摘要:

This study examines the relationship between integrative motivation and acquired second language proficiency among a group of Spanish‐speaking kindergartners in an American classroom. Integrative motivation was measured by finding out the children's preferences for friends and playmates and workmates and scoring them according to their tendencies to nominate members of the target language group. Communicative English proficiency was assessed by analyzing spontaneous language and deriving measures of structural knowledge, vocabulary breadth, and pronunciation skill. A Kendall's tau test showed no positive association between integrative motivation and acquired English proficiency. A further comparison of beginners and advanced level English speakers found that the advanced children showed significantly more integrative orientation to the target language group than the beginners, lending support to the notion that integrative attitudes follow second language acquisition skills rather than promoting the

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00339.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Research in second language learners’communicative strategies has provided an elaborate framework for analyzing how learners manage to convey meanings and messages in spite of their limited "knowledge" of the target language. Many studies (e.g., Færch and Kasper 1983) have dealt with the identification and classification of communicative strategies (CSs). This paper investigates a new aspect of the use of CSs: the interaction between the application of CSs and narrative discourse features.Twelve narratives were collected from a learner of Moroccan Arabic as a second language over a four‐week period during daily conversation sessions in the target language. The analysis of the data draws upon research in narrative discourse (e.g., Labov 1972) and language learners’CSs (e.g., Tarone 1980; Færch and Kasper 1983). The study suggests that the subject resorted to a number of strategies to compensate for her linguistic deficiencies and that the application of these strategies was not random but constrained by narrative discourse features. The limitations of this study are discussed and suggestions for further resear

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00340.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper examines the role of interference in the acquisition of English dative verbs by native speakers of French. Two case studies involving the acquisition of English in a natural environment are presented as well as the results of two judgment tests in which each of four subjects was asked to judge the grammaticality of sentences containing both correctly and incorrectly used dative verb structures. Analysis suggests that the process of lexical acquisition of verbs in English is similar for both first and second language learners. However, second language learners may produce overgeneralization errors unlike those of first language learners due to incorrect assumptions concerning marked and unmarked forms in English for which there is positive evidence in both the source and target languages. Thus, although interference plays a significant role in the process of lexical acquisition of verbs, this does not rule out the hypothesis that first and second language acquisition are essentially like processes. If a more sophisticated understanding of the process of interference can be gained, it should be possible to predict the characteristic errors a second language learner will make based upon the particulars of the learner's native language.

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00341.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study explores the relationship between student participation in the ESL classroom and proficiency in English, use of the target language outside the classroom, and field sensitivity. The 58 subjects, mainly from Asia, were studying ESL in an intensive program in Honolulu. Their classroom participation, which, for the purposes of the study, was defined as responses to teachers’general solicits and self‐initiated turns, was coded during the beginning and end of an eight‐week term. The subjects were also asked to fill out a questionnaire on their use of English outside of the classroom. In the sixth and seventh weeks of the term, the subjects were given an English cloze test and a measure of field dependence/independence; in addition, 26 subjects were administered an oral interview.The results indicate that there was no significant relationship between classroom participation and scores on either the oral interview or the cloze test, between classroom participation and use of the target language away from the classroom, and between classroom participation and field sensitivity. These findings are discussed with respect to the work of others who have conducted similar res

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00342.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

When considering the process of second language acquisition, it is useful and important to distinguish between input and intake since, due to various factors, language learners do not take in all the language they are exposed to. Perceptual saliency—a formal characteristic of the input—is believed to be one of these factors.This experiment was conducted to determine how the presence of sandhi‐variation, a common characteristic of spoken English which reduces the perceptual saliency of many of its features, affects the comprehensibility of English input. Assuming that comprehension is dependent not only on signal clarity but also on cognitive factors, it was hypothesized that the presence of sandhi‐variation in the input would reduce comprehension less when listeners were proficient in English than when they were learning the language.The results support this hypothesis and lead to the conclusion that for those whose knowledge of English is sufficient to compensate for reduced perceptual saliency. sandhi‐variation affects the input‐to‐intake process very little. For ESL learners, however, sandhi‐variation is an important input‐intake filter.These findings are discussed in connection with the input hypothesis of second language acquisition. Implications include the possible benefits of modified input and formal instruction

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00343.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The general theme chosen for this approach to interlanguage (IL) syntax "state of the art" is the presumed goal of all IL syntacticians: to find consistency and pattern in syntactic variation. There are two overlapping subsidiary themes as well: those of describing the systematicity in IL syntax and of explaining it.Themes contributing to descriptive approaches include the transition from morphosyntax acquisition studies to those of more complex syntax, the emergence of syntax from discourse, explicitness, the investigation of language "process" as well as language product, and the serious consideration of "simplicity." Themes contributing to explanatory approaches include general frameworks such as language universals, language typology, core grammar, and markedness.The paper concludes with suggestions and predictions as to the directions in which continuing research on IL syntax might lead.

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00344.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00345.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00346.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00347.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00348.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY