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).

LINGUISTIC CORRELATES OF SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Long ◽  
Kira Gor ◽  
Scott Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Telephone Interview ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
Instructional Process ◽  
Proficiency Levels

With Russian as the target language, a proof of concept study was undertaken to determine whether it is possible to identify linguistic features, control over which is implicated in progress on the Interagency Linguistic Roundtable (ILR) proficiency scale, thereby better to inform the instructional process. Following its development in an instrumentation study, a revised version of a computer-delivered battery of 33 perception and production tasks was administered to 68 participants—57 learners between levels 2 and 3 (21 at ILR 2, 18 at 2+, and 18 at 3) on the ILR scale, and 11 native speaker controls—whose proficiency was tested via an ILR oral proficiency telephone interview. The tasks sampled subjects’ control of Russian phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, and collocations. Relationships between control of the linguistic features and the ILR levels of interest were assessed statistically. All 33 tasks, 18 of which assessed learners’ abilities in perception and 15 of which assessed their abilities in production, were found to differentiate ILR proficiency levels 2 and 3, and a subset was found to also distinguish levels 2 and 2+, and 2+ and 3. On the basis of the results, a checklist of linguistic features pegged to proficiency levels was produced that can be useful for syllabus designers, teachers, and learners themselves as well as providing the basis for future diagnostic tests.

An Analysis and Levelling of Reading Texts Across Arabic Textbooks Based on the CEFR Proficiency Levels

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Salwa Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Comprehensive View ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Textbook Series ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Reading Texts

This chapter analyses the reading content in four prominent Arabic textbook series that are widely used in the UK and USA to assess their reading proficiency progression. The reading texts in each series are analysed using the Dutch CEFR grid and assigned a level as per the CEFR proficiency scale. The findings reveal that there is a lack of consistency among the different textbook series with regards to how reading proficiency is construed at different levels, especially at the intermediate and higher levels. The chapter concludes by highlighting that Arabic material developers, textbook writers, and teachers would benefit from consulting a recognized and systematic reference of proficiency such as the CEFR in developing a comprehensive view of language proficiency in Arabic that includes defining common thematic areas, most needed and suitable functions, and relevant linguistic features for each language proficiency level.

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.

Preverbation and narrativity in Lithuanian. The distribution of finite simplex and compound verbs in narrative main clauses

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 167-192
Author(s):  
Lea Sawicki
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Text ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
The Past ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Finite Verb

The article deals with the use of simplex and compound (prefixed) verbs in narrative text. Main clauses comprising finite verb forms in the past and in the past habitual tense are examined in an attempt to establish to what extent simplex and compound verbs exhibit aspect oppositions, and whether a correlation exists between the occurrence of simplex vs. compound verbs and distinct textual units. The investigation shows that although simple and compound verbs in Lithuanian are not in direct aspect opposition to each other, in the background text portions most of the verbs are prefixless past tense forms or habitual forms, whereas in the plot-advancing text portions, the vast majority of verbs are compound verbs in the simple past tense.  

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 “The Trout Breaks the Ice” by Mikhail Kuzmin: Verse and Grammar

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Marina Akimova
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Long Poem ◽  
Complex Composition ◽  
The Past ◽  
Compositional Structure ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Astronomical Time ◽  
Mikhail Kuzmin ◽  
Iambic Pentameter ◽  
Finite Verb

The author explores various compositional levels of the Russian modernist author Mikhail Kuzmin’s long poem “The Trout Breaks the Ice”. The levels are: (1) the grammatical tenses vs. the astronomical time (non-finite verb forms (imperative) are also assumed to indicate time); (2) the meters of this polymetric poem; (3) realistic vs. symbolic and (4) static vs. dynamic narrative modes. The analysis is done by the chapter, and the data are summarized in five tables. It turned out that certain features regularly co-occur, thus supporting the complex composition of the poem. In particular, the present tense and time regularly mark the realistic and static chapters written in various meters, whereas the past tense and time are specific to the realistic and dynamic chapters written in iambic pentameter. The article sheds new light on the compositional structure of Kuzmin’s poem and the general principles of poetic composition.

The verb

2021 ◽  
pp. 258-382
Author(s):  
Martin Maiden ◽  
Adina Dragomirescu ◽  
Gabriela Pană Dindelegan ◽  
Oana Uță Bărbulescu ◽  
Rodica Zafiu
Keyword(s):  
General Structure ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Finite Verb

What is the general structure of the Romanian verb? What are the verb’s inflexion classes and where do they come from? How is the verb’s inflexional paradigm structured? What is the nature of the extensive allomorphy found in lexical roots? Where do suppletive patterns come from? What is the morphological history of non-finite forms? What are ‘morphomic’ patterns and how did they emerge in the verb? What is the morphological history of auxiliary verbs? What is the history of novel periphrastic constructions involving auxiliary verbs and non-finite verb forms?

Non-finite verb forms and non-finite constructions

2016 ◽  
pp. 232-287
Author(s):  
Isabela Nedelcu ◽  
Adina Dragomirescu ◽  
Dana Niculescu
Keyword(s):  
Verb Forms ◽  
Finite Verb
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document