Advanced Learners Of English Research Articles

Efeitos do ensino explícito da gramática no desenvolvimento de diferentes tipos de propriedades em L2

The present study investigates the effects of explicit grammar teaching on the acquisition of a core syntactic property (the ungrammaticality of free inversion) and a syntax-discourse property (the unacceptability of locative inversion with informationally heavy verbs) by advanced and upper intermediate Portuguese learners of English. The study followed a pre-test/post-test design. Its results reveal that, at an upper intermediate level, explicit teaching did not have any effects on learners’ performance, regardless of the type of property. At an advanced level, in contrast, the teaching intervention resulted in gains in all cases. However, these gains were only maintained beyond the immediate teaching period when the target property was strictly syntactic. These findings indicate that the effectiveness of instruction depends on the stage of development at which learners are and on the type of target property. The pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed in detail.

Plateaux in pronunciation

Within the field of second language acquisition the question of cessation of learning short of the target language norms, particularly among adult populations, has been widely discussed since the term FOSSILIZATION was first coined by Selinker in 1972. This article briefly outlines the main theoretical concerns of this phenomenon, which has had various terminological badges over the past three decades. It then details an experimental study whose aim it was to uncover the destabilizing potential of instruction on the pronunciation of advanced French learners of English as a Foreign Language who displayed fossilization tendencies. The results indicate significant improvements made by the experimental group relative to the control group. In conclusion it is deemed appropriate to classify such learners as stabilized and not permanently fossilized, as changes in pronunciation systems can occur give optimal conditions of learning and exposure.

Lexical richness in research articles: Corpus-based comparative study among advanced Chinese learners of English, English native beginner students and experts

The current study respectively compares lexical richness, i.e. lexical diversity, density and sophistication in research article manuscripts by Chinese PhD candidates (CPhD), unpublished research papers by native final-year undergraduates and master-level students (Native Beginner Students, NBS) and published research articles (RAs) by native experts (NE). It aims to sketch the profile of CPhD’s use of vocabulary in terms of the three measures of lexical richness in comparison to the NBS and the NE. Our data consisted of 142 RA manuscripts by CPhD, 71 unpublished research papers by NBS, and 128 published RAs by NE in the field of science and engineering. The results showed that CPhD’s lexical richness levels are between NBS and NE. Besides, the three measures of CPhD are not balanced, namely, the lexical diversity is the lowest, similar to that of NBS, the lexical sophistication is in the middle and the lexical density is similar to that of NE. Comparison of the three groups of data indicates that academic expertise may play a more important role than nativeness in the writing of RAs. Integration of EAP instruction with discipline related research activities would be an important way to develop students’ ability of vocabulary use in RA writing.

Phonological Memory and L2 Vocabulary Learning in a Narrated Story Task.

The objective of this study was to explore the role played by phonological memory (PM) in the learning of new second language (L2) vocabulary presented in a narrated story. The proposal was that individuals with a strong PM would do better on this largely auditory task than those with poor PM capacity, since fewer visual/written cues could make remembering vocabulary a more challenging task. Participants were French native speakers, advanced learners of English (N = 55). The results revealed that PM, measured by a nonword repetition task and a serial recognition task, did not predict vocabulary retention scores in the group as a whole. However, when low and high PM subgroups were formed, a significant association between PM and vocabulary retention was found in the low PM group only, suggesting the contribution of PM to short-term vocabulary learning in advanced learners is outweighed by other factors, except when PM is quite weak.

The English pronunciation of Arabic speakers: A data-driven approach to segmental error identification

