scholarly journals Role of Subtitles in L2 Acquisition and Comprehension: A Pilot Study of Hearing-Impaired Students

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Mila Vulchanova ◽  
Ingvild Kjølstad Lervåg

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether subtitles can facilitate language processing in English as a second language (L2) and, if so, which subtitles would be more beneficial for hard-of-hearing students with Norwegian as their first language. In total, 14 advanced learners of L2 English were recruited and tested on English comprehension and target vocabulary items based on video material provided with subtitles in English or Norwegian in comparison to no subtitles (control condition). Subtitles aided comprehension of the plot, tested immediately after clip presentation, with an advantage for English subtitles over Norwegian subtitles and no subtitles. Furthermore, subtitles were found to enhance the performance of the participants with moderate hearing loss more than they did for mild hearing loss participants. The inclusion of English subtitles only marginally enhanced vocabulary understanding for both mild and moderate hearing loss students. The findings of this study can be transferred to classrooms and may supplement other methods of adjusting the academic environment, in order to meet the need of students with hearing loss.

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 908-926
Author(s):  
Erik J. Jorgensen ◽  
Elizabeth A. Walker

Purpose Music is an important part of life for many people. Furthermore, music training has been shown to improve a variety of cognitive functions among children and adults. However, little research exists on how children who are hard of hearing (HH) perceive or participate in music. In particular, it is unknown whether hearing loss limits participation in music activities among school-aged children with mild-to-severe hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to determine whether hearing loss limits participation among children who are HH compared to children with normal hearing (NH). Method Participants were parents of 2 cohorts of children finishing 5th grade (approximately 11 years old). Parents were asked to complete a survey (online or paper) regarding the role of music in their child's life. A total of 88 surveys were completed (67 from parents of children who are HH and 21 from parents of children with NH, with an overall response rate of 74%). Results Hearing loss did not limit music participation among children. Children who are HH listened to recorded music, attended live concerts, and practiced an instrument at the same rates as children with NH. Listening to recorded and live music, practicing an instrument, and playing in an ensemble were equally as important to children who are HH as children with NH. Children who are HH were significantly more likely to regularly play in an ensemble than children with NH. Parent participation in music significantly influenced music participation for children who are HH but not children with NH. Descriptive data about music genres, instruments, and ensembles are also presented. Conclusions Children who are HH participate in music at the same or greater rates as children with NH. Parent participation in music may be particularly important for children who are HH. In light of this, music listening should be a consideration when fitting children with hearing aids.


1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy G. Kopun ◽  
Patricia G. Stelmachowicz

The goals of this study were to modify an adult self-assessment questionnaire (APHAP, Cox & Alexander, 1995) to be appropriate for children who are older than 9 years of age, to compare the results of the questionnaire for children with hearing loss to existing adult data, and to examine the agreement between a parent’s perception of his or her child’s disability and the child’s perception. Children with mild hearing loss who were unaided reported fewer problems than did adults who were unaided. Children and adults with mild hearing loss who were aided reported similar problems. Data for children with moderate hearing loss were similar to previously reported adult data. In general, parents’ perception of their child’s communication problems correlated poorly with the child’s scores on this test.


Author(s):  
Susan R. Easterbrooks ◽  
Paula J. Schwanenflugel

Prior to 2000, the role of fluency was poorly understood in deaf and hard-of-hearing learners beyond the examination of the use of repeated readings as an intervention technique. In 2000, the National Reading Panel identified factors critical to the development of literacy: phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, vocabulary, reading comprehension, motivation, and fluency. Since that time, much has been written on all these topics, except motivation and fluency. This chapter examines the various points of view necessary to understand the complexities of fluency, including but not limited to speed of word reading, vocabulary, prosody, and supralexical unitization. Further, it examines how these components differ based on an individual child’s first language. A concluding section explores successful interventions and lays out a research agenda that will allow the field to move forward.


This handbook reviews the current state of the art in the field of psycholinguistics. Part I deals with language comprehension at the sublexical, lexical, and sentence and discourse levels. It explores concepts of speech representation and the search for universal speech segmentation mechanisms against a background of linguistic diversity and compares first language with second language segmentation. It also discusses visual word recognition, lexico-semantics, the different forms of lexical ambiguity, sentence comprehension, text comprehension, and language in deaf populations. Part II focuses on language production, with chapters covering topics such as word production and related processes based on evidence from aphasia, the major debates surrounding grammatical encoding. Part III considers various aspects of interaction and communication, including the role of gesture in language processing, approaches to the study of perspective-taking, and the interrelationships between language comprehension, emotion, and sociality. Part IV is concerned with language development and evolution, focusing on topics ranging from the development of prosodic phonology, the neurobiology of artificial grammar learning, and developmental dyslexia. The book concludes with Part V, which looks at methodological advances in psycholinguistic research, such as the use of intracranial electrophysiology in the area of language processing.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Duarte Garcia ◽  
Natália Brambatti Guzzo

In this chapter, we report the results of two production experiments, one in Canadian French (CF) and one in English, aimed at examining how advanced CF L2ers produce English stress. In other words, our focus is not on language development (i.e. whether learners actually acquire stress in English), but rather on ultimate attainment in L2 acquisition (i.e. how native speakers and advanced learners compare vis-à-vis stress production). In order to evaluate whether L2ers’ rhythmic patterns mirror native English patterns, we compare L2ers’ production with control data, focusing on three possi- ble acoustic correlates of prominence: duration, pitch (F0) and intensity. To verify whether L2ers transfer acoustic cues or rhythmic patterns from their first language (L1) into the L2, we also analyse how prominence is produced by L2ers in their L1.


