An SLA-Informed and Cognitive Linguistic Approach to the Teaching of L2 Catalan Tense-Aspect

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 95-120
Author(s):  
Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé ◽  
Ares Llop Naya
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Input Processing ◽  
The University ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
Past Tenses

This article explores the relationship between second language acquisition and language teaching presenting the design of a teaching sequence on past tenses that integrates the results of research on tense and aspect in a second language (the Aspect and Discourse Hypotheses and Input processing instruction). By implementing the principles of cognitive linguistics, the article presents the design of activities to teach the meanings of perfective, imperfective, and perfect morphology with the introduction of the notions of space of action, verbal action, and the speaker's point of view. All concepts are illustrated with activities implemented in a Catalan classroom at the University of Cardiff (A1 and A2 levels).

A commentary on processing instruction

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sharwood-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
The Other ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Input Processing ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe commentary takes the form of reflections occasioned by the debate carried out in the various contributions to this volume as also the related presentations and discussions that took place at the Symposium on Processing Instruction at the University of Greenwich in September, 2013. Rather than review each contribution the debate is be placed within a historical perspective and focus is on the changing relationship between two types of professional: a) those who seek to extend our understanding of second language acquisition and b) those whose main aim is to assist language instructors by applying insights from theoretical research and, by so doing, provide their profession with a modern scientific foundation. It is about the relationship between the ‘understanders’, on the one hand, and the ‘helpers’ on the other. The interaction between Input Processing Theory (IP)– the theory – and Processing Instruction (PI) – the application – provides an ideal background for such a discussion.

scholarly journals What is Salience?

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 713-722
Author(s):  
Vincent Boswijk ◽  
Matt Coler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractA commonly used concept in linguistics is salience. Oftentimes it is used without definition, and the meaning of the concept is repeatedly assumed to be self-explanatory. The definitions that are provided may vary greatly from one operationalization of salience to the next. In order to find out whether it is possible to postulate an overarching working definition of linguistic salience that subsumes usage across linguistic subdomains, we review these different operationalizations of linguistic salience. This article focuses on salience in sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, second-language acquisition (SLA), and semantics. In this article, we give an overview of how these fields operationalize salience. Finally, we discuss correlations and contradictions between the different operationalizations.

A self-paced reading (SPR) study of the effects of processing instruction on the L2 processing of active and passive sentences

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882091402
Author(s):  
James F. Lee ◽  
Paul A. Malovrh ◽  
Stephen Doherty ◽  
Alecia Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition

Recent research on the effects of processing instruction (PI) have incorporated online research methods in order to demonstrate that PI has effects on cognitive processing behaviors as well as on accuracy (e.g. Lee & Doherty, 2019a). The present study uses self-paced reading and a moving windows technique to examine the effects of PI on second language (L2) learners’ processing of Spanish active and passive sentences to explore the effects of PI on instructed second language acquisition. One group received PI but the Control group did not. Between group comparisons on passive sentences showed changes in performance for the PI group but not the Control group with the PI group gaining in accuracy and processing speed, specifically faster response times to select the correct picture and faster reading time on passive verb forms. Within group analyses showed changes in the PI group’s performance on all dependent variables at the immediate posttest and a subsequent decline in performance at the delayed posttest (8 weeks later). We discuss the implications of our results and treatment format for classroom and hybridized instruction.

THE ASPECT HYPOTHESIS AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 PAST MORPHOLOGY IN THE LAST 20 YEARS

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1167
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig ◽  
Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
The Third

AbstractTwenty years ago, a state-of-the-art review in SSLA marked the coming of age of the study of temporality in second language acquisition. This was followed by three monographs on tense and aspect the next year. This article presents a state-of-the-scholarship review of the last 20 years of research addressing the aspect hypothesis (AH) (Andersen, 1991, 2002; Andersen & Shirai, 1994, 1996), the most tested hypothesis in L2 temporality research. The first section of the article gives an overview of the AH and examines its central tenets, and then explores the results of empirical studies that test the hypothesis. The second section considers studies that have investigated four crucial variables in the acquisition of temporality and the testing of the AH. The third section discusses theoretically motivated areas of future research within the framework of the hypothesis.

Requests in English by second-language users

1998 ◽  
Vol 119-120 ◽  
pp. 123-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.A. Kasanga
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Interlanguage Pragmatics ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge

Abstract The study of learners' pragmatic and discourse knowledge, also known as "interlanguage pragmatics", is now an important preoccupation of second-language acquisition (SLA) research. Spurred by this growing interest in interlanguage pragmatics and with a view to contributing to this field of research I conducted a study of requests in English produced by English as a second language (ESL) university students in their daily interaction mainly with lecturers. I collected the data for this study by means of observation and by recording "golden episodes of requesting behaviour in students' spontaneous speech. For comparative purposes, I elicited additional data by means of a discourse-completion task (DCT). One finding is that the students' knowledge of contextual use of requesting strategies in English is inadequate because their requests are of (very) limited range and inappropriate in context. The in-appropriacy of the requests was confirmed by native speakers' judgments. One explanation of the inadequacy of the students' pragmatic knowledge is the lack of exposure to the whole gamut of requesting devices. Another may have a strategic dimension. Also important is the explanation of transfer from the first language/s (Ll/s) : learners may be simply carrying over into English structures translated from their L1. From a pedagogical point of view, it is suggested that discourse and pragmatic knowledge be systematically taught to avoid miscommunication and negative reactions from native and competent non-native speakers of English. The suggestion of teaching pragmatic knowledge seems to be supported by the finding about one subject who, after exposure to a variety of requesting expressions, seemed to modify the pattern of her requests.

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