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1
Juffs, Alan. "Learnability and the lexikon : theories and second language acquisition research /." Amsterdam ; Philadelphia (Pa.) : J. Benjamins, 1996. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37522729r.
Testo completo
2
Aguilar, Ramírez Mariana. "Using Second Language Acquisition Theories to select technology tools for the Language Classroom." Thesis, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, 2011. http://catarina.udlap.mx/u_dl_a/tales/documentos/lio/aguilar_r_m/.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Children and teenagers aged 8 to 18 years old spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day on-line. If millions of people are already spending many hours a day on these sites, it seems reasonable to take advantage of them and use these sites for more than just conversation and networking. This thesis provides educators the theoretical basis to choose and implement the best and most appropriate web tools in their language classrooms. It reviews some of the second language acquisition theories that can aid in the creation of a computer assisted language learning (CALL) environment that delivers benefits, and follows the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). This thesis also provides a comprehensive check list of theoretical and technical requirements in order to choose an internet tool, as well as examples on its use. This thesis concludes with the fact that implementing Web 2.0 tools in classrooms should be done with a clear objective in mind in order so there are meaningful and authentic learning opportunities that will provide students new cultural, social and linguistic knowledge.<br>(cont.) That technology should not be used just because it is a trend and that computers and technology do not constitute a teaching method, they are simply a medium to reach a goal.
3
Muroya, Akiko. "Testing theories of second language acquisition : evidence from Japanese learners' English." Thesis, University of Essex, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.701637.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
This study investigates five topics that have been at the heart of research into second language (L2) acquisition for over three decades: (1) the nature of early L2 grammars and whether they contain both lexical and functional categories; (2) the role that the native language (L 1) plays in L2 acquisition; (3) the source of variable production by L2 speakers of properties that are categorical for L1 speakers; (4) the relationship between the acquisition of morphological properties and syntactic operations; (S) the involvement of a putative Universal Grammar. These topics are investigated in the context of Japanese-speaking classroom learners of English. Data were collected through two production tasks, one written the other oral. While there have been many studies of the topics in question with naturalistic L2 learners of English, there have been fewer studies with classroom learners. The general view in generative studies ofL2 acquisition has been that linguistic development will be the same, whatever the context of learning. However, this is an empirical question and the present study provides evidence bearing on it. Findings suggest that early-stage learners have grammars for English that have both functional and lexical categories. The functional categories are specified for features that are syntactically relevant (for verb raising, for the determination of obligatory subjects, for appropriate case marking, for the obligatory fronting of wh-words). Properties that are transferred from the Ll are not predictable simply on the basis of comparing differences between the two languages. Variability in production appears to be explicable largely in terms of learners' (re)assembling features for English lexical items which differ from their Japanese counterparts, combined with the difficulty of accessing forms where processing load is heavy (the Missing Surface Inflection hypothesis). There was no evidence of participants needing to acquire the morphological paradigms of English before establishing syntactic rules. Finally, there was limited, but suggestive, evidence that the L2 grammars of+the classroom learners studied are guided by UG.
4
Groff, Keith. "Perception and context : language acquisition grounded on activity theories of Lev Vygotsky /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1248710173.
Testo completo
5
Park, Hyeson. "Child second language acquisition and grammatical theories: The Minimalist Program and optimality theory." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/252897.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
The aim of linguistic theory is to explain what knowledge of language consists of and how this knowledge is acquired. Generative linguistics, which had set out to achieve this goal, has recently seen the development of two main approaches to Universal Grammar (UG). One is the Minimalist Program (MP) and the other is Optimality Theory (OT). In the MP framework, language is claimed to be acquired through parameter setting, while in OT language acquisition is viewed as a constraint reranking process. In this study, I compare the two evolving linguistic theories in relation to child L2 acquisition phenomena; that is, how and whether the two different approaches to UG could be used to account for language development in real time. The database for this study was a corpus of natural and elicited-interview speech collected by the National Center for Bilingual Research from six Korean children learning English as an L2 in a bilingual education school program. Two constructions, null arguments and wh-questions produced by the Korean children in their developing L2 English, were chosen for in-depth investigation. The data analysis shows that (1) the children dropped few subjects from the early stages, (2) the children dropped more objects than subjects, (3) the children did not apply subject-verb inversion in why -questions, and (4) of the wh-questions, when-questions were one of the last to appear in the children's developing English. It was examined whether these four findings could be explained within the MP and the OT frameworks. The MP and OT in their present forms, however, do not seem to be able to fully account for the data. I have proposed some adaptations of the theories and explored plausible explanations. The overall picture emerging from the study is that the gradual nature of language development can best be explained as being a result of the incremental acquisition of the lexicon. The relationship between linguistic theory and acquisition studies, especially second language acquisition studies, has been unidirectional, from theory to acquisition (SLA) studies. It is to be hoped that this study may contribute to connecting the gap between linguistic theory and SLA studies, and making their relationship more bidirectional.
6
Stoller, Nicholas D. "A Linguistic Perspective on the Acquisition of German as an L2." Miami University Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=muhonors1146416653.
Testo completo
7
Polat, Mustafa. "Emerging Technologies in Language Pedagogy: Language Learners' Perceptions through the Lenses of Innovation Diffusion and User Intention Theories." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/612413.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Recently, it has been admitted by many researchers that students today are "digital natives" who already utilize several different technologies everyday with different purposes. Furthermore, while there is a plethora of research about learners' perceptions in language pedagogy, there is a paucity of information and research that could move beyond generic perception studies especially regarding new technologies. Accordingly, educators are still concerned not only with how to encourage EFL learners to adopt emerging technologies that could be invaluable in their language learning processes, but also with how to keep students interested in what they are learning. Thus, an understanding beyond students' perceptions with a purposive focus on their approach to technology by also exploring factors that have an influence on their adoption of emerging technologies is the key to knowing how to motivate students to integrate new technologies, and how to keep students interested in the learning process. Therefore, the purpose of this study was three-fold: to identify language learners' approaches to technologies; to examine their attitude toward emerging technologies with a focus on their familiarity, actual use, intentions and perceptions; and finally to analyze the factors and relationships among these factors that best predict language learners' intentions and decisions to use emerging technologies. The study specifically aimed to explore the following emerging technologies: (a) social networking, (b) mobile learning, and (c) digital games as major emerging technologies of today with also a focus on other emerging technologies: (a) augmented reality, (b) wearable technologies, (c) virtual assistants, (d) massive online open courses, (e) 3D printing and (f) online language learning platforms. This mixed methods study benefitted from multiple disciplines, and presented several different perspectives to achieve its aim. The data were obtained through a survey, open-ended questions, and semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. In addition, structural equation modeling was utilized and path analysis was employed to draw on two complementary frameworks: innovation diffusion theory (Rogers, 2003), especially its application in technology adopter categories (TACI) (Dugas, 2005), and the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) (Taylor & Todd, 1995), which was adapted for this research. The qualitative data was analyzed through thematic content analysis, and used to triangulate and affirm what the quantitative data was showing. The findings indicated that technology adopter categories were normally distributed among EFL learners at a public and a private university in Turkey. Although most EFL learners were quite familiar and confident with major emerging technologies, they were not very familiar with minor emerging technologies. As for an awareness of the benefits of all listed emerging technologies, the study revealed that EFL learners' awareness is quite high; however, it was also found that participants' intention to use these emerging technologies and their actual use were very low. Finally, the results showed that the adapted DTPB was useful in explaining much of the variance in the intention to integrate technology into language learning processes by EFL learners, and attitude was the most important predictor and factor of behavioral intention. Given these findings, this research aims to contribute to the literature in innovation diffusion, user adoption and language pedagogy by offering several theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications and directions for future research and applications.
