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Journal articles on the topic 'English language acquisition'
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Smith, Daniel. "Spanish and English contact and morpheme acquisition." Normas 7, no. 2 (December 20, 2017): 297. http://dx.doi.org/10.7203/normas.v7i2.11166.
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Regarding the order of morpheme acquisition in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisiton there appears to be a so-called 'natural order' of acquisition. In addition, there are peculiarities which are part of the morphosyntax of any language influencing the order of morpheme acquisition in L2, whether it be from the L1, or as in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, another L1. We use Myers-Scotton's (2002) 4-M model to help us analyze and discuss the data. The analysis shows a tendency for speakers to acquire language morphology in a natural order, regardless of the L1, but with special reference to Spanish and English we show that the two languages can influence each other and make changes in the order of acquisition.
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Lowdermilk, John, Cheryl Fielding, Raúl Mendoza, Román García de Alba, and Cynthia Simpson. "Selecting English Language Acquisition Technology." Journal of Special Education Technology 27, no. 1 (March 2012): 77–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/016264341202700107.
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Huffines, Marion Lois. "Acquisition Strategies in Language Death." Studies in Second Language Acquisition 13, no. 1 (March 1991): 43–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100009712.
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Nonsectarian Pennsylvania Germans who are the first generation in their families to learn English natively, often attempt to learn the Pennsylvania German that their families no longer regularly use. This study assesses the process of acquiring a dying language by investigating learners' use of the Pennsylvania German dative case. Learning strategies are remarkably free of reliance on English rules. Evidence indicates that speakers rely on what they have learned and seek analogies within Pennsylvania German, resorting to English only when other strategies fail. The search for near-congruity identified as operative across languages operates within the learner language as internal analogy. Learners also seek to maximize the distance between English and Pennsylvania German and emphasize the distinctiveness of each.
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Lotze, Nathaniel. "Second Language Acquisition Applied To English Language Teaching." TESOL Journal 10, no. 1 (March 2019): e00414. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tesj.414.
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Beresova, Jana. "Using English as a gateway to Romance language acquisition." Global Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 6, no. 1 (August 1, 2016): 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.18844/gjflt.v6i1.571.
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The paper focuses on Romance language acquisition through English acquired as the first foreign language. A conscious approach to relations between languages enables learners, who acquired certain knowledge, attitudes and skills while learning one language, to learn other languages more easily. Research is based on contrastive analysis of two Romance languages – French and Spanish – and their relations to English. Learning those two Romance languages was carried out through the knowledge of some principles of how languages function and are related to each other. The analysis of vocabulary and grammar focuses on similarities between the three mentioned languages, emphasising the level of intensity in similarity on one hand, and possible problems related to spelling, pronunciation and meaning on the other hand. The research supports the idea of language plurality in education, and the necessity to help learners construct and continuously broaden and deepen their own plurilingual competence. Keywords: pluringuialism; multilingualism; FREPA; contrastive analysis;
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Lazebna, Nataliia, and Anatoliy Prykhodko. "Digital discourse of English language acquisition." Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 17, no. 2 (June 23, 2021): 971–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.52462/jlls.67.
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Iakovleva, Tatiana. "Typological constraints in foreign language acquisition." Language, Interaction and Acquisition 3, no. 2 (December 19, 2012): 231–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lia.3.2.04iak.
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This study examines the impact of typological constraints on second language acquisition. It explores the hypothesis of a conceptual transfer from first to foreign language (L1 to L2). Based on Talmy’s (2000) distinction between Verb- and Satellite-framed languages, corpus-based analyses compare descriptions of voluntary motion events along three paths (up, down, across), elicited in a controlled situation from native speakers (Russian, English) and Russian learners at two levels (upper- intermediate and advanced) acquiring English in a classroom setting. Results show that in spite of considerable differences between Russian and English native speakers’ performance, particularly with respect to the relative variability in their lexicalization patterns, idiosyncratic forms and structures produced by L2 learners rarely mirror motion conceptualization in their first language, which suggests the absence of a substantial transfer from L1.
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Dávila, Alberto, and Marie T. Mora. "LEP Language Disability, Immigration Reform, and English-Language Acquisition." American Economic Review 106, no. 5 (May 1, 2016): 478–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20161113.
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Policy might partly shape the English-language acquisition of Hispanics migrating to the U.S. mainland, particularly policies related to limited-English-language disability benefits and immigration reform. Using data from the American Community Survey, we find that island-born Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland, as U.S. citizens, may have lower incentives to learn English than Hispanic immigrants because of their higher participation in LEP disability programs. However, among Mexican immigrants, recent immigration reform aimed at interior enforcement might have increased incentives for Mexican immigrants to learn English to reduce their probability of detection, if speaking English proxies for undocumented status.
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Leung, Yan-kit Ingrid. "Verb morphology in second language versus third language acquisition." EUROSLA Yearbook 6 (July 20, 2006): 27–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.6.05leu.
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This paper reports an experimental study on L2 vs. L3 Spanish morphological representation. A total of 19 Spanish learners (10 Chinese native speakers who are upper intermediate to advanced L2 English users as well as 9 English native speakers who do not speak a prior language without overt morphology) participated in the study. A written production task using Spanish nonce verbs was used to elicit regular and irregular forms of Spanish past participles. The study revealed differences between native and non-native Spanish speakers but ones that are still compatible with an approach which posits a dual mechanism for morphological processing. In addition, no principal difference between the L2 and the L3 Spanish learners was identified. A follow-up experiment on L2 English was therefore carried out testing 26 native speakers of Chinese and 17 native speakers of English using a written production task eliciting English regular and irregular past tense forms for both real verbs and nonce verbs. The findings suggested that native and non-native English speakers’ performances pattern similarly. It seems that L2 English plays a crucial role in Chinese speakers’ L3 Spanish morphological representation and in their similar performance to the L1 English-L2 Spanish speakers.
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Sulindra, Eric. "Teaching English for Specific Purposes: Content Language Acquisition vs General Language Acquisition." Beyond Words 7, no. 2 (November 2019): 122–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.33508/bw.v7i2.1835.
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Keffala, Bethany, Jessica A. Barlow, and Sharon Rose. "Interaction in Spanish–English bilinguals’ acquisition of syllable structure." International Journal of Bilingualism 22, no. 1 (May 12, 2016): 16–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367006916644687.
