摘要:

One aspect of pragmatic competence in a second language is the ability to draw correct inferences. Much of the information conveyed by a text, or even a single sentence, is not conveyed directly as the literal meaning of that text or sentence, but is rather conveyed only indirectly, as inferences which are to be drawn from the text or sentence. The process of comprehending a text or sentence, then, is at least partially the process of drawing correct inferences. If second language learners are to be said to have comprehended a text or sentence, they must also have drawn the correct inferences from it. The study reported in this paper, which included both advanced and high‐intermediate ESL learners as well as a control group of native speakers, investigated the drawing of two types of inferences in ESL ‐ presuppositions and implications ‐from English sentences containing factive and implicative predicates (Kiparsky and Kiparsky 1970; Karttunen 1971).Results of the study, which are compared to earlier empirical studies of fully proficient native speakers of English (Just and Clark 1973; Vosniadou 1982), show the ESL learners are in the process of acquiring this aspect of pragmatic ability in English. Specific results reveal better comprehension of implied meaning over presupposed meaning, better performance on semantically positive predicates than on semantically negative predicates, and an interaction between inference type (implication versus presupposition) and predicate polarity (positive versus negative). These results are explained in terms of previous research on the distinction between given and new information. Additional research is proposed and potential pedagogical implications are also disc

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00993.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The first question of this study deals with the influence of the factors Time Pressure (present or absent) and Focus of Attention (on information or on grammar) on the correct use of two Dutch word‐order rules in the speech of 32 adult learners of that language. In an experimental repeated measures design using a story retelling task. Attention had a significant effect, but Time did not. The second question deals with the relation between explicitness of rule knowledge, assessed in an interview, and rule application, elicited in the experiment. Although the learners without explicit knowledge of the two word‐order rules made more errors in the story retelling task than learners with explicit knowledge, they were influenced by Time and Attention to the same extent as the learners with explicit knowledge.The results of this study are discussed in terms of Krashen's Monitor Theory and in terms of an information‐processing approach that distinguishes executive control from metacognitive know

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00994.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Two recently formulated definitions of communication strategies are contrasted. According to Tarone's “interactional” definition, the central function of communication strategies is the negotiation of meaning. According to the “psycholinguistic” definition suggested by Færch and Kasper. communication strategies are related to individual language users' experience of communicative problems and the solutions (cooperative or noncooperative) they pursue. Within the latter framework, communication strategies are characterized in discourse terms, invoking the notion of “conditional relevance.” It is demonstrated that interactionally defined communication strategies constitute a subset of psycholinguistically defined strategies, and it is argued that although this subset in many respects represents an important area of strategy use. significant similarities to other types of strategy use are obscured by defining communication strategies in interactional terms

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00995.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study reports on data collected to investigate the effect of various types of familiarity on native speaker comprehension of nonnative speaker speech. We discuss the effects of familiarity with topic, familiarity with nonnative speech in general, familiarity with a nonnative accent in particular, and familiarity with a particular nonnative. Our results indicate that while the most important of these variables is familiarity with topic, the other variables all have a facilitating effect on comprehension. We discuss these findings as they relate to more general notions of comprehensibility.We also say of some people that they are transparent to us. It is, however, important as regards this observation that one human being can be a complete enigma to another. We learn this when we come into a strange country with entirely strange traditions; and, what is more, even given a mastery of the country's language. We do notunderstandthe people. If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.—Ludwig Wittgenste

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00996.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The research discussed in this paper attempts to demonstrate that evidence based on the acquisition of dative structures in English by second language learners provides support for a theory of markedness. Within this theory, it is claimed that unmarked structures, which are postulated to be part of core grammar, will be acquired before marked structures, which are considered to be peripheral rules of the core grammar. Using a test that elicited intuitive judgements, we obtained data from native French‐speaking and Inuktitut‐speaking (Eskimo) students as well as native English‐speaking students whose judgements were used as the norm. Dative structures in which the dative noun phrase appears either in a prepositional phrase or as the first noun phrase of a double object construction were tested. Within the framework of markedness we assume, it is argued that the former represents the unmarked structure whereas the latter is the marked one. The results we obtained show that the unmarked structures were acquired first as predicted and the marked structures followed. The theoretical implications of markedness regarding learnability of the complement structures of alternating and nonalternating dative verbs are disc

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00997.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Books reviewed in this article:Introduction to Text Linguistics.Robert de Beaugrande and Wolfgang Dressier.Phonological Analysis: Focus on American English.Walt Wolfram and Robert Johnson.

ISSN:0023-8333    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00998.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.tb00999.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.tb01000.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.tb00992.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY