Düsseldorf, University, Diss., 2004.

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Düsseldorf, Universiẗat, Diss., 2001.

Essen, University, Diss., 2003.

Bibliography: leaves 103-129. The study isolates a 920 bp proximal promoter segment of the CYP2H2 gene from a chicken genomic clone.

Texte remanié de: Habilitationsschrift--Bonn--Universität, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 395-412. Index.

Th.--Lett.--Paris 4, 1987.

Processing Instruction is a pedagogic intervention that manipulates the L2 input learners are exposed to in the classroom. Proponents of this intervention claim that it poses a minimal strain on learners’ processing resources. While there has been extensive research on the benefits of Processing Instruction in general and the role of individual differences in particular, no conclusive evidence has been found regarding the role of individual differences in Working Memory Capacity. To explore the question whether Processing Instruction is equally beneficial for learners at different points of the Working Memory Capacity spectrum, a case study on the effects of computer-delivered Processing Instruction has been conducted. German switch prepositions were the target feature and students’ instructional gains were evaluated through sentence- and discourse-level tasks in a pre- and post-test design. Additionally, students’ on-task performance was recorded during instruction. The Working Memory Capacity scores were supplemented with questionnaire data on potential mediating variables such as motivation, anxiety, personality, and aptitude. The analysis of individual learner profiles addressed yet another gap in the literature: Robinson’s (2001) work, Snow’s (1989) aptitude-treatment interaction concept, and Dörnyei & Skehan’s (2003) perspective on individual differences all demand a look at the bigger picture. Yet much of the Second Language Acquisition research to date has operationalised Working Memory according to Baddeley & Hitch’s (1974) model, using quasi-experimental research designs – which usually fail to capture the complex and dynamic nature of Working Memory. This study addressed this gap with attention to the operationalisation of Working Memory, the analysis of task demands as well as perceived difficulty, and a focus on the interplay of several learner variables. Results seem to support the importance of Working Memory for Second Language Acquisition, at least in the short run. However, they also show a clear impact of participant-treatment interactions which might not have become evident in a group-comparison study.

A widely studied L2 behaviour in the SLA literature is that of the inconsistency in the production of functional morphology by advanced and endstate L2 learners. The level of inconsistency seems to vary among L2 learners, for instance, SD, a Turkish endstate learner of English (White 2003a) was highly accurate in the production of English inflectional morphology compared with Patty, also an endstate learner of English whose L1 is Chinese (Lardiere 2007). The literature is divided on whether to consider the absence of overt morphology in L2 performance to be a reflection of underlying syntax, thus indicating the absence of corresponding syntactic features, or whether it is an indication of a missing surface inflection only. A proponent of the first account is Hawkins (2009) who claims that a deficit in the L2 syntax, exemplified by the inability of L2 learners to acquire uninterpretable features not instantiated in the L1 grammar beyond the critical period causes the inconsistent suppliance of functional morphology in the interlanguage. On the other hand, Lardiere (2008) and Goad et al. (2003) describe types of post-syntactic problems causing variability: difficulty in mapping between different components of the grammar, and L1 transfer of prosodic structures, respectively. To test the claims of the above hypotheses, this study provides comparative data from two groups of L2 learners who differ with respect to the L1: Latakian Syrian Arabic or Mandarin Chinese. These two languages differ from each other in terms of which functional features are overtly represented in the morphosyntax, but are similar in the manner functional material is prosodified in relation to stems. Results based on the data collected do not lend support to claims of L1 prosodic transfer; they are rather compatible with an account that combines claims from both the Representational Deficit Hypothesis and the Feature Re-assembly hypothesis.

Earlier studies on interpretation such as Garcés (1996) and Hale (2004) show that interpreters often make the mistake of conveying only the semantic meaning; ignoring, misunderstanding or simply not conveying the pragmatic meaning of utterances. Other studies have also touched on issues of the classification of the types of errors made during interpretation Mead (1985), Karton (2008) and Kiguru (2008); they do not, however, provide a good understanding of errors that lead to stylistic and pragmatic modifications in interpretation from and to indigenous African languages. Research on interpretation in Kenyan courts is limited and there is none that examines Dholuo-English interpretations. Consequently, there is a need to have a broad and deep understanding of the stylistic and pragmatic meaning of modifications involving Dholuo-English data. The literature reviewed includes literature on courtroom interpreting and literature on meaning shifts in the courtroom. This study investigates courtroom interpretation using critical stylistic tools to determine the stylistic and pragmatic changes and their impact on ideation and interpersonal communication in the Target Text. The critical stylistic tools used from Jeffries (2010) are: presenting other people’s speech and thoughts, presenting actions and state, as well as naming and describing. In the data analysis, for presenting the speech of others, I use the reported speech categories by Short (2012) to examine fidelity to the text, for the description of actions and states I ground my work in the transitivity model by Halliday as explained by Simpson (1993) and for naming and description I use Halliday’s Functional Grammar to describe the Noun group. For analysis of pragmatic modifications during interpretation, the research is grounded in Austin’s (1962) Speech Act Theory and Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principle. The data analysed consists of 12 court cases. The data collected is analysed using qualitative methods of analysis in order to determine inferences, give explanations and make conclusions. The results show changes in the Target Text which include: modifications to adhere to felicity conditions, passivisation to conform to how Dholuo reports speech from senior people, misreporting while using direct speech, distortion of facts, expansion of meaning, vagueness, changes to the verb processes, use of explanations, use of euphemisms that obscure meaning, changes in the tone of the source text and changes in the pre and post modifications of nouns that cause meaning loss. Reasons for these changes are: culturally bound words and phrases, legal jargon which has no Dholuo equivalents, specialised Kenyan English vocabulary, the nature of courtroom interpretation, the additional duties courtroom interpreters in Kenya carry out, as well as lack of training. This research uncovered a new role for interpreters in the courtroom of striving to maintain the dignity of the court as well as a new feature of adherence to felicity conditions in judgements.