This new volume of work highlights the distinctiveness of child SLA through a collection of different types of empirical research specific to younger learners. Characteristics of children's cognitive, emotional, and social development distinguish their experiences from those of adult L2 learners, creating intriguing issues for SLA research, and also raising important practical questions regarding effective pedagogical techniques for learners of different ages. While child SLA is often typically thought of as simple (and often enjoyable and universally effortless), in other words, as child's play, the complex portraits of young second language learners which emerge in the 16 papers collected in this book invite the reader to reconsider the reality for many younger learners. Chapters by internationally renowned authors together with reports by emerging researchers describe second and foreign language learning by children ranging from pre-schoolers to young adolescents, in home and school contexts, with caregivers, peers, and teachers as interlocutors.
Acquiring Japanese as a second language (JSL) in a naturalistic context A
longitudinal study of a young child from a Processability Theory (PT) perspective
Junko Iwasaki Edith Cowan University In recent times Processability Theory (PT)
...
A collection of papers reflecting the shift away from characterizing second language acquisition as either having, or not having, access to principles and parameters of Universal Grammar, and towards theories of putative L1 influence on the L2 learner.
Tej K. Bhatia William C. Ritchie Syracuse University It is often observed that
bilinguals mix and shift from one language to another like an individual driving a
stick shift car. Whenever deemed appropriate, they change gears between their
two ...
This volume corrects the relative neglect in Second Language Acquisition studies of the quantitative study of language variation and provides insights into such issues as language transfer, acquisition through exposure, language universals, learner's age and so forth. These studies bolster the idea that a full account of SLA development (and, hence, a theory of SLA) must be built on not only detailed accounts of interlanguage data but also on a wide appeal to factors which govern the psycholinguistic bases of SLA. An important addition to the volume is a comprehensive guide to both the DOS and Macintosh versions of the VARBRUL statistical program used by variationists.
The relevance of sociolinguistics to second language acquisition (SLA) is twofold
. First, it is concerned with variation in language — the product, process,
acquisition, and cognitive location of such variation. Such matters are the focus of
this ...
Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of Language Learning and Performance
Understanding how task complexity affects second language learning, interaction and spoken and written performance is essential to informed decisions about task design and sequencing in TBLT programs. The chapters in this volume all examine evidence for claims of the Cognition Hypothesis that complex tasks should promote greater accuracy and complexity of speech and writing, as well as more interaction, and learning of information provided in the input to task performance, than simpler tasks. Implications are drawn concerning the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that tasks should be sequenced for learners from simple to complex during syllabus design. Containing theoretical discussion of the Cognition Hypothesis, and cutting-edge empirical studies of the effects of task complexity on second language learning and performance, this book will be important reading for language teachers, graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and cognitive and educational psychology.
Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of Language Learning and Performance
Peter Robinson ... chapter provides an overview of pedagogic and theoretical
issues that have motivated recent research into second language task complexity
.
The aim of this volume is to highlight the benefits and potential of using learner corpora for the testing and assessment of L2 proficiency in both speaking and writing, reflecting the growing importance of learner corpora in applied linguistics and second language acquisition research. Identifying several desiderata for future research and practice, the volume presents a selection of original studies, covering a variety of different languages. It features studies that present very thoroughly compiled new corpus resources which are tailor-made and ready for analysis in LTA, new tools for the automatic assessment of proficiency levels, and new methods of (self-)assessment with the help of learner corpora. Other studies suggest innovative research methodologies of how proficiency can be operationalized through learner corpus data. The volume is of particular interest to researchers in (applied) corpus linguistics, learner corpus research, language testing and assessment, as well as for materials developers and language teachers.
Tense and aspect errors in spoken learner English Implications for language
testing and assessment Sandra Götz Justus Liebig University, Giessen
Language testing guidelines like the Common European Framework of
Reference for ...
Discourse Approaches to the Assessment of Oral Proficiency
A collection of papers that document various dimensions of the ways in which the language learner and the language proficiency interviewer use language to accomplish oral language assessment tasks.
The policy described the speech of Black children as a separate language with
historical origins that differed significantly from other English varieties in the US. It
went on to state that since AAE1 is a language genetically linked to West African
...
The eleven chapters of Vocabulary in a Second Language are written by the world's leading researchers in the field of vocabulary studies in second language acquisition. Each chapter presents experimental research leading to new conclusions about and insights into the selection, the learning and teaching, or the testing of vocabulary knowledge in foreign languages. This book is intended as an up-to-date overview of the important domain of the lexicon for researchers in the field of second language acquisition, teacher trainers and professional teachers of second or foreign languages.
context. Svenja Adolphs and Norbert Schmitt University of Nottingham Abstract In
1956, Schonell et al. found that 2,000 word families provided around 99% lexical
coverage of spoken discourse. Based on this, it has been generally accepted ...
Designed to help lexicographers compile better dictionaries of English, this book provides information about the language that is not available in any other single source. It is the first serious attempt to describe in detail the lexical and grammatical differences between American and British English and offers a trailblazing solution to the vexing problem of how to treat General American and British RP pronunciation in the same dictionary with the help of a Simplified Transcription for which any typewriter keyboard can be adapted and a pioneering description of the principles concerning the treatment of fixed grammatical and lexical collocations in future general-purpose dictionaries of English.
A key development was the use of the American College Dictionary as the source
of the British Hamlyn Dictionary, which in its turn ... 172-173) lists it among ' Elementary School Dictionaries'. ... wanted a dictionary of simple English (based
on a vocabulary of 5,000 words) for use in its overseas Englishteaching
programs.
The ancient Romans believed that the Gods sent signs of future events to them through the flight of birds, meteorological disturbances and other natural phenomena. These signs influenced every sphere of ancient life, both public and private, from a state's decision to go to war or make peace, hold an election or meet a public crisis to an individual's business, marriage or travel plans. The articles in this book illustrate how the various Roman divinatory techniques were inter-woven into the structures of ancient society as well as how they were used in literary contexts. The intriguing question of the alleged doublethink among Roman intellectuals in their attitude to Divination is an important theme taken up in this book.
Tradition and innovation apply both to the ideas developed in his texts and the vocabulary used to express them. ... which is one of the determining factors for
the use of a native term instead of a Norse-derived word for which Wulfstan
showed ...
It has been eight years since "An Introduction to the Grammar of English" was first published. The second edition is completely revised and greatly expanded, especially where texts, example sentences, exercises, and cartoons are concerned. It continues to provide a very lively and clearly written textbook. The book introduces basic concepts of grammar in a format which inspires the reader to use linguistic arguments. The style of the book is engaging and examples from poetry, jokes, and puns illustrate grammatical concepts. The focus is on syntactic analysis and evidence. However, special topic sections contribute sociolinguistic and historical reasons behind prescriptive rules such as the bans on split infinitives, dangling participles, and preposition stranding. The book is written for undergraduate students and structured for a semester-long course. It provides exercises, keys to those exercises, and sample exams. It also includes a comprehensive glossary. A basic website will be kept up at http: //www.public.asu.edu/ gelderen/grammar.htm.
The book introduces basic concepts of grammar in a format which inspires the reader to use linguistic arguments. The style of the book is engaging and examples from poetry, jokes, and puns illustrate grammatical concepts.
