Phonological memory and lexical, narrative, and grammatical skills in second language oral production by adult learners

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRENA O'BRIEN ◽  
NORMAN SEGALOWITZ ◽  
JOE COLLENTINE ◽  
BARBARA FREED
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
Grammatical Skills ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Variance Explained

This study investigated the role of phonological memory (PM) in second language (L2) speech production by English-speaking adults who were learning Spanish. PM, operationalized as serial nonword recognition, and L2 lexical, narrative, and grammatical abilities from speech samples were assessed 13 weeks apart. After controlling for the amount of speech output, PM contributed significantly to the development of L2 narrative skills for less proficient participants (17.5% of variance explained) and to gains in correct use of function words for more proficient participants (15.7% of variance explained). These findings suggest that PM plays an important role in narrative development at earlier stages of L2 learning and in the acquisition of grammatical competence at later stages.

Assessment of Preschool Narrative Skills

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allyssa McCabe ◽  
Pamela Rosenthal Rollins
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Children At Risk ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Narrative Skill ◽  
Discourse Skills

The assessment of discourse skills in young children is an important responsibility facing clinicians today. Early identification of problems in discourse skills and, more specifically, narrative abilities is especially important for identifying children at risk for later learning and literacy-related difficulties. Despite this, few tools are available for assessing narrative skills in preschoolers. In this article we provide information concerning preschool narrative development in typically developing, North American, Caucasian, English-speaking children. Methods are suggested for assessing narrative skill of children with language impairment and children developing language normally. Transcripts of narratives from these children are presented, along with specific recommendations for evaluating these narratives.

Phonological memory and children's second language grammar learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEIF M. FRENCH ◽  
IRENA O'BRIEN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Intensive English Program ◽  
Grammar Learning ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Grammar Knowledge ◽  
Variance Explained ◽  
Grammar Development

ABSTRACTThis study examined the role of phonological memory in second language (L2) grammar learning in a group of native French-speaking children undergoing a 5-month intensive English program. Phonological memory (as referenced by Arabic [ANWR] and English [ENWR] nonword repetition tasks), L2 vocabulary (receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge), and L2 grammar (knowledge of morphosyntactic structures) were assessed during the first (Time 1) and last (Time 2) month of the program. After controlling for initial grammar ability, phonological memory significantly predicted grammar development (27.9% of variance explained) in addition to the contribution made by vocabulary knowledge (9.5% of variance explained). Although phonological memory ability as measured by ENWR increased between Time 1 and Time 2, ANWR did not improve. The findings show that phonological memory plays an important role in L2 grammar development that is unmediated by lexical knowledge. They also provide evidence that phonological memory improves with language development, but that basic phonological memory capacity (as measured by ANWR in this study) remains unchanged over time.

scholarly journals THE EXPRESSIONS OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sulistyani Sulistyani
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Lexical Errors ◽  
Clarification Request

<p>This study aims to review the teacher’s expressions which constitute teacher’s corrective feedbacks (CFs) in oral production and examine the ways the teachers' expression revealing teacher’s CFs. The data are in the forms of teachers' utterances obtained from four research articles. The result shows that teacher' expressions which  constitute CFs cover explicit correction, recast, clarification request, metalinguistic, elicitation, and repetition. While the ways which reveal teacher’s CFs are found to be reduction, negation, and  expansion. The area to be corrected commonly involves phonological, grammatical, and lexical errors. So, it can be concluded that in a second language classroom instruction, teacher’s CFs expressions lead learners' erroneous utterances to be resolved because by saying "Sorry?" (clarification request), a teacher implicitly asks a language learner to reformulate what he has just been said which is usually called repair. Thus, it implies that the teacher’s CFs expressions in a second language classroom instruction are facilitative to resolve learners' problematic linguistic accuracy. In Indonesia, where English is used as foreign language, CFs are important to be practiced. Therefore, CF’s expressions are necessary to be introduced as a model to practice for the improvement of the linguistic competence especially in English speaking as it is assumed that excellence in speaking is expected to increase Indonesian human capital particularly in global competition and international communication.</p>

‘Once upon a time in Bearland’: Longitudinal development of fictional narratives in South African children

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Willenberg
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Grade 3

Children’s narrative skills have been widely studied in North America, but there is a paucity of African research. Within South Africa’s diverse socio-cultural context, this study of mixed-race children explored the development of narrative production and the influence of home background variables. Using the Bear Story picture prompt, this longitudinal study investigated the fictional oral narrative skills of 70 English-speaking children in kindergarten and Grade 3. Four key findings emerged: first, with age, narratives increased in lexical diversity, macrostructure elements and written discourse features. However, there was no increase in evaluation, thus highlighting the complexity and nonlinear nature of narrative development. Second, early book reading experiences in the home were positively associated with Grade 3 narrative macrostructure. Third, there were no associations between narrative abilities and maternal education or mothers speaking a first language other than English, underscoring the importance of parental behaviours above factors such as education and language background. Finally, contrary to expectations, the findings suggest more similarities than differences between these children and their peers in other contexts.

