The Use of Videoconferencing and Unprescribed Conversation for Listening Comprehension in L2 Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Laurie Massery ◽  
Claudio Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
System Data ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Guided Instruction

The following research investigates the effect that unprescribed1 conversation with native speakers of the target language had on learners' L2 listening comprehension skills at the beginning (n=21) and advanced intermediate levels of Spanish (n=27). Treatment groups completed two-thirty-minute conversations with native speakers via videoconferencing throughout the semester, while the control groups carried out unilateral oral exams using the Canvas course management system. Data was collected using the Avant Stamp Test, an online testing program that is based on the national standards outlined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (i.e., ACTFL). The results of the study revealed that learners at the Intermediate I (InterI) level significantly improved as a result of the oral interactions, while the Intermediate II learners (InterII)—who possessed more developed grammatical and lexical skills, as well as overall experience in L2 than their Intermediate I level counterparts—did not significantly improve as a result of the treatment. Although many of the studies in this area of inquiry emphasize the need for guided instruction, explicit strategy and lexical recognition in aural development, it is argued here that unprescribed conversation with native speakers—a much less contrived and more authentic approach to aural acquisition—can also significantly improve listening ability in L2. Therefore, with the present study, the authors contribute to current literature in Second Language Acquisition that centers on aural development and the role of native speaker interaction in learners' auditory growth.

Online interaction: negotiation of meaning and strategies used among learners of Spanish

ReCALL ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
LINA LEE
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Online Interaction ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Interactive Strategies ◽  
Guided Instruction

Online interactive exchange offers learners many opportunities to use the target language to negotiate both meaning and form in a social context that is crucial for second language acquisition (SLA). This paper discusses the interaction between non-native speakers (NNSs) and the types of communication strategies employed during the online communication. A total of forty students participated in online discussions using a private chatroom. Data from this study suggest that interactive strategies facilitate comprehension of input and output. The results show that regardless of proficiency level, students used a variety of communication strategies. However, students tended to use more comprehension checks, clarification checks, requests and self-repairs to negotiate with each other. The quick interactions taking place in cyberspace impeded students from producing correct and coherent discourse, especially during the learner-learner interaction. Pedagogically, students need to be advised of the need to write correctly to maintain a balance between function, content, and accuracy. One of the corrective techniques is to make students re-examine and revise their exchanges with guided instruction. The current study focused on online interaction among NNSs. To claim the effectiveness of online interaction in SLA with certainty, future studies on online negotiation must include both NNSs and native speakers.

Chat-Line interaction and negative feedback

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 60-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junko Iwasaki ◽  
Rhonda Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Internet Applications ◽  
On Line

In recent years researchers have investigated the use of Internet applications for language and cultural learning. While this new technology seems to have provided an educational breakthrough, relatively little linguistic research has been conducted particularly in relation to second language acquisition. Therefore the efficacy of the Internet applications not just for cultural studies or the expansion of knowledge, but also for second/foreign language acquisition remains uncertain. This study explores communicative interactions between native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of Japanese. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was chosen as the setting for this study, because of the resemblance of chat line interactions to verbal exchanges. The linguistic focus in this study was specifically on one form of corrective feedback, namely implicit negative feedback (NF), which provides information to language learners about what is unacceptable in target language (e.g. Long, 1996). It has been claimed that NF plays an important facilitative role in language development. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether NSs provide NF to their NNS interlocutors in interactions during chat line conversations, and whether the NNS’s used this feedback in their subsequent production. The participants were NNSs and NSs of Japanese, formed into 12 gender-matched dyads. Each pair had free on-line “conversation” in three separate sessions. The results show that the proportion of NSs’ NF to the number of NNSs’ non-target-like turns was . lower than that found in the previous studies based on face to face verbal interactions. Even so NF was provided, and it was used – however it remains unclear as to whether or not on-line interactions elicit sufficient NF for acquisition to occur.

Impact of an interaction-oriented Japanese course on learners

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 123-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoko Ogawa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Active Interaction

Abstract Neustupny (1988, 1991) recommended an interactive competence approach for second language acquisition that places a greater emphasis on learners’ active interaction with native speakers in real communicative situations. In order to have the opportunity to interact with native speakers in the target language, a conscious effort by the learners as well as support from the teachers and the community is essential. The third-year Japanese course at Monash University was designed to encourage and support learners to establish and maintain relationships with Japanese people as well as to utilise various other resources of the target language and culture. This paper examines the impact of this interaction-oriented course on learners in their establishment and maintenance of relationships with Japanese people, and cultural and social understanding. It is based on data collected during 1996 and 1997.

That’s hard

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas A. Lester
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Grammatical Form ◽  
Learner Performance ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Additive Regression ◽  
Opposite Tendency

Abstract Language learners are highly sensitive to statistical patterns in the input. When a target language provides the option to include or omit a grammatical form, learners have been shown to make decisions quite similar to native speakers. For example, learners opt to include or omit the complementizer that (as in I know (that) Steffi likes hot tea). This phenomenon has been explained in terms of a universal suite of cognitive mechanisms which support native and learner performance alike. Both learners and native speakers choose to include the complementizer when they are producing more complex or unexpected structures. The present study attempts to generalize these findings to another domain of “optional” grammatical markers, namely, relativizers (as in the hot tea (that) Steffi likes). I analyze all instances of optional relativizer use in a corpus of spontaneous learner speech produced by Spanish and German learners of English. Both of these languages have obligatory relativizers. A two-step generalized additive regression modeling technique (MuPDAR) that predicts learner choices based on native-speaker choices demonstrates that native speakers use greater shares of the relativizer in complex and disfluent environments, while learners show the exact opposite tendency: they prefer to drop the relativizer in complex and disfluent environments. These findings are discussed based on differences between complementizers and relativizers, and in terms of the limited universality of optional grammatical marking in learner speech.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition Through Neurolinguistic Programming: A Psychoanalytic Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.36) ◽  
pp. 624
Author(s):  
A. Delbio ◽  
M. Ilankumaran
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Brain

