Second Language Acquisition Studies Research Articles

农村初中生英语学习愉悦、焦虑及无聊情绪与英语成绩的关系研究

Based on the perspective of positive psychology, this article explores the status quo of students’ English learning enjoyment, anxiety and boredom in a rural middle school by investigating 203 participants in Grade two. From the data analysis, conclusions are drawn as follow: (1) Students experience a higher level of English learning enjoyment but lower levels of anxiety and boredom, while English learning anxiety is higher than boredom. (2) There is a significant gender difference in English learning anxiety, while there is insignificant difference between enjoyment and boredom. (3) There is a negative relationship between English learning enjoyment and anxiety, between English learning enjoyment and boredom and there is a positive relationship between English learning enjoyment and students’ academic achievements, and a negative relationship between English learning anxiety, boredom and students’ academic achievements. This study explores the relationship between foreign language learning emotions and foreign language academic achievements, which could further enrich studies of second language acquisition and the emotions of rural middle school students.

The Correlation between HUIT English Majors’ Short - Term Memory and Listening Comprehension Skills at Different Language Proficiency Levels

The study of short-term memory (STM) is crucial to the study of second language acquisition. STM plays an important role in language acquisition and development since it is an on-line capacity for processing and elaborating new information. A fundamental skill in learning English is listening comprehension. The ability to listen is crucial when learning a foreign language because receiving language input is the key to language learning. More and more academics at home and abroad have started to focus on the relationship between STM and listening comprehension in recent years. STM has been demonstrated to be a crucial component of listening comprehension, making it extremely vital to increase listening comprehension in second languages. STM helps in the immediate processing of incoming auditory information when listening in a second language. This essay investigates the relationship between short-term memory and listening comprehension skills of English - majored students from Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade. The results' implications suggest that improving short-term memory capacity is necessary to get students ready for the listening IELTS examination.

Signature Dynamics of Development in Second Language Sociolinguistic Competence: Evidence From an Intensive Microlongitudinal Study

AbstractThis study is the first to explore microdevelopment in sociolinguistic evaluative judgments of standard German and Austro‐Bavarian dialect by adult second language learners of German by using dense time serial measurements. Intensive longitudinal data (10 observations per participant) were collected from four learners at approximately weekly intervals over 3 months. We employed generalized additive models with superimposed periods of significant change to identify rapid developmental phases in individual developmental trajectories. By triangulating these models with qualitative introspective and retrodictive interview data, we identified environmental and psychological stimuli for change. Learners evinced increasing and decreasing periods of significant change, independent of length of residence. Dynamic constellations of identity‐ and agency‐related variables alongside more intensive social interaction with target‐variety speakers contributed to significant changes. We discuss findings from a complexity perspective and advocate for microlongitudinal studies in variationist second language acquisition to better capture stimuli for change in learners’ emerging multivarietal repertoires.

The Enlightenment of Monitoring Theory on Japanese Language Teaching

Krashen's monitoring theory is the most influential one in the study of second language acquisition, and the core part of it is the language input hypothesis, which provides many valuable teaching implications for foreign language teaching and has been applied to the 21st century. At present, Japanese Teaching in China is facing some challenges. This paper will explore the problems existing in Japanese teaching and put forward some effective strategies to promote the development of Japanese Teaching in China. I hope these suggestions can bring some new thinking and improvement to Japanese teaching.

Exploring Co-adaptation in an Ecosystem of Dyadic Interaction

In the field of applied linguistics, Diane Larsen-Freeman is widely recognized, among her numerous contributions, as the originator of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). Over the years since her seminal publication (Larsen-Freeman, 1997), CDST has evolved into a meta-theory that guides the field’s thinking on a variety of developmental phenomena, not least the study of second language acquisition. As its theoretical potency rises, so does the need to achieve a tangible understanding of CDST’s core constructs. In this paper, we empirically examine one such construct, co-adaptation, in the context of asynchronous dyadic interaction. A data corpus of 39 emails sent between two college students in China and the United States over the course of seven weeks is analyzed using NVivo 12. Co-adaptation is observed at the pragmatic, discourse, and linguistic levels. True to the spirit of CDST, we describe, and discuss the nuances of, our findings. Considering the novelty of our approach to data analysis, we end by reflecting on the limitations specific to our study, as well as worthwhile directions for future pursuits.

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.

