Language Acquisition Research Research Articles

The influence of enjoyment, boredom, and burnout on EFL achievement: Based on latent moderated structural equation modeling.

In recent years, the boom in the field of positive psychology in second language acquisition research has seen an increasing number of scholars focusing on the individual well-being of second language learners alongside their learning effectiveness. Despite this growing interest, there is a need to further investigate the specific emotional factors influencing academic achievement in foreign language learning. This study investigates the impact of three emotions-enjoyment, boredom, and burnout-on academic achievement, and the moderating role of academic buoyancy. Data were collected from 563 college English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students from China's mainland using latent moderated structural equation modeling with Mplus. The results of the latent bivariate correlation analysis showed significant correlations between EFL learning emotions, academic buoyancy, and test performance. In the latent moderated structural equations model, enjoyment and burnout predicted test performance. Moreover, academic buoyancy moderated the relationships between enjoyment and test performance, and between burnout and test performance. EFL test performance was highest when enjoyment and buoyancy were both high, or when burnout and buoyancy were both low. These findings highlight the importance of fostering positive emotions and resilience in language learners to enhance their academic performance, offering valuable insights for educators and policymakers aiming to improve foreign language education.

An Analysis of the Efficacy of L2-MT Mixed Modeling in Second Language Acquisition - A Cognitive Ability Perspective

Abstract Cognitive ability provides a new perspective for second language acquisition research, but there are still many problems to be solved. Therefore, after fully exploring the concept of cognitive synergy, this paper proposes two research methods: qualitative multimodal interaction and hybridization of cognitive synergy. The deep neural network algorithm is interpreted layer by layer, and the model is applied to the construction of bilingual language models. Based on this, the L2-MT hybrid model is introduced, and the generalization performance of the bilingual language model is improved using the joint approach. The model’s speech recognition function for monolingual multi-task learning is used to aid learners in learning a second language. The effectiveness of the L2-MT hybrid model in second language acquisition was tested through statistical correlation analysis. Under this model, the attention of the second language learners fluctuated twice in the first half of the learning process, with the fluctuation range between 80% and 100%, and finally stabilized at about 70%. The subjects were more concentrated in the second language acquisition process. In the second language achievement comparison experiment, class A performed better than class B in terms of speaking, writing, translation, and total achievement. The difference between the two classes is 7.83, 5.002, and 3.6, respectively. Meanwhile, the p-value is 0, which is less than 0.01, and there is a significant difference between the two classes. The L2-MT model has a higher value of application in second language acquisition, which provides a better method for learners.

Language Acquisition in Diverse Linguistic, Social, and Cognitive Contexts: A Paper Review and Synthesis of Multifaceted Theories

The paper titled "Language Acquisition in Diverse Linguistic, Social and Cognitive Circumstances," authored by Maria Garraffa, Maria Teresa Guasti, Theodoros Marinis, and Gary Morgan, published on October 24, 2018, the authors explore the process of language acquisition within various linguistic, social, and cognitive contexts. The work introduces a broader discussion on language acquisition research, shedding light on how individuals learn and use language and emphasizing its interaction with cognitive trade-offs, operant conditioning, and universal grammar theory. The paper review illuminates the interplay between environmental, cognitive, and linguistic factors in shaping language development in children across diverse linguistic settings.

SLA as an interdiscipline: A bibliometric study

Nowadays, research in second language acquisition (SLA) is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary while many technical frontiers and research hotspots have emerged. Many studies focus on interdisciplinary topics, but few in-depth studies have been conducted on interdisciplinarity. This study examined the interdisciplinarity of SLA and the interdisciplinary development process using a bibliometrics approach. The study has found that the SLA discipline has played roles as both the provider and recipient of knowledge in the development of interdisciplines. In the first case, SLA theories and methods flow into the research areas of life sciences and technology to form interdisciplinary studies with brain research, neurology, cognition, computer technology, and engineering, making SLA a provider of knowledge In the second case, SLA research receives knowledge from areas of arts and humanities and social sciences as well as from interdisciplinary studies within its own discipline, making SLA a receiver of knowledge. The new insights into the interdisciplinarity of SLA provided in this study are helpful for our deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the SLA discipline.