1970 ◽  
pp. 247-261
Author(s):  
Beata Iwanicka

The article presents the problems of deaf and hard of hearing people in education. This topic is widely analyzed. The text describes the difficulties experienced by students at school, at various stages of learning, and the barriers experienced by deaf and hard of hearing students at higher education levels. In general, the hearing deficit entails various communication complications. The person with hearing impairment has a limited opportunity to have different experiences and what is most important in the text – hearing loss or deafness often makes it impossible to gain an optimal education. There are different methods of educating people from the non-hearing environment, depending on the degree of hearing impairment. Hearing impaired student often has difficulty understanding Polish, as it is not always their first language (their first language may be the Polish sign language). Hearing impaired students sometimes don’t understand academic texts because they have weaker poorer vocabulary due to their communication dysfunction. Another issue is the social isolation of many people with hearing impairments which often have a dilemma which environment to integrate with – with hearing or hearing impaired? Teaching staff approaches such people in different ways. Stereotypes do not help in educational progress (for example, the assumption that such students communicate only in sign language). It is important to be aware of the types of hearing loss and the different types of hearing (each hearing impaired hears differently and needs an individual approach). Finally, the article discusses the issue of education of people with hearing impairment from the category of “space”. Through “space” you can understand here the environment (school space, classes and associated architectural-acoustic barriers) as well as the language of the Deaf. The sign language is specifically designed for living space (some of the signatures must be shown in the specified movement and direction, depending on the intention of the sender).


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN JUFFS

Cunnings (2016) provides welcome insights into differences between native speaker (NS) sentence processing, adult non-native speaker processing (NNS), and working memory capacity (WMC) limitations. This commentary briefly raises three issues: construct operationalization; the role of first language (L1); and context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Jäschke ◽  
Ingo Plag

This study investigates the role of probabilistic grammatical constraints on the dative alternation in English as a second language (ESL). It presents the results of an experiment in which the different factors that are influential in first language (L1) English are tested with advanced learners of English whose L1 is German. Second language (L2) learners are influenced by the same determinants as L1 speakers but to a lesser degree. Together with the results of previous studies, the present results suggest that, initially, the learners do not make use of probabilistic constraints in spite of the constraints being influential in the L1 and only gradually acquire a sensitivity toward the constraints that govern the choice between the two dative constructions.


Author(s):  
Leah Roberts

The acquisition of second language (L2) syntax has been central to the study of L2 acquisition, but recently there has been an interest in how learners apply their L2 syntactic knowledge to the input in real-time comprehension. Investigating L2 learners’ moment-by-moment syntactic analysis during listening or reading of sentence as it unfolds — their parsing of the input — is important, because language learning involves both the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to use it in real time. Using methods employed in monolingual processing research, investigations often focus on the processing of temporary syntactic ambiguities and structural dependencies. Investigating ambiguities involves examining parsing decisions at points in a sentence where there is a syntactic choice and this can offer insights into the nature of the parsing mechanism, and in particular, its processing preferences. Studying the establishment of syntactic dependencies at the critical point in the input allows for an investigation of how and when different kinds of information (e.g., syntactic, semantic, pragmatic) are put to use in real-time interpretation. Within an L2 context, further questions are of interest and familiar from traditional L2 acquisition research. Specifically, how native-like are the parsing procedures that L2 learners apply when processing the L2 input? What is the role of the learner’s first language (L1)? And, what are the effects of individual factors such as age, proficiency/dominance and working memory on L2 parsing? In the current paper I will provide an overview of the findings of some experimental research designed to investigate these questions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denisa Bordag ◽  
Amit Kirschenbaum ◽  
Maria Rogahn ◽  
Erwin Tschirner

Four experiments were conducted to examine the role of orthotactic probability, i.e. the sequential letter probability, in the early stages of vocabulary acquisition by adult native speakers and advanced learners of German. The results show different effects for orthographic probability in incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition: Whereas low orthographic probability contributed positively to incidental acquisition of novel word meanings in first language (L1), high orthographic probability affected positively the second language (L2) intentional learning. The results are discussed in the context of the following concepts: (1) triggering the establishment of a new representation, (2) noticing of new lexemes during reading, and (3) vocabulary size of the L1 and L2 mental lexicons.


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