Sample records for language native language

  1. Is Native-Language Decoding Skill Related to Second-Language Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meschyan, Gayane; Hernandez, Arturo

    2002-01-01

    Investigated the mechanisms through which native-language (English) word decoding ability predicted individual differences in native- and second-language (Spanish) learning. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that second-language learning is founded on native-language phonological-orthographic ability among college-age adults, especially…

  2. 75 FR 26942 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-05-13

    ... Management. Office of English Language Acquisitions Type of Review: Reinstatement. Title: Application for Grants Under English Language Acquisition and Language Enhancement: Native American and Alaska Native... Grants Under English Language Acquisition and Language Enhancement: Native American and Alaska Native...

  3. Native-language N400 and P600 predict dissociable language-learning abilities in adults

    PubMed Central

    Qi, Zhenghan; Beach, Sara D.; Finn, Amy S.; Minas, Jennifer; Goetz, Calvin; Chan, Brian; Gabrieli, John D.E.

    2018-01-01

    Language learning aptitude during adulthood varies markedly across individuals. An individual’s native-language ability has been associated with success in learning a new language as an adult. However, little is known about how native-language processing affects learning success and what neural markers of native-language processing, if any, are related to success in learning. We therefore related variation in electrophysiology during native-language processing to success in learning a novel artificial language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while native English speakers judged the acceptability of English sentences prior to learning an artificial language. There was a trend towards a double dissociation between native-language ERPs and their relationships to novel syntax and vocabulary learning. Individuals who exhibited a greater N400 effect when processing English semantics showed better future learning of the artificial language overall. The N400 effect was related to syntax learning via its specific relationship to vocabulary learning. In contrast, the P600 effect size when processing English syntax predicted future syntax learning but not vocabulary learning. These findings show that distinct neural signatures of native-language processing relate to dissociable abilities for learning novel semantic and syntactic information. PMID:27737775

  4. 34 CFR 300.29 - Native language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Native language. 300.29 Section 300.29 Education... DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.29 Native language. (a) Native language, when used with respect to an individual who is limited English proficient, means the following: (1) The language...

  5. The Sociolinguistics of Foreign-Language Classrooms: Contributions of the Native, the Near-Native, and the Non-Native Speaker. Issues in Language Program Direction, A Series of Annual Volumes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blyth, Carl, Ed.

    This collection of papers is divided into five parts. Part 1, "The Native Speaker," includes "The (Non)Native Standard Language in Foreign Language Education: A Critical Perspective" (Robert W. Train) and "The Native Speaker, the Student, and Woody Allen: Examining Traditional Roles in the Foreign Language Classroom"…

  6. Native-language N400 and P600 predict dissociable language-learning abilities in adults.

    PubMed

    Qi, Zhenghan; Beach, Sara D; Finn, Amy S; Minas, Jennifer; Goetz, Calvin; Chan, Brian; Gabrieli, John D E

    2017-04-01

    Language learning aptitude during adulthood varies markedly across individuals. An individual's native-language ability has been associated with success in learning a new language as an adult. However, little is known about how native-language processing affects learning success and what neural markers of native-language processing, if any, are related to success in learning. We therefore related variation in electrophysiology during native-language processing to success in learning a novel artificial language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while native English speakers judged the acceptability of English sentences prior to learning an artificial language. There was a trend towards a double dissociation between native-language ERPs and their relationships to novel syntax and vocabulary learning. Individuals who exhibited a greater N400 effect when processing English semantics showed better future learning of the artificial language overall. The N400 effect was related to syntax learning via its specific relationship to vocabulary learning. In contrast, the P600 effect size when processing English syntax predicted future syntax learning but not vocabulary learning. These findings show that distinct neural signatures of native-language processing relate to dissociable abilities for learning novel semantic and syntactic information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Sleep and Native Language Interference Affect Non-Native Speech Sound Learning

    PubMed Central

    Earle, F. Sayako; Myers, Emily B.

    2015-01-01

    Adults learning a new language are faced with a significant challenge: non-native speech sounds that are perceptually similar to sounds in one’s native language can be very difficult to acquire. Sleep and native language interference, two factors that may help to explain this difficulty in acquisition, are addressed in three studies. Results of Experiment 1 showed that participants trained on a non-native contrast at night improved in discrimination 24 hours after training, while those trained in the morning showed no such improvement. Experiments 2 and 3 addressed the possibility that incidental exposure to perceptually similar native language speech sounds during the day interfered with maintenance in the morning group. Taken together, results show that the ultimate success of non-native speech sound learning depends not only on the similarity of learned sounds to the native language repertoire, but also to interference from native language sounds before sleep. PMID:26280264

  8. Sleep and native language interference affect non-native speech sound learning.

    PubMed

    Earle, F Sayako; Myers, Emily B

    2015-12-01

    Adults learning a new language are faced with a significant challenge: non-native speech sounds that are perceptually similar to sounds in one's native language can be very difficult to acquire. Sleep and native language interference, 2 factors that may help to explain this difficulty in acquisition, are addressed in 3 studies. Results of Experiment 1 showed that participants trained on a non-native contrast at night improved in discrimination 24 hr after training, while those trained in the morning showed no such improvement. Experiments 2 and 3 addressed the possibility that incidental exposure to perceptually similar native language speech sounds during the day interfered with maintenance in the morning group. Taken together, results show that the ultimate success of non-native speech sound learning depends not only on the similarity of learned sounds to the native language repertoire, but also to interference from native language sounds before sleep. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. The emotional impact of being myself: Emotions and foreign-language processing.

    PubMed

    Ivaz, Lela; Costa, Albert; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

    2016-03-01

    Native languages are acquired in emotionally rich contexts, whereas foreign languages are typically acquired in emotionally neutral academic environments. As a consequence of this difference, it has been suggested that bilinguals' emotional reactivity in foreign-language contexts is reduced as compared with native language contexts. In the current study, we investigated whether this emotional distance associated with foreign languages could modulate automatic responses to self-related linguistic stimuli. Self-related stimuli enhance performance by boosting memory, speed, and accuracy as compared with stimuli unrelated to the self (the so-called self-bias effect). We explored whether this effect depends on the language context by comparing self-biases in a native and a foreign language. Two experiments were conducted with native Spanish speakers with a high level of English proficiency in which they were asked to complete a perceptual matching task during which they associated simple geometric shapes (circles, squares, and triangles) with the labels "you," "friend," and "other" either in their native or foreign language. Results showed a robust asymmetry in the self-bias in the native- and foreign-language contexts: A larger self-bias was found in the native than in the foreign language. An additional control experiment demonstrated that the same materials administered to a group of native English speakers yielded robust self-bias effects that were comparable in magnitude to the ones obtained with the Spanish speakers when tested in their native language (but not in their foreign language). We suggest that the emotional distance evoked by the foreign-language contexts caused these differential effects across language contexts. These results demonstrate that the foreign-language effects are pervasive enough to affect automatic stages of emotional processing. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Listen! Native Radio Can Save Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Kallen

    1996-01-01

    In the United States and Canada, the number of radio stations operated by Native Americans has greatly increased in recent years, as have the amount of programming in native languages and the number of native language instructional programs. Such programming can play a role in maintaining vigorous native languages and revitalizing endangered…

  11. Modern Greek Language: Acquisition of Morphology and Syntax by Non-Native Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andreou, Georgia; Karapetsas, Anargyros; Galantomos, Ioannis

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the performance of native and non native speakers of Modern Greek language on morphology and syntax tasks. Non-native speakers of Greek whose native language was English, which is a language with strict word order and simple morphology, made more errors and answered more slowly than native speakers on morphology but not…

  12. Medical education in a foreign language and history-taking in the native language in Lebanon - a nationwide survey.

    PubMed

    Abi Raad, Vanda; Raad, Kareem; Daaboul, Yazan; Korjian, Serge; Asmar, Nadia; Jammal, Mouin; Aoun Bahous, Sola

    2016-11-22

    With the adoption of the English language in medical education, a gap in clinical communication may develop in countries where the native language is different from the language of medical education. This study investigates the association between medical education in a foreign language and students' confidence in their history-taking skills in their native language. This cross-sectional study consisted of a 17-question survey among medical students in clinical clerkships of Lebanese medical schools. The relationship between the language of medical education and confidence in conducting a medical history in Arabic (the native language) was evaluated (n = 457). The majority (88.5%) of students whose native language was Arabic were confident they could conduct a medical history in Arabic. Among participants enrolled in the first clinical year, high confidence in Arabic history-taking was independently associated with Arabic being the native language and with conducting medical history in Arabic either in the pre-clinical years or during extracurricular activities. Among students in their second clinical year, however, these factors were not associated with confidence levels. Despite having their medical education in a foreign language, the majority of students in Lebanese medical schools are confident in conducting a medical history in their native language.

  13. Creating Official Language Policy from Local Practice: The Example of the Native American Languages Act 1990/1992

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Warhol, Larisa

    2012-01-01

    This research explores the development of landmark federal language policy in the United States: the Native American Languages Act of 1990/1992 (NALA). Overturning more than two centuries of United States American Indian policy, NALA established the federal role in preserving and protecting Native American languages. Indigenous languages in the…

  14. 34 CFR 668.153 - Administration of tests for individuals whose native language is not English or for individuals...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... language is not English or for individuals with disabilities. 668.153 Section 668.153 Education Regulations... whose native language is not English or for individuals with disabilities. (a) Individuals whose native language is not English. For an individual whose native language is not English and who is not fluent in...

  15. Can non-interactive language input benefit young second-language learners?

    PubMed

    Au, Terry Kit-Fong; Chan, Winnie Wailan; Cheng, Liao; Siegel, Linda S; Tso, Ricky Van Yip

    2015-03-01

    To fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible - e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language - audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input work? Two experiments evaluated the usefulness of audio storybooks in acquiring a more native-like second-language accent. Young children, first- and second-graders in Hong Kong whose native language was Cantonese Chinese, were given take-home listening assignments in a second language, either English or Putonghua Chinese. Accent ratings of the children's story reading revealed measurable benefits of non-interactive input from native speakers. The benefits were far more robust for Putonghua than English. Implications for second-language accent acquisition are discussed.

  16. Phraseology and Frequency of Occurrence on the Web: Native Speakers' Perceptions of Google-Informed Second Language Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geluso, Joe

    2013-01-01

    Usage-based theories of language learning suggest that native speakers of a language are acutely aware of formulaic language due in large part to frequency effects. Corpora and data-driven learning can offer useful insights into frequent patterns of naturally occurring language to second/foreign language learners who, unlike native speakers, are…

  17. The Impact of Native Language Use on Second Language Vocabulary Learning by Saudi EFL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khan, Muhammad Saleem

    2016-01-01

    This paper strives to explore the impact of Native Language use on Foreign Language vocabulary learning on the basis of empirical and available data. The study is carried out with special reference to the English Language Programme students in Buraydah Community College, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The Native Language of these students is…

  18. 34 CFR 303.403 - Prior notice; native language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Prior notice; native language. 303.403 Section 303.403... TODDLERS WITH DISABILITIES Procedural Safeguards General § 303.403 Prior notice; native language. (a... file a complaint and the timelines under those procedures. (c) Native language. (1) The notice must be...

  19. Addressing Cultural and Native Language Interference in Second Language Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allard, Daniele; Bourdeau, Jacqueline; Mizoguchi, Riichiro

    2011-01-01

    This paper addresses the problem of cultural and native language interference in second/foreign language acquisition. More specifically, it examines issues of interference that can be traced to a student's native language and that also have a cultural component. To this effect, an understanding of what actually comprises both interference and…

  20. Native Language Experience Shapes Neural Basis of Addressed and Assembled Phonologies

    PubMed Central

    Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; He, Qinghua; Wei, Miao; Zhang, Mingxia; Dong, Qi; Chen, Chuansheng

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of addressed and assembled phonologies in reading Chinese and alphabetic languages (e.g., English) and the modulatory role of native language in learning to read a second language. However, it is not clear whether native language experience shapes the neural mechanisms of addressed and assembled phonologies. To address this question, we trained native Chinese and native English speakers to read the same artificial language (based on Korean Hangul) either through addressed (i.e., whole-word mapping) or assembled (i.e., grapheme-to-phoneme mapping) phonology. We found that, for both native Chinese and native English speakers, addressed phonology relied on the regions in the ventral pathway, whereas assembled phonology depended on the regions in the dorsal pathway. More importantly, we found that the neural mechanisms of addressed and assembled phonologies were shaped by native language experience. Specifically, two key regions for addressed phonology (i.e., the left middle temporal gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus) showed greater activation for addressed phonology in native Chinese speakers, while one key region for assembled phonology (i.e., the left supramarginal gyrus) showed more activation for assembled phonology in native English speakers. These results provide direct neuroimaging evidence for the effect of native language experience on the neural mechanisms of phonological access in a new language and support the assimilation-accommodation hypothesis. PMID:25858447

  1. Why segmentation matters: experience-driven segmentation errors impair “morpheme” learning

    PubMed Central

    Finn, Amy S.; Hudson Kam, Carla L.

    2015-01-01

    We ask whether an adult learner’s knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners’ ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically triggered variation of morphemes. We find that learning is impaired when words and component morphemes are structured to conflict with a learner’s native-language phonotactic system, but not when native-language phonotactics do not conflict with morpheme boundaries in the artificial language. A learner’s native-language knowledge can therefore have a cascading impact affecting word segmentation and the morphological variation that relies upon proper segmentation. These results show that getting word segmentation right early in learning is deeply important for learning other aspects of language, even those (morphology) that are known to pose a great difficulty for adult language learners. PMID:25730305

  2. 34 CFR 303.401 - Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Definitions of consent, native language, and personally... Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information. As used in this subpart— (a... which consent is sought, in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (2) The parent...

  3. 25 CFR 39.131 - What is a Language Development Program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... learning their Native language for the purpose of maintenance or language restoration and enhancement; (d) Are being instructed in their Native language; or (e) Are learning non-language subjects in their...

  4. Assisting Native Americans in Assuring the Survival and Continuing Vitality of Their Languages. Report To Accompany S. 2044. Senate, 102d Congress, 2d Session.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs.

    Past U.S. policies toward Indian and other Native American languages have attempted to suppress the use of the languages in government-operated Indian schools for assimilating Indian children. About 155 Native languages are spoken today in the United States, but only 20 are spoken by people of all ages. The Native American Languages Act of 1990…

  5. Dictionary Use of Undergraduate Students in Foreign Language Departments in Turkey at Present

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tulgar, Aysegül Takkaç

    2017-01-01

    Foreign language learning has always been a process carried out with the help of dictionaries which are both in target language and from native language to target language/from target language to native language. Dictionary use is an especially delicate issue for students in foreign language departments because students in those departments are…

  6. Reclaiming the Gift: Indigenous Youth Counter-Narratives on Native Language Loss and Revitalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.; Romero, Mary Eunice; Zepeda, Ofelia

    2006-01-01

    In this article, the authors explore the personal, familial, and academic stakes of Native language loss for youth, drawing on narrative data from the Native Language Shift and Retention Project, a five year (2001-06), federally funded study of the nature and impacts of Native language shift and retention on American Indian students' language…

  7. 76 FR 3120 - Native American and Alaska Native Children in School Program; Office of English Language...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-19

    ... English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English.... Barrera, Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director, Office of English Language Acquisition, Language... learners (ELs) \\1\\, and to promote parental and community participation in language instruction educational...

  8. Native language shapes automatic neural processing of speech.

    PubMed

    Intartaglia, Bastien; White-Schwoch, Travis; Meunier, Christine; Roman, Stéphane; Kraus, Nina; Schön, Daniele

    2016-08-01

    The development of the phoneme inventory is driven by the acoustic-phonetic properties of one's native language. Neural representation of speech is known to be shaped by language experience, as indexed by cortical responses, and recent studies suggest that subcortical processing also exhibits this attunement to native language. However, most work to date has focused on the differences between tonal and non-tonal languages that use pitch variations to convey phonemic categories. The aim of this cross-language study is to determine whether subcortical encoding of speech sounds is sensitive to language experience by comparing native speakers of two non-tonal languages (French and English). We hypothesized that neural representations would be more robust and fine-grained for speech sounds that belong to the native phonemic inventory of the listener, and especially for the dimensions that are phonetically relevant to the listener such as high frequency components. We recorded neural responses of American English and French native speakers, listening to natural syllables of both languages. Results showed that, independently of the stimulus, American participants exhibited greater neural representation of the fundamental frequency compared to French participants, consistent with the importance of the fundamental frequency to convey stress patterns in English. Furthermore, participants showed more robust encoding and more precise spectral representations of the first formant when listening to the syllable of their native language as compared to non-native language. These results align with the hypothesis that language experience shapes sensory processing of speech and that this plasticity occurs as a function of what is meaningful to a listener. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. "I Understand English but Can't Write It": The Power of Native Language Instruction for Adult English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lukes, Marguerite

    2011-01-01

    This study explores the potential of native language literacy instruction for adult immigrant English language learners who have limited formal schooling or have had interruptions in their formal education. By examining 3 programs that provide native language literacy in combination with English as a second language (ESL) instruction, this study…

  10. Powerful Learning Tools for ELLs: Using Native Language, Familiar Examples, and Concept Mapping to Teach English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dong, Yu Ren

    2013-01-01

    This article highlights how English language learners' (ELLs) prior knowledge can be used to help learn science vocabulary. The article explains that the concept of prior knowledge needs to encompass the ELL student's native language, previous science learning, native literacy skills, and native cultural knowledge and life experiences.…

  11. Alaska Native Languages: Past, Present, and Future. Alaska Native Language Center Research Papers No. 4.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krauss, Michael E.

    Three papers (1978-80) written for the non-linguistic public about Alaska Native languages are combined here. The first is an introduction to the prehistory, history, present status, and future prospects of all Alaska Native languages, both Eskimo-Aleut and Athabaskan Indian. The second and third, presented as appendixes to the first, deal in…

  12. The Correlation between Early Second Language Learning and Native Language Skill Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caccavale, Terry

    2007-01-01

    It has long been the assumption of many in the field of second language teaching that learning a second language helps to promote and enhance native language skill development, and that this correlation is direct and positive. Language professionals have assumed that learning a second language directly supports the development of better skills,…

  13. The effects of native language on Indian English sounds and timing patterns

    PubMed Central

    Sirsa, Hema; Redford, Melissa A.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored whether the sound structure of Indian English (IE) varies with the divergent native languages of its speakers or whether it is similar regardless of speakers' native languages. Native Hindi (Indo-Aryan) and Telugu (Dravidian) speakers produced comparable phrases in IE and in their native languages. Naïve and experienced IE listeners were then asked to judge whether different sentences had been spoken by speakers with the same or different native language backgrounds. The findings were an interaction between listener experience and speaker background such that only experienced listeners appropriately distinguished IE sentences produced by speakers with different native language backgrounds. Naïve listeners were nonetheless very good at distinguishing between Hindi and Telugu phrases. Acoustic measurements on monophthongal vowels, select obstruent consonants, and suprasegmental temporal patterns all differentiated between Hindi and Telugu, but only 3 of the measures distinguished between IE produced by speakers of the different native languages. The overall results are largely consistent with the idea that IE has a target phonology that is distinct from the phonology of native Indian languages. The subtle L1 effects on IE may reflect either the incomplete acquisition of the target phonology or, more plausibly, the influence of sociolinguistic factors on the use and evolution of IE. PMID:24860200

  14. Learning to Read Words in a New Language Shapes the Neural Organization of the Prior Languages

    PubMed Central

    Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Chen, Chuansheng; Zhang, Mingxia; He, Qinghua; Wei, Miao; Dong, Qi

    2014-01-01

    Learning a new language entails interactions with one's prior language(s). Much research has shown how native language affects the cognitive and neural mechanisms of a new language, but little is known about whether and how learning a new language shapes the neural mechanisms of prior language(s). In two experiments in the current study, we used an artificial language training paradigm in combination with fMRI to examine (1) the effects of different linguistic components (phonology and semantics) of a new language on the neural process of prior languages (i.e., native and second languages), and (2) whether such effects were modulated by the proficiency level in the new language. Results of Experiment 1 showed that when the training in a new language involved semantics (as opposed to only visual forms and phonology), neural activity during word reading in the native language (Chinese) was reduced in several reading-related regions, including the left pars opercularis, pars triangularis, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and inferior occipital gyrus. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and further found that semantic training also affected neural activity during word reading in the subjects’ second language (English). Furthermore, we found that the effects of the new language were modulated by the subjects’ proficiency level in the new language. These results provide critical imaging evidence for the influence of learning to read words in a new language on word reading in native and second languages. PMID:25447375

  15. The Effects of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction on Native Language and Foreign Language Aptitude Skills of At-Risk High School Foreign Language Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard; And Others

    1992-01-01

    A multisensory structured language (MSL) approach was utilized with two groups of at-risk high school students (n=63), taught in either English and Spanish (MSL/ES) or Spanish only. Foreign language aptitude improved for both groups and native language skills for the MSL/ES group. A group receiving traditional foreign language instruction showed…

  16. Language-Through-Literature; A Literary Language/Language Arts Program for Bilingual Education, ESL and Other Activities in Early Childhood. Books 1 and 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Paul; King, Eva

    This language-through-literature program is designed to be used as a native language program (language arts/reading readiness), as a second language program, or as a combined native and second language program in early childhood education. Sequentially developed over the year and within each unit, the program is subdivided into 14 units of about…

  17. Editor's Essay: Honoring Native Languages, Defeating the Shame.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ambler, Marjane

    2000-01-01

    Provides an overview of the articles in this issue of the Tribal College Journal, which demonstrate how tribal colleges are gradually creating places where Native languages are safe. Asserts that a place where the language is honored is a place that education, too, becomes honored, and that recognizing Native languages leads to self-esteem and…

  18. The development of cross-cultural recognition of vocal emotion during childhood and adolescence.

    PubMed

    Chronaki, Georgia; Wigelsworth, Michael; Pell, Marc D; Kotz, Sonja A

    2018-06-14

    Humans have an innate set of emotions recognised universally. However, emotion recognition also depends on socio-cultural rules. Although adults recognise vocal emotions universally, they identify emotions more accurately in their native language. We examined developmental trajectories of universal vocal emotion recognition in children. Eighty native English speakers completed a vocal emotion recognition task in their native language (English) and foreign languages (Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic) expressing anger, happiness, sadness, fear, and neutrality. Emotion recognition was compared across 8-to-10, 11-to-13-year-olds, and adults. Measures of behavioural and emotional problems were also taken. Results showed that although emotion recognition was above chance for all languages, native English speaking children were more accurate in recognising vocal emotions in their native language. There was a larger improvement in recognising vocal emotion from the native language during adolescence. Vocal anger recognition did not improve with age for the non-native languages. This is the first study to demonstrate universality of vocal emotion recognition in children whilst supporting an "in-group advantage" for more accurate recognition in the native language. Findings highlight the role of experience in emotion recognition, have implications for child development in modern multicultural societies and address important theoretical questions about the nature of emotions.

  19. Teaching English as a "Second Language" in Kenya and the United States: Convergences and Divergences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roy-Campbell, Zaline M.

    2015-01-01

    English is spoken in five countries as the native language and in numerous other countries as an official language and the language of instruction. In countries where English is the native language, it is taught to speakers of other languages as an additional language to enable them to participate in all domains of life of that country. In many…

  20. 75 FR 11181 - Issuance of Final Policy Directive

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-10

    ... this both Native Language FOAs provide opportunities for teacher training for all types of schools and... funds to language survival schools, language nests, and language restoration programs; however, the type... School Projects: working toward a goal of all students achieving fluency in a Native American language...

  1. Learning to read words in a new language shapes the neural organization of the prior languages.

    PubMed

    Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Chen, Chuansheng; Zhang, Mingxia; He, Qinghua; Wei, Miao; Dong, Qi

    2014-12-01

    Learning a new language entails interactions with one׳s prior language(s). Much research has shown how native language affects the cognitive and neural mechanisms of a new language, but little is known about whether and how learning a new language shapes the neural mechanisms of prior language(s). In two experiments in the current study, we used an artificial language training paradigm in combination with an fMRI to examine (1) the effects of different linguistic components (phonology and semantics) of a new language on the neural process of prior languages (i.e., native and second languages), and (2) whether such effects were modulated by the proficiency level in the new language. Results of Experiment 1 showed that when the training in a new language involved semantics (as opposed to only visual forms and phonology), neural activity during word reading in the native language (Chinese) was reduced in several reading-related regions, including the left pars opercularis, pars triangularis, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and inferior occipital gyrus. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and further found that semantic training also affected neural activity during word reading in the subjects׳ second language (English). Furthermore, we found that the effects of the new language were modulated by the subjects׳ proficiency level in the new language. These results provide critical imaging evidence for the influence of learning to read words in a new language on word reading in native and second languages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Dissociation of working memory processing associated with native and second languages: PET investigation.

    PubMed

    Kim, Jae-Jin; Kim, Myung Sun; Lee, Jae Sung; Lee, Dong Soo; Lee, Myung Chul; Kwon, Jun Soo

    2002-04-01

    Verbal working memory plays a significant role in language comprehension and problem-solving. The prefrontal cortex has been suggested as a critical area in working memory. Given that domain-specific dissociations of working memory may exist within the prefrontal cortex, it is possible that there may also be further functional divisions within the verbal working memory processing. While differences in the areas of the brain engaged in native and second languages have been demonstrated, little is known about the dissociation of verbal working memory associated with native and second languages. We have used H2(15)O positron emission tomography in 14 normal subjects in order to identify the neural correlates selectively involved in working memory of native (Korean) and second (English) languages. All subjects were highly proficient in the native language but poorly proficient in the second language. Cognitive tasks were a two-back task for three kinds of visually presented objects: simple pictures, English words, and Korean words. The anterior portion of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left superior temporal gyrus were activated in working memory for the native language, whereas the posterior portion of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left inferior temporal gyrus were activated in working memory for the second language. The results suggest that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporal lobe may be organized into two discrete, language-related functional systems. Internal phonological processing seems to play a predominant role in working memory processing for the native language with a high proficiency, whereas visual higher order control does so for the second language with a low proficiency. (C)2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

  3. The Emotional Impact of Being Myself: Emotions and Foreign-Language Processing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ivaz, Lela; Costa, Albert; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

    2016-01-01

    Native languages are acquired in emotionally rich contexts, whereas foreign languages are typically acquired in emotionally neutral academic environments. As a consequence of this difference, it has been suggested that bilinguals' emotional reactivity in foreign-language contexts is reduced as compared with native language contexts. In the current…

  4. Signed Language Working Memory Capacity of Signed Language Interpreters and Deaf Signers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Jihong; Napier, Jemina

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of hearing status and age of signed language acquisition on signed language working memory capacity. Professional Auslan (Australian sign language)/English interpreters (hearing native signers and hearing nonnative signers) and deaf Auslan signers (deaf native signers and deaf nonnative signers) completed an…

  5. Native-Language Education: Addressing the Interests of Special Populations within U.S. Federal Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Best, Jane; Dunlap, Allison

    2012-01-01

    This brief provides an overview of three federal laws that address native-language education and illustrates how these federal laws produce different results when coupled with state laws and other regional circumstances. For the purposes of this brief, native-language education refers to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians and…

  6. 77 FR 72832 - Applications for New Awards; Native American and Alaska Native Children in School Program

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-06

    ... School Program AGENCY: Office of English Language Acquisition, Department of Education. Overview... participation in language instruction educational programs. Projects funded under the Native American and Alaska... Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), may support the teaching and studying of Native American languages...

  7. Comparing Native and Non-Native Raters of US Federal Government Speaking Tests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Rachel Lunde

    2013-01-01

    Previous Language Testing research has largely reported that although many raters' characteristics affect their evaluations of language assessments (Reed & Cohen, 2001), being a native speaker or non-native speaker rater does not significantly affect final ratings (Kim, 2009). In Second Language Acquisition, some researchers conclude that…

  8. The influence of language deprivation in early childhood on L2 processing: An ERP comparison of deaf native signers and deaf signers with a delayed language acquisition.

    PubMed

    Skotara, Nils; Salden, Uta; Kügow, Monique; Hänel-Faulhaber, Barbara; Röder, Brigitte

    2012-05-03

    To examine which language function depends on early experience, the present study compared deaf native signers, deaf non-native signers and hearing German native speakers while processing German sentences. The participants watched simple written sentences while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. At the end of each sentence they were asked to judge whether the sentence was correct or not. Two types of violations were introduced in the middle of the sentence: a semantically implausible noun or a violation of subject-verb number agreement. The results showed a similar ERP pattern after semantic violations (an N400 followed by a positivity) in all three groups. After syntactic violations, native German speakers and native signers of German sign language (DGS) with German as second language (L2) showed a left anterior negativity (LAN) followed by a P600, whereas no LAN but a negativity over the right hemisphere instead was found in deaf participants with a delayed onset of first language (L1) acquisition. The P600 of this group had a smaller amplitude and a different scalp distribution as compared to German native speakers. The results of the present study suggest that language deprivation in early childhood alters the cerebral organization of syntactic language processing mechanisms for L2. Semantic language processing instead was unaffected.

  9. Sentence durations and accentedness judgments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bond, Z. S.; Stockmal, Verna; Markus, Dace

    2003-04-01

    Talkers in a second language can frequently be identified as speaking with a foreign accent. It is not clear to what degree a foreign accent represents specific deviations from a target language versus more general characteristics. We examined the identifications of native and non-native talkers by listeners with various amount of knowledge of the target language. Native and non-native speakers of Latvian provided materials. All the non-native talkers spoke Russian as their first language and were long-term residents of Latvia. A listening test, containing sentences excerpted from a short recorded passage, was presented to three groups of listeners: native speakers of Latvian, Russians for whom Latvian was a second language, and Americans with no knowledge of either of the two languages. The listeners were asked to judge whether each utterance was produced by a native or non-native talker. The Latvians identified the non-native talkers very accurately, 88%. The Russians were somewhat less accurate, 83%. The American listeners were least accurate, but still identified the non-native talkers at above chance levels, 62%. Sentence durations correlated with the judgments provided by the American listeners but not with the judgments provided by native or L2 listeners.

  10. When Alphabets Collide: Alphabetic First-Language Speakers' Approach to Speech Production in an Alphabetic Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vokic, Gabriela

    2011-01-01

    This study analysed the extent to which literate native speakers of a language with a phonemic alphabetic orthography rely on their first language (L1) orthography during second language (L2) speech production of a language that has a morphophonemic alphabetic orthography. The production of the English flapping rule by 15 adult native speakers of…

  11. An Eye Tracking Study on the Perception and Comprehension of Unimodal and Bimodal Linguistic Inputs by Deaf Adolescents

    PubMed Central

    Mastrantuono, Eliana; Saldaña, David; Rodríguez-Ortiz, Isabel R.

    2017-01-01

    An eye tracking experiment explored the gaze behavior of deaf individuals when perceiving language in spoken and sign language only, and in sign-supported speech (SSS). Participants were deaf (n = 25) and hearing (n = 25) Spanish adolescents. Deaf students were prelingually profoundly deaf individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) used by age 5 or earlier, or prelingually profoundly deaf native signers with deaf parents. The effectiveness of SSS has rarely been tested within the same group of children for discourse-level comprehension. Here, video-recorded texts, including spatial descriptions, were alternately transmitted in spoken language, sign language and SSS. The capacity of these communicative systems to equalize comprehension in deaf participants with that of spoken language in hearing participants was tested. Within-group analyses of deaf participants tested if the bimodal linguistic input of SSS favored discourse comprehension compared to unimodal languages. Deaf participants with CIs achieved equal comprehension to hearing controls in all communicative systems while deaf native signers with no CIs achieved equal comprehension to hearing participants if tested in their native sign language. Comprehension of SSS was not increased compared to spoken language, even when spatial information was communicated. Eye movements of deaf and hearing participants were tracked and data of dwell times spent looking at the face or body area of the sign model were analyzed. Within-group analyses focused on differences between native and non-native signers. Dwell times of hearing participants were equally distributed across upper and lower areas of the face while deaf participants mainly looked at the mouth area; this could enable information to be obtained from mouthings in sign language and from lip-reading in SSS and spoken language. Few fixations were directed toward the signs, although these were more frequent when spatial language was transmitted. Both native and non-native signers looked mainly at the face when perceiving sign language, although non-native signers looked significantly more at the body than native signers. This distribution of gaze fixations suggested that deaf individuals – particularly native signers – mainly perceived signs through peripheral vision. PMID:28680416

  12. An Eye Tracking Study on the Perception and Comprehension of Unimodal and Bimodal Linguistic Inputs by Deaf Adolescents.

    PubMed

    Mastrantuono, Eliana; Saldaña, David; Rodríguez-Ortiz, Isabel R

    2017-01-01

    An eye tracking experiment explored the gaze behavior of deaf individuals when perceiving language in spoken and sign language only, and in sign-supported speech (SSS). Participants were deaf ( n = 25) and hearing ( n = 25) Spanish adolescents. Deaf students were prelingually profoundly deaf individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) used by age 5 or earlier, or prelingually profoundly deaf native signers with deaf parents. The effectiveness of SSS has rarely been tested within the same group of children for discourse-level comprehension. Here, video-recorded texts, including spatial descriptions, were alternately transmitted in spoken language, sign language and SSS. The capacity of these communicative systems to equalize comprehension in deaf participants with that of spoken language in hearing participants was tested. Within-group analyses of deaf participants tested if the bimodal linguistic input of SSS favored discourse comprehension compared to unimodal languages. Deaf participants with CIs achieved equal comprehension to hearing controls in all communicative systems while deaf native signers with no CIs achieved equal comprehension to hearing participants if tested in their native sign language. Comprehension of SSS was not increased compared to spoken language, even when spatial information was communicated. Eye movements of deaf and hearing participants were tracked and data of dwell times spent looking at the face or body area of the sign model were analyzed. Within-group analyses focused on differences between native and non-native signers. Dwell times of hearing participants were equally distributed across upper and lower areas of the face while deaf participants mainly looked at the mouth area; this could enable information to be obtained from mouthings in sign language and from lip-reading in SSS and spoken language. Few fixations were directed toward the signs, although these were more frequent when spatial language was transmitted. Both native and non-native signers looked mainly at the face when perceiving sign language, although non-native signers looked significantly more at the body than native signers. This distribution of gaze fixations suggested that deaf individuals - particularly native signers - mainly perceived signs through peripheral vision.

  13. Native American Youth Discourses on Language Shift and Retention: Ideological Cross-Currents and Their Implications for Language Planning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.; Romero-Little, Mary Eunice; Zepeda, Ofelia

    2006-01-01

    This paper examines preliminary findings from an ongoing federally funded study of Native language shift and retention in the US Southwest, focusing on in-depth ethnographic interviews with Navajo youth. We begin with an overview of Native American linguistic ecologies, noting the dynamic, variegated and complex nature of language proficiencies…

  14. Competence linguistique et environnement social (Linguistic Competence and Social Environment).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laflamme, Simon; Berger, Jacques

    1988-01-01

    A study found native French-speaking and native English-speaking university students had similar writing skill levels and error patterns despite their position as language-minority or language-majority members of society. It is concluded that language competency is not necessarily linked to language difficulty or to the position of the language.…

  15. A Review of the Research Literature on the Influences of Culturally Based Education on the Academic Performance of Native American Students. Final Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demmert, William G., Jr.; Towner, John C.

    There is a widespread, firm belief among Native American communities (American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians) and among professional Native educators that meaningful educational experiences require an appropriate language and cultural context. From their perspective, such context supports the traditions, knowledge, and language(s) of…

  16. Overlap and Differences in Brain Networks Underlying the Processing of Complex Sentence Structures in Second Language Users Compared with Native Speakers.

    PubMed

    Weber, Kirsten; Luther, Lisa; Indefrey, Peter; Hagoort, Peter

    2016-05-01

    When we learn a second language later in life, do we integrate it with the established neural networks in place for the first language or is at least a partially new network recruited? While there is evidence that simple grammatical structures in a second language share a system with the native language, the story becomes more multifaceted for complex sentence structures. In this study, we investigated the underlying brain networks in native speakers compared with proficient second language users while processing complex sentences. As hypothesized, complex structures were processed by the same large-scale inferior frontal and middle temporal language networks of the brain in the second language, as seen in native speakers. These effects were seen both in activations and task-related connectivity patterns. Furthermore, the second language users showed increased task-related connectivity from inferior frontal to inferior parietal regions of the brain, regions related to attention and cognitive control, suggesting less automatic processing for these structures in a second language.

  17. Spanish Native Language Arts Staff Development Turnkey Training Program, Spring 1989. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.

    The Spanish Native Language Arts Development Turnkey Training Program attempted to create a network of secondary school administrators and teachers of Spanish acquainted with current research and methodology and able to provide staff development in native language arts for teachers of native Spanish speakers of limited English proficiency. Nine…

  18. Hierarchical levels of representation in language prediction: The influence of first language acquisition in highly proficient bilinguals.

    PubMed

    Molinaro, Nicola; Giannelli, Francesco; Caffarra, Sendy; Martin, Clara

    2017-07-01

    Language comprehension is largely supported by predictive mechanisms that account for the ease and speed with which communication unfolds. Both native and proficient non-native speakers can efficiently handle contextual cues to generate reliable linguistic expectations. However, the link between the variability of the linguistic background of the speaker and the hierarchical format of the representations predicted is still not clear. We here investigate whether native language exposure to typologically highly diverse languages (Spanish and Basque) affects the way early balanced bilingual speakers carry out language predictions. During Spanish sentence comprehension, participants developed predictions of words the form of which (noun ending) could be either diagnostic of grammatical gender values (transparent) or totally ambiguous (opaque). We measured electrophysiological prediction effects time-locked both to the target word and to its determiner, with the former being expected or unexpected. Event-related (N200-N400) and oscillatory activity in the low beta-band (15-17Hz) frequency channel showed that both Spanish and Basque natives optimally carry out lexical predictions independently of word transparency. Crucially, in contrast to Spanish natives, Basque natives displayed visual word form predictions for transparent words, in consistency with the relevance that noun endings (post-nominal suffixes) play in their native language. We conclude that early language exposure largely shapes prediction mechanisms, so that bilinguals reading in their second language rely on the distributional regularities that are highly relevant in their first language. More importantly, we show that individual linguistic experience hierarchically modulates the format of the predicted representation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Differential relationships between language skills and working memory in Turkish-Dutch and native-Dutch first-graders from low-income families.

