scholarly journals Mandarin learners’ (L2) comprehension of zero anaphora in Mandarin phone conversations

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-217
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Verbal Interaction ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Telephone Conversation ◽  
Direct Address ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Anaphoric Pronouns ◽  
Zero Anaphora ◽  
Narrative Description

AbstractThis article analyzes patterns of comprehension of zero anaphor by native-English-speaker learners of Mandarin in recordings and transcriptions of four naturally occurring Mandarin telephone conversations. Because many anaphoric pronouns have no overt expression in Mandarin, comprehension of even basic clause constituents of Mandarin texts can require discourse-level inferencing that English does not require. Despite these differences between English and Mandarin, intermediate to advanced level Mandarin learners in this study were able to successfully interpret and translate zero anaphor in these telephone conversation texts about 72% of the time. The greatest difficulties with zero anaphor were related to a) instances in which the initial, explicitly expressed antecedent was misinterpreted, and b) shifts in footing, or verbal activity, in which speakers moved, for example, from narrative description to direct address of interlocutor or personal evaluation of a situation just described. These patterns suggest that greater awareness of discourse level structures in naturally occurring verbal interaction – which could be taught through explicit instruction – might help intermediate and advanced Mandarin learners to correctly interpret a broader range of zero anaphora.

scholarly journals Effects of Explicit Instruction on Text Structure in Process Writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 433
Author(s):  
Sachi Oshima
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Text Structure ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Process Writing ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Efl College Students

This study investigates the effectiveness of explicit instruction on text structure in the development of Japanese EFL college students’ English writing skills by examining two research questions: (1) How does students’ writing change after being given lessons on explicit instruction and process writing?; and (2) How do students’ perceptions of English writing change due to process writing and explicit instruction on text structure? Two groups of students were given four lessons on process writing and explicit instruction. While one group of advanced-level students wrote an argumentative essay, the other group with beginner-level students wrote a descriptive essay. The results suggest that explicit instruction on text structure can be a useful means of developing English writing skills regardless of students’ English proficiency levels. Students self-report indicated that their ability to organize ideas was highly improved, and they exhibited positive changes in writing in terms of organization and awareness of readers. 本研究では、EFL環境下にある日本人大学生を対象に、文章構成（text structure）の明示的指導がライティングにどのような効果を有するかを、次の2点について考察し、検証した。（1）プロセスライティングと文章構成の明示的指導により、学習者の英語ライティングはどのように変化するか。（2）プロセスライティングと文章構成の明示的指導により、学習者の英語ライティングに対する認識はどのように変化するか。2グループの学生に対しプロセスライティングと文章構成に関する明示的な指導を4レッスンずつ行った。英語上級者のグループにはargumentative essay（議論型エッセイ）を、初級者のグループにはdescriptive essay（記述型エッセイ）を書かせた。結果、文章構成の明示的指導は、学習者の英語運用能力に関わらず、英語ライティングの向上に効果的であることが分かった。学習者は文章構成力が最も上がったと回答しており、ドラフトにも文章構成力の向上や読み手を意識した文章への変容といった効果が表れた。

scholarly journals Pragmatic Functions of Questions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Samuel Adebayo Omotunde ◽  
Samuel Alaba Akinwotu ◽  
Esther Morayo Dada
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationship ◽  
Verbal Interaction ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Instructional Process ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Asking Questions

Questioning is an instructional process that is not only central to verbal interaction in the classroom but also essential to negotiation of meaning in discourse. Existing studies dealing with functions of questions have only identified few functions which questions perform in discourse probably because the scholars who worked on them have not explored varied situations and contexts which necessitate asking questions whose functions are totally different from the ones already identified in the literature. Hence, the current research investigates the pragmatic functions of questions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. The major advantage of using this source of data is that, it, unlike previous studies which investigate data from premeditated sources, this source provides rich and varied naturally-occurring contexts for asking different questions which perform different functions. The study is driven by insight from the concept of pragmatic competence. On the whole, the research identified nine novel pragmatic functions of questions which have not been documented in the literature. These include questions to indicate annoyance, questions to foster interpersonal relationship, questions to persuade somebody to do something, questions for showing disapproval and so on. These findings implicate that in a bid to build on a learner’s competence in a particular language, such a learner should be introduced to the importance of contexts in determining the function which a particular question is meant to perform in any communicative encounter.

