scholarly journals Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 2728-2744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pakulak ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Proficiency Scores

Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an ERP paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided on the basis of standardized proficiency scores into lower proficiency and higher proficiency groups. Compared with lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we used a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-groups analyses. This approach also used partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.

scholarly journals Predictive processes during simultaneous interpreting from German into English

Interpreting ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ena Hodzik ◽  
John N. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Transitional Probability ◽  
Semantic Cues ◽  
Simultaneous Interpreting ◽  
Spoken Language Processing ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Predictive Processes

We report a study on prediction in shadowing and simultaneous interpreting (SI), both considered as forms of real-time, ‘online’ spoken language processing. The study comprised two experiments, focusing on: (i) shadowing of German head-final sentences by 20 advanced students of German, all native speakers of English; (ii) SI of the same sentences into English head-initial sentences by 22 advanced students of German, again native English speakers, and also by 11 trainee and practising interpreters. Latency times for input and production of the target verbs were measured. Drawing on studies of prediction in English-language reading production, we examined two cues to prediction in both experiments: contextual constraints (semantic cues in the context) and transitional probability (the statistical likelihood of words occurring together in the language concerned). While context affected prediction during both shadowing and SI, transitional probability appeared to favour prediction during shadowing but not during SI. This suggests that the two cues operate on different levels of language processing in SI.

Prediction and integration in native and second-language processing of elliptical structures

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
JOSEPH KIRKHAM ◽  
FRANK WIJNEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Frontal Negativity ◽  
Related Potentials

According to recent views of L2-sentence processing, L2-speakers do not predict upcoming information to the same extent as do native speakers. To investigate L2-speakers’ predictive use and integration of syntactic information across clauses, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from advanced L2-learners and native speakers while they read sentences in which the syntactic context did or did not allow noun-ellipsis (Lau, E., Stroud, C., Plesch, S., & Phillips, C. (2006). The role of structural prediction in rapid syntactic analysis. Brain and Language, 98, 74–88.) Both native and L2-speakers were sensitive to the context when integrating words after the potential ellipsis-site. However, native, but not L2-speakers, anticipated the ellipsis, as suggested by an ERP difference between elliptical and non-elliptical contexts preceding the potential ellipsis-site. In addition, L2-learners displayed a late frontal negativity for ungrammaticalities, suggesting differences in repair strategies or resources compared with native speakers.

scholarly journals Critically Examining Perceptions of Different Englishes in the IELTS Speaking Section: Who Decides What is Acceptable?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 08-15
Author(s):  
Colin Michell
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Testing System ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
International English

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has become the worldwide benchmark for evaluating English language proficiency. However, the IELTS exam is not without its critics. It has been accused of being elitist and unaccommodating of test-takers who are not users of the prestige varieties of English, even though these people may need to take the exam for employment or immigration purposes. This study involved a focus group of experienced IELTS examiners who were given a number of listenings from non-standard yet still ‘native speakers’ of English to evaluate using the IELTS speaking bands. The focus group found that the IELTS speaking descriptors are not fit for purpose when dealing with non-standard or regional varieties of English. This study makes a case for the creators of the IELTS exam to adjust their grading criteria and examiner training to be more inclusive of all English varieties.

scholarly journals The Impact of Proficiency on Syntactic Second-language Processing of German and Italian: Evidence from Event-related Potentials

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 2030-2048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Rossi ◽  
Manfred F. Gugler ◽  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Anja Hahne
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Word Category ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
The Impact

The present study investigated the role of proficiency in late second-language (L2) processing using comparable stimuli in German and Italian. Both sets of stimuli consisted of simple active sentences including a word category violation, a morphosyntactic agreement violation, or a combination of the two. Four experiments were conducted to study high- and low-proficiency L2 learners of German as well as high- and low-proficiency L2 learners of Italian. High-proficiency L2 learners in both languages showed the same event-related potential (ERP) components as native speakers for all syntactic violations. For the word category violation, they displayed an early anterior negativity (ELAN), an additional negativity reflecting reference-related processes, and a late P600 evidencing processes of reanalysis. For the processing of the morphosyntactic error, an anterior negativity (LAN) and a P600 were observed, whereas for the combined violation, the same ERP components were found as in the pure category violation. In high-proficiency L2 learners, the timing of the processing steps was equivalent to that of native speakers, although some amplitude differences were present. Low-proficiency L2 learners, however, showed qualitative differences in the agreement violation characterized by the absence of the LAN and quantitative differences reflected in a delayed P600 in every violation condition. These findings emphasize that with a high proficiency, late L2 learners can indeed show native-like neural responses with the timing approximating that of native speakers. This challenges the idea that there are fundamental differences in language processing in the brain between natives and late L2 learners.

English Language Development for Non-Native Pre-Service Teachers

2017 ◽  
pp. 141-163
Author(s):  
Andrew Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Primary School Age ◽  
Communicative Abilities

This chapter is describing a plan for a mentor teacher assisting pre-service teachers during their practicum using English in an Emirati national school. The plan consists of 20 lessons that covers speaking, reading, listening, and writing to Kindergarten to primary school age students (3 – 12 years old). As an educator, the author is constantly looking for ways to enhance student's communicative abilities, especially non-native speakers of English. There is a constant need to provide scaffolding and learning situations to make sure pre-service education students feel comfortable using English language in a classroom setting. This chapter will give background information for people who want to do research into incorrect language usage and its effect on students in the classroom. It also describes an outline for a course to develop language proficiency and confidence to use communicative language in a classroom setting.

scholarly journals Language distance and non-native syntactic processing: Evidence from event-related potentials

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADAM ZAWISZEWSKI ◽  
EVA GUTIÉRREZ ◽  
BEATRIZ FERNÁNDEZ ◽  
ITZIAR LAKA
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
The Third ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Processing Differences ◽  
Head Parameter

In this study, we explore native and non-native syntactic processing, paying special attention to the language distance factor. To this end, we compared how native speakers of Basque and highly proficient non-native speakers of Basque who are native speakers of Spanish process certain core aspects of Basque syntax. Our results suggest that differences in native versus non-native language processing strongly correlate with language distance: native/non-native processing differences obtain if a syntactic parameter of the non-native grammar diverges from the native grammar. Otherwise, non-native processing will approximate native processing as levels of proficiency increase. We focus on three syntactic parameters: (i) the head parameter, (ii) argument alignment (ergative/accusative), and (iii) verb agreement. The first two diverge in Basque and Spanish, but the third is the same in both languages. Our results reveal that native and non-native processing differs for the diverging syntactic parameters, but not for the convergent one. These findings indicate that language distance has a significant impact in non-native language processing.

scholarly journals Does L2 Proficiency Impact L2-L1 Transfer While Reading L1 Collocations? Evidence From Behavioral and ERP Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Otwinowska ◽  
Marta Marecka ◽  
Alba Casado ◽  
Joanna Durlik ◽  
Jakub Szewczyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
English Verb

Multi-word expressions (MWEs) are fixed, conventional phrases often used by native speakers of a given language (L1). The type of MWEs investigated in this study were collocations. For bilinguals who have intensive contact with the second language (L2), collocational patterns can be transferred from the L2 to the L1 as a result of cross-linguistic influence (CLI). For example, bilingual migrants can accept collocations from their L2 translated to their L1 as correct. In this study, we asked whether such CLI is possible in native speakers living in the L1 environment and whether it depends on their L2 English proficiency. To this end, we created three lists of expressions in Polish: (1) well-formed Polish verb-noun collocations (e.g., ma sens – ∗has sense), (2) collocational calques from English (loan translations), where the English verb was replaced by a Polish translation equivalent (e.g., ∗robi sens – makes sense), and, as a reference (3) absurd verb-noun expression, where the verb did not collocate with the noun (e.g., ∗zjada sens – ∗eats sense). We embedded the three types of collocations in sentences and presented them to L1 Polish participants of varying L2 English proficiency in two experiments. We investigated whether L2 calques would (1) be explicitly judged as non-native in the L1; (2) whether they would evoke differential brain response than native L1 Polish equivalents in the event-related potentials (ERPs). We also explored whether the sensitivity to CLI in calques depended on participants’ level of proficiency in L2 English. The results indicated that native speakers of Polish assessed the calques from English as less acceptable than the correct Polish collocations. Still, there was no difference in online processing of correct and calques collocations as measured by the ERPs. This suggests a dissociation between explicit offline judgments and indices of online language processing. Interestingly, English L2 proficiency did not modulate these effects. The results indicate that the influence of English on Polish is so pervasive that collocational calques from this language are likely to become accepted and used by Poles.