Quantifying the uniqueness and efficiency of the MLAT relative to L1 attainment as a predictor of L2 achievement: A conceptual replication

AbstractIn this conceptual replication of Sparks and Dale ([2023]. The prediction from MLAT to L2 achievement is largely due to MLAT asessment of underlying L1 abilities. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–25) utilizing a dataset previously reported by Sparks et al. ([2009]. Long-term relationships among early L1 skills, L2 aptitude, L2 affect, and later L2 proficiency. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 725–755.), L1 achievement scores over 1st–5th grades and L2 aptitude scores from the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) in 9th grade were examined as predictors of L2 achievement for U.S. secondary students completing L2 courses in 9th and 10th grades. The study’s focus was on the uniqueness and efficiency of MLAT with respect to measuring L1 achievement in predicting L2 achievement. All L1 measures and MLAT predicted L2 literacy and language, and L1 measures predicted MLAT scores. Word decoding was the strongest overall L1 predictor, though there was variation across the L2 measures. The unique contribution of MLAT was modest, as the majority of total prediction (77–86%) was due to L1 measures. The efficiency of MLAT in capturing predictive variance from L1 abilities was moderately high (median ∼73%) but variable across the L1 and L2 measures. Findings are generally consistent with those of Sparks and Dale (2023) showing that prediction from MLAT to L2 is largely due to MLAT’s assessment of L1 abilities, even though a substantial amount of L2 prediction-relevant L1 variance is missed by MLAT.

A Study to Analyze the Fossilized Spelling Errors in Compositions of Second Language Learners at Intermediate Level

The errors committed by second language learners in their compositions have been the focus of current studies of second language acquisition, as these errors anticipate the difficulties faced by them in second language learning. The focus of this paper is to display the common errors in ESL compositions by intermediate students and the reasons behind these errors. Data for this paper was gathered through the administration of a questionnaire followed by a self-written composition. The analysis of the data was based on the classification of errors according to different aspects like vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar syntax. Subsequently, the qualitative data was then quantified. The results reveal that errors are inevitable. Gaining insight into errors would therefore highlight the difficulty faced by learners in L2 learning. It is therefore proposed that the learners must have sufficient exposure and training in L2 to incorporate language rules and to minimize the possibility of errors in their compositions. This paper can also help the teachers to be more conscious of the most common errors committed by intermediate students and to help the students get over the concepts in English that are difficult and problematic for them by offering relevant activities and practice material. Keywords: Errors, Composition, Second Language Learners, Accuracy

A Critical Review on the “Natural Order” of the Morpheme Acquisition: Three major Antithetical Views

One of the most contentious and widely discussed studies in Second language acquisition (SLA) theories is the study of morpheme order, which is then renowned as the natural order. As the study generates a number of supports, this paper critically reviews the studies of natural order and presents three major antithetical views against the existing beliefs: the ignorance of other linguistic phenomena, the claim that accuracy is equal to acquisition, and the fatal flaw of overlooking the influence of L1 on L2.

An Article Review: Revisiting the Moderating Effect of Speaker Proficiency on the Relationships among Intelligibility, Comprehensibility, and Accentedness in L2 Spanish

The current article review summarizes the main points and comments on Huensch and Nagle (2022)’s article published in Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Huensch and Nagle (2022)’s study is a replication of their research in 2021, exploring the moderating effect of speaker proficiency on the relationships among intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness in L2 Spanish. Although lack of innovation, the study enjoys linguistic, logical and methodological strengths, as well as theoretical and practical significance. It also provides implications for L2 pronunciation research and classroom teaching.

Teaching Implications of Interlanguage Fossilization

Interlanguage Fossilization Phenomena is an observable phenomenon of interlanguage speech stagnation, which is universal, independent of age, gender, and time, and is an important feature in the study of second language acquisition. With the in-depth study of interlanguage fossilization phenomena, the research results on the causes of fossilization are more abundant, and scholars have made specific elaborations from various aspects such as psycho-cognitive, neuro-physiological, and social environment. This paper discusses the relationship between fossilisation and second language teaching from three perspectives: the causes of fossilization, the research methods of fossilization and the measures to deal with fossilization, so as to provide new ideas for improving the quality of teaching.

