scholarly journals Specific and generic subjects in the Italian of German–Italian simultaneous bilinguals and L2 learners

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 736-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
TANJA KUPISCH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

This study investigates definite articles in specific and generic subject nominals in Italian spoken by adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers) and second language learners (L2ers). The study focuses on plural and mass DPs, in which German and Italian differ. The aims are to (i) compare acquisition outcomes between the weaker and the stronger language in 2L1 acquisition, (ii) see in a comparison with L2ers whether the phenomenon under investigation, which is typically acquired late (after age 6;0), lacks age of onset effects, and (iii) discuss predictions for the directionality of cross-linguistic influence. Twenty German–Italian 2L1ers and 15 advanced L2ers of Italian with German as their native language were tested in an acceptability judgment task and a truth value judgment task. The results show clear differences between Italian as the weaker and as the stronger language in 2L1 acquisition, and similarities between Italian as L2 and as the weaker language in 2L1 acquisition.

scholarly journals Gender assignment and gender agreement in adult bilinguals and second language learners of French

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Kupisch ◽  
Deniz Akpinar ◽  
Antje Stöhr
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Language Context

This paper is concerned with gender marking in adult French. Four groups of subjects are compared: German-French simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers) who grew up in France, German-French 2L1ers who grew up in Germany, advanced second language learners (L2ers) who are resident either in France or in Germany at the time of testing. The major goal of the study is to investigate whether differences in input conditions (acquisition in a minority vs. a majority language context) and differences in age of onset affect gender assignment and gender agreement in the same way or differently. Furthermore, we investigate whether successful acquisition of gender is dependent on influence from German. Two experiments, an acceptability judgment task and an elicited production task, are carried out. Results show successful acquisition of agreement in all groups. By contrast, gender assignment may be mildly affected if French is acquired in a minority language context or as an L2.

Effects of Instruction on Second Language Acquisition of the Japanese Long-Distance Reflexive Zibun

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia White ◽  
Makiko Hirakawa ◽  
Takako Kawasaki
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Teaching Intervention ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Value Judgment

AbstractThis article reports on a small study investigating whether teaching second language learners the long-distance (LD) properties of the Japanese reflexive zibun ‘self leads to acquisition of its subject-oriented status. The study involved low intermediate level learners of Japanese who were instructed on zibun over a four-week period. The focus of the instruction was that the reflexive zibun can take long-distance antecedents. At the same time, subjects were never taught that the antecedent must be a subject. Subjects were tested using a truth-value judgment task. Results show that the learners initially rejected LD binding; they showed a significant increase in acceptance of LD antecedents after the teaching intervention. Analyses of individual learners show that about half of them successfully acquired the relevant properties of zibun. With one exception, learners did not generalize from their instruction to assume that “anything goes” as far as antecedents for zibun are concerned. Rather, they acquired grammars of reflexive binding that fall within the range permitted by Universal Grammar.

scholarly journals Variable Future-Time Expression in Spanish: A Comparison between Heritage and Second Language Learners

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Ana de Prada Pérez ◽  
Inmaculada Gómez Soler ◽  
Nick Feroce
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Future Time ◽  
L2 Learners

This paper examines the expression of futurity in Spanish, specifically the periphrastic future (PF), the morphological future (MF), and the present indicative (PI) in heritage language learners (HLLs) and second language learners (L2 learners), a comparison that allowed us to explore whether linguistic experience provides HLLs an advantage over L2 learners in the domain of morphosyntax. These forms (PF, MF, and PI) are regulated by certainty, temporal distance, and the presence of temporal adverbials. Previous research showed that L2 learners acquire some of these linguistic constraints and that HLLs tend to reduce the MF to modal uses. Data from a contextualized acceptability judgment task completed by 46 HLLs and 42 L2ers manipulated for verb form, certainty, temporal distance, and adverb and revealed that (i) the PF and the MF were generally rated higher than the PI, (ii) HLLs were sensitive to the three linguistic factors examined, while the L2ers’ sensitivity was modulated by proficiency, and, relatedly, (iii) the two groups differed in the effect of proficiency. For the L2 learners, an increase in proficiency led to a closer pattern to that of monolingual native speakers (only for temporal distance). Differences in exposure to and instruction in Spanish are discussed as possible sources of these differences.

One size fits all? In search of the desirable caption display for second language learners with different caption reliance in listening comprehension

2019 ◽  
pp. 136216881985645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Jung Lee ◽  
Yeu-Ting Liu ◽  
Wen-Ta Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Comprehension Aids ◽  
The Impact

Existing research has established captions as effective second-language (L2) or foreign language (FL) listening comprehension aids. However, due to the transient nature of captions, not all learners are capable of attending to captions in all cases. Previous work posited that to leverage the impact of technologies in learning and instruction, a better understanding of the interplay between technology and cognition is warranted. In this vein, the current study set out to investigate the effects of four different caption modes (full vs. partial vs. real-time vs. control) on the listening comprehension of 95 high-intermediate Taiwanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) with different caption reliance (i.e. more-caption-reliant vs. less-caption-reliant). The results showed no significant difference between the participants’ listening comprehension outcomes under the four caption conditions when their caption reliance was not considered. However, when this was considered, the differences among the four caption conditions became salient, which was suggestive of the selective effect of captions on L2 learners with different caption reliance. While less-caption-reliant L2 learners had the best listening comprehension outcome under the partial-caption condition and the worst under the full-caption condition, more-caption-reliant L2 learners exhibited the best performance under the full-caption condition yet the worst under the partial-caption condition. The finding underscores the importance of considering L2 learners’ processing profiles when utilizing captioned videos as multimodal instructional/learning materials and speaks to the need of utilizing differentiated video materials for optimal listening outcomes.

