L2 Knowledge Research Articles

Learner Variables Important for Success in L2 Listening Comprehension in French Immersion Classrooms

Listening comprehension, which is relatively straightforward for native language (L1) speakers, is often frustrating for second language (L2) learners. Listening comprehension is important to L2 acquisition, but little is known about the variables that influence the development of L2 listening skills. The goal of this study was to determine which learner variables play a significant role in predicting L2 listening success among Grade 4 middle immersion students (N = 84). The variables of interest in this study were L1 and L2 vocabulary knowledge, auditory ability, working memory, and metacognition. Results showed that all the variables, except for metacognition, were significantly related to L2 listening comprehension. Regression analysis revealed that vocabulary knowledge, particularly L2 vocabulary, significantly predicts L2 listening success. The results are discussed in relation to their pedagogical implications for beginner learners of French.

The meaning of negation in the second language classroom: Evidence from ‘any’

This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role.

Transfer of Mother Tongue Rhetoric among Undergraduate Students in Second Language Writing

Mother tongue rhetoric transfer is unavoidable in ESL writings, especially for Iranian ESL learners, since Persian and English language is quite different. The paper discusses the negative transfer of mother tongue rhetoric in Iranian undergraduate ESL learners’ writings from the perspectives of choosing rhetorical structure in English and Persian writing. In this regard, 50 intermediate undergraduate Iranian students who are a bachelor in engineering fields at two private higher education institutions located in Malaysia, are selected as participants to give their opinion about which style they prefer to use for both English and Persian writing. Statistical analysis of the participants' performance indicates that Iranian undergraduate students use the same rhetorical pattern for their both Persian and English writing and there is no consideration regarding the knowledge of L1 and L2 differences. The results also state that above 70% of the participants prefer to give a general comment about the topic and encourage readers at the end of the writing in their English and Persian essays.

Test-taking strategies and Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary and structure test performance

Abstract
 
 Test-taking strategies are conscious processes that respondents employ to enhance their performance on language tests. This article reports a study on test-taking strategies utilized by low and high proficiency female EFL respondents in completing multiple-choice vocabulary and structure tests. The study seeks to explore how test-taking strategies vary according to the participants’ proficiency level. Data were collected from 60 Persian EFL learners at a reputable institute on completing vocabulary and structure test items. The data were collected, categorized, and analyzed based on an adapted version of strategy questionnaire developed by Phakiti (2006). The results indicated that low-proficiency participants utilized mnemonic strategies more frequently than high-proficiency participants in completing both tests. In completing structure tests, high-proficiency participants employed mnemonic strategies more than cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies. In completing vocabulary test items, however, they drew almost equally on all three strategy types. The results also indicated that the low-proficiency participants did better in completing vocabulary test than high-proficiency participants did. Further, high proficiency participants performed better in structure tests than low proficiency participants did. The findings seem to indicate that foreign language learners rely more on mnemonic strategies than cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies due to their deficient competency in L2 knowledge. The results have implications for foreign language teachers and learners.
 Key words: Test-taking strategy, cognitive and meta-cognitive strategy, mnemonic strategy, Iranian EFL learners.

The Roles of L1 Knowledge and Intervention Effects in the L2 Acquisition of English Control and Raising Constructions

The Roles of L1 Knowledge and Intervention Effects in the L2 Acquisition of English Control and Raising Constructions

L1 영어 한국어 학습자의 피사동주 주격 표시 연구

This paper investigated the L2 acquisition of Korean causative case marking and syntactic complexity by L1 English speakers. The nominative causee can be marked only in syntactic causative (‘-ke hata’ causative). Forty L1 English speakers of Korean and twenty one Korean native speakers have participated in the study. The acceptability judgment task was conducted in order to assess the learners' knowledge on the case marking of causee in the causative construction. For the task, two types of case marking-nominative and accusative- were distributed in syntactic and morphological causative constructions. A total of 44 items were created based on 11 verbs. The results showed that L2 learners had lower acceptability on the causative sentences with nominative causee compared to Korean native speakers. This implicates that not only the intermediate learners of Korean but also the advanced learners failed to acquire the native like case marking due to lack of recognizing syntactic complexity on Korean causative and the relying on their L1 knowledge on English causative.