English is the only lingua-franca for the whole world in present age of globalization and liberalization. English language is considered as an important tool to acquire a new and technical information and knowledge. In this situation English learners and teachers face a lot of problems psychologically. Neuro linguistic studies the brain mechanism and the performance of the brain in linguistic competences. The brain plays a main role in controlling motor and sensory activities and in the process of thinking. Studies regarding development of brain bring some substantiation for psychological and anatomical way of language development. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) deals with psychological and neurological factors. It also deals with the mode of brain working and the way to train the brain to achieve the purpose. Many techniques are used in the NLP. It improves the fluency and accuracy in target language. It improves non-native speaker to improve the LSRW skills.  This paper brings out the importance of the NLP in language learning and teaching. It also discusses the merits and demerits of the NLP in learning. It also gives the solution to overcome the problems and self-correction is motivated through neuro-linguistic programming.   

Variation in Native Speaker Speech Modification to Non-Native Speakers

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Gass ◽  
Evangeline Marlos Varonis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Data Bases ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Telephone Interviews

This study builds upon prior research dealing with the nature of discourse involving non-native speakers. In particular, we examine variables influencing native speaker foreigner talk and the form that speech modification takes. The data bases are (1) 80 taped telephone interviews between NNSs at two distinct proficiency levels, (interviewer) and NSs (interviewee), and (2) 20 NS-NS interviews. We consider five variables: 1) negotiation of meaning, 2) quantity of speech, 3) amount of repair (following a specific NNS request for repair), 4) elaborated responses, and 5) transparent responses. We find that the speech of NSs changes as a function of an NNS's ability to understand and be understood. We further suggest a general cognitive principle—transparency—underlying aspects of both foreigner talk and second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Maturational Constraints on the Recruitment of Early Processes for Syntactic Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2752-2765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pakulak ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Anterior Negativity

An enduring question in the study of second-language acquisition concerns the relative contributions of age of acquisition (AOA) and ultimate linguistic proficiency to neural organization for second-language processing. Several ERP and neuroimaging studies of second-language learners have found that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in second-language acquisition. However, such delays in second-language acquisition are typically associated with lower language proficiency, rendering it difficult to assess whether differences in AOA or proficiency lead to these effects. Here we examined the effects of delayed second-language acquisition while controlling for proficiency differences by examining participants who differ in AOA but who were matched for proficiency in the same language. We compared the ERP response to auditory English phrase structure violations in a group of late learners of English matched for grammatical proficiency with a group of English native speakers. In the native speaker group, violations elicited a bilateral and prolonged anterior negativity, with onset at 100 msec, followed by a posterior positivity (P600). In contrast, in the nonnative speaker group, violations did not elicit the early anterior negativity, but did elicit a P600 which was more widespread spatially and temporally than that of the native speaker group. These results suggest that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in language acquisition independently of proficiency level. More specifically, they suggest that both early and later syntactic processes are sensitive to maturational constraints. These results also suggest that late learners who reach a high level of second-language proficiency rely on different neural mechanisms than native speakers of that language.

Second language acquisition and Binding Principle B: child/adult differences

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia White
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Knowledge Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Value Judgement

L1 acquirers experience considerable delays in mastering properties related to Binding Principle B, performing inaccurately with respect to possible antecedents for pronouns well after the age of 6. Most accounts attribute this delay to performance phenomena (lack of pragmatic knowledge, processing capacity, etc.). In this article, I show that adult learners do not exhibit the same kinds of problems with Principle B. Intermediate-level adult learners of English as a second language (French and Japanese speakers), as well as a native-speaker control group, were tested using a truth value judgement task to determine their interpretations of pronouns. The L2 learners performed like native speakers in disallowing local antecedents for pronouns, suggesting that Principle B is not problematic in adult acquisition, in contrast to child acquisition.

Lexical and discourse factors in the second language acquisition of Spanish word order

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy Jandrey Hertel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Beginning Learners

This study investigates the acquisition of Spanish word order by native speakers of English. Specifically, it considers the development of sensitivity to the distinct interpretations of subject-verb (SV) vs. verb-subject (VS) order, as determined by lexical verb class (unaccusative and unergative verbs) and discourse structure.Participants included a native speaker control group and learners at four proficiency levels. Results from a contextualized production task indicate that beginning learners transferred the SV order of English for all structures. Intermediate learners showed a gradual increase in the production of lexically and discourse-determined inversion, although their data was also characterized by indeterminacy and variability. The advanced learners demonstrated a sensitivity to the word order effects of unaccusativity and discourse factors, but also tended to overgeneralize inversion to unergative verbs in a neutral discourse context.

scholarly journals Issues in Second Language Acquisition Research and the Relation with Native-Like Competence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riana Agustin Tindjabate
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Know How ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Aspect ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
Target Culture

This research reviews the relevancy of native-like competence in SLA study. It is used three issues that mostly found in English teaching. The first issue which always occurs in the discussion of learning English is communication needs between native speakers and L2 learners. Secondly, it is the domination of pragmatic aspect. The third issue is about teaching of target culture. Research results reveal that most of L2 learners are not accustomed to the full range of styles, structures, and speech acts of the native speakers since English is not used as their daily language. The learners might have different comprehension with the native speaker about the use of particular English words, sentences or phrases. The learners must know how to communicate well with native speaker and non native speaker of English by using particular words, sentences or phrases in a particular place or occasion.

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