ACOUSTIC APPROACHES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY

Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE - BACKGROUND Introduction 1. Second language acquisition research: an overview PART TWO - THE DESCRIPTION OF LEARNER LANGUAGE Introduction 2. Learner errors and error analysis 3. Developmental patterns: order and sequence in second language acquisition 4. Variability in learner language 5. Pragmatic aspects of learner language PART THREE - EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: EXTERNAL FACTORS Introduction 6. Social factors and second language acquisition 7. Input and interaction and second language acquisition PART FOUR - EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: INTERNAL FACTORS Introduction 8. Language transfer 9. Cognitive accounts of second language acquisition 10. Linguistic universals and second language acquisition PART FIVE - EXPLAINING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Introduction 11. Individual learner differences 12. Learning strategies PART SIX - CLASSROOM SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Introduction 13. Classroom interaction and second language acquisition 14. Formal instruction and second language acquisition PART SEVEN - CONCLUSION Introduction 15. Data, theory, and applications in second language acquisition research Glossary Bibliography Author index Subject index

Reviewed by: Second language acquisition by Roumyana Slabakova Tania Ionin Second language acquisition. By Roumyana Slabakova. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. xxi, 483. ISBN 9780199687275. $40. Introduction This book is a textbook of second language acquisition (SLA) written within the theoretical framework of the generative approach to SLA research. The intended readers are advanced undergraduate students and graduate students who have some background in linguistics, in particular in syntax and semantics. The text is intended first and foremost for students with a prior background in generative linguistics. While the main linguistic concepts are explained when they are introduced, such explanations are necessarily brief, and students with no prior background in linguistics would find the more technical parts of the text somewhat difficult to follow. However, students or other readers who have a general interest in language and/or language acquisition, but lack a background in generative linguistics, should still be able to follow the main concepts presented in the book. This textbook is quite unique in that, while its focus is on theoretical research on SLA, it explicitly makes the link to potential pedagogical relevance of the research findings. Brief summary The book consists of thirteen chapters, divided into three parts. Each chapter ends with a section of exercises; at the end of the book are a glossary, references, and an index. Part I, ‘Language’, provides a brief overview of the relevant background information that readers need to have in order to fully appreciate the rest of the book. Ch. 1, ‘Language architecture’, lays out the central argument of generative linguistics for the innateness of language and introduces the reader to several famous proposals on the structure of the language faculty. Ch. 1 then addresses the task faced by a second language learner and lays out the logic of the methodology used in generative SLA research. Ch. 2, ‘Language variation’, walks the reader through the history of the generative study of language variation, from principles and parameters through the minimalist program. Like Ch. 1, Ch. 2 ends by considering the implications of the theoretical linguistic research for the learning task of a second language learner. The goal of Ch. 3, ‘The psychological reality of language in use’, is to prepare the reader for later chapters that address second language processing by reviewing the central models and findings of the literature on language processing and psycholinguistics more generally. Part II, ‘Language acquisition’, has the goal of placing the study of SLA into the study of language acquisition as a whole by considering a number of different language-acquisition scenarios. The focus of this part is on the respective contributions of age of acquisition and of input quantity and quality to the task of language acquisition. Ch. 4, ‘The critical period hypothesis’, goes over the history of critical period studies and addresses the debate about the existence of critical or sensitive periods in SLA. This chapter also considers the role of input, bringing together a number of quite distinct phenomena, including variable input, comparisons between heritage speakers and second language learners, and variability among native speakers at different educational levels. Ch. 5, ‘First language acquisition, two first languages’, provides an overview of the process of first language acquisition; most of the chapter is devoted to monolingual first language acquisition, but the last section discusses simultaneous bilinguals, who form a natural link between monolinguals and adult second language learners. In Ch. 6, ‘Child second language, multilingual and heritage language acquisition, language attrition’, a variety of other types of language acquisition scenarios are discussed. Throughout this chapter, and especially in the last section, the focus is, once again, on the relative contributions of age of acquisition and input quantity and quality to the outcome of the language acquisition process. The position taken in this chapter, and [End Page e198] throughout the rest of the book, is that the effects of age can potentially be overridden by rich input, and that universal grammar remains active in SLA by adults. Part III, ‘Second language acquisition’, is the heart of the book. In addition to providing an overview of SLA research in the core areas of linguistics (with the one exception of...

