Part Of Language Acquisition Research Articles

Assessing the Phonological Processes in Akan Child Language

This paper seeks to examine the phonological processes embedded in the speech errors of child phonology in Akan, a Niger-Congo (Kwa) language. The study has become necessary because cross-linguistically, several works have been undertaken on child language acquisition but very little or no attention has been given to that of Akan. Most of these works on African languages have centered on the acquisition processes with little on the phonological processes underpinning child language. Therefore, this study bridges the gap by providing a discussion of some phonological processes that underline the acquisition of Akan children. In the course of the phonological development of the Akan child as part of language acquisition, these processes occur as phonological simplification strategies to resolve relatively challenging natural adult forms of Akan expressions. This is either due to an articulatory accident or a defect in the speech organ. It is against this backdrop that Fromkin (1973) opines that a slip of tongue is evidence of a phonological process in action. Hence, this paper concludes that the inadequacies in child language acquisition trigger various phonological processes such as vocalization, stopping, de-affrication, anteriorization, fronting, cluster reduction, reduplication as a phonological simplification strategy in the acquisition of Akan.

English Grammatical Morphemes 1({-s pl.}, {-s ps}, and {-s 3d}) by Iraqi EFL Learners: A Case Study

Acquiring grammatical morphemes is the main part in languageacquisition. Brown (1973), de Villiers and de Villiers (1973) and Larsen-Freeman(1975) mentioned that there is a natural order of acquisition of grammaticalmorphemes in English. This study investigates the development of acquisition of {-spl.}, {-s ps}, and {-s 3d} by Iraqi EFL learners and to find out if Iraqi EFL learnersfollow the same order of acquisition. It is also to differentiate between male andfemale learners in their acquisition. The study was based on a grammaticalityjudgment test that was administered for 30 participants each academic yearspecifically in May 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The results of analysispresent the average of the percentage of identification of grammatical morphemesconcerned. The average displays that the acquisition of {-s 3d} more fulfilled, withan average (66.583%), than {-s pl.}, {-s ps} which are (58.083%) and (50.25%)respectively. Also the results show that Iraqi male and female learners have thesame order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes but there is a difference inthe averages obtained which reveals that Iraqi female EFL learners acquire these

An Analysis of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Sri Lankan IT Undergraduates: Frequency, Technology Usage and Performance at a Formative Assessment

Learning vocabulary is an integral part in language acquisition and acquisition of academic vocabulary is a determinant for the success in an academic context. Therefore, many studies have been conducted to formulate academic vocabulary lists and identifying vocabulary learning strategies. This study seeks to explore the vocabulary learning strategies employed by IT undergraduates when studying academic vocabulary and to examine their performance on academic vocabulary related questions at the mid-term examination which is one of their formative assessments. The sample of the study includes 276 first year IT undergraduates who follow the module English for Academic Purposes in a Sri Lankan non-state university. A questionnaire is used as the research tool to obtain data from the sample and the result of the formative exam is used to examine the performance related to academic vocabulary. According to the data analysis, most of the students often use either monolingual or bilingual dictionary as a strategy for the discovery of a new word meaning. This is more emphasized as they have mentioned that they prefer using dictionary apps as a vocabulary strategy using online. A significant number of students study the spelling, meaning and form of a word and ask for help from their friends as strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered. When comparing the marks obtained for the vocabulary related questions at the exam, it is noted that the students have obtained less marks to the question in which they had to replace the underlined word/phrases with a more academic alternative. Thus, students need to adopt more effective strategies to acquire mastery of academic vocabulary. Moreover, they should reflect on the current strategies used by them.

Automatic Spoken Language Acquisition Based on Observation and Dialogue

Human babies are born without knowledge of any specific language. They acquire language directly from observation and dialogue without being limited by the availability of labeled data. We propose spoken language acquisition agents that simulate the process. Such an ability requires multiple types of learning, including 1) word discovery, 2) symbol grounding, 3) message generation, and 4) pronunciation generation. Several studies have targeted one or combined learning types to elucidate human intelligence and aimed to equip spoken dialogue systems with human-like flexible language learning ability. However, their language ability was partially lacking some of the components. Our agents are the first to integrate them all. Our key concept is to design an architecture to integrate unsupervised, self-supervised, and reinforcement learning to utilize clues naturally existing in raw sensory signals and drive the learning based on the agent’s intrinsic motivation. Experimental results show agents successfully acquire spoken language from scratch by interacting with an environment to act by speaking. Our proposed focusing mechanism significantly improves learning efficiency. We also demonstrate that our agents can learn neural vocoder and the concept of logical negation as a part of language acquisition.

