Language learning in adulthood: Why some have more trouble than others

Smith, Asha Halima Stanford University 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Bilingual adults have been shown to outperform monolingual adults in learning new languages (e.g. Cenoz & Valencia, 1994). To explore one potential contribution to this finding, three experiments examined vocabulary learning strategies in adults who differed in the age at which they had first exposure to second language learning. More specifically, the extent to which each participant made use of first language translations when learning new languages was examined. Participants were taught names for items in a new language using objects that were either easy or more difficult to learn using first language information. These experiments revealed a surprising difference in the way adults with early second language learning experience and adults with late second language learning experience make use of first language lexical information in the early stages of new language word learning. While people who had experienced second language learning later in life benefited from the availability of L1 information, people who had experienced learning to add a new language earlier in childhood performed better when this information was absent. To look more closely at the mechanisms behind these differences, an additional study explored to what extent the differences between these groups could be leveled when a new language learning task did not allow time for word learning strategy use. The results showed that early and late L2 learners performed similarly on the non-self-paced vocabulary learning tasks (both slow and fast-paced), but responded differently to the order of teaching effects and items used for teaching and testing. It was concluded that language-learning history may be tied to differences in how adults go about learning words in new languages. Just how flexible these strategy differences are and their direct implications to language learning success is an open question for future research.

Language Learning Strategies Used by Higher Level Students in Target Language Environment and EFL/Foreign Language Environment

Pei, Xiaoyu ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Arizona State Univ 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Language learning strategy (LLS) has been long considered as one of the most important variables impacting language performance. Learning context, as a major effect on LLS choices, has not been paid much attention compared to other individual variables in LLS research. For the purpose of highlighting contextual influence in LLS research, the present study investigated LLSs used by higher level students in a target language environment and an EFL/foreign language environment. To achieve the goals, a total of 44 enrolled doctoral students (19 in the United States and 25 in China) were recruited as participants. A background survey, a questionnaire (i.e., Language Strategy Use Inventory [LSUI]), and semi-structured interviews were deployed to gather data. The findings first showed that higher level students used a wide repertoire of LLSs to facilitate their language learning in each learning environment. Second, the findings identified eight specific contextual factors influencing the LLS use of higher level students in both learning environments, which included access to target language, participation in an academic environment, access to target language learning sources, experience as a teaching associate/research assistant, exposure to diverse accents and dialects of the target language, lack of feedback on errors, experience in target language classes, and beliefs about social reaction to learning target language. Third, the findings also showed that students reported some specific LLSs to be most useful in each learning environment. For example, “talking with (native) English speakers” was considered as a useful speaking strategy in target language environment, and “using language learning applications (APPs)” was considered as a useful listening and speaking strategy in EFL/foreign language environment. In addition, implications for future research and pedagogy were offered.

The (re-)birth of Bosnian: Comparative perspectives on language planning in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Ford, Curtis Brendon, Jr The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Language, identity and politics have long been intertwined in the Balkans. The region's historical role as a border zone that demarcated religions and entire civilizations contrasts sharply with the linguistic continuum that spans the former Yugoslavia. This disconnect has resulted in linguistic tensions that cannot be understood without reference to the cultural and political context of the region. Such language conflicts are not unique to the Balkans, but may well be a sociolinguistic universal. Languages may be redefined, renamed, split, or joined, often during drastic political change. This dissertation takes a comparative approach to such processes in order to shed light on recent attempts to implement language change in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Chapter 1 I discuss language planning theory and the contributions of sociolinguistics to problems of standardization and variation in language. In Chapter 2 I develop a comparative perspective through case studies of language planning issues in the histories of Norwegian, Hindi/Urdu, and Macedonian. In the following chapter I review the history of standardization in the Central South Slavic speech territory, with particular attention to the links between a growing national consciousness on the part of Bosnian Muslims, and calls for a Bosnian standard language. In Chapter 4, the results of data collected from print media in Bosnia-Herzegovina demonstrate that attempts to codify characteristically Bosniac features have met with little success. In Chapter 5 I compare and contrast language planning in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the case studies of Norwegian, Hindi/Urdu, and Macedonian. Successful implementation of a separate Bosnian standard would expand Central South Slavic from a bimodal to a trimodal pluricentric language, with Bosnian as the standard language for Bosnian Muslims. Codification of a Bosnian standard language faces formidable challenges due to the deep divisions in Bosnian society. The future of a Bosnian standard, and whether Sarajevo usage would constitute a third “center of gravity” or merely a “peripheral center,” depends on political and cultural developments as Bosnians seek to resolve the contradictions of ethnic, linguistic, and national identity.