Priming and adaptation in native speakers and second-language learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
EUNJIN CHUN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
L2 Learners

Native speakers show rapid adjustment of their processing strategies and preferences on the basis of the structures they have recently encountered. The present study investigated the nature of priming and adaptation in second-language (L2) speakers and, more specifically, whether similar mechanisms underlie L2 and native language adaptation. Native English speakers and Korean L2 learners of English completed a written priming study probing the use of double object and prepositional phrase datives. Both groups showed cumulative adaptation effects for both types of dative, which was stronger for the structure that was initially less frequent to them (prepositional phrase datives for the native English speakers, and double object datives for the L2 learners). This supports models of priming that incorporate frequency-based modulation of long-lasting activation of structures. L2 learners and native speakers use similar processing mechanisms; differences in adaptation can be accounted for by differences in the relative frequency of structures.

scholarly journals The processing of ambiguous sentences by first and second language learners of English

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDIA FELSER ◽  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
THEODORE MARINIS ◽  
REBECCA GROSS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study investigates the way adult second language (L2) learners of English resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences such as The dean liked the secretary of the professor who was reading a letter. Two groups of advanced L2 learners of English with Greek or German as their first language participated in a set of off-line and on-line tasks. The results indicate that the L2 learners do not process ambiguous sentences of this type in the same way as adult native speakers of English do. Although the learners' disambiguation preferences were influenced by lexical–semantic properties of the preposition linking the two potential antecedent noun phrases (of vs. with), there was no evidence that they applied any phrase structure–based ambiguity resolution strategies of the kind that have been claimed to influence sentence processing in monolingual adults. The L2 learners' performance also differs markedly from the results obtained from 6- to 7-year-old monolingual English children in a parallel auditory study, in that the children's attachment preferences were not affected by the type of preposition at all. We argue that children, monolingual adults, and adult L2 learners differ in the extent to which they are guided by phrase structure and lexical–semantic information during sentence processing.

Vocabulary elaboration in teachers' speech to L2 learners

1982 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Chaudron
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
New Information ◽  
L2 Learners

Subject-matter lessons taught to English as a second language learners in several school levels were transcribed and analyzed. Characteristics of the teachers' speech when elaborating vocabulary were isolated and described, with a view to determining which characteristics would be helpful and which harmful to the students' comprehension and acquisition of vocabulary. It is seen that a major problem for the student may lie in the teacher's overelab-oration of vocabulary meanings through increased redundancy; the non-native listener may find it difficult to decode the exact message, because he cannot discern whether the same information has been provided redundantly or whether new information has been supplied.

Morphosyntactic Knowledge in Late Second Language Learners and Heritage Speakers of Russian

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-150
Author(s):  
Kira Gor
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Early Learners

The current study pursues two goals. First, it establishes developmental trajectories in the acquisition of 10 morphosyntactic features of Russian by American learners, using a grammaticality judgment task (GJT), an offline test of morphosyntactic knowledge that allows for direct comparison of native and nonnative performance through a highly controlled set of materials. Second, it compares the performance of late second language learners and heritage speakers (early learners) of Russian matched in global proficiency as established by the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), and ranging from Intermediate to Superior proficiency. The study demonstrates that heritage speakers outperform late second language learners on most, but not all the morphosyntactic features tested in the GJT. These findings shed new light on the development of nonnative grammatical knowledge in early and late learners of Russian, and will inform Russian language curriculum development.

How similar are adult second language learners and Spanish heritage speakers? Spanish clitics and word order

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
SILVINA MONTRUL
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Spanish Heritage Speakers

ABSTRACTRecent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners and 24 Spanish heritage speakers. Results of an oral production task, a written grammaticality judgment task, and a speeded comprehension task showed that, overall, heritage speakers seem to possess more nativelike knowledge of Spanish than their L2 counterparts. Implications for theories that stress the role of age and experience in L2 ultimate attainment and for the field of heritage language acquisition and teaching are discussed.

scholarly journals The L2-acquisition of the German particle doch

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Hogeweg ◽  
Helen de Hoop ◽  
Stefanie Ramachers ◽  
Frans van der Slik ◽  
Verena Wottrich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Discourse Particles

AbstractDiscourse particles are notoriously difficult to acquire for second language learners. It has been argued that this difficulty is caused by a lack of equivalent concepts in the learner’s native language. In this article we compare the acquisition of the German particle

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