    PubMed

    Bosman, Anna M T; Janssen, Marije

    2017-01-01

    In the Netherlands, Turkish-Dutch children constitute a substantial group of children who learn to speak Dutch at the age of four after they learned to speak Turkish. These children are generally academically less successful. Academic success appears to be affected by both language proficiency and working memory skill. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between language skills and working memory in Turkish-Dutch and native-Dutch children from low-income families. The findings revealed reduced Dutch language and Dutch working-memory skills for Turkish-Dutch children compared to native-Dutch children. Working memory in native-Dutch children was unrelated to their language skills, whereas in Turkish-Dutch children strong correlations were found both between Turkish language skills and Turkish working-memory performance and between Dutch language skills and Dutch working-memory performance. Reduced language proficiencies and reduced working-memory skills appear to manifest itself in strong relationships between working memory and language skills in Turkish-Dutch children. The findings seem to indicate that limited verbal working-memory and language deficiencies in bilingual children may have reciprocal effects that strongly warrants adequate language education.

  20. Can Non-Interactive Language Input Benefit Young Second-Language Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Au, Terry Kit-fong; Chan, Winnie Wailan; Cheng, Liao; Siegel, Linda S.; Tso, Ricky Van Yip

    2015-01-01

    To fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible--e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language--audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input…

  1. Native Language Teachers in a Struggle for Language and Cultural Survival

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suina, Joseph H.

    2004-01-01

    Language shift among New Mexico Pueblo Indians threatens the loss of their oral-based cultures. Language revival for many Pueblos has resulted in school programs in which students are easily accessible and teachers are accountable to tribes rather than the state. Finding "Pueblo space" for the Native language in school, where it was…

  2. Pre-attentive sensitivity to vowel duration reveals native phonology and predicts learning of second-language sounds.

    PubMed

    Chládková, Kateřina; Escudero, Paola; Lipski, Silvia C

    2013-09-01

    In some languages (e.g. Czech), changes in vowel duration affect word meaning, while in others (e.g. Spanish) they do not. Yet for other languages (e.g. Dutch), the linguistic role of vowel duration remains unclear. To reveal whether Dutch represents vowel length in its phonology, we compared auditory pre-attentive duration processing in native and non-native vowels across Dutch, Czech, and Spanish. Dutch duration sensitivity patterned with Czech but was larger than Spanish in the native vowel, while it was smaller than Czech and Spanish in the non-native vowel. An interpretation of these findings suggests that in Dutch, duration is used phonemically but it might be relevant for the identity of certain native vowels only. Furthermore, the finding that Spanish listeners are more sensitive to duration in non-native than in native vowels indicates that a lack of duration differences in one's native language could be beneficial for second-language learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Speech-sound duration processing in a second language is specific to phonetic categories.

    PubMed

    Nenonen, Sari; Shestakova, Anna; Huotilainen, Minna; Näätänen, Risto

    2005-01-01

    The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential was used to determine the effect of native language, Russian, on the processing of speech-sound duration in a second language, Finnish, that uses duration as a cue for phonological distinction. The native-language effect was compared with Finnish vowels that either can or cannot be categorized using the Russian phonological system. The results showed that the duration-change MMN for the Finnish sounds that could be categorized through Russian was reduced in comparison with that for the Finnish sounds having no Russian equivalent. In the Finnish sounds that can be mapped through the Russian phonological system, the facilitation of the duration processing may be inhibited by the native Russian language. However, for the sounds that have no Russian equivalent, new vowel categories independent of the native Russian language have apparently been established, enabling a native-like duration processing of Finnish.

  4. Teaching American Indian and Alaska Native Languages in the Schools: What Has Been Learned. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peacock, Thomas D.; Day, Donald R.

    This digest considers issues, possible solutions, and successful efforts in dealing with Native language loss, maintenance, and restoration in American Indian and Alaska Native communities and schools. The preservation and maintenance of the remaining 210 tribal languages is a major cultural and education concern in Native communities. The problem…

  5. Nativization processes in L1 Esperanto.

    PubMed

    Bergen, B K

    2001-10-01

    The artificial language Esperanto is spoken not only as a second language, by its proponents, but also as a native language by children of some of those proponents. The present study is a preliminary description of some characteristics of the Native Esperanto (NE) of eight speakers, ranging in age from six to fourteen years. As such, it is the first of its kind--previous works on NE are either theoretical treatises or individual case studies. We find, at least for the eight subjects studied, both bilingualism and nativization effects, differentiating native from non-native Esperanto speech. Among these effects are loss or modification of the accusative case, phonological reduction, attrition of the tense/aspect system, and pronominal cliticization. The theoretical ramifications are discussed, particularly with regard to universals of language acquisition and the effects of expressive requirements of language.

  6. Adaptive Communication: Languages with More Non-Native Speakers Tend to Have Fewer Word Forms

    PubMed Central

    Bentz, Christian; Verkerk, Annemarie; Kiela, Douwe; Hill, Felix; Buttery, Paula

    2015-01-01

    Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity). Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language. PMID:26083380

  7. Native Language Spoken as a Risk Marker for Tooth Decay.

    PubMed

    Carson, J; Walker, L A; Sanders, B J; Jones, J E; Weddell, J A; Tomlin, A M

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess dmft, the number of decayed, missing (due to caries), and/ or filled primary teeth, of English-speaking and non-English speaking patients of a hospital based pediatric dental clinic under the age of 72 months to determine if native language is a risk marker for tooth decay. Records from an outpatient dental clinic which met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Patient demographics and dmft score were recorded, and the patients were separated into three groups by the native language spoken by their parents: English, Spanish and all other languages. A total of 419 charts were assessed: 253 English-speaking, 126 Spanish-speaking, and 40 other native languages. After accounting for patient characteristics, dmft was significantly higher for the other language group than for the English-speaking (p<0.001) and Spanish-speaking groups (p<0.05), however the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking groups were not different from each other (p>0.05). Those patients under 72 months of age whose parents' native language is not English or Spanish, have the highest risk for increased dmft when compared to English and Spanish speaking patients. Providers should consider taking additional time to educate patients and their parents, in their native language, on the importance of routine dental care and oral hygiene.

  8. The foreign language effect on the self-serving bias: A field experiment in the high school classroom.

    PubMed

    van Hugten, Joeri; van Witteloostuijn, Arjen

    2018-01-01

    The rise of bilingual education triggers an important question: which language is preferred for a particular school activity? Our field experiment (n = 120) shows that students (aged 13-15) who process feedback in non-native English have greater self-serving bias than students who process feedback in their native Dutch. By contrast, literature on the foreign-language emotionality effect suggests a weaker self-serving bias in the non-native language, so our result adds nuance to that literature. The result is important to schools as it suggests that teachers may be able to reduce students' defensiveness and demotivation by communicating negative feedback in the native language, and teachers may be able to increase students' confidence and motivation by communicating positive feedback in the foreign language.

  9. Deaf children's non-verbal working memory is impacted by their language experience

    PubMed Central

    Marshall, Chloë; Jones, Anna; Denmark, Tanya; Mason, Kathryn; Atkinson, Joanna; Botting, Nicola; Morgan, Gary

    2015-01-01

    Several recent studies have suggested that deaf children perform more poorly on working memory tasks compared to hearing children, but these studies have not been able to determine whether this poorer performance arises directly from deafness itself or from deaf children's reduced language exposure. The issue remains unresolved because findings come mostly from (1) tasks that are verbal as opposed to non-verbal, and (2) involve deaf children who use spoken communication and therefore may have experienced impoverished input and delayed language acquisition. This is in contrast to deaf children who have been exposed to a sign language since birth from Deaf parents (and who therefore have native language-learning opportunities within a normal developmental timeframe for language acquisition). A more direct, and therefore stronger, test of the hypothesis that the type and quality of language exposure impact working memory is to use measures of non-verbal working memory (NVWM) and to compare hearing children with two groups of deaf signing children: those who have had native exposure to a sign language, and those who have experienced delayed acquisition and reduced quality of language input compared to their native-signing peers. In this study we investigated the relationship between NVWM and language in three groups aged 6–11 years: hearing children (n = 28), deaf children who were native users of British Sign Language (BSL; n = 8), and deaf children who used BSL but who were not native signers (n = 19). We administered a battery of non-verbal reasoning, NVWM, and language tasks. We examined whether the groups differed on NVWM scores, and whether scores on language tasks predicted scores on NVWM tasks. For the two executive-loaded NVWM tasks included in our battery, the non-native signers performed less accurately than the native signer and hearing groups (who did not differ from one another). Multiple regression analysis revealed that scores on the vocabulary measure predicted scores on those two executive-loaded NVWM tasks (with age and non-verbal reasoning partialled out). Our results suggest that whatever the language modality—spoken or signed—rich language experience from birth, and the good language skills that result from this early age of acquisition, play a critical role in the development of NVWM and in performance on NVWM tasks. PMID:25999875

  10. Masking Release for Igbo and English.

    PubMed

    Ebem, Deborah U; Desloge, Joseph G; Reed, Charlotte M; Braida, Louis D; Uguru, Joy O

    2013-09-01

    In this research, we explored the effect of noise interruption rate on speech intelligibility. Specifically, we used the Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) procedure with the original HINT stimuli (English) and Igbo stimuli to assess speech reception ability in interrupted noise. For a given noise level, the HINT test provides an estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required for 50%-correct speech intelligibility. The SNR for 50%-correct intelligibility changes depending upon the interruption rate of the noise. This phenomenon (called Masking Release) has been studied extensively in English but not for Igbo - which is an African tonal language spoken predominantly in South Eastern Nigeria. This experiment explored and compared the phenomenon of Masking Release for (i) native English speakers listening to English, (ii) native Igbo speakers listening to English, and (iii) native Igbo speakers listening to Igbo. Since Igbo is a tonal language and English is a non-tonal language, this allowed us to compare Masking Release patterns on native speakers of tonal and non-tonal languages. Our results for native English speakers listening to English HINT show that the SNR and the masking release are orderly and consistent with other English HINT data for English speakers. Our result for Igbo speakers listening to English HINT sentences show that there is greater variability in results across the different Igbo listeners than across the English listeners. This result likely reflects different levels of ability in the English language across the Igbo listeners. The masking release values in dB are less than for English listeners. Our results for Igbo speakers listening to Igbo show that in general, the SNRs for Igbo sentences are lower than for English/English and Igbo/English. This means that the Igbo listeners could understand 50% of the Igbo sentences at SNRs less than those required for English sentences by either native or non-native listeners. This result can be explained by the fact that the perception of Igbo utterances by Igbo subjects may have been aided by the prediction of tonal and vowel harmony features existent in the Igbo language. In agreement with other studies, our results also show that in a noisy environment listeners are able to perceive their native language better than a second language. The ability of native language speakers to perceive their language better than a second language in a noisy environment may be attributed to the fact that: Native speakers are more familiar with the sounds of their language than second language speakers.One of the features of language is that it is predictable hence even in noise a native speaker may be able to predict a succeeding word that is scarcely audible. These contextual effects are facilitated by familiarity.

  11. Does Attending an English-Language University Diminish Abilities in the Native Language? Data from Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayçiçegi-Dinn, Ayse; SISman-Bal, Simge; Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L.

    2017-01-01

    Does a native language suffer when students take all of their classes in a foreign language, even in their home country? Turkish students studying psychology, economics, or English literature with English as the language of instruction (N = 91) were studied across a three-year period. Test scores, word fluency measures, and self-ratings were…

  12. Native-likeness in second language lexical categorization reflects individual language history and linguistic community norms.

    PubMed

    Zinszer, Benjamin D; Malt, Barbara C; Ameel, Eef; Li, Ping

    2014-01-01

    SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS FACE A DUAL CHALLENGE IN VOCABULARY LEARNING: First, they must learn new names for the 100s of common objects that they encounter every day. Second, after some time, they discover that these names do not generalize according to the same rules used in their first language. Lexical categories frequently differ between languages (Malt et al., 1999), and successful language learning requires that bilinguals learn not just new words but new patterns for labeling objects. In the present study, Chinese learners of English with varying language histories and resident in two different language settings (Beijing, China and State College, PA, USA) named 67 photographs of common serving dishes (e.g., cups, plates, and bowls) in both Chinese and English. Participants' response patterns were quantified in terms of similarity to the responses of functionally monolingual native speakers of Chinese and English and showed the cross-language convergence previously observed in simultaneous bilinguals (Ameel et al., 2005). For English, bilinguals' names for each individual stimulus were also compared to the dominant name generated by the native speakers for the object. Using two statistical models, we disentangle the effects of several highly interactive variables from bilinguals' language histories and the naming norms of the native speaker community to predict inter-personal and inter-item variation in L2 (English) native-likeness. We find only a modest age of earliest exposure effect on L2 category native-likeness, but importantly, we find that classroom instruction in L2 negatively impacts L2 category native-likeness, even after significant immersion experience. We also identify a significant role of both L1 and L2 norms in bilinguals' L2 picture naming responses.

  13. Native-likeness in second language lexical categorization reflects individual language history and linguistic community norms

    PubMed Central

    Zinszer, Benjamin D.; Malt, Barbara C.; Ameel, Eef; Li, Ping

    2014-01-01

    Second language learners face a dual challenge in vocabulary learning: First, they must learn new names for the 100s of common objects that they encounter every day. Second, after some time, they discover that these names do not generalize according to the same rules used in their first language. Lexical categories frequently differ between languages (Malt et al., 1999), and successful language learning requires that bilinguals learn not just new words but new patterns for labeling objects. In the present study, Chinese learners of English with varying language histories and resident in two different language settings (Beijing, China and State College, PA, USA) named 67 photographs of common serving dishes (e.g., cups, plates, and bowls) in both Chinese and English. Participants’ response patterns were quantified in terms of similarity to the responses of functionally monolingual native speakers of Chinese and English and showed the cross-language convergence previously observed in simultaneous bilinguals (Ameel et al., 2005). For English, bilinguals’ names for each individual stimulus were also compared to the dominant name generated by the native speakers for the object. Using two statistical models, we disentangle the effects of several highly interactive variables from bilinguals’ language histories and the naming norms of the native speaker community to predict inter-personal and inter-item variation in L2 (English) native-likeness. We find only a modest age of earliest exposure effect on L2 category native-likeness, but importantly, we find that classroom instruction in L2 negatively impacts L2 category native-likeness, even after significant immersion experience. We also identify a significant role of both L1 and L2 norms in bilinguals’ L2 picture naming responses. PMID:25386149

  14. When the Native Is Also a Non-Native: "Retrodicting" the Complexity of Language Teacher Cognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aslan, Erhan

    2015-01-01

    The impact of native (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) identities on second or foreign language teachers' cognition and practices in the classroom has mainly been investigated in ESL/EFL contexts. Using complexity theory as a framework, this case study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by presenting a foreign language teacher in the…

  15. Age of language acquisition and cortical language organization in multilingual patients undergoing awake brain mapping.

    PubMed

    Fernández-Coello, Alejandro; Havas, Viktória; Juncadella, Montserrat; Sierpowska, Joanna; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Gabarrós, Andreu

    2017-06-01

    OBJECTIVE Most knowledge regarding the anatomical organization of multilingualism is based on aphasiology and functional imaging studies. However, the results have still to be validated by the gold standard approach, namely electrical stimulation mapping (ESM) during awake neurosurgical procedures. In this ESM study the authors describe language representation in a highly specific group of 13 multilingual individuals, focusing on how age of acquisition may influence the cortical organization of language. METHODS Thirteen patients who had a high degree of proficiency in multiple languages and were harboring lesions within the dominant, left hemisphere underwent ESM while being operated on under awake conditions. Demographic and language data were recorded in relation to age of language acquisition (for native languages and early- and late-acquired languages), neuropsychological pre- and postoperative language testing, the number and location of language sites, and overlapping distribution in terms of language acquisition time. Lesion growth patterns and histopathological characteristics, location, and size were also recorded. The distribution of language sites was analyzed with respect to age of acquisition and overlap. RESULTS The functional language-related sites were distributed in the frontal (55%), temporal (29%), and parietal lobes (16%). The total number of native language sites was 47. Early-acquired languages (including native languages) were represented in 97 sites (55 overlapped) and late-acquired languages in 70 sites (45 overlapped). The overlapping distribution was 20% for early-early, 71% for early-late, and 9% for late-late. The average lesion size (maximum diameter) was 3.3 cm. There were 5 fast-growing and 7 slow-growing lesions. CONCLUSIONS Cortical language distribution in multilingual patients is not homogeneous, and it is influenced by age of acquisition. Early-acquired languages have a greater cortical representation than languages acquired later. The prevalent native and early-acquired languages are largely represented within the perisylvian left hemisphere frontoparietotemporal areas, and the less prevalent late-acquired languages are mostly overlapped with them.

  16. The Study of Foreign Language Teachers-- Teacher Efficacy and Native Speakership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liaw, En-Chong

    2009-01-01

    This study aims at examining the differences between native and nonnative foreign language teachers at a major northeast university. The primary areas of investigation are "teacher efficacy" and "teacher perceptions of language teaching." The results of this study suggested that both nativeness and wide repertoire of teaching…

  17. Early Mathematics Achievement Trajectories: English-Language Learner and Native English-Speaker Estimates, Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey

    PubMed Central

    Roberts, Greg; Bryant, Diane

    2012-01-01

    This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 1998 –1999, to (a) estimate mathematics achievement trends through 5th grade in the population of students who are English-language proficient by the end of kindergarten, (b) compare trends across primary language groups within this English-language proficient group, (c) evaluate the effect of low socioeconomic status (SES) for English-language proficient students and within different primary language groups, and (d) estimate language-group trends in specific mathematics skill areas. The group of English-language proficient English-language learners (ELLs) was disaggregated into native Spanish speakers and native speakers of Asian languages, the 2 most prevalent groups of ELLs in the United States. Results of multilevel latent variable growth modeling suggest that primary language may be less salient than SES in explaining the mathematics achievement of English-language proficient ELLs. The study also found that mathematics-related school readiness is a key factor in explaining subsequent achievement differences and that the readiness gap is prevalent across the range of mathematics-related skills. PMID:21574702

  18. American Indian Language Proficiency Assessment; Considerations and Resources.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arizona State Dept. of Education, Phoenix.

    A primary concern affecting the more than 300 American Indian tribes and their educational institutions is the promotion, maintenance, and preservation of their approximately 200 native languages. The nature of language use must be documented and assessed to ascertain whether tribal members, particularly children, possess native language skills…

  19. Metacognitive Language in Bilingual Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campoverde, Cecilia

    An exploratory study was conducted to identify the degree of language performance in native and bilingual English- and Spanish-speaking children under circumstances of native and bilingual language instruction. The study is a first step in testing the hypothesis that the underachievement of children in English-as-a-second-language programs and…

  20. Negotiating Sociolinguistic Borderlands--Native Youth Language Practices in Space, Time, and Place

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.

    2014-01-01

    Drawing on the work of Philip Deloria (2004) and recent explorations of "American Indian languages in unexpected places" (Webster & Peterson, 2011a), this article challenges received expectations of Native American languages and language users as "rural" and physically distant and of "urban" Indigenous language…

  1. 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…

  2. Explicit and Implicit Second Language Training Differentially Affect the Achievement of Native-like Brain Activation Patterns

    PubMed Central

    Morgan-Short, Kara; Steinhauer, Karsten; Sanz, Cristina; Ullman, Michael T.

    2013-01-01

    It is widely believed that adults cannot learn a foreign language in the same way that children learn a first language. However, recent evidence suggests that adult learners of a foreign language can come to rely on native-like language brain mechanisms. Here, we show that the type of language training crucially impacts this outcome. We used an artificial language paradigm to examine longitudinally whether explicit training (that approximates traditional grammar-focused classroom settings) and implicit training (that approximates immersion settings) differentially affect neural (electrophysiological) and behavioral (performance) measures of syntactic processing. Results showed that performance of explicitly and implicitly trained groups did not differ at either low or high proficiency. In contrast, electrophysiological (ERP) measures revealed striking differences between the groups’ neural activity at both proficiency levels in response to syntactic violations. Implicit training yielded an N400 at low proficiency, whereas at high proficiency, it elicited a pattern typical of native speakers: an anterior negativity followed by a P600 accompanied by a late anterior negativity. Explicit training, by contrast, yielded no significant effects at low proficiency and only an anterior positivity followed by a P600 at high proficiency. Although the P600 is reminiscent of native-like processing, this response pattern as a whole is not. Thus, only implicit training led to an electrophysiological signature typical of native speakers. Overall, the results suggest that adult foreign language learners can come to rely on native-like language brain mechanisms, but that the conditions under which the language is learned may be crucial in attaining this goal. PMID:21861686

  3. The Role of Native-Language Knowledge in the Perception of Casual Speech in a Second Language

    PubMed Central

    Mitterer, Holger; Tuinman, Annelie

    2012-01-01

    Casual speech processes, such as /t/-reduction, make word recognition harder. Additionally, word recognition is also harder in a second language (L2). Combining these challenges, we investigated whether L2 learners have recourse to knowledge from their native language (L1) when dealing with casual speech processes in their L2. In three experiments, production and perception of /t/-reduction was investigated. An initial production experiment showed that /t/-reduction occurred in both languages and patterned similarly in proper nouns but differed when /t/ was a verbal inflection. Two perception experiments compared the performance of German learners of Dutch with that of native speakers for nouns and verbs. Mirroring the production patterns, German learners’ performance strongly resembled that of native Dutch listeners when the reduced /t/ was part of a word stem, but deviated where /t/ was a verbal inflection. These results suggest that a casual speech process in a second language is problematic for learners when the process is not known from the leaner’s native language, similar to what has been observed for phoneme contrasts. PMID:22811675

  4. Item Performance Across Native Language Groups on the Test of English as a Foreign Language. TOEFL Research Reports, 9.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alderman, Donald L.; Holland, Paul W.

    The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was examined for instances in which the item performance of examinees with comparable scores differed according to their native languages. A chi-square procedure, sensitive to deviations of less than ten percent from the expected frequencies of correct item responses across several language groups,…

  5. The Impact of Input Quality on Early Sign Development in Native and Non-Native Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

    2016-01-01

    There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the…

  6. The foreign language effect on the self-serving bias: A field experiment in the high school classroom

    PubMed Central

    van Witteloostuijn, Arjen

    2018-01-01

    The rise of bilingual education triggers an important question: which language is preferred for a particular school activity? Our field experiment (n = 120) shows that students (aged 13–15) who process feedback in non-native English have greater self-serving bias than students who process feedback in their native Dutch. By contrast, literature on the foreign-language emotionality effect suggests a weaker self-serving bias in the non-native language, so our result adds nuance to that literature. The result is important to schools as it suggests that teachers may be able to reduce students’ defensiveness and demotivation by communicating negative feedback in the native language, and teachers may be able to increase students’ confidence and motivation by communicating positive feedback in the foreign language. PMID:29425224

  7. Adult Learners of English Interacting with Native Speaker Teachers and Non-Native Speaker Teachers: Exploring Differences in Students' Language Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nadeau, Melody Hallenbeck

    2014-01-01

    This mixed-methods study examined the lived experience of adult English Language Learners (ELLs) in classrooms led by native speaking teachers, compared with their experience in classrooms led by non-native teachers. The socio-cognitive approach to language and emergent common ground framed the development of the English classroom as a Community…

  8. Decoding the Myths of the Native and Non-Native English Speakers Teachers (NESTs & NNESTs) on Saudi EFL Tertiary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alghofaili, Noor Motlaq; Elyas, Tariq

    2017-01-01

    Many people believe the myth that being taught by a native speaker is the best way to learn a language. This belief has influenced many Saudi schools, language institutes, and universities to include the nativeness factor as part of a language instructor's job requirements. Using an open ended questionnaire, this study aims to investigate the…

  9. Tact Training versus Bidirectional Intraverbal Training in Teaching a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dounavi, Katerina

    2014-01-01

    The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal…

  10. Native Language Self-Concept and Reading Self-Concept: Same or Different?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arens, A. Katrin; Yeung, Alexander Seeshing; Hasselhorn, Marcus

    2014-01-01

    In assessing verbal academic self-concept with preadolescents, researchers have used scales for students' self-concepts in reading and in their native language interchangeably. The authors conducted 3 studies with German students to test whether reading and German (i.e., native language) self-concepts can be treated as the same or different…

  11. Infant diet-related changes in syllable processing between 4 and 5 months: Implications for developing native language sensitivity

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Since maturational processes triggering increased attunement to native language features in early infancy are sensitive to dietary factors, infant-diet related differences in brain processing of native-language speech stimuli might indicate variations in onset of this tuning process. We measured cor...

  12. Native and Novel Language Prosodic Sensitivity in English-Speaking Children with and without Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Alida; Lin, Candise Y.; Wang, Min

    2013-01-01

    Children with reading disability and normal reading development were compared in their ability to discriminate native (English) and novel language (Mandarin) from nonlinguistic sounds. Children's preference for native versus novel language sounds and for disyllables containing dominant trochaic versus non-dominant iambic stress patterns was also…

  13. The Interpretability Hypothesis: Evidence from Wh-Interrogatives in Second Language Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsimpli, Ianthi Maria; Dimitrakopoulou, Maria

    2007-01-01

    The second language acquisition (SLA) literature reports numerous studies of proficient second language (L2) speakers who diverge significantly from native speakers despite the evidence offered by the L2 input. Recent SLA theories have attempted to account for native speaker/non-native speaker (NS/NNS) divergence by arguing for the dissociation…

  14. Spelling Development in Arabic as a Foreign Language among Native Hebrew Speaking Pupils

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russak, Susie; Fragman, Alon

    2014-01-01

    It has been suggested that linguistic proximity affects the ease of acquisition between typologically similar languages, due to the fact that the languages have shared phonological and orthographic properties (Koda, 2008). Thus, a native Hebrew speaker learning Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) would be expected to easily develop linguistic…

  15. Cognitive Process in Second Language Reading: Transfer of L1 Reading Skills and Strategies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koda, Keiko

    1988-01-01

    Experiments with skilled readers (N=83) from four native-language orthographic backgrounds examined the effects of: (1) blocked visual or auditory information on lexical decision-making; and (2) heterographic homophones on reading comprehension. Native and second language transfer does occur in second language reading, and orthographic structure…

  16. Politeness Strategies among Native and Romanian Speakers of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ambrose, Dominic

    1995-01-01

    Background: Politeness strategies vary from language to language and within each society. At times the wrong strategies can have disastrous effects. This can occur when languages are used by non-native speakers or when they are used outside of their own home linguistic context. Purpose: This study of spoken language compares the politeness…

  17. Pitch Ability as an Aptitude for Tone Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowles, Anita R.; Chang, Charles B.; Karuzis, Valerie P.

    2016-01-01

    Tone languages such as Mandarin use voice pitch to signal lexical contrasts, presenting a challenge for second/foreign language (L2) learners whose native languages do not use pitch in this manner. The present study examined components of an aptitude for mastering L2 lexical tone. Native English speakers with no previous tone language experience…

  18. Moving across Languages, Literacies, and Schooling Traditions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Leslie C.

    2011-01-01

    Millions of children participate in both Qur'anic schooling and public schooling. For the majority, this double schooling entails learning (in) two different non-native languages. Seeking to understand the double-schooling experiences of Muslim children for whom the language of literacy in both of their schools is not their native language, Moore…

  19. Listeners Retune Phoneme Categories across Languages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reinisch, Eva; Weber, Andrea; Mitterer, Holger

    2013-01-01

    Native listeners adapt to noncanonically produced speech by retuning phoneme boundaries by means of lexical knowledge. We asked whether a second language lexicon can also guide category retuning and whether perceptual learning transfers from a second language (L2) to the native language (L1). During a Dutch lexical-decision task, German and Dutch…

  20. Effects of tonal language background on tests of temporal sequencing in children.

    PubMed

    Mukari, Siti Zamratol-Mai S; Yu, Xuan; Ishak, Wan Syafira; Mazlan, Rafidah

    2015-01-01

    The aims of the present study were to determine the effects of language background on the performance of the pitch pattern sequence test (PPST) and duration pattern sequence test (DPST). As temporal order sequencing may be affected by age and working memory, these factors were also studied. Performance of tonal and non-tonal language speakers on PPST and DPST were compared. Twenty-eight native Mandarin (tonal language) speakers and twenty-nine native Malay (non-tonal language) speakers between seven to nine years old participated in this study. The results revealed that relative to native Malay speakers, native Mandarin speakers demonstrated better scores on the PPST in both humming and verbal labeling responses. However, a similar language effect was not apparent in the DPST. An age effect was only significant in the PPST (verbal labeling). Finally, no significant effect of working memory was found on the PPST and the DPST. These findings suggest that the PPST is affected by tonal language background, and highlight the importance of developing different normative values for tonal and non-tonal language speakers.

  1. Do grammatical-gender distinctions learned in the second language influence native-language lexical processing?

    PubMed Central

    Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Smith, Samantha

    2015-01-01

    How does learning a second language influence native language processing? In the present study, we examined whether knowledge of Spanish – a language that marks grammatical gender on inanimate nouns – influences lexical processing in English – a language that does not mark grammatical gender. We tested three groups of adult English native speakers: monolinguals, emergent bilinguals with high exposure to Spanish, and emergent bilinguals with low exposure to Spanish. Participants engaged in an associative learning task in English where they learned to associate names of inanimate objects with proper names. For half of the pairs, the grammatical gender of the noun’s Spanish translation matched the gender of the proper name (e.g., corn-Patrick). For half of the pairs, the grammatical gender of the noun’s Spanish translation mismatched the gender of the proper noun (e.g., beach-William). High-Spanish-exposure bilinguals (but not monolinguals or low-Spanish-exposure bilinguals) were less accurate at retrieving proper names for gender-incongruent than for gender-congruent pairs. This indicates that second-language morphosyntactic information is activated during native-language processing, even when the second language is acquired later in life. PMID:26977134

  2. A Perceptual Phonetic Similarity Space for Languages: Evidence from Five Native Language Listener Groups1

    PubMed Central

    Bradlow, Ann; Clopper, Cynthia; Smiljanic, Rajka; Walter, Mary Ann

    2010-01-01

    The goal of the present study was to devise a means of representing languages in a perceptual similarity space based on their overall phonetic similarity. In Experiment 1, native English listeners performed a free classification task in which they grouped 17 diverse languages based on their perceived phonetic similarity. A similarity matrix of the grouping patterns was then submitted to clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses. In Experiment 2, an independent group of native English listeners sorted the group of 17 languages in terms of their distance from English. Experiment 3 repeated Experiment 2 with four groups of non-native English listeners: Dutch, Mandarin, Turkish and Korean listeners. Taken together, the results of these three experiments represent a step towards establishing an approach to assessing the overall phonetic similarity of languages. This approach could potentially provide the basis for developing predictions regarding foreign-accented speech intelligibility for various listener groups, and regarding speech perception accuracy in the context of background noise in various languages. PMID:21179563

  3. Signed language working memory capacity of signed language interpreters and deaf signers.

    PubMed

    Wang, Jihong; Napier, Jemina

    2013-04-01

    This study investigated the effects of hearing status and age of signed language acquisition on signed language working memory capacity. Professional Auslan (Australian sign language)/English interpreters (hearing native signers and hearing nonnative signers) and deaf Auslan signers (deaf native signers and deaf nonnative signers) completed an Auslan working memory (WM) span task. The results revealed that the hearing signers (i.e., the professional interpreters) significantly outperformed the deaf signers on the Auslan WM span task. However, the results showed no significant differences between the native signers and the nonnative signers in their Auslan working memory capacity. Furthermore, there was no significant interaction between hearing status and age of signed language acquisition. Additionally, the study found no significant differences between the deaf native signers (adults) and the deaf nonnative signers (adults) in their Auslan working memory capacity. The findings are discussed in relation to the participants' memory strategies and their early language experience. The findings present challenges for WM theories.

  4. Can Experience with Co-Speech Gesture Influence the Prosody of a Sign Language? Sign Language Prosodic Cues in Bimodal Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brentari, Diane; Nadolske, Marie A.; Wolford, George

    2012-01-01

    In this paper the prosodic structure of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives is analyzed in deaf native signers (L1-D), hearing native signers (L1-H), and highly proficient hearing second language signers (L2-H). The results of this study show that the prosodic patterns used by these groups are associated both with their ASL language experience…

  5. Effects of Language Context on Ratings of Shy and Unsociable Behaviors in English Language Learning Children

    PubMed Central

    Ash, Andrea C.; Rice, Mabel L.; Redmond, Sean M.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose The primary goal of this study was to explore the effect of the language context on the socially withdrawn behaviors of school aged-children who are English Language Learners (ELLs) from middle to high SES backgrounds. This is one of the first studies to address the frequently confused concepts of shyness and unsociability as independent constructs within the ELL population. This study also investigated the feasibility of an experimental parent and child questionnaire that examines shyness and unsociability across native and English speaking contexts. Method Children and parents (34 ELL and 37 native English speaking) were administered an experimental questionnaire examining shy and unsociable behavior in native language and English-speaking contexts. Results Parents and children from the ELL group reported significantly higher ratings of shy behavior in English versus native language contexts, whereas unsociable ratings did not differ across language contexts. Conclusions Shyness and unsociability are distinguishable behaviors in ELL children and these constructs should be considered when examining withdrawal. Additionally, examining ELL children’s behavior across language contexts provides a valuable method for investigating language influenced behavioral problems. This study demonstrates the need for service providers to evaluate behavior across subtype and language context before pathologizing withdrawal in ELL children. PMID:24687767

  6. Focusing the lens of language experience: Perception of Ma'di stops by Greek and English bilinguals and monolinguals

    PubMed Central

    Antoniou, Mark; Best, Catherine T.; Tyler, Michael D.

    2013-01-01

    Monolingual listeners are constrained by native language experience when categorizing and discriminating unfamiliar non-native contrasts. Are early bilinguals constrained in the same way by their two languages, or do they possess an advantage? Greek–English bilinguals in either Greek or English language mode were compared to monolinguals on categorization and discrimination of Ma'di stop-voicing distinctions that are non-native to both languages. As predicted, English monolinguals categorized Ma'di prevoiced plosive and implosive stops and the coronal voiceless stop as English voiced stops. The Greek monolinguals categorized the Ma'di short-lag voiceless stops as Greek voiceless stops, and the prevoiced implosive stops and the coronal prevoiced stop as Greek voiced stops. Ma'di prenasalized stops were uncategorized. Greek monolinguals discriminated the non-native voiced-voiceless contrasts very well, whereas the English monolinguals did poorly. Bilinguals were given all oral and written instructions either in English or in Greek (language mode manipulation). Each language mode subgroup categorized Ma'di stop-voicing comparably to the corresponding monolingual group. However, the bilinguals’ discrimination was unaffected by language mode: both subgroups performed intermediate to the monolinguals for the prevoiced-voiceless contrast. Thus, bilinguals do not possess an advantage for unfamiliar non-native contrasts, but are nonetheless uniquely configured language users, differing from either monolingual group. PMID:23556605

  7. Focusing the lens of language experience: perception of Ma'di stops by Greek and English bilinguals and monolinguals.

    PubMed

    Antoniou, Mark; Best, Catherine T; Tyler, Michael D

    2013-04-01

    Monolingual listeners are constrained by native language experience when categorizing and discriminating unfamiliar non-native contrasts. Are early bilinguals constrained in the same way by their two languages, or do they possess an advantage? Greek-English bilinguals in either Greek or English language mode were compared to monolinguals on categorization and discrimination of Ma'di stop-voicing distinctions that are non-native to both languages. As predicted, English monolinguals categorized Ma'di prevoiced plosive and implosive stops and the coronal voiceless stop as English voiced stops. The Greek monolinguals categorized the Ma'di short-lag voiceless stops as Greek voiceless stops, and the prevoiced implosive stops and the coronal prevoiced stop as Greek voiced stops. Ma'di prenasalized stops were uncategorized. Greek monolinguals discriminated the non-native voiced-voiceless contrasts very well, whereas the English monolinguals did poorly. Bilinguals were given all oral and written instructions either in English or in Greek (language mode manipulation). Each language mode subgroup categorized Ma'di stop-voicing comparably to the corresponding monolingual group. However, the bilinguals' discrimination was unaffected by language mode: both subgroups performed intermediate to the monolinguals for the prevoiced-voiceless contrast. Thus, bilinguals do not possess an advantage for unfamiliar non-native contrasts, but are nonetheless uniquely configured language users, differing from either monolingual group.

  8. Native Language Reading Approach Program, 1982-1983. O.E.E. Final Evaluation Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keyes, Jose Luis; And Others

    The Native Language Reading Approach Program in New York City was designed as an exemplary approach to on-site training of classroom teachers and their assistants in how to help students transfer reading skills from their native language to English. Program components included support services, teacher training, material/curriculum development,…

  9. To What Extent Do Native and Non-Native Writers Make Use of Collocations?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durrant, Philip; Schmitt, Norbert

    2009-01-01

    Usage-based models claim that first language learning is based on the frequency-based analysis of memorised phrases. It is not clear though, whether adult second language learning works in the same way. It has been claimed that non-native language lacks idiomatic formulas, suggesting that learners neglect phrases, focusing instead on orthographic…

  10. Speech-Sound Duration Processing in a Second Language is Specific to Phonetic Categories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nenonen, Sari; Shestakova, Anna; Huotilainen, Minna; Naatanen, Risto

    2005-01-01

    The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential was used to determine the effect of native language, Russian, on the processing of speech-sound duration in a second language, Finnish, that uses duration as a cue for phonological distinction. The native-language effect was compared with Finnish vowels that either can…

  11. Ways of Talking (and Acting) about Language Reclamation: An Ethnographic Perspective on Learning Lenape in Pennsylvania

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hornberger, Nancy H.; De Korne, Haley; Weinberg, Miranda

    2016-01-01

    The experiences of a community of people learning and teaching Lenape in Pennsylvania provide insights into the complexities of current ways of talking and acting about language reclamation. We illustrate how Native and non-Native participants in a university-based Indigenous language class constructed language, identity, and place in nuanced ways…

  12. Omaha Language Preservation in the Macy, Nebraska Public School.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rudin, Catherine

    A native language renewal program at the Macy, Nebraska Public School is described that is designed to preserve Omaha, a native American Indian language that is only a generation away from extinction. At the time of this research, only about 100 fluent Omaha speakers lived on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. The language and culture program,…

  13. Semantic processing in native and second language: evidence from hemispheric differences in fine and coarse semantic coding.

    PubMed

    Faust, Miriam; Ben-Artzi, Elisheva; Vardi, Nili

    2012-12-01

    Previous studies suggest that whereas the left hemisphere (LH) is involved in fine semantic processing, the right hemisphere (RH) is uniquely engaged in coarse semantic coding including the comprehension of distinct types of language such as figurative language, lexical ambiguity and verbal humor (e.g., Chiarello, 2003; Faust, 2012). The present study examined the patterns of hemispheric involvement in fine/coarse semantic processing in native and non-native languages using a split visual field priming paradigm. Thirty native Hebrew speaking students made lexical decision judgments of Hebrew and English target words preceded by strongly, weakly, or unrelated primes. Results indicated that whereas for Hebrew pairs, priming effect for the weakly-related word pairs was obtained only for RH presented target words, for English pairs, no priming effect for the weakly-related pairs emerged for either LH or RH presented targets, suggesting that coarse semantic coding is much weaker for a non-native than native language. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Recently learned foreign abstract and concrete nouns are represented in distinct cortical networks similar to the native language.

    PubMed

    Mayer, Katja M; Macedonia, Manuela; von Kriegstein, Katharina

    2017-09-01

    In the native language, abstract and concrete nouns are represented in distinct areas of the cerebral cortex. Currently, it is unknown whether this is also the case for abstract and concrete nouns of a foreign language. Here, we taught adult native speakers of German 45 abstract and 45 concrete nouns of a foreign language. After learning the nouns for 5 days, participants performed a vocabulary translation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Translating abstract nouns in contrast to concrete nouns elicited responses in regions that are also responsive to abstract nouns in the native language: the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left middle and superior temporal gyri. Concrete nouns elicited larger responses in the angular gyri bilaterally and the left parahippocampal gyrus than abstract nouns. The cluster in the left angular gyrus showed psychophysiological interaction (PPI) with the left lingual gyrus. The left parahippocampal gyrus showed PPI with the posterior cingulate cortex. Similar regions have been previously found for concrete nouns in the native language. The results reveal similarities in the cortical representation of foreign language nouns with the representation of native language nouns that already occur after 5 days of vocabulary learning. Furthermore, we showed that verbal and enriched learning methods were equally suitable to teach foreign abstract and concrete nouns. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4398-4412, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. The language of mathematics: investigating the ways language counts for children's mathematical development.

    PubMed

    Vukovic, Rose K; Lesaux, Nonie K

    2013-06-01

    This longitudinal study examined how language ability relates to mathematical development in a linguistically and ethnically diverse sample of children from 6 to 9 years of age. Study participants were 75 native English speakers and 92 language minority learners followed from first to fourth grades. Autoregression in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework was used to evaluate the relation between children's language ability and gains in different domains of mathematical cognition (i.e., arithmetic, data analysis/probability, algebra, and geometry). The results showed that language ability predicts gains in data analysis/probability and geometry, but not in arithmetic or algebra, after controlling for visual-spatial working memory, reading ability, and sex. The effect of language on gains in mathematical cognition did not differ between language minority learners and native English speakers. These findings suggest that language influences how children make meaning of mathematics but is not involved in complex arithmetical procedures whether presented with Arabic symbols as in arithmetic or with abstract symbols as in algebraic reasoning. The findings further indicate that early language experiences are important for later mathematical development regardless of language background, denoting the need for intensive and targeted language opportunities for language minority and native English learners to develop mathematical concepts and representations. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  16. Structural Correlates for Lexical Efficiency and Number of Languages in Non-Native Speakers of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grogan, A.; Parker Jones, O.; Ali, N.; Crinion, J.; Orabona, S.; Mechias, M. L.; Ramsden, S.; Green, D. W.; Price, C. J.

    2012-01-01

    We used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and voxel based morphometry (VBM) to investigate whether the efficiency of word processing in the non-native language (lexical efficiency) and the number of non-native languages spoken (2+ versus 1) were related to local differences in the brain structure of bilingual and multilingual speakers.…

  17. How Sex, Native Language, and College Major Relate to the Cognitive Strategies Used during 3-D Mental Rotation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Yingli; O'Boyle, Michael W.

    2008-01-01

    Eighty college students mentally rotated 3-D shapes while maintaining a concurrent verbal or spatial memory load to investigate how sex, native language, and college major relate to the cognitive strategies employed during mental rotation (MR). Males were significantly better than females at MR, whereas native language was not related to MR…

  18. The Native Language in Teaching Kindergarten Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Espada, Janet P.

    2012-01-01

    The use of the native language as a medium of instruction is believed to be the fastest and most natural route towards developing a strong foundation in mathematics literacy (Mimaropa, In D.O.No. 74, s.2009). This study examined the effect of using the native language in the teaching of kindergarten mathematics. A total of 34 five to six year old…

  19. HAPPEN CAN'T HEAR: An Analysis of Code-Blends in Hearing, Native Signers of American Sign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bishop, Michele

    2011-01-01

    Hearing native signers often learn sign language as their first language and acquire features that are characteristic of sign languages but are not present in equivalent ways in English (e.g., grammatical facial expressions and the structured use of space for setting up tokens and surrogates). Previous research has indicated that bimodal…

  20. Training Pre-Service Chinese Language Teachers to Create Instructional Video to Enhance Classroom Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Lih-Ching Chen; Wang, Ming-Chian Ken

    2014-01-01

    Foreign language instruction is a complex and challenging task made even more so by situations in which the learner's native language is radically different from the foreign language being mastered. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of native English speakers seeking to learn Mandarin Chinese. The rapid increase in the availability and…

  1. Of Hating, Hurting, and Coming to Terms with the English Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keeshig-Tobias, Lenore

    2003-01-01

    For Canada Natives, storytelling and describing dreams are the beginnings of literacy. Many elders survived abuse in residential schools because of language, and claim that one cannot be Indian without the language. This author works in English, yet her writings are informed by Native culture. Language can be a tool or a weapon; it depends on how…

  2. The Effect of Language Exposure and Word Characteristics on the Arab EFL Learners' Word Associations.

    PubMed

    El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam

    2017-08-01

    The present study investigates the patterns of word associations among Arab EFL learners and compares these patterns with those of native speakers of English. The study also examines the influence of increased language exposure and word characteristics on the learners' association patterns. To this end, 45 native speakers of English and 421 Arab learners of English at a Saudi university with two distinct levels of English language exposure completed a multiple-response word association test and their responses were analyzed, examined and compared. The results revealed strong influence for language exposure and word characteristics on the learners' associations and support a developmental approach to the second language lexicon where an increase in language exposure and word knowledge enhances mental word connectivity and increases its native-like similarity.

  3. The foreign-language effect: thinking in a foreign tongue reduces decision biases.

    PubMed

    Keysar, Boaz; Hayakawa, Sayuri L; An, Sun Gyu

    2012-06-01

    Would you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases. Four experiments show that the framing effect disappears when choices are presented in a foreign tongue. Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language. Two additional experiments show that using a foreign language reduces loss aversion, increasing the acceptance of both hypothetical and real bets with positive expected value. We propose that these effects arise because a foreign language provides greater cognitive and emotional distance than a native tongue does.

  4. Native and Non-native Perception of Stress in Mapudungun: Assessing Structural Maintenance in the Phonology of an Endangered Language.

    PubMed

    Molineaux, Benjamin J

    2017-03-01

    Today, virtually all speakers of Mapudungun (formerly Araucanian), an endangered language of Chile and Argentina, are bilingual in Spanish. As a result, the firmness of native speaker intuitions-especially regarding perceptually complex issues such as word-stress-has been called into question. Even though native intuitions are unavoidable in the investigation of stress position, efforts can be made in order to clarify what the actual sources of the intuitions are, and how consistent and 'native' they remain given the language's asymmetrical contact conditions. In this article, the use of non-native speaker intuitions is proposed as a valid means for assessing the position of stress in Mapudungun, and evaluating whether it represents the unchanged, 'native' pattern. The alternative, of course, is that the patterns that present variability simply result from overlap of the bilingual speakers' phonological modules, hence displaying a contact-induced innovation. A forced decision perception task is reported on, showing that native and non-native perception of Mapudungun stress converges across speakers of six separate first languages, thus giving greater reliability to native judgements. The relative difference in the perception of Mapudungun stress given by Spanish monolinguals and Mapudungun-Spanish bilinguals is also taken to support the diachronic maintenance of the endangered language's stress system.

  5. The Cognitive Validity of Child English Language Tests: What Young Language Learners and Their Native-Speaking Peers Can Reveal

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winke, Paula; Lee, Shinhye; Ahn, Jieun Irene; Choi, Ina; Cui, Yaqiong; Yoon, Hyung-Jo

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the cognitive validity of two child English language tests. Some teachers maintain that these types of tests may be cognitively invalid because native-English-speaking children would not do well on them (Winke, 2011). So the researchers had native speakers and learners of English aged 7 to 9 take sample versions of two…

  6. Second Life for Distance Language Learning: A Framework for Native/Non-Native Speaker Interactions in a Virtual World

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tusing, Jennifer; Berge, Zane L.

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines a number of theoretical principles governing second language teaching and learning and the ways in which these principles are being applied in 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life. Also examined are the benefits to language learning afforded by the Second Life interface, including access, the availability of native speakers of…

  7. The Influence of Language Anxiety on English Reading and Writing Tasks among Native Hebrew Speakers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Argaman, Osnat; Abu-Rabia, Salim

    2002-01-01

    Examined the influence of language anxiety as measured by a questionnaire on achievements in English writing and reading comprehension tasks. Subjects were native speakers of Hebrew, aged 12-13 years, learning English as a second language.(Author/VWL)

  8. How and When Does the Second Language Influence the Production of Native Speech Sounds: A Literature Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kartushina, Natalia; Frauenfelder, Ulrich H.; Golestani, Narly

    2016-01-01

    In bilinguals and second language learners, the native (L1) and nonnative (L2) languages coexist and interact. The L1 influences L2 production via forward transfer, as is seen with foreign accents. However, language transfer is bidirectional: even brief experience with an L2 can affect L1 production, via backward transfer. Here, we review the…

  9. The Use of English as Medium of Instruction at the Upper Basic Level (Primary Four to Junior High School) in Ghana: From Theory to Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owu-Ewie, Charles; Eshun, Emma Sarah

    2015-01-01

    The language of education is crucial to learners' academic success. As a result, nations whose native languages are not the languages of education have promulgated language policies to solve communication problems in their school systems. Most multilingual nations have adopted bilingual education systems that recognize the child's native language…

  10. A Longitudinal Study of the Use of the First Language (L1) in French Foreign Language (FL) Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Erin; Storch, Neomy

    2012-01-01

    This longitudinal study investigated teachers' use of the first language (L1) in two French foreign language (FL) intermediate level classes at two Australian universities. A native French-speaking teacher (NS) and a non-native French-speaking teacher (NNS) were observed and audio-recorded approximately every two weeks over a 12- week semester.…

  11. Exploring US Mainstream Teachers' Perspectives on Use of the Native Language in Instruction with English Language Learner Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karathanos, Katya

    2009-01-01

    In the US, public school teachers are currently experiencing an unprecedented increase in the number of English language learner (ELL) students with whom they work. Research shows the practice of incorporating ELL students' native languages (L1) into instruction to be a major factor enhancing their success in school. In this study, 327 pre-service…

  12. Tact training versus bidirectional intraverbal training in teaching a foreign language.

    PubMed

    Dounavi, Katerina

    2014-01-01

    The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal training resulted in the emergence of a greater number of untrained responses, and may thus be more efficient than foreign-to-native intraverbal training. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  13. Language Transfer in Language Learning. Language Acquisition & Language Disorders 5.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gass, Susan M., Ed.; Selinker, Larry, Ed.

    The study of native language influence in Second Language Acquisition has undergone significant changes over the past few decades. This book, which includes 12 chapters by distinguished researchers in the field of second language acquisition, traces the conceptual history of language transfer from its early role within a Contrastive Analysis…

  14. Polish Basic Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    These 15 volumes of the Basic Polish Course, prepared for use in the Defense Language Institute's intensive language program, comprise Lessons 1-124. They are disigned to train native English language speakers to Level 3 proficiency in comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing Polish. (Level 5 is native-speaker fluency.) The phonological…

  15. Indigenous Education and Grassroots Language Planning in the USA.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.; Watahomigie, Lucille J.

    1999-01-01

    Indigenous literacy affirms indigenous identity; connects native speakers to the culture and each other; and stimulates other, more diffuse forces for language maintenance. Collaborative, grassroots Native language programs in the United States, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, and Puerto Rico are described. Immersion and literacy programs include…

  16. The Survival of Native American Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forbes, Jack D.

    1981-01-01

    Before the white invasion, Native American peoples possessed an extremely rich and varied heritage with highly developed oral literatures, and constant development of new phrases, expressions, and patterns of pronunciation. Examples of Indian people's adeptness with language include: many learned to speak more than two languages fluently;…

  17. Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-01-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts…

  18. Direction Asymmetries in Spoken and Signed Language Interpreting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nicodemus, Brenda; Emmorey, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Spoken language (unimodal) interpreters often prefer to interpret from their non-dominant language (L2) into their native language (L1). Anecdotally, signed language (bimodal) interpreters express the opposite bias, preferring to interpret from L1 (spoken language) into L2 (signed language). We conducted a large survey study ("N" =…

  19. Endangered Languages: Language Loss and Community Response.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grenoble, Lenore A., Ed.; Whaley, Lindsay J., Ed.

    This edited volume provides an overview of issues surrounding language loss from sociological, economic, and linguistic perspectives. Four parts cover general issues in language loss; language-community responses, including native language instruction in school, community, and home; the value of language diversity and what is lost when a language…

  20. The Native Speaker, the Student, and Woody Allen: Examining Traditional Roles in the Foreign Language Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finger, Anke

    This paper uses a language classroom role-playing scene from a Woody Allen movie to examine the language student who has traditionally been asked to emulate and copy the native speaker and to discuss roles that teachers ask students to play. It also presents the changing paradigm of the native speaker and his or her role inside and outside the…

  1. Individual language experience modulates rapid formation of cortical memory circuits for novel words

    PubMed Central

    Kimppa, Lilli; Kujala, Teija; Shtyrov, Yury

    2016-01-01

    Mastering multiple languages is an increasingly important ability in the modern world; furthermore, multilingualism may affect human learning abilities. Here, we test how the brain’s capacity to rapidly form new representations for spoken words is affected by prior individual experience in non-native language acquisition. Formation of new word memory traces is reflected in a neurophysiological response increase during a short exposure to novel lexicon. Therefore, we recorded changes in electrophysiological responses to phonologically native and non-native novel word-forms during a perceptual learning session, in which novel stimuli were repetitively presented to healthy adults in either ignore or attend conditions. We found that larger number of previously acquired languages and earlier average age of acquisition (AoA) predicted greater response increase to novel non-native word-forms. This suggests that early and extensive language experience is associated with greater neural flexibility for acquiring novel words with unfamiliar phonology. Conversely, later AoA was associated with a stronger response increase for phonologically native novel word-forms, indicating better tuning of neural linguistic circuits to native phonology. The results suggest that individual language experience has a strong effect on the neural mechanisms of word learning, and that it interacts with the phonological familiarity of the novel lexicon. PMID:27444206

  2. On the Development of Speech Resources for the Mixtec Language

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    The Mixtec language is one of the main native languages in Mexico. In general, due to urbanization, discrimination, and limited attempts to promote the culture, the native languages are disappearing. Most of the information available about the Mixtec language is in written form as in dictionaries which, although including examples about how to pronounce the Mixtec words, are not as reliable as listening to the correct pronunciation from a native speaker. Formal acoustic resources, as speech corpora, are almost non-existent for the Mixtec, and no speech technologies are known to have been developed for it. This paper presents the development of the following resources for the Mixtec language: (1) a speech database of traditional narratives of the Mixtec culture spoken by a native speaker (labelled at the phonetic and orthographic levels by means of spectral analysis) and (2) a native speaker-adaptive automatic speech recognition (ASR) system (trained with the speech database) integrated with a Mixtec-to-Spanish/Spanish-to-Mixtec text translator. The speech database, although small and limited to a single variant, was reliable enough to build the multiuser speech application which presented a mean recognition/translation performance up to 94.36% in experiments with non-native speakers (the target users). PMID:23710134

  3. Refusal Strategies of Iranian University English as a Foreign Language and Non-English Learners in Native Language: A Comparative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sa'd, Seyyed Hatam Tamimi; Qadermazi, Zohre

    2014-01-01

    This study is an attempt to examine the possible effect that exposure to English has had on the use of refusal strategies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners compared with those of non-English learners when refusing in their native language, Persian. The sample included 12 EFL learners and 12 learners of other academic majors including…

  4. Mother-Tongue Diversity in the Foreign Language Classroom: Perspectives on the Experiences of Non-Native Speakers of English Studying Foreign Languages in an English-Medium University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruen, Jennifer; Kelly, Niamh

    2017-01-01

    This paper considers the position of university language students whose mother tongue is other than the medium of instruction. Specifically, it investigates the attitudes and experiences of non-native English speakers studying either German or Japanese as foreign languages at an English-medium university. The findings indicate that the non-native…

  5. The effect of listening experience on the discrimination of /ba/ and /pa/ in Hebrew-learning and Arabic-learning infants.

    PubMed

    Segal, Osnat; Hejli-Assi, Saja; Kishon-Rabin, Liat

    2016-02-01

    Infant speech discrimination can follow multiple trajectories depending on the language and the specific phonemes involved. Two understudied languages in terms of the development of infants' speech discrimination are Arabic and Hebrew. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of listening experience with the native language on the discrimination of the voicing contrast /ba-pa/ in Arabic-learning infants whose native language includes only the phoneme /b/ and in Hebrew-learning infants whose native language includes both phonemes. 128 Arabic-learning infants and Hebrew-learning infants, 4-to-6 and 10-to-12-month-old infants, were tested with the Visual Habituation Procedure. The results showed that 4-to-6-month-old infants discriminated between /ba-pa/ regardless of their native language and order of presentation. However, only 10-to-12-month-old infants learning Hebrew retained this ability. 10-to-12-month-old infants learning Arabic did not discriminate the change from /ba/ to /pa/ but showed a tendency for discriminating the change from /pa/ to /ba/. This is the first study to report on the reduced discrimination of /ba-pa/ in older infants learning Arabic. Our findings are consistent with the notion that experience with the native language changes discrimination abilities and alters sensitivity to non-native contrasts, thus providing evidence for 'top-down' processing in young infants. The directional asymmetry in older infants learning Arabic can be explained by assimilation of the non-native consonant /p/ to the native Arabic category /b/ as predicted by current speech perception models. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Infants' Selectively Pay Attention to the Information They Receive from a Native Speaker of Their Language.

    PubMed

    Marno, Hanna; Guellai, Bahia; Vidal, Yamil; Franzoi, Julia; Nespor, Marina; Mehler, Jacques

    2016-01-01

    From the first moments of their life, infants show a preference for their native language, as well as toward speakers with whom they share the same language. This preference appears to have broad consequences in various domains later on, supporting group affiliations and collaborative actions in children. Here, we propose that infants' preference for native speakers of their language also serves a further purpose, specifically allowing them to efficiently acquire culture specific knowledge via social learning. By selectively attending to informants who are native speakers of their language and who probably also share the same cultural background with the infant, young learners can maximize the possibility to acquire cultural knowledge. To test whether infants would preferably attend the information they receive from a speaker of their native language, we familiarized 12-month-old infants with a native and a foreign speaker, and then presented them with movies where each of the speakers silently gazed toward unfamiliar objects. At test, infants' looking behavior to the two objects alone was measured. Results revealed that infants preferred to look longer at the object presented by the native speaker. Strikingly, the effect was replicated also with 5-month-old infants, indicating an early development of such preference. These findings provide evidence that young infants pay more attention to the information presented by a person with whom they share the same language. This selectivity can serve as a basis for efficient social learning by influencing how infants' allocate attention between potential sources of information in their environment.

  7. Indigenous Language Education and Literacy: Introduction to the Theme Issue.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.; Zepeda, Ofelia

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the 13 papers in this special issue on American Indian and Alaska Native language education and literacy, the object of which is to critically examine the relationship of pedagogical change to larger sociopolitical and cultural processes affecting native language, bilingual, and bicultural programs. (three references) (MDM)

  8. Navigating Native-Speaker Ideologies as FSL Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wernicke, Meike

    2017-01-01

    Although a well-established domain of research in English language teaching, native-speaker ideologies have received little attention in French language education. This article reports on a study that examined the salience of "authentic French" in the identity construction of French as a second language (FSL) teachers in English-speaking…

  9. A Comparative Study of Vygotsky's Perspectives on Child Language Development with Nativism and Behaviorism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dastpak, Mehdi; Behjat, Fatemeh; Taghinezhad, Ali

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed at investigating the similarities and differences between Vygotsky's perspectives on child language development with nativism and behaviorism. Proposing the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development, Vygotsky emphasized the role of collaborative interaction, scaffolding, and guided participation in language learning. Nativists, on…

  10. 34 CFR 303.403 - Prior notice; native language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... services to the child and the child's family. (b) Content of notice. The notice must be in sufficient... mode of communication of the parent is not a written language, the public agency, or designated service... parent in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (ii) The parent understands the...

  11. Perception of English Intonation by English, Spanish, and Chinese Listeners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grabe, Esther; Rosner, Burton S.; Garcia-Albea, Jose E.; Zhou, Xiaolin

    2003-01-01

    Native language affects the perception of segmental phonetic structure, of stress, and of semantic and pragmatic effects of intonation. Similarly, native language might influence the perception of similarities and differences among intonation contours. To test this hypothesis, a cross-language experiment was conducted. An English utterance was…

  12. Native- and Non-Native Speaking English Teachers in Vietnam: Weighing the Benefits

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walkinshaw, Ian; Duong, Oanh Thi Hoang

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines a common belief that learners of English as a foreign language prefer to learn English from native-speaker teachers rather than non-native speakers of English. 50 Vietnamese learners of English evaluated the importance of native-speakerness compared with seven qualities valued in an English language teacher: teaching…

  13. Constraints on Negative Prefixation in Polish Sign Language.

    PubMed

    Tomaszewski, Piotr

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this article is to describe a negative prefix, NEG-, in Polish Sign Language (PJM) which appears to be indigenous to the language. This is of interest given the relative rarity of prefixes in sign languages. Prefixed PJM signs were analyzed on the basis of both a corpus of texts signed by 15 deaf PJM users who are either native or near-native signers, and material including a specified range of prefixed signs as demonstrated by native signers in dictionary form (i.e. signs produced in isolation, not as part of phrases or sentences). In order to define the morphological rules behind prefixation on both the phonological and morphological levels, native PJM users were consulted for their expertise. The research results can enrich models for describing processes of grammaticalization in the context of the visual-gestural modality that forms the basis for sign language structure.

  14. The prevalence of synaesthesia depends on early language learning.

    PubMed

    Watson, Marcus R; Chromý, Jan; Crawford, Lyle; Eagleman, David M; Enns, James T; Akins, Kathleen A

    2017-02-01

    According to one theory, synaesthesia develops, or is preserved, because it helps children learn. If so, it should be more common among adults who faced greater childhood learning challenges. In the largest survey of synaesthesia to date, the incidence of synaesthesia was compared among native speakers of languages with transparent (easier) and opaque (more difficult) orthographies. Contrary to our prediction, native speakers of Czech (transparent) were more likely to be synaesthetes than native speakers of English (opaque). However, exploratory analyses suggested that this was because more Czechs learned non-native second languages, which was strongly associated with synaesthesia, consistent with the learning hypothesis. Furthermore, the incidence of synaesthesia among speakers of opaque languages was double that among speakers of transparent languages other than Czech, also consistent with the learning hypothesis. These findings contribute to an emerging understanding of synaesthetic development as a complex and lengthy process with multiple causal influences. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  15. The effects of late acquisition of L2 and the consequences of immigration on L1 for semantic and morpho-syntactic language aspects.

    PubMed

    Scherag, André; Demuth, Lisa; Rösler, Frank; Neville, Helen J; Röder, Brigitte

    2004-10-01

    It has been hypothesized that some aspects of a second language (L2) might be learned easier than others if a language is learned late. On the other hand, non-use might result in a loss of language skills in one's native, i.e. one's first language (L1) (language attrition). To study which, if any, aspects of language are affected by either late acquisition or non-use, long-term German immigrants to the US and English native speakers who are long-term immigrants to Germany as well as two additional control groups of native German speakers were tested with an auditory semantic and morpho-syntactic priming paradigm. German adjectives correctly or incorrectly inflected for gender and semantically associated or not associated with the target noun served as primes. Participants made a lexical decision on the target word. All groups of native German speakers gained from semantically and morpho-syntactically congruent primes. Evidence for language attrition was neither found for semantic nor morpho-syntactic priming effects in the German immigrants. In contrast, English native speakers did not gain from a morpho-syntactic congruent prime, whereas semantic priming effects were similar as for the remaining groups. The present data suggest that the full acquisition of at least some syntactic functions may be restricted to limited periods in life while semantic and morpho-syntactic functions seem to be relatively inured to loss due to non-use.

  16. Language Preservation: the Language of Science as a bridge to the Native American Community

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alexander, C. J.; Martin, M.; Grant, G.

    2009-12-01

    Many Native American communities recognize that the retention of their language, and the need to make the language relevant to the technological age we live in, represents one of their largest and most urgent challenges. Almost 70 percent of Navajos speak their tribal language in the home, and 25 per cent do not know English very well. In contrast, only 30 percent of Native Americans as a whole speak their own tribal language in the home. For the Cherokee and the Chippewa, less than 10 percent speak the native language in the home. And for the Navajo, the number of first graders who solely speak English is almost four times higher than it was in 1970. The U.S. Rosetta Project is the NASA contribution to the International Rosetta Mission. The Rosetta stone is the inspiration for the mission’s name. As outlined by the European Space Agency, Rosetta is expected to provide the keys to the primordial solar system the way the original Rosetta Stone provided a key to ancient language. The concept of ancient language as a key provides a theme for this NASA project’s outreach to Native American communities anxious for ways to enhance and improve the numbers of native speakers. In this talk we will present a concept for building on native language as it relates to STEM concepts. In 2009, a student from the Dine Nation interpreted 28 NASA terms for his senior project at Chinle High School in Chinle, AZ. These terms included such words as space telescope, weather satellite, space suit, and the planets including Neptune and Uranus. This work represents a foundation for continued work between NASA and the Navajo Nation. Following approval by the tribal elders, the U.S. Rosetta project would host the newly translated Navajo words on a web-site, and provide translation into both Navajo and English. A clickable map would allow the user to move through all the words, see Native artwork related to the word, and hear audio translation. Extension to very remote teachers in the Navajo Nation, those who teach in Navajo and have little access to contemporary computer technology, is a mid-term goal. Tie-ins with existing Native American Astronomy projects such as Sharing the Skies with be presented. The project is expected to be expanded into other Native communities such as Cherokee, Crow, and Hawaiian. Work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, was supported by NASA. The Rosetta mission is a cooperative project of NASA and the European Space Agency.

  17. Age and Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Collard, Lucien

    1977-01-01

    An investigation of the differences between first and second language acquisition and the relationship between age and second language learning. The stages in native language acquisition and the advantages of an early start in second language learning are discussed. (AMH)

  18. Vowel space development in a child acquiring English and Spanish from birth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andruski, Jean; Kim, Sahyang; Nathan, Geoffrey; Casielles, Eugenia; Work, Richard

    2005-04-01

    To date, research on bilingual first language acquisition has tended to focus on the development of higher levels of language, with relatively few analyses of the acoustic characteristics of bilingual infants' and childrens' speech. Since monolingual infants begin to show perceptual divisions of vowel space that resemble adult native speakers divisions by about 6 months of age [Kuhl et al., Science 255, 606-608 (1992)], bilingual childrens' vowel production may provide evidence of their awareness of language differences relatively early during language development. This paper will examine the development of vowel categories in a child whose mother is a native speaker of Castilian Spanish, and whose father is a native speaker of American English. Each parent speaks to the child only in her/his native language. For this study, recordings made at the ages of 2;5 and 2;10 were analyzed and F1-F2 measurements were made of vowels from the stressed syllables of content words. The development of vowel space is compared across ages within each language, and across languages at each age. In addition, the child's productions are compared with the mother's and father's vocalic productions, which provide the predominant input in Spanish and English respectively.

  19. Language Learning and Control in Monolinguals and Bilinguals

    PubMed Central

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2012-01-01

    Parallel language activation in bilinguals leads to competition between languages. Experience managing this interference may aid novel language learning by improving the ability to suppress competition from known languages. To investigate the effect of bilingualism on the ability to control native-language interference, monolinguals and bilinguals were taught an artificial language designed to elicit between-language competition. Partial activation of interlingual competitors was assessed with eye-tracking and mouse-tracking during a word recognition task in the novel language. Eye-tracking results showed that monolinguals looked at competitors more than bilinguals, and for a longer duration of time. Mouse-tracking results showed that monolinguals’ mouse-movements were attracted to native-language competitors, while bilinguals overcame competitor interference by increasing activation of target items. Results suggest that bilinguals manage cross-linguistic interference more effectively than monolinguals. We conclude that language interference can affect lexical retrieval, but bilingualism may reduce this interference by facilitating access to a newly-learned language. PMID:22462514

  20. Into the Curriculum: Art/Social Studies: The Arts and Native Americans [and] Reading/Language Arts/Social Studies: Haiku Poetry [and] Reading/Language Arts: Let's Make a Book [and] Science: The Microscope [and] Social Studies: Native American Life [and] Social Studies/Foreign Languages: Pasta Perfect.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wheeler, Kathleen; Lane, Patricia J.; Yates, Marci Fletcher; Bikhazi, Cristi; Davis, Shirley; Cook, Sybilla A.

    1998-01-01

    Provides lesson plans for grades one to three science, grades two to six social studies/Italian, grade three reading/language arts, grade four and five reading/language arts/social studies, grade five art/social studies, and grades five and six social studies. Lists print and nonprint resources and discusses library media skills and subject area…

  1. English language use, health and mortality in older Mexican Americans.

    PubMed

    Salinas, Jennifer J; Sheffield, Kristin M

    2011-04-01

    The purpose of this study is to determine if English language use is associated with smoking, diabetes, hypertension, limitations in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and 12-year mortality in older Mexican Americans. Using data from a cohort of 3,050 Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older, we examined prevalence of 4 health indicators and survival over 12 years of follow-up by English language use. English language use is associated with increased odds of hypertension in men, independent of nativity and sociodemographic control variables. Among women, English language use is associated with lower odds of ADL limitations and increased odds of smoking. The associations for women were partially explained by occupational status and nativity. After adjusting for health conditions, sociodemographics, and nativity, English language use was associated with increased mortality among men. Interaction terms revealed that for both men and women, higher English language use was associated with mortality for respondents with the highest level of income only. English language use is a predictor of health and mortality in older Mexican Americans separate from country of birth.

  2. Language Learning and Control in Monolinguals and Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2012-01-01

    Parallel language activation in bilinguals leads to competition between languages. Experience managing this interference may aid novel language learning by improving the ability to suppress competition from known languages. To investigate the effect of bilingualism on the ability to control native-language interference, monolinguals and bilinguals…

  3. Perception of intelligibility and qualities of non-native accented speakers.

    PubMed

    Fuse, Akiko; Navichkova, Yuliya; Alloggio, Krysteena

    To provide effective treatment to clients, speech-language pathologists must be understood, and be perceived to demonstrate the personal qualities necessary for therapeutic practice (e.g., resourcefulness and empathy). One factor that could interfere with the listener's perception of non-native speech is the speaker's accent. The current study explored the relationship between how accurately listeners could understand non-native speech and their perceptions of personal attributes of the speaker. Additionally, this study investigated how listeners' familiarity and experience with other languages may influence their perceptions of non-native accented speech. Through an online survey, native monolingual and bilingual English listeners rated four non-native accents (i.e., Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Indian) on perceived intelligibility and perceived personal qualities (i.e., professionalism, intelligence, resourcefulness, empathy, and patience) necessary for speech-language pathologists. The results indicated significant relationships between the perception of intelligibility and the perception of personal qualities (i.e., professionalism, intelligence, and resourcefulness) attributed to non-native speakers. However, these findings were not supported for the Chinese accent. Bilingual listeners judged the non-native speech as more intelligible in comparison to monolingual listeners. No significant differences were found in the ratings between bilingual listeners who share the same language background as the speaker and other bilingual listeners. Based on the current findings, greater perception of intelligibility was the key to promoting a positive perception of personal qualities such as professionalism, intelligence, and resourcefulness, important for speech-language pathologists. The current study found evidence to support the claim that bilinguals have a greater ability in understanding non-native accented speech compared to monolingual listeners. The results, however, did not confirm an advantage for bilingual listeners sharing the same language backgrounds with the non-native speaker over other bilingual listeners. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Native and Nonnative English Teachers' Perceptions of Their Professional Identity: Convergent or Divergent?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tajeddin, Zia; Adeh, Aylar

    2016-01-01

    There is still a preference for native speaker teachers in the language teaching profession, which is supposed to influence the self-perceptions of native and nonnative teachers. However, the status of English as a globalized language is changing the legitimacy of native/nonnative teacher dichotomy. This study sought to investigate native and…

  5. The Influence of a Foreign versus Native Language on Creativity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stephan, Elena

    2017-01-01

    Creativity may be enhanced by contextual factors that contribute to a divergence from conventional and habitual modes of thought. Two studies tested the prediction that a foreign language (that is frequently associated with moving away from the routine experiences) will contribute to originality of solutions, compared to one's native language.…

  6. Non-Native Speakers of the Language of Instruction: Self-Perceptions of Teaching Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Samuel, Carolyn

    2017-01-01

    Given the linguistically diverse instructor and student populations at Canadian universities, mutually comprehensible oral language may not be a given. Indeed, both instructors who are non-native speakers of the language of instruction (NNSLIs) and students have acknowledged oral communication challenges. Little is known, though, about how the…

  7. Usage of Mother Tongue in Learning English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tosuncuoglu, Irfan

    2012-01-01

    In Turkey, where English is a foreign language and where learners share the same native language, teachers are often reluctant to use small group speaking activities because the learners do the ranking, bridge the information gap, or find an answer activities using their first (native) language. This article studies the problem and suggests a…

  8. Bilingual Academic Computer and Technology Oriented Program: Project COM-TECH. Evaluation Section Report. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.; Plotkin, Donna

    Project COM-TECH offered bilingual individualized instruction, using an enrichment approach, to Spanish- and Haitian Creole-speaking students with varying levels of English and native language proficiency and academic preparation. The program provided supplementary instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL); Native Language Arts (NLA); and…

  9. Why Segmentation Matters: Experience-Driven Segmentation Errors Impair "Morpheme" Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finn, Amy S.; Hudson Kam, Carla L.

    2015-01-01

    We ask whether an adult learner's knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners' ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically…

  10. Pitch jnd and the tritone paradox: The linguistic nexus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Safari, Kourosh

    2002-11-01

    Previous research has shown a connection between absolute pitch (the ability to name a specific pitch in the absence of any reference) and native competence in a tone language (Deutsch, 1990). In tone languages, tone is one of the features which determines the lexical meaning of a word. This study investigates the relationship between native competence in a tone language and the just noticeable difference of pitch. Furthermore, the tritone paradox studies have shown that subjects hear two tritones (with bell-shaped spectral envelopes) as either ascending or descending depending on their linguistic backgrounds (Deutsch, 1987). It is hypothesized that the native speakers of tone languages have a higher JND for pitch, and hear the two tones of the tritone paradox as ascending, whereas, native speakers of nontone languages hear them as descending. This study will indicate the importance of early musical training for the development of acute tone sensitivity. It will also underline the importance of language and culture in the way it shapes our musical understanding. The significance of this study will be in the areas of music education and pedagogy.

  11. Social Interaction Affects Neural Outcomes of Sign Language Learning As a Foreign Language in Adults.

    PubMed

    Yusa, Noriaki; Kim, Jungho; Koizumi, Masatoshi; Sugiura, Motoaki; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2017-01-01

    Children naturally acquire a language in social contexts where they interact with their caregivers. Indeed, research shows that social interaction facilitates lexical and phonological development at the early stages of child language acquisition. It is not clear, however, whether the relationship between social interaction and learning applies to adult second language acquisition of syntactic rules. Does learning second language syntactic rules through social interactions with a native speaker or without such interactions impact behavior and the brain? The current study aims to answer this question. Adult Japanese participants learned a new foreign language, Japanese sign language (JSL), either through a native deaf signer or via DVDs. Neural correlates of acquiring new linguistic knowledge were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The participants in each group were indistinguishable in terms of their behavioral data after the instruction. The fMRI data, however, revealed significant differences in the neural activities between two groups. Significant activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were found for the participants who learned JSL through interactions with the native signer. In contrast, no cortical activation change in the left IFG was found for the group who experienced the same visual input for the same duration via the DVD presentation. Given that the left IFG is involved in the syntactic processing of language, spoken or signed, learning through social interactions resulted in an fMRI signature typical of native speakers: activation of the left IFG. Thus, broadly speaking, availability of communicative interaction is necessary for second language acquisition and this results in observed changes in the brain.

  12. The Development of Word Recognition in a Second Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muljani, D.; Koda, Keiko; Moates, Danny R.

    1998-01-01

    A study investigated differences in English word recognition in native speakers of Indonesian (an alphabetic language) and Chinese (a logographic languages) learning English as a Second Language. Results largely confirmed the hypothesis that an alphabetic first language would predict better word recognition in speakers of an alphabetic language,…

  13. Differential use of temporal cues to the /s/-/z/ contrast by native and non-native speakers of English.

    PubMed

    Flege, J E; Hillenbrand, J

    1986-02-01

    This study examined the effect of linguistic experience on perception of the English /s/-/z/ contrast in word-final position. The durations of the periodic ("vowel") and aperiodic ("fricative") portions of stimuli, ranging from peas to peace, were varied in a 5 X 5 factorial design. Forced-choice identification judgments were elicited from two groups of native speakers of American English differing in dialect, and from two groups each of native speakers of French, Swedish, and Finnish differing in English-language experience. The results suggested that the non-native subjects used cues established for the perception of phonetic contrasts in their native language to identify fricatives as /s/ or /z/. Lengthening vowel duration increased /z/ judgments in all eight subject groups, although the effect was smaller for native speakers of French than for native speakers of the other languages. Shortening fricative duration, on the other hand, significantly decreased /z/ judgments only by the English and French subjects. It did not influence voicing judgments by the Swedish and Finnish subjects, even those who had lived for a year or more in an English-speaking environment. These findings raise the question of whether adults who learn a foreign language can acquire the ability to integrate multiple acoustic cues to a phonetic contrast which does not exist in their native language.