First Language Phonetic Drift During Second Language Acquisition

Chang, Charles Bond University of California, Berkeley 2010 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Despite abundant evidence of malleability in speech production, previous studies of the effects of late second-language learning on first-language production have been limited to advanced learners. This dissertation examines these effects in novice learners, finding that experience in a second language rapidly, and possibly inexorably, affects production of the native language. In a longitudinal study of Korean acquisition, native English-speaking adult learners (n = 19) produced the same English words at weekly intervals over the course of intensive elementary Korean classes. Results of two acoustic case studies indicate that experience with Korean rapidly influences the production of English, and that the effect is one of assimilation to phonetic properties of Korean. In case study 1, experience with Korean stop types is found to influence the production of English stop types in terms of voice onset time (VOT) and/or fundamental frequency (f 0) onset as early as the second week of Korean classes, resulting in the lengthening of VOT in English voiceless stops (in approximation to the longer VOT of the perceptually similar Korean aspirated stops) and the raising of f0 onset following English voiced and voiceless stops (in approximation to the higher f0 levels of Korean). Similarly, in case study 2, experience with the Korean vowel space is found to have a significant effect on production of the English vowel space, resulting in a general raising of females' English vowels in approximation to the overall higher Korean vowel space. These rapid effects of second-language experience on first-language production suggest that cross-language linkages are established from the onset of second-language learning, that they occur at multiple levels, and that they are based not on orthographic equivalence, but on phonetic and/or phonological proximity between languages. The findings are discussed with respect to current notions of cross-linguistic similarity, exemplar models of phonology, and language teaching and research practices.

Syntactic movement and access to Universal Grammar: Evidence from Chinese second language learners

Crawford, William John The University of Wisconsin - Madison 2002 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The issue of access to Universal Grammar (UG) in adults has been an enduring one in the field of second language acquisition. In fact, there is considerable variation as to positions of UG access among those who seek to characterize its existence in adult second language learners. In order to disentangle competing claims concerning adult acquisition of second language grammars, this study illustrates that, contrary to previous research, a group of highly proficient English learners of Chinese have acquired characteristics of movement. Although many studies point to a deficient English-like movement system in advanced Chinese learners of English, it is suggested that the lack of movement may be due to the way it is investigated in second language contexts. It is established that although the principle of subjacency may not be a relevant indicator of UG access, there are still reliable ways of testing for the availability of movement. The results of two separate tests of movement indicate that: (1) Adult second language learners are sensitive to the structural difference between wh-relative pronouns and <italic>that</italic>/ø relatives in English restrictive relative clauses with respect to preposition stranding and that this should be taken as evidence of syntactic movement. (2) A test of strong crossover knowledge establishes further evidence of movement, which suggests that the learners have demonstrated sensitivity to the structural differences between extraction from matrix positions and embedded extraction in embedded positions. A precise characterization of the status of movement in both the native language (Chinese) as well as the target language (English) reveals that the source of this knowledge is not entirely consistent with the properties of the native language, yet it is also not entirely consistent with the target language. This novel grammatical system is a strong indicator of continued UG access throughout the acquisition process. The main finding of this study is that second language learners abide by a system of grammatical principles that should be described in its own right as the grammatical system adult learners employ is constrained by the principles of universal grammar related to syntactic movement.

Rank and Sparsity in Language Processing

Hutchinson, Brian University of Washington 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Language modeling is one of many problems in language processing that have to grapple with naturally high ambient dimensions. Even in large datasets, the number of unseen sequences is overwhelmingly larger than the number of observed ones, posing clear challenges for estimation. Although existing methods for building smooth language models tend to work well in general, they make assumptions that are not well suited to training with limited data. This thesis introduces a new approach to language modeling that makes different assumptions about how best to smooth the distributions, aimed at better handling the limited data scenario. Among these, it assumes that some words and word sequences behave similarly to others and that similarities can be learned by parameterizing a model with matrices or tensors and controlling the matrix or tensor rank. This thesis also demonstrates that sparsity acts as a complement to the low rank parameters: a low rank component learns the regularities that exist in language, while a sparse one captures the exceptional sequence phenomena. The sparse component not only improves the quality of the model, but the exceptions identified prove to be meaningful for other language processing tasks, making the models useful not only for computing probabilities but as tools for the analysis of language. Three new language models are introduced in this thesis. The first uses a factored low rank tensor to encode joint probabilities. It can be interpreted as a "mixture of unigrams" model and is evaluated on an English genre-adaptation task. The second is an exponential model parameterized by two matrices: one sparse and one low rank. This "Sparse Plus Low Rank Language Model" (SLR-LM) is evaluated with data from six languages, finding consistent gains over the standard baseline. Its ability to exploit features of words is used to incorporate morphological information in a Turkish language modeling experiment, with some improvements over a word-only model. Lastly, its use to discover words in an unsupervised fashion from sub-word segmented data is presented, showing good performance in finding dictionary words. The third model extends the SLR-LM in order to capture diverse and overlapping influences on text (e.g. topic, genre, speaker) using additive sparse matrices. The "Multi-Factor SLR-LM" is evaluated on three corpora with different factoring structures, showing improvements in perplexity and the ability to find high quality factor-dependent keywords. Finally, models and training algorithms are presented that extend the low rank ideas of the thesis to sequence tagging and acoustic modeling.

The influence of native language skills on foreign language learning: Phonological, orthographic, and semantic contributions

Gilligan, Gerianne Muldoon University of Florida 2004 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The primary goal of this study was to examine how native language skills influence foreign language learning. Additional goals included determining which native language skills are most predictive of foreign language learning and investigating whether spelling, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming skills transfer between native and foreign languages. These relationships were explored for a range of learning abilities. Sixty-five college students enrolled in a first-semester German course participated in the study. Specific English language skills were measured to determine the degree to which native language skills were predictive of proficiency in the acquisition of specific skills in German. The independent variables were select phonological, orthographic, semantic, and rapid naming skills in English (native language) and the dependent variables were select German orthographic, semantic, and rapid naming skills. Of the four primary predictor variables of English phonological skills, English spelling, English vocabulary, and English rapid automatized naming, English spelling was the best predictor of acquisition of select basic German skills (German composite score). Several interactions among the predictor variables also made significant contributions to the German composite score. English phonological skills of varying levels of difficulty were examined. The phonological tasks that involved elements of orthographic and/or semantic processing (e.g., spelling clues) were more strongly associated with the German composite score than were the simpler English phonological tasks. Cross-language transfer of spelling and vocabulary skills between English and German was also demonstrated in this study. Data from this study (1) provide support for the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis, which states that native language skills influence foreign language learning; (2) underscore the predictive power of phonologically-based skills; and (3) demonstrate cross-language transfer of specific skills.

