Dutch learner English in close-up

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne van Vuuren ◽  
Lyuben Laskin

Abstract This study presents a longitudinal Bayesian analysis of pre-subject adverbial (PSA) use in a 571,174-word corpus of Dutch learner English. Overall, learners use more circumstance and linking adverbials, but fewer stance adverbials than both novice and expert native writers. Learners also use more ‘local anchors’, i.e. adverbials that serve a cohesive purpose by linking back to an antecedent in the directly preceding discourse. Interestingly, untimed essays are more native-like than timed essays in their use of each of the adverbial types considered. Although learners generally develop in the direction of native writing, the use of linking adverbials in learners’ literature essays develops in the opposite direction. L1 transfer may account for more frequent use of some categories of adverbials, particularly local anchors, but the widening gap between learners and native speakers (NSs) in the use of linking adverbials suggests that the potential role of textbook and curriculum design warrants further research.

Author(s):  
Petroc Sumner

Abstract. Under certain conditions, masked primes have produced counter-intuitive negative compatibility effects (NCE), such that RT is increased, not decreased, when the target is similar to the prime. This NCE has been interpreted as an index of automatic motor inhibition, triggered to suppress the partial motor activation caused by the prime. An alternative explanation is that perceptual interactions between prime and mask produce positive priming in the opposite direction to the prime, explaining the NCE without postulating inhibition. Here the potential role of this “mask-induced priming” was investigated in two experiments, using masks composed of random lines. Experiment 1 compared masks that included features of the primes and targets with masks that did not. The former should create more mask-induced priming, but the NCE did not differ between masks. Experiment 2 employed masks that contained features of either one target or the other, but not both. These asymmetric masks produced significant mask-induced priming, but it was insufficient in size to account for the prime-related NCE. Thus mask composition can contribute to NCEs, but when random line masks are employed, the major source of the NCE seems to be motor-inhibition.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano ◽  
Teresa Cadierno ◽  
Alberto Hijazo-Gascón

This paper examines the role of force dynamics and intentionality in the description of placement events by two groups of native speakers of typologically and genetically different languages, Danish and Spanish, and by two groups of intermediate adult learners, Danish learners of L2 Spanish and Spanish learners of L2 Danish. The results of the study showed that (a) force dynamics and intentionality are important semantic components in both languages, but their distribution and relative focus differed cross-linguistically, and (b) the two learner groups had difficulties in reconstructing the meanings of the L2 verbs involving these two semantic components. Learning difficulties were observed when moving from a less to a more complex L2 system, when moving in the opposite direction, i.e., from a more to a less complex L2 system and when moving to an L2 system that is as complex as the learners native one.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-84
Author(s):  
Матиенко ◽  
A. Matienko

The present article is devoted to the investigation of conditions of polylingualandmulticulturalidentity formation, the most important of which is the degree of formation of foreign language professional communicative competenceas one of the key educational competences. The competence under analysis contributes to the development of future University graduates’ abilities to: 1) interact with native speakers of a foreign language, representatives of another cultures in the logics of contemporary scientific paradigm, taking into account their professional features, national values and behavior norms; 2) create positive motivation for specific purposes professional communication; 3) use successful means of verbal and nonverbal communication adequate to specific purposes professional communicative situations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brand

Abstract The Popeye domain-containing gene family encodes a novel class of cAMP effector proteins in striated muscle tissue. In this short review, we first introduce the protein family and discuss their structure and function with an emphasis on their role in cyclic AMP signalling. Another focus of this review is the recently discovered role of POPDC genes as striated muscle disease genes, which have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and muscular dystrophy. The pathological phenotypes observed in patients will be compared with phenotypes present in null and knockin mutations in zebrafish and mouse. A number of protein–protein interaction partners have been discovered and the potential role of POPDC proteins to control the subcellular localization and function of these interacting proteins will be discussed. Finally, we outline several areas, where research is urgently needed.


Author(s):  
Katherine Guérard ◽  
Sébastien Tremblay

In serial memory for spatial information, some studies showed that recall performance suffers when the distance between successive locations increases relatively to the size of the display in which they are presented (the path length effect; e.g., Parmentier et al., 2005) but not when distance is increased by enlarging the size of the display (e.g., Smyth & Scholey, 1994). In the present study, we examined the effect of varying the absolute and relative distance between to-be-remembered items on memory for spatial information. We manipulated path length using small (15″) and large (64″) screens within the same design. In two experiments, we showed that distance was disruptive mainly when it is varied relatively to a fixed reference frame, though increasing the size of the display also had a small deleterious effect on recall. The insertion of a retention interval did not influence these effects, suggesting that rehearsal plays a minor role in mediating the effects of distance on serial spatial memory. We discuss the potential role of perceptual organization in light of the pattern of results.


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