Sample records for advanced l2 learners

  1. Language aptitude for pronunciation in advanced second language (L2) learners: behavioural predictors and neural substrates.

    PubMed

    Hu, Xiaochen; Ackermann, Hermann; Martin, Jason A; Erb, Michael; Winkler, Susanne; Reiterer, Susanne M

    2013-12-01

    Individual differences in second language (L2) aptitude have been assumed to depend upon a variety of cognitive and personality factors. Especially, the cognitive factor phonological working memory has been conceptualised as language learning device. However, strong associations between phonological working memory and L2 aptitude have been previously found in early-stage learners only, not in advanced learners. The current study aimed at investigating the behavioural and neurobiological predictors of advanced L2 learning. Our behavioural results showed that phonetic coding ability and empathy, but not phonological working memory, predict L2 pronunciation aptitude in advanced learners. Second, functional neuroimaging revealed this behavioural trait to be correlated with hemodynamic responses of the cerebral network of speech motor control and auditory-perceptual areas. We suggest that the acquisition of L2 pronunciation aptitude is a dynamic process, requiring a variety of neural resources at different processing stages over time. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Advanced L2 Learners and Reading Placement: Self-Assessment, CBT, and Subsequent Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy

    2006-01-01

    There is a dearth of research involving advanced second language (L2) learners in the USA [Brantmeier, C., 2001. Second language reading research on passage content and gender: challenges for the intermediate level curriculum, Foreign Language Annals 34, 325-333; Young, D.J., 2003. Workshop on overcoming anxiety in the foreign language classroom.…

  3. Morphosyntactic Processing in Advanced Second Language (L2) Learners: An Event-Related Potential Investigation of the Effects of L1-l2 Similarity and Structural Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alemán Bañón, José; Fiorentino, Robert; Gabriele, Alison

    2014-01-01

    Different theoretical accounts of second language (L2) acquisition differ with respect to whether or not advanced learners are predicted to show native-like processing for features not instantiated in the native language (L1). We examined how native speakers of English, a language with number but not gender agreement, process number and gender…

  4. Engagement Portraits and (Socio)linguistic Performance: A Transversal and Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mougeon, Françoise; Rehner, Katherine

    2015-01-01

    This study considers, both transversally and longitudinally, advanced second language (L2) learners' profile portraits, how these correlate with their sociolinguistic and linguistic performance, and how changes in these portraits over time connect to changes in sociolinguistic performance. The results show a strong correlation between high degrees…

  5. Similarity in L2 Phonology: Evidence from L1 Spanish Late-Learners' Perception and Lexical Representation of English Vowel Contrasts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrios, Shannon; Jiang, Nan; Idsardi, William J.

    2016-01-01

    Adult second language (L2) learners often experience difficulty producing and perceiving nonnative phonological contrasts. Even relatively advanced learners, who have been exposed to an L2 for long periods of time, struggle with difficult contrasts, such as /?/-/l/ for Japanese learners of English. To account for the relative ease or difficulty…

  6. Aspects of Lexical Sophistication in Advanced Learners' Oral Production: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use in L2 French and Italian

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bardel, Camilla; Gudmundson, Anna; Lindqvist, Christina

    2012-01-01

    This article reports on the design and use of a profiler for lexical sophistication (i.e., use of advanced vocabulary), which was created to assess the lexical richness of intermediate and advanced Swedish second language (L2) learners' French and Italian. It discusses how teachers' judgments (TJs) of word difficulty can contribute to the…

  7. Inter- and Intralingual Lexical Influences in Advanced Learners' French L3 Oral Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lindqvist, Christina

    2010-01-01

    The present study investigates lexical inter- and intralingual influences in the oral production of 14 very advanced learners of French L3. Lexical deviances are divided into two main categories: formal influence and meaning-based influence. The results show that, as predicted with respect to advanced learners, meaning-based influence is the most…

  8. Phonological Substitution Errors in L2 ASL Sentence Processing by Hearing M2L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Joshua; Newman, Sharlene

    2016-01-01

    In the present study we aimed to investigate phonological substitution errors made by hearing second language (M2L2) learners of American Sign Language (ASL) during a sentence translation task. Learners saw sentences in ASL that were signed by either a native signer or a M2L2 learner. Learners were to simply translate the sentence from ASL to…

  9. A Longitudinal Investigation into L2 Learners' Cognitive Processes during Study Abroad

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ren, Wei

    2014-01-01

    The present study longitudinally investigates the cognitive processes of advanced L2 learners engaged in a multimedia task that elicited status-equal and status-unequal refusals in English during their study abroad. Data were collected three times by retrospective verbal report from 20 Chinese learners who were studying abroad over the course of…

  10. Working Memory Effects on L1 and L2 Processing of Ambiguous Relative Clauses by Korean L2 Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Ji Hyon; Christianson, Kiel

    2017-01-01

    In this study, we report the results of two self-paced reading experiments that investigated working memory capacity effects on the processing of globally ambiguous relative clauses by advanced Korean second language (L2) learners of English. Consistent with previous monolingual literature on the processing of temporary ambiguity, we found that…

  11. Evaluating Bilingual and Monolingual Dictionaries for L2 Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunt, Alan

    1997-01-01

    A discussion of dictionaries and their use for second language (L2) learning suggests that lack of computerized modern language corpora can adversely affect bilingual dictionaries, commonly used by L2 learners, and shows how use of such corpora has benefitted two contemporary monolingual L2 learner dictionaries (1995 editions of the Longman…

  12. Transfer and Semantic Universals in the L2 Acquisition of the English Article System by Child L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morales-Reyes, Alexandra; Soler, Inmaculada Gómez

    2016-01-01

    L2 learners' problems with English articles have been linked to learners' L1 and their access to universal semantic features (e.g., definiteness and specificity). Studies suggest that L2 adults rely on their L1 knowledge, while child L2 learners rely more on their access to semantic universals. The present study investigates whether child L2

  13. Automated Assessment of Speech Fluency for L2 English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Su-Youn

    2009-01-01

    This dissertation provides an automated scoring method of speech fluency for second language learners of English (L2 learners) based that uses speech recognition technology. Non-standard pronunciation, frequent disfluencies, faulty grammar, and inappropriate lexical choices are crucial characteristics of L2 learners' speech. Due to the ease of…

  14. On the Relationship between Iranian L2 Teachers' Pedagogical Beliefs and L2 Learners' Attitudes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharajabian, Maryam; Hashemian, Mahmood

    2015-01-01

    The present study employed a descriptive survey design to investigate L2 learners' attitudes towards language learning, and the possible effects of teachers' beliefs on learners' attitudes. Participants were chosen from among 2 groups: Twenty EFL teachers were asked to take part in this study and 80 from a pool of 213 learners at 2 language…

  15. Attention and L2 Learners' Segmentation of Complex Sentences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hagiwara, Akiko

    2010-01-01

    The main objective of the current study is to investigate L2 Japanese learners' ability to segment complex sentences from aural input. Elementary- and early intermediate-level L2 learners in general have not developed the ability to use syntactic cues to interpret the meaning of sentences they hear. In the case of Japanese, recognition of…

  16. Processing Subject-Object Ambiguities in the L2: A Self-Paced Reading Study with German L2 Learners of Dutch

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Havik, Else; Roberts, Leah; van Hout, Roeland; Schreuder, Robert; Haverkort, Marco

    2009-01-01

    The results of two self-paced reading experiments are reported, which investigated the online processing of subject-object ambiguities in Dutch relative clause constructions like "Dat is de vrouw die de meisjes heeft/hebben gezien" by German advanced second language (L2) learners of Dutch. Native speakers of both Dutch and German have been shown…

  17. A Comparison of L2 and L3 Learners' Strategy Use in School Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haukås, Åsta

    2015-01-01

    Research on third-language learning (L3) has documented that plurilingualism is an asset in many respects. Particularly relevant for this study is research showing that L3 learners use more strategies more frequently and efficiently than L2 learners. However, previous studies have mainly concentrated on L3 learners' strategy use at the university…

  18. The Acquisition of the Korean Honorific Affix "(u)si" by Advanced L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mueller, Jeansue; Jiang, Nan

    2013-01-01

    An experiment investigated adult language learners' ability to develop fully integrated cognitive representations of a difficult second language (L2) morphosyntactic feature: the Korean honorific verbal affix "(u)si." Native speaker (NS) and nonnative speaker (NNS) latencies during a word-by-word self-paced reading comprehension task…

  19. The Impact of Resilience on L2 Learners' Motivated Behaviour and Proficiency in L2 Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Tae-Young; Kim, Yoon-Kyoung

    2017-01-01

    This exploratory study focused on the factors that constitute second language (L2) learners' resilience, and how these factors are related to L2 learning by investigating what relation resilience may have to motivated behaviour and proficiency in English learning. A total of 1620 secondary school learners of English participated in a questionnaire…

  20. Vocabulary Breadth in French L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    David, Annabelle

    2008-01-01

    Vocabulary is one of the building blocks of language and is a necessary component of learners' development. This paper aims to describe the development of the L2 lexicon from the first year of learning French as a foreign language at school to the last year of undergraduate studies at university by setting out what learners know and how this…

  1. Revisiting Fluctuations in L2 Article Choice in L1-Korean L2-English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sarker, Bijon K.; Baek, Seunghyun

    2017-01-01

    The current study investigated the distinction of L2 (second language) English article choice sensitivity in fifty-three L1-Korean L2-English learners in semantic contexts. In the context of English as a foreign language, the participants were divided into two groups based on grammatical ability as determined by their performance on a cloze test.…

  2. Phonological Memory and the Acquisition of Grammar in Child L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verhagen, Josje; Leseman, Paul; Messer, Marielle

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies show that second language (L2) learners with large phonological memory spans outperform learners with smaller memory spans on tests of L2 grammar. The current study investigated the relationship between phonological memory and L2 grammar in more detail than has been done earlier. Specifically, we asked how phonological memory…

  3. L2 Acquisition of Prosodic Properties of Speech Rhythm: Evidence from L1 Mandarin and German Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Aike; Post, Brechtje

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the development of speech rhythm in second language (L2) learners of typologically different first languages (L1s) at different levels of proficiency. An empirical investigation of durational variation in L2 English productions by L1 Mandarin learners and L1 German learners compared to native control values in English and the…

  4. Gaming as Extramural English L2 Learning and L2 Proficiency among Young Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sylven, Liss Kerstin; Sundqvist, Pia

    2012-01-01

    Today, playing digital games is an important part of many young people's everyday lives. Claims have been made that certain games, in particular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) provide L2 English learners with a linguistically rich and cognitively challenging virtual environment that may be conducive to L2 learning, as…

  5. Revisiting Fluctuations in L2 Article Choice in L1-Korean L2-English Learners.

    PubMed

    Sarker, Bijon K; Baek, Seunghyun

    2017-04-01

    The current study investigated the distinction of L2 (second language) English article choice sensitivity in fifty-three L1-Korean L2-English learners in semantic contexts. In the context of English as a foreign language, the participants were divided into two groups based on grammatical ability as determined by their performance on a cloze test. In addition, a forced-choice elicitation test and a writing production test were administered to assess, respectively, the participants' receptive and productive article choice abilities. Regardless of grammatical ability, the results disclosed the overuse of the indefinite a in the [[Formula: see text]definite, -specific] context and the definite the in the [-definite, [Formula: see text]specific] context on the forced-choice elicitation test. In the [[Formula: see text]definite, [Formula: see text]specific] and [-definite, -specific] contexts, however, the overuse of either the indefinite a or the definite the, respectively, was less likely. Furthermore, it was revealed on the writing test that the participants more accurately used the definite the than the indefinite a, and they were also found to unreasonably omit more articles than to add or substitute articles on the writing production test. The findings across the two tests indicate that L1-Korean L2-English learners are more likely to have intrinsic difficulties transferring their L1 noun phrase (NP) knowledge to L2 NP knowledge owing to structural discrepancies and complex interfaces between L1 NPs and L2 NPs with respect to syntactic, semantic and pragmatic/discourse language subsystems.

  6. The L2 Motivational Self System and L2 Achievement: A Study of Saudi EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moskovsky, Christo; Assulaimani, Turki; Racheva, Silvia; Harkins, Jean

    2016-01-01

    The research reported in this article explores the relationship between Dörnyei's (2005, 2009) Second Language Motivational Self System (L2MSS) and the L2 proficiency level of Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Male and female participants (N = 360) responded to a questionnaire relating to the main components of L2MSS, the…

  7. L2 Working Memory Capacity and L2 Reading Skill.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harrington, Mike; Sawyer, Mark

    1992-01-01

    Examines the sensitivity of second-language (L2) working memory (ability to store and process information simultaneously) to differences in reading skills among advanced L2 learners. Subjects with larger L2 working memory capacities scored higher on measures of L2 reading skills, but no correlation was found between reading and passive short-term…

  8. L2 Learners' Informal Online Interactions in Social Network Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malerba, Maria-Luisa

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on a study on the use of social network sites (SNSs) designed for L2 learning, such as "Livemocha" and "Busuu", where learners autonomously seek opportunities for authentic interaction in spontaneous ways. The study consists in a longitudinal multiple case study approach to investigate learners' informal…

  9. Investigating the Role of Multiple Intelligences in Determining Vocabulary Learning Strategies for L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sistani, Mahsa; Hashemian, Mahmood

    2016-01-01

    This study, first, examined whether there was any relationship between Iranian L2 learners' vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs), on the one hand, and their multiple intelligences (MI) types, on the other hand. In so doing, it explored the extent to which MI would predict L2 learners' VLSs. To these ends, 40 L2 learners from Isfahan University of…

  10. Repair Negotiation by English L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Yujeong

    2012-01-01

    It is widely accepted that L2 learners often face communication problems due to lack of competency in the target language and familiarity with its culture of origin. One way to resolve miscommunication problems is to seek clarification of the utterance; this process is called "repair negotiation" (Nakahama et al. 2001). Repair…

  11. The Impact of L1 Metaphorical Comprehension on L2 Metaphorical Comprehension of Iraqi EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arif, Mahmoud; Abdullah, Imran Ho

    2017-01-01

    The major goal of this research is to investigate learners' metaphorical comprehension in L1 and its effect on the metaphorical comprehension in L2 by Iraqi EFL learners at secondary school. In which, they encounter difficulties understanding English texts and lectures, primarily when metaphor is included, which leads to the misunderstanding of…

  12. The Development of Individual Learners in an L2 Listening Strategies Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeldham, Michael; Gruba, Paul

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the idiosyncratic development of second language (L2) learners in a listening strategies course. The progress of four Taiwanese EFL learners was examined longitudinally through a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques as the learners participated in a course combining direct instruction of strategies with their…

  13. An Alternative to Language Learner Dependence on L2 Caption-Reading Input for Comprehension of Sitcoms in a Multimedia Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, C.-H.

    2014-01-01

    Most second/foreign language (L2) learners have difficulty understanding listening input because of its implicit and ephemeral nature, and they typically have better reading comprehension than listening comprehension skills. This study examines the effects of using an interactive advance-organizer activity on the DVD video comprehension of L2

  14. Acquisition of Derivational Lexical Rules: A Case Study of the Acquisition of French Agent Noun Forms by L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redouane, Rabia

    2007-01-01

    This study investigates L2 learners' use of French derivational processes and their strategies as they form agent nouns. It also attempts to find out which of the acquisitional principles (conventionality, semantic transparency, formal simplicity, and productivity) advanced by Clark (1993, 2003) for various L1s acquisition of word formation…

  15. L2 and L3 Ultimate Attainment: An Investigation of Two Parameters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hermas, Abdelkader

    2014-01-01

    This study considers the upper limit of ultimate attainment in the L2 French and L3 English of trilingual learners. The learners are native speakers of Moroccan Arabic who started learning L2 French at eight and L3 English at 16. They are advanced in both languages. Four constructions representing the verb movement and null subject parameter were…

  16. Use of L1 in L2 Reading Comprehension among Tertiary ESL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seng, Goh Hock; Hashim, Fatimah

    2006-01-01

    This study is an attempt to provide insights into the extent of first language (L1) use while reading second language (L2) texts in a collaborative situation among tertiary ESL learners. Through the identification of reading strategies utilized by the subjects, the study is also aimed at discovering possible reasons for the use of L1 while…

  17. Mastering the Pressures of Variation: A Cognitive Linguistic Examination of Advanced Hearing ASL L2 Signers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nadolske, Marie Anne

    2009-01-01

    Despite the fact that American Sign Language (ASL) courses at the college-level have been increasing in frequency, little is understood about the capabilities of hearing individuals learning a sign language as a second language. This study aims to begin assessing the language skills of advanced L2 learners of ASL by comparing L2 signer productions…

  18. Collaborative Revision in L2 Writing: Learners' Reflections

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Memari Hanjani, Alireza

    2016-01-01

    L2 learning literature has reflected on the problems surrounding the application of teacher written feedback and peer feedback in EFL contexts. To address the disadvantages of these feedback forms, this exploratory case study examined EFL learners' reactions to a collaborative revision activity. Interview data were collected from eight native…

  19. L2 Learners' Recognition of Unfamiliar Idioms Composed of Familiar Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Choonkyong

    2016-01-01

    Most second language (L2) learners are aware of the importance of vocabulary, and this awareness usually directs their attention to learning new words. By contrast, learners do not often recognise unfamiliar idioms if all the compositional parts look familiar to them such as "turn the corner" or "carry the day." College-level…

  20. Selective Listening in L2 Learners of French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Suzanne; Santos, Denise

    2013-01-01

    This paper considers the issue raised in 2008 by Gillian Brown in her article "Selective listening" regarding whether nouns are "privileged" in memory over verbs during listening tasks, and whether attention to nouns, at least in the early stages of L2 learning, is a desirable strategy to be taught to learners, as Brown…

  1. Learner Beliefs about Sociolinguistic Competence: A Qualitative Case Study of Four University Second Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jinsuk; Rehner, Katherine

    2015-01-01

    This article explores the beliefs about second language (L2) sociolinguistic competence of four university-level advanced L2 learners. It places particular emphasis on 1) how these university learners conceptualized L2 sociolinguistic competence; 2) how they thought about two different language learning contexts (viz., the L2 classroom versus…

  2. Developmental Trends and L1 Effects in Early L2 Learners' Onset Cluster Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tessier, Anne-Michelle; Duncan, Tamara Sorenson; Paradis, Johanne

    2013-01-01

    This study focuses on English onset cluster production in spontaneous speech samples of 10 children aged 5;04-6;09 from Chinese and Hindi/Punjabi first language (L1) backgrounds, each with less than a year of exposure to English. The results suggest commonalities between early second language (L2) learners and both monolingual and adult L2

  3. L2 (IM)Politeness in the Synchronous Chat of Elementary School Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howard, Craig D.; Do, Jaewoo

    2017-01-01

    Participation in interactive games, especially those in immersive environments, is often employed in learning contexts to stochastically develop L2 learners' language ability. However, typical measures of language ability often do not reflect pragmatic competencies. This study juxtaposes two elementary school ESL learners' language ability, and…

  4. Word Boundaries in L2 Speech: Evidence from Polish Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Geoffrey

    2016-01-01

    Acoustic and perceptual studies investgate B2-level Polish learners' acquisition of second language (L2) English word-boundaries involving word-initial vowels. In production, participants were less likely to produce glottalization of phrase-medial initial vowels in L2 English than in first language (L1) Polish. Perception studies employing word…

  5. Grapho-Morphological Awareness in Spanish L2 Reading: How Do Learners Use This Metalinguistic Skill?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miguel, Nausica Marcos

    2012-01-01

    This paper contributes to the literature on the transferability of grapho-morphological awareness (GMA) for second language (L2) learners by analysing L2 learners' knowledge of morphology in reading. GMA helps readers to identify grammatical categories, infer meanings of unfamiliar words, and access stored lexical information. Previous research…

  6. Profiles of More and Less Successful L2 Learners: A Cluster Analysis Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard L.; Patton, Jon; Ganschow, Leonore

    2012-01-01

    This retrospective study examined L1 achievement, intelligence, L2 aptitude, and L2 proficiency profiles of 208 students completing two years of high school L2 courses. A cluster analysis was performed to determine whether distinct cognitive and achievement profiles of more and less successful L2 learners would emerge. The results of…

  7. Learner Characteristics, Learner Achievement and Time Investment in Online Courses for Dutch L2 in Adult Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Paepe, Liesbeth; Zhu, Chang; Depryck, Koen

    2018-01-01

    For the growing group of adult migrants, flexible solutions for second language (L2) acquisition are increasingly important, while concerns about the efficacy of online language learning abound. This study on the L2 situation in Flanders has 4 key aims: analyzing adult learner profiles in fully online Dutch beginners' courses; comparing learner…

  8. The Differential Effects of Implicit and Explicit Feedback on Second Language (L2) Learners at Different Proficiency Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Shaofeng

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigates the differential effects of explicit and implicit feedback on L2 learners at different proficiency levels as measured by L2 development and learner uptake, which is defined as the learner's responses following feedback. Twenty-three learners of Chinese as a foreign language at two different levels of proficiency at a…

  9. Toward Independent L2 Readers: Effects of Text Adjuncts, Subject Knowledge, L1 Reading, and L2 Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy; Hammadou Sullivan, JoAnn; Strube, Michael

    2014-01-01

    With 97 learners in an advanced Spanish course, the study examines the effects of textual enhancement adjuncts, prior subject knowledge, first language (L1) reading ability, and second language (L2) Spanish proficiency on L2 comprehension of scientific passages. Readings included two texts with two types of embedded questions: a pause or written…

  10. Facebook Activities and the Investment of L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shafie, Latisha Asmaak; Yaacob, Aizan; Singh, Paramjit Kaur Karpal

    2016-01-01

    The article discusses the investment of L2 learners in the English language on Facebook that they portrayed through their Facebook activities. It studied four informants consisted of diploma students in a Malaysian university. The study consisted of 14 weeks of online observation and semi-structured interviews. Data were collected from online…

  11. Video Chat vs. Face-to-Face Recasts, Learners' Interpretations and L2 Development: A Case of Persian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rassaei, Ehsan

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of two modes of corrective feedback, namely, face-to-face recasts and computer-mediated recasts during video-conferencing on Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' second language (L2) development. Moreover, the accuracy of the learners' interpretations of recasts in the two modalities was…

  12. The Effect of Dynamic Assessment on L2 Grammar Acquisition by Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamali, Mojtaba; Abbasi, Mehdi; Sadighi, Firooz

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the effect of dynamic Assessment (DA) on the acquisition of L2 grammar by EFL learners. The focus was on teaching Conditional Type II, or Unreal Conditional, which is a difficult structure for language learners to acquire. To this end, two intact classes of intermediate EFL learners, each consisting of 23 male students were…

  13. Chinese Learners' Acquisition of English Verbs: A Corpus-Driven Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Linxiao; Jo, Hie-myung

    2012-01-01

    Limited research has investigated advanced language learners' acquisition of English verbs. The current study examines and compares the acquisition pattern of English verbs among Chinese second language (L2) learners at both intermediate and advanced levels to answer the following questions: (1) Do L2 learners acquire regular verbs and irregular…

  14. Does the Owl Fly out of the Tree or Does the Owl Exit the Tree Flying? How L2 Learners Overcome Their L1 Lexicalization Biases

    PubMed Central

    Song, Lulu; Pulverman, Rachel; Pepe, Christina; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy

    2016-01-01

    Learning a language is more than learning its vocabulary and grammar. For example, compared to English, Spanish uses many more path verbs such as ascender (‘to move upward’) and salir (‘to go out’), and expresses manner of motion optionally. English, in contrast, has many manner verbs (e.g., run, jog) and expresses path in prepositional phrases (e.g., out of the barn). The way in which a language encodes an event is known as its lexicalization pattern or bias. Using a written sentence elicitation task, we asked whether adult Spanish learners whose L1 was English adopted Spanish lexicalization biases, and what types of L2 exposure facilitated the learning of lexicalization biases. Results showed that advanced, but not intermediate, adult Spanish learners showed a path bias comparable to that found in native speakers of Spanish. Furthermore, study abroad experience is associated with better acquisition of L2 lexicalization biases when describing certain types of events. PMID:27103880

  15. Valuing the Advanced Learner: Differentiating up

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manning, Sandra; Stanford, Barbara; Reeves, Stacy

    2010-01-01

    In today's educational climate, differentiated instruction is a common practice for students who need remediation; what is less common is to Differentiate Instruction for the advanced learner. Contrary to popular perceptions, advanced learners do not automatically differentiate instruction on their own. Students who have the potential to excel…

  16. L1 Korean and L1 Mandarin L2 English Learners' Acquisition of the Count/Mass Distinction in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Sea Hee; Ionin, Tania; Zhu, Yeqiu

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of the English count/mass distinction by speakers of Korean and Mandarin Chinese, with a focus on the semantics of atomicity. It is hypothesized that L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners are influenced by atomicity in the use of the count/mass morphosyntax in English. This…

  17. Motivation and Persistence of Learning among L2 Learners in Self-Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Takahashi, Chika

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between learners' motivation to learn a second language (L2) and persistence in their learning using self-instructional radio (SIR) materials with a sample of Japanese high school students learning English. L2 self-instruction remains under-researched, in spite of the importance of out-of-class learning…

  18. Vocabulary Development in Norwegian L1 and L2 Learners in the Kindergarten-School Transition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karlsen, Jannicke; Lyster, Solveig-Alma Halaas; Lervåg, Arne

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the vocabulary development of Norwegian second language (L2) learners with Urdu/Punjabi as their first language (L1) at two time-points from kindergarten to primary school, and compared it to the vocabulary development of monolingual Norwegian children. Using path models, the associations between number of picture books in the…

  19. L1 Transfer in Article Selection for Generic Reference by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snape, Neal; García-Mayo, Maria Del Pilar; Gurel, Ayse

    2013-01-01

    This study examines second language (L2) acquisition of English generic noun phrases (NPs) by Spanish, Turkish and Japanese learners. The aim is to identify the role of the first language (L1) in the L2 acquisition of definite NP-level generics and indefinite sentence-level generics with singular, bare plural, and mass generic nouns. The four…

  20. Young L2 Learners' Performance on a Novel Morpheme Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kohnert, Kathryn; Danahy, Kerry

    2007-01-01

    The teaching of an invented language rule has been proposed as a possible non-biased, language-independent assessment technique useful in differentiating young L2 learners with specific language impairment from their typically developing peers. The current study explores these notions by testing typically developing sequential bilingual children's…

  1. Learner Variables Important for Success in L2 Listening Comprehension in French Immersion Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vandergrift, Larry; Baker, Susan C.

    2018-01-01

    Listening comprehension, which is relatively straightforward for native language (L1) speakers, is often frustrating for second language (L2) learners. Listening comprehension is important to L2 acquisition, but little is known about the variables that influence the development of L2 listening skills. The goal of this study was to determine which…

  2. Language-Related Computer Use: Focus on Young L2 English Learners in Sweden

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sundqvist, Pia; Sylvén, Liss Kerstin

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings from a study investigating young English language learners (YELLs) in Sweden in 4th grade (N = 76, aged 10-11). Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire and a one-week language diary. The main purpose was to examine the learners' L2 English language-related activities outside of school in general, and their…

  3. Spoken Language Activation Alters Subsequent Sign Language Activation in L2 Learners of American Sign Language.

    PubMed

    Williams, Joshua T; Newman, Sharlene D

    2017-02-01

    A large body of literature has characterized unimodal monolingual and bilingual lexicons and how neighborhood density affects lexical access; however there have been relatively fewer studies that generalize these findings to bimodal (M2) second language (L2) learners of sign languages. The goal of the current study was to investigate parallel language activation in M2L2 learners of sign language and to characterize the influence of spoken language and sign language neighborhood density on the activation of ASL signs. A priming paradigm was used in which the neighbors of the sign target were activated with a spoken English word and compared the activation of the targets in sparse and dense neighborhoods. Neighborhood density effects in auditory primed lexical decision task were then compared to previous reports of native deaf signers who were only processing sign language. Results indicated reversed neighborhood density effects in M2L2 learners relative to those in deaf signers such that there were inhibitory effects of handshape density and facilitatory effects of location density. Additionally, increased inhibition for signs in dense handshape neighborhoods was greater for high proficiency L2 learners. These findings support recent models of the hearing bimodal bilingual lexicon, which posit lateral links between spoken language and sign language lexical representations.

  4. Semantic Representation of Newly Learned L2 Words and Their Integration in the L2 Lexicon

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bordag, Denisa; Kirschenbaum, Amit; Rogahn, Maria; Opitz, Andreas

    2017-01-01

    The present semantic priming study explores the integration of newly learnt L2 German words into the L2 semantic network of German advanced learners. It provides additional evidence in support of earlier findings reporting semantic inhibition effects for emergent representations. An inhibitory mechanism is proposed that temporarily decreases the…

  5. Prosodic Cues in Relative Clauses Disambiguation: Bilinguals vs. L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Checa-Garcia, Irene

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the preferences for attachment of a relative clause (RC) to a complex noun phrase (NP) of the type: NP1 of NP2, in Spanish-English bilinguals and advanced learners of Spanish. Spanish speakers show a moderate preference for attaching the RC to the first NP, while speakers of English prefer the second NP. Subjects were…

  6. Perception of speech rhythm in second language: the case of rhythmically similar L1 and L2

    PubMed Central

    Ordin, Mikhail; Polyanskaya, Leona

    2015-01-01

    We investigated the perception of developmental changes in timing patterns that happen in the course of second language (L2) acquisition, provided that the native and the target languages of the learner are rhythmically similar (German and English). It was found that speech rhythm in L2 English produced by German learners becomes increasingly stress-timed as acquisition progresses. This development is captured by the tempo-normalized rhythm measures of durational variability. Advanced learners also deliver speech at a faster rate. However, when native speakers have to classify the timing patterns characteristic of L2 English of German learners at different proficiency levels, they attend to speech rate cues and ignore the differences in speech rhythm. PMID:25859228

  7. Processing Strategies by Beginning L2 Learners of English and Spanish: A Crosslinguistic Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brandl, Anel

    2013-01-01

    A central issue in second language acquisition (SLA) research is the relationship between morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic knowledge among L2 learners. It has been proposed that, L2 language acquisition starts with transfer of L1 semantic and morphosyntactic processing strategies; however, it has been observed that, at lower proficiency…

  8. Verbal Inflectional Morphology in L1 and L2 Spanish: A Frequency Effects Study Examining Storage versus Composition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowden, Harriet Wood; Gelfand, Matthew P.; Sanz, Cristina; Ullman, Michael T.

