The Xu-Based Approach to Second Language Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Chinese Word ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Key Points

Abstract This special issue provides an overview of the xu-argument, a newly emerging view on language acquisition. The view is new in that it makes two key points: i) language is acquired through xu, a Chinese word with a composite meaning of completion, extension and creation (CEC) (Wang, 2016), and ii) high efficiency in learning a language is achieved by xu. Using a single word to capture the highly complex human endowment of language learning might be too ambitious an attempt. Convincing justifications and supporting evidence are needed to verify this claim, as the papers in this issue are intended to do.

The Starting Big approach to language learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Inbal ARNON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Multiword Units ◽  
Coarse To Fine

Abstract The study of language acquisition has a long and contentious history: researchers disagree on what drives this process, the relevant data, and the interesting questions. Here, I outline the Starting Big approach to language learning, which emphasizes the role of multiword units in language, and of coarse-to-fine processes in learning. I outline core predictions and supporting evidence. In short, the approach argues that multiword units are integral building blocks in language; that such units can facilitate mastery of semantically opaque relations between words; and that adults rely on them less than children, which can explain (some of) their difficulty in learning a second language. The Starting Big approach is a theory of how children learn language, how language is represented, and how to explain differences between first and second language learning. I discuss the learning and processing models at the heart of the approach and their cross-linguistic implications.

Word Concreteness and Word Translatability: Relations and Implications for Second Language Acquisition

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Hu ◽  
Lili Tian
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Chinese Word ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Word Concreteness

AbstractThis study examined the relation between word concreteness and word translatability. Translatability was operationalized in terms of both lexical and semantic cross-transparency. Two separate scales were used to measure the level of concreteness of 123 target English words and their translatability into Chinese. The results of this study showed that word concreteness and translatability are significantly correlated, and that word concreteness determines the extent of semantic closeness between the translation of English and Chinese word pairs. Concreteness might be a variable that influences how translatable a word is between English and Chinese. However, this influence mainly applies to the semantic cross-transparency between the two languages, not the lexical cross-transparency. A link was proposed between the levels of translatability of a translation pair according to concreteness and associated properties. The paper also discusses the implications of the findings for second language learning and teaching, in particular the “translation effect” and teachers’ “codeswitching” behavior.

Language Ideology and Second Language Learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 95-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa McGarry
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Ideology ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Explanatory Power

AbstractThe increasing recognition of the concept language ideology and the corresponding increasing use of the term have not yet been matched by applications in the field of second language acquisition. However, applications of the concept in analysis of actual classroom practices have shown it to have considerable explanatory power. Greater consideration of language ideology in SLA is necessary not only to achieve greater understanding of the role of ideology in various areas but also to show connections between these areas that may yield important generalizations and to impel the application of the concept in areas where it has been neglected by highlighting its uneven treatment.

scholarly journals An Overview of Motivation: The Challenges and the Importance of Motivation for Second Language Acquisition

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Mahdikhani
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Affective Filter ◽  
Strategy Model ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Reinforcement Model ◽  
Knowledge Communication

<p>The importance of the learner's attitudes and motivation plays a major role for most psycholinguists, either in a language learning situation or in a second language acquisition context. A quick look at the major theories of language acquisition can be helpful to establish this. Krashen's monitor model argues attitudes and motivation most influential in unconscious language acquisition. The learner's motivational level acts as an affective filter on language intake (Krashen 1981, p. 102). In another model language learning begins when the learner feels motivated to communicate something to someone (see Carroll's conscious reinforcement model, 1981). Reinforcement takes place when the desired end is obtained. Bialystok's strategy model (1978) demonstrates that it can be assumed that learners will seek language exposure only if they feel motivated. Therefore, using their explicit and/or implicit knowledge, communication will take place. This study investigates the challenges and the importance of motivation for second language learning or SL acquisition.</p>

What Causes Avoidance in L2 Learning

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Batia Laufer ◽  
Stig Eliasson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Intrinsic Complexity ◽  
Main Factor

Among the structural and lexical factors claimed to account for avoidance in second language learning are (a) cross-linguistic difference, (b) cross-linguistic similarity, and (c) intrinsic complexity of the second language features avoided. This paper examines patterns of avoidance and preference for phrasal verbs or equivalent single-word verbs among Swedish learners of English. We assumed that if the subjects avoided English phrasal verbs, particularly the figurative ones, even though phrasal verbs exist in Swedish, this would indicate that inherent semantic difficulty of second language forms was the main factor contributing to the avoidance behavior. If, on the other hand, the learners did not show any preference for one-word verb forms in English, or indeed favored the phrasal forms, this would support the assumption that avoidance or nonavoidance depends largely on differences or similarities between the native and the foreign language.A multiple-choice test and a translation test were given to two groups of advanced Swedish-speaking learners of English. Each test consisted of 20 sentences, allowing for the choice of either a phrasal or a synonymous single-word verb. The test answers showed that the Swedish learners avoided neither phrasal verbs in general nor the figurative ones in particular, regardless of whether the verbs were similar to, or different from, their Swedish translation equivalents. Furthermore, the results were compared to the avoidance patterns of a group of advanced Hebrew-speaking learners of English. From the comparison it emerged that the Swedish learners usedsignificantly more phrasal verbs than the Israelis, notably figurative ones. These results suggest that the avoidance is determined more by a systemic incongruence between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) than by the inherent difficulty of L2 forms.

Symposium – Perspectives on Motivation for Second Language Learning on the 50th Anniversary of Gardner & Lambert (1959)

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter MacIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
Canadian Association

Held at the Association canadienne de linguistique appliquée/Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics Conference, Ottawa, Canada; 28 May 2009.With the 50th anniversary of Robert C. Gardner and Wallace Lambert's seminal paper ‘Motivational variables in second language acquisition’ (Gardner & Lambert 1959), we paused to reflect on the contributions the work has inspired and the state of the art in the study of motivation research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document