A many-facet Rasch analysis of the second language group oral discussion task

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Bonk ◽  
Gary J. Ockey
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Oral Discussion

Discussion on Scoring Issues in Second Signed or Spoken Language Assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 329-332
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Ute Knoch ◽  
Wolfgang Mann
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Rater Training ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
New Research

This chapter is a joint discussion of key items related to scoring issues related to signed and spoken language assessment that were discussed in Chapters 9.1 and 9.2. One aspect of signed language assessment that has the potential to stimulate new research in spoken second language (L2) assessment is the scoring of nonverbal speaker behaviors. This aspect is rarely represented in the scoring criteria of spoken assessments and in many cases not even available to raters during the scoring process. The authors argue, therefore, for a broadening of the construct of spoken language assessment to also include elements of nonverbal communication in the scoring descriptors. Additionally, the importance of rater training for signed language assessments, application of Rasch analysis to investigate possible reasons of disagreement between raters, and the need to conduct research on rasting scales are discussed.

Immigrant Children in Infant-Class Interactions

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Resi Damhuis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Immigrant Children ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Verbal Interactions ◽  
Actual Contribution

This article reports on research aimed at identifying ways of improving the contribution of Dutch infant classes to the second language acquisition of nonnative children. Verbal interactions in 15 Dutch infant classes with immigrant children were investigated. Conversations were audiotaped during five types of activity: the pupil-centered conversation, the instructional exchange, the children's group, the small-group-with-teacher, and the special second-language group. Several input and production features, which are assumed to facilitate second language acquisition, were analyzed. Potentially, the special second language group offers the best opportunities for second language acquisition with respect to input and response production; the children's group is the most favorable activity with respect to self-initiated production. Regarding the actual contribution of the five activities to an average infant-class day, however, the children's group offers most of the beneficial interaction for second-language acquisition. Implications for the teaching of young multilingual children are presented.

scholarly journals The comparability of the construct validity of Schepers’ locus of control inventory for first and second language respondents

2004 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Berg ◽  
Michiel Buys ◽  
Pieter Shaap ◽  
Chantal Olckers
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Group ◽  
External Locus ◽  
Internal Locus Of Control ◽  
Confirmatory Factor

The study investigated the construct validity of the Locus of Control Inventory (LCI) for first and second language respondents. The results of confirmatory factor analysis revealed differences in the construct validity of the LCI for the first language (n=357) and second language (n=387) respondents. Item discrimination values, scale reliabilities and factor structures revealed that the three hypothesized domains, (namely external locus of control, internal locus of control and autonomy) underlying the LCI could be confirmed for the first language group, but not for the second language group. Opsomming Die studie het die konstrukgeldigheid van die Lokus van Beheer Vraelys (LBV) vir eerste en tweede taal respondente ondersoek. Die resultate van ‘n bevestigende faktorontleding het verskille in die konstrukgeldigheid van die LBV vir eerste (N=357) en tweede taal (N=387) respondente blootgelê. Itemdiskriminasie waardes, skaalbetroubaarhede en faktorstrukture het onthul dat die drie hipotetiese gebiede, (naamlik eksterne lokus van beheer, interne lokus van beheer en outonomie) wat onderliggend is aan die LBV, bevestig word vir die eerste taal groep maar nie vir die tweede taal groep nie.

Knowledge of gendered sentence-final forms in Japanese as a second language

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Hirofumi Asada ◽  
Michael Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Recognition Test ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Oral Speech

Abstract This study examines the use of gendered sentence-final forms by learners of Japanese as a second language (JSL). Sentence-final forms (SFF) like wa, zo, kashira, etc., are pervasive in Japanese speech, and serve to signal agreement or empathy with the interlocutor and to maintain the ongoing discourse. Although these forms carry no syntactic or semantic meaning, they serve a range of pragmatic functions, including that of marking gender, which is an important distinction in Japanese. In this study the receptive and productive knowledge of gendered forms by advanced JSL learners is examined. Results from a recognition test and an analysis of oral speech samples produced by JSL learners are compared with those of a control group of native Japanese speakers. Three findings emerged. 1) The advanced JSL learners consistently used the same sentence-final forms, which were far fewer in number than those used native speaker counterparts. 2) No clear-cut male-female differences emerged in either language group for most of the forms studied. 3) The productive and receptive responses for both groups differed from traditional classifications of the forms. The implications of the results for JSL pedagogy are discussed.

scholarly journals Foreword

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Nina GOLOB
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
International System ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Comparative Linguistics ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
Aspect Markers

Just before summer, when the air around university is filled with students' adrenalin due to numerous tests, we are pleased to announce our summer ALA issue. It was compiled bearing in mind that the outcome of such efforts is mainly students' of course, however, ours also; the outcome of teachers and researchers. In a very broad sense, this issue places importance on a successful second language pedagogical process, be it readability, pronunciation, generalization and application of grammatical rules, or their methodological issues. It supports the idea that reciprocal improvements on students' as well as teachers' and researchers' sides undoubtedly deliver best results in the language pedagogy as well as in linguistic research. Improvements that build upon expertise and considerable amount of real-life data. Improvements aspired to.Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA in her article analized a collection of Japanese texts which had been linguistically simplified for learners of Japanese as a foreign language, and compared them to their original versions. The main aim of such analysis was to uncover different strategies that are used to make texts more accessible to learners. The author, however, makes some further steps and discusses the application of such strategies to assessing, selecting, and devising texts in a language classroom.  Zuzana POSPĚCHOVÁ offers a detailed introduction to the method of prosodic transcription (PTR) for Standard Chinese established by phonetician Oldřich Švarný. The PTR method has taken several decades to form and it is nowadays a well established way of teaching Chinese prosody in the language courses around the Czech Republic. The article offers a short sample text, students' opinion on PTR, and an outline of the use of PTR in academic research. It concludes with the suggestion that PTR could be an international system of transcription capturing prosodic features worldwide.  The idea in Mateja PETROVČIČ’s article also emerged from her experience with students of Chinese as a second language and their problems in the learning process. She highlights the so called liheci, a special type of Chinese polymorphemic verbs. Such verbs are known to sometimes accept one or more elements to infuse in between their morphemes, however, the author points out that word sketches such as Sketch Engine hardly offer any information on the behaviour of such words. She gives suggestions on how to include them.Liulin ZHANG offers a discussion on the two commonly recognized imperfective aspect markers in Mandarin Chinese zai and着zhe, and argues their qualifications as imperfective aspect markers based on the differences in their origins, historical evolutions, and corpus data. Alexander AKULOV is critical towards the methods in comparative linguistics that base on the characteristics of lexems of the compared languages. He points out that such methods do not suppose verification and therefore allow different, even opposing conclusions. In his article he suggests the comparison of grammars of the languages involved, and by using Prefixation Ability Index (PAI) and Verbal Grammar Correlation Index (VGCI) tackles the problem of Buyeo language group. His findings prove that Japanese and Korean belong to the same language group, and not just to the same language family.     Finally, Pankaj DWIVEDI and Somdev KAR contributed a survey article on a Hindi dialect called Kanauji. The article exposes problems researchers have to deal with on the field when monitoring and documenting spoken language of a certain area, and fitting the findings into concepts such as a language and a dialect. 

Speech and Aural Comprehension of Foreign Students

1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Black ◽  
Sadanand Singh ◽  
Oscar Tosi ◽  
Yukio Takefuta ◽  
Elizabeth Jancosek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Intelligibility Test

Each of three groups of university students for whom English was a second language, 24 Japanese-, 24 Hindi-, and 24 Spanish-speaking students, was divided into subgroups on the basis of efficiency in aural comprehension. All of the students recorded lists from an English-language intelligibility test and short segments of English prose. Three sets of measures were obtained: (a) intelligibility scores, (b) ratings of foreignism in speech, and (c) the amount of vocalized time in a set reading task. The object of the study lay in relating aural comprehension to other manifestations of speech behavior, not in comparing the three groups of students. Relative skill in aural comprehension was found to differentiate each language group in intelligibility, in degree of foreignism, and in vocalized time as well.

scholarly journals A bi-directional task-based corpus of learners’ conversational speech

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Luisa Garcia Lecumberri ◽  
Martin Cooke ◽  
Mirjam Wester ◽  
Martin Cooke ◽  
Mirjam Wester
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Cross Language

Abstract This paper describes a corpus of task-based conversational speech produced by English and Spanish native talkers speaking English and Spanish as both a first and a second language. For cross-language comparability, speech material was elicited using a picture-based task common to each native language group. The bi-directionality of the corpus, stemming from the use of the same speakers and the same language pairing, makes it possible to separate native language factors from the influence of speaking in a first or second language. The potential for studying first language influences and non-native speech using the corpus is illustrated by means of a series of explorations of acoustic, segmental, suprasegmental, and conversational phenomena. These analyses demonstrate the breadth of factors that are amenable to investigation in a conversational corpus and reveal different types of interactions between the first language, the second language, and non-nativeness.

Distinctiveness and Assimilation in Vowel Perception in a Second Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4534-4543
Author(s):  
Wei Hu ◽  
Sha Tao ◽  
Mingshuang Li ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Vowel Identification ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Perceptual Distance ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Chinese Counterpart ◽  
Vowel Categories

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how the distinctive establishment of 2nd language (L2) vowel categories (e.g., how distinctively an L2 vowel is established from nearby L2 vowels and from the native language counterpart in the 1st formant [F1] × 2nd formant [F2] vowel space) affected L2 vowel perception. Method Identification of 12 natural English monophthongs, and categorization and rating of synthetic English vowels /i/ and /ɪ/ in the F1 × F2 space were measured for Chinese-native (CN) and English-native (EN) listeners. CN listeners were also examined with categorization and rating of Chinese vowels in the F1 × F2 space. Results As expected, EN listeners significantly outperformed CN listeners in English vowel identification. Whereas EN listeners showed distinctive establishment of 2 English vowels, CN listeners had multiple patterns of L2 vowel establishment: both, 1, or neither established. Moreover, CN listeners' English vowel perception was significantly related to the perceptual distance between the English vowel and its Chinese counterpart, and the perceptual distance between the adjacent English vowels. Conclusions L2 vowel perception relied on listeners' capacity to distinctively establish L2 vowel categories that were distant from the nearby L2 vowels.

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