Intonational interference on the perception and production of Mandarin Chinese tones by English‐speaking second language learners.

2008 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 2595-2595
Author(s):  
Yen‐Chen Hao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Mandarin Chinese Tones

Phonological awareness in young second language learners

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Bruck ◽  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
English Speaking

ABSTRACTEnglish-speaking children (N = 91) who were attending French schools (bilingual group) were given a battery of phonological awareness tests in kindergarten and in grade 1. At the time of kindergarten testing the mean age of the children was 5:9. Their performance was compared to age-matched English-speaking children (N = 72) attending English schools (monolingual group). The bilingual children showed heightened levels of phonological awareness skills in kindergarten in the area of onset-rime awareness. By grade 1, the pattern of group differences was more complex. The monolingual and bilingual children performed similarly on onset-rime segmentation tasks. The monolingual children had higher phoneme awareness scores than their French-schooled peers; this result is interpreted to reflect the role of literacy instruction on phoneme awareness development. In comparison, the bilingual children had higher syllable segmentation scores than their monolingual peers. This result is interpreted to reflect the role of second language input on phonological awareness.

The functional roles of lexical devices in second language learners’ encoding of temporality: A study of Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ma ◽  
Gita Martohardjono ◽  
William McClure
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Past Time ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Esl Learners

AbstractThe present study investigates the functional roles of two lexical devices, past-time temporal adverbials and frequency adverbs, in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of temporality in their English interlanguage. The results of the present study indicate that past-time temporal adverbials are facilitative in Mandarin Chinese-speaking ESL learners’ encoding of past time. Meanwhile, the existence/absence of the matrix agreement, which is a linguistic device that has not been discussed in previous studies, may also lead to learners’ different reactions. The results of the present study also show that the introduction of frequency adverbs is associated with a higher usage rate of the present tense and causes more difficulty in a past tense context. This association is found to exist not only in learners’ data, but also in English native speakers’ data. The present study contributes to our understanding of the development of second language learners’ expression of temporal locations and relations.

Gender and number processing in second language Swahili

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-476
Author(s):  
Patti Spinner ◽  
Rebecca Foote ◽  
Rose Acen Upor
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
English Speaking

Abstract For native speakers, congruent gender marking on determiners and adjectives facilitates recognition of subsequent nouns, while incongruent marking inhibits recognition (e.g., Bates et al., 1996). However, there is conflicting evidence regarding whether second language learners demonstrate this effect. We investigated this issue in Swahili. Native speakers and English-speaking L2 learners of Swahili in their 3rd-5th semester completed two word repetition tasks, one examining gender and one number. Participants heard verb-noun phrases in Swahili with verbal marking that was congruent, incongruent or neutral with respect to gender or number. The time to repeat each noun was recorded. Both language groups appeared sensitive to number marking; however, only native speakers appeared sensitive to gender marking. The findings suggest the lack of a feature in the L1 may impede online processing in the L2, while the presence of a feature may mean that native-like processing is possible, even at early levels of proficiency.

Second language learners in special education

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 92-107
Author(s):  
Peggy W. Goldsmith
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Usa ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Assessment Procedures

During 1984, New South Wales Department of Education conducted a survey of ethnic-specific needs of students of non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) in schools for specific purposes (SSPs), which are special education schools. This paper indicates the results and outcomes of that survey. The percentage of students of NESBs in responding schools was 15.4%. The distribution of languages other than English spoken in homes of NESB students in SSPs is similar to that of the general population. The issues seen to be of greatest importance for schools with NESB pupils were assistance in communicating with non-English parents, and a knowledge of and contact with ethnic welfare/support agencies. A literature search revealed little in the way of studies on language provision for students of NESB in SSPs in the USA, Canada, Britain or in Australia. Assessment for placement in special education has always posed a difficulty in regard to students whose dominant language is not English. A move towards the use of Adaptive Behaviour Scales is a possible change in assessment procedures. where the level of language development will constitute just one factor among a number of others. The commencement of English as a second language programme and a bilingual programme are seen as innovatory in this field of education.

Access to UG and language transfer: a study of L2 learners' interpretation of reconstruction in Chinese

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Ying
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
English Speaking

Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Chinese (the experimental groups) and 20 native speakers of Chinese (the control group) participated in a study that investigated second language learners' knowledge of reconstruction (NP and predicate fronted sentences with ziji ‘self’) in Chinese. Results of a sentence interpretation task indicate that English-speaking learners of Chinese had knowledge of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved predicate, and lack of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved NP, although such information is not directly available in English. While the experiment produced evidence that they appeared to have access to Universal Grammar, English-speaking learners of Chinese bound ziji in non-movement sentences to an embedded subject, indicating that they mapped the narrower setting of reflexives in English onto a wider parameter setting of ziji in Chinese.

