scholarly journals Addressing the Problem of Negative Lexical Transfer Errors in Chilean University Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Anthony Dissington
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
First Language Transfer ◽  
Chilean Spanish ◽  
Lexical Errors ◽  
Lexical Transfer

Studies of second language learning have revealed a connection between first language transfer and errors in second language production. This paper describes an action research study carried out among Chilean university students studying English as part of their degree programmes. The study focuses on common lexical errors made by Chilean Spanish-speakers due to negative first language transfer and aims to analyse the effects of systematic instruction and practice of this problematic lexis. It is suggested that raising awareness of lexical transfer through focused attention on common transfer errors is valued by students and seems essential for learners to achieve productive mastery.

scholarly journals Usage-based Approaches to Second Language Acquisition: Cognitive and Social Aspects

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 473
Author(s):  
Yaghoob Javadi ◽  
Fakhereh Kazemirad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Learning Language

Usage-based approaches focus on learning language through engaging in the interpersonal communicative and cognitive processes. They consider language as the best accomplishment of our social and cognitive competences which bridges society and cognition. Based on usage-based approaches, language can be learned from language use, by means of social skills and generalizations over usage events in interaction. These approaches actually explore how language learning occurs through language experience. Therefore, usage-based approaches are input-dependent and experience-driven and assume frequency of usage as an inseparable part of language learning which plays an important role in the language production, language comprehension, and also grammaticality of the patterns. While usage-based approaches have been successful in showing how first language is learnt from the input, it is still less clear how these approaches can be made use of in second language learning. The present study provides an overview of the usage-based approaches to second language acquisition and their cognitive and social underpinnings. Firstly, the notion, underlying tenets, and major constructs of usage-based approaches are summarized. Then usage-based linguistics is described in detail. Finally, cognitive and social aspects of usage-based approaches are taken into account.

A Study of The Lexical and Morpho-Syntactic Errors of Fourah Bay College Students

IJOHMN ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Dr. Momodu Turay
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Written Composition ◽  
First Language Transfer ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
English Usage ◽  
The University ◽  
Lexical Errors

This study investigates the lexical and grammatical errors in the English usage of some Fourah Bay College students at the University of Sierra Leone. Selinker’s Inter-language Theory (1972) and Corder’s Error Analysis Approach (1981) were used as a theoretical framework in examining the learners’ errors. Data were collected by giving the learners a written composition to work on. From the subjects’ essays, lexical and grammatical errors were extracted and categorized. The lexical errors were categorized into first language transfer and learning induced. The grammatical errors were divided into first language transfer, over-generalisation of target language rules, ignorance of target language rules, false concepts hypothesised and universal hierarchy of difficulty. Recommendations were also offered in order to minimize the learners’ errors.

scholarly journals An Investigation of Verb-Forms Errors in the Spoken English of English-Majors and Non-English Majors at Emirates Canadian University College/ U.A.E.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mohammed Hamid Al-Ta’ani
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
English Majors ◽  
English Major ◽  
Lexical Errors

This study aimed at identifying the strategies used by University students in learning English as a second language and their weaknesses in the grammatical and the lexical use of the English verb-forms. A total number of (8) university students were interviewed personally. Interviews were taped and each student’s speech was transcribed in order to be analyzed. The grammatical and the lexical errors were categorized and put to further analysis and investigation which explained the reasons and strategies behind their occurrences. The findings indicated that: - the learners’ errors were developmental and they benefited from instructions, most of the frequent errors were due to interference of the first language and the majority of errors were interlanguages errors, simplification and overgeneralization proved to be the most two widely used strategies in learning a second language and the learners’ motivation to communicate may exceed their motivation to produce grammatically correct sentences. A major conclusion of this study is the need of the English-major students for a remedial course in which they may have the opportunity to practice the basic structures of the English Language. Finally, based on the results of this study some pedagogical implications for English teachers and university instructors, curriculum designers and policy makers were highlighted.

scholarly journals Abstract Lexical Structure in Second Language Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Longxing Wei
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
Predicate Argument Structure ◽  
Different Sources

