摘要:

This study investigates the role of topic‐comment structure in the acquisition of English as a second language by adults. Oral narratives, both native and interlanguage, from speakers of three highly topic‐prominent languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and three relatively less topic‐prominent languages (Arabic, Farsi, and Spanish) were analyzed. We found that 1) there were no differences in topic‐prominence in the English interlanguage narratives of speakers in the two groups and 2) the interlanguage narratives as a whole were more topic‐prominent than native English, and intermediate in topic‐prominence between topic‐prominent and non‐topic‐prominent native languages. These results support the hypothesis that second‐language acquisition is, in general, characterized by an early topic‐comment stage, independent of the lear

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01310.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There is an emerging awareness in the field of L2 acquisition regarding the contributions made by both Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Creative Construction (CC) theories of L2 acquisition. CA theories indicate that the L1 experience is important in L2 acquisition, and CC theories indicate that principles of acquisition independent of this experience are also integral to L2 learning. Reconciliation of these two aspects within a principled, empirically‐based theory of L2 acquisition has been difficult (cf. Eckman 1977, 1984; Zobl 1980; Andersen 1983, 1984; Gundel and Tarone 1983; Liceras 1983; Rutherford 1983, 1984; White 1985).This paper argues that the parameter‐setting model of Universal Grammar (UG) (proposed by Flynn 1983a, b, 1987) for L2 acquisition provides the scaffolding necessary for an integration of these two components within one explanatory account. Consistent with CC, L2 learners within this model use principles of UG isolated in L1 acquisition in the construction of the L2 grammar; however, when values of parameters associated with these principles differ between the L1 and the L2, learners assign a new value to cohere with the values for the new target language. The L1 experience counts in determining whether such a new assignment of a parametric value is necessary. This aspect of the model is consistent with a traditional CA theory of L2 learning.Empirical support for this model is provided by a study that investigates the role of the head‐initial/head‐final parameter (Stowell 1981) in adult L2 acquisition of pronoun anaphora. Two groups of adults — L1 speakers of Spanish, a head‐initial language and L1 speakers of Japanese, a head‐final language — were studied in their elicited production of English, a head‐initial language. Results indicate that both groups of learners use the head‐initial/head‐final parameter as a source of structural organization for the L2. Results also indicate that Japanese speakers (L1 ≠ L2) are sensitive, from early stages of acquisition, to the mismatch in head‐direction in English and Japanese, and that they assign new values to this parameter to cohere with the target L2 value. These speakers are thus argued to have the head‐initial/head‐final parameter set in two different ways.Parameters of acquisition in the two cases correspond to those isolated for L1 acquisition of English; however, the point at which this similarity is observed depends upon the degree of corresponde

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01311.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study examined the selective use of twogivestructures [NP NP] and [NP PP]in two (translation and judgment) tasks by Japanese college students within a framework of transfer and markedness. The results of the translation task showed that in dealing with prototypical cases of dativegive, the students used the two structures with equal frequency, while the [NP PP] was strongly favored with cases deviating from the prototype. In the acceptability‐judgment task, we were concerned with the type of constraints on dative alternation. Three constraints were discussed in this paper: discourse, semantic, and perceptual. The students in this study were more sensitive to the perceptual than to the discourse constraint, which was subtler and more opaque than the semantic one from the students' point of view. This study favors a theory of sealer markedness over a theory of binary markedness as far as acceptability judgments aboutgivesentences are concerne

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01312.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Research by Gatbonton and Tucker (1971) showed that due to cultural misunderstandings, EFL students drew incorrect assumptions when reading unfamiliar texts; however, when provided with pertinent cultural information, their performance increased significantly. Similar findings were reported by Yousef (1968). Steffensen, Joag‐dev, and Anderson (1979) demonstrated that implicit cultural knowledge presupposed by a text and the reader's own cultural background knowledge interact to make texts based on one's own culture easier to read and understand than syntactically and rhetorically equivalent texts based on less familiar, more distant cultures. Johnson (1981) demonstrated that the cultural origin of a text has a greater effect on ESL reading comprehension than does linguistic complexity.The related pedagogical question is: “Can we improve students' reading by helping them to build background knowledge on the topic prior to reading?” Available pedagogical research in English as a first language suggests an affirmative answer to this question (Stevens 1982). The present study investigated this question for English as a second language. Using pre‐ and posttests with experimental and control groups of intermediate‐level ESL students, half of each group receiving syntactically more complex versions of the test passages than the other half, the experimental group was taught appropriate cultural background information between pre‐ and posttesting.Results showed that by providing the students with first‐hand experiential knowledge, reading comprehension, as measured by objective tests as well as by a free written recall test, was facilitated. Differences in the syntactic complexity showed no significant effect on ESL reading

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01313.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Pronunciation is regarded as a valuable subskill in foreign language teaching and testing. Its quality is commonly assessed in a global way by having testees read aloud. A more systematic and explicit approach to evaluation is proposed. The reliability of this so‐called “atomistic” approach is compared with the reliability of a traditional “holistic” procedure.Generalizability theory was applied in order to comprise all relevant factors in one psychometric model. Decision studies were carried out to counter the effects of the number of raters and te

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01314.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In the absence of a comprehensive theory of the oral language, very little is really known about auditory decoding as a speech dynamic process in either L2 or L1. Since listening comprehension presupposes an orderly conversion of running speech into discrete linguistic units, certain restoration processes (operating on phonated speech as the input for listening) must apply. Thus, it is possible to view speech perception as a mirror‐image of speech production processes. Listening comprehension can then be seen to require two types of recovery rules: restoration to reverse the effects of absorption and boundary marking to facilitate the decomposition of the quasi‐uninterrupted acoustic signal into isolate lexical items.The approach adopted here provides a principled way to explain the striking metamorphosis language undergoes fromdynamic speech representationstocitation form strings, under listening conditions, and suggests speech perception strategies helpful to L2 listeners for acquiring and improving listening comprehension skills. The account of performance characteristics presented here shows that speech event and formal content belong to separate domains of language, mediated not so much by derivation as by covariat

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01315.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01316.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01317.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01318.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01319.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY