Language Acquisition Research Articles

Unraveling Interlanguage Variability: A Psycholinguistic Exploration of Morphological Forms in Iranian ESL Learners' Written Performance

The present research study aimed to investigate the psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage (IL) variability in English as a second language learners from Iran. Three morphological forms were specifically examined in this study: the plural "-s," past tense forms, and present tense forms. In order to investigate the learners' cognitive processes, the researchers used a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative semi-structured interviews with quantitative analysis of written task performance. Under various task conditions, learners exhibited two opposing patterns of IL variability (increasing and decreasing) in their morphological forms. Various degrees of accuracy were noted for every kind of morpheme. Different students allocated their attention differently to form and meaning in both under pressure and relaxed task environments. The observed variations could have been caused by limited working memory and attention capacity in addition to L1 transfer. The research indicated that the field of second language acquisition could benefit from an explanatory approach to comprehend IL variability from the learner's perspective. It provides recommendations for larger-scale research projects in a variety of educational contexts, along with pedagogical implications.

Supervised and unsupervised learning models for pharmaceutical drug rating and classification using consumer generated reviews

Optimization of medication therapy depends on maximizing benefits and minimizing side effects of medications. This research showed how a joint approach using text mining, natural language processing, and machine learning can provide information for personalized and optimized medication therapy. Reviews on the benefits and side effects of prescription and over-the-counter medications were used to determine how well an integrated supervised and unsupervised learning could learn medication satisfaction. Supervised learning with naïve-Bayes, non-linear support vector machine with radial basis function kernels, and random forests with CART decision trees was measured by a micro-aggregated Matthews correlation coefficient and a macro-averaged F1 measure. Random forests outperformed support vector machines by almost 250% and naive-Bayes by 600% on the two evaluation metrics. All models did better with three rating levels, instead of five. Topic modelling and stacked cluster analysis were coupled with parts-of-speech tagging and text mining operations to establish a robust data preprocessing procedure to eliminate noisy features from the data. Unsupervised topic modelling and clustering represented an exploratory validation of how easy supervised classification would be. Well-defined latent topics were discovered including topics on “sleep quality”, “the opportunity to get back to work”, and “weight gain”. Overlapping clusters revealed that incorporating more information on social, demographic, or medical history variables could improve classifier performance. This research provided evidence that medication satisfaction can be learned with carefully designed joint supervised, unsupervised, and natural language learning techniques.

Multilingual Video Viewing Subtitle to Audio Translator

Abstract: The research outlines an innovative approach to translate and synthesize audio content from English to any language, enhancing accessibility and knowledge acquisition for diverse linguistic communities. It focuses on improving language comprehension among various groups in India, particularly aiding visually impaired individuals. The approach incorporates Hugging Face Transformers for more precise language translation alongside Google Text-to-Speech for audio conversion. Additionally, Pydub and FFmpeg commands efficiently handle audio processing tasks, while Pytube facilitates YouTube video downloads. The system includes a subtitle generation feature that synchronizes subtitles with translated audio chunks, offering a comprehensive multilingual viewing experience. This implementation emphasizes language translation, audio manipulation, video processing, and subtitle generation functionalities, all integrated with robust error handling and multithreading capabilities. This showcases significant progress in accessible andmultilingual content delivery, reaffirming our commitment to inclusive knowledge dissemination and communication.

Subject-wise English language reading skill of bachelor level engineering students of Mid-West University of Nepal

This research investigates the subject-wise English language reading skills of bachelor level engineering students at Mid-West University in Nepal, aiming to bridge a crucial gap in understanding their comprehension levels, vocabulary acquisition, and reading strategies across various disciplines. Drawing on the specialized form of English language instruction known as English for Academic Purposes (EAP), the study assesses students' proficiency in comprehending academic materials. Despite challenges in implementation, EAP instructors recognize the value of formative assessment in enhancing student learning and academic performance. The findings reveal significant variations in reading preferences and habits across engineering disciplines, highlighting areas for focused assistance and development of reading abilities. Specifically, students studying computer engineering demonstrate higher mean reading proficiency compared to their counterparts in civil and hydropower engineering. The study underscores the importance of English language proficiency for academic success, particularly in fields like engineering where collaboration and communication span global boundaries. It also sheds light on the gradual progress and reforms in English language education in Nepal, emphasizing the need for tailored interventions and resources to enhance reading skills among engineering students. Recommendations include investing in teacher training programs focused on EAP methodologies, developing tailored resources, and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations to address subject-specific reading challenges. By addressing these recommendations, Nepal can better prepare its engineering students to succeed in academic and professional contexts where English proficiency is essential.

The Impact of Teaching English through English Approach on Young Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition and Story Comprehension in Storytelling Classes

The Impact of Teaching English through English Approach on Young Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition and Story Comprehension in Storytelling Classes

Should Parents Only Use One Language with Their Autistic Children? The Relations Between Multilingualism, Children's Social Skills, and Parent-Child Communication.

Parents of autistic children are often advised to use only one language to simplify their child's language acquisition. Often this recommendation orients towards the geographically predominant language, which may cause difficulties especially for minority-language families. On the other hand, scientific evidence suggests that multilingualism does not hinder language acquisition and that communicating in exclusively foreign languages may even impede social interaction. Therefore, we investigated how parent language use is linked to the social skills of 68 autistic children and to their parents' ability to feel comfortable, authentic, and free to express themselves. Data was collected online, using parent-report questionnaires from parents of 25 different nationalities in the European context, assessing children's language, autistic traits (AQ-C), social skills (SRS-2), and parent-child communication. Language use was not found to significantly relate to social skills in children. However, parents using their mother tongue, either only their mother tongue or in combination with other languages, reported feeling significantly more comfortable and more authentic than parents using exclusively foreign languages, either one or many. There were no significant differences between monolingual and multilingual families regarding parents' feelings in regard to their language use. Our findings may encourage specialists to consider multilingualism more often and consult with parents whether monolingualism is worth risking the negative outcomes we have found. Especially, since advising parents to raise their child multilingually may facilitate access to therapeutic treatment, childcare, and social interaction in multilingual societies and families and subsequently improve support and orientation for stakeholders.

Enhancing students' agency in learning anatomy vocabulary with a formative intervention design.

One of the major challenges for health science students is the rapid acquisition of a new vocabulary in anatomy comprising several hundred new words. Research has shown that vocabulary learning can be improved when students are directed to vocabulary strategies. This paper reported a study with a formative intervention design inspired by Vygotsky's method of double stimulation. In this design, the students were put in a structured situation that invited them to identify the challenges in learning anatomy and then provided them with active guidance and a range of anatomy vocabulary learning strategies that scaffolded them to work out a solution to the challenge and develop their individualized anatomy learning resources. The data were collected from surveys, pre and postquiz results, and group discussion transcripts. The results revealed students perceived one of the main challenges in learning anatomy was learning, memorizing, and remembering many new words. A key finding in our study was that the formative intervention enhanced students' agency in creating resources for learning anatomy vocabulary. In addition, the development of their understanding showed a recursive form: from concrete experiences to abstract concepts and then to concrete new practices.

A Need Analysis on English Teaching Materials for Midwifery Department Students at the Muslim University of Indonesia (UMI)

There are two research objectives in this research, they are to find out the target needs of the Midwifery department at the Muslim University of Indonesia (UMI); and to find out the obstacles faced by the students of midwifery department of Muslim University of Indonesia (UMI) in learning English. The research design is mixed-method research. There was 1 lecturer and 27 students at the Muslim University of Indonesia (UMI) that was taken as the subject of the research. The researcher used a questionnaire as the research instrument. The result of the research revealed that emphasizing midwifery terminology, effective communication skills, and written proficiency, the findings underscore the necessity of adjusted English language education for this group. Challenges identified include difficulties in vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, pronunciation, and confidence in speaking and writing. Addressing these obstacles requires targeted interventions such as refined instructional methods, confidence-building measures, vocabulary-focused interventions, and effective reading strategies. These findings align with the theory's emphasis on understanding learners' needs and implementing tailored solutions to facilitate language acquisition.