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Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study investigated whether language-specific syllable type frequency and complexity exerted cross-language influence on Spanish–English bilingual children’s acquisition of syllable structure. Design/methodology/approach: We compared the accuracy of bilingual and monolingual children’s singleton coda and onset cluster productions from Spanish and English single words elicited via a picture-naming task. Task stimuli provided multiple opportunities to produce all possible singleton coda and onset cluster types in each language. Data and analysis: Ten typically developing Spanish–English bilingual children (ages: 2;01–4;08) completed the task in each language. Five Spanish and 12 English age-matched monolingual peers completed the same task in their respective languages. Data were analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression. Analyses compared bilinguals’ Spanish and English singleton coda and onset cluster production accuracy rates to those of monolinguals. Findings/conclusions: Our results indicate that interaction occurred in bilinguals’ syllable structure acquisition in both languages. Bilinguals’ acquisition of singleton codas was accelerated relative to monolinguals’ in Spanish. Furthermore, bilinguals’ acquisition of complex onsets was accelerated in both Spanish and English. Results did not suggest that bilinguals’ acquisition of English singleton codas was delayed. Originality: This is the first study to show that exposure to patterns of linguistic complexity specific to each language can accelerate bilinguals’ acquisition of phonological structure in both languages. Significance/implications: Our findings demonstrate that cross-language differences in complexity influence how interaction appears during bilinguals’ phonological acquisition, and suggest further investigation regarding the influence of frequency.
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Kpogo, Felix, and Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole. "The influence of native English-speaking environment on Akan-English bilinguals’ production of English inter-dental fricatives." International Journal of Bilingualism 24, no. 4 (April 24, 2019): 559–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367006919844032.
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Aims and Objectives: This study examined how age of acquisition, immersion in a native English-speaking environment, and phonological environment influence Akan-English bilinguals’ production of English inter-dental fricatives. Design/Methodology: Forty-five Akan-English bilinguals who immigrated to the USA between the ages of 10 and 64 participated. English inter-dental fricatives occurring in word-initial, intervocalic, and word-final positions were elicited through a production task using sentence frames. Accuracy of production was analyzed relative to age of acquisition, relative length of immersion, and phonological environment. Findings/Conclusion: Performance was better overall on the voiceless than the voiced inter-dental, but the phonological environment mattered: performance was at ceiling for both in the medial position, but less good in the initial and final positions. Early age of acquisition conspired with length of residence in the USA to foster better production for both sounds. However, substitutions for target segments were still observed in the most fluent speakers. These results indicate that in determining speakers’ proficiency in the second language, we must consider all of these factors—phonological environment, age of acquisition, and length of stay—together to gain a comprehensive picture of development. Originality: Few studies have examined Ghanaian speakers’ English, even though English is the official language of Ghana. Further, previous studies on second-language speakers’ abilities with inter-dental fricatives have largely focused on word-initial environments. The present study reveals that distinct phonological environments may not show the same effect. Here, speakers were particularly accurate in intervocalic positions. Significance: This study contributes to theoretical debates concerning the roles of input and age of acquisition for second-language learning. It also provides insights on some of the possible hurdles that second-language learners face as they strive to acquire additional languages, which can assist second-language teachers in designing appropriate methodologies to help learners.
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Irnanda, Septhia, and Sarair Sarair. "Learning L3 English Early: A Danger to L1 Indonesian Language Acquisition?" Jurnal Dedikasi Pendidikan 6, no. 2 (July 31, 2022): 435–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.30601/dedikasi.v6i2.3072.
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Since the future of the world is English, many countries now include English in their primary education curriculum, so language proficiency can be achieved more quickly and effectively. As two or more languages knowledge are competing linguistically in the brain, the early introduction to English means putting the other languages known by the Indonesian English language learners in a competition. On the other hand, despite its controversy, bilingualism and multilingualism, when achieved fully and proportionally, is cognitively and socially beneficial. This article reviews the potential effects of including English early in the Indonesian curriculum and the recommendation for the Indonesian’s future multilingual education and research. The discussion resulted in some important conclusions. Firstly, considering the Indonesian-English far typological distance, learning English requires some time and cognitive effort. For Indonesian bilinguals/multilingual, this means early introduction to English means higher confidence in producing the language verbally later on. During this early learning of English, the Indonesian language (and any other ethnic language that forms the speaker’s identity should also be used simultaneously to create the same purpose; a sense of belonging towards and confidence in using the language(s). In short, multilingualism that includes foreign language instruction; national and minority language use and maintainance, should be enhanced and normalised from childhood.
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Lasut, Patricia Angelina. "Word Stress Contribution in Second Language Acquisition." Journal of Language and Literature 15, no. 2 (October 1, 2015): 163–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.24071/joll.v15i2.200.
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Possessing native-like pronunciation is one of the main goals that non-native speakers of English would like to accomplish. Besides the ability to pronounce English sounds correctly, using the proper English word stress also plays an important role in achieving that goal.This paper first specifies the nature of word stress in English and its contribution on successful English language learning. Secondly, it addresses the problems that are commonly encountered by the Indonesian learners in using correct word stress in their speech. Finally, it also proposes some ways that English learners can use to learn English word stress better. Hopefully these proposed ways will be able to help the learners to speak in English more fluently with not only accurate pronunciation but also with correct word stress.
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Döpke, Susanne. "Approaches to first language acquisition." Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 15, no. 2 (January 1, 1992): 137–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/aral.15.2.08dop.
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A bilingual child’s development of word order in German and English subordinate clauses was followed between three and five years of age, and a number of diversions from the development of word order in such clauses by monolingual children was noted. Of particular interest is the fact that incorrect dependent clause structures in German were more likely to be due to intra-language influences from German main clause structures than from English. The findings are discussed in the light UG claims made by Clahsen (1988) concerning the word order development in monolingual children.
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Zhang, Yanyin, and Ima Widyastuti. "Acquisition of L2 English morphology." Sociocognitive Approaches to Second Language Pedagogy 33, no. 3 (January 1, 2010): 29.1–29.17. http://dx.doi.org/10.2104/aral1029.
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This study investigates the status of morphology in the L2 English of three members of a family from Indonesia (parents and their 5-year-old daughter) who have lived, studied or worked in Australia for a year. The investigation is contextualized against various learning settings in which the informants have learned English: formal instruction in the foreign language environment, naturalistic learning in the target language setting, and a mixture of formal and naturalistic learning in the target language environment. Following the developmental hierarchy for English morphology (Pienemann, 2005; Bettoni and Di Biase, forthcoming) and analytical procedures in Processability Theory (Pienemann, 1998, 2005), we found the informants were at different stages of L2 English morphology, with the father being the most advanced and the daughter the least. We also found a systematic developmental profile of each informant in line with the developmental hierarchy for English morphology. Both findings are discussed with reference to the developmental sequences and the role of learning settings in SLA.
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Zhang, Yanyin, and Ima Widyastuti. "Acquisition of L2 english morphology." Sociocognitive Approaches to Second Language Pedagogy 33, no. 3 (2010): 29.1–29.17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/aral.33.3.04zha.
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This study investigates the status of morphology in the L2 English of three members of a family from Indonesia (parents and their 5-year-old daughter) who have lived, studied or worked in Australia for a year. The investigation is contextualized against various learning settings in which the informants have learned English: formal instruction in the foreign language environment, naturalistic learning in the target language setting, and a mixture of formal and naturalistic learning in the target language environment. Following the developmental hierarchy for English morphology (Pienemann, 2005; Bettoni and Di Biase, forthcoming) and analytical procedures in Processability Theory (Pienemann, 1998, 2005), we found the informants were at different stages of L2 English morphology, with the father being the most advanced and the daughter the least. We also found a systematic developmental profile of each informant in line with the developmental hierarchy for English morphology. Both findings are discussed with reference to the developmental sequences and the role of learning settings in SLA.
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Mishra, Susmita. "Language Acquisition: In Perspective of English Language in India." Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities 7, no. 5 (2017): 243. http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/2249-7315.2017.00312.4.
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Jajić Novogradec, Marina. "Positive and Negative Lexical Transfer in English Vocabulary Acquisition." ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries 18, no. 2 (December 29, 2021): 139–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.139-165.
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The aim of the paper is to explore the appearance of positive and negative lexical transfer of plurilingual learners in English vocabulary acquisition. Cross-linguistic influences in the study are examined by word translation tasks from Croatian into English, including true, partial, and deceptive cognates or false friends in English, German, and Italian. The results have revealed different language dominances and positive or negative transfer manifestation. Lexical transfer from L4 German is manifested positively, but the Italian language seems to play a dominant role in the acquisition of English vocabulary. The effect of Croatian is manifested both positively and negatively. The study has confirmed previous psycholinguistic studies on the complexity of lexical connections in plurilingual learners and the dynamic interaction of various learning-based factors, such as language recency, proficiency, exposure to languages, the order in which languages are learned, and the formal context in language learning.
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Mazurkewich, Irene. "Syntactic Markedness and Language Acquisition." Studies in Second Language Acquisition 7, no. 1 (February 1985): 15–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100005131.
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The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the role played by linguistic universals in second language acquisition. Research reported here focuses on the acquisition of dative structures and dative questions in a passive context in English by French and Inuit (Eskimo) students. Data were also elicited from native English-speaking students to serve as the norm. The data are interpreted within the theory of markedness and core grammar, as well as Case theory. The results of the testing, showing that unmarked forms are acquired before marked ones, are consistent with the predictions made by the theory of markedness and the property of adjacency which is crucial for Case assignment.
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Luk, Zoe Pei‐sui, and Yasuhiro Shirai. "The development of aspectual marking in Cantonese-English bilingual children." International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 56, no. 2 (May 25, 2018): 137–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/iral-2014-0018.
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AbstractThe present study investigates whether the tense-aspect development of Cantonese-English bilingual children conforms to the Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen and Shirai 1994. Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles.Studies in Second Language Acquisition16(2). 133–156.), which has been shown to predict the development of monolingual children of many different languages well, and whether the two languages influence each other during development. Analysis of longitudinal production data from three Cantonese-English bilinguals (Yip and Matthews 2000. Syntactic transfer in a Cantonese-English bilingual child.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition3(3). 193–208.) shows that the development of bilingual children resemble that of monolingual children and generally follow the Aspect Hypothesis, but to a lesser degree. Interactions were also observed in that the acquisition of the Cantonese progressive markerganwas accelerated by the-ingin the bilingual children, and transfer from Cantonese to English allowed them to use the English past tense marking with verbs of different lexical aspect early in their development, deviating from the prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis.
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Sokolova, M., and E. Plisov. "CROSS-LINGUISTIC TRANSFER CLASSROOM L3 ACQUISITION IN UNIVERSITY SETTING." Vestnik of Minin University 7, no. 1 (March 17, 2019): 6. http://dx.doi.org/10.26795/2307-1281-2019-7-1-6.
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Introduction: the paper investigates cross-linguistic influences between the two previously learnt languages and their effects on classroom L3 acquisition. The study checks the predictions of the existing theories of mechanisms of transfer into the L3 attested for naturalistic learners. The main predictions get confirmed with the population of classroom learners of English as the L3. All the participants are native speakers of Russian. They all learnt their dominant foreign language, either French or German, in the classroom. The results suggest a governing role of the Universal Grammar in classroom language learning. Materials and Methods: the experiment uses three production tasks: written production, oral production and pronunciation task. The written assignment asks the participants to translate sentences from Russian into English. The target sentence contains the existential there are that does not exist in Russian. The way the participants structure the target sentence in English allows for conclusion about possible influences of the first foreign language on the development of their L3- English. In the oral production task, the participants are prompted to produce negative sentences. The influences from previously learnt languages is traced through the placement of the negation not. In the pronunciation task Praat was used to measure the duration and the formant frequency of the nasal [N] in English. Differences in sound quality trace back to the influences from the previously learnt languages. The data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA for between and within group differences. Results: in the written task, the participants who studied German as their first foreign language prefer verb final placement in the subordinate, which is ungrammatical in English but grammatical in German. The L2-French group put the verb in the right place, but they do not use the existential there are, which required in English. In the oral task, the placement of negation is Russian-like in both groups. In pronunciation, the quality of English [N] is influenced by the amount of nasality the participants learnt before, i.e. French influences make the English [N] more nasalized than the [N] in the group with German as the first foreign language. Discussion and Conclusion: classroom learners of English as the L3 experience influences from all the previously learnt languages, the native language and the first foreign language. These findings pattern with the assumptions of the main generative theories of naturalistic L3 acquisition. Concluding that classroom language learning is governed by universal grammar, the teaching can benefit from predicting what cross-linguistic influences can be facilitative or not for the acquisition of the target language.
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Slabakova, Roumyana. "The parameter of aspect in second language acquisition." Second Language Research 15, no. 3 (July 1999): 283–317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/026765899674229440.
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The goal of this article is to present a detailed study of the second language acquisition (SLA) of English aspect by native speakers of Slavic languages. A parameterized distinction between English and Slavic aspect accounts for the subtle differences between English and Slavic telic and atelic sentences. Based on a syntax-theoretical treatment of aspect, the article investigates the process of SLA of aspect in Slavic speakers at three levels of proficiency in English: low intermediate, high intermediate and advanced. Second language (L2) learners are found to be capable of resetting the aspectual parameter value to the English setting, thus successfully acquiring a property of language almost never taught in language classrooms. The article also studies the acquisition of a cluster of constructions, which syntactic research relates to the English value of the aspectual parameter, and which have been found to appear together in the speech of English children (Snyder and Stromswold, 1997): double objects, verb–particles and resultatives. Results indicate that each of these constructions forms part of this aspect-related cluster and that knowledge of aspect and knowledge of the cluster co-occur. The results of the experimental study bring new evidence to bear on the theoretical choice between direct access to the L2 value (Epstein et al., 1996; Flynn, 1996) or starting out the process of acquisition with the L1 value of a parameter (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1994;1996),supporting the latter view.
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Kalisa, Pasca. "Communication Strategies in English Second Language Acquisition." Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14, no. 1 (October 1, 2019): 93–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/lc.v14i1.21475.
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This research aims to describe and analyze communication strategies used by learners in the acquisition of a second language. In this case, this research analyzes the use of communication strategies in which English is the language of instruction.This study involved 21 students at the Department of English Language and Literature, in one of the state universities in Semarang, Indonesia. These students are second year students in the English Language and Literature Department. This research is a case study in the purpose of investigating the communication strategies used when the participants are engaged when the learning activities take place. The participants are given a conversation project in pairs and exposed to a variety of setting such as in the restaurant, in the professor’s room, and in a company. Data collection was carried out through video and audio recordings. The data obtained are then categorized into 13 categories of communication strategies (Dornyei, 1995) and sorted to obtain the frequency of occurrence. The findings indicate that the students mostly use time-gaining strategy (36%) to overcome the problem in their communication with the interlocutors. It is then followed by the use of meaningless words which occurs very frequently (18%) from all utterances, “repetition” strategy which occurs rather frequently about 16% of the total, literal translation (13%), and “use of non-linguistics means” (10%). In conclusion, choices of communication strategies are highly influenced by the level of the conversation tasks given (Wongsawang, 2001). The occurrence of certain types of communication strategies depends on the tasks given to the students and the level of difficulty of those tasks.
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Lock, Robin H., Elizabeth A. Swanson, and Dauna Howerton. "Influence Vocabulary Acquisition for English Language Learners." Intervention in School and Clinic 42, no. 5 (May 2007): 290–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10534512070420050501.
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Schachter, Jacquelyn. "On the issue of completeness in second language acquisition." Interlanguage studies bulletin (Utrecht) 6, no. 2 (December 1990): 93–124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026765839000600201.
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The issue of completeness in adult second language acquisition is critical in the development of a theory of second language acquisition. Assuming the Chomskyan definition of core grammar as being those aspects of the language determined by the interaction of the innately specified Universal Grammar and the input to which the learner is exposed, we need to ask if it is possible for an adult learner of a second language to attain native-speaker competence in the core aspects of the grammar of the second language. This paper examines evidence for presence or absence of one principle of UG, Subjacency, in the grammars of groups of proficient nonnative speakers of English. There are three groups whose native languages - Korean, Chinese, Indonesian - differ from English with regard to Subjacency, Korean showing no evidence of it, Chinese and Indonesian showing partial evidence of it. There is one group whose native language, Dutch, shows the full range of Subjacency effects that English does. If all groups show the same Subjacency effects in English that native speakers do, then it must be the case UG is still available for adult second language learning and completeness in second language grammars is possible; if not, then completeness cannot be included as a possible characteristic of adult second language acquisition. Proficient nonnative university students with the above native languages were given grammaticality judgement tests on a set of sentences containing a variety of structures (islands) and Subjacency violations involving those structures. Analysis showed that though all groups were able to correctly judge grammatical sentences (containing islands) as grammatical, only the Dutch group was able to correctly judge ungrammatical sentences (containing Subjacency violations) as ungrammatical; the Korean subjects performed randomly on this task. This native language effect was shown not to be due to attribute variables, such as age of first exposure to English, number of months in an English-speaking country, number of years of English study, etc. The results support the conclusion that completeness is not a possible property of adult-acquired grammars since adults no longer have access to UG for the second language learning process.
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Elkotb Mahmoud Elshahawy, Khaled. "Affective Variables from the Applied Linguistics Perspective: A Study of the Saudi Undergraduate Students Majoring in English Language." Journal for the Study of English Linguistics 8, no. 1 (January 29, 2020): 70. http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jsel.v8i1.16357.
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The present study aimed at indicating the effect of the affective variables (motivation, attitude, self-confidence and willingness to communicate) on the acquisition and learning of English language among the students of Languages and Translation Departments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study participants were 40 students (20 males and 20 females) from the students specialized in English language. The study used three instruments: The semi-structured interview, affective variables questionnaire (AVQ) and English language proficiency observation checklist (ELPOC). The study adopted the quasi-experimental design mixed with the qualitative interpretation. The study employed the correlational analysis and the simple liner regression to indicate the relationship between the independent and dependant variables. The findings of the study showed that there is a positive significant relationship between the affective variables (motivation, attitude, self-confidence and willingness to communicate) and the process of English language acquisition as a second language. The study also demonstrated that the most influential factors in the learners' English language acquisition process is their willingness to communicate. Recommendations and suggestions based on the study results were directed to the L2 (EFL/ESL) instructors and all the specialists in English language acquisition and learning.
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Akbarov, Azamat, and Larisa Đapo. ""I am years seven old." Acquisition of English word order by Bosnian and Turkish children." English Studies at NBU 2, no. 1 (August 20, 2016): 59–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.16.1.5.
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This paper aims to investigate differences in the acquisition of English word order between Bosnian and Turkish students resulting from word order in these two languages (Bosnian and Turkish). In second language acquisition, the knowledge of the native language (L1) in acquisition of a foreign language (L2) can indeed have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on the learner’s progress in mastering a new language. Thirty children from the first grade at the International School of Sarajevo were tested. Some of them attended the kindergarten where English was a language of communication and the rest of them had six months of exposure of English in school settings. We wanted to find possible differences in acquiring word order in English in these groups of children as well. This study offers new results for acquiring correct word order in English.
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Fallah, Nader, and Ali Akbar Jabbari. "L3 acquisition of English attributive adjectives." Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 8, no. 2 (October 12, 2016): 193–216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lab.16003.fal.
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Abstract This study examines three L3 transfer proposals, namely the L1 Factor (Hermas, 2010, 2014a, 2014b), the CEM (Flynn et al., 2004) and the TPM (Rothman, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015) as well as investigates the role of the language of dominance in L3 acquisition of English attributive adjectives. Three groups of bilinguals took part in this study: L1 Mazandarani/L2 Persian, with Mazandarani as the dominant language of communication, L1 Mazandarani/L2 Persian, with Persian as the dominant language of communication and L1 Persian/L2 Mazandarani, with Persian as the dominant language of communication. The results of a grammaticality judgment task and an element rearrangement task show that the predictions of the above-mentioned L3 transfer proposals were not realized. Instead, the dominant language of communication turns out to be the main source of syntactic crosslinguistic influence at the initial stages of L3 acquisition, irrespective of its status as an L1 or L2.
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Chen, Ee San. "Language convergence and bilingual acquisition." Annual Review of Language Acquisition 3 (December 31, 2003): 89–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/arla.3.05che.
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This study concerns the simultaneous acquisition of conditional constructions in Chinese-English bilingual preschool children in Singapore. Cross-sectional data are obtained from subjects ranging from 2;10 to 6;06. The target languages are Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) and Singapore Colloquial Mandarin (SCM), both of which are contact varieties that are representative of the Low varieties in a diglossic situation. The bilingual acquisition of structural features of conditionals is investigated by adopting the Head-marking and Dependent-marking typological framework (Nichols 1986). Two elicited imitation experiments were conducted, with Experiment 1 aimed at examining if the structural convergence between SCE and SCM that is evident at a societal level is also represented in the developing linguistic repertoires of the bilingual preschool children. Experiment 2 is a follow-up study designed to investigate if convergence between the two languages is also evident at an individual level. Results obtained in Experiment 1 suggest that convergence between the two developing linguistic systems is indeed apparent. Also evident is the influence of Chinese on SCE, while the influence of English on SCM is less apparent. At the individual level, however, a general lack of convergence between the two developing grammars within a single subject is observed in Experiment 2: the marking preferences for SCE and SCM conditionals tend not to coincide for a particular subject, suggesting that the two languages are represented as distinct grammatical systems for the bilingual children.
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Pocinho, Margarida, Agnieszka Olczak, and Marzanna Franicka. "Bilingual language acquisition in preschool age: The emotional context of kindergarten daily routines." Problemy Wczesnej Edukacji 40, no. 1 (May 25, 2018): 30–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.26881/pwe.2018.40.03.
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This study aims to enhance bilingual language acquisition in very young children in a Portuguese kindergarten. The promotion of children’s language and cognition is done through access to another language – English – in their daily context by incorporating the language into the children’s routines and school daily activities. We collected data from an immersion teacher training program towards bilingualism use, the development of their assistants’ English language fluency, the parents’ awareness and beliefs about English and children’s language development. The sample includes 140 children, aged 5 months to 6 years, teachers and teaching assistants. Teachers have changed their language beliefs concerning English and the program has influenced their practice. The results showed that children develop communicative skills in both languages when surrounded by a bilingual friendly and emotional environment. They use both languages in their everyday life and have created a positive and emotional relationship with the English.
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Wang, Junhui. "A Study on Chinese and English Transfer in French Writing of L3 French Language Beginners." International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics 9, no. 1 (February 2023): 42–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.18178/ijlll.2023.9.1.379.
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In order to investigate the language transfer existing in the field of third language acquisition, and to provide effective strategies of learning two or more languages, this research, based on theories related to the third language acquisition and error analysis, collected 32 French compositions written by English majors’ undergraduates as a corpus, analyzed errors in those compositions, and further discussed the negative transfer of Chinese and English in their French learning. Eight types of errors from the lexical and syntactic perspectives were identified in the research findings. What is more, the negative transfer of English and Chinese appeared at both lexical and syntactic level, and the negative transfer of English is more than Chinese. “lexical errors” occupied more than “syntactic errors” in the transfer of English, while syntactic errors existed more frequently than lexical errors in the transfer of Chinese. There are three main reasons for results of transfers: language distance, language exposure, and language frequency, which provide effective strategies for third language acquisition.
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Baskara, F. X. Risang. "Facilitating Second Language Acquisition through Digital Storytelling." Journal of Language and Literature 15, no. 2 (October 1, 2015): 148–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.24071/joll.v15i2.198.
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This study was conducted to investigate the experiences of students who used digital storytelling to facilitate second language acquisition with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in university. Thirty students enrolled in an EFL English Speaking class in university level participated in this study. Presentation scores, notes on preparation and presentation, and teachers' reports showed that the EFL students made improvement in their acquisition of the English language after approximately four weeks of instruction and reports were given regarding the role of digital storytelling in that instruction. It was concluded that digital storytelling can enhance students motivation and confidence in using the English language to make a classroom presentation and can assist with language acquisition in EFL students.
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White, Lydia, Alyona Belikova, Paul Hagstrom, Tanja Kupisch, and Öner Özçelik. "Restrictions on definiteness in second language acquisition." Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 2, no. 1 (February 10, 2012): 54–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lab.2.1.03whi.