English possessive gender agreement in production and comprehension: Similarities and differences between young monolingual English learners and adult Mandarin–English second language learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 985-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUCIA POZZAN ◽  
INÉS ANTÓN-MÉNDEZ
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Study Support ◽  
English Speaking

ABSTRACTSecond language learners of English occasionally establish gender agreement between a possessive determiner and the local noun that follows it, rather than with its target antecedent (*“Maryi loves hisi brother”). The production and comprehension profiles of adult Mandarin second language learners of English and monolingual English-speaking children were examined to establish (a) if such errors result from an inherent tendency to establish agreement locally within the noun phrase or rather from transfer of first language agreement procedures, and (b) if these errors are production specific or rather reflect nontarget grammatical representations, thus also affecting comprehension. The results of the elicited production portion of the study support the hypothesis that gender agreement errors in learners’ production of possessives result from a generalized tendency to establish local agreement. The results of the comprehension portion of the study suggest that the observed tendency for local agreement within the noun phrase is production specific and does not characterize learners’ grammatical representations as a whole.

scholarly journals Reexamining L2 accent: How much can personality explain?

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-244
Author(s):  
Germán Zárate-Sández
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Considerable Portion ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Task

Previous studies have shown that learners’ individual differences (e.g., motivation, age) can impact second language learners’ pronunciation. This study focused on one individual difference that has received relatively little attention, namely personality, and sought to determine to what extent personality accounts for learners’ L2 accent during quasispontaneous and unplanned speech. Fifty-one English-speaking learners of Spanish performed a speaking task that was scored for degree of L2 accentedness. Results revealed that personality explained a considerable portion of the variance, and that extraversion and neuroticism were significant predictors of L2 accent. 

What makes second language perception of Mandarin tones hard?

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-78
Author(s):  
Eric Pelzl
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Learning Difficulty ◽  
Chinese Teachers ◽  
Mandarin Tones

Abstract Mandarin Chinese tones are known to be difficult for second language learners. A large body of research has examined non-native perception of tones, and may provide useful and interesting insights about the sources of tone learning difficulty for Chinese teachers and learners. However, much of the literature is in journals that may be difficult to access or written in technical language that may be hard for non-specialists to understand. This review article aims to summarize key findings from this research in an accessible fashion. I will draw on the research to answer five broad questions: (1) Why are tones more difficult for some learners than others? (2) Why are some tones more difficult than others? (3) Why are tones in words more difficult than in meaningless syllables? (4) Why are tones in context more difficult than in isolation? (5) What can we do about tone learning difficulties?

Second language learners develop non-native lexical processing biases

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Wiener
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractInfants develop language-specific biases favoring either consonantal or vocalic information. These phonological biases affect various levels of spoken-language recognition in children and adults. This study explored whether adults who speak a second language (L2) apply phonological biases during L2 lexical processing, and whether the biases applied are those of the native language (L1), or those appropriate for the L2. Two word reconstruction experiments were carried out in English and Mandarin Chinese. L1 and L2 speakers of English demonstrated a consonantal bias by changing English vowels faster than consonants. L1 and L2 speakers of Mandarin demonstrated a vocalic bias by changing Mandarin consonants faster than vowels. Even relatively late L2 classroom learners whose L1 triggers a consonantal bias (English) exhibited a vocalic bias in their L2 (Mandarin). Lexically related processing biases are thus determined by the phonological and lexical characteristics of the stimuli being processed and not solely by listeners’ L1.

Acquiring Nothing?

1995 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene Polio
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Zero Pronouns ◽  
Nominal Reference

Some earlier SLA research suggests that zero pronouns should be easily acquired by second language learners, yet this has not been carefully examined because studies of nominal reference are usually limited to the acquisition of languages that do not have zero pronouns. This study examines how speakers of languages with zero pronouns (Japanese) and without them (English) use zero pronouns when acquiring a language that has them (Mandarin Chinese). The findings show that second language learners do not use zero pronouns as often as native speakers and that their use increases with proficiency. When examined more closely, it can be seen that the speakers have no difficulty using zero pronouns when there is a syntactic or semantic restriction, but they do have difficulty at the discourse level. It is claimed that this underuse of zero pronouns corresponds with other research that shows that second language learners tend to avoid pronouns in favor of full noun phrases. Some explanations for these phenomena are postulated.

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