Moche Copper Analyses: Early New World Metal Technology

1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold M. Friedman ◽  
Edward Olsen ◽  
Junius B. Bird
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Copper Metal ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Metallurgical Technology ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Ore Types

AbstractEighteen analyses are presented for 12 different Moche copper pedestal cups. Eight of the cups were made from naturally-occurring copper metal ore; the remaining 4 from copper obtained by smelting of complex oxidized ores. The use of both ore types suggests either a matter of convenience or technology in transition. In general, these people possessed a more advanced level of metallurgical technology than their utilization of primitive naturally-occurring copper metal implies.

Addressing fluctuation in article choice by Japanese learners of L2 English through explicit instruction

10.1558/35594 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-188
Author(s):  
Neal Snape ◽  
Mari Umeda
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Instruction Group ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
One Year ◽  
Study Participants

This study examines the role of explicit instruction in article meanings to L1-Japanese learners of L2-English. An instruction group (n = 21), a control group (n = 16) and a native English speaker group (n = 9) participated in this study. Participants were asked to rate the acceptability of [±definite] and [±specific] sentences on a scale of 1–4 (1 = unacceptable; 4 = acceptable) in relation to a context for pre- and three post-tests. A pre-test was administered to both groups before instruction began and three post-tests were given to both groups. The instruction group received seven, sixty-minute lessons across seven weeks on instruction in the concepts of definiteness and specificity. Post-test 1 was administered to all participants at the end of the instruction period; post-test 2 was given after a twelve-week summer break; post-test 3 was one year after instruction had ended. The findings show that the instruction group made some gains in consolidating their understanding of the concepts during the instruction period, but after one year little explicit knowledge was retained.

Addressing fluctuation in article choice by Japanese learners of L2 English through explicit instruction

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-188
Author(s):  
Neal Snape ◽  
Mari Umeda
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Instruction Group ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
One Year ◽  
Study Participants

This study examines the role of explicit instruction in article meanings to L1-Japanese learners of L2-English. An instruction group (n = 21), a control group (n = 16) and a native English speaker group (n = 9) participated in this study. Participants were asked to rate the acceptability of [±definite] and [±specific] sentences on a scale of 1–4 (1 = unacceptable; 4 = acceptable) in relation to a context for pre- and three post-tests. A pre-test was administered to both groups before instruction began and three post-tests were given to both groups. The instruction group received seven, sixty-minute lessons across seven weeks on instruction in the concepts of definiteness and specificity. Post-test 1 was administered to all participants at the end of the instruction period; post-test 2 was given after a twelve-week summer break; post-test 3 was one year after instruction had ended. The findings show that the instruction group made some gains in consolidating their understanding of the concepts during the instruction period, but after one year little explicit knowledge was retained.

scholarly journals The interactional ecology of homestay experiences: Locating input within participation and membership

2021 ◽  
pp. 026765832110588
Author(s):  
Tim Greer ◽  
Johannes Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Linguistic Input

Study abroad homestays are generally assumed to provide visitors with opportunities to learn language ‘in the wild’ by participating in the host family’s everyday life. Ultimately such participation is accomplished via individual episodes of interaction as the visitor is socialized into the family’s mundane routines and rituals. Building on research into second language interaction in the lifeworlds of learners beyond the classroom, this study considers (1) how interactants in one homestay context draw on a range of ecologically available resources to co-accomplish participation and membership, and (2) how such participation affords the guest with an expanding repertoire of resources, including linguistic elements and new participatory practices. The study uses multimodal conversation analysis (CA) to discuss two extended extracts from naturally occurring interaction collected between a novice L2 English speaker and his homestay family. The analysis suggests that language learning is more complex than the mere provision of linguistic input: new lexical items and practices emerge within the interactants’ respective lifeworlds in relation to locally situated contingencies, and can be occasioned and explained via recourse to a range of material and embodied affordances beyond just language. Input, therefore, is sequentially and ecologically located in the broader business of an ongoing collective sociality and primarily serves the two key interactional imperatives of progressivity and intersubjectivity.