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the storage versus composition of Spanish inflected verbal forms in first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers of Spanish. L2 participants were selected to have mid-to-advanced proficiency, high classroom experience, and low immersion experience, typical of medium-to-advanced foreign language learners. Participants…

  9. Questioning English Standards: Learner Attitudes and L2 Choices in Norway

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rindal, Ulrikke

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates attitudes towards varieties of English among Norwegian adolescent learners and assesses the role of social evaluation for second language (L2) pronunciation choices by combining a verbal guise test with speaker commentary and reports of language choices. The results suggest that while American English is the most accessible…

  10. The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in L2 Spanish Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martoccio, Alyssa Marie

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation tests a grammatical structure, differential object marking (DOM), which is particularly difficult for L2 learners to acquire. DOM is a phenomenon in which some direct objects are morphologically marked to distinguish them from subjects (Comrie, 1979). In Spanish, animate and specific direct objects are marked with the preposition…

  11. Effects of Variance and Input Distribution on the Training of L2 Learners' Tone Categorization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Jiang

    2013-01-01

    Recent psycholinguistic findings showed that (a) a multi-modal phonetic training paradigm that encodes visual, interactive information is more effective in training L2 learners' perception of novel categories, (b) decreasing the acoustic variance of a phonetic dimension allows the learners to more effectively shift the perceptual weight towards…

  12. The Influence of Finiteness and Lightness on Verb Placement in L2 German: Comparing Child and Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schimke, Sarah; Dimroth, Christine

    2018-01-01

    In this study, verb placement with respect to negation is investigated in elicited production and elicited sentence imitation data collected with child second language (L2) learners of German. These data are compared to published data from adult L2 learners, which were collected with the same elicitation materials and were re-analysed for the…

  13. An Analysis of Spanish L2 Learners' Orientation through Activity Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tocaimaza-Hatch, C. Cecilia

    2015-01-01

    Orientation is defined as the way in which individuals view a task and the means they devise to fulfill it (Appel & Lantolf, 1994; Roebuck, 2000). This study investigated the orientation of twelve learners enrolled in a fourth-semester Spanish L2 university course through the analysis of their interactions during a collaborative…

  14. Cognitive Factors Contributing to Chinese EFL Learners' L2 Writing Performance in Timed Essay Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Yanbin

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

  15. L1 Influence on the Use of English Deictic Motion Verbs for Chinese EFL Learners and French EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ziyan, Xu

    2013-01-01

    Based on Sloin's (1996b) thinking for speaking approach, the study examines L1 influence on the use of English deictic Motion verbs for Chinese EFL learners and French EFL learners. The aim is to find out whether language learners will be influenced by the particular Thinking for Speaking acquired in L1 in the process of L2 acquisition. It is…

  16. The Development of Requests by L2 Learners of Modern Standard Arabic: A Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Gahtani, Saad; Roever, Carsten

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the development of requests made by second language (L2) learners of Modern Standard Arabic at four levels of L2 ability. The study used longitudinal and cross-sectional data collection to investigate how learners' performance of requests developed over a five-month period and differed as a function of ability level. The…

  17. Seeking out Challenges to Develop L2 Self-Confidence: A Language Learner's Journey to Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edwads, Emily; Roger, Peter Stewart

    2015-01-01

    As one constituent of second language (L2) motivation, L2 "self-­confidence" has been shown to be a significant predictor of language proficiency. More recently, L2 self-­confidence has been studied as part of the "willingness to communicate" (WTC) construct. Less is known, however, about the processes by which learners develop…

  18. Beyond Integrativeness: A Validation of the L2 Self Model among Francophone Learners of ESL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davidson, Troy; Guénette, Danielle; Simard, Daphnée

    2016-01-01

    According to Dörnyei's model of second language (L2) motivation, the motivated learner aims to incorporate the L2 into his or her self-concept, known as the ideal L2 self. This study examined the internal consistency of Dörnyei's model among ESL Francophone students in Quebec (n = 68) by means of a questionnaire. Correlations were calculated…

  19. The Effects of Giving and Receiving Marginal L1 Glosses on L2 Vocabulary Learning by Upper Secondary Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Samian, Hosein Vafadar; Foo, Thomas Chow Voon; Mohebbi, Hassan

    2016-01-01

    This paper reports the findings of a study that investigated the effect of giving and receiving marginal L1 glosses on L2 vocabulary learning. To that end, forty nine Iranian learners of English were assigned to three different experimental conditions including marginal L1 glosses Giver (n = 17), marginal L1 glosses Receiver (n = 17), and no…

  20. Neue Lautzeichen im Advanced Learners Dictionary (ALD). Stellungnahmen zum Pro und Kontra (New Sound Symbols in the Advanced Learners Dictionary [ALD]. Considerations Pro and Con)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zielsprache Englisch, 1976

    1976-01-01

    The phonetic symbols in the "Advanced Learners Dictionary" (Oxford University Press, London) are discussed critically in articles by L. Alfes, H. Arndt, E. Bauch, G. Dahlmann-Resing, W. Friedrich, E. Germer, B. Haycraft, H. P. Kelz. Reference is made to an earlier article "Neue Zeichen", by H. G. Hoffmann. (Text is in German.)…

  1. Exploring Collaboratively Written L2 Texts among First-Year Learners of German in Google Docs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrams, Zsuzsanna

    2016-01-01

    Grounded in research on collaborative writing and computer-mediated writing the present study examines the computer-mediated collaborative writing process among first-year learners of German as a second language (L2) at a US university. The data come from 28 first-year learners of German at a US university, who wrote hypothesized endings to a…

  2. L2 Reading Perceptions of Learners of Japanese: The Influence of the Reading Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tabata-Sandom, Mitsue

    2015-01-01

    The nature of learning to read in a second and foreign language (L2) can be more challenging when compared to learning other subjects. Therefore, the influence of instruction given in L2 classrooms cannot be underestimated. A balanced instruction needs to be taken in order to develop learners' reading proficiency and their motivation to read. This…

  3. Electrophysiological evidence of sublexical phonological access in character processing by L2 Chinese learners of L1 alphabetic scripts.

    PubMed

    Yum, Yen Na; Law, Sam-Po; Mo, Kwan Nok; Lau, Dustin; Su, I-Fan; Shum, Mark S K

    2016-04-01

    While Chinese character reading relies more on addressed phonology relative to alphabetic scripts, skilled Chinese readers also access sublexical phonological units during recognition of phonograms. However, sublexical orthography-to-phonology mapping has not been found among beginning second language (L2) Chinese learners. This study investigated character reading in more advanced Chinese learners whose native writing system is alphabetic. Phonological regularity and consistency were examined in behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) in lexical decision and delayed naming tasks. Participants were 18 native English speakers who acquired written Chinese after age 5 years and reached grade 4 Chinese reading level. Behaviorally, regular characters were named more accurately than irregular characters, but consistency had no effect. Similar to native Chinese readers, regularity effects emerged early with regular characters eliciting a greater N170 than irregular characters. Regular characters also elicited greater frontal P200 and smaller N400 than irregular characters in phonograms of low consistency. Additionally, regular-consistent characters and irregular-inconsistent characters had more negative amplitudes than irregular-consistent characters in the N400 and LPC time windows. The overall pattern of brain activities revealed distinct regularity and consistency effects in both tasks. Although orthographic neighbors are activated in character processing of L2 Chinese readers, the timing of their impact seems delayed compared with native Chinese readers. The time courses of regularity and consistency effects across ERP components suggest both assimilation and accommodation of the reading network in learning to read a typologically distinct second orthographic system.

  4. Learning L2 Vocabulary with American TV Drama "From the Learner's Perspective"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Yu-Chia

    2012-01-01

    Following the trend of computer assisted language learning (CALL), in Taiwan, most language classes now have equivalent media support for language teachers and learners. Implementing videos into classroom activities is one of the choices. The current study explores the process of implementing American TV drama in L2 vocabulary learning from…

  5. Using eye-tracking to study the on-line processing of case-marking information among intermediate L2 learners of German

    PubMed Central

    Jackson, Carrie N.; Dussias, Paola E.; Hristova, Adelina

    2012-01-01

    This study uses eye-tracking to examine the processing of case-marking information in ambiguous subject- and object-first wh-questions in German. The position of the lexical verb was also manipulated via verb tense to investigate whether verb location influences how intermediate L2 learners process L2 sentences. Results show that intermediate L2 German learners were sensitive to case-marking information, exhibiting longer processing times on subject-first than object-first sentences, regardless of verb location. German native speakers exhibited the opposite word order preference, with longer processing times on object-first than subject-first sentences, replicating previous findings. These results are discussed in light of current L2 processing research, highlighting how methodological constraints influence researchers’ abilities to measure the on-line processing of morphosyntactic information among intermediate L2 learners. PMID:23493761

  6. The Use of the L1 and the L2 in French L3: Examining Cross-Linguistic Lexemes in Multilingual Learners' Oral Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lindqvist, Christina

    2009-01-01

    This study investigates to what degree, and in what manner, the L1 and L2(s) influence spoken French L3. The analysis is divided in two parts. The first examines the cross-linguistic lexemes of 30 Swedish learners, divided into three groups according to previous exposure to French. The results show that proficiency in the L3 is crucial: the least…

  7. L2 Learners' Assessments of Accentedness, Fluency, and Comprehensibility of Native and Nonnative German Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Brien, Mary Grantham

    2014-01-01

    In early stages of classroom language learning, many adult second language (L2) learners communicate primarily with one another, yet we know little about which speech stream characteristics learners tune into or the extent to which they understand this lingua franca communication. In the current study, 25 native English speakers learning German as…

  8. Negotiating Multiple Audiences of L2 Learners on Facebook: Navigating Parallel Realities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shafie, Latisha Asmaak; Yaacob, Aizan; Singh, Paramjit Kaur A/P Karpal

    2016-01-01

    As social network sites have become popular with university students, it is easier to understand how students employ social network sites seamlessly in their academic and personal lives. L2 learners often employ Facebook to improve their English language proficiency by communicating with their native and non-native English speakers. Facebook is…

  9. Do Learners Lighten Up?: Phonetic and Allophonic Acquisition of Spanish /l/ by English-Speaking Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solon, Megan

    2017-01-01

    This study explores the second language (L2) acquisition of a segment that exists in learners' first language (L1) and in their L2 but that differs in its phonetic realization and allophonic patterning in the two languages. Specifically, this research tracks development in one aspect of the production of the alveolar lateral /l/ in the L2 Spanish…

  10. The Effect of Focus on Form and Task Complexity on L2 Learners' Oral Task Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salimi, Asghar

    2015-01-01

    Second Language learners' oral task performance has been one of interesting and research generating areas of investigations in the field of second language acquisition specially, task-based language teaching and learning. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of focus on form and task complexity on L2 learners' oral…

  11. Reading in L2 (English) and L1 (Persian): An Investigation into Reverse Transfer of Reading Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Talebi, Seyed Hassan

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the effect of reading strategies instruction in L2 (English) on raising reading strategies awareness and use and reading ability of Iranian EFL learners in L2 (English) and L1 (Persian) as a result of transfer of reading strategies from L2 to L1. To this purpose, 120 students of intermediate and advanced English proficiency…

  12. Processing Tense/Aspect-Agreement Violations On-Line in the Second Language: A Self-Paced Reading Study with French and German L2 Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Leah; Liszka, Sarah Ann

    2013-01-01

    In this article, we report the results of a self-paced reading experiment designed to investigate the question of whether or not advanced French and German learners of English as a second language (L2) are sensitive to tense/aspect mismatches between a fronted temporal adverbial and the inflected verb that follows (e.g. *"Last week, James has…

  13. Use of Referential Discourse Contexts in L2 Offline and Online Sentence Processing.

    PubMed

    Yang, Pi-Lan

    2016-10-01

    The present study aimed to investigate (a) the extent to which Chinese-speaking learners of English in Taiwan use referential noun phrase (NP) information contained in discourse contexts to complete ambiguous noun/verb fragments in a sentence completion task, and (b) whether and when they use the contexts to disambiguate main verb versus reduced relative clause (MV/RRC) ambiguities in real time. Results showed that unlike native English speakers, English learners did not create a marked increase in RRC completions in biasing two-NP-referent discourse contexts except for advanced learners. Nevertheless, like native speakers, the learners at elementary, intermediate, and advanced English proficiency levels all used the information in a later stage of resolving the MV/RRC ambiguities in real time. The delayed effect of referential context information observed suggests that L2 learners, like native speakers, are able to construct syntax-to-discourse mappings in real time. It also suggests that processing of syntactic information takes precedence over integration of syntactic information with discourse information during L1 and L2 online sentence processing.

  14. Young Learners' Functional Use of the L2 in a Low-Immersion EFL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garcia, Ana Llinares

    2007-01-01

    The present study focuses on young EFL learners' use of the L2 to convey various linguistic functions (ask for information, talk about personal things, etc.). Based on the functional categories identified by Halliday (1975) and Painter (1999) in the development of the L1, and after having observed the use of these functions in a full-immersion EFL…

  15. Using the Sociocognitive-Transformative Approach in Writing Classrooms: Effects on L2 Learners' Writing Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrot, Jessie S.

    2018-01-01

    The current study used a scale-based approach and complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) analysis to comprehensively capture the effects of the sociocognitive-transformative approach on 2nd language (L2) learners' writing performance. The study involved 66 preuniversity intermediate L2 students from 4 different English classes. I randomly…

  16. Reading Attitudes in L1 and L2, and Their Influence on L2 Extensive Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yamashita, Junko

    2004-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between both first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading attitudes, and learners' performance in L2 extensive reading. Four reading attitude variables were identified (Comfort, Anxiety, Value, Self-perception), both in L1 and L2, according to learners' responses to a questionnaire. Results of analyses…

  17. Integrating Meaning and Structure in L1-L2 and L2-L1 Translations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lim, Jung Hyun; Christianson, Kiel

    2013-01-01

    This article examined the integration of semantic and morphosyntactic information by Korean learners of English as a second language (L2). In Experiment 1, L2 learners listened to English active or passive sentences that were either plausible or implausible and translated them into Korean. A significant number of Korean translations maintained the…

  18. Systematic Asymmetries in Perception and Production of L2 Inflections in Mandarin L2 Learners of English: The Effects of Phonotactics, Salience, and Processing Pressure on Inflectional Variability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonner, Timothy E.

    2013-01-01

    The study of language production by adults who are learning a second language (L2) has received a good deal of attention especially when it comes to omission of inflectional morphemes within L2 utterances. Several explanations have been proposed for these inflectional errors. One explanation is that the L2 learner simply does not have the L2

  19. Bilingual Literacy or Substantive Bilingualism? L1 and L2 Reading and Writing Performance among Grade 7 Learners in Three Township Schools Gauteng Province, South Africa

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manyike, T. V.

    2013-01-01

    Language diversity in South Africa continues to problematise educational provision and the realisation of equitable educational opportunities for all learners in various ways. This article presents the findings of ongoing research which explores the effect of language in education policy on the L1 and L2 proficiency of Grade 7 learners in township…

  20. The Role of Frequency on the Acquisition of L2 English Infinitive and Gerund Complements by L1 Thai Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keawchaum, Raksina; Pongpairoj, Nattama

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated how frequency influenced acquisition of L2 English infinitive and gerund complements among L1 Thai learners. Participants were separated into low and high proficiency groups based on their CU-TEP scores. Each group consisted of 30 participants. Data were collected using the Word Selection Task (WST) and the Grammaticality…

  1. Vocabulary Growth of the Advanced EFL Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozturk, Meral

    2015-01-01

    This article reports the results of two studies on the vocabulary growth of advanced learners of English as a foreign language in an English-medium degree programme. Growth in learners' written receptive and productive vocabularies was investigated in one cross-sectional and one longitudinal study over three years. The effect of word frequency on…

  2. Motion Event Similarity Judgments in One or Two Languages: An Exploration of Monolingual Speakers of English and Chinese vs. L2 Learners of English.

    PubMed

    Ji, Yinglin

    2017-01-01

    Languages differ systematically in how to encode a motion event. English characteristically expresses manner in verb root and path in verb particle; in Chinese, varied aspects of motion, such as manner, path and cause, can be simultaneously encoded in a verb compound. This study investigates whether typological differences, as such, influence how first and second language learners conceptualize motion events, as suggested by behavioral evidences. Specifically, the performance of Chinese learners of English, at three proficiencies, was compared to that of two groups of monolingual speakers in a triads matching task. The first set of analyses regarding categorisation preferences indicates that participants across groups preferred the path-matched (rather than manner-matched) screens. However, the second set of analyses regarding reaction time suggests, firstly, that English monolingual speakers reacted significantly more quickly in selecting the manner-matched scenes compared with monolingual speakers of Chinese, who tended to use an approximately equal amount of time in making manner- and path-matched decisions, a finding that can arguably be mapped onto the typological difference between the two languages. Secondly, the pattern of response latency in low-level L2 learners looked more like that of monolingual speakers of Chinese. Only at intermediate and advanced levels of acquisition did the behavioral pattern of L2 learners become target-like, thus suggesting language-specific constraints from the L1 at an early stage of acquisition. Overall, our results suggest that motion event cognition may be linked to, among other things, the linguistic structure of motion description in particular languages.

  3. Motion Event Similarity Judgments in One or Two Languages: An Exploration of Monolingual Speakers of English and Chinese vs. L2 Learners of English

    PubMed Central

    Ji, Yinglin

    2017-01-01

    Languages differ systematically in how to encode a motion event. English characteristically expresses manner in verb root and path in verb particle; in Chinese, varied aspects of motion, such as manner, path and cause, can be simultaneously encoded in a verb compound. This study investigates whether typological differences, as such, influence how first and second language learners conceptualize motion events, as suggested by behavioral evidences. Specifically, the performance of Chinese learners of English, at three proficiencies, was compared to that of two groups of monolingual speakers in a triads matching task. The first set of analyses regarding categorisation preferences indicates that participants across groups preferred the path-matched (rather than manner-matched) screens. However, the second set of analyses regarding reaction time suggests, firstly, that English monolingual speakers reacted significantly more quickly in selecting the manner-matched scenes compared with monolingual speakers of Chinese, who tended to use an approximately equal amount of time in making manner- and path-matched decisions, a finding that can arguably be mapped onto the typological difference between the two languages. Secondly, the pattern of response latency in low-level L2 learners looked more like that of monolingual speakers of Chinese. Only at intermediate and advanced levels of acquisition did the behavioral pattern of L2 learners become target-like, thus suggesting language-specific constraints from the L1 at an early stage of acquisition. Overall, our results suggest that motion event cognition may be linked to, among other things, the linguistic structure of motion description in particular languages. PMID:28638355

  4. Motivational Elements of Digital Instructional Games: A Study of Young L2 Learners' Game Designs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Butler, Yuko Goto

    2017-01-01

    This article focuses on the design of digital instructional game (DIG) tasks for young second language (L2) learners. The aim of the study is to identify motivational task elements based on what children respond to positively in games and incorporate into their own L2 vocabulary learning game designs. Eighty-two sixth-grade students (ages 11-12…

  5. Investigating the Interactions among Genre, Task Complexity, and Proficiency in L2 Writing: A Comprehensive Text Analysis and Study of Learner Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Hyung-Jo

    2017-01-01

    In this study, I explored the interactions among genre, task complexity, and L2 proficiency in learners' writing task performance. Specifically, after identifying the lack of valid operationalizations of genre and task dimensions in L2 writing research, I examined how genre functions as a task complexity variable, and how learners' perceptions and…

  6. A Psychometric Study of Reading Processes in L2 Acquisition: Deploying Deep Processing to Push Learners' Discourse Towards Syntactic Processing-Based Constructions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manuel, Carlos J.

    2009-01-01

    This study assesses reading processes and/or strategies needed to deploy deep processing that could push learners towards syntactic-based constructions in L2 classrooms. Research has found L2 acquisition to present varying degrees of success and/or fossilization (Bley-Vroman 1989, Birdsong 1992 and Sharwood Smith 1994). For example, learners have…

  7. On the Role of L1 Markedness and L2 Input Robustness in Determining Potentially Fossilizable Language Forms in Iranian EFL Learners' Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nushi, Musa

    2016-01-01

    Han's (2009, 2013) selective fossilization hypothesis (SFH) claims that L1 markedness and L2 input robustness determine the fossilizability (and learnability) of an L2 feature. To test the validity of the model, a pseudo-longitudinal study was designed in which the errors in the argumentative essays of 52 Iranian EFL learners were identified and…

  8. Descriptive and Criterion-Referenced Self-Assessment with L2 Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy; Vanderplank, Robert

    2008-01-01

    Brantmeier [Brantmeier, C., 2006. "Advanced L2 learners and reading placement: self-assessment, computer-based testing, and subsequent performance." 'System 34" (1), 15-35] found that self-assessment (SA) of second language (L2) reading ability is not an accurate predictor for computer-based testing or subsequent classroom performance. With 359…

  9. A Study in Enhancing L2 Learners' Utility with Written Academic Formulaic Sequences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Lewis

    2017-01-01

    Intervention exercises have tended to be limited to restricted controlled output in studies related to second language (L2) learners' acquisition of written academic formulaic sequences (FSs), while measurement of use has been drawn from freer output (AlHassan & Wood, 2015; Jones & Haywood, 2004; Peters & Pauwels, 2015). The current…

  10. Full-Time Instructional Staffing and Outcomes of Advanced Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patterson, Margaret Becker

    2016-01-01

    Two core adult education outcomes for advanced adult learners in U.S. states under the National Reporting System are learning gains in adult secondary education and entry into postsecondary education (PSE). Advanced learner outcomes are associated with key functions in an adult education programming framework, as well as with adequate…

  11. An Investigation of Pronunciation Learning Strategies of Advanced EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hismanoglu, Murat

    2012-01-01

    This paper aims at investigating the kinds of strategies deployed by advanced EFL learners at English Language Teaching Department to learn or improve English pronunciation and revealing whether there are any significant differences between the strategies of successful pronunciation learners and those of unsuccessful pronunciation learners. After…

  12. Explicit Knowledge and Processes from a Usage-Based Perspective: The Developmental Trajectory of an Instructed L2 Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roehr-Brackin, Karen

    2014-01-01

    This article considers explicit knowledge and processes in second language (L2) learning from a usage-based theoretical perspective. It reports on the long-term development of a single instructed adult learner's use of two L2 constructions, the German Perfekt of "gehen" ("go," "walk") and "fahren"…

  13. A Longitudinal Study on Learner Career Advancement in MOOCs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Yuan; Paquette, Luc; Baker, Ryan

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present progress towards a longitudinal study of the post-course career advancement of MOOC learners. We present initial results and analysis plans for how to link this to in-course behaviour, towards better understanding the goals of all MOOC learners.

  14. An Application of the L2 Motivational Self System to Motivate Elementary School English Learners in Singapore

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magid, Michael

    2014-01-01

    I will describe a program that I developed to motivate grade five elementary school learners of English in Singapore to put more time and effort into learning English by enhancing their vision of their Ideal second language (L2) self and making their goals for learning English more clear and specific. The Ideal L2 self is the representation of the…

  15. Working Memory in L2 Reading: Does Capacity Predict Performance?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harrington, Michael; Sawyer, Mark

    A study was conducted at the International University of Japan to see if second language (L2) working capacity correlates with L2 reading ability in advanced English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners. The study consisted of a set of memory tests (Simple Digit, Simple Word, and Complex Span Test) and a set of measures of reading skills given to…

  16. Training L2 Learners to Use Facebook Appropriately and Effectively

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prichard, Caleb

    2013-01-01

    Recognizing how essential communication technologies have become to language learners, the TESOL Technology Standards Task Force set three goals for learners (Healey et al., 2011): 1) demonstrating skills in technology for a multilingual world, 2) using technology appropriately and ethically, and 3) using and evaluating technology for language…

  17. Variability and Variation of L2 Grammar: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of German Learners' Performance on Two Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrams, Zsuzsanna; Rott, Susanne

    2017-01-01

    Research on second language (L2) grammar in task-based language learning has yielded inconsistent results regarding the effects of task-complexity, prompting calls for more nuanced analyses of L2 development and task performance. The present cross-sectional study contributes to this discussion by comparing the performance of 245 learners of German…

  18. Advanced Heritage Learners of Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Profile for Pedagogical Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alarcon, Irma

    2010-01-01

    This article reports on an extensive survey administered to advanced heritage language (HL) learners to examine their language behaviors, attitudes, and backgrounds. To date, there have been no detailed categorizations of advanced HL learners to guide classroom instruction and curriculum design. Thus the present study is a first attempt to fill…

  19. Investigating the Efficacy of an Intensive English Program and the L2 Learners' Learning Styles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ping, Rebecca Lee Su

    2014-01-01

    Past research has found that many pre-university L2 learners, having completed an Intensive English Program (IEP) still have difficulty in undertaking various disciplines in English-speaking tertiary institutions and continue to exhibit numerous linguistic problems (Bialystok, 2001, Celce Murcia 2001). The purpose of this paper is to present the…

  20. The Mother Tongue in the Foreign Language: An Account of Russian L2 Learners' Error Incidence on Output

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forteza Fernandez, Rafael Filiberto; Korneeva, Larisa I.

    2017-01-01

    Based on Selinker's hypothesis of five psycholinguistic processes shaping interlanguage (1972), the paper focuses attention on the Russian L2-learners' overreliance on the L1 as the main factor hindering their development. The research problem is, therefore, the high incidence of L1 transfer in the spoken and written English language output of…

  1. Spoken Language Activation Alters Subsequent Sign Language Activation in L2 Learners of American Sign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Joshua T.; Newman, Sharlene D.

    2017-01-01

    A large body of literature has characterized unimodal monolingual and bilingual lexicons and how neighborhood density affects lexical access; however there have been relatively fewer studies that generalize these findings to bimodal (M2) second language (L2) learners of sign languages. The goal of the current study was to investigate parallel…

  2. "Does the Form of This Word Fit Its Meaning?" The Effect of Learner-Generated Mapping Elaborations on L2 Word Recall

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deconinck, Julie; Boers, Frank; Eyckmans, June

    2017-01-01

    If known words can be defined psycholinguistically as "form-meaning mappings", the present article investigates whether prompting learners to evaluate whether the form of a new second language (L2) word fits its meaning generates "mapping elaborations" that aid recall. Thirty Dutch-speaking upper-intermediate learners of…

  3. Similarity in L2 Phonology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrios, Shannon L.

    2013-01-01

    Adult second language (L2) learners often experience difficulty producing and perceiving non-native phonological contrasts. Even highly proficient bilinguals, who have been exposed to an L2 for long periods of time, struggle with difficult contrasts, such as /r/-/l/ for Japanese learners of English. To account for the relative ease or difficulty…

  4. Task-Based Language Teaching for Beginner-Level Learners of L2 French: An Exploratory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erlam, Rosemary; Ellis, Rod

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the effect of input-based tasks on the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar by beginner-level learners of L2 French and reported the introduction of task-based teaching as an innovation in a state secondary school. The experimental group (n = 19) completed a series of focused input-based language tasks, taught by their…

  5. Semantic Categorization of Placement Verbs in L1 and L2 Danish and Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cadierno, Teresa; Ibarretxe-Antuñano, Iraide; Hijazo-Gascón, Alberto

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates semantic categorization of the meaning of placement verbs by Danish and Spanish native speakers and two groups of intermediate second language (L2) learners (Danish learners of L2 Spanish and Spanish learners of L2 Danish). Participants described 31 video clips picturing different types of placement events. Cluster analyses…

  6. Interactions between and among Heritage Language Learners and Second Language Learners during Collaborative Writing Activities: How Learners Attend to Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walls, Laura

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the dynamics in the Spanish classroom between heritage language learner (HLL) dyads, second language learner (L2L) dyads, and mixed HLL-L2L dyads. Specifically, it examines oral, written and embodied discourse that informs our understanding of how learners attend to language. Analysis for this dissertation examined…

  7. Acquisition of speech rhythm in a second language by learners with rhythmically different native languages.

    PubMed

    Ordin, Mikhail; Polyanskaya, Leona

    2015-08-01

    The development of speech rhythm in second language (L2) acquisition was investigated. Speech rhythm was defined as durational variability that can be captured by the interval-based rhythm metrics. These metrics were used to examine the differences in durational variability between proficiency levels in L2 English spoken by French and German learners. The results reveal that durational variability increased as L2 acquisition progressed in both groups of learners. This indicates that speech rhythm in L2 English develops from more syllable-timed toward more stress-timed patterns irrespective of whether the native language of the learner is rhythmically similar to or different from the target language. Although both groups showed similar development of speech rhythm in L2 acquisition, there were also differences: German learners achieved a degree of durational variability typical of the target language, while French learners exhibited lower variability than native British speakers, even at an advanced proficiency level.

  8. Assessing Differences and Similarities between Instructed Heritage Language Learners and L2 Learners in Their Knowledge of Spanish Tense-Aspect and Mood (TAM) Morphology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montrul, Silvina; Perpinan, Silvia

    2011-01-01

    The acquisition of the aspectual difference between the preterit and imperfect in the past tense and the acquisition of the contrast between subjunctive and indicative mood are classic problem areas in second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish by English-speaking learners (Collentine, 1995, 1998, 2003; Salaberry, 1999; Slabakova & Montrul, 2002;…

  9. Measuring Group Work Dynamics and Its Relation with L2 Learners' Task Motivation and Language Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poupore, Glen

    2016-01-01

    While learners of a second language (L2) are increasingly interacting in small groups as part of a communicative methodological paradigm, very few studies have investigated the social dynamics that occur in such groups. The aim of this study is to introduce a group work dynamic measuring instrument and to investigate the relationship between group…

  10. Morphological and Phonological Factors in the Production of Verbal Inflection in Adult L2 Learners and Patients with Agrammatic Aphasia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Szupica-Pyrzanowski, Malgorzata

    2009-01-01

    Failure to supply inflection is common in adult L2 learners of English and agrammatic aphasics (AAs), who are known to resort to bare verb forms. Among attempts to explain the absence of inflection are competing morphological and phonological explanations. In the L2 acquisition literature, omission of inflection is explained in terms of: mapping…

  11. The Perception of Prosodically Ambiguous Intonation Patterns by L2 English Learners and the Effects of Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gokgoz Kurt, Burcu; Medlin, Julie; Tessarolo, Ashley

    2014-01-01

    Considering the contradictory research on explicit teaching of suprasegmentals, the present study aims to investigate the effects of explicit instruction of L2 English learners' perception of prosodically ambiguous intonation patterns, as well as the possible effects of reported musical familiarity on intonation acquisition. A control group and a…

  12. Raising L2 Listeners' Metacognitive Awareness: A Sociocultural Theory Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cross, Jeremy

    2010-01-01

    Grounded in sociocultural theory, this article outlines a small-scale study exploring metacognitive awareness of second language (L2) listening. In each of five lessons, six pairs of advanced-level, adult, Japanese, EFL learners participated in a sequence of tasks involving the explicit verbalisation of strategies as part of a pedagogical cycle…

  13. What's the Problem? L2 Learners' Use of the L1 during Consciousness-Raising, Form-Focused Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Virginia M.; de la Fuente, Maria Jose

    2008-01-01

    This qualitative study provides preliminary insight into the role of the first language (L1) when pairs of intermediate-level college learners of French and Spanish are engaged in consciousness-raising, form-focused grammar tasks. Using conversation analysis of audiotaped interactions and stimulated recall sessions, we explored the ways students…

  14. Processing of English Focal Stress by L1-English and L1-Mandarin/L2-English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guigelaar, Ellen R.

    2017-01-01

    Late second language (L2) learners often struggle with L2 prosody, both in perception and production. This may result from first language (L1) interference or some property of how a second language functions in a late learner independent of what their L1 might be. Here we investigate prosody's role in determining information structure through…

  15. Word Function and Dictionary Use; A Work-Book for Advanced Learners of English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osman, Neile

    The present volume is designed as a workbook for advanced learners of English as a second or foreign language which will train them through instruction and exercises to use an all-English dictionary. The contents are based on the second edition of Hornby, Gatenby, and Wakefield's "The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English," 1963, Oxford…

  16. Making It Personal: Performance-Based Assessments, Ubiquitous Technology, and Advanced Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arispe, Kelly; Burston, Jack

    2017-01-01

    This pedagogical implementation study advocates for performance-driven assessments to help learners become aware of and improve upon presentational speaking skills at the advanced level. A social media content creation tool, Adobe Spark Video, enabled learners to practice oral skills outside of class. The task design, implementation, and…

  17. L2 Selves, Emotions, and Motivated Behaviors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teimouri, Yasser

    2017-01-01

    This study has aimed to investigate language learners' emotional experiences through the lens of L2 future self-guides. To that end, the L2 motivational self system was chosen as the theoretical framework to relate learners' emotions to their L2 selves. However, due to inconsistent results of past research concerning the motivational role of the…

  18. A Process Model of L2 Learners' Motivation: From the Perspectives of General Tendency and Individual Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hiromori, Tomohito

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine a process model of L2 learners' motivation. To investigate the overall process of motivation, the motivation of 148 university students was analyzed. Data were collected on three variables from the pre-decisional phase of motivation (i.e., value, expectancy, and intention) and four variables from the…

  19. The Effects of Different Lengths of Pretask Planning Time on L2 Learners' Oral Test Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Lanlan; Chen, Jiliang; Sun, Lan

    2015-01-01

    The effect of planning on second language (L2) learners' oral performance is a hotly debated topic in the field of second language acquisition. However, studies on the effect of different amounts of planning time have been quite limited, especially in a testing context. The present study investigated the effects of different lengths of…

  20. English Teachers' Use of Learners' L1 (Arabic) in College Classrooms in Kuwait

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alrabah, Sulaiman; Wu, Shu-hua; Alotaibi, Abdullah M.; Aldaihani, Hussein A.

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated English teachers' use of learners' L1 (Arabic) in college classrooms in Kuwait. The purpose of the study was three-fold: (1) to describe the functions for which L1 was employed by the teachers, (2) to explore the affective, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic factors that may have led teachers to use L1 in L2 teaching,…

  1. Development of L2 Intraword Orthographic Sensitivity and Decoding Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koda, Keiko

    1999-01-01

    Examined orthographic sensitivity among adult second language (L2) learners with diverse first language backgrounds, investigating crosslinguistic effects on the development of L2 intraword orthographic sensitivity and decoding skills. Study of Chinese and Korean English L2 learners indicated that the learners did not differ in their judgement of…

  2. Doing Away with the "Native Speaker": A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to L2 Phonological Attainment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aslan, Erhan

    2017-01-01

    Employing the complex adaptive systems (CAS) model, the present case study provides a self-report description of the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of an advanced adult L2 English learner with respect to his L2 phonological attainment. CAS is predicated on the notion that an individual's cognitive processes are intricately related to his…

  3. Lexical Bundles in the Academic Writing of Advanced Chinese EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wei, Yaoyu; Lei, Lei

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated the use of lexical bundles in the academic writing of advanced Chinese EFL learners. A corpus of doctoral dissertations by the learners and a corpus of published journal articles by professional writers were collected for the study. Four-word lexical bundles in the two corpora were identified and analysed. Results…

  4. Processing Focus Structure in L1 and L2 French: L2 Proficiency Effects on ERPs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reichle, Robert V.; Birdsong, David

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by focus processing among first language (L1) speakers and second language (L2) learners of French. Participants read wh-questions containing explicit focus marking, followed by responses instantiating contrastive and informational focus. We hypothesized that L2 proficiency would…

  5. Acquisition of Pragmatic Routines by Learners of L2 English: Investigating Common Errors and Sources of Pragmatic Fossilization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tajeddin, Zia; Alemi, Minoo; Pashmforoosh, Roya

    2017-01-01

    Unlike linguistic fossilization, pragmatic fossilization has received scant attention in fossilization research. To bridge this gap, the present study adopted a typical-error method of fossilization research to identify the most frequent errors in pragmatic routines committed by Persian-speaking learners of L2 English and explore the sources of…

  6. Advanced Learners' Comprehension of Discourse Connectives: The Role of L1 Transfer across On-Line and Off-Line Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zufferey, Sandrine; Mak, Willem; Degand, Liesbeth; Sanders, Ted

    2015-01-01

    Discourse connectives are important indicators of textual coherence, and mastering them is an essential part of acquiring a language. In this article, we compare advanced learners' sensitivity to the meaning conveyed by connectives in an off-line grammaticality judgment task and an on-line reading experiment using eye-tracking. We also assess the…

  7. Collocational Differences between L1 and L2: Implications for EFL Learners and Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadeghi, Karim

    2009-01-01

    Collocations are one of the areas that produce problems for learners of English as a foreign language. Iranian learners of English are by no means an exception. Teaching experience at schools, private language centers, and universities in Iran suggests that a significant part of EFL learners' problems with producing the language, especially at…

  8. L1/L2 Differences in the Acquisition of Form-Meaning Pairings in a Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McManus, Kevin

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines the impact of L1/L2 form-meaning differences in the domain of aspect to investigate whether L2 learners are able to acquire properties of the L2 that are different from the L1. Oral data were collected from English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 (n = 75) at two different levels of proficiency. The results…

  9. L1 literacy affects L2 pronunciation intake and text vocalization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Walton, Martin

    2005-04-01

    For both deaf and hearing learners, L1 acquisition calls on auditive, gestural and visual modes in progressive processes over longer stages imposed in strictly anatomical and social order from the earliest pre-lexical phase [Jusczyk (1993), Kuhl & Meltzoff (1996)] to ultimate literacy. By contrast, L2 learning will call on accelerating procedures but with restricted input, arbitrated by L1 literacy as can be traced in the English of French-speaking learners, whether observed in spontaneous speech or in text vocalization modes. An inventory of their predictable omissions, intrusions and substitutions at suprasegmental and syllabic levels, many of which they can actually hear while unable to vocalize in real-time, suggests that a photogenic segmentation of continuous speech into alphabetical units has eclipsed the indispensable earlier phonogenic module, filtering L2 intake and output. This competing mode analysis hypothesizes a critical effect on L2 pronunciation of L1 graphemic procedures acquired usually before puberty, informing data for any Critical Period Hypothesis or amounts of L1 activation influencing L2 accent [Flege (1997, 1998)] or any psychoacoustic French deafness with regard to English stress-timing [Dupoux (1997)]. A metaphonic model [Howell & Dean (1991)] adapted for French learners may remedially distance L1 from L2 vocalization procedures.

  10. The Effects of Direct Written Corrective Feedback on Improvement of Grammatical Accuracy of High-Proficient L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farrokhi, Farahman; Sattarpour, Simin

    2012-01-01

    The present article reports the findings of a study that explored(1) whether direct written corrective feedback (CF) can help high-proficient L2 learners, who has already achieved a rather high level of accuracy in English, improve in the accurate use of two functions of English articles (the use of "a" for first mention and…

  11. Grammatical Accuracy and Learner Autonomy in Advanced Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vickers, Caroline H.; Ene, Estela

    2006-01-01

    This paper aims to explore advanced ESL learners' ability to make improvements in grammatical accuracy by autonomously noticing and correcting their own grammatical errors. In the recent literature in SLA, it is suggested that classroom tasks can be used to foster autonomous language learning habits (cf. Dam 2001). Therefore, it is important to…

  12. Speaking out on Behalf of the Voiceless Learners: Written Corrective Feedback for English Language Learners in Iran

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nemati, Majid; Alavi, Sayyed Mohammad; Mohebbi, Hassan; Masjedlou, Ali Panahi

    2017-01-01

    To date, L2 researchers have studied the effect of feedback on improving L2 learners' writing from different perspectives. However, there are a lot of aspects which are not comprehensively researched yet, such as L2 learners' and teachers' perceptions and practices about feedback. To close the gap, this study investigates language learners'…

  13. Measurements of Development in L2 Written Production: The Case of L2 Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiang, Wenying

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates measures for second language (L2) writing development. A T-unit, which has been found the most satisfactory unit of analysis for measuring L2 development in English, is extended to measure L2 Chinese writing development through a cross-sectional design in this study. Data were collected from three L2 Chinese learner groups…

  14. Selective Teaching of L2 Pronunciation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Husby, Olaf; Koreman, Jacques; Martínez-Paricio, Violeta; Abrahamsen, Jardar E.; Albertsen, Egil; Hedayatfar, Keivan; Bech, Øyvind

    2015-01-01

    The pronunciation of a second or foreign language is often very challenging for L2 learners. It is difficult to address this topic in the classroom, because learners with different native languages (L1s) can have very different challenges. We have therefore developed a Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor (CALST), which selectively…

  15. An Investigation of L2 Learners' Writing Self-Efficacy, Writing Anxiety and Its Causes at Higher Education in Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirmizi, Özkan; Kirmizi, Gülin Dagdeviren

    2015-01-01

    The present study aimed at investigating higher education L2 learners in a Turkish context in terms of writing self-efficacy, writing anxiety, and the causes of writing anxiety. The data have been collected through the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), developed by Cheng, (2004), and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), and…

  16. Developing L2 Pragmatic Competence in Mandarin Chinese: Sequential Realization of Requests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, Yunwen; Ren, Wei

    2017-01-01

    The present study explored the development of second language (L2) Chinese learners' ability to negotiate requests in interactions. It investigated the effect of proficiency on learners' use of request strategies and internal modifications and on their sequential realization of requests in L2 Chinese. Twenty-four American English learners of L2

  17. Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Using Images to Create a Concreteness Effect for Abstract Words: Evidence from Beginning L2 Learners of Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farley, Andrew; Pahom, Olga; Ramonda, Kris

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the lexical representation and recall of abstract words by beginning L2 learners of Spanish in the light of the predictions of the dual coding theory (Paivio 1971; Paivio and Desrochers 1980). Ninety-seven learners (forty-four males and fifty-three females) were randomly placed in the picture or non-picture group and taught…

  18. Collaborative Dialogue in Learner-Learner and Learner-Native Speaker Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobao, Ana Fernandez

    2012-01-01

    This study analyses intermediate and advanced learner-learner and learner-native speaker (NS) interaction looking for collaborative dialogue. It investigates how the presence of a NS interlocutor affects the frequency and nature of lexical language-related episodes (LREs) spontaneously generated during task-based interaction. Twenty-four learners…

  19. The Effects of Advance Organizers and Subtitles on EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Hui-Yu

    2014-01-01

    The present research reports the findings of three experiments which explore how subtitles and advance organizers affect EFL learners' listening comprehension of authentic videos. EFL learners are randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group receives no treatment and the experimental group receives the experimental conditions of one…

  20. Perceived Learning Difficulty and Actual Performance: Explicit and Implicit Knowledge of L2 English Grammar Points among Instructed Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silva, Luis Humberto Rodríguez; Roehr-Brackin, Karen

    2016-01-01

    This article draws on an approach that conceptualizes L2 learning difficulty in terms of implicit and explicit knowledge. In a study with first language Mexican Spanish university-level learners (n = 30), their teachers (n = 11), and applied linguistics experts (n = 3), we investigated the relationship between (a) these groups' difficulty…

  1. Facilitative Effects of Learner-Directed Codeswitching: Evidence from Chinese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhu, Xiye; Vanek, Norbert

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the interaction between learner-oriented codeswitching (CS) practices and the degree to which intermediate Chinese L2 learners of English engage in classroom interaction. The guiding questions are whether the teacher's CS use facilitates classroom interaction at moderate L2 proficiency, and if so, at which specific stages of…

  2. Naming abilities in low-proficiency second language learners.

    PubMed

    Borodkin, Katy; Faust, Miriam

    2014-01-01

    Difficulties in second language (L2) learning are often associated with recognizable learning difficulties in native language (L1), such as in dyslexia. However, some individuals have low L2 proficiency but intact L1 reading skills. These L2 learners experience frequent tip-of-the-tongue states while naming in L1, which indicates that they have a weakness in retrieval of phonological codes of words. The authors hypothesized that if naming ability is shared across languages, this difficulty would reemerge in L2 naming, which was tested using the tip-of-the-tongue experimental paradigm. Consistent with this hypothesis, low-proficiency L2 learners (n = 15) reported more tip-of-the-tongue states, more frequently mispronounced correctly retrieved words, and benefited less from phonological cuing compared to high-proficiency L2 learners (n = 23). It is notable that low-proficiency L2 learners performed worse than individuals with dyslexia (n = 16) on some of these measures, despite the same level of L2 proficiency. These results indicate that L2 naming difficulties of low-proficiency L2 learners are a manifestation not merely of their low L2 proficiency but rather of a general weakness in phonological word form retrieval, which is shared across languages. More broadly, the study provides further evidence for the existence of a distinct profile of cognitive weaknesses characteristic of the behavioral phenotype of low-proficiency L2 learners.

  3. English Language Learners' Nonword Repetition Performance: The Influence of Age, L2 Vocabulary Size, Length of L2 Exposure, and L1 Phonology.

    PubMed

    Duncan, Tamara Sorenson; Paradis, Johanne

    2016-02-01

    This study examined individual differences in English language learners' (ELLs) nonword repetition (NWR) accuracy, focusing on the effects of age, English vocabulary size, length of exposure to English, and first-language (L1) phonology. Participants were 75 typically developing ELLs (mean age 5;8 [years;months]) whose exposure to English began on average at age 4;4. Children spoke either a Chinese language or South Asian language as an L1 and were given English standardized tests for NWR and receptive vocabulary. Although the majority of ELLs scored within or above the monolingual normal range (71%), 29% scored below. Mixed logistic regression modeling revealed that a larger English vocabulary, longer English exposure, South Asian L1, and older age all had significant and positive effects on ELLs' NWR accuracy. Error analyses revealed the following L1 effect: onset consonants were produced more accurately than codas overall, but this effect was stronger for the Chinese group whose L1s have a more limited coda inventory compared with English. ELLs' NWR performance is influenced by a number of factors. Consideration of these factors is important in deciding whether monolingual norm referencing is appropriate for ELL children.

  4. Hypermedia Reading Strategies Employed by Advanced Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akyel, Ayse; Ercetin, Gulcan

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated the strategies used by advanced learners of English while reading a hypermedia document in order to determine whether they are essentially different from those reading strategies reported in the literature for printed texts. Moreover, the role of prior knowledge about the topic was explored in relation to strategy use. Data…

  5. The Relations among L1 (Spanish) Literacy Skills, L2 (English) Language, L2 Text Reading Fluency, and L2 Reading Comprehension for Spanish-Speaking ELL First Grade Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Young-Suk

    2012-01-01

    We investigated the relations of L2 (i.e., English) oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, word reading automaticity, oral language skills, and L1 literacy skills (i.e., Spanish) to L2 reading comprehension for Spanish-speaking English language learners in the first grade (N = 150). An analysis was conducted for the entire sample as well as…

  6. Individual Differences in L2 Acquisition of Japanese Particles "WA" and "GA"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Sachiho

    2008-01-01

    Although the L2 acquisition studies of Japanese particles "WA" and "GA" were investigated by many researchers (Sakamoto, 2000), they completely ignored learners' individual differences. Indeed, learners' individualities are important factors for the L2 learning (Lightbrown & Spada, 1999). Thus, this research explored whether learners' individual…

  7. Why Some Imperfectives Are Interpreted Imperfectly: A Study of Chinese Learners of Japanese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gabriele, Alison; McClure, William

    2011-01-01

    The study investigates whether advanced second language (L2) learners can extend beyond the grammatical properties of the first language (L1) to successfully acquire tense and aspect. We examine the acquisition of the semantics of the imperfective marker "te-iru" in Japanese by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, a language that…

  8. Vocabulary Acquisition in L2: Does CALL Really Help?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Averianova, Irina

    2015-01-01

    Language competence in various communicative activities in L2 largely depends on the learners' size of vocabulary. The target vocabulary of adult L2 learners should be between 2,000 high frequency words (a critical threshold) and 10,000 word families (for comprehension of university texts). For a TOEIC test, the threshold is estimated to be…

  9. An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of Negotiation of Meaning in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition of Chinese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yi, Baoshu; Sun, Zhinong

    2013-01-01

    The study aimed to investigate whether or not negotiation of meaning is effective in L2 vocabulary acquisition of Chinese learners of English in the classroom setting. In the study there were two experimental groups (pre-modified input and negotiation of meaning) and two control groups (pre-modified input). The four groups were required to do a…

  10. The Effect of Learner Age on the Interpretation of the Nonverbal Behaviors of Teachers and Other Students in Identifying Questions in the L2 Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamiya, Nobuhiro

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated how learners' ages affect their interpretation of the nonverbal behaviors (NVBs) of teachers and other students in distinguishing between questions and statements in the second language (L2) classroom. After watching 48 short video clips without sound in which three L2 teachers asked a question or made a statement with or…

  11. The Effects of Cultural Familiarity and Question Preview Type on the Listening Comprehension of L2 Learners at the Secondary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Chen-Hong; Chen, Cai-Jun; Wu, Meng-Jie; Kuo, Ya-Chu; Tseng, Yun-Ting; Tsai, Shi-Yi; Shih, Hung-Chun

    2017-01-01

    We examined the effect of cultural familiarity and question-preview types on the listening comprehension of L2 learners. The results showed that the participants who received the full question-preview format scored higher than those receiving either the answer-option preview or question-stem preview, despite a statistically nonsignificant…

  12. Development of L2 Word-Meaning Inference while Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamada, Megumi

    2009-01-01

    Ability to infer the meaning of unknown words encountered while reading plays an important role in learners' L2 word-knowledge development. Despite numerous findings reported on word-meaning inference, how learners develop this ability is still unclear. In order to provide a developmental inquiry into L2 word-meaning inference while reading, this…

  13. Grammatical Gender Agreement in L2 Spanish: The Role of Syntactic Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spino-Seijas, Le Anne L.

    2017-01-01

    A pervasive question in second language (L2) research is whether L2 learners can acquire parameterized functional features that are not instantiated in their first language (L1). While some researchers have argued for a representational deficit (e.g., Clahsen & Muysken, 1989; Hawkins & Chan, 1997), claiming that L2 learners' competence is…

  14. Mediating between Discourse Worlds: Developing the Symbolic Competence of Advanced-Level Bilingual Learners of Japanese through Translation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koshiba, Kenta

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the role that translation may play in developing the symbolic competence of advanced-level bilingual learners. To this end, it examines how a group of bilingual learners engaged with a translation task that was assigned to them as part of their study in an advanced-level Japanese language class at an Australian university.…

  15. The impact of language co-activation on L1 and L2 speech fluency.

    PubMed

    Bergmann, Christopher; Sprenger, Simone A; Schmid, Monika S

    2015-10-01

    Fluent speech depends on the availability of well-established linguistic knowledge and routines for speech planning and articulation. A lack of speech fluency in late second-language (L2) learners may point to a deficiency of these representations, due to incomplete acquisition. Experiments on bilingual language processing have shown, however, that there are strong reasons to believe that multilingual speakers experience co-activation of the languages they speak. We have studied to what degree language co-activation affects fluency in the speech of bilinguals, comparing a monolingual German control group with two bilingual groups: 1) first-language (L1) attriters, who have fully acquired German before emigrating to an L2 English environment, and 2) immersed L2 learners of German (L1: English). We have analysed the temporal fluency and the incidence of disfluency markers (pauses, repetitions and self-corrections) in spontaneous film retellings. Our findings show that learners to speak more slowly than controls and attriters. Also, on each count, the speech of at least one of the bilingual groups contains more disfluency markers than the retellings of the control group. Generally speaking, both bilingual groups-learners and attriters-are equally (dis)fluent and significantly more disfluent than the monolingual speakers. Given that the L1 attriters are unaffected by incomplete acquisition, we interpret these findings as evidence for language competition during speech production. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  16. Contributions of Morphological Awareness to Adult L2 Chinese Word Meaning Inferencing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ke, Sihui Echo; Koda, Keiko

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the contributions of morphological awareness (MA) to second language (L2) word meaning inferencing in English-speaking adult learners of Chinese (N = 50). Three research questions were posed: Are L2 learners sensitive to the morphological structure of unknown multi-character words? Does first language (L1) MA contribute to L2

  17. Lost in Translation: Strategies Japanese Language Learners Use in Communicating Culturally Specific L1 Expressions in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inoue, Noriyuki; Molina, Sarina Chugani

    2011-01-01

    Communicating in a second language could be seen as a process requiring the deconstruction and reconstruction of cultural meanings. If this is the case, how do second language (L2) learners express cultural meanings of their first language (L1) expressions that do not have semantically equivalent L2 expressions? Twenty-nine Japanese students…

  18. Phonological bases for L2 morphological learning.

    PubMed

    Hu, Chieh-Fang

    2010-08-01

    Two experiments examined the hypothesis that L1 phonological awareness plays a role in children's ability to extract morphological patterns of English as L2 from the auditory input. In Experiment 1, 84 Chinese-speaking third graders were tested on whether they extracted the alternation pattern between the base and the derived form (e.g., inflate - inflation) from multiple exposures. Experiment 2 further assessed children's ability to use morphological cues for syntactic categorization through exposures to novel morphologically varying forms (e.g., lutate vs. lutant) presented in the corresponding sentential positions (noun vs. verb). The third-grade EFL learners revealed emergent sensitivity to the morphological cues in the input but failed in fully processing intraword variations. The learners with poorer L1 PA were likely to encounter difficulties in identifying morphological alternation rules and in discovering the syntactic properties of L2 morphology. In addition to L1 PA, L2 vocabulary knowledge also contributed significantly to L2 morphological learning.

  19. Oral Computer-Mediated Interaction between L2 Learners: It's about Time!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yanguas, Inigo

    2010-01-01

    This study explores task-based, synchronous oral computer-mediated communication (CMC) among intermediate-level learners of Spanish. In particular, this paper examines (a) how learners in video and audio CMC groups negotiate for meaning during task-based interaction, (b) possible differences between both oral CMC modes and traditional face-to-face…

  20. Lexical representation of novel L2 contrasts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hayes-Harb, Rachel; Masuda, Kyoko

    2005-04-01

    There is much interest among psychologists and linguists in the influence of the native language sound system on the acquisition of second languages (Best, 1995; Flege, 1995). Most studies of second language (L2) speech focus on how learners perceive and produce L2 sounds, but we know of only two that have considered how novel sound contrasts are encoded in learners' lexical representations of L2 words (Pallier et al., 2001; Ota et al., 2002). In this study we investigated how native speakers of English encode Japanese consonant quantity contrasts in their developing Japanese lexicons at different stages of acquisition (Japanese contrasts singleton versus geminate consonants but English does not). Monolingual English speakers, native English speakers learning Japanese for one year, and native speakers of Japanese were taught a set of Japanese nonwords containing singleton and geminate consonants. Subjects then performed memory tasks eliciting perception and production data to determine whether they encoded the Japanese consonant quantity contrast lexically. Overall accuracy in these tasks was a function of Japanese language experience, and acoustic analysis of the production data revealed non-native-like patterns of differentiation of singleton and geminate consonants among the L2 learners of Japanese. Implications for theories of L2 speech are discussed.

  1. Analyzing Genre Exemplars in Preparation for Writing: The Case of an L2 Graduate Student in the ESP Genre-Based Instructional Framework of Academic Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, An

    2008-01-01

    Some researchers believe that the ESP genre-based framework of writing instruction is effective in teaching discipline-specific English EAP writing to L2 learners, especially to advanced L2 graduate students. However, studies examining students' genre-based learning in such a framework are still underrepresented in current ESP genre-based…

  2. Exploring Regularities and Dynamic Systems in L2 Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lenzing, Anke

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on a theoretical and empirical exploration of developmental trajectories and individual learner variation in second language (L2) acquisition. Taking a processability perspective, I view learner language as a dynamic system that includes predictable universal developmental trajectories as well as individual learner variation,…

  3. The Secret Is in the Processing: A Study of Levels of Explicit Computerized Feedback in Heritage and L2 Learners of Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zamora, Celia Chomon

    2017-01-01

    The field of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA) has expressed interest in pursuing a research agenda that expands the current heritage language (HL) strand of research to investigate how this heterogeneous population re-learns their family language, and how this experience differs from that of second language (L2) learners. This…

  4. Suggestions for Vocabulary Focused Reading Lessons for Mainstream Classrooms Addressing Both L1 and L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seifert, Susanne; Kulmhofer, Andrea; Paleczek, Lisa; Schwab, Susanne; Gasteiger-Klicpera, Barbara

    2017-01-01

    The increasing number of second language learners in classrooms all around the world has required teachers to adapt their teaching methods and materials to the various learners' needs. Second language learners in particular need specific learning strategies, which not only aim at helping them understand the linguistic structure of the language of…

  5. Mediated Vocabulary in Native Speaker-Learner Interactions during an Oral Portfolio Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tocaimaza-Hatch, C. Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    This project investigated vocabulary learning from a sociocultural perspective--in particular, the way in which lexical knowledge was mediated in Spanish second language (L2) learners' and native speakers' (NSs') interactions. Nine students who were enrolled in an advanced conversation course completed an oral portfolio assignment consisting of…

  6. Proficiency Effect on L2 Pragmatic Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xiao, Feng

    2015-01-01

    This paper synthesizes cross-sectional studies of the effect of proficiency on second language (L2) pragmatics to answer the synthesis question: Does proficiency affect adult learners' pragmatic competence? Findings have revealed an overall positive proficiency effect on pragmatic competence, and in most cases higher proficiency learners have…

  7. A Study of Relationships between L1 Pragmatic Transfer and L2 Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bu, Jiemin

    2012-01-01

    Studies in interlanguage pragmatics have shown that L2 learners' proficiency has an influence on the occurrences of L1 pragmatic transfer. However, questions remain whether the relationship between L1 pragmatic transfer and L2 proficiency is positive or negative. This paper is designed to study L1 pragmatic transfer in requests made by Chinese…

  8. The Role of Experience in the Acquisition and Production of Diminutives and Gender in Spanish: Evidence from L2 Learners and Heritage Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montrul, Silvina; de la Fuente, Israel; Davidson, Justin; Foote, Rebecca

    2013-01-01

    This study examined whether type of early language experience provides advantages to heritage speakers over second language (L2) learners with morphology, and investigated knowledge of gender agreement and its interaction with diminutive formation. Diminutives are a hallmark of Child Directed Speech in early language development and a highly…

  9. Explicit and Implicit Feedback, Modified Output, and SLA: Does Explicit and Implicit Feedback Promote Learning and Learner-Learner Interactions?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, Rebecca; Nuevo, Ana Maria; Egi, Takako

    2011-01-01

    Research on interactional feedback has typically focused on feedback learners receive from native speakers (i.e., NS-learner contexts). However, for many second language (L2) learners, the majority of their opportunities to engage in interaction occur with other learners (i.e., learner-learner contexts). The literature has suggested that feedback…

  10. The Phonological Permeability Hypothesis: Measuring Regressive L3 Influence to Test L1 and L2 Phonological Representations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cabrelli Amaro, Jennifer Lauren

    2013-01-01

    The Phonological Permeability Hypothesis (PPH, Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010) attempts to reconcile evidence suggesting some L2 learners, however rare, attain native-like L2 phonological systems with the observation that most do not. Considering existing L2 phonology research, it is not clear that phonological differences between early and…

  11. The Development of L2 Oral Language Skills in Two L1 Groups: A 7-Year Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Derwing, Tracey M.; Munro, Murray J.

    2013-01-01

    Researching the longitudinal development of second language (L2) learners is essential to understanding influences on their success. This 7-year study of oral skills in adult immigrant learners of English as a second language evaluated comprehensibility, fluency, and accentedness in first-language (L1) Mandarin and Slavic language speakers. The…

  12. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs: A "Fit" for Gifted Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hertberg-Davis, Holly; Callahan, Carolyn M.; Kyburg, Robin M.

    2006-01-01

    Although limited research exists on the appropriateness of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Programs for gifted secondary learners, these courses serve as the primary methods of meeting the needs of gifted students in most high schools. This qualitative study employed a grounded theory approach to investigate how…

  13. Advanced Course Enrollment and Performance among English Learner Students in Washington State. REL 2017-187

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanson, Havala; Bisht, Biraj; Motamedi, Jason Greenberg

    2016-01-01

    Taking advanced high school courses (for example, honors, Advanced Placement, and dual-credit courses that offer college credits in high school) can help prepare students for postsecondary education and careers. English learner students, however, face unique obstacles to taking advanced courses because they must divide their time between acquiring…

  14. Reverse Transfer: Exploring the Effects of Foreign Language Rhetorical Patterns on L1 Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babaii, Esmat; Ramazani, Kambiz

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between language learners' L1 and L2 writing productions has attracted the attention of researchers since Kaplan (1966). Along this research line, the present study aimed to explore the reverse transfer of rhetorical patterns from English (L2) to Persian (L1) in the argumentative essays of EFL students in Iran. Sixty MA university…

  15. Contribution of Morphological Awareness and Lexical Inferencing Ability to L2 Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension among Advanced EFL Learners: Testing Direct and Indirect Effects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Dongbo; Koda, Keiko

    2012-01-01

    Within the Structural Equation Modeling framework, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of morphological awareness and lexical inferencing ability on L2 vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension among advanced Chinese EFL readers in a university in China. Using both regular z-test and the bootstrapping (data-based resampling)…

  16. The role of differentiation and standards-based grading in the science learning of struggling and advanced learners in a detracked high school honors biology classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MacDonald, Michelina Ruth Carter

    The accountability movement in education resulting from the passage of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has brought to light the disparities that exist in student achievement in the United States which play out along racial and socioeconomic lines. Three educational practices hold promise for reducing this achievement gap: differentiated instruction, standards-based assessment, and elimination of academic tracking. The purpose of this practitioner research study was to examine the ways that differentiation and standards-based assessment can support struggling learners and challenge advanced learners in a detracked, honors biology classroom. To gain insight into the role that differentiation and standards-based assessment played in supporting struggling and advanced learners, I used practitioner research to examine the development and implementation of a differentiated, standards-based instructional unit around the conceptual topic of protein synthesis. I collected multiple data pieces for 10 students in the study: two advanced learners, four struggling learners, and four strong learners who struggled in biology. Data analyzed included formative, self-, and summative assessment results; student artifacts; informal and formal student interviews; and, a practitioner reflection journal chronicling critical incidents and actions taken during the development and implementation of this unit and notes from peer debriefing during and following the unit's implementation. As I analyzed the data collected, my four findings fell into two overarching categories related to student grouping. My first three findings reflect what I learned about homogeneous grouping: (1) Pre-assessment based on unit outcomes is not useful for determining groups for tiered instruction; (2) Decisions about differentiation and grouping for differentiation must be made in the act of teaching using formative assessment results; and, (3) Flexible grouping structures are effective for both struggling

  17. Evidence for a "Wild" L2 Grammar: When PPs Rear Their Empty Heads.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klein, Elaine C.

    1995-01-01

    Reviews several studies which suggest that some second-language (L2) learners stumble into rogue or "wild" grammars on the road to the L2. L2 learners who have subcategorization knowledge of verbs for their prepositions often omit those same prepositions in relative clauses and questions requiring pied-piping or preposition stranding.…

  18. Online Extensive Reading for Advanced Foreign Language Learners: An Evaluation Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arnold, Nike

    2009-01-01

    The following article reports the findings of a qualitative evaluation of an online extensive reading program in German as a foreign language. Designed for advanced learners, it differs from traditional extensive reading programs in two important aspects: students read online instead of printed materials, and there was no teacher preselection to…

  19. The Effects of Corrective Feedback on Instructed L2 Speech Perception

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Andrew H.; Lyster, Roy

    2016-01-01

    To what extent do second language (L2) learners benefit from instruction that includes corrective feedback (CF) on L2 speech perception? This article addresses this question by reporting the results of a classroom-based experimental study conducted with 32 young adult Korean learners of English. An instruction-only group and an instruction + CF…

  20. Learner Affect in Computerised L2 Oral Grammar Practice with Corrective Feedback

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bodnar, Stephen; Cucchiarini, Catia; Penning de Vries, Bart; Strik, Helmer; van Hout, Roeland

    2017-01-01

    Although corrective feedback (CF) has received much interest in the second language acquisition literature, relatively little research has investigated the relationship between CF and learner affect in concrete practice situations. The present study investigates learners' affective states and practice behaviour in a novel context: oral grammar…

  1. Collaborative Scaffolding in Online Task-Based Voice Interactions between Advanced Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kenning, Marie-Madeleine

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports some of the findings of a distinctive innovative use of audio-conferencing involving a population (campus-based advanced learners) and a type of application (task-based language learning) that have received little attention to date: the use of Wimba Voice Tools to provide additional opportunities for spoken interactions between…

  2. The Role of Gender, Embedded Questions, and Domain Specific Readings with Learners of Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy; Callender, Aimee; McDaniel, Mark

    2013-01-01

    The present study utilizes readings taken from texts in social psychology to examine the effects by gender of embedded "what" questions and elaborative "why" questions on reading comprehension. During regular class time, 97 advanced second language (L2) learners of Spanish read two different vignettes, either with or without…

  3. The Role of Motivation and Learner Variables in L1 and L2 Vocabulary Development in Japanese Heritage Language Speakers in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Yoshiko; Calder, Toshiko M.

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates the role of motivation and learner variables in bilingual vocabulary development among first language (L1) Japanese students attending hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese-speaking children) in the United States. One hundred sixteen high school students ages 15-18 from eight hoshuukoo completed…

  4. Enhancing Learners' Emotions in an L2 Context through Emotionalized Dynamic Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdolrezapour, Parisa; Tavakoli, Mansoor; Ketabi, Saeed

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study was to gain more in-depth understanding of students' emotions in an EFL context by applying dynamic assessment (DA) procedures to the development of learners' emotional intelligence. The study with 50 intermediate learners aged 12-15 used three modalities: a control group, which was taught under institute's normal procedures;…

  5. Advanced Foreign Language Learning: A Challenge to College Programs. Issues in Language Program Direction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Byrnes, Heidi, Ed.; Maxim, Hiram H., Ed.

    This book includes the following chapters: "Literacy and Advanced Foreign Language Learning: Rethinking he Curriculum" (Richard G. Kern); "A Template for Advanced Learner Tasks: Staging Genre Reading and Cultural Literacy Through the Precis" (Janet Swaffar); "Fostering Advanced L2 Literacy: A Genre-Based, Cognitive…

  6. Grammar Coding in the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wekker, Herman

    1992-01-01

    Focuses on the revised system of grammar coding for verbs in the fourth edition of the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English" (OALD4), comparing it with two other similar dictionaries. It is shown that the OALD4 is found to be more favorable on many criteria than the other comparable dictionaries. (16 references) (VWL)

  7. The Storage and Processing of Morphologically Complex Words in L2 Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foote, Rebecca

    2017-01-01

    Research with native speakers indicates that, during word recognition, regularly inflected words undergo parsing that segments them into stems and affixes. In contrast, studies with learners suggest that this parsing may not take place in L2. This study's research questions are: Do L2 Spanish learners store and process regularly inflected,…

  8. Thinking-Aloud as Talking-in-Interaction: Reinterpreting How L2 Lexical Inferencing Gets Done

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deschambault, Ryan

    2012-01-01

    There is a general consensus among second-language (L2) researchers today that lexical inferencing (LIF) is among the most common techniques that L2 learners use to generate meaning for unknown words they encounter in context. Indeed, claims about the salience and pervasiveness of LIF for L2 learners rely heavily upon data obtained via concurrent…

  9. Learner's Use of First Language in EFL Collaborative Learning: A Sociocultural View

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yaghobian, Farideh; Samuel, Moses; Mahmoudi, Marzieh

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the functions served by learners' first language (L1) in classroom interaction among Iranian learners of English (L2). The study aims to determine how learners' L1 serves them in their L2 learning. It adopts a qualitative approach. The study involved the participation of eleven Grade 9 learners in one Iranian high school in…

  10. English and Socio-Economic Disadvantage: Learner Voices from Rural Bangladesh

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamid, M. Obaidul; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.

    2011-01-01

    L2 education research has shown immense interest in learners and their views of L2 learning. Nevertheless, the different directions of learner-focused research have been inadequate in highlighting learners' learning experiences in relation to their social backgrounds, particularly in the developing world. Drawing on the first author's PhD…

  11. The Acquisition of English Lexical Stress by Chinese-Speaking Learners: An OT Account

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yuan, Man; Cheng, Wei

    2017-01-01

    Lexical stress is an important contributor to foreign accent as well as intelligibility of second language (L2) speech. The present study intends to find out to what extent Chinese-speaking learners whose native language has less evident stress can acquire English lexical stress. A production test was administered to nine advanced Chinese learners…

  12. Raising Learners' Awareness through L1-L2 Teacher Collaboration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunning, Pamela; White, Joanna; Busque, Christine

    2016-01-01

    There is considerable interest in teacher collaboration across mother tongue and second language curricula. However, cross-curricular collaboration in reading strategy instruction has seldom been investigated. We report a two-year study involving collaboration between the French first language (L1) and English second language (L2) teachers in an…

  13. The Enhanced Musical Rhythmic Perception in Second Language Learners

    PubMed Central

    Roncaglia-Denissen, M. Paula; Roor, Drikus A.; Chen, Ao; Sadakata, Makiko

    2016-01-01

    Previous research suggests that mastering languages with distinct rather than similar rhythmic properties enhances musical rhythmic perception. This study investigates whether learning a second language (L2) contributes to enhanced musical rhythmic perception in general, regardless of first and second languages rhythmic properties. Additionally, we investigated whether this perceptual enhancement could be alternatively explained by exposure to musical rhythmic complexity, such as the use of compound meter in Turkish music. Finally, it investigates if an enhancement of musical rhythmic perception could be observed among L2 learners whose first language relies heavily on pitch information, as is the case with tonal languages. Therefore, we tested Turkish, Dutch and Mandarin L2 learners of English and Turkish monolinguals on their musical rhythmic perception. Participants’ phonological and working memory capacities, melodic aptitude, years of formal musical training and daily exposure to music were assessed to account for cultural and individual differences which could impact their rhythmic ability. Our results suggest that mastering a L2 rather than exposure to musical rhythmic complexity could explain individuals’ enhanced musical rhythmic perception. An even stronger enhancement of musical rhythmic perception was observed for L2 learners whose first and second languages differ regarding their rhythmic properties, as enhanced performance of Turkish in comparison with Dutch L2 learners of English seem to suggest. Such a stronger enhancement of rhythmic perception seems to be found even among L2 learners whose first language relies heavily on pitch information, as the performance of Mandarin L2 learners of English indicates. Our findings provide further support for a cognitive transfer between the language and music domain. PMID:27375469

  14. Metalinguistic Knowledge in L2 Task Performance: A Verbal Protocol Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roehr, Karen

    2006-01-01

    This paper reports a study employing stimulated recall protocols to investigate how L1 English-speaking learners of L2 German use their metalinguistic knowledge during the resolution of selected form-focused tasks. Verbal report data from 10 university level learners were analysed to gain insight into explicit knowledge in action during controlled…

  15. L2 Word Recognition: Influence of L1 Orthography on Multi-syllabic Word Recognition.

    PubMed

    Hamada, Megumi

    2017-10-01

    L2 reading research suggests that L1 orthographic experience influences L2 word recognition. Nevertheless, the findings on multi-syllabic words in English are still limited despite the fact that a vast majority of words are multi-syllabic. The study investigated whether L1 orthography influences the recognition of multi-syllabic words, focusing on the position of an embedded word. The participants were Arabic ESL learners, Chinese ESL learners, and native speakers of English. The task was a word search task, in which the participants identified a target word embedded in a pseudoword at the initial, middle, or final position. The search accuracy and speed indicated that all groups showed a strong preference for the initial position. The accuracy data further indicated group differences. The Arabic group showed higher accuracy in the final than middle, while the Chinese group showed the opposite and the native speakers showed no difference between the two positions. The findings suggest that L2 multi-syllabic word recognition involves unique processes.

  16. Similarity and Difference in Learning L2 Word-Form

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamada, Megumi; Koda, Keiko

    2011-01-01

    This study explored similarity and difference in L2 written word-form learning from a cross-linguistic perspective. This study investigated whether learners' L1 orthographic background, which influences L2 visual word recognition (e.g., Wang et al., 2003), also influences L2 word-form learning, in particular, the sensitivity to phonological and…

  17. Examination of Learner and Situation Level Variables: Choice of Speech Act and Request Strategy by Spanish L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuriscak, Lisa

    2015-01-01

    This study focuses on variation within a group of learners of Spanish (N = 253) who produced requests and complaints via a written discourse completion task. It examines the effects of learner and situational variables on production--the effect of proficiency and addressee-gender on speech-act choice and the effect of perception of imposition on…

  18. Perceptual Filtering in L2 Lexical Memory: A Neural Network Approach to Second Language Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Robert

    2012-01-01

    A number of asymmetries in lexical memory emerge when monolinguals and early bilinguals are compared to (relatively) late second language (L2) learners. Their study promises to provide insight into the internal processes that both support and ultimately limit L2 learner achievement. Generally, theory building in L2 and bilingual lexical memory has…

  19. Imagined Identities and Investment in L2 Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Hao-yu

    2017-01-01

    Imagined identity, referring to the ideal self that L2 learners aspire to become in the future (Norton & Toohey, 2011), has been identified as a critical factor that could guide learners to make a learning investment that they believe would in turn reward them with the social capital for which they yearn (Kanno & Norton, 2003). This…

  20. Task Preference, Affective Response, and Engagement in L2 Use in a US University Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phung, Linh

    2017-01-01

    While learners' engagement has been recognized as important for second language (L2) learning in task-based language teaching (TBLT), how engagement is manifest in learners' L2 use during task performance and how tasks can be designed to facilitate better engagement have not received enough attention in the L2 research. This study investigates the…

  1. The Effects of Hypertext Glosses on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yun, Jee Hwan

    2010-01-01

    In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), "comprehensible input" (Krashen, 1985) has been considered a critical factor to help learners acquire foreign and second languages (L2). From this perspective, the notion of extensive or free voluntary reading (Day & Bamford, 1998; Krashen, 1993) has emerged that L2 learners should be given more…

  2. L1 Use and Morphosyntactic Development in the Oral Production of EFL Learners in a CLIL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazaro, Amparo; Garcia Mayo, Maria del Pilar

    2012-01-01

    This paper explores the effects of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) instruction on the oral production of 15 high-school learners of English. The learners' use of the L1s (Basque and Spanish) in discourse markers and repair sequences as well as the learners' overall morphosyntactic development were analysed at two testing times (age…

  3. Explicit Instruction, Bilingualism, and the Older Adult Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cox, Jessica G.

    2017-01-01

    Little is known about older adult language learners and effects of aging on L2 learning. This study investigated learning in older age through interactions of learner-internal and -external variables; specifically, late-learned L2 (bilingualism) and provision of grammar explanation (explicit instruction, EI). Forty-three older adults (age 60+) who…

  4. Predicting the Proficiency Level of Language Learners Using Lexical Indices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crossley, Scott A.; Salsbury, Tom; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2012-01-01

    This study explores how second language (L2) texts written by learners at various proficiency levels can be classified using computational indices that characterize lexical competence. For this study, 100 writing samples taken from 100 L2 learners were analyzed using lexical indices reported by the computational tool Coh-Metrix. The L2 writing…

  5. Chinese Learners of English See Chinese Words When Reading English Words.

    PubMed

    Ma, Fengyang; Ai, Haiyang

    2018-06-01

    The present study examines when second language (L2) learners read words in the L2, whether the orthography and/or phonology of the translation words in the first language (L1) is activated and whether the patterns would be modulated by the proficiency in the L2. In two experiments, two groups of Chinese learners of English immersed in the L1 environment, one less proficient and the other more proficient in English, performed a translation recognition task. In this task, participants judged whether pairs of words, with an L2 word preceding an L1 word, were translation words or not. The critical conditions compared the performance of learners to reject distractors that were related to the translation word (e.g., , pronounced as /bei 1/) of an L2 word (e.g., cup) in orthography (e.g., , bad in Chinese, pronounced as /huai 4/) or phonology (e.g., , sad in Chinese, pronounced as /bei 1/). Results of Experiment 1 showed less proficient learners were slower and less accurate to reject translation orthography distractors, as compared to unrelated controls, demonstrating a robust translation orthography interference effect. In contrast, their performance was not significantly different when rejecting translation phonology distractors, relative to unrelated controls, showing no translation phonology interference. The same patterns were observed in more proficient learners in Experiment 2. Together, these results suggest that when Chinese learners of English read English words, the orthographic information, but not the phonological information of the Chinese translation words is activated. In addition, this activation is not modulated by L2 proficiency.

  6. Learners' Uses of Two Types of Written Feedback on a L2 Writing Revision Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sachs, Rebecca; Polio, Charlene

    2007-01-01

    This study examines the effectiveness of written error corrections versus reformulations of second language learners' writing as two means of improving learners' grammatical accuracy on a three-stage composition-comparison-revision task. Concurrent verbal protocols were employed during the comparison stage in order to study the learners' reported…

  7. The Impact of Vocabulary Preparation on L2 Listening Comprehension, Confidence and Strategy Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

    2007-01-01

    Building on previous studies of the effects of planning on second language learners' (L2) oral narratives and writing, this research reports an investigation of the effects of vocabulary preparation prior to a listening comprehension test on L2 learners' vocabulary performance, listening comprehension, confidence levels and strategy use. The…

  8. Sources of Difficulty in L2 Scope Judgments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Eun Seon

    2013-01-01

    Second language (L2) learners have been found to experience difficulty in tasks that require the integration of discourse-pragmatic properties with syntactic and semantic properties (Sorace and Serratrice, 2009; Tsimpli and Sorace, 2006; Valenzuela, 2006). The present article investigates the sources of L2 difficulty in a phenomenon where multiple…

  9. Assessing Input Enhancement as Positive Factor and Its Impact on L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Motlagh, Seyyed Fariborz Pishdadi; Nasab, Mahdiyeh Seyed Beheshti

    2015-01-01

    Input enhancement's role to promote learners' awareness in L2 contexts has caused a tremendous amount of research. Conspicuously, by regarding all aspects of input enhancement, the study aimed to find out how differently many kinds of input enhancement factors such as bolding, underlining, and capitalizing impact on L2 learners' vocabulary…

  10. A Look at Advanced Learners' Use of Mobile Devices for English Language Study: Insights from Interview Data

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kruk, Mariusz

    2017-01-01

    The paper discusses the results of a study which explored advanced learners of English engagement with their mobile devices to develop learning experiences that meet their needs and goals as foreign language learners. The data were collected from 20 students by means of a semi-structured interview. The gathered data were subjected to qualitative…

  11. A Teacher's Exploratory Inquiry of Language Awareness: Language Learner Perceptions from Oral Presentations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leichsenring, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a teacher-led inquiry into learner language awareness and learner perceptions of: oral presentations using first language (L1) support when using a second language (L2); and L2 learner and user identity. The quantitative-based results of this preliminary inquiry represent a source of understanding for the researcher, who later,…

  12. Chinese Learners of English See Chinese Words When Reading English Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ma, Fengyang; Ai, Haiyang

    2018-01-01

    The present study examines when second language (L2) learners read words in the L2, whether the orthography and/or phonology of the translation words in the first language (L1) is activated and whether the patterns would be modulated by the proficiency in the L2. In two experiments, two groups of Chinese learners of English immersed in the L1…

  13. Investigating Predictors of Nonacademic ESOL Learners' L2 Literacy Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ro, Eunseok; Ryu, Jin

    2013-01-01

    The factors determining foreign language abilities have received copious attention from foreign language studies, and these research findings provided highly converging pedagogical implications for language teachers. However, not many studies have focused on non-academic learners especially with respect to their literacy skills. To fill this gap,…

  14. L2 Processing of Plural Inflection in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Song, Yoonsang

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates (1) whether late second language (L2) learners can attain native-like knowledge of English plural inflection even when their first language (L1) lacks an equivalent and (2) whether they construct hierarchically structured representations during online sentence processing like native speakers. In a self-paced reading task,…

  15. Orthographic Consistency and Individual Learner Differences in Second Language Literacy Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Sun-A; Packard, Jerome; Christianson, Kiel; Anderson, Richard C.; Shin, Jeong-Ah

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated whether orthographic consistency and individual learner differences including working memory (WM), first language (L1) background, and second language (L2) proficiency affect Chinese L2 learners' literacy acquisition. Seventy American college students in beginning or intermediate Chinese classes participated in a character…

  16. The Role of Oral Language Skills in Reading and Listening Comprehension of Text: A Comparison of Monolingual (L1) and Bilingual (L2) Speakers of English Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babayigit, Selma

    2014-01-01

    The study examined the role of oral language skills in reading comprehension and listening comprehension levels of 125 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) English-speaking learners (M = 121.5 months, SD = 4.65) in England. All testing was conducted in English. The L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers on the measures of oral language and text…

  17. Advancing Learner Autonomy in TEFL via Collaborative Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jacobs, George M.; Shan, Tan Hui

    2015-01-01

    The present paper begins by situating learner autonomy and collaborative learning as part of a larger paradigm shift towards student-centred learning. Next are brief discussions of learner autonomy and how learner autonomy links with collaborative learning. In the main part of the paper, four central principles of collaborative learning are…

  18. Effects of Comic Strips on L2 Learners' Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Jun

    2004-01-01

    This article reports the results of an experiment investigating the role of comic strips on ESL learners' reading comprehension. The students' proficiency levels were estimated, and students were organized into a low intermediate-level proficiency group (low-level students) and a high intermediate-level proficiency group (high-level students).…

  19. Reading Aloud Activity in L2 and Cerebral Activation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Takeuchi, Osamu; Ikeda, Maiko; Mizumoto, Atsushi

    2012-01-01

    This article explores the cerebral mechanism of reading aloud activities in L2 learners. These activities have been widely used in L2 learning and teaching, and its effect has been reported in various Asian L2 learning contexts. However, the reasons for its effectiveness have not been examined. In order to fill in this gap, two studies using a…

  20. The Role of L1 Conceptual and Linguistic Knowledge and Frequency in the Acquisition of L2 Metaphorical Expressions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Türker, Ebru

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates how figurative language is processed by learners of a second language (L2). With an experiment testing L2 comprehension of figurative expressions in three categories, each combining shared and unshared first language (L1) and L2 lexical representations and conceptual representations in a different way, the study…

  1. Rapid L2 Word Learning through High Constraint Sentence Context: An Event-Related Potential Study

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Baoguo; Ma, Tengfei; Liang, Lijuan; Liu, Huanhuan

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies have found quantity of exposure, i.e., frequency of exposure (Horst et al., 1998; Webb, 2008; Pellicer-Sánchez and Schmitt, 2010), is important for second language (L2) contextual word learning. Besides this factor, context constraint and L2 proficiency level have also been found to affect contextual word learning (Pulido, 2003; Tekmen and Daloglu, 2006; Elgort et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2015). In the present study, we adopted the event-related potential (ERP) technique and chose high constraint sentences as reading materials to further explore the effects of quantity of exposure and proficiency on L2 contextual word learning. Participants were Chinese learners of English with different English proficiency levels. For each novel word, there were four high constraint sentences with the critical word at the end of the sentence. Learners read sentences and made semantic relatedness judgment afterwards, with ERPs recorded. Results showed that in the high constraint condition where each pseudoword was embedded in four sentences with consistent meaning, N400 amplitude upon this pseudoword decreased significantly as learners read the first two sentences. High proficiency learners responded faster in the semantic relatedness judgment task. These results suggest that in high quality sentence contexts, L2 learners could rapidly acquire word meaning without multiple exposures, and L2 proficiency facilitated this learning process. PMID:29375420

  2. Rapid L2 Word Learning through High Constraint Sentence Context: An Event-Related Potential Study.

    PubMed

    Chen, Baoguo; Ma, Tengfei; Liang, Lijuan; Liu, Huanhuan

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies have found quantity of exposure, i.e., frequency of exposure (Horst et al., 1998; Webb, 2008; Pellicer-Sánchez and Schmitt, 2010), is important for second language (L2) contextual word learning. Besides this factor, context constraint and L2 proficiency level have also been found to affect contextual word learning (Pulido, 2003; Tekmen and Daloglu, 2006; Elgort et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2015). In the present study, we adopted the event-related potential (ERP) technique and chose high constraint sentences as reading materials to further explore the effects of quantity of exposure and proficiency on L2 contextual word learning. Participants were Chinese learners of English with different English proficiency levels. For each novel word, there were four high constraint sentences with the critical word at the end of the sentence. Learners read sentences and made semantic relatedness judgment afterwards, with ERPs recorded. Results showed that in the high constraint condition where each pseudoword was embedded in four sentences with consistent meaning, N400 amplitude upon this pseudoword decreased significantly as learners read the first two sentences. High proficiency learners responded faster in the semantic relatedness judgment task. These results suggest that in high quality sentence contexts, L2 learners could rapidly acquire word meaning without multiple exposures, and L2 proficiency facilitated this learning process.

  3. Computer-Mediated Corrective Feedback and the Development of L2 Grammar

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sauro, Shannon

    2009-01-01

    This paper reports on a study that investigated the impact of two types of computer-mediated corrective feedback on the development of adult learners' L2 knowledge: (1) corrective feedback that reformulates the error in the form of recasts, and (2) corrective feedback that supplies the learner with metalinguistic information about the nature of…

  4. The Use of E-Dictionary to Read E-Text by Intermediate and Advanced Learners of Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Jing

    2012-01-01

    This study focuses on the pedagogical outcomes connected with the use of an e-dictionary by intermediate and advanced learners of Chinese to aid in reading an expository Chinese e-text. Twenty intermediate and advanced participants read an e-text twice aided by an e-dictionary and wrote recalls of the text in English. In addition to low frequency…

  5. Learner Perceptions of Online Peer Pronunciation Feedback through P-Check

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yonesaka, Suzanne M.

    2017-01-01

    Receiving adequate pronunciation feedback is an ongoing challenge for L2 learners. Although instructors are the most important source of corrective pronunciation feedback (Szpyra, 2014; Timson, 2007), L2 learners can also benefit from peer pronunciation feedback (Lord, 2008; Kim & Yoon, 2014; Roccamo, 2015). This paper examines Japanese…

  6. covert contrast: The acquisition of Mandarin tone 2 and tone 3 in L2 production and perception

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mar, Li-Ya

    This dissertation investigates the occurrence of an intermediate stage, termed a covert contrast, in the acquisition of Mandarin Tone 2 (T2) and Tone 3 (T3) by adult speakers of American English. A covert contrast is a statistically reliable distinction produced by language learners that is not perceived by native speakers of the target language (TL). In second language (L2) acquisition, whether a learner is judged as having acquired a TL phonemic contrast has largely depended on whether the contrast was perceived and transcribed by native speakers of the TL. However, categorical perception has shown that native listeners cannot perceive a distinction between two sounds that fall within the same perceptual boundaries on the continuum of the relevant acoustic cues. In other words, it is possible that native speakers of the TL do not perceive a phonemic distinction that is produced by L2 learners when that distinction occurs within a phonemic boundary of TL. The data for the study were gathered through two elicitations of tone production, a longitudinal analysis, and two perception tasks. There were three key findings. First, both elicitations showed that most of the L2 participants produced a covert contrast between T2 and T3 on at least one of the three acoustic measures used in the study. Second, the longitudinal analysis reveals that some L2 participants progressed from making a covert contrast to a later stage of implementing an overt one, thereby supporting the claim that making a covert contrast is an intermediate stage in the process of acquiring a L2 phonemic contrast. Third, results of the perceptual tasks showed no reliable difference in identifying and discriminating Mandarin T2 and T3 on the part of the L2 learners who produced a covert contrast and those who produced an overt contrast, indicating that there was no reliable difference in the two groups' ability to perceive the target tones. In all, the occurrence of a covert contrast in the process of

  7. Enhanced musical rhythmic perception in Turkish early and late learners of German

    PubMed Central

    Roncaglia-Denissen, M. Paula; Schmidt-Kassow, Maren; Heine, Angela; Vuust, Peter; Kotz, Sonja A.

    2013-01-01

    As language rhythm relies partly on general acoustic properties, such as intensity and duration, mastering two languages with distinct rhythmic properties (i.e., stress position) may enhance musical rhythm perception. We investigated whether competence in a second language (L2) with different rhythmic properties than a L1 affects musical rhythm aptitude. Turkish early (TELG) and late learners (TLLG) of German were compared to German late L2 learners of English (GLE) regarding their musical rhythmic aptitude. While Turkish and German present distinct linguistic rhythm and metric properties, German and English are rather similar in this regard. To account for inter-individual differences, we measured participants' short-term and working memory (WM) capacity, melodic aptitude, and time they spent listening to music. Both groups of Turkish L2 learners of German perceived rhythmic variations significantly better than German L2 learners of English. No differences were found between early and late learners' performance. Our findings suggest that mastering two languages with different rhythmic properties enhances musical rhythm perception, providing further evidence of shared cognitive resources between language and music. PMID:24065946

  8. The Contribution of L1 Phonemic Awareness into L2 Reading: The Case of Arab EFL Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alshaboul, Yousef; Asassfeh, Sahail; Alshboul, Sabri; Alodwan, Talal

    2014-01-01

    Cross-language transfer is the extent, if any, to which phonological awareness in L1 facilitates learning to read in L2. This has been an area of investigation wherein researchers looked into the orthographic and phonological component processing skills L2 learners develop and utilize to facilitate word recognition. Given the difference between…

  9. Cross-Linguistic Influence in Third Language Perception: L2 and L3 Perception of Japanese Contrasts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Onishi, Hiromi

    2013-01-01

    This dissertation examines the possible influence of language learners' second language (L2) on their perception of phonological contrasts in their third language (L3). Previous studies on Third Language Acquisition (TLA) suggest various factors as possible sources of cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of an L3. This dissertation…

  10. Becoming a Japanese Language Learner, User, and Teacher: Revelations From Life History Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Armour, William S.

    2004-01-01

    This article discusses how Sarah Lamond, a Japanese language teacher in Sydney, Australia has juggled three of her identities: second language (L2) learner, L2 user, and L2 teacher. Data come from four interviews used to create an edited life history. These data are used to draw attention to the relationship between L2 learner and language user.…

  11. Phonemic awareness of English second language learners

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Background The PA skills of phonological blending and segmentation and auditory word discrimination relate directly to literacy and may be weak in English second language (EL2) learners. In South Africa, literacy skills have been found to be poor in especially EL2 learners. Objectives The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of vowel perception and production intervention on phonemic awareness (PA) and literacy skills of Setswana first language (L1) learners. These learners are English second language (EL2) learners in Grade 3. Method The present study employed a quasi-experimental, pre-test–post-test design. Results The findings of low–literacy skill levels concurred with previous investigations. However, post-test results of intervention in PA seemed to improve the literacy skills of EL2 learners. Conclusion PA skills should be a crucial part of the literacy curriculum in South Africa. PMID:28155282

  12. Cue Reliance in L2 Written Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiechmann, Daniel; Kerz, Elma

    2014-01-01

    Second language learners reach expert levels in relative cue weighting only gradually. On the basis of ensemble machine learning models fit to naturalistic written productions of German advanced learners of English and expert writers, we set out to reverse engineer differences in the weighting of multiple cues in a clause linearization problem. We…

  13. The Role of Prosodic Structure in the L2 Acquisition of Spanish Stop Lenition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cabrelli Amaro, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    This study tests the hypothesis that late first-language English / second-language Spanish learners (L1 English / L2 Spanish learners) acquire spirantization in stages according to the prosodic hierarchy (Zampini, 1997, 1998). In Spanish, voiced stops [b d g] surface after a pause or nasal stop, and continuants [ß? ð? ??] surface postvocalically,…

  14. L1 Frequency in Foreign Language Acquisition: Recurrent Word Combinations in French and Spanish EFL Learner Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paquot, Magali

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated French and Spanish EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' preferred use of three-word lexical bundles with discourse or stance-oriented function with a view to exploring the role of first language (L1) frequency effects in foreign language acquisition. Word combinations were extracted from learner performance data…

  15. L2 Motivation and Multilingual Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henry, Alastair

    2017-01-01

    By tradition, L2 motivation research has a monolingual bias--the motivational systems of a learner's different languages conceptualized as separate entities rather than as cognitively interconnected. At a time when multilingualism has become a new world order (Douglas Fir Group, 2016) and where there is evidence of powerful identity experiences…

  16. Chinese L1 children's English L2 verb morphology over time: individual variation in long-term outcomes.

    PubMed

    Paradis, Johanne; Tulpar, Yasemin; Arppe, Antti

    2016-05-01

    This study examined accuracy in production and grammaticality judgements of verb morphology by eighteen Chinese-speaking children learning English as a second language (L2) followed longitudinally from four to six years of exposure to English, and who began to learn English at age 4;2. Children's growth in accuracy with verb morphology reached a plateau by six years, where 11/18 children did not display native-speaker levels of accuracy for one or more morphemes. Variation in children's accuracy with verb morphology was predicted by their English vocabulary size and verbal short-term memories primarily, and quality and quantity of English input at home secondarily. This study shows that even very young L2 learners might not all catch up to native speakers in this time frame and that non-age factors play a role in determining individual variation in child L2 learners' long-term outcomes with English morphology.

  17. Distributional Effects and Individual Differences in L2 Morphology Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Patricia J.; Kwoka, Nicole; Kempe, Vera

    2017-01-01

    Second language (L2) learning outcomes may depend on the structure of the input and learners' cognitive abilities. This study tested whether less predictable input might facilitate learning and generalization of L2 morphology while evaluating contributions of statistical learning ability, nonverbal intelligence, phonological short-term memory, and…

  18. Current Practices in the Education of Gifted and Advanced Learners in South Australian Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarvis, Jane M.; Henderson, Lesley

    2015-01-01

    Despite calls over the past several decades for increased attention to the needs of gifted and advanced learners, little is known about how South Australian schools currently identify and provide for these students. An online questionnaire was sent to all schools in the state and was completed by participants from 71 schools. Findings suggested…

  19. Observations in the Computer Room: L2 Output and Learner Behaviour

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leahy, Christine

    2004-01-01

    This article draws on second language theory, particularly output theory as defined by Swain (1995), in order to conceptualise observations made in a computer-assisted language learning setting. It investigates second language output and learner behaviour within an electronic role-play setting, based on a subject-specific problem solving task and…

  20. Verbal Inflectional Morphology in L1 and L2 Spanish: A Frequency Effects Study Examining Storage versus Composition

    PubMed Central

    Bowden, Harriet Wood; Gelfand, Matthew P.; Sanz, Cristina; Ullman, Michael T.

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the storage vs. composition of Spanish inflected verbal forms in L1 and L2 speakers of Spanish. L2 participants were selected to have mid-to-advanced proficiency, high classroom experience, and low immersion experience, typical of medium-to-advanced foreign language learners. Participants were shown the infinitival forms of verbs from either Class I (the default class, which takes new verbs) or Classes II and III (non-default classes), and were asked to produce either first-person singular present-tense or imperfect forms, in separate tasks. In the present tense, the L1 speakers showed inflected-form frequency effects (i.e., higher frequency forms were produced faster, which is taken as a reflection of storage) for stem-changing (irregular) verb-forms from both Class I (e.g., pensar-pienso) and Classes II and III (e.g., perder-pierdo), as well as for non-stem-changing (regular) forms in Classes II/III (e.g., vender-vendo), in which the regular transformation does not appear to constitute a default. In contrast, Class I regulars (e.g., pescar-pesco), whose non-stem-changing transformation constitutes a default (e.g., it is applied to new verbs), showed no frequency effects. L2 speakers showed frequency effects for all four conditions (Classes I and II/III, regulars and irregulars). In the imperfect tense, the L1 speakers showed frequency effects for Class II/III (-ía-suffixed) but not Class I (-aba-suffixed) forms, even though both involve non-stem-change (regular) default transformations. The L2 speakers showed frequency effects for both types of forms. The pattern of results was not explained by a wide range of potentially confounding experimental and statistical factors, and does not appear to be compatible with single-mechanism models, which argue that all linguistic forms are learned and processed in associative memory. The findings are consistent with a dual-system view in which both verb class and regularity influence the storage vs

  1. Naming Abilities in Low-Proficiency Second Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borodkin, Katy; Faust, Miriam

    2014-01-01

    Difficulties in second language (L2) learning are often associated with recognizable learning difficulties in native language (L1), such as in dyslexia. However, some individuals have low L2 proficiency but intact L1 reading skills. These L2 learners experience frequent tip-of-the-tongue states while naming in L1, which indicates that they have a…

  2. An Exploration of Learners' Conceptions of Language, Culture, and Learning in Advanced-Level Spanish Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drewelow, Isabelle; Mitchell, Claire

    2015-01-01

    This article reports on an exploratory study, which examines learners' rating of culture in relation to other concepts in advanced Spanish courses and their justification of the ratings attributed. Open-ended responses, elicited from a questionnaire completed by 179 respondents, were analysed line by line using an interpretive approach. Data…

  3. Learning to perceive and recognize a second language: the L2LP model revised.

    PubMed

    van Leussen, Jan-Willem; Escudero, Paola

    2015-01-01

    We present a test of a revised version of the Second Language Linguistic Perception (L2LP) model, a computational model of the acquisition of second language (L2) speech perception and recognition. The model draws on phonetic, phonological, and psycholinguistic constructs to explain a number of L2 learning scenarios. However, a recent computational implementation failed to validate a theoretical proposal for a learning scenario where the L2 has less phonemic categories than the native language (L1) along a given acoustic continuum. According to the L2LP, learners faced with this learning scenario must not only shift their old L1 phoneme boundaries but also reduce the number of categories employed in perception. Our proposed revision to L2LP successfully accounts for this updating in the number of perceptual categories as a process driven by the meaning of lexical items, rather than by the learners' awareness of the number and type of phonemes that are relevant in their new language, as the previous version of L2LP assumed. Results of our simulations show that meaning-driven learning correctly predicts the developmental path of L2 phoneme perception seen in empirical studies. Additionally, and to contribute to a long-standing debate in psycholinguistics, we test two versions of the model, with the stages of phonemic perception and lexical recognition being either sequential or interactive. Both versions succeed in learning to recognize minimal pairs in the new L2, but make diverging predictions on learners' resulting phonological representations. In sum, the proposed revision to the L2LP model contributes to our understanding of L2 acquisition, with implications for speech processing in general.

  4. Investigating L2 Spoken English through the Role Play Learner Corpus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nava, Andrea; Pedrazzini, Luciana

    2011-01-01

    We describe an exploratory study carried out within the University of Milan, Department of English the aim of which was to analyse features of the spoken English of first-year Modern Languages undergraduates. We compiled a learner corpus, the "Role Play" corpus, which consisted of 69 role-play interactions in English carried out by…

  5. L2 Knowledge of Verb Placement by Japanese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bannai, Masanori

    2008-01-01

    This paper reports on an experiment which examined the knowledge of verb placement by Japanese learners of English (JLEs). The results of two grammaticality judgement tasks indicated that JLEs acquire the unavailability of an NP-shift operation relatively early, but their judgements of sentences involving V-raising (i.e., illicit *SV-Adv-O word…

  6. Helping Learners Engage with L2 Words: The Form-Meaning Fit

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deconinck, Julie; Boers, Frank; Eyckmans, June

    2010-01-01

    The pace at which new words are acquired is influenced by the degree of engagement with them on the part of the learner. Insights from cognitive linguistics into the non-arbitrary aspects of vocabulary can be turned into stimuli for such engagement. The majority of Cognitive Linguists' proposals for vocabulary teaching aim at helping learners…

  7. Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom. ERIC Digest E536.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tomlinson, Carol Ann

    This brief paper summarizes guidelines for adapting instruction for advanced learners in inclusive, mixed-ability middle school classrooms. A rationale for differentiating instruction is followed by consideration of what differentiation is and is not. Characteristics of a differentiated class are enumerated, including: instruction is concept…

  8. How L2-Learners' Brains React to Code-Switches: An ERP Study with Russian Learners of German

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ruigendijk, Esther; Hentschel, Gerd; Zeller, Jan Patrick

    2016-01-01

    This Event Related Potentials (ERP) study investigates auditory processing of sentences with so-called code-switches in Russian learners of German. It has often been argued that switching between two languages results in extra processing cost, although it is not completely clear yet what exactly causes these costs. ERP presents a good method to…

  9. The Impact of Text-Based CMC on Improving L2 Oral Fluency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Razagifard, P.

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports on a study investigating the potential effect of synchronous and asynchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) on oral fluency development of second-language (L2) learners. Sixty-three intermediate learners of English were randomly assigned to one of three groups (two experimental groups and one control group),…

  10. Developing Conceptual Understanding of Sarcasm in L2 English through Explicit Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Jiyun; Lantolf, James P.

    2018-01-01

    This article reports on a pedagogical project aimed at helping second language (L2) learners of English develop the ability to detect and appropriately interpret spoken sarcasm. The study used a pre- and posttest procedure to assess the development of learners' ability to both detect sarcasm and impute appropriate speaker intentions and attitudes…

  11. Investigative Research: How It Changes Learner Status.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kenny, Brian

    1993-01-01

    What matters about an educational activity is how learners respond to it. This article examines a program concerned with the learners' needs, through the expression of learners' own meanings, and advances the concept of investigative research as a suitable vehicle for more autonomous learning, through a change in learner status. (26 references)…

  12. The Effects of Multimedia Task-Based Language Teaching on EFL Learners' Oral L2 Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    BavaHarji, Madhubala; Gheitanchian, Mehrnaz; Letchumanan, Krishnaveni

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the effects of tasks, with varying levels of complexity, i.e. simple, + complex and ++ complex tasks on EFL learners' oral production in a multimedia task-based language teaching environment. 57 EFL adult learners carried out a total of 12 tasks, in sets of four tasks within three different themes and different levels of…

  13. Negotiated Interaction in the L2 Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eckerth, Johannes

    2009-01-01

    The present paper reports on an approximate replication of Foster's (1998) study on the negotiation of meaning. Foster investigated the interactional adjustments produced by L2 English learners working on different types of language learning tasks in a classroom setting. The replication study duplicates the methods of data collection and data…

  14. L2 vs. L1 Use of Synonymy: An Empirical Study of Synonym Use/Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Dilin; Zhong, Shouman

    2016-01-01

    Synonymy is important but difficult for language learners to grasp. Using a forced-choice question instrument, along with corpus data as reference, this study examines the use of four sets of synonyms by intermediate/advanced Chinese EFL/ESL learners and native English speakers. The data analyses reveal several key findings, including a general…

  15. The Role of Cognitive and Affective Factors in Measures of L2 Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zabihi, Reza

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates the direct and/or indirect effects of some cognitive (working memory capacity) and affective (writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy) variables on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of second language (L2) learners' writings. To achieve this goal, 232 upper-intermediate English learners performed an automated…

  16. Object Clitics and Their Omission in Child L2 French: The Contributions of Processing Limitations and L1 Transfer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gruter, Theres; Crago, Martha

    2012-01-01

    This article explores the widely documented difficulty with object clitics in the acquisition of French. The study investigates the effects of L1 transfer and processing limitations on the production and comprehension of object clitics in child L2 learners of French with different L1 backgrounds (Chinese, Spanish). The Spanish-speaking learners…

  17. Investigating L2 Performance in Text Chat

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sauro, Shannon; Smith, Bryan

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the linguistic complexity and lexical diversity of both overt and covert L2 output produced during synchronous written computer-mediated communication, also referred to as chat. Video enhanced chatscripts produced by university learners of German (N = 23) engaged in dyadic task-based chat interaction were coded and analyzed for…

  18. Refusal Strategies in L1 and L2: A Study of Persian-Speaking Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babai Shishavan, Homa; Sharifian, Farzad

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study was to explore pragmalinguistic strategies employed by a group of Iranian English language learners when making refusals to invitations, requests, offers and suggestions in their first (Persian) and second (English) languages. Data were collected from 86 participants through a Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The social…

  19. On the effects of L2 perception and of individual differences in L1 production on L2 pronunciation

    PubMed Central

    Kartushina, Natalia; Frauenfelder, Ulrich H.

    2014-01-01

    The speech of late second language (L2) learners is generally marked by an accent. The dominant theoretical perspective attributes accents to deficient L2 perception arising from a transfer of L1 phonology, which is thought to influence L2 perception and production. In this study we evaluate the explanatory role of L2 perception in L2 production and explore alternative explanations arising from the L1 phonological system, such as for example, the role of L1 production. Specifically we examine the role of an individual’s L1 productions in the production of L2 vowel contrasts. Fourteen Spanish adolescents studying French at school were assessed on their perception and production of the mid-close/mid-open contrasts, /ø-œ/ and /e-ε/, which are, respectively, acoustically distinct from Spanish sounds, or similar to them. The participants’ native productions were explored to assess (1) the variability in the production of native vowels (i.e., the compactness of vowel categories in F1/F2 acoustic space), and (2) the position of the vowels in the acoustic space. The results revealed that although poorly perceived contrasts were generally produced poorly, there was no correlation between individual performance in perception and production, and no effect of L2 perception on L2 production in mixed-effects regression analyses. This result is consistent with a growing body of psycholinguistic and neuroimaging research that suggest partial dissociations between L2 perception and production. In contrast, individual differences in the compactness and position of native vowels predicted L2 production accuracy. These results point to existence of surface transfer of individual L1 phonetic realizations to L2 space and demonstrate that pre-existing features of the native space in production partly determine how new sounds can be accommodated in that space. PMID:25414678

  20. Developing Intentionality and L2 Classroom Task-Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stelma, Juup

    2014-01-01

    This paper extends work on "intentionality", from philosophy, psychology and education to an exploration of learners' meaning-making in L2 classroom task-engagement. The paper draws on both phenomenological and folk-psychological perspectives on intentionality, and employs John R. Searle's intrinsic (mental) and derived (observable)…

  1. Voice Blogging and L2 Speaking Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hsu, Hsiu-Chen

    2016-01-01

    This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigated the effect of extensive speaking practice on the development of L2 speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency in voice blogging. The participants were 30 college EFL (English as a foreign language) learners in Taiwan. As a supplement to the insufficient speaking practice in class, each…

  2. Acquisition of L2 Vowel Duration in Japanese by Native English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okuno, Tomoko

    2013-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that focused perceptual training facilitates L2 learners' segmental perception and spoken word identification. Hardison (2003) and Motohashi-Saigo and Hardison (2009) found benefits of visual cues in the training for acquisition of L2 contrasts. The present study examined factors affecting perception and production…

  3. Chinese English Learners' Strategic Competence.

    PubMed

    Wang, Dianjian; Lai, Hongling; Leslie, Michael

    2015-12-01

    The present study aims to investigate Chinese English learners' ability to use communication strategies (CSs). The subjects are put in a relatively real English referential communication setting and the analyses of the research data show that Chinese English learners, when encountering problems in foreign language (FL) communication, are characterized by the frequent use of substitution, approximation, circumlocution, literal translation, exemplification, word-coinage, repetition, and the infrequent use of cultural-knowledge and paralinguistic CSs. The rare use of paralinguistic strategies is found to be typical of Chinese English learners. The high frequency of literal translation, one first language (L1)-based strategy in our study sample, suggests that FL learners' use of L1-based CSs may depend more upon the developmental stage of their target language than the typology distance between L1 and the target language. The frequency of repetition reveals one fact that the Chinese English learners lack variety and flexibility in their use of CSs. Based on these findings, it was indicated that learners' use of CSs is influenced by a variety of factors, among which the development stage of their interlanguage and their cultural background are identified as two important factors. Some implications are finally suggested for the English foreign language teaching practice in China.

  4. Patterns of Tasks, Patterns of Talk: L2 Literacy Building in University Spanish Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gleason, Jesse; Slater, Tammy

    2017-01-01

    Second language (L2) classroom research has sought to shed light on the processes and practices that develop L2 learners' abilities [Nunan, D. 2004. "Task-based language teaching." London: Continuum; Verplaetse, L. 2014. "Using big questions to apprentice students into language-rich classroom practices." "TESOL…

  5. Listening Strategies in the L2 Classroom: More Practice, Less Testing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aponte-de-Hanna, Cecilia

    2012-01-01

    This paper looks at the history of listening strategies development from the first studies on strategies used by L2 learners to the most current studies specific to L2 listening, and how this theory can be incorporated into classroom teaching that fosters practice, not testing. This paper also examines the type of needs analysis and diagnostic…

  6. A Frequency-Based Approach to L2 Phonological Learning: Teacher Input and Student Output in an Intensive ESL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trofimovich, Pavel; Collins, Laura; Cardoso, Walcir; White, Joanna; Horst, Marlise

    2012-01-01

    Most second language (L2) researchers and teachers would agree that input, often defined as the language a learner hears or reads, plays an important role in L2 learning. There is a great deal of research investigating which types of input are most beneficial for learning, how learners process and internalize input (e.g., Schmidt, 2001), and how…

  7. Factors Affecting the Use of Self-Regulated L2 Learning Strategies in Turkish FLE Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Köksal, Dinçay; Dündar, Sinem

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to investigate the overall self-regulated L2 learning strategy use of L2 learners depending upon the Strategic Self-Regulation (S[superscript 2]R) Model proposed by Oxford (2011), and to examine the relationships between their reported self-regulated L2 strategy use and their personality traits, identity, beliefs about L2 learning,…

  8. Influence of Syllable Structure on L2 Auditory Word Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamada, Megumi; Goya, Hideki

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the role of syllable structure in L2 auditory word learning. Based on research on cross-linguistic variation of speech perception and lexical memory, it was hypothesized that Japanese L1 learners of English would learn English words with an open-syllable structure without consonant clusters better than words with a…

  9. Stress-Induced Acoustic Variation in L2 and L1 Spanish Vowels.

    PubMed

    Romanelli, Sofía; Menegotto, Andrea; Smyth, Ron

    2018-05-28

    We assessed the effect of lexical stress on the duration and quality of Spanish word-final vowels /a, e, o/ produced by American English late intermediate learners of L2 Spanish, as compared to those of native L1 Argentine Spanish speakers. Participants read 54 real words ending in /a, e, o/, with either final or penultimate lexical stress, embedded in a text and a word list. We measured vowel duration and both F1 and F2 frequencies at 3 temporal points. stressed vowels were longer than unstressed vowels, in Spanish L1 and L2. L1 and L2 Spanish stressed /a/ and /e/ had higher F1 values than their unstressed counterparts. Only the L2 speakers showed evidence of rising offglides for /e/ and /o/. The L2 and L1 Spanish vowel space was compressed in the absence of stress. Lexical stress affected the vowel quality of L1 and L2 Spanish vowels. We provide an up-to-date account of the formant trajectories of Argentine River Plate Spanish word-final /a, e, o/ and offer experimental support to the claim that stress affects the quality of Spanish vowels in word-final contexts. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  10. The Acquisition of Progressive and Resultative Meanings of the Imperfective Aspect Marker by L2 Learners of Japanese: Transfer, Universals, or Multiple Factors?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sugaya, Natsue; Shirai, Yasuhiro

    2007-01-01

    It has been observed that there is a strong association between the inherent (lexical) aspect of verbs and the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology (the aspect hypothesis; Andersen & Shirai, 1994). To investigate why such an association is observed, this study examined the influence of inherent aspect and learners' first language (L1) on the…

  11. The early phase of /see symbol/ production development in adult Japanese learners of English.

    PubMed

    Saito, Kazuya; Munro, Murray J

    2014-12-01

    Although previous research indicates that Japanese speakers' second language (L2) perception and production of English /see symbol/ may improve with increased L2 experience, relatively little is known about the fine phonetic details of their /see symbol/ productions, especially during the early phase of L2 speech learning. This cross-sectional study examined acoustic properties of word-initial /see symbol/ from 60 Japanese learners with a length of residence of between one month and one year in Canada. Their performance was compared to that of 15 native speakers of English and 15 low-proficiency Japanese learners of English. Formant frequencies (F2 and F3) and F1 transition durations were evaluated under three task conditions--word reading, sentence reading, and timed picture description. Learners with as little as two to three months of residence demonstrated target-like F2 frequencies. In addition, increased LOR was predictive of more target-like transition durations. Although the learners showed some improvement in F3 as a function of LOR, they did so mainly at a controlled level of speech production. The findings suggest that during the early phase of L2 segmental development, production accuracy is task-dependent and is influenced by the availability of L1 phonetic cues for redeployment in L2.

  12. Making Asian Learners Talk: Encouraging Willingness to Communicate

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vongsila, Vatsana; Reinders, Hayo

    2016-01-01

    Developing English for communicative purposes is a key objective of language classes in many parts of the world. As a logical prerequisite to communication practice, learners need to have Willingness to Communicate (WTC) before they will engage in L2 interaction (Macintyre et al., 1998). Teachers can play an important role in helping learners to…

  13. Effects of Enhancement Techniques on L2 Incidental Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duan, Shiping

    2018-01-01

    Enhancement Techniques are conducive to incidental vocabulary learning. This study investigated the effects of two types of enhancement techniques-multiple-choice glosses (MC) and L1 single-gloss (SG) on L2 incidental learning of new words and retention of them. A total of 89 university learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) were asked to…

  14. Acquisition of L2 Japanese Geminates: Training with Waveform Displays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Motohashi-Saigo, Miki; Hardison, Debra M.

    2009-01-01

    The value of waveform displays as visual feedback was explored in a training study involving perception and production of L2 Japanese by beginning-level L1 English learners. A pretest-posttest design compared auditory-visual (AV) and auditory-only (A-only) Web-based training. Stimuli were singleton and geminate /t,k,s/ followed by /a,u/ in two…

  15. The Role of Hypercorrection in the Acquisition of L2 Phonemic Contrasts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eckman, Fred R.; Iverson, Gregory K.; Song, Jae Yung

    2013-01-01

    This article reports empirical findings from an ongoing investigation into the acquisition of second-language (L2) phonemic contrasts. Specifically, we consider the status and role of the phenomenon of hypercorrection in the various stages through which L2 learners develop and internalize a target language (TL) contrast. We adopt the prevailing…

  16. Interaction Mindsets, Interactional Behaviors, and L2 Development: An Affective-Social-Cognitive Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sato, Masatoshi

    2017-01-01

    This classroom-based study explored links among second language (L2) learners' interaction mindsets, interactional behaviors, and L2 development in the context of peer interaction. While peer interaction research has revealed that certain interactional behaviors (e.g., receiving corrective feedback and engaging in collaborative interaction) assist…

  17. L2 vs. L3 Initial State: A Comparative Study of the Acquisition of French DPs by Vietnamese Monolinguals and Cantonese-English Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leung, Yan-Kit Ingrid

    2005-01-01

    This paper compares the initial state of second language acquisition (L2A) and third language acquisition (L3A) from the generative linguistics perspective. We examine the acquisition of the Determiner Phrase (DP) by two groups of beginning French learners: an L2 group (native speakers of Vietnamese who do not speak any English) and an L3 group…

  18. Historians/Artifacts/Learners: Working Papers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nichols, Susan K., Ed.

    This publication, an outcome of a 2-day colloquium in 1981, contains information about using artifacts (material culture evidence) as a primary source for teaching history at the graduate or advanced student seminar level. A purpose of the colloquium was to gather and disseminate this information for the Historians/Artifacts/Learners (HAL)…

  19. Assisting Your Child's Learning in L2 Is Like Teaching Them to Ride a Bike: A Study on Parental Involvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Castillo, Rigoberto; Camelo Gámez, Linda Catherine

    2013-01-01

    This article deals with parental involvement as a strategy to assist young learners in their efforts to learn an L2. It discusses an 18-month experience involving ten young learners, their parents, and teachers, in the development of another language (L2). The parents had expressed that they were unable to support their children's development in…

  20. Thresholds of Knowledge Development in Complex Problem Solving: A Multiple-Case Study of Advanced Learners' Cognitive Processes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bogard, Treavor; Liu, Min; Chiang, Yueh-hui Vanessa

    2013-01-01

    This multiple-case study examined how advanced learners solved a complex problem, focusing on how their frequency and application of cognitive processes contributed to differences in performance outcomes, and developing a mental model of a problem. Fifteen graduate students with backgrounds related to the problem context participated in the study.…

  1. Individual Variation in L2 Study-Abroad Outcomes: A Case Study from Indonesian Pragmatics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hassall, Timothy

    2015-01-01

    This is a study of two Australian learners of Indonesian during a short stay abroad. It examines their contrasting success in acquiring L2 address terms, in tandem with their contrasting experiences of the L2 culture setting. It thereby helps explain the persistent finding of great individual variation in L2 gains--and in particular pragmatic…

  2. Individual Differences in the Acquisition of a Complex L2 Phonology: A Training Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanulikova, Adriana; Dediu, Dan; Fang, Zhou; Basnakova, Jana; Huettig, Falk

    2012-01-01

    Many learners of a foreign language (L2) struggle to correctly pronounce newly learned speech sounds, yet many others achieve this with apparent ease. Here we explored how a training study of learning complex consonant clusters at the very onset of L2 acquisition can inform us about L2 learning in general and individual differences in particular.…

  3. Working Memory Effects in the L2 Processing of Ambiguous Relative Clauses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopp, Holger

    2014-01-01

    This article investigates whether and how L2 sentence processing is affected by memory constraints that force serial parsing. Monitoring eye movements, we test effects of working memory on L2 relative-clause attachment preferences in a sample of 75 late-adult German learners of English and 25 native English controls. Mixed linear regression…

  4. Anaphora Resolution and Reanalysis during L2 Sentence Processing: Evidence from the Visual World Paradigm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cunnings, Ian; Fotiadou, Georgia; Tsimpli, Ianthi

    2017-01-01

    In a visual world paradigm study, we manipulated gender congruence between a subject pronoun and two antecedents to investigate whether second language (L2) learners with a null subject first language (L1) acquire and process overt subject pronouns in a nonnull subject L2 in a nativelike way. We also investigated whether L2 speakers revise an…

  5. Effects of Three Forms of Reading-Based Output Activity on L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rassaei, Ehsan

    2017-01-01

    The current study investigated the effects of three forms of output activity on EFL learners' recognition and recall of second language (L2) vocabulary. To this end, three groups of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) were instructed to employ the following three output activities after reading two narrative texts: (1) summarizing the…

  6. Word Class Distinctions in Second Language Acquisition: An Experimental Study of L2 Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zyzik, Eve; Azevedo, Clara

    2009-01-01

    Although the problem of word class has been explored in numerous first language studies, relatively little is known about this process in SLA. The present study measures second language (L2) learners' knowledge of word class distinctions (e.g., noun vs. adjective) in a variety of syntactic contexts. English-speaking learners of Spanish from…

  7. The longitudinal development of fine phonetic detail in late learners of Spanish

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Casillas, Joseph Vincent

    The present investigation analyzed early second language (L2) learning in adults. A common finding regarding L2 acquisition is that early learning appears to be necessary in order to perform on the same level as a native speaker. Surprisingly, many current theoretical models posit that the human ability to learn novel speech sounds remains active throughout the lifespan. In light of this fact, this project examines L2 acquisition in late learners with a special focus on L1/L2 use, input, and context of learning. Research regarding L1/L2 use has tended to be observational, and throughout the previous six decades of L2 research the role of input has been minimized and left largely unexplained. This study includes two production experiments and two perception experiments and focuses on the role of L1/L2 use and input in L2 acquisition in late learners in order to add to current research regarding their role in accurately and efficiently acquiring a novel speech sound. Moreover, this research is concerned with shedding light on when, if at all, during the acquisition process late learners begin to acquire a new, language-specific phonetic system, and the amount of exposure necessary in order to acquire L2 fine-phonetic detail. The experimental design presented in the present study also aims to shed light on the temporal relationship between production and perception with regard to category formation. To begin to fully understand these issues, the present study proposes a battery of tasks which were administered throughout the course of a domestic immersion program. Domestic immersion provides an understudied linguistic context in which L1 use is minimized, target language use is maximized, and L2 input is abundant. The results suggest that L2 phonetic category formation occurs at an early stage of development, and is perceptually driven. Moreover, early L2 representations are fragile, and especially susceptible to cross-language interference. Together, the studies

  8. Spanish stop-rhotic sequences in Spanish-Basque bilinguals and second language learners: An acoustic study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weissglass, Christine A.