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In this paper we investigate whether learners of L2 English show knowledge of the Definiteness Effect (Milsark, 1977), which restricts definite expressions from appearing in the existential there-insertion construction. There are crosslinguistic differences in how restrictions on definiteness play out. In English, definite expressions may not occur in either affirmative or negative existentials (e.g. There is a/*the mouse in my soup; There isn’t a/*the mouse in my soup). In Turkish and Russian, affirmative existentials observe a restriction similar to English, whereas negative existentials do not. We report on a series of experiments conducted with learners of English whose L1s are Turkish and Russian, of intermediate and advanced proficiency. Native speakers also took the test in English, Turkish, and Russian. The task involved acceptability judgments. Subjects were presented with short contexts, each followed by a sentence to be judged as natural/unnatural. Test items included affirmative and negative existentials, as well as items testing apparent exceptions to definiteness restrictions. Results show that both intermediate and advanced L2ers respond like English native speakers, crucially rejecting definites in negative existentials. A comparison with the groups taking the test in Russian and Turkish confirms that judgments in the L2 are quite different from the L1, suggesting that transfer cannot provide the explanation for learner success.
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Park, Hyeson. "A minimalist approach to null subjects and objects in second language acquisition." Second Language Research 20, no. 1 (January 2004): 1–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0267658304sr228oa.
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Studies of the second language acquisition of pronominal arguments have observed that: (1) L1 speakers of null subject languages of the Spanish type drop more subjects in their second language (L2) English than first language (L1) speakers of null subject languages of the Korean type and (2) speakers of Korean-type languages drop more objects than subjects in their L2 English. An analysis of these two asymmetries is conducted within the Minimalist Program framework (MP), which hypothesizes that language acquisition involves the learning of formal features of a target language.I propose, based on Alexiadou and Anagnostopoulou (1998), that the licensing of null subjects is conditioned by the interpretability of agreement features. When a language has [+interpretable] agreement features, raising of the verb to T (X-movement) satisfies the EPP requirement: hence, a null subject is allowed. On the other hand, in a language with [-interpretable] agreement features, the subject is obligatory since merger of the subject in the specifier of TP (XP-merge) is required to check the EPP feature. Learning of the obligatory status of English subjects is easier for Korean learners than for Spanish speakers since syntactically both English and Korean have the same feature value [-interpretable] (although null subjects are allowed in Korean for pragmatic reasons). Spanish has the opposite syntactic feature value [+interpretable] and resetting of this is more difficult. Licensing of null objects is hypothesized to be related to the strength of theta-features. Languages with strong theta-features, such as English and Spanish, do not allow null objects, whereas languages with weak theta-features like Korean allow null objects. It takes time for Korean speakers to learn the different value of English theta-features, resulting in the extended null object period in L2 English of Korean L1 speakers.
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Buckledee, Steve. "Motivation and Second Language Acquisition." ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries 5, no. 1-2 (June 16, 2008): 159–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.4312/elope.5.1-2.159-170.
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A feature of Italian universities is the high student drop-out rate in nearly all degree courses. It is likely that among the causes of this phenomenon a significant factor is loss of motivation. This study represents the first stage of a longitudinal research project aimed at monitoring students’ motivation levels over a three-year period. At the beginning of the academic year 2008-2009 a questionnaire was administered to 150 newly enrolled students of English at the University of Cagliari in Italy. The closed-response items were designed to measure the respondents’ instrumental and intrinsic motivation. The responses were then considered in the light of the following variables: age, gender, level of competence in English and choice of degree course. The major finding was that a clear majority of respondents reported a considerably higher level of intrinsic than instrumental motivation, while the most significant variables were shown to be competence level and choice of degree.
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Olshtain, Elite. "Is Second Language Attrition the Reversal of Second Language Acquisition?" Studies in Second Language Acquisition 11, no. 2 (June 1989): 151–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100000589.
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The study of language attrition, whether it is concerned with first or second languages, focuses on the effects resulting from an individual's reduced use of the attrited language. Such reduction in use can be due to a change in the linguistic environment or to the termination of an instructional program. In either case, some other language (or languages) is or becomes the dominant one.The present article reports on a series of studies, all focusing on individual attrition of English as a second language (ESL) in an environment where Hebrew is the dominant language. The predictor variables discussed are age, sociolinguistic features, input variables, and linguistic variables. The attrition process affecting English as a second language in a Hebrew dominant context seems to exhibit two major trends of change in language use: (a) a greater variability in the application of peripheral and highly marked structural rules, and (b) lower accessibility of specific lexical items. In each of these trends one can identify a limited reversal of the acquisition process, particularly with young children (5–8-year-olds) as well as a typological transfer process from the dominant language.
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GATHERCOLE, VIRGINIA C. MUELLER, and ENLLI MÔN THOMAS. "Bilingual first-language development: Dominant language takeover, threatened minority language take-up." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12, no. 2 (April 2009): 213–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1366728909004015.
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This study explores the extent to which bilingual speakers in stable bilingual communities become fully bilingual in their two community languages. Growing evidence shows that in bilingual communities in which one language is very dominant, acquisition of the dominant language may be quite unproblematic across sub-groups, while acquisition of the minority language can be hampered under conditions of reduced input. In Wales, children are exposed to both English and Welsh from an early age, either in the home or at school, or both. The data reported here indicate that regardless of home language background, speakers develop equivalent, mature command of English, but that command of Welsh is directly correlated with the level of input in Welsh in the home and at school. Furthermore, maintenance of Welsh in adulthood may be contingent on continued exposure to the language. The data have implications for theories of bilingual acquisition in stable versus immigrant bilingual communities, for optimal conditions for bringing up bilingual children, and for theories of critical periods of acquisition.
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Oh, Eunjeong. "Recovery from first-language transfer: The second language acquisition of English double objects by Korean speakers." Second Language Research 26, no. 3 (July 2010): 407–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267658310365786.
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Previous studies on second language (L2) acquisition of English dative alternation by Korean speakers (Oh and Zubizarreta, 2003, 2006a, 2006b) have shown that the acquisition of English benefactive double object (DO) (e.g. John baked Mary a cake) lags behind that of its counterpart goal double object (e.g. John sent Mary the letter). This asymmetry was attributed to grammatical differences between English and Korean benefactive DOs; goal DOs in the two languages have similar grammatical properties. Given the negative first language (L1) influence attested in the acquisition of English DOs by Korean speakers, this article examines the recovery process from these negative effects of L1 transfer and the triggering factors in such a process by investigating L2 learners’ knowledge of semantic properties pertinent to English DOs, using an Acceptability Judgment task with contexts. The present study found that most advanced learners are indeed capable of acquiring semantic properties of both types of English DOs, restructuring their interlanguage grammar in such a way that both types of DOs denote prospective possession. This article suggests that acquisition of the semantics of goal DOs, possibly attributed to L1 transfer, bootstraps acquisition of the semantics of benefactive DOs, and that this generalization from goal DOs to benefactive DOs is made possible by the surface generalization hypothesis (Goldberg, 2002), which states that argument structure patterns sharing the surface forms should be analysed on their own as a class. Furthermore, this article argues that this recovery process can be interpreted as evidence of a tie between syntax and semantics: developing sensitivity to the semantics of English DOs is indispensable for acquiring the syntax of English DOs (compare Lardiere, 2000; Slabakova, 2006). On this view, learning a construction essentially means learning its associated semantics, and acquisition of the syntax of a construction is a consequence of acquisition of the semantics of the construction.
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Mazhabi, Zobi. "PENGAJARAN BAHASA INGGRIS UNTUK ANAK USIA DINI BEBERAPA HAL YANG HARUS DIPERHATIKAN." Thufuli : Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Islam Anak Usia Dini 1, no. 2 (December 31, 2019): 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.33474/thufuli.v1i2.4940.
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The need, awareness, and understanding about the early foreign languages teaching on young learners makes the education experts try to apply English learning and teaching as early as possible for students. Therefore, English has been introduced in formal educational institutions at the level of early childhood. This decision made experts have to consider several things in term of learning and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and early childhood as students when a foreign language is introduced and taught at the level of early childhood (young learners), then an understanding of how foreign language acquisition or second language on children (SLA) and learning and teaching foreign languages (Teaching English as Foreign Language / TEFL) in children needs to be understood and considered as a reference for conducting the learning process, so that good and appropriate learning methods can be formulated. In this article, the author tries to elaborate on the process of language acquisition in children (language acquisition), both in their first language (L1) and their second language (L2), as well as how an understanding of these can have a positive interfearence on the formulation and selection of the right method. in the process of learning and teaching English at the level of early childhoo.
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Haerazi, Haerazi. "PRINCIPLES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN CHILDREN." Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa & Seni Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP 3, no. 1 (February 28, 2020): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.33394/jo-elt.v3i1.2424.
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To understand the principles of second language acquisition, we could adopt a variety of perspective. Research on second language acquisition (SLA) by children and adults is characterized by many different subfields and perspectives, both cognitive and social in orientation. Although children feature as participants in this research, it is relatively rare to find reviews or overviews of SLA that deal specifically with child SLA although there are a few important exceptions. This general lack of focus on children’s SLA is somewhat surprising, considering that data from children as first language learners have often provided a basis and impetus for SLA theorizing. Among the best-known first language studies to prove influential was Brown’s seminal work showing a predictable order of morpheme acquisition by children under the age of three. Many early years settings now welcome children and families from different cultures who use languages other than English. Young children who are starting to learn English as an additional language may also be attending a nursery school, pre-school, day nursery or child-minder perhaps for the first time. They will bring with them many skills and experiences from their home culture and will be both anxious and excited about their new situation. A good foundation for learning English as an additional language is embedded in quality early years practice. To know more about the principle of second language acquisition in children, this paper will present some issues related with it such as the nature and the role of language learning and the logical problem in language learning.
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Dewey, Dan P., R. Kirk Belnap, and Rebecca Hillstrom. "Social Network Development, Language Use, and Language Acquisition during Study Abroad: Arabic Language Learners’ Perspectives." Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 22, no. 1 (January 15, 2013): 84–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v22i1.320.
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In this paper, we explore language use, social network development, and language acquisition by second learners of Arabic in Jordan and Morocco. Students in these programs reported speaking, listening to, and writing as much English as Arabic during study abroad, but they reported reading more Arabic than English. While patterns indicated similar levels of use of English and Arabic in general, questions focusing on learners' use of language with more familiar friends and acquaintances indicated learners thought they used Arabic more than English with these native friends. Regarding English language use, learners felt that speaking English with natives often created opportunities to interact in Arabic as well. Students’ Arab social networks tended to be small, but there was considerable variation in these networks. The closer their friendships with natives, the more likely students were to report gains in Arabic. English proficiency of friends and acquaintances in one’s social network, degree of friendship, and time spent speaking with people outside of this network predicted language proficiency development.
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Azhar, Shopia. "SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE." ETERNAL (English, Teaching, Learning and Research Journal) 2, no. 2 (December 30, 2015): 331–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.24252/eternal.v12.2015.a12.
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Ordem, Eser. "Acquisition of Zero Relative Clauses in English by Adult Turkish Learners of English." Journal of Education and Training Studies 5, no. 1 (January 3, 2017): 190. http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/jets.v5i1.2056.
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Studies on acquisition of relative clauses by first and second language learners have evoked considerable interest in recent decades. In line with such studies, in this present study we aim to show the possible effect of first language (Turkish) on second language (English) in zero relative clause constructions. English uses certain stranded prepositions in zero relative clauses, whereas Turkish uses the same suffix in non-subject relative clause constructions. This observation in two typologically different languages led the study to claim that Turkish word order in non-subject relative clauses affects the acquisition of zero relative clauses in English. Fifty sentences in Turkish were prepared and composed of five categories. Each category consisted of ten sentences. Each category referred to one of the five cases in Turkish. These cases were accusative, locative, ablative, dative and instrumental. The participants (N=91) were asked to translate these Turkish sentences into English. The results showed that the participants tended to omit prepositions in English zero relative clauses except the construction that did not entail any preposition. Therefore, the study implies that Turkish language learners may be under the effect of their mother tongue while producing zero relative clauses in English.
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Aljumah, Fahad Hamad. "Second Language Acquisition: A Framework and Historical Background on Its Research." English Language Teaching 13, no. 8 (July 31, 2020): 200. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v13n8p200.
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Research shows many problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition (SLA), which have made learners and readers worldwide unsatisfied. Therefore, this study attempts to highlight theories and research that have comprehensive explanations of the problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition, which learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) face while learning a second or foreign language. After that, the study discusses a framework discussion on second language acquisition (SLA). It discusses the historical background of SLA research on different decades and the most notable views of different scholars throughout the past decades on second language acquisition. This study is a longitudinal research that identifies the advantages that could be an assist to English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Longitudinal research is always based on the qualitative method. This study's data is based on the qualitative method that collects views, opinions, materials, and earlier studies on second language acquisition (SLA). It reveals the most significant theories which precisely connected to second language acquisition (SLA) and largely to applied linguistics. The study resulted in that: (i) second language acquisition still has several doubts and ambiguities in its many different aspects, (ii). In this study, the researcher summarizes second language acquisition (SLA) research's main goals and draws comparisons on the scholars' dissimilarities between language learning and second language acquisition (SLA) on different perceptions that could give insights towards learning of second and foreign languages easily by the English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners.
