L1 Influence Research Articles

Pragmatic Competence of Korean EFL Learners: An Analysis of Interlanguage Pragmatics in the Speech Act of Complaining*

The purpose of this study is to investigate the pragmatic competence of Korean EFL learners in the communicative act of complaining. This study attempt to find out whether there are differences between Native Speakers (NS) and Non-Native Speakers (NNS) in terms of their use of semantic formula when carrying out the speech act of complaining. In addition, the participants’ choice for carrying out or opting out the actual act of complaining was considered as an influential factor that plays an essential role in their pragmatic competence. Lastly, Native Korean Speakers (NKS) were also included in the study in order to determine whether there are L1 influences. 13 participants (2 NS, 7 NNS, 4 NKS) participated in Discourse Role-Play Tasks (DRPT) which included 7 situations where they had to formulate a complaint. Furthermore, they were to specify whether they would opt out or carry out the actual complaint in authentic situations. The results of the study showed that there were NS and NNS differed in terms of their use of semantic formula. For instance, NNS were shown to be overly sensitive to politeness strategies in addition to using a wide range of semantic formulae that characterize their complaints as indirect. Moreover, their choices and reasons for opting out were shown to be influential in their final oral product. Related conclusive remarks and pedagogical implications are provided.

Language Testing: The Influence of L1 on L2 Usage of Vocabulary Acquisition Among Thai Learners

This paper will explore the necessity of appropriate language testing for native Thai English as a Second Language educators and native Thai English as a Second Language learners in the vocabulary acquisition of English as a second language, and in the prediction of what influence Thai, the first language, may exert on the vocabulary acquisition of English as a second language.

“It’s always different when you look something from the inside”

The article discusses linguistic creativity in informal Skype conversations between university students from eight different European countries. The basis for the study is theCorpus of Academic Spoken English(CASE), a corpus of Skype conversations in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) context. With the help of qualitative examples, the article examines innovative language use and proposes a taxonomy for functionally accepted innovations, distinguishing instances of L1 influence, approximations and ad hoc innovation. Our findings point towards an assertive and creative perspective on language use, which seems to have a positive influence on the communicative setting, e.g. illustrated by code-switching in combination with laughter. CASE participants use non-standard forms and innovations freely, accommodating to each others’ language use. They also establish their own ephemeral communication strategies and showcase and emphasize their respective language and cultural backgrounds.

L1 influence on the processing of L2 collocation: An experimental study of Korean EFL learners

The current study aimed to investigate the influence of L1 on the processing of L2 collocations utilizing a phrase-acceptability judgement task. The task was conducted on 39 English collocations with 19 native speakers of English and 45 Korean EFL learners. Their error rates and reaction times were measured both on the congruent collocations that have L1 translation equivalents and the incongruent collocations that do not have ones. It was found that the advanced EFL learners responded significantly faster to and made fewer errors on both the congruent and the incongruent collocations than the intermediate EFL learners. Meanwhile, both the advanced and the intermediate EFL learners made significantly more errors and responded slower under incongruent condition, indicating a strong congruency effect. The results implied that there exists a high degree of reliance on L1 intralexical knowledge in processing L2 collocations by the EFL learners, and acquiring incongruent L2 collocations seems still challenging even to the advanced learners. However, it was also suggested that once EFL learners notice incongruent collocations as valid ones and store them in their L2 mental lexicon, they may be able to processing incongruent collocations as efficiently as native speakers, directly linking L2 collocation forms to their concepts independently of L1 mediation. (Hanyang University)

L2 Spanish preverbal ‘se’ in analysis and production data

This study looks at both the knowledge and use of the Spanish pronoun se mainly with unaccusative predicates in the interlanguage of an adult English speaker learning Spanish as a Second Language (L2) in a native, non-institutional setting. Data recorded from the learner’s production along with other similar data were presented to him as a written acceptability judgment task. A comparison was made with the outcome of the task in order to have a more comprehensive view of his linguistic competence. The results seem to confirm those of previous studies in that the learner overgeneralizes the use of the clitic se. They also suggest that the development of L2 knowledge may involve a process of construction resulting in structures not present either in the native language (L1) or the L2, which show in certain fossilized errors. It is argued that these structures originate in the interaction of Universal Grammar principles and both L1 and L2 influence.

The Development of Morphological Awareness in Young Bilinguals: Effects of Age and L1 Background.

Current understanding about the effect of first language (L1) background on morphological awareness (MA) development in those who are bilingual is largely limited to school-aged second-language learners. This study examined the development of MA in bilingual Mandarin-English (ManEngBi) and Spanish-English (SpaEngBi) children ages 4 to 7 years, whose L1 is predominated by compounding and derivation, respectively. We targeted specific word formation rules that develop within different developmental time frames. Forty-two ManEngBi, 30 SpaEngBi, and 27 English monolingual children divided into 4- to 5-year-old and 6- to 7-year-old age groups produced English words using compounding, the derivational agentive -er suffix, and the derivational characteristic -y suffix for both real and novel word roots. The characteristic -y suffix consistently elicited the poorest performance. This finding held true regardless of language group, age, or novelty of prompts. Both older SpaEngBi and English monolingual children outperformed older ManEngBi children in the characteristic -y suffix, whereas the three groups performed comparably on the other two rules at both age intervals. Error analysis further suggested influence of cross-linguistic features. L1 influence on English MA development is sensitive to the developmental time frame of word formation rules. Future studies on the development of MA in bilingual children should adopt a more fine-grained approach and include a wider age range.

Strength of garden-path effects in native and non-native speakers’ processing of object–subject ambiguities

Aims and objectives: Our study addresses the following research questions: To what extent is L2 comprehenders’ online sensitivity to morphosyntactic disambiguation cues affected by L1 background? Does noticing the error signal trigger successful reanalysis in both L1 and L2 comprehension? Can previous findings suggesting that case is a better reanalysis cue than agreement be replicated and extended to L2 processing when using closely matched materials? Design/methodology/approach: We carried out a self-paced reading study using temporarily ambiguous object-initial sentences in German. These were disambiguated either by number marking on the verb or by nominative case marking on the subject. End-of-trial comprehension questions probed whether or not our participants ultimately succeeded in computing the correct interpretation. Data and analysis: We tested a total of 121 participants (25 Italian, 32 Russian, 32 Korean and 32 native German speakers), measuring their word-by-word reading times and comprehension accuracy. The data were analysed using linear mixed-effects and logistic regression modelling. Findings/conclusions: All three learner groups showed online sensitivity to both case and agreement disambiguation cues. Noticing case disambiguations did not necessarily lead to a correct interpretation, whereas noticing agreement disambiguations did. We conclude that intermediate to advanced learners are sensitive to morphosyntactic interpretation cues during online processing regardless of whether or not corresponding grammatical distinctions exist in their L1. Our results also suggest that case is not generally a better reanalysis cue than agreement. Originality: Our three L2 participant groups’ native languages were carefully chosen so as to create systematic typological contrasts. Our experimental materials and conditions were more closely matched compared to previous studies on German object-initial sentences, and our experimental design allowed us to link participants’ reading profiles to successful comprehension. Significance/implications: L1 influence on L2 processing is more limited than might be expected. Contra previous findings, even intermediate learners show sensitivity to both agreement and case information during processing.

What constrains simultaneous mastery of first and second language word use?

Aims and objectives: We examined the bi-directional interaction of first language (L1) and second language (L2) word use patterns by asking whether L2 patterns of word use can be acquired with intensive exposure in a laboratory setting, and whether this early stage of L2 learning would impact L1 performance. Methodology: In two experiments, native speakers of English first labeled drinking vessels in English, then received intensive training on L2 Russian naming patterns for the objects, and, lastly, labeled the objects in English again. Data and analysis: Data were collected from eight different training groups with 14–15 participants each plus a control group with 14 participants who did not learn L2 Russian. Findings/conclusions: Trained participants successfully acquired L2 Russian patterns of word use regardless of specific training condition. However, they showed significantly less consistency in L1 English post-test labeling than the control group. Originality: Neither full acquisition of L2 patterns nor their simultaneous impact on L1 choices has been previously demonstrated. Significance/implications: These outcomes suggest that acquisition of target-like L2 word use can be facilitated by intensive exposure to word-referent mappings. However, even in the early stages of L2 learning, a L2 influence may be manifested in the L1 as a destabilization of word-to-referent mappings, suggesting continuous dynamic interaction between the two languages.

