewhere between 8 and 17 months. One word speech is described as holophrastic or "rich in meaning" (McNeill, 1966). That is, a single word may mean a complex set of ideas. Speech at this stage is also predicative in that the child generally lacks verbs. However, he seems to be saying something about the world. For instance, if the child says "milk," he may mean "I want milk," or "there is a glass of milk sitting on the table," or "give me a glass of milk." Along with this, at the one word stage, it is important to note that any description of a child's language at this point must be based upon how the observer interprets the situation and the utter ances. The child at this stage cannot use his speech to elaborate or to get his meaning across at all times. Thus as Bloom (1970) has pointed out, it is important to include the context of the utterance in an attempt to make the meaning of that utterance clearer. Brown (1973) described child language in terms of five stages through which a child progresses. He uses a range of the Mean Length of Utteran ce which increases with age to characterize each stage. Thus instead of dividing each stage up in terms of the number of words per stage, Mean Length of

Forgetting a second language1

Abstract: A previous study by this author investigated group patterns of foreign language retention among young children after being removed from a language contact situation for a period of time. The present study was undertaken to provide an in-depth look at three students in an effort to determine whether the last things learned are, in fact, the first things to be forgotten, and whether forgetting entails unlearning in reverse order from the original learning process. Three subjects were administered an Oral Language Achievement Measure individually on a test-retest basis at the beginning of June 1973, the 20th month of language contact, and again in September 1973, after the children had started second grade. Two subjects provided examples to support the notion that some of the things that are learned last are also the first to be forgotten when the learners are removed from second language contact for a period of time. The third subject provided an example of reversion to an earlier pattern in the use of the definite article, perhaps skipping stages in between. Some data suggest that forgetting may produce forms that were never tried out during the process of language acquisition prior to the respite. Other data suggest that a pause in the learning process may actually cause a reduction in certain problem areas. Although the findings from this study are merely suggestive, since they are based on insufficient data to make them definitive, this is considered a first step in the direction of investigating the ways in which young children forget a language in which they have been immersed.

Two Measures of Affective Factors as They Relate to Progress in Adult Second-Language Learning. Working Papers in Bilingualism, No. 10.

Abstract: Backman, Nancy .. Two Measures of Affective Factors as They Relate to Progress in Adult Second-Language Learning. Working Papers du Bilingualism, No..10. Ontario Inst. for Studies in Education Toronto. Bilingual Education Project. 75 24p.; For related documents, see FL 007 906-908 Bilingual Education Project, The Ontario Institute fcr Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1V6 (as long as'Supply lasts)

The Critical Period for the Acquisition of Language: Some Cognitive Developmental Considerations. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 6.

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