The acquisition of coda consonants by Mandarin early child L2 learners of English

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAN XU RATTANASONE ◽  
KATHERINE DEMUTH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Early Child ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Australian English

Little is known about the acquisition of phonology in children learning a second language before the age of four. The study of Mandarin children's early learning of English coda consonants is of particular interest because of the different syllable structures permitted in the two languages. Using an elicited imitation task, this study explored the acquisition of coda consonants and related phrase-final lengthening in twelve three-year-old Mandarin-speaking children exposed to Australian English at preschool. Performance was good on /t/ and /s/ codas, but worse on the phonologically and morphologically more complex /ts/ coda. Although /n/ is one of the few codas permitted in Mandarin, both perceptual and acoustic analysis revealed surprisingly poor performance, suggesting possible L1 Mandarin effects. As expected, longer exposure to English resulted in better coda production. The results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms underlying L2 phonological and morphological acquisition in early child second language learners (ECL2).

Elicited Imitation in Second Language Learners

1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Else Hamayan ◽  
Joel Saegert ◽  
Paul Larudee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Elicited Imitation

One size fits all? In search of the desirable caption display for second language learners with different caption reliance in listening comprehension

2019 ◽  
pp. 136216881985645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Jung Lee ◽  
Yeu-Ting Liu ◽  
Wen-Ta Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Comprehension Aids ◽  
The Impact

Existing research has established captions as effective second-language (L2) or foreign language (FL) listening comprehension aids. However, due to the transient nature of captions, not all learners are capable of attending to captions in all cases. Previous work posited that to leverage the impact of technologies in learning and instruction, a better understanding of the interplay between technology and cognition is warranted. In this vein, the current study set out to investigate the effects of four different caption modes (full vs. partial vs. real-time vs. control) on the listening comprehension of 95 high-intermediate Taiwanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) with different caption reliance (i.e. more-caption-reliant vs. less-caption-reliant). The results showed no significant difference between the participants’ listening comprehension outcomes under the four caption conditions when their caption reliance was not considered. However, when this was considered, the differences among the four caption conditions became salient, which was suggestive of the selective effect of captions on L2 learners with different caption reliance. While less-caption-reliant L2 learners had the best listening comprehension outcome under the partial-caption condition and the worst under the full-caption condition, more-caption-reliant L2 learners exhibited the best performance under the full-caption condition yet the worst under the partial-caption condition. The finding underscores the importance of considering L2 learners’ processing profiles when utilizing captioned videos as multimodal instructional/learning materials and speaks to the need of utilizing differentiated video materials for optimal listening outcomes.

Priming and adaptation in native speakers and second-language learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
EUNJIN CHUN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
L2 Learners

Native speakers show rapid adjustment of their processing strategies and preferences on the basis of the structures they have recently encountered. The present study investigated the nature of priming and adaptation in second-language (L2) speakers and, more specifically, whether similar mechanisms underlie L2 and native language adaptation. Native English speakers and Korean L2 learners of English completed a written priming study probing the use of double object and prepositional phrase datives. Both groups showed cumulative adaptation effects for both types of dative, which was stronger for the structure that was initially less frequent to them (prepositional phrase datives for the native English speakers, and double object datives for the L2 learners). This supports models of priming that incorporate frequency-based modulation of long-lasting activation of structures. L2 learners and native speakers use similar processing mechanisms; differences in adaptation can be accounted for by differences in the relative frequency of structures.

scholarly journals The processing of ambiguous sentences by first and second language learners of English

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDIA FELSER ◽  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
THEODORE MARINIS ◽  
REBECCA GROSS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study investigates the way adult second language (L2) learners of English resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences such as The dean liked the secretary of the professor who was reading a letter. Two groups of advanced L2 learners of English with Greek or German as their first language participated in a set of off-line and on-line tasks. The results indicate that the L2 learners do not process ambiguous sentences of this type in the same way as adult native speakers of English do. Although the learners' disambiguation preferences were influenced by lexical–semantic properties of the preposition linking the two potential antecedent noun phrases (of vs. with), there was no evidence that they applied any phrase structure–based ambiguity resolution strategies of the kind that have been claimed to influence sentence processing in monolingual adults. The L2 learners' performance also differs markedly from the results obtained from 6- to 7-year-old monolingual English children in a parallel auditory study, in that the children's attachment preferences were not affected by the type of preposition at all. We argue that children, monolingual adults, and adult L2 learners differ in the extent to which they are guided by phrase structure and lexical–semantic information during sentence processing.

Vocabulary elaboration in teachers' speech to L2 learners

1982 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Chaudron
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
New Information ◽  
L2 Learners

Subject-matter lessons taught to English as a second language learners in several school levels were transcribed and analyzed. Characteristics of the teachers' speech when elaborating vocabulary were isolated and described, with a view to determining which characteristics would be helpful and which harmful to the students' comprehension and acquisition of vocabulary. It is seen that a major problem for the student may lie in the teacher's overelab-oration of vocabulary meanings through increased redundancy; the non-native listener may find it difficult to decode the exact message, because he cannot discern whether the same information has been provided redundantly or whether new information has been supplied.