  14. The influence of acculturation on breast-feeding initiation and duration in low-income women in the US.

    PubMed

    Sussner, Katarina M; Lindsay, Ana C; Peterson, Karen E

    2008-09-01

    While the 'immigrant health paradox' posits better health behaviours and outcomes for immigrants upon arrival to the US, research suggests that this advantage may deteriorate over time. This study analysed the relationship of acculturation and breast-feeding initiation and duration among a sample of predominantly Latina, low-income women in the US. The four measures of acculturation included: mother's nativity (foreign born vs US born), mother's parents' nativity (foreign born vs US born), years of US residence (<8 years vs > or =8 years) and a dichotomous measure of language acculturation adapted from three items on Marin's acculturation scale (preferred language spoken at home, reading language and writing language) as exclusive use of native language versus non-exclusive use (mixed or English only) (Marin et al., 1987; Marin & Gamba, 1996). Final multivariable models showed that mothers who exclusively used their native language were more likely to initiate breast-feeding as well as breast-feed for longer duration compared with mothers with non-exclusive use, whereas years of US residence and mother's nativity were not significantly associated with breast-feeding initiation or duration. Mother's parents' nativity also emerged as a significant predictor of breast-feeding duration, both within final models for immigrants and across study participants. Programmes providing nutrition education to low-income women may wish to consider the role of language as an important determinant of breast-feeding. The role of mother's parents' nativity on breast-feeding practices deserves exploration in future studies, as the cultural practices taught by family members born outside the US may exert strong pressure within immigrant families now living in the US.

  15. Lessons from the Other Side of the Teacher's Desk: Discovering Insights to Help Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westbrook, Frances

    2011-01-01

    Most language teachers become teachers because they are fascinated by language. They like the way languages work, they are intrigued by differences between their native tongues and other languages, and they enjoy the process of helping their students learn. Most language teachers have had positive experiences as language students themselves…

  16. Social Network Development, Language Use, and Language Acquisition during Study Abroad: Arabic Language Learners' Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dewey, Dan P.; Belnap, R. Kirk; Hillstrom, Rebecca

    2013-01-01

    Language learners and educators have subscribed to the belief that those who go abroad will have many opportunities to use the target language and will naturally become proficient. They also assume that language learners will develop relationships with native speakers allowing them to use the language and become more fluent, an assumption…

  17. Talker- and language-specific effects on speech intelligibility in noise assessed with bilingual talkers: Which language is more robust against noise and reverberation?

    PubMed

    Hochmuth, Sabine; Jürgens, Tim; Brand, Thomas; Kollmeier, Birger

    2015-01-01

    Investigate talker- and language-specific aspects of speech intelligibility in noise and reverberation using highly comparable matrix sentence tests across languages. Matrix sentences spoken by German/Russian and German/Spanish bilingual talkers were recorded. These sentences were used to measure speech reception thresholds (SRTs) with native listeners in the respective languages in different listening conditions (stationary and fluctuating noise, multi-talker babble, reverberated speech-in-noise condition). Four German/Russian and four German/Spanish bilingual talkers; 20 native German-speaking, 10 native Russian-speaking, and 10 native Spanish-speaking listeners. Across-talker SRT differences of up to 6 dB were found for both groups of bilinguals. SRTs of German/Russian bilingual talkers were the same in both languages. SRTs of German/Spanish bilingual talkers were higher when they talked in Spanish than when they talked in German. The benefit from listening in the gaps was similar across all languages. The detrimental effect of reverberation was larger for Spanish than for German and Russian. Within the limitations set by the number and slight accentedness of talkers and other possible confounding factors, talker- and test-condition-dependent differences were isolated from the language effect: Russian and German exhibited similar intelligibility in noise and reverberation, whereas Spanish was more impaired in these situations.

  18. The perception of phonological quantity based on durational cues by native speakers, second-language users and nonspeakers of Finnish.

    PubMed

    Ylinen, Sari; Shestakova, Anna; Alku, Paavo; Huotilainen, Minna

    2005-01-01

    Some languages, such as Finnish, use speech-sound duration as the primary cue for a phonological quantity distinction. For second-language (L2) learners, quantity is often difficult to master if speech-sound duration plays a less important role in the phonology of their native language (L1). By comparing the categorization performance of native speakers of Finnish, Russian L2 users of Finnish, and non-Finnish-speaking Russians, the present study aimed to determine whether the L2 users, whose native language does not have a quantity distinction, have been able to establish categories for Finnish quantity. The results suggest that the native speakers and some of the L2 users that have been exposed to Finnish for a longer time have access to phonological quantity categories, whereas the L2 users with shorter exposure and the non-Finnish-speaking subjects do not. In addition, by comparing categorization and discrimination tasks it was found that the native speakers show a phoneme-boundary effect for quantity that is cued by duration only, whereas the non-Finnish-speaking subjects and the subjects with low proficiency in Finnish do not.

  19. Identifying a Foreign Accent in an Unfamiliar Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Major, Roy C.

    2007-01-01

    This study explores the question of whether native and nonnative listeners, some familiar with the language and some not, differ in their accent ratings of native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs). Although a few studies have employed native and nonnative judges to evaluate native and nonnative speech, the present study is perhaps the…

  20. English Language Schooling, Linguistic Realities, and the Native Speaker of English in Hong Kong

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen Edwards, Jette G.

    2018-01-01

    The study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students' English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants' English and Cantonese language use at…

  1. An Experimental Study Comparing English-Only and Transitional Bilingual Education on Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers' Early Literacy Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duran, Lillian K.; Roseth, Cary J.; Hoffman, Patricia

    2010-01-01

    A longitudinal, experimental-control design was used to test the hypothesis that native language instruction enhances English language learner's (ELL's) native language and literacy development without significant cost to English development. In this study, 31 Spanish-speaking preschoolers (aged 38-48 months) were randomly assigned to two Head…

  2. The Role of Native-Language Phonology in the Auditory Word Identification and Visual Word Recognition of Russian-English Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shafiro, Valeriy; Kharkhurin, Anatoliy V.

    2009-01-01

    Abstract Does native language phonology influence visual word processing in a second language? This question was investigated in two experiments with two groups of Russian-English bilinguals, differing in their English experience, and a monolingual English control group. Experiment 1 tested visual word recognition following semantic…

  3. Original Language Subtitles: Their Effects on the Native and Foreign Viewer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kruger, Jan-Louis; Doherty, Stephen; Soto-Sanfiel, María-T.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the impact of same-language subtitles on the immersion into audiovisual narratives as a function of the viewer's language (native or foreigner). Students from two universities in Australia and one in Spain were assigned randomly to one of two experimental groups, in which they saw a drama with the original English…

  4. Native American Rhetoric and the Pre-Socratic Ideal of "Physis."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Bernard A.

    "House Made of Dawn" by N. Scott Momaday is about language and the sacredness of the word and about what can be understood as a peculiarly Native American theory of rhetoric. All things are hinged to the physical landscape, nature, and the implications nature bears upon language. In Momaday's book, language does not represent external…

  5. The Role of Native Language Instruction in Bilingual Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardenas, Jose A.

    1984-01-01

    In the context of increasing criticism of bilingual education and the use of native language instruction, it must be remembered that they are based on a sound rationale. First, they address the need for continued learning as the child moves from one language to the other. Second, they address the need to diminish the alienation which children feel…

  6. 34 CFR 303.401 - Definitions of consent, native language, and personally identifiable information.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... which consent is sought, in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; (2) The parent... proficiency, means the language or mode of communication normally used by the parent of a child eligible under... child's parent, or other family member; (2) The address of the child; (3) A personal identifier, such as...

  7. Prospect of Electronic Media as Curriculum in Non-Native Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dutta, Juri; Parhi, Asima Ranjan

    2014-01-01

    In the context of India in general, and places where English language functions as a second language in particular, the prevalent idea that our students have to support their language learning capability through the native accent (pronunciation) structures is a myth. The paper takes up the following hypotheses: 1. Listening to BBC English or…

  8. Effects of Phonetic Similarity in the Identification of Mandarin Tones

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Bin; Shao, Jing; Bao, Mingzhen

    2017-01-01

    Tonal languages differ in how they use phonetic correlates, e.g. average pitch height and pitch direction, for tonal contrasts. Thus, native speakers of a tonal language may need to adjust their attention to familiar or unfamiliar phonetic cues when perceiving non-native tones. On the other hand, speakers of a non-tonal language may need to…

  9. Seven Hypotheses on Language Loss Causes and Cures.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crawford, James

    Objective evidence indicates that despite public fears and the claims of those who would make English the official language of the United States, it is not English, but minority tongues that are threatened in this country today. In the last 5 years, educators have noticed a sharp decline in native language skills among Native American children.…

  10. On the Problem of Choosing the Language of Instruction in a Multi-Lingual Setting--The Situation in Peru.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yabar-Dextre, Pompeyo

    1978-01-01

    After considering the linguistic, social, pedagogical and administrative rationale for using Spanish or native languages, particularly Quechua, as the educational medium, the author proposes a national system of bilingual schooling to be conducted in Spanish above the primary levels, but with continued native language course offerings. (SJL)

  11. American Sign Language Comprehension Test: A Tool for Sign Language Researchers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hauser, Peter C.; Paludneviciene, Raylene; Riddle, Wanda; Kurz, Kim B.; Emmorey, Karen; Contreras, Jessica

    2016-01-01

    The American Sign Language Comprehension Test (ASL-CT) is a 30-item multiple-choice test that measures ASL receptive skills and is administered through a website. This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the test based on a sample of 80 college students including deaf native signers, hearing native signers, deaf…

  12. -hóhta'hané: Mapping Genocide & Restorative Justice in Native America

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lucchesi, Annita

    2018-05-01

    This thesis explores critical decolonial cartography as a possible language for communicating and better understanding complex, intergenerational experiences of genocide and colonialism among Native American peoples. Utilizing a self-reflexive methodology, this work makes interventions in Native American and indigenous studies, comparative genocide studies, historiography, and geography to argue for more expansive languages with which to grapple with Native experiences of genocide. In so doing, this paper also asserts the need for indigenous narrative self-determination, development of decolonial epistemologies and praxes on genocide, and languages for violence that are specifically designed to facilitate dialogue on healing. For that reason, this work not only positions cartography and maps as a particularly useful language for understanding indigenous experiences of genocide, but documents the development of this language, with the intent of supporting and guiding others in creating alternative languages that best fit their nation, community, family, and selves. Finally, the larger aim of this work is to make the case for languages on genocide that heal, rather than re-traumatize, and give a more holistic understanding of the ways in which genocide `takes place' spatially and temporally, with the hope of creating a larger, more inclusive, less violent space for imagining and crafting restorative justice.

  13. Language Revitalisation Processes and Prospects: Quichua in Equadorian Andes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Kendall A.

    1999-01-01

    Examines efforts to reverse language shift in two indigenous communities of southern Ecuador. Findings are presented from ethnographic work that investigated language use, language attitudes, and language instruction in two Andean communities that are attempting to revitalize their once-native Quechua.(Author/JL)

  14. The role of primary caregiver vocabulary knowledge in the development of bilingual children’s vocabulary skills

    PubMed Central

    Buac, Milijana; Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2015-01-01

    Purpose The current study examined the impact of environmental factors (SES, the percent of language exposure to English and to Spanish, and primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge) on bilingual children’s vocabulary skills. Method We measured vocabulary skills of 58 bilingual children between the ages of 5 and 7 who spoke Spanish as their native language and English as their second language. Data related to language environment in the home, specifically the percent of language exposure to each language and SES, were obtained from primary caregiver interviews. Primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge was measured directly using expressive and receptive vocabulary assessments in both languages. Results Multiple regression analyses indicated that primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge, the child’s percent exposure to each language, and SES were robust predictors of children’s English, but not Spanish, vocabulary skills. Conclusions These findings indicate that in the early school age, primary caregiver vocabulary skills have a stronger impact on bilingual children’s second-language than native-language vocabulary. PMID:24824882

  15. Motor excitability during visual perception of known and unknown spoken languages.

    PubMed

    Swaminathan, Swathi; MacSweeney, Mairéad; Boyles, Rowan; Waters, Dafydd; Watkins, Kate E; Möttönen, Riikka

    2013-07-01

    It is possible to comprehend speech and discriminate languages by viewing a speaker's articulatory movements. Transcranial magnetic stimulation studies have shown that viewing speech enhances excitability in the articulatory motor cortex. Here, we investigated the specificity of this enhanced motor excitability in native and non-native speakers of English. Both groups were able to discriminate between speech movements related to a known (i.e., English) and unknown (i.e., Hebrew) language. The motor excitability was higher during observation of a known language than an unknown language or non-speech mouth movements, suggesting that motor resonance is enhanced specifically during observation of mouth movements that convey linguistic information. Surprisingly, however, the excitability was equally high during observation of a static face. Moreover, the motor excitability did not differ between native and non-native speakers. These findings suggest that the articulatory motor cortex processes several kinds of visual cues during speech communication. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. "Speaking Indian": Parameters of Language Use Among American Indians. Focus, Number 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Medicine, Bea

    A brief overview of the status of language use in Native American communities reveals that while approximately 206 different languages and language dialects persist today, an estimated 49 languages have fewer than 10 speakers aged 50 or over, while 6 of these languages have more than 10,000 speakers of all generations. That these languages persist…

  17. A Selective Mutism Arising from First Language Attrition, Successfully Treated with Paroxetine-CBT Combination Treatment.

    PubMed

    Serra, Agostino; Di Mauro, Paola; Andaloro, Claudio; Maiolino, Luigi; Pavone, Piero; Cocuzza, Salvatore

    2015-10-01

    After immersion in a foreign language, speakers often have difficulty retrieving native-language words and may experience a decrease in its proficiency, this phenomenon, in the non-pathological form, is known as first language attrition. Self-perception of this low native-language proficiency and apprehension occurring when speaking is expected and, may sometimes lead these people to a state of social anxiety and, in extreme forms, can involve the withholding of speech as a primitive tool for self-protection, linking them to selective mutism. We report an unusual case of selective mutism arising from first language attrition in an Italian girl after attending a two-year "German language school", who successfully responded to a paroxetine-cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) combination treatment.

  18. A Selective Mutism Arising from First Language Attrition, Successfully Treated with Paroxetine-CBT Combination Treatment

    PubMed Central

    Serra, Agostino; Di Mauro, Paola; Andaloro, Claudio; Maiolino, Luigi; Pavone, Piero

    2015-01-01

    After immersion in a foreign language, speakers often have difficulty retrieving native-language words and may experience a decrease in its proficiency, this phenomenon, in the non-pathological form, is known as first language attrition. Self-perception of this low native-language proficiency and apprehension occurring when speaking is expected and, may sometimes lead these people to a state of social anxiety and, in extreme forms, can involve the withholding of speech as a primitive tool for self-protection, linking them to selective mutism. We report an unusual case of selective mutism arising from first language attrition in an Italian girl after attending a two-year "German language school", who successfully responded to a paroxetine-cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) combination treatment. PMID:26508972

  19. A language-familiarity effect for speaker discrimination without comprehension.

    PubMed

    Fleming, David; Giordano, Bruno L; Caldara, Roberto; Belin, Pascal

    2014-09-23

    The influence of language familiarity upon speaker identification is well established, to such an extent that it has been argued that "Human voice recognition depends on language ability" [Perrachione TK, Del Tufo SN, Gabrieli JDE (2011) Science 333(6042):595]. However, 7-mo-old infants discriminate speakers of their mother tongue better than they do foreign speakers [Johnson EK, Westrek E, Nazzi T, Cutler A (2011) Dev Sci 14(5):1002-1011] despite their limited speech comprehension abilities, suggesting that speaker discrimination may rely on familiarity with the sound structure of one's native language rather than the ability to comprehend speech. To test this hypothesis, we asked Chinese and English adult participants to rate speaker dissimilarity in pairs of sentences in English or Mandarin that were first time-reversed to render them unintelligible. Even in these conditions a language-familiarity effect was observed: Both Chinese and English listeners rated pairs of native-language speakers as more dissimilar than foreign-language speakers, despite their inability to understand the material. Our data indicate that the language familiarity effect is not based on comprehension but rather on familiarity with the phonology of one's native language. This effect may stem from a mechanism analogous to the "other-race" effect in face recognition.

  20. A study of the effects of English language proficiency and scientific reasoning skills on the acquisition of science content knowledge of Hispanic English language learners and native English language-speaking students participating in grade 10 science classes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torres, Hector Neftali, Sr.

    2000-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of English language proficiency and levels of scientific reasoning skills of Hispanic English language learners and native English language speaking students on their acquisition of science content knowledge as measured by a state-wide standardized science test. The researcher studied a group of high school Hispanic English language learners and native English language speaking students participating in Grade 10 science classes. The language proficiency of the students was to be measured through the use of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) instrument. A Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning developed by Lawson (1978) was administered in either English or Spanish to the group of Hispanic English language learners and in English to the group of native English language-speaking students in order to determine their levels of scientific reasoning skills. The students' acquisition of science content knowledge was measured through the use of statewide-standardized science test developed by the State's Department of Education. This study suggests that the levels of English language proficiency appear to influence the acquisition of science content knowledge of Hispanic English language learners in the study. The results of the study also suggest that with regards to scientific reasoning skills, students that showed high levels or reflective reasoning skills for the most part performed better on the statewide-standardized science test than students with intuitive or transitional reasoning skills. This assertion was supported by the studies conducted by Lawson and his colleagues, which showed that high levels of reasoning or reflective reasoning skills are prerequisite for most high school science courses. The findings in this study imply that high order English language proficiency combined with high levels of reasoning skills enhances students' abilities to learn science content subject matter. This lends support to Cummins' theoretical framework, which indicates that learning science content subject matter requires cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). The study also indicates that CALP maybe the combination of high order English language proficiency and high levels of reasoning skills. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

  1. Relative Difficulty of Understanding Foreign Accents as a Marker of Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lev-Ari, Shiri; van Heugten, Marieke; Peperkamp, Sharon

    2017-01-01

    Foreign-accented speech is generally harder to understand than native-accented speech. This difficulty is reduced for non-native listeners who share their first language with the non-native speaker. It is currently unclear, however, how non-native listeners deal with foreign-accented speech produced by speakers of a different language. We show…

  2. Lexical Encoding of L2 Tones: The Role of L1 Stress, Pitch Accent and Intonation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Braun, Bettina; Galts, Tobias; Kabak, Baris

    2014-01-01

    Native language prosodic structure is known to modulate the processing of non-native suprasegmental information. It has been shown that native speakers of French, a language without lexical stress, have difficulties storing non-native stress contrasts. We investigated whether the ability to store lexical tone (as in Mandarin Chinese) also depends…

  3. Sciencepoetry and Language/Culture Teaching.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Romano, James V.

    1988-01-01

    Examines Rafael Catala's notion of sciencepoetry and an application of modern scientific principles to the teaching of language and culture, the "Lange Process." This interactive language/culture learning process relates target and native languages, culture, and perceptions. (Author/LMO)

  4. Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals

    PubMed Central

    Leonard, Matthew K.; Torres, Christina; Travis, Katherine E.; Brown, Timothy T.; Hagler, Donald J.; Dale, Anders M.; Elman, Jeffrey L.; Halgren, Eric

    2011-01-01

    Bilingualism provides a unique opportunity for understanding the relative roles of proficiency and order of acquisition in determining how the brain represents language. In a previous study, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of word processing in a group of Spanish-English bilinguals who were more proficient in their native language. We found that from the earliest stages of lexical processing, words in the second language evoke greater activity in bilateral posterior visual regions, while activity to the native language is largely confined to classical left hemisphere fronto-temporal areas. In the present study, we sought to examine whether these effects relate to language proficiency or order of language acquisition by testing Spanish-English bilingual subjects who had become dominant in their second language. Additionally, we wanted to determine whether activity in bilateral visual regions was related to the presentation of written words in our previous study, so we presented subjects with both written and auditory words. We found greater activity for the less proficient native language in bilateral posterior visual regions for both the visual and auditory modalities, which started during the earliest word encoding stages and continued through lexico-semantic processing. In classical left fronto-temporal regions, the two languages evoked similar activity. Therefore, it is the lack of proficiency rather than secondary acquisition order that determines the recruitment of non-classical areas for word processing. PMID:21455315

  5. 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.

  6. An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Investigation of Filler-Gap Processing in Native and Second Language Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dallas, Andrea; DeDe, Gayle; Nicol, Janet

    2013-01-01

    The current study employed a neuro-imaging technique, Event-Related Potentials (ERP), to investigate real-time processing of sentences containing filler-gap dependencies by late-learning speakers of English as a second language (L2) with a Chinese native language background. An individual differences approach was also taken to examine the role of…

  7. Self-Concept and Native Language Background: A Study of Measurement Invariance and Cross-Group Comparisons in Third Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Niehaus, Kate; Adelson, Jill L.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the measurement and interpretation of self-concept among the growing population of children who are English Language Learners (ELLs). More specifically, a 3-group analysis was conducted comparing native English-speaking children, Spanish-speaking ELLs, and ELLs from Asian language backgrounds. Data were drawn from the Early…

  8. Using a Native American Language as a Classroom Teaching Tool: Teaching Shoshoni Poetry.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crum, Beverly Lorene

    Children responded enthusiastically to a program that used Shoshoni poetry songs to teach some concepts about human languages in general. Twelve children (four Caucasian, eight Native American) in grades 1-3 and their parents met for four 1-hour sessions. The lessons focused on the sound, meaning, and word order of the Shoshoni language; Shoshoni…

  9. Teaching in the Foreign Language Classroom: How Being a Native or Non-Native Speaker of German Influences Culture Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghanem, Carla

    2015-01-01

    The study explores the complexities associated with graduate language instructors' NS/NNS identities and teaching of culture. Researchers, who work mainly in the English as a Second/Foreign Language field, have been discussing this divide and have examined the advantages and disadvantages each group brings to the profession, but not the influence…

  10. Exploring How Non-Native Teachers Can Use Commonalities with Students to Teach the Target Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds-Case, Anne

    2012-01-01

    This article presents a qualitative study demonstrating how teachers who are non-native speakers (NNS) of the target language and who have learned the target language in a similar environment as their students can use their past learning experiences as pedagogical tools in their classes. An analysis of transcripts from classrooms with NNS and…

  11. Scaffolding Learning: Developing Materials to Support the Learning of Science and Language by Non-Native English-Speaking Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Afitska, Oksana

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, the UK, like many other English first-language-speaking countries, has encountered a steady and continuous increase in the numbers of non-native English-speaking learners entering state primary and secondary schools. A significant proportion of these learners has specific language and subject learning needs, many of which can only…

  12. The influence of linguistic and musical experience on Cantonese word learning.

    PubMed

    Cooper, Angela; Wang, Yue

    2012-06-01

    Adult non-native speech perception is subject to influence from multiple factors, including linguistic and extralinguistic experience such as musical training. The present research examines how linguistic and musical factors influence non-native word identification and lexical tone perception. Groups of native tone language (Thai) and non-tone language listeners (English), each subdivided into musician and non-musician groups, engaged in Cantonese tone word training. Participants learned to identify words minimally distinguished by five Cantonese tones during training, also completing musical aptitude and phonemic tone identification tasks. First, the findings suggest that either musical experience or a tone language background leads to significantly better non-native word learning proficiency, as compared to those with neither musical training nor tone language experience. Moreover, the combination of tone language and musical experience did not provide an additional advantage for Thai musicians above and beyond either experience alone. Musicianship was found to be more advantageous than a tone language background for tone identification. Finally, tone identification and musical aptitude scores were significantly correlated with word learning success for English but not Thai listeners. These findings point to a dynamic influence of musical and linguistic experience, both at the tone dentification level and at the word learning stage.

  13. Writing through Two Languages: First Language Expertise in a Language Minority Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kibler, Amanda

    2010-01-01

    Language minority students' writing is often measured solely in terms of its distance from native speaker norms, yet doing so may ignore the process through which these texts are realized and the role that the first language plays in their creation. This study analyzes oral interactions among adolescent second language writers during an extended…

  14. 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…

  15. More than Words, A Way of Life: Language Restoration Programs Reach beyond Tribal Colleges and Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paskus, Laura

    2013-01-01

    In North America, and worldwide, Indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming rate. There are, however, models of success for language revitalization in immersion language programs, usually found in tribal colleges and universities. Whether the language learners are tribal college students greeting one another in their native language,…

  16. Do Decision Rules Matter? A Descriptive Study of English Language Proficiency Assessment Classifications for English-Language Learners and Native English Speakers in Fifth Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carroll, Patricia E.; Bailey, Alison L.

    2016-01-01

    English language proficiency assessments (ELPA) are used in the United States to measure annually the English language progress and proficiency of English-language learners (ELLs), a subgroup of language minority students who receive language acquisition support mandated and largely funded by Title III (NCLB, 2001). ELPA proficient and…

  17. One-Parent-One-Language (OPOL) Families: Is the Majority Language-Speaking Parent Instrumental in the Minority Language Development?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Venables, Elizabeth; Eisenchlas, Susana A.; Schalley, Andrea C.

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to examine the strategies majority language-speaking parents use to support the development of the minority language in families who follow the pattern of exposure known as one-parent-one-language (OPOL). In this particular pattern of raising a child bilingually, each parent speaks only their own native language to their…

  18. Language-Planning in the Creole-Speaking Caribbean.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Devonish, Hubert

    1984-01-01

    As a result of anticolonial movements in the Caribbean, Creole languages are becoming major languages of communication. Language planning has begun to focus on them. These languages must be taught to non-native speakers who want to participate fully in Caribbean culture. This is clearly demonstrated in the area of cinema. (VM)

  19. Stories for Language Revitalization in Nahuatl and Chichimeca.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Francis, Norbert; Nieto Andrade, Rafael

    Central Mexico is home to over 20 indigenous languages whose speakers still occupy their original ancestral communities. In this region, acute language conflict between Native languages and Spanish, the official state language, greatly affects elementary school students such as those in San Isidro Buensuceso Tlaxcala and Mision de Chichimecas in…

  20. Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

    PubMed Central

    Pakulak, Eric; Neville, Helen J.

    2010-01-01

    While anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided, based on standardized proficiency scores, into Lower Proficiency (LP) and Higher Proficiency (HP) groups. Compared to LP participants, HP participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we utilized a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-group analyses. This approach also employed partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that in order to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency. PMID:19925188

  1. Native Reactions to Non-Native Speech: A Review of Empirical Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eisenstein, Miriam

    1983-01-01

    Recent research on native speakers' reactions to nonnative speech that views listeners, speakers, and language from a variety of perspectives using both objective and subjective research paradigms is reviewed. Studies of error gravity, relative intelligibility of language samples, the role of accent, speakers' characteristics, and context in which…

  2. Foreign language affects the contribution of intentions and outcomes to moral judgment.

    PubMed

    Geipel, Janet; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Surian, Luca

    2016-09-01

    We examine whether the use of a foreign language, as opposed to the native language, influences the relative weight intentions versus outcomes carry in moral evaluations. In Study 1, participants were presented with actions that had positive outcomes but were motivated by dubious intentions, while in Study 2 with actions that had negative outcomes but were motivated by positive intentions. Participants received the materials either in their native or a foreign language. Foreign language prompted more positive moral evaluations in Study 1 and less positive evaluations in Study 2. These results show that foreign language reduces the relative weight placed on intentions versus outcomes. We discuss several theoretical accounts that are consistent with the results such as that foreign language attenuates emotions (triggered by intentions) or it depletes cognitive resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Word order processing in a second language: from VO to OV.

    PubMed

    Erdocia, Kepa; Zawiszewski, Adam; Laka, Itziar

    2014-12-01

    Event-related potential studies on second language processing reveal that L1/L2 differences are due either to proficiency, age of acquisition or grammatical differences between L1 and L2 (Kotz in Brain Lang 109(2-3):68-74, 2009). However, the relative impact of these and other factors in second language processing is still not well understood. Here we present evidence from behavioral and ERP experiments on Basque sentence word order processing by L1Spanish-L2Basque early bilinguals (Age of Aquisition [Formula: see text] 3 years) with very high proficiency in their L2. Results reveal that these L2 speakers have a preference towards canonical Subject-Object-Verb word order, which they processed faster and with greater ease than non-canonical Object-Subject-Verb. This result converges with the processing preferences shown by natives and reported in Erdocia et al. (Brain Lang 109(1):1-17, 2009). However, electrophysiological measures associated to canonical (SOV) and non-canonical (OSV) sentences revealed a different pattern in the non-natives, as compared to that reported previously for natives. The non-native group elicited a P600 component that native group did not show when comparing S and O at sentence's second position. This pattern of results suggests that, despite high proficiency, non-native language processing recruits neural resources that are different from those employed in native languages.

  4. Revisiting the role of language in spatial cognition: Categorical perception of spatial relations in English and Korean speakers.

    PubMed

    Holmes, Kevin J; Moty, Kelsey; Regier, Terry

    2017-12-01

    The spatial relation of support has been regarded as universally privileged in nonlinguistic cognition and immune to the influence of language. English, but not Korean, obligatorily distinguishes support from nonsupport via basic spatial terms. Despite this linguistic difference, previous research suggests that English and Korean speakers show comparable nonlinguistic sensitivity to the support/nonsupport distinction. Here, using a paradigm previously found to elicit cross-language differences in color discrimination, we provide evidence for a difference in sensitivity to support/nonsupport between native English speakers and native Korean speakers who were late English learners and tested in a context that privileged Korean. Whereas the former group showed categorical perception (CP) when discriminating spatial scenes capturing the support/nonsupport distinction, the latter did not. An additional group of native Korean speakers-relatively early English learners tested in an English-salient context-patterned with the native English speakers in showing CP for support/nonsupport. These findings suggest that obligatory marking of support/nonsupport in one's native language can affect nonlinguistic sensitivity to this distinction, contra earlier findings, but that such sensitivity may also depend on aspects of language background and the immediate linguistic context.

  5. Clitic pronouns reveal the time course of processing gender and number in a second language

    PubMed Central

    Rossi, Eleonora; Kroll, Judith F.; Dussias, Paola E.

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates grammatical gender and number processing marked on clitic pronouns in native Spanish speakers and in late English-Spanish bilinguals using ERPs. Spanish clitic pronouns were chosen as a critical grammatical structure which is absent in English, and which encodes both grammatical gender and number. Number, but not grammatical gender, is present in English, making this structure a prime one to investigate second language processing. Results reveal a P600 effect in native speakers for violations of both gender and number. Late but relatively proficient English-Spanish bilinguals show a P600 effect only for number violations occurring at the clitic pronoun, but not for gender violations. However a post-hoc analysis reveals that a subset of highly proficient late bilinguals does reveal sensitivity to violations of grammatical gender marked on clitic pronouns. Taken together these results suggest that native-like processing is possible for highly proficient late second language learners for grammatical features that are not present in the speakers' native language, even when those features are encoded on a grammatical morpheme which itself is absent in the speakers' native language. PMID:25036762

  6. Language of Science as a Bridge to Native American Educators and Students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alexander, C. J.; Angrum, A.; Martin, M.; Ali, N.; Kingfisher, J.; Treuer, A.; Grant, G.; Ciotti, J.

    2010-12-01

    In the Western tradition, words and vocabulary encapsulate much of how knowledge enters the public discourse, and is passed from one generation to the next. Much of Native American knowledge is passed along in an oral tradition. Chants and ceremonies contain context and long-baseline data on the environment (geology, climate, and astronomy) that may even surpasses the lifespan of a single individual. For Native American students and researchers, the concept of ‘modern research and science education’ may be wrapped up into the conundrum of assimilation and loss of cultural identification and traditional way of life. That conundrum is also associated with the lack of language and vocabulary with which to discuss 'modern research.' Native Americans emphasize the need to know themselves and their own culture when teaching their students. Many Native American communities recognize that the retention of their language - and need to make the language relevant to the technological age we live in, represents one of their largest and most urgent challenges. One strategy for making science education relevant to Native American learners is identifying appropriate terms that cross the cultural divide. More than just words and vocabulary, the thought processes and word/concept relationships can be quite different in the native cultures. The U.S. Rosetta Project has worked to identify words associated with Western 'STEM' concepts in three Native American communities: Navajo, Hawaiian, and Ojibwe. The U.S. Rosetta Project is NASA’s contribution to the International Rosetta Mission. The Rosetta stone, inspiration for the mission’s name, is expected to provide the keys to the primordial solar system the way the original Rosetta Stone provided a key to ancient language. Steps taken so far include identification and presentation of online astronomy, geology, and physical science vocabulary terms in the native language, identification of teachers and classrooms - often in Native American charter schools - interested in working STEM concepts in the native language, and initiation of an essay contest to encourage use and cognitive understanding of the terms. One of our lesson's learned, is that finding people who are bi-lingual, who have an understanding of western science and traditional knowledge are key to making the cross-cultural connections work. STEM language elements in Navajo, Hawaiian, and Ojibwe can be found at the U.S. Rosetta website. Work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, was supported by NASA. The Rosetta mission is a cooperative project of NASA and the European Space Agency.

  7. Writing Science Like an English Native Speaker: How Far Can and Should Non-Native Speakers of English Go?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burrough-Boenisch, Joy

    This paper discusses how a native English-speaking scientist should write and how they actually write scientific articles. This is complemented by considering the aspects of English that journal editors reported as influencing their assessment of manuscripts submitted by second language authors. Some of the ways in which native language and…

  8. Native Speakers as Teachers in Turkey: Non-Native Pre-Service English Teachers' Reactions to a Nation-Wide Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coskun, Abdullah

    2013-01-01

    Although English is now a recognized international language and the concept of native speaker is becoming more doubtful every day, the empowerment of the native speakers of English as language teaching professionals is still continuing (McKay, 2002), especially in Asian countries like China and Japan. One of the latest examples showing the…

  9. Conceptualization of American English Native Speaker Norms: A Case Study of an English Language Classroom in South Korea

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahn, Kyungja

    2011-01-01

    This case study aims to reveal how conceptualization of native speakership was constructed and reinforced in a South Korean university classroom of English as a foreign language (EFL). In addition, it examines how this conceptualization positions native speakers, a non-native EFL teacher, and learners, and what learning opportunities were provided…

  10. Attitudes of Palestinian Undergraduate Students towards Native and Non-Native English Language Teachers and Their Relation to Students' Listening Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nafi, Jamal Subhi Ismail; Qabaja, Ziad Mohammed Mahmoud; Al-Kar, Hibah Jabir Ibrahim

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of Palestinian undergraduate students towards native and non-native English language teachers and their relation to students' listening ability. To achieve this purpose and to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses, the researchers adopted both the descriptive and inferential…

  11. Free classification of American English dialects by native and non-native listeners

    PubMed Central

    Clopper, Cynthia G.; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2009-01-01

    Most second language acquisition research focuses on linguistic structures, and less research has examined the acquisition of sociolinguistic patterns. The current study explored the perceptual classification of regional dialects of American English by native and non-native listeners using a free classification task. Results revealed similar classification strategies for the native and non-native listeners. However, the native listeners were more accurate overall than the non-native listeners. In addition, the non-native listeners were less able to make use of constellations of cues to accurately classify the talkers by dialect. However, the non-native listeners were able to attend to cues that were either phonologically or sociolinguistically relevant in their native language. These results suggest that non-native listeners can use information in the speech signal to classify talkers by regional dialect, but that their lack of signal-independent cultural knowledge about variation in the second language leads to less accurate classification performance. PMID:20161400

  12. Iconic Native Culture Cues Inhibit Second Language Production in a Non-immigrant Population: Evidence from Bengali-English Bilinguals.

    PubMed

    Roychoudhuri, Kesaban S; Prasad, Seema G; Mishra, Ramesh K

    2016-01-01

    We examined if iconic pictures belonging to one's native culture interfere with second language production in bilinguals in an object naming task. Bengali-English bilinguals named pictures in both L1 and L2 against iconic cultural images representing Bengali culture or neutral images. Participants named in both "Blocked" and "Mixed" language conditions. In both conditions, participants were significantly slower in naming in English when the background was an iconic Bengali culture picture than a neutral image. These data suggest that native language culture cues lead to activation of the L1 lexicon that competed against L2 words creating an interference. These results provide further support to earlier observations where such culture related interference has been observed in bilingual language production. We discuss the results in the context of cultural influence on the psycholinguistic processes in bilingual object naming.

  13. Late Bilinguals Are Sensitive to Unique Aspects of Second Language Processing: Evidence from Clitic Pronouns Word-Order

    PubMed Central

    Rossi, Eleonora; Diaz, Michele; Kroll, Judith F.; Dussias, Paola E.

    2017-01-01

    In two self-paced reading experiments we asked whether late, highly proficient, English–Spanish bilinguals are able to process language-specific morpho-syntactic information in their second language (L2). The processing of Spanish clitic pronouns’ word order was tested in two sentential constructions. Experiment 1 showed that English–Spanish bilinguals performed similarly to Spanish–English bilinguals and revealed sensitivity to word order violations for a grammatical structure unique to the L2. Experiment 2 replicated the pattern observed for native speakers in Experiment 1 with a group of monolingual Spanish speakers, demonstrating the stability of processing clitic pronouns in the native language. Taken together, the results show that late bilinguals can process aspects of grammar that are encoded in L2-specific linguistic constructions even when the structure is relatively subtle and not affected for native speakers by the presence of a second language. PMID:28367130

  14. Voice Quality in Native and Foreign Languages Investigated by Inverse Filtering and Perceptual Analyses.

    PubMed

    Järvinen, Kati; Laukkanen, Anne-Maria; Geneid, Ahmed

    2017-03-01

    Language shift from native (L1) to foreign language (L2) may affect speaker's voice production and induce vocal fatigue. This study investigates the effects of language shift on voice source and perceptual voice quality. This is a comparative experimental study. Twenty-four subjects were recorded in L1 and L2. Twelve of the subjects were native Finnish speakers and 12 were native English speakers, and the foreign languages were English and Finnish. Two groups were created based on reports of fatigability. Group 1 had the subjects who did not report more vocal fatigue in L2 than in L1, and in group 2 those who reported more vocal fatigue in L2 than in L1. Acoustic analyses by inverse filtering were conducted in L1 and L2. Also, the subjects' voices were perceptually evaluated in both languages. Results show that language shift from L1 to L2 increased perceived pressedness of voice. Acoustic analyses correlated with the perceptual evaluations. Also, the subjects who reported more vocal loading had poorer voice quality, more strenuous voice production, more pressed phonation, and a higher pitch. Voice production was less optimal in L2 than in L1. Speech training given in L2 could be beneficial for people who need to use L2 extensively. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. La investigacion sovietica en psicologia de la actividad linguistica (Soviet Investigations in Psychology Relating to Linguistic Processes)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prucha, J.