Learning to predict: Second language perception of reduced multi-word sequences

The cognitive entrenchment of frequent sequences comes as ‘chunking’ (holistic storage) and as ‘procedure strengthening’ (predicting elements in a sequence). A growing body of research shows effects of entrenchment of multi-word sequences in the native language, which is learned and shaped continuously and intuitively. But how do they affect second language (L2) speakers, whose language acquisition is more analytic but who nonetheless also learn through usage? The present study tests advanced English learners’ receptive processing of multi-word sequences with a word-monitoring experiment. Recognition of to in the construction V to Vinf was tested for full and reduced forms ([tʊ] vs. [ɾə]), conditioned by the general frequency of the V- to sequence and the transitional probability (TP) of to given the verb (V > to). The results are compared with those previously obtained from native speakers. Results show that recognition profits from surface frequency, but not from TP. Reduced forms delay recognition, but this is mitigated in high-frequency sequences. Unlike native speakers, advanced learners do not exhibit a chunking effect of high-frequency reduced forms, and no facilitating effect of TP. We attribute these findings to learners’ lesser experience with spontaneous speech and phonetic reduction. They recognize reduced forms less easily, show weaker entrenchment of holistic representations, and do not draw on the full range of probabilistic cues available to native speakers.

Complementary food exposure and children’s early understanding of food words: the approaching eating through language (APPEAL) study

IntroductionLanguage skills, such as the ability to understand words (receptive language), develop during infancy and are built through interactions with the environment, including eating. Exposure to complementary foods also begins in infancy and may play a significant role in language development, especially in understanding of food-related words. However, the relationship between the complementary foods to which a child is exposed and early language acquisition has not been previously studied. We hypothesized that young children’s food-related receptive language (FRL) would reflect the complementary foods to which they were frequently offered by caregivers.MethodsCaregivers of young children (4-26 months; n = 408) in the Approaching Eating through Language (APPEAL) Study in the US were surveyed via Qualtrics. FRL was assessed by caregiver-report via a modified MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory. Complementary foods offered (CFO) by caregivers were assessed using a modified Food Frequency Questionnaire. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was implemented to identify, 1) groupings of foods frequently offered (>1x/week) and 2) groupings of food-related words understood by the young children.ResultsA 5-class best fit LCA model was identified for CFO (-log likelihood [-llik]=-8727) and for FRL (-llik=-5476). Cross-classification of the CFO and FRL derived classes revealed that children with higher exposure to complementary foods were perceived by caregivers to be most likely to also understand a greater number of food-related words (Probability=0.48). As expected, children having been offered a greater number of complementary foods and who understood a greater number of food-related words were older, compared to those with less complementary food exposure and food-related language acquisition (p < 0.001).DiscussionThese findings support the potential role of introduction to complementary foods in development of food-related language.

Effect of age of first exposure on L2 contextual lexical semantic learning: an ERP investigation

Abstract Age of first exposure (AoFE) is an important factor that influences the quality of L2 acquisition. This study aims to investigate the AoFE effect on the contextual learning of L2 novel words at the neural level, as measured by the N400 component from event-related potentials (ERPs). Eighty-eight participants were recruited for the experiment of L2 pseudoword learning, which includes a learning session and a testing session. The participants’ EEG data were recorded from the testing session, and the N400 effect was derived from target words that were either congruous or incongruous with the context. The linear mixed model and multiple regression model revealed a positive AoFE effect on the N400 effect in discourses that were designed for testing retrieval of episodic and semantic memory even after accounting for the variance contributed by several confounding factors. In addition to AoFE, the effects of total L2 exposure, L2 proficiency and personality on the L2 novel word learning performance indicated by the N400 effect were also confirmed in the statistical results.