Relevance mapping: a study of second language learners’ processing of syntactically ambiguous sentences in English

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Ying
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Contextual Effects ◽  
Procedural Information ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Processing Effort

Forty adult Chinese-speaking learners of English and 20 native speakers of American English participated in a study of second language learners’ interpretation of syntactically ambiguous sentences involving that-clauses that could potentially be interpreted as complements or as relative clause. Two sentence interpretation tasks suggest that the principle of relevance constrained the interpretations. The learners showed a preference for interpreting the that-clause as a complement in the first task, using fewer syntactic nodes because it involved less processing effort. In the second task, however, the learners showed a preference for the relative clause reading, suggesting that the procedural information encoded by preceding referential sentences had the effect of reducing the overall processing effort required and of guiding the second language (L2) learners towards the intended contextual effects.

Effects of entrenchment and preemption in second language learners’ acceptance of English denominal verbs

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIAOPENG ZHANG ◽  
CHUNPING MAI
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
The Novel ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Major ◽  
The Rose

ABSTRACTEntrenchment and preemption are theorized to constrain the novel use of well-attested constructions. This study tested the effects of these two mechanisms in second language (L2) learners’ acceptance of English denominal verbs (DVs). Two groups of Chinese English-L2 speakers (fourth-year English major students and teachers of English) judged the acceptability of English locatum (e.g.,Lucywateredthe rose) and location (e.g.,Lisaboxedthe apples) DVs. Results based on both corpus and introspective frequencies show that the fourth-year learners’ judgments on the acceptability of all DVs were significantly negatively influenced by the frequency of nominal forms of the DVs, suggesting that entrenchment constrains L2 learners from accepting English DVs. Results based on introspective frequency demonstrate that the teachers’ judgments on the acceptability of all DVs were significantly negatively affected by the frequency of alternative verbs, demonstrating that preemption has a role to play in restricting L2 learners’ acceptance of English DVs. Moreover, the obtained DV frequency based on both corpus and learners’ introspection is a significant factor that helps all the participants’ acceptance of the English DVs, suggesting that the more frequently a DV is used, the more likely L2 learners are to judge it as acceptable.

MORPHOLOGICAL ERRORS IN SPANISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND HERITAGE SPEAKERS

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
Family Language

Morphological variability and the source of these errors have been intensely debated in SLA. A recurrent finding is that postpuberty second language (L2) learners often omit or use the wrong affix for nominal and verbal inflections in oral production but less so in written tasks. According to the missing surface inflection hypothesis, L2 learners have intact functional projections, but errors stem from problems during production only (a mapping or processing deficit). This article shows that morphological variability is also characteristic of heritage speakers (early bilinguals of ethnic minority languages) who were exposed to the family language naturalistically in early childhood but failed to acquire age-appropriate linguistic competence in the language. However, because errors in heritage speakers are more frequent in written than in oral tasks, the missing surface inflection hypothesis does not apply to them. The discussion considers how morphological errors in the two populations seem to be related to the type of experience.

scholarly journals Early Second Language Learners, Staff Responsiveness and Child Engagement in the Swedish Preschool Context in Relation to Child Behaviour Characteristics and Staffing

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Finnman ◽  
Henrik Danielsson ◽  
Madeleine Sjöman ◽  
Mats Granlund ◽  
Lena Almqvist
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Early Years ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Children’S Behaviour ◽  
Child Engagement ◽  
Preschool Staff

Preschool staffs' responsiveness affects children’s behaviour, their difficulties, and engagement in the preschool context, but children’s behaviour and characteristics also affect staff responsiveness. Early second language learners (L2-learners) have been shown to have more problems with behaviour and emotions and lower engagement in preschool. Being engaged in preschool activities predicts future academic performance, attitude towards school and well-being in the short and long term, and can be promoted by the preschool staff. Knowledge of which factors support engagement in preschool for L2-learners can help prevent, in the early years, negative pathways based on low engagement and problems with behaviour and emotions. This cross-sectional study used data from a longitudinal study to investigate the relationship between child engagement and staff responsiveness as well as how child age, child problems with behaviour and emotions, child group size, and the child:staff ratio impact child engagement and staff responsiveness. The study also investigated whether these relations differ between L2-learners and children learning Swedish as their first language (L1-learners). Preschool staff (N = 611) reported through questionnaires on engagement, age, problems with behaviour and emotions and emotional symptoms of 832 children aged 13–71 months, as well as on staffing and staff responsiveness. With a path analysis extended by multi-group analysis, we found two models suggesting that age, problems with behaviour and emotions and preschool staff responsiveness influence child engagement, irrespective of background. The study also found that child engagement significantly influenced staff responsiveness. The multi-group analysis only weakly supported the hypothesis that the child’s age affects staff responsiveness more strongly for L2-learners. The results indicate that individual children and child groups themselves can affect the responsiveness of their staff, and that children with low engagement risk being neglected. L2-learners are at increased risk since they tend to display lower engagement and more behaviour problems in preschool in general. If not attended to early, the lower engagement already apparent among L2-learners in preschool can create stable patterns of low engagement and problems with behaviour and emotions that extend beyond the preschool years and having negative effects on the children’s later well-being and school performance.

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