<em>Different from most previous studies of language transfer phenomena in second language learning which remain at an observational and descriptive level, this study proposes that the major source of language transfer is the interference of first language abstract lexical structure. It assumes that any interlanguage system, like other linguistic systems, has an abstract lexical structure containing several discrete but interacting subsystems: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. Unlike abstract lexical structures in other linguistic systems, the abstract lexical structure in second language learning has different sources. This study claims that any abstract lexical structure in second language learning contains more abstract elements than surface configurations of language, that is, language-specific lemmas underlie lexical entries, and such language-specific lemmas are in contact in second language learning, which can be split and recombined in novel, yet constrained ways in constructing the developing interlanguage system. Some typical instances of language transfer indicate that parts of the abstract lexical structure from first language lexical entries may influence that of the incompletely acquired L2 lexical entries. Thus, successful second language acquisition is driven by the complete acquisition of the abstract lexical structure underlying second language lexical entries.</em>

scholarly journals Interlanguage as an Outcome of Bilingual Systems in Contact

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. p33
Author(s):  
Longxing Wei
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
Abstract Level

Most previous studies of interlanguage regarded commonly observed learner errors as a universal or developmental phenomenon and related language transfer in second language learning to the developing interlanguage system itself. Though language transfer is often defined as one of the processes responsible for interlanguage, the relationship and interaction between the learner’s first language and the target language is largely ignored. This study assumes that any interlanguage system is “composite” in nature because in second language learning several linguistic systems come into contact, and each contributes different amounts to the developing interlanguage system. It further assumes that the bilingual mental lexicon contains abstract elements called “lemmas” about individual lexemes, and lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific and are in contact in interlanguage production. Based on some research findings, this study concludes that language transfer or learner errors in interlanguage production should be understood as lemma transfer of the learner’s first language abstract lexical structure; the developing interlanguage system is driven by an incompletely acquired abstract lexical structure of a target language item. This study treats interlanguage as an outcome of bilingual systems in contact at a rather abstract level to provide an explanatory account of second language acquisition.

scholarly journals LEXICAL ERRORS IN THE ACQUISITION OF THE LATVIAN LANGUAGE AS THE SECOND LANGUAGE AT PRESCHOOL AGE

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 469
Author(s):  
Ingēra Tomme-Jukēvica
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Lexical Errors ◽  
Oral Presentations ◽  
Lexical Transfer

The lexical component plays a significant role in the first stages of language acquisition. However, there has been relatively little research into the lexical errors of young second language learners at preschool age. Moreover, the Russophone children’s Latvian language as a second language has not been analyzed in lexical aspect so far. The aim of this study is to investigate types of lexical errors and the reasons for their occurrence. The data on 12 six-seven year old children, who study L2 (Latvian) in a formal language learning context were collected. Children’s speech (using the author’s compiled vocabulary test for identification of productive skills of single-word vocabulary) was recorded on a dictaphone. Errors were identified, classified and tabulated. The findings illustrate three categories of lexical errors: interlingual (L1-transfer), intralingual (L2-influence) and mutual (both L1- and L2-influence) in the oral presentations of the participants. Semantic, morphological, and phonological types of errors featuring in them were identified. The results imply that children (like adults) learning L2 vocabulary use the strategy of LI (Russian) lexical transfer (e. g., borrowing, coinage) to cope with the lexical difficulties imposed by the new vocabulary. Determination of the particular lexical errors, and establishment of the causes that generate them will help the teacher delimitate their approach to Latvian vocabulary teaching. To prevent children’s errors some recommendations are proposed. It is advisable to devise and incorporate special exercises and activities directed to the practice of problematic lexical areas.

Individual differences predict ERP signatures of second language learning of novel grammatical rules

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily S Nichols ◽  
Marc F Joanisse
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Grammatical Rule ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Anterior Negativity

We investigated the extent to which second-language (L2) learning is influenced by the similarity of grammatical features in one’s first language (L1). We used event-related potentials to identify neural signatures of a novel grammatical rule - grammatical gender - in L1 English speakers. Of interest was whether individual differences in L2 proficiency and age of acquisition (AoA) influenced these effects. L2 and native speakers of French read French sentences that were grammatically correct, or contained either a grammatical gender or word order violation. Proficiency and AoA predicted Left Anterior Negativity amplitude, with structure violations driving the proficiency effect and gender violations driving the AoA effect. Proficiency, group, and AoA predicted P600 amplitude for gender violations but not structure violations. Different effects of grammatical gender and structure violations indicate that L2 speakers engage novel grammatical processes differently from L1 speakers and that this varies appreciably based on both AoA and proficiency.

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