scholarly journals GENDER DIFFERENCE OF ELEMENTARY LEVEL L2 LEARNERS

LITERA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-261
Author(s):  
Gharizi Matiini

The study aims to seek the difference of language abilities between male and female young learners. The previous studies have already given plenty of proofs that there are some boundaries between male and female Language learners in achieving language ability. However, there are only few studies looking for gender difference of language ability in younger L2 learners. The present study used two young learners as the participants and the data is collected only in spoken language. Therefore, the data analysis only focused on the verbal ability and the use of linguistic device. The study found that male learner was more fluent in speaking L2 than the female one. He produced more words and used more in sentence conjunction than the female learner did. He also talked smother and more detail than the female leaner. However, both learners were equal in using intensifier. To be concluded, though many studies stated that female learners master L2 quicker than male learner, it might be different when it comes to the younger level L2 learners. Here, both male and female learners had balance level of ability of L2 learning.Keywords: gender difference, young L2 learner, language ability

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-563
Author(s):  
SIRKKU LESONEN ◽  
RASMUS STEINKRAUSS ◽  
MINNA SUNI ◽  
MARJOLIJN VERSPOOR

ABSTRACTIt is assumed from a usage-based perspective that learner language constructions emerge from natural language use in social interaction through exemplar learning. In L1, young learners have been shown to develop their constructions from lexically specific, formulaic expressions into more productive, abstract schemas. A similar developmental path has been shown for L2 development, with some exceptions. The aim of the current study is to explore to what extent the default assumption holds for L2 learning. The development of two constructions was traced in four adults learning L2 Finnish. Free-response data, collected weekly over a period of 9 months, were used to investigate the productivity of the constructions. The results show that, contrary to the traditional assumption, L2 learners do not start off with only lexically specific expressions, but that both lexically specific and more productive constructions are used from the beginning. Our results therefore suggest that, for educated adult L2 learners, the schema formation can happen rather quickly and even without the repetition of a specific lexical sequence.


1998 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paz González González

There has been a long tradition of concern with the "good language learner" in L2 research. One approach to this topic is to compare the performance of experienced language learners with people who have had less experience with languages. The present study provides comparable data for second- and third-language learners of English. It is hypothesized that L3 learners of English will learn the language with more facility and perhaps with more proficiency than L2 learners of English. The data was collected in two high schools in Amsterdam, where 30 immigrant (L3 learners) and 30 Dutch (L2 learners) students were tested on their knowledge of English with a C-test. They also gave answers to some questions about their personal status and language abilities. The scores were submitted to statistical analysis to test whether or not there was any significant difference between the groups. The statistical test chosen was the T-test for independent groups. The tests were first scored through exact scoring. Once the T-test was applied to both sets of scores (monolinguals and bilinguals), it turned out that the bilinguals scored significantly better than the monolinguals. The answers to the questionnaire were also investigated to find any correlations with the results in the C-test. In addition, the tests were scored through acceptable scoring, which, although no longer significant, still showed the superiority of the immigrant-bilinguals. The hypothesis was confirmed: the assumed superiority of bilinguals in acquiring languages is also found in the immigrant-bilinguals who took part in this study. Despite the negative effects of some of the socio-economic-educational factors affecting the performance of ethnic minority students in Holland, they still have a better aptitude for learning a third language.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-720
Author(s):  
Adriana Soto-Corominas ◽  
Johanne Paradis ◽  
Brian V. Rusk ◽  
Stefka Marinova-Todd ◽  
Xuan Zhang

AbstractIt is often claimed that child English L2 learners take up to seven years to attain English skills commensurate with those of monolingual peers; however, existing research is insufficient to know if this claim is valid for oral language abilities in particular. This study examined the lexical and morphological abilities of English L2 learners and their monolingual peers (ages 12–15; N = 227) in Canadian middle schools to determine the timeline for convergence with monolinguals, and what factors predict individual differences among L2 learners. Having seven or more years of schooling was insufficient for all L2 learners to converge with monolinguals on all measures; moreover, growth in English abilities slowed after seven years. Regression analyses revealed that use of English with friends, parental education, and cognitive skills predicted individual variation in the L2 learners’ English abilities and, thus, contributed to their potential for convergence with monolinguals.


2018 ◽  
Vol III (IV) ◽  
pp. 552-562
Author(s):  
Tehsin Ehsan ◽  
Naveed Sultana ◽  
Muhammad Shah

The study aims at finding gender difference in the study patterns and environment of study followed by different university students in Pakistan. To undertake this study, we have collected data from 1334 university students (male= 649, female = 685) in Pakistan. They respond of the self-reported questionnaires on five study patterns such as study aloud, walking while studying, study silently, watching TV or listening to music while studying and group study and environment of study like as Calm place ( e.g. bedroom, study room), Noisy place (e.g. T.V lounge), Library / Lab study, Lawn / Cafe campus. The difference between male and female students was examined with an independent t-test. It found that gender plays a significant role in differentiating the pattern of studying aloud. No gender difference was observed for all other forms of study and environment. The study suggests conducting more research in future to clear the gender role.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1080
Author(s):  
Kun Sun ◽  
Rong Wang