Better understanding of the varied factors that account for successful second language acquisition is a goal that is of obvious interest to anyone within the field of language study. Before the influence of these factors can be adequately understood, of course, they must be defined and utilized in an accurate and consistent way. This paper endeavors to explore and clarify the ambiguity surrounding usage of the terms intelligence and aptitude in second language acquisition in effort to understand the more central issue of how the qualities designated by these terms relate to second language acquisition. This should enable a clearer picture to emerge about the relative importance of intelligence and aptitude among the constellation of factors associated with second language acquisition.

This presentation deals with input processing theory (hereafter IP theory) of VanPatten (2002a, 2002b, 2004, and 2009) and VanPatten and a number of his collaborates (e.g. VanPatten and Cadierno, 1993a, and 1993b; Wong and VanPatten, 2003). For this it explains the importance of input in discussions of language learning especially the learning of a second or foreign language. Then an elaboration of IP theory will be presented, theoretical and pedagogical implications of this theory for second language acquisition (SLA) will be pinpointed, and finally criticisms on IP will be discussed.

Instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) is a subfield of second language acquisition (SLA) that investigates any type of second language (L2) learning or acquisition that occurs as a result of the manipulation of the L2 learning context or processes. Learners' self‐study of the target language is also considered part of ISLA; however, ISLA research has generally focused more on traditional, face‐to‐face classrooms, as well as online instruction. The defining feature of L2 instruction is that there is an attempt, either by teachers or instructional materials, to guide, facilitate, and manipulate the process of L2 acquisition.

Research shows many problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition (SLA), which have made learners and readers worldwide unsatisfied. Therefore, this study attempts to highlight theories and research that have comprehensive explanations of the problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition, which learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) face while learning a second or foreign language. After that, the study discusses a framework discussion on second language acquisition (SLA). It discusses the historical background of SLA research on different decades and the most notable views of different scholars throughout the past decades on second language acquisition. This study is a longitudinal research that identifies the advantages that could be an assist to English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Longitudinal research is always based on the qualitative method. This study's data is based on the qualitative method that collects views, opinions, materials, and earlier studies on second language acquisition (SLA). It reveals the most significant theories which precisely connected to second language acquisition (SLA) and largely to applied linguistics. The study resulted in that: (i) second language acquisition still has several doubts and ambiguities in its many different aspects, (ii). In this study, the researcher summarizes second language acquisition (SLA) research's main goals and draws comparisons on the scholars' dissimilarities between language learning and second language acquisition (SLA) on different perceptions that could give insights towards learning of second and foreign languages easily by the English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners.

After the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Applied Linguistics took a social turn and made the sociocultural perspective its primary point of investigation, SLA researchers became more interested in the link between identity (class, culture, race, gender, sexuality, etc.) and language learning. Hence, the present study aimed at identifying the impact of identity aspects on the Iranian learners' English language achievements of the students of Medicine at Yasuj University of Medical Sciences (YUMS). Likewise, the study attempted to find the impact of demographic factors on language achievement and aspects of identity among Iranian EFL learners. To fulfill the objectives and find answers to the posed questions, a questionnaire representing aspects of identity and consisting of 45 Likert items (personal: 10 items + social: 7 items + collective: 8 items + relational: 10 items + special: 10 items) was distributed among 76 language learners majoring in Medicine at YUMS. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were run on the data. The results demonstrated no significant relationship between language achievement and the aspects of identity. To be exact, the present paper revealed that none of the identity aspects was a predicting variable for language achievement in the Iranian academic context. Among the demographic factors, only gender could account for two aspects of identity, namely, personal and relational identities. Evidently, the results were local not universal.

Although metaphor has been ignored, lexically-based language teaching considers metaphor as an important aspect to learn. Learning metaphor helps learners improve their general proficiency in SLA because metaphor is a key to human memory organization, so that it enhances the acquisition of vocabulary, improves comprehension, clarifies ideas, extends thought, and increases attention. As long as meaning is the center of second language learning, metaphorical meaning must also be included because metaphor is pervasive in every day language and thought. Raising students’ awareness towards metaphor helps develop their metaphorical competence, which is a requirement for native-like proficiency. The importance of metaphor in lexically-based language teaching lends support from, cognitive linguistics the theory of mental lexicon, cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition, and the abundant use of metaphor in daily use. Keywords : lexically-based language teaching, metaphor

DIALOGUE WITH BAKHTIN ON SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING: NEW PERSPECTIVES.Joan Kelly Hall, Gergana Vitanova, and Ludmila Marchenkova (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2005. Pp. v + 241. $75.00 cloth. This book is the first to explore the relevance of the Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin's ideas for the field of SLA research and pedagogy. Each chapter in this edited volume is framed within a Bakhtinian perspective and uses his conceptual apparatus to address some aspect of second and foreign language learning. The authors' collective aim is to challenge traditional, formalist approaches to language and demonstrate how Bakhtin's insights can enrich our understanding of second language learning and teaching.

The field of second language acquisition (SLA), a relatively new field of academic study, traces its roots only to the second half of the last century. The field of SLA has roots in various disciplines and areas of study, including the fields of child first language (L1) acquisition, linguistics, psychology, and language pedagogy. Thus, SLA has moved well beyond a one-sided focus on learner internal mechanisms, be they linguistic or cognitive. A great deal of SLA research has concentrated on differences between L1 and second language (L2) acquisition in terms of ultimate attainment. Some SLA researchers argue that learning is based on experience of language usage. More recent SLA research conducted within a cognitivist approach has been designed to provide online measures of processing and interpretation of the L2 and has thus shifted somewhat away from the analysis of naturalistic corpora.

Reviewed by: The lexicon-syntax interface in second language acquisition ed. by Roeland van Hout, Aafke Hulk, Folkert Kuiken, and Richard J. Towell Liang Chen The lexicon-syntax interface in second language acquisition. Ed. by Roeland van Hout, Aafke Hulk, Folkert Kuiken, and Richard J. Towell. (Language acquisition and language disorders 30.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003. Pp. vi, 232. ISBN 158811418X. $119 (Hb). This volume contains ten papers, including introductory and concluding chapters by the editors. These papers were presented at ‘The interface between syntax and the lexicon in second language acquisition’ seminar organized by the editors and held in Amsterdam in 2001. Richard Towell (1–20) first outlines the linguistic and psychological perspectives of second language acquisition (SLA) as a context against which the eight papers are then briefly introduced and evaluated. The complementary nature of such different perspectives of SLA research is highlighted. Roger Hawkins and Sara Liszka (21–44) attribute errors in tense marking made by Chinese speakers of English in their spontaneous oral production (e.g. The police CAUGHT the man and TAKE him away.) to the difficulty in assigning the formal feature [past] to the category T(ense), as such a feature is not selected in their first language (L1). Norbert Corver (45–68) analyzes second language (L2) expressions produced by Turkish L2 learners of Dutch within a minimalist interface perspective and argues that ‘L2-expressions are perfect grammatical objects, where perfection amounts to legibility of its information to the systems with which it interacts’ (66). Ineke van de Craats (69–96) uses longitudinal data of eight adults with Turkish and Moroccan Arabic L1 backgrounds learning Dutch as an L2 to explore how the grammatical knowledge of an L2 learner is encoded in the lexicon. It is argued that while these L2 learners are more aware of crosslinguistic differences in morphological and lexical properties of words, they originally assume the L1 formal feature constellation, which gradually changes in favor of the L2 ones. Nigel Duffield (97–128) proposes a dual model of competence to account for both the categorical aspects and the various types of lexical and syntactic gradient effects of our implicit grammatical knowledge. Ton Dijkstra (129–50) reviews available literature on the lexical storage and retrieval in bilinguals, which suggests (i) a largely automatic bilingual word identification system, (ii) the slower activation of L2 than L1, depending on relative L1/L2 proficiency, and (iii) the potential influence of experimental and contextual factors on patterns observed in experiments. John N. Williams (151–74) focuses on the similarities and differences between human and connectionist learning of noun classes. In particular, it is argued that while an arbitrary noun class system with masculine and feminine genders is learnable both by humans and by connectionist networks (via distributional information), gender is a persistent problem in SLA as well as in connectionist learning. Laura Sabourin and Marco Haverkort (175–96) show that differences in linguistic processing are quantitative between aphasic speakers and normative speakers, but are qualitative between native speakers and second language learners. David W. Green (197–218) reviews current research on the representation and processing of lexicon and grammar in L2 and claims that they ‘marginally favor the convergence hypothesis’, that is, ‘as proficiency in L2 increases, the networks mediating L2 converge with those mediating language use in native speakers of that language’ (212), rather than the differential representation hypothesis (i.e. an L2 learner’s representation and processing of the lexical and grammatical knowledge of the target language differ from that of a native speaker of that language). Roeland van Hout, Aafke Hulk, and Folkert Kuiken (219–26) highlight the lexicon as the driving force of language acquisition in their concluding remarks. They suggest that varieties in methodology, learners and languages, linguistic domains, contexts and tasks, and perspectives all need to be considered in order to address more fully the issues in second language acquisition examined in this volume and beyond. This work represents the latest developments in the generative/psycholinguistic studies of second language acquisition. It will certainly advance our understanding of this important...

