摘要:

This paper questions the assumption that the relationship between time spent studying in a second language and second language proficiency is highly related for those aspects of language related to cognitive and academic functioning. The implications of this questioning are explored as they relate to the time devoted to instruction in the second language and the timing of the introduction of the languages of instruction in bilingual education for minority and majority language groups.

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01369.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study investigated the judgments of politeness made by both native speakers of American English and nonnative ESL learners with varied language backgrounds. The judgments were made on eight different request strategies in English, using the method of rank orderings in a contextualized condition. The eight strategies tested were systematically varied across three syntactic/semantic features generally regarded in the theoretical literature (e.g., Lakoff 1972, 1973b. Jespersen 1964, Quirk and Greenbaum 1973) as varying with politeness‐namely, imperative/declarative/ interrogative mood, presence or absence of modals, and tense of modals (“can” vs. “could”). Previous work in this area in ESL, e.g., Rintell(1979), Scarcella (1980). Waiters(1980). while a fruitful beginning, has analyzed spontaneously produced data and has not explored the syntactic/ semantic distinctions systematically. By contrast, this study analyzes theory‐based distinctions via judgments elicited under controlled conditions.Results indicated that the responses of both native speakersand ESL learners fell into a hierarchy similar to that hypothesized. There was also a high and significant correlation between the natives and nonnatives in their politeness judgments, a finding similar to that of Walters (1980). In general, however, the ESL learners tended to perceive more distinctive levels of politeness than the native speakers, reflecting a kind of “over‐sensitivity” to syntactic/semantic form distinctions. Examination ofthe native politeness hierarchy showed each of the three syntacticlsemantic features contributing differentially to politeness; this suggests that in teaching the pragmatics of politeness, different grammatical patterns should not be given equal

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01370.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper reports the results of a study of the reading performance of 368 Nigerian primary‐five pupils. The study assessed performance in reading English as a second language in relation to variables such as (I) language environment, (2) reading resources, (3) attitude towards reading English, (4) exposure to the mass media (English), (5) type of school, (6) sex differences, and (7) age. Data were collected from tests of comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and rate of reading and from questionnaires administered to pupils, teachers, and head teachers. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that type of school and reading resources were the best predictors of scores on the reading tests. The multiple regression analyses also showed that attitude towards reading English contributed significantly to the prediction of reading performance, although this variable, taken separately, did not correlate very highly with scores on the reading tests. Exposure to the mass media, and age, acting in combination with other variables, accounted for some of the variation in the reading scores. Language environment as a single factor correlated substantially with reading performance, but the influence of this variable was apparently suppressed in the prediction analyses. Sex was one of the least important variables in the prediction of the reading performance score

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01371.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In order to clarify the relationship between cognitive development and linguistic development, French language comprehension tests originally administered to children learning French as a second language (Tremaine 1975) were given to intermediate‐level university students of French as a foreign language. Although there were similarities between the two groups' performances, the general finding was that a certain level of cognitive maturation was related to successful performance on items involving semantic‐syntactic relationships. Items involving inflectional/morphological distinctions, however, did not follow this pattern, and it is suggested that the acquisition of morphology may be more a function of specificexperience with a language than of level of cognitive matur

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01372.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The validation of oral language proficiency tests has long been problematical. The most common approaches to this problem have involved concurrent validation procedures for relating “indirect” measures to so‐called “direct” measures. The most frequently used criterion in such studies has been the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) oral interview. In validating the FSI interview itself, however, criterion‐referenced procedures are not possible since an adequate operationally defined criterion for comparison is not likely t o be found. Therefore construct validation procedures are necessary.In this study a multitrait‐rnultimethod matrix comprising six measures representing combinations of two traits (speaking and reading) and three methods (interview, translation, self‐rating) was used t o examine the construct validity of the FS1 oral interview. The six measures were administered individually to 75 native Mandarin Chinese speakers of English. Data were analyzed using the Campbell‐Fiske criteria for convergent and discriminant validity and using confirmatory factor analysis.The results indicate both convergent and discriminant validity for the FSI interview. Of the numerous factor models tested against the data, the model which provides the best fit comprises a general factor, two trait factors, and three method factors. A more parsimonious model, with two correlated trait factors and three method factors, fits the data nearly equally well and provides a more interpretable factor structure. These results provide strong evidence against a model of unitary language competence and support a model of partially divisible la

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01373.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Thirty‐four German high school students learning English as a second language under classroom conditions were observed for a period of eight months. It was found that the students' utterances showed many structural features which are also known to characterize LI and naturalistic L2 acquisition. It thus appears that formal instruction cannot eliminate or suppress those processes which constitute man's natural ability to acquire language(s). In contrast to naturalistic learners, however, the high school students were continuously forced to produce structures for which, developmentally, they were not yet ready. Here, the students used two basic strategies: (a) they followed principles of naturalistic acquisition; (b) they randomly selected any one structure from a finite repertoir