Penguasaan Fonologi dalam Pemerolehan Bahasa

Acquisition of language is a very long process, starting from when the child does not know a language until it is fluent. Mastery of a language by a child begins with acquiring the first language which is often called the mother tongue. Phonological acquisition is a part of language acquisition which is often called language development or growth. This study aims to describe and explain the language acquisition of children aged 1 year and 5 months at the phonological level. This study used a descriptive research design combined with a case study approach. The main data source was the research subject (Rhanidya, 1.5 years old), while the additional data source was Mrs. Rhanidya. The data in this study are utterances that come out of Rhanidya's sense of utterance. While the data collection techniques used by researchers are interview, observation, peer and note-taking techniques. From the results of the analysis of phonological acquisition, it was found that 34 words had been mastered by the research subjects. The 34 words are divided into vowels and consonants and vowel phonemes and consonants from Indonesian and Javanese. The results also show that the acquisition of language in children in the phonological aspect is influenced by environmental factors, especially family, this is indicated by the large number of vocabulary they get in the family environment and around them. Children are also able to pronounce some nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Problems Experienced in the Literacy Teaching Process by Foreign Students in the First Grade of Primary School

<p style="text-align:justify">The aim of this study is to obtain classroom teachers' views on the problems experienced in the literacy process by foreign students in the first grade of primary school, which constitutes an important part of language acquisition. A qualitative research approach has been adopted in the research. The data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form. With the semi-structured interview form created by the researchers, the opinions of the teachers working in the city center of Malatya in Turkey in the 2017-2018 academic year and having foreign students in their class were received. The data collected in line with the opinions of the teachers were analyzed with content analysis. As a result of the data analyzed, the opinions of the teachers were collected under 5 titles; "The problems experienced by foreign students in the process of adaptation to the school", "The problems experienced by foreign students in the stages of the literacy process", "Teacher’s problems in the education of foreign students", "Teacher’s solutions regarding the problems experienced by foreign students in education", and "System suggestions of teachers for the education of foreign students". Teachers mostly experienced problems in writing during the preparation stage, language-related problems in the perception of the sound, pronunciation problems in reading letters, and comprehension problems in syllable-word-sentence-text creation when starting independent literacy.</p>

STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE LEARNING APTITUDE


 
 
 The language learning aptitude research has become popular again lately after some redefining efforts to include creative and practical language-acquisition abilities. Therefore, this study is designed by involving students’ creativity and part of language acquisition (i. e. speaking performance). Recent works have shown that the discussion on aptitude is very much alive after a relatively silent period of about thirty years. Early studies have shown that the established language learning aptitude tests show high correlations with intelligence and controlled language production, but low correlations with free oral production and general communication skills. The conventional aptitude tests do not tell the whole story of a person’s second-language learning ability. To challenge the old findings, in this research, the students’ language learning aptitude which is measured by an aptitude test is correlated with their speaking performance. It is an extending work to be up-to-date with the present trend of English teaching- learning in classroom which plays an important role in second-language acquisition as well, i. e. free oral production and general communication skills. A well-established test format and instruments by expert involving some relevant elements has been adapted for the selected students and the feasibility of assessing speaking performance in an English course is evaluated empirically. The results showed that the test and the instrument provide a reliable and efficient method of assessing the students’ aptitude and speaking performance. Evidence of validity was obtained from various tasks, and from an analysis of the scores in terms of some aspects, which is known to be associated with different levels of aptitude and speaking performance.
 
 

English Grammatical Morphemes ({-s pl.}, {-s ps}, and {-s 3d}) by Iraqi EFL Learners: A Case Study

Acquiring grammatical morphemes is the main part in language acquisition. Brown (1973), de Villiers and de Villiers (1973) and Larsen-Freeman (1975) mentioned that there is a natural order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes in English. This study investigates the development of acquisition of {-s pl.}, {-s ps}, and {-s 3d} by Iraqi EFL learners and to find out if Iraqi EFL learners follow the same order of acquisition. It is also to differentiate between male and female learners in their acquisition. The study was based on a grammaticality judgment test that was administered for 30 participants each academic year specifically in May 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The results of analysis present the average of the percentage of identification of grammatical morphemes concerned. The average displays that the acquisition of {-s 3d} more fulfilled, with an average (66.583%), than {-s pl.}, {-s ps} which are (58.083%) and (50.25%) respectively. Also the results show that Iraqi male and female learners have the same order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes but there is a difference in the averages obtained which reveals that Iraqi female EFL learners acquire these grammatical morphemes better than male.

THE ROLE OF MOTIVATION IN TEACHING SPEAKING IN ESP: A CASE STUDY OF A LEBANESE PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

In learning any language, speaking plays an essential part in language acquisition. This has been a problematic issue as language teachers aspire to improve students’ communicative skills through the use of different techniques such as role play, discussions, simulations among others or by improving students’ vocabulary and pronunciation. The study sheds light on the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in teaching speaking in an English speaking class where English is taught as a foreign language for specific purposes such as business English, aviation English training among others and whether motivation is linked to academic, linguistic and socio-cultural factors. The importance of developing speaking skills in these specific situations has a great impact on students’ academic, social and professional development. Our study investigated The University of Balamand (hereafter UoB) 72 diverse participants from different majors who were divided between sophomore, junior and senior students on the one hand and the students’ gender on the other. The reason behind this division was to test both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and which group is more motivated. SPSS statistical analyses show a variation in the results between the two groups. The test revealed (1) that there was a significant, positive and small to medium correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and academic factors, (2) non-significant correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and linguistic factors indicating that motivation is not related to linguistic factors and (3) significant, positive and medium to large correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and socio-cultural factors.

English Idioms: An Islamic Perspective

Many advocate that a mastery of idioms is a reflection of native speakers’ proficiency. While understanding idioms is an important part of language acquisition, a language reflects its culture. The interconnectedness between English idioms and western culture may create uneasiness on some non-native learners as the usage of some idioms may not be in-line with their value system. This article aims to highlight the presence of some English idioms which are not in line with the principles of Islam and hence, may not be appropriate for Muslims to use. The study employed a content analysis method in analysing the idioms. The findings indicate the presence of English idioms which include terms with reference to the cross and Christianity, equating men to dogs and pigs, as well as a positive image of alcohol which are incongruent with Islamic principles, hence the need for Muslims to view English idioms critically. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching English to Muslim learners. Keywords: idioms, culture, Muslims, ESL/EFL

Gabriele Stein. Developing Your English Vocabulary: A Systematic New Approach

Gabriele Stein is professor of English linguistics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and has published widely on lexicography and lexicology. The objective of this book is twofold: to compile a lexical core and to maximise the skills of language students by developing ways of expanding this core. It is intended to function as a teaching aid for teachers of English as well as a self-study book for learners of English as a second language. Lexical knowledge is a crucial part of language acquisition and depends on different external factors such as the age and profession of the learner, his/her goals, expectations and needs in learning a language. Beck et al. (2002) have demonstrated the small extent of the emphasis on the acquisition vocabulary in school curricula.

Metaphor awareness in teaching vocabulary

Patterns of language are usually perceived, learned and used as meaningful chunks that are processed as a whole, resulting in a reduced learning burden and increased fluency. The ability to comprehend and produce lexical chunks or groups of words which are commonly found together is an important part of language acquisition. This paper demonstrates how an awareness of conceptual metaphor and grouping of various words and expressions in a metaphorical chunk may improve the process of vocabulary acquisition. Since words that appear in language as a result of metaphorical extensions resemble other etymologically related words, this method may help learners in establishing mental associations and speed up learning, especially if students already know words to which new vocabulary is related. In this way, learners' prior knowledge would assist in assimilating new information by reducing burden on limited-capacity working memory. The current paper offers a specific example of implementing this approach, and demonstrates how Russian words and idiomatic expressions can be presented in metaphorical chunks to facilitate cognitively efficient learning. It suggests that a similar approach may potentially be extended to syntactic properties of words that could be explained via conceptual metaphors encoded in their origin. By exploring this connection, a metaphorical approach could also be used in teaching grammar.

Suivez le guide... L'acquisition de routines de lecture en langue 1 et en langue 2 (renominalisation et pronominalisation).

The choice of anaphors indicates the architecture of a text. Mothertongue readers integrate by routine those grammatical informations to construct a semantic representation of the text. This article deals with the acquisition of grammar based routines both in first language (French) and in second language (German). The aim of our investigation is to know whether grammar based reading routines are a matter of general cognitive development or of language reading, advanced French speaking learners of German do not use the reading routines they already have acquired in their first language. So, grammar based routines can probably not be considered as a part of general cognitive development but as a part of language acquisition.