Showing papers on "Written language published in 2010"

How Learning to Read Changes the Cortical Networks for Vision and Language

Abstract: Does literacy improve brain function? Does it also entail losses? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain responses to spoken and written language, visual faces, houses, tools, and checkers in adults of variable literacy (10 were illiterate, 22 became literate as adults, and 31 were literate in childhood). As literacy enhanced the left fusiform activation evoked by writing, it induced a small competition with faces at this location, but also broadly enhanced visual responses in fusiform and occipital cortex, extending to area V1. Literacy also enhanced phonological activation to speech in the planum temporale and afforded a top-down activation of orthography from spoken inputs. Most changes occurred even when literacy was acquired in adulthood, emphasizing that both childhood and adult education can profoundly refine cortical organization.

Language, Usage and Cognition

Abstract: Language demonstrates structure while also showing considerable variation at all levels: languages differ from one another while still being shaped by the same principles; utterances within a language differ from one another while exhibiting the same structural patterns; languages change over time, but in fairly regular ways. This book focuses on the dynamic processes that create languages and give them their structure and variance. It outlines a theory of language that addresses the nature of grammar, taking into account its variance and gradience, and seeks explanation in terms of the recurrent processes that operate in language use. The evidence is based on the study of large corpora of spoken and written language, what we know about how languages change, as well as the results of experiments with language users. The result is an integrated theory of language use and language change which has implications for cognitive processing and language evolution.

Automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing

Abstract: We describe a computational system for automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing using fourteen different measures that have been explored or proposed in studies of second language development. The system takes a written language sample as input and produces fourteen indices of syntactic complexity of the sample based on these measures. The system is designed with advanced second language proficiency research in mind, and is therefore developed and evaluated using college-level second language writing data from the Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (Wen et al. 2005). Experimental results show that the system achieves very high reliability on unseen test data from the corpus. We illustrate how the system is used in an example application to investigate whether and to what extent each of these measures significantly differentiate between different proficiency levels

An Academic Formulas List: New Methods in Phraseology Research

Abstract: This research creates an empirically derived, pedagogically useful list of formulaic sequences for academic speech and writing, comparable with the Academic Word List (Coxhead 2000), called the Academic Formulas List (AFL). The AFL includes formulaic sequences identified as (i) frequent recurrent patterns in corpora of written and spoken language, which (ii) occur significantly more often in academic than in non-academic discourse, and (iii) inhabit a wide range of academic genres. It separately lists formulas that are common in academic spoken and academic written language, as well as those that are special to academic written language alone and academic spoken language alone. The AFL further prioritizes these formulas using an empirically derived measure of utility that is educationally and psychologically valid and operationalizable with corpus linguistic metrics. The formulas are classified according to their predominant pragmatic function for descriptive analysis and in order to marshal the AFL for inclusion in English for Academic Purposes instruction.

The Contribution of Written Corrective Feedback to Language Development: A Ten Month Investigation.

Abstract: The call for longitudinal evidence on the efficacy of written corrective feedback (WCF) for ESL (English as a second language) writers has been made repeatedly since Truscott (1996) claimed that it is ineffective, harmful, and should therefore be abandoned. This article discusses some of the theoretical issues raised against the practice, outlines the status of recent empirical evidence and presents a 10-month study of the effects of WCF on two functional uses of the English article system given to 52 low-intermediate ESL students in Auckland, New Zealand. Assigned to four groups (direct corrective feedback, written, and oral meta-linguistic explanation; direct corrective feedback and written meta-linguistic explanation; direct corrective feedback only; the control group), the students produced five pieces of writing (pre-test, immediate post-test, and three delayed post-tests). Each of the treatment groups outperformed the control group on all post-tests and no difference in effectiveness was found between the three treatment groups.

Longitudinal Relationships of Levels of Language in Writing and between Writing and Reading in Grades 1 to 7.

Abstract: Longitudinal structural equation modeling was used to evaluate longitudinal relationships across adjacent grade levels 1 to 7 for levels of language in writing (Model 1, subword letter writing, word spelling, and text composing) or writing and reading (Model 2, subword letter writing and word spelling and reading; Model 3, word spelling and reading and text composing and comprehending). Significant longitudinal relationships were observed within and across levels of language: spelling to spelling and spelling to composing (Grades 1 to 7), Models 1 and 3, and composing to spelling (Grades 3 to 6, Model 1; Grades 4 to 6, Model 3); spelling to word reading and word reading to spelling (Grades 2 to 7), Models 2 and 3; spelling to word reading (Grade 1), Model 2, and word reading to spelling (Grade 1), Model 3; composition to comprehension (Grades 3 to 5), Model 3; comprehension to composition (Grades 2 to 6), Model 3; and comprehension to word reading (Grades 1 to 6), Model 3. Results are discussed in reference to the levels of language in translating ideas into written language and integrating writing and reading.

The World's Writing Systems

Abstract: The World's Writing Systems meets the need for a definitive volume on the major historical and modern writing systems of the world. Comprising more than eighty articles contributed by expert scholars in the field, the work is organized in twelve units, each dealing with a particular group of writing systems defined historically, geographically, or conceptually. Each unit begins with an introductory article providing the social and cultural context in which the group of writing systems was created and developed. Articles on individual scripts detail the historical origin of the writing system in question, its structure (with tables showing the forms of the written symbols), and its relationship to the phonology of the corresponding spoken language. Each writing system is illustrated by a passage of text, accompanied by a romanized version, a phonetic transcription, and a modern English translation. Each article concludes with a bibliography. Units are arranged according to the chronological development of writing systems and their historical relationship within geographical areas. First, there is a discussion of the earliest scripts of the ancient Near East. Subsequent units focus on the scripts of East Asia, the writing systems of Europe, Asia, and Africa that have descended from ancient West Semitic ("Phoenician"), and the scripts of South and Southeast Asia. Other units deal with the recent and ongoing process of decipherment of ancient writing systems; the adaptation of traditional scripts to new languages; new scripts invented in modern times; and graphic systems for numerical, music, and movement notation. The result is a comprehensive resource of all of the major writing systems of the world.

Differential effects of oral and written corrective feedback in the esl classroom

Abstract: This article examines whether there is any difference between the effect of oral and written corrective feedback (CF) on learners’ accurate use of English articles. To this end, the current research presents the results of a quasi-experimental study with a pretest, immediate-posttest, delayed-posttest design, using 12 intact intermediate English-as-a-second-language classes with adult learners of various first language backgrounds. Five groups were formed: oral recasts (n = 26), oral metalinguistic (n = 26), written direct correction (n = 31), written direct metalinguistic (n = 32), and control (n = 28). All four experimental groups completed two 30-min communicative narrative tasks. For the oral CF groups, students were asked to retell a story during which CF was provided. For the written CF groups, students were first asked to rewrite a story and then given CF. The acquisition of English articles was measured by means of a speeded dictation test, a written narrative test, and an error correction test. One-way ANOVAs with post hoc comparisons indicated that all CF groups, except for oral recasts, significantly outperformed the control group in the immediate and delayed posttests. These findings show that, whereas implicit oral recasts that involve article errors were not facilitative to learning, the other CF types were effective in helping learners improve the grammatical accuracy of English articles irrespective of language analytic ability. Overall, these results suggest that the degree of explicitness of both oral and written CF—rather than the medium in which the CF is provided—is the key factor that influences CF effectiveness.