    1975-01-01

    Surveys the actual state of Russian research on verbal behavior as seen from the field of psychology. The research is in four parts: (1) language and thought, especially internal language, (2) neurological aspects of language, (3) child language, and (4) psychology of language learning and teaching for native and foreign languages. (Text is in…

  16. Electronic Tandem Language Learning (eTandem): A Third Approach to Second Language Learning for the 21st Century

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cziko, Gary A.

    2004-01-01

    Tandem language learning occurs when two learners of different native languages work together to help each other learn the other language. First used in face-to-face contexts, Tandem is now increasingly being used by language-learning partners located in different countries who are linked via various forms of electronic communication, a context…

  17. Korean ESL Parents' Perspectives and Maintenance of Mother Tongue: A Case Study of Two Korean Mothers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jaeseok

    2017-01-01

    This case study explores the language attitudes and perceptions of Korean parents, with regard to their children's native language maintenance and ESL education in the US. The primary focuses are on (1) what aspects are held by Korean parents toward the maintenance of the native language in the US, and (2) how these perspectives operate in their…

  18. Structure of the Second Language Mental Lexicon: How Does It Compare to Native Speakers' Lexical Organization?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zareva, Alla

    2007-01-01

    One of the questions frequently asked in second language (L2) lexical research is how L2 learners' patterns of lexical organization compare to those of native speakers (NSs). A growing body of research addresses this question by using word association (WA) tests. However, little research has been done on the role of language proficiency in the…

  19. The Functional Unit in Phonological Encoding: Evidence for Moraic Representation in Native Japanese Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kureta, Yoichi; Fushimi, Takao; Tatsumi, Itaru F.

    2006-01-01

    Speech production studies have shown that the phonological form of a word is made up of phonemic segments in stress-timed languages (e.g., Dutch) and of syllables in syllable timed languages (e.g., Chinese). To clarify the functional unit of mora-timed languages, the authors asked native Japanese speakers to perform an implicit priming task (A. S.…

  20. Factors Influencing Oral Corrective Feedback Provision in the Spanish Foreign Language Classroom: Investigating Instructor Native/Nonnative Speaker Status, SLA Education, & Teaching Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura

    2010-01-01

    The role of interactional feedback has been a critical area of second language acquisition (SLA) research for decades and while findings suggest interactional feedback can facilitate SLA, the extent of its influence can vary depending on a number of factors, including the native language of those involved in communication. Although studies have…

  1. Effects of Prosody While Disambiguating Ambiguous Japanese Sentences in the Brain of Native Speakers and Learners of Japanese: A Proposition for Pronunciation and Prosody Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Naito-Billen, Yuka

    2012-01-01

    Recently, the significant role that pronunciation and prosody plays in processing spoken language has been widely recognized and a variety of teaching methodologies of pronunciation/prosody has been implemented in teaching foreign languages. Thus, an analysis of how similarly or differently native and L2 learners of a language use…

  2. The Role of Colloquial French in Communication and Implications for Language Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonin, Therese M.

    1978-01-01

    This article discusses comprehension problems encountered by students of French as a second language as a result of the mismatch between the standard language they learn in classrooms and the language used by native speakers. (CLK)

  3. Minority Language Education in Malaysia: Four Ethnic Communities' Experiences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Karla J.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses minority language education in Malaysia, a multilingual and multicultural country. Looks at four language minority groups and what they have done to to provide beginning education programs for their children that use the children's native languages. (Author/VWL)

  4. Designing Indigenous Language Revitalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hermes, Mary; Bang, Megan; Marin, Ananda

    2012-01-01

    Endangered Indigenous languages have received little attention within the American educational research community. However, within Native American communities, language revitalization is pushing education beyond former iterations of culturally relevant curriculum and has the potential to radically alter how we understand culture and language in…

  5. Native American Languages Act. Hearing before the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session on S. 575 To Amend the Native American Languages Act To Provide for the Support of Native American Language Survival Schools (May 15, 2003).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

    This document includes statements given at this hearing by the following: William Y. Brown; John Cheek, Jennifer Chock; Rita Coosewon; David Dinwoodie; William Demmert, Jr.; Joycelyn DesRosier; Mary Hermes; Carla Herrera; Leanne Hinton; Holo Ho'opai; Hon. Daniel K. Inouye; Lawrence D. Kaplan; Keiki Kawaiaea; Rosalyn, LaPier; Lisa LaRonge; Vina…

  6. Beliefs about Learning English as a Second Language among Native Groups in Rural Sabah, Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krishnasamy, Hariharan N.; Veloo, Arsaythamby; Lu, Ho Fui

    2013-01-01

    This paper identifies differences between the three ethnic groups, namely, Kadazans/Dusuns, Bajaus, and other minority ethnic groups on the beliefs about learning English as a second language based on the five variables, that is, language aptitude, language learning difficulty, language learning and communicating strategies, nature of language…

  7. Automatic Selection of Suitable Sentences for Language Learning Exercises

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pilán, Ildikó; Volodina, Elena; Johansson, Richard

    2013-01-01

    In our study we investigated second and foreign language (L2) sentence readability, an area little explored so far in the case of several languages, including Swedish. The outcome of our research consists of two methods for sentence selection from native language corpora based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML)…

  8. Learning Vietnamese as a Heritage Language in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeh, Yu-Ching; Ho, Hsiang-Ju; Chen, Ming-Chung

    2015-01-01

    In 2011, the Taiwanese Government began a campaign to encourage new immigrants to teach their native languages (heritage languages) to their children. However, these heritage languages are seldom used in cross-national families and the effectiveness of formal heritage language courses in Taiwan has yet to be explored. The present study examines…

  9. Learner Agency and the Use of Affordances in Language-Exchange Interactions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahn, Tae youn

    2016-01-01

    Language exchange refers to a learning partnership between two learners with different native languages who collaborate to help each other improve their proficiency in the other's language. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which language-exchange participants activate learner agency to construct opportunities for learning in…

  10. Three Fundamental Concepts in Second Language Acquisition and Their Relevance in Multilingual Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kramsch, Claire; Whiteside, Anne

    2007-01-01

    This article considers how 3 fundamental concepts of second language acquisition (SLA), the native speaker, interlanguage, and the language learner have fared since Firth and Wagner (1997). We review the ascendancy of these concepts and their relationship to the traditional dichotomies of language learning versus language use and individual mind…

  11. Lifting Every Voice: Pedagogy and Politics of Bilingualism.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beykont, Zeynep F., Ed.

    Essays in this collection deal with the complex pedagogical and political issues of language-minority education in U.S. public schools. The book focuses on language-minority students in bilingual programs, those who receive some instruction in their native languages. The essays are: (1) "Language Loss and Language Gain in the Brazilian Community:…

  12. A Literary Approach to Teaching English Language in a Multicultural Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choudhary, Sanju

    2016-01-01

    Literature is not generally considered as a coherent branch of the curriculum in relation to language development in either native or foreign language teaching. As teachers of English in multicultural Indian classrooms, we come across students with varying degrees of competence in English language learning. Although language learning is a natural…

  13. Dual Language Instruction and Achievement: A Need and a Void in the Midwest

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De La Garza, Tammy Oberg; Mackinney, Erin; Lavigne, Alyson L.

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, the benefits of bilingualism through dual language (DL) education models have been well documented. Despite evidence of bilinguals' heightened cognition and achievement, Midwestern English language learners (ELLs) are relegated to language programs that do nothing to enhance or maintain students' native language. This descriptive…

  14. Achieving Academic Control in Two Languages: Drawing on the Psychology of Language Learning in Considering the Past, the Present, and Prospects for the Future

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cohen, Andrew D.

    2015-01-01

    This paper first considers what it means to become truly proficient in a language other than the native one. It then looks briefly at the evolution of dual language programs. Next, it focuses on the issue of whether the first language (L1) or the second language (L2) serves as the language of mediation. Other dual language program issues are then…

  15. Native language shifts across sleep-wake states in bilingual sleeptalkers.

    PubMed

    Pareja, J A; de Pablos, E; Caminero, A B; Millán, I; Dobato, J L

    1999-03-15

    To assess language used during episodes of sleeptalking in bilingual children. The investigation was accomplished through the parents who, after having received appropriate information, participated by filling out a survey on sleeptalking. The study was performed in three bilingual schools of the Basque country, a region in northern Spain in which two completely different official languages are spoken. A total of 1000 parents agreed to participate, and 681 children were studied. Sleeptalking was reported by 383 (56.3%) of children (mean age 9 years; range: 3-17). Most individuals used their dominant (i.e., native) language during sleep. However, a minority (< 4%) were found to use their non-dominant language persistently during episodes of sleeptalking. Balanced bilinguals (those who have equal proficiency in both languages) may sleeptalk in either of the two languages. Dominant bilinguals (i.e., having greater proficiency in one language) may preferentially sleeptalk in their dominant language, with immediate past events probably influencing language use in individual subjects on particular nights. Several considerations are postulated as an explanation for the group who systematically exhibited a dominance shift during sleep.

  16. Chinese Students' Perceptions of Native English-Speaking Teachers in EFL Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rao, Zhenhui

    2010-01-01

    The article reports the views of 20 Chinese English as a foreign Language (EFL) students on the strengths and weaknesses of native English-speaking (NES) teachers in EFL teaching. Responding to an open-ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews, EFL students named the following as NES teachers' strengths: native language authenticity, cultural…

  17. Initial Exploration of a Construct Representing Native Language and Culture (NLC) in Elementary and Middle School Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Ryzin, Mark J.; Vincent, Claudia G.; Hoover, Joseph

    2016-01-01

    Students from American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) backgrounds have typically experienced poor academic and behavioral outcomes. In response, the educational community has recommended that teachers integrate Native Language and Culture (NLC) into instruction to create a welcoming and culturally relevant classroom environment. However, translating…

  18. Effects of Lips and Hands on Auditory Learning of Second-Language Speech Sounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hirata, Yukari; Kelly, Spencer D.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Previous research has found that auditory training helps native English speakers to perceive phonemic vowel length contrasts in Japanese, but their performance did not reach native levels after training. Given that multimodal information, such as lip movement and hand gesture, influences many aspects of native language processing, the…

  19. The Native Speaker, Identity, and the Authenticity Hierarchy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Myhill, John E.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses an ideology of native language and identity, which holds that native language is seen as a central element of individual identity. Argues that although this ideology can be very valuable in certain circumstances, it can also create an atmosphere of suspicion toward members of certain ethnicities who choose not to use their ancestral…

  20. Effects of First and Second Language on Segmentation of Non-Native Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanulikova, Adriana; Mitterer, Holger; McQueen, James M.

    2011-01-01

    Do Slovak-German bilinguals apply native Slovak phonological and lexical knowledge when segmenting German speech? When Slovaks listen to their native language, segmentation is impaired when fixed-stress cues are absent (Hanulikova, McQueen & Mitterer, 2010), and, following the Possible-Word Constraint (PWC; Norris, McQueen, Cutler & Butterfield,…

  1. University Students' Perceptions of Native and Non-Native Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ustunluoglu, Evrim

    2007-01-01

    The employment of native teachers of English in countries where English is a foreign language, coupled with a growing concern over teaching effectiveness, has led to collecting data about teachers' performance through student feedback. Not much research has been carried out in Turkey to evaluate the process and output of language teaching by…

  2. Multicompetence and Native Speaker Variation in Clausal Packaging in Japanese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Amanda; Gullberg, Marianne

    2012-01-01

    Native speakers show systematic variation in a range of linguistic domains as a function of a variety of sociolinguistic variables. This article addresses native language variation in the context of multicompetence, i.e. knowledge of two languages in one mind (Cook, 1991). Descriptions of motion were elicited from functionally monolingual and…

  3. Are lexical tones musical? Native language's influence on neural response to pitch in different domains.

    PubMed

    Chen, Ao; Peter, Varghese; Wijnen, Frank; Schnack, Hugo; Burnham, Denis

    2018-04-21

    Language experience shapes musical and speech pitch processing. We investigated whether speaking a lexical tone language natively modulates neural processing of pitch in language and music as well as their correlation. We tested tone language (Mandarin Chinese), and non-tone language (Dutch) listeners in a passive oddball paradigm measuring mismatch negativity (MMN) for (i) Chinese lexical tones and (ii) three-note musical melodies with similar pitch contours. For lexical tones, Chinese listeners showed a later MMN peak than the non-tone language listeners, whereas for MMN amplitude there were no significant differences between groups. Dutch participants also showed a late discriminative negativity (LDN). In the music condition two MMNs, corresponding to the two notes that differed between the standard and the deviant were found for both groups, and an LDN were found for both the Dutch and the Chinese listeners. The music MMNs were significantly right lateralized. Importantly, significant correlations were found between the lexical tone and the music MMNs for the Dutch but not the Chinese participants. The results suggest that speaking a tone language natively does not necessarily enhance neural responses to pitch either in language or in music, but that it does change the nature of neural pitch processing: non-tone language speakers appear to perceive lexical tones as musical, whereas for tone language speakers, lexical tones and music may activate different neural networks. Neural resources seem to be assigned differently for the lexical tones and for musical melodies, presumably depending on the presence or absence of long-term phonological memory traces. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. The Representation and Execution of Articulatory Timing in First and Second Language Acquisition.

    PubMed

    Redford, Melissa A; Oh, Grace E

    2017-07-01

    The early acquisition of language-specific temporal patterns relative to the late development of speech motor control suggests a dissociation between the representation and execution of articulatory timing. The current study tested for such a dissociation in first and second language acquisition. American English-speaking children (5- and 8-year-olds) and Korean-speaking adult learners of English repeatedly produced real English words in a simple carrier sentence. The words were designed to elicit different language-specific vowel length contrasts. Measures of absolute duration and variability in single vowel productions were extracted to evaluate the realization of contrasts (representation) and to index speech motor abilities (execution). Results were mostly consistent with a dissociation. Native English-speaking children produced the same language-specific temporal patterns as native English-speaking adults, but their productions were more variable than the adults'. In contrast, Korean-speaking adult learners of English typically produced different temporal patterns than native English-speaking adults, but their productions were as stable as the native speakers'. Implications of the results are discussed with reference to different models of speech production.

  5. Differential neural contributions to native- and foreign-language talker identification

    PubMed Central

    Perrachione, Tyler K.; Pierrehumbert, Janet B.; Wong, Patrick C.M.

    2009-01-01

    Humans are remarkably adept at identifying individuals by the sound of their voice, a behavior supported by the nervous system’s ability to integrate information from voice and speech perception. Talker-identification abilities are significantly impaired when listeners are unfamiliar with the language being spoken. Recent behavioral studies describing the language-familiarity effect implicate functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception, yet specific neuroscientific evidence demonstrating the basis for such integration has not yet been shown. Listeners in the present study learned to identify voices speaking a familiar (native) or unfamiliar (foreign) language. The talker-identification performance of neural circuitry in each cerebral hemisphere was assessed using dichotic listening. To determine the relative contribution of circuitry in each hemisphere to ecological (binaural) talker identification abilities, we compared the predictive capacity of dichotic performance on binaural performance across languages. We found listeners’ right-ear (left hemisphere) performance to be a better predictor of overall accuracy in their native language than a foreign one. The enhanced predictive capacity of the classically language-dominant left-hemisphere on overall talker-identification accuracy demonstrates functionally integrated neural systems for speech and voice perception during natural talker identification. PMID:19968445

  6. The impact of input quality on early sign development in native and non-native language learners.

    PubMed

    Lu, Jenny; Jones, Anna; Morgan, Gary

    2016-05-01

    There is debate about how input variation influences child language. Most deaf children are exposed to a sign language from their non-fluent hearing parents and experience a delay in exposure to accessible language. A small number of children receive language input from their deaf parents who are fluent signers. Thus it is possible to document the impact of quality of input on early sign acquisition. The current study explores the outcomes of differential input in two groups of children aged two to five years: deaf children of hearing parents (DCHP) and deaf children of deaf parents (DCDP). Analysis of child sign language revealed DCDP had a more developed vocabulary and more phonological handshape types compared with DCHP. In naturalistic conversations deaf parents used more sign tokens and more phonological types than hearing parents. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of early input on subsequent language abilities.

  7. Dutch courage? Effects of acute alcohol consumption on self-ratings and observer ratings of foreign language skills.

    PubMed

    Renner, Fritz; Kersbergen, Inge; Field, Matt; Werthmann, Jessica

    2018-01-01

    A popular belief is that alcohol improves the ability to speak in a foreign language. The effect of acute alcohol consumption on perceived foreign language performance and actual foreign language performance in foreign language learners has not been investigated. The aim of the current study was to test the effects of acute alcohol consumption on self-rated and observer-rated verbal foreign language performance in participants who have recently learned this language. Fifty native German speakers who had recently learned Dutch were randomized to receive either a low dose of alcohol or a control beverage that contained no alcohol. Following the experimental manipulation, participants took part in a standardized discussion in Dutch with a blinded experimenter. The discussion was audio-recorded and foreign language skills were subsequently rated by two native Dutch speakers who were blind to the experimental condition (observer-rating). Participants also rated their own individual Dutch language skills during the discussion (self-rating). Participants who consumed alcohol had significantly better observer-ratings for their Dutch language, specifically better pronunciation, compared with those who did not consume alcohol. However, alcohol had no effect on self-ratings of Dutch language skills. Acute alcohol consumption may have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language in people who have recently learned that language.

  8. Quantifying the intelligibility of speech in noise for non-native listeners.

    PubMed

    van Wijngaarden, Sander J; Steeneken, Herman J M; Houtgast, Tammo

    2002-04-01

    When listening to languages learned at a later age, speech intelligibility is generally lower than when listening to one's native language. The main purpose of this study is to quantify speech intelligibility in noise for specific populations of non-native listeners, only broadly addressing the underlying perceptual and linguistic processing. An easy method is sought to extend these quantitative findings to other listener populations. Dutch subjects listening to Germans and English speech, ranging from reasonable to excellent proficiency in these languages, were found to require a 1-7 dB better speech-to-noise ratio to obtain 50% sentence intelligibility than native listeners. Also, the psychometric function for sentence recognition in noise was found to be shallower for non-native than for native listeners (worst-case slope around the 50% point of 7.5%/dB, compared to 12.6%/dB for native listeners). Differences between native and non-native speech intelligibility are largely predicted by linguistic entropy estimates as derived from a letter guessing task. Less effective use of context effects (especially semantic redundancy) explains the reduced speech intelligibility for non-native listeners. While measuring speech intelligibility for many different populations of listeners (languages, linguistic experience) may be prohibitively time consuming, obtaining predictions of non-native intelligibility from linguistic entropy may help to extend the results of this study to other listener populations.

  9. Quantifying the intelligibility of speech in noise for non-native listeners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Wijngaarden, Sander J.; Steeneken, Herman J. M.; Houtgast, Tammo

    2002-04-01

    When listening to languages learned at a later age, speech intelligibility is generally lower than when listening to one's native language. The main purpose of this study is to quantify speech intelligibility in noise for specific populations of non-native listeners, only broadly addressing the underlying perceptual and linguistic processing. An easy method is sought to extend these quantitative findings to other listener populations. Dutch subjects listening to Germans and English speech, ranging from reasonable to excellent proficiency in these languages, were found to require a 1-7 dB better speech-to-noise ratio to obtain 50% sentence intelligibility than native listeners. Also, the psychometric function for sentence recognition in noise was found to be shallower for non-native than for native listeners (worst-case slope around the 50% point of 7.5%/dB, compared to 12.6%/dB for native listeners). Differences between native and non-native speech intelligibility are largely predicted by linguistic entropy estimates as derived from a letter guessing task. Less effective use of context effects (especially semantic redundancy) explains the reduced speech intelligibility for non-native listeners. While measuring speech intelligibility for many different populations of listeners (languages, linguistic experience) may be prohibitively time consuming, obtaining predictions of non-native intelligibility from linguistic entropy may help to extend the results of this study to other listener populations.

  10. Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amoakohene, Benjamin

    2017-01-01

    Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires…

  11. Perceptions of Non-Native EFL Teachers' on L1 Use in L2 Classrooms: Implications for Language Program Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Debreli, Emre

    2016-01-01

    The study of L1 (first language) use in L2 (second language) classrooms has long received attention in the literature. Despite the considerable amount of research that has been conducted on the phenomenon, the focus has often been on the advantages and disadvantages. Considerably, less research has been conducted regarding the non-native L2…

  12. How I See What You're Saying: The Role of Gestures in Native and Foreign Language Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dahl, Tove Irene; Ludvigsen, Susanne

    2014-01-01

    In what ways do native language (NL) speakers and foreign language (FL) learners differ in understanding the same messages delivered with or without gestures? To answer this question, seventh- and eighth-grade NL and FL learners of English in the United States and Norway were shown a video of a speaker describing, in English, a cartoon image that…

  13. Linguistic contributions to speech-on-speech masking for native and non-native listeners: language familiarity and semantic content.

    PubMed

    Brouwer, Susanne; Van Engen, Kristin J; Calandruccio, Lauren; Bradlow, Ann R

    2012-02-01

    This study examined whether speech-on-speech masking is sensitive to variation in the degree of similarity between the target and the masker speech. Three experiments investigated whether speech-in-speech recognition varies across different background speech languages (English vs Dutch) for both English and Dutch targets, as well as across variation in the semantic content of the background speech (meaningful vs semantically anomalous sentences), and across variation in listener status vis-à-vis the target and masker languages (native, non-native, or unfamiliar). The results showed that the more similar the target speech is to the masker speech (e.g., same vs different language, same vs different levels of semantic content), the greater the interference on speech recognition accuracy. Moreover, the listener's knowledge of the target and the background language modulate the size of the release from masking. These factors had an especially strong effect on masking effectiveness in highly unfavorable listening conditions. Overall this research provided evidence that that the degree of target-masker similarity plays a significant role in speech-in-speech recognition. The results also give insight into how listeners assign their resources differently depending on whether they are listening to their first or second language. © 2012 Acoustical Society of America

  14. Linguistic contributions to speech-on-speech masking for native and non-native listeners: Language familiarity and semantic content

    PubMed Central

    Brouwer, Susanne; Van Engen, Kristin J.; Calandruccio, Lauren; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined whether speech-on-speech masking is sensitive to variation in the degree of similarity between the target and the masker speech. Three experiments investigated whether speech-in-speech recognition varies across different background speech languages (English vs Dutch) for both English and Dutch targets, as well as across variation in the semantic content of the background speech (meaningful vs semantically anomalous sentences), and across variation in listener status vis-à-vis the target and masker languages (native, non-native, or unfamiliar). The results showed that the more similar the target speech is to the masker speech (e.g., same vs different language, same vs different levels of semantic content), the greater the interference on speech recognition accuracy. Moreover, the listener’s knowledge of the target and the background language modulate the size of the release from masking. These factors had an especially strong effect on masking effectiveness in highly unfavorable listening conditions. Overall this research provided evidence that that the degree of target-masker similarity plays a significant role in speech-in-speech recognition. The results also give insight into how listeners assign their resources differently depending on whether they are listening to their first or second language. PMID:22352516

  15. Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode?

    PubMed Central

    Antoniou, Mark; Tyler, Michael D.; Best, Catherine T.

    2012-01-01

    How listeners categorize two phones predicts the success with which they will discriminate the given phonetic distinction. In the case of bilinguals, such perceptual patterns could reveal whether the listener’s two phonological systems are integrated or separate. This is of particular interest when a given contrast is realized differently in each language, as is the case with Greek and English stop-voicing distinctions. We had Greek–English early sequential bilinguals and Greek and English monolinguals (baselines) categorize, rate, and discriminate stop-voicing contrasts in each language. All communication with each group of bilinguals occurred solely in one language mode, Greek or English. The monolingual groups showed the expected native-language constraints, each perceiving their native contrast more accurately than the opposing nonnative contrast. Bilinguals’ category-goodness ratings for the same physical stimuli differed, consistent with their language mode, yet their discrimination performance was unaffected by language mode and biased toward their dominant language (English). We conclude that bilinguals integrate both languages in a common phonetic space that is swayed by their long-term dominant language environment for discrimination, but that they selectively attend to language-specific phonetic information for phonologically motivated judgments (category-goodness ratings). PMID:22844163

  16. TMS uncovers details about sub-regional language-specific processing networks in early bilinguals.

    PubMed

    Hämäläinen, Sini; Mäkelä, Niko; Sairanen, Viljami; Lehtonen, Minna; Kujala, Teija; Leminen, Alina

    2018-05-01

    Despite numerous functional neuroimaging and intraoperative electrical cortical mapping studies aimed at investigating the cortical organisation of native (L1) and second (L2) language processing, the neural underpinnings of bilingualism remain elusive. We investigated whether the neural network engaged in speech production over the bilateral posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) is the same (i.e., shared) or different (i.e., language-specific) for the two languages of bilingual speakers. Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over the left and right posterior inferior gyrus (pIFG), while early simultaneous bilinguals performed a picture naming task with their native languages. An ex-Gaussian distribution was fitted to the naming latencies and the resulting parameters were compared between languages and across stimulation conditions. The results showed that although the naming performance in general was highly comparable between the languages, TMS produced a language-specific effect when the pulses were delivered to the left pIFG at 200 ms poststimulus. We argue that this result causally demonstrates, for the first time, that even within common language-processing areas, there are distinct language-specific neural populations for the different languages in early simultaneous bilinguals. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Native American Culture: An Interdisciplinary Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Troisi, Andrea

    1995-01-01

    Provides suggestions for a literature-based approach when integrating Native American culture into the middle school curriculum. Recommends resources in the following subjects: language arts, mathematics, physical education, health, home and career skills, technology, art, music, and second language. (AEF)

  18. To Converse with Creation: Saving California Indian Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whittemore, Katharine

    1997-01-01

    Describes the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program, which seeks to save endangered Native Californian languages by pairing speakers and nonspeakers and providing the pairs with materials, technical support, and personal support. Briefly discusses the history of American Indian genocide and language extinction in California. Includes…

  19. The Home Language Environment of Monolingual and Bilingual Children and Their Language Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scheele, Anna F.; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Mayo, Aziza Y.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated the relationships between home language learning activities and vocabulary in a sample of monolingual native Dutch (n = 58) and bilingual immigrant Moroccan-Dutch (n = 46) and Turkish-Dutch (n = 55) 3-year-olds, speaking Tarifit-Berber, a nonscripted language, and Turkish as their first language (L1), respectively. Despite…

  20. Teaching Pronunciation to Adult English Language Learners. CAELA Network Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaetzel, Kirsten; Low, Ee Ling

    2009-01-01

    Adult English language learners in the United States approach the learning of English pronunciation from a wide variety of native language backgrounds. They may speak languages with sound systems that vary a great deal from that of English. The pronunciation goals and needs of adult English language learners are diverse. These goals and needs…

  1. (In)Complete Acquisition of Aspect in Second Language and Heritage Russian

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mikhaylova, Anna

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation compares the knowledge of Russian Verbal Aspect in two types of learners enrolled in college level Russian courses: foreign language learners of Russian whose native language is English and heritage language speakers of Russian whose dominant language at the time of study is English. Russian Aspect is known to be problematic both…

  2. Integrating Mobile Technologies into Very Young Second Language Learners' Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadykova, Gulnara; Gimaletdinova, Gulnara; Khalitova, Liliia; Kayumova, Albina

    2016-01-01

    This report is based on an exploratory case study of a private multilingual preschool language program that integrated a Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) project into the curriculum of five/six year-old children whose native language(s) is/are Russian and/or Tatar. The purpose of the study was to reveal teachers' and parents' perceptions…

  3. "So They're Actually Real?" Integrating E-Tandem Learning into the Study of Language for International Business

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruen, Jennifer; Sudhershan, Aleksandra

    2015-01-01

    Tandem learning involves learners with complementary target and native languages communicating for the purpose of learning each other's languages and cultures. Studies indicate that it can function as a powerful complement to formal language learning classes with regard to the development of both language proficiency and cultural intelligence.…

  4. Language Use in a Spanish-English Dual Immersion Classroom: A Sociolinguistic Perspective.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Potowski, Kimberly

    Dual immersion classrooms combine students who speak a non-English language (in this case Spanish) with English speaking students learning the native language of the nonnative English speaking students. This case study recorded the output of Spanish first language (L1) and second language (L2) fifth graders over 5 months of Spanish language…

  5. An Online Task-Based Language Learning Environment: Is It Better for Advanced- or Intermediate-Level Second Language Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arslanyilmaz, Abdurrahman

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship of language proficiency to language production and negotiation of meaning that non-native speakers (NNSs) produced in an online task-based language learning (TBLL) environment. Fourteen NNS-NNS dyads collaboratively completed four communicative tasks, using an online TBLL environment specifically designed…

  6. A Case of Specific Language Impairment in a Deaf Signer of American Sign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quinto-Pozos, David; Singleton, Jenny L.; Hauser, Peter C.

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the case of a deaf native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) with a specific language impairment (SLI). School records documented normal cognitive development but atypical language development. Data include school records; interviews with the child, his mother, and school professionals; ASL and English evaluations; and a…

  7. A Race to Rescue Native Tongues

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ashburn, Elyse

    2007-01-01

    Of the 300 or so native languages once spoken in North America, only about 150 are still spoken--and the majority of those have just a handful of mostly elderly speakers. For most Native American languages, colleges and universities are their last great hope, if not their final resting place. People at a number of institutions across the country…

  8. Attitude towards Azeri Language in Iran: A Large-Scale Survey Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rezaei, Saeed; Latifi, Ashkan; Nematzadeh, Arash

    2017-01-01

    This survey research investigated the attitude of Iranian Azeri native speakers towards Azeri language. A questionnaire was developed and its reliability was estimated (r = 0.74) through a piloting phase on 54 Azeri native speakers. The participants, for the main phase of this study, were 400 Azeri native speakers with different social and…

  9. A Study of Jordanian University Students' Perceptions of Using Email Exchanges with Native English Keypals for Improving Their Writing Competency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mahfouz, Safi Mahmoud

    2010-01-01

    English foreign language learners generally tend to consider email exchanges with native speakers (NSs) as an effective tool for improving their foreign language proficiency. This study investigated Jordanian university students' perceptions of using email exchanges with native English keypals (NEKs) for improving their writing competency. A…

  10. Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension.

    PubMed

    Thierry, Guillaume; Wu, Yan Jing

    2007-07-24

    Whether the native language of bilingual individuals is active during second-language comprehension is the subject of lively debate. Studies of bilingualism have often used a mix of first- and second-language words, thereby creating an artificial "dual-language" context. Here, using event-related brain potentials, we demonstrate implicit access to the first language when bilinguals read words exclusively in their second language. Chinese-English bilinguals were required to decide whether English words presented in pairs were related in meaning or not; they were unaware of the fact that half of the words concealed a character repetition when translated into Chinese. Whereas the hidden factor failed to affect behavioral performance, it significantly modulated brain potentials in the expected direction, establishing that English words were automatically and unconsciously translated into Chinese. Critically, the same modulation was found in Chinese monolinguals reading the same words in Chinese, i.e., when Chinese character repetition was evident. Finally, we replicated this pattern of results in the auditory modality by using a listening comprehension task. These findings demonstrate that native-language activation is an unconscious correlate of second-language comprehension.

  11. Arguing about innateness.

    PubMed

    Valian, Virginia

    2014-07-01

    This paper lays out the components of a language acquisition model, the interconnections among the components, and the differing stances of nativism and empiricism about syntax. After demonstrating that parsimony cannot decide between the two stances, the paper analyzes nine examples of evidence that have been used to argue for or against nativism, concluding that most pieces of evidence are either irrelevant or suggest that language is special but need not invoke innate ideas. Two pieces of evidence - the development of home sign languages and the acquisition of Determiners - do show not just that language is special but that the child has innate syntactic content. The existential claim that nativism makes - there is at least one innate syntactic idea - is an easier claim to verify than the universal claim that empiricism makes - there are no innate syntactic ideas.

  12. Measures of native and non-native rhythm in a quantity language.

    PubMed

    Stockmal, Verna; Markus, Dace; Bond, Dzintra

    2005-01-01

    The traditional phonetic classification of language rhythm as stress-timed or syllable-timed is attributed to Pike. Recently, two different proposals have been offered for describing the rhythmic structure of languages from acoustic-phonetic measurements. Ramus has suggested a metric based on the proportion of vocalic intervals and the variability (SD) of consonantal intervals. Grabe has proposed Pairwise Variability Indices (nPVI, rPVI) calculated from the differences in vocalic and consonantal durations between successive syllables. We have calculated both the Ramus and Grabe metrics for Latvian, traditionally considered a syllable rhythm language, and for Latvian as spoken by Russian learners. Native speakers and proficient learners were very similar whereas low-proficiency learners showed high variability on some properties. The metrics did not provide an unambiguous classification of Latvian.

  13. Foreign Subtitles Help but Native-Language Subtitles Harm Foreign Speech Perception

    PubMed Central

    Mitterer, Holger; McQueen, James M.

    2009-01-01

    Understanding foreign speech is difficult, in part because of unusual mappings between sounds and words. It is known that listeners in their native language can use lexical knowledge (about how words ought to sound) to learn how to interpret unusual speech-sounds. We therefore investigated whether subtitles, which provide lexical information, support perceptual learning about foreign speech. Dutch participants, unfamiliar with Scottish and Australian regional accents of English, watched Scottish or Australian English videos with Dutch, English or no subtitles, and then repeated audio fragments of both accents. Repetition of novel fragments was worse after Dutch-subtitle exposure but better after English-subtitle exposure. Native-language subtitles appear to create lexical interference, but foreign-language subtitles assist speech learning by indicating which words (and hence sounds) are being spoken. PMID:19918371

  14. Word recognition and phonetic structure acquisition: Possible relations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morgan, James

    2002-05-01

    Several accounts of possible relations between the emergence of the mental lexicon and acquisition of native language phonological structure have been propounded. In one view, acquisition of word meanings guides infants' attention toward those contrasts that are linguistically significant in their language. In the opposing view, native language phonological categories may be acquired from statistical patterns of input speech, prior to and independent of learning at the lexical level. Here, a more interactive account will be presented, in which phonological structure is modeled as emerging consequentially from the self-organization of perceptual space underlying word recognition. A key prediction of this model is that early native language phonological categories will be highly context specific. Data bearing on this prediction will be presented which provide clues to the nature of infants' statistical analysis of input.

  15. Language, Culture & Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lum, Lydia

    2006-01-01

    Nationally, foreign language faculty have been adjusting their curricula to ensure that today's college students know how to use technology to communicate effectively in languages other than their native tongue. Once upon a time, students were considered fluent if they could read, write, speak and aurally comprehend a foreign language. However…

  16. Foreign Language Effect and Psychological Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shin, Hong Im; Kim, Juyoung

    2017-01-01

    Does using a foreign language result in forming different moral decisions than using our mother tongue? Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there is a relationship between foreign language effects (differences between native vs. foreign language conditions) and psychological distance. Study 1 tested four moral dilemmas adapted from…

  17. An investigation of mathematics and science instruction in English and Spanish for English language learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodriguez-Esquivel, Marina

    The contextual demands of language in content area are difficult for ELLS. Content in the native language furthers students' academic development and native language skills, while they are learning English. Content in English integrates pedagogical strategies for English acquisition with subject area instruction. The following models of curriculum content are provided in most Miami Dade County Public Schools: (a) mathematics instruction in the native language with science instruction in English or (b) science instruction in the native language with mathematics instruction in English. The purpose of this study was to investigate which model of instruction is more contextually supportive for mathematics and science achievement. A pretest and posttest, nonequivalent group design was used with 94 fifth grade ELLs who received instruction in curriculum model (a) or (b). This allowed for statistical analysis that detected a difference in the means of .5 standard deviations with a power of .80 at the .05 level of significance. Pretreatment and post-treatment assessments of mathematics, reading, and science achievement were obtained through the administration of Aprenda-Segunda Edicion and the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. The results indicated that students receiving mathematics in English and Science in Spanish scored higher on achievement tests in both Mathematics and Science than the students who received Mathematics in Spanish and Science in English. In addition, the mean score of students on the FCAT mathematics examination was higher than their mean score on the FCAT science examination regardless of the language of instruction.

  18. Noise reduction improves memory for target language speech in competing native but not foreign language speech.

    PubMed

    Ng, Elaine Hoi Ning; Rudner, Mary; Lunner, Thomas; Rönnberg, Jerker

    2015-01-01

    A hearing aid noise reduction (NR) algorithm reduces the adverse effect of competing speech on memory for target speech for individuals with hearing impairment with high working memory capacity. In the present study, we investigated whether the positive effect of NR could be extended to individuals with low working memory capacity, as well as how NR influences recall performance for target native speech when the masker language is non-native. A sentence-final word identification and recall (SWIR) test was administered to 26 experienced hearing aid users. In this test, target spoken native language (Swedish) sentence lists were presented in competing native (Swedish) or foreign (Cantonese) speech with or without binary masking NR algorithm. After each sentence list, free recall of sentence final words was prompted. Working memory capacity was measured using a reading span (RS) test. Recall performance was associated with RS. However, the benefit obtained from NR was not associated with RS. Recall performance was more disrupted by native than foreign speech babble and NR improved recall performance in native but not foreign competing speech. Noise reduction improved memory for speech heard in competing speech for hearing aid users. Memory for native speech was more disrupted by native babble than foreign babble, but the disruptive effect of native speech babble was reduced to that of foreign babble when there was NR.

  19. Using Audiovisual TV Interviews to Create Visible Authors that Reduce the Learning Gap between Native and Non-Native Language Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inglese, Terry; Mayer, Richard E.; Rigotti, Francesca

    2007-01-01

    Can archives of audiovisual TV interviews be used to make authors more visible to students, and thereby reduce the learning gap between native and non-native language speakers in college classes? We examined students in a college course who learned about one scholar's ideas through watching an audiovisual TV interview (i.e., visible author format)…

  20. Language effects in second-language learners: A longitudinal electrophysiological study of spanish classroom learning.

