The role of L1 reading direction on L2 perceptual span: An eye-tracking study investigating Hindi and Urdu speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110497
Author(s):  
Leigh B Fernandez ◽  
Ricarda Bothe ◽  
Shanley EM Allen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Moving Window ◽  
Perceptual Span ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Saccade Length ◽  
Reading Direction ◽  
The Right

In the current study we used the gaze-contingent moving window paradigm to directly compare the second language (L2) English perceptual span of two groups that speak languages with essentially the same lexicon and grammar but crucially with different writing directions (and scripts): Hindi (read left to right) and Urdu (read right to left). This is the first study to directly compare first language (L1) speakers of languages that differ primarily in reading direction in a common L2, English. While Urdu speakers had a slightly faster reading rate, we found no additional differences between Hindi and Urdu speakers when reading L2 English; both groups showed a perceptual span between 9 and 11 characters to the right of the fixation based on saccade length. This suggests little to no influence of L1 reading direction on L2 perceptual span, but rather that L2 perceptual span is influenced by allocation of attention during reading. Our data are in line with research by Leung et al. (2014) finding that L2 speakers have a smaller perceptual span than native speakers (L1 perceptual span is approximately 15 characters to the right of the fixation). This most likely stems from the increased demands associated with reading in a second language, which led to a reduction in the amount of attention that can be allocated outside of the current fixation.

The role of orthotactic probability in incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition L1 and L2

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denisa Bordag ◽  
Amit Kirschenbaum ◽  
Maria Rogahn ◽  
Erwin Tschirner
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Intentional Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
L1 And L2

Four experiments were conducted to examine the role of orthotactic probability, i.e. the sequential letter probability, in the early stages of vocabulary acquisition by adult native speakers and advanced learners of German. The results show different effects for orthographic probability in incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition: Whereas low orthographic probability contributed positively to incidental acquisition of novel word meanings in first language (L1), high orthographic probability affected positively the second language (L2) intentional learning. The results are discussed in the context of the following concepts: (1) triggering the establishment of a new representation, (2) noticing of new lexemes during reading, and (3) vocabulary size of the L1 and L2 mental lexicons.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF ACOUSTIC CUES AND LISTENER PROFICIENCY IN THE PERCEPTION OF ACCENT IN NONNATIVE SOUNDS

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Anna Eger ◽  
Eva Reinisch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Production Quality ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Minimal Pairs

AbstractThe speech of second language learners is often influenced by phonetic patterns of their first language. This can make them difficult to understand, but sometimes for listeners of the same first language to a lesser extent than for native listeners. The present study investigates listeners’ awareness of the accent by asking whether accented speech is not only more intelligible but also more acceptable to nonnative than native listeners. English native speakers and German learners rated the goodness of words spoken by other German learners. Production quality was determined by measuring acoustic differences between minimal pairs with “easy” versus “difficult” sounds. Higher proficient learners were more sensitive to differences in production quality and between easy and difficult sounds, patterning with native listeners. Lower proficient learners did not perceive such differences. Perceiving accented productions as good instances of L2 words may hinder development because the need for improvement may not be obvious.

scholarly journals First language polysemy affects second language meaning interpretation: evidence for activation of first language concepts during second language reading

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerrie E. Elston-Güttler ◽  
John N. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Critical Condition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Response Times ◽  
First Language ◽  
Word Type ◽  
Second Language Reading ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Meaning Interpretation

The present study investigates the influence of first language (L1) lexicalization patterns on the processing of second language (L2) words in sentential contexts by advanced German learners of English. The focus was on cases where a polysemous word in the L1 is realized by independent words in the L2, e.g. German Blase realized by English bubble and blister. An anomaly detection task was used in which participants had to indicate whether a target word formed an acceptable completion to a sentence. The critical condition was where the other sense ( blister) of the translation equivalent Blase was appropriate, but the word ( bubble) did not complete the sentence meaningfully, e.g. 'His shoes were uncomfortable due to a bubble.' This was compared to a control condition in which neither sense of the L1 translation made sense, e.g. 'She was very hungry because of a bubble.' Factors of word type (noun vs. verb) and degree of relatedness of L1 senses (high vs. moderate) were also manipulated. Relative to native speakers of English, advanced German learners made more errors and displayed longer correct response times in the critical condition compared to the control condition. An effect of meaning relatedness was obtained for nouns but not verbs. The results are discussed in terms of the role of lexical-level translation connections in activating L1 concepts from L2 words, even in highly proficient learners and in all-L2 tasks.

Transfer effects in learning a second language grammatical gender system

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sabourin ◽  
Laurie A. Stowe ◽  
Ger J. de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Similar System ◽  
Gender System ◽  
L1 And L2

In this article second language (L2) knowledge of Dutch grammatical gender is investigated. Adult speakers of German, English and a Romance language (French, Italian or Spanish) were investigated to explore the role of transfer in learning the Dutch grammatical gender system. In the first language (L1) systems, German is the most similar to Dutch coming from a historically similar system. The Romance languages have grammatical gender; however, the system is not congruent to the Dutch system. English does not have grammatical gender (although semantic gender is marked in the pronoun system). Experiment 1, a simple gender assignment task, showed that all L2 participants tested could assign the correct gender to Dutch nouns (all L2 groups performing on average above 80%), although having gender in the L1 did correlate with higher accuracy, particularly when the gender systems were very similar. Effects of noun familiarity and a default gender strategy were found for all participants. In Experiment 2 agreement between the noun and the relative pronoun was investigated. In this task a distinct performance hierarchy was found with the German group performing the best (though significantly worse than native speakers), the Romance group performing well above chance (though not as well as the German group), and the English group performing at chance. These results show that L2 acquisition of grammatical gender is affected more by the morphological similarity of gender marking in the L1 and L2 than by the presence of abstract syntactic gender features in the L1.

THE ROLE OF THE FIRST LANGUAGE IN SECOND LANGUAGE READING

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Upton ◽  
Li-Chun Lee-Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second Language Reading ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Comprehension Process

Reading in a second language (L2) is not a monolingual event; L2 readers have access to their first language (L1) as they read, and many use it as a strategy to help comprehend an L2 text. Owing to difficulties in observing the comprehension process, little research has been conducted to determine what role the L1 plays in the reading strategies of L2 readers. Using think-aloud protocols and retrospective interviews with 20 native speakers of Chinese and Japanese at three levels of language proficiency studying in the United States, this study explores further the question of when L2 readers use their L1 cognitive resources and how this cognitive use of the L1 helps them comprehend an L2 text. We conclude by suggesting that the results support a sociocultural view of the L2 reading process.

scholarly journals AN ALIEN LANGUAGE IN THE HOME DOMAIN: A CASE STUDY OF A CHILD WHO CANNOT SPEAK THE PARENT’S LANGUAGE

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Siwi Tri Mawarni
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Specific Information

Children are the best learners of language because they can hear and distinguish all sounds. Interestingly, children can no longer speak their first language and then lose the first language (Indonesian). However, she speaks English as a second language while their parents cannot speak English. This study aims to reveal how this could happen and how she communicates with interlocutors in the home domain. The qualitative method was employed through the Interview with the participating individuals to gain specific information. The result shows that because of factors of age and the role of technology. The finding is Ag, 7 years old, could speak Indonesian. Because of the role of technology and almost every day she watched videos on YouTube, she began slightly lost the ability to speak Indonesian. Moreover, the findings also reveal how she communicates with interlocutors in the home domain who are not native speakers using verbal and nonverbal communication. The finding suggests that children learn new languages is good. However, parents do not forget to always communicate with their children using their parent language not to lose their first language

scholarly journals Studying individual differences in the social environment to better understand language learning and processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Social

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.

The processing of case in near-native Spanish

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Jegerski
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Case Markers ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

This article reports a study that sought to determine whether non-native sentence comprehension can show sensitivity to two different types of Spanish case marking. Sensitivity to case violations was generally more robust with indirect objects in ditransitive constructions than with differential object marking of animate direct objects, even among native speakers of Spanish, which probably reflects linguistic differences in the two types of case. In addition, the overall outcome of two experiments shows that second language (L2) processing can integrate case information, but that, unlike with native processing, attention to a case marker may depend on the presence of a preverbal clitic as an additional cue to the types of postverbal arguments that might occur in a stimulus. Specifically, L2 readers showed no sensitivity to differential object marking with a in the absence of clitics in the first experiment, with stimuli such as Verónica visita al/el presidente todos los meses ‘Veronica visits the[ACC/NOM]president every month’, but the L2 readers in the second experiment showed native-like sensitivity to the same marker when the object it marked was doubled by the clitic lo, as in Verónica lo visita al/el presidente todos los meses. With indirect objects, on the other hand, sensitivity to case markers was native-like in both experiments, although indirect objects were also always doubled by the preverbal clitic le. The apparent first language / second language contrast suggests differences in processing strategy, whereby non-native processing of morphosyntax may rely more on the predictability of forms than does native processing.

Assessing the Role of Selective Fossilization Hypothesis in Determining Fossilizable Phonetic Errors in Tunisian EFL Learners’ Oral Output

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Aicha Rahal ◽  
Chokri Smaoui
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
First Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Phonetic Errors ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

Fossilization is said to be a distinctive characteristic of second language (L2) learning (Selinker, 1972, 1996; Han, 2004). It is the most pervasive among adult L2 learners (Han and Odlin, 2006). This linguistic phenomenon has been characterized by cessation of learning, even though the learner is exposed to frequent input. Based on the findings of the MA dissertation of the first researcher which is about ‘phonetic fossilization’ and where she conducted a longitudinal study, Han’s Selective Fossilization Hypothesis (SFL) is used to analyze the obtained fossilized phonetic errors in relation to L1 markedness and L2 robustness with a particular focus on fossilized vowel sounds. This is an analytical model for identifying both acquisitional and fossilizable linguistic features based on learners’ first language (L1) markedness and second language (L2) robustness. The article first gives an overview of the theory of Interlanguage and the phenomenon of fossilization. Then, it introduces SFL. This is an attempt to study fossilization scientifically. In other words, it tests the predictive power of a developed L1 Markedness and L2 Robustness rating scale based on Han’s (2009) model. The present study has pedagogic implications; it is an opportunity to raise teachers’ awareness on this common linguistic phenomenon.

First language effects on the identification and evaluation of second language speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Anne-France Pinget
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Aptitude ◽  
Content Type ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
Language Effects

Abstract In Belgium, Dutch as spoken by Francophone learners is relatively frequent in political, commercial or educational contexts. While the characteristics of this second language (L2) variety have been studied extensively, there is to date no systematic report of how it is evaluated by either native speakers of Dutch or non-natives. Previous studies conducted in other language contexts have found that non-natives tend to be very critical towards L2 accents similar to their own. The main goal of the present study is to investigate the extent to which the listener’s first language (L1) impacts ratings of the fluency, accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 Dutch as spoken by Francophone learners and how it impacts the identification of the speakers’ L1. Specifically, we compared ratings by three groups of listeners: Francophone learners of Dutch, native speakers of Belgian Dutch and native speakers of Netherlandic Dutch. Moreover, the extent to which three additional cognitive and environmental factors influence L2 ratings is examined: listeners’ familiarity with the L2 variety, their language aptitude and language proficiency. The results show that the majority of native and non-native listeners recognized the speakers’ L1 (French). Non-native listeners perceived L2 speech as less fluent, less comprehensible and more accented than natives did, which corroborates the previously reported critical attitudes towards a shared L2 accent. Moreover, subtle differences in accent and fluency ratings were found between the Netherlandic Dutch and the Belgian Dutch listeners. No clear effects of other cognitive and environmental factors appeared in the ratings.

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