You Had Better Check the Facts: Reader Agency in the Identification of Machine-Generated Medical Fake News

During the COVID-19 pandemic, much fake news emerged in the medical field (Naeem et al., 2020: 1). Nowadays, computers can generate text considered to be more trustworthy than text written by a person (Zellers et al., 2019). This means that laypeople are able to produce disinformation; however, they may not understand the implications. This study revealed the most reliable clues as guidance to spot machine writing. While natural-language processing (NLP) research focuses on L1 speakers, studies in second language acquisition demonstrate that L1 and L2 speakers attend to different aspects of English (Scarcella, 1984; Tsang, 2017). In this study, social media users completed a Turing-test style quiz, guessed whether news excerpts were machine generated or human written (Saygin et al., 2000) and identified errors that guided their decision. Quantitative analysis revealed that although both L1 and L2 speakers were equally able to defend themselves against machine-generated fake news, L2 participants were more sceptical, labelling more human-written texts as being machine generated. This is possibly due to concern about the stigma associated with being fooled by a machine due to lower language levels. However, factual errors and internal contradictions were the most reliable indicators of machine writing for both groups. This emphasises the importance of fact-checking when news articles prioritise exaggerated headlines, and NLP tools enable production of popular content in areas like medicine.

BOOK REVIEW: UNDERSTANDING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Lourdes Ortega's "Understanding Second Language Acquisition" was first published by Routledge in 2008. Lourdes Ortega is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of second language acquisition and applied linguistics. Her work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the learning and acquisition of second languages. Lourdes Ortega’s Understanding Second Language Acquisition is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the study of second language acquisition (SLA). The book provides an in-depth exploration of the key concepts of SLA and offers a comprehensive overview of current research, theories, and approaches. It is a valuable resource for both language educators and students alike.

A multimodal corpus to study videoconference interactions for techno-pedagogical competence in second language acquisition and teacher education

This article aims to describe the construction and annotation of a multimodal and multilingual (French, English, and Mandarin Chinese) corpus for the study of second language acquisition and professional development in language teaching. The corpus was built within a research project whose main objective is to determine which techno-semio-pedagogical competencies are developed informally and which ones require formal training. In this paper, we explain the theoretical framework adopted, characterized by an ecological approach to the interactive environment. We subsequently illustrate the procedures for the collection of audio, video and eye-tracking data. We also provide details of the annotation of raw data to produce a corpus of analysis drawing on different automatic and semi-automatic annotation tools. Finally, we explain how such a corpus enables us to study the development of learners’ multimodal competence and tutors’ techno-pedagogical competence and point to some other possible research questions.

Stylistic alignment in natural conversation involving second language speakers

Abstract To date, a growing body of second language (L2) research has investigated linguistic alignment as a pedagogical intervention, focusing on L2 learners’ alignment behaviors in task-based interactions (e.g., Jung, YeonJoo, YouJin Kim & John Murphy. 2017. The role of task repetition in learning word-stress patterns through auditory priming tasks. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 39(2). 319–346; Kim, YouJin, YeonJoo Jung & Stephen Skalicky. 2019. Linguistic alignment, learner characteristics, and the production of stranded prepositions in relative clauses: Comparing FTF and SCMC contexts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(5). 937–969). Linguistic alignment refers to a tendency where one speaker’s utterances align with particular language features of those of the other speaker in dialogue. The current study investigated how L2 speakers’ alignment behaviors differ in natural dialogues between L2-L1 and L2-L2 dyads in terms of language style (i.e., stylistic alignment) and the role of non-linguistic factors in the occurrence of stylistic alignment. The study analyzed a corpus of 360 texts using a computational tool. Results showed that stylistic alignment occurred to a greater extent in the L2-L2 dyad than in the L2-L1 dyad with respect to the word range, word frequency, word imageability, and proportion of bigrams proportion produced by the interlocutors. Furthermore, findings demonstrated the degree of stylistic alignment on each of the four selected lexical features was affected by numerous factors including age, group membership, nonnative speaker status, familiarity between interlocutors, and linguistic distance between L1 and L2. The effect of each factor on stylistic alignment in conversation is discussed in detail.