8
Demailly, Tulldahl Karine. "A Study and Analysis of Errors in the Written Production of Swedish Adolescent Learners of English : Comparing the Evolution of a Class at Two Different Points in Time." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Educational Science (IUV), 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-3367.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
<p>The subject of this essay is a comparison of essays written by the same learners at two different points in time - i.e. while they were in the first and in the third grades of the Swedish secondary school. The essay includes a presentation of the raw data that have been used. The theoretical background is a general survey of some of the abundant literature relating to Second Language Acquisition and Error Analysis, and a large part of it deals with interlanguage theories. The analytical part of the work presents the results of the study, including a grammatical classification of the totality of the errors encountered as well as a presentation of the results for the whole of each class and for each individual learner. Finally, some of the theories are related to the results of the analysis and some conclusions are drawn. A part of the work consisted in the gathering of essays written by learners (exclusively with Swedish as their mother tongue) of the same class in a real school context, first to make a quantitative study of their errors, and second to make a comparison between their essays written at two different points in time. The aim was to find out if there had been an evolution, and to what extent the evolution had taken place. The hypothesis formulated at the beginning of this essay is that learners, in general, should make fewer errors after two years have passed. The results are that errors concerning Verbs (especially Concord), as well as miscellaneous spelling errors, were the most frequent ones, and this is true for both grades. As the total number of errors is lower for the third grade than for the first, and since the learners' production is larger in the third grade than in the first, the hypothesis can be considered to be true, though a larger study should be conducted to see if a general pattern can be found.</p>
9
Basson, Magdalene. "Die ontwikkeling van ‘n geletterdheidsintervensieprogram ter bevordering van woordeskat en leesbegrip by Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers in graad 4-6 Afrikaansmediumklasse." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/79797.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The increasing number of isiXhosa learners in Afrikaans medium schools gave rise to this investigation. According to our Constitution, all citizens have the right to receive education in one of the official languages. Some isiXhosa parents exercise their democratic right by enrolling their children in English- or Afrikaans-medium schools. They are of the opinion that the level of education is of a higher standard in these schools. Consequently, some isiXhosa learners in Afrikaans-medium schools develop barriers to learning due to the fact that they have little or no knowledge of Afrikaans.
The purpose of this study was to develop a literacy intervention programme to improve the vocabulary and reading comprehension of isiXhosa mother tongue speakers in grade 4 to 6 Afrikaans-medium classes. Secondly, the aim of the study was to determine whether the literacy intervention programme would lead to the improvement of the Afrikaans vocabulary and reading comprehension of isiXhosa learners in grade 4 to 6 Afrikaans-medium classes. The research was conducted in a previously disenfranchised Afrikaans-medium school in Stellenbosch.
The research methods employed comprised a literature review supported by an empirical investigation that included pre- and post-tests with learners, interviews with educators and the development and implementation of a literacy intervention programme. A mixed method research design was used, because quantitative data alone would have supplied inadequate answers to the research question.
The theoretical basis of the study was Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, as well as Vygotsky’s social constructivist language acquisition theory. Both Piaget and Vygotsky emphasised the importance of social interactions in cognitive development. They regarded the development and use of vocabulary as an integral part of these interactions. Research indicates that the field of second language acquisition is multifaceted and is not supported by a singular theory. Three theories of second language acquisition were explored in this study. They are the communicative approach, shared reading and the schema theory. The role that the language-in-education policy, motivation and social economic status play in second language acquisition was also investigated. Another goal of the literature review was to collect data to develop a literacy intervention programme in which the above-mentioned theories of second language acquisition were utilised. The marsh at the school served as the context for the activities in the programme. Twenty isiXhosa mother tongue speakers in grade 4 to 6 Afrikaans-medium classes were subjected to an intervention programme over a period of six months to determine the success of the intervention programme. Data gathering included quantitative data (pre- and post-tests) as well as qualitative data (interviews with Afrikaans educators) to determine whether the learners’ vocabulary and reading comprehension had improved.
The results of the study indicate that the implementation of the literacy intervention programme can lead to the improvement of the Afrikaans vocabulary and reading comprehension of isiXhosa mother tongue speakers in grade 4 tot 6 Afrikaans-medium classes. This is substantiated by previous research. The results also support findings that the Afrikaans vocabulary and reading comprehension of isiXhosa learners in the Afrikaans-medium intervention school can improve if the appropriate intervention is offered timeously.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek is onderneem weens die toenemende getal Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers in Afrikaansmediumskole. Volgens die Grondwet het elkeen die reg om onderrig in enige van die amptelike tale te ontvang. Sommige Xhosasprekende ouers oefen hierdie reg uit deur hulle kinders in Afrikaansmediumskole te plaas. Hulle is van mening dat onderrig van 'n hoёr gehalte daar plaasvind. Gevolglik is daar 'n toename van leerders wat struikelblokke tot leer ondervind, omdat hulle min of geen begrip van Afrikaans het nie.
Eerstens, is die fokus van hierdie studie die ontwikkeling van 'n geletterdheidsintervensieprogram om die Afrikaanse woordeskat en leesbegrip van graad 4 tot 6 Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers in 'n Afrikaansmediumskool te bevorder. Ten tweede is dit om te bepaal of die geletterdheidsintervensieprogram 'n verbetering in die woordeskat en leesbegrip van graad 4 tot 6 Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers tot gevolg gehad het. 'n Voorheen benadeelde Afrikaansmediumskool in die Stellenbosch-omgewing is deur die navorser gekies vir die implementering van die geletterdheidsintervensieprogram.
Hierdie projek het 'n literatuurstudie ondersteun deur 'n empiriese ondersoek wat voor- en natoetse met leerders, onderhoude met onderwysers en die ontwerp en toepassing van 'n geletterdheidsintervensieprogram ingesluit het, behels. Daar is van 'n gemengde navorsingsontwerp gebruik gemaak, omdat die gebruik van slegs kwantitatiewe data onvoldoende antwoorde op die navorsingsvraag sou verskaf.
'n Literatuurondersoek is gedoen om 'n teoretiese grondslag vir die studie te verkry. Piaget se teorie van kognitiewe ontwikkeling en Vygotsky se sosiaal-konstruktivistiese taalverwerwingsteorie is gebruik om die verwerwing van 'n tweede taal te beskryf. Beide Piaget en Vygotsky het die belangrikheid van sosiale interaksies in kognitiewe ontwikkeling beklemtoon. Hulle het die ontwikkeling en gebruik van woordeskat as 'n integrale deel van hierdie interaksies beskou. Die studie dui daarop dat die aard van tweedetaalverwerwing kompleks is en nie deur 'n enkele teorie ondersteun kan word nie. Drie verskillende benaderings tot tweedetaalverwerwing, naamlik die kommunikatiewe benadering, gedeelde lees en die skema-teorie, is ondersoek. Die rol wat die taal-in-onderwysbeleid (TiOB), motivering en sosio-ekonomiese status in tweedetaalverwerwing speel, is ook ondersoek.
