Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.11.05THO
Dieter Thoma
{"title":"Guessing and risk attitude in L2 vocabulary tests","authors":"Dieter Thoma","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.11.05THO","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.11.05THO","url":null,"abstract":"Guessing the meaning of unknown words is an essential process in L2 comprehension. At the same time, guessing is considered a nuisance in L2 vocabulary tests. This raises the question of the nature and causes of guessing in L2 vocabulary tests. The traditional claims in language testing are that guessing is (1) a function of proficiency and (2) a function of the test taker’s risk attitude. To investigate these claims in the context of standardized vocabulary testing, 135 advanced EFL learners participated in a computer-based yes/no vocabulary test combined with a translation task and a risk test. Stepwise regression analyses suggest that about 60% of the variation in yes/no test guesses are attributable to inappropriate or lack of semantic word knowledge. However, there was no systematic effect of risk attitude and guessing was largely independent of general lexical proficiency level. Methodological and inferential consequences for L2 vocabulary testing are discussed.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129015988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.12.05REN
W. Ren
{"title":"Pragmatic development in Chinese speakers’ L2 English refusals","authors":"W. Ren","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.12.05REN","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.12.05REN","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the effect of learning environment (study abroad vs. at home) on the pragmatic development of Chinese speakers’ L2 English refusals. A total of 20 Chinese Study Abroad (SA) students participated in the study and their L2 refusals were examined over the course of one academic year. These refusals were compared with those of 20 Chinese At Home (AH) students. Data were collected three times by an 8-situation Multimedia Elicitation Task. The results revealed that the SA students’ overall frequency of opt-outs remained consistent throughout a year’s stay in the L2 community but the study abroad experience influenced their choices sociopragmatically. Regarding repertoire of refusal strategies and that of refusal adjuncts, both groups demonstrated significant development, thus indicating no significant benefit of study abroad in these respects. The findings reveal the complexity of L2 pragmatic development and the importance of longitudinal investigations in such research.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122876189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.16.04MUN
Yoko Munezane
{"title":"Motivation, ideal self and willingness to communicate as the predictors of observed L2 use in the classroom","authors":"Yoko Munezane","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.16.04MUN","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.16.04MUN","url":null,"abstract":"Willingness to Communicate (WTC), the most immediate antecedent of actual communication behavior in an L2, is widely believed to facilitate the acquisition of the target language. Higher WTC is generally associated with higher L2 use (MacIntyre, Clement, Dornyei & Noels 1998), though it has not been empirically tested. This article reports on an attempt to fill this gap by investigating to what degree learners’ self-reported L2 WTC predicts actual L2 use in the classroom. A group of 372 Japanese university EFL learners majoring in science and human arts subjects participated in the study. Students’ oral performance data were collected three times during the group discussions in one academic semester. The number of words each student produced during each discussion was counted. The results of structural equation modelling analyses suggested that self-reported L2 WTC predicted actual L2 use in the classroom. Second, gender differences in L2 use in the language classroom has not been empirically explored in the quantitative studies, therefore, whether L2 WTC would predict observed L2 use equally among males and females, and whether males and females produce equal amount of L2 in the classroom will be explored. Implications of the research findings will be discussed.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"199 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115681306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.2.10MUL
Natascha Müller
{"title":"Crosslinguistic influence in early child bilingualism: Italian/German","authors":"Natascha Müller","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.2.10MUL","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.2.10MUL","url":null,"abstract":"Previous approaches to early bilingualism have argued either that children exposed to two languages from birth are not able to separate their two languages and experience massive cross-linguistic influence or that they do separate their languages from birth and lack crosslinguistic influence. The present paper assumes that both early language separation and crosslinguistic influence coexist in one bilingual individual during the same developmental stage for different grammatical phenomena. The goal of the present paper is to show that how crosslinguistic influence manifests itself depends on particular grammatical properties and is independent of language dominance. The direction of the influence is related to computational complexity (in the sense of Jakubowicz 2000). Data from a bilingual Italian/German child are discussed with respect to argument omissions, V2, and finite verb placement in subordinate clauses. For argument omissions, the Germanic language influences the Romance language and has a delaying effect. For V2 and finite verb placement in subordinate clauses, the Romance language has an accelerating effect on the Germanic language in the case of V2 and a delaying effect in the case of finite verb placement in subordinate clauses.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"247 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132614255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.9.13PER
C. Vidal, Maria Juan-Garau
{"title":"The effect of Study Abroad (SA) on written performance","authors":"C. Vidal, Maria Juan-Garau","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.9.13PER","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.9.13PER","url":null,"abstract":"Research on the effects of Study Abroad (SA) periods on learners’ linguistic progress has tended to focus on oral skills, and few SA studies have focused on learners’ development in writing while abroad. The subjects in the present study were 37 advanced level non-native (NNSs) university students of English on a SA programme. Written compositions were analysed for fluency accuracy and complexity gains after the SA. They were contrasted with progress after formal instruction and with native speakers (NSs) baseline written performance. Language background data, attitudes, and stay abroad conditions were elicited with questionnaires. The SA period resulted in significant progress, which receded in the mid-term. Formal instruction only showed some improvement in accuracy. Significant differences were found between NSs and NNSs, although not in all domains. Results allow us to identify the students who benefit most from the SA and to examine the factors which seem to characterize them.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130775605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.11.12ROT