Pathology of Bone Cells in Pigs with Experimental Turbinate Osteoporosis (Atrophic Rhinitis)

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 304-305
Author(s):  
A. W. Fetter ◽  
C. C. Capen
Keyword(s):  
Mucous Membrane ◽  
Bone Cells ◽  
Atrophic Rhinitis ◽  
Infectious Agents ◽  
Metabolic Disturbances ◽  
Progressive Reduction ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Fundamental Cause ◽  
Osteocytic Osteolysis ◽  
Uncertain Etiology

Atrophic rhinitis in swine is a disease of uncertain etiology in which infectious agents, hereditary predisposition, and metabolic disturbances have been reported to be of primary etiologic importance. It shares many similarities, both clinically and pathologically, with ozena in man. The disease is characterized by deformity and reduction in volume of the nasal turbinates. The fundamental cause for the localized lesion of bone in the nasal turbinates has not been established. Reduced osteogenesis, increased resorption related to inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane, and excessive resorption due to osteocytic osteolysis stimulated by hyperparathyroidism have been suggested as possible pathogenetic mechanisms.The objectives of this investigation were to evaluate ultrastructurally bone cells in the nasal turbinates of pigs with experimentally induced atrophic rhinitis, and to compare these findings to those in control pigs of the same age and pigs with the naturally occurring disease, in order to define the fundamental lesion responsible for the progressive reduction in volume of the osseous core.

High Resolution Replication of Organoclay Surfaces

1982 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 576-577
Author(s):  
W. W. Barker ◽  
W. E. Rigsby ◽  
V. J. Hurst ◽  
W. J. Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Clay Mineral ◽  
Organic Molecule ◽  
Organic Molecules ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Xrd Pattern ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Silicate Layers ◽  
Mineral Identification

Experimental clay mineral-organic molecule complexes long have been known and some of them have been extensively studied by X-ray diffraction methods. The organic molecules are adsorbed onto the surfaces of the clay minerals, or intercalated between the silicate layers. Natural organo-clays also are widely recognized but generally have not been well characterized. Widely used techniques for clay mineral identification involve treatment of the sample with H2 O2 or other oxidant to destroy any associated organics. This generally simplifies and intensifies the XRD pattern of the clay residue, but helps little with the characterization of the original organoclay. Adequate techniques for the direct observation of synthetic and naturally occurring organoclays are yet to be developed.

SEM study of the morphological effects of kinetin and zeatin on the growth and development of the apical meristem in wheat

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 978-979
Author(s):  
G. M. Hutchins ◽  
J. S. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
Furfuryl Alcohol ◽  
Apical Meristem ◽  
Plant Cells ◽  
Triticum Aestivum L ◽  
Morphological Development ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Chinese Spring Wheat ◽  
Sem Study ◽  
Moist Environment

Cytokinins are plant hormones that play a large and incompletely understood role in the life-cycle of plants. The goal of this study was to determine what roles cytokinins play in the morphological development of wheat. To achieve any real success in altering the development and growth of wheat, the cytokinins must be applied directly to the apical meristem, or spike of the plant. It is in this region that the plant cells are actively undergoing mitosis. Kinetin and Zeatin were the two cytokinins chosen for this experiment. Kinetin is an artificial hormone that was originally extracted from old or heated DNA. Kinetin is easily made from the reaction of adenine and furfuryl alcohol. Zeatin is a naturally occurring hormone found in corn, wheat, and many other plants.Chinese Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was used for this experiment. Prior to planting, the seeds were germinated in a moist environment for 72 hours.

Fine structure and properties of defects in naturally occurring silicates and oxides

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-461
Author(s):  
David R. Veblen
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
High Resolution Electron Microscopy ◽  
Extended Defects ◽  
Single Chain ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Fine Structures ◽  
Image Simulations ◽  
Similar Crystal Structure

Extended defects and interfaces control many processes in rock-forming minerals, from chemical reactions to rock deformation. In many cases, it is not the average structure of a defect or interface that is most important, but rather the structure of defect terminations or offsets in an interface. One of the major thrusts of high-resolution electron microscopy in the earth sciences has been to identify the role of defect fine structures in reactions and to determine the structures of such features. This paper will review studies using HREM and image simulations to determine the structures of defects in silicate and oxide minerals and present several examples of the role of defects in mineral chemical reactions. In some cases, the geological occurrence can be used to constrain the diffusional properties of defects.The simplest reactions in minerals involve exsolution (precipitation) of one mineral from another with a similar crystal structure, and pyroxenes (single-chain silicates) provide a good example. Although conventional TEM studies have led to a basic understanding of this sort of phase separation in pyroxenes via spinodal decomposition or nucleation and growth, HREM has provided a much more detailed appreciation of the processes involved.

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