Does learning Spanish grammatical gender change English-speaking adults' categorization of inanimate objects?

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELENA KURINSKI ◽  
MARIA D. SERA
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Change ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Speaking

Second language acquisition studies can contribute to the body of research on the influence of language on thought by examining cognitive change as a result of second language learning. We conducted a longitudinal study that examined how the acquisition of Spanish grammatical gender influences categorization in native English-speaking adults. We asked whether learning the grammatical gender of Spanish affects adult native English speakers' attribution of gender to inanimate objects. College students enrolled in beginning Spanish participated in two tasks repeatedly (four times) throughout one academic year. One task examined their acquisition of grammatical gender. The other examined their categorization of inanimate objects. We began to observe changes in participants' grammatical gender acquisition and in categorization after ten weeks of Spanish instruction. Results indicate that learning a second language as an adult can change the way one categorizes objects. However, the effect of Spanish grammatical gender was more limited in Spanish learners than in native Spanish speakers; it was not observed for all kinds of objects nor did it increase with learners' proficiency, suggesting that adults learning Spanish reach a plateau beyond which changes in categorization do not occur.

scholarly journals Lexical constraints in second language learning: Evidence on grammatical gender in German*

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN C. BOBB ◽  
JUDITH F. KROLL ◽  
CARRIE N. JACKSON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lexical Constraints ◽  
Correct Translation

The present study asked whether or not the apparent insensitivity of second language (L2) learners to grammatical gender violations reflects an inability to use grammatical information during L2 lexical processing. Native German speakers and English speakers with intermediate to advanced L2 proficiency in German performed a translation-recognition task. On critical trials, an incorrect translation was presented that either matched or mismatched the grammatical gender of the correct translation. Results show interference for native German speakers in conditions in which the incorrect translation matched the gender of the correct translation. Native English speakers, regardless of German proficiency, were insensitive to the gender mismatch. In contrast, these same participants were correctly able to assign gender to critical items. These findings suggest a dissociation between explicit knowledge and the ability to use that information under speeded processing conditions and demonstrate the difficulty of L2 gender processing at the lexical level.

scholarly journals Helping Second Language Student Writers Improve Their Revision

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Wenzhe Kang ◽  
Ruiyi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Language Students

Writing ability is a comprehensive evaluation of language learning level. Nowadays, most universities offer writing-related courses to help students lay a good foundation for writing and contribute to their subsequent studies. Compared with native English speakers, second language learners need to do more revision, which is a great challenge for second language learners. Therefore, in this paper, the aim is to make the second language students understand and apply the revision correctly.    

F0 patterns of tone versus non-tone languages: The case of Vietnamese speakers of English

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-121
Author(s):  
Anh-Thư T Nguyễn
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Vietnamese Speakers

This article reports a study that aimed to find out whether F0 patterns of L2 English produced by Vietnamese speakers are different to those of native English speakers, whether the non-native F0 patterns are transferred from Vietnamese, and to what extent English and Vietnamese F0 profiles differ. Ten native/L1 Australian English speakers, 20 Vietnamese speakers of English (10 beginners and 10 advanced speakers) and a control group of four native/L1 Vietnamese speakers were included. The F0 profiles (F0 maximum, F0 minimum, F0 range, F0 mean and F0 standard deviation at three levels: utterance, syllable and phoneme) were obtained from a set of 10 English sentences and 20 Vietnamese utterances. The results showed that F0 patterns of beginning-level L2 English are systematically different from those of native English speakers, which can be transferred from their native tone language. Nevertheless, the advanced speakers’ ability to produce native-like F0 patterns indicates the effect of language learning experience on prosodic acquisition. The data and results of this study contribute to the understanding of the process and nature of second language acquisition.

Second language learning of phonological alternations with and without orthographic input: Evidence from the acquisition of a German-like voicing alternation

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-545
Author(s):  
Shannon L. Barrios ◽  
Rachel Hayes-Harb
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
New Words ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Naming Test

AbstractWhile a growing body of research investigates the influence of orthographic input on the acquisition of second language (L2) segmental contrasts, few studies have examined its influence on the acquisition of L2 phonological processes. Hayes-Harb, Brown, and Smith (2018) showed that exposure to words’ written forms caused native English speakers to misremember the voicing of final obstruents in German-like words exemplifying voicing neutralization. However, they did not examine participants’ acquisition of the final devoicing process. To address this gap, we conducted two experiments wherein native English speakers (assigned to Orthography or No Orthography groups) learned German-like words in suffixed and unsuffixed forms, and later completed a picture naming test. Experiment 1 investigated learners’ knowledge of the surface voicing of obstruents in both final and nonfinal position, and revealed that while all participants produced underlyingly voiced obstruents as voiceless more often in final than nonfinal position, the difference was only significant for No Orthography participants. Experiment 2 investigated participants’ ability to apply the devoicing process to new words, and provided no evidence of generalization. Together these findings shed light on the acquisition of final devoicing by naïve adult learners, as well as the influence of orthographic input in the acquisition of a phonological alternation.

