Developmental stages challenging cross-linguistic transfer: L2 acquisition of Norwegian adjectival agreement in attributive and predicative contexts

Written in French, this work reports the results of a longitudinal study of past-time reference in the interlanguages of four Swedish learners of French. Unlike most previous studies of L2 acquisition of temporal expression, which have focused on early interlanguage, Kihlstedt shifts the focus of inquiry in this study to the oral production of advanced L2 learners. Kihlstedt discusses evidence supporting a modified interpretation of Andersen's (1991) developmental stages in past temporal expression and proposes an ordering of aspectual value assignment to the passé composé and imparfait constructions in Swedish-French interlanguage.

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Cross-linguistic transfer in second language reading

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444808005211 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 497-508 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Keiko Koda ◽

Pooja Reddy

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Reading Skills ◽

First Language ◽

Second Language Reading ◽

Academic Learning ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Skills Transfer ◽

Linguistic Transfer ◽

Cognitively Demanding Tasks

Research on reading skills transfer has taken shape in two major disciplines: second language (L2) acquisition and reading. Inevitably, its evolution reflects major conceptual shifts in their respective research sub-fields. In L2 research, as a case in point, transfer was initially viewed as interference stemming from first language (L1) structural properties. This view, however, was significantly altered by the subsequent postulation that the language proficiency underlying cognitively demanding tasks, such as literacy and academic learning, is largely shared across languages, and therefore, once acquired in one language, it promotes literacy development in another (Cummins 1979). Reflecting the latter view, the current conceptualizations of transfer uniformly underscore the facilitative nature of previously learned competencies as resources available to L2 learners (e.g. Genesee et al. 2007; Koda 2008).

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Developmental stages in receptive grammar acquisition: A Processability Theory account

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/0267658315585905 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 523-550 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Aafke Buyl ◽

Alex Housen

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

English Grammar ◽

Grammar Acquisition ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Processability Theory ◽

Grammar Knowledge ◽

The Relationship

This study takes a new look at the topic of developmental stages in the second language (L2) acquisition of morphosyntax by analysing receptive learner data, a language mode that has hitherto received very little attention within this strand of research (for a recent and rare study, see Spinner, 2013). Looking at both the receptive and productive side of grammar acquisition, however, is necessary for a better understanding of developmental systematicity and of the relationship between receptive and productive grammar acquisition more widely, as well as for the construction of a comprehensive theory of second language acquisition (SLA). In the present exploratory study, the receptive acquisition of L2 English grammar knowledge is studied cross-sectionally within a Processability Theory (PT) framework (Pienemann, 1998, 2005b), a theory of L2 grammar acquisition which makes explicit predictions about the order in which L2 learners learn to productively process different morphosyntactic phenomena. Participants are 72 francophone beginning child L2 learners (age 6–9) acquiring English in an immersion program. The learners’ ability to process six morphosyntactic phenomena situated at extreme ends of the developmental hierarchy proposed by PT was tested by means of the ELIAS Grammar Test, a picture selection task. Overall, the developmental orders obtained through implicational scaling for the six target phenomena agreed with PT’s predictions, suggesting that similar mechanisms underlie the acquisition of receptive and productive L2 grammar processing skills.

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A corpus-based study of contextual factors influencing Korean EFL learners’ dative alternation

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/aral.40.1.03son ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 19-39

Author(s):

Eu-Jong Song ◽

Min-Chang Sung

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Native Speaker ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

Information Structures ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Double Object ◽

Learner Corpus ◽

Dative Alternation ◽

L2 Learners ◽

Linguistic Transfer

Abstract English datives show two syntactic patterns, the double object dative (DOD) and the prepositional dative (PD). The alternation between DOD and PD is influenced by three contextual factors: lexical verbs, syntactic weights, and information structures. However, it has been observed that English dative alternation by second language (L2) learners significantly deviates from the native norm. Accordingly, this study examines whether the three factors are influential when L2 learners produce dative sentences, by analyzing a learner corpus and a native speaker corpus. Results show that the learners produced PD significantly more frequently than the native speakers did. Even when DOD should be contextually preferred, the learners produced many PD sentences. These results suggest that L2 learners have trouble noticing the contextual factors when structuring English datives. The finding is further discussed as it relates to the major tenets of L2 acquisition such as cross-linguistic transfer, constructional knowledge, and language processing.

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THE UNACCUSATIVE TRAP IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263101002078 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 279-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Hiroyuki Oshita

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Natural Language ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Target Language ◽

Structural Constraints ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Natural Languages ◽

Intransitive Verbs

The distinction of two types of intransitive verbs—unergatives (with underlying subjects) and unaccusatives (with underlying objects)—may not exist at early stages of L2 acquisition, both being syntactically represented as unergatives. This idea, referred to here as the Unaccusative Trap Hypothesis, provides an elegant developmental account for a variety of seemingly unrelated syntactic phenomena in L2 English, Japanese, and Chinese. Target language input, structural constraints on natural language linking rules, and linguistic properties of a learner's L1s shape stages in the reorganization of the lexical and syntactic components of interlanguage grammars. Although nonnative grammars may initially override the structural constraints postulated as the Unaccusative Hypothesis (Burzio, 1986; Perlmutter, 1978) and the Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis (Baker, 1988), at later developmental stages some may still achieve conformity with the norms of natural languages.

