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Language Acquisition (language + acquisition)
Kinds of Language Acquisition Terms modified by Language Acquisition Selected AbstractsExplicit Input Enhancement: Effects on Target and Non-Target Aspects of Second Language AcquisitionFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 4 2006Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Carolyn Gascoigne Many recent studies have examined the effectiveness of various types of input enhancement. The following study expands this line of inquivy to include tech nological applications of language learning by comparing the effectiveness of the com puter application of diacritics to a traditional pen-and-paper process among beginning students of French and Spanish. In addition to studying the effect of computer-mediated input enhancement on the recall of accents, this study also questions the incidental effects of input enhancement on non-target aspects of the second language acquisition (SLA) process. Results support the effectiveness of explicit and computer-mediated input enhancement. [source] Second Language Acquisition of Gender Agreement in Explicit and Implicit Training Conditions: An Event-Related Potential StudyLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2010Kara Morgan-Short This study employed an artificial language learning paradigm together with a combined behavioral/event-related potential (ERP) approach to examine the neurocognition of the processing of gender agreement, an aspect of inflectional morphology that is problematic in adult second language (L2) learning. Subjects learned to speak and comprehend an artificial language under either explicit (classroomlike) or implicit (immersionlike) training conditions. In each group, both noun-article and noun-adjective gender agreement processing were examined behaviorally and with ERPs at both low and higher levels of proficiency. Results showed that the two groups learned the language to similar levels of proficiency but showed somewhat different ERP patterns. At low proficiency, both types of agreement violations (adjective, article) yielded N400s, but only for the group with implicit training. Additionally, noun-adjective agreement elicited a late N400 in the explicit group at low proficiency. At higher levels of proficiency, noun-adjective agreement violations elicited N400s for both the explicit and implicit groups, whereas noun-article agreement violations elicited P600s for both groups. The results suggest that interactions among linguistic structure, proficiency level, and type of training need to be considered when examining the development of aspects of inflectional morphology in L2 acquisition. [source] Processing Constraints, Categorial Analysis, and the Second Language Acquisition of the Chinese Adjective Suffix - de(ADJ)LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 3 2004Yanyin Zhang The study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of the adjective marker - de(ADJ) in Chinese. It explores the interaction between processing constraints as represented in processability theory (Pienemann, 1998) and the learner's categorial analysis of Chinese adjectives and stative verbs (which cross-categorize) in the acquisition process. An examination of 3 longitudinal L2 data sets revealed more stative verbs (Vstatives) than adjectives in the learners' L2 Chinese. Furthermore, there appeared to be a correlation between the number of adjectives in the L2 samples and the developmental schedule of - de(ADJ). The reasons for the findings were explored through the processing procedures required for the structures in which the adjective and the Vstative occur and the impact they had on learners' categorial analysis of adjectives and Vstatives in L2 Chinese. [source] Conversation Analysis, Applied Linguistics, and Second Language AcquisitionLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue S1 2004Paul Seedhouse First page of article [source] Exact Repetition as Input Enhancement in Second Language AcquisitionLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 3 2003Eva Dam Jensen This study reports on two experiments on input enhancement used to support learners' selection of focus of attention in second language listening material. Eighty-four upper intermediate learners of Spanish took part. The input consisted of video recordings of quasi-spontaneous dialogues between native speakers, in tests and treatment. Exact repetition and speech rate reduction were examined for their effect on comprehension, acquisition of decoding strategies, and linguistic features. Each of three groups listened to each utterance of the dialogue three times, in different speed combinations: fast-slow-fast, fast-slow-slow, fast-fast-fast, respectively. A fourth group served as a baseline and received no treatment. Comparisons of pretest and posttest scores showed significant effects for all three parameters. No difference with regard to effect could be established between treatment conditions. [source] Children Build on Pragmatic Information in Language AcquisitionLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010Eve V. Clark Pragmatic information is integral to language use for both adults and children. Children rely on contextually shared knowledge to communicate before they can talk: they make use of gesture to convey their first meanings and then add words to gestures. Like adults, they build on joint attention, physical copresence, and conversational copresence both as they acquire and as they use language. This can be seen in children's early communication, in their first inferences about word and utterance meanings, and in their ability to make use of appropriate contextual information as they learn how to interpret and produce terms like big or long compared to full, almost and only, and all and some. [source] Why All Counter-Evidence to the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition Is not Equal or ProblematicLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2008Jason Rothman That adult and child language acquisitions differ in route and outcome is observable. Notwithstanding, there is controversy as to what this observation means for the Critical Period Hypothesis' (CPH) application to adult second language acquisition (SLA). As most versions of the CPH applied to SLA claim that differences result from maturational effects on in-born linguistic mechanisms, the CPH has many implications that are amendable to empirical investigation. To date, there is no shortage of literature claiming that the CPH applies or does not apply to normal adult SLA. Herein, I provide an epistemological discussion on the conceptual usefulness of the CPH in SLA (cf. Singleton 2005) coupled with a review of Long's (2005) evaluation of much available relevant research. Crucially, I review studies that Long did not consider and conclude differently that there is no critical/sensitive period for L2 syntactic and semantic acquisition. [source] Language Acquisition and Language Change: Inter-relationshipsLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2007David Lightfoot Children acquire a mature language system and sometimes this system differs from that of their parents. This is a significant part of language change and understanding acquisition is key to understanding this kind of change in people's internal grammars. We outline an approach to language acquisition that is based on children finding cues and microcues expressed in the input they are exposed to. This enables us to understand historical change in grammars: change in external language sometimes triggers a new internal grammar as cues come to be expressed differently. We bring together work on language variation, acquisition, and change, show how these three areas are mutually dependent, and how empirical work in one area may enrich understanding more generally, opening the way to new kinds of empirical work. [source] Toward Mastering the Discourses of Reasoning: Use of Grammatical Metaphor at Advanced Levels of Foreign Language AcquisitionMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010MARIANNA RYSHINA, PANKOVA Situated within the framework of the systemic,functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994) and language-based theory of learning (Halliday, 1993), this article examines a shift toward a more objectified and "scientific" representation of reality in texts written by foreign language (FL) learners at various levels of acquisition. It argues that linguistic variation in style impacting communicative effectiveness of written texts created by learners representing different levels of FL acquisition can be partly captured by means of grammatical metaphor, as a phenomenon of,transcategorization, whereby processes (typically realized by verbs), attributes (typically realized by adjectives), or whole propositions (typically realized by sentences) are encoded as nouns. Based on a study conducted on 55 book reviews written by advanced American learners of German and 30 texts written by native speakers in the same genre, the article identifies various types of grammatical metaphors or approximations toward it as characteristic of various acquisition levels. It also demonstrates the role and functions of grammatical metaphor in enhancing the ability of writers to construct a logical argument or a persuasive evaluation. Comparisons to the use of grammatical metaphor in the texts produced by native writers of German show it to be a prominent feature of adult language use in literate and academic contexts, by native or nonnative language users. [source] Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition,edited by ROBINSON, PETER, & NICK C. ELLISMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009GRETCHEN SUNDERMAN No abstract is available for this article. [source] Input and Second Language Acquisition: The Roles of Frequency, Form, and Function Introduction to the Special IssueMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009NICK ELLIS The articles in this special issue explore how the acquisition of linguistic constructions as form,function mappings is affected by the distribution and saliency of forms in oral input, by their functional interpretations, and by the reliabilities of their form,function mappings. They consider the psycholinguistics of language learning following general cognitive principles of category learning, with schematic constructions emerging from usage. They analyze how learning is driven by the frequency and frequency distribution of exemplars within construction, the salience of their form, the significance of their functional interpretation, the match of their meaning to the construction prototype, and the reliability of their mappings. These investigations address a range of morphological and syntactic constructions in instructed, uninstructed, and laboratory settings. They include both experimental and corpus-based approaches (some conducted longitudinally) and consider the relationship between input and acquisition in the short term and over time, with a particular emphasis on spoken input directed to second and foreign language learners. [source] Ultimate Attainment in Second Language Acquisition: A Case Study by LARDIERE, DONNAMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008JASON ROTHMAN No abstract is available for this article. [source] Readings in Second Language Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition: In Japanese Context edited by YOSHITOMI, ASAKO, TAE UMINO, & NEGISHI MASASHIMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007ABBOTT, YOSHIKO SAITO No abstract is available for this article. [source] Alignment and Interaction in a Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language AcquisitionMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007DWIGHT ATKINSON This article argues for the crucial role of alignment in second language acquisition, as conceptualized from a broadly sociocognitive perspective. By alignment, we mean the complex processes through which human beings effect coordinated interaction, both with other human beings and (usually human-engineered) environments, situations, tools, and affordances. The article begins by summarizing what we mean by a sociocognitive approach to second language acquisition. We then develop the notion of alignment, first in terms of general learning/activity and next in relation to second language (L2) learning. Following that, we provide an extended example of alignment-in-action, focusing on the coordinated activities of a Japanese junior high school student and her tutor as they study English in their sociocognitively constructed world. Next, we speculate on possible uses of the alignment concept in L2 research and teaching, and finally we conclude by restating our claim,that alignment is a necessary and crucial requirement for L2 development. [source] Cultural Identification and Second Language Pronunciation of Americans in NorwayMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002Karen Lybeck Schumann's Acculturation Theory as presented in The Pidginization Process: A Model for Second Language Acquisition (1978) predicts that the degree of a learner's success in second language (L2) acquisition depends upon the learner's degree of acculturation. Attempts to test this theory have not been particularly fruitful due to the lack of an adequate measure of acculturation and the particular linguistic markers selected to measure success in L2 acquisition. This study proposes to measure sojourners' acculturation in terms of their social exchange networks (Milroy & Wei, 1995). It measures L2 success in terms of pronunciation, which in the view of many scholars (Guiora, Beit,Hallahmi, Brannon, Dull, & Scovel, 1972; Labov, 1972; Scovel, 1988) is the strongest linguistic marker of a speaker's cultural identification. Using this framework, the current study provides strong evidence in support of Schumann's Acculturation Theory. The acculturation experiences and L2 pronunciation of 9 American women residing in Norway are described and the relationship examined. It is concluded that learners who developed positive network connections with native speakers of Norwegian evidenced more native,like pronunciation than those who had greater difficulty establishing such relationships. [source] Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, and the Teaching of Foreign LanguagesMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2000Claire Kramsch Given the current popularity of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) as a research base for the teaching and learning of foreign languages in educational settings, it is appropriate to examine the relationship of SLA to other relevant areas of inquiry, such as Foreign Language Education, Foreign Language Methodology, and Applied Linguistics. This article makes the argument that Applied Linguistics, as the interdisciplinary field that mediates between the theory and the practice of language acquisition and use, is the overarching field that includes SLA and SLA-related domains of research. Applied Linguistics brings to all levels of foreign language study not only the research done in SLA proper, but also the research in Stylistics, Language Socialization, and Critical Applied Linguistics that illuminates the teaching of a foreign language as sociocultural practice, as historical practice, and as social semiotic practice. [source] Processes of Language Acquisition in Children With Autism: Evidence from Preferential LookingCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2007Lauren D. Swensen Two language acquisition processes (comprehension preceding production of word order, the noun bias) were examined in 2- and 3-year-old children (n=10) with autistic spectrum disorder and in typically developing 21-month-olds (n=13). Intermodal preferential looking was used to assess comprehension of subject,verb,object word order and the tendency to map novel words onto objects rather than actions. Spontaneous speech samples were also collected. Results demonstrated significant comprehension of word order in both groups well before production. Moreover, children in both groups consistently showed the noun bias. Comprehension preceding production and the noun bias appear to be robust processes of language acquisition, observable in both typical and language-impaired populations. [source] Integrative Motivation: Changes During a Year-Long Intermediate-Level Language CourseLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2004R. C. Gardner The socioeducational model of second Language acquisition postulates that Language learning is a dynamic process in which affective variable influence Language achievement and achievement and experiences in Language learning can influences some affective variables. Five classes of variable are emphasized: integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, Language anxiety, and instrumental orientation. The present study of a 1-year intermediate-level French course reveals that some affective characteristics are more amenable to change than others, and that patterns of change over time are moderated by achievement in the course. Related findings demonstrate very few differences on the affective measures from one class section to another, and that day-to-day levels of state motivation are largely invariant, whereas state anxiety might be influenced by environmental events. [source] Positive Evidence Versus Explicit Rule Presentation and Explicit Negative Feedback: A Computer-Assisted StudyLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2004Cristina Sanz The facilitative role of explicit information in second Language acquisition has been supported by a significant body of research (Alanen, 1995; Carroll & Swain, 1993; de Graaff, 1997; DeKeyser, 1995; Ellis, 1993; Robinson, 1996, 1997), but counterevidence is also available (Rosa & O'Neill, 1999; VanPatten & Oikkenon, 1996). This experimental study investigates the effects of computer-delivered, explicit information on the acquisition of Spanish word order by comparing four groups comprised of [+/,Explanation] and [+/,Explicit Feedback]. Results showed that all groups improved significantly and similarly on interpretation and production tests. It is suggested that explicit information may not necessarily facilitate second Language acquisition and that exposing learners to task-essential practice is sufficient to promote acquisition. [source] The role of epilepsy in early language development in a child with a congenital lesion in the right hemisphereDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 11 2008C Mayor-Dubois MA Early epilepsy is known to worsen the developmental prognosis of young children with a congenital focal brain lesion, but its direct role is often very difficult to delineate from the other