The present dissertation focuses on the role of cognitive individual difference factors in the acquisition of second language vocabulary in the context of intelligent computer assisted language learning (ICALL). The aim was to examine the association between working memory and declarative memory and the learning of English phrasal verbs in a web-based ICALL-mediated experiment. Following a pretest-posttest design, 127 adult learners of English were assigned to two instructional conditions, namely meaning-focused and form-focused conditions. Learners in both conditions read news texts on the web for about two weeks; learners in the form-focused condition additionally interacted with the texts via selecting multiple-choice options. The results showed that both working memory and declarative memory were predictive of vocabulary acquisition. However, only the working memory effect was modulated by the instructional context, with the effect being found exclusively in the form-focused condition, and thus suggesting the presence of an aptitude-treatment interaction. Finally, findings also revealed that learning during treatment in the form-focused group was nonlinear, and that paying attention to form and meaning simultaneously impeded global reading comprehension for intermediate, not advanced learners. From a theoretical perspective, the findings provide evidence to suggest that individual differences in both working memory and declarative memory affect the acquisition of lexical knowledge in ICALL-supported contexts. Methodologically, the current study illustrates the advantages of conducting interdisciplinary work between ICALL and second language acquisition by allowing for the collection of experimental data through a web-based, all-encompassing ICALL system. Overall, the present dissertation represents an initial attempt at characterizing who is likely to benefit from ICALL-based interventions.

La tecnología ha tenido un gran impacto en la educación en los últimos veinte años. Con el desarrollo de nuevas tecnologías, se puede decir que la Adquisición de una Segunda Lengua (A2L) ha adoptado la Enseñanza Asistida por Ordenador (EAO) como una nueva y útil herramienta. Las diferentes aplicaciones y efectos de las computadoras en el aprendizaje y la enseñanza de un idioma pueden ser relacionadas con la adquisición de una segunda lengua, especialmente con el número de las aplicaciones de las computadoras en un ambiente de aprendizaje de un idioma. El propósito principal de este ensayo es explorar las conexiones existentes entre la Adquisición de una Segunda Lengua y la Enseñanza Asistida por Ordenador. Primero se muestran los antecedentes históricos de la EAO. Después las implicaciones y aplicaciones de la EAO sobre la A2L son discutidas. Asimismo la evaluación de la EAO en relación con la A2L y el futuro de la EAO son también analizados. Una de las principales conclusiones es que hay conexiones significativas y pertinentes entre la Adquisición de una Segunda Lengua y la Enseñanza Asistida por Ordenador.

This article investigates the effects of ethnic acceptance and prejudice on English language learning among immigrant nonnative speakers. During 2004 and 2005, the author conducted participatory dialogues among six Vietnamese and Mexican adult immigrant English language learners. The researcher sought to answer five questions: (1) What are some nonnative English speakers’ experience regarding the way native speakers treat them? (2) How have nonnative English speakers’ experiences of ethnic acceptance or ethnic prejudice affected their learning of English? (3) What do nonnative English speakers think they need in order to lower their anxiety as they learn a new language? (4) What can native English speakers do to lower nonnative speakers’ anxiety? (5) What can nonnative English speakers do to lower their anxiety with native English speakers? Even though many of the adult immigrant participants experienced ethnic prejudice, they developed strategies to overcome anxiety, frustration, and fear. The dialogues generated themes of acceptance, prejudice, power, motivation, belonging, and perseverance, all factors essential to consider when developing English language learning programs for adult immigrants.

Individual differences that have an impact on the processes and outcomes of second language (L2) learning have been thoroughly investigated; but, until recently, the study of language learners with additional needs was at the periphery of both second language acquisition (SLA) and language teaching pedagogy (e.g. Nijakowska, 2010; Kormos & Smith, 2012; Kormos, 2017). Specific learning difficulties (SLDs), which affect between 5 and 15% of the population (Drabble, 2013), often have an impact on how additional languages are acquired. Therefore, in order to create an inclusive language learning context and set up effective instructional programmes, it is essential to understand how children with SLDs develop their competence in additional languages.