Language typology, task complexity and the development of L2 lexicalization patterns for describing motion events

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 245-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Cadierno ◽  
Peter Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Language Typology ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Thinking For Speaking ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Motion Constructions

The present paper focuses on the acquisition of L2 constructions for the expression of motion from a typological (Cadierno, 2008; Talmy, 1985, 1991, 2000) and a psycholinguistic perspective with implications for pedagogy (Robinson, 2003a, 2007; Robinson & Gilabert, 2007a, 2007b). Specifically, we report the results of a cross-linguistic study which examined the extent to which the manipulation of pedagogic tasks in terms of cognitive complexity can facilitate the development of target-like lexicalization patterns and appropriate L2 ways of thinking-for-speaking for the expression of motion by adult L2 learners with typologically similar and typologically different L1s and L2s, i.e., Danish vs. Japanese L1 learners of English. The results of the study show that level of L2 proficiency, assessed using a cloze test, predicts more target-like reference to L2 motion across both L1 groups. Typological similarity between the L1 (Danish) and L2 (English) results in greater use of motion constructions incorporating mention of ground of motion compared to their use by Japanese L1 speakers. More cognitively complex tasks lead to production of more target-like lexicalization patterns, but also only for speakers of the typologically similar L1, Danish.

Task complexity, L2 proficiency and EFL learners’ L1 use in task-based peer interaction

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110046
Author(s):  
Jinfen Xu ◽  
Yumei Fan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Peer Interaction ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
First Language ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
L1 Use ◽  
The Impact

This study is aimed to identify the effects of task complexity on first language (L1) use and the functions it may serve when two groups of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) work on collaborative tasks. Twenty-four pairs of Chinese EFL learners from two universities were assigned to a lower-proficiency and a higher-proficiency group, each with twelve pairs. Each group completed two collaborative tasks of different cognitive complexity. The results showed that task complexity had an appreciable impact on the use of L1 and its functions. It is also found that the impact of task complexity was dependent on learners’ English proficiency. Specifically, the higher-proficiency group employed more L1 to perform complex tasks than they did in the simple versions of the tasks. These learners also devoted significantly more L1 turns to fulfill the functions of metacognitive and grammar talk to complete the complex tasks. These trends did not hold for the lower-proficiency group.

The effects of topic familiarity on emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110335
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Abdi Tabari ◽  
Gavin Bui ◽  
Yizhou Wang
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Automatic Assessment ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
Linguistic Complexity ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Topic Familiarity ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
International Graduate

Focusing on the relationship between linguistic, cognitive, socioemotional factors in writing English for academic purposes (EAP), this study investigated whether topic familiarity as an important cognitive factor of task complexity influences different levels of emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing and whether there are relationships between emotionality and linguistic complexity. To do so, 64 international graduate learners enrolled in EAP writing courses participated in the present study. Each wrote on familiar and unfamiliar topics determined via a questionnaire at the onset of the study. Their writings were then measured for textual emotionality and linguistic complexity using automatic assessment tools. Results showed that EAP writings differed systematically in terms of both emotionality and linguistic complexity due to the influence of topic familiarity. Unfamiliar topics led to writing performance with a significantly higher level of emotional negativity and significantly lower linguistic complexity levels as compared to familiar topics. A follow-up correlation analysis also revealed significant relationships between emotionality and linguistic complexity measures, indicating complex interactions between linguistic and socioemotional factors. Implications of these findings are discussed relative to deploying writing topics with varied levels of cognitive complexity for encouraging classroom engagement and improving L2 learners’ writing performance by effective task sequencing.

scholarly journals DOMAIN-GENERAL AUDITORY PROCESSING EXPLAINS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF L2 ACQUISITION IN ADULTHOOD

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Kazuya Saito ◽  
Hui Sun ◽  
Magdalena Kachlicka ◽  
John Robert Carvajal Alayo ◽  
Tatsuya Nakata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Proficiency Scores ◽  
L1 Acquisition