Nada, nadie: A Study of Negative Concord in L2 Spanish

Abstract Research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has studied negation in a wide variety of languages but has mainly focused on the acquisition of clause negation, or the negation of finite verbs in main clauses (Dimroth, Christine. 2008. Age effects on the process of L2 acquisition? Evidence from the acquisition of negation and finiteness in L2 German. Language Learning 58(1). 117–150). The present study discusses the acquisition of negative concord (NC) in L2 Spanish, from both a syntactic and a lexical approach to the analysis of learner production data. The results of a structured oral elicitation task indicate that learners produce NC with the negative concord items (NCIs) nada ‘nothing’ and nadie ‘no one’ in argument position, and also ascertain their appropriate usage contexts, with greater accuracy as their L2 proficiency increases. These findings are discussed in relation to studies of NC in English and English First Language Acquisition (FLA), and also to recent work in English SLA on the acquisition of negative polarity items (NPIs) (Gil, Kook-Hee, Heather Marsden & Melinda Whong. 2019. The meaning of negation in the second language classroom: Evidence from ‘any. Language Teaching Research 23(2). 218–236; Marsden, Heather, Melinda Whong & Kook-Hee Gil. 2018. What’s in the textbook and what’s in the mind: Polarity item “Any” in learner English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 40(1). 91–118; Puig-Mayenco, Eloi & Heather Marsden. 2018. Polarity-item “anything” in L3 English: Where does transfer come from when the L1 is Catalan and the L2 is Spanish? Second Language Research 34(4). 487–515). Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to further research in the literature on complex negation constructions in SLA and underline the interplay of syntactic, semantic, and lexical issues in the acquisition of these structures.

A review of the idiodynamic method as an emerging research method for the investigation of affective variables in second language acquisition.

Recent years have witnessed the influence of the complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Thus, new research methods have also been introduced to meet the requirements of investigating the dynamic nature of learner-related factors including L2 affective variables. Among the innovative quantitative research methods which is compatible with the CDST is the idiodynamic method, the application of which is on the rise in SLA research. In this paper, an overall introduction to the idiodynamic method is presented first, followed by a review of the existing literature in SLA studies. Then, it is discussed why this innovative research method is suitable to investigate the dynamic nature of L2 learners’ affective variables in the complex network of classroom learning. Also, several relevant research questions that can potentially be formulated and answered using the idiodynamic method are discussed. The paper ends with conclusive remarks on the need for more extensive use of innovative CDST-compatible research methods such as the idiodynamic method in the prospective SLA line of inquiry.

Investigating individual differences with qualitative research methods: Results of a meta-analysis of leading applied linguistics journals

The aim of the present article is to provide a systematic review of qualitative studies in the leading journals of our field focusing on their distributional properties in the various journals as well as topic choice and selected quality control issues. In order to achieve this aim, we carried out a systematic review of research articles published in leading journals in our field, namely, Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Studies in Second Language Acquisition and Modern Language Journal between 2016 and 2020. Our sample contains 93 articles in which researchers employed qualitative research methods or mixed methods including a qualitative component. Our main results indicate that there is great variation among journals in terms of the number of qualitative studies. As for topic considerations, some traditional individual difference variables seem to have a dominant role, with cognitive processes involved in language acquisition gaining some ground as well. Concerning quality control issues, there could be room for improvement with regard to reporting the quality control measures, including the tools employed in the studies. Based on our results, we can conclude that a more systematic understanding of acceptable processes in the field of applied linguistics could increase not only the number of qualitative articles published but also their topical importance.

Second Language Acquisition in a Spanish Classroom: The Implement of Communicative Language Teaching

Second language acquisition, also known as SLA or L2 acquisition, is a process which people learn a second language. Second language acquisition on one hand is a product of various factors related to the learner and leaning situation on the other. Although the individuality and variability during language acquiring process is inevitable, the study of second language acquisition still possesses universality and practicability. As many scholars viewed the language learning as a natural thing, there also exists considerable studies about the second language acquisition in classroom, which overlaps with language education. The emphasis of classroom second language acquisition is the influence of instruction on the learners.
 This essay, with a theory basis on communicative language teaching, analyses the acquisition of Spanish in a classroom, the relationship between the language teaching and the second language acquisition. Moreover, the evaluation of the approaches which aim for fulfilling the communicative purpose modify the whole language acquisition process

A Case Study of Second Language Acquisition: A Case Study of English Home Education Model for Children in China

This study reconfirms the second language acquisition theory that there is a "critical period" in children's language development and cultivation in terms of age and cognition and the advantages of bilingual education. In the Chinese language environment, early childhood English education should adhere to the purpose of communication, take life scenes as the main content, under the guidance of the relevant theories of second language acquisition, complete coverage of basic sentence patterns and phonetic symbols, and select excellent audio-visual materials and textbooks suitable for children's physical and mental development. Only in this way can the process of language acquisition be simulated to the maximum extent and at the minimum cost. Therefore, it is essential that parents and teachers strive to create a highly simulated good English application environment. This case study of English family education model for children has a good enlightenment on English education in Kindergarten and primary school in China.