variables. This requires prolonged periods of follow-up with simultaneous serial electrophysiological and developmental assessments which are rarely obtained. We studied a male infant with a right prenatal infarct in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery resulting in a left spastic hemiparesis, and an epileptic disorder (infantile spasms with transient right hemihypsarrhythmia and focal seizures) from the age of 7 months until the age of 4 years. Pregnancy and delivery were normal. A dissociated delay of early language acquisition affecting mainly comprehension without any autistic features was documented. This delay was much more severe than usually expected in children with early focal lesions, and its evolution, with catch-up to normal, was correlated with the active phase of the epilepsy. We postulate that the epilepsy specifically amplified a pattern of delayed language emergence, mainly affecting lexical comprehension, reported in children with early right hemisphere damage. [source] How does the brain learn language?DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 2 2000Insights from the study of children with, without language impairment Neurobiological studies have generated new ways of thinking about development of brain structure and function. Development involves more than just growth from simple to complex structures. The initial over-abundance of neurons and synaptic connections is subsequently pruned of those that are non-functional. In addition, as behavioural and cognitive functions emerge and become automatized, the underlying brain representations are reorganized. In this paper, I shall argue that these different modes of neurodevelopmental change provide a useful metaphor for examining language acquisition. It will be argued that language acquisition can involve learning to ignore and inhibit irrelevant information, as well as forming new ways of representing complex information economically. Modular organization is not present from the outset, but develops gradually. This analysis suggests a new way of assessing specific language impairment (SLI). There has been much debate as to whether children with SLI lack specific modular components of a language processing system. I propose instead that these children persist in using inefficient ways of representing language. Finally, I consider what we know about the neurobiological basis of such a deficit. There is mounting evidence that children with SLI have subtle structural anomalies affecting the language areas of the brain, which are largely genetically determined. We should not, however, conclude that the language difficulties are immutable. [source] Monolingual, bilingual, trilingual: infants' language experience influences the development of a word-learning heuristicDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 5 2009Krista Byers-Heinlein How infants learn new words is a fundamental puzzle in language acquisition. To guide their word learning, infants exploit systematic word-learning heuristics that allow them to link new words to likely referents. By 17 months, infants show a tendency to associate a novel noun with a novel object rather than a familiar one, a heuristic known as disambiguation. Yet, the developmental origins of this heuristic remain unknown. We compared disambiguation in 17- to 18-month-old infants from different language backgrounds to determine whether language experience influences its development, or whether disambiguation instead emerges as a result of maturation or social experience. Monolinguals showed strong use of disambiguation, bilinguals showed marginal use, and trilinguals showed no disambiguation. The number of languages being learned, but not vocabulary size, predicted performance. The results point to a key role for language experience in the development of disambiguation, and help to distinguish among theoretical accounts of its emergence. [source] Core computational principles of language acquisition: can statistical learning do the job?DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2009Introduction to Special Section First page of article [source] The development of sentence interpretation: effects of perceptual, attentional and semantic interferenceDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 6 2007Robert Leech How does the development and consolidation of perceptual, attentional, and higher cognitive abilities interact with language acquisition and processing? We explored children's (ages 5,17) and adults' (ages 18,51) comprehension of morphosyntactically varied sentences under several competing speech conditions that varied in the degree of attentional demands, auditory masking, and semantic interference. We also evaluated the relationship between subjects' syntactic comprehension and their word reading efficiency and general ,speed of processing'. We found that the interactions between perceptual and attentional processes and complex sentence interpretation changed considerably over the course of development. Perceptual masking of the speech signal had an early and lasting impact on comprehension, particularly for more complex sentence structures. In contrast, increased attentional demand in the absence of energetic auditory masking primarily affected younger children's comprehension of difficult sentence types. Finally, the predictability of syntactic comprehension abilities by external measures of development and expertise is contingent upon the perceptual, attentional, and semantic milieu in which language processing takes place. [source] Listening to language at birth: evidence for a bias for speech in neonatesDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2007Athena Vouloumanos The nature and origin of the human capacity for acquiring language is not yet fully understood. Here we uncover early roots of this capacity by demonstrating that humans are born with a preference for listening to speech. Human neonates adjusted their high amplitude sucking to preferentially listen to speech, compared with complex non-speech analogues that controlled for critical spectral and temporal parameters of speech. These results support the hypothesis that human infants begin language acquisition with a bias for listening to speech. The implications of these results for