Distance Language Research Articles

Second Language Word Learning through Repetition and Imitation: Functional Networks as a Function of Learning Phase and Language Distance.

Introduction and Aim: Repetition and imitation are among the oldest second language (L2) teaching approaches and are frequently used in the context of L2 learning and language therapy, despite some heavy criticism. Current neuroimaging techniques allow the neural mechanisms underlying repetition and imitation to be examined. This fMRI study examines the influence of verbal repetition and imitation on network configuration. Integration changes within and between the cognitive control and language networks were studied, in a pair of linguistically close languages (Spanish and French), and compared to our previous work on a distant language pair (Ghazi-Saidi et al., 2013).Methods: Twelve healthy native Spanish-speaking (L1) adults, and 12 healthy native Persian-speaking adults learned 130 new French (L2) words, through a computerized audiovisual repetition and imitation program. The program presented colored photos of objects. Participants were instructed to look at each photo and pronounce its name as closely as possible to the native template (imitate). Repetition was encouraged as many times as necessary to learn the object’s name; phonological cues were provided if necessary. Participants practiced for 15 min, over 30 days, and were tested while naming the same items during fMRI scanning, at week 1 (shallow learning phase) and week 4 (consolidation phase) of training. To compare this set of data with our previous work on Persian speakers, a similar data analysis plan including accuracy rates (AR), response times (RT), and functional integration values for the language and cognitive control network at each measure point was included, with further L1-L2 direct comparisons across the two populations.Results and Discussion: The evidence shows that learning L2 words through repetition induces neuroplasticity at the network level. Specifically, L2 word learners showed increased network integration after 3 weeks of training, with both close and distant language pairs. Moreover, higher network integration was observed in the learners with the close language pair, suggesting that repetition effects on network configuration vary as a function of task complexity.

Auditors’ assessment of the capital market liability of foreignness

Purpose This paper aims to apply the Capital Market Liability of Foreignness (CMLOF) framework to the audit fees of a sample of foreign firms listed on US exchanges to examine whether American auditors price foreignness. Design/methodology/approach The four components of the CMLOF are institutional distance (civil versus common law system and enforcement), information asymmetry (disclosures and mandatory IFRS adoption), unfamiliarity (exports, English language and geographical distance) and cultural difference [Hofstede (1980) dimensions of culture]. These variables are examined in a regression model that explains audit fees to determine the auditor perception of risk associated with the CMLOF. Findings Examining the factors that mitigate perceived agency costs, this investigation determines that auditors price risk according to each component of the liability of foreignness. Audit fees are higher for shareholders of firms headquartered in countries exhibiting greater institutional distance, unfamiliarity and cultural distance. Audit fees are higher for firms when their home country requires additional disclosures or the adoption of IFRS to reduce information asymmetry. Practical implications CMLOF is costly for capital market participants and has implications for auditors, shareholders of foreign firms and managers considering listing in the US Auditors, and investors should carefully assess this risk for pricing and valuation, and managers should take action, to the extent possible, to reduce the firm-specific level of unfamiliarity and increase transparency. Originality/value This paper is the first to apply the CMLOF to examine whether auditors price aspects of foreignness of their non-US-headquartered clients.

Reaching out to diaspora Chinese in East Africa: Barriers and Bridges

The influx of Chinese in East Africa presents churches with an opportunity to engage in cross-cultural evangelism right in their own neighborhoods. East African churches are well equipped to engage in evangelism and discipleship, yet Chinese immigrants in these urban areas are largely overlooked. This qualitative study seeks to understand the barriers and cultural bridges that East African church leaders identify regarding outreach to their Chinese neighbors. While language and cultural distance cause barriers, church leaders say they can bridge the distance with some extra cultural knowledge and the help of mediators. We conclude that church leaders’ understanding of reaching Chinese people is a good start—though incomplete—and can be informed with more exposure to cross-cultural strategies and issues related to contextualizing Christianity within Chinese culture.

From language identification to language distance

In this paper, we define two quantitative distances to measure how far apart two languages are. The distance measure that we have identified as more accurate is based on the perplexity of n-gram models extracted from text corpora. An experiment to compare forty-four European languages has been performed. For this purpose, we computed the distances for all the possible language pairs and built a network whose nodes are languages and edges are distances. The network we have built on the basis of linguistic distances represents the current map of similarities and divergences among the main languages of Europe.

Investigating Students’ Perspectives of Foreign Language Distance Education Curriculum According to Some Variables

This study was carried out to investigate the students’ satisfaction levels of foreign language distance education curriculum in a state university according to some variables. In the study, it was aimed to answer these questions: “What are the students’ opinions about the distance education curriculum of Foreign Language I course and do their opinions differ according to some variables?” Context, Input, Process and Production (CIPP) evaluation model was used as a curriculum evaluation framework and descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research models, was used in this study. Sample of the study is composed of 715 freshman students who are enrolled in the faculties and colleges of university and took the Foreign Language I course in 2015-2016 academic year. 5-point likert scale was developed by the researchers to collect data. Independent samples t-test and one-way Anova was used to analyze the collected data with the help of SPSS 20. As a result of the study, it was found out that the students’ responses are gathered around the "I neither agree nor disagree" option. The component which has the highest satisfaction level is process component of curriculum and product component has the least satisfaction level. Opinions of the students about curriculum don’t differ significantly according to their gender and age. However, their opinions differ significantly according to their education type, daily internet connection hours and final grades. Also the students, who have personal computer and have attended another distance education, have more positive opinions than the students who don’t have computer and any distance education experience.

What does it mean to be an English teacher in Brazil? Student teachers’ beliefs through narratives in a distance education programme

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the beliefs of student teachers on a distance teacher education course about being an English teacher in Brazil. The theoretical framework of this paper is based on studies about beliefs in language teaching and learning (Barcelos and Kalaja 2011. Introduction to beliefs about SLA revisited. System 39(3). 281–289), and distant teacher education (Borg et al. 2014. The impact of teacher education on pre-service primary English language teachers. London: British Council). Data were collected in a supervised teaching practicum course in an English Language and Literature Distance Programme provided by a federal public university in Brazil. The data stem from visual narratives and meta-narratives posted on two online discussion forums. It is expected that the results of this study will contribute to advancing research on the use of visual materials in the investigation of beliefs, and that they will foster the debate on the contributions of visual narratives to teachers’ reflections, particularly in distance teacher education settings.

The Origins of Common Identity: Division, Homogenization Policies and Identity Formation in Alsace-Lorraine

We exploit the fact that disagreements in the German leadership after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 led to a quasi-exogenous division of Alsace and Lorraine to provide rare evidence of group identity formation within historically homogeneous regions. In line with the rejection-identification hypothesis, people in the treated area which experienced a change in nation-status and were exposed to repressive homogenization policies express a stronger regional identity and support more regional autonomy today. On average, subjects with a stronger regional also express a stronger European identity, which we exploit in a regression discontinuity design at the municipal level to reveal whether these identity differences are causal. We find that support for the European Union is significantly stronger in two crucial referenda, a result that is robust across different specifications and bandwidths, and not driven by language differences, large agglomerations or distance to foreign countries. The effect seems to be the strongest for the first two age cohorts after World War II and diminishes for later generations.

Phonological attainment and foreign language anxiety in distance language learning: a quantitative approach

Learning a language through distance means is becoming increasingly widespread. The investigation reported in this paper was part of a large study (n = 590) carried out in 2011, which examined the experience of English-speaking students learning French pronunciation in a distance setting. This paper explores the hypothesis that there is a link between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and phonological attainment when learning in a distance setting. Quantitative methods included a questionnaire which explored FLA and learning pronunciation of English-speaking students learning French in a distance setting (n = 590). Pronunciation competence and FLA were measured using two instruments: an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, which was part of the questionnaire, and a phonological attainment rating table, assessed through a reading activity. A significant correlation was found between good pronunciation skills and low levels of FLA.

Quantifying cultural macro-evolution: a case study of the hinoeuma fertility drop

Understanding patterns and underlying processes of human cultural diversity has been a major challenge in evolutionary anthropology. Recent developments in the study of cultural macro-evolution have illuminated various novel aspects of cultural phenomena at the population level. However, limitations in data availability have constrained previous analyses to use simplest models ignoring factors that potentially affect cultural evolutionary dynamics. Here, we focus on two such factors: accumulated effects of cultural transmission between populations over time and variation in social influence among populations. As a test case, we analyze data on the hinoeuma fertility drop, the Japanese nation-wide drastic decline in the number of births caused by a culturally-transmitted superstition recurring every sixty years, to show that these factors do play significant roles. Specifically, our results suggest that transmission of the superstition in a short timescale has tended to occur among neighboring populations, while transmission in a long timescale is likely to have occurred between populations culturally close to each other, with the cultural closeness being measured by similarity in dialects. The results also indicate a special role played by a population occupying a center in a language–distance network (the cultural center) in the spread of the superstition.

Towards Interactive Multidimensional Visualisations for Corpus Linguistics

We propose the novel application of dynamic and interactive visualisation techniques to support the iterative and exploratory investigations typical of the corpus linguistics methodology. Very large scale text analysis is already carried out in corpus-based language analysis by employing methods such as frequency profiling, keywords, concordancing, collocations and n-grams. However, at present only basic visualisation methods are utilised. In this paper, we describe case studies of multiple types of key word clouds, explorer tools for collocation networks, and compare network and language distance visualisations for online social networks. These are shown to fit better with the iterative data-driven corpus methodology, and permit some level of scalability to cope with ever increasing corpus size and complexity. In addition, they will allow corpus linguistic methods to be used more widely in the digital humanities and social sciences since the learning curve with visualisations is shallower for non-experts

The neural correlates of semantic and phonological transfer effects: language distance matters

Behavioral and neural correlates of cross-linguistic transfer (CLT) effects were studied at the word level, in a pair of linguistically distant languages. Twelve adult Persian speakers were tested on an overt picture-naming task in L2, during event-related fMRI scanning after an intensive computerized French lexical-learning program including cognates, clangs and non-cognate-non-clangs.In distant language pairs, naming in L2 is effortful and demanding. Thus, it is less automatic, and must recruit more neural resources for lexical retrieval, and articulatory processing; it also requires more attention and cognitive control, even in cases where there is phonological overlap. Activation observed with different word types reflects the interaction of language and other cognitive systems including executive control and working memory circuits, even with phonologically similar and highly consolidated words. Moreover, phonologically similar words (cognates and clangs) seem to involve the implicit memory processing, whereas phonologically distant words (non-cognate-non-clangs) seem to require explicit memory.

Event construal and temporal distance in natural language

Construal level theory proposes that events that are temporally proximate are represented more concretely than events that are temporally distant. We tested this prediction using two large natural language text corpora. In study 1 we examined posts on Twitter that referenced the future, and found that tweets mentioning temporally proximate dates used more concrete words than those mentioning distant dates. In study 2 we obtained all New York Times articles that referenced U.S. presidential elections between 1987 and 2007. We found that the concreteness of the words in these articles increased with the temporal proximity to their corresponding election. Additionally the reduction in concreteness after the election was much greater than the increase in concreteness leading up to the election, though both changes in concreteness were well described by an exponential function. We replicated this finding with New York Times articles referencing US public holidays. Overall, our results provide strong support for the predictions of construal level theory, and additionally illustrate how large natural language datasets can be used to inform psychological theory.

FMRI data from Korean, Chinese and English subjects in a word rhyming judgment task.

This article includes the description of data information from a visual word rhyming judgment task in native Korean, native Chinese and native English speakers. You will find fMRI data information including experimental design, MRI protocol, and brain activation results from a conjunction analysis of the three groups of subjects. Other results from the same study were published in “How does language distance between L1 and L2 affect the L2 brain network? An fMRI study of Korean–Chinese–English trilinguals” (Kim et al., 2015 [1]).

Electrophysiological Correlates of Second-Language Syntactic Processes Are Related to Native and Second Language Distance Regardless of Age of Acquisition.

In the present study, we investigate how early and late L2 learners process L2 grammatical traits that are either present or absent in their native language (L1). Thirteen early (AoA = 4 years old) and 13 late (AoA = 18 years old) Spanish learners of Basque performed a grammatical judgment task on auditory Basque sentences while their event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The sentences contained violations of a syntactic property specific to participants' L2, i.e., ergative case, or violations of a syntactic property present in both of the participants' languages, i.e., verb agreement. Two forms of verb agreement were tested: subject agreement, found in participants' L1 and L2, and object agreement, present only in participants' L2. Behaviorally, early bilinguals were more accurate in the judgment task than late L2 learners. Early bilinguals showed native-like ERPs for verb agreement, which differed from the late learners' ERP pattern. Nonetheless, approximation to native-likeness was greater for the subject-verb agreement processing, the type of verb-agreement present in participants' L1, compared to object-verb agreement, the type of verb-agreement present only in participants' L2. For the ergative argument alignment, unique to L2, the two non-native groups showed similar ERP patterns which did not correspond to the natives' ERP pattern. We conclude that non-native syntactic processing approximates native processing for early L2 acquisition and high proficiency levels when the syntactic property is common to the L1 and L2. However, syntactic traits that are not present in the L1 do not rely on native-like processing, despite early AoA and high proficiency.

Language switching-but not foreign language use per se-reduces the framing effect.

Recent studies reported reductions of well-established biases in decision making under risk, such as the framing effect, during foreign language (FL) use. These modulations were attributed to the use of FL itself, which putatively entails an increase in emotional distance. A reduced framing effect in this setting, however, might also result from enhanced cognitive control associated with language-switching in mixed-language contexts, an account that has not been tested yet. Here we assess predictions of the 2 accounts in 2 experiments with over 1,500 participants. In Experiment 1, we tested a central prediction of the emotional distance account, namely that the framing effect would be reduced at low, but not high, FL proficiency levels. We found a strong framing effect in the native language, and surprisingly also in the foreign language, independent of proficiency. In Experiment 2, we orthogonally manipulated foreign language use and language switching to concurrently test the validity of both accounts. As in Experiment 1, foreign language use per se had no effect on framing. Crucially, the framing effect was reduced following a language switch, both when switching into the foreign and the native language. Thus, our results suggest that reduced framing effects are not mediated by increased emotional distance in a foreign language, but by transient enhancement of cognitive control, putting the interplay of bilingualism and decision making in a new light. (PsycINFO Database Record

Дистанційне навчання іноземної мови: порівняльний аналіз сучасних платформ та онлайн-сервісів

The article is devoted to the analytical review of the modern market of foreign language distance learning platforms. It systematizes terminology providing the definitions of such notions as distance learning, distance learning platform, online service. The author distinguishes a number of the most popular modern distance learning platforms (Moodle, Google Classroom, Sakai) and online services (Busuu, LinguaLeo, Lang- 8) with the purpose of analyzing them. The online services under research have considerable capability for developing a methodology of foreign language teaching and organizing students’ independent work.

How does language distance between L1 and L2 affect the L2 brain network? An fMRI study of Korean–Chinese–English trilinguals

The present study tested the hypothesis that language distance between first language (L1) and second language (L2) influences the assimilation and accommodation pattern in Korean–Chinese–English trilinguals. The distance between English and Korean is smaller than that between Chinese and Korean in terms of orthographic transparency, because both English and Korean are alphabetic, whereas Chinese is logographic. During fMRI, Korean trilingual participants performed a visual rhyming judgment task in three languages (Korean: KK, Chinese: KC, English: KE). Two L1 control groups were native Chinese and English speakers performing the task in their native languages (CC and EE, respectively). The general pattern of brain activation of KC was more similar to that of CC than KK, suggesting accommodation. Higher accuracy in KC was associated with decreased activation in regions of the KK network, suggesting reduced assimilation. In contrast, the brain activation of KE was more similar to that of KK than EE, suggesting assimilation. Higher accuracy in KE was associated with decreased activation in regions of the EE network, suggesting reduced accommodation. Finally, an ROI analysis on the left middle frontal gyrus revealed greater activation for KC than for KE, suggesting its selective involvement in the L2 with more arbitrary mapping between orthography and phonology (i.e., Chinese). Taken together, the brain network involved in L2 reading is similar to the L1 network when L2 and L1 are similar in orthographic transparency, while significant accommodation is expected when L2 is more opaque than L1.

Factors affecting the knowledge of Chuvash language amongst school students in Russia

This paper empirically studies the impact of socioeconomic status and type of settlement on Chuvash language knowledge in the Chuvash Republic, Russia. In addition to presenting our survey results of 2,848 schoolchildren from September, 2012 to October, 2013, this research uses logit regressions to test the effect of social class, family income, parental education, rural origin, ethnicity, parental language proficiency, population size and distance to the capital city (Shupashkar/Cheboksary) on Chuvash language knowledge. In contrast to most of the previous literature, we do not analyze the effect of migration on language; the surveyed schoolchildren were usually born in Chuvashia, Russia. Our findings suggest that socioeconomic status, embodied principally in schoolchildren’s rural origin, has a negative impact on Chuvash knowledge. Schoolchildren living and studying in bigger towns and cities, and near the capital, are less likely to have a good Chuvash knowledge. These results are robust to different indicators of the key explanatory variables and econometric methods.

Sociolinguistic Factors in the Development of English Language Proficiency Among Students in Malaysia

Sociolinguistics factors influence the level of English Language proficiency among Malaysian students. Thereare three contextual factors involved which are the participants, the environment and culture. Participants refer to the students who come from different backgrounds with diverse needs and goals of learning the language. Language distance, native language proficiency, prior knowledge of the second language, dialect and register language status and attitudes play a crucial role in this factor. Besides that, the participants’ integrative and instrumental motivations are also contributing factors to the different level of proficiency in second language acquisition. The second factors is the environment which includes home support, the school environment and the community. Home support is concerned with atmosphere that parents create at home regarding language use, the school environment refers to peer groups, teachers and the learningprocess, whereas the community deals with the society that the students interact with. Finally cultural factors such as cultural differences and settings also have brought the different levels of proficiency among students in Malaysia.

Distance Language Education

The article gives an insight into distant learning technologies in teaching the theory of English to future translators and interpreters. The introduction of Distant Learning Resources (DLR) has recently become crucial for higher educational institutions due to the increased interest of the undergraduates in e-learning and boost in the electronic device market. The empirical base for the research is the results of the pilot Distant Learning Resource project that has been recently launched at the Faculty of Translation Studies and World Cultural Heritage, Kazan Federal University, Russian Federation. The authors present their findings on introducing the Distant Learning Resources into various academic linguistic courses they teach at the University. These resources have been developed to facilitate teaching and learning English for academic purposes by making the course materials most available, the assessment – maximum objective, and the students’ feedback on academic topics – more productive. The research data collected with the help of traditional scientific methods of observation, product analysis and questionnaire have allowed the authors to come to a number of conclusions. The most valuable of them is that thanks to the Distant Learning Resources students’ academic performance as well as learning independence has been considerably enhanced. The authors highlight considerable advantages and minor drawbacks of introduction the DLR into the process of students’ learning. Moreover, the authors’ opinions are supported unreservedly by the results of the students’ opinion survey on popularity and efficiency of DLR, as referred to in the article.