    This dissertation investigates transfer and markedness in bilingual and L2 Spanish stop-rhotic sequences (e.g., the 'br' in brisa 'breeze'). It also examines the phonetics-phonology interface in Spanish. To this end, it explores the production of these sequences in two different experiments. Experiment 1 compares the production of these sequences by 6 Spanish monolinguals and 6 Spanish-Basque bilinguals. Experiment 2 does so for 25 L2 learners and 5 native Spanish speakers. Acoustic analysis of these sequences revealed that Spanish-Basque bilinguals produced trills 5% of the time whereas Spanish monolinguals did not have any trills. Additionally, fricative rhotics and coarticulation accounted for 35% of L2 realizations, but were not present in the native Spanish speaker dataset. These findings indicate a role for transfer in both bilingual and L2 phonological acquisition, although it is more prevalent in the L2 learner dataset. This is in line with the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995), which posits a stronger role for transfer amongst late learners (i.e., L2 learners) than early learners (i.e., Spanish-Basque bilinguals). In order to examine the role of markedness in bilingual and L2 phonological acquisition, this dissertation investigates the role of sonority in bilingual and L2 Spanish syllable structure. To do so, it proposes a sonority hierarchy for rhotic variants based on their specifications for voicing, intensity and continuancy. According to this hierarchy, approximant rhotics are the most sonorous, followed by taps, trills and fricative rhotics. Therefore, approximant rhotics were expected to be the most common realization followed by taps, trills and fricative rhotics. Although Spanish monolinguals adhered to this expectation, the other groups did not; taps were the most common realization for Spanish-Basque bilinguals, L2 learners, and native Spanish speakers and fricative rhotics were more common than trills for Spanish-Basque bilinguals and L2

  9. Investigating Criterial Discourse Features across Second Language Development: Lexical Bundles in Rated Learner Essays, CEFR B1, B2 and C1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Yu-Hua; Baker, Paul

    2016-01-01

    In this study, we investigated criterial discourse features in L2 writing through the use of recurrent word combinations, a.k.a. lexical bundles, taking a corpus-driven and expert-judged approach by examining L2 English data across various proficiency levels from L1 Chinese learners. Proficiency was determined by a robust rating procedure which is…

  10. The Use of a Monolingual Dictionary for Meaning Determination by Advanced Cantonese ESL Learners in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chan, Alice Y. W.

    2012-01-01

    This article reports on the results of a study which investigated advanced Cantonese English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' use of a monolingual dictionary for determining the meanings of familiar English words used in less familiar contexts. Thirty-two university English majors in Hong Kong participated in a dictionary consultation task,…

  11. Implicit Knowledge, Explicit Knowledge, and Achievement in Second Language (L2) Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gutierrez, Xavier

    2012-01-01

    Implicit and explicit knowledge of the second language (L2) are two central constructs in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in obtaining valid and reliable measures of L2 learners' implicit and explicit knowledge (e.g., Bowles, 2011; R. Ellis, 2005). The purpose of the present study…

  12. Domain-Wide or Variable-Dependent Vulnerability of the Semantics-Syntax Interface in L2 Acquisition? Evidence from "Wh"-Words Used as Existential Polarity Words in L2 Chinese Grammars

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yuan, Boping

    2010-01-01

    Most studies in the second language (L2) literature that deal with interface issues do so in holistic terms. On the one hand, researchers have suggested that interface relations between the syntax and other domains are particularly difficult for adult L2 learners. On the other, it has been argued that such relations can be established in a…

  13. Motion Verbs with Goal PPs in the L2 Acquisition of English and Japanese.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inagaki, Shunji

    2001-01-01

    Suggests that Japanese learners will learn manner-of-motion verbs with goal prepositional phrases in English from positive feedback. Immediate Japanese learners of English and advanced learners of Japanese were tested using a grammaticality judgment task with pictures. Results support the prediction. (Author/VWL)

  14. Iranian EFL and Indian ESL College Students' Beliefs about Reading Strategies in L2 (Creencias de estudiantes universitarios iraníes EFL e hindúes ESL acerca de las estrategias de lectura en L2)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karbalaei, Alireza

    2010-01-01

    The notion of "learner beliefs" has garnered much attention in the field of second language acquisition. Although different studies have been conducted to study learners' beliefs about language learning, little research has looked into the issue of L2 readers' beliefs and their relations to reading strategies. This study investigated…

  15. Ultimate Attainment of Anaphora Resolution in L2 Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Lucy Xia

    2014-01-01

    The current study tests the Interface Hypothesis through forward and backward anaphora in complex sentences with temporal subordinate clauses in highly proficient English-speaking learners' second-language (L2) Chinese. Forward anaphora is involved when the overt pronoun "ta" "he/she" or a null element appears in the subject…

  16. Memorization versus Semantic Mapping in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khoii, Roya; Sharififar, Samira

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of two cognitive strategies, rote memorization and semantic mapping, on L2 vocabulary acquisition. Thirty-eight intermediate female EFL learners divided into two experimental groups participated in this study. Each experimental group used one of the strategies for vocabulary acquisition. After the four-month…

  17. Language Awareness and Comprehension through Puns among ESL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lucas, Teresa

    2005-01-01

    The focus in studies of language awareness in L2 learning generally has been on the efficacy of teacher-generated attention to discrete elements of the forms of language through the manipulation of texts or corrective feedback. The study reported in this paper engaged learners in a collaborative task that involved learner-generated attention to…

  18. Second Language Learners' Divergence from Target Language Pragmatic Norms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gomez-Laich, Maria Pia

    2016-01-01

    Pragmatic competence is an indispensable aspect of language ability in order for second and foreign language (L2/FL) learners to understand and be understood in their interactions with both native and nonnative speakers of the target language. Without a proper understanding of the pragmatic rules in the target language, learners may run the risk…

  19. Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Ann F. V., Ed.; Strong, Gregory, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    "Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation" presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with adults. Adult language learners are goal oriented and direct their learning to fulfill particular needs or demands: to advance their studies, to progress up the career ladder, to follow business opportunities, to pass…

  20. The Use of Conjunctions in Cognitively Simple versus Complex Oral L2 Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michel, Marije C.

    2013-01-01

    The present study explores the use of conjunctions in simple versus complex argumentative tasks performed by second language (L2) learners as a specific measure for the amount of reasoning involved in task performance. The Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2005) states that an increase in cognitive task complexity promotes improvements in L2

  1. Grammatical Gender in L2: A Production or a Real-Time Processing Problem?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gruter, Theres; Lew-Williams, Casey; Fernald, Anne

    2012-01-01

    Mastery of grammatical gender is difficult to achieve in a second language (L2). This study investigates whether persistent difficulty with grammatical gender often observed in the speech of otherwise highly proficient L2 learners is best characterized as a production-specific performance problem, or as difficulty with the retrieval of gender…

  2. Investigating ESL Learners' Lexical Collocations: The Acquisition of Verb + Noun Collocations by Japanese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miyakoshi, Tomoko

    2009-01-01

    Although it is widely acknowledged that collocations play an important part in second language learning, especially at intermediate-advanced levels, learners' difficulties with collocations have not been investigated in much detail so far. The present study examines ESL learners' use of verb-noun collocations, such as "take notes," "place an…

  3. Effect of Alignment on L2 Written Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Chuming; Wang, Min

    2015-01-01

    This article aims to uncover how L2 writing is affected by alignment, a socio-cognitive process involving dynamic coordination and adaptation. For this, two studies were conducted. Study 1 required two groups of 24 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to continue in English two stories with their endings removed, both of which had a…

  4. Attention, Awareness, and Accents in L2 French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturm, Jessica L.

    2013-01-01

    The present research applies the concepts of attention, awareness, and noticing to a previously unresolved strand of inquiry: accent marks in L2 (second language) French. Previous research found that learners who typed accented words had better recall of the accent marks than those who wrote the same words by hand. Sturm suggested that it may have…

  5. Task Complexity, Learning Opportunities, and Korean EFL Learners' Question Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, YouJin

    2012-01-01

    Building on the cognitive and interactive perspectives of task research, the cognition hypothesis states that increasing task complexity promotes greater interaction and feedback and thus facilitates second language (L2) development (Robinson, 2001b, 2007a). To date, very little research has explored this claim during learner-learner interactions…

  6. Late-L2 Increased Reliance on L1 Neurocognitive Substrates: A Comment on Babcock, Stowe, Maloof, Brovetto & Ullman (2012)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paradis, Michel

    2013-01-01

    Babcok et al. (2012) claim that Paradis (1994, 2004, 2009) argues that the reliance of late L2 learners on L1 neurocognitive mechanisms increases over time across both lexical and grammatical functions, namely for lexical items as well as rule-governed grammatical procedures, when in fact one can find repeated statements to the contrary in the…

  7. The Acquisition of Consonant Clusters by Japanese Learners of English: Interactions of Speech Perception and Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sperbeck, Mieko

    2010-01-01

    The primary aim of this dissertation was to investigate the relationship between speech perception and speech production difficulties among Japanese second language (L2) learners of English, in their learning complex syllable structures. Japanese L2 learners and American English controls were tested in a categorical ABX discrimination task of…

  8. Developing L2 Interactional Competence: Increasing Participation through Self-Selection in Post-Expansion Sequences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watanabe, Aya

    2017-01-01

    Using longitudinal conversation analysis as a methodological framework, this study documents the development of second language (L2) interactional competence by focusing on a recurrent interactional practice observed in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Through observing a novice L2 learner's developing methods of participation in…

  9. Which Dictionary? A Review of the Leading Learners' Dictionaries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nesi, Hilary

    Three major dictionaries designed for learners of English as a second language are reviewed, their elements and approaches compared and evaluated, their usefulness for different learners discussed, and recommendations for future dictionary improvement made. The dictionaries in question are the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary," the…

  10. The Influence of Explicit Cross-Linguistic Consciousness-Raising on the EL Writing of the Iranian English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hosseininik, Seyyed Yavar; Sangani, Hamid Rahmani

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of cross-linguistic consciousness-raising through comparing and contrasting learners' L1 (Persian) and L2 (English) on their L2 written performance. To do this, sixty intermediate language learners, both male and female, learning English at two private institutes in Yasuj, Iran, were chosen as the participants…

  11. The Use and Role of Pop Culture in Heritage Language Learning: A Study of Advanced Learners of Korean

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Jayoung; Yi, Youngjoo

    2012-01-01

    Despite the important use of pop culture in many instructional settings, its use in the heritage language (HL) classroom remains largely unexplored. Thus, this article reports findings from classroom-based qualitative research that examined the use and role of pop culture in advanced Korean HL learners' literacy engagement and identity…

  12. Vocabulary Knowledge Is a Critical Determinant of the Difference in Reading Comprehension Growth between First and Second Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lervag, Arne; Aukrust, Vibeke Grover

    2010-01-01

    Background: This study examines the role of decoding and vocabulary skills as longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in young first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. Methods: Two-group latent growth models were used to assess differences in growth and predictions of growth between the 198 L1 and 90 L2 language learners. Results: L1…

  13. English Learner (EL) Students Who Are Black. Fast Facts [2 of 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education, 2015

    2015-01-01

    The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. This fact sheet uses data from the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), and applies the following definitions: An "English learner" student: (1) is ages 5 to 18; (2)…

  14. Keep It R.E.A.L.!: Relevant, Engaging, and Affirming Literacy for Adolescent English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stewart, Mary Amanda

    2017-01-01

    This book introduces a set of pedagogical practices designed to assist adolescent English learners in developing their English skills in a way that honors and leverages their native languages and cultures. Responding to the linguistic and educational diversity of adolescents, the R.E.A.L. (Relevant, Engaging, and Affirming Literacy) method offers…

  15. Learners' Dictionaries: State of the Art. Anthology Series 23.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tickoo, Makhan L., Ed.

    A collection of articles on dictionaries for advanced second language learners includes essays on the past, present, and future of learners' dictionaries; alternative dictionaries; dictionary construction; and dictionaries and their users. Titles include: "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; or Vaticinations on the Learners' Dictionary"…

  16. Testing Processability Theory in L2 Spanish: Can Readiness or Markedness Predict Development?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonilla, Carrie L.

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this dissertation is to test the five stages of Processability Theory (PT) for second language (L2) learners of Spanish and investigate how instruction can facilitate the development through the stages. PT details five fixed stages in the acquisition of L2 morphosyntax based on principles of speech processing (Levelt, 1989) and modeled…

  17. What and When Second-Language Learners Revise When Responding to Timed Writing Tasks on the Computer: The Roles of Task Type, Second Language Proficiency, and Keyboarding Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barkaoui, Khaled

    2016-01-01

    This study contributes to the literature on second language (L2) learners' revision behavior by describing what, when, and how often L2 learners revise their texts when responding to timed writing tasks on the computer and by examining the effects of task type, L2 proficiency, and keyboarding skills on what and when L2 learners revise. Each of 54…

  18. L1 Differences and L2 Similarities: Teaching Verb Tenses in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Collins, Laura

    2007-01-01

    In making decisions regarding the focus for grammar teaching, ESL instructors may take into consideration errors that appear to result from the influence of their students' first language(s) (L1). There is also evidence from language acquisition research suggesting that for some grammatical features, learners of different L1 backgrounds may face…

  19. Language Learner Motivational Types: A Cluster Analysis Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Papi, Mostafa; Teimouri, Yasser

    2014-01-01

    The study aimed to identify different second language (L2) learner motivational types drawing on the framework of the L2 motivational self system. A total of 1,278 secondary school students learning English in Iran completed a questionnaire survey. Cluster analysis yielded five different groups based on the strength of different variables within…

  20. The Role of Multiword Building Blocks in Explaining L1-L2 Differences.

    PubMed

    Arnon, Inbal; Christiansen, Morten H

    2017-07-01

    Why are children better language learners than adults despite being worse at a range of other cognitive tasks? Here, we explore the role of multiword sequences in explaining L1-L2 differences in learning. In particular, we propose that children and adults differ in their reliance on such multiword units (MWUs) in learning, and that this difference affects learning strategies and outcomes, and leads to difficulty in learning certain grammatical relations. In the first part, we review recent findings that suggest that MWUs play a facilitative role in learning. We then discuss the implications of these findings for L1-L2 differences: We hypothesize that adults are both less likely to extract MWUs and less capable of benefiting from them in the process of learning. In the next section, we draw on psycholinguistic, developmental, and computational findings to support these predictions. We end with a discussion of the relation between this proposal and other accounts of L1-L2 difficulty. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  1. The Effectiveness of L2 Pronunciation Instruction: A Narrative Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomson, Ron I.; Derwing, Tracey M.

    2015-01-01

    Research on the efficacy of second language (L2) pronunciation instruction has produced mixed results, despite reports of significant improvement in many studies. Possible explanations for divergent outcomes include learner individual differences, goals and foci of instruction, type and duration of instructional input, and assessment procedures.…

  2. Age Effects in L2 Grammar Processing as Revealed by ERPs and How (Not) to Study Them

    PubMed Central

    Meulman, Nienke; Wieling, Martijn; Sprenger, Simone A.; Schmid, Monika S.

    2015-01-01

    In this study we investigate the effect of age of acquisition (AoA) on grammatical processing in second language learners as measured by event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We compare a traditional analysis involving the calculation of averages across a certain time window of the ERP waveform, analyzed with categorical groups (early vs. late), with a generalized additive modeling analysis, which allows us to take into account the full range of variability in both AoA and time. Sixty-six Slavic advanced learners of German listened to German sentences with correct and incorrect use of non-finite verbs and grammatical gender agreement. We show that the ERP signal depends on the AoA of the learner, as well as on the regularity of the structure under investigation. For gender agreement, a gradual change in processing strategies can be shown that varies by AoA, with younger learners showing a P600 and older learners showing a posterior negativity. For verb agreement, all learners show a P600 effect, irrespective of AoA. Based on their behavioral responses in an offline grammaticality judgment task, we argue that the late learners resort to computationally less efficient processing strategies when confronted with (lexically determined) syntactic constructions different from the L1. In addition, this study highlights the insights the explicit focus on the time course of the ERP signal in our analysis framework can offer compared to the traditional analysis. PMID:26683335

  3. Air Writing as a Technique for the Acquisition of Sino-japanese Characters by Second Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Margaret

    2015-01-01

    This article calls attention to a facet of the expertise of second language (L2) learners of Japanese at the intersection of language, memory, gesture, and the psycholinguistics of a logographic writing system. Previous research has shown that adult L2 learners of Japanese living in Japan (similarly to native speakers of Japanese) often…

  4. Faithful Imitator, Legitimate Speaker, Playful Creator and Dialogical Communicator: Shift in English Learners' Identity Prototypes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gao, Yihong

    2014-01-01

    This paper attempts to conceptualize identity prototypes regarding model L2 learners/users of English over the past 50 years, as embedded in research discourses. For a long time, the ideal learner was a "faithful imitator" whose L2 use and cultural conduct were strictly modeled on the native speaker (NS). With postcolonial changes around…

  5. A Usage-Based Investigation of L2 Lexical Acquisition: The Role of Input and Output

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crossley, Scott; Kyle, Kristopher; Salsbury, Thomas

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates relations between second language (L2) lexical input and output in terms of word information properties (i.e., lexical salience; Ellis, 2006a). The data for this study come from a longitudinal corpus of naturalistic spoken data between L2 learners and first language (L1) interlocutors collected over a year's time. The…

  6. Modality-specific processing precedes amodal linguistic processing during L2 sign language acquisition: A longitudinal study.

    PubMed

    Williams, Joshua T; Darcy, Isabelle; Newman, Sharlene D

    2016-02-01

    The present study tracked activation pattern differences in response to sign language processing by late hearing second language learners of American Sign Language. Learners were scanned before the start of their language courses. They were scanned again after their first semester of instruction and their second, for a total of 10 months of instruction. The study aimed to characterize modality-specific to modality-general processing throughout the acquisition of sign language. Results indicated that before the acquisition of sign language, neural substrates related to modality-specific processing were present. After approximately 45 h of instruction, the learners transitioned into processing signs on a phonological basis (e.g., supramarginal gyrus, putamen). After one more semester of input, learners transitioned once more to a lexico-semantic processing stage (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus) at which language control mechanisms (e.g., left caudate, cingulate gyrus) were activated. During these transitional steps right hemispheric recruitment was observed, with increasing left-lateralization, which is similar to other native signers and L2 learners of spoken language; however, specialization for sign language processing with activation in the inferior parietal lobule (i.e., angular gyrus), even for late learners, was observed. As such, the present study is the first to track L2 acquisition of sign language learners in order to characterize modality-independent and modality-specific mechanisms for bilingual language processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Effects of Synonym Generation on Incidental and Intentional L2 Vocabulary Learning during Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barcroft, Joe

    2009-01-01

    This study examined effects of synonym generation on second language (L2) vocabulary learning during reading in both incidental and intentional vocabulary learning contexts. Spanish-speaking adult learners of L2 English (N = 114) at low- and high-intermediate proficiency levels read an English passage containing 10 target words translated in the…

  8. Task-Induced Strategic Processing in L2 Text Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horiba, Yukie

    2013-01-01

    Strategic text processing was investigated for English as a foreign language learners who processed and recalled a text when they read for expression, for image, and for critique. The results indicated that, although the amount of content recall (i.e., products of comprehension) was similar, the relative contributions of second language (L2)…

  9. Teaching L2 Pragmatics: Opportunities for Continuing Professional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vellenga, Heidi

    2011-01-01

    Teaching L2 pragmatics is often not covered in teacher education programs, and is an excellent area for continuing professional development. As part of a larger project on instructed interlanguage pragmatics, volunteer instructor participants were asked to teach a series of lessons on pragmatics to university-aged (19-23) ESL learners in ESL and…

  10. Studying the Motivations of Chinese Young EFL Learners through Metaphor Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jin, Lixian; Liang, Xiaohua; Jiang, Changsheng; Zhang, Jie; Yuan, Yuan; Xie, Qun

    2014-01-01

    Few studies investigate ELT with young learners in China, although conservative estimates suggest 60-million primary school children are studying English; even fewer studies investigate Chinese young learners' L2 motivation. This article reports on a study of English learning motivation among Chinese primary school pupils through analysing…

  11. The Effects of Corrective Feedback on Chinese Learners' Writing Accuracy: A Quantitative Analysis in an EFL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Xin

    2017-01-01

    Scholars debate whether corrective feedback contributes to improving L2 learners' grammatical accuracy in writing performance. Some researchers take a stance on the ineffectiveness of corrective feedback based on the impracticality of providing detailed corrective feedback for all L2 learners and detached grammar instruction in language…

  12. Effects of Word and Fragment Writing during L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barcroft, Joe

    2007-01-01

    This study examined how writing (copying) target words and word fragments affects intentional second language (L2) vocabulary learning. English-speaking first-semester learners of Spanish attempted to learn 24 Spanish nouns via word-picture repetition in three conditions: (1) word writing, (2) fragment writing, and (3) no writing. After the…

  13. Unconscious Motivation. Part II: Implicit Attitudes and L2 Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Hoorie, Ali H.

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates the attitudinal/motivational predictors of second language (L2) academic achievement. Young adult learners of English as a foreign language (N = 311) completed several self-report measures and the Single-Target Implicit Association Test. Examination of the motivational profiles of high and low achievers revealed that…

  14. Russian Speakers' L2 Chinese Acquisition of "Wh"-Topicalization at the Syntax-Discourse Interface

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dugarova, Esuna

    2014-01-01

    In recent second language (L2) research it has been proposed that unlike linguistic phenomena pertaining to internal interfaces, those at external interfaces pose greater difficulty to adult L2 learners and may not be fully acquired. It has further been pointed out that such problematic acquisition at the interface level should not be attributed…

  15. Thinking with Your Hands: Speech-Gesture Activity during an L2 Awareness-Raising Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Compernolle, Remi A.; Williams, Lawrence

    2011-01-01

    This article reports on a study of second language (L2) French learners' self-generated use of gesture to think through and resolve a metalinguistic awareness-raising task during small-group work with an expert mediator. Although the use of gesture in L2 communication and pedagogy has recently received increasing attention, little research has…

  16. Automated Measurement of Syntactic Complexity in Corpus-Based L2 Writing Research and Implications for Writing Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Xiaofei

    2017-01-01

    Research investigating corpora of English learners' language raises new questions about how syntactic complexity is defined theoretically and operationally for second language (L2) writing assessment. I show that syntactic complexity is important in construct definitions and L2 writing rating scales as well as in L2 writing research. I describe…

  17. From Seeing Adverbs to Seeing Verbal Morphology: Language Experience and Adult Acquisition of L2 Tense

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sagarra, Nuria; Ellis, Nick C.

    2013-01-01

    Adult learners have persistent difficulty processing second language (L2) inflectional morphology. We investigate associative learning explanations that involve the blocking of later experienced cues by earlier learned ones in the first language (L1; i.e., transfer) and the L2 (i.e., proficiency). Sagarra (2008) and Ellis and Sagarra (2010b) found…

  18. Examining the Concept of Subordination in Spoken L1 and L2 English: The Case of "If"-Clauses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Basterrechea, María; Weinert, Regina

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the applications of research on native spoken language into second language learning in the concept of subordination. Second language (L2) learners' ability to integrate subordinate clauses is considered an indication of higher proficiency (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005; Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009). However, the notion…

  19. Seeing the Unheard: Heritage Learners of Spanish and Photo-Diary Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Adam; Terry, Helen

    2017-01-01

    In response to calls to increase Spanish language learners' awareness of the relationship among power, language, and status in their communities and inspired by participatory research techniques, this article reports on the implementation of a photo-diary project with heritage and L2 learners in a basic-level Spanish language course. Students took…

  20. English Learner (EL) Students Who Are Hispanic/Latino. Fast Facts [2 of 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education, 2015

    2015-01-01

    he Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page PDF sheets, by topic, with graphics, plus key contacts. The topics for part two of this two part report on English Learner (EL) students who are Hispanic/Latino include: (1) Poverty Level of Hispanic/Latino Students: 2013; (2)…

  1. Learner Autonomy: New Insights. = Autonomie de l'apprenant: nouvelles pistes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dam, Leni, Ed.

    2001-01-01

    This book presents papers, written in both English and French, from a symposium entitled "Promoting Learner Autonomy: New Insights." After "Introduction" (Leni Dam), the eight papers include the following: "Examining the Discourse of Learner Advisory Sessions" (David Crabbe, Alison Hoffman, and Sara Cotteral);…

  2. The Effects of Repetition and L1 Lexicalization on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition by Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heidari-Shahreza, Mohammad Ali; Tavakoli, Mansoor

    2016-01-01

    Based on a prior study by Chen and Truscott, the present study investigated the possible effects of repetition (repeated exposure) and L1 lexicalization on the incidental acquisition and retention of 10 English target words by 90 Persian-speaking EFL learners at an Iranian university. Seven aspects of vocabulary knowledge were measured, including…

  3. L2 Grammatical Gender in a Complex Morphological System: The Case of German

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spinner, Patti; Juffs, Alan

    2008-01-01

    In order to determine the nature of naturalistic learners' difficulty with grammatical gender in a complex morphological system, the longitudinal production data of an early naturalistic L1-Italian and L1-Turkish learner who are acquiring German are examined in light of current theories of gender within Chomsky's (1995) Minimalist Program. After…

  4. Effects of Multimedia Annotations on Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Reading Comprehension of Advanced Learners of English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbulut, Yavuz

    2007-01-01

    The study investigates immediate and delayed effects of different hypermedia glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced foreign language learners. Sixty-nine freshman TEFL students studying at a Turkish university were randomly assigned to three types of annotations: (a) definitions of words, (b) definitions…

  5. Exploring the Potential Relationship between Eye Gaze and English L2 Speakers' Responses to Recasts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonough, Kim; Crowther, Dustin; Kielstra, Paula; Trofimovich, Pavel

    2015-01-01

    This exploratory study investigated whether joint attention through eye gaze was predictive of second language (L2) speakers' responses to recasts. L2 English learners (N = 20) carried out communicative tasks with research assistants who provided feedback in response to non-targetlike (non-TL) forms. Their interaction was audio-recorded and their…

  6. The Development of Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in the Written Production of L2 French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunnarsson, Cecilia

    2012-01-01

    The present longitudinal case study investigated the development of fluency, complexity and accuracy--and the possible relationships between them--in the written production of L2 French. We assessed fluency and complexity in five intermediate learners by means of conventional indicators for written L2 (cf. Wolfe-Quintero et al. 1998), while…

  7. The Effect of Conversation Engagement on L2 Learning Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Wenxue

    2017-01-01

    This article reviews patterns of interaction (i.e. learner role relationships) in peer communicative tasks, and uses data collected from different tasks to explain what happens in peer interaction and its impact on the learning opportunities interlocutors create for each other. It proposes that, with L2 peer interaction gaining popularity in…

  8. L2 Gender Facilitation and Inhibition in Spoken Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Behney, Jennifer N.

    2011-01-01

    This dissertation investigates the role of grammatical gender facilitation and inhibition in second language (L2) learners' spoken word recognition. Native speakers of languages that have grammatical gender are sensitive to gender marking when hearing and recognizing a word. Gender facilitation refers to when a given noun that is preceded by an…

  9. The Role of Paired Listening in L2 Listening Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fernandez-Toro, Maria

    2005-01-01

    Paired listening was originally developed as a research tool with the aim to understand the strategies used by L2 learners when listening to recorded speech in the target language. It offers researchers a useful combination of direct observation and verbal data, whilst avoiding the common drawbacks of subjective introspection. This paper examines…

  10. The Effect of Pre-Task Planning Time on L2 Learners' Narrative Writing Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seyyedi, Keivan; Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed; Orang, Maryam; Nejad, Maryam Sharafi

    2013-01-01

    Building on Baddeley's cognitive psychology (2007) and Skehan's Limited Attentional Capacity Model (2009), this article reports a study of the effects of pre-task planning time (strategic planning time) on Malaysian English learners' written narratives elicited by means of a picture composition. 50 first-year undergraduate students studying at…

  11. The Discursive Construction of College English Learners' Identity in Cross-Cultural Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gu, Michelle Mingyue

    2010-01-01

    There are abundant studies on second/foreign language learners' identities. However, there appears to be insufficient longitudinal research on the construction of learners' L2 identities in systematic interactions between fixed dyads in an out-of-class context. Adopting a critical discourse analysis framework (Fairclough, 2003) and suitably…

  12. Errors in Inflectional Morphemes as an Index of Linguistic Competence of Korean Heritage Language Learners and American Learners of Korean

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, So-Young

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the linguistic competence in Korean of Korean heritage language learners (HLLs), compared to English-speaking non-heritage language learners (NHLLs) of Korean. It is unclear and controversial as to whether heritage languages learners are exposed to early but are interrupted manifest as L1 competence or share more…

  13. Twelve Activities for Teaching the Pragmatics of Complaining to L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hilliard, Amanda

    2017-01-01

    Pragmatic competence, or the ability to use language appropriately in a variety of contexts, is a critical skill for communication in a second language (L2). Thus, teaching that focuses on developing students' abilities to communicate effectively in an L2 must also include a focus on developing students' pragmatic competence. This article…

  14. Effects of Dicto-Comp and Dictation on the Writing Skill of Female Adult Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adel, Rahil; Hashemian, Mahmood

    2015-01-01

    This study was an attempt to clarify and remind L2 learners/teachers of 2 kinds of writing: dicto-comp and dictation. We explored the effect of controlled writing on the accuracy of the writing of adult Iranian EFL learners. Prior to the study, the homogeneity of 30 adult EFL learners was checked through an OPT test. Thirty participants were…

  15. Cultural Conceptualisations in Learning English as an L2: Examples from Persian-Speaking Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharifian, Farzad

    2013-01-01

    Traditionally, many studies of second language acquisition (SLA) were based on the assumption that learning a new language mainly involves learning a set of grammatical rules, lexical items, and certain new sounds and sound combinations. However, for many second language learners, learning a second language may involve contact and interactions…

  16. Shaping Learner Contributions in an EFL Classroom: Implications for L2 Classroom Interactional Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Can Daskin, Nilüfer

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the interactional patterns for shaping learner contributions in an EFL classroom with reference to Walsh's classroom interactional competence (CIC). In doing so, an EFL class at an English preparatory school in a Turkish state university was both videotaped and audiotaped in the course of six classroom hours. Conversation…

  17. The Impact of the Webcam on an Online L2 Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guichon, Nicolas; Cohen, Cathy

    2014-01-01

    It is intuitively felt that visual cues should enhance online communication, and this experimental study aims to test this prediction by exploring the value provided by a webcam in an online L2 pedagogical teacher-to-learner interaction. A total of 40 French undergraduate students with a B2 level in English were asked to describe in English four…

  18. Roles of Position, Stress, and Proficiency in L2 Children's Spelling: A Developmental Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hong, Su Chin; Chen, Shu Hui

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the roles of phoneme position, stress, and proficiency in L2 spelling development by Taiwanese students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL), an alphabetic writing system typologically different from the learners' L1 logographic system. Structured nonword spelling tests were administered to EFL sixth-graders with…

  19. Automated Scoring of L2 Spoken English with Random Forests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kobayashi, Yuichiro; Abe, Mariko

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the present study is to assess second language (L2) spoken English using automated scoring techniques. Automated scoring aims to classify a large set of learners' oral performance data into a small number of discrete oral proficiency levels. In automated scoring, objectively measurable features such as the frequencies of lexical and…

  20. Lexical Difficulty--Using Elicited Imitation to Study Child L2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campfield, Dorota E.