Listening Comprehension, Oral Expression, Reading Comprehension, and Written Expression: Related Yet Unique Language Systems in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7

Abstract: Age-normed tests of listening comprehension, oral expression, reading comprehension, and written expression were administered in Grades 1 (n = 128), 3, and 5, or 3 (n = 113), 5, and 7. Confirmatory factor analyses compared 1- and 4-factor models at each grade level and supported a 4-factor model of language by ear, mouth, eye, and hand. Multiple regressions identified which of the 3 other language skills explained unique variance in each of the 4 language skill outcomes and provided additional evidence that language is not a single skill. Individuals' ipsative scores (amount that the standard score for age on each language measure deviated from individual's mean for all 4 measures) showed that 25% to 30% of individuals showed relative strengths or weaknesses (±1 SD) in specific language skills, but only 7% were stable across Grades 3 and 5. Findings are discussed in reference to (a) theoretical implications for idea comprehension and expression via language by ear, mouth, eye, and hand; and (b) educational applications of observed developmental and individual differences for general, special, and gifted education.

Monitoring Processes in Spanish as a Second Language During a Study Abroad Program

Abstract: In an effort to understand better how and why accuracy in speaking develops during study abroad, a group of 16 U.S. students of Spanish as a second language were followed during their 6-week program in Argentina. They were interviewed in Spanish at the beginning and the end of their stay, each time followed by a stimulated recall session. They were also given a questionnaire on their views about language learning and observed in a wide variety of social contexts. The data collected this way, along with a written proficiency test and an aptitude test, both given at the beginning of their program, along with students' comments on their classroom experiences in the United States, paint a picture of students who are motivated and eager to practice and who hope to improve their speaking proficiency dramatically, but who quickly feel that they are stalled and lose their motivation as a result. The explanation that emerges from both the quantitative and the qualitative data is that the students' shaky grammar knowledge and their virtually total lack of proceduralized knowledge made it impossible to make much progress automatizing their knowledge; even speaking accurately without trying to be fluent was largely impossible, even for rather basic structures, and even at the end of the 6 weeks abroad. It appears that the promise of study abroad remains unfulfilled without adequate preparation in the form of proceduralized or at least declarative knowledge of the second language grammar. Key words: Spanish as a foreign language, fluency, monitoring, skill acquisition, study abroad Introduction A strong focus of the study abroad literature has always been the documentation of growth in language proficiency during the month, semester, or year spent overseas. Research on this topic has shown that the popular concept of fast and effortless improvement in proficiency is vastly exaggerated at best, and perhaps more myth than reality. The more nuanced picture that emerges from the literature of the past couple of decades is that accuracy tends to improve little, but fluency more. Even these modest advantages of study abroad are far from firmly established, however. Rees and Klapper argued that ''the case for strong foreign language proficiency gains during SA [study abroad] is far from proven'' (2008, p. 90), due to the methodological weaknesses inherent in this area of research, such as small group sizes, lack of adequate control groups, and poor instrumentation. Their main suggestion for improvement in this area of research was about the reliability of the proficiency measures and the statistical analysis of the data from repeated tests. A different approach to the problem is to try to narrow the gap between the quantitative and qualitative research traditions. As Lafford (2007, p. 749) argued, research in this and other areas of second language acquisition (SLA) has failed more often than not to tie ''macrolevel phenomena'' (often of a cognitive nature, and documented quantitatively) with more ''microlevel phenomena'' (often of a more social nature, and documented qualitatively). The research I present here falls within this second approach. I document the progressFor lack of itFof 16 learners of Spanish as a second language during a 6-week stay in Argentina in a rather traditional way, by comparing accuracy ratings for the beginning and the end of the stay abroad, and show how the myth-shattering findings can be explained through the patterns in the qualitative data, which show the students' valiant struggle in a battle for which they were ill-equipped, in spite of at least 2 years of college instruction and a high level of motivation. The better-prepared students continued on the path they started on in the classroom; less prepared students could not stand on that scaffolding and did try to learn differently, but with disappointing results. This in turn suggests that a second myth about study abroad, that students abroad go through radically different learning processes compared to classroom learners at home, is also false. …

The impact of teachers’ limited English proficiency on English second language learners in South African schools

Abstract: The importance of the role of language in teacher education programmes and in children’s learning is crucial. This study focuses on the use of English as the language of learning and teaching and its impact on the language development of English second language (ESL) student teachers and ESL learners. Against the background of major theories in second language (L2) acquisition and learning, this topic is contextualized within the South African education system. An empirical inquiry was carried out in which portfolios (evidence of practical teaching including lesson plans and learners’ work) submitted by final year student teachers enrolled at a large distance teaching university for the Advanced Certificate in Education: Inclusive Education were scrutinised. A comparison of teacher and learner written errors was made. Based on the findings, a questionnaire was designed to determine the extent of the impact of teachers’ limited English proficiency on learners’ English proficiency. The findings of the questionnaire responses are presented. Recommendations are made on how student teachers can improve their teaching practice to ensure quality ESL teacher input and ESL learner performance. Keywords: English second language; input; learners; limited English proficiency; student teachers

lol: new language and spelling in instant messaging

Abstract: Written communication in instant messaging, text messaging, chat, and other forms of electronic communication appears to have generated a “new language” of abbreviations, acronyms, word combinations, and punctuation. In this naturalistic study, adolescents collected their instant messaging conversations for a 1-week period and then completed a spelling test delivered over instant messaging. We used the conversations to develop a taxonomy of new language use in instant messaging. Short-cuts, including abbreviations, acronyms, and unique spellings were most prevalent in the instant message conversation, followed by pragmatic signals, such use of emoticons, emotion words, and punctuation, and typographical and spelling errors were relatively uncommon. With rare exceptions, notably true spelling errors, spelling ability was not related to use of new language in instant messaging. The taxonomy provides an important tool for investigating new language use and the results provide partial evidence that new language does not have a harmful effect on conventional written language.

Children’s comprehension problems in oral and written language: a cognitive perspective

Abstract: edited by Kate Cain and Jane Oakhill, New York, The Guilford Press, 2008, 295 pp., $27.00 (paperback), ISBN 978‐1‐59385‐832‐2 This volume, written by two of the foremost authors of language compreh...

Relationship of Word- and Sentence-Level Working Memory to Reading and Writing in Second, Fourth, and Sixth Grade

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of working memory at the word and sentence levels of language to reading and writing outcomes. Method Measures of working memory a...

Cognitive and Psychosocial Characteristics of Gifted Students With Written Language Disability

Abstract: Gifted and talented students who also have a specific learning disability (SLD) are typically referred to as twice-exceptional and are among the most underserved students in our schools. Previous special education laws promoted a wait-to-fail approach; therefore, gifted students with SLD often were overlooked because their average academic performance was not “failure” enough. The flip side to this was the fact that students’ giftedness, as measured by general ability tests, often was masked by average, yet relatively weak, academic achievement. They were not only waiting to fail, they were failing to flourish. The authors present the data gathered from 14 gifted students with SLD, specifically a disorder of written expression. Students were determined to be gifted if they earned a score of 120 (Superior) on the Verbal Scale of a cognitive ability test. They were considered to have a written language disability through an evaluation of their written language skills. The average Verbal IQ for the group was...

Early and late talkers: school-age language, literacy and neurolinguistic differences

Abstract: Early language development sets the stage for a lifetime of competence in language and literacy However, the neural mechanisms associated with the relative advantages of early communication success, or the disadvantages of having delayed language development, are not well explored In this study, 174 elementary school-age children whose parents reported that they started forming sentences ‘early’, ‘on-time’ or ‘late’ were evaluated with standardized measures of language, reading and spelling All oral and written language measures revealed consistent patterns for ‘early’ talkers to have the highest level of performance and ‘late’ talkers to have the lowest level of performance We report functional magnetic resonance imaging data from a subset of early, on-time and late talkers matched for age, gender and performance intelligence quotient that allows evaluation of neural activation patterns produced while listening to and reading real words and pronounceable non-words Activation in bilateral thalamus and putamen, and left insula and superior temporal gyrus during these tasks was significantly lower in late talkers, demonstrating that residual effects of being a late talker are found not only in behavioural tests of oral and written language, but also in distributed cortical-subcortical neural circuits underlying speech and print processing Moreover, these findings suggest that the age of functional language acquisition can have long-reaching effects on reading and language behaviour, and on the corresponding neurocircuitry that supports linguistic function into the school-age years