Vocabulary profiles and reading comprehension in young bilingual children

Strong vocabulary knowledge is important for success in reading comprehension for English language learners (ELLs). The interplay between first (L1) and second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge in L2 English reading comprehension was examined to determine whether ELLs, whose command of L1 and L2 vocabulary varied across languages, differed in English reading comprehension in grades 2 and 4. ELLs (n = 105) were assigned to a bilingual profile group based on their L1 and L2 vocabulary knowledge and in relation to the sample: L1 dominant (strong L1), L2 dominant (strong L2), high balanced (strong in both), or low balanced (compromised in both). Relationships among L1 and L2 (English) vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, word reading, and reading comprehension in English were examined. Results indicated that reading comprehension was related to bilingual profile, and that a three group model better characterized the sample when compared to the four group model that was initially hypothesized. L1 vocabulary was not uniquely predictive of L2 (English) reading comprehension. L2 vocabulary aligned betterwith reading comprehension concurrently in grade 2, and longitudinally in grade 4. In support of a common underlying cognitive processes perspective, individual differences in learning vocabulary may be a proxy forgeneral language learning ability, which supports reading comprehension.

Input and Age-Dependent Variation in Second Language Learning: A Connectionist Account.

Language learning requires linguistic input, but several studies have found that knowledge of second language (L2) rules does not seem to improve with more language exposure (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). One reason for this is that previous studies did not factor out variation due to the different rules tested. To examine this issue, we reanalyzed grammaticality judgment scores in Flege, Yeni‐Komshian, and Liu's (1999) study of L2 learners using rule‐related predictors and found that, in addition to the overall drop in performance due to a sensitive period, L2 knowledge increased with years of input. Knowledge of different grammar rules was negatively associated with input frequency of those rules. To better understand these effects, we modeled the results using a connectionist model that was trained using Korean as a first language (L1) and then English as an L2. To explain the sensitive period in L2 learning, the model's learning rate was reduced in an age‐related manner. By assigning different learning rates for syntax and lexical learning, we were able to model the difference between early and late L2 learners in input sensitivity. The model's learning mechanism allowed transfer between the L1 and L2, and this helped to explain the differences between different rules in the grammaticality judgment task. This work demonstrates that an L1 model of learning and processing can be adapted to provide an explicit account of how the input and the sensitive period interact in L2 learning.

Using Facebook to improve L2 German students’ socio-pragmatic skills

This study explores ways of using Facebook as a tool to improve the pragmatic competence of German as a foreign language students in Japan. Nine students of a textbook-based German class (CFER level A2) voluntarily participated in this blended learning approach, in which they were assigned weekly online tasks aimed at eliciting speech acts commonly used in online interaction. The tasks required the students write posts concerning their daily routines onto the timeline of a dedicated Facebook Group page and to comment on each other’s posts. In order to find out what difficulties learners face when producing certain speech acts, the students’ posts and comments were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively by determining the frequency, accuracy, and appropriateness of speech acts performed per task. The results suggest that the tasks developed seemed to be appropriate for eliciting a large number of speech acts, while types, frequency, and appropriateness of the speech acts produced varied significantly. As was revealed, difficulties in task performance did not only stem from a lack of L2 (socio-pragmatic) knowledge, but also from inexperience in the use of the network itself. For task performance students strongly relied on the expressions provided in pre-task activities. As the results of a post-course students’ survey indicate, most students agreed that using Social Networking Sites is an appropriate tool for language learning, and that they were able to increase their knowledge and use of German speech acts significantly during this course. However, only those students who frequently used SNS in their everyday lives seemed to be able to reap the full benefits of the project.

The comparative effectiveness of noticing in language learning

AbstractThe Noticing Hypothesis holds that input does not become intake during language learning unless it is noticed. The hypothesis has been tested and evaluated in many empirical studies for more than two decades, either supported or criticized. This study shares the findings on the comparative effectiveness of noticing treatments gathered and evaluated from various empirical studies that were carried out in different countries. The results of the studies reflect the potentials of noticing treatments in second language/foreign language -L2- instruction/learning and touch upon the validity of the Noticing Hypothesis. The results of the reviewed studies also showed that noticing through output oriented tasks generates higher level of perception of L2 knowledge.

WHAT’S IN THE TEXTBOOK AND WHAT’S IN THE MIND

AbstractThis paper presents an experimental study of the rarely explored question of how input through instruction interacts with L2 acquisition at the level of modular linguistic knowledge. The investigation focuses on L2 knowledge of the English polarity itemany, whose properties are only partially covered by typical language-teaching materials. We investigate Najdi-Saudi Arabic-speaking learners’ knowledge of the distribution ofanyin contexts that are taught, contexts that are not taught but may be observable in the input, and contexts that are neither taught nor observable. We further test whether conscious awareness of instructed rules aboutanycorrelates with performance. Our findings suggest a role for instruction and for internal, UG-constrained acquisition, and that these two paths interact. We explore our findings in terms of Sharwood Smith and Truscott’s (2014a, 2014b) framework of modular online growth and use of language, in which cognitive development is driven by processing.

The Acquisition of Do-Support in Negation and Interrogatives by Adult Arab Learners of English: A Preliminary Study

This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives by adult Arab learners of English. The main question is to identify how Arabic language influences the acquisition of do-support. The influence of L2 proficiency level in the acquisition of do-support is also addressed. The study is conducted within the perspective of Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis and Differential Markedness Hypothesis. Do-support as a marked feature of English has received little or no attention in previous work on the acquisition of English as a second language by adult Arab learners. This study seeks to fill that gap by documenting the acquisition of do-support in negation and interrogatives. To address these aims, a written production task, a multiple-choice task and a semi-structured interview were administered to 10 adult Arab learners of low and advanced English proficiency levels. The findings indicate that the role of Arabic is noted. While not the source of errors, it acts as a strategy that adult Arab learners use to dealing with limited L2 knowledge and the markedness of do-support, which is the main source of difficulty shown by adult Arab learners. The role of learners’ L1 is selective according to the learners’ perception of what is difficult or not. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between L2 proficiency level and the mastery of do-support in that high- proficiency learners outperform low-proficiency learners. It is recommended that future research examine the acquisition and markedness of do-support in the interlanguage of Arabic-speaking children.

Roles of Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge in L2 Writing through the Mediation of L2 Reading Ability

The present study aims to investigate the direct and indirect contributions of Korean EFL college students’ L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge to their L2 writing performances by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis with a goal to explore the pathways of vocabulary knowledge to writing. Data from 178 students were collected through tests of receptive and productive vocabulary breadth and depth, a writing test and a reading test. In testing a hypothesized model on the roles of receptive and productive vocabulary in writing, the results of the SEM analysis reveal the direct role of productive vocabulary in writing. The indirect role of receptive vocabulary on writing was observed through the mediating role of productive vocabulary or reading ability due to the direct contribution of receptive vocabulary to both productive vocabulary and reading and that of productive vocabulary and reading to writing. Findings from the study shed light on the relations of L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge with L2 writing abilities, suggesting potential benefits of both receptive and productive vocabulary learning for L2 writing.

Mandarin Chinese Speakers’ Production of English Vowel Duration as a Function of Coda Voicing and Syllable Number

The current study compared native English-speaking adults’ and native Mandarin-speaking adults’ ability to produce context-specific vowel duration differences under the assumption that variability is higher in non-native language learners’ production. A total of twenty native Mandarin and English speakers produced real English words in a frame sentence multiple times. The mean vowel and consonant closure duration and vowel duration variability were analyzed. The results were that Mandarin Chinese speakers produced considerably smaller contrasts but greater temporal variability than English speakers in their production of individual words. The results indicated that the phonological knowledge of L1 is likely to interfere with the temporal patterns of L2 production.

English

Complaint is an under-researched speech act in the field of interlanguage pragmatics. Making a complaint runs the risk of impairing the relationship between speaker and hearer as it requires the speaker to express displeasure and frustration to what is believed to be the responsibility of the hearer. The speaker, therefore, has to use appropriate linguistic forms bearing in mind social conventions to make the hearer take some action of repair or to avoid interactional conflicts. For L2 learners, making complaints in a second/foreign language is more difficult as they may lack both sociocultural and L2 knowledge. This study investigated the ability of Chinese EFL learners to produce complaints and its relationship with their L2 proficiency. Thirty-two Chinese university students and five native speakers of American English completed a Free Discourse Completion Test (FDCT); English proficiency was measured by learners’ performance in TEM-4. Data elicited from the FDCT were analysed using a holistic rating scale for the overall appropriateness of complaints and a coding framework for complaint strategies and modifications. Results showed that learners were unable to produce appropriate complaints and L2 proficiency significantly influenced the overall appropriateness of complaints. Differences were also identified in strategies and external and internal modifications used by learners of different proficiency levels. The study suggested that the production of complaints by Chinese learners is greatly influenced by their native culture. In addition to improving L2 proficiency, lessons on cultural differences should be introduced for them to improve the ability to complain in English. Keywords: L2 proficiency; speech act of complaint; complaint strategies; Chinese EFL learners; Chinese culture DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2017-2301-05