Teacher Educators’ Foreign Language Anxiety in Face-To-Face and Online Modes

The internationalisation of universities and the ensuing policies mandating English as a medium of instruction made European universities impose corresponding requirements demanding a certain level of English language proficiency from their academic staff. Similarly, university-based teacher educators became subject to specific foreign language demands. This research focuses on university-based teacher educators who have been actively taking part in enhancing their academic English. The COVID-19 pandemic made for a prompt shift from face-to-face to online learning, providing for a comparison between the two learning environments. Since affective factors, including learning anxiety, may impact the success of language acquisition, the study addresses foreign language anxiety experienced by teacher educators when acquiring English for Academic Purposes in different learning modes. The research was conducted as a survey with the data obtained through administering the adapted Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale to 80 respondents from the 7 universities working in teacher education, furthered by 4 online semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal overall low levels of anxiety, with a small increase in communication apprehension. Although there is no conclusive evidence about the decrease in anxiety in remote studies, the interview results are clearly demonstrative of the possibility of combining face-to-face and online learning modes.

Emergent bilingual children during the silent period: A scoping review of their communication strategies and classroom environments.

This scoping review aimed to investigate the communication strategies utilized by children who acquire a minority language (L1) and subsequently learn a community language (L2) during what is commonly referred to as the "silent period." Electronic database searches were conducted using keywords such as "silent period" and "bilingual children," resulting in the inclusion of 40 studies in the review. The findings revealed that emergent bilingual children utilize various communication strategies, including nonverbal communication, private speech, and their L1, to communicate within classroom environments. The findings shed light on the adaptability of emergent bilingual children during early stage of L2 acquisition. Furthermore, our review provides information about the classroom contexts such as teacher support and peer interactions where children develop their L2 skills. From a clinical perspective, recognizing these strategies and classroom contexts could significantly enhance the screening process for emergent bilingual children.

Language acquisition and maintenance in bilingual contexts – Case studies from Europe

Language acquisition and maintenance in bilingual contexts – Case studies from Europe

Naturalistic L2 acquisition and the formation of an immigrant variety of Spanish

Immigrants in their host country sometimes take advantage of the assistance offered in order to learn formally the host country language in a classroom setting. This is not always the case. This contribution examines the variety of Spanish that was created by an immigrant who arrived in Spain to work in the restaurant industry. Because of her work situation, she did not take formal Spanish lessons. Rather, she constructed her own variety of Spanish based on input she received on the job and in her interactions with native Spanish speakers. Three aspects of her grammatical system are the focus: tense-aspect marking, copula use, and the pronoun system. The solutions the immigrant created for communication show she has developed a grammar that is different from that of the native speakers of the host language , and its nature is largely predictable by appealing to frequency and detectability of forms in discourse and the process of L1 transfer.

Unravelling Receptive Language Acquisition: A Comprehensive Study of Deaf Students' English Language Acquisition

This study aims to explore in-depth understanding of receptive language acquisition and English language acquisition of deaf students. The focus of the research is on the aspects of receptive language acquisition and English language acquisition of deaf students. This research uses the literature analysis method which involves the study of scientific articles, research reports, and other related literature at the national and international levels that relate to the receptive language acquisition and English language acquisition of deaf students. The data was analysed qualitatively with a descriptive approach. The findings of this study are that deaf children have great potential, despite facing barriers in language acquisition. they tend to have a visual learning type, and the use of various learning media can help improve language acquisition. A total communication approach, which involves multiple forms of communication, can help in deaf children's first language acquisition. In addition, factors such as the degree of deafness, hearing aid use, and family background also affect their language development. In foreign language learning, the use of national sign language and effective learning strategies can help deaf students overcome difficulties. And the importance of co-operation between teachers, students, parents and the learning environment is crucial in helping deaf children overcome their language challenges.

