Showing papers on "Second-language acquisition published in 1994"

The Study of Second Language Acquisition

Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE - BACKGROUND Introduction 1. Second language acquisition research: an overview PART TWO - THE DESCRIPTION OF LEARNER LANGUAGE Introduction 2. Learner errors and error analysis 3. Developmental patterns: order and sequence in second language acquisition 4. Variability in learner language 5. Pragmatic aspects of learner language PART THREE - EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: EXTERNAL FACTORS Introduction 6. Social factors and second language acquisition 7. Input and interaction and second language acquisition PART FOUR - EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: INTERNAL FACTORS Introduction 8. Language transfer 9. Cognitive accounts of second language acquisition 10. Linguistic universals and second language acquisition PART FIVE - EXPLAINING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Introduction 11. Individual learner differences 12. Learning strategies PART SIX - CLASSROOM SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Introduction 13. Classroom interaction and second language acquisition 14. Formal instruction and second language acquisition PART SEVEN - CONCLUSION Introduction 15. Data, theory, and applications in second language acquisition research Glossary Bibliography Author index Subject index

Input, interaction, and the second language learner

Abstract: Contents: Preface. Modeling Second Language Acquisition. The Question of Evidence. The Nature and Function of Output. Input and Second Language Acquisition Theories. The Role of Interaction. Comprehension, Output, and the Creation of Learner Systems. Epilogue: Classroom Implications and Applications.

Motivation, self-confidence, and group cohesion in the foreign language classroom

Abstract: Defining the motivational basis of second and foreign language acquisition has been at the center of much research and controversy for many years. The present study applied social psychological constructs to the acquisition of English in the unicultural Hungarian setting. A total of 301 Grade 11 students from the region of Budapest answered a questionnaire assessing their attitude, anxiety, and motivation toward learning English, as well as their perception of classroom atmosphere and cohesion. In addition, their teachers rated each of the students on proficiency and a number of classroom behaviors and evaluated the relative cohesion of each class group. Factor and correlational analyses of the results revealed that xenophilic (M=4.22on a 1–6 scale), sociocultural (M=3.96), instrumental (M=3.78), and media-use reasons (M=3.79) were most strongly endorsed by the students whereas an identification orientation (M=1.8l)was rejected. Factor analysis of the attitude, anxiety, and motivation scales confirmed the existence of attitude-based (integrative motive) and self-confidence motivational subprocesses and revealed the presence of a relatively independent class- room based subprocess, characterized by classroom cohesion and evaluation. Correlational analyses of these clusters further revealed that, while all subprocesses were associated with achievement, self-confidenceand anxiety showed no relationship to classroom atmosphere. We discuss these findings in the context of current theories of second and foreign language acquisition and with reference to their applied implications.

Input, Interaction, and Second Language Production.

Abstract: The role of conversational interactions in the development of a second language has been central in the recent second language acquisition literature. While a great deal is now known about the way in which nonnative speakers interact with native speakers and other nonnative speakers, little is known about the lasting effects of these interactions on a nonnative's linguistic development. This paper specifically investigates the relationship among input, interaction, and second language production. Through data from native–nonnative speaker interactions in a direction-giving task, we show that both modified input and interaction affect task performance. However, only interaction has an effect on subsequent task performance.

Dictionary Use While Reading: The Effects On Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition For Students Of Different Verbal Abilities

Abstract: VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IS CONSIDered by many to be the single most important aspect of foreign language learning. Not only do the majority of students studying foreign languages cite vocabulary as their number one priority (16; 50; 71), but it is often considered a priority by teachers as well. As Candlin asserts, "The study of vocabulary is at the heart of language teaching in terms of organization of syllabuses, the evaluation of learner performance, and the provision of learning resources" (viii). Nevertheless, while most first and second level courses emphasize vocabulary knowledge through their textbooks, courses with authentic texts often lack this emphasis (16; 24; 56). It appears that when the pedagogical focus shifts from medium to message, when students study literary texts instead of language texts, that the pedagogical assumption regarding vocabulary learning also shifts in emphasis from intentional to incidental. Vocabulary is no longer a primary classroom focus, something to be taught and tested; but rather, something to be acquired incidentally by the student while reading. Although one popular theory of second language acquisition (SLA) is based on this premise of incidental vocabulary acquisition as the result of comprehensible input (37; 38), does this actually happen? Do students acquire unknown words incidentally while reading? If so, how many and to what degree? An additional concern is dictionary use. Although many students express reliance on dictionaries (5; 69), many educators and researchers discourage the practice, advising students to guess at word meaning and to use the dictionary only as a tool of last resort (27; 48; 63). The primary concern is that looking up words frequently interferes with short term memory and thus disrupts the comprehension process. Empirical evidence to substantiate these assertions and corresponding pedagogical practices, however, is lacking (13; 43). Some of the unanswered questions that this study explores are: 1) Do students indeed acquire a significant amount of vocabulary while reading? 2) Are more words learned by guessing from context or by looking them up in a dictionary? 3) Does dictionary use affect reading comprehension? 4) Does dictionary use help some students more than others (i.e., those of higher or lower verbal ability levels)?

Classroom Interaction, Comprehension, and the Acquisition of L2 Word Meanings

Abstract: There are substantial theoretical and empirical grounds for believing that opportunities to negotiate meaning through interaction facilitate comprehension. However, although there are theoretical grounds for believing that meaning negotiation aids second language acquisition, these are not supported by any empirical evidence. This article reports two classroom studies, based on the same design, which investigated the effects of modified interaction on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition among 79 and 127 high-school students of English in Japan. The main results were: (a) interactionally modified input resulted in better comprehension than premodified input, (b) interactiqnally modified input led to more new words being acquired than premodified input, (c) learners who actively participated in negotiating meaning did not understand any better than those simply exposed to modified interaction, and (d) the active participators did not learn more new words. These results are discussed in terms of the interaction hypothesis (Long, 1981). The dual-study method in classroom research is a useful way of establishing which results are generalizable and which are subject to situational variation.

Reexamining the Critical Period Hypothesis

Abstract: This study concerns the ability of adults to achieve nativelike competence in second language when the acquisition context lacks formal instruction and, therefore, more closely resembles the environment for first language acquisition. The study presents the results of extensive testing of an adult who has apparently acquired native proficiency in Egyptian Arabic (EA) in an untutored setting. The goal is to determine to what extent her linguistic competence matches that of native speakers. Measures employed to assess her level of achievement are a speech production task, a grammaticality judgment task, a translation task, an anaphoric interpretation task, and an accent recognition task. Results are compared to those of native speakers as well as to those of a proficient learner of EA with extensive formal instruction. The results lead the authors to reexamine the critical period hypothesis while addressing the role of talent in adult language learning. The study concludes with an evaluation of our subject's language learning history to discover what factors differentiate her from less successful naturalistic adult acquirers.

Using Collaborative Language Production Tasks to Promote Students' Language Awareness.

Abstract: This paper presents data of 13 and 14 year old intermediate and advanced learners of French working collaboratively to complete a text reconstruction task. The task was designed to focus the students’ attention and discussion on the form of the message they were constructing. It was hypothesised that this kind of opportunity to produce language would promote their language learning by (1) making them aware of gaps in their existing knowledge which they would subsequently seek to fill; (2) raising their awareness of the links between the form, function and meaning of words as they worked to construct their intended message; and (3) obtaining feedback that they would receive from their peers and their teacher as they completed the task. The results support the hypothesis and also provide rich insights for teachers, researchers and curriculum planners into the language learning process in a collaborative setting; the students’ understandings of how language ‘works'; and the effects of certain groupi...

Integrating Grammar Instruction and Communicative Language Use Through Grammar Consciousness-Raising Tasks

Abstract: Grammar consciousness-raising tasks combine the development of knowledge about problematic L2 grammatical features with the provision for meaning-focused use of the target language. However, for this task type to be pedagogically useful in ESL/EFL classrooms, it must be shown that task performance is as effective as a teacher-fronted grammar lesson in promoting gains in knowledge of the target structure and is comparable to performance of regular communicative tasks in terms of opportunities for communicative language exchange. This article reports an investigation of three grammar consciousness-raising tasks dealing with word order. The results indicate that the tasks successfully promoted both proficiency gains and L2 negotiated interaction in the participants, with negotiation quantity being determined by the combination of task features present rather than by the nature of the task content. Thus, grammar consciousness-raising tasks can be recommended as one way to integrate formal instruction within a communicative framework.

Transfer in Bilingual Development: The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis Revisited

Abstract: This study aimed to find empirical evidence for the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, which states that in bilingual development, language and literacy skills can be transferred from one language to another. Ninety-eight 6-year-old Turkish children, living in the Netherlands since infancy, were selected prior to their entrance into the first grade of primary school. A longitudinal design monitored the development of lexical, morphosyntactic, pragmatic, phonological, and literacy abilities in the children's first and second languages. To minimize test-bias, I developed linguistic tasks, which required minimal instruction, analyzing interdependence relationships in bilingual development with LISREL techniques. The results clearly show that at the level of lexicon and syntax, language transfer was quite limited. At the level of pragmatic skills, phonological skills, and literacy skills, however, positive evidence appeared for the interdependence in bilingual development.

Discourse Motivations for Some Cognitive Acquisition Principles

Abstract: This paper offers an alternative interpretation for what has been called the defective tense hypothesis, the primacy of aspect hypothesis, or simply the aspect hypothesis in the literature on first and second language acquisition of tense and aspect. The aspect hypothesis states that first and second language learners will initially be influenced by the inherent semantic aspect of verbs or predicates in the acquisition of tense and aspect markers associated with or affixed to these verbs. Our account focuses on the observation that adult native speakers also appear to adhere to this primacy of inherent semantic aspect in the relative quantitative distribution of tense-aspect markers in their speech. We argue that a small set of cognitive operating principles and the notion of prototypicality account for this behavior in learners. Moreover, we argue that these principles are a consequence of how learners and native speakers alike organize information and their perspectives on it in ongoing discourse.

Input and interaction in language acquisition

Abstract: List of figures List of tables Preface Introduction Part I. General Issues: 1. The language of primary caregivers Julian M. Pine 2. The changing role of negative evidence in theories of language development Jeffrey L. Sokolov and Catherine E. Snow 3. Crosslinguistic and crosscultural aspects of language addressed to children Elena V. M. Lieven 4. Child-directed speech and influences on language acquisition: methodology and interpretation Brian J. Richards Part II. Specific Aspects Of Input And Interaction: 5. The rest of the family: the role of fathers and siblings in early language development Michelle E. Barton and Michael Tomasello 6. Phonetic and prosodic aspects of baby talk Alan Cruttenden 7. Language learning at home and school Peter Geekie and Bridie Raban Part III. Types Of Language Learner: 8. Language interaction with atypical language learners Gina Conti-Ramsden 9. Interaction and childhood deafness Clare Gallaway and Bencie Woll 10. Input and interaction in second language acquisition Majorie Bingham Wesche Conclusion References Author index Subject index.

Comprehensible Input and Second Language Acquisition: What Is the Relationship?.

Abstract: This study attempts to test aspects of the input hypothesis (Krashen, 1980, 1983, 1985) and Long's modification of it (Long, 1980, 1983a, 1985). Specifically, it experimentally tests the hypothesis that both input and interactional modifications facilitate second language acquisition, using Japanese as the target language. Three experimental groups were differentiated in terms of input and interaction conditions: (1) unmodified input with no interaction, (2) premodified input with no interaction, and (3) unmodified input with the chance for negotiated interaction. The groups were compared in terms of (a) their degree of comprehension of the input and (b) their subsequent retention of vocabulary items and acquisition of two Japanese locative structures. The results indicated that moment-to-moment comprehension was highest for the negotiated interaction group, whereas there was no significant difference between the two noninteraction groups. Furthermore, there was no correlation found between differences in moment-to-moment comprehension and gains in vocabulary recognition and acquisition of structures, though significant gains on both measures were found for all three groups. Discussion of these findings centers on the relationship between comprehension and acquisition.

Analysis and Control in the Development of Second Language Proficiency

Abstract: This paper describes a cognitive framework for explaining the acquisition and use of a second language. The framework is based on the identification of two cognitive processing components, called analysis of knowledge and control of processing, that jointly function to develop proficiency in the language. The framework is explained briefly and then applied to five issues in second language acquisition: the similarity of first and second language learning, the starting point for second language acquisition, consciousness, variability, and instruction.

Lexical and Syntactic Features of ESL Writing by Students at Different Levels of L2 Proficiency

Abstract: learner. Toronto, Canada: Ontario Institute of Studies for Education. O'Malley, J. M., Chamot, A. U., Stewner-Manzanares, G., Russo, R. P., & Kupper, L. (1985). Learning strategy applications with students of English as a second language. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 557-584. O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oxford, R. L. (1989). Use of language learning strategies: A synthesis of studies with implications for strategy training. System, 17, 235-247. Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House. Reid, J. M. (1987). The learning style preferences of ESL students. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 87-112. Rubin, J. (1975). What the "good language learner" can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9, 41-51. Rubin, J., & Thompson, I. (1982). How to be a successful language learner. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Neurobiological Mechanisms of Language Acquisition

Abstract: In this paper we specify language acquisition processes in terms of brain mechanisms in order to explain the variable success achieved by early and late language learners. On the basis of the literature in language acquisition, neurobiology, and linguistics, we propose a brain-based model for language acquisition. The model assumes two conditions must be met in order to acquire full knowledge of a particular language: first, that the learner is motivated to acquire the language; and second, that the learner is equipped with the ability to acquire grammatical knowledge. We explain the neural underpinnings for both motivation and grammatical ability and show how they interact to produce variable success in language acquisition.

Code-Switching in Young Bilingual Children: The Acquisition of Grammatical Constraints

Abstract: This study examines the role of grammatical prerequisites on code-switching in young bilingual children. It is proposed that code-switching is constrained not only by grammatical properties of the languages involved; it is also regulated by principles and mechanisms of language use. Constraints on code-switching are therefore defined as processing principles that, however, depend on grammatical knowledge. They ensure that switching does not result in a violation of grammatical coherence, defined in terms of both linear sequencing and structural configuration. Some of these claims are tested empirically, analyzing the speech of two bilingual children acquiring French and German simultaneously. It is argued that even in the earliest uses of mixing, constraints are not violated; in many cases they do not apply because the relevant grammatical relations do not yet hold. Code-switching is nevertheless used from early on in accordance with these constraints, as soon as a certain kind of grammatical knowledge is accessible. Most importantly, functional categories have to be implemented in the child's grammar.

Second language reading research: Problems and possibilities

Abstract: A major purpose of this article is to examine first language (L1) reading theories from second language (L2) perspectives and, in so doing, to uncover significant research voids related to L2 problems. The article first considers the unique aspects of L2 reading in order to identify dimensions in which its theory must differ from accepted L1 constructs. It then discusses three fundamental distinctions that separate L1 and L2 reading: (a) the consequences of prior reading experience; (b) the effects of crosslinguistic processing; and (c) the compensatory devices stemming from the efforts of learners with limited linguistic knowledge to solve comprehension problems. Finally, several pedagogically oriented research themes which may be helpful in evaluating the instructional utility of current L2 reading theories are delineated.

Input and interaction in language acquisition: Input and interaction in second language acquisition

Abstract: Introduction The nature of the linguistic environment available to learners of a second/foreign language and its role in the learning process have been important issues for second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and language educators over the past two decades. Inspired by work in first language acquisition suggesting that oral language input tuned to the language development level of learners might play a causal role in language acquisition (see Richards and Gallaway 1993) and the early second language research on “foreigner talk” (Clyne 1968, 1977, 1978; Ferguson 1971, 1975), a few SLA researchers began to investigate these issues in classroom situations – notably Henzl (1973, 1979), Hatch (1974, 1978a, 1978b) and her students (Wagner-Gough and Hatch 1975; Long 1981a), and in natural communicative settings (the Heidelberger Forschungs projekt 1975; Meisel 1975). Of particular interest have been the modifications to language and, more recently, to conversational interaction patterns made by native speakers when addressing less proficient nonnative speakers – both in and out of classrooms. Several hundred studies now exist which document the nature of these modifications, the conditions under which they occur, and their possible purposes, and recent research has attempted to link learning contexts and input/interaction features with SLA outcomes. Research on the linguistic environment of the language learner has in the main followed a “research-then-theory” strategy (Long 1985). Initially cross-sectional and quantitative in approach, yielding descriptions and taxonomies, research now includes longitudinal case studies and classroom ethnography, as well as quasi-experimental and experimental studies.

Sources of Bias in SLA: Research Monolingual Bias in SLA Research

Abstract: Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N., & Wallace, R. (1980). Some effects of instruction on child and adult ESL learners. In R. Scarcella & S. Krashen (Eds.), Research in second language acquisition (pp. 162-172). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Long, M. H. (1988). Instructed interlanguage development. In L. M. Beebe (Ed.), Issues in second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp. 115-141). New York: Newbury House. Long, M. H. (1989). Task, group and task group interactions. Plenary address delivered at the RELC annual conference, Singapore. Long, M. H., & Crookes, G. (1992). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly, 26, 27-56. Long, M. H., & Porter, P. (1985). Group work, interlanguage talk, and second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 207-228. Long, M. H., & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (1987). Methodology in TESOL: A book of readings. New York: Newbury House. Mason, C. (1971). The relevance of intensive training in English as a foreign language for university students. Language Learning, 21, 197-204. Nunan, D. (1991). Language teaching methodology. New York: Prentice Hall. Pica, T. (1983). Adult acquisition of English as a second language under three conditions of exposure. Language Learning, 33, 465-497. Rutherford, E., & Sharwood Smith, M. (Eds.). (1988). Grammar and second language teaching: A book of readings. New York: Newbury House/Harper & Row. Spada, N. (1987). Relationships between instructional differences and learning outcomes: A process-product study of communicative language teaching. Applied Linguistics, 18, 137-161. Strevens, P. D. (1987). The nature of language teaching. In M. H. Long & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Methodology in TESOL: A book of readings (pp. 10-26). New York: Newbury House/Harper & Row.