ABSTRACT In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overall, auditory processing was a primary determinant of a range of participants’ proficiency scores, even after biographical factors (experience, age) were controlled for. The link between audition and proficiency was especially clear for L2 learners who had passed beyond the initial phase of immersion (length of residence > 1 year). The findings suggest that greater auditory processing skill benefits post-pubertal L2 learners immersed in naturalistic settings for a sufficient period of time by allowing them to better utilize received input, which results in greater language gains and leads to more advanced L2 proficiency in the long run (similar to L1 acquisition).

scholarly journals Interpreting meaning in police interviews: Applied Language Typology in a Forensic Linguistics context

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luna Filipovic ◽  
Alberto Hijazo Gascón
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practices ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Forensic Linguistics ◽  
Language Typology ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Legal Contexts ◽  
Semantic Typology

The main aim of this paper is to raise awareness about the importance of language contrasts in legal interpreting contexts. The semantic typology of motion events put forward by Talmy (1991, 2000) and its implications for discourse and narrative (Slobin 1991, 1996, 2004, 2005) are used as an example of how an applied typology approach can be useful for the analysis of language contrasts in a forensic linguistics context. Applied Language Typology (Filipović 2008, 2017a, b) is used here to analyse transcriptions of police interviews that were mediated by an English-Spanish interpreter in California (USA) and an English-Portuguese interpreter in Norfolk (UK). The results of this analysis demonstrate that certain differences in semantic components of motion such as Manner, Cause and Deixis can lead interpreters to add, omit or modify the content of a message in the process of translation. This leads us to conclude that professional practices such as the production of bilingual transcripts and use of control interpreters, together with the inclusion of Applied Language Typology in interpreting training, would improve the quality of interpreting practices in legal contexts.

Going beyond motion events typology: The case of Basque as a verb-framed language

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano
Keyword(s):  
Motion Verbs ◽  
High Tolerance ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Lexical Resources ◽  
Language Typology ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
New Information ◽  
Different Types

AbstractThe concept of motion is present in all the world’s languages. However, the ways in which speakers of different languages codify motion do not seem to be so universal. Languages offer different types of structures to express motion, and speakers pay attention to different elements within the motion event. The goal of this paper is to examine in great detail how motion events are described and expressed in Basque oral and written narratives. This study focuses on three main areas: motion verbs, elaboration of Manner and elaboration of Path. Although Basque can be classified in Talmy’s terms as a verb-framed language, it is argued that it is not a prototypical example of this group with respect to the lexicalisation of Path. Unlike other verb-framed languages, the description of Path in Basque motion events is very frequent and detailed, not only in situations when it adds new information, but also in pleonastic cases. This characteristic seems to be related to Basque’s rich lexical resources for motion and space, as well as to its high tolerance for verb omission. On the basis of these data, the scope of Talmy’s binary typology is questioned. It is suggested that the verb- and satellite-framed language typology should be revised in order to account for these intra-typological differences.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
English Articles

This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired the polysemous English article construction they demonstrated stronger competence in differentiating individual form-function mappings in the article construction. L2 learners’ patterns of article construction usage were shaped by semantic functions. Learners performed better on the definiteness category than on the non-definiteness categories, suggesting that learners were sensitive to the prototypicality of nominal grounding. Advanced learners demonstrated an increased sensitivity to semantic idiosyncrasy, but they lacked contextualised constructional knowledge. Competition among the functional categories and restructuring of functional categories are important ways of regularization that learners go through to acquire semantically complex systems such as articles.

