Assessment of L2 Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition Research

AbstractThis paper presents empirical evidence on the development of aspect by English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 collected from a spoken narrative task and a sentence interpretation task. Contrary to the Aspect Hypothesis's predictions, this study's results suggest that increased use of prototypical pairings goes in hand with increased L2 proficiency. Following a small but growing number of studies, this study questions the route of L2 development proposed by the Aspect Hypothesis.

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Verbivormid B1- ja B2-taseme kirjalikus õppijakeeles

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics ◽

10.12697/jeful.2014.5.3.01 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 9-35

Author(s):

Mare Kitsnik

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

L2 Proficiency ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

National Examination ◽

Verb Forms ◽

The Common ◽

Learner Language ◽

Distribution Frequency

Eesti keele kui teise keele õppe ja hindamise aluseks oleva „Euroopa keeleõppe raamdokumendi” keeleoskustasemete funktsionaalsed kirjeldused vajavad täiendamist lingvistiliste kirjeldustega. Artiklis esitan eesti keele kui teise keele B1- ja B2-taseme verbivormide uurimise tulemused lähtuvalt CAF-triaadi dimensioonidest: keerukus ja täpsus. Tulemused olen saanud eesti vahekeele korpuses asuvate riiklike tasemeeksamite kirjutamisülesande soorituste uurimisel korpuse juhitud lähenemise ja DEMfad-mudeli abil. Olen selgitanud välja nii B1- kui ka B2-taseme sagedasemad verbi vormid. Lähemalt olen vaadelnud verbi tahtma konstruktsioonide jaotuvust, sagedust ja täpsust B1- ja B2-taseme tekstides. Mõlemal tasemel esinevad sagedasemad verbivormid peamiselt isikulise tegumoe kindla kõneviisi olevikus ja lihtminevikus, tingiva kõneviisi olevikus ning infinitiividena. B1-tasemel esineb oluliselt rohkem kindla kõneviisi lihtminevikuvorme ning B2-tasemel kindla kõneviisi olevikuvorme, tingiva kõneviisi vorme ning infinitiivivorme. Nii B1- kui ka B2-tasemel esineb tahtma isikulise tegumoe kindlas ja tingivas kõneviisis ning mõlemal tasemel eelistatakse konstruktsioone tahan + infinitiivivorm ja tahaksin + infinitiivivorm. B2-tasemel suureneb verbi tahtma tingiva kõneviisi vormide sagedus ning kasvab konstruktsioonide täpsus.Abstract. Mare Kitsnik: Written learner language verb forms at B1 and B2 levels. CEFR (The Common European Framework) is the basis of teaching and assessment of second language (L2) in Europe. In the CEFR functional specifications of the L2 proficiency levels are given, which are universal for all languages. These specifications need to be completed with language specific linguistic descriptions. In this article the investigation of the linguistic content of the B1 and B2 levels of Estonian as a second language is described according to the CAF triad dimensions: complexity, accuracy and fluency. The presence of verb forms in the national examination texts (stored in the Estonian Interlanguage Corpus) on the both levels has been studied by using corpusdriven approach and the DEMfad model. Common verb forms on the B1 and B2 level have been identified. The verb tahtma ‘to want’, ‘to wish’ has been investigated more precisely; the distribution, frequency and accuracy of its constructions on the B1 and B2 level have been investigated. The main similarities and main differences between the levels are analyzed comparatively.Keywords: second language acquisition, Estonian as a second language, CAFtriad, linguistic description of the B1 and B2 levels, written learner language, verb forms

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First language attrition without second language acquisition

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/itl.166.2.02lau ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 166 (2) ◽

pp. 229-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Batia Laufer ◽

Liubov Baladzhaeva

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

First Language ◽

Language Attrition ◽

L2 Proficiency ◽

Russian Immigrants ◽

First Language Attrition

We investigate whether Russian immigrants in Israel with little or no knowledge of Hebrew (L2) experience attrition of Russian (L1). We compared immigrants with no knowledge of Hebrew (−Hebrew), immigrants who knew Hebrew (+Hebrew), and monolingual controls on correctness judgment of collocations and of complex grammatical constructions. On collocations, the −Hebrew immigrants performed similarly to the +Hebrew immigrants. On grammatical constructions, they performed worse. Results of grammatical constructions correlated positively with Hebrew proficiency and usage. We conclude that immigrants with no L2 knowledge can experience just as much, or even more, attrition of L1 as immigrants with L2 knowledge. Moreover, higher L2 proficiency may positively affect L1 maintenance.

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The Role of Knowledge about the L2 Code in Adult Second Language Acquisition: A Review of Theories and Research

TESL Canada Journal ◽

10.18806/tesl.v9i2.603 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 50

Author(s):

Carol A. Fraser

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Research Data ◽

L2 Proficiency ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Internal Processing ◽

Processing Mechanisms ◽

Adult Second Language Acquisition

This article reviews theories and research on the topic of the role of L2 code knowledge in adult second language acquisition. In the literature, this issue has been addressed from two main theoretical perspectives-cognitive psychology, which examines the internal processing mechanisms involved in learning and then in using language information for communication, and second language acquisition, which examines the effects of instruction that focuses on the L2 code on the learner's developing L2 proficiency. This analysis concludes that while the knowledge the learner has about the L2 code plays a limited role (planning and monitoring) in actual communication, it does play a significant role in the development of proficiency. Finally, instructional implications emerging from existing theory and research data are drawn.

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