Is implicational generalization unidirectional and maximal? Evidence from relativization instruction in a second language

Abstract: L'A. teste l'hypothese de la generalisation implicationnelle (effet d'une instruction formelle) chez des sujets adultes apprenant l'anglais langue seconde. L'experimentation est basee sur les niveaux de hierarchie d'accessibilite des syntagmes nominaux de Keenan et Comrie (1977). L'A. degage quelques consequences pour la pedagogie en langue seconde

Where Is Cognition? Emotion and Cognition in Second Language Acquisition.

Abstract: This paper argues that the brain is the seat of cognition, that cognitive processes are neural processes, and that, in the brain, affect and cognition are distinguishable but inseparable. This perspective allows a reconceptualization of the affective filter in terms of the brain's stimulus appraisal system, which interacts with cognition to promote or inhibit second language acquisition. A research strategy is proposed for investigating these ideas.

The changing role of negative evidence in theories of language development.

Abstract: Historical origins The current stage in thinking about the role of negative evidence in language development is the product of many twists and turns in the history of this topic. Prior to the Chomskian revolution in linguistics and the simultaneous cognitive revolution in psychology, language acquisition was explained by behaviorist models within which feedback (or reinforcement) was the only mechanism available to effect learning (Skinner 1957; Staats 1974). The influence of these behaviorist views even on current thinking about feedback emerges in assumptions that feedback has its effect through reinforcement rather than through information value. An alternative behaviorist view held that the primary mechanism available to child language learners was imitation (see social learning theorists such as Whitehurst and Vasta 1975; Bandura 1977), which could be shaped in the direction of adult-like forms using feedback. Thus, environmental language was assumed to have two roles: firstly, in modeling the imitations, and secondly, as a reaction to imitative attempts. The paving of the nativist road Chomsky's earliest theory of language acquisition (1965), which was intertwined with his theory of transformational grammar, argued that transformations were structure-dependent. In other words, the applicability of a transformation depended on the structure surrounding the to-be-transformed element(s). Chomsky also argued that these transformations were specific to language (but see Simon [1962] for a discussion of the possible generality of transformations to complex hierarchical structures).

Universal Grammar in Child Second Language Acquisition: Null subjects and morphological uniformity

Abstract: This book examines child second language acquisition within the Principles and Parameters theory of Universal Grammar (UG). Specifically, the book focuses on null-subjects in the developing grammars of children acquiring English as a second language. The book provides evidence from the longitudinal speech data of four child second language (L2) learners in order to test the predictions of a recent theory of null-subjects, namely, the Morphological Uniformity Principle (MUP). Lakshmanan argues that the child L2 acquisition data offer little or no evidence in support of the MUP’s predictions regarding a developmental relation between verb inflections and null-subjects. The evidence from these child L2 data indicates that regardless of the status of null subjects in their first language, child L2 learners of English hypothesize correctly from the very beginning that English requires subjects of tensed clauses to be obligatorily overt. The failure on the part of these learners to obey this knowledge in certain structural contexts is the result of perceptual factors that are unrelated to parameter setting. The book demonstrates the value of child second language acquisition data in evaluating specific proposals within linguistic theory for a Universal principle.

Quantity and quality in speaking test performance

Abstract: Scores on speaking tests are used as evidence of both learner language ability and the second language acquisition process, and most speaking tests include scoring rubrics to help ensure that ratings are reliable and reflect a theoretical construct of speaking ability. Nevertheless, it may be that similar ratings on a speaking test in fact represent qualitatively different learner performances. Such a situation would mean that interpretations of ability or acquisition process based on such test scores may not be valid. The purpose of this article is to investigate the hypothesis that similar quantitative scores on a speaking test represent qualitatively different performances. The results of the study raise a number of issues for further investigation.