'n Verdere doel van die literatuurondersoek was om inligting te versamel om 'n geletterdheidsintervensieprogram te ontwerp waarin bogenoemde benaderings tot tweedetaalverwerwing gebruik is. Die vleiland by die skool het die konteks geskep waarbinne die onderskeie aktiwiteite beplan is. Die geletterdheids-intervensieprogram is vir ses maande in 'n klas met 20 graad 4 tot 6 Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers toegepas om die sukses daarvan te bepaal. Datagenerering het bestaan uit kwantitatiewe data (voor- en natoetse) asook kwalitatiewe data (onderhoude met die opvoeders wat Afrikaans onderrig) om vas te stel of die leerders se woordeskat en leesbegrip verbeter het al dan nie.
Die resultate van hierdie studie toon dat die toepassing van die geletterdheidsintervensieprogram tot die verbetering van die Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers in graad 4 tot 6 Afrikaansmediumklasse se Afrikaanse woordeskat en leesbegrip kan lei. Dit stem ooreen met bevindinge van vorige navorsing, naamlik dat die verbetering van leerders se woordeskat tot die verbetering van leesbegrip lei. Verder ondersteun die resultate die bevindinge dat Xhosa-moedertaalsprekers in die Afrikaansmedium intervensieskool se Afrikaanse woordeskat en leesbegrip kan verbeter, mits hulle die nodige, gepaste ondersteuning betyds ontvang.
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Aravena, Ruiz Erick, Quezada Daniela Bascuñán, Cáceres Hugo Briones, Pino Katherine Jara, Sierra Denisse Lillo, Morales Gabriel Morales, Novoa Bárbara Muñoz, and López Evelyn Yumha. "Second language acquisition theories: their application in Ministry of Educaction's Curriculum and their expected impact on teacher training programs from three chilean universities." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2015. http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/130555.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Inglesa<br>Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Language Planning and Policy (LPP) play a fundamental role in the design of public policies concerning the teaching of a second language. Thus, the present study focuses on the analysis of SLA theories in the teaching of the English language in the country, as well as their implementation in the curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Education and the curricula from three selected teaching programs created by the following institutions: Universidad de Chile, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación and Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The gap this investigation aims at filling is the current limited research in education and, particularly, regarding the teaching of the subject. The major findings indicate a lack of an explicit theory proposed by any of the aforementioned institutions, except by the program from Departamento de Estudios Pedagógicos of Universidad de Chile. The implications concerning these results are mainly related to the proposition of improving the policies that are functioning today in order to have a more homogeneous approach to the teaching of English in Chile.
11
Britz, Lize. "Suggestopaedie als alternative Methode in der aktuellen Diskussion zu Fremdsprachenmethoden : Theorie und Praxis im sudafrikanischen DaF-Kontext." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/85772.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The following thesis aims to contribute to the field of teaching German as a foreign language. It investigates the evolutionary history of Suggestopaedia, an alternative teaching method which originated during the late 1970s. The Bulgarian psychiatrist, Dr. Georgi Lozanov, discovered that relaxation and a stress-free environment promote both accelerated learning and memory retention. Further research proves that the combined elements and techniques of this method play a significant role to positively manipulate brain activity as well as individual perceptions, which could eventually result in the development of the personality. The author of this study analyses both the contributions and shortcomings of Suggestopaedia, reporting from personal experience gathered while teaching at a university in South Africa, and subsequently suggests an altered version of the suggestopaedic teaching ways. Various foreign language teaching methodologies are examined and evaluated while the main focus remains on Suggestopaedia and its principle of holistic learning. By exploiting the eclectic aspects of the suggestopaedic teaching method, this thesis investigates to what extent selected elements of different conventional methods can be integrated into Suggestopaedic teaching. Thereby the author ultimately proposes a holistic, enriched and modernized variant of Lozanovs Suggestopaedia for the teaching of German at schools in South Africa, by demonstrating practical examples executed at a private school.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis poog om ʼn bydrae te lewer tot die gebied in die onderrig van Duits as ʼn vreemdetaal. Dit ondersoek die evolusionêre geskiedenis van Suggestopedie wat as „n onderrigmetode in die laat 1970‟s ontstaan het. Die Bulgaarse psigiater, dr. Georgi Lozanov, het bevind dat „n ontspanne en stresvrye omgewing beide versnelde leer en geheue retensie bevorder. Verdere navorsing toon dat die gekombineerde elemente en tegnieke van hierdie metode „n betekenisvolle rol speel om brein-aktiwiteit positief te manipuleer en individuele persepsies positief te beïnvloed, wat ten slotte ʼn persoonlikheidsontwikkeling tot gevolg kan hê. Die skrywer van hierdie studie analiseer sowel die bydrae asook die tekortkominge van Suggestopedie aan die hand van persoonlike ervaring wat versamel is tydens onderrig aan „n Suid-Afrikaanse universiteit. Hieruit word dan „n gewysigde weergawe van suggestopediese onderrig voorgestel. Verskeie vreemdetaal-onderrigmetodes word ondersoek en geassesseer, terwyl die fokus steeds op Suggestopedie en die beginsel van holistiese leer bly. Deur gebruik te maak van die eklektiese aspek van die suggestopediese leermetode, ondersoek die skrywer tot watter mate geselekteerde elemente van verskillende konvensionele metodes geintegreer kan word met Suggestopedie. Met bogenoemde navorsing inaggeneem, stel die skrywer gevolglik „n holistiese, verrykte en gemoderniseerde weergawe van Lozanov se Suggestopedie voor, aan die hand van praktiese voorbeelde wat by „n privaatskool toegepas is.
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Kotze, Yolanda. "Developing a framework for the writing of ESP study guides / Yolanda Kotze." Thesis, North-West University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/1699.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Teaching through specifically designed and produced learning materials is a widely
used and accepted way of teaching in higher education both nationally and
internationally. Although this kind of teaching is used mainly in the field of distance
education, it has become increasingly popular at traditional universities in face-to-face
methods of education. Developing language-learning materials that meets the needs of
English for Specific Purposes learners is a process that requires meticulous planning as
English for Specific Purposes courses are aimed at meeting the career needs of the
learners.
An empirical study was conducted to determine the perceptions and concerns of
learners using the ENGL 122 study guide at the North-West University (Potchefstroom
Campus). The results of the study indicated that the learners were positive that the
study guide enhanced their learning process, but various concerns were also raised by
the learners.
This study also aimed to create a framework for the writing of English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) study guides. In order to achieve this, a literature study was done to
provide information about the relevant theories and principles that apply to ESP study
guide development. The literature study also included aspects that need to be taken
into consideration when designing or planning the development of an ESP study guide.<br>Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
13
Lesné, Susanna. "Does working in asymmetrical pairs in class lead to better results than working individually? : A study of an 8th grade English class in Sweden." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för humaniora (HUM), 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-15866.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
According to former brain surgeon, Nils Simonson, Swedish schools are wasting their students’ time by using teaching methods that lead to poor memorization, namely reading and listening as separate activities. He instead suggests that the students use methods that lead to better memorization. The study described in this rendering focuses on two of Simonson’s suggestions – discussion and peer teaching. This work accounts for a study, in which Swedish 8 thgrade English students were working in asymmetrical pairs, i.e. pairs composed by students on different levels of achievement. The study was aimed at finding an answer to the thesis question of whether working in asymmetrical pairs led to a larger or smaller improvement, on a final grammar test, than the improvement of the rest of the students in the class, who were working individually, and thus formed a control group for the study. The result was that the students in three out of four asymmetrical pairs improved their results more than the control group. Since one of the students in the fourth asymmetrical pair had been absent, they had only been working together during half the period of the study. This probably explains why their improvement was only on the same level as the improvement of the students in the control group. The answer to the thesis question is therefore that working in asymmetrical pairs led to better results on the final grammar test, than working individually. If the results of the participating students are divided into different groups, we also find that the students with the lowest results on the initial grammar test were those who improved their results the most, which could possibly be explained by a better room for improvement. Due to the short time range of the study, it was limited to one class, and the generalizability of the study is hence very low. However, it could potentially serve as a pilot study for larger research projects. My main idea of future research is thus to expand the study to a larger number of students. It would also be interesting to incorporate students on all levels of achievement into a similar research project. This work incorporates predominant teaching science theory, such as socio-cultural theories, and influential second language acquisition theory, such as the input hypothesis, the output hypothesis and focus on form instruction.
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Prigent, Gaïd. "Développement morphosyntaxique complexe : comprendre et évaluer les acquisitions syntaxiques tardives, chez l’enfant tout-venant et chez l’enfant présentant des troubles sévères d’acquisition du langage." Thesis, Paris 10, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016PA100001/document.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
La Théorie Usage et Construction (TUC) postule que l’enfant développe son langage, et plus précisément ses formes morphosyntaxiques, grâce à l’utilisation de processus cognitifs généraux qui permettent un mécanisme de complexification et de généralisation de ses propres productions ainsi que de celles issues de l’input. L’approche cognitivo-fonctionnelle n’a été appliquée à la dysphasie que dans peu d’études. De plus, l'acquisition de la syntaxe complexe chez l'enfant dysphasique est un domaine délaissé dans la littérature existante. Ainsi, dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux difficultés des enfants dysphasiques pour la complexité morphosyntaxique à travers la lunette de la TUC, et ce en utilisant à les fois des tâches expérimentales et des situations de génération de langage spontané. Nous postulions que la complexité, concept au cœur de notre travail, est définie par ce qui est cognitivement coûteux, désignant ainsi les formes linguistiques rares, longues ou imbriquées. Notre travail met en évidence que les enfants dysphasiques peuvent être productifs seulement avec les schémas fréquents dans le langage qui leur est adressé, alors que les structures complexes, peu fréquentes dans l’input, sont particulièrement difficiles à appréhender pour eux. Dès lors, ces enfants ont besoin d’être confrontés à davantage d’exemplaires et de contextes de pratique pour que la masse critique suffisante soit atteinte et que l’apprentissage de constructions soit possible. Enfin, un lien relativement clair entre la difficulté de complexification syntaxique et les troubles de la généralisation est mis en évidence<br>The Construction and Usage-based Theory (CUT) argues that children develop their language, and more precisely morphosyntactic structures, thanks to the use of general cognitive processes by complexifying and generalizing their own prior productions and productions used in the input. These hypotheses have been tested in children with specific language impairment (SLI) in very few studies. Moreover, development of complex syntax is a little studied area in the literature. Thus, the current doctoral thesis focused on complex syntax difficulties of children with SLI using spontaneous language samples and experimental tasks. This work defines complexity as linguistics forms which are rare, long or nested and more generally cognitively costly. The results obtained show that children with SLI use frequent forms heard in the input productively, whereas complex forms, which are rare in the input are difficult for them. These children need to be exposed to more exemplars and practice settings to reach critical mass and making possible learning of constructions. Finally, this current doctoral thesis highlights a relatively obvious link between complex syntax difficulties and lack of generalization of construction schemas
15
Claire, Anita. "Language acquisition." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2002. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/34018.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
This project investigates acquisition of a new language by example. Syntax induction has been studied widely and the more complex syntax associated with Natural Language is difficult to induce without restrictions. Chomsky conjectured that natural languages are restricted by a Universal Grammar. English could be used as a Universal Grammar and Punjabi derived from it in a similar way as the acquisition of a first language. However, if English has already been acquired then Punjabi would be induced from English as a second language.
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De, Marcken Carl Gustave. "Unsupervised language acquisition." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10640.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1996.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-133).<br>by Carl G. de Marcken.<br>Ph.D.
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MELLO, BIANCA NOVAES DE. "LACAN S THEORIES OF LANGUAGE." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2010. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=35560@1.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO<br>CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO<br>A tese tem como tema a ênfase dada por Lacan à linguagem na experiência psicanalítica, em diferentes momentos de seu ensino. A partir da oposição entre modelos de linguagem que reduzem seu objeto às leis internas ao sistema da língua, e modelos que abarcam a posição dos falantes e o contexto discursivo,
buscamos verificar qual concepção de linguagem Lacan usa quando teoriza sobre a linguagem na experiência analítica. A fim de demarcar a especificidade do campo psicanalítico, cotejamos a noção de linguagem em Lacan com o modelo estruturalista e com a filosofia pragmática da linguagem.<br>This thesis has as its theme the emphasis given by Lacan to the language in the psychoanalytic experience, during different moments of his teaching. From the opposition between language models that reduce their object to the internal laws of the language system and models that embrace the position of the speakers and
the discursive context, we seek to determine which is the conception of language Lacan uses when theorizing on language in the psychoanalytic experience. In order to demarcate the specificity of the psychoanalytic field, we compare the notion of language in Lacan with the structuralist model and the pragmatic philosophy of language.
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Evers, Hendrik Willem Adriaan. "Subjectivist theories of normative language." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:44df12c0-01ed-4675-9b79-0dabc15cd84a.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
On the assumption that there are no objective normative facts, what is the best theory of normative language? I try to answer this question. Chapter 1 argues for a presumption against noncognitivism and explains why error-theories are of limited interest: they concern adverbs and adjectives like ‘moral’, but not words like ‘ought’, ‘good’ and ‘reason’. This narrows down the options: the best subjectivist theory of normative language is a truth conditional, non-error-theoretic account. Chapter 2 argues for contextualism about normative statements. Contextualists hold that their truth conditions (can) vary with the context of utterance. Chapter 3 starts the assessment of contextualist theories. It looks into Humean accounts. Problems are revealed with both Harman’s and Schroeder’s versions. Chapter 4 develops a form of indexical relativism according to which the truth of normative statements depends on contextually salient rules. I present imperative-based analyses of ‘ought’ and ‘reason’ and show how they can explain why ‘A ought to X’ entails that the balance of reasons favours that A X-es. Chapter 5 further develops the theory of chapter 4 and applies it to the words ‘good’ and ‘must’. It turns out to be hard to analyse ‘good’. It also emerges that ‘must’ and ‘ought’ cannot be given different truth conditions. Chapter 6 explains Stephen Finlay’s end-relational theory. On this account, normative statements concern the relation in which acts or objects stand to contextually salient ends. In the case of ‘ought’ and ‘good’, this relation is one of probability raising. Chapter 7 discusses and answers some familiar objections to Finlay’s view. Chapter 8 raises some new problems, related to the fact that normative judgments are often made in the light of several ends. Chapter 9 explains why the end-relational theory is nonetheless the best subjectivist theory of normative language.