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01374.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

For a number of years, there has been interest in measuring sociocultural competence (Ervin‐Tripp 1972, Hymes 1974, Canale and Swain 1980). This study focuses on one important aspect of such competence: the ability to use the appropriate sociocultural rules of speaking, by reacting in a culturally acceptable way in context and by choosing stylistically appropriate forms for that context. We chose to look at productive performance in sociocultural aspects of speaking, focusing on the speech act of “apology.” The research question that prompted this study was, “Can a rating scale be developed for assessing sociocultural competence?”The subjects were 32 native Hebrew speakers, 20 of whom served as informants for apologies in English LZ and 12 as informants in Hebrew LI, and 12 Americans who served as informants in English LI. These subjects were asked to role‐play their responses in eight situations in which an apology was expected.The findings show that it is possible to identify culturally and stylistically inappropriate L2 utterances in apology situations. The authors feel, however, that the results so far provide at best a crude measure of sociocultural competence and that further work with this speech act and with others is

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01375.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A study was undertaken to investigate relationships among linguistic input, conversational interaction, and second language acquisition. Tapes and transcripts of eight informal conversations among native speakers of English and 36 conversations between native speakers and students of English as a second language were compared. Differences were found between the two corpora in (1) their discourse structure, and (2) the relative frequencies of certain syntactic and morphological constructions. Relationships existed between the discourse structures and the relative frequencies, and between the relative frequencies and the order in which second language acquirers produce the constructions accurately in obligatory contexts.

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01376.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper describes a study conducted recently at the University of Colorado to investigate one aspect of the “Whorf‐Sapir hypothesis” of linguistic relativity. The study was a replication of a series of investigations conducted by the University of Michigan Personality and Language Behavior Research Group (Beit‐Hallahmi et al. 1974, Guiora and Sagi 1978, Guiora and Acton 1979, Guiora et al., in press) designed to examine the relationship between gender loading in languages (a linguistic construct) and perception/development of gender (a psychological construct) by speakers of those languages. The results of those studies indicated that adult speakers of English, Finnish, and Hebrew categorized objectsjconcepts in essentially the same fashion regardless of native language. The results of the present study, whiledecidedly tentative, indicate that Arabic speaking adults categorize “essentially asexual” objects/concepts in a markedly different way from English speaking adults, indicating that gender loading in Arabic influences Arabic speakers' perceptions of those objects/concepts. These findings run contrary to the results obtained from previous studies. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed and suggestions are made for further research i

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01377.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study is based on the examination of twenty lessons of about 20 minutes duration each. Ten of the lessons dealt with teaching standard English negation (lesson 1), ten of the lessons dealt with the teaching of standard English past tense formation (lesson 2). The pupils were third graders, predominantly speakers of Vernacular Black English (VBE). The purpose of the study was (I) to determine the distribution of the main classroom discourse functions (e.g., Informing, Eliciting, Evaluating, Replying) throughout the lessons and (2) to examine the incidence of use of VBE English grammar throughout the lessons. On the basis of pre ‐and post‐tests given to pupils, each group of ten lessons was also subdivided into five high‐achieving and five low‐achieving teaching performances. High and low achieving performances were compared on selected distribution of discourse function moves.Transcriptions of the lessons were segmented into T‐units (main‐clause + possible subordinate clause) which were in turn assigned to discourse function categories. As expected, Eliciting, Informing, Evaluating were by far the most frequent discourse categories used by teachers, while the category of Replying represented nearly the only discourse function (over 90%) utilized by pupils. VBE was used only occasionally by the teachers—either spontaneously or for the purpose of demonstrating a point of grammar (3.3% of moves in lesson 1, 0.35% of moves in lesson 2). Use of VBE by pupils—either spontaneously or indrills‐was also relatively scarce (7.3% in lesson I, I .2% in lesson 2).Only one of the comparisons of “high” and “low” achieving teacher performances indicates a significant difference between the two groups. In lesson I the high achieving teachers devoted higher proportions of their moves to Elicits than the low achieving ones. An examination of the lesson transcripts suggests that this fact may be explained by the “1ow” teachers’ tendency to devote much of their lessons to lnformsdealing with a clarification of the concept of negation. This clarification, however, may have been superfluous and was. at any rate, unrelated to the criterion test. I t is suggested that analysis of discourse functions may be a useful approach to the study of teaching efficiency if it is related to meaning and th

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1981.tb01378.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY