scholarly journals The effect of input modes and number of exposures on the learning of L2 binomials

Author(s):  
Sara Alotaibi ◽  
Ana Pellicer-Sánchez ◽  
Kathy Conklin

Abstract Despite the importance of mastering different types of formulaic sequences in a second language, little is known about the relative effect of different input modes on their acquisition. This study explores the learning of a particular type of formulaic language (binomials) in three input modes (reading-only, listening-only, and reading-while-listening) at different frequencies of exposure (2, 4, 5 and 6 occurrences). Arabic learners of English were presented with three stories, each in a different mode, that contained novel binomials (e.g., wires and pipes) and existing binomials (e.g., brother and sister). Two post-tests (multiple-choice and familiarity ratings) assessed learners’ knowledge of the binomials. Results showed that reading-only and reading-while-listening led to better performance on the tasks than listening-only. Frequency of exposure had an effect on the perceived familiarity of binomials.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-544
Author(s):  
Danial Shirzadi ◽  
Majid Amerian

The washback effects of different test formats on the writing performance of students have always been of great importance. However, this area of research has not fully touched upon by researchers of second language testing. Despite the importance of the issue, there is a dearth of empirical studies to unravel the effects of different types of tests on learning. To shed some light on the current issue, the present study intends to look into the washback effects of tests on students who are learning and using some special grammatical points in writing tasks. In order to fulfil this project, we made a set question in three formats of cloze, multiple-choice and metalinguistic on a grammatical form(i.e. present perfect and present perfect continuous)to use after each session of teaching (2 sessions of training) as an activity. The researchers devised and validated three tests on the target form; each test contained 20 questions and was in different formats of cloze, multiple-choice or metalinguistic. At the end of this two-session trainings, two focused writing tasks were implemented. The results indicated that supporting teaching grammatical points with metalinguistic tests yields the highest positive washback on students writing. Finally, some practical implications were suggested.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Conklin ◽  
Norbert Schmitt

It is generally accepted that we store representations of individual words in our mental lexicon. There is growing agreement that the lexicon also contains formulaic language (How are you? kick the bucket). In fact, there are compelling reasons to think that the brain represents formulaic sequences in long-term memory, bypassing the need to compose them online through word selection and grammatical sequencing in capacity-limited working memory. The research surveyed in this chapter strongly supports the position that there is an advantage in the way that native speakers process formulaic language compared to nonformulaic language. This advantage extends to the access and use of different types of formulaic language, including idioms, binomials, collocations, and lexical bundles. However, the evidence is mixed for nonnative speakers. While very proficient nonnatives sometimes exhibit processing advantages similar to natives, less proficient learners often have been shown to process formulaic language in a word-by-word manner similar to nonformulaic language. Furthermore, if the formulaic language is idiomatic (where the meaning cannot be understood from the component words), the figurative meanings can be much more difficult to process for nonnatives than nonidiomatic, nonformulaic language.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Carrol ◽  
Kathy Conklin

Research into recurrent, highly conventionalized “formulaic” sequences has shown a processing advantage compared to “novel” (non-formulaic) language. Studies of individual types of formulaic sequence often acknowledge the contribution of specific factors, but little work exists to compare the processing of different types of phrases with fundamentally different properties. We use eye-tracking to compare the processing of three types of formulaic phrases—idioms, binomials, and collocations—and consider whether overall frequency can explain the advantage for all three, relative to control phrases. Results show an advantage, as evidenced through shorter reading times, for all three types. While overall phrase frequency contributes much of the processing advantage, different types of phrase do show additional effects according to the specific properties that are relevant to each type: frequency, familiarity, and decomposability for idioms; predictability and semantic association for binomials; and mutual information for collocations. We discuss how the results contribute to our understanding of the representation and processing of multiword lexical units more broadly.