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Reshetniak, Maryna Valeriivna, Марина Валеріївна Решетняк, and Марина Валерьевна Решетняк. "A Foreign Language Acquisition." Thesis, Publishing house Education and Science, 2010. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/50985.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
The article discloses historically based approaches of a foreign language education and throws light on the new study, which may revolutionize language learning. The main methods of teaching foreign languages, which are highlighted in the article, are: the grammar translation method, the direct method, the audio-lingual method, the communicative language teaching method and the series method. And a modern research of a PhD from New Zealand is described below.<br>Стаття розкриває історично сформовані підходи до вивчення іноземних мов, а також надає додаткову інформацію щодо нового дослідження, яке може внести революційні зміни до вивчення будь-якої мови. Основні методи навчання іноземним мовам, що будуть проаналізовані в даній статті, наступні: метод граматичного перекладу, аудіально-лінгвістичний метод, комунікативний метод, прямий метод та послідовний (серійний) метод. І сучасне дослідження доктора філософії з Нової Зеландії оглянуто нижче.<br>Статья раскрывает исторически сформировавшиеся подходы к изучению иностранных языков, а также предоставляет дополнительную информацию про новое исследование, которое может революционно перевернуть изучение языков. Основные методы преподавания иностранных языков, которые будут проанализированы в данной статье, следующие: метод грамматического перевода, аудиально-лингвистический метод, коммуникативный метод, прямой метод и последовательный (серийный) метод. И современное исследование доктора философии из Новой Зеландии рассмотрено ниже.
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Estigarribia, Bruno. "Asking questions language variation and language acquisition /." May be available electronically:, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU1MTUmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=12498.
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Choi, Myong Hee. "The acquisition of wh-in-situ constructions in second language acquisition." Connect to Electronic Thesis (CONTENTdm), 2009. http://worldcat.org/oclc/450899150/viewonline.
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Prévost, Philippe. "Truncation in second language acquisition." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/NQ44557.pdf.
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Greene-Havas, Maia. "Acquisition of social language register." Connect to resource, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/32184.
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Prévost, Philippe 1966. "Truncation in second language acquisition." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34766.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
In this thesis, I argue that early child second language (L2) grammars allow truncation, on a par with proposals by Rizzi (1993/1994) and Haegeman (1995) for first language (L1) acquisition. This account (the Truncation Hypothesis) holds that Rizzi's (1994) Root Principle, according to which root declaratives are CPs, is initially underspecified in L2 systems (for processing reasons). This means that the root of main declaratives will not systematically be CP. Instead, different types of roots should be projected, such as CP, IP or VP, with VP underlying root infinitives. If one further assumes that functional categories are present in early grammars, the possibility of truncation can thus account for optionality of verb-movement and finiteness in early SLA, and more generally for why such categories seem to be optionally projected initially (Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996; Eubank, 1992; 1993/1994; 1996).<br>Predictions based on the Truncation Hypothesis were tested against longitudinal spontaneous production data from child and adult L2 learners. There were two child and two adult learners of L2 French (whose L1s were English and Arabic) and two child two adult learners of L2 German (native speakers of Romance pro-drop languages). The findings suggest that the distribution of finite and nonfinite verbs is structurally determined in L2 child grammar, i.e. tenseless verbs only appear when VP is the root, while finite verbs are found when functional categories are projected. This in turn means that children project truncated structures in early L2 acquisition. I argue that no other theory of the nature of early L2 grammars is able to account for the full range of properties of the child L2 data.<br>The adult data are less conclusive concerning the possibility of truncation in adult L2 grammars. In particular, the learners seem to use infinitival markers as substitutes for finite inflections, which means that nonfinite verbs are found in contexts which are not predicted by the Truncation Hypothesis. The difference between the child and adult learners is attributed to problems that adults may have in mapping the syntactic and morphological systems (Lardiere, 1996), and not to a discrepancy in syntactic knowledge.
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Pate, John Kenton. "Predictability effects in language acquisition." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8235.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Human language has two fundamental requirements: it must allow competent speakers to exchange messages efficiently, and it must be readily learned by children. Recent work has examined effects of language predictability on language production, with many researchers arguing that so-called “predictability effects” function towards the efficiency requirement. Specifically, recent work has found that talkers tend to reduce linguistic forms that are more probable more heavily. This dissertation proposes the “Predictability Bootstrapping Hypothesis” that predictability effects also make language more learnable. There is a great deal of evidence that the adult grammars have substantial statistical components. Since predictability effects result in heavier reduction for more probable words and hidden structure, they provide infants with direct cues to the statistical components of the grammars they are trying to learn. The corpus studies and computational modeling experiments in this dissertation show that predictability effects could be a substantial source of information to language-learning infants, focusing on the potential utility of phonetic reduction in terms of word duration for syntax acquisition. First, corpora of spontaneous adult-directed and child-directed speech (ADS and CDS, respectively) are compared to verify that predictability effects actually exist in CDS. While revealing some differences, mixed effects regressions on those corpora indicate that predictability effects in CDS are largely similar (in kind and magnitude) to predictability effects in ADS. This result indicates that predictability effects are available to infants, however useful they may be. Second, this dissertation builds probabilistic, unsupervised, and lexicalized models for learning about syntax from words and durational cues. One series of models is based on Hidden Markov Models and learns shallow constituency structure, while the other series is based on the Dependency Model with Valence and learns dependency structure. These models are then used to measure how useful durational cues are for syntax acquisition, and to what extent their utility in this task can be attributed to effects of syntactic predictability on word duration. As part of this investigation, these models are also used to explore the venerable “Prosodic Bootstrapping Hypothesis” that prosodic structure, which is cued in part by word duration, may be useful for syntax acquisition. The empirical evaluations of these models provide evidence that effects of syntactic predictability on word duration are easier to discover and exploit than effects of prosodic structure, and that even gold-standard annotations of prosodic structure provide at most a relatively small improvement in parsing performance over raw word duration. Taken together, this work indicates that predictability effects provide useful information about syntax to infants, showing that the Predictability Bootstrapping Hypothesis for syntax acquisition is computationally plausible and motivating future behavioural investigation. Additionally, as talkers consider the probability of many different aspects of linguistic structure when reducing according to predictability effects, this result also motivates investigation of Predictability Bootstrapping of other aspects of linguistic knowledge.
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Waegner, Nicholas Paul. "Stochastic models for language acquisition." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.309214.
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Randall, Janet H. "Morphological structure and language acquisition." New York : Garland, 1985. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/12237695.html.
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Lacerda, Adriana Campbell Santos de. "Teenagers'motivation in second language acquisition." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UFSC, 2012. http://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/handle/123456789/95741.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente, Florianópolis, 2011<br>Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-26T05:30:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
298672.pdf: 494099 bytes, checksum: e9d2e3ac265a053f38d186d6a33488e1 (MD5)<br>Considerando que a motivação é um fator de grande importância no processo de aquisição de uma segunda língua/língua estrangeira por gerar interesse em iniciar a aprendizagem da mesma e também por mantê-la durante todo o processo (Dornyei, 2005), o objetivo da pesquisa aqui proposta foi investigar a motivação dos alunos adolescentes em relação às suas aulas de Inglês e verificar a opinião dos seus professores em relação à motivação dos mesmos e seus comportamentos em sala de aula. A pesquisa foi realizada com duas coordenadoras, quatro professoras de Inglês e duzentos e trinta e sete alunos, de uma escola pública e de uma escola particular de Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brasil. O estudo procurou oferecer uma visão geral de alguns aspectos teóricos da motivação que são relevantes no processo de aquisição de uma segunda língua para os adolescentes, buscando discutir a relação existente entre o processo de aquisição de uma segunda língua, a adolescência e o impacto desta relação em tal aprendizado, considerando as diferenças individuais e os fatores afetivos, principalmente a motivação. O método utilizado na pesquisa consistiu de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, feitas com as coordenadoras e professoras, e de questionários, aplicados aos alunos. Os resultados sugerem que há uma dissonância entre o pensamento da maioria dos professores de Inglês, que acreditam que seus alunos normalmente se mostram desmotivados durante as suas aulas, e o que foi relatado pelos alunos. A análise dos dados também indica que o meio sócio-econômico e cultural dos alunos pode influenciar a motivação dos mesmos, uma vez que os alunos da escola particular, os de classe média, mostraram ter uma motivação extrínseca em relação ao aprendizado da língua inglesa, enquanto os da escola pública, os menos privilegiados, demonstraram ter uma motivação intrínseca. Tais resultados corroboram a hipótese de Dornyei (2001b) de que a motivação para aprender uma segunda língua é uma situação complexa, já que a aprendizagem de uma língua não é somente uma atividade educacional, mas também envolve questões sociais e culturais.<br>Considering that motivation is of great importance in the process of acquiring a second/foreign language, whereas it is responsible for providing the primary interest in initiating L2 learning and also for maintaining it throughout the process (Dornyei, 2005), the aim of the research here proposed was to investigate the teenagers# motivation towards their EFL classes and their teachers# opinions about their motivation and overall behavior in class. The research was carried out with two coordinators, four English teachers and two hundred and thirty-seven students from a public and a private school in Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The study attempted to provide an overview of some theoretical aspects of motivation that seem to be particularly relevant in the adolescent learners# process of learning a foreign language, discussing the relation between SLA, the adolescence and its impact in the SLA process, considering individual differences and affective factors, especially motivation. The method used in the research consisted of semi-structured interviews with the coordinators and teachers, and questionnaires administered to the students. The results suggest that there is a mismatch between the teachers# thoughts about adolescent students# motivation and the way they really feel in their EFL classes. Although English teachers, in general, usually believe that teenagers seem not to be motivated, the data collected showed that most of the participants of this study like their English classes and feel motivated towards them. The study also indicates that the socio-economic and cultural milieu of the students may influence their overall motivation, since the students from the private school, so the middle-class ones, showed extrinsic motivation for learning English, while the ones from the public school, the less privileged ones, showed intrinsic motivation. These findings corroborate Dornyei#s (2001b) assumption that motivation to learn a language is a complex situation, as language learning is not only an educational activity, but also involves social and cultural issues.
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Slabakova, Roumyana. "Zero acquisition : second language acquisition of the parameter of aspect." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ44589.pdf.
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Chan, Mei-lan, and 陳美蘭. "Notions of language dominance, language preference and language choicein the study of bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA)." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2010. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B45163893.
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Von, Klopp Ana. "Negation : implications for theories of natural language." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20266.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Natural language negation has been the object of numerous studies, but still no satisfactory description has yet been given. Current theories tend to be based on the negation in predicate logic, which they extend or extrapolate to increase the coverage. However, they incur a number of empirical inadequacies, and for some uses of negation, such as in yes/no-questions, it is difficult to envisage how a truth functional description could be modified to accommodate them. This thesis claims that the failure of previous theories stems from their reliance on the common assumption that sentences refer to facts, which is linked to a view of human communication as being a matter of transferring knowledge in the form of propositions from one person to another. As a result of assuming that uttering a sentence is equivalent to making a reference to a fact, it has been thought that uttering a sentence with a negation amounts to a claim that the information of the corresponding affirmative sentence is wrong. Negation has been viewed as applying to information which is conveyed by sentence. An alternative to the hypothesis that sentences are used to refer to facts is to assume that they are used to make small changes in someone's representation of the world - not in terms of adding and deleting propositions, but in terms of slight reorganisation of entities and concepts, and the links between them. If sentence meaning is thought of as instructions for how information about the world should be organised, it is possible to give a simple, unified characterisation of negation as being <i>about</i> a representation of information, not <i>part</i> of it. It is shown that this approach has great advantages in terms of descriptive adequacy and explanatory potential. For instance, it is possible to explain certain features of the use and interpretation of multiple negations and scalar expressions.
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Brown, Cynthia A. 1967. "Acquisition of segmental structure : consequences for speech perception and second language acquisition." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34704.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Through an investigation of the acquisition of feature geometric representations in first and second language acquisition, this dissertation demonstrates how the Feature Geometry theory contained in Universal Grammar actively guides and constrains the acquisition of segmental representations by children. In addition, it demonstrates how the mature feature geometry in a speaker's mental grammar restricts the range of nonnative phonemic contrasts that he or she will be sensitive to in the input and, hence, able to acquire as an L2 learner.<br>Three related areas of research are explored and integrated in this work: first, a theoretical study explores the feature-geometric representation of sonorant and non-sonorant laterals, based on their behavior in a variety of phonological processes cross-linguistically, and suggests that [lateral] is not a phonological feature, but rather that laterality is a phonetic property that derives from a specific feature-geometric representation; second, an experimental study investigates the acquisition of phonemic contrasts by English children and demonstrates that segmental representations are acquired in a uniform order that is consistent with properties of Feature Geometry; finally, a series of experimental studies examines the perception and acquisition of the English /l-r/, /b-v/, /p-f/, /f-v/ and /s-theta/ contrasts by native speakers of Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Korean.<br>The findings from each of these studies are synthesized to obtain a comprehensive picture of how segmental representations are acquired and how this L1 knowledge impinges on the acquisition of L2 phonemes: it is argued that the monotonic acquisition of feature-geometric structure by young children restricts their sensitivity to particular non-native contrasts, and the continued operation of this existing feature geometry in adult speech perception constrains which non-native contrasts adult learners will be sensitive to in the L2 input and, therefore, capable of acquiring; the circumstances in which the native grammar facilitates perception of non-native contrasts and in which acquisition is possible are also discussed.
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Snyder, William Brandon. "Language acquisition and language variation : the role of morphology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11130.
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Swanson, Kimberly Anne Bankart. "Acquisition versus suppression of phonological processes in the second language acquisition of French and English." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3243793.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Depts. of French & Italian and Linguistics, 2007.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 17, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4529. Advisers: Daniel A. Dinnsen; Albert Valdman.
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Manly, Susan. "Authorized language : theories of language and questions of authority (1786-1851)." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.307353.
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Matsumoto-Sturt, Yoko. "Second language acquisition of Japanese orthography." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/24918.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
The aim of this thesis is to address issues on second language (L2) acquisition of Japanese orthography. In particular, I investigate L2 acquisition of reading and writing in Japanese with special attention paid to how linguistic and perceptual difficulties influence lexical processes involved in reading and writing by English-speaking learners of Japanese. I first establish that L2 spelling problems are found in writing by keyboard. Evidence is presented from error patterns of L2 language used in a small self-constructed L2 error corpus that was gathered according to originally set external criteria. Next, I demonstrate that there are predictable error causes as well as general linguistic and perceptual problems among L2 writers. Real-time observational data illustrates how and when L2 writers make spelling mistakes with the keyboard, and an analysis of verbal protocol data reveals L2 writing strategies. Third, I turn to the domain of L2 perception and L1-specific listening strategies. I show the different patterns of learners’ perceived rhythmic units in terms of L2 Moraic Awareness of Japanese words, and determine the extent of the use of L1-specific listening strategies. Fourth, I provide a general picture of Interlanguage (IL) lexical representations in reading and spelling. Evidence from novel and existing experimental work is presented which shows that L2 writer’s linguistic problems are reflected in their written products. I present an account of a typical learner strategy of sub-lexical reading and writing. Finally, in the domain of visual kanji recognition, visual attention is addressed. An originally defined phenomenon of ‘kanji illusion’ leads to the interesting result that linguistic factors are not solely responsible for failures to notice kanji errors. This represents a new kind of explanation for L2 kanji reading difficulties, from a psycholinguistic perspective.