    PubMed

    Soskey, Laura; Holcomb, Phillip J; Midgley, Katherine J

    2016-09-01

    How do the neural mechanisms involved in word recognition evolve over the course of word learning in adult learners of a new second language? The current study sought to closely track language effects, which are differences in electrophysiological indices of word processing between one's native and second languages, in beginning university learners over the course of a single semester of learning. Monolingual L1 English-speakers enrolled in introductory Spanish were first trained on a list of 228 Spanish words chosen from the vocabulary to be learned in class. Behavioral data from the training session and the following experimental sessions spaced over the course of the semester showed expected learning effects. In the three laboratory sessions participants read words in three lists (English, Spanish and mixed) while performing a go/no-go lexical decision task in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. As observed in previous studies there were ERP language effects with larger N400s to native than second language words. Importantly, this difference declined over the course of L2 learning with N400 amplitude increasing for new second language words. These results suggest that even over a single semester of learning that new second language words are rapidly incorporated into the word recognition system and begin to take on lexical and semantic properties similar to native language words. Moreover, the results suggest that electrophysiological measures can be used as sensitive measures for tracking the acquisition of new linguistic knowledge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. The Time Course of Emotion Effects in First and Second Language Processing: A Cross Cultural ERP Study with German–Spanish Bilinguals

    PubMed Central

    Conrad, Markus; Recio, Guillermo; Jacobs, Arthur M.

    2011-01-01

    To investigate whether second language processing is characterized by the same sensitivity to the emotional content of language – as compared to native language processing – we conducted an EEG study manipulating word emotional valence in a visual lexical decision task. Two groups of late bilinguals – native speakers of German and Spanish with sufficient proficiency in their respective second language – performed each a German and a Spanish version of the task containing identical semantic material: translations of words in the two languages. In contrast to theoretical proposals assuming attenuated emotionality of second language processing, a highly similar pattern of results was obtained across L1 and L2 processing: event related potential waves generally reflected an early posterior negativity plus a late positive complex for words with positive or negative valence compared to neutral words regardless of the respective test language and its L1 or L2 status. These results suggest that the coupling between cognition and emotion does not qualitatively differ between L1 and L2 although latencies of respective effects differed about 50–100 ms. Only Spanish native speakers currently living in the L2 country showed no effects for negative as compared to neutral words presented in L2 – potentially reflecting a predominant positivity bias in second language processing when currently being exposed to a new culture. PMID:22164150

  2. The Role of the Native Language in the Use of the English Nongeneric Definite Article by L2 Learners: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chrabaszcz, Anna; Jiang, Nan

    2014-01-01

    The study uses an elicited imitation (EI) task to examine the effect of the native language on the use of the English nongeneric definite article by highly proficient first-language (L1) Spanish and Russian speakers and to test the hierarchy of article difficulty first proposed by Liu and Gleason (2002). Our findings suggest that there is a clear…

  3. Learning for Life, a Structured and Motivational Process of Knowledge Construction in the Acquisition/Learning of English as a Foreign Language in Native Spanish Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mino-Garces, Fernando

    2009-01-01

    As language learning theory has shifted from a highly guided to a more open learning process, this paper presents the teaching/learning philosophy called Learning for Life (L for L) as a great way to motivate native Spanish speaker students learning English as a foreign language, and to help them be the constructors of their own knowledge. The…

  4. Relative Weighting of Semantic and Syntactic Cues in Native and Non-Native Listeners' Recognition of English Sentences.

    PubMed

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

    2016-01-01

    Non-native listeners do not recognize English sentences as effectively as native listeners, especially in noise. It is not entirely clear to what extent such group differences arise from differences in relative weight of semantic versus syntactic cues. This study quantified the use and weighting of these contextual cues via Boothroyd and Nittrouer's j and k factors. The j represents the probability of recognizing sentences with or without context, whereas the k represents the degree to which context improves recognition performance. Four groups of 13 normal-hearing young adult listeners participated. One group consisted of native English monolingual (EMN) listeners, whereas the other three consisted of non-native listeners contrasting in their language dominance and first language: English-dominant Russian-English, Russian-dominant Russian-English, and Spanish-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals. All listeners were presented three sets of four-word sentences: high-predictability sentences included both semantic and syntactic cues, low-predictability sentences included syntactic cues only, and zero-predictability sentences included neither semantic nor syntactic cues. Sentences were presented at 65 dB SPL binaurally in the presence of speech-spectrum noise at +3 dB SNR. Listeners orally repeated each sentence and recognition was calculated for individual words as well as the sentence as a whole. Comparable j values across groups for high-predictability, low-predictability, and zero-predictability sentences suggested that all listeners, native and non-native, utilized contextual cues to recognize English sentences. Analysis of the k factor indicated that non-native listeners took advantage of syntax as effectively as EMN listeners. However, only English-dominant bilinguals utilized semantics to the same extent as EMN listeners; semantics did not provide a significant benefit for the two non-English-dominant groups. When combined, semantics and syntax benefitted EMN listeners significantly more than all three non-native groups of listeners. Language background influenced the use and weighting of semantic and syntactic cues in a complex manner. A native language advantage existed in the effective use of both cues combined. A language-dominance effect was seen in the use of semantics. No first-language effect was present for the use of either or both cues. For all non-native listeners, syntax contributed significantly more to sentence recognition than semantics, possibly due to the fact that semantics develops more gradually than syntax in second-language acquisition. The present study provides evidence that Boothroyd and Nittrouer's j and k factors can be successfully used to quantify the effectiveness of contextual cue use in clinically relevant, linguistically diverse populations.

  5. Syllable Structure Universals and Native Language Interference in Second Language Perception and Production: Positional Asymmetry and Perceptual Links to Accentedness

    PubMed Central

    Cheng, Bing; Zhang, Yang

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated how syllable structure differences between the first Language (L1) and the second language (L2) affect L2 consonant perception and production at syllable-initial and syllable-final positions. The participants were Mandarin-speaking college students who studied English as a second language. Monosyllabic English words were used in the perception test. Production was recorded from each Chinese subject and rated for accentedness by two native speakers of English. Consistent with previous studies, significant positional asymmetry effects were found across speech sound categories in terms of voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. Furthermore, significant correlations between perception and accentedness ratings were found at the syllable onset position but not for the coda. Many exceptions were also found, which could not be solely accounted for by differences in L1–L2 syllabic structures. The results show a strong effect of language experience at the syllable level, which joins force with acoustic, phonetic, and phonemic properties of individual consonants in influencing positional asymmetry in both domains of L2 segmental perception and production. The complexities and exceptions call for further systematic studies on the interactions between syllable structure universals and native language interference with refined theoretical models to specify the links between perception and production in second language acquisition. PMID:26635699

  6. Studies in the Major Modern Languages (English, German, French) at University Level in Denmark by 1980/81.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dollerup, Cay

    This is a descriptive outline of the language situation in the Danish education system. The introductory material discusses the reason for foreign language study. A major reason is that Denmark is a small country with a difficult native language for speakers of other languages to learn. Therefore, the Danish population is exposed to foreign…

  7. Working with the Bilingual Child Who Has a Language Delay. Meeting Learning Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenspan, Stanley I.

    2005-01-01

    It is very important to determine if a bilingual child's language delay is simply in English or also in the child's native language. Understandably, many children have higher levels of language development in the language spoken at home. To discover if this is the case, observe the child talking with his parents. Sometimes, even without…

  8. Mapudungun According to Its Speakers: Mapuche Intellectuals and the Influence of Standard Language Ideology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lagos, Cristián; Espinoza, Marco; Rojas, Darío

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we analyse the cultural models (or folk theory of language) that the Mapuche intellectual elite have about Mapudungun, the native language of the Mapuche people still spoken today in Chile as the major minority language. Our theoretical frame is folk linguistics and studies of language ideology, but we have also taken an applied…

  9. Sign Language and Pantomime Production Differentially Engage Frontal and Parietal Cortices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Emmorey, Karen; McCullough, Stephen; Mehta, Sonya; Ponto, Laura L. B.; Grabowski, Thomas J.

    2011-01-01

    We investigated the functional organisation of neural systems supporting language production when the primary language articulators are also used for meaningful, but nonlinguistic, expression such as pantomime. Fourteen hearing nonsigners and 10 deaf native users of American Sign Language (ASL) participated in an H[subscript 2][superscript…

  10. An Unequal Balance: The Seychelles' Trilingual Language Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laversuch, Iman Makeba

    2008-01-01

    In 1976, the Seychelles government made Creole its third official language, alongside French and English. Although Creole is the native language for most Seychellois, this language policy change has remained contentious. While some have hailed it as essential to democracy, others have condemned it for widening the nation's socioeconomic divide.…

  11. Endangered Languages and Literacy. Proceedings of the Fourth FEL Conference (Charlotte, North Carolina, September 21-24, 2000).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ostler, Nicholas, Ed.; Rudes, Blair, Ed.

    Papers for the fourth Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL) Conference include the following: "Endangered languages and Literacy" (Nicholas Ostler, Blair Rudes); "Keynote Address: On Native Language Literacy: a Personal Perspective" (Ofelia Zepeda); "A Community's Solution to Some Literacy Problems: The Mayangna of…

  12. School-Community-University Collaborations: The American Indian Language Development Institute.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarty, Teresa L.; Watahomigie, Lucille J.; Yamamoto, Akira Y.; Zepeda, Ofelia

    This paper describes the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), which can serve as a model for connecting school, community, and university resources to strengthen indigenous languages. Since 1978, AILDI has held annual summer institutes that team community-based native speakers of indigenous languages with academic linguists and…

  13. Testing the Shallow Structure Hypothesis in L2 Japanese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Megan

    2016-01-01

    Language processing heuristics are one of the possible sources of divergence between first and second language systems. The Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) (Clahsen and Felser, 2006) proposes that non-native language processing relies primarily on semantic, and not syntactic, information, and that second language (L2) processing is therefore…

  14. Creating Culturally Relevant Instructional Materials: A Swaziland Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Titone, Connie; Plummer, Emily C.; Kielar, Melissa A.

    2012-01-01

    In the field of English language learning, research proves that culturally relevant reading materials improve students' language acquisition, learning motivation, self-esteem, and identity formation. Since English is the language of instruction in many distant countries, such as Swaziland, even when English is not the native language of those…

  15. Developing Professional-Level Language Proficiency.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leaver, Betty Lou, Ed.; Shekhtman, Boris, Ed.

    This collection of papers examines approaches to teaching near-native ability in foreign languages. The 13 papers focus on the following: (1) "Principles and Practices in Teaching Superior-Level Language Skills: Not Just More of the Same" (Betty Lou Leaver and Boris Shekhtman); (2) "Toward Academic Level Foreign Language Abilities:…

  16. No Puedo

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benavides, Ramon; Medina-Jerez, William

    2017-01-01

    English Language Learners (ELLs) early schooling often involves a mix of their native (L1) and second (L2) languages. Spanglish speakers take this one step further and employ a hybrid language practice to compensate for their lack of fluency in both Spanish and English. Unlike conventional ELLs, these students use the two languages simultaneously…

  17. Somalia: Country Status Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McFerren, Margaret

    A survey of the status of language usage in Somalia begins with an overview of the usage patterns of Somali, the official language, and three languages previously used officially: English, Italian, and Arabic. The cultural context that for many years has supported the usage of a single native language for communication and administration is also…

  18. Selective Bibliography of Translingual Literature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kellman, Steven G.; Lvovich, Natasha

    2015-01-01

    Translingual Literature is literature written in a language not native to the author, in two languages, or in a mix of languages. This bibliography is the very first attempt to create and publish such an academic tool for researchers of multilingualism, second-language acquisition, comparative literature, and other fields. It contains only books…

  19. Foreign Language Houses: Identities in Transition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bown, Jennifer; Dewey, Dan P.; Martinsen, Rob A.; Baker, Wendy

    2011-01-01

    This study examined the lived experience of students participating in foreign language houses to improve their skills in Russian, French, or Japanese. American students residing in apartments with other language learners and a native-speaking resident facilitator were required to speak with one another exclusively in the target language and…

  20. First Language Composition Pedagogy in the Second Language Classroom: A Reassesment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ross, Steven; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Evaluated the effectiveness of using native language (Japanese) based writing methods in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms. The methods compared included sentence combining and structural grammar instruction with journal writing, controlled composition writing with feedback on surface error, and peer reformulation. Journal writing, but…

  1. Sources of Materials for Minority Languages: A Preliminary List.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Arlington, VA.

    A list is presented of resources for information on bilingual programs and materials in languages other than Spanish. The entries are arranged in four categories: "East Asian,""Native American,""Territories of the Pacific," and "Other Languages." The specific languages listed are: Cambodian, Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Thai,…

  2. Cultural Pluralism in Japan: A Sociolinguistic Outline.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Honna, Nobuyuki

    1980-01-01

    Addressing the common misconception that Japan is a mono-ethnic, mono-cultural, and monolingual society, this article focuses on several areas of sociolinguistic concern. It discusses: (1) the bimodalism of the Japanese deaf population between Japanese Sign Language as native language and Japanese Spoken Language as acquired second language; (2)…

  3. Language-in-Education Policies in the Catalan Language Area

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vila i Moreno, F. Xavier

    2008-01-01

    The territories where Catalan is traditionally spoken as a native language constitute an attractive sociolinguistic laboratory which appears especially interesting from the point of view of language-in-education policies. The educational system has spearheaded the recovery of Catalan during the last 20 years. Schools are being attributed most of…

  4. Informal Language Learning Setting: Technology or Social Interaction?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bahrani, Taher; Sim, Tam Shu

    2012-01-01

    Based on the informal language learning theory, language learning can occur outside the classroom setting unconsciously and incidentally through interaction with the native speakers or exposure to authentic language input through technology. However, an EFL context lacks the social interaction which naturally occurs in an ESL context. To explore…

  5. Second Language Processing Shows Increased Native-Like Neural Responses after Months of No Exposure

    PubMed Central

    Morgan-Short, Kara; Finger, Ingrid; Grey, Sarah; Ullman, Michael T.

    2012-01-01

    Although learning a second language (L2) as an adult is notoriously difficult, research has shown that adults can indeed attain native language-like brain processing and high proficiency levels. However, it is important to then retain what has been attained, even in the absence of continued exposure to the L2—particularly since periods of minimal or no L2 exposure are common. This event-related potential (ERP) study of an artificial language tested performance and neural processing following a substantial period of no exposure. Adults learned to speak and comprehend the artificial language to high proficiency with either explicit, classroom-like, or implicit, immersion-like training, and then underwent several months of no exposure to the language. Surprisingly, proficiency did not decrease during this delay. Instead, it remained unchanged, and there was an increase in native-like neural processing of syntax, as evidenced by several ERP changes—including earlier, more reliable, and more left-lateralized anterior negativities, and more robust P600s, in response to word-order violations. Moreover, both the explicitly and implicitly trained groups showed increased native-like ERP patterns over the delay, indicating that such changes can hold independently of L2 training type. The results demonstrate that substantial periods with no L2 exposure are not necessarily detrimental. Rather, benefits may ensue from such periods of time even when there is no L2 exposure. Interestingly, both before and after the delay the implicitly trained group showed more native-like processing than the explicitly trained group, indicating that type of training also affects the attainment of native-like processing in the brain. Overall, the findings may be largely explained by a combination of forgetting and consolidation in declarative and procedural memory, on which L2 grammar learning appears to depend. The study has a range of implications, and suggests a research program with potentially important consequences for second language acquisition and related fields. PMID:22470434

  6. Impact of Cyrillic on Native English Speakers' Phono-lexical Acquisition of Russian.

    PubMed

    Showalter, Catherine E

    2018-03-01

    We investigated the influence of grapheme familiarity and native language grapheme-phoneme correspondences during second language lexical learning. Native English speakers learned Russian-like words via auditory presentations containing only familiar first language phones, pictured meanings, and exposure to either Cyrillic orthographic forms (Orthography condition) or the sequence (No Orthography condition). Orthography participants saw three types of written forms: familiar-congruent (e.g., -[kom]), familiar-incongruent (e.g., -[rɑt]), and unfamiliar (e.g., <ФИЛ>-[fil]). At test, participants determined whether pictures and words matched according to what they saw during word learning. All participants performed near ceiling in all stimulus conditions, except for Orthography participants on words containing incongruent grapheme-phoneme correspondences. These results suggest that first language grapheme-phoneme correspondences can cause interference during second language phono-lexical acquisition. In addition, these results suggest that orthographic input effects are robust enough to interfere even when the input does not contain novel phones.

  7. The role of syllables in sign language production.

    PubMed

    Baus, Cristina; Gutiérrez, Eva; Carreiras, Manuel

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional role of syllables in sign language and how the different phonological combinations influence sign production. Moreover, the influence of age of acquisition was evaluated. Deaf signers (native and non-native) of Catalan Signed Language (LSC) were asked in a picture-sign interference task to sign picture names while ignoring distractor-signs with which they shared two phonological parameters (out of three of the main sign parameters: Location, Movement, and Handshape). The results revealed a different impact of the three phonological combinations. While no effect was observed for the phonological combination Handshape-Location, the combination Handshape-Movement slowed down signing latencies, but only in the non-native group. A facilitatory effect was observed for both groups when pictures and distractors shared Location-Movement. Importantly, linguistic models have considered this phonological combination to be a privileged unit in the composition of signs, as syllables are in spoken languages. Thus, our results support the functional role of syllable units during phonological articulation in sign language production.

  8. Sharing programming resources between Bio* projects through remote procedure call and native call stack strategies.

    PubMed

    Prins, Pjotr; Goto, Naohisa; Yates, Andrew; Gautier, Laurent; Willis, Scooter; Fields, Christopher; Katayama, Toshiaki

    2012-01-01

    Open-source software (OSS) encourages computer programmers to reuse software components written by others. In evolutionary bioinformatics, OSS comes in a broad range of programming languages, including C/C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, and R. To avoid writing the same functionality multiple times for different languages, it is possible to share components by bridging computer languages and Bio* projects, such as BioPerl, Biopython, BioRuby, BioJava, and R/Bioconductor. In this chapter, we compare the two principal approaches for sharing software between different programming languages: either by remote procedure call (RPC) or by sharing a local call stack. RPC provides a language-independent protocol over a network interface; examples are RSOAP and Rserve. The local call stack provides a between-language mapping not over the network interface, but directly in computer memory; examples are R bindings, RPy, and languages sharing the Java Virtual Machine stack. This functionality provides strategies for sharing of software between Bio* projects, which can be exploited more often. Here, we present cross-language examples for sequence translation, and measure throughput of the different options. We compare calling into R through native R, RSOAP, Rserve, and RPy interfaces, with the performance of native BioPerl, Biopython, BioJava, and BioRuby implementations, and with call stack bindings to BioJava and the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite. In general, call stack approaches outperform native Bio* implementations and these, in turn, outperform RPC-based approaches. To test and compare strategies, we provide a downloadable BioNode image with all examples, tools, and libraries included. The BioNode image can be run on VirtualBox-supported operating systems, including Windows, OSX, and Linux.

  9. Language Loyalty in South Africa. Volume 3: Motivations to Language Use: Opinions and Attitudes of White Adults in Urban Areas. Languages Survey First Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hauptfleisch, T.

    This volume reports on the results of a survey conducted to determine the language attitudes of South Africans. Speakers of Afrikaans as a first language (Afrikaners) appear more willing than native speakers of English (ESSAs) to use a second language (L2), but only outside the family circle. The ESSA feels comfortable using the L2 with the…

  10. Significant Impact of Environment Regarding Eligibility of Native American and Alaskan Native Students for ESEA Title VII Regulations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Travis, Michael

    Early Russian religious and educational influences on the 20 various Alaskan Native languages are described, followed by those of American origin in schools and religious groups after the American purchase in 1867, all of which show the development of diglossia and language shifts. The present dual educational system, which includes state schools…

  11. Use of Native Language and Culture (NLC) in Elementary and Middle School Instruction as a Predictor of Mathematics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Ryzin, Mark J.; Vincent, Claudia G.

    2017-01-01

    Because students from American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) backgrounds tend to lag behind their peers in academic achievement, researchers have recommended integrating Native Language and Culture (NLC) into instruction. However, existing evidence from large-scale studies finds a "negative" effect of the use of NLC on achievement,…

  12. Listening with an Accent: Speech Perception in a Second Language by Late Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leikin, Mark; Ibrahim, Raphiq; Eviatar, Zohar; Sapir, Shimon

    2009-01-01

    The goal of the present study was to examine functioning of late bilinguals in their second language. Specifically, we asked how native and non-native Hebrew speaking listeners perceive accented and native-accented Hebrew speech. To achieve this goal we used the gating paradigm to explore the ability of healthy late fluent bilinguals (Russian and…

  13. The contribution of phonological knowledge, memory, and language background to reading comprehension in deaf populations

    PubMed Central

    Hirshorn, Elizabeth A.; Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter; Supalla, Ted R.; Bavelier, Daphne

    2015-01-01

    While reading is challenging for many deaf individuals, some become proficient readers. Little is known about the component processes that support reading comprehension in these individuals. Speech-based phonological knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension in hearing individuals, yet its role in deaf readers is controversial. This could reflect the highly varied language backgrounds among deaf readers as well as the difficulty of disentangling the relative contribution of phonological versus orthographic knowledge of spoken language, in our case ‘English,’ in this population. Here we assessed the impact of language experience on reading comprehension in deaf readers by recruiting oral deaf individuals, who use spoken English as their primary mode of communication, and deaf native signers of American Sign Language. First, to address the contribution of spoken English phonological knowledge in deaf readers, we present novel tasks that evaluate phonological versus orthographic knowledge. Second, the impact of this knowledge, as well as memory measures that rely differentially on phonological (serial recall) and semantic (free recall) processing, on reading comprehension was evaluated. The best predictor of reading comprehension differed as a function of language experience, with free recall being a better predictor in deaf native signers than in oral deaf. In contrast, the measures of English phonological knowledge, independent of orthographic knowledge, best predicted reading comprehension in oral deaf individuals. These results suggest successful reading strategies differ across deaf readers as a function of their language experience, and highlight a possible alternative route to literacy in deaf native signers. Highlights: 1. Deaf individuals vary in their orthographic and phonological knowledge of English as a function of their language experience. 2. Reading comprehension was best predicted by different factors in oral deaf and deaf native signers. 3. Free recall memory (primacy effect) better predicted reading comprehension in deaf native signers as compared to oral deaf or hearing individuals. 4. Language experience should be taken into account when considering cognitive processes that mediate reading in deaf individuals. PMID:26379566

  14. The development of perceptual attention and articulatory skill in one or two languages

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fowler, Carol; Best, Catherine

    2002-05-01

    Infants acquire properties of their native language especially during the second half of the first year of life. Models, such as Jusczyk's WRAPSA, Best's PAM, Kuhl's NLM, and Werker's account describe changes in perceptual or attentional space that may underlie the perceptual changes that infants exhibit. Unknown is the relation of these changes to changes in speechlike vocalizations that occur at the same time. Future research should address whether the perceptual models predict production learning. Other issues concern how the perceptual and articulatory systems develop for infants exposed to more than one language. Do multiple perceptual spaces develop, or does one space accommodate both languages? For infants exposed to just one language, but living in an environment where the ambient and pedagogical language is different (say, infants in a monolingual Spanish home in the U.S.), early language learning fosters learning the native language, but it may impede learning the ambient language. How much or how little does early exposure to the ambient language allow development of perceptual and articulatory systems for the ambient language? A final issue addresses whether the emergence of lexical, morphological and/or syntactic abilities in the second year is related to further changes in speech perception and production. [Work supported by NICHD.

  15. Does language guide event perception? Evidence from eye movements

    PubMed Central

    Papafragou, Anna; Hulbert, Justin; Trueswell, John

    2008-01-01

    Languages differ in how they encode motion. When describing bounded motion, English speakers typically use verbs that convey information about manner (e.g., slide, skip, walk) rather than path (e.g., approach, ascend), whereas Greek speakers do the opposite. We investigated whether this strong cross-language difference influences how people allocate attention during motion perception. We compared eye movements from Greek and English speakers as they viewed motion events while (a) preparing verbal descriptions, or (b) memorizing the events. During the verbal description task, speakers’ eyes rapidly focused on the event components typically encoded in their native language, generating significant cross-language differences even during the first second of motion onset. However, when freely inspecting ongoing events, as in the memorization task, people allocated attention similarly regardless of the language they speak. Differences between language groups arose only after the motion stopped, such that participants spontaneously studied those aspects of the scene that their language does not routinely encode in verbs. These findings offer a novel perspective on the relation between language and perceptual/cognitive processes. They indicate that attention allocation during event perception is not affected by the perceiver’s native language; effects of language arise only when linguistic forms are recruited to achieve the task, such as when committing facts to memory. PMID:18395705

  16. EFL Teachers' Responses to L2 Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Yuh-Fang

    This study investigated differences in the product and process of evaluating second language compositions by Taiwanese speakers of English. It examined whether such factors as language background (native English speaker versus native Chinese speaker), academic discipline, and educational background affected raters' scoring outcomes; whether rating…

  17. 34 CFR 300.29 - Native language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Native language. 300.29 Section 300.29 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH...

  18. Indigenous Languages across the Community. Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Stabilizing Indigenous Languages (7th, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 11-14, 2000).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burnaby, Barbara Jane, Ed.; Reyhner, Jon Allan, Ed.

    Conference papers examine efforts by Indigenous communities, particularly Native American communities, to maintain and revitalize their languages. The 27 papers are: "Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Maori: The Language Is the Life Essence of Maori Existence" (Te Tuhi Robust); "The Preservation and Use of Our Languages: Respecting the…

  19. Oral Interaction in Task-Based EFL Learning: The Use of the L1 as a Cognitive Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de la Colina, Ana Alegria; Mayo, Maria del Pilar Garcia

    2009-01-01

    The role of the first language (L1) in the learning of a second language (L2) has been widely studied as a source of cross-linguistic influence from the native system (Gass and Selinker, "Language Transfer in Language Learning," John Benjamins, 1992). Yet, this perspective provides no room for an understanding of language as a cognitive tool…

  20. Testing Hypotheses about Second Language Acquisition: The Copula and Negative in Three Subjects. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cancino, Herlinda; And Others

    Three hypotheses are examined in relation to English copula and negative utterances produced by three native Spanish speakers. The hypotheses are interference, interlanguage and L1=L2, which states that acquisition of a language by second language learners will parallel acquisiton of the same language by first language learners. The results of the…

  1. Korean University EFL Student Perspectives of Smartphone Applications (Apps) as Tools for Language Learning: An Action Research Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Bernedette S.

    2017-01-01

    Learning a second or foreign language may be a daunting task for anyone; however, learning a language that is vastly different from a person's native language can be extremely difficult. This is especially true in South Korea where English is taught and spoken as a foreign language. For Korean students, who typically study English from a young…

  2. fMRI Syntactic and Lexical Repetition Effects Reveal the Initial Stages of Learning a New Language.

    PubMed

    Weber, Kirsten; Christiansen, Morten H; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Indefrey, Peter; Hagoort, Peter

    2016-06-29

    When learning a new language, we build brain networks to process and represent the acquired words and syntax and integrate these with existing language representations. It is an open question whether the same or different neural mechanisms are involved in learning and processing a novel language compared with the native language(s). Here we investigated the neural repetition effects of repeating known and novel word orders while human subjects were in the early stages of learning a new language. Combining a miniature language with a syntactic priming paradigm, we examined the neural correlates of language learning on-line using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior temporal cortex, the repetition of novel syntactic structures led to repetition enhancement, whereas repetition of known structures resulted in repetition suppression. Additional verb repetition led to an increase in the syntactic repetition enhancement effect in language-related brain regions. Similarly, the repetition of verbs led to repetition enhancement effects in areas related to lexical and semantic processing, an effect that continued to increase in a subset of these regions. Repetition enhancement might reflect a mechanism to build and strengthen a neural network to process novel syntactic structures and lexical items. By contrast, the observed repetition suppression points to overlapping neural mechanisms for native and new language constructions when these have sufficient structural similarities. Acquiring a second language entails learning how to interpret novel words and relations between words, and to integrate them with existing language knowledge. To investigate the brain mechanisms involved in this particularly human skill, we combined an artificial language learning task with a syntactic repetition paradigm. We show that the repetition of novel syntactic structures, as well as words in contexts, leads to repetition enhancement, whereas repetition of known structures results in repetition suppression. We thus propose that repetition enhancement might reflect a brain mechanism to build and strengthen a neural network to process novel syntactic regularities and novel words. Importantly, the results also indicate an overlap in neural mechanisms for native and new language constructions with sufficient structural similarities. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/366872-09$15.00/0.

  3. The Wildcat Corpus of Native- and Foreign-Accented English: Communicative Efficiency across Conversational Dyads with Varying Language Alignment Profiles

    PubMed Central

    Van Engen, Kristin J.; Baese-Berk, Melissa; Baker, Rachel E.; Choi, Arim; Kim, Midam; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes the development of the Wildcat Corpus of native- and foreign-accented English, a corpus containing scripted and spontaneous speech recordings from 24 native speakers of American English and 52 non-native speakers of English. The core element of this corpus is a set of spontaneous speech recordings, for which a new method of eliciting dialogue-based, laboratory-quality speech recordings was developed (the Diapix task). Dialogues between two native speakers of English, between two non-native speakers of English (with either shared or different L1s), and between one native and one non-native speaker of English are included and analyzed in terms of general measures of communicative efficiency. The overall finding was that pairs of native talkers were most efficient, followed by mixed native/non-native pairs and non-native pairs with shared L1. Non-native pairs with different L1s were least efficient. These results support the hypothesis that successful speech communication depends both on the alignment of talkers to the target language and on the alignment of talkers to one another in terms of native language background. PMID:21313992

  4. Reading: United States.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weber, Rose-Marie

    1983-01-01

    An exploration of the increasingly important role of linguistics in literacy research and instruction reviews literature on reading comprehension, written language, orthography, metalinguistics, classroom language use, reading disabilities, native tongues, nonstandard dialects, bilingual education, adult literacy, and second-language reading. (86…

  5. A cross-language study of perception of lexical stress in English.

    PubMed

    Yu, Vickie Y; Andruski, Jean E

    2010-08-01

    This study investigates the question of whether language background affects the perception of lexical stress in English. Thirty native English speakers and 30 native Chinese learners of English participated in a stressed-syllable identification task and a discrimination task involving three types of stimuli (real words/pseudowords/hums). The results show that both language groups were able to identify and discriminate stress patterns. Lexical and segmental information affected the English and Chinese speakers in varying degrees. English and Chinese speakers showed different response patterns to trochaic vs. iambic stress across the three types of stimuli. An acoustic analysis revealed that two language groups used different acoustic cues to process lexical stress. The findings suggest that the different degrees of lexical and segmental effects can be explained by language background, which in turn supports the hypothesis that language background affects the perception of lexical stress in English.

  6. Sentence Planning in Native and Nonnative Language: A Comparative Study of English and Korean

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choe, Mun Hong

    2010-01-01

    This study discusses cognitive processes when speakers produce language in real time, with its focus on cross-linguistic differences in the procedural aspect of language use. It demonstrates that the syntactic characteristics of a language shape the speakers' overall process of sentence planning and production: how they construct sentential…

  7. The Multi-Level Classroom or the One Room Little Red School-House Revisited.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Courchene, Robert

    1984-01-01

    Describes language lab listening activity designed to serve needs of the English as a second language class comprised of students at different levels of language proficiency, divergent native languages, multicultural backgrounds, and varying levels of formal education. Multilevel tasks are drawn from a common text, allowing students to do…

  8. LingoBee--Crowd-Sourced Mobile Language Learning in the Cloud

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petersen, Sobah Abbas; Procter-Legg, Emma; Cacchione, Annamaria

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes three case studies, where language learners were invited to use "LingoBee" as a means of supporting their language learning. LingoBee is a mobile app that provides user-generated language content in a cloud-based shared repository. Assuming that today's students are mobile savvy and "Digital Natives" able…

  9. LingoBee: Engaging Mobile Language Learners through Crowd-Sourcing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petersen, Sobah Abbas; Procter-Legg, Emma; Cacchione, Annamaria

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes three case studies, where language learners were invited to use "LingoBee" as a means of supporting their language learning. LingoBee is a mobile app that provides user-generated language content in a cloud-based shared repository. Assuming that today's students are mobile savvy and "Digital Natives" able…

  10. Second Language Reading: Reading, Language, and Metacognition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carrell, Patricia L.

    A study investigated the role of metacognitive skills and the conception of reading in the reading comprehension of adult native speakers of Spanish and English. The study differed from others in its examination of reading conceptions and comprehension in both the first and second languages. Results suggest that both first language reading ability…

  11. Form-focused Communicative Practice via CMC: What Language Learners Say

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meskill, Carla; Anthony, Natasha

    2007-01-01

    Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is being used widely to support and extend foreign language instruction. Language learners are practicing the target language by communicating with their instructors, peers, and native speakers at a distance. This study examines high-beginning and low-intermediate learners of Russian and their uses of, and…

  12. Students with Learning Disabilities in the Foreign Language Learning Environment and the Practice of Exemption

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wight, Mary Caitlin S.

    2015-01-01

    This examination of the literature on foreign, or second, language learning by native English-speaking students with disabilities addresses the benefits of language learning, the practices and policies of language exemption, the perceptions of students and educators regarding those practices, and available resources for supporting students with…

  13. Influence of Sociocultural Context on Language Learning in Foreign Countries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pazyura, Natalia

    2016-01-01

    Professional foreign language training is offered to cultivate the ability to master cross-cultural communication in the sphere of future professional activity. By means of intercultural competence of foreign language we are raising professional competence, too. In countries where English is the native language, it is taught to speakers of other…

  14. Women's Language Model: A Proposal.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dumas, Bethany K.

    It is possible to think of women's language in terms of the model implied by the following statement. Insofar as native speakers of English are concerned, the language of women in America has four sets of components: those shared with the language of men in America; those shared, in varying proportions, with other women living in patriarchies;…

  15. La ensenanza de idiomas en Puerto Rico (Language Teaching in Puerto Rico)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Llorens, Washington

    1976-01-01

    The poor command of Spanish common to many Puerto Ricans is due, not to the teaching of English as a second language, but to the poor instruction of the native language and the lack of emphasis on reading good Spanish literature. The two languages can coexist. (Text is in Spanish.) (CHK)

  16. Nuestra lengua en el Mundo (Our Language in the World)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosenblat, Angel

    1975-01-01

    Reviews the spread of Spanish as a native, second or foreign language and shows that Latin America, rather than Spain, is now the center of gravity for that language. Gives a statistical distribution of the major languages throughout the world. The homogeneity of Spanish is mentioned. (Text is in Spanish.) (TL)

  17. Bridging English Language Learner Achievement Gaps through Effective Vocabulary Development Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibson, Charles

    2016-01-01

    Despite a well-documented history of immigration in the United States of America and rise in population of students that speak a language other than English, academic achievement gaps between English Language Learners and their native English language speaking counterparts from Grades Pre-Kindergarten through the college/university level still…

  18. Transformational Grammar and Psycholinguistics as Applied to Teaching Comprehension of German. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reeds, James A.

    The relevance to elementary foreign language instruction of certain findings of child language development (native language) and the psychology of language acquisition is examined. A set of premises is proposed for a new scheme for the teaching of German based on these findings, namely, that comprehension precedes production, that language…

  19. Student Proficiency in Spanish Taught by Native and Nonnative Spanish Instructors: A Quantitative Correlational Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kopczynski, Karolina

    2010-01-01

    Foreign language educators as well as educators from other disciplines agree that learning any foreign language improves student language skills and stimulates creative thinking and flexibility to use the language. The purpose of the current quantitative, correlational study was to examine the relationship between student proficiency in Spanish…

  20. A Lingua Franca for Africa. Esperanto Documents No. 36A.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farukuoye, Helga

    The actual possibilities for communication among Africans are unsatisfactory. While the north has adopted Arabic as its lingua franca, most African states south of the Sahara still use the language(s) of their former colonial masters as official languages, thereby neglecting their native languages. This situation excludes many people from higher…

  1. Native Language and Foreign Language Acquisition. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Volume 379.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winitz, Harris, Ed.

    Papers are presented from a conference that dealt with the similarities and differences between first and second language learning, ways of assessing the relationships, methodological procedures, and implications for development of procedures for teaching language handicapped children. The papers are presented under the following headings: (1)…

  2. Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Multilingual Matters Series: 76.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fishman, Joshua A.

    The theory and practice of assistance to speech communities whose native languages are threatened are examined. The discussion focuses on why most efforts to reverse language shift are unsuccessful or even harmful, diagnosing difficulties and prescribing alternatives based on a combination of ethnolinguistic, sociocultural, and econotechnical…

  3. Tutoring between Language with Comparative Multilingual Tutoring

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brendel, Christian

    2012-01-01

    Writers who do not speak English as a native language perennially have presented unique challenges to the writing center, for these writers, who study English as a second language (ESL), or even as a third or fourth foreign language (EFL), may also be unacquainted with American academic discourse. ESL/EFL writers may face unfamiliarity with…

  4. All Children in the Nordic Countries Should Be Bilingual--Why Aren't They?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove

    Little data are available concerning the native languages of Scandinavian residents, other than the official languages, despite the linguistic diversity of the region. Foreign language teaching starts early in schooling, but there has been little study of actual language needs. Three basic program designs are available for teaching foreign…

  5. Language and Literacy Development in Prelingually-Deaf Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salmani Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali

    2008-01-01

    This paper attempts to address the issue of language development in hearing impaired children. It argues that interpreters, teachers or peers can provide deaf children with language exposure so that they can acquire their native languages more easily. It also argues that the provision of a developmentally appropriate print-rich environments is the…

  6. Cross-Language Priming of Word Meaning during Second Language Sentence Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yuan, Yanli; Woltz, Dan; Zheng, Robert

    2010-01-01

    The experiment investigated the benefit to second language (L2) sentence comprehension of priming word meanings with brief visual exposure to first language (L1) translation equivalents. Native English speakers learning Mandarin evaluated the validity of aurally presented Mandarin sentences. For selected words in half of the sentences there was…

  7. Effects of language experience and expectations on attention to consonants and tones in English and Mandarin Chinese.

    PubMed

    Lin, Mengxi; Francis, Alexander L

    2014-11-01

    Both long-term native language experience and immediate linguistic expectations can affect listeners' use of acoustic information when making a phonetic decision. In this study, a Garner selective attention task was used to investigate differences in attention to consonants and tones by American English-speaking listeners (N = 20) and Mandarin Chinese-speaking listeners hearing speech in either American English (N = 17) or Mandarin Chinese (N = 20). To minimize the effects of lexical differences and differences in the linguistic status of pitch across the two languages, stimuli and response conditions were selected such that all tokens constitute legitimate words in both languages and all responses required listeners to make decisions that were linguistically meaningful in their native language. Results showed that regardless of ambient language, Chinese listeners processed consonant and tone in a combined manner, consistent with previous research. In contrast, English listeners treated tones and consonants as perceptually separable. Results are discussed in terms of the role of sub-phonemic differences in acoustic cues across language, and the linguistic status of consonants and pitch contours in the two languages.