Learning Media "ARASIK" in Understanding the Meaning of Nouns for SDLB Deaf Students at SLB Negeri Bogor

Deaf children experience speech and language difficulties due to hearing loss. Children with hearing loss experience delays and communication difficulties due to delays in speech and language development. The main problem in language acquisition for deaf children is that they have difficulty understanding the meaning of words. The problem is that children can read, but they do not understand what they read. The title of this article is ``The learning media "ARASIK" in understanding the meaning of nouns in SDLB Deaf students at SLB Negeri Bogor" The theoretical foundations used in this study are: (1) understanding the meaning of words, as stated by Nurbeiti Jamalus that the meaning of a word is the relationship between the sound (language) of the word spoken or written with the object concerned; (2) Augmented Realitiy learning media promoted by scientists, that AR can visualize abstract concepts for understanding and the structure of an object model allows AR as a more effective media in accordance with the objectives of learning media. This research uses a descriptive-qualitative approach, with data collection techniques through observation, interviews and documentation studies. The data analysis technique used refers to Miles and Huberman (1994) which includes three activities, namely: (1) data reduction, (2) data presentation, and (3) conclusion drawing from the application of "ARASIK" media. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the "ARASIK" media can help facilitate SDLB Deaf students in understanding the meaning of nouns.

Meaning as mentalization

The way we establish meaning has been a profound question not only in language research but in developmental science as well. The relation between linguistic form and content has been loosened up in recent pragmatic approaches to communication, showing that code-based models of language comprehension must be augmented by context-sensitive, pragmatic-inferential mechanisms to recover the speaker’s intended meaning. Language acquisition has traditionally been thought to involve building a mental lexicon and extracting syntactic rules from noisy linguistic input, while communicative-pragmatic inferences have also been argued to be indispensable. Recent research findings exploring the electrophysiological indicator of semantic processing, the N400, have raised serious questions about the traditional separation between semantic decoding and pragmatic inferential processes. The N400 appears to be sensitive to mentalization—the ability to attribute beliefs to social partners—already from its developmental onset. This finding raises the possibility that mentalization may not simply contribute to pragmatic inferences that enrich linguistic decoding processes but that the semantic system may be functioning in a fundamentally mentalistic manner. The present review first summarizes the key contributions of pragmatic models of communication to language comprehension. Then, it provides an overview of how communicative intentions are interpreted in developmental theories of communication, with a special emphasis on mentalization. Next, it discusses the sensitivity of infants to the information-transmitting potential of language, their ability to pick up its code-like features, and their capacity to track language comprehension of social partners using mentalization. In conclusion, I argue that the recovery of meaning during linguistic communication is not adequately modeled as a process of code-based semantic retrieval complemented by pragmatic inferences. Instead, the semantic system may establish meaning, as intended, during language comprehension and acquisition through mentalistic attribution of content to communicative partners.

A Review of the Impact of Native Language on Emotional Aspects of Second Language Acquisition

This review explores how native language affects second language learners' abilities in processing emotional information, including the cognitive processing of emotional vocabulary, emotional expression and communication, and cross-cultural understanding of emotions. The research found that native language background plays a multi-dimensional role in this process, affecting not only the processing of emotional information within the language but also individuals' cross-cultural communication skills. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the importance of focusing on emotional vocabulary teaching and the cultivation of emotional expression strategies in second language teaching, as well as directions for further research. By deeply understanding the impact of native language on emotional processing in a second language, practical guidance can be provided for cross-cultural education, promoting effective communication and understanding among people from different cultural backgrounds.

A Study of Emotion Regulation in Learning English for High School Students: Taking the Affiliated High School to Hangzhou Normal University Students as a Case Study

Since the 1970s, the exploration of emotion regulation has gained prominence in the field of second language acquisition. Researchers are increasingly focusing on how English learners' emotional experiences influence their academic success and personal growth. This paper aims to examine and analyze the emotions of high school students during English language learning, along with ways to regulate these emotions. It will offer ideas for improvement based on the findings of the empirical investigation. This research concentrates on students from Affiliated High School to Hangzhou Normal University and randomly selected 105 English learners from three different age groups to conduct a questionnaire survey. The purpose is to explore the connections between emotions, interests, and emotion regulation strategies among Chinese high school students while learning English. To this end, three questions were set up and answered: how do high school students feel when they learn English, what are their strategies for regulating their emotions when they learn English, and whether emotion regulation affects their interest in learning English? Recommendations were provided following the analysis of the results.