Language in the Mirror: Language Ideologies, Schooling and Islam in Qatar

Asmi, Rehenuma Columbia University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

My study explores language ideologies in the capital city of Doha, Qatar, where school reform movements are placing greater emphasis on English language acquisition. Through ethnography and a revised theory of language ideologies, I argue that as languages come in greater contact in multi-lingual spaces, mediation must occur between the new and old relationships that are emerging as a result of population growth, policy changes and cross-cultural interactions. I interrogate the development concept of the "knowledge economy" as it is used to justify old and new language ideologies regarding Arabic and English. As Qataris change their education systems in response to the economic development framework of the "knowledge economy," they are promoting language ideologies that designate English as useful for the economy and "global" citizenship and Qatari Arabic and Standard Arabic as useful for religious and cultural reasons. I argue that Standard English, through its association with the "knowledge economy," becomes "de-localized" and branded an "international" language. This ideology presents English as a modern language free of the society in which it is embedded, to circulate around the globe. In contrast, Standard Arabic is represented as stiff, archaic language of religious traditions and Qatari Arabic is presented as the language of oral culture and ethnonationalism. These findings counter the arguments of scholars who have viewed Arabic's linguistic diversity as a binary of written religious tradition and spoken dialects. I argue that scholars have ignored the metapragmatic analysis of Arabic speakers, who view both Standard Arabic and their regional dialects as one language that needs to be defended against the encroachment of foreign languages. In chapter one, I explore the history of Qatar through narrative accounts of western historians and Qatari oral and written accounts. I reflect upon the efforts of the current Qatari leaderships to connect with narratives of globalization through the framework of the "knowledge economy." In chapter two, I outline the actor-networks of the "knowledge economy" that create a development hierarchy between English, the language of the de-localized "international" citizen, and Arabic, the language of the "local" Qatari. In chapter three, I trace how privatization of schooling affects Arabic teachers and their defense of the value of Arabic through an ideology of "Arabic is the language of the Quran." In the following chapter, I move to sites of higher education, where orality and literacy of Arabic are disputed by Arabic teachers, Qatari students and non-Qatari students of Arabic. I contend that studying language through the speech community reduces the tendency to see language variability as problematic or a sign of language death. In chapter five, I explore the role of Islam in Arabic language ideologies by juxtaposing discourses of the secular and of religious tradition. While some scholars have argued that Arabic speakers do not fully understand the implications of Arabic's connection to Islam, my work indicates that speakers are fully aware of this relationship and when necessary, utilize it discursively to promote various political, social and cultural agendas. In conclusion, I argue that a methodology of actor-network theory has allowed me to write a situated ethnography of globalizing processes. The tracing of actor-networks is ideal for studying the rapid changes in Qatar and the ways in which immense wealth has brought many different types of individuals into the country to create new models of schooling and education. Rather than placing the focus on "international" discourses, knowledge economies and globalization, my ethnography emphasizes the need for situated accounting that combines the metalanguage of academics, policy makers and leaders with those of the individuals affected by reforms and projects of globalization.

Educated Japanese young women's diverse linguistic and social behaviors during the Meiji and Taisho periods (1868--1926) with implications for Japanese language pedagogy

Bohn, Mariko Tajima Stanford University 2008 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation takes an historical perspective on so-called "Japanese women's language" (joseigo/onna kotoba) which has been widely categorized as the stereotypical female speech style in Japanese language, as antipodal to "men's language" (danseigo/otoko kotoba). In addition to this historical work, I consider current perspectives of gendered speech styles including "Japanese women's language," investigating how Japanese language learners and instructors perceive these styles and how their perceptions impact upon language pedagogy. Recent micro-sociolinguistic studies, in contrast to the categorization of gendered speech styles, highlight the within-gender diversity in Japanese women's use of language, focusing particularly on the linguistic innovation associated with non-normative femininity. Moreover, recent studies with macrosociological analysis have focused on power and dominant ideology, identifying a "Japanese women's language" as a media product informed by the creation of a modern women's image during the Meiji government's modernization and language standardization in the early 20th century. During the Meiji and Taisho period (1868-1926), however, what is today considered normative "Japanese women's language" was regarded as unconventional or innovative and was criticized as being coarse and unladylike by educators and linguistic norm-holders. Taking micro-and macro-social analyses into consideration, this dissertation reveals a discord between the Meiji educators' perceptions of young women's use of innovative language and the media representations of this language. This dissertation focuses on educated young women's real linguistic practices, and therefore takes a different approach from recent studies that have used macrosociological analysis. Specifically, this dissertation investigates educated young women's linguistic innovation and performance of non-normative femininity during the Meiji and Taisho periods (1868-1926), by analyzing their letter-writing in readers' correspondence columns of three women's magazines: Jogaku sekai 'The World of Women's Learning,' Fujin sekai 'The Women's World,' and Reijokai 'Ladies' World.' Through a linkage between micro- and macro-social analyses, this dissertation reveals that innovative language plays a significant role in educated young women's self-expressions and their construction of a subculture through friendship practices, and identifies the similarities in linguistic innovation and performance of non-normative femininity between contemporary young women and educated young women of the Meiji and Taisho periods. In addition, by comparing how innovative language is presented in novels and fiction, I propose dual functions of innovative language; as an expression of a writer's identity as a young and modern female writer, and as a yakuwari-go 'language that fits to a particular character' (Kinsui 2003), including the use of the sentence-final expressions, da wa and no yo, which have been categorized as stereotypical feminine forms in current literature. Furthermore, I present a possible process of the spread, maintenance, and transformation of the sentence-final expressions, da wa and no yo from being viewed as coarse to become the stereotypical women's language, by proposing four social factors: young women's school and dormitory life, mimicry performance, the influence of female students and their culture, and the popularity of female students' use of these forms in public. This dissertation consists of five chapters. The first chapter provides an outline and introduction of the dissertation. The second chapter looks at previous studies of Japanese language and gender, focusing on how women's use of language has been viewed in both Japanese and Western society. The third chapter is divided into two sections. The first section investigates the historical process of the formation and maintenance of linguistic and social norms by analyzing conduct books, textbooks used in co-educational elementary schools, and readers used in girls' high schools from the late eighteenth to the early part of the twentieth century. The second section examines educated young women's diverse use of language in letter-writing and social behaviors presented in three women's magazines. The fourth chapter investigates, through the use of a questionnaire, how gendered speech patterns, including stereotypical women's language, are perceived by current Japanese language learners and instructors. Based on the analysis of the findings of the questionnaire, this chapter has implications for Japanese language pedagogy. The final chapter presents a summary of this dissertation.