Disentangling SLI and bilingualism using sentence repetition tasks: the impact of L1 and L2 properties

The current study investigated performance on morpho-syntax in Russian–Hebrew sequential bilingual preschool children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) in both languages (L1 Russian and L2 Hebrew) using sentence repetition (SRep) tasks with a fundamental aim to disentangle the language abilities of bilingual children with typical language development (biTLD) from those of bilingual children with SLI (biSLI). Four groups of children participated ( N=85) in the study: 45 L1 Russian–L2 Hebrew sequential bilinguals (30 biTLD and 15 biSLI), 20 monolingual Russian-speaking children and 20 monolingual Hebrew-speaking children. The SRep tasks in Russian and in Hebrew were based on Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) SRep developed within COST Action IS0804 titled “Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment”. The tasks in Russian and in Hebrew contained 56 sentences of different length and complexity. The bilingual–monolingual comparisons yielded differences only in L1 Russian, where the monolingual Russian-speaking children outperformed bilingual children with typical language development (TLD) in their first language. In L2 Hebrew, no significant differences emerged between monolingual speakers of Hebrew and bilinguals. Comparisons of bilingual children with and without SLI showed that both the quantity and the quality of errors differentiate the two bilingual groups. In both languages (L1 and L2), bilingual children with TLD outperformed their peers with SLI. Bilingual children with SLI produced specific error patterns like those previously reported for monolingual children with SLI, i.e. omission of coordinators and subordinators, omission of prepositions, and simplification of wh-questions and relative clauses. These error patterns are unique to children with SLI and cannot be attributed to L1–L2 influence, while the errors of children in the biTLD group can be traced to cross-linguistic influence (mostly L2 influence on L1). We conclude that SRep tasks are an effective means to bring us closer to distinguishing bilingual children with SLI from those with TLD. They allow us to make quantitative and qualitative comparisons of performance and errors. But, perhaps more importantly, they point to underlying grammatical representations, in particular those linked to cross-linguistic influence and reduced exposure, as a way of distinguishing bilingual children with and without SLI.

Second language influence on first language motion event encoding and categorization in Spanish-speaking children learning L2 English

Studies show cross-linguistic differences in motion event encoding, such that English speakers preferentially encode manner of motion more than Spanish speakers, who preferentially encode path of motion. Focusing on native Spanish speaking children (aged 5;00–9;00) learning L2 English, we studied path and manner verb preferences during descriptions of motion stimuli, and tested the linguistic relativity hypothesis by investigating categorization preferences in a non-verbal similarity judgement task of motion clip triads. Results revealed L2 influence on L1 motion event encoding, such that bilinguals used more manner verbs and fewer path verbs in their L1, under the influence of English. We found no effects of linguistic structure on non-verbal similarity judgements, and demonstrate for the first time effects of L2 on L1 lexicalization in child L2 learners in the domain of motion events. This pattern of verbal behaviour supports theories of bilingual semantic representation that postulate a merged lexico-semantic system in early bilinguals.

A Corpus-based Study on Chinese EFL Learners' Acquisition of English Existential Construction

This corpus-based study examines English existential construction used by intermediate and advanced level Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The corpora adopted are the sub-corpora of SWECCL2.0—TEM 4 Oral and TEM 8 Oral and a sub-corpora of COCA. The study concludes Chinese EFL learners tend to overuse English existential construction and prefer the basic tenses, simple intransitive verbs and commonly seen expressions, avoid the perfect tenses and the difficult forms. With the level of proficiency in English getting higher, Chinese students try to use fewer English existential sentences. The study also finds errors relevant to the tenses, agreements and misuse of “there + have” pattern made in TEM 4 Oral and more difficult participle errors made in TEM 8 Oral and the main reason of errors made in English existential acquisition is due to L1 transfer/ L1 influence

On the sum of the L 1 influences of bounded functions

Let f: {-1, 1} n → [-1, 1] have degree d as a multilinear polynomial. It is well-known that the total influence of f is at most d. Aaronson and Ambainis asked whether the total L 1 influence of f can also be bounded as a function of d. Backurs and Bavarian answered this question in the affirmative, providing a bound of O(d 3) for general functions and O(d 2) for homogeneous functions. We improve on their results by providing a bound of d 2 for general functions and O(d log d) for homogeneous functions. In addition, we prove a bound of d/(2p) + o(d) for monotone functions, and provide a matching example.

Age and type of instruction (CLIC vs. traditional EFL) in lexical development

<p>The present paper compares the vocabulary development of a group of CLIL and of traditional EFL learners along three years. The observation that a CLIL approach might provide with larger benefits in the long run vocabulary is the starting point of this study. We had learners in the two groups complete a letter writing task. These writings were then scrutinized for L1 influence in the form of borrowings and lexical creations. The frequency of the words in the letters was also object of analysis. Results revealed that CLIL learners perform slightly better but non-significantly better than traditional EFL along the three years. Furthermore, the evolution of L1 influence and word use also followed an expected improvement pattern as learners went up grade. However, our results do not provide evidence of a growing CLIL advantage with increasing experience. The young age and low proficiency of learners in the present study might be blocking this possible advantage found elsewhere.</p>

Global foreign accent rating of code-switched and L2-only sentences

Recent studies of short-term phonetic interference suggest that code-switching can lead to momentary increases in L1 influence on L2. In an earlier study using a single acoustic measure (VOT), we found that Czech EFL learners’ pronunciation of English voiceless stops had shorter, i.e. more L1-Czech-like, VOTs in codeswitched compared to L2-only sentences. The first aim of the current study was to test the prediction that native listeners would judge the code-switched English productions as more foreign-accented than the L2-only productions. The results provide only weak support for this prediction. The second aim was to test whether more native-like VOT values would correlate with improved accentedness scores. This was confirmed for sentence-initial stops.

Cognate Effect and Lexical Processing in English-Spanish and Spanish-English Bilinguals

Cognates have served as a useful tool for investigating the bilingual lexicon inmany studies, but very little research has been carried out on different types ofcognates, specifically, partial cognates and their role in cross-linguistic effect.The present study examines cognate effect in the speech production and acceptabilityjudgment of two groups of highly proficient, late-onset English-Spanish(n = 12) and Spanish-English (n = 12) bilinguals within a single-language (English)context. The findings of two tasks, a production task, whereby participants wereasked to spontaneously produce synonyms to prompt words, and an acceptabilityjudgment task of a variety of sentences including use of false and partial English-Spanish cognates are reported here, framed within non-selective, integrated modelsof lexical representation. The results suggest a significant cognate effect in both bilingualgroups in both tasks compared to their monolingual counterparts with, surprisingly,greater significance demonstrated from L2 to L1 influence, particularly inproduction. These findings add to the growing support for semantic modulation atthe conceptual level of lexical processing in highly proficient bilinguals.doi:10.5294/laclil.2016.9.1.8

Bi-directional cross-linguistic influence in bilingual Russian-Hebrew children

Abstract This study examines cross-linguistic influence of L1 on L2 and L2 on L1 and the extent to which age of L2 onset (L2 AoO) is linked to the acquisition of morpho-syntactic properties in both languages of bilingual children who acquire L1-Russian as a heritage language and L2-Hebrew as a majority language. Our investigation of L1-L2 influence focuses on morpho-syntactic features, whose configurations vary in Russian and Hebrew. Definiteness is realized in Hebrew (but not in Russian), aspect is selected in Russian (but not in Hebrew), and [ACC] case is realized in both languages (but the mapping is different across the two languages); finally, the features of [Person], [Number] and [Gender] are mapped onto verbal inflections in both languages. A total of 110 Russian-Hebrew bilingual children aged 5;5–6;5 with varying ages of L2-Hebrew onset (0–60 months), 20 Hebrew-speaking monolinguals and 20 Russian-speaking monolinguals participated. Results demonstrate cross-linguistic influence, showing that it is bi-directional (L1 on L2 and L2 on L1). The patterns of cross-linguistic influence were similar: bilinguals performed similarly to monolinguals on features, with similar configurations in L1 and L2 (i.e., subject-verb agreement) but performed lower for properties realized differently in L1 and L2 (i.e., [DEF] articles in L2-Hebrew; [PERF] aspect and [ACC] case inflections in L1-Russian). The results also showed an effect of L2 AoO on the acquisition of both L1 and L2. Children with earlier AoO to L2-Hebrew (before 24 months) achieve better mastery in L2-Hebrew and performed lower in L1-Russian. Conversely, later AoOs to L2, led to better mastery of L1 and weaknesses in the acquisition of L2. Findings are discussed in light of the Feature Re-assembly Hypothesis.

Arabic Language Influence on the Iraqi EFL Tertiary Learners’ Use of Grammatical Cohesive Devices in their Argumentative Essays

