Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 103p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Mark A. Pitt, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-103).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-161). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ59172

Studies of spoken Arabic language comprehension in children are few. This research obtained data on the developmental patterns, rate and order of acquisition of the comprehension of some morpho-syntactic structures for Saudi children as a basis for a criterion-referenced test. The structures tested were chosen from data collected by studying Saudi Child Directed Speech (CDS), similar Tests in English and from linguistic knowledge of Arabic structures. The CDS sample was collected from 12 Saudi fathers conversing with their children (8 boys and 4 girls) aged 2;4 to 5;6 years. This data was analysed in terms of the vocabulary, structure and function used. Saudi fathers were found to use discourse function used by parents speaking other languages when addressing their children but in different frequencies. Fathers' language complexity was found to increase as their children got older. The comprehension of morpho-syntactic structures by Saudi children was tested through a language comprehension test that was designed for the purpose of this research. The test consisted of sixty three pictures testing twenty-one morpho-syntactic structures and six miniature toys to test children's comprehension of three structures. The test incorporated a naming test to establish the dialect forms familiar to each child, a speech discrimination screening to screen children's hearing and a vocabulary pre-test to ensure that children have comprehension of the target lexical items used in the test. Test materials were designed in a way to suit the Saudi culture. The test was performed in Saudi on 120 Saudi children ranging between 3;0 and 6;0 years of age and were 60 boys and 60 girls attending three nursery schools in Riyadh. Subjects were grouped into six groups according to their age: 3;0 to 3;5, 3;6 to 3;11, 4;0 to 4;5, 4;6 to 4;11, 5;0 to 5;5, and 5;6to 5;11 years of age. Ten boys and ten girls were tested in each age group. Results showed that gender did not affect children's results. Significant test sensitivity to age was found. Nearly half of the structures were sensitive to age while the other structures were not. An order of acquisition according to structures' difficulty was established. The age group at which every structure develops was judged by using a 60% passing criterion. The agreement between test and re-test was shown to be high, indicating that the test was reliable. A comparison was made between frequencies of structures found in the CDS study and age of acquisition in the comprehension test. An error analysis of the tested morpho-syntactic structures was obtained by analysing children's performance on every item used. Children's errors on these items were interpreted on the basis of the competition model and several patterns differed from findings in other languages. Children were found to use previously reported comprehension strategies such as world knowledge when interpreting some of the tested morpho-syntactic structures. The way children interpreted structures that require the comprehension of gender and number inflections is reported. Younger children were found to be guided more by their lexical knowledge, while older ones relied on both lexical and syntactic knowledge. While Saudi children were found to use well