A STUDY OF KOREAN STUDENTS USING THE FIRST LANGUAGE WHILE WRITING IN ENGLISH

김미옥 숙명여자대학교 교육대학원 2003 국내석사

This study reports on two examining factors that constrain writers of English as foreign language in their retrieval of topic knowledge from memory: language and translation. This study hypothesizes that EFL writers benefit from generating a plan about certain topics using the language of topic knowledge acquisition before writing their texts in English and also hypothesizes that brainstorming in the writers first language will produce better English written texts. The main findings from the study suggest that writers benefit from using their first language when the topic is related to that language. In terms of the topic related language, these EFL writers were able to plan more effectively and write texts with better content when they did in Korean-English writing. Another interesting result is the students in both groups had benefit from brainstorming in Korean regardless of topic area. They produced more text and longer plans and the resulting products are rated better than products produced while brainstorming in English. When EFL writers use English to write on a first language topic, they retrieve much less material. When topics are related to second language experience, retrieval of topical information is equivalent in both languages. These results indicate that some topical information may be stored in a common store in memory, and some topic knowledge seems best used by writers when they operate in the language in which they acquired that language. According to Friedlander (1990), it appears to support the notion that at some level, bilinguals have monolingual or language dependent stores in memory. At the same time, though, other topic knowledge is retrieved with similar ease in either L1 or L2; such topical information may be identified in relation to when they became bilingual. Once they are bilingual, they are able to retrieve such knowledge in either language, suggesting that some information is stored in memory in language-interdependent stores. This study partly supports the above idea in that about half of the students in both groups showed no difference in their final grades regardless of writing settings. In other words, they showed similar level of skill quality when they deal with both L1 and L2 language and also they can access with similar ease in both languages. Woodall (2002) mentions that language- switching (using L1 during L2 writing) in L2 writing plays a significant role in L2 writing and that any model of L2 writing will need to incorporate this behavior. Quite possibly language-switching is essential for representing the development of L2 writing skill, as opposed to merely describing the L2 writing processes (p. 194). In conclusion, the most significant findings of this study for L2 writing teachers is that students using their first language while writing in the L2 is a natural, problem-solving approach to the task of L2 writing. Therefore, it is a good pedagogical practice to recognize that students native language can be a useful and desirable resource in L2 writing. By knowing this, teachers may help promote L1 use strategically, rather than regard it as a hindrance. 전통적으로, 교사들은 학생들의 영작문을 지도할 때 모국어의 사 용을 금지 하는 것이 학생들의 작문 실력을 향상 시킬 수 있다고 믿어왔다. 그러나 많은 연구 결과들은 이것이 잘못된 것 임을 보여주고 있다. 이 논문은 영어를 외국어로 사용하는 학생들의 영작문 과정 중 그들의 기억 속에 관련된 지식을 활성화 시키는 두 가지 요인인 ‘언어’와 ‘번역’이 학생들의 영작문에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구이다. 이 연구에서는 EFL 학생들이 영작문 시 모국어와 관련된 주제를 영어로 쓰기 전에 모국어로 쓰기 계획(Brainstorming)을 세운 뒤 맨 마지막에 영어로 번역하는 것과 쓰기계획 (Brainstorming)을 모국어로 하는 것이 나은 결과를 가져올 것이라는 것을 가정하고 있다. 이 논문은 질문지 조사와 학생 작문 실험을 통해 위의 가정이 실제로 한국 학생들의 작문 속에서도 일어나는지 알아 보고자 하였다. 학생들은 두 그룹으로 나뉘어 2 주 동안 한국어와 관련된 주제와 영어와 관련된 주제에 관하여 한 번은 한국어로 쓰기 계획을 세운 뒤 영어로 번역하고 다음 번은 영어로 쓰기 계획을 세운 뒤 영어로 작문을 하였다. 학생들은 T 그룹과 W 그룹으로 나뉘었는데 T 그룹은 주제와 쓰기 방법이 일치하지 않는 그룹이고 W 그룹은 일치한 그룹이었다. 다시 말해, W 그룹 학생들은 한국어 주제에 관하여 한국어로 쓰기 계획을 세운 뒤 맨 마지막에 영어로 번역을 하고, 영어 주제에 관하여 영어로 모든 것을 작문하였다. 이 논문을 통해 얻어진 주요한 결과는 EFL 학생들이 모국어와 관련된 주제에 모국어를 사용해 작문을 하는 것이 나은 결과를 가져올 것이라는 가정을 부분적으로 뒷받침하고 있다. 모국어와 관련된 주제에서 Language-switching page 77 학생들은 더 효과적으로 계획하고 더 나은 내용의 작문을 만들어 냈다. 흥미롭게도, 두 그룹의 학생들 모두 주제와 관련 없이 한국어로 쓰기 계획을 세웠을 때 더 좋은 결과를 나타냈다. 학생들은 영어로 쓰기 계획을 세웠을 때 보다 모국어로 했을 때 더 길게 계획하고 더 긴 작문을 했으며 더 좋은 점수를 받았다. 이것은 학생들이 영어와 관련된 주제를 쓸 때 보다 모국어로 모국어와 관련된 주제에 관해 쓸 때 그들의 기억 속에 재생 시킬 수 있는 기억들이 월등히 많기 때문이라는 학자들의 의견과도 일치된다. 결론적으로, 이 논문의 가장 중요한 제안점은 영작문 시 학생들 의 모국어 사용은 EFL 학생들의 자연스러운 문제해결 접근 방법이며 특성이라는 것을 인지해야 한다는 것이다. 즉, 모국어는 영작문의 방해 요소가 아니라 유용하고 바람직한 자원이 될 수 있음이다. 교사들은 학생들의 모국어를 장애로 여기기 보다 영작문 향상을 위한 하나의 전략으로서 사용할 수 있도록 격려해야 할 것이다.