Discourse structures in Instant Messaging: The case of utterance breaks

Abstract: Both users of CMC and the popular press commonly assume that online platforms such as email and instant messaging (IM) mirror informal spoken language. The present study investigates the validity of this assumption by examining discourse structures in IM conversations between American college students. Linguistic features of spoken and written language were first compared both paradigmatically and empirically, drawing particularly on research on intonation units by Chafe (1980, 1994). A subsequent fine-grained analysis of the grammatical points at which subjects chunked their IM turns into multiple transmissions revealed that while IM conversations between male dyads tended to resemble spoken discourse according to this dimension, IM conversations between females bore more similarities to traditional written language.

Chinese-English Biscriptal Reading: Cognitive Component Skills across Orthographies.

Abstract: This study examined the associations of Chinese visual-orthographic skills, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness to Chinese and English word reading among 326 Hong Kong Chinese second- and fifth-graders learning English as a second language. Developmentally, tasks of visual-orthographic skill, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness improved with age. However, the extent to which each of the constructs explained variance in Chinese and English word reading was stable across age but differed by orthography. Across grades, visual-orthographic skills and morphological awareness, but not phonological awareness, were uniquely associated with Chinese character recognition with age and nonverbal IQ statistically controlled. In contrast, Chinese visual-orthographic skills and phonological awareness, but not morphological awareness, accounted for unique variance in English word reading even with the effects of Chinese character recognition and other reading-related cognitive tasks statistically controlled. Thus, only visual-orthographic skills appeared to be a consistent factor in explaining both Chinese and English word reading, perhaps in part because Hong Kong Chinese children are taught in school to read both Chinese and English using a “look and say” strategy that emphasizes visual analysis for word recognition. These findings extend previous research on Chinese visual-orthographic skills to English word reading and underscore commonality and uniqueness in bilingual reading acquisition.

Toward a Taxonomy of Written Errors: Investigation into the Written Errors of Hong Kong Cantonese ESL Learners.

Abstract: This article examines common lexicogrammatical problems found in Cantonese English as a second language (ESL) learners' written English output. A study was conducted with 387 student participants, who were asked to do two untutored and unaided free-writing tasks of about 200–300 words each. A range of lexicogrammatical error types commonly found among Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners was identified. Errors from the lexical level included vocabulary compensation and inaccurate directionality; errors from the syntactic level included calquing, existential structures, incorrect ordering of adverbials, and independent clauses as subjects; and those from the discourse level included periphrastic-topic constructions. Mothertongue influence was inevitably an important source of the problems, but inadequate mastery of correct usage of the target language and universal processes were also important factors. The results of the study have potential for enhancing our understanding of the interlanguage grammar of learners and the nature, sources, and prevalence of learner problems. The results also have promising pedagogical implications, as they inform teachers of the levels, nature, sources, prevalence, and gravity of learner errors and equip them with the key ingredients needed for the design of appropriate remedial instructional materials. A discussion of how the taxonomical classification would be useful for language teachers is also given.

Trademarks in the linguistic landscape: methodological and theoretical challenges in qualifying brand names in the public space

Abstract: In the last few decades, investigations into the linguistic landscape (LL) have sought to analyse written language practices as they are observable in public space. Whilst the LL analysis of language choice in given contexts has opened a host of possibilities for scientific enquiry in the field, the methodologies employed in the collection and categorisation of written signs is still controversial. This paper addresses a specific aspect of the question by discussing brand names in the urban space and seeking to identify a framework for a linguistic classification of brand names. The authors indicate a way forward for future research that draws upon work undertaken in disciplines such as marketing and social psychology, emphasising that brand names should not be excluded from the analysis of the LL as this would amount to denying the linguistic impact of trademarks on individuals and groups in our globalised world.

