L1 English L2 Research Articles

Relative difficulty in the L2 acquisition of the Spanish dorsal fricative

Research on relative difficulty in L2 production has revealed that learners target the most salient parameter when acquiring new sounds (Colantoni & Steele, 2008). For example, L1 English-L2 French learners acquire the more salient fricative manner of the French /ʁ/ before the voicing and duration parameters (Colantoni & Steele, 2007, 2008). Previous work in this framework has not compared the acquisition of place and manner parameters. If the more salient parameter is targeted first, we should expect L2 learners to acquire the manner of articulation before the place of articulation, given that manner is a more salient feature than place (Miller & Nicely, 1955; Bedoin et al., 2013). This hypothesis was tested by investigating the L2 production of the Spanish voiceless dorsal fricative by L1 English speakers living in Madrid, a region in which the fricative has a strident realization (Hualde, 2014) and a uvular place of articulation (Ibabe et al., 2016). Fourteen L1 English-L2 Spanish speakers and 14 native Spanish controls performed a picture description task that elicited the target in two vocalic contexts: [aχe, eχa]. An acoustic analysis revealed that the L2 speakers produced fricatives with a similar amplitude compared to controls. However, in the [eχa] context, the learners produced fricatives with a more anterior place of articulation and less frication. The results are consistent with the finding from previous work that learners focus on the most salient property when learning new segments, and provide further evidence that vocalic context is an important factor in production difficulty.

L2 and Heritage Korean Tense Morphology in Discourse: Interplay between Lexical and Discursive Meaning

This article reports on a study examining the tense and aspect morphology in oral narratives from L1 English L2 learners and heritage speakers of Korean, focusing on the relative contribution of lexical and discursive meaning in non-European languages by comparing the predictions of Discourse Hypothesis and Aspect Hypothesis. We also examine heritage speakers’ acquisition to discover whether an early age of acquisition, despite significant attrition later in life, leads to more native-like attainment of Korean. Unlike previous studies, our results suggest that discursive factors play a more significant role than lexical factors in determining the tense/aspect choice, and that temporal categories are interpreted indexically in the early stage of development.

Revisiting (Non-)Native Influence in VOT Production: Insights from Advanced L3 Spanish

A growing body of research investigating cross-linguistic influence on the acquisition of a third phonological system suggests that first (L1) and second (L2) languages concur in influencing oral production in the target third language (L3). Yet, there are also claims of either a more noticeable effect of the L2 on the L3, or a prevailing influence from the L1. This study further explores whether the L1 and the L2 compete or converge on exerting influence on L3 pronunciation. To do so, we examine the production of voice onset time for voiceless stops by adult advanced learners of L3 Spanish divided into two groups (15 L1 English-L2 French, and 15 L1 French-L2 English speakers). Three monolingual control groups were also tested. Participants were recorded reading word lists that contained voiceless stops in stressed onset position. A Kruskal-Wallis test uncovered significant differences traceable to the L1-English speakers, which puts them at a slight disadvantage vis-à-vis their Francophone counterparts. These results favor claims of a more decisive role for the L1 in L3 pronunciation. We compare our results to findings from previous studies targeting intermediate learners, and find proficiency in the L3 may account for the observed differences.

Lexical and semantic connections in number words translation

The present study investigated the influence of lexical links and conceptual mediation in number word translation. In four experiments, a semantic blocking paradigm was used with numerical stimuli and stimuli from other non-number categories. The performance of Spanish L1–English L2 bilinguals was examined in backward and forward translation (Experiment 1 and 3), in naming Arabic digits and pictures (Experiment 2A) and in reading L1 and L2 words (Experiment 2B). The blocked context produced a facilitatory effect for numerical stimuli in the lower range. This result contrasts with the interference effect observed for stimuli from non-number categories in translation and naming tasks. These results are interpreted to mean that the translation of number words, particularly those in the lower range of the numeric sequence, takes place with a large influence of the lexical connections. It supports the suggestions that the influence of processing routes depends on the type of items.

Compounding and derivation

Abstract Inflectional affixes only adhere to the head of Noun-Noun (NN) compounds which implies that the plural of casa cuna (‘crib house’) or hombre lobo (‘werewolf’) is casa-s cuna (‘crib houses’) and hombre-s lobo (‘werewolves’) respectively, while *casa cuna-s and *hombre lobo-s ‒ with the plural inflectional affix on the modifier ‒ are ungrammatical. There seems to be more flexibility when it comes to derivational affixes since, in principle, the evaluative diminutive affix - ito appears to have scope over the whole compound, regardless of whether it is attached to the head or the modifier: cas-ita cuna / casa cun-ita and hombre-c-ito lobo / hombre lob-ito . This would imply that the operation that results in the expression of plurality of the whole word via the inflectional affix - s located on the semantic argument (the head of the compound), is more categorical than the one that regulates the scope of derivational morphemes (contra Zwicky, 1985). It would also imply that Cinque’s (2005) proposal according to which modifiers can c-command Nouns may be more in line with the behaviour of derivational affixes in Spanish NN compounds. Since this is a topic that has neither been discussed by Spanish grammarians nor received attention in the psycholinguistic literature, we have administered a Picture Selection Task with NN compounds exhibiting evaluative diminutive affixes to groups of L1 Spanish and L1 English-L2 Spanish speakers. Results show that for L1 Spanish speakers it is the affix on the head that has scope over the whole compound (in line with Zwicky’s 1985 proposal) while the L2 Spanish speakers treat derivational affixes as only having scope over the element to which they are attached.

Facilitating morphosyntactic and semantic prediction among second language speakers of German

ABSTRACTUsing two visual priming experiments, the present study investigates whether presenting facilitative semantic (i.e. colour) and morphosyntactic (i.e. grammatical gender) information in a prime image prior to reading a target sentence facilitates naming of a sentence-final target image among L1 German and L1 English-L2 German speakers. In Experiment 1, L1 and L2 German speakers used both semantic and gender cues to predict the sentence-final target image. In Experiment 2, a new group of L2 German speakers used gender cues to predict, but this effect was stronger when gender information was provided via a gender-marked indefinite article and adjective in the prime, than when the prime contained only the gender-marked article. These results suggest that if L2 speakers are able to overcome unstable and often inaccurate L2 gender assignment, they can use gender cues in a native-like manner for prediction, but that multiple gender-marked cues may be necessary for such prediction to occur.

The representation of gender in the mind of Spanish-English bilinguals: Insights from code-switched Adjectival Predicates

This study examines bilinguals’ gender use strategies in code-switched agreement (i.e. the moon is bonita) and concord (i.e. la moon) structures. Thirty-five L1 Spanish-L2 English adult bilinguals and 43 L1 English-L2 Spanish adults with an intermediate (N=18) or advanced (N=25) level of proficiency in Spanish completed an acceptability judgment task in which they rated code-switched Adjectival Predicates and DPs. The results show that only the L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals prefer the Adj (in the case of agreement) or the D (in the case of concord) to be marked for the gender of the Spanish translation equivalent of the English N, but that all groups rate agreement structures higher than concord structures. Both of these findings corroborate previous work on intrasentential code-switching, however, this is the first study to offer an account for the contrast in processing difficulty between agreement and concord structures. We argue that this difference can be explained in terms of the way in which the features are valued in agreement and in concord. Under the double-feature valuation mechanism (Liceras et al., 2008) in agreement both features are valued in a single direction, while in concord the features are valued in two different directions. It is this unidirectionality of the feature valuation mechanism in agreement that makes code-switched agreement structures such as Adjectival Predicates easier to process.

Interaction of drift and distinctiveness in L1 English-L2 Japanese learners

Dynamic L2 effects on L1 phonetics appear in experienced and novice second language learners, raising the question of what linguistic and cognitive factors determine their occurrence, degree, and direction (assimilatory versus dissimilatory). Unlike Chang (2012), our longitudinal data from voiceless stops in early L1 English:L2 Japanese learners show primarily dissimilatory increase in English VOTs, an effect found most strongly early in their first semester. Assimilatory L1 drift toward the lower VOTs of L2 Japanese may be disfavored because a decrease in English voiceless stop VOT could threaten the L1 contrast between long and short lag stops. Furthermore, dissimilatory VOT increase on voiceless stops allows English speakers to distinguish phonetically similar L1 and L2 voiceless stops (e.g., Flege and Eefting 1987). These two principles predict that our voiced stop data could show increased L1 prevoicing (an assimilatory effect that would not endanger the English voicing contrast), while also displaying non-identical prevoicing/short-lag values for L1 and L2 voiced stops (separating the languages, as for Huffman and Schuhmann’s (2016) English-Spanish learners). Overall, our data suggest that L1 changes in early L2 learning can be dissimilatory, and that phonetic properties of L1 and L2 contrasts affect how L1 values restructure during early L2 acquisition.Dynamic L2 effects on L1 phonetics appear in experienced and novice second language learners, raising the question of what linguistic and cognitive factors determine their occurrence, degree, and direction (assimilatory versus dissimilatory). Unlike Chang (2012), our longitudinal data from voiceless stops in early L1 English:L2 Japanese learners show primarily dissimilatory increase in English VOTs, an effect found most strongly early in their first semester. Assimilatory L1 drift toward the lower VOTs of L2 Japanese may be disfavored because a decrease in English voiceless stop VOT could threaten the L1 contrast between long and short lag stops. Furthermore, dissimilatory VOT increase on voiceless stops allows English speakers to distinguish phonetically similar L1 and L2 voiceless stops (e.g., Flege and Eefting 1987). These two principles predict that our voiced stop data could show increased L1 prevoicing (an assimilatory effect that would not endanger the English voicing contrast), while also displayi...

Language-independent talker-specificity in first-language and second-language speech production by bilingual talkers: L1 speaking rate predicts L2 speaking rate.

Second-language (L2) speech is consistently slower than first-language (L1) speech, and L1 speaking rate varies within- and across-talkers depending on many individual, situational, linguistic, and sociolinguistic factors. It is asked whether speaking rate is also determined by a language-independent talker-specific trait such that, across a group of bilinguals, L1 speaking rate significantly predicts L2 speaking rate. Two measurements of speaking rate were automatically extracted from recordings of read and spontaneous speech by English monolinguals (n = 27) and bilinguals from ten L1 backgrounds (n = 86): speech rate (syllables/second), and articulation rate (syllables/second excluding silent pauses). Replicating prior work, L2 speaking rates were significantly slower than L1 speaking rates both across-groups (monolinguals' L1 English vs bilinguals' L2 English), and across L1 and L2 within bilinguals. Critically, within the bilingual group, L1 speaking rate significantly predicted L2 speaking rate, suggesting that a significant portion of inter-talker variation in L2 speech is derived from inter-talker variation in L1 speech, and that individual variability in L2 spoken language production may be best understood within the context of individual variability in L1 spoken language production.

L2 lexical attrition and vocabulary re-learning in three L1 English L2 Japanese children

In this paper I review the evidence for the role of age in affecting second language attrition, and find it strongly supports a large difference in attrition around a breakpoint of age 8. I propose a Dynamic Attrition Model which posits that attrition sets in immediately upon the loss of contact with a language but the speed of loss differs depending on age. Three children who began their incubation periods at age 6, 8 and 10 are examined when they are re-exposed to Japanese 6 years later. All children showed strong savings rates but large losses to their L2 Japanese.

Acquisition of time and locative phrases in Mandarin Chinese

In this study we explore the role played by input saliency in L2 acquisition of the time phrase and the locative phrase in Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese the time phrase that indicates when an event takes place and the locative phrase that indicates where an event takes place are similar in that neither can occur after the verb. L1 English L2 learners of Chinese have to learn to place both phrases pre-verbally. Our goal is to find out whether learners acquire the placement of the two types of phrases equally well. On the basis of input saliency measured in terms of form-function mapping and type frequency, we predicted that the time phrase will be easier to acquire than the locative phrase. We then conducted an experiment and put the hypothesis to test on learners at an early stage. The findings largely support our hypothesis: Simple time phrases are easier to acquire than simple locative phrases for beginning learners. In addition, the same group of learners had difficulty with both complex time phrases and complex locative phrases, suggesting that structural complexity also plays a role.