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Structural surface overlap and derivational complexity in crosslinguistic transfer: Acquisition of English genitive alternation by Egyptian Arabic-speaking learners

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/0267658319834860 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 529-556

Author(s):

Mahmoud Azaz

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

The Other ◽

Production Task ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Egyptian Arabic ◽

Intermediate Group ◽

Structural Surface ◽

Arabic Speaking ◽

Syntactic Derivation

This article adopts the surface overlap and derivational complexity hypotheses to study crosslinguistic transfer in the adult second language (L2) acquisition of English genitive alternation (between the s-genitives and the of genitives) by intermediate and advanced Egyptian Arabic-speaking learners. While the s-genitive (e.g. the boy’s shirt) and the of-genitive (e.g. the shirt of the boy) are allowed in principle to denote possession, the s-genitive is the native option when the possessor is human and the possessum is nonhuman. In standard syntactic analyses, the s-genitive is held to be more complex than the of-genitive, since it involves raising the possessor in the determiner phrase (DP). Egyptian Arabic is also known for its genitive alternation; it uses the synthetic genitive (the construct state), and the analytic genitive (the free state) that both overlap partially or significantly with the of-genitive. The results of an elicited production task showed that the intermediate group tended to produce the of-genitives in contexts in which the s-genitives were the target construction. The advanced group, on the other hand, produced the more complex s-genitives. These findings suggest that the surface overlap involved between the of-genitives and the corresponding genitive constructions in Egyptian Arabic conspired to trigger this crosslinguistic transfer. Also, resorting to the overlapping of-genitive option can be viewed as a strategy to avoid the more complex s-genitive option. The results of the advanced group imply that the acquisition of English genitive alternation undergoes two developmental stages. In the first, learners favor the less complex and overlapping of-genitives. In the second, they acquire the syntactic derivation in the s-genitives that raises the possessor in the DP.

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Markedness Theory and Conditional Clauses: An Interlanguage Developmental Study of Iraqi EFL Learners

ALUSTATH JOURNAL FOR HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ◽

10.36473/ujhss.v220i1.468 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 220 (1) ◽

pp. 43-58

Author(s):

Tahani Awad Jasim Al-Tameemi (MA)

Keyword(s):

English Learners ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Syntactic Structure ◽

Future Research ◽

Developmental Study ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Form And Function ◽

Acquisition Order ◽

And Function

This study investigates how the linguistic factor of markedness theory affects Iraqi EFL Learners’ acquisition order of English conditional clauses.Three research questions are formulated to achieve the aim of this study, and these are; (i) How do Iraqi EFL learners acquire the syntactic structure of conditional clauses?, (ii) In what ways the developmental route followed by Iraqi EFL learners is similar to or different from that followed by English learners of other linguistic backgrounds?, and (iii) What is the role of markedness theory in the acquisition of conditional clauses by Iraqi EFL learners? To answer these questions, a random sample of 100 Iraqi EFL learners at four different developmental stages is tested on three written tasks. Results reveal that real conditionals are the easiest type to produce but the most difficult one to comprehend. This lends a partial support for the predictive power of markedness theory in explaining the acquisition order. Besides, linguistic form and function in L2 acquisition process are acquired at different developmental stages. Due to the limitations of the present study, future research is suggested

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Verwervingsvolgorde In Het Nederlands Als Tweede Taal

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.77.08are ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 77 ◽

pp. 79-89

Author(s):

Myra Arends

Keyword(s):

Foreign Students ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Current Paper ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Specific Language ◽

Verb Agreement ◽

Subordinate Clauses ◽

Attributive Adjective ◽

Processability Theory

The assumption that L2 acquisition is constrained by processing is the basis for several approaches to SLA. Pienemann's Processability Theory (PT) is one of them (Pienemann, 1998; 2005). PT is a universal framework that predicts the order in which certain morphological and syntactic phenomena of a specific language are acquired. The current paper presents the results of a test of the validity of PT for L2 Dutch. For this study I elicited utterances of 32 foreign students learning Dutch. Three phenomena were chosen for this test: (i) attributive adjective-noun agreement; (ii) subject-verb agreement in main clauses: (iii) the placement of conjugated verbs in subordinate clauses. These phenomena are located at successive developmental stages in the hierarchy predicted by PT. The presented results appear not to support PT and raise questions about the predictions made by the theory.

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Internal and external factors in the child L2 development of the German determiner phrase

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.1.3.02hop ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 238-264 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Holger Hopp

Keyword(s):

Developmental Stages ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Age Factors ◽

Determiner Phrase ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

L2 Learners ◽

L2 Development ◽

And Gender ◽

Internal And External Factors ◽

L1 And L2

This paper studies the development of the German determiner phrase (DP) in 60 child second-language (L2) learners of German between the ages of 3;5 and 7;0. We consider case and gender marking as well as gender concord and test for effects of internal (age, age of onset) and external (length of exposure) factors. Further, developmental patterns are compared between child L1 and L2 acquisition. The results show no contingency of child L2 performance and age factors, yet strong correlations with length of exposure. Like child L1 acquirers, child L2 learners are found to proceed through similar developmental stages, and they establish lexical gender distinctions before syntactic case distinctions in inflection. These findings are discussed in the context of current generative approaches and the role of age in child and adult L2 acquisition.

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On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263100004137 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 109-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 234

Author(s):

Jürgen M. Meisel ◽

Harald Clahsen ◽

Manfred Pienemann

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Learning Process ◽

Developmental Stages ◽

Target Language ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Source Language ◽

The Past ◽

Linguistic Structures

Research on Second Language (L2) Acquisition, over the past ten years, has undergone substantial changes by shifting its focus of interest away from an analysis of linguistic structures alone, concentrating more on the learner himself or, rather, on the process of learning. It had become obvious that one of the major shortcomings in contrastive studies as well as in the usual kind of error analysis is that they lack thorough investigation of factors which determine the kind of approach a learner may take to acquire a second language. This again implies that it is more fruitful to study the process of learning itself instead of merely analysing its outputs. It is by now widely accepted that the learner takes an active part in the learning process and does not merely get trapped in structural gaps which linguists may find when comparing the source language (the learner's L1) and the target language (L2).

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