scholarly journals Can we repeat what we do not say in L2?

2021 ◽  
pp. 164-182
Author(s):  
Jogilė Teresa Ramonaitė
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Repetition Task ◽  
General Inability

The paper analyzes the results of a sentence repetition task performed by Lithuanian L2 speakers of different language proficiency levels. This paper focuses on a set of targeted verb forms included in the task because they are less likely to occur in free production. The different forms the speakers produced are analyzed by considering their correspondence (or not) to the targeted form, by comparing the speakers among each other with respect to their learner variety and by comparing the task results to the repertoire of the same speaker in the free production data. In multiple cases of failed re-production, the analysis examines what the targeted forms were substituted with and tries to identify possible reasons for such substitution. This analysis confirms the general inability of the basic variety speakers to distinguish between morphologically different forms and the dominant trend showing that L2 learners are more meaning-focused than form-focused. The analysis also shows growing implicit knowledge, or at least gradual passive acquisition, of the less frequent forms as the speaker advances in the post-basic continuum.

scholarly journals An investigation of non-standard english syntax in 12-year old coloured children

1981 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen C. Malan
Keyword(s):  
Language Assessment ◽  
Standard English ◽  
White Children ◽  
Matched Group ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
English Syntax ◽  
Repetition Task

Non-standard English (NSE) syntactic constructions occurring in the natural speech, behaviour of a group of 20 12-year old Coloured children were identified  and analysed. Three syntactic classes were isolated as having contained NSE constructions used significantly  by the group: auxiliary/copula verb forms, number-verb agreement and tense. A bi-dialectal sentence repetition task was then adminstered to the same group and to a matched group of White children, in which the two groups were compared on their ability to reproduce sentences containing (1) NSE constructions used significantly by the Coloured group, and (2) the standard English (SE) forms of these constructions. Results indicated that while Coloured Ss were able to reproduce many of the SE constructions, their overall performance  on these items was significantly inferior  to that of  White Ss. Conversely, their repetition of  NSE items was significantly  superior to that of  White Ss. The implications of these findings for the clinical language assessment of Coloured children were discussed.

scholarly journals Lithuanian Pedagogic Corpus: Correlations Between Linguistic Features and Text Complexity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Boizou ◽  
Jolanta Kovalevskaitė ◽  
Erika Rimkutė
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Text Complexity ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Finite Verb

This paper discusses the problem of automatic CEFR (CEFR – Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions.) level assignment to texts. We address the correlations between the lexical, morphological and syntactic features and the different CEFR levels of the texts in the Lithuanian Pedagogic Corpus. Only the texts from coursebooks showed the correlation of investigated linguistic features with text complexity. In the coursebook sub-part of the corpus, we observed that higher language proficiency levels are associated with more complex linguistic features: their number increases in texts of higher CEFR levels from A1 to B2 (e.g., non-finite verb forms, participles, adverbial participles and half participles, dative and instrumental noun cases or longer sentences).

Constructions at work in foreign language learners’ mind

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Annalisa Baicchi ◽  
Paolo Della Putta
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Mind

Abstract This article reports empirical evidence of constructional priming effects in L2 learners of English and Italian. The well-known pioneering experiment carried out by Bencini and Goldberg (2000) with L1 speakers of English paved the way for our investigation. We employed the same protocol to ascertain whether constructions have an ontological status also in the mind of L2 learners. We conducted experiments with four groups of learners whose language proficiency levels correspond to the B1 and B2 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The results we obtained in our cross-linguistic experiments demonstrate that learners are reliant on constructional templates when they are required to produce linguistic generalizations.

scholarly journals Language experience in LSF development: Behavioral evidence from a sentence repetition task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0236729
Author(s):  
Caroline Bogliotti ◽  
Hatice Aksen ◽  
Frédéric Isel
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Theoretical Description ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
Language Modality ◽  
Repetition Task

In psycholinguistics and clinical linguistics, the Sentence Repetition Task (SRT) is known to be a valuable tool to screen general language abilities in both spoken and signed languages. This task enables users to reliably and quickly assess linguistic abilities at different levels of linguistic analysis such as phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax. To evaluate sign language proficiency in deaf children using French Sign Language (LSF), we designed a new SRT comprising 20 LSF sentences. The task was administered to a cohort of 62 children– 34 native signers (6;09–12 years) and 28 non-native signers (6;08–12;08 years)–in order to study their general linguistic development as a function of age of sign language acquisition (AOA) and chronological age (CA). Previously, a group of 10 adult native signers was also evaluated with this task. As expected, our results showed a significant effect of AOA, indicating that the native signers repeated more signs and were more accurate than non-native signers. A similar pattern of results was found for CA. Furthermore, native signers made fewer phonological errors (i.e., handshape, movement, and location) than non-native signers. Finally, as shown in previous sign language studies, handshape and movement proved to be the most difficult parameters to master regardless of AOA and CA. Taken together, our findings support the assumption that AOA is a crucial factor in the development of phonological skills regardless of language modality (spoken vs. signed). This study thus constitutes a first step toward a theoretical description of the developmental trajectory in LSF, a hitherto understudied language.

