Second Language Studies Research Articles

Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know by Rebecca L. Oxford

115 Reviews Issues in Applied Linguistics Vol.1 No. 1 It could turn out, then, that while perhaps crucial in some respects, U G may not have much to say about some of the things which give L2 learners headaches and which language textbooks devote so much of their space to: inflectional paradigms, vocabulary (and lexical subcategorization) and language-idiosyncratic elements, such as articles in English or formal vs. informal discourse levels in Japanese. UG, as a computational system, may facilitate the relative ease of interpretation (i.e., computing ) of anaphoric relations, for example, but it may be hard-pressed to aid in the acquisition of 3rd- person-singular -s in English, a process which may rely instead on some other learning mechanism (that apparently deteriorates with increasing age!). The importance of L 2 data may thus lie in contributing, along with data from L I and neurolinguistic studies, both to a more correct description of the various levels or components of U G and their interaction as well as to delimiting the scope of UG. One of the most important contributions of this book is the introduction's rather neat delineation not only of a set of minimal requirements for a theory of second language acquisition, but also of a set of questions and issues to be addressed in future research - the right set of questions at the right level of analysis (p. 18) -¬ which the editors have distilled from the papers collected in the volume. This convergence of ideas constitutes a kind of L2 critical mass which may well ensure that many of the questions raised in this volume will set the research agenda for second language acquisition in the foreseeable future. As such it certainly establishes the book as a basic reference text for theoretical issues in second language acquisition. Clahsen, H. (1989). The comparative study of first and second language ' development. Unpublished manuscript.. University of DUsseldorf. Flynn, S. (1987). Contrast and construction in a parameter setting model of L2 acquisition. Language Learning, 37, 1, 19-62. Flynn, S. (1983). A study of the effects of principal branching direction in second language acquisition: The generalization of a parameter of universal grammar from first to second language acquisition. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University. Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.) (1989). Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Koopman, H. (1984). The syntax of verbs. Dordrecht: Foris. McLaughlin. B. (1987). Theories of second language learning. London: Edward Arnold. Schwartz. B.D. (1989). L2 knowledge: What is the null hypothesis? Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development. Schwartz B.D. (1990). The fundamental difference hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Paper presented at the 10th Second Language Research Forum, Eugene, Oregon. StoweU, T. (1981). Origins of phrase structure. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, MIT. Travis. L. (1984). Parameters and effects of word order variation. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, MIT. Donna Lardiere is a graduate student in the Program in Applied Linguistics at Boston University. (Received April 19,1990) Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know by Rebecca L . Oxford. New York: Newbury House, 1990. xxii+342 pp. Reviewed by Swathi Vanniarajan University of California. Los Angeles Notes '•All parameter references are as cited in the papers themselves. Clahsen has since modified his position somewhat, arguing that L2 learners do have access to principles of UG only insofar as these principles have instantiations in the speakers' native language (Clahsen, 1989, p. 12).. REFERENCES Bley-Vroman. R. (forthcoming). The logical problem of foreign language learning. Linguistic Analysis. Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris. One of the most important developments in applied linguistics in recent years has been the renewed interest in cognitive strategies The strategies approach to communication/language learning seeks to discover the ways in which the learner conduces the communication/language learning processes. By analysing learners' overt forms of behavior, research on communication

Adult L2 Acquisition of Two Distinct Phonetic Forms of Anaphora

Perhaps the most pervasive issue in the study of adult second language (L2) acquisition concerns the relative contribution of prior first language (L1) experience — the contrastive component — and universal grammatical principles — the constructive component — to this language learning process. Concern with this issue stems in part from basic linguistic and psychological questions about the nature of language learning in the adult and in part from the desire to integrate these two components within a framework that can provide for a unified theory of language learning in general. Current research within the field endeavors to isolate and quantify each of these two components in the adult L2 learning process.Within this context, this paper reports results of an experimental study of the acquisition of anaphora in structures such as in (1) and (2). (1) Alice helped Mary when she walked through the garden.(2) Alice helped Mary when walking through the garden.