scholarly journals First Event-Related Potentials Evidence of Auditory Morphosyntactic Processing in a Subject-Object-Verb Nominative-Accusative Language (Farsi)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Meykadeh ◽  
Arsalan Golfam ◽  
Ali Motie Nasrabadi ◽  
Hayat Ameri ◽  
Werner Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Related Potentials

While most studies on neural signals of online language processing have focused on a few—usually western—subject-verb-object (SVO) languages, corresponding knowledge on subject-object-verb (SOV) languages is scarce. Here we studied Farsi, a language with canonical SOV word order. Because we were interested in the consequences of second-language acquisition, we compared monolingual native Farsi speakers and equally proficient bilinguals who had learned Farsi only after entering primary school. We analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) to correct and morphosyntactically incorrect sentence-final syllables in a sentence correctness judgment task. Incorrect syllables elicited a late posterior positivity at 500–700 ms after the final syllable, resembling the P600 component, as previously observed for syntactic violations at sentence-middle positions in SVO languages. There was no sign of a left anterior negativity (LAN) preceding the P600. Additionally, we provide evidence for a real-time discrimination of phonological categories associated with morphosyntactic manipulations (between 35 and 135 ms), manifesting the instantaneous neural response to unexpected perturbations. The L2 Farsi speakers were indistinguishable from L1 speakers in terms of performance and neural signals of syntactic violations, indicating that exposure to a second language at school entry may results in native-like performance and neural correlates. In nonnative (but not native) speakers verbal working memory capacity correlated with the late posterior positivity and performance accuracy. Hence, this first ERP study of morphosyntactic violations in a spoken SOV nominative-accusative language demonstrates ERP effects in response to morphosyntactic violations and the involvement of executive functions in non-native speakers in computations of subject-verb agreement.

scholarly journals Understanding Aviation English: Challenges and Opportunities in NLP Applications for Indian Languages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saptarshi Paul
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Indian Languages ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Aviation English

English is a language that is understood, spoken and used by citizens of a diverse array of countries. The speakers include both native and non-native speakers of English. NLP or Natural Language Processing on the other hand is a branch of computer science that deals with one of the most challenging aspect that a machine can process: dealing with Natural Languages. Natural languages which have evolved over centuries are complete, diverse and highly complex and thus are challenging for a computer system to understand and process. MT or Machine Translation is a more specific part of NLP that translates one natural language to another (English being one of the major researched and sought after languages among them). Though research in the field of NLP and MT has come a long way and many efficient translators are available, still Translation and other NLP applications in specialized domains such as aeronautics are still today a challenge for NLP researchers and developers to achieve. NLP applications are often used in education of English Language, and are therefore a continuous process for Non-Native speakers of English. Non-native English speakers take help of various NLP tools such as E-Dictionary, MT applications and others to better understand the English language and thus learn it better and faster. Aviation English poses a challenge to MT systems and understanding it as a whole requires specialized handling as it has own phonetic pronunciations and terminologies and constituent Out-Of-Vocabulary words. Dealing with Aviation English calls for teaming up of experts from Applied Linguistics, NLP and AI. As a result it becomes a cross-research discipline that covers situations that demand real time use of proper language, e.g. ATC communications. This Paper aims to discuss most recent research methodologies that deals with the Aviation English and reviews the problems posed by it. Being a specialized and structured form of English, the problems are faced by both native and non-native speakers of English Language. Discussion is carried out in the relevant and recent advances of methods in dealing with aviation English language challenges from both, the Human (ICAO/DGCA/AAI) as well as NLP angle. Lastly we have a look at how these challenges are linked to scope for development of applied technologies. Research in experiential Aviation English situations deals with both English for Specific Purposes - ESP (Aeronautics in our case) as well as situations in English as a Foreign Language i.e. EFL (English-Indian language pair).

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