Expanding lindsei to spoken learner English from several L1s across cefr levels

Learner corpus studies typically investigate the language of second-language learners with a different first language (L1) or with proficiency levels inferred from external criteria (e.g., the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage, lindsei; Gilquin et al., 2010 ). This paper reports the process of expanding the original Czech ( Gráf, 2017 ) and Taiwanese ( Huang, 2014 ) sub-corpora (predominantly at B2 and C1; Huang et al., 2018 ) with samples from learners of other L1s across cefr levels. In addition to sixty interviews by the German, Finnish and Norwegian lindsei teams, another eighty-three interviews with university students in Taiwan and Finland were held. The data collection and transcription procedures were adapted from lindsei guidelines to ensure comparability. Each fourteen-minute interview was anonymised using Audacity, and orthographically transcribed and aligned by means of exmaralda. The levels of speaking proficiency in the supplemented data were assessed by two expert raters. The expanded learner corpus, containing 243 interviews, will be of considerable value for studying the development of learner English.

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Linking learner corpus and experimental data in studying second language learners’ knowledge of verb-argument constructions

ICAME Journal ◽

10.2478/icame-2014-0006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 115-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ute Römer ◽

Audrey Roberson ◽

Matthew B. O’Donnell ◽

Nick C. Ellis

Keyword(s):

Experimental Data ◽

Second Language ◽

Experimental Evidence ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Data Sets ◽

Advanced Learners ◽

Learner Corpus ◽

Learner Corpora

Abstract This paper combines data from learner corpora and psycholinguistic experiments in an attempt to find out what advanced learners of English (first language backgrounds German and Spanish) know about a range of common verbargument constructions (VACs), such as the ‘V about n’ construction (e.g. she thinks about chocolate a lot). Learners’ dominant verb-VAC associations are examined based on evidence retrieved from the German and Spanish subcomponents of ICLE and LINDSEI and collected in lexical production tasks in which participants complete VAC frames (e.g. ‘he ___ about the...’) with verbs that may fill the blank (e.g. talked, thought, wondered). The paper compares findings from the different data sets and highlights the value of linking corpus and experimental evidence in studying linguistic phenomena

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Universals and transfer in the acquisition of the progressive aspect: Evidence from L1 Chinese, German, and Spanish learners’ use of the progressive -ing in spoken English

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching ◽

10.1515/iral-2017-0078 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoyan Zeng ◽

Yasuhiro Shirai ◽

Xiaoxiang Chen

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Native Speaker ◽

First Language ◽

Advanced Learners ◽

Progressive Aspect ◽

Aspect Hypothesis ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Spoken English ◽

Lexical Aspect ◽

Learner Corpus

Abstract This study investigated the effects of learners’ first language (L1), lexical aspect of verbs, and proficiency levels on their use of the English progressive aspect. It analyzed spoken data from learners of three different L1s (Chinese, German, and Spanish) in an international learner corpus (LINSEI), in comparison with native speech in a comparable native speaker corpus (LOCNEC). The analysis reveals that regardless of learners’ L1 and proficiency levels, their use of progressive markings is predominantly associated with activity verbs (prototypes), supporting the association prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen, Roger W. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 1994. Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16(2). 133–156). Contrary to the fourth prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis, both intermediate and advanced learners use stative progressives, and especially intermediate L1 Spanish learners overuse stative progressives, indicating a complex interaction between L1 and proficiency on non-prototypical form-meaning associations. The results suggest that L1 effect, lexical aspect of verbs, and proficiency levels jointly drive tense-aspect acquisition.

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Methodological Considerations on the Design and Compilation of a Spanish Learner Corpus

10.29007/7vb1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

An Vande Casteele ◽

Kim Collewaert

Keyword(s):

Experimental Design ◽

Data Collection ◽

Language Learners ◽

Spanish Language ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Learner Corpus ◽

Valid Data ◽

Spanish Language Learners ◽

Methodological Considerations ◽

Selection Of

As a corpus is a representation of the linguistic reality, it is important to have homogeneous, quantifiable and valid data. This article aims at discussing the issue of elaborating a corpus of oral data from language learners of Spanish. We hereby do not merely focus on the data collection, but also on the difficulties that arise regarding the experimental design, the selection of the participants, the elaboration of a transcription model and the analysis of the data. The discussion will be based upon our own research project, for which oral samples from Spanish language learners of different proficiency levels have been collected in order to be analysed cross-sectionally. Furthermore, this article focuses on the oral experiment specifically designed for this project, similar to those of previous studies on similar subjects. Next to this, we will also discuss the procedure used for the transcription of the data and finally, a codification system will be elaborated.

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The effectiveness of voice-on and voice-off instruction on ASL vocabulary acquisition

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/1362168818791601 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 273-286

Author(s):

Rachel Elizabeth Traxler ◽

Kimi Nakatsukasa

Keyword(s):

Adult Students ◽

American Sign Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Vocabulary Acquisition ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Cognitive Theory ◽

First Language ◽

Production Test ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Spoken English

Whether to use spoken English for the instruction of American Sign Language (ASL) is a pedagogical debate for those teaching hearing second language learners. Previous investigations have found the use of learners’ first language to be beneficial for vocabulary acquisition. Studies on sign languages, however, have found that a class taught completely using signs is more beneficial than a class that incorporates spoken English, although the cognitive theory of multimedia learning argues that receiving input in various modalities fosters learning. In the present study, the efficacy of voice-on or voice-off instruction for acquisition of ASL vocabulary is examined. Twenty-six hearing adult students in an ASL class received either voice-on (spoken English) or voice-off (ASL only) instruction for 13 vocabulary items. They completed a comprehension test in the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest, as well as a production test in the immediate and delayed posttest. The results showed significant improvements over time for both conditions for comprehension and production; however, no differences between the two conditions were observed.

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Accuracy order in L2 grammatical morphemes: Corpus evidence from different proficiency levels of Turkish learners of English

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching ◽

10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.4.6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 607-627

Author(s):

Erdem Akbaş ◽

Zeynep Ölçü-Dinçer

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Natural Order ◽

Past Tense ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Learner Corpus ◽

Grammatical Morphemes ◽

Accuracy Order ◽

Third Person

The present study empirically scrutinizes the fixed natural order of grammatical morphemes relying on a manual analysis of an EFL learner corpus. Specifically, we test whether the accuracy order of L2 grammatical morphemes in the case of L1 Turkish speakers of English deviates from Krashen’s (1977) natural order and whether proficiency levels play a role in the order of acquisition of these morphemes. With this in mind, we focus on the (in)accuracy of nine English grammatical morphemes with 2883 cases manually tagged by the UAM Corpus Tool in the written exam scripts of Turkish learners of English. The results based on target-like use scores provide evidence for deviation from what is widely believed to be a set order of acquisition of these grammatical morphemes by second language learners. In light of such findings, we challenge the view that the internally driven processes of mastering grammatical morphemes in English for interlanguage users are largely independent of their L1. Regardless of L2 grammar proficiency in our data, the observed accuracy of some morphemes ranked low in comparison with the so-called natural order. These grammatical morphemes were almost exclusively non-existent features in participants’ mother tongue (e.g., third person singular –s, articles and the irregular past tense forms), thus suggesting the influence of L1 in this respect.

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The neural timecourse of American English vowel discrimination by Japanese, Russian and Spanish second-language learners of English

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728921000201 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Valerie L. Shafer ◽

Sarah Kresh ◽

Kikuyo Ito ◽

Miwako Hisagi ◽

Nancy Vidal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

American English ◽

First Language ◽

Perceptual Task ◽

Temporal Contrast ◽

Asymmetrical Pattern ◽

Significant Difference

Abstract This study investigated the influence of first language (L1) phoneme features and phonetic salience on discrimination of second language (L2) American English (AE) vowels. On a perceptual task, L2 adult learners of English with Spanish, Japanese or Russian as an L1 showed poorer discrimination of the spectral-only difference between /æ:/ as the oddball (deviant) among frequent /ɑ:/ stimuli compared to AE controls. The Spanish listeners showed a significant difference from the controls for the spectral-temporal contrast between /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ for both perception and the neural Mismatch Negativity (MMN), but only for deviant /ɑ:/ versus /ʌ/ (duration decrement). For deviant /ʌ/ versus /ɑ:/, and for deviant /æ:/ versus /ʌ/ or /ɑ:/, all participants showed equivalent MMN amplitude. The asymmetrical pattern for /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ suggested that L2 phonetic detail was maintained only for the deviant. These findings indicated that discrimination was more strongly influenced by L1 phonology than phonetic salience.