Semantic processing for communicative exercises in foreign-language learning

To build the sort of communicative exercise that present-day pedagogical theory demands for second-language study, we must turn to the techniques of semantic representation and semantic processing that have been investigated by Artificial Intelligence workers over the last 20 years. This paper presents some of the programs that pioneered these techniques. It gives a brief history of attempts to use them in programs destined for language learners. Finally, it uses the Foreign Language Adventure Game developed at the University of Delaware to provide examples of the sorts of representation and processing that are typical of such

Predictors of transfer out of early French immersion programs

ABSTRACTThis study examined the factors that best predict which elementary schoolchildren will ultimately transfer out of a French immersion program. At the end of one school year, French immersion teachers nominated poor-achieving students who might transfer to an English stream and who may elect not to leave the program. All of the children were immediately tested and parents and teachers were interviewed. The status of the project children was monitored over the next year to determine which children transferred to an English stream. Analysis of the pretransfer data indicated that although cognitive-academic variables may be necessary conditions for transfer, they are not sufficient conditions. Specifically, while the children who transferred experienced academic problems, these were no more severe than those of children who did not transfer. Rather, the transfer children were unique in terms of their poorer attitudes, motivations, and nonacademic behaviors. This pattern of results was found for the teacher, parent, and child data. The analyses suggest that attitudinal and motivational factors are of primary importance to the continuation of second-language study by young learners.

Chapter I: Second-Language Study: Historical Background and Current Status

Chapter I: Second-Language Study: Historical Background and Current Status

Persistence in Second-Language Study: Motivational Considerations

Persistence in Second-Language Study: Motivational Considerations

The Effects of Language Background and Socioeconomic Status on Second Language Study in Manitoba Secondary Schools

Attitude is considered by many educators as being one of the most important factors influencing scholastic achievement. Research in secondlanguage study has revealed that some of the significant · factors influencing a learner's attitude to acquire a second language were methods used, age of the learner, language aptitudes, language background, attitudinal characteristic in the home, teachers' and administrators' philosophies.

On Intermediate Language Instruction

The aural-oral approach to second-language teaching is based on, among many other things, the assumption that language learning can proceed best if the student is first prepared to respond to and in his new language as he would have to respond if he were to be confronted with a native speaker of that language with whom he had to communicate. Thus the initial stage of second-language learning usually aims to build up what may be described as the ability to carry on a conversation. This conversational ability is rarely the ultimate object of second-language instruction, however, and the student soon reaches a stage where he begins to try to achieve whatever his own ultimate object may have been. He may want access to its literature or to the culture of the people who speak it. Or he may want to get an education in it which he would be denied using only his native language. In either case there will be a perceptible shift of interest toward reading and writing, and these two skills tend to dominate the intermediate and advanced levels of second-language instruction. Unfortunately, this produces a real discontinuity in the instructional process. By their very nature, reading and writing are not as amenable to close structural control and massive practice as are the conversational skills. Two of the reasons for this are the relatively larger part of conversation which is phatic in nature and the relatively smaller units which make up the typical conversation. Because so much of real conversation is phatic, it is possible to play-act the same thing repeatedly without any overwhelming sense of unreality. And because the typical units of conversation-greetings, leave-takings, question-and-answer sequences, instruction-and-response sequences, statement-and-contradiction sequences, and the like-are so short, both linguistically and temporally, a lot of practice can be achieved in a short time. On the other hand, very little in reading and writing except parts of personal letters or greeting cards, for example, can be properly described as phatic; most of the reading and writing we do has other purposes. And almost any structural unit of the written language goes beyond the three or four sentences that suffice to describe most conversational units. The discontinuity between the conversation-dominated initial stages and the reading-and-writing dominated later stages of second-language study, then, is real, and intermediate level materials must somehow wrestle with it. Many of the processes by which this discontinuity is bridged are obvious. At first, reading and writing are kept as close as possible to the conversational level. Reading selections are short and are prepared for by oral practice. Often they are followed up by oral questioning. The first work