Article Pedagogy: Encouraging Links between Linguistic Theory and Teaching Practice

It is two decades since Master (1997) published a framework for second language (L2) article pedagogy, based on several years of research into the acquisition of the English article system. Among his recommendations were a focus on intermediate level learners and a simplification of the rules presented to language learners. Since then, substantial work has been conducted to better understand the underlying reasons why English articles are difficult to acquire by learners with diverse language backgrounds (Ionin et al., 2004; Ionin et al., 2008; Ionin et al., 2009; Ionin et al., 2011; Trenkic, 2008; García Mayo, 2009; amongst others). The results of such research indicate a systematic pattern of errors amongst learners whose first language does not have an article system, with varying theoretical explanations for this systematicity. Despite some intervention studies which have explored the pedagogical implications of this work (Snape and Yusa, 2013; Sabir, 2015; Lopez, forthcoming; Umeda et al., 2017), on the whole theoretical linguistic research in this area has not influenced pedagogy. The aim of this article is to build on the work of Master (1997) by exploring whether the cumulative insights from the last 20 years of research into L2 article acquisition and instruction can help us to better understand the most effective method for teaching the complex uses of the English article system to L2 learners.

Download Full-text

SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS' THEORIES ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263102003042 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 451-480 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

Yuko Goto Butler

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Specific Reference ◽

Making Sense ◽

Article System ◽

English Articles ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge ◽

Qualitative Analyses

Although it is well known that many second language (L2) learners have trouble using articles “properly,” the primary causes of their difficulties remain unclear. This study addresses this problem by examining the metalinguistic knowledge of the English article system that learners employ when selecting articles in a given situation. By doing this, the present study attempts to better understand the process of “making sense” of the English article system by learners who are at different stages in their interlanguage development. Eighty Japanese college students with varying levels of English proficiency participated in this study. Immediately after completing a fill-in-the-article test, a structured interview was conducted to investigate the reasons for their article choices. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal a number of conceptual differences with regard to their considerations of the hearer's knowledge, specific reference, and countability, which may account for learners' errors in article use across different proficiency groups.

Download Full-text

Referential place-holding in Chinese children's acquisition of English articles

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716400006962 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 29-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kang Lee ◽

Catherine Ann Cameron ◽

Murrary J. Linton ◽

Anne K. Hunt

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

First Language ◽

The Other ◽

Definite Article ◽

Indefinite Article ◽

Coding Scheme ◽

English Articles

ABSTRACTThis longitudinal study examines the acquisition of English articles by three 6-year-old, second language learning children whose native tongue is Chinese, a language without articles. Brown's coding scheme and an extended coding scheme were used in scoring the corpora of children's responses to a Syntax Elicitation Task. Results revealed that the Chinese children's acquisition of the definite article differed from- what had been previously found using Brown's coding scheme with English as first language learners and second language learning children of other native language origins. Chinese children's use of the definite article developed through an unmarked phase, a referential place-holding phase, a marked phase, and a referential substitution phase before the definite article was fully acquired. The acquisition of the indefinite article, on the other hand, was similar to the acquisition pattern already reported for children learning English as a first language or as a second language. It is suggested that referential place-holding, as well as referential substitution, might not be a Chinese-specific second language learning phenomenon; rather, they might be derived from a universal referential strategy for learning articles.

Download Full-text

The neural timecourse of American English vowel discrimination by Japanese, Russian and Spanish second-language learners of English

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728921000201 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Valerie L. Shafer ◽

Sarah Kresh ◽

Kikuyo Ito ◽

Miwako Hisagi ◽

Nancy Vidal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Adult Learners ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

American English ◽

First Language ◽

Perceptual Task ◽

Temporal Contrast ◽

Asymmetrical Pattern ◽

Significant Difference

Abstract This study investigated the influence of first language (L1) phoneme features and phonetic salience on discrimination of second language (L2) American English (AE) vowels. On a perceptual task, L2 adult learners of English with Spanish, Japanese or Russian as an L1 showed poorer discrimination of the spectral-only difference between /æ:/ as the oddball (deviant) among frequent /ɑ:/ stimuli compared to AE controls. The Spanish listeners showed a significant difference from the controls for the spectral-temporal contrast between /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ for both perception and the neural Mismatch Negativity (MMN), but only for deviant /ɑ:/ versus /ʌ/ (duration decrement). For deviant /ʌ/ versus /ɑ:/, and for deviant /æ:/ versus /ʌ/ or /ɑ:/, all participants showed equivalent MMN amplitude. The asymmetrical pattern for /ɑ:/ and /ʌ/ suggested that L2 phonetic detail was maintained only for the deviant. These findings indicated that discrimination was more strongly influenced by L1 phonology than phonetic salience.

Download Full-text

Googleology for second language learning

Language Learning in Higher Education ◽

10.1515/cercles-2021-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 453-469

Author(s):

Patrizia Giampieri

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Language Skills ◽

Linguistic Research ◽

Advanced Search ◽

The World ◽

Google Search

Abstract The World Wide Web has often been considered too vast to be consulted for linguistic purposes or for language learning. This paper will explore whether second language learners can be taught how to navigate the web (i.e., how to perform Google linguistic research, or “Googleology”), in order to improve their language skills. To this aim, a 2 h trial lesson was organized. The trial lesson was delivered to 78 apprentices, divided into groups of 10–15, over a period of six months. During the lesson, the participants were taught how to work with Google Advanced Search syntax. At the end of the lesson, they applied the newly-acquired skills by completing a few tasks concerning term and/or collocational search. The paper findings will highlight that, despite initial hesitation or inaccuracies in completing the exercises, the tasks were performed well. The participants considered the lesson interesting, useful and enjoyable. They felt engaged irrespective of the level of their second language (L2) knowledge, and were more confident in approaching Google Search for linguistic purposes.