language and communication development are discussed. [source] Curricular Planning along the Fault Line between Instrumental and Academic Agendas: A Response to the Report of the Modern Language Association on Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World,DIE UNTERRICHTSPRAXIS/TEACHING GERMAN, Issue 2 2009Ingeborg Walther In calling for new governance structures and unified curricula, the MLA Report distinguishes between instrumental and constitutive views of language that characterize our often schizophrenic agendas of language acquisition on the one hand, and disciplinary knowledge on the other. This paper explores some common theoretical insights from the fields of language acquisition and cultural studies that interrogate these views, providing a basis for sustained collaboration around curricula among faculty on both sides of the divide. While these have already yielded the kinds of curricular innovations recommended by the Report, a case is made for more radical changes in hiring practices, distribution of teaching and service, reward structures, and graduate education , changes which have the capacity to transform the institutional values upon which they will also depend. [source] The contribution of phonological awareness and visual attention in early reading and spellingDYSLEXIA, Issue 1 2007Monique Plaza Abstract We examined the development of phonological processing, naming speed, and visual attention in kindergarten and addressed the question of their contribution to reading and spelling in grade 1. Seventy five French-speaking children were administered seven tasks at the two phases of the study, and reading and spelling were assessed in grade 1. The major findings revealed that syllable awareness and visual attention were the most important predictors of early reading and spelling, and confirm the influence of naming speed and phoneme awareness on specific skills. These observations strongly suggest that written language acquisition relies on linguistic, perceptual and cognitive cross-modal skills and highlight the need for diversifying written language measures and analyzing their specific predictors. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Exploring dyslexics' phonological deficit I: lexical vs sub-lexical and input vs output processesDYSLEXIA, Issue 4 2005Gayaneh Szenkovits Abstract We report a series of experiments designed to explore the locus of the phonological deficit in dyslexia. Phonological processing of dyslexic adults is compared to that of age- and IQ-matched controls. Dyslexics' impaired performance on tasks involving nonwords suggests that sub-lexical phonological representations are deficient. Contrasting nonword repetition vs auditory nonword discrimination suggests that dyslexics are specifically impaired in input phonological processing. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that the deficit initially affects input sub-lexical processes, and further spreads to output and lexical processes in the course of language acquisition. Further longitudinal research is required to confirm this scenario as well as to tease apart the role of the quality of phonological representations from that of verbal short-term memory processes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A neuroanatomically grounded Hebbian-learning model of attention,language interactions in the human brainEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2008Max Garagnani Abstract Meaningful familiar stimuli and senseless unknown materials lead to different patterns of brain activation. A late major neurophysiological response indexing ,sense' is the negative component of event-related potential peaking at around 400 ms (N400), an event-related potential that emerges in attention-demanding tasks and is larger for senseless materials (e.g. meaningless pseudowords) than for matched meaningful stimuli (words). However, the mismatch negativity (latency 100,250 ms), an early automatic brain response elicited under distraction, is larger to words than to pseudowords, thus exhibiting the opposite pattern to that seen for the N400. So far, no theoretical account has been able to reconcile and explain these findings by means of a single, mechanistic neural model. We implemented a neuroanatomically grounded neural network model of the left perisylvian language cortex and simulated: (i) brain processes of early language acquisition and (ii) cortical responses to familiar word and senseless pseudoword stimuli. We found that variation of the area-specific inhibition (the model correlate of attention) modulated the simulated brain response to words and pseudowords, producing either an N400- or a mismatch negativity-like response depending on the amount of inhibition (i.e. available attentional resources). Our model: (i) provides a unifying explanatory account, at cortical level, of experimental observations that, so far, had not been given a coherent interpretation within a single framework; (ii) demonstrates the viability of purely Hebbian, associative learning in a multilayered neural network architecture; and (iii) makes clear predictions on the effects of attention on latency and magnitude of event-related potentials to lexical items. Such predictions have been confirmed by recent experimental evidence. [source] The Combined Effects of Immersion and Instruction on Second Language PronunciationFOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2010Gillian Lord Abstract: This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of second language phonology with respect to two variables: immersion in a target language community, and explicit instruction in the form of a phonetics/pronunciation class. Specifically, the research examines the second language acquisition (SLA) of specific properties of the Spanish phonology system as achieved by native speakers of English participating in a summer program in Mexico, some of whom had previously taken a Spanish phonetics course. Results suggest that it is not one factor or another in isolation that is most beneficial, but rather the combination of the two. The findings are analyzed not only in terms of how the SLA of sound systems develops, but also with respect to pedagogical, curricular, and administrative implications. [source] | ||||||||||||||||