    2017-01-01

    This paper reports a post-hoc analysis of the influence of lexical difficulty of cue sentences on performance in an elicited imitation (EI) task to assess oral production skills for 645 child L2 English learners in instructional settings. This formed part of a large-scale investigation into effectiveness of foreign language teaching in Polish…

  1. How Well Can We Predict Second Language Learners' Pronunciation Difficulties?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Munro, Murray J.

    2018-01-01

    Mid-20th-century scholars argued that second language (L2) instruction should be rooted in a comparison of the structural characteristics of the first language (L1) and L2. Their enthusiasm for a "scientific" approach to errors reflected the view, based on the contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH), that learners' difficulties could be…

  2. Developing Oral Proficiency with VoiceThread: Learners' Strategic Uses and Views

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dugartsyrenova, Vera A.; Sardegna, Veronica G.

    2017-01-01

    This study explored Russian as a foreign language (RFL) learners' self-reported strategic uses of "VoiceThread" (VT)--a multimodal asynchronous computer-mediated communication tool--in order to gain insights into learner perceived effectiveness of VT for second language (L2) oral skills development and to determine the factors that…

  3. Gender agreement violations modulate beta oscillatory dynamics during sentence comprehension: A comparison of second language learners and native speakers.

    PubMed

    Lewis, Ashley Glen; Lemhӧfer, Kristin; Schoffelen, Jan-Mathijs; Schriefers, Herbert

    2016-08-01

    For native speakers, many studies suggest a link between oscillatory neural activity in the beta frequency range and syntactic processing. For late second language (L2) learners on the other hand, the extent to which the neural architecture supporting syntactic processing is similar to or different from that of native speakers is still unclear. In a series of four experiments, we used electroencephalography to investigate the link between beta oscillatory activity and the processing of grammatical gender agreement in Dutch determiner-noun pairs, for Dutch native speakers, and for German L2 learners of Dutch. In Experiment 1 we show that for native speakers, grammatical gender agreement violations are yet another among many syntactic factors that modulate beta oscillatory activity during sentence comprehension. Beta power is higher for grammatically acceptable target words than for those that mismatch in grammatical gender with their preceding determiner. In Experiment 2 we observed no such beta modulations for L2 learners, irrespective of whether trials were sorted according to objective or subjective syntactic correctness. Experiment 3 ruled out that the absence of a beta effect for the L2 learners in Experiment 2 was due to repetition of the target nouns in objectively correct and incorrect determiner-noun pairs. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that when L2 learners are required to explicitly focus on grammatical information, they show modulations of beta oscillatory activity, comparable to those of native speakers, but only when trials are sorted according to participants' idiosyncratic lexical representations of the grammatical gender of target nouns. Together, these findings suggest that beta power in L2 learners is sensitive to violations of grammatical gender agreement, but only when the importance of grammatical information is highlighted, and only when participants' subjective lexical representations are taken into account. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All

  4. Lurking and L2 Learners on a Facebook Group: The Voices of the Invisibles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shafie, Latisha Asmaak; Yaacob, Aizan; Singh, Paramjit Kaur Karpal

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative research investigates the practice of lurking among English as a second language (ESL) learners in a Facebook group discussion. Lurking is a term used to describe the activity of following and observing any online discussions or activities without contributing to the discussions. Lurkers are often accused of being invisible and…

  5. Profiling Mobile English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Byrne, Jason; Diem, Robert

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to use an app-embedded survey to profile language learner demographics. A total of 3,759 EFL language learners from primarily eight L1 backgrounds (French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Thai) responded to the survey embedded within a popular English grammar app. This app has over 500,000…

  6. Factors Influencing the Use of Captions by Foreign Language Learners: An Eye-Tracking Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winke, Paula; Gass, Susan; Sydorenko, Tetyana

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates caption-reading behavior by foreign language (L2) learners and, through eye-tracking methodology, explores the extent to which the relationship between the native and target language affects that behavior. Second-year (4th semester) English-speaking learners of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish watched 2 videos…

  7. Loanwords and Vocabulary Size Test Scores: A Case of Different Estimates for Different L1 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laufer, Batia; McLean, Stuart

    2016-01-01

    The article investigated how the inclusion of loanwords in vocabulary size tests affected the test scores of two L1 groups of EFL learners: Hebrew and Japanese. New BNC- and COCA-based vocabulary size tests were constructed in three modalities: word form recall, word form recognition, and word meaning recall. Depending on the test modality, the…

  8. The Effects of Textual Enhancement Type on L2 Form Recognition and Reading Comprehension in Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LaBrozzi, Ryan M.

    2016-01-01

    Previous research investigating the effectiveness of textual enhancement as a tool to draw adult second language (L2) learners' attention to the targeted linguistic form has consistently produced mixed results. This article examines how L2 form recognition and reading comprehension are affected by different types of textual enhancement.…

  9. Effects of Varying Text Difficulty Levels on Second Language (L2) Reading Attitudes and Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiang, Min-Hsun

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of varying text difficulty on L2 reading attitudes and reading comprehension. To provide the optimal challenge for L2 reading, comprehensible input hypothesis postulates that choosing text slightly harder than the learner's current level will enhance reading comprehension. Fifty-four freshmen from one university…

  10. Unpacking the Discrepancy between Learner and Teacher Beliefs: What Should Be the Role of Grammar in Language Classes?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hos, Rabia; Kekec, Mustafa

    2015-01-01

    Learner and teacher beliefs play an important role in second language (L2) learning. Furthermore, the role of grammar instruction and error correction in the L2 classroom is a topic that is still debated in the literature. This study explored the beliefs of EFL learners and teachers regarding the controversial role of grammar instruction and error…

  11. Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class, Grades K-2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bresser, Rusty; Melanese, Kathy; Sphar, Christine

    2009-01-01

    More than 10 percent of the students in our nation's public schools are English language learners, and this number grows each year. Many of these students are falling behind in math. "Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class, Grades K-2" outlines the challenges ELL students face when learning math and provides a wealth of specific…

  12. Engaging L2 Undergraduates in Relevant Project Work and Interaction: A Role for Video Conferencing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colwell O'Callaghan, Veronica

    2013-01-01

    This article reports on two small-scale international projects, both outcomes of a teaching staff exchange, which seek to exploit the potential afforded by new technologies to enrich L2 learning conditions and learners' experience of using the L2 (in this case English) as a lingua franca. Two undergraduate courses, one for professional and one for…

  13. Learner-Generated Content and Engagement in Second Language Task Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lambert, Craig; Philp, Jenefer; Nakamura, Sachiko

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the benefits of designing second language (L2) learning tasks to operate on learner-generated content (related to actual content in their lives and experiences) as opposed to teacher-generated content typical of current approaches to L2 task design (fictitious ideas and events created to provide an opportunity for…

  14. Morphological Variability in Second Language Learners: An Examination of Electrophysiological and Production Data

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alemán Bañón, José; Miller, David; Rothman, Jason

    2017-01-01

    We examined sources of morphological variability in second language (L2) learners of Spanish whose native language (L1) is English, with a focus on L1-L2 similarity, morphological markedness, and knowledge type (receptive vs. expressive). Experiment 1 uses event-related potentials to examine noun-adjective number (present in L1) and gender…

  15. The Acquisition of the BA Construction by English-Speaking Learners of Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xu, Hongying

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the acquisition of the BA construction by English-speaking learners of Chinese. The BA construction is a unique yet important grammar phenomenon in Chinese. Whether second language (L2) learners of Chinese are able to understand and use this construction correctly and appropriately may affect the overall success of their…

  16. Effects of Expanded Vocabulary Support on L2 Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pan, Yi-Chun; Tsai, Tzung-Hung; Huang, Yueh-Kuey; Liu, Dilin

    2018-01-01

    Various forms of pre-listening support, such as the provision of vocabulary and topic information, have been used to help second language (L2) learners better understand what they listen to. Results of studies on the effects of vocabulary support have been mixed. Furthermore, there has been little research on the effects of different quantities of…

  17. Instructors' Attitudes towards CALL and MALL in L2 Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pagel, James W.; Lambacher, Stephen; Reedy, David W.

    2015-01-01

    As part of an ongoing study on learners' and instructors' attitudes toward the use of computers and mobile devices in second-language (L2) learning situations, our purpose here is to identify how language instructors value the use of computers and mobile devices in their teaching. We compare the responses of a survey administered during the past…

  18. An Advance toward Instructional Management: Prescriptive Knowledge Base of Learner Control.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Jaesam

    This paper discusses learner control as one of the main issues in instructional management and the importance of effectiveness and efficiency in the context of instructional/learning systems, and develops instructional prescriptions for learner control in a smorgasbord fashion. Strategies from both empirical and theoretical studies related to…

  19. Development of L2 Interactional Resources for Online Collaborative Task Accomplishment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balaman, Ufuk; Sert, Olcay

    2017-01-01

    Technology-mediated task environments have long been considered integral parts of L2 learning and teaching processes. However, the interactional resources that the learners deploy to complete tasks in these environments have remained largely unexplored due to an overall focus on task design and outcomes rather than task engagement processes. With…

  20. Cognitive and Linguistic Predictors of Basic Arithmetic Skills: Evidence from First-Language and Second-Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kleemans, Tijs; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-01-01

    The present study investigated the role of both cognitive and linguistic predictors in basic arithmetic skills (i.e., addition and subtraction) in 69 first-language (L1) learners and 60 second-language (L2) learners from the second grade of primary schools in the Netherlands. All children were tested on non-verbal intelligence, working memory,…

  1. Intercultural Competence and Language Variety on Study Abroad Programs: L2 Learners of Arabic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palmer, Jeremy

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents results from a project investigating over ninety learners of Arabic who studied abroad in the Arab world within the last few years. It explores their linguistic and cultural experiences during their time abroad. One of the most important issues in this paper is that of the development of intercultural competence on study abroad…

  2. L2 Skills and the Use of Compensation Strategies: The Case of Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lopez Medina, Beatriz

    2010-01-01

    The following article is based on the analysis of the compensation strategies used by two groups of intermediate students of English language at the Official School of Languages of Moratalaz (Madrid) in the academic year 2009/2010. Our analysis tries to describe to what extent adult learners make use of suitable learning strategies in the four…

  3. Effects of Multimedia Instruction on L2 Acquisition of High-Level, Low-Frequency English Vocabulary Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cho, Euna

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined the effects of multimedia enhancement in video form in addition to textual information on L2 vocabulary instruction for high-level, low-frequency English words among Korean learners of English. Although input-based incidental learning of L2 vocabulary through extensive reading has been conventionally believed to be…

  4. Attitudes toward Task-Based Language Learning: A Study of College Korean Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pyun, Danielle Ooyoung

    2013-01-01

    This study explores second/foreign language (L2) learners' attitudes toward task-based language learning (TBLL) and how these attitudes relate to selected learner variables, namely anxiety, integrated motivation, instrumental motivation, and self-efficacy. Ninety-one college students of Korean as a foreign language, who received task-based…

  5. EFL Learners' Grammatical Awareness through Accumulating Formulaic Sequences of Morphological Structure (-ing)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kashiwagi, Kazuko; Ito, Yukiko

    2017-01-01

    Even young EFL learners who have not yet learned L2 grammar will notice language patterns if, when retrieving exemplars ("item-based patterns"), they succeed in making form-meaning connections (FMCs). Item-based patterns, termed formulaic sequences (FS), serve as a basis for creative constructions. Although learners are implicitly…

  6. Cross-Linguistic Influence: Its Impact on L2 English Collocation Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phoocharoensil, Supakorn

    2013-01-01

    This research study investigated the influence of learners' mother tongue on their acquisition of English collocations. Having drawn the linguistic data from two groups of Thai EFL learners differing in English proficiency level, the researcher found that the native language (L1) plays a significant role in the participants' collocation learning…

  7. Examining Focused L2 Practice: From in Vitro to in Vivo

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cornillie, Frederik; Van Den Noortgate, Wim; Van den Branden, Kris; Desmet, Piet

    2017-01-01

    Behaviour-tracking technology has been used for decades in SLA research on focused practice with an eye toward elucidating the nature of L2 automatization (e.g. DeKeyser, 1997; Robinson, 1997). This involves longitudinally capturing learners' judgments or linguistic production along with their response times in order to investigate how specific…

  8. Effects of Textual Enhancement and Input Enrichment on L2 Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rassaei, Ehsan

    2015-01-01

    Research on second language (L2) acquisition has recently sought to include formal instruction into second and foreign language classrooms in a more unobtrusive and implicit manner. Textual enhancement and input enrichment are two techniques which are aimed at drawing learners' attention to specific linguistic features in input and at the same…

  9. Fluency-dependent cortical activation associated with speech production and comprehension in second language learners.

    PubMed

    Shimada, K; Hirotani, M; Yokokawa, H; Yoshida, H; Makita, K; Yamazaki-Murase, M; Tanabe, H C; Sadato, N

    2015-08-06

    This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the brain regions underlying language task performance in adult second language (L2) learners. Specifically, we identified brain regions where the level of activation was associated with L2 fluency levels. Thirty Japanese-speaking adults participated in the study. All participants were L2 learners of English and had achieved varying levels of fluency, as determined by a standardized L2 English proficiency test, the Versant English Test (Pearson Education Inc., 2011). When participants performed the oral sentence building task from the production tasks administered, the dorsal part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (dIFG) showed activation patterns that differed depending on the L2 fluency levels: The more fluent the participants were, the more dIFG activation decreased. This decreased activation of the dIFG might reflect the increased automaticity of a syntactic building process. In contrast, when participants performed an oral story comprehension task, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) showed increased activation with higher fluency levels. This suggests that the learners with higher L2 fluency were actively engaged in post-syntactic integration processing supported by the left pSTG. These data imply that L2 fluency predicts neural resource allocation during language comprehension tasks as well as in production tasks. This study sheds light on the neural underpinnings of L2 learning by identifying the brain regions recruited during different language tasks across different modalities (production vs. comprehension). Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  10. Advancing the Speaking and Listening Skills of K-2 English Language Learners through Creative Drama

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brouillette, Liane

    2012-01-01

    In recent decades the United States has experienced a dramatic increase in children entering school whose home language is not English. If they are to achieve to their full potential, these children need direct and frequent interaction with individuals who can provide English language learners with accurate feedback. Creative drama activities that…

  11. Infinitivals at the End-State: Evidence for L2 Acquisition of English Non-Finite Complementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heil, Jeanne

    2015-01-01

    This dissertation investigates the knowledge of English non-finite complement constructions by near-native L1 Spanish/L2 English learners. In particular, this study concerns Object Control, Raising to Object, and "for"-type constructions. Although the three constructions look identical on the surface, they are in fact distinct syntactic…

  12. Morphological Errors in Spanish Second Language Learners and Heritage Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montrul, Silvina

    2011-01-01

    Morphological variability and the source of these errors have been intensely debated in SLA. A recurrent finding is that postpuberty second language (L2) learners often omit or use the wrong affix for nominal and verbal inflections in oral production but less so in written tasks. According to the missing surface inflection hypothesis, L2 learners…

  13. Effective Teaching in the Use of Pragmatic Markers for Chinese EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Wang

    2015-01-01

    Research on teaching the use of pragmatic markers to L2 learners is a relatively new area and many aspects are still not addressed. It was assumed that negative pragmatic transfer, the limited linguistic input in the course-books that EFL learners are exposed to, and the negative influence of formal instruction were possible driving factors that…

  14. Interlingual Influence in Bilingual Speech: Cognate Status Effect in a Continuum of Bilingualism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amengual, Mark

    2012-01-01

    The present study investigates voice onset times (VOTs) to determine if cognates enhance the cross-language phonetic influences in the speech production of a range of Spanish-English bilinguals: Spanish heritage speakers, English heritage speakers, advanced L2 Spanish learners, and advanced L2 English learners. To answer this question, lexical…

  15. Sociocultural Analysis of Second Language Learner Beliefs: A Qualitative Case Study of Two Study-Abroad ESL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jin-Suk; Kim, Tae-Young

    2011-01-01

    Framed in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind, this paper explores second language (L2) learning beliefs in study-abroad (SA) contexts. Previous research on learner beliefs has relied mostly on survey methods, while regarding belief as a static, internal representation of experience that is resistant to change. Due to the concern…

  16. Self-Repair in Oral Production by Intermediate Chinese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Jiangtao

    2009-01-01

    For various reasons, second language learners modify their speech by means of self-repair. This study, based on a small-scale corpus, shows the patterns and features of self-repairs by intermediate Chinese learners of English. The results suggest that intermediate Chinese learners of English more frequently make repairs than advanced Chinese…

  17. Establishing New Mappings between Familiar Phones: Neural and Behavioral Evidence for Early Automatic Processing of Nonnative Contrasts

    PubMed Central

    Barrios, Shannon L.; Namyst, Anna M.; Lau, Ellen F.; Feldman, Naomi H.; Idsardi, William J.

    2016-01-01

    To attain native-like competence, second language (L2) learners must establish mappings between familiar speech sounds and new phoneme categories. For example, Spanish learners of English must learn that [d] and [ð], which are allophones of the same phoneme in Spanish, can distinguish meaning in English (i.e., /deɪ/ “day” and /ðeɪ/ “they”). Because adult listeners are less sensitive to allophonic than phonemic contrasts in their native language (L1), novel target language contrasts between L1 allophones may pose special difficulty for L2 learners. We investigate whether advanced Spanish late-learners of English overcome native language mappings to establish new phonological relations between familiar phones. We report behavioral and magnetoencepholographic (MEG) evidence from two experiments that measured the sensitivity and pre-attentive processing of three listener groups (L1 English, L1 Spanish, and advanced Spanish late-learners of English) to differences between three nonword stimulus pairs ([idi]-[iði], [idi]-[iɾi], and [iði]-[iɾi]) which differ in phones that play a different functional role in Spanish and English. Spanish and English listeners demonstrated greater sensitivity (larger d' scores) for nonword pairs distinguished by phonemic than by allophonic contrasts, mirroring previous findings. Spanish late-learners demonstrated sensitivity (large d' scores and MMN responses) to all three contrasts, suggesting that these L2 learners may have established a novel [d]-[ð] contrast despite the phonological relatedness of these sounds in the L1. Our results suggest that phonological relatedness influences perceived similarity, as evidenced by the results of the native speaker groups, but may not cause persistent difficulty for advanced L2 learners. Instead, L2 learners are able to use cues that are present in their input to establish new mappings between familiar phones. PMID:27445949

  18. Concurrent Data Elicitation Procedures, Processes, and the Early Stages of L2 Learning: A Critical Overview

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leow, Ronald P.; Grey, Sarah; Marijuan, Silvia; Moorman, Colleen

    2014-01-01

    Given the current methodological interest in eliciting direct data on the cognitive processes L2 learners employ as they interact with L2 data during the early stages of the learning process, this article takes a critical and comparative look at three concurrent data elicitation procedures currently employed in the SLA literature: Think aloud (TA)…

  19. Gains to L2 Listeners from Reading while Listening vs. Listening Only in Comprehending Short Stories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Anna C.-S.

    2009-01-01

    This study builds on the concept that aural-written verification helps L2 learners develop auditory discrimination skills, refine word recognition and gain awareness of form-meaning relationships, by comparing two modes of aural input: reading while listening (R/L) vs. listening only (L/O). Two test tasks (sequencing and gap filling) of 95 items,…

  20. The His/Her Challenge: Making Progress in a "Regular" L2 Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Joanna; Munoz, Carmen; Collins, Laura

    2007-01-01

    This paper reports on two studies that investigated the effectiveness of a contrastive analysis type of pedagogical intervention, which aimed to promote interlanguage development in the use and understanding of English possessive determiners (PDs) among adolescent second language (L2) learners. The first research question asked whether explicit…

  1. Language Learner Investment and Identity Negotiation in the Korean EFL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vasilopoulos, Gene

    2015-01-01

    Most research on language and identity has been conducted in contexts in which English is an official language. As a result, the Western-derived framework guiding identity research may not be representative for L2 learners/speakers in localized settings. To address this potential disparity, this qualitative study examines L2 identity construction…

  2. Alphabetic and Nonalphabetic L1 Effects in English Word Identification: A Comparison of Korean and Chinese English L2 Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Min; Koda, Keiko; Perfetti, Charles A.

    2003-01-01

    Examined Korean and Chinese college-level ESL learners for relative reliance on phonological and orthographic processing in English word identification. Found that Korean, but not Chinese, students made more false positive errors in judging stimuli that were homophones to category exemplars than in judging spelling controls. Chinese students made…

  3. Beneficial Web 2.0 Tools to Engage Learners and Maximize Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DiBella, Karen S.; Williams, Kimberly G.

    2015-01-01

    Technology has certainly altered the landscape in which students learn today. The use of technology in today's classrooms is continually increasing as educators seek ways to engage learners and maximize learning potential. Incorporating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom can not only encourage collaboration among learners, but also provide a way for…

  4. What about Me?: Individual Self-Assessment by Skill and Level of Language Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy; Vanderplank, Robert; Strube, Michael

    2012-01-01

    In an investigation with advanced language learners, Brantmeier [Brantmeier, C., 2006. "Advanced L2 learners and reading placement: self-assessment, computer based testing, and subsequent performance." "System" 34 (1), 15-35.] reports that self-assessment (SA) of second language (L2) reading ability, when measured with self-rated scales, is not an…

  5. The Influence of Content on Adult L2 Learners' Task Motivation: An Interest Theory Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poupore, Glen

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates the influence of content-related conditions on adult second language learners' task motivation during interactive tasks. It also aims to identify what is referred to as interestingness conditions within task content, that is, elements that are intrinsically interesting to most individuals. The investigation was conducted…

  6. The Effect of Orthography on the Lexical Encoding of Palatalized Consonants in L2 Russian.

    PubMed

    Simonchyk, Ala; Darcy, Isabelle

    2018-03-01

    The current study investigated the potential facilitative or inhibiting effects of orthography on the lexical encoding of palatalized consonants in L2 Russian. We hypothesized that learners with stable knowledge of orthographic and metalinguistic representations of palatalized consonants would display more accurate lexical encoding of the plain/palatalized contrast. The participants of the study were 40 American learners of Russian. Ten Russian native speakers served as a control group. The materials of the study comprised 20 real words, familiar to the participants, with target coronal consonants alternating in word-final and intervocalic positions. The participants performed three tasks: written picture naming, metalinguistic, and auditory word-picture matching. Results showed that learners were not entirely familiar with the grapheme-phoneme correspondences in L2 Russian. Even though they spelled almost all of these familiar Russian words accurately, they were able to identify the plain/palatalized status of the target consonants in these words with about 80% accuracy on a metalinguistic task. The effect of orthography on the lexical encoding was found to be dependent on the syllable position of the target consonants. In intervocalic position, learners erroneously relied on vowels following the target consonants rather than the consonants themselves to encode words with plain/palatalized consonants. In word-final position, although learners possessed the orthographic and metalinguistic knowledge of the difference in the palatalization status of the target consonants-and hence had established some aspects of the lexical representations for the words-those representations appeared to lack in phonological granularity and detail, perhaps due to the lack of perceptual salience.

  7. Assessing Syntactic Sophistication in L2 Writing: A Usage-Based Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyle, Kristopher; Crossley, Scott

    2017-01-01

    Over the past 45 years, the construct of syntactic sophistication has been assessed in L2 writing using what Bulté and Housen (2012) refer to as absolute complexity (Lu, 2011; Ortega, 2003; Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki, & Kim, 1998). However, it has been argued that making inferences about learners based on absolute complexity indices (e.g., mean…

  8. A Comparison of the Effectiveness of EFL Students' Use of Dictionaries and an Online Corpus for the Enhancement of Revision Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mueller, Charles M.; Jacobsen, Natalia D.

    2016-01-01

    Qualitative research focusing primarily on advanced-proficiency second language (L2) learners suggests that online corpora can function as useful reference tools for language learners, especially when addressing phraseological issues. However, the feasibility and effectiveness of online corpus consultation for learners at a basic level of L2

  9. Affective Factors Influencing Fluent Performance: French Learners' Appraisals of Second Language Speech Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kormos, Judit; Préfontaine, Yvonne

    2017-01-01

    The present mixed-methods study examined the role of learner appraisals of speech tasks in second language (L2) French fluency. Forty adult learners in a Canadian immersion program participated in the study that compared four sources of data: (1) objectively measured utterance fluency in participants' performances of three narrative tasks…

  10. Enhancing Vocabulary Retention by Embedding L2 Target Words in L1 Stories: An Experiment with Chinese Adult E-Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ge, Zi-Gang

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a storytelling approach in Chinese adult e-learners' vocabulary learning. Two classes of 60 students participated in the experiment, with 30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. The storytelling approach and the rote memorization approach were employed by the two groups…

  11. When Feelings Arise with Meanings: How Emotion and Meaning of a Native Language Affect Second Language Processing in Adult Learners.

    PubMed

    Sianipar, Agnes; Middelburg, Renée; Dijkstra, Ton

    2015-01-01

    To determine when and how L2 learners start to process L2 words affectively and semantically, we conducted a longitudinal study on their interaction in adult L2 learners. In four test sessions, spanning half a year of L2 learning, we monitored behavioral and ERP learning-related changes for one and the same set of words by means of a primed lexical-decision paradigm with L1 primes and L2 targets. Sensitivity rates, accuracy rates, RTs, and N400 amplitude to L2 words and pseudowords improved significantly across sessions. A semantic priming effect (e.g, prime "driver"facilitating response to target "street") was found in accuracy rates and RTs when collapsing Sessions 1 to 4, while this effect modulated ERP amplitudes within the first 300 ms of L2 target processing. An overall affective priming effect (e.g., "sweet" facilitating"taste") was also found in RTs and ERPs (posterior P1). Importantly, the ERPs showed an L2 valence effect across sessions (e.g., positive words were easier to process than neutral words), indicating that L2 learners were sensitive to L2 affective meaning. Semantic and affective priming interacted in the N400 time-window only in Session 4, implying that they affected meaning integration during L2 immersion together. The results suggest that L1 and L2 are initially processed semantically and affectively via relatively separate channels that are more and more linked contingent on L2 exposure.

  12. "One Task Fits All"? The Roles of Task Complexity, Modality, and Working Memory Capacity in L2 Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zalbidea, Janire

    2017-01-01

    The present study explores the independent and interactive effects of task complexity and task modality on linguistic dimensions of second language (L2) performance and investigates how these effects are modulated by individual differences in working memory capacity. Thirty-two intermediate learners of L2 Spanish completed less and more complex…

  13. Impact of Explicit Vocabulary Instruction on Writing Achievement of Upper-Intermediate EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solati-Dehkordi, Seyed Amir; Salehi, Hadi

    2016-01-01

    Studying explicit vocabulary instruction effects on improving L2 learners' writing skill and their short and long-term retention is the purpose of the present study. To achieve the mentioned goal, a fill-in-the-blank test including 36 single words and 60 lexical phrases were administrated to 30 female upper-intermediate EFL learners. The EFL…

  14. Attention to Irregular Verbs by Beginning Learners of German: An Eye-Movement Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schierloh, Maren

    2011-01-01

    In this study I examine the noticing of verbs with stem vowel changes by beginning adult learners of L2 German who have not been formally introduced to this linguistic feature. Two research questions (RQs) guided the experimental design and the empirical analyses in this study: (1) Do adult beginning learners of German who are unfamiliar with…

  15. Task-Induced Development of Hinting Behaviors in Online Task-Oriented L2 Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balaman, Ufuk

    2018-01-01

    Technology-mediated task settings are rich interactional domains in which second language (L2) learners manage a multitude of interactional resources for task accomplishment. The affordances of these settings have been repeatedly addressed in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) literature mainly based on theory-informed task design…

  16. Teaching, Learning, and Developing L2 French Sociolinguistic Competence: A Sociocultural Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Compernolle, Remi A.; Williams, Lawrence

    2012-01-01

    The study reported in this article investigates the development of sociolinguistic competence among second-year (US university-level) L2 learners of French who were given systematic instruction on sociolinguistic variation as part of their normal coursework. We focus on the variable use of the negative morpheme "ne" in verbal negation. Drawing…

  17. On the Impact of L2 Speech Rhythm on Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roncaglia-Denissen, M. Paula; Schmidt-Kassow, Maren; Heine, Angela; Kotz, Sonja A.

    2015-01-01

    In an event-related potential (ERP) study we investigated the role of age of acquisition (AoA) on the use of second language rhythmic properties during syntactic ambiguity resolution. Syntactically ambiguous sentences embedded in rhythmically regular and irregular contexts were presented to Turkish early and late second language (L2) learners of…

  18. Toward a Theory of Web-Mediated Knowledge Synthesis: How Advanced Learners Used the Web to Construct Knowledge about Climate Change Behavior

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeSchryver, Michael

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation utilized a multiple case study design to explore how advanced learners synthesize information about ill-structured topics when reading-to-learn and reading-to-do on the Web. Eight graduate students provided data in the form of think-alouds, interviews, screen video, digital trails, and task artifacts. Data analysis was based on…

  19. Second Language Pre-Service Teachers as Learners: The Language Portfolio Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christiansen, Helen; Laplante, Bernard

    2004-01-01

    This article reports on a study of pre-service French immersion teachers who were required to compile second language (L2) portfolios as part of their professional development. Documents included a brief biography of the students' lives as speakers and learners of French; an action plan in which students assessed their L2 proficiency and set…

  20. Learner Variables in Second Language Listening Comprehension: An Exploratory Path Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vandergrift, Larry; Baker, Susan

    2015-01-01

    Listening comprehension plays a key role in language acquisition, yet little is known about the variables that contribute to the development of second language (L2) listening ability. This study sought to obtain empirical evidence for the impact of some of the learner variables and the degree to which they might predict success in L2 listening.…

  1. The Role of Teacher Imagination in Conceptualising the Child as a Second Language Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guz, Ewa; Tetiurka, Maugorzata

    2013-01-01

    In order to initiate and maintain meaningful interaction in a young learner L2 classroom, an adult teacher needs to approach children in ways consistent with their developmental profile and adjust teaching methodology so as to accommodate young learners' current skills. This requires the ability to predict the child's possible responses to…

  2. The Role of L2 Learner Goal Differences in Task-Generated Oral Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ben Maad, Mohamed Ridha

    2016-01-01

    In light of the growing interest in the cognitive approach to task in second language (L2) research, comparatively little has been done to examine such effect over time and the role of individual differences (IDs). The present study was designed to verify some longitudinal evidence for the role of tasks in L2 production and whether IDs, in the…

  3. The Effects of L2 Proficiency Differences in Pairs on Idea Units in a Collaborative Text Reconstruction Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shin, Sun-Young; Lidster, Ryan; Sabraw, Stacy; Yeager, Rebecca

    2016-01-01

    Collaborative text reconstruction tasks such as dictogloss have been suggested as effective second language (L2) learning tasks that promote meaningful interaction between learners and their awareness of L2 target grammatical structures. However, it should be noted that the effect of pair interaction on the final product may differ depending on…

  4. Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Donnell, Mary E.