This study intends to shed light on the significant role that language rhetoric and cultural differences play in affecting the EFL learners’ written discourse. Thus, it investigates the effects of Arabic language as a mother tongue (L1) on the use of English grammatical cohesive devices in the argumentative essays of 20 Iraqi EFL tertiary students in their third year study in English Department, College of Arts, Al Iraqiya University. By identifying Arabic rhetoric and the cultural differences that are involved in the students’ use of grammatical cohesion, it will be able to determine which types of grammatical cohesion are actually influenced and which are more affected. In addition, it intends to identify the effects of Arabic as L1 through exploring the Iraqi students’ appropriate and inappropriate uses of English grammatical cohesive devices in their argumentative essays. To achieve this, it employed two writing tests: pre and post as well as a background educational questionnaire. First, a background educational questionnaire was administered on 90 students. It included some questions which asked the participants about the usefullness and role of Arabic writing in general and grammatical cohesion in specific in their English essays. Next, a diagnostic test, including two topics, was given to the participants and they were asked to choose one of them in order to write an argumentative essay. The purpose of this test was to elicit information about the students’ ability to use appropriately the different types of grammatical cohesion in their argumentative essays. For post- pre-test, the participants received a training in cohesion and coherence similar to CATW approach in which they were trained, in a whole semester, on way to read a passage critically and make a paraphrase and then write an argumentative essay based on this paraphrasing. At the end of the semester, they sat for a final test in which two reading passages were given to the students and they were asked to write an argumentative based on them. The findings of the two writing tests, based on a qualitative content analysis, indicated that the participants, in the final test, used more appropriate uses of the four types of grammatical devices (reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunctions). Based on a contrastive analysis, the results also revealed that the influence of Arabic in the pre test was very clear. In contrast, the influence of L1 in the final test was considerably less than that in the pre-test. Additionally, the results of the questionnaire showed that Arabic writing and its grammatical cohesive devices have a big influence on the use of English grammatical devices in the students’ argumentative essays.

Misperception patterns of American English consonants by Japanese listeners in reverberant and noisy environments

Perceiving non-native sounds in adverse listening environments is challenging, even for proficient learners. An identification experiment in quiet, three reverberant (RT = 0.78 s, 1.12 s, 1.43 s) and multispeaker babble + reverberant environments was carried out to investigate the relation of listening environments and non-native language proficiency. This research aims to elucidate (1) Japanese and English listeners’ identification of intervocalic English consonants in quiet and adverse listening environments, and (2) the correlation of identification rates with the Japanese listeners’ TOEIC® scores, age of onset of English acquisition and length of residence in English-speaking countries. Results showed (1) English listeners achieved significantly higher overall identification rates compared to Japanese listeners on the subset of 11 consonants /f ʤ ʒ l ɹ s ʃ θ ð v z/ that are often difficult for Japanese to accurately identify, and (2) positive correlations between identification rates and English proficiency measured by means of TOEIC® scores and LOR. Analysis of misperception patterns revealed that an increased amount of background disturbance led proficient listeners’ misperception patterns to resemble those of the lower proficiency listeners, as in the example of native listeners misperceiving /g/ as /ð/ in RT = 1.12 s and highly proficient Japanese misperceiving /g/ as /ð/, /ɹ/, and /l/, and lower group as /ð/ and /l/. The degradation of identification accuracy as background disturbance increased shed light on how one's L1 and L2 proficiency influence speech perception.

Pronunciation and Comprehension in English as a Lingua Franca Communication: Effect of L1 Influence in International Aviation Communication

This article explores the issues of pronunciation and comprehension in the English as a lingua franca (ELF) context of pilot–air traffic controller radiotelephony communication, and how these are handled in the proficiency rating scale globally used to assess pilots and air traffic controllers engaging in international flight and air traffic control. Based on an analysis of live radiotelephony discourse, feedback from aviation experts on sources of miscommunication, and an investigation of the phonetic features of key turns in the discourse, we present results indicating that L1-influenced pronunciation is one of the major factors causing miscommunication on the part of the speaker, together with unfamiliarity with the pronunciation on the part of the listener. Findings also suggest the descriptors for the Pronunciation and Comprehension criteria in the rating scale do not reflect the ways language users deal with these matters in their work. This study therefore argues that a new conceptualization of proficiency is needed for taking up the real matters in the assessment of ELF in the aviation context and other ELF contexts at large.

The Development of Writing Skills in an Italian-English Two-Way Immersion Program: Evidence from First Through Fifth Grade

ABSTRACTThis study examines the writing skills of students in grades 1 to 5 of an Italian-English two-way immersion program. Narrative writing samples were collected in both languages and scored for content, organization, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, text length, and overall total score. The results show that writing skills improved as a function of grade. Although children from Italian-English bilingual homes obtained higher Italian scores than English-only students, both groups achieved moderate-to-advanced levels of writing proficiency in both languages by the upper grades, suggesting that the program was successful in promoting bilingualism and biliteracy. Total scores and scores for the various subcomponents were positively and significantly correlated across languages, even after controlling for grade. Associations were stronger for global components like content and organization; smaller but significant correlations were also found for language-specific measures like grammar and vocabulary. We interpret these findings as evidence of the mutual influence of L1 and L2 writing skills in typologically and orthographically related languages.