A multi-case study of university students’ language-learning experience mediated by mobile technologies: a socio-cultural perspective

ABSTRACTEmerging mobile technologies can be considered a new form of social and cultural artefact that mediates people's language learning. This multi-case study investigates how mobile technologies mediate a group of Hong Kong university students’ L2 learning, which serves as a lens with which to capture the personalised, unique, contextual and ubiquitous nature of mobile language learning. The results suggest that Hong Kong university students make use of varied e-resources and tools for learning their L2; they also tend to combine L2 learning with subject learning, communication, entertainment and personal interests, and reveal distinctive features and attributes that form their personalised learning approaches. Based on these, a new socio-cultural framework is constructed to capture the key components involved in mobile technologies-mediated L2 learning and to describe the dynamism and interaction among the components, involving L2 agency, personalisation, tools, knowledge, communications and entertainment. In addition, L2 agency plays an important role in determining how learners employ mobile technologies in mediating and personalising their language learning. Factors that influence personalised mobile language learning are also unveiled. Finally, a number of implications are derived from the research findings to inform further research or practice with regard to mobile language learning.

Oral Corrective Feedback in an Intermediate EFL Conversation Class

INTRODUCTIONEnglish as an international has been taught to most learners across the world. In both English as Second Language (ESL) and English as Foreign Language (EFL) countries, English can be found as one of the lessons at schools. In learning a new language, for instance English, learners would need to use and practice the target language. During the learning process, nevertheless, learners would experience making errors. Littlewood (1984) states: play an important role in learning process. Errors show that the learners are still building the new knowledge in order to be able to use the language (p. 17). Therefore, as a response to the learners' errors, teachers provide feedback (CF).According to Sheen and Ellis (2011), corrective feedback (CF) refers to the feedback that learners receive on the linguistic errors they make in their oral or written production in a second (L2) (p. 593). Lyster et al. (2013) suggest plays a pivotal role in the kind of scaffolding that teachers need to provide to individual learners to promote continuing L2 growth (p. 1). CF has been a topic that is widely discussed by the researchers of Second Language Acquisition (SLA); however, it is less discussed in EFL context (Mendez and Cruz, 2012). Thus, this has inspired the writer to do a study of CF, especially oral CF in EFL context.The term oral CF itself is further defined by Sheen and Ellis (2011) in a more detail way by explaining that oral CF can be given at the time when a learner produces an oral error in his or her utterance (i.e. online) or after the or interaction in which a learner participates is over (i.e. off-line). Therefore, the word 'oral' is defined as learners' oral production. Thus, the term oral CF in this study is defined as the feedback given for errors found in learners' oral production (Sheen and Ellis, 2011).The role of CF, including oral CF, has been a discussion among researchers. Researchers have argued that sufficient CF will likely support L2 development (Mackey et al., 2016). The use of CF provides chances for learners to notice the gap between their errors and the correct form (2016). By noticing the gap, learners can integrate the correction into their L2 knowledge (2016). In addition, oral CF can also assist L2 development when learners are given chances to produce outputs or to do selfcorrection (2016). Mackey et al. (2016) explain further by stating self-correction in response to feedback can trigger deeper and more elaborate processing of L2 forms, helping learners establish memory traces that last longer (p. 502). Thus, the role of oral CF in SLA is seen to be important as it promotes acquisition (Sheen and Ellis, 2011).In relation to teachers' oral CF provision, Chaudron (1988) mentions: teachers will likely correct learners' errors either when they pertain to the pedagogical focus of the lesson or when they significantly inhibit communication (p. 136). One teacher's oral CF might differ from others, and one of the reasons is because different classes would have different pedagogical focus. This means that a teacher might provide oral CF strategies differently when he or she teaches classes with different pedagogical focus. Chaudron (1988) claims that in terms of when to correct learners' errors, pedagogical focus is a determinant (p. 137).This sparks the writer's interest to look more deeply into oral CF in an EFL conversation class. The writer would focus on finding (1) the types of oral CF strategies used and (2) the pedagogical focus in relation to the teacher's oral CF in the conversation class. The writer would look further into the classroom activities, including in what kind of activity and to what kind of error (grammatical or lexical) the oral CF is given to see the link between the oral CF provision and the pedagogical focus of the lesson.TYPES OF ORAL CF STRATEGIESThere are eight major types of oral CF strategies by Sheen and Ellis (2011), namely recasts (didactic or conversational), explicit correction, explicit correction with metalinguistic explanation, clarification requests, repetition, elicitation, metalinguistic clue, and paralinguistic signal. …