AAiMLL: Acquisition Advantages in MultiLingual Learners: The Case of the Multilingual Child

Cognitive science has demonstrated that multilinguals (including children) show a cognitive advantage over monolinguals. Linguistics has provided evidence that multilinguals (including children) are able to successfully separate their lexicons and grammars and negotiate multilingual environments. Apart from these achievements, linguistics has generally failed to demonstrate a multilingual advantage related to the multilingual’s linguistic proficiency. The present article summarizes the current literature, which shows that there are first indications of an acceleration effect in multilingual children. This effect is discernable if the languages radically differ, if the child uses a ‘weak’ language (often a minority language), if the child acquires more than two languages from birth, and if contact with the language exhibiting the acceleration effect is delayed until kindergarten age. This kind of acceleration effect represents an explanation gap under current theorizing in cognitive science and linguistics, and calls for a new language acquisition theory, a best-of-breed solution for further research in language acquisition. AAiMLL (Acquisition Advantages in MultiLingual Learners) combines cognitive and linguistic aspects with a threshold theory. It is claimed here that the multilingual child learns from two cognitive acquisition strategies. One is fed by grammatical features, and requires the child to (re-)use already acquired knowledge by generalizing to new domains. The other strategy enables the child to consider rejected alternatives of earlier decisions in one language, for use in the other language. An acceleration effect related to the multilingual’s linguistic proficiency is indicative of the success of both strategies. The success of the strategies is argued to be related to a threshold of language usage from a quantitative or a qualitative perspective.

Feature-driven new sound category formation: computational implementation with the L2LP model and beyond

One of the primary questions of second language (L2) acquisition research is how a new sound category is formed to allow for an L2 contrast that does not exist in the learner's first language (L1). Most models rely crucially on perceived (dis)similarities between L1 and L2 sounds, but a precise definition of what constitutes “similarity” has long proven elusive. The current study proposes that perceived cross-linguistic similarities are based on feature-level representations, not segmental categories. We investigate how L1 Japanese listeners learn to establish a new category for L2 American English /æ/ through a perception experiment and computational, phonological modeling. Our experimental results reveal that intermediate-level Japanese learners of English perceive /æ/ as an unusually fronted deviant of Japanese /a/. We implemented two versions of the Second Language Linguistic Perception (L2LP) model with Stochastic Optimality Theory—one mapping acoustic cues to segmental categories and another to features—and compared their simulated learning results to the experimental results. The segmental model was theoretically inadequate as it was unable explain how L1 Japanese listeners notice the deviance of /æ/ from /a/ in the first place, and was also practically implausible because the predicted overall perception patterns were too native English-like compared to real learners' perception. The featural model, however, showed that the deviance of /æ/ could be perceived due to an ill-formed combination of height and backness features, namely */low, front/. The featural model, therefore, reflected the experimental results more closely, where a new category was formed for /æ/ but not for other L2 vowels /ɛ/, /ʌ/, and /ɑ/, which although acoustically deviate from L1 /e/, /a/, and /o/, are nonetheless featurally well-formed in L1 Japanese, namely /mid, front/, /low, central/, and /mid, back/. The benefits of a feature-based approach for L2LP and other L2 models, as well as future directions for extending the approach, are discussed.