  8. Two languages, two personalities? Examining language effects on the expression of personality in a bilingual context.

    PubMed

    Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua; Bond, Michael Harris

    2010-11-01

    The issue of whether personality changes as a function of language is controversial. The present research tested the cultural accommodation hypothesis by examining the impact of language use on personality as perceived by the self and by others. In Study 1, Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals responded to personality inventories in Chinese or English on perceived traits for themselves, typical native speakers of Chinese, and typical native speakers of English. Study 2 adopted a repeated measures design and collected data at three time points from written measures and actual conversations to examine whether bilinguals exhibited different patterns of personality, each associated with one of their two languages and the ethnicity of their interlocutors. Self-reports and behavioral observations confirmed the effects of perceived cultural norms, language priming, and interlocutor ethnicity on various personality dimensions. It is suggested that use of a second language accesses the perceived cultural norms of the group most associated with that language, especially its prototypic trait profiles, thus activating behavioral expressions of personality that are appropriate in the corresponding linguistic-social context.

  9. 25 tips for working through language and cultural barriers in your medical practice.

    PubMed

    Hills, Laura Sachs

    2009-01-01

    The language and cultural barriers facing medical patients with limited English language proficiency pose tremendous challenges and risks. Moreover, medical practices today are more likely than ever to employ individuals whose first language is not English or who do not possess native-like knowledge of American culture. Knowing how to work through the language and cultural barriers you are likely to encounter in your medical practice has become increasingly more important. This article is written by a practice management consultant who has graduate-level linguistics training and second-language teaching credentials and experience. It offers 25 practical tips to help you communicate more effectively with individuals who are outside of your native culture and language. These include easy-to-implement tips about English language pronunciation, grammar, and word choice. This article also suggests what you can do personally to bridge the cultural divide with your patients and co-workers. Finally, this article includes a case study of one Virginia practice in which cultural differences interfered with the practice's smooth operation. It explains how the practice eventually worked through and overcame this cultural obstacle.

  10. The link between form and meaning in American Sign Language: lexical processing effects.

    PubMed

    Thompson, Robin L; Vinson, David P; Vigliocco, Gabriella

    2009-03-01

    Signed languages exploit iconicity (the transparent relationship between meaning and form) to a greater extent than spoken languages. where it is largely limited to onomatopoeia. In a picture-sign matching experiment measuring reaction times, the authors examined the potential advantage of iconicity both for 1st- and 2nd-language learners of American Sign Language (ASL). The results show that native ASL signers are faster to respond when a specific property iconically represented in a sign is made salient in the corresponding picture, thus providing evidence that a closer mapping between meaning and form can aid in lexical retrieval. While late 2nd-language learners appear to use iconicity as an aid to learning sign (R. Campbell, P. Martin, & T. White, 1992), they did not show the same facilitation effect as native ASL signers, suggesting that the task tapped into more automatic language processes. Overall, the findings suggest that completely arbitrary mappings between meaning and form may not be more advantageous in language and that, rather, arbitrariness may simply be an accident of modality. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved

  11. Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years

    PubMed Central

    Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M.; Welsh, Stephanie N.

    2014-01-01

    The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ns = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children from monolingual English homes (n = 31). The two groups from bilingual homes differed in their mean levels of English and Spanish skills, in their developmental trajectories during this period, and in the relation between language use at home and their vocabulary development. Children with two native Spanish-speaking parents showed steepest gains in total vocabulary and were more nearly balanced bilinguals at 48 months. Children with one native Spanish- and one native English-speaking parent showed trajectories of relative decline in Spanish vocabulary. At 48 months, mean levels of English skill among the bilingual children were comparable to monolingual norms, but children with two native Spanish-speaking parents had lower English scores than the SES-equivalent monolingual group. Use of English at home was a significant positive predictor of English vocabulary scores only among children with a native English-speaking parent. These findings argue that efforts to optimize school readiness among children from immigrant families should facilitate their access to native speakers of the community language, and efforts to support heritage language maintenance should include encouraging heritage language use by native speakers in the home. PMID:25089074

  12. Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years.

    PubMed

    Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M; Welsh, Stephanie N

    2014-10-01

    The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ n s = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children from monolingual English homes ( n = 31). The two groups from bilingual homes differed in their mean levels of English and Spanish skills, in their developmental trajectories during this period, and in the relation between language use at home and their vocabulary development. Children with two native Spanish-speaking parents showed steepest gains in total vocabulary and were more nearly balanced bilinguals at 48 months. Children with one native Spanish- and one native English-speaking parent showed trajectories of relative decline in Spanish vocabulary. At 48 months, mean levels of English skill among the bilingual children were comparable to monolingual norms, but children with two native Spanish-speaking parents had lower English scores than the SES-equivalent monolingual group. Use of English at home was a significant positive predictor of English vocabulary scores only among children with a native English-speaking parent. These findings argue that efforts to optimize school readiness among children from immigrant families should facilitate their access to native speakers of the community language, and efforts to support heritage language maintenance should include encouraging heritage language use by native speakers in the home.

  13. Reflections on Revitalizing and Reinforcing Native Languages and Cultures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Real Bird, Lanny

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this essay is to introduce nativist expression, historic practices, and perceptions in describing an important approach to exercising language revitalization based on traditional fundamentals and operational ownership in Native organizations of these reflections. Information is presented to enhance the understanding of how Native…

  14. Crosslinguistic Differences in Implicit Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leung, Janny H. C.; Williams, John N.

    2014-01-01

    We report three experiments that explore the effect of prior linguistic knowledge on implicit language learning. Native speakers of English from the United Kingdom and native speakers of Cantonese from Hong Kong participated in experiments that involved different learning materials. In Experiment 1, both participant groups showed evidence of…

  15. Turkish Basic Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    These 14 volumes of the Defense Language Institute's basic course in Turkish consist of 112 lesson units designed to train native English language speakers to Level 3 proficiency in comprehending, speaking, reading, and writing Turkish. (Native-speaker fluency is Level 5.) An introduction to the sound system, vowel harmony, and syllable division…

  16. English as Cultural Action.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prodromou, Luke

    1988-01-01

    Discusses teaching and learning English as a foreign language in its cultural context, and the culture of the native speaker of English and its relation to the culture of the learner. Native-speaking teachers should recognize the international status of English and work from local varieties of the language. (Author/LMO)

  17. EFL Learners' Beliefs about Native and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers: Perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, and Preferences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chun, Sun Young

    2014-01-01

    Although the number of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts has increased in recent years with the emergence of English as an international language, only a few studies on NESTs and non-NESTs have extensively and directly examined students' beliefs about these two groups of teachers. To fill this…

  18. First- and Final-Semester Non-Native Students in an English-Medium University: Judgments of Their Speech by University Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Sara; Trofimovich, Pavel

    2014-01-01

    By the end of their studies, non-native speakers of English studying at English-medium universities have had several years of exposure to English in that setting. Do non-native students, particularly those enrolled in non-language related programs, show different levels of second language (L2) speaking ability in their final semester of studies…

  19. Pronunciation difficulty, temporal regularity, and the speech-to-song illusion.

    PubMed

    Margulis, Elizabeth H; Simchy-Gross, Rhimmon; Black, Justin L

    2015-01-01

    The speech-to-song illusion (Deutsch et al., 2011) tracks the perceptual transformation from speech to song across repetitions of a brief spoken utterance. Because it involves no change in the stimulus itself, but a dramatic change in its perceived affiliation to speech or to music, it presents a unique opportunity to comparatively investigate the processing of language and music. In this study, native English-speaking participants were presented with brief spoken utterances that were subsequently repeated ten times. The utterances were drawn either from languages that are relatively difficult for a native English speaker to pronounce, or languages that are relatively easy for a native English speaker to pronounce. Moreover, the repetition could occur at regular or irregular temporal intervals. Participants rated the utterances before and after the repetitions on a 5-point Likert-like scale ranging from "sounds exactly like speech" to "sounds exactly like singing." The difference in ratings before and after was taken as a measure of the strength of the speech-to-song illusion in each case. The speech-to-song illusion occurred regardless of whether the repetitions were spaced at regular temporal intervals or not; however, it occurred more readily if the utterance was spoken in a language difficult for a native English speaker to pronounce. Speech circuitry seemed more liable to capture native and easy-to-pronounce languages, and more reluctant to relinquish them to perceived song across repetitions.

  20. Utilizing Proverbs as a Focal Point to Cultural Awareness and Communicative Competence: Illustrations from Africa.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richmond, Edmun B.

    1987-01-01

    Proposes a model of target- and native-language proverb comparison which can be used to assist proverb analysis in the language curriculum, using examples from Mandinka, a West African language. (Author/CB)

  1. A Frequency and Error Analysis of the Use of Determiners, the Relationships between Noun Phrases, and the Structure of Discourse in English Essays by Native English Writers and Native Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean Learners of English as a Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gressang, Jane E.

    2010-01-01

    Second language (L2) learners notoriously have trouble using articles in their target languages (e.g., "a", "an", "the" in English). However, researchers disagree about the patterns and causes of these errors. Past studies have found that L2 English learners: (1) Predominantly omit articles (White 2003, Robertson 2000), (2) Overuse "the" (Huebner…

  2. A Cross-Language Study of Acoustic Predictors of Speech Intelligibility in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease

    PubMed Central

    Choi, Yaelin

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The present study aimed to compare acoustic models of speech intelligibility in individuals with the same disease (Parkinson's disease [PD]) and presumably similar underlying neuropathologies but with different native languages (American English [AE] and Korean). Method A total of 48 speakers from the 4 speaker groups (AE speakers with PD, Korean speakers with PD, healthy English speakers, and healthy Korean speakers) were asked to read a paragraph in their native languages. Four acoustic variables were analyzed: acoustic vowel space, voice onset time contrast scores, normalized pairwise variability index, and articulation rate. Speech intelligibility scores were obtained from scaled estimates of sentences extracted from the paragraph. Results The findings indicated that the multiple regression models of speech intelligibility were different in Korean and AE, even with the same set of predictor variables and with speakers matched on speech intelligibility across languages. Analysis of the descriptive data for the acoustic variables showed the expected compression of the vowel space in speakers with PD in both languages, lower normalized pairwise variability index scores in Korean compared with AE, and no differences within or across language in articulation rate. Conclusions The results indicate that the basis of an intelligibility deficit in dysarthria is likely to depend on the native language of the speaker and listener. Additional research is required to explore other potential predictor variables, as well as additional language comparisons to pursue cross-linguistic considerations in classification and diagnosis of dysarthria types. PMID:28821018

  3. Memory for non-native language: the role of lexical processing in the retention of surface form.

    PubMed

    Sampaio, Cristina; Konopka, Agnieszka E

    2013-01-01

    Research on memory for native language (L1) has consistently shown that retention of surface form is inferior to that of gist (e.g., Sachs, 1967). This paper investigates whether the same pattern is found in memory for non-native language (L2). We apply a model of bilingual word processing to more complex linguistic structures and predict that memory for L2 sentences ought to contain more surface information than L1 sentences. Native and non-native speakers of English were tested on a set of sentence pairs with different surface forms but the same meaning (e.g., "The bullet hit/struck the bull's eye"). Memory for these sentences was assessed with a cued recall procedure. Responses showed that native and non-native speakers did not differ in the accuracy of gist-based recall but that non-native speakers outperformed native speakers in the retention of surface form. The results suggest that L2 processing involves more intensive encoding of lexical level information than L1 processing.

  4. A Home-Language Free Adult Pre-Vocational Audio-Visual Course in English-as-a-Second Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Philip D., Jr.

    A pre-vocational English-as-a-second language course for adults was developed for the non-native speaker based upon the following assumptions: the teacher does not have to speak the language of the student; students in a class do not have to speak each others' language; the teacher need not be professionally trained in the field of teaching ESL;…

  5. Sign Perception and Recognition in Non-Native Signers of ASL

    PubMed Central

    Morford, Jill P.; Carlson, Martina L.

    2011-01-01

    Past research has established that delayed first language exposure is associated with comprehension difficulties in non-native signers of American Sign Language (ASL) relative to native signers. The goal of the current study was to investigate potential explanations of this disparity: do non-native signers have difficulty with all aspects of comprehension, or are their comprehension difficulties restricted to some aspects of processing? We compared the performance of deaf non-native, hearing L2, and deaf native signers on a handshape and location monitoring and a sign recognition task. The results indicate that deaf non-native signers are as rapid and accurate on the monitoring task as native signers, with differences in the pattern of relative performance across handshape and location parameters. By contrast, non-native signers differ significantly from native signers during sign recognition. Hearing L2 signers, who performed almost as well as the two groups of deaf signers on the monitoring task, resembled the deaf native signers more than the deaf non-native signers on the sign recognition task. The combined results indicate that delayed exposure to a signed language leads to an overreliance on handshape during sign recognition. PMID:21686080

  6. Language switching-but not foreign language use per se-reduces the framing effect.

    PubMed

    Oganian, Y; Korn, C W; Heekeren, H R

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies reported reductions of well-established biases in decision making under risk, such as the framing effect, during foreign language (FL) use. These modulations were attributed to the use of FL itself, which putatively entails an increase in emotional distance. A reduced framing effect in this setting, however, might also result from enhanced cognitive control associated with language-switching in mixed-language contexts, an account that has not been tested yet. Here we assess predictions of the 2 accounts in 2 experiments with over 1,500 participants. In Experiment 1, we tested a central prediction of the emotional distance account, namely that the framing effect would be reduced at low, but not high, FL proficiency levels. We found a strong framing effect in the native language, and surprisingly also in the foreign language, independent of proficiency. In Experiment 2, we orthogonally manipulated foreign language use and language switching to concurrently test the validity of both accounts. As in Experiment 1, foreign language use per se had no effect on framing. Crucially, the framing effect was reduced following a language switch, both when switching into the foreign and the native language. Thus, our results suggest that reduced framing effects are not mediated by increased emotional distance in a foreign language, but by transient enhancement of cognitive control, putting the interplay of bilingualism and decision making in a new light. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  7. Second Language Processing in Reading and Translation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lim, Jung Hyun

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the processing mechanisms of non-native English speakers at both the sentence level and the morphological level, addressing the issue of whether adult second language (L2) learners qualitatively differ from native speakers in processing linguistic input. Using psycholinguistic on-line techniques…

  8. Using Instant Messaging for Collaborative Learning: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sotillo, Susana M.

    2006-01-01

    As recent second language acquisition (SLA) studies have shown, the negotiation of linguistic items such as vocabulary, verb tenses, and grammar rules with different types of interlocutors--native speakers (NSs) and advanced non-native speakers (NNSs) of English--seems to facilitate second language development among students. Findings from…

  9. Combining Cognitive and Interactive Approaches to Lingua Receptiva

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bahtina, Daria; ten Thije, Jan D.; Wijnen, Frank

    2013-01-01

    This study takes an experimental approach to "lingua receptiva" (LaRa), a communication mode in which interlocutors each use their own--different--native language. In contrast to previous work on LaRa, this study investigates the phenomenon in genetically unrelated languages. Native speakers of Estonian and Russian were engaged in a…

  10. La formacion de profesores de lengua materna (Native Language Teachers' Education).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez Chacon, Concepcion Elena

    1980-01-01

    Discusses the goals of native language instruction advocating a broadening of horizons, away from traditional grammar and literature teaching, and towards culturally based communication skills. Sociocultural awareness is stressed as the fundamental component of a teacher's background and the basis for mastering the relevant aspects of…

  11. Discrimination of Arabic Contrasts by American Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Mahmoud, Mahmoud S.

    2013-01-01

    This article reports on second language perception of non-native contrasts. The study specifically tests the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) by examining American learners' ability to discriminate Arabic contrasts. Twenty two native American speakers enrolled in a university level Arabic language program took part in a forced choice AXB…

  12. Examining Test Speededness by Native Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Talento-Miller, Eileen; Guo, Fanmin; Han, Kyung T.

    2013-01-01

    When power tests include a time limit, it is important to assess the possibility of speededness for examinees. Past research on differential speededness has examined gender and ethnic subgroups in the United States on paper and pencil tests. When considering the needs of a global audience, research regarding different native language speakers is…

  13. Korean Basic Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    These 11 volumes of the Korean Basic Course comprise 112 lesson units designed to train native English language speakers to Level 3 proficiency in comprehension and speaking and Level 2 proficiency in reading and writing Korean. (Level 5 on this scale is native-speaker level.) Intended for classroom use in the Defense Language Institute intensive…

  14. Special Operations Forces Language Transformation Strategy Needs Assessment Project: Air Force Operator Survey Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-10-15

    CAT III/IV Language More difficult languages to acquire for native English speakers. Examples: Cantonese , Japanese, Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Turkish...conversations on practical, social , and professional topics in my required AOR language. 64.1 62.0 68.8 SOF Language Transformation Strategy Needs...practical, social , and professional topics in the language required by my AOR assignment. 39 3.6 1.29 64.1 7.7 17.9 12.8 33.3 28.2 SOF

  15. Special Operations Forces Language Transformation Strategy Needs Assessment Project: Final Project Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-03-15

    German (includes romance languages, etc.) CAT III/IV Language More difficult languages to acquire for native English speakers. Examples: Cantonese ...conversations on practical, social , and professional topics in my required AOR language. 52.9 62.1 51.9 51.9 52.0 SOF Language Transformation...67.6 85.7 77.2 67.5 71.9 73.1 63.6 67.6 63.0 I feel confident in my ability to participate in informal conversations on practical, social , and

  16. Electrophysiological correlates of cross-linguistic semantic integration in hearing signers: N400 and LPC.

    PubMed

    Zachau, Swantje; Korpilahti, Pirjo; Hämäläinen, Jarmo A; Ervast, Leena; Heinänen, Kaisu; Suominen, Kalervo; Lehtihalmes, Matti; Leppänen, Paavo H T

    2014-07-01

    We explored semantic integration mechanisms in native and non-native hearing users of sign language and non-signing controls. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a semantic decision task for priming lexeme pairs. Pairs were presented either within speech or across speech and sign language. Target-related ERP responses were subjected to principal component analyses (PCA), and neurocognitive basis of semantic integration processes were assessed by analyzing the N400 and the late positive complex (LPC) components in response to spoken (auditory) and signed (visual) antonymic and unrelated targets. Semantically-related effects triggered across modalities would indicate a similar tight interconnection between the signers׳ two languages like that described for spoken language bilinguals. Remarkable structural similarity of the N400 and LPC components with varying group differences between the spoken and signed targets were found. The LPC was the dominant response. The controls׳ LPC differed from the LPC of the two signing groups. It was reduced to the auditory unrelated targets and was less frontal for all the visual targets. The visual LPC was more broadly distributed in native than non-native signers and was left-lateralized for the unrelated targets in the native hearing signers only. Semantic priming effects were found for the auditory N400 in all groups, but only native hearing signers revealed a clear N400 effect to the visual targets. Surprisingly, the non-native signers revealed no semantically-related processing effect to the visual targets reflected in the N400 or the LPC; instead they appeared to rely more on visual post-lexical analyzing stages than native signers. We conclude that native and non-native signers employed different processing strategies to integrate signed and spoken semantic content. It appeared that the signers׳ semantic processing system was affected by group-specific factors like language background and/or usage. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Healing the Generations: For One Family, a Language Is Lost and Rediscovered.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haase, Eric

    1993-01-01

    Traces native language usage among three generations of a Lakota family, explaining one woman's decision not to teach her children Lakota to protect them from abuse at a boarding school and her descendants' efforts to learn and preserve their language. Offers a Lakota studies and language instructor's perspective on his students' hunger for their…

  18. Native Language Influence in the Segmentation of a Novel Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ordin, Mikhail; Nespor, Marina

    2016-01-01

    A major problem in second language acquisition (SLA) is the segmentation of fluent speech in the target language, i.e., detecting the boundaries of phonological constituents like words and phrases in the speech stream. To this end, among a variety of cues, people extensively use prosody and statistical regularities. We examined the role of pitch,…

  19. Composing in a Second Language: A Case Study of a Russian College Student.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Anna Charr

    The case study examined the development of English writing skills in a native Russian-speaking college student with no previous instruction in English as a Second Language. It drew on writing samples from 2 years of English language instruction. Theories of first and second language acquisition, especially in written expression, are analyzed in…

  20. Documenting and Maintaining Native American Languages for the 21st Century: The Indiana University Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parks, Douglas R.; Kushner, Julia; Hooper, Wallace; Flavin, Francis; Yellow Bird, Delilah; Ditmar, Selena

    This document compiles five short papers that describe the history and implementation of the Arikara Language Project and the Nakoda Language Project, the development of computer tools for language documentation, and the creation of curriculum materials for these and other projects. These papers are: "Genesis of the Project" (Douglas R.…

  1. Knowledge of a Second Language Influences Auditory Word Recognition in the Native Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lagrou, Evelyne; Hartsuiker, Robert J.; Duyck, Wouter

    2011-01-01

    Many studies in bilingual visual word recognition have demonstrated that lexical access is not language selective. However, research on bilingual word recognition in the auditory modality has been scarce, and it has yielded mixed results with regard to the degree of this language nonselectivity. In the present study, we investigated whether…

  2. Whose English Counts? Native Speakers as English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grill, Jennifer

    2010-01-01

    The author, a teacher educator, explains that because of a lack of training in language studies, many teachers do not view language as linguists do. She identifies three misconceptions (and the implications they have for English language learners) that still persist in education: Standard English is the best and most correct form of English,…

  3. Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in Support of (Re)-Learning Native Languages: The Case of Runyakitara

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katushemererwe, Fridah; Nerbonne, John

    2015-01-01

    This study presents the results from a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system of Runyakitara (RU_CALL). The major objective was to provide an electronic language learning environment that can enable learners with mother tongue deficiencies to enhance their knowledge of grammar and acquire writing skills in Runyakitara. The system…

  4. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES IN THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN AS NATIVE LANGUAGES.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    SLOBIN, DAN I.

    ONE APPROACH TO CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IS THAT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL, GENERATIVE GRAMMAR WHICH EMPHASIZES MAN'S ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND PRODUCE AN UNLIMITED VARIETY OF SENTENCES THROUGH CONTROL OF A LIMITED NUMBER OF LANGUAGE RULES. THUS, A CHILD LEARNS TO SPEAK BY DEVELOPING HIS OWN THEORIES OF THE STRUCTURE OF HIS LANGUAGE. STUDIES OF…

  5. The Effect of Mental Imaging Technique on Idiom Comprehension in EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aydin, Burcu

    2017-01-01

    In an English Foreign Language learning context, where access to native like use of metaphorical language is limited, gaining this ability becomes challenging. For many years, foreign language educators didn't pay much attention to idiomatic language and assumed that idioms could only be taught through rote learning. For this reason, they face…

  6. Preliminary Validation of a Spanish Language Translation of the Children's Hope Scale.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edwards, Lisa M.; McDermott, Diane; Pedrotti, Jennifer Teramoto; LaRue, Stephanie; Stone, Marion E.; Diamond, Kandi L.; Spalitto, Susan V.

    As society becomes increasingly diverse, the issue about language used for assessments becomes critical. Research suggests that completing measures in a language other than one's native language may result in inaccurate scores. The Children's Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1997), a scale assessing dispositional hope in children ages 8 to 16, was…

  7. The Parameter of Aspect in Second Language Acquisition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slabakova, Roumyana

    1999-01-01

    Presents a detailed study of the second-language (L2) acquisition of English aspect by native speakers of Slavic languages. Results bring new evidence to bear on the theoretical choice between direct access to the L2 value or starting out the process of acquisition with the first-language value of a parameter, supporting the latter view.…

  8. Corpus Based Authenicity Analysis of Language Teaching Course Books

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peksoy, Emrah; Harmaoglu, Özhan

    2017-01-01

    In this study, the resemblance of the language learning course books used in Turkey to authentic language spoken by native speakers is explored by using a corpus-based approach. For this, the 10-million-word spoken part of the British National Corpus was selected as reference corpus. After that, all language learning course books used in high…

  9. Comprehensie van Vreemdtalige Input: Een Psycholinguistische Benadering (Acquisition of Dutch as a Second Language: A Psycholinguistic Approach).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Issidorides, Diana C.

    1988-01-01

    Within a psycholinguistic approach to second language learning, an attempt is made to investigate the question of how morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics affect the comprehension of Dutch sentences by nonnative learners of that language. When talking to nonnative language-learners, native speakers often tend to deliberately modify their…

  10. Web-Based English Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sarica, Gulcin Nagehan; Cavus, Nadire

    2008-01-01

    Knowledge of another language is an advantage and it gives people to look at the world and in particular to the world's cultures with a broader perspective. Learning English as a second language is the process by which students learn it in addition to their native language. Today, internet is an important part of our lives as English. For this…

  11. Language Freedom and Restriction: A Historical Approach to the Official Language Controversy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crawford, James

    The major threat to Native languages embodied in the "English Only" movement is discussed and ways that the United States historically has allowed language freedom is documented. The following points are made: (1) contrary to myth, the United States has never been a monolingual country; (2) for most of U.S. history, the dominant federal…

  12. Language or Music, Mother or Mozart? Structural and Environmental Influences on Infants' Language Networks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dehaene-Lambertz, G.; Montavont, A.; Jobert, A.; Allirol, L.; Dubois, J.; Hertz-Pannier, L.; Dehaene, S.

    2010-01-01

    Understanding how language emerged in our species calls for a detailed investigation of the initial specialization of the human brain for speech processing. Our earlier research demonstrated that an adult-like left-lateralized network of perisylvian areas is already active when infants listen to sentences in their native language, but did not…

  13. Uses of Technology in the Instruction of Adult English Language Learners. CAELA Network Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Sarah Catherine K.

    2009-01-01

    In program year 2006-2007, 46 percent of the adults enrolled in federally funded, state-administered adult education programs in the United States were enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. These adult English language learners represent a wide range of ages, nationalities, native languages, and English proficiency levels. In…

  14. How Can One Learn Mathematical Word Problems in a Second Language? A Cognitive Load Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moussa-Inaty, Jase; Causapin, Mark; Groombridge, Timothy

    2015-01-01

    Language may ordinarily account for difficulties in solving word problems and this is particularly true if mathematical word problems are taught in a language other than one's native language. Research into cognitive load may offer a clear theoretical framework when investigating word problems because memory, specifically working memory, plays a…

  15. Comprehensible Input PLUS the Language Experience Approach: A Longterm Perspective.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moustafa, Margaret

    1987-01-01

    Assesses the results of using Comprehensible Input PLUS Language Experience Approach (CI plus LEA) to teach reading and language arts to non-native speakers in grades 4-6 in the early stages of language acquisition. Concludes that students demonstrated a high retention level as well as an ability to transfer what they had learned by reading…

  16. Enhancing Academic Instruction for Adolescent English Language Learners with or at Risk for Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haager, Diane; Osipova, Anna V.

    2017-01-01

    An increasing number of children worldwide attend schools where the language of instruction does not match their native language, presenting significant challenges with learning the content and vocabulary of academic content areas (e.g., social studies, science). In the U.S., these students are designated as English language learners…

  17. The Learning of Chinese Idioms through Multimedia Storytelling Prototype

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Ee Hui; Hew, Soon Hin; Choo, Siew Hwa

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, the growth of China has successfully boosted the Chinese language to be studied by people from different language-speaking societies. The Chinese language has become the most preferred second or third language among non-Chinese native novices due to the great development of China and global economic change. The Chinese idiom is…

  18. Lexical Competition during Second-Language Listening: Sentence Context, but Not Proficiency, Constrains Interference from the Native Lexicon

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chambers, Craig G.; Cooke, Hilary

    2009-01-01

    A spoken language eye-tracking methodology was used to evaluate the effects of sentence context and proficiency on parallel language activation during spoken language comprehension. Nonnative speakers with varying proficiency levels viewed visual displays while listening to French sentences (e.g., "Marie va decrire la poule" [Marie will…

  19. Il etait une fois... Once Upon a Time There Was... C'era une volta... L'educazione linguistica.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ciotti, Marina; Bernardi, M. Berica

    1986-01-01

    Compares Italian native language instruction and instruction in English and French as a second language and discusses how the similarities may be used to improve the effectiveness of language teaching. (MSE)

  20. Sociolinguistic Typology and Sign Languages.

    PubMed

    Schembri, Adam; Fenlon, Jordan; Cormier, Kearsy; Johnston, Trevor

    2018-01-01

    This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphological 'complexity' and how this contributes to linguistic diversity, specifically via the typological nature of the sign languages of deaf communities. We sketch how the notion of morphological complexity, as defined by Trudgill (2011), applies to sign languages. Using these criteria, sign languages appear to be languages with low to moderate levels of morphological complexity. This may partly reflect the influence of key social characteristics of communities on the typological nature of languages. Although many deaf communities are relatively small and may involve dense social networks (both social characteristics that Trudgill claimed may lend themselves to morphological 'complexification'), the picture is complicated by the highly variable nature of the sign language acquisition for most deaf people, and the ongoing contact between native signers, hearing non-native signers, and those deaf individuals who only acquire sign languages in later childhood and early adulthood. These are all factors that may work against the emergence of morphological complexification. The relationship between linguistic typology and these key social factors may lead to a better understanding of the nature of sign language grammar. This perspective stands in contrast to other work where sign languages are sometimes presented as having complex morphology despite being young languages (e.g., Aronoff et al., 2005); in some descriptions, the social determinants of morphological complexity have not received much attention, nor has the notion of complexity itself been specifically explored.

  1. ERP evidence for implicit L2 word stress knowledge in listeners of a fixed-stress language.

    PubMed

    Kóbor, Andrea; Honbolygó, Ferenc; Becker, Angelika B C; Schild, Ulrike; Csépe, Valéria; Friedrich, Claudia K

    2018-06-01

    Languages with contrastive stress, such as English or German, distinguish some words only via the stress status of their syllables, such as "CONtent" and "conTENT" (capitals indicate a stressed syllable). Listeners with a fixed-stress native language, such as Hungarian, have difficulties in explicitly discriminating variation of the stress position in a second language (L2). However, Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) indicate that Hungarian listeners implicitly notice variation from their native fixed-stress pattern. Here we used ERPs to investigate Hungarian listeners' implicit L2 processing. In a cross-modal word fragment priming experiment, we presented spoken stressed and unstressed German word onsets (primes) followed by printed versions of initially stressed and initially unstressed German words (targets). ERPs reflected stress priming exerted by both prime types. This indicates that Hungarian listeners implicitly linked German words with the stress status of the primes. Thus, the formerly described explicit stress discrimination difficulty associated with a fixed-stress native language does not generalize to implicit aspects of L2 word stress processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The role of syllables in sign language production

    PubMed Central

    Baus, Cristina; Gutiérrez, Eva; Carreiras, Manuel

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional role of syllables in sign language and how the different phonological combinations influence sign production. Moreover, the influence of age of acquisition was evaluated. Deaf signers (native and non-native) of Catalan Signed Language (LSC) were asked in a picture-sign interference task to sign picture names while ignoring distractor-signs with which they shared two phonological parameters (out of three of the main sign parameters: Location, Movement, and Handshape). The results revealed a different impact of the three phonological combinations. While no effect was observed for the phonological combination Handshape-Location, the combination Handshape-Movement slowed down signing latencies, but only in the non-native group. A facilitatory effect was observed for both groups when pictures and distractors shared Location-Movement. Importantly, linguistic models have considered this phonological combination to be a privileged unit in the composition of signs, as syllables are in spoken languages. Thus, our results support the functional role of syllable units during phonological articulation in sign language production. PMID:25431562

  3. Understanding native Russian listeners' errors on an English word recognition test: model-based analysis of phoneme confusion.

    PubMed

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Morozova, Natalia

    2012-08-01

    Word recognition is a basic component in a comprehensive hearing evaluation, but data are lacking for listeners speaking two languages. This study obtained such data for Russian natives in the US and analysed the data using the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) and speech learning model (SLM). Listeners were randomly presented 200 NU-6 words in quiet. Listeners responded verbally and in writing. Performance was scored on words and phonemes (word-initial consonants, vowels, and word-final consonants). Seven normal-hearing, adult monolingual English natives (NM), 16 English-dominant (ED), and 15 Russian-dominant (RD) Russian natives participated. ED and RD listeners differed significantly in their language background. Consistent with the SLM, NM outperformed ED listeners and ED outperformed RD listeners, whether responses were scored on words or phonemes. NM and ED listeners shared similar phoneme error patterns, whereas RD listeners' errors had unique patterns that could be largely understood via the PAM. RD listeners had particular difficulty differentiating vowel contrasts /i-I/, /æ-ε/, and /ɑ-Λ/, word-initial consonant contrasts /p-h/ and /b-f/, and word-final contrasts /f-v/. Both first-language phonology and second-language learning history affect word and phoneme recognition. Current findings may help clinicians differentiate word recognition errors due to language background from hearing pathologies.

  4. Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning

    PubMed Central

    Nora, Anni; Karvonen, Leena; Renvall, Hanna; Parviainen, Tiina; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2017-01-01

    It is commonly thought that phonological learning is different in young children compared to adults, possibly due to the speech processing system not yet having reached full native-language specialization. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological learning in children are poorly understood. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track cortical correlates of incidental learning of meaningless word forms over two days as 6–8-year-olds overtly repeated them. Native (Finnish) pseudowords were compared with words of foreign sound structure (Korean) to investigate whether the cortical learning effects would be more dependent on previous proficiency in the language rather than maturational factors. Half of the items were encountered four times on the first day and once more on the following day. Incidental learning of these recurring word forms manifested as improved repetition accuracy and a correlated reduction of activation in the right superior temporal cortex, similarly for both languages and on both experimental days, and in contrast to a salient left-hemisphere emphasis previously reported in adults. We propose that children, when learning new word forms in either native or foreign language, are not yet constrained by left-hemispheric segmental processing and established sublexical native-language representations. Instead, they may rely more on supra-segmental contours and prosody. PMID:28158201

  5. Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning.

    PubMed

    Nora, Anni; Karvonen, Leena; Renvall, Hanna; Parviainen, Tiina; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2017-01-01

    It is commonly thought that phonological learning is different in young children compared to adults, possibly due to the speech processing system not yet having reached full native-language specialization. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological learning in children are poorly understood. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track cortical correlates of incidental learning of meaningless word forms over two days as 6-8-year-olds overtly repeated them. Native (Finnish) pseudowords were compared with words of foreign sound structure (Korean) to investigate whether the cortical learning effects would be more dependent on previous proficiency in the language rather than maturational factors. Half of the items were encountered four times on the first day and once more on the following day. Incidental learning of these recurring word forms manifested as improved repetition accuracy and a correlated reduction of activation in the right superior temporal cortex, similarly for both languages and on both experimental days, and in contrast to a salient left-hemisphere emphasis previously reported in adults. We propose that children, when learning new word forms in either native or foreign language, are not yet constrained by left-hemispheric segmental processing and established sublexical native-language representations. Instead, they may rely more on supra-segmental contours and prosody.

  6. 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.

  7. Effects of lips and hands on auditory learning of second-language speech sounds.

    PubMed

    Hirata, Yukari; Kelly, Spencer D

    2010-04-01

    Previous research has found that auditory training helps native English speakers to perceive phonemic vowel length contrasts in Japanese, but their performance did not reach native levels after training. Given that multimodal information, such as lip movement and hand gesture, influences many aspects of native language processing, the authors examined whether multimodal input helps to improve native English speakers' ability to perceive Japanese vowel length contrasts. Sixty native English speakers participated in 1 of 4 types of training: (a) audio-only; (b) audio-mouth; (c) audio-hands; and (d) audio-mouth-hands. Before and after training, participants were given phoneme perception tests that measured their ability to identify short and long vowels in Japanese (e.g., /kato/ vs. /kato/). Although all 4 groups improved from pre- to posttest (replicating previous research), the participants in the audio-mouth condition improved more than those in the audio-only condition, whereas the 2 conditions involving hand gestures did not. Seeing lip movements during training significantly helps learners to perceive difficult second-language phonemic contrasts, but seeing hand gestures does not. The authors discuss possible benefits and limitations of using multimodal information in second-language phoneme learning.

  8. Intelligibility of foreign-accented speech: Effects of listening condition, listener age, and listener hearing status

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferguson, Sarah Hargus

    2005-09-01

    It is well known that, for listeners with normal hearing, speech produced by non-native speakers of the listener's first language is less intelligible than speech produced by native speakers. Intelligibility is well correlated with listener's ratings of talker comprehensibility and accentedness, which have been shown to be related to several talker factors, including age of second language acquisition and level of similarity between the talker's native and second language phoneme inventories. Relatively few studies have focused on factors extrinsic to the talker. The current project explored the effects of listener and environmental factors on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech. Specifically, monosyllabic English words previously recorded from two talkers, one a native speaker of American English and the other a native speaker of Spanish, were presented to three groups of listeners (young listeners with normal hearing, elderly listeners with normal hearing, and elderly listeners with hearing impairment; n=20 each) in three different listening conditions (undistorted words in quiet, undistorted words in 12-talker babble, and filtered words in quiet). Data analysis will focus on interactions between talker accent, listener age, listener hearing status, and listening condition. [Project supported by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association AARC Award.

  9. Bilinguals’ Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language

    PubMed Central

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-01-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants’ memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model. PMID:28781384

  10. Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language.

    PubMed

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-03-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.

  11. Language revitalization in Native North America--issues of intellectual property rights and intellectual sovereignty.

    PubMed

    Tatsch, Sheri

    2004-01-01

    Language revitalization, oral tradition and epistemology are expressions of Native peoples intellectual sovereignty, and thus the foundation for indigenous intellectual property rights. As the people of California move towards language and cultural revitalization the question arises: What constitutes or constructs the definitions of intellectual property and how can appropriation of indigenous knowledge be protected? Looking at the issues faced by the California's indigenous populace and by implication, other indigenous peoples in the United States, this essay examines how protection may be afforded under the United Nations definition of 'heritage'. Given that the holding safe of a 'culture' or 'heritage' is inclusive of language, and thus has been determined to be a human right.