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Buttery, P. J. "Computational models for first language acquisition." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.597195.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
This work investigates a computational model of first language acquisition; the Categorical Grammar Learner or CGL. The model builds on the work of Villavicenio, who created a parametric Categorical Grammar learner that organises its parameters into an inheritance hierarchy, and also on the work of Buszkowski and Kanazawa, who demonstrated the learnability of a <i>k</i>-valued Classic Categorial Grammar (which uses only the rules of function application) from strings. The CGL is able to learn a <i>k</i>-valued General Categorial Grammar (which uses the rules of function application, function composition and Generalised Weak Permutation). The novel concept of Sentence Objects (simple strings, augmented strings, unlabelled structures and functor-argument structures) are presented as potential points from which learning may commence. Augmented strings (which are stings augmented with some basic syntactic information) are suggested as a sensible input to the CGL as they are cognitively plausible objects and have greater information content than strings alone. Building on the work of Siskind, a method for constructing augmented strings from unordered logic forms is detailed and it is suggested that augmented strings are simply a representation of the constraints placed on the space of possible parses due to a sting’s associated semantic content. The CGL make crucial use of a statistical Memory Module (constructed from a type memory and Word Order Memory) that is used to both constrain hypotheses and handle data which is noisy or parametrically ambiguous. A consequence of the Memory Module is that the CGL learns in an incremental fashion. This echoes real child learning as documented in Brown’s Stages of Language Development and also as alluded to by an included corpus study of child speech. Furthermore, the CGL learns faster when initially presented with simpler linguistic data; a further corpus study of child-directed speech suggests that this echoes the input provided to children. The CGL is demonstrated to learn from real data. It is evaluated against previous parametric learners (the Triggering Learning Algorithm of Gibson and Wexler and the Structural Triggers Learner of Fodor and Sakas) and is found to be more efficient.
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張少能 and Siu-nang Bruce Cheung. "A theory of automatic language acquisition." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1994. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31233521.
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Schuwerk, Timothy Andrew. "MORPHEME ACQUISITION IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2004. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/4451.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
This study explored morpheme acquisition in learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Specifically, it looked at the development of eight selected individuals from Korea over the course of an intensive 8-week instruction program and tracked their acquisition of three specific English morphemes: indefinite articles used with singular count nouns, progressive -ing forms, and third person -s markers. The individuals were given an assessment test to place them at the correct level within the program prior to their selection for the study. The participants provided four sets of data in the form of writing samples at fixed intervals during the eight weeks. The results were evaluated and documented in the pages that follow. Improvement was shown in raw performance data on the morphemes, and a significant correlation was found for both the indefinite article and progressive -ing morphemes in number of correct responses.<br>M.A.<br>Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures<br>Arts and Sciences<br>Foreign Languages and Literatures
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Clark, Alexander Simon. "Unsupervised language acquisition : theory and practice." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394288.
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Goodman, Julie Marianne. "Acquisition and transfer of language function." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.293183.
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Vilkaitė, Laura. "Formulaic language : distribution, processing, and acquisition." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35442/.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Formulaic sequences are very frequently used in language as a preferred way to convey certain meanings. This thesis looks at distribution, processing, and incidental acquisition of formulaic sequences, by presenting four separate studies on different aspects of formulaicity. Study 1 investigated the distribution of four different categories of formulaic sequences (collocations, idiomatic phrases, lexical bundles, and phrasal verbs) and showed that those four categories vary considerably in terms of frequency. Also, register seems to affect the number of formulaic sequences used, as well as the categories of formulaic sequences preferred. Importantly, this study raised an issue of form variation of formulaic sequences (especially collocations) which seemed to be an under-researched area. Therefore, the following studies investigated the effect of form variation (focusing on non-adjacency) on collocation processing and their incidental acquisition. Studies 2 and 3 used an eye-tracking technique to investigate how native and non-native speakers of English process adjacent and non-adjacent verb-noun collocations. The results suggest that native speakers process both adjacent and non-adjacent collocations faster than matched control phrases, albeit the collocation effect seems to be larger for adjacent collocations. As for non-native speakers, there is a clear collocation effect for adjacent collocations and it is moderated by prior vocabulary knowledge. However, there seems to be almost no effect for non-adjacent collocations. This finding suggests that even advanced non-native speakers process non-adjacent collocations differently than native speakers. Finally, Study 4 tried to take the findings from the previous studies to a classroom. It investigated whether there is any difference between the chances of incidentally acquiring adjacent and non-adjacent collocations from reading. The results suggest low but durable gains for both adjacent and non-adjacent collocations, with no significant differences between these two groups of items. Overall, the results presented in the thesis support the idea that formulaic language is ubiquitous, but suggest that some of the criteria that have been widely used for identifying formulaic sequences might need to be reconsidered. It seems that collocations, at least for native speakers, retain their formulaic status even when presented non-adjacently. They seem to be successfully learned as non-adjacent dependencies as well. While this finding cannot be easily generalized to other types of formulaic sequences, it seems to suggest that a lot more research on form variation of formulaic sequences is needed in order to better understand the scope of the phenomenon.
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Medina, Erica. "Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition." Thesis, The American University of Paris (France), 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13871585.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
<p> Second language acquisition can be defined as the process in which language learning occurs through the formal study of rules, patterns, and conventions which enable one to talk about and consciously or unconsciously apply the knowledge gained. Individual differences, along with linguistic input, play a key part in the process of second language acquisition. Studies such as the VILLA Project focus on the exposure conditions and the content of the input leading to initial contact in the process of second language acquisition. Participants’ individual differences in the categories of motivation and individual learning style for Francophone students served as the control variables, and the form-based versus meaning-based input as the experimental variable. In comparison to their German and Dutch counterparts, neither the Francophone meaning nor form based groups presented any significant results based on these specific individual differences in their acquisition of Polish in the word formation tasks. Further study should be conducted on other individual differences and their role in the acquisition process.</p><p>
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Ionin, Tania. "Article semantics in second language acquisition." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7963.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2003.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-318).<br>This thesis examines article choice and parameter-setting in second language (L2) acquisition. It argues, on the basis of L2-English elicitation and production data, that L2- learners have access to UG-based semantic distinctions governing article choice, but do not know which distinction is appropriate for English. A Fluctuation Hypothesis (FH) is proposed, according to which L2-learners fluctuate between different parameter settings until the input leads them to set the parameter to the target value. The thesis proposes that articles cross-linguistically may encode definiteness or specificity. The definition of specificity that is adopted is based on Fodor and Sag's (1982) view of specificity as speaker intent to refer. The behavior of referential this, a specificity marker in colloquial English, is examined, and it is proposed that the definition of specificity incorporates the concept of noteworthy property. An Article Choice Parameter is next proposed, which governs whether articles in a given language are distinguished on the basis of definiteness or on the basis of specificity. While English has the Definiteness setting of this parameter, it is suggested, on the basis of data from Mosel and Hovdhaugen (1992), that Samoan has the Specificity setting. It is hypothesized, in accordance with the FH, that L2-learners fluctuate between the two settings of the Article Choice Parameter. This hypothesis leads to the prediction that L2- English errors of article use should come in two types: overuse of the with specific indefinites and overuse of a with non-specific definites. These predictions are examined in a series of studies with adult speakers of Russian and Korean, two languages with no<br>(cont.) articles. The empirical data confirm the predictions, and show that L2-English article choice is not random but reflects access to the two settings of the Article Choice Parameter. The same patterns of results are found for L-Russian and L-Korean speakers, and it is shown that the results are not attributable to LI-transfer. On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that L2-learners have direct UG-access to semantic distinctions underlying article choice. The data also provide evidence for the existence of a specificity distinction which cross-cuts the definiteness distinction.<br>bu Tania Ruth Ionin.<br>Ph.D.