Author(s):  
Janet Nicol ◽  
Delia Greth

Abstract. In this paper, we report the results of a study of English speakers who have learned Spanish as a second language. All were late learners who have achieved near- advanced proficiency in Spanish. The focus of the research is on the production of subject-verb agreement errors and the factors that influence the incidence of such errors. There is some evidence that English and Spanish subject-verb agreement differ in susceptibility to interference from different types of variables; specifically, it has been reported that Spanish speakers show a greater influence of semantic factors in their implementation of subject-verb agreement ( Vigliocco, Butterworth, & Garrett, 1996 ). In our study, all participants were tested in English (L1) and Spanish (L2). Results indicate nearly identical error patterns: these speakers show no greater influence of semantic variables in the computation of agreement when they are speaking Spanish than when they are speaking English.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001316442098810
Author(s):  
Stefanie A. Wind ◽  
Yuan Ge

Practical constraints in rater-mediated assessments limit the availability of complete data. Instead, most scoring procedures include one or two ratings for each performance, with overlapping performances across raters or linking sets of multiple-choice items to facilitate model estimation. These incomplete scoring designs present challenges for detecting rater biases, or differential rater functioning (DRF). The purpose of this study is to illustrate and explore the sensitivity of DRF indices in realistic sparse rating designs that have been documented in the literature that include different types and levels of connectivity among raters and students. The results indicated that it is possible to detect DRF in sparse rating designs, but the sensitivity of DRF indices varies across designs. We consider the implications of our findings for practice related to monitoring raters in performance assessments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Dolgoarshinnaia ◽  
Beatriz Martin-Luengo

Human memory is prone to memory errors and distortion. Evidence from studies on cognitive functions in bilinguals indicates that they might be prone to different types of memory errors compared to monolinguals; however, the effect of language in false memories is still understudied. Source monitoring processes required for proper memory functioning, presumably, rely on inhibitory control, which is also heavily utilized by bilinguals. Moreover, it is suggested that thinking in a second language leads to more systematic and deliberate reasoning. All these results lead to expect that bilinguals are more analytical when processing information in their second language overcoming some memory errors depending on the language of information. To test this hypothesis, we run a classical misinformation experiment with an explicit source monitoring task with a sample of Russian–English bilinguals. The language of the misinformation presentation did not affect the degree of the misinformation effect between the Russian and English languages. Source monitoring demonstrated an overall higher accuracy for attributions to the English source over the Russian source. Furthermore, analysis on incorrect source attributions showed that when participants misattributed the sources of false information (English or Russian narrative), they favored the Russian source over the not presented condition. Taken together, these results imply that high proficiency in the second language does not affect misinformation and that information processing and memory monitoring in bilinguals can differ depending on the language of the information, which seems to lead to some memory errors and not others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Yeldham

This study examined the influence of formulaic language on second language (L2) listeners’ lower-level processing, in terms of their ability to accurately identify the words in texts. On the one hand, there were reasons for expecting the presence of the formulas to advantage the learners, because the learners would process these formulaic words more holistically than the surrounding non-formulaic words. On the other hand, though, because formulas are commonly uttered in more reduced fashion than their surrounding non-formulaic words – and L2 learners commonly face challenges understanding reduced speech – it was possible that the formulas would negatively impact the learners’ processing. The participants listened to four texts, which were paused intermittently for them to transcribe the final stretch of words they had heard prior to each pause. The researcher had previously categorized these words as being part of formulas or non-formulas through corpus analysis. By comparing the listeners’ identification of the formulaic and the non-formulaic language, the study found that formulaic language facilitated their lower-level listening. This degree of advantage, however, varied across text difficulty level and listener proficiency level. Based on the findings, implications for L2 listening instruction are discussed.


2019 ◽  
pp. 136216881985991
Author(s):  
Ji Hyun Kim

This study explored the relative effect of recasts on second language (L2) Korean learners’ accuracy development of the object relative clauses (RCs) and the honorific subject–verb (S-V) agreement in Korean and its relationship with language analytic ability (LAA). Forty-five L2 Korean learners participated in the study and five Korean native speakers participated as their dyadic partners. The learners were assigned into the recast group ( n = 27) and the control group ( n = 18). The recast group received recasts to their errors of the target forms from an interlocutor, a native Korean speaker, during their engagement in four communicative activities, but no recasts were provided to the control group. Three language tests (i.e. a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest) to measure accuracy development and a LAA test were applied to both groups. The study found that recasts benefited L2 Korean learners’ accuracy development of both forms, but their effects were not equal: recasts were more effective for the object RCs than the honorific S-V agreement. In addition, the results showed that LAA had a positive effect on the extent to which the learners benefited from recasts.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document