Use of Spoken and Written Japanese Did Not Protect Japanese-American Men From Cognitive Decline in Late Life

Abstract: Objectives. Spoken bilingualism may be associated with cognitive reserve. Mastering a complicated written language may be associated with additional reserve. We sought to determine if midlife use of spoken and written Japanese was associated with lower rates of late life cognitive decline. Methods. Participants were second-generation Japanese-American men from the Hawaiian island of Oahu, born 1900–1919, free of dementia in 1991, and categorized based on midlife self-reported use of spoken and written Japanese (total n included in primary analysis = 2,520). Cognitive functioning was measured with the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument scored using item response theory. We used mixed effects models, controlling for age, income, education, smoking status, apolipoprotein E e4 alleles, and number of study visits. Results. Rates of cognitive decline were not related to use of spoken or written Japanese. This finding was consistent

Children's Comprehension Problems in Oral and Written Language

Abstract: Edited Kate Cain and Jane Oakhill(New York, NY: Guilford, 2008)[Pp. 302.], ISBN 978-1-59385-832-2. £16.65Comprehension problems have recently attracted a lot of interest. Although at least three de...

Advantages of Bilinguals Over Monolinguals in Learning a Third Language

Abstract: The present study is an examination of the contribution of bilingualism to trilingualism, namely the influence of learning two different orthographies on learning a third. The participants were two groups of sixth graders from Israeli schools who were studying English as a foreign (second or third) language: Russian Israeli children for whom Russian was their native language and Hebrew was their second language and a control group of native Hebrew speakers. The participants were administered cognitive and metacognitive linguistic tests: IQ, reading strategies, syntactic judgment, orthographic choice, orthographic knowledge, and phonological awareness tests. In addition, language knowledge tests were also given: Vocabulary, word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension. The MANOVA procedures indicated stronger English skills among the native Russian speakers than the native Hebrew speakers on almost all measures. However, both groups showed similar proficiency on the Hebrew measures. Our findings give ...

Second language acquisition by low-literate learners: An under-studied population

Abstract: Many adolescent and adult L2 learners in language classrooms, both in the US and other countries, have little or no alphabetic print literacy. Language teachers may turn to SLA research for assistance, yet almost all research on oral SLA has focused on educated, highly-literate learners (Bigelow & Tarone 2004; Tarone, Bigelow & Hansen 2009). The assumption seems to have been that the findings of this research hold for ALL learners, including learners with little to no literacy. However, research in cognitive and experimental psychology shows that the acquisition of grapheme–phoneme correspondence – the ability to associate a phoneme and a visual symbol – changes the way oral language is processed. The present paper shows the relevance of these findings for SLA. It summarizes a three-part study on oral L2 processing, a partial replication of previous SLA research, carried out in a population of low-literate adolescent Somali learners of L2 English. The findings confirm that alphabetic print literacy level had a significant impact on oral L2 processing. The paper concludes with a call to replicate current SLA studies and findings with populations of learners who have little or no alphabetic literacy.

Multiliteracies: The Changing World of Communication

Abstract: The technological and social/cultural demands of the 21st century are reshaping communication requirements. Students not only need to be able to communicate effectively in oral and written language, but they also need to communicate effectively in multimodal ways—they need to become skilled in multiliteracies. This article explains the two factors that have given rise to multiliteracies: (1) the proliferation of multimodal ways of making meaning where the written word is part and parcel of visual, audio, and spatial patterns and (2) the increasing salience of cultural and linguistic diversity characterized by local diversity and global connectedness. The nature of multiliteracies is described, a framework for teaching multiliteracies is explained, and an example of strategies for promoting comprehension and use of multiliteracies in students with language learning impairments is presented. Students with language impairments have deficits that extend beyond oral language and traditional print literacy. If they are to communicate effectively in the 21st century, they need the skills that are essential for comprehension and production of multiple modalities.