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Querying a Static and Dynamic Learner Corpus

Handbook of Research on Integrating Technology Into Contemporary Language Learning and Teaching - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5140-9.ch024 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 494-511

Author(s):

Trude Heift ◽

Catherine Caws

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Data Driven ◽

User Group ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Learner Corpus ◽

Study Results ◽

Call System ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Activity Types ◽

Cyclical Process

This chapter discusses the cyclical process of collecting and recycling learner data within the E-Tutor CALL system and presents a study on student usage of its data-driven learning (DDL) tool. E-Tutor consists of a static and dynamic learner corpus for L2 learners of German. The static learner corpus has been constructed from approximately 5000 learners who used the system over a period of five years. These learners provided millions of submissions from a variety of activity types. In addition, all concurrent E-Tutor users contribute data to a dynamic corpus, which allows them to compare and examine their ongoing system submissions to those contained in the static corpus. The authors conducted a study with 84 learners and recorded their interaction with the DDL tool of E-Tutor over one semester. Study results on student usage suggest that investigating sample input of a large, unknown user group might be less informative and of less interest to language learners than their own data. For the DDL tool to be useful for all proficiency levels, training and scaffolding must also be provided.

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SECOND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263111000301 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 529-561 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Patti Spinner

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Theoretical Work ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

Grammatical Development ◽

Assessment Measure ◽

Morphosyntactic Development ◽

The One

The purpose of this study is to begin work toward a grammatical assessment measure that could bridge the gap between theoretical work on grammatical development, on the one hand, and tools such as the Michigan Test (which uses multiple-choice questions on vocabulary and grammar) or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages scale (which uses holistic descriptions of grammar use), on the other hand. Such a measure would need to be practical to administer with large groups. Two proposals of grammatical development (processability theory, Pienemann, 1998, 2005; and organic grammar, Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 2006) were applied to short samples of spontaneous production data from 48 adult second-language learners of English from mixed first-language backgrounds. The rapid profile scale successfully accounted for the learners’ development but is of somewhat limited use with short samples of data. The organic grammar placement scale may need to be further refined, but it includes important indicators of grammatical development. A preliminary proposal for using a combined measure with a rubric is presented.

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Politeness in Business Communication: Investigating English Modal Sequences in Chinese Learners’ Letter Writing

RELC Journal ◽

10.1177/0033688217730142 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 20-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David D. Qian ◽

Mingwei Pan

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Letter Writing ◽

Epistemic Modality ◽

Cultural Tradition ◽

Tertiary Level ◽

Esl Learners

Politeness has been a source of inspiration for research in pragmatics and inter- and intra-cultural communication. However, the existing literature focusses more on how politeness is realized in the context of first language use. Few studies have investigated the issue related to the use of English by second language learners from varying subcultures within the same cultural tradition. The present study examines how Hong Kong and Shanghai tertiary-level learners of English convey politeness in their business letter writing, as reflected in the use of modal sequences. Three hundred business letters were collected from students in Hong Kong and another 300 from students in Shanghai. Majoring in various disciplines, these students were all in their final year of study, and their English proficiency level was generally scored at B2, as compared with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Following a mixed-methods approach, the study tracked a rather complex distribution of politeness realizations by different modal sequences. The findings were that Hong Kong ESL learners appeared to be more strategic users of modal sequences as evidenced by a variety of usage examples from the two purpose-built learner corpora, which were developed to monitor and compare English learners’ business writing at the tertiary level. Another finding was that epistemic modality tended to better preserve politeness in the writing.

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Reading strategy training in second language contexts

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/aral.16.1.05cot ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 71-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sara Cotterall

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Learning Difficulties ◽

Reading Strategy ◽

Strategy Training ◽

Learning Context

Strategy training appears to be a promising means of assisting second language learners. However, strategy training operates within a context. If factors in that context are not considered, the training will not be successful. This paper discusses a number of insights highlighted by a reading strategy training study conducted in a second language (L2) setting. It cautions against the uncritical adoption of strategy training as a panacea for learning difficulties, and stresses the importance of recognising and taking account of factors in the second language learning context which may suggest modifications to procedures carried out successfully in first language (L1) settings.

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