The accurate identification of likely segmental pronunciation errors produced by nonnative speakers of English is a longstanding goal in pronunciation teaching. Most lists of pronunciation errors for speakers of a particular first language (L1) are based on the experience of expert linguists or teachers of English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL). Such lists are useful, but they are also subject to blind spots for less noticeable errors while suggesting that other more noticeable errors are more important. This exploratory study tested whether using a database of read sentences would reveal recurrent errors that had been overlooked by expert opinions. We did a systematic error analysis of advanced L1 Arabic learners of English ( n = 4) using L2 Arctic, a publicly available collection of 1,132 phonetically-balanced English sentences read aloud by 24 speakers of six language backgrounds. To test whether the database was useful for pronunciation error identification, we analysed Arabic speakers’ sentence readings ( n = 599), which were annotated in Praat for pronunciation deviations from General American English. The findings give an empirically supported description of persistent pronunciation errors for Arabic learners of English. Although necessarily limited in scope, the study demonstrates how similar datasets can be used regardless of the L1 being investigated. The discussion of errors in pronunciation in terms of their functional loads (Brown, 1988) suggests which persistent errors are likely to be important for classroom attention, helping teachers focus their limited classroom time for optimal learning.

The role of verbal working memory in L2 sentence comprehension

AbstractConsiderable variability has been observed in sentence comprehension abilities in both native speakers and second language (L2) learner populations. While it has long been established that, in native speakers, this variability is closely linked to individual differences (IDs) in verbal working memory (vWM), previous research on the role of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension has produced mixed results. Moreover, there is an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that the relationship between vWM and native language comprehension abilities is mediated by language experience. However, to our knowledge, until now, no attempt has been made to integrate language experience measures into the vWM-L2 sentence comprehension relationship. The goal of the present study is twofold: (1) to determine whether and to what extent vWM – as gauged by a reading span (RSPAN) task – correlates with IDs in two proxy estimates of L2 experience and (2) to investigate the effects of vWM on L2 comprehension of three different types of complex sentences. Thirty-four German advanced learners of English participated in this study. Significant positive correlations were found between the RSPAN scores and both proxy estimates of L2 experience. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that vWM exerted a significant effect on L2 sentence comprehension that was not modulated by sentence type. Taken together, these results provide additional evidence in support of the involvement of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension and, to our knowledge, first evidence for the contribution of L2 experience to RSPAN task performance.

An Interlanguage Study of Request Perspective: Evidence from German, Greek, Polish and Russian Learners of English

Abstract The present study examines request perspective, the least researched form of mitigation in requesting, while focusing on a type of request characterized by a strong preference for speaker perspective in English and for hearer perspective in most other languages researched to date. It examines requests produced by 900 speakers from nine different (inter)language groups: five groups of native speakers (English, German, Greek, Polish and Russian) and four groups of advanced learners of English as a foreign language (German, Greek, Polish and Russian L1s). While our learners used more conventionally indirect forms than did the native speakers of the respective L1s, showing awareness of this English pragmatic norm, they retained a preference for the hearer perspective. These results suggest reliance on pragmatic universals as an alternative explanation to pragmatic transfer, also illustrating the need to address less salient pragmatic features in English language teaching.

An investigation of accuracy and response time regarding processing mechanism of English relative clauses in EFL contexts

Sentence comprehension in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts is influenced by many factors. One of the most important ones is the processing mechanism of relative clauses which can be analyzed in different frameworks by researchers. So far, a wide range of research has been conducted on the processing mechanism of relative clauses in a number of languages. The results have shown a tendency toward two major categories which have been proven to be of significance, namely subject preference and object preference. Studies conducted on native speakers of English, for instance, have demonstrated subject preference by the participants. Consequently, in this study, the researchers conducted a self-paced reading experiment employing Linger software, and the data were analyzed by using the SPSS Statistics version 25. It aims to investigate the processing mechanism of English relative clauses by Iranian EFL learners. The participants were nine males and 21 females of advanced English learners majoring in the English literature, all being native speakers of Farsi. The results indicate that that the correctness percentage of subject relative clauses, and also subject modifying ones, are significantly higher than that of object ones. The results also indicated that subject relatives were processed swifter than object relatives. Finally, the researchers discussed the reasons behind such a tendency among the participants of the experiment in terms of a number of theories and principles. The findings of this study are expected to be employed in language syllabus designing as well as in grading or sequencing of materials by educators and teaching material developers.

