scholarly journals A Learner Corpus of High-Stakes Placement Test Essays of Chinese Second Language Students Through a Corpus Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Eunjeong Park
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Frequent Use

Learner corpora—repositories of authentic texts produced by foreign/second language learners (Granger, 2009)—have widely been used in second language (L2) research due to authenticity and practical insight. This study involves a learner corpus of placement test essays to examine L2 students’ use of lexical bundles and explore their linguistic needs so that the learner corpus can be used as potential linguistic resources for L2 students with their perceived needs. 367 placement test essays from Chinese L2 students in a midwestern university were analyzed in the study. The results show the most frequent use of prepositional phrasal lexical bundles, less frequent use of discourse-organizing bundles, and frequent use of ‘I’ in stance bundles. This study revealed L2 students need to be aware of the use of discourse-organizing bundles for cohesion/logic in academic writing and implied the value of L2 students’ lexico-grammatical use as a resource and investment with pedagogical significance.

scholarly journals ‘transformative’ potential of translanguaging and other heteroglossic educational practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-289
Author(s):  
M. Rafael Salaberry
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
The Us ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish

Over the last few decades, there has been an increased awareness about imprecise, inaccurate and, thus, unfair conceptualisations of language based on monoglossic views of language that delegitimise the linguistic repertoire of multilingual minorities as is the case of heritage speakers of Spanish in the US or speakers of Lingua Franca English worldwide. At the same time, there are theoretical and educational proposals that offer new conceptualisations of multilingualism focused on the concept of heteroglossia, which, in contrast with monoglossic views, focuses our attention on the fluid and full use of all linguistic resources available to language learners/users as they engage in the process of interacting with their interlocutors. In the present paper, I describe an important challenge that compromises the valuable agenda of heteroglossic approaches to develop multilingualism: the effect of listeners’ biases and reverse linguistic stereotyping. That is, educational programmes designed to counteract the negative effect of monoglossic approaches to second language learning in general cannot adopt a segregationist approach (neither in their theoretical design nor in their practical implementation). To place this challenge in context, I describe in detail the specific example of Spanish heritage second language learners at the tertiary level of education in the US setting and I also provide a broad outline of potential improvements in the curricular design of such programmes.

scholarly journals Voicing up in Debate Competition: Oral Development of Two Malaysian ESL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Amiri ◽  
Moomala Othman ◽  
Maryam Jahedi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Oral Development ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
The Impact

This research used a qualitative approach to focus on the classroom debate between Malaysian English second language learners (ESL). Since debate has been often perceived as not a suitable activity for low proficiency students due to their limited linguistic resources, there has not been much emphasis on the impact of debate on incompetent ESL learners; however, this study was an attempt to concentrate on two students who were not competent in English to investigate their oral development via debate. The study observed the communicative strategies employed in this challenging task during the five debate rounds. Although the progress made was quite limited, the study showed that debate competition can be a relevant and meaningful practice for speaking activity among low proficiency students. Moreover, it showed that debate can be used to scaffold students’ practice in speaking.

scholarly journals Linking learner corpus and experimental data in studying second language learners’ knowledge of verb-argument constructions

ICAME Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Römer ◽  
Audrey Roberson ◽  
Matthew B. O’Donnell ◽  
Nick C. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Learner Corpora

Abstract This paper combines data from learner corpora and psycholinguistic experiments in an attempt to find out what advanced learners of English (first language backgrounds German and Spanish) know about a range of common verbargument constructions (VACs), such as the ‘V about n’ construction (e.g. she thinks about chocolate a lot). Learners’ dominant verb-VAC associations are examined based on evidence retrieved from the German and Spanish subcomponents of ICLE and LINDSEI and collected in lexical production tasks in which participants complete VAC frames (e.g. ‘he ___ about the...’) with verbs that may fill the blank (e.g. talked, thought, wondered). The paper compares findings from the different data sets and highlights the value of linking corpus and experimental evidence in studying linguistic phenomena

scholarly journals The SweLL Language Learner Corpus

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 67-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Volodina ◽  
Lena Granstedt ◽  
Arild Matsson ◽  
Beáta Megyesi ◽  
Ildikó Pilán ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Selection Principles

The article presents a new language learner corpus for Swedish, SweLL, and the methodology from collection and pesudonymisation to protect personal information of learners to annotation adapted to second language learning. The main aim is to deliver a well-annotated corpus of essays written by second language learners of Swedish and make it available for research through a browsable environment. To that end, a new annotation tool and a new project management tool have been implemented, – both with the main purpose to ensure reliability and quality of the final corpus. In the article we discuss reasoning behind metadata selection, principles of gold corpus compilation and argue for separation of normalization from correction annotation.

I Think We Should…

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Hengbin Yan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Second Language Development ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Functional Distribution ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Lexical Bundle

High-frequency recurrent word combinations known as lexical bundles are an essential component in the second language development. However, existing research on second language lexical bundle use has focused on writing proficiency, while oral proficiency has not received adequate attention. This study adopts a corpus-driven approach to the investigation of the speech of second language learners, comparing lexical bundle use across proficiency levels in several areas of interest including frequency, functional distribution and bundle fixedness. Results show that low-proficiency students tend to use significantly more context-dependent bundles than high-proficiency students, but do not differ in overall lexical bundle use. The patterning of lexical bundle use in non-native speech exhibits features that are typical in the register of classroom teaching. Additionally, the frequency and functional distributions of non-native speech share many similarities with those of non-native writing. Implications of the author's findings are discussed in relation to previous studies.

The relationship between topic and metaphor in second-language learners’ essays

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-278
Author(s):  
Anne Golden
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Automatic Extraction ◽  
High Stake ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Written Assignments ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In this article I investigate to what extent the use of metaphorical expressions in language learners’ texts vary according to the topic they have chosen to write about. The data come from the Norwegian learner corpus ASK, where the texts are from written assignments produced by adult second-language learners as part of an official Norwegian test and texts. Texts from two different prompts are selected, which are related to friendship and nature. Metaphors are defined according to conceptual metaphor theory and a triangulation of methods is used, alternating between a manual and an automatic extraction method. The results confirm the hypothesis that the two different prompts given to the learners in a language test not only triggers different metaphorical expressions but also influences the amount of metaphor used in the learners’ writing. This knowledge is important to researchers for comparing the use of metaphors between different groups, such as between different learners or between students in different stages of education. It is also important for test designers who decide on topics to be used in tests and teachers who help learners prepare for their tests. In addition, it is of interest for researchers, educators in general and the learners themselves who are interested in the effect the use of metaphors in texts have on raters’ evaluations in high-stake tests.

scholarly journals J’ai l’impression que: Lexical Bundles in the Dialogues of Beginner French Textbooks

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-101
Author(s):  
Nathan Vandeweerd ◽  
Merel Keijzer
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
T Test ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Textbook Design ◽  
Authentic Language

Formulaic language is notoriously difficult for second language learners of French to master (Edmonds, 2014; Forsberg, 2010). Yet, no study has examined formulaic language in French textbooks despite the fact that in many contexts, textbooks represent a significant proportion of the input that learners receive. The current study addresses this gap. Using a distributional approach (as used in Biber, Conrad, & Cortes, 2004), four-word lexical bundles were extracted from an oral corpus of French. The average number of lexical bundles in oral corpus utterances was compared to the average number of bundles in a corpus of A1-B1 level textbook dialogues. An independent samples t test showed that the average number of lexical bundles per 100,000 words was significantly higher in texts from the oral corpus than the textbook corpus. The average number of stance and referential lexical bundles was also revealed to be higher in the oral corpus. Implications for textbook design are discussed, such as increasing the amount of formulaic language in A2 level textbooks and incorporating more authentic language into textbooks.

scholarly journals Performing Argumentative Writing in English: Difficulties, Processes, and Strategies

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Writing Task

Argumentative writing constitutes an important part of second-language learners' academic writing experience in North America. This study examined the difficulties a group of Mexican graduate students encountered when engaged in an argumentative writing task as well as their writing processes and strategies. Data were collected from individual interviews with the participants and from participants' written essays. Data analysis indicated that most participants perceived the rhetorical aspects of English argumentative writing as difficult. Data analysis also indicated that participants mainly used cognitive, social, and search strategies, whereas metacognitive strategies were used infrequently. Potential implications of the study for second-language writing instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals RECASTS, REPETITION, AND AMBIGUITY IN L2 CLASSROOM DISCOURSE

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Lyster
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Classroom Discourse ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Primary Level ◽  
Frequent Use

This study examines aspects of communicative classroom discourse that may affect the potential of recasts to be noticed as negative evidence by young second language learners. The database comprises transcripts of over 18 hours of interaction recorded during 27 lessons in 4 immersion classrooms at the primary level. The 377 recasts in the database have been classified according to their pragmatic functions in classroom discourse and then compared to the teachers' even more frequent use of noncorrective repetition. Findings reveal that recasts and noncorrective repetition fulfill identical functions distributed in equal proportions and, furthermore, that teachers frequently use positive feedback to express approval of the content of learners' messages, irrespective of well-formedness, to accompany, also in equal proportions, recasts, noncorrective repetition, and even topic-continuation moves following errors. The findings suggest that, from the perspective of both learners and teachers, the corrective reformulations entailed in recasts may easily be overridden by their functional properties in meaning-oriented classrooms.

scholarly journals Second Language Learner Perceptions on Web-Based Language Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 457
Author(s):  
WMUSK Walisundara
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Second Language Learner ◽  
Class Environment ◽  
Negative Effect

<p><em>The focus of the current study was to investigate the perceptions of English as a second language learners on using computer assisted language learning (CALL) for improving academic writing skills. The study was conducted for thirteen weeks with 82 second year undergraduates from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in Sri Lanka. Switching Replication was used for the research design. The data were analyzed using mix method approach. The findings indicate that the participants preferred the in-class environment more than the CALL environment for academic writing skills.  Participants’ lack of experience in CALL, poor writing and vocabulary skills and the negative interference from the technical issues were some of the issues that had a negative effect on the participants in the CALL environment. Yet the success of the intervention both in the first and second phases indicates the effectiveness of CALL for developing academic writing skills</em></p>

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