Japanese scientists’ English for research publication purposes

Abstract Error Analysis was developed by early Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers as a way to investigate interlanguage and better understand the second-language learning processes. While it is no longer an active branch of research in SLA, it remains a useful tool for those concerned with accuracy in language use. Given the elevated importance of accuracy in English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP), this may be one area where Error Analysis may continue to inform research and praxis. The high degree of language precision demanded in ERPP contexts can be a source of frustration for many engaged in scholarly publication, especially those for whom English is an additional language, such as the Japanese scientists studied in this paper. For Japanese scientists and possibly others, an empirical profile of their most frequent error patterns may help them to better deal with accuracy in research writing. With this motivation, this study applies a corpus-assisted error analysis framework to quantify sentence-level grammar errors and identify the most frequent error patterns in the research article manuscripts of Japanese scientists. A corpus of 53 research article manuscripts with 4,495 errors comprises the primary data. Additionally, two raters and a comparison of errors from scientists from six different L1 backgrounds are employed to triangulate the data and investigate the reliability and generalizability of the findings. Findings reveal that the top ten most frequent errors comprise 52.9%, or half of all errors in the corpus, and are dominated by errors with determiners and prepositions.

Production of Advice Speech Act by Non-Native Speakers of English: The Case of Kurdish EFL Learners

Speech act studies are commonly used in Second Language Acquisition research to assess second language learners’ pragmatic skills. Contrary to other speech acts, the speech act of offering advice has not been sufficiently studied and has not been a topic of cross-cultural or cross-linguistic research either, particularly among Kurdish EFL learners. The study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the advice speech act as expressed by Kurdish EFL learners and native English speakers. Thus, the study looked at the proficiency of Kurdish EFL users in selecting appropriate pragmatic expressions during the act of providing advice and discernible differences between male and female learners regarding the degree of (in)directness while advice is offered. Hence, the study included 82 undergraduate students from various universities in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, particularly in Erbil. This group consisted of 42 females and 40 males, all majoring in English Language Teaching. Additionally, 30 native English speakers also took part in the research. Data collection was conducted through a 12-item discourse completion test, and the collected data were subsequently subjected to analysis using SPSS. The results unveiled a significant difference between Kurdish EFL learners and native speakers. It figured out that Kurdish EFL learners are not quite aware of the social power and social distance of interlocutors while giving advice. Additionally, it was indicated that female learners are more indirect in offering advice than their male counterparts. Moreover, the findings also unearthed a visible indication of first language pragmatic transfer, though it was not a variable of the study.

Gary Morgan (ed.) (2020): Understanding deafness, language and development. Essays in honour of Bencie Woll. Trends in Language Acquisition Research 25. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Gary Morgan (ed.) (2020): Understanding deafness, language and development. Essays in honour of Bencie Woll. Trends in Language Acquisition Research 25. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Review and Enlightenment: The Influence of Foreign Language Enjoyment on Learning Achievement

Since positive psychology has been introduced into the field of second language acquisition research, foreign language enjoyment has gradually become the focus of emotion research in second language learning. Based on the CNKI database and the core collection database of Web of Science, this paper uses CiteSpace (5.8.R3), a bibliometric tool, to make a visual analysis of positive psychology research and foreign language enjoyment research in foreign language and literature disciplines, aiming at exploring the relationship and influence factors between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language learning achievement from key words and countries (regions) of distribution, so as to provide enlightenment for foreign language teaching.

Learning from Diane: Her Achievements and Profound Influence on Researchers and Language Teachers in China

Professor Diane Larsen-Freeman has been an enduring and highly influential contributor to the field of applied linguistics, English language teaching, in general, and especially grammar teaching. She has inspired many thousands of language teachers, student-teachers and academicians in applied linguistics. Her research in Second Language Acquisition and her later research interest in introducing complex systems to the field of applied linguistics has had a great impact on research in applied linguistics. The book she co-authored with Cameron put a completely different perspective on language and language studies. Her book on teaching approaches also attracted thousands of readers who specialize in language teaching. The video made on different teaching methods covered in the book is also a good demonstration helping learners identify the features of different methods. What’s more, her coinage of the word “grammaring” and the concept of form-meaning-use she advocated in the book series Grammar Dimensions has shed light on people’s understanding of grammar and grammar teaching, thus transforming the way of teaching grammar. Her numerous publications of influential books and papers have great impact on researchers and language teachers in China.

Effects of Form‐Focused Practice and Feedback: A Multisite Replication Study of Yang and Lyster (2010)

AbstractWe conducted a multisite replication of Yang and Lyster's (2010) study investigating the effects of recasts and prompts on learning English regular and irregular past tense. Our study was conducted with intact high school and vocational school classes in Italy and Bosnia. Our participants were young adolescents (14–15 and 16–17 years old), a population that has been largely ignored in second language acquisition (SLA) research. We followed the design of the original study, but we also included a few modifications regarding the elicitation materials. The findings from our study did not fully align with Yang and Lyster's results. We found no effect of group and no evidence of the superiority of either prompts or recasts in either written or oral data in either Bosnia or Italy. However, we found a steady increase in scores over time from pretest to posttests in oral data in all groups at both sites.

Uncovering Sampling Biases, Advancing Inclusivity, and Rethinking Theoretical Accounts in Second Language Acquisition: Introduction to the Special Issue SLA for All?

AbstractThe social sciences have grappled with sampling biases, perhaps most notably the prevalent reliance on convenience samples drawn from university student populations. Researchers in second language acquisition (SLA) have likewise taken steps to assess and address the scope of these biases and their effects on theory construction. This special issue presents a collection of replications and registered replication reports comprising one such initiative, titled SLA for All? The replications aimed to evaluate the generalizability of findings from foundational SLA studies, which were obtained with university‐educated participants, to nonuniversity participant groups. In this introduction to the special issue, we review and discuss the general failure to replicate the initial results, the complex notion of replication, and questions of research ethics. We offer an in‐depth reflection on how our perspectives, practices, and future plans have evolved and conclude with a vision for a more inclusive, diverse, and informative approach to SLA research going forward.

Examining the female‐talker default in experimental language acquisition research

AbstractExperimental research on language acquisition and development regularly employs auditory stimuli as part of the methodology. This project analyses the apparent standard practice of using female speakers to produce these experimental materials and the potential consequences of such a practice. To situate the discussion in the current scientific landscape we present a systematic review of published literature between 2017 and 2022 to establish how prevalent this practice is. The review finds a strong bias in favour of female‐spoken stimuli across publications in a curated set of nine journals. We discuss this result in light of gender‐based workplace inequality, changing caregiver expectations and the reliability of infants' assumed female voice preference. This project seeks to encourage researchers to consider how diversifying the stimuli used in these types of studies would lead to both a more inclusive and representative research landscape, as well as ensure that our research results are generalizable.

Instructed Second Language Acquisition Research and Its Relevance to Classroom Practices

Instructed SLA research has gained considerable attention due to the widespread interest in the role of instruction in language development. This study critically reviews several influential SLA studies on classroom instruction in second language learning. The aim is to assist teachers in delivering well-informed and relevant instruction to L2 learners to enable them to meet their language learning expectations and participate in real-world practices. The paper examines the focus on form and meaning-based instructions as the most common approaches utilized in language learning settings. It critically evaluates several SLA research findings on L2 classroom instruction and interprets their data using comparisons, assessments, and descriptions. Based on these interpretations, the paper ends with a discussion of pedagogical implications for teaching second language learners, taking into account the learning mechanisms employed by learners, and how teachers, via effective instructions, can use these mechanisms to facilitate successful L2 learning.

提升大学英语听说能力的智慧化学习系统构建及其应用研究

This study seeks to investigate the development and implementation of an intelligent learning system designed to enhance college students’ English listening and speaking skills. By integrating theories of language acquisition, cognitive psychology, and educational technology research, a smart college English audio-visual and oral learning system has been created. This system allows students to assess their listening and speaking capabilities, identify areas for improvement through automated evaluation, receive real-time feedback, and access personalized learning recommendations. Empirical research findings indicate that intelligent learning systems can significantly enhance students’ listening and speaking skills, leading to improved pronunciation accuracy, fluency, and grammatical correctness.