Rhetorical structure analysis of prepared speeches and argumentative essays by Chinese advanced English learners

AbstractThis study focuses on the interrelationship between modes of argumentation and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ rhetorical strategies, by adopting the analytical framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) to produce reliable analyses of rhetorical structures of two most frequently required tasks in the Chinese context. The sample texts consist of 20 prepared speeches and 20 argumentative essays, both written by Chinese advanced EFL learners. The findings reveal that: (1) the essays favor a more direct structure with central units at the beginning while the speeches favor a more indirect structure with central units near the end; (2) Background, Circumstance and Preparation relations appear more frequently at the beginning of the speeches, while the Summary relation appears more frequently at the end of the essays; (3) the two most typical top-level patterns of rhetorical structure in the essays resemble the two patterns in the speeches, but with systematic variation and in reversed orders. The results reflect the active role of rhetorical situation in constructing different modes of argumentation for advanced EFL learners. This study could enrich the scope of the application of RST, and provide pedagogical implications for writing in EFL contexts.

Lexical Complexity as a Function of Task Type and Proficiency Level in the Speech Monologs of Iranian EFL Learners

Despite the abundance of research evaluating the effects of task complexity, task types, and planning on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of the language produced by learners, most studies have focused on the syntactic aspect of complexity, with very few studies investigating the lexical part of complexity. Such studies explored the lexical performance of learners through using merely one measure of lexical complexity (namely diversity). The present study is an attempt to further explore the effects of task type and proficiency level on different aspects of lexical complexity of spontaneous speech monologs produced by intermediate and advanced Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 35 intermediate and advanced Iranian learners of English performed three different speaking tasks: an argumentation, a description and a narration task. The speech monologs were coded for three different aspects of lexical complexity: diversity, density, and sophistication. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the main effects of task type (the within-subjects variable) and proficiency level (the between-subjects variable) on lexical complexity. The results showed that task type and proficiency level both significantly affect lexical complexity in the participants’ task performance. The argumentation task yielded the highest scores for diversity and density, while the highest sophistication score was obtained for the narration task. There was no interaction between task type and proficiency level for the diversity and sophistication scores, and the advanced learners consistently got higher diversity and sophistication scores for all the three tasks, while there was an interaction between the two variables for the density scores; the advanced learners got higher density scores for the description and narration tasks but not on the argumentation task.

Possibilities and Drawbacks of Using an Online Application for Semi-automatic Corpus Analysis to Investigate Discourse Markers and Alternative Fluency Variables

To overcome planning phases in spontaneous speech production, learners and native speakers use strategies such as (un)filled pauses, smallwords or discourse markers. Small scale studies in this vein have demonstrated that learners differ from native speakers in that they underuse smallwords and discourse markers, and rely on other fluency-enhancing strategies instead. In the present paper, we present a corpus-based study, which investigates fluency-enhancing strategies in four components of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI; Gilquin et al. 2010), covering four learner English varieties, namely Spanish, German, Bulgarian and Japanese. We investigate 216 different fluencemes (i.e. fluency-enhancing features; Götz in Fluency in native and nonnative English speech, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2013) in 200 transcribed interviews with advanced learners of English. An online coding application, which was specially designed and programmed for this project, enables us to cover such a large amount of data. We report on the design, functionality and (dis-)advantages of the online application, the multilevel-coding system we implemented, and the methodological challenges we face in detail. We will also present the findings of one first pilot study where we exhibit considerable variation between and within learners of particular native languages concerning fluenceme frequencies, while distributional patterns of fluencemes are rather similar across varieties.

Acquisition of aspect in L2: The computation of event completion by Japanese learners of English

AbstractPrevious studies on the acquisition of semantics in the aspectual domain have suggested that a difficult case for achieving a targetlike representation in a second language arises when learners need to preempt a first language (L1) option (Gabriele, 2009). This study investigates this issue by focusing on a learning scenario where predicate-level variability exists in the L1 input. We investigate whether Japanese learners of English can learn to invalidate event cancellation readings (Tsujimura, 2003) in English and how such knowledge develops with increasing English proficiency. We address these questions by examining how Japanese learners of English interpret accomplishment predicates that allow an event cancellation reading in Japanese but not in English. A truth-value judgment task was administered to 60 beginner, 96 intermediate, and 40 advanced Japanese learners of English as well as 20 L1 English and 20 L1 Japanese speakers. Our results showed that Japanese learners of English progressed toward a targetlike representation of aspectual entailment. We argue that such progress follows two parallel routes: a grammatical route rooted in the learners’ growing awareness of the English determiner and number morphology combined with a statistical route rooted in the learners’ inferences based on missing data.