This study applies relative entropy in naturalistic large-scale corpus to calculate the difference among L2 (second language) learners at different levels. We chose lemma, token, POS-trigram, conjunction to represent lexicon and grammar to detect the difference among different L2 groups using relative entropy. The results show that information distribution discrimination regarding lexical and grammatical differences continues to increase from L2 learners at a lower level to those at a higher level. This result is consistent with the assumption that in the course of second language acquisition, L2 learners develop towards a more complex and diverse use of language. Meanwhile, this study uses the statistics method of time series to process the data on L2 differences yielded by traditional frequency-based methods processing the same L2 corpus to compare with the results of relative entropy. However, the results from the traditional methods rarely show regularity. As compared to the algorithms in traditional approaches, relative entropy performs much better in detecting L2 proficiency development. In this sense, we have developed an effective and practical algorithm for stably detecting and predicting the developments in L2 learners’ language proficiency.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Narendra Kumar Singh ◽  
Nishant Goyal

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with a high familial, social and economic burden. Schizophrenia is also associated with a high level of disability which may create impediments on the social and economic areas of the patients as well as on their respective family networks. Families with schizophrenia may encounter problems such as impairment of health and well being of other family members, restriction of social activities of the family members and shrinking of support from the social network. Aims: The present study examined the difference in perceived social support and burden of care between the male and female caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study examining the difference in perceived social support and burden of care between the male and female caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. The sample consisted of 60 (30 male and 30 female) caregivers of the patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia as per ICD-10-DCR. Results and Conclusion: This study revealed that male caregivers perceived more social support and less burden of care as compared to female caregivers. Key words: Gender, social support, burden


2021 ◽  
pp. 026553222199113
Author(s):  
Sarah Sok ◽  
Hye Won Shin ◽  
Juhyun Do

Test-taker characteristics (TTCs), or individual difference variables, are known to be a systematic source of variance in language test performance. Although previous research has documented the impact of a range of TTCs on second language (L2) learners’ test performance, few of these studies have involved young learners. Given that young L2 learners undergo rapid maturational changes in their cognitive abilities, are susceptible to affective factors in unique ways, and have little autonomy with respect to the context of L2 acquisition, the relationship between their personal attributes and their test performance merit separate research attention. To fill this gap, we investigated the extent to which sixth-grade, Korean-L1, EFL learners’ ( n = 107) TTCs predicted their performance on tests of L2 listening and reading comprehension. The TTCs under investigation included three cognitive characteristics (aptitude, phonological working memory, L1 competence), one affective factor (motivation), and two demographic variables (socioeconomic status and gender). Results showed that aptitude and phonological working memory significantly predicted participants’ performance on both L2 listening and reading comprehension tests, whereas motivation predicted performance on the L2 listening comprehension test only. These findings suggest that higher aptitude, phonological working memory, and motivation contribute positively to young learners’ L2 outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 320.1-321
Author(s):  
E. Loibner ◽  
V. Ritschl ◽  
B. Leeb ◽  
P. Spellitz ◽  
G. Eichbauer-Sturm ◽  
...  