Download Full-text

Correlation between anxiety factors and level of anxiety in second language reading -with focus on intermediate level Korean language learners-

The Society Of Korean Language And Literature ◽

10.15711/wr.60.0.12 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 60 ◽

pp. 361-393

Author(s):

Hyun-Jin Park

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Intermediate Level ◽

Second Language Reading ◽

Korean Language

Download Full-text

Learning Arabic Through Language of Journalism

Computer-Assisted Language Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7663-1.ch088 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1837-1867

Author(s):

Mai Samir El-Falaky

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Mass Media ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

First Language ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Natural Context ◽

Direct Exposure ◽

Lexical Items

Second language learning requires more than memorizing rules and vocabulary detached from contexts. Language teachers have to encourage the exposure to real context to enable their students to ‘acquire' the language in the same way they acquire their first language. This could entail an unconscious induction called ‘analogy'. Analogy may enable language learners to create neologisms for the purpose of communicating. This could also enable them to obtain a better understanding of lexical items in context. This chapter highlights the benefits of direct exposure to neologisms in journalistic texts, which influences learners' morphological choice. Mass media in general and journalism in particular are thought to be a perfect means of learning any language in its natural context.

Download Full-text

Are orthographic effects language specific? The influence of second language orthography on second language phoneme awareness

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716416000175 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 233-262 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

CAROLYN PYTLYK

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

English Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Intermediate Level ◽

Phoneme Awareness ◽

Counting Task ◽

Phoneme Perception ◽

Two Parameters

ABSTRACTThis research investigated first language (L1) and second language (L2) orthographic effects on L2 phoneme perception. Twenty-five native English learners of Russian (n = 13) and Mandarin (n = 12) participated in an auditory phoneme counting task, using stimuli organized along two parameters: consistency and homophony. The learners more successfully counted phonemes in L2 words with consistent letter–phoneme correspondences (e.g., всё /fsʲɔ/, three letters/three phonemes) than in words with inconsistent correspondences (e.g., звать /zvatʲ/, five letters/four phonemes), indicating that L2 phoneme awareness is influenced by L2 orthography and that orthographic effects are not limited to the L1. In addition, the lack of any L1 homophone effects suggests that L2 orthographic effects overrode any potential L1 orthographic interference for these intermediate-level learners, suggesting orthographic effects may be language specific.

Download Full-text

Relativization strategies in SLA

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/0267658312455424 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 443-476

Author(s):

Eleonora Luzi

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Relative Clauses ◽

First Language ◽

Target Language ◽

Functional Difference ◽

Proficiency Levels ◽

Linguistic Research ◽

L1 Influence ◽

Restrictive Relative Clauses

This article examines the process of acquisition of relative clauses in second language (L2) Italian. Despite the fact that linguistic research clearly evidences a distinction between restrictive relative clauses and non-restrictive relative clauses, second language acquisition studies have so far investigated the acquisition of relative clauses disregarding this fundamental and functional difference. Based on the analysis of oral data of 96 L2 Italian students of two different Common European Framework of Reference proficiency levels (B1 and C2), this study examines occurrences of target language relative clauses and of other strategies of relativization (i.e. coordinated sentences), analysing proficiency and first language (L1) influence on distribution. The significant differences in the distribution of alternative relativization strategies between the two groups and the non-restrictive function of coordinated sentences lead to the hypothesis that there are two distinct patterns of acquisition: one for restrictive and another for non-restrictive relative clauses.

Download Full-text

SECOND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263111000301 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 529-561 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Patti Spinner

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Theoretical Work ◽

Multiple Choice Questions ◽

Grammatical Development ◽

Assessment Measure ◽

Morphosyntactic Development ◽

The One

The purpose of this study is to begin work toward a grammatical assessment measure that could bridge the gap between theoretical work on grammatical development, on the one hand, and tools such as the Michigan Test (which uses multiple-choice questions on vocabulary and grammar) or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages scale (which uses holistic descriptions of grammar use), on the other hand. Such a measure would need to be practical to administer with large groups. Two proposals of grammatical development (processability theory, Pienemann, 1998, 2005; and organic grammar, Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 2006) were applied to short samples of spontaneous production data from 48 adult second-language learners of English from mixed first-language backgrounds. The rapid profile scale successfully accounted for the learners’ development but is of somewhat limited use with short samples of data. The organic grammar placement scale may need to be further refined, but it includes important indicators of grammatical development. A preliminary proposal for using a combined measure with a rubric is presented.

Download Full-text

Reading strategy training in second language contexts

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/aral.16.1.05cot ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 71-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sara Cotterall

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Learning Difficulties ◽

Reading Strategy ◽

Strategy Training ◽

Learning Context

Strategy training appears to be a promising means of assisting second language learners. However, strategy training operates within a context. If factors in that context are not considered, the training will not be successful. This paper discusses a number of insights highlighted by a reading strategy training study conducted in a second language (L2) setting. It cautions against the uncritical adoption of strategy training as a panacea for learning difficulties, and stresses the importance of recognising and taking account of factors in the second language learning context which may suggest modifications to procedures carried out successfully in first language (L1) settings.

Download Full-text