Slowly but surely: Interpreting facilitates L2 morphological anticipation based on suprasegmental and segmental information

AbstractNative speakers use suprasegmental information to predict words, but less is known about segmental information. Moreover, anticipatory studies with non-native speakers are scarce and mix proficiency with anticipatory experience. To address these limitations, we investigated whether Spanish monolinguals and advanced English learners of Spanish use suprasegmentals (stress: oxytone, paroxytone) and segmentals (syllabic structure: CVC, CV) to predict word suffixes, and whether increased anticipatory experience acquired via interpreting will facilitate anticipation in non-interpreting L2 situations. Eye-tracking data revealed that: (1) the three groups made use of the linguistic variables, and L2 groups did not anticipate in CV paroxytones; (2) everybody anticipated better with the less frequent conditions (oxytones, CVC) having fewer lexical competitors; (3) monolinguals anticipated earlier than L2 learners; and (4) interpreters anticipated at a faster rate in some conditions. These findings indicate that less frequent suprasegmental and segmental information and anticipatory experience facilitate native and non-native spoken word prediction.

L2-constructions that go together – more on valency constructions and learner language

AbstractThis paper sets out to illustrate differences between learner language and the language of native speakers by a number of tests carried out with students of English at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.The first part of the experiment aims at testing knowledge of collocations: In order to compare to what extent combinations of certain words are stored in the constructica of native speakers and advanced learners of English, we used the test battery developed by Dąbrowska (2014): although, as was to be expected, on the whole, native speakers displayed a much greater competence at judging which combinations of words can be regarded as established collocations, interestingly, some learners outperformed some native speakers.The second part of the project was designed to explore the number and types of different valency constructions informants produce on being provided with a verbal stimulus. It is very interesting to see that, given the stimulus wordcaught, for example, the non-native speakers would predominantly produce sentences withpolice, thief, murderer, suspectetc. which do not rank amongst the 50 top collexemes ofcaughtin the British National Corpus.We would thus argue that an analysis of the words used in particular slots of argument structure constructions (i.e. the collexemes or itecxes) provides a useful means of characterizing the language of advanced learners and to underscore the importance of collo-phenomena in language teaching.

Dynamicity of perceived willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and anxiety in Second Life: the case of two advanced learners of English

The first part of the paper offers the characteristics of the affective variables of willingness to communicate, motivation, language anxiety and boredom as located within the framework of the complex dynamic systems. The second part aims to discuss the results of a study intended to examine the effect of Second Life on two English philology students’ changes in the levels of willingness to communicate, motivation, language anxiety and boredom. The data collected via session logs underwent both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results indicated changes in the levels of the variables in question both during single visits and from one visit to another. These changes in the constructs in question were affected by a number of positive (e.g. interesting topics, the possibility to discuss common interests, comprehending the output produced by interlocutors) and negative (e.g. unpleasant SL users, monotony, no willing to talk SL users, previous negative experience) factors.

ESL Written development at home and abroad: taking a closer look at vocabulary

ABSTRACT The present study examines the development of second language (L2) vocabulary in writing comparing two different learning contexts, formal instruction (FI) at home followed by a 3-month stay abroad (SA). Data were obtained from a group of 30 Catalan/Spanish advanced learners of English before and after each learning period by means of a written composition. These compositions were analyzed quantitatively in terms of lexical measures in various domains, such as diversity, density, sophistication and accuracy. Baseline data from 29 native speakers of English, elicited through the same task, were also used for comparison purposes. Our results reveal that the different aspects of lexical proficiency in L2 writing do not develop in the same manner across the two learning contexts. While SA is particularly beneficial for lexical diversity, lexical accuracy seems to flourish after both FI and SA learning periods. Learners also achieve more native-like behaviour in terms of spelling and lexical sophistication after SA. These findings are interpreted together with the relevance of the selected measures used in the study.