    2012-01-01

    The use of marginal reading glosses by 18 second language (L2) learners is examined through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of audiotaped think-aloud protocols. How these readers interact with the glosses is identified and divided into five categories or gloss interactions. Examples from each are presented. The primary research question…

  5. Effects of Semantic Context and Fundamental Frequency Contours on Mandarin Speech Recognition by Second Language Learners.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Linjun; Li, Yu; Wu, Han; Li, Xin; Shu, Hua; Zhang, Yang; Li, Ping

    2016-01-01

    Speech recognition by second language (L2) learners in optimal and suboptimal conditions has been examined extensively with English as the target language in most previous studies. This study extended existing experimental protocols (Wang et al., 2013) to investigate Mandarin speech recognition by Japanese learners of Mandarin at two different levels (elementary vs. intermediate) of proficiency. The overall results showed that in addition to L2 proficiency, semantic context, F0 contours, and listening condition all affected the recognition performance on the Mandarin sentences. However, the effects of semantic context and F0 contours on L2 speech recognition diverged to some extent. Specifically, there was significant modulation effect of listening condition on semantic context, indicating that L2 learners made use of semantic context less efficiently in the interfering background than in quiet. In contrast, no significant modulation effect of listening condition on F0 contours was found. Furthermore, there was significant interaction between semantic context and F0 contours, indicating that semantic context becomes more important for L2 speech recognition when F0 information is degraded. None of these effects were found to be modulated by L2 proficiency. The discrepancy in the effects of semantic context and F0 contours on L2 speech recognition in the interfering background might be related to differences in processing capacities required by the two types of information in adverse listening conditions.

  6. English Learners' Knowledge of Prepositions: Collocational Knowledge or Knowledge Based on Meaning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mueller, Charles M.

    2011-01-01

    Second language (L2) learners' successful performance in an L2 can be partly attributed to their knowledge of collocations. In some cases, this knowledge is accompanied by knowledge of the semantic and/or grammatical patterns that motivate the collocation. At other times, collocational knowledge may serve a compensatory role. To determine the…

  7. Character Reading Fluency, Word Segmentation Accuracy, and Reading Comprehension in L2 Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shen, Helen H.; Jiang, Xin

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the relationships between lower-level processing and general reading comprehension among adult L2 (second-language) beginning learners of Chinese, in both target and non-target language learning environments. Lower-level processing in Chinese reading includes the factors of character-naming accuracy, character-naming speed,…

  8. Leveling L2 Texts through Readability: Combining Multilevel Linguistic Features with the CEFR

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sung, Yao-Ting; Lin, Wei-Chun; Dyson, Scott Benjamin; Chang, Kuo-En; Chen, Yu-Chia

    2015-01-01

    Selecting appropriate texts for L2 (second/foreign language) learners is an important approach to enhancing motivation and, by extension, learning. There is currently no tool for classifying foreign language texts according to a language proficiency framework, which makes it difficult for students and educators to determine the precise…

  9. The Effects of Techniques of Vocabulary Portfolio on L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zarei, Abbas Ali; Baftani, Fahimeh Nasiri

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the effects of different techniques of vocabulary portfolio including word map, word wizard, concept wheel, visual thesaurus, and word rose on L2 vocabulary comprehension and production, a sample of 75 female EFL learners of Kish Day Language Institute in Karaj, Iran were selected. They were in five groups and each group received…

  10. The Effects of Practice Modality on Pragmatic Development in L2 Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Shuai; Taguchi, Naoko

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of input-based and output-based practice on the development of accuracy and speed in recognizing and producing request-making forms in L2 Chinese. Fifty American learners of Chinese with intermediate level proficiency were randomly assigned to an input-based training group, an output-based training group, or a…

  11. Training L2 Writers to Reference Corpora as a Self-Correction Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quinn, Cynthia

    2015-01-01

    Corpora have the potential to support the L2 writing process at the discourse level in contrast to the isolated dictionary entries that many intermediate writers rely on. To take advantage of this resource, learners need to be trained, which involves practising corpus research and referencing skills as well as learning to make data-based…

  12. Information on Quantifiers and Argument Structure in English Learner's Dictionaries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Thomas Hun-tak

    1993-01-01

    Lexicographers have been arguing for the inclusion of abstract and complex grammatical information in dictionaries. This paper examines the extent to which information about quantifiers and the argument structure of verbs is encoded in English learner's dictionaries. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (1989), the Longman Dictionary of…

  13. The Effects and Perceptions of Trained Peer Feedback in L2 Speaking: Impact on Revision and Speaking Quality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodríguez-González, Eva; Castañeda, Martha E.

    2018-01-01

    The present study examined the impact of trained peer feedback on Spanish as a second language (L2) in terms of language performance, nature of feedback, and perceptions of peer feedback in speaking tasks. Participants in the study included 17 intermediate L2 Spanish learners enrolled in a conversation course that incorporated peer feedback…

  14. Task Repetition Effects on L1 Use in EFL Child Task-Based Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Azkarai, Agurtzane; García Mayo, María del Pilar

    2017-01-01

    Research has shown that tasks provide second language (L2) learners with many opportunities to learn the L2. Task repetition has been claimed to benefit L2 learning since familiarity with procedure and/or content gives learners the chance to focus on more specific aspects of language. Most research on task repetition has focused on adult…

  15. Online Dutch L2 Learning in Adult Education: Educators' and Providers' Viewpoints on Needs, Advantages and Disadvantages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Paepe, Liesbeth; Zhu, Chang; Depryck, Koen

    2018-01-01

    This study critically addresses the assumptions made by educators and providers in the field of Dutch second language (L2) acquisition about the online learning of Dutch L2. These include assumptions about advantages and disadvantages of online language learning, such as flexibility, learner autonomy, enhanced opportunities for remediation and…

  16. The Role of Orthotactic Probability in Incidental and Intentional Vocabulary Acquisition L1 and L2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bordag, Denisa; Kirschenbaum, Amit; Rogahn, Maria; Tschirner, Erwin

    2017-01-01

    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…

  17. Predictors of English Reading Comprehension: Cantonese-Speaking English Language Learners in the U.S.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uchikoshi, Yuuko

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, first language (L1) and second language (L2) oral language and word reading skills were used as predictors to devise a model of reading comprehension in young Cantonese-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in the United States. L1 and L2 language and literacy measures were collected from a total of 101 Cantonese-speaking ELLs…

  18. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Scaffolding of L2 Collocations in the Context of Concordancing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rezaee, Abbas Ali; Marefat, Hamideh; Saeedakhtar, Afsaneh

    2015-01-01

    Collocational competence is recognized to be integral to native-like L2 performance, and concordancing can be of assistance in gaining this competence. This study reports on an investigation into the effect of symmetrical and asymmetrical scaffolding on the collocational competence of Iranian intermediate learners of English in the context of…

  19. Evidence for cross-script abstract identities in learners of Japanese kana.

    PubMed

    Schubert, Teresa; Gawthrop, Roderick; Kinoshita, Sachiko

    2018-05-07

    The presence of abstract letter identity representations in the Roman alphabet has been well documented. These representations are invariant to letter case (upper vs. lower) and visual appearance. For example, "a" and "A" are represented by the same abstract identity. Recent research has begun to consider whether the processing of non-Roman orthographies also involves abstract orthographic representations. In the present study, we sought evidence for abstract identities in Japanese kana, which consist of two scripts, hiragana and katakana. Abstract identities would be invariant to the script used as well as to the degree of visual similarity. We adapted the cross-case masked-priming letter match task used in previous research on Roman letters, by presenting cross-script kana pairs and testing adult beginning -to- intermediate Japanese second-language (L2) learners (first-language English readers). We found robust cross-script priming effects, which were equal in magnitude for visually similar (e.g., り/リ) and dissimilar (e.g., あ/ア) kana pairs. This pattern was found despite participants' imperfect explicit knowledge of the kana names, particularly for katakana. We also replicated prior findings from Roman abstract letter identities in the same participants. Ours is the first study reporting abstract kana identity priming (in adult L2 learners). Furthermore, these representations were acquired relatively early in our adult L2 learners.

  20. The Garbage Crisis: Environmental Issues for Adult ESL Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heffernan, Helen

    This module on the garbage crisis is for intermediate and advanced learners of English as a Second Language. It seeks to inform learners about this issue and to give them an opportunity to direct their concerns about the environment into positive action. The guide uses the problem-posing methodology of Paulo Freire. This methodology has three…

  1. Points of Transition: Understanding the Constructed Identities of L2 Learners/Users across Time and Space

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adawu, Anthony; Martin-Beltran, Melinda

    2012-01-01

    Using sociocultural and poststructuralist theoretical lenses, this study examines the narrative construction of language-learner identity across time and space. We applied cross-narrative methodologies to analyze language-learning autobiographies and interview data from three English users who had recently transitioned to a U.S. context for…

  2. Is Less More? Effectiveness and Perceived Usefulness of Keyword and Full Captioned Video for L2 Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montero Perez, Maribel; Peters, Elke; Desmet, Piet

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was twofold: we investigated (a) the effect of two types of captioned video (i.e., on-screen text in the same language as the video) on listening comprehension; (b) L2 learners' perception of the usefulness of captions while watching L2 video. The participants, 226 university-level students from a Flemish university, watched…

  3. Word Reading in L1 and L2 Learners of Chinese: Similarities and Differences in the Functioning of Component Processes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Dongbo

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes underlying first language (L1) and second language (L2) word reading in Chinese. Fourth-grade Chinese children in Singapore were divided into L1 and L2 reader groups based on whether they used Mandarin or English as their home language. Both groups were…

  4. The L2 Acquisition of Buenos Aires Spanish Intonation during a Study Abroad Semester

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thornberry, Philip A.

    2014-01-01

    The present longitudinal study describes and categorizes the primary changes in L2 Spanish intonation over time by 11 learners studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for one academic semester. Via the autosegmental metrical model of analysis, this dissertation classifies intonational contours for absolute interrogatives and declarative…

  5. Second Language Learners' Attitudes towards English Varieties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Weimin; Hu, Guiling

    2008-01-01

    This pilot project investigates second language (L2) learners' attitudes towards three varieties of English: American (AmE), British (BrE) and Australian (AuE). A 69-word passage spoken by a female speaker of each variety was used. Participants were 30 Chinese students pursuing Masters or Doctoral degrees in the United States, who listened to each…

  6. Iranian EFL Learners' Vocabulary Development through Wikipedia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khany, Reza; Khosravian, Fereshteh

    2014-01-01

    Language teaching has passed through a long way in search of a remedy for language learners and teachers. Countless theories, approaches, and methods have been recommended. With all these, however, more inclusive L2 theories and models ought to be considered to come up with real classroom practices. One of such crucial practices is authenticity,…

  7. First-Language Longitudinal Predictors of Second-Language Literacy in Young L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shum, Kathy Kar-man; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Siegel, Linda S.; Au, Terry Kit-fong

    2016-01-01

    Can young students' early reading abilities in their first language (L1) predict later literacy development in a second language (L2)? The cross-language relationships between Chinese (L1) and English (L2) among 87 Hong Kong students were explored in a longitudinal study. Chinese word-reading fluency, Chinese rapid digit naming, and Chinese rhyme…

  8. The Influence of Formulaic Language on L2 Listener Decoding in Extended Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeldham, Michael

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the effect of formulaic language on L2 learners' ability to decode words in listening texts. One possibility was that formulas would facilitate listening by reducing the need to process every word of the sequences. However, a contrasting possibility was that the commonly reduced nature of formulaic words would hinder…

  9. The Development of L2 Fluency during Study Abroad: A Cross-Language Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Di Silvio, Francesca; Diao, Wenhao; Donovan, Anne

    2016-01-01

    Examining speech samples from 75 American university students learning 1 of 3 languages (Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish), this article reports on a study of second language (L2) learners' oral fluency development and its relationship with their gains in holistic proficiency ratings during a semester abroad. In study abroad research, there is a…

  10. Gender Differences in Compulsory School Pupils' L2 Self-Concepts: A Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henry, Alastair

    2009-01-01

    Drawing on personality psychology research, Dornyei and his colleagues have recently developed an approach to understanding L2 motivation that positions the learner's self-recognition as a potential communicator in another language at its core, thus marking a break from the established social psychology paradigm. In this article it is argued that,…

  11. ESL Learners' Online Research and Comprehension Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sain, Noridah; Bown, Andy; Fluck, Andrew; Kebble, Paul

    2017-01-01

    In order to enhance second language (L2) acquisition, English as a Second Language (ESL) students are encouraged to exploit the abundant information and opportunities for authentic language use afforded by the Internet. This study investigated the online research and comprehension strategies employed by ESL learners in a public university in…

  12. Effects of Form-Focused Instruction and Corrective Feedback on L2 Pronunciation Development of /[alveolar approximant]/ by Japanese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saito, Kazuya; Lyster, Roy

    2012-01-01

    Sixty-five Japanese learners of English participated in the current study, which investigated the acquisitional value of form-focused instruction (FFI) with and without corrective feedback (CF) on learners' pronunciation development. All students received a 4-hr FFI treatment designed to encourage them to notice and practice the target feature of…

  13. Structural overview and learner control in hypermedia instructional programs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burke, Patricia Anne

    1998-09-01

    This study examined the effects of a structural overview and learner control in a computer-based program on the achievement, attitudes, time in program and Linearity of path of fifth-grade students. Four versions of a computer-based instructional program about the Sun and planets were created in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The program consisted of ten sections, one for each planet and one for the Sun. Two structural overview conditions (structural overview, no structural overview) were crossed with two control conditions (learner control, program control). Subjects in the structural overview condition chose the order in which they would learn about the planets from among three options: ordered by distance from the Sun, ordered by size, or ordered by temperature. Subjects in the learner control condition were able to move freely among screens within a section and to choose their next section after finishing the previous one. In contrast, those in the program control condition advanced through the program in a prescribed linear manner. A 2 x 2 ANOVA yielded no significant differences in posttest scores for either independent variable or for their interaction. The structural overview was most likely not effective because subjects spent only a small percentage of their total time on the structural overview screens and they were not required to act upon the information in those screens. Learner control over content sequencing may not have been effective because most learner-control subjects chose the same overall sequence of instruction (i.e., distance from the Sun) prescribed for program-control subjects. Learner-control subjects chose to view an average of 40 more screens than the fixed number of 160 screens in the program-control version. However, program-control subjects spent significantly more time per screen than learner-control subjects, and the total time in program did not differ significantly between the two groups. Learner-control subjects receiving the

  14. Resolving Struggling Learners' Homework Difficulties: Working with Elementary School Learners and Parents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Margolis, Howard

    2005-01-01

    Struggling learners and their parents often are exasperated by homework. They find it difficult, frustrating, and laborious, producing resistance, slipshod work, stress at home, and conflicts between struggling learners, parents, and school personnel. The author (1) identifies several causes of struggling learners' homework difficulties, (2)…

  15. L2 Utterance Fluency Development Before, During, and after Residence Abroad: A Multidimensional Investigation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huensch, Amanda; Tracy-Ventura, Nicole

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated second language fluency development over a nearly 2-year period which included an academic year abroad and the year immediately following the participants' return to their home university. Data from 24 L1 English learners of Spanish were collected 6 times: once before, 3 times during, and 2 times after a 9-month stay…

  16. Measuring University-Level L2 Learners' Implicit and Explicit Linguistic Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Runhan

    2015-01-01

    Although many theoretical issues revolving around implicit and explicit knowledge in second language (L2) acquisition hinge on the ability to measure these two types of knowledge, few empirical studies have attempted to do so. However, R. Ellis (2005) did develop a battery of tests intended to provide relatively separate measures. This study aims…

  17. The Role of "Is" in the Acquisition of Finiteness by Adult Turkish Learners of Dutch

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van de Craats, Ineke

    2009-01-01

    This article deals with the interlanguage of adult second language (L2) learners acquiring finiteness. Due to the inaccessibility of bound inflectional morphology, learners use free morphology to mark a syntactic relationship as well as person and number features separately from the thematic verb, expressed by a pattern like "the man is go".…

  18. Brain responses before and after intensive second language learning: proficiency based changes and first language background effects in adult learners.

    PubMed

    White, Erin Jacquelyn; Genesee, Fred; Steinhauer, Karsten

    2012-01-01

    This longitudinal study tracked the neuro-cognitive changes associated with second language (L2) grammar learning in adults in order to investigate how L2 processing is shaped by a learner's first language (L1) background and L2 proficiency. Previous studies using event-related potentials (ERPs) have argued that late L2 learners cannot elicit a P600 in response to L2 grammatical structures that do not exist in the L1 or that are different in the L1 and L2. We tested whether the neuro-cognitive processes underlying this component become available after intensive L2 instruction. Korean- and Chinese late-L2-learners of English were tested at the beginning and end of a 9-week intensive English-L2 course. ERPs were recorded while participants read English sentences containing violations of regular past tense (a grammatical structure that operates differently in Korean and does not exist in Chinese). Whereas no P600 effects were present at the start of instruction, by the end of instruction, significant P600s were observed for both L1 groups. Latency differences in the P600 exhibited by Chinese and Korean speakers may be attributed to differences in L1-L2 reading strategies. Across all participants, larger P600 effects at session 2 were associated with: 1) higher levels of behavioural performance on an online grammaticality judgment task; and 2) with correct, rather than incorrect, behavioural responses. These findings suggest that the neuro-cognitive processes underlying the P600 (e.g., "grammaticalization") are modulated by individual levels of L2 behavioural performance and learning.

  19. Word Writing vs. Meaning Inferencing in Contextualized L2 Vocabulary Learning: Assessing the Effect of Different Vocabulary Learning Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Candry, Sarah; Elgort, Irina; Deconinck, Julie; Eyckmans, June

    2017-01-01

    The majority of L2 vocabulary studies concentrate on learning word meaning and provide learners with opportunities for semantic elaboration (i.e., focus on word meaning). However, in initial vocabulary learning, engaging in structural elaboration (i.e., focus on word form) with a view to acquiring L2 word form is equally important. The present…

  20. Fostering clinical reasoning in physiotherapy: comparing the effects of concept map study and concept map completion after example study in novice and advanced learners.

    PubMed

    Montpetit-Tourangeau, Katherine; Dyer, Joseph-Omer; Hudon, Anne; Windsor, Monica; Charlin, Bernard; Mamede, Sílvia; van Gog, Tamara

    2017-12-01

    Health profession learners can foster clinical reasoning by studying worked examples presenting fully worked out solutions to a clinical problem. It is possible to improve the learning effect of these worked examples by combining them with other learning activities based on concept maps. This study investigated which combinaison of activities, worked examples study with concept map completion or worked examples study with concept map study, fosters more meaningful learning of intervention knowledge in physiotherapy students. Moreover, this study compared the learning effects of these learning activity combinations between novice and advanced learners. Sixty-one second-year physiotherapy students participated in the study which included a pre-test phase, a 130-min guided-learning phase and a four-week self-study phase. During the guided and self-study learning sessions, participants had to study three written worked examples presenting the clinical reasoning for selecting electrotherapeutic currents to treat patients with motor deficits. After each example, participants engaged in either concept map completion or concept map study depending on which learning condition they were randomly allocated to. Students participated in an immediate post-test at the end of the guided-learning phase and a delayed post-test at the end of the self-study phase. Post-tests assessed the understanding of principles governing the domain of knowledge to be learned (conceptual knowledge) and the ability to solve new problems that have similar (i.e., near transfer) or different (i.e., far transfer) solution rationales as problems previously studied in the examples. Learners engaged in concept map completion outperformed those engaged in concept map study on near transfer (p = .010) and far transfer (p < .001) performance. There was a significant interaction effect of learners' prior ability and learning condition on conceptual knowledge but not on near and far transfer performance

  1. Learning English with "The Sims": Exploiting Authentic Computer Simulation Games for L2 Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ranalli, Jim

    2008-01-01

    With their realistic animation, complex scenarios and impressive interactivity, computer simulation games might be able to provide context-rich, cognitively engaging virtual environments for language learning. However, simulation games designed for L2 learners are in short supply. As an alternative, could games designed for the mass-market be…

  2. Pronunciation in Face-to-Face and Audio-Only Synchronous Computer-Mediated Learner Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loewen, Shawn; Isbell, Daniel R.

    2017-01-01

    Studies of learner-learner interactions have reported varying degrees of pronunciation-focused discourse, ranging from 1% (Bowles, Toth, & Adams, 2014) to 40% (Bueno-Alastuey, 2013). Including first language (L1) background, modality, and task as variables, this study investigates the role of pronunciation in learner-learner interactions.…

  3. The Role of Narrative Structure in the Acquisition of English Tense-Aspect Morphology by Thai Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiravate, Boonjeera

    2011-01-01

    As regards the acquisition of L2 verbal morphology, one of the universal tendencies as elucidated by the Interlanguage Discourse Hypothesis (Bardovi-Harlig, 1994, p.43) is that language learners use emerging verbal morphology to distinguish foreground and background in narratives. This present study examines whether Thai EFL learners' use of…

  4. Empowering the Language Learner: Language Learning Strategy Training and Self-Regulation in an EFL Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torres, Gabriella

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how an understanding of the Good Language Learner models described in the SLA literature can be used to tailor and implement a program of learning strategy training and self-regulatory practices in the classroom to empower L2 learners in an EFL context. The paper begins by reviewing the various…

  5. The Use of Metalanguage among Second Language Learners to Mediate L2 Grammar Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harun, Haliza; Abdullah, Norhana; Wahab, Nur Syuhada' Ab.; Zainuddin, Nurkhamimi

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated the use of metalanguage as a mediational tool in understanding targeted grammatical concepts from the perspective of the Sociocultural approach (SCT) in learning a second language (L2). Methodology: The participants involved in this study were Malay undergraduates with low to intermediate proficiency in L2 English.…

  6. Reading Processing Skills among EFL Learners in Different Proficiency Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dhanapala, Kusumi Vasantha; Yamada, Jun

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to understand how EFL learners in different reading proficiency levels comprehend L2 texts, using five-component skills involving measures of (1) vocabulary knowledge, (2) drawing inferences and predictions, (3) knowledge of text structure and discourse organization, (4) identifying the main idea and summarizing skills, and (5)…

  7. Classification of L2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies: Evidence from Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Bo; Li, Changyu

    2011-01-01

    This research presents a classification theory for the L2 vocabulary learning strategies. Based on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of strategies that adult Chinese English learners used, this theory identifies six categories, four of which are related to the cognitive process in lexical acquisition and the other two are…

  8. Effects of Audiovisual Media on L2 Listening Comprehension: A Preliminary Study in French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Becker, Shannon R.; Sturm, Jessica L.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to determine whether integrating online audiovisual materials into the listening instruction of L2 French learners would have a measurable impact on their listening comprehension development. Students from two intact sections of second-semester French were tested on their listening comprehension before and…

  9. Strategic L2 Lexical Innovation: Case Study of a University-Level Ab Initio Learner of German.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ridley, Jennifer; Singleton, David

    1995-01-01

    This article presents a case study of one English-speaking ab initio learner of German. It found that in target language production tasks performed over a two-year period, the subject exhibited a particular tendency toward lexical innovation as a strategy to cope with the lack of target language lexical knowledge. (38 references) (MDM)

  10. Transferred L1 Strategies and L2 Syntactic Structure in L2 Sentence Comprehension.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koda, Keiko

    1993-01-01

    The application of language processing skills between 2 languages with dissimilar morphosyntactic features was investigated with 72 American university students learning Japanese. Results suggest that learners' first- and second-language knowledge both play a significant role and that the linguistic knowledge and coding capability for text…

  11. The Potential of Elicited Imitation for Oral Output Practice in German L2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cornillie, Frederik; Baten, Kristof; De Hertog, Dirk

    2017-01-01

    This paper reports on the potential of Oral Elicited Imitation (OEI) as a format for output practice, building on an analysis of picture-matching and spoken data collected from 36 university-level learners of German as a second language (L2) in a web-based assessment task inspired by Input Processing (VanPatten, 2004). The design and development…

  12. The Effect of Lexical Coverage and Dictionary Use on L2 Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prichard, Caleb; Matsumoto, Yuko

    2011-01-01

    This study aims to further understand the role of lexical coverage on L2 reading comprehension. It examines test scores of learners at or near the 90-95% coverage level to determine if this coverage range allows for comprehension of authentic texts. The findings suggest that 92-93% may be a threshold mark at which understanding of a text…

  13. Classification of Swedish Learner Essays by CEFR Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Volodina, Elena; Pilán, Ildikó; Alfter, David

    2016-01-01

    The paper describes initial efforts on creating a system for the automatic assessment of Swedish second language (L2) learner essays from two points of view: holistic evaluation of the reached level according to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), and the lexical analysis of texts for receptive and productive vocabulary per CEFR…

  14. Educating All Learners: Refocusing the Comprehensive Support Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Obiakor, Festus E., Ed.; Grant, Patrick A., Ed.; Dooley, Elizabeth A., Ed.

    This collection of papers addresses the importance of maximizing the fullest potential of all students and leaving no child behind. The 14 papers are: (1) "The Comprehensive Support Model for All Learners: Conceptualization and Meaning" (Festus E. Obiakor, Pauline Harris-Obiakor, and Ramel L. Smith); (2) "The Power of the `Self' in Education"…

  15. Typologizing native language influence on intonation in a second language: Three transfer phenomena in Japanese EFL learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Albin, Aaron Lee

    While a substantial body of research has accumulated regarding how intonation is acquired in a second language (L2), the topic has historically received relatively little attention from mainstream models of L2 phonology. As such, a unified theoretical framework suited to address unique acquisitional challenges specific to this domain of L2 knowledge (such as form-function mapping) has been lacking. The theoretical component of the dissertation makes progress on this front by taking up the issue of crosslinguistic transfer in L2 intonation. Using Mennen's (2015) L2 Intonation Learning theory as a point of departure, the available empirical studies are synthesized into a typology of the different possible ways two languages' intonation systems can mismatch as well as the concomitant implications for transfer. Next, the methodological component of the dissertation presents a framework for overcoming challenges in the analysis of L2 learners' intonation production due to the interlanguage mixing of their native and L2 systems. The proposed method involves first creating a stylization of the learner's intonation contour and then running queries to extract phonologically-relevant features of interest for a particular research question. A novel approach to stylization is also introduced that not only allows for transitions between adjacent pitch targets to have a nonlinear shape but also explicitly parametrizes and stores this nonlinearity for analysis. Finally, these two strands are integrated in a third, empirical component to the dissertation. Three kinds of intonation transfer, representing nodes from different branches of the typology, are examined in Japanese learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). For each kind of transfer, fourteen sentences were selected from a large L2 speech corpus (English Speech Database Read by Japanese Students), and productions of each sentence by approximately 20-30 learners were analyzed using the proposed method. Results

  16. Spanish Native-Speaker Perception of Accentedness in Learner Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moranski, Kara

    2012-01-01

    Building upon current research in native-speaker (NS) perception of L2 learner phonology (Zielinski, 2008; Derwing & Munro, 2009), the present investigation analyzed multiple dimensions of NS speech perception in order to achieve a more complete understanding of the specific linguistic elements and attitudinal variables that contribute to…

  17. Representation and Embodiment of Meaning in L2 Communication: Motion Events in the Speech and Gesture of Advanced L2 Korean and L2 English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Soojung; Lantolf, James P.

    2008-01-01

    This study investigates the interface between speech and gesture in second language (L2) narration within Slobin's (2003) thinking-for-speaking (TFS) framework as well as with respect to McNeill's (1992, 2005) growth point (GP) hypothesis. Specifically, our interest is in whether speakers shift from a first language (L1) to a L2 TFS pattern as…

  18. Processing Preference Toward Object-Extracted Relative Clauses in Mandarin Chinese by L1 and L2 Speakers: An Eye-Tracking Study

    PubMed Central

    Sung, Yao-Ting; Tu, Jung-Yueh; Cha, Jih-Ho; Wu, Ming-Da

    2016-01-01

    The current study employed an eye-movement technique with an attempt to explore the reading patterns for the two types of Chinese relative clauses, subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs), by native speakers (L1), and Japanese learners (L2) of Chinese. The data were analyzed in terms of gaze duration, regression path duration, and regression rate on the two critical regions, head noun, and embedded verb. The results indicated that both the L1 and L2 participants spent less time on the head nouns in ORCs than in SRCs. Also, the L2 participants spent less time on the embedded verbs in ORCs than in SRCs and their regression rate for embedded verbs was generally lower in ORCs than in SRC. The findings showed that the participants experienced less processing difficulty in ORCs than SRCs. These results suggest an ORC preference in L1 and L2 speakers of Chinese, which provides evidence in support of linear distance hypothesis and implies that the syntactic nature of Chinese is at play in the RC processing. PMID:26834677

  19. Focus-on-Form and EFL Learners' Language Development in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication: Task-Based Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eslami, Zohreh R.; Kung, Wan-Tsai

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the occurrence of incidental focus-on-form and its effect on subsequent second language (L2) production of learners of different dyads in an online task-based language learning context. The participants included Taiwanese learners of English as a foreign language at different proficiency levels, and native…

  20. How Long Is Long Enough? L2 English Development through Study Abroad Programmes Varying in Duration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lara, Rebecca; Mora, Joan C.; Pérez-Vidal, Carmen

    2015-01-01

    The current study analyzes the oral production of advanced learners of English who have Catalan and Spanish as their first languages. Subjects participated in study abroad (SA) programmes in English-speaking countries as part of their undergraduate studies. A role-play task was used to elicit speech from learners prior to SA and upon arrival from…