Educational failure or success

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Students First ◽  
Use Of Assessment

Within the Australian education system, Aboriginal students’ use of non-standard English features is often viewed simplistically as evidence of non-attainment of literacy and oral-English milestones. One reason for this is the widespread use of assessment tools which fail to differentiate between native- English speakers and students who are learning English as a second language. In these assessments, non-standard English features are framed as ‘mistakes’ and low scores taken as evidence of ‘poor’ performance. This paper will contrast a mistake-oriented analysis with one that incorporates knowledge of the students’ first language. It will clearly show that when consideration is given to the first language, a more nuanced picture of English proficiency emerges: one that is attuned to the specific second language learning pathway and thus far better placed to inform both assessment and classroom instruction.i

The effects of age of second language learning on the production of English vowels

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray J. Munro ◽  
James Emil Flege ◽  
Ian R. A. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
English Vowels

ABSTRACTThis study examined the English vowel productions of 240 native speakers of Italian who had arrived in Canada at ages ranging from 2 to 23 years and 24 native English speakers from the same community. The productions of 11 vowels were rated for degree of foreign accent by 10 listeners. An increase in perceived accentedness as a function of increasing age of arrival was observed on every vowel. Not one of the vowels was observed to be produced in a consistently native-like manner by the latest-arriving learners, even though they had been living in Canada for an average of 32 years. However, high intelligibility (percent correct identification) scores were obtained for the same set of productions. This was true even for English vowels that have no counterpart in Italian.

scholarly journals Moving Beyond the Native-Speaker Bias in the Analysis of Variable Gender Marking

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad ◽  
Amanda Edmonds ◽  
Thomas Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Independent Manner ◽  
Additional Language Learning

In the current study, we respond to calls for reform in second language acquisition that center on the field’s preoccupation with native-speaker and prescriptive targets as a benchmark for additional-language learning. In order to address these concerns, we examine the use and development of grammatical gender marking in additional-language Spanish in a prescriptive-independent manner. Specifically, we depart from previous analyses that have centered on accuracy and targetlikeness and we shift the object of analysis to the linguistic forms (i.e., feminine and masculine modifiers) that additional-language participants use. We adopt a variationist approach to explain how participants vary their use of modifier gender and how this use changes longitudinally. We argue that such an approach to studying additional languages allows us to offer new insights about the acquisition of grammatical gender marking in additional-language Spanish. We end by critically reflecting on some of the challenges that we encountered in trying to integrate this paradigm shift into the examination of a well-studied grammatical structure.

scholarly journals Language Learning Exposure and Grammatical Proficiency of Intermediate Pupils

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-74
Author(s):  
Marz Kimberly T. Salas ◽  
Ma. Judy B. Legaspi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Catholic School ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Holistic Process ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

The Philippines is recognized globally as one of the largest English-speaking nations. The majority of its population has at least some degree of fluency in the language. Filipinos are exposed to the heavy usage of English, not just in school but also in their everyday lives. Exposing elementary pupils to different language learning sources (home, friends, school, and media) can help them acquire the language more easily. Thus, the second-language acquisition is a holistic process, which means acquiring the second language is not confined within the four walls of the classroom. This paper describes the extent of language learning exposure and the level of grammatical proficiency of Grade 6 pupils of a Catholic school in Bacolod City. Similarly, it explores the difference in the pupils' extent of language learning exposure and level of grammatical proficiency. Also, it determines the relationship between language learning exposure and grammatical proficiency.   

That’s not so different fromthe: Definite and demonstrative descriptions in second language acquisition

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Soondo Baek ◽  
Eunah Kim ◽  
Heejeong Ko ◽  
Kenneth Wexler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Comprehension Task

This article investigates how adult Korean-speaking learners of English interpret English definite descriptions ( the book, the books) and demonstrative descriptions ( that book, those books). Korean lacks articles, but has demonstratives, and it is hypothesized that transfer leads learners to (initially) equate definites with demonstratives. Following J Hawkins (1991) , Roberts (2002) and Wolter (2006) , it is assumed that definite and demonstrative descriptions have the same central semantics of uniqueness, but differ in the domain relative to which uniqueness is computed: while the book denotes the unique book in the discourse, that book denotes the unique book in the immediately salient situation. A written elicited production task and a picture-based comprehension task are used to examine whether Korean-speaking learners of English are aware of this distinction. The results indicate that learners distinguish definites and demonstratives, but not as strongly as native English speakers; low-proficiency learners are particularly likely to interpret definite descriptions analogously to demonstrative descriptions, in both tasks. These results pose interesting conceptual and methodological questions for further research into the second language acquisition of article semantics.

scholarly journals Vowel Space Area of Minangkabau Learners of English

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
Rudha Widagsa ◽  
Arum Perwitasari ◽  
Mezia Kemala Sari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Production Experiment

Vowel spacearea (VSA) represents kinematic movements of the articulators and measures speech intelligibility. By looking at the vowel space area, the current study intends to examine the role of Minangkabau in the acquisition of English as a second language. We conducted a speech production experiment involving ten English monophthongs in isolated sentences. We measured the formant frequencies (F1/F2) values and computed the vowel quadrilateral. The results showed that the Minangkabau learners of English did not have similar VSA pattern when compared to the native English speakers. They did not open the jaws and move the tongues as similar as the native English speakers in pronouncing English vowels. The results were discussed in the area of second language acquisition.

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