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Lei, Tao Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Domain knowledge acquisition via language grounding." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/82412.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-60).<br>This thesis addresses the language grounding problem at the level of word relation extraction. We propose methods to acquire knowledge represented in the form of relations and utilize them in two domain applications, high-level planning in a complex virtual world and input parser generation from input format specifications. In the first application, we propose a reinforcement learning framework to jointly learn to predict precondition relations from text and to perform high-level planning guided by those relations. When applied to a complex virtual world and text describing that world, our relation extraction technique performs on par with a supervised baseline, and we show that a high-level planner utilizing these extracted relations significantly outperforms a strong, text unaware baseline. In the second application, we use a sampling framework to predict relation trees and to generate input parser code from those trees. Our results show that our approach outperforms a state-of-the-art semantic parser on a dataset of input format specifications from the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, which were written in English for humans with no intention of providing support for automated processing.<br>by Tao Lei.<br>S.M.
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Jordan, Geoffrey. "Theory construction in second language acquisition." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2004. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020474/.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Whereas ten years ago most SLA researchers assumed a rationalist, "scientific" approach to theory construction, recently, growing numbers have adopted relativist positions that strongly criticise the methods, and authority of the rationalist/empiricist paradigm. Apart from the problem of research methodology, other problems make progress in the construction of a theory of SLA difficult: the proliferation of theories, contradictions among them, and, most important of all, confusion about the domain and objectives of a theory of SLA. This thesis addresses the problems outlined above by returning to first principles and asking what it is that we can know about the world, whether there is any such thing as reliable knowledge, what is special about scientific methodology, and what the best way of tackling the complex task of explaining SLA might be. While previous surveys of SLA research exist, no previous attempt has been made to examine SLA research in terms of its epistemological underpinnings and its relation to scientific method, or to evaluate different research programmes and putative theories in terms of how they form part of, and contribute towards, a rational, scientific explanation of the phenomena of SLA. Having outlined basic terms and the problems to be dealt with, I give a brief history of scientific method and explain the objections to a rationalist methodology raised by various relativists. I then attempt to defend rationality against relativists' attacks and suggest criteria that can guide a rationalist research programme in SLA. The questions of the domain of SLA theories, what counts as an explanation, and different theory types are examined. Having suggested guidelines for a rationalist approach to SLA theory construction, I examine different approaches to SLA in the history of SLA, assessing them in terms of the guidelines. Finally I suggest what the domain of a theory of SLA should be and discuss to what extent theories to date offer a satisfactory explanation of the phenomena within that domain.
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Cheung, Siu-nang Bruce. "A theory of automatic language acquisition /." [Hong Kong] : University of Hong Kong, 1994. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B13671601.
Testo completo
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Meek, Barbra Allyn. "Kaska language socialization, acquisition and shift." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290390.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
Language maintenance and re-creation are burning issues for many indigenous communities around the world. Child language acquisition and socialization are processes integral to understanding these issues. In order to design realistic language recreation projects, research must first address the many factors impacting the acquisition and maintenance of a language by children. This dissertation shows how different contexts, historical, environmental, interactional, relate to Kaska language socialization and acquisition. Kaska is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in the Yukon Territory (Canada). In particular, it shows how the shift from Kaska being a language of everyday communication to one associated with authority and respect constrains children's Kaska production. To examine this shift, a combination of linguistic and ethnographic methods are used. Linguistic description identifies the grammatical structures of the target language. These are the structures that children need to acquire in order to be able to understand and speak the Kaska language. Additionally, grammatical description of adult utterances reveals that children are being exposed to a full Kaska grammar. This suggests that children may understand more Kaska than they produce. Ethnographic methods identify the social constraints on speaking the Kaska language and help establish links between interaction patterns and ideological constructs. They reveal that language choice is related to a speaker's age and social position. Older interlocutors may choose to speak Kaska while younger interlocutors typically choose English. Children have incorporated this pattern into their playgroups. By producing a Kaska utterance, a child may become leader of the playgroup. He or she uses Kaska to attain this social position. Speaking Kaska is also related to the concept of respect. Narratives on socialization emphasize this by instructing children on how to behave respectfully. While children are exposed to an adult Kaska grammar, they predominantly speak English. This pattern is not just the result of past assimilationist practices; it is part of Kaska language socialization.
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Guillory, Helen E. (Helen Elizabeth). "Computer Applications to Second Language Acquisition." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1991. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504628/.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
This thesis is intended to give a panorama of technology in foreign language pedagogy. Although my field of study is French, the computer applications under scrutiny do not relate solely to the teaching of French. This paper begins with a criticism of the rigid listen-and-repeat language laboratory concept while tracking the rise of communicative language learning theory; follows the microprocessor revolution in language consoles; documents the development of computer-assisted instruction; showcases software evaluations of computer-assisted language learning; explores telecommunications; discusses satellite dishes and other computer peripherals; presents the results of a survey of Texas universities; and concludes with the presentation of the evolving language media center.
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Barber, Alexander. "Tacit-knowledge of linguistic theories." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=41974.
Testo completoAbstract (sommario):
What is the best way to understand 'applies to' when it is said of a linguistic theory that it applies to a particular language-user? We can answer by saying that a linguistic theory is applicable to an individual language-user just in case that individual tacitly-knows the theory. But this is an uninformative answer until we are told how to understand 'tacit-knowledge'. The end goal of this thesis is to defend the claim that we should take tacit-knowledge to be, simply, knowledge. Towards this end I argue against the satisfactoriness of competing ways of understanding 'tacit-knowledge'. For example, the instrumentalist position is neutral on whether linguistic theories are actually known by the ordinary language-users who tacitly-know them; instead, linguistic theories are to be such that knowing them would enable someone to do whatever it is that the tacit-knower can do. Other competing positions hold that, though tacit-knowledge is a psychological relation of some sort, it is not genuine knowledge. I also attempt to meet specific objections to the claim that a typical language-user (as opposed to a linguistic theorist) could plausibly be said to know a linguistic theory. An objection on which I focus is based on the claim that typical language-users do not possess the requisite concepts for having genuine knowledge of a linguistic theory. The aim in attempting to meet these objections is to open up the way for the linguistic theorist to exploit a paradigm of explanation: explanation of behaviour by knowledge attribution. Attributing knowledge of linguistic theories would be potentially explanatory of linguistic behaviour in exactly the same way that attributions of knowledge in non-linguistic spheres are potentially explanatory of behaviour. Finally, because my emphasis is specifically on semantic theories, I attempt to explicate and defend the claim that a semantic theory could and should have the form of a theory of truth.