Phonetic feature size in second language acquisition: Examining VOT in voiceless and voiced stops

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110089
Author(s):  
Daniel J Olson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Voiceless Stop ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Featural approaches to second language phonetic acquisition posit that the development of new phonetic norms relies on sub-phonemic features, expressed through a constellation of articulatory gestures and their corresponding acoustic cues, which may be shared across multiple phonemes. Within featural approaches, largely supported by research in speech perception, debate remains as to the fundamental scope or ‘size’ of featural units. The current study examines potential featural relationships between voiceless and voiced stop consonants, as expressed through the voice onset time cue. Native English-speaking learners of Spanish received targeted training on Spanish voiceless stop consonant production through a visual feedback paradigm. Analysis focused on the change in voice onset time, for both voiceless (i.e. trained) and voiced (i.e. non-trained) phonemes, across the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. The results demonstrated a significant improvement (i.e. reduction) in voice onset time for voiceless stops, which were subject to the training paradigm. In contrast, there was no significant change in the non-trained voiced stop consonants. These results suggest a limited featural relationship, with independent voice onset time (VOT) cues for voiceless and voices phonemes. Possible underlying mechanisms that limit feature generalization in second language (L2) phonetic production, including gestural considerations and acoustic similarity, are discussed.

A SUBJECT-OBJECT ASYMMETRY IN THE ACQUISITION OF RELATIVE CLAUSES IN KOREAN AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Grady ◽  
Miseon Lee ◽  
Miho Choo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Strong Preference ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Structural Account ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Object Relative

A variety of studies have reported that learners of English as a second language find subject relative clauses easier to produce and comprehend than direct object relatives, but it is unclear whether this preference should be attributed to structural factors or to a linear distance effect. This paper seeks to resolve this issue and to extend our understanding of SLA in general by investigating the interpretation of subject and direct object relative clauses by English-speaking learners of Korean, a left-branching language in which subject gaps in relative clauses are more distant from the head than are object gaps. The results of a comprehension task conducted with 53 beginning and intermediate learners point toward a strong preference for subject relative clauses, favoring the structural account.

Phonological awareness in young second language learners

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Bruck ◽  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
English Speaking

ABSTRACTEnglish-speaking children (N = 91) who were attending French schools (bilingual group) were given a battery of phonological awareness tests in kindergarten and in grade 1. At the time of kindergarten testing the mean age of the children was 5:9. Their performance was compared to age-matched English-speaking children (N = 72) attending English schools (monolingual group). The bilingual children showed heightened levels of phonological awareness skills in kindergarten in the area of onset-rime awareness. By grade 1, the pattern of group differences was more complex. The monolingual and bilingual children performed similarly on onset-rime segmentation tasks. The monolingual children had higher phoneme awareness scores than their French-schooled peers; this result is interpreted to reflect the role of literacy instruction on phoneme awareness development. In comparison, the bilingual children had higher syllable segmentation scores than their monolingual peers. This result is interpreted to reflect the role of second language input on phonological awareness.

scholarly journals The Effect of L2 Exposure Environment on Nnests’ Teaching Skills and Beliefs about EFL Learning Beyond the Class

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Susilo Susilo ◽  
Bibit Suhatmady ◽  
Dyah Sunggingwati ◽  
Hany Farisa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
T Test ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
Rural Region ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking Teachers ◽  
Efl Learning

The study aims at investigating the effect of second language (L2) exposure environment on NNESTs’ teaching skills and beliefs about EFL learning beyond the classroom. This is a survey for non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) of Indonesian Senior High Schools ( or in Indonesian terms ‘SMA’) from different L2 environments, namely: 1) urban-region exposure environment schools (n=40), and 2) rural-region exposure environment schools (n=40). There were two instruments used in the present study, i.e. 1) observation scaling checklist, and 2) questionnaire. The observation scaling checklist was used for assessing the respondents’ performance when they were teaching in class. Meanwhile, the questionnaire using a four-point Likert scale was used to elicit data. The researchers used a series of independent t-test to analyze the data. The result reveals that: 1) there is a significant difference between teaching skills of NNESTs from the urban region schools and those of NNESTs from rural region schools, t (78)= 19.499, p=0.000; and 2) there is a significant difference between beliefs about English as a foreign language (EFL learning beyond the classroom of the NNESTs from urban region schools and those of NNESTs from rural region schools, t (78)= - 4.925, p=0.000

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document