Showing papers on "Second-language acquisition published in 1999"

Handbook of second language acquisition

Abstract: W.C. Ritchie and T.K. Bhatia, Second Language Acquisition: Introduction, Foundations, and Overview. Research and Theoretical Issues in Second Language Acquisition: K.R. Gregg, The Logical and Developmental Problems of Second Language Acquisition. Issues of Maturation and Modularity in Second Language Acquisition: L. White, Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition: Current Trends and New Directions. S. Flynn, A Parameter-Setting Approach to Second Language Acquisition. J. Schachter, Maturation and the Issue of Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition. F.R. Eckman, A Functional-Typological Approach to Second Language Acquisition Theory. B. McLaughlin and R. Heredia, Information-Processing Approaches to Research on Second Language Acquisition and Use. D. Preston, Variationist Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Second Language Speech and the Influence of the First Language: J. Leather and A. James, Second Language Speech. S. Gass, Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theory: The Role of Language Transfer. Research Methodology and Applications: D. Nunan, Issues in Second Language Acquisition Research: Examining Substance and Procedure. A. Sorace, The Use of Acceptability Judgments in Second Language Acquisition Research. Modality and the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition: M.H. Long, The Role of the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition. G.P. Berent, The Acquisition of English Syntax by Deaf Learners. The Neuropsychology of Second Language Acquisition and Use: L.K. Obler and S. Hannigan, Neurolinguistics of Second Language Acquisition and Use. Language Contact and its Consequences: R.W. Anderson and Y. Shirai, The Primacy of Aspect in First and Second Language Acquisition: The Pidgin-Creole Connection. S. Romaine, Bilingualism. H.W. Seliger, Primary Language Attrition in the Context of Bilingualism. T.K. Bhatia and W.C. Ritchie, Bilingual Language Mixing, Universal Grammar, and Second Language Acquisition. Glossary. Author Index. Subject Index.

Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts

Abstract: Autonomy in language learning is sometimes presented as a Western concept unsuited to contexts, such as those in East Asia, which have different educational traditions. This paper argues that this view is unfounded but that we need to match the different aspects of autonomy with the characteristics and needs of learners in specific contexts. First the paper analyses the concept of autonomy as it relates to language learning and proposes a framework which would be applicable to learners in all contexts. Then it looks at three sources of influence which many teachers and researchers believe to have an important effect on students' approaches to learning in East Asia: the collectivist orientation of East Asian societies; their acceptance of relationships based on power and authority; and the belief that success may be achieved through effort as much as through innate ability. The paper then considers some of the attitudes and habits of learning which we might expect to result from these sociocultural influences. These are presented as hypotheses which might guide us towards a better understanding of our students but should not blind us to the immense variation that exists in reality. Within the framework for analysing autonomy developed earlier, the paper considers what aspects of autonomy might be most strongly rooted in East Asian traditions and how they might be developed in support of language learning. The paper warns against setting up stereotypic notions of 'East Asian learners' which, if misused, may make teachers less rather than more sensitive to the dispositions and needs of individual students.

Language Anxiety: Differentiating Writing and Speaking Components

Abstract: This study investigated the links between second language classroom anxiety and second language writing anxiety as well as their associations with second language speaking and writing achievement. The results indicate that second language classroom anxiety, operationalized by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, and second language writing anxiety, measured by a modified second language version of Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test, are two related but independent constructs. The findings suggest that second language classroom anxiety is a more general type of anxietyabout learning a second language with a strong speaking anxiety element, whereas second language writing anxiety is a language-skill-specific anxiety. Nevertheless, low self-confidence seems to be an important component of both anxiety constructs.

The Influence of Task Structure and Processing Conditions on Narrative Retellings.

Abstract: This article explores the effects of inherent task structure and processing load on performance on a narrative retelling task. Task performance is analyzed in terms of competition among fluency, complexity, and accuracy. In a study based on 47 young adult low-intermediate subjects the fluency of performance was found to be strongly affected by degree of inherent task structure; more structured tasks generated more fluent language. In contrast, complexity of language was influenced by processing load. Accuracy of performance seemed dependent on an interaction between the two factors of task structure and processing load. We discuss which aspects of performance receive attention by the language learner. The implications of such cross-sectional results for longer term language development are considered.

Learning a second language through interaction

Abstract: This book examines different theoretical perspectives on the role that interaction plays in second language acquisition The principal perspectives are those afforded by the Interaction Hypothesis, Socio-Cultural Theory and the Levels of Processing model Interaction is, therefore, defined broadly; it is seen as involving both intermental and intramental activity The theoretical perspectives are explored empirically in a series of studies which investigate the relationship between aspects of interaction and second language acquisition A number of these studies consider the effects of interaction on the acquisition of vocabulary (word meanings) by both adult and child L2 learners In addition, the effects of language aptitude on input processing are considered Further studies consider the contribution that interaction makes to the acquisition of grammatical knowledge These studies provide clear evidence that social and intermental interaction are major forces in the acquisition of an L2 Finally, the book, considers a number of pedagogic specifications In particular, the importance of discourse control as a means of learners’ obtaining the quality of interaction likely to foster acquisition is discussed

Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis

Abstract: Contents: Preface. D. Birdsong, Introduction: Whys and Why Nots of the Critical Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition. C.M. Weber-Fox, H.J. Neville, Functional Neural Subsystems Are Differentially Affected by Delays in Second Language Immersion: ERP and Behavioral Evidence in Bilinguals. J.R. Hurford, S. Kirby, Co-Evolution of Language Size and the Critical Period. L. Eubank, K.R. Gregg, Critical Periods and (Second) Language Acquisition: Divide et Impera. J.E. Flege, Age of Learning and Second Language Speech. T. Bongaerts, Ultimate Attainment in L2 Pronunciation: The Case of Very Advanced Late L2 Learners. E. Bialystok, K. Hakuta, Confounded Age: Linguistic and Cognitive Factors in Age Differences for Second Language Acquisition.

ULTIMATE ATTAINMENT IN L2 PHONOLOGY: The Critical Factors of Age, Motivation, and Instruction

Abstract: Within both first and second language acquisition research, a critical or sensitive period for complete attainment has largely been substantiated in phonological studies, although it is questionable whether age should be examined in isolation from sociopsychological influences and the extent of exposure to the second language. This study sets out to challenge the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) by examining phonological performance among highly motivated subjects who use German daily as graduate student instructors and who have been immersed in the language through in-country residence, augmented by years of instruction in both language- and content-based courses. The methodology developed seeks to expand the realm of factors that are potentially conflated with age, such as instruction, motivation, suprasegmental training, and self-perception of productive accuracy, and other factors that have not been addressed in previous studies on ultimate attainment. Production tasks target sounds difficult for nonnative speakers (NNSs) according to contrastive analysis, and task types range in complexity from isolated words to sentences, paragraphs, and free speech. A mean rating was computed for each speaker, including native speaker controls, according to native speaker judgments. When averaged across all tasks, nonnative speaker performance did not overlap with native performance. However, several variables correlated significantly with outcome, including suprasegmental training, which indicated performance closer to native level.

Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: a review

Abstract: It is widely agreed that much second language vocabulary learning occurs incidentally while the learner is engaged in extensive reading. After a decade of intensive research, however, the incidental learning of vocabulary is still not fully understood, and many questions remain unsettled. Key unresolved issues include the actual mechanism of incidental acquisition, the type and size of vocabulary needed for accurate guessing, the degree of exposure to a word needed for successful acquisition, the efficacy of different word-guessing strategies, the value of teaching explicit guessing strategies, the influence of different kinds of reading texts, the effects of input modification, and, more generally, the problems with incidental learning. This article briefly surveys the empirical research that has been done on these issues in recent years.

Tutorials in bilingualism : psycholinguistic perspectives

Abstract: Contents: Preface. A.M.B. de Groot, J.F. Kroll, Introduction and Overview. Part I: Second Language Acquisition. B. Harley, W. Wang, The Critical Period Hypothesis: Where Are We Now? N.C. Ellis, N. Laporte, Contexts of Acquisition: Effects of Formal Instruction and Naturalistic Exposure on Second Language Acquisition. N. Segalowitz, Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. B. MacWhinney, Second Language Acquisition and the Competition Model. Part II: Representation, Comprehension, and Production in Two Languages. M. Chapnik Smith, How Do Bilinguals Access Lexical Information? J.F. Kroll, A.M.B. de Groot, Lexical and Conceptual Memory in the Bilingual: Mapping Form to Meaning in Two Languages. N. Poulisse, Language Production in Bilinguals. F. Grosjean, Processing Mixed Language: Issues, Findings, and Models. A.Y. Durgunog(u)lu, Bilingual Reading: Its Components, Development, and Other Issues. Part III: The Consequences of Bilingualism for Thought and for Special Forms of Language Processing. V. Cook, The Consequences of Bilingualism for Cognitive Processing. R. Dufour, Sign Language and Bilingualism: Modality Implications for Bilingual Language Representation. M. Paradis, The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Bilingualism.

The Origins of Grammar: Evidence from Early Language Comprehension

Abstract: Theories of language acquisition the intermodel preferential looking paradigm infants' perception of constituent structure single-word speakers' comprehension of word order young children's use of syntactic frames to derive meaning a coalition model of language comprehension.

Exploring the second language mental lexicon

Abstract: Unlike many recent books on L2 vocabulary and processing, this volume does not set out to offer a complex perspective of the L2 lexicon, but rather represents a sustained attempt to come to grips with some very basic questions clustered around the relationship between the L2 mental lexicon and the L1 mental lexicon It provides a substantial review of L1 and L2 lexical research issues such as similarities and differences between the conditions of L1 and L2 acquisition, the respective roles of form and meaning in L1 and L2 processing, and the degree of separation/integration between L1 and the L2 lexical operations New research into the L2 lexicon from the Trinity College Dublin Modern Languages Project is considered in the latter part of the volume

Age of learning and second language speech.

Abstract: In this chapter, we consider the relation between the age at which the naturalistic acquisition of a second language (L2) begins, and the accuracy with which the L2 is pronounced. Quite clearly, earlier is better as far as L2 pronunciation is concerned. However, the widely accepted critical period hypothesis does not appear to provide the best explanation for this phenomenon.

Epistemological Beliefs and Language Learning Beliefs: What Do Language Learners Believe About Their Learning?

Abstract: This study (a) examines the structure of language learners' beliefs about learning in general and beliefs specifically about language learning and (b) explores the relationship between the 2 belief domains. A belief questionnaire was administered to 187 college students learning Japanese as a foreign language. Factor analyses identified 5 dimensions of general epistemological beliefs comparable to those reported by Schommer (1990, 1994b), and 6 dimensions of language learning beliefs. Although there were some significant correlations between these belief factors, students' beliefs about learning in general and language learning in particular can largely be characterized as consisting of multiple independent dimensions.

Graded Readers and Vocabulary

Abstract: No description supplied

Pragmatics and sla

Abstract: Pragmatics has two roles in SLA: It acts as a constraint on linguistic forms and their acquisition, and it represents a type of communicative knowledge and object of L2 learning in its own right. The first role of pragmatics is evident in functionalist (Tomlin 1990) and interactionist (Long 1996) views of SLA. The second role puts pragmatics on a par with morphosyntax, lexis, and phonology in that inquiry focuses on learners' knowledge, use, and acquisition of L2 pragmatics. It is the latter sense of “pragmatics and SLA” that is the focus of this paper. In analogy with other areas of specialization within SLA—interlanguage syntax, interlanguage lexis, and so forth—the study of nonnative speakers' use and acquisition of L2 pragmatic knowledge is referred to as interlanguage pragmatics.

Instruction, First Language Influence, and Developmental Readiness in Second Language Acquisition.

Abstract: The researchers pretested 150 francophone children (age 11–12 years) with a variety of measures (including oral production, a preference task, and scrambled questions) designed to probe their knowledge and use of English questions. Each child’s developmental stage (in terms of the stages of acquisition of English questions proposed by Pienemann, Johnston, & Brindley, 1988) was determined. In oral production, most students were at stage 2 of the 5-stage sequence. Over the next 2 weeks, they participated in classroom activities that exposed them to hundreds of English questions, mostly consistent with stage 4 and stage 5. These focussed activities were guided by their regular classroom teachers and integrated into the communicative activities that were typical of their English as a second language (ESL) program. The focussed activities accounted for about 1 hour out of a 4- or 5-hour day in these intensive ESL classes. Following this intervention, the children were posttested, using essentially the same measures used on the pretest. Contrary to the predictions of Pienemann’s (1985) teachability hypothesis, learners who were at stage 3 prior to the focussed activities did not progress more in their use of questions in the oral production task than students at stage 2 at the time of the pretest. However, on other tasks, there was evidence that all students had some knowledge of stage 4 and stage 5 questions. Further analysis showed that students tended to accept higher stage questions (with inversion of subject and verb) if the subjects were pronouns, but not if they were nouns. This pattern is consistent with that of French, their first language (L1). The study adds to the literature that shows an interaction between developmental sequences and L1 influence and also suggests that explicit instruction, including contrastive metalinguistic information, may be needed to help students move beyond apparently stable interlanguage patterns.

Metalinguistic Awareness in Multilinguals: Cognitive Aspects of Third Language Learning.

Abstract: The development of competence in two or more languages can result in higher levels of metalinguistic awareness. These facilitate the acquisition of language by exploiting the cognitive mechanisms underlying these processes of transfer and enhancement. In this paper, the role of metalinguistic awareness in multilinguals is discussed within the framework of a systems-theoretic approach to multilingual proficiency as taken in the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. Selective data from trilingual adults (bilingual Italian/German learners of English) on their use of certain problem-solving behaviour in think-aloud protocols during the process of academic writing are shown to provide evidence of certain processes taking place while performing in a third language. At the same time, this study of metalinguistic thinking isused to point to applied perspectives of research on third language acquisition, going beyond second language research. It is argued that prior language knowledge should be reactivated in the lang...

Language Learning Strategies and Language Proficiency: Investigating the Relationship in Hong Kong

Abstract: This article reports on a survey of the language learning strategies used by a group of Hong Kong learners. The aims of the study were to investigate levels of strategy use among the group, and to examine levels of association between strategy use and language proficiency. The SILL questionnaire (Strategies Inventory of Language Learning) by Oxford (1990, pp. 293-300) was used. SILL consists of six categories of strategies: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social. The results showed that compensation and metacognitive strategies were the most used, while affective and memory strategies were the least used. Previous examinations of the nature of the relationship between strategy use and proficiency, and ways of measuring this are discussed. In this study, it was found that there was significant variation in proficiency in relation to eleven out of a possible fifty strategies. Of these, nine were in the cognitive category, one in the compensation category, and one in the social...

Age at immigration and second language proficiency among foreign-born adults

Abstract: Sociologists typically assume that immigrants' acquisition of English as a second language follows the opportunities and motivations to become proficient in English, while many linguists argue that second language acquisition may be governed by maturational constraints, possibly biologically based, that are tied to the age at onset of language learning. In this article, I use U.S. census data to investigate the relationship between age at onset of second language learning and levels of English language proficiency among foreign-born adults in the United States. The overarching conclusion is that proficiency in a second language among adults is strongly related to age at immigration. Part of that relationship is attributable to social and demographic considerations tied to age at entry into a new country, and part may be attributable to maturational constraints. (Age at immigration, acquisition of language, English as second language, second language proficiency)* When investigating second language (L2) acquisition among immigrants, sociologists and economists often rely on "exposure" or "human capital" frameworks, in which L2 learning is prompted by opportunities and motivations to become proficient in English. Much of this research shows that social and demographic factors, such as length of residence in the U.S. and educational attainment, strongly predict levels of proficiency in English among foreign-born adults. Linguists, by contrast, start from the premise that language acquisition is a multidimensional phenomenon to be explained through a combination of linguistic, neurolinguistic, and psycholinguistic processes. Much of their research suggests that L2 acquisition, like that of a first language (Li), is bound by maturational constraints which are tied to age at onset of language learning - typically measured through age at immigration - and which may be biologically based. Each of these approaches has merits and failings. Linguists and psychologists empirically investigating the impact of age at immigration often use small, socially homogeneous samples of respondents, and so are unable to observe (or to control for) important social factors, such as educational attainment, which strongly

From form to meaning: Stages in the acquisition of second-language vocabulary

Abstract: During early stages of second language acquisition adult learners make frequent errors of lexical form. An experiment was performed to examine this effect in the laboratory. More and less fluent bilinguals in English and Spanish performed a translation recognition task in which they decided whether the second of two words was the correct translation of the first. In the critical conditions of the experiment the words were not correct translation equivalents, but related by lexical form (e.g., man-hambre (hunger) instead of man-hombre (man)) or by meaning (e.g., man-mujer (woman) instead of man-hombre (man)). Less fluent participants suffered more interference for form-related than for semantically related words relative to unrelated controls, but the reverse pattern held for more fluent participants. The results support a progression from reliance on word form to reliance on meaning with increasing proficiency in the second language. The performance of the more fluent bilinguals further suggests that the ability to retrieve semantic information directly for second-language words can potentially override some of the costs associated with lexical competition in languages that access shared lexical features.

The problem of age in second-language acquisition: Influences from language, structure, and task

Abstract: Three groups of participants were given a grammaticality judgement test based on five structures of English grammar in both an oral and written form. The first group consisted of native speakers of Chinese, the second, native speakers of Spanish, and the third, native English speakers. The two learner groups were divided into those who had begun learning English at a younger (less than 15 years) or older (more than 15 years) age. Performance was measured for both accuracy of judgement and time taken to respond. The results showed that performance patterns were different for the two learner groups, that the linguistic structure tested in the item affected participants' ability to respond correctly, and that task modality produced reliable response differences for the two learner groups. Although there were proficiency differences in the grammaticality judgement task between the younger and older Spanish learners, there were no such differences for the Chinese group. Furthermore, age of learning influenced achieved proficiency through all ages tested rather than defining a point of critical period. The results are interpreted as failing to provide sufficient evidence to accept the hypothesis that there is a critical period for second language acquisition.

Testing the output hypothesis: Effects of output on noticing and second language acquisition

Abstract: This study addresses one of the functions of output proposed by Swain (1993, 1995, 1998). In particular, the activity of producing the target language may, under certain circumstances, prompt L2 learners to recognize some of their linguistic problems and bring to their attention something they need to discover about their L2. Two research questions were posed: (a) Does output promote noticing of linguistic form? and (b) Does output result in improved performance on the target form? In treatment phase 1, participants reconstructed a short passage after being exposed to it, followed by a second exposure to the same input material and a second reconstruction opportunity. In phase 2, participants wrote on given topics, followed by the presentation of a model written by a native speaker. Participants wrote a second time on the same topic. To test the noticing function of output, participants underlined parts of the sentences they thought were “particularly necessary” for subsequent (re)production. The control group was exposed to the same input materials but was not required to produce any output. Although phase 1 tasks resulted in noticing and immediate incorporation of the target form, the posttest performance failed to reveal their effects. In contrast, phase 2 tasks resulted in improvement on posttest 2. The results are discussed in terms of the efficacy of output in promoting noticing and learning and the conditions that may be required for output to be useful for SLA.

Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners

Abstract: * Designed to train ESL teachers in the most effective practices for instruction of limited English proficient students, Herrell's Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners provides an informative introduction to the field. This teacher training text was based on Herrell's research of the most successful strategies employed to support English language learners in their language acquisition process. She describes the book as a practical manual to provide K-12 ESL instructors with theoretical background and a step-by-step guide to the most effective language teaching techniques. This text is suitable for university-level or volunteer teachers-in-training. The text comprises 50 strategy chapters as well as an introduction, which includes a theoretical overview of second language acquisition theory, a discussion of practice with underlying theory, and a matrix of the 50 strategies with their objectives. Although the theoretical overview is a mere three pages long, it mentions such theories as Steven Krashen and Tracy Terrell's input hypothesis, Merrill Swain's output hypothesis, M. A. K. Halliday's seven functions of language, and Jim Cummins's concepts of basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). The author's discussion of the underlying theory base of instruction is also short but provides newcomers a compact set of five principles to follow: encourage verbal interaction, promote active involvement, support comprehensible input, contextualize language, and reduce anxiety. The matrix of the 50 strategies, which is vital to the use of this text, highlights which of the above principles are primary or secondary objectives of each strategy. The 50 strategies are organized alphabetically throughout the textlike