The effect of watching captioned TV series on speaking accuracy of Iranian advanced EFL learners

The present study aimed to find out the effect of watching captioned TV series on speaking accuracy of Iranian advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner. To do so, 66 advanced learners were selected out of 104 ones, using Oxford Placement Test. The researchers assigned the participants randomly into three groups, one control and two experimental, each including 22 learners. One of the experimental groups watched the series with English subtitles and the other group with Persian subtitles while the control group (CG) watched the same series without any subtitles. The form of the pre-test and post-test was semi-structured interview. Before the treatment, the participants were asked questions about friendship, similar to the theme of the series and after the treatment they were asked the same questions as the post-test. The results indicated that both English and Persian subtitling had a positive impact on the accuracy of Iranian advanced English learners. Furthermore, it was found that oral accuracy did not considerably change in the CG, but there were significant improvements in English subtitle and Persian subtitle groups in oral accuracy. Moreover, the study has insights and implications for EFL/English as second language teachers and curriculum designers.
 Keywords: Advanced English as a Foreign Language learners, English subtitles, Persian subtitles, speaking accuracy

On the Acceptance of the Null That by Bilingual Catalan/Spanish L2 Learners of English

The research presented in this article aims at providing new data on L2 learner knowledge and recognition of the null that in complement clauses. The speech of English native speakers reveals a kind of variation which implies that where that may be present or absent in clauses selected by many common verbs such as say or think there is no preference for one of the two options. In this article, judgement data of bilingual Catalan/Spanish upper-intermediate and advanced L2 learners of English are analysed bearing in mind two possible factors that, according to previous research, may influence the acceptance of this phenomenon, level of proficiency and absence versus presence of instruction. A relevant issue regarding this construction is that performing like a native does not always imply using one grammatical structure in the target language and gradually doing away with the use of another ungrammatical one; it rather implies being able to detect native speaker frequency in the use of one of the two possible options, overt that usage or the null that. Our results show that learning in this domain depends more on degree in language proficiency than in the specific instruction provided, that both choices do not pose the same difficulty and that advanced L2 learners of English can display a native-like acceptance of the null that option. The option that presents more challenges is the one where there is no L1 facilitation.

How useful are corpus tools for error correction? Insights from learner data

This study contributes to the growing literature on data-driven learning in ESL/EFL instruction, examining how advanced English learners choose to use corpus tools for error correction on their own following classroom training. Controlled L2 production and survey data from U.S.-based EAP students were collected over the course of four consecutive semesters and then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The research examined how learners approach the correction of different type of errors using corpus tools and which types of errors could be more successfully corrected with these tools. The results of a Chi Square Test indicated that participants’ success at error correction depended on the type of error being addressed (p < .001). While local lexicogrammatical errors were chosen by learners to be corrected in over half of all participant revisions, these corrections were inappropriate more often than corrections of register errors. Survey data and qualitative analysis of errors further revealed that participants often struggle with identifying the context of the concordance lines and sorting through multiple lines to identify patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications and pedagogical recommendations.

Reference to kinds in L2 English

This study investigated the acquisition of kind referring noun phrase interpretation in L2 English by learners with Turkish, Arabic and Chinese L1 backgrounds. 37 advanced learners of English with Turkish (10), Arabic (10) and Chinese (10) L1 backgrounds, and 7 native English speakers were recruited. The tasks were a 48-item Fill in the gaps task and a 64-item Acceptability judgment task. The results indicated that: (a) native speakers, and L2 learners mostly produced bare plurals for count nouns and bare singulars for mass nouns for kind reference; (b) L2 learners of English transferred the morphosyntactic manifestation of kind reference from their L1s, substantiating the Full Transfer Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz &amp; Sprouse, 1996); and (c) the similarity between the participants’ L1s and L2 did not always lead them to produce correct noun forms and articles for kind reference, neither did such a similarity consistently help the learners in their acceptability judgments for kind reference.