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White, Lydia. "Argument structure in second language acquisition." Journal of French Language Studies 1, no. 2 (September 1991): 189–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959269500000983.
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AbstractThis paper investigates the effects of the first language (LI) on second language (L2) argument structure, in two situations: (i) LI sentences form a superset of those permitted in the L2; (ii) L2 sentences form a superset of those permitted in the LI. An experiment was conducted on 55 anglophone children learning French in Canada. Subject completed a perference task, comparing sentences which varied the types of arguments and adjuncts, and their ordering. Result indicate that the subject differed from a native speaker control group in various ways; English argument structure had effects but learners were also sensitve to properties of French which are distinct from English.
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Mayberry, Rachel I. "First-Language Acquisition After Childhood Differs From Second-Language Acquisition." Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 36, no. 6 (December 1993): 1258–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3606.1258.
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This study determined whether the long-range outcome of first-language acquisition, when the learning begins after early childhood, is similar to that of second-language acquisition. Subjects were 36 deaf adults who had contrasting histories of spoken and sign language acquisition. Twenty-seven subjects were born deaf and began to acquire American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language at ages ranging from infancy to late childhood. Nine other subjects were born with normal hearing, which they lost in late childhood; they subsequently acquired ASL as a second language (because they had acquired spoken English as a first language in early childhood). ASL sentence processing was measured by recall of long and complex sentences and short-term memory for signed digits. Subjects who acquired ASL as a second language after childhood outperformed those who acquired it as a first language at exactly the same age. In addition, the performance of the subjects who acquired ASL as a first language declined in association with increasing age of acquisition. Effects were most apparent for sentence processing skills related to lexical identification, grammatical acceptability, and memory for sentence meaning. No effects were found for skills related to fine-motor production and pattern segmentation.
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Carneiro Lucas, Carmen Manuela Pereira. "Teaching English to Young Learners: Second Language Acquisition or Foreign Language Learning? – A Case Study." World Journal of English Language 12, no. 1 (December 10, 2021): 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v12n1p50.
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A well-known, long-standing and heated debate across the literature concerning applied linguistics is whether within the classroom teachers are dealing with second language acquisition or second language learning. This controversial issue is especially relevant for contexts where English is learned as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) as in Portugal. This is particulalry important at a national level, where English is currently taught as a compulsory subject across primary education, with minimal input.However, the English language curriculum, its pedagogy, and assessment are not anchored on Content for Language and Integrated Learning (CLIL) principles, hence resorting mainly to the students’ mother tongue. As we move towards identifying and synthesizing best pedagogical practices for Teaching English to Young Learners, it is key that we seek a deep understanding of the most effective teaching strategies to foster second language acquisition. As the matter of fact, second language acquisition and overall literacy development have long been considered key to young learners of English, as a strong and solid primary education is critical to ensuring their long-term academic success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Nonetheless, one major issue concerning primary English langauae teaching is the overwhelming lack of CPD opportunities and research-informed teaching, thus resulting in English language teachers’ unsufficient pedagogical preparation, leading in turn to students’ disengagement within the second language learning process.Therefore, this paper seeks to explore whether exposure to English-only language lessons, through cross-curricular work sets a viable and solid path for second language acquisition in contexts where it is commonly believed that it is only possible to learn English as a set of isolated words.As methodology for the present study there was resort to children’s literature, language games and to an English-only classroom environment to simulate a bilingual education classroom. Within storytelling and cross-curricular work, key vocabulary was taught, hence working the language both at word and sentence level.The findings, based in students’ samples of work, do illustrate pedagogical practices which demonstrate successful second language acquisition, namely morpheme order acquisition, even with minimal exposure to the target language.
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Mede, Enisa, and Ayşe Gürel. "Acquisition of English articles in early bilingualism." EUROSLA Yearbook 10 (August 4, 2010): 193–219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.10.11med.
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It has been suggested that child L1 learners overuse the definite article in indefinite contexts due to maturational/pragmatic factors such as egocentricity and an inability to differentiate common ground contexts from speaker beliefs-only contexts (Maratsos 1976; Schaeffer & Matthewson 2005). Knowledge of semantic features such as specificity and definiteness is also implicated in L1 learners’ (in)correct article use (Ionin et al. 2004; 2009). In the context of child bilingualism, on the other hand, difficulties in acquisition of articles are expected to be doubled when one of the languages of the child does not have a corresponding article system. To address these issues and to identify parallels between monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, we examine the use of English articles by a Serbo-Croatian-English simultaneous bilingual child and two monolingual English-speaking children. The results reveal qualitative and quantitative differences between monolingual and bilingual children’s use of English articles, possibly due to the influence of Serbo-Croatian (an article-less language). The findings suggest that in simultaneous child bilingualism, cross-linguistic transfer overrides maturational/pragmatic or semantic factors that are tied to incorrect article use (cf. Zdorenko & Paradis 2008).
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Christiansen, Morten H., Pablo Contreras Kallens, and Fabio Trecca. "Toward a Comparative Approach to Language Acquisition." Current Directions in Psychological Science 31, no. 2 (February 23, 2022): 131–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09637214211049229.
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The world’s languages vary in almost every conceivable way, yet children readily learn their native language. Understanding how children can acquire such a diversity of different languages has been a long-standing goal for psychological science, yet current acquisition research is dominated by studies of children learning one particular language: English. In this article, we argue that progress toward this goal will require systematic comparisons between different languages. We propose three levels of comparison: coarse-grained comparisons contrasting unrelated languages to confirm or refute broad theoretical claims, fine-grained comparisons between closely related languages to investigate the impact of specific factors on acquisition outcomes, and within-language comparisons targeting the impact of socio-communicative differences on learning. This three-pronged comparative approach to language acquisition promises to provide new insights into the mechanisms and processes by which children acquire their native tongue under such varied linguistic and socio-communicative conditions.