Morphological processing during visual word recognition in Hebrew as a first and a second language

The present study examined whether sublexical morphological processing takes place during visual word-recognition in Hebrew, and whether morphological decomposition of written words depends on lexical activation of the complete word. Furthermore, it examined whether morphological processing is similar when reading Hebrew as a first language (L1) or as a second language (L2), and whether L1’s morphological background, Semitic or Indo-European, modulates morphological processing in L2 Hebrew (a Semitic language), among proficient readers. To reveal the sublexical processing of the Hebrew morphemes, the Root (R) and the Pattern (P), a lexical-decision task was conducted, in which all critical stimuli were non-word letter-strings manipulated to include or exclude real Hebrew morphemes. Different combinations of real (+) and pseudo (−) morphemes yielded four types of non-words (+R+P; +R−P; −R+P, −R−P). Three groups of proficient Hebrew readers were tested: L1 Hebrew, L1 English-L2 Hebrew, and L1 Arabic-L2 Hebrew. Results demonstrated significant differences in latency and accuracy of responses to the four morphological conditions, indicating that sublexical morphological processing occurs during visual word-recognition of morphologically structured letter-strings in Hebrew. Importantly, the activation of real Hebrew morphemes occurred in non-word stimuli, indicating that morphological processing in Hebrew is separable from lexical activation. Moreover, the same pattern of results was observed in all three L1 groups, indicating that proficient L2 readers exhibit morphological processing strategies that are tuned to the L2 morphology, regardless of their L1 background.

Acquiring topic structures in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract Previous studies suggest that Chinese topic structures, especially base-generated structures, are difficult for L1 English L2 Chinese learners, and only at the very advanced stage do learners perform at the target-like level. Yuan (1995) hypothesizes that non-advanced L2 learners may have difficulty adding a topic node to the subject-predicate structure and that they tend to interpret the topic as the subject. The present study tests this hypothesis and seeks to find out if structure building is accessible to L2 learners before they reach an advanced stage. A grammatical judgment experiment was conducted on several types of topic structures. Results show that lower-level subjects behaved on a par with native speakers on certain types of topic structures. This result suggests that L2 learners are able to build new structures at an early stage.

Individual differences in phonetic drift by English-speaking learners of Spanish

Second language learning affects L1 pronunciation even in early stages of adult L2 acquisition (e.g., Guion 2003, Chang 2012), an effect sometimes called “phonetic drift.” English voiceless stops assimilate to Korean stops in novice L1 English-L2 Korean learners in Korea, arguably due to English voiceless stops and Korean aspirated stops being linked to the same phonological category (Chang 2012), and the “novelty” of the Korean language input with its longer VOTs (Chang 2014). We tested whether novice L1 English-L2 Spanish learners in the United States also show assimilatory L2-to-L1 effects. Stronger typological and orthographic similarities might lead speakers to equate English and Spanish stops, but phonetic differences—short-lag VOT on voiceless stops and pre-voicing of voiced stops in Spanish—might impede L2-to-L1 assimilation. Monolingual English college-students were recorded every other week for the first 12 weeks of an introductory Spanish course. VOT data show considerable individual differences—some subjects show assimilation, some dissimilation, between English and Spanish stops. This suggests that while orthography and typological similarity may play a role, how a learner’s first and second language interact in novice adult L2 acquisition is also affected by individual factors such as perceptual sensitivity to phonetic differences, sociolinguistics considerations, and possibly speaker strategies for maintaining contrast (e.g., Nielsen 2011).

Lexical knowledge of Serbian L1 English L2 learners: Reception vs. production

The acquisition of lexical knowledge in a second/foreign language is often investigated by means of vocabulary size tests which assess two aspects of the learners' competence: reception and production. Estimates of these two dimensions, as well as the (potential) gap between them, have important pedagogical implications in that they indicate the degree to which the learners can comprehend or use the language autonomously. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the vocabulary size of three generations of B2-level L2 learners (CEFR), first-year students majoring in English at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, Serbia, by means of Vocabulary Levels Tests (Laufer & Nation, 1999; Nation, 1990). The results of the statistical analyses show that the receptive vocabulary of Serbian L2 learners is much more developed than their productive vocabulary, and that the gap between lexical production and reception changes depending on the frequency of the lexemes and the proficiency level of L2 learners. The findings imply that, at the primary and secondary level of education, more attention should be paid to the development of productive lexical knowledge which is crucial not only for success in English degree courses but communication in English in general.

Semantics and morphosyntax in predictive L2 sentence processing

AbstractIn the context of current approaches to anticipation in native and non-native sentence processing, this paper investigates whether late second-language (L2) learners integrate morphosyntax, i.e. case marking, and verb semantics to generate anticipations in L2 sentence comprehension. In a visual-world eye-tracking experiment with 45 L1 English L2 learners of German and 12 German natives, German natives are found to integrate morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic information in anticipatory processing, while L2 learners only rely on lexical-semantic information for prediction. Moreover, there is no indication that increasing proficiency leads to the involvement of morphosyntax in predictive L2 processing. We discuss reasons for the lower sensitivity to morphosyntax in anticipatory L2 sentence processing.