The interrelatedness of lexis and morphology in English language learning

The past few decades have seen a sparked interest in the development of vocabulary knowledge in both L1 and L2 learners, resulting in an ever increasing body of research which supports the view that vocabulary and morphology are closely related. Morphological awareness, encompassing the knowledge of derivational and inflectional forms, is nowadays thought to be a critical element of vocabulary growth, contributing to a rapid expansion in children's lexicon from the fourth grade to high school (Nagy & Herman, 1987). There are indications of a similar but much slower and more challenging process taking place in the EFL teaching/learning context. Nevertheless, the relationships between various aspects of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge have not been investigated in depth, and even less so in Serbian EFL learners. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the aforementioned issue in upper-intermediate Serbian EFL learners, first-year students majoring in English at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. Their performance on the word segmentation and suffix elicitation task, as measures of receptive and productive morphological awareness (Hayashi & Murphy, 2011), was statistically analyzed and examined in relation to their vocabulary size (Nation, 1990; 2001). The results obtained contribute to our growing understanding of L2 lexical knowledge in EFL learners and have pedagogical implications.

The Acquisition of French (L3) Wh-question by Persian (L1) Learners of English (L2) as a Foreign Language: Optimality Theory

<p>Recent decade has been prominent in investigating third language acquisition (L3). This study presents an Optimality theoretic account of French wh-question by learners whose first and second language are Persian and English respectively. Additionally, it investigates transfer at the initial stage based on the three dominant transfer hypotheses namely, L1 transfer hypothesis, L2 status factor, Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM) in the domain of L3 acquisition. First, in French and Persian wh- question structure, the wh-word move to pre subject position (Spec-CP & Spec-FOCP) but the interrogative verb do not raise to C. This is the indicator of L1 Factor hypothesis. Second, in French and English the wh-word follows by an interrogative verb in French or by subject-auxiliary inversion in English so in these languages the wh-word occupies the Spec-CP and the verb occupies the C position. This is an evidence for L2 status factor. Third, in English and Persian the wh-word remains in original position for echo questions, this feature triggers this parallel structure in French; this confirms Cumulative Enhancement Model hypothesis. Two groups of Persian native speakers with different English proficiency levels (the lower-intermediate & advanced) that were at the initial stage of acquiring L3 French were asked to complete two test namely, grammar judgment task and translation test. The results showed that the main source of transfer was L1 transfer hypothesis and partially CEM. Regarding OT, although the advanced learners transferred their L2 knowledge in the L3 acquisition in GJT, there was not any significant difference between L1 transfer and L2 transfer context. Therefore, the following constraint hierarchies were obtained for TT and GJT respectively, Q-Scope>> Lex-V>Stay>>Q-Mark and Stay>>Lex-V>>Q-Mark>>Q-Scope. In fact, these ranking, particularly the former one, advocated the L1 transfer hypothesis.</p>

Topical knowledge in L2 speaking assessment: Comparing independent and integrated speaking test tasks

Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) provide reading and/or listening input to serve as the basis for test-takers to formulate their oral responses. This study examined the influence of topical knowledge on integrated speaking test performance and compared independent speaking test performance and integrated speaking test performance in terms of how each was related to topical knowledge. The researchers derived four integrated tasks from TOEFL iBT preparation materials, developed four independent speaking test tasks (independent tasks), and validated four topical knowledge tests (TKTs) on a group of 421 EFL learners. For the main study, they invited another 352 students to respond to the TKTs and to perform two independent tasks and two integrated tasks. Half of the test takers took the independent tasks and integrated tasks on one topic combination while the other half took tasks on another topic combination. Data analysis, drawing on a series of path analyses, led to two major findings. First, topical knowledge significantly impacted integrated speaking test performance in both topic combinations. Second, the impact of topical knowledge on the two types of speaking test performances was topic dependent. Implications are proposed in light of these findings.