Background:Gender differences in prevalence and disease course are known in various rheumatic diseases; however, investigations of gender difference concerning therapeutical response have yielded variable results.Objectives:The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate, whether a gender difference in response rate to biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) and apremilast in bDMARD-naïve patients could be observed across the three most prevalent inflammatory arthritis diseases: rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondylarthritis (SpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Additionally, a response to individual TNF blockers was investigated in this respect.Methods:Data from bDMARD-naïve RA-, SpA- and PsA-patients from Bioreg, the Austrian registry for biological DMARDs in rheumatic diseases, were used. Patients with a baseline (Visit 1=V1) and follow-up visits at 6 months (Visit 2=V2) and 12 months (Visit 3=V3) were included and response to therapy with TNF-inhibitors (TNFi), furthermore to therapy with rituximab, tocilizumab and apremilast was analyzed according to gender. The remaining bDMARDs were not analyzed due to small numbers. Key response-parameter for RA was disease activity score (DAS28), whereas for PsoA the Stockerau Activity Score for Psoriatic Arthritis (SASPA) and for SpA the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) were employed; in addition, the Health assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was used. Data were analyzed in R Statistic stratified by gender using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests.Results:354 women and 123 men with RA (n=477), 81 women and 69 men with PsA (n=150), 121 women and 191 men with SpA (n=312) were included. No significant differences in biometrics was seen between female and male patients at baseline in all diseases.In RA patients overall DAS28 decreased from baseline (V1) to V2 and V3 (DAS28: V1: male: 4.38 [3.66, 5.11], female: 4.30 [3.68, 5.03], p(m/f) = 0.905; V2: male: 2.66 [1.73, 3.63], female: 3.10 [2.17, 3.98], p(m/f) = 0.015; V3: male: 2.25 [1.39, 3.36], female: 3.01 [1.87, 3.87], p(m/f) = 0.002). For TNF inhibitors (n=311), there was a significant difference between genders at V2 (Fig.1a). Patients receiving Rituximab (n=41) displayed a significantly higher DAS28 at baseline in females, which diminished in the follow up: V1: (p(m/f) p=0.002; V2: p=0.019; V3: p=0.13); response to tocilizumab (n=63) did not show any gender differences.In PsA patients overall SASPA decreased from baseline (V1) to V2 and V3 (SASPA: V1: male: 4.00 [2.80, 5.20], female: 4.40 [2.80, 5.80], p(m/f) = 0.399; V2: male: 2.20 [1.20, 3.50], female: 3.40 [2.00, 5.00], p(m/f) = 0.071; V3: male: 1.80 [0.80, 2.70], female: 3.01 [2.35, 4.80], p(m/f) = 0.001). For TNF inhibitors (n=79), there was a significant difference between genders at V3 (Fig 1a). For Apremilast (n=39), there was a significant difference between genders at V2 (Fig.1c).In SpA patients overall BASDAI decreased from baseline (V1) to V2 and V3 (BASDAI: V1: male: 4.70 [2.88, 6.18], female: 4.80 [3.30, 6.20], p(m/f) = 0.463; V2: male: 3.05 [2.00, 4.60], female: 3.64 [2.62, 5.41], p(m/f) = 0.039; V3: male: 3.02 [1.67, 4.20], female: 3.65 [2.18, 5.47], p(m/f) = 0.016). In V3 a differential BASDAI in response to TNFi (n=299) was observed (Fig.1a).Possible differences of response to individual TNFi (etanercept, infliximab, other TNFi) measured by HAQ were investigated in all diseases together. The difference between male and females was significant at baseline for all 3 TNFi; whereas with the use of ETA the significant difference was carried through to V2 and V3, it was lost with the use of IFX and was variable with the other TNFi (Fig.1b)Figure 1.Conclusion:Female patients showed a statistically lower response to TNFi in all three disease entities (RA, SpA and PsoA) to a variable degree in our homogenous central european population. Interestingly, the difference was not uniform across individual TNFi when measured by HAQ. Gender differences were also seen in response to Apremilast.Disclosure of Interests:Elisabeth Loibner: None declared, Valentin Ritschl: None declared, Burkhard Leeb Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Roche, MSD, Pfizer, Actiopharm, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Kwizda, Celgene, Sandoz, Grünenthal, Eli-Lilly, Grant/research support from: TRB, Roche, Consultancies: AbbVie, Amgen, Roche, MSD, Pfizer, Celgene, Grünenthal, Kwizda, Eli-Lilly, Novartis, Sandoz;, Peter Spellitz: None declared, Gabriela Eichbauer-Sturm: None declared, Jochen Zwerina: None declared, Manfred Herold: None declared, Miriam Stetter: None declared, Rudolf Puchner Speakers bureau: AbbVie, BMS, Janssen, Kwizda, MSD, Pfizer, Celgene, Grünenthal, Eli-Lilly, Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, Pfizer, Celgene, Grünenthal, Eli-Lilly, Franz Singer: None declared, Ruth Fritsch-Stork: None declared


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 3983
Author(s):  
Ozren Gamulin ◽  
Marko Škrabić ◽  
Kristina Serec ◽  
Matej Par ◽  
Marija Baković ◽  
...  

Gender determination of the human remains can be very challenging, especially in the case of incomplete ones. Herein, we report a proof-of-concept experiment where the possibility of gender recognition using Raman spectroscopy of teeth is investigated. Raman spectra were recorded from male and female molars and premolars on two distinct sites, tooth apex and anatomical neck. Recorded spectra were sorted into suitable datasets and initially analyzed with principal component analysis, which showed a distinction between spectra of male and female teeth. Then, reduced datasets with scores of the first 20 principal components were formed and two classification algorithms, support vector machine and artificial neural networks, were applied to form classification models for gender recognition. The obtained results showed that gender recognition with Raman spectra of teeth is possible but strongly depends both on the tooth type and spectrum recording site. The difference in classification accuracy between different tooth types and recording sites are discussed in terms of the molecular structure difference caused by the influence of masticatory loading or gender-dependent life events.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882098693
Author(s):  
Eva Jakupčević ◽  
Mihajla Ćavar Portolan

Pragmatic competence is an essential element of communicative competence, which makes it relevant for speakers of all ages, including young language learners (YLLs). Despite the recognized importance of pragmatics, research of textbooks for adult second language (L2) learners to date has found them lacking in their approach to this key aspect of language. However, there is very little research of pragmatics in textbooks for YLLs, which would provide insight into the extent to which these materials can support teachers in including elements of pragmatic competence into their language classes. The present study aims to fill this gap by determining how much pragmatic content is included in 18 textbooks used in Croatian primary schools with learners aged 9–12 years. The textbooks are compared in regard to the percentage of pages with pragmatic content as well as the different speech acts that receive explicit attention in them. The main finding of the study is the great amount of inconsistency when it comes to the scope and treatment of pragmatic content, with some textbooks proving extremely lacking. The results present a concerning picture as all of the students using these diverse textbooks should be following the same curriculum which emphasizes the development of communicative competence.


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