Crosslinguistic differences in initial word recognition

Abstract The present article addresses the extent to which learners’ mental representations, in particular the phonological and lexical representations of learners’ background languages, influence their ability to perceive and extract linguistic units from a novel speech stream. In the study, native speakers of French were exposed to an unfamiliar language, either Polish or Modern Standard Arabic. A word recognition test taken at first exposure revealed important differences in how French speakers/listeners extract words from the Polish or Arabic speech stream, suggesting that source language representations work differently depending on the specificities of the target language. In addition to providing insights into the effects of source and target language properties on speech perception, these results contribute to on-going discussions about what constitutes crosslinguistic influence and conceptual transfer in second language acquisition research.

AI-driven Technology and Chatbots as Tools for Enhancing English Language Learning in the Context of Second Language Acquisition: A Review Study

The proposed review study aims to explore the role of AI-driven technology and chatbots in enhancing English language learning within the context of second language acquisition. With the increasing integration of technology into language education, AI-driven tools and chatbots have raised as innovative approaches to provide personalized and interactive learning experiences. This review study aims to examine the effectiveness of these tools in improving language proficiency, learner engagement, and learner autonomy. The review involves a comprehensive analysis of relevant literature, including empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and best practices in the field. The findings reveal that AI-driven technology and chatbots offer numerous benefits, such as individualized feedback, adaptive learning pathways, and authentic language interactions. Moreover, they promote learner’s motivation, active participation, and self-directed learning. However, challenges regarding the design, implementation, and assessment of these tools also emerge. This review study provides insights into the potential and limitations of AI-driven technology and chatbots in English language learning and suggests future directions for research and pedagogical applications in second language acquisition.

Chatbots in English as a foreign or second language education contexts: A review of recent empirical research

Chatbots, as one of the conversational applications of artificial intelligence technology, have been the focus of attention in the field of second/foreign language (L2) acquisition research. However, very few studies have so far reviewed the literature on chatbots and L2 learning, in particular the learning of English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL). Based on this, this paper set out to review studies that are related to the use of chatbots in EFL/ESL learning contexts. The study included eleven empirical articles published in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals between the years 2018 and 2022, and all of them were analyzed in detail considering the following three aspects: 1) research features such as data collection methods, research method, and study context; 2) chatbots included in the studies; 3) results of the studies. The findings showed that all the studies were conducted in EFL contexts and most of them used a mixed-method design. It was identified that different types of chatbots were used in the studies, and the studies generally focused on improving learners’ speaking skills. The findings also revealed that the use of chatbots generally contributed positively to the EFL learning process. Furthermore, the review identified that chatbot-integrated learning had some affective/psychological outcomes. In addition to the many positive effects brought by the use of chatbots, it was also identified that chatbots had some limitations. Finally, this review study made some suggestions for future research based on the findings of this study and the identified gaps in the literature.

Frequency matters in second language acquisition too! Frequency effects in the production of preterit morphology with state verbs in Spanish second language learners and heritage speakers

The feature reassembly approach to second language acquisition research has been influential in laying the groundwork for recent theories of heritage languages. Lexical frequency has emerged as an important variable in recent studies within a feature-oriented approach to heritage language acquisition, but the focus on frequency has not yet received considerable attention with second language learners. To determine whether lexical frequency affects both populations of bilinguals, 51 adult heritage speakers and 40 second language learners of Spanish carried out a production task concerning preterit aspect morphology with state verbs of varying frequency, which represents an area of the Spanish aspectual system that is challenging for bilingual populations to acquire. Heritage speakers and second language learners were highly similar in their production tendencies: lower-proficiency speakers used the preterit with the least-frequent state verbs, while more proficient speakers in both groups showed less sensitivity to frequency, despite overall chance levels of preterit production. These findings extend recent research on Spanish as a heritage language by showing that second language learners are also influenced by frequency in their production of aspect morphology.