A novel approach to assessing language proficiency in adults: A pre-pilot classification accuracy study

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692199945
Author(s):  
Amy Louise Schwarz ◽  
Maria Resendiz ◽  
Laura Catarina Herrera ◽  
Maria Diana Gonzales
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Likelihood Ratios ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Accuracy Study

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Speech–language pathologists who speak more than one language and who are members of the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association self-identify in one yes/no question whether they have the proficiency level to be bilingual service providers. This research note describes a preliminary attempt to address the very practical issue of whether and in what circumstances Spanish–English bilinguals can accurately judge their proficiency levels in both languages. The research question is: Will bilingual adults accurately identify their first language and second language proficiency levels using a self-assessment when compared to a commonly used standardized norm-referenced test (SNRT) in both formal and informal contexts across the following outcome measures: (a) overall proficiency; (b) listening; (c) speaking; (d) reading; and (e) writing? Design/methodology/approach: Classification accuracy studies require at least 34 participants. Thirty-nine participants completed the commonly used Language Use Questionnaire (LUQ) self-assessment and the commonly used Woodcock–Muñoz Language Survey SNRT (WMLS-III). For this pre-pilot study, participants were Spanish–English bilingual university students. Data and analysis: Forty likelihood ratios (LRs) were calculated. Benchmarks for interpreting LRs for classification accuracy studies were applied to identify the likelihood of an individual being proficient or non-proficient in two languages. Findings/conclusions: For the overall proficiency and formal speaking proficiency outcomes in Spanish, positive LRs met the benchmark for strong agreement. Originality: The current study is the first to show that Spanish–English bilingual adults can accurately judge their Spanish proficiency levels for two specific outcome measures. Significance/implications: These results are important for two reasons. First, they suggest that Spanish–English bilingual adults can accurately judge their overall proficiency levels in Spanish. Second, they identify which outcome measures from the LUQ and WMLS-III should be considered in a future classification accuracy study.

scholarly journals Auditory Processing of Gender Agreement across Relative Clauses by Spanish Heritage Speakers

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Daniel Vergara ◽  
Gilda Socarrás
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

Processing research on Spanish gender agreement has focused on L2 learners’ and—to a lesser extent—heritage speakers’ sensitivity to gender agreement violations. This research has been mostly carried out in the written modality, which places heritage speakers at a disadvantage as they are more frequently exposed to Spanish auditorily. This study contributes to the understanding of the differences between heritage and L2 grammars by examining the processing of gender agreement in the auditory modality and its impact on comprehension. Twenty Spanish heritage speakers and 20 intermediate L2 learners listened to stimuli containing two nouns with gender mismatches in the main clause, and an adjective in the relative clause that only agreed in gender with one of the nouns. We measured noun-adjective agreement accuracy through participants’ responses to an auditory task. Our results show that heritage speakers are more accurate than L2 learners in the auditory processing of gender agreement information for comprehension. Additionally, heritage speakers’ accuracy is modulated by their Spanish language proficiency and age of onset. Participants also exhibit higher accuracies in cases in which the adjective agrees with the first noun. We argue that this is an ambiguity resolution strategy influenced by the experimental task.

Effects of Sentence Structure on Sentence Elicited Imitation Responses

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Carol Hudgins ◽  
Walter L. Cullinan
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Repetition Task

This study investigates the effects of sentence structure on the number of error sentences and response latency in a sentence-repetition task. Forty female college students repeated short and long test sentences containing either a single self-embedded or right-branching subject-focus or object-focus relative clause. Sentences were also controlled for deletion of the relative pronoun of the relative clause. Sentence structure was found to affect sentence elicited imitation response accuracy and latency in a manner similar to the effects of structure on ease of comprehension. The findings are consistent with a canonical-sentoid strategy explanation of sentence processing during sentence imitation.

Querying a Static and Dynamic Learner Corpus

2018 ◽  
pp. 494-511
Author(s):  
Trude Heift ◽  
Catherine Caws
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
User Group ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Call System ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Activity Types ◽  
Cyclical Process

This chapter discusses the cyclical process of collecting and recycling learner data within the E-Tutor CALL system and presents a study on student usage of its data-driven learning (DDL) tool. E-Tutor consists of a static and dynamic learner corpus for L2 learners of German. The static learner corpus has been constructed from approximately 5000 learners who used the system over a period of five years. These learners provided millions of submissions from a variety of activity types. In addition, all concurrent E-Tutor users contribute data to a dynamic corpus, which allows them to compare and examine their ongoing system submissions to those contained in the static corpus. The authors conducted a study with 84 learners and recorded their interaction with the DDL tool of E-Tutor over one semester. Study results on student usage suggest that investigating sample input of a large, unknown user group might be less informative and of less interest to language learners than their own data. For the DDL tool to be useful for all proficiency levels, training and scaffolding must also be provided.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Second Language Categorisation of the English Article Construction

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
English Articles

This study examines the emergent cognitive categorisation of the English article construction among second language (L2) learners. One hundred and fourteen Mandarin-L1 learners of English, divided into two L2 proficiency levels (low-to-intermediate and advanced), were measured by a computer-based cloze test for the accuracy and response time of appropriate use of English articles in sentential contexts. Results showed that when learners acquired the polysemous English article construction they demonstrated stronger competence in differentiating individual form-function mappings in the article construction. L2 learners’ patterns of article construction usage were shaped by semantic functions. Learners performed better on the definiteness category than on the non-definiteness categories, suggesting that learners were sensitive to the prototypicality of nominal grounding. Advanced learners demonstrated an increased sensitivity to semantic idiosyncrasy, but they lacked contextualised constructional knowledge. Competition among the functional categories and restructuring of functional categories are important ways of regularization that learners go through to acquire semantically complex systems such as articles.

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