scholarly journals Beyond Length: Investigating Dependency Distance Across L2 Modalities and Proficiency Levels

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 601-614
Author(s):  
Hengbin Yan ◽  
Yinghui Li
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Production ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
L2 Speaking ◽  
Text Length ◽  
Positive Correlations

AbstractAs an important index of working memory burden and syntactic difficulty, Dependency Distance (DD) has been fruitfully applied in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) to both native and non-native language production. Recent research has focused on DD as a predictor of writing performance across different proficiencies, while the other modality of second language (L2) performance – speaking – has been largely neglected. Moreover, while previous results reported significant positive correlations between DD and writing proficiency, a lack of control for important variables such as sentence/text length may have potentially inflated the outcomes of the analyses. In this study, we examine the effects of DD across the different modalities and proficiency levels, controlling for the effects of text and sentence lengths. Results from statistical analysis show that the mean DD of L2 writing is significantly shorter than L2 speech production, indicating that L2 writing may be a cognitively more demanding task than L2 speaking. Additionally, while significant statistical differences in DD were found across proficiency levels in both L2 writing and speech, the significance disappeared after controlling for sentence and text length. The implications of the present study for future research on DD in SLA are discussed.

Understanding the role of the first language (L1) in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA): Effects of using a principled approach to L1 in the beginner foreign language classroom

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882092188
Author(s):  
María J. de la Fuente ◽  
Carola Goldenberg
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Group Instruction ◽  
L2 Speaking ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Measure Change ◽  
Standardized Measure ◽  
Beginning Learners

This study investigated whether second language (L2) classroom instruction that incorporates a principled approach into the use of the first language (L1) by students and instructors has an effect on beginning learners’ development of L2 speaking and writing proficiency, compared to L2-only instruction, over the course of one semester. Participants were 54 students of Spanish enrolled in six sections of a university-level Elementary Spanish course. The six intact classes, exposed to the same task-based curriculum, were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (–L1 and +L1). For the –L1 group, instruction and interaction were conducted exclusively in the L2, whereas instruction and interaction in the +L1 group included specific uses of the L1. A pretest–posttest design was used to measure change in speaking and writing proficiency. Effects were assessed using the STAMP 4 test, a standardized measure of proficiency. Results indicated that courses under both conditions promoted improvements in speaking and writing. However, students in the +L1 condition improved significantly more than those in the control –L1 group, both in speaking and writing. This points to a potentially more important role for the L1 in the development of an L2. Pedagogical implications are discussed, and directions for further research are offered.

The cross-sectional development of verb–noun collocations as constructions in L2 writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Garner
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Association Strength ◽  
Frequency Diversity ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Part Of Speech

AbstractPrevious studies utilizing association measures for collocation analysis have demonstrated significant differences in second language (L2) collocation production across proficiency levels. However, the association strength measures utilized in these previous studies have neglected part of speech and grammatical information when calculating association strength between collocating words. The current study seeks to address these limitations by defining verb–noun collocations as constructions within the framework of Construction Grammar and analyzing their cross-sectional development in L2 writing. Texts from a corpus of L2 writing evenly divided into low, medium, and high proficiency levels were analyzed for verb–noun collocation frequency, diversity, and association strength using covarying collexeme analysis. Results showed that more proficient writers produced a more diverse range of verb–noun collocations that were less frequent and more positively and strongly associated. These results have clear implications for Usage-based Second Language Acquisition research, L2 collocation development research, and L2 writing pedagogy.

Acquiring variable commands at home and abroad: Examining optatives and imperatives in L1 and L2 Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-113
Author(s):  
Farrah Neumann ◽  
Matthew Kanwit
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Individual ◽  
At Home

AbstractSince many linguistic structures are variable (i. e. conveyed by multiple forms), building a second-language grammar critically involves developing sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1(1). 1–47), including knowledge of contexts in which to use one form over another (Bayley and Langman. 2004. Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 42(4). 303–318). Consequently, researchers interested in such competence have increasingly analyzed the study-abroad context to gauge learners’ ability to approximate local norms following a stay abroad, due to the quality and quantity of input to which learners may gain access (Lafford. 2006. The effects of study abroad vs. classroom contexts on Spanish SLA: Old assumptions, new insights and future research directions. In Carol Klee & Timothy Face (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages, 1–25. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project). Nevertheless, the present study is the first to examine native or learner variation between imperative (e. g. ven ‘come’) and optative Spanish commands (e. g. que vengas ‘come’). We first performed a corpus analysis to determine the linguistic factors to manipulate in a contextualized task, which elicited commands from learners before and after four weeks abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Their overall rates of selection and predictive factors were compared to local native speakers (NSs) and a control group of at-home learners.Results revealed that the abroad learners more closely approached NS rates of selection following the stay abroad. Nonetheless, for both learner groups conditioning by independent variables only partially approximated the NS system, which was more complex than previously suggested.

scholarly journals Syntactical Development on Second Language Writing: A Case of L2 Child Learner on Immersion Experience Abroad

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Hanna Sundari ◽  
Rina Husnaini Febriyanti
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
School Year ◽  
Immersion Experience ◽  
L2 Speaking ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Morphological Processes ◽  
One Year

Development of child language is tremendously complex, remarkable and wondrous. In a second language acquisition context, a child can acquire his second language in either acquiring both languages at the same time or learning the second language after mastering the first one. This present research is concerned to describe the syntactical development particularly for second language writing of an eight-year old child who has experienced immersion abroad for one year in L2-speaking country. The participant is an eight-year old child from Jakarta Indonesia who has experienced immersion environment in Australia for one year. The research will be carried out qualitative naturalistic research design. Not less than 38 documents of participant’s paperwork during her school year were then collected, grouped and analysed. From the findings, it is known that morphological processes on L2 such as affixes and verb changes have emerged. Meanwhile, the findings also show the development on morphemic, phrasal and sentential level on acquiring L2. Some morphemes have been acquired such as the suffix, the changing of verb, the -ing form. Moreover, post-noun prepositional phrases are the most emerged phrases. On sentential level, active declarative sentences are the most frequently appeared. However, some errors and inconsistency also occur indicating the development of her second language.

Exploring Innovation in Second Language Writing Teaching

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Trinh Ngoc Thanh
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Reading Text ◽  
Qualitative Exploration ◽  
Constant Comparative Analysis

A general aim of the present study is to address the issue of what constitutes the concept of innovation from teacher cognition in the context of second language (L2) writing. This study presents a qualitative exploration into the innovative teaching practices of six Vietnamese EFL teachers coming from three emphases of L2 writing teaching instruction: L2 writing teaching with an emphasis on (1) language skills development, (2) reading text comprehension, and (3) focused textual features. Employing constant comparative analysis into finding interpretations, this study sets the focus on exploring the teaching background of the participants and the dimension of how teacher self-efficacy has an influence on teacher implementation of innovative L2 writing teaching practices. Findings from the study suggest patterns of teacher concerns and teacher thinking of in their L2 writing teaching practices. Further implications are discussed in line with future research and teaching development.

THE ASPECT HYPOTHESIS AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 PAST MORPHOLOGY IN THE LAST 20 YEARS

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1167
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig ◽  
Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
The Third

AbstractTwenty years ago, a state-of-the-art review in SSLA marked the coming of age of the study of temporality in second language acquisition. This was followed by three monographs on tense and aspect the next year. This article presents a state-of-the-scholarship review of the last 20 years of research addressing the aspect hypothesis (AH) (Andersen, 1991, 2002; Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996), the most tested hypothesis in L2 temporality research. The first section of the article gives an overview of the AH and examines its central tenets, and then explores the results of empirical studies that test the hypothesis. The second section considers studies that have investigated four crucial variables in the acquisition of temporality and the testing of the AH. The third section discusses theoretically motivated areas of future research within the framework of the hypothesis.

Relativization strategies in SLA

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.

Neurolinguistics and second language teaching: A view from the crossroads

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Rastelli
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Second Language Instruction ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Second Language Teaching ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition

The topic of this article is the link between research on the neurocognition of the teaching–acquisition interface and research on second language teaching. This recent scientific enterprise investigates whether and how different aspects of second language instruction may change both the anatomy and the functioning of an adult learner’s brain even in a short period of time. In this article, I analyse how neurolinguists have operationalized three aspects specifically related to second language teaching: (1) learners’ proficiency; (2) the between-groups experimental design; (3) the implicit vs. explicit teaching dichotomy. I suggest that the degree of replicability of such neurolinguistics studies can be increased by adopting non-circular operational definitions. Such definitions should not be based on psycholinguistic or neurolinguistic metrics, but on standards that are commonly discussed in the literature on instructed second language acquisition, second language teaching, and assessment. Finally, I suggest that for future research neurolinguists should consider the advantages of welcoming on board more developmental linguists and teachers.

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