Roumyana Slabakova, J. Rothman, P. Kempchinsky
{"title":"Gradient competence at the Syntax-Discourse Interface","authors":"Roumyana Slabakova, J. Rothman, P. Kempchinsky","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.11.12ROT","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.11.12ROT","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we present additional support of Duffield's (2003, 2005) distinction between Underlying Competence and Surface Competence. Duffield argues that a more fine-grained distinction between levels of competence and performance is warranted and necessary. While underlying competence is categorical, surface competence is more probabilistic and gradient, being sensitive to lexical and constructional contingencies, including the contextual appropriateness of a given construction. We examine a subset of results from a study comparing native and learner competence of properties at the syntax-discourse interface. Specifically, we look at the acceptability of Clitic Right Dislocation in native and L2 Spanish, in discourse-appropriate context. We argue that Duffield's distinction is a possible explanation of our results.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"136 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130928466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.3.11STU
C. Stutterheim
{"title":"Linguistic structure and information organisation: The case of very advanced learners","authors":"C. Stutterheim","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.3.11STU","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.3.11STU","url":null,"abstract":"This paper addresses the factors that distinguish very advanced learners from native speakers, investigating the difficulties which arise in overcoming the final thresholds in the learning process. Firstly, it compares different linguistic systems with respect to specific grammaticised categories, showing how these categories relate to patterns of information organisation at text level, with the assumption that the principles underlying these patterns form part of the learner’s linguistic knowledge. Secondly, it demonstrates that L2-learners who master the formal system of the target language to a near-perfect degree still have problems in applying forms in context in accordance with the principles of information organisation which grammaticised forms entail in the target language. The domains investigated are event-time structures. The languages investigated in the empirical study are Algerian Arabic, English, German, Spanish, and Norwegian, and advanced learner languages (English and German).","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127231635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.7.12COO
V. Cook
{"title":"The nature of the L2 user","authors":"V. Cook","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.7.12COO","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.7.12COO","url":null,"abstract":"Three of the basic issues raised by the multi-competence perspective for SLA research are: (1) who are the L2 users? Both as the possession of the individual and of the community, L1 and L2 are diverse and flexible, ranging from developing to relatively static to reducing. SLA research has to recognise the shifting flux of L1 and L2 systems.(2) what is the language that the L2 user knows? Five meanings of ‘language’ are discussed: human representation system, institutional object, set of sentences, community and individual possession, concluding that the language systems of the individual and of the community need to be treated as a whole. (3) What is the community the L2 user belongs to? L2 users belong to diverse communities of their own, both local and global. SLA research needs to explore the nature of these communities rather than assuming L2 users wish to be part of native monolingual communities.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"156 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127358706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.11.11ZHA
L. Zhao
{"title":"The syntax and interpretation of embedded null subjects in Chinese, and their acquisition by English-speaking learners","authors":"L. Zhao","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.11.11ZHA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.11.11ZHA","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports an investigation of embedded null subjects in both L1 and L2 Chinese. Chinese null embedded subjects can refer either to a matrix subject or to a discourse entity. In the Government-Binding (GB) framework, these two possibilities resulted from the null subject being either pro or a variable. Neither pro nor a variable is compatible with the assumptions of the more recent Minimalist Program, however. This article proposes an alternative account for null embedded subjects in Chinese that is consistent with the Minimalist Program: deletion of the anaphor ziji and deletion of a topic under identity with appropriate antecedents. It then reports a study of knowledge of such deletion in the Chinese of L2 speakers. Although the existing literature has found that embedded null subjects are allowed by L2 learners of Chinese at early stages of development, no research has investigated whether they are interpreted in a target-like way by L2 speakers. A picture judgment task and a written interpretation task showed that English-speaking learners of high-intermediate proficiency in Chinese allow an embedded null subject to refer to the matrix subject, but not to a discourse entity. It is only at advanced proficiency that L2 speakers allow co-reference with both a matrix subject and a discourse entity. The implications of these results are discussed.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"472 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124393465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eurosla YearbookPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1075/EUROSLA.9.12DEW
Jean–Marc Dewaele
{"title":"Age effects on self-perceived communicative competence and language choice among adult multilinguals","authors":"Jean–Marc Dewaele","doi":"10.1075/EUROSLA.9.12DEW","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/EUROSLA.9.12DEW","url":null,"abstract":"The present study focuses on the effects of age of acquisition (AoA) on dependent variables that have been traditionally overlooked in research on age effects: (1) self-perceived communicative competence in speaking, comprehending, reading and writing; (2) language choice for emotional speech in different situations; and (3) language choice for mental calculation and inner speech. We consider the effect of AoA on a large variety of L2s, L3s and L4s of 1,579 adult bi- and multilinguals. Data were collected through an on-line questionnaire (Dewaele and Pavlenko 2001-2003). Statistical analyses revealed very strong AoA effects on most of the dependent variables in the L2 and L3 of participants. However, these AoA effects were generally non-significant in their L4. The findings are discussed in relation to the current understanding of the research on age effects in Second Language Acquisition.","PeriodicalId":236084,"journal":{"name":"Eurosla Yearbook","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115272982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}