A Comparative Analysis of Locative and Directional Motion Events in English and Arabic

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Ikbal Zeddari
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Parametric Approach ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Directional Motion ◽  
Motion Constructions ◽  
Crosslinguistic Variation

<p>This paper provides a contrastive analysis of locative and directional motion events in English and Arabic. Within a micro‑parametric approach to crosslinguistic variation, it argues that both languages encode the distinction between manner and direction in their inventory of motion verbs. In the prepositional domain, purely locative and directional prepositions are shown to exist in the two languages; they respectively derive locative and directional interpretations with manner of motion verbs. The class of ambiguous prepositions, which gives rise to both locative and directional interpretations, is shown to be distinctive of English. Implications of this contrastive analysis to the bidirectional acquisition of English and Arabic locative and directional motion constructions are discussed.</p>

Gesture Placement by Germans in Descriptions of Motion Events

2009 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 99-108
Author(s):  
Lian van Berkel-van Hoof
Keyword(s):  
Consistent Pattern ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Thinking For Speaking ◽  
Way Of Thinking

Based on how different languages verbalise motion events they can be divided into two main categories: satellite-framed (e.g., English) and verb-framed languages (e.g., Spanish) (Talmy, 1985; Slobin, 2004). This typology reflects the speakers' way of thinking-for-speaking (Slobin, 1996; 2004). According to, for example, McNeill & Duncan (2000), gestures are also part of thinking-for-speaking. This is reflected by the constituents with which gestures coincide. However, previous research (Van Hoof, 2000; Vrinzen, 2003; Boot 2003) suggests that even two satellite-framed languages can differ in their gesture placement. The English participants tended to place their gestures on the verb (expected of verb-framed languages). The Dutch displayed no consistent pattern across the three studies. This study investigates German. Results suggest that Germans tend to place their gestures on the satellite (expected of satellite-framed languages). Together, these four studies indicate that a categorisation based on speech cannot necessarily be applied to gestures.

Thinking-for-translating

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-329
Author(s):  
Paula Cifuentes Férez
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Physical Motion ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Thinking For Speaking ◽  
Narrative Fragments ◽  
Motion Constructions ◽  
And Control ◽  
Motion Event Descriptions ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Manner Verbs

The present paper examines the acquisition of English physical motion constructions by Spanish translators in training. Drawing from Talmy’s (1985, 1991, 2000) typological framework for motion event descriptions and Slobin’s (1996, 2003) thinking-for-speaking hypothesis, the main aim of this research is to study whether the acquisition of English lexicalization patterns by Spanish translators in training could be facilitated by instructing them to think-for-translating into English. To this end, first, participants in the experimental and control group were told to translate some narrative fragments from Spanish into English. Then, once they completed the task, participants in the experimental group were instructed on the typological differences between English and Spanish with regard to the domain of physical motion and on how to render typical Spanish motion descriptions into English motion constructions. Finally, after a one week delay they were told to translate new fragments from Spanish into English. We observed that participants in the experimental group produced a higher number of manner verbs plus path expressions than the control group which, in turn, favoured the use of non-manner verbs plus path expressions. The results show that, overall, instruction contributes to better performance in the production of satellite-framed constructions but translators in training still have problems with the use of satellites and prepositional phrases.

Effects of Task Complexity Variables on Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency of Second Language Production: A Critical Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Lilliati Ismail ◽  
Arshad Abd. Samad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Task Design ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
Complexity Level ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
L2 Learners

This paper reviews recent research that has manipulated task complexity variables to gauge their effects on L2 learning. This review draws upon Robinson’s Triadic Componential Framework for task design (2001a) which suggests that increases in task complexity levels should be an important consideration when designing and sequencing a task-based language syllabus. Most of the studies discussed support Robinson’s contention that more complex tasks result in greater accuracy and complexity in L2 learners’ language production. This would imply the need to consider task complexity variables in selecting, designing and administering tasks in the second language classroom to achieve optimum effects on the learning process. Teachers would also have to be conscientious in evaluating cognitive loads of tasks to ensure heightened attention to meaning and forms. Also, the potential of using task complexity level as an organising principle for a second-language syllabus needs to be further explored and investigated.

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