“Desire Is Like a Dreadful Monster”: Analysis of Extended Metaphors in L2 Argumentative Essays by Chinese Learners of English

This article explores the use, function, and understanding of extended metaphors in L2 argumentative essays by Chinese learners of English. The analysis starts with the identification of linguistic metaphors and extended metaphors in 72 argumentative texts produced by 37 intermediate Chinese English majors. The function of extended metaphors is then analyzed by adopting the bottom-up approach of establishing systematic metaphors from those identified extended metaphors, to draw learners’ communicative intentions in producing extended metaphors. To understand learners’ thinking processes behind using extended metaphors while writing, four of nine writers were interviewed about the process of writing extended metaphors in their texts in the stimulated recall interviews. It is found that extended metaphors, expressed through similes or direct metaphors at strategic stages in L2 argumentative essays, are often the result of learners’ conscious manipulation of L1 in producing L2 for various communicative purposes, such as the desire for vividness, coherence, comprehensibility, when there is a knowledge gap between L1 and L2, and for evaluative and persuasive power. These communicative functions are consistent with the ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions of language, which also coincide and interact with the rhetorical goals of moves and stages in L2 argumentative essays. Metaphoric thinking, L1 influence, and struggling to express meaning and persuade, cited in learners’ thought reports, are major factors triggering extended metaphors. The findings of this article can contribute to the knowledge of learners’ metaphoric competence in L2, which can, in turn, enrich teachers’ metaphor knowledge and draw teachers’ attention to learners’ creative ways of using metaphors and then raise metaphor awareness in L2 writing, teaching, and learning.

Maîtrise des clitiques datifs dans les structures bitransitives en français L2 par des apprenants anglophones : influence de la structure argumentale de la L1

The objective of this study is to measure the influence of L1 verb argument structure, as well as verb meaning, on the mastery of dative clitics in French as a second language for a group of Anglophone learners. More specifically, we focus on ditransitive structures. While French and English share the V NP PP structure, English also has a double-object structure, V NP NP, for a subset of verbs. The results of our study show that L1 argument structure influences the mastery of dative clitics in French, especially for verbs that only accept the double-object structure in English. Further, the behaviour of our participants with verbs that accept the dative alternation led us to conduct a follow-up study. The findings show that verb meaning also influences performance with dative clitics, but this effect cannot be explained by L1 influence.

Word-order variation in a contact setting: A corpus-based investigation of Russian spoken in Daghestan

This paper deals with word-order variation in a situation of language contact. We present a corpus-based investigation of word order in the variety of Russian spoken in Daghestan, focusing specifically on noun phrases with a genitive modifier. In Daghestanian Russian, the nonstandard word order GEN+N (prepositive or left genitive) often occurs. At first glance, this phenomenon might be easily explained in terms of syntactic calquing from the speakers’ left-branching L1s. However, the order GEN+N does not occur with the same frequency in all types of genitive noun phrases but is affected by several lexicosemantic and formal features of both the head and the genitive modifier. Therefore, we are not dealing with simple pattern borrowing. Rather, L1 influence strengthens certain universal tendencies that are not motivated by contact. The comparison with monolinguals’ Russian, in which prepositive genitives sporadically occur too, supports this hypothesis.

What drives learner errors in written L2 production?

Accuracy in written L2 production can be influenced by many factors, including: (a) the relative similarity of the target structure to equivalent structure in the learner’s L1, and (b) the complexity of the target structure itself. The question of which of these two factors plays a stronger role is fundamental to theories of L2 acquisition. This written learner corpus study uses the English genitive alternation – s-genitives (‘the country's future’) and of-genitives (‘the future of the country’) – to attempt to shed light on this issue. L1 Spanish speakers lag behind L1 Japanese speakers in terms of accuracy rates when the target structure is an s-genitive. This L1 influence appears secondary to structural complexity effects; learners in both groups consistently use the simpler of-genitive with far higher accuracy. Both L1 and complexity effects are stronger in plural possessor contexts, with the plural feature apparently exacerbating learner difficulties with the s-genitive.

EXPLORING CROSSLINGUISTIC INFLUENCE IN GENDER MARKING IN SPANISH

In the current study, we examined the role of first-language (L1) influence on the additional-language development of grammatical gender marking in Spanish. The participants were L1 speakers of English or French (N = 215), who were learning Spanish and who were at three instructional levels. The data came from their use of gender marking in noun-modifier pairs in an argumentative essay. We adopted the unified methodological framework developed by Scott Jarvis and we applied insights from variationist second language acquisition to contribute to the discussion about whether learners’ L1 impacts variability in targetlike gender marking in additional-language Spanish. Specifically, we designed our study to investigate four types of evidence that Jarvis identified (intragroup homogeneity, intergroup heterogeneity, cross-language congruity, and intralingual contrasts), and we used variationist methods to account for other factors that are known to impact variable use of gender marking. The quantitative analyses supported each type of evidence, consequently demonstrating that these learners’ L1 influenced their variable use of gender marking in Spanish. We concluded by reflecting on the contributions that the current study has made to the understanding of gender marking in additional-language Spanish and to research on L1 influence more generally.

Resolução anafórica em português europeu L2: efeitos de animacidade e a posição do antecedente

This study investigates the interpretation of subject pronouns in L2 EP by Italian native speakers, to examine the following questions: In overt subject resolution, do L1 Italian - L2 European Portuguese learners behave like L1 EP speakers regarding antecedent animacy (a property at the syntax-semantics interface) at L2 developmental stages and at the near-native level?; When the antecedent in object position is animate, do L1 Italian - L2 EP learners exhibit permanent optionality in the interpretation of overt subject pronouns but not of null subjects, as claimed by Sorace (2016), a.o.? Participants were 15 adult EP native speakers, 10 intermediate, 10 advanced and 10 near-native Italian adult learners of L2 EP. They were administered two multiple-choice tasks (speeded and untimed) with a 2x2 design crossing the following variables: animacy of the matrix object (animate vs. inanimate) and type of embedded pronominal subject (overt vs. null). Results indicate that L2 learners show problems only in the areas where the L1 and the L2 differ (Madeira, Fiéis & Teixeira, this volume), namely: the resolution of overt subjects in the presence of [-animate] object antecedent and the resolution of null subjects. Learners’ performance in these areas remains unstable even at the near-native level. These findings challenge the ideas that internal interfaces (syntax/semantics) are not persistently problematic and that null subjects are unproblematic in L2 anaphora resolution (cf. Sorace, 2011, 2016). They moreover point to the importance of L1 influence in L2 anaphora resolution, a factor generally played down in previous studies (e.g., Sorace, 2016).

The Southwestern Mandarin /n/-/l/ Merger: Effects on Production in Standard Mandarin and English

Southwestern Mandarin is one of the most important modern Chinese dialects, with over 270 million speakers. One of its most noticeable phonological features is an inconsistent distinction between the pronunciation of (n) and (l), a feature shared with Cantonese. However, while /n/-/l/ in Cantonese has been studied extensively, especially in its effect upon English pronunciation, the /l/-/n/ distinction has not been widely studied for Southwestern Mandarin speakers. Many speakers of Southwestern Mandarin learn Standard Mandarin as a second language when they begin formal schooling, and English as a third language later. Their lack of /l/-/n/ distinction is largely a marker of regional accent. In English, however, the lack of a distinction risks loss of intelligibility because of the high functional load of /l/-/n/. This study is a phonetic investigation of initial and medial (n) and (l) production in English and Standard Mandarin by speakers of Southwestern Mandarin. Our goal is to identify how Southwestern Mandarin speakers produce (n) and (l) in their additional languages, thus providing evidence for variations within Southwestern Mandarin and identifying likely difficulties for L2 learning. Twenty-five Southwestern Mandarin speakers recorded English words with word initial (n) and (l), medial <ll> or <nn> spellings (e.g., swallow, winner), and word-medial (nl) combinations (e.g., only) and (ln) combinations (e.g., walnut). They also read Standard Mandarin monosyllabic words with initial (l) and (n), and Standard Mandarin disyllabic words with (l) or (n). Of the 25 subjects, 18 showed difficulties producing (n) and (l) consistently where required, while seven (all part of the same regional variety) showed no such difficulty. The results indicate that SWM speakers had more difficulty with initial nasal sounds in Standard Mandarin, which was similar to their performance in producing Standard Mandarin monosyllabic words. For English, production of (l) was significantly less accurate than (n), and (l) production in English was significantly worse than in Standard Mandarin. When both sounds occurred next to each other, there was a tendency toward producing only one sound, suggesting that the speakers assimilated production toward one phonological target. The results suggest that L1 influence may differ for the L2 and L3.

Focus Group Discussions to Explore Learner Issues When Writing

Writing is the most essential skill and all learners must develop regardless of the professions they aspire to pursue. Writing is a big challenge for both native and non-native students especially in the advancement of technology. It is the biggest challenge to the students of English as a foreign language. Using qualitative research methodologies in the classroom teaching and student learning experiences in higher education gains an in-depth understanding of the learners’ issues. The aims of the study were to implement Focus Group Discussions to explore learner issues when writing. The students of a Preparatory year Program of a Public University of Saudi Arabia were selected for this study and their issues of writing English were focused. The research data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and collaborative formative assessment. The data collected through the research tools were then analyzed using descriptive statistics and comparative methods. The findings reveal that the major problems in EFL learners’ writing are insufficient linguistic proficiency in general, organization of weak structures, L1 influence, writing anxiety, lack of ideas, problems in grammar, vocabulary and syntax in particular. The study also sheds light on the remedial measures such as using online applications, vocabulary practice and innovative teaching methods.

Examining L1 influence in L2 word recognition

The present study examined L1 influence in visual L2 word recognition in the area of letter case. Whether an English word is displayed in upper- or lower-case letters may be of little significance to English native speakers, but many ESL speakers from east Asia have found it more difficult to recognize words printed in upper-case letters. Two experiments were conducted to explore two questions: (a) whether there was indeed a case effect in L2 word recognition in that ESL speakers took longer in responding to upper-case words, and (b) whether this case effect only occurred for ESL speakers whose first languages employed a script other than the Roman alphabet. The participants included English native speakers, ESL speakers whose L1s employed the Roman alphabet (the Romance ESL group) and ESL speakers whose L1s did not. They were asked to perform a lexical decision task on English words displayed in either upper- or lower-case letters. In both experiments, a reliable case effect was found for the latter ESL group only. This L1-related case effect raised both theoretical and pedagogical issues to be explored in future research.

Oversuppliance of the English simple past tense by Mandarin ESL learners

This study sought to determine if there would be L1 influence in the oral use of the English simple past tense in a semi-structured interview questions task as well as in a fill-in-the-gaps task. This research investigated the oversuppliance of the simple past tense in sentential contexts in which the simple past tense was ungrammatical. The participants of this study consisted of two different L1 groups – Mandarin, which lacks a grammatical past tense, and Tamil, which has a grammatical past tense. The results indicated that the Mandarin learners oversupplied the simple past tense more frequently on the oral task, as a proportion of the simple past tense forms they produced, than the Tamil participants, but not on the fill-in-the-gaps task.