  12. La vitalite ethnolinguistique et les caracteristiques socio-psychologiques de l'individu vivant en milieu bilingue (Ethnolinguistic Vitality and the Socio-Psychological Characteristics of the Individual Living in a Bilingual Environment).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Labrie, Normand

    A study in Moncton, New Brunswick, of second language use by language minorities and native language maintenance as it relates to the linguistic groups' vitality and the individuals' attitudes toward these groups is reported. Seven research hypotheses were proposed: (1) The first language group's perception of the second language group's vitality…

  13. A Priority Fuzzy Logic Extension of the XQuery Language

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Škrbić, Srdjan; Wettayaprasit, Wiphada; Saeueng, Pannipa

    2011-09-01

    In recent years there have been significant research findings in flexible XML querying techniques using fuzzy set theory. Many types of fuzzy extensions to XML data model and XML query languages have been proposed. In this paper, we introduce priority fuzzy logic extensions to XQuery language. Describing these extensions we introduce a new query language. Moreover, we describe a way to implement an interpreter for this language using an existing XML native database.

  14. Development of a Mandarin-English Bilingual Speech Recognition System for Real World Music Retrieval

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Qingqing; Pan, Jielin; Lin, Yang; Shao, Jian; Yan, Yonghong

    In recent decades, there has been a great deal of research into the problem of bilingual speech recognition-to develop a recognizer that can handle inter- and intra-sentential language switching between two languages. This paper presents our recent work on the development of a grammar-constrained, Mandarin-English bilingual Speech Recognition System (MESRS) for real world music retrieval. Two of the main difficult issues in handling the bilingual speech recognition systems for real world applications are tackled in this paper. One is to balance the performance and the complexity of the bilingual speech recognition system; the other is to effectively deal with the matrix language accents in embedded language**. In order to process the intra-sentential language switching and reduce the amount of data required to robustly estimate statistical models, a compact single set of bilingual acoustic models derived by phone set merging and clustering is developed instead of using two separate monolingual models for each language. In our study, a novel Two-pass phone clustering method based on Confusion Matrix (TCM) is presented and compared with the log-likelihood measure method. Experiments testify that TCM can achieve better performance. Since potential system users' native language is Mandarin which is regarded as a matrix language in our application, their pronunciations of English as the embedded language usually contain Mandarin accents. In order to deal with the matrix language accents in embedded language, different non-native adaptation approaches are investigated. Experiments show that model retraining method outperforms the other common adaptation methods such as Maximum A Posteriori (MAP). With the effective incorporation of approaches on phone clustering and non-native adaptation, the Phrase Error Rate (PER) of MESRS for English utterances was reduced by 24.47% relatively compared to the baseline monolingual English system while the PER on Mandarin utterances was comparable to that of the baseline monolingual Mandarin system. The performance for bilingual utterances achieved 22.37% relative PER reduction.

  15. Intergenerational Telecollaboration: What Risks for What Rewards?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Erica

    2016-01-01

    Foreign language telecollaboration pairs learners so that they may improve their language and intercultural skills. A lesser known model, intergenerational telecollaboration, uses senior citizens as native language partners instead of peers. This paper presents the results of an intergenerational videoconferencing project between learners in…

  16. La lengua y la identidad (Language and Identity).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blanco Lazaro, Enrique T.

    1980-01-01

    Discusses the links among native language, personal identity and ethnicity. Sees language as the carrier of all the values and qualities that distinguish an individual and a people, as the prime repository of a culture, and the foundation of its institution. (MES)

  17. Native Language Immersion.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reyhner, Jon

    This paper describes the benefits of indigenous mother tongue immersion programs, examining the Total Physical Response approach to immersion for beginning learners and focusing on the development of Maori and Hawaiian mother tongue language immersion programs. The paper discusses the importance of immersing students in a language-risk…

  18. Tuning in and tuning out: Speech perception in native- and foreign-talker babble

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Heukelem, Kristin; Bradlow, Ann R.

    2005-09-01

    Studies on speech perception in multitalker babble have revealed asymmetries in the effects of noise on native versus foreign-accented speech intelligibility for native listeners [Rogers et al., Lang Speech 47(2), 139-154 (2004)] and on sentence-in-noise perception by native versus non-native listeners [Mayo et al., J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res., 40, 686-693 (1997)], suggesting that the linguistic backgrounds of talkers and listeners contribute to the effects of noise on speech perception. However, little attention has been paid to the language of the babble. This study tested whether the language of the noise also has asymmetrical effects on listeners. Replicating previous findings [e.g., Bronkhorst and Plomp, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 92, 3132-3139 (1992)], the results showed poorer English sentence recognition by native English listeners in six-talker babble than in two-talker babble regardless of the language of the babble, demonstrating the effect of increased psychoacoustic/energetic masking. In addition, the results showed that in the two-talker babble condition, native English listeners were more adversely affected by English than Chinese babble. These findings demonstrate informational/cognitive masking on sentence-in-noise recognition in the form of linguistic competition. Whether this competition is at the lexical or sublexical level and whether it is modulated by the phonetic similarity between the target and noise languages remains to be determined.

  19. The Acquisition of English Focus Marking by Non-Native Speakers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baker, Rachel Elizabeth

    This dissertation examines Mandarin and Korean speakers' acquisition of English focus marking, which is realized by accenting particular words within a focused constituent. It is important for non-native speakers to learn how accent placement relates to focus in English because appropriate accent placement and realization makes a learner's English more native-like and easier to understand. Such knowledge may also improve their English comprehension skills. In this study, 20 native English speakers, 20 native Mandarin speakers, and 20 native Korean speakers participated in four experiments: (1) a production experiment, in which they were recorded reading the answers to questions, (2) a perception experiment, in which they were asked to determine which word in a recording was the last prominent word, (3) an understanding experiment, in which they were asked whether the answers in recorded question-answer pairs had context-appropriate prosody, and (4) an accent placement experiment, in which they were asked which word they would make prominent in a particular context. Finally, a new group of native English speakers listened to utterances produced in the production experiment, and determined whether the prosody of each utterance was appropriate for its context. The results of the five experiments support a novel predictive model for second language prosodic focus marking acquisition. This model holds that both transfer of linguistic features from a learner's native language (L1) and features of their second language (L2) affect learners' acquisition of prosodic focus marking. As a result, the model includes two complementary components: the Transfer Component and the L2 Challenge Component. The Transfer Component predicts that prosodic structures in the L2 will be more easily acquired by language learners that have similar structures in their L1 than those who do not, even if there are differences between the L1 and L2 in how the structures are realized. The L2 Challenge Component predicts that for difficult tasks, language learners will rely on widely-applied prosodic patterns, making them more successful at prosodically marking broad focus than narrow focus. However, for easy tasks, language learners will more successfully mark information structures that have a more direct relationship between focus and accent placement.

  20. When Bilinguals Choose a Single Word to Speak: Electrophysiological Evidence for Inhibition of the Native Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Misra, Maya; Guo, Taomei; Bobb, Susan C.; Kroll, Judith F.

    2012-01-01

    Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures are reported for a study in which relatively proficient Chinese-English bilinguals named identical pictures in each of their two languages. Production occurred only in Chinese (the first language, L1) or only in English (the second language, L2) in a given block with the order counterbalanced…

  1. Staying in the Middle: Latinos/as as Negotiators of Their Social, Cultural, and Linguistic Capital

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alvarado, Nora V.

    2013-01-01

    This study examines the educational and societal experiences that lead students to maintain or lose their heritage language to see how these experiences affect the language choices that young Latino/a adults are making after high school. Examining the experiences that lead language learners to lose or maintain their native language is important…

  2. Do Bilinguals Automatically Activate Their Native Language When They Are Not Using It?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Costa, Albert; Pannunzi, Mario; Deco, Gustavo; Pickering, Martin J.

    2017-01-01

    Most models of lexical access assume that bilingual speakers activate their two languages even when they are in a context in which only one language is used. A critical piece of evidence used to support this notion is the observation that a given word automatically activates its translation equivalent in the other language. Here, we argue that…

  3. Sign Language: An Effective Strategy to Reduce the Gap between English Language Learners Native Language and English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nicholson, Sheryl; Graves, Emily

    2010-01-01

    Linguistic diversity provides even greater challenges for our educational system. English Language Learners (ELLs) are a diverse population of students who are learning English in school. They come from numerous cultural and economic backgrounds, and live throughout the country. The task of the classroom teacher is to find a way to reach these…

  4. Applied Linguistics: A Survey for Language Teachers. Collier MacMillan Teacher's Library.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kehoe, Monika, Ed.

    This book, written for those who have no formal training in linguistics but who have an interest in language or language teaching, is meant as a practical text for use in introductory courses in Applied Linguistics. Its emphasis is on second language teaching, but it is also of interest to those who teach native speakers because it covers the…

  5. Documents Non Didactiques et Formation en Langues (Non-Didactic Documents and Language Training). Melanges Pedagogiques, 1972.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duda, R.; And Others

    In second language learning, it is often the case that a discrepancy exists between the language of the pedagogical materials and that of the media or of the native speaker. This article discusses the advantages and problems involved in using authentic, non-didactic materials in post-introductory second language instruction, as found in an…

  6. Communication and Gamification in the Web-Based Foreign Language Educational System: Web- Based Foreign Language Educational System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osipov, Ilya V.; Volinsky, Alex A.; Nikulchev, Evgeny; Prasikova, Anna Y.

    2016-01-01

    The paper describes development of the educational online web communication platform for teaching and learning foreign languages. The main objective was to develop a web application for teaching foreigners to understand casual fluent speech. The system is based on the time bank principle, allowing users to teach others their native language along…

  7. Which Language for Teaching? The Cultural Messages Transmitted by the Languages Used in Education. Contribution of Education to Cultural Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gfeller, Elisabeth; Robinson, Clinton

    African schools rarely present instruction in the students' native languages. The language of instruction tends to be of European origin. What results is a civilized elite which is unsuccessful in bringing knowledge to the vast majority of the population. A project in Cameroon proposes to teach through extensive trilingualism. First, children…

  8. Adaptation of a Vocabulary Test from British Sign Language to American Sign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mann, Wolfgang; Roy, Penny; Morgan, Gary

    2016-01-01

    This study describes the adaptation process of a vocabulary knowledge test for British Sign Language (BSL) into American Sign Language (ASL) and presents results from the first round of pilot testing with 20 deaf native ASL signers. The web-based test assesses the strength of deaf children's vocabulary knowledge by means of different mappings of…

  9. The Use of Foreign Languages in International Banking: A Further Look.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uber, David M.

    Interviews with ten officers in the lending centers of two Dallas, Texas banks concerning their possession of and need for second language skills on the job revealed that all but one had second language training and three were nonnatives. Five of the native-born Americans had lived abroad and/or studied languages in college. Two of the officers…

  10. Non-Native Speakers Reach Higher Ground: A Study of Reciprocal Teaching's Effects on English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Armbrister, Ana Leonor

    2010-01-01

    English Language Learners are an ever-growing population in public school systems today. Consequently, the policies and procedures that schools are required to adhere to are not limited to language minority students. In order for teachers to meet the needs of English Language Learning students, they need to address their student's whole…

  11. Examining the Role of Time and Language Type in Reading Development for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Betts, Joseph; Bolt, Sara; Decker, Dawn; Muyskens, Paul; Marston, Doug

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the development of English reading achievement among English Language Learners (ELLs) and to determine whether the time that an ELL's family was in the United States and the type of native language spoken affected their reading development. Participants were 300 third-grade ELLs from two different native…

  12. Native Language Effects on Spelling in English as a Foreign Language: A Time-Course Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dich, Nadya; Pedersen, Bo

    2013-01-01

    The study explores first language (L1) influences on the mechanisms of spelling in English as a foreign language (EFL). We hypothesized that the transparency of L1 orthography influences (a) the amount of hesitation associated with spelling irregular English words, and (b) the size of units EFL spellers operate. Participants were adult speakers of…

  13. Bilingual Language Arts Survival Training: Project BLAST, 1987-88. OREA Evaluation Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.; Alvarez, Rosalyn

    Project Bilingual Language Arts Survival Training (BLAST) served 254 Spanish-speaking 9th- through 12th-graders at Walton High School in the Bronx in its fifth year of funding. The program's aim was to supplement the school's bilingual program by providing instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), native language arts (NLA) and culture,…

  14. Language Proficiency in Native and Nonnative Speakers: An Agenda for Research and Suggestions for Second-Language Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hulstijn, Jan H.

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses the question of what language proficiency (LP) is, both theoretically and empirically. It does so by making a distinction, on one hand, between "basic" and "higher language cognition" and, on the other hand, between "core" and "peripheral components" of LP. The article furthermore critically examines the notion of "level" in…

  15. The Neural Correlates of Highly Iconic Structures and Topographic Discourse in French Sign Language as Observed in Six Hearing Native Signers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Courtin, C.; Herve, P. -Y.; Petit, L.; Zago, L.; Vigneau, M.; Beaucousin, V.; Jobard, G.; Mazoyer, B.; Mellet, E.; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N.

    2010-01-01

    "Highly iconic" structures in Sign Language enable a narrator to act, switch characters, describe objects, or report actions in four-dimensions. This group of linguistic structures has no real spoken-language equivalent. Topographical descriptions are also achieved in a sign-language specific manner via the use of signing-space and…

  16. Neo-Liberalism, Globalization, Language Policy and Practice Issues in the Asia-Pacific Region

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Majhanovich, Suzanne

    2014-01-01

    By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the English language had become the de facto "lingua franca" of the modern world. It is the most popular second or foreign language studied, such that now there are more people who have learned English as a second language and speak it with some competence than there are native English…

  17. Second Language Processing: When Are First and Second Languages Processed Similarly?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sabourin, Laura; Stowe, Laurie A.

    2008-01-01

    In this article we investigate the effects of first language (L1) on second language (L2) neural processing for two grammatical constructions (verbal domain dependency and grammatical gender), focusing on the event-related potential P600 effect, which has been found in both L1 and L2 processing. Native Dutch speakers showed a P600 effect for both…

  18. The Effects of a Communicative Approach on the Mathematical Problem Solving Proficiency of Language Minority Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaplan, Rochelle G.; Patino, Rodrigo A.

    Although it takes only 2 years to attain conversational competence in a second language, it takes up to 7 years to realize sufficient language competence to achieve academically at the level of native speakers. Specific adaptations in instructional methods in mathematics for language minority students should include techniques from English as a…

  19. Processing of Tense Morphology and Filler-Gap Dependencies by Chinese Second Language Speakers of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dong, Zhiyin Renee

    2014-01-01

    There is an ongoing debate in the field of Second Language Acquisition concerning whether a fundamental difference exists between the native language (L1) and adult second language (L2) online processing of syntax and morpho-syntax. The Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) (Clahsen and Felser, 2006a, b) states that L2 online parsing is qualitatively…

  20. A Report on the Development of Negation in English by a Second Language Learner--Some Implications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milon, Jack

    The question asked in this paper is whether children below the age of puberty who acquire a second language within the cultural context of that language acquire it in anything resembling the same developmental order that native speakers of the language acquire it. A seven-year-old Japanese boy's development in English negation structure provides…

  1. Implementing Two-Way Dual-Language Immersion Programs: Classroom Insights from an Urban District. Research Brief. RB-9921

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Jennifer J.; Steele, Jennifer L.; Slater, Robert; Bacon, Michael; Miller, Trey

    2016-01-01

    Dual-language immersion programs--in which students learn core subjects (language arts, math, science, and social studies) in both English and a "partner" language--have been gaining in popularity across the United States. Such programs may use a "two-way model," in which roughly half the students are native speakers of the…

  2. Investigating Digital Native Female Learners' Attitudes towards Paperless Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grigoryan, Tsoghik

    2018-01-01

    This study is an investigation of paperless language learning in the context of the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of this study was to examine Emirati level 1 English language learners' attitudes towards the iPad use as a means of language learning. It was done through a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, wholly composed of fixed-choice…

  3. Neural strategies for reading Japanese and Chinese sentences: a cross-linguistic fMRI study of character-decoding and morphosyntax.

    PubMed

    Huang, Koongliang; Itoh, Kosuke; Kwee, Ingrid L; Nakada, Tsutomu

    2012-09-01

    Japanese and Chinese share virtually identical morphographic characters invented in ancient China. Whereas modern Chinese retained the original morphographic functionality of these characters (hanzi), modern Japanese utilizes these characters (kanji) as complex syllabograms. This divergence provides a unique opportunity to systematically investigate brain strategies for sentence reading in Japanese-Chinese bi-literates. Accordingly, we investigated brain activation associated with Japanese and Chinese reading in 14 native Japanese speakers literate in Mandarin and 14 native Mandarin speakers literate in Japanese using functional magnetic resonance imaging performed on a 3T system. The activation pattern exhibited clearly distinct features specific for each language. Regardless of the subject's native language literacy, Chinese reading activated an area significantly larger than Japanese reading, suggesting that brain processes involved in Chinese reading were much more complex than Japanese reading. Significant recruitment of corresponding cortical areas in the right hemisphere with Chinese reading was also apparent. The activation patterns associated with Japanese reading by native Japanese literates was highly consistent with previous reports, and included the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left posterior temporal lobe (PTL), and left ventral premotor cortex (PMv). The activation pattern associated with Chinese reading by native Chinese literates was also highly consistent with previous reports, namely the left IFG, left PTL, left PMv, left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), and bilateral parieto occipital lobes (LPOL). The activation pattern associated with Chinese reading by native Japanese literates was virtually identical to that by native Chinese literates, whereas the activation pattern associated with Japanese reading by native Chinese literates was signified by additional activation of LPOL compared to that by native Japanese literate. The study indicated that IFG and PTL are universal language areas, while PMv is the area for decoding complex syllabograms. LPOL is the "Chinese language area," while ATL is essential for languages with analytic morphosyntax. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Malaysian University Students' Attitudes towards Six Varieties of Accented Speech in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahmed, Zainab Thamer; Abdullah, Ain Nadzimah; Heng, Chan Swee

    2014-01-01

    Previous language attitude studies indicated that in many countries all over the world, English language learners perceived native accents, either American or British, more positively than the non-native accents such as the Japanese, Korean, and Austrian accents. However, in Malaysia it is still unclear which accent Malaysian learners of English…

  5. Native Chinese-Speaking K-12 Language Teachers' Beliefs and Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lü, Chan; Lavadenz, Magaly

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the relationships between the beliefs and practices of K-12 native Chinese teachers on Chinese language and literacy instruction. Using a descriptive-exploratory design, this study employed a mixed-methods approach consisting of three steps: (1) a teacher beliefs questionnaire, (2) classroom observations and videotaping,…

  6. Liberia: Country Status Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robson, Barbara

    A survey of the status of language usage in Liberia begins with an overview of the distribution of the 16 languages and dialects spoken natively there that are recognized by the government. These include, in order of number of native speakers: Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Mano, Lorma, Krahn, Gola, Mandingo, Kissi, Vai, English, Gbandi, Mende, Belle,…

  7. Methodologies of Bilingual Instruction in Literacy Education. Project MOBILE, 1987-1988. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.; Plotkin, Donna

    The Methodologies of Bilingual Instruction in Literacy Education (MOBILE) project served 359 native Spanish- and Haitian Creole/French-speaking students at 2 high schools in its first year of funding. The project provided supplementary instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), native language arts (NLA), and bilingual mathematics,…

  8. Language-Specificity in the Perception of Paralinguistic Intonational Meaning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Aoju; Gussenhoven, Carlos; Rietveld, Toni

    2004-01-01

    This study examines the perception of paralinguistic intonational meanings deriving from Ohala's Frequency Code (Experiment 1) and Gussenhoven's Effort Code (Experiment 2) in British English and Dutch. Native speakers of British English and Dutch listened to a number of stimuli in their native language and judged each stimulus on four semantic…

  9. Songs as Ambient Language Input in Phonology Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Au, Terry Kit-fong

    2013-01-01

    Children cannot learn to speak a language simply from occasional noninteractive exposure to native speakers' input (e.g., by hearing television dialogues), but can they learn something about its phonology? To answer this question, the present study varied ambient hearing experience for 126 5- to 7-year-old native Cantonese-Chinese speakers…

  10. Teaching Low-Level Adult ESL Learners. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holt, Grace Massey

    In recent years, the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching profession has made discoveries about teaching beginning or low-level adult learners (those with little or no schooling in their native languages, learners who may not be familiar with the Roman alphabet, those with learning disabilities, and those literate in their native languages…

  11. 3D Talking-Head Mobile App: A Conceptual Framework for English Pronunciation Learning among Non-Native Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ali, Ahmad Zamzuri Mohamad; Segaran, Kogilathah

    2013-01-01

    One of the critical issues pertaining learning English as second language successfully is pronunciation, which consequently contributes to learners' poor communicative power. This situation is moreover crucial among non-native speakers. Therefore, various initiatives have been taken in order to promote effective language learning, which includes…

  12. Agreement Mechanisms in Native and Nonnative Language Processing: Electrophysiological Correlates of Complexity and Interference

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tanner, Darren

    2011-01-01

    This dissertation investigates the neural and behavioral correlates of grammatical agreement computation during language comprehension in native English speakers and highly advanced L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals. In a series of electrophysiological (event-related brain potential (ERP)) and behavioral (acceptability judgment and self-paced…

  13. A Cross-Language Study of Perception of Lexical Stress in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yu, Vickie Y.; Andruski, Jean E.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigates the question of whether language background affects the perception of lexical stress in English. Thirty native English speakers and 30 native Chinese learners of English participated in a stressed-syllable identification task and a discrimination task involving three types of stimuli (real words/pseudowords/hums). The…

  14. Acoustic Cues to Perception of Word Stress by English, Mandarin, and Russian Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chrabaszcz, Anna; Winn, Matthew; Lin, Candise Y.; Idsardi, William J.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated how listeners' native language affects their weighting of acoustic cues (such as vowel quality, pitch, duration, and intensity) in the perception of contrastive word stress. Method: Native speakers (N = 45) of typologically diverse languages (English, Russian, and Mandarin) performed a stress identification…

  15. Development of Hemispheric Specialization for Lexical Pitch-Accent in Japanese Infants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sato, Yutaka; Sogabe, Yuko; Mazuka, Reiko

    2010-01-01

    Infants' speech perception abilities change through the first year of life, from broad sensitivity to a wide range of speech contrasts to becoming more finely attuned to their native language. What remains unclear, however, is how this perceptual change relates to brain responses to native language contrasts in terms of the functional…

  16. Methodologies of Bilingual Instruction in Literacy Education. Project Mobile, 1988-89. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.; Plotkin, Donna

    In its second year, Methodologies of Bilingual Instruction in Literacy Education (Project MOBILE) provided 373 students of limited English proficiency, native speakers of Spanish and Haitian Creole, with supplementary English as a Second Language (ESL), native language arts (NLA), and content-area instruction. Project MOBILE stressed the…

  17. Computer-Assisted Bilingual/Bicultural Multiskills Project, 1987-1988. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berney, Tomi D.; Carey, Cecilia

    The Computer-Assisted Bilingual/Bicultural Multiskills Project completed its first year of an extension grant. The program used computerized and non-computerized instruction to help 109 native speakers of Haitian Creole/French and Spanish, most of whom were recent immigrants, develop English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) native language, and content…

  18. Aids to English Language Teaching: Information Guide No. 4.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    British Council, London (England). English-Teaching Information Centre.

    This is an annotated guide to English language instructional materials useful for both native and non-native speakers of English at primary and secondary levels. Materials relate to and are available in Great Britain; prices and addresses of publishers and suppliers are included. The sections cover: (1) Visual aids specifically designed for…

  19. Culture and Language Learning: Middle Eastern Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Magrath, Douglas

    Middle Eastern students face cultural conflicts in adapting to the western value system. While feeling obligated to maintain their native culture they also need to feel comfortable with the culture of their target language. In attempting to identify with a new group, ESL students may sense a loss of membership in their native group. Culture stress…

  20. The Story of the Hawaiian Studies Center on the Brigham Young University-Hawaii Campus.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benham, Maenette K. P.

    2002-01-01

    With an advisory committee of native community members, elders, educators, and students, the Center for Hawaiian Language and Cultural Studies has successfully founded, within a mainstream institution with strong religious foundations, a cultural center that teaches native values and language. The center creates cultural/educational projects that…

  1. From Language Learner to Language Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snow, Don

    2007-01-01

    Today, there are about four nonnative-speaking English teachers for every teacher who is a native speaker. More English teachers work in non-English-speaking settings than in English-speaking settings, and most are natives of the countries in which they teach. This volume focuses on the challenges faced by English teachers for whom English is a…

  2. A Qualitative Report on the Perceived Awareness of Pronunciation Instruction: Increasing Needs and Expectations of Prospective EFL Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hismanoglu, Murat; Hismanoglu, Sibel

    2013-01-01

    English has become an international language used for international and intercultural communication among non-native speakers of English which outnumbered monolingual native speakers Crystal (English as a global language, Cambridge: CUP 1997). With an advanced understanding of communicative competence Hymes ("Sociolinguistics,"…

  3. 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,…

  4. Preference for language in early infancy: the human language bias is not speech specific.

    PubMed

    Krentz, Ursula C; Corina, David P

    2008-01-01

    Fundamental to infants' acquisition of their native language is an inherent interest in the language spoken around them over non-linguistic environmental sounds. The following studies explored whether the bias for linguistic signals in hearing infants is specific to speech, or reflects a general bias for all human language, spoken and signed. Results indicate that 6-month-old infants prefer an unfamiliar, visual-gestural language (American Sign Language) over non-linguistic pantomime, but 10-month-olds do not. These data provide evidence against a speech-specific bias in early infancy and provide insights into those properties of human languages that may underlie this language-general attentional bias.

  5. Brain responses in 4-month-old infants are already language specific.

    PubMed

    Friederici, Angela D; Friedrich, Manuela; Christophe, Anne

    2007-07-17

    Language is the most important faculty that distinguishes humans from other animals. Infants learn their native language fast and effortlessly during the first years of life, as a function of the linguistic input in their environment. Behavioral studies reported the discrimination of melodic contours [1] and stress patterns [2, 3] in 1-4-month-olds. Behavioral [4, 5] and brain measures [6-8] have shown language-independent discrimination of phonetic contrasts at that age. Language-specific discrimination, however, has been reported for phonetic contrasts only for 6-12-month-olds [9-12]. Here we demonstrate language-specific discrimination of stress patterns in 4-month-old German and French infants by using electrophysiological brain measures. We compare the processing of disyllabic words differing in their rhythmic structure, mimicking German words being stressed on the first syllable, e.g., pápa/daddy[13], and French ones being stressed on the second syllable, e.g., papá/daddy. Event-related brain potentials reveal that experience with German and French differentially affects the brain responses of 4-month-old infants, with each language group displaying a processing advantage for the rhythmic structure typical in its native language. These data indicate language-specific neural representations of word forms in the infant brain as early as 4 months of age.

  6. Form-Focused Interaction in Online Tandem Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Rourke, Breffni

    2005-01-01

    Tandem language learning--a configuration involving pairs of learners with complementary target/native languages--is an underexploited but potentially very powerful use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in second-language pedagogy. Tandem offers the benefits of authentic, culturally grounded interaction, while also promoting a pedagogical…

  7. Listening Skill Development through Massive Comprehensible Input.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalivoda, Theodore B.

    Foreign language listening comprehension instruction too often relies on brief selections read aloud or sporadic teacher talk interspersed with native language (NL) utterances, which fail to provide sustained listening practice. NL is overused for grammar-related talk, reducing target language exposure, encouraging translation, and hindering…

  8. Does language matter? A case study of epidemiological and public health journals, databases and professional education in French, German and Italian

    PubMed Central

    Baussano, Iacopo; Brzoska, Patrick; Fedeli, Ugo; Larouche, Claudia; Razum, Oliver; Fung, Isaac C-H

    2008-01-01

    Epidemiology and public health are usually context-specific. Journals published in different languages and countries play a role both as sources of data and as channels through which evidence is incorporated into local public health practice. Databases in these languages facilitate access to relevant journals, and professional education in these languages facilitates the growth of native expertise in epidemiology and public health. However, as English has become the lingua franca of scientific communication in the era of globalisation, many journals published in non-English languages face the difficult dilemma of either switching to English and competing internationally, or sticking to the native tongue and having a restricted circulation among a local readership. This paper discusses the historical development of epidemiology and the current scene of epidemiological and public health journals, databases and professional education in three Western European languages: French, German and Italian, and examines the dynamics and struggles they have today. PMID:18826570

  9. Fundamental Movement Skills of Children Living in England: The Role of Ethnicity and Native English Language.

    PubMed

    Eyre, Emma L J; Walker, Leanne Jaye; Duncan, Michael J

    2018-02-01

    The development of fundamental movement skills (FMS) has been associated with children's general health, and, while there is evidence to suggest that age, gender, physical activity, and socioeconomic status relate to FMS, the relationship of ethnicity and language barriers to FMS competence has been underexplored. These factors may be of particular interest for South Asian (SA) children who have lower physical activity and increased risk of metabolic disease. This cross-sectional study examined ethnic and language differences in FMS among 218 ethnically diverse five-year-old children (61 White ethnic background, 91 SA, 29 Black ethnic background, and 37 other), some with English as a native language ( n = 90) and some with English as an additional language ( n = 75), all recruited from within central England. Each child was assessed performing five locomotor skills (run, gallop, hop, leap, and jump) and six object skills (catch, kick, bounce, strike, underarm roll, and overarm throw) on the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 . A 2 (gender) × 4 (ethnicity) factor analysis of covariance assessed differences in the locomotor and object composite scores and total FMS score, while controlling for body mass index. A two-factor analysis of covariance assessed native language differences in their impact on FMS. We found ethnic and gender differences in FMS ( p < .05) in that SA children had poorer total FMS and locomotor scores than children of either White or Black ethnic backgrounds ( p = .004, p = .001, and p = .008, p = .002, respectively). Girls had poorer total ( p = .001) and locomotor FMS skills ( p < .001). Children with English as an additional language had similar FMS scores compared to children whose native language was English ( p > .05). The findings of low FMS competency in SA children and girls, irrespective of body mass index, suggest that developmentally appropriate interventions targeting SA children and girls are needed in early years. We discuss some unclear factors related to these differences.

  10. Collection of Data on Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Nativity by US Public Health Surveillance and Monitoring Systems: Gaps and Opportunities.

    PubMed

    Rodriguez-Lainz, Alfonso; McDonald, Mariana; Fonseca-Ford, Maureen; Penman-Aguilar, Ana; Waterman, Stephen H; Truman, Benedict I; Cetron, Martin S; Richards, Chesley L

    Despite increasing diversity in the US population, substantial gaps in collecting data on race, ethnicity, primary language, and nativity indicators persist in public health surveillance and monitoring systems. In addition, few systems provide questionnaires in foreign languages for inclusion of non-English speakers. We assessed (1) the extent of data collected on race, ethnicity, primary language, and nativity indicators (ie, place of birth, immigration status, and years in the United States) and (2) the use of data-collection instruments in non-English languages among Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-supported public health surveillance and monitoring systems in the United States. We identified CDC-supported surveillance and health monitoring systems in place from 2010 through 2013 by searching CDC websites and other federal websites. For each system, we assessed its website, documentation, and publications for evidence of the variables of interest and use of data-collection instruments in non-English languages. We requested missing information from CDC program officials, as needed. Of 125 data systems, 100 (80%) collected data on race and ethnicity, 2 more collected data on ethnicity but not race, 26 (21%) collected data on racial/ethnic subcategories, 40 (32%) collected data on place of birth, 21 (17%) collected data on years in the United States, 14 (11%) collected data on immigration status, 13 (10%) collected data on primary language, and 29 (23%) used non-English data-collection instruments. Population-based surveys and disease registries more often collected data on detailed variables than did case-based, administrative, and multiple-source systems. More complete and accurate data on race, ethnicity, primary language, and nativity can improve the quality, representativeness, and usefulness of public health surveillance and monitoring systems to plan and evaluate targeted public health interventions to eliminate health disparities.

  11. Cross-language Babel structs—making scientific interfaces more efficient

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prantl, Adrian; Ebner, Dietmar; Epperly, Thomas G. W.

    2013-01-01

    Babel is an open-source language interoperability framework tailored to the needs of high-performance scientific computing. As an integral element of the Common Component Architecture, it is employed in a wide range of scientific applications where it is used to connect components written in different programming languages. In this paper we describe how we extended Babel to support interoperable tuple data types (structs). Structs are a common idiom in (mono-lingual) scientific application programming interfaces (APIs); they are an efficient way to pass tuples of nonuniform data between functions, and are supported natively by most programming languages. Using our extended version of Babel, developers of scientific codes can now pass structs as arguments between functions implemented in any of the supported languages. In C, C++, Fortran 2003/2008 and Chapel, structs can be passed without the overhead of data marshaling or copying, providing language interoperability at minimal cost. Other supported languages are Fortran 77, Fortran 90/95, Java and Python. We will show how we designed a struct implementation that is interoperable with all of the supported languages and present benchmark data to compare the performance of all language bindings, highlighting the differences between languages that offer native struct support and an object-oriented interface with getter/setter methods. A case study shows how structs can help simplify the interfaces of scientific codes significantly.

  12. Lingua Franca English, Multilingual Communities, and Language Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canagarajah, Suresh

    2007-01-01

    Firth and Wagner (1997) questioned the dichotomies nonnative versus native speaker, learner versus user, and interlanguage versus target language, which reflect a bias toward innateness, cognition, and form in language acquisition. Research on lingua franca English (LFE) not only affirms this questioning, but reveals what multilingual communities…

  13. Fossilization and Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sims, William R.

    1989-01-01

    In interlanguage, the transitional state reaching from one's native language to a given target language, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, sociocultural, or psycholinguistic errors may be generated and systematized by the process of fossilization. Depending on the amount of time needed for remediation, fossilized features may be…

  14. Phonetic Processing When Learning Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Havy, Mélanie; Bouchon, Camillia; Nazzi, Thierry

    2016-01-01

    Infants have remarkable abilities to learn several languages. However, phonological acquisition in bilingual infants appears to vary depending on the phonetic similarities or differences of their two native languages. Many studies suggest that learning contrasts with different realizations in the two languages (e.g., the /p/, /t/, /k/ stops have…

  15. Sociolinguistic Typology and Sign Languages

    PubMed Central

    Schembri, Adam; Fenlon, Jordan; Cormier, Kearsy; Johnston, Trevor

    2018-01-01

    This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphological ‘complexity’ and how this contributes to linguistic diversity, specifically via the typological nature of the sign languages of deaf communities. We sketch how the notion of morphological complexity, as defined by Trudgill (2011), applies to sign languages. Using these criteria, sign languages appear to be languages with low to moderate levels of morphological complexity. This may partly reflect the influence of key social characteristics of communities on the typological nature of languages. Although many deaf communities are relatively small and may involve dense social networks (both social characteristics that Trudgill claimed may lend themselves to morphological ‘complexification’), the picture is complicated by the highly variable nature of the sign language acquisition for most deaf people, and the ongoing contact between native signers, hearing non-native signers, and those deaf individuals who only acquire sign languages in later childhood and early adulthood. These are all factors that may work against the emergence of morphological complexification. The relationship between linguistic typology and these key social factors may lead to a better understanding of the nature of sign language grammar. This perspective stands in contrast to other work where sign languages are sometimes presented as having complex morphology despite being young languages (e.g., Aronoff et al., 2005); in some descriptions, the social determinants of morphological complexity have not received much attention, nor has the notion of complexity itself been specifically explored. PMID:29515506

  16. Shaving Bridges and Tuning Kitaraa: The Effect of Language Switching on Semantic Processing

    PubMed Central

    Hut, Suzanne C. A.; Leminen, Alina

    2017-01-01

    Language switching has been repeatedly found to be costly. Yet, there are reasons to believe that switches in language might benefit language comprehension in some groups of people, such as less proficient language learners. This study therefore investigated the interplay between language switching and semantic processing in groups with varying language proficiency. EEG was recorded while L2 learners of English with intermediate and high proficiency levels read semantically congruent or incongruent sentences in L2. Translations of congruent and incongruent target words were additionally presented in L1 to create intrasentential language switches. A control group of English native speakers was tested in order to compare responses to non-switched stimuli with those of L2 learners. An omnibus ANOVA including all groups revealed larger N400 responses for non-switched incongruent stimuli compared to congruent stimuli. Additionally, despite switches to L1 at target word position, semantic N400 responses were still elicited in both L2 learner groups. Further switching effects were reflected by an N400-like effect and a late positivity complex, pointing to possible parsing efforts after language switches. Our results therefore show that although language switches are associated with increased mental effort, switches may not necessarily be costly on the semantic level. This finding contributes to the ongoing discussion on language inhibition processes, and shows that, in these intermediate and high proficient L2 learners, semantic processes look similar to those of native speakers of English. PMID:28900402

  17. Les competences langagieres des etudiants-maitres en francais langue seconde au Canada (Linguistic Competence of Student Teachers of French as a Second Language in Canada).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boutin, France; Chinien, Christian; Boutin, Jean-Luc

    A survey of 23 Canadian schools of education investigated the French language competence of student enrolled in core and immersion French language teacher programs. The questionnaire developed for the study inquired about the native language of the students, methods used to sensitize non-francophone students to francophone culture, and strategies…

  18. The Teaching of Pragmatics by Native and Nonnative Language Teachers: What They Know and What They Report Doing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cohen, Andrew D.

    2016-01-01

    The paper focuses on how nonnative teachers of a target language (NNTs) deal with pragmatics in their classes. It starts with a discussion of what pragmatics entails. Next, issues relating to the teaching of pragmatics are identified, such as the language background of the teacher, comparisons between second- (L2) and foreign-language (FL)…

  19. From Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to Mobile Assisted Language Use (MALU)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarvis, Huw; Achilleos, Marianna

    2013-01-01

    This article begins by critiquing the long-established acronym CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). We then go on to report on a small-scale study which examines how student non-native speakers of English use a range of digital devices beyond the classroom in both their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. We look also at the extent to…

  20. Issues in L2: Theory as Practice/Practice as Theory. Proceedings of the Delaware Symposium on Language Studies (7th, Newark, Delaware, October 1985).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Labarca, Angela, Ed.; Bailey, Leslie M., Ed.

    Papers from the symposium on applied linguistics include: "Roles in the Foreign Language Classroom" (Robert J. DiPietro); "The Importance of Native Language in Light of Second-Language Studies" (Alexander Z. Guiora); "A Model of L2 Text Reconstruction: The Recall of Literary Text by Learners of German" (Elizabeth B.…

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