Importance of phonological and orthographic skills for English reading and spelling: A comparison of English monolingual and Mandarin-English bilingual children.

This cross-sectional study examines the importance of English phonological and orthographic processing skills to English word reading and spelling in 3 groups of younger (8–9 years) and older (11–12 years) children from different language backgrounds: English monolingual, English first language (L1)–Mandarin second language (L2), and Mandarin L1–English L2. Results showed that performance on tasks of English phonological and orthographic processing was dependent on age and language background status. Both English monolingual and English-L1 children had better phonological processing skills compared to the Mandarin-L1 children, while the younger bilingual children had better orthographic processing skills compared to the English monolingual children. Separate regression analyses found that different skills contributed to English word reading and spelling for each language background group and within each age group. Orthographic processing was the only significant predictor of word reading and spelling for the English monolingual children. In contrast, phonological processing skills were important for word reading for the bilingual children and for spelling for the younger bilingual children. Though the predictors of word reading remained the same across age groups for all language groups, the predictors of spelling were different between the younger and older bilingual children. These findings support previous research on the influence of bilingual children’s early linguistic experience on L2 English literacy acquisition and question whether bilingual children follow similar stages to learning English as English monolinguals. Educational implications for bilingual learners are discussed.

Vocabulary growth at tertiary level: How much progress can Serbian EFL learners make in a year?

The size of L2 learners? vocabulary, both receptive and productive, represents a vital concept in the field of L2 acquisition, given that it determines the degree of success in communication. The larger the vocabulary size of a learner is, the better his/her understanding and ease of communication in the target language. For this reason, a body of research focusing on the developmental process of lexical acquisition in L2 learners of various proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) in different teaching contexts is nowadays steadily expanding. A recent study aimed at investigating the relationship between lexical reception and production in Serbian L1 English L2 learners, English language majors, has indicated that production seriously lags behind reception. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to explore the growth in receptive and productive vocabulary size of B2-level (CEFR) English L2 learners, first year English majors, over a period of a single academic year. The data obtained reveal that the rich L2 input provided in Integrated skills classes, combined with other compulsory and elective courses predominantly held in English, has resulted in the learners? productive lexical knowledge developing faster than their receptive lexical knowledge. This outcome consequently affected the relationship between the learners? receptive and productive vocabulary size - the gap between the two narrowed.

Perception modeling of native and foreign-accented Japanese speech based on prosodic features of pitch accent

This study investigates the influence acoustic measures of pitch accent have on L1 and Australian English (AusE) L2 Japanese speech perception, expanding Tsurutani (2010) and Ishihara, Tsurutani, and Tsukada (2011), and motivated by Munro and Derwing (2001), which studies the role of speaking rate on judgments of L2 speech. We establish native and advanced AusE listeners of Japanese differ in their judgments of foreign accent in terms of accentedness and comprehensibility [Munro and Derwing (1995, 1999)] through a listening task. Selected acoustic measures of pitch accent from the speech stimuli, which displayed significant variance across listener groups—delta-pitch, max and mean max delta-intensity, and duration per mora—are correlated with L1 and L2 listener data. Testing for a relationship between each of the acoustic measures and listener judgments, the regression analyses show a considerable relationship between comprehensibility judgments and duration and intensity features, ranging from adjusted R2 = 14.3% to 24.6% across listeners, and indicating the degree of variance between judgments can be attributed to these acoustic measures. We can interpret that comprehensibility is linked to intensity and duration, which supports the authors’ prior findings that timing is considered more important than pitch in the detection of foreign-accented speech.

Transfer of training and processing instruction: From input to output

Abstract In this paper we report the findings of an experiment to test whether training via processing instruction transfers to output tasks. Two groups of Turkish L1–English L2 learners participated: one that received processing instruction on passive structures and a control group that did not receive any instruction on passives. A pre-test/multiple posttest design was used with three measures: ability to interpret passives correctly, ability to produce passives at the sentence level, ability to reconstruct a three sentence passage in which passives were embedded. Results showed that the processing instruction group made significant gains on all three measures. The control group made no gains. Our conclusion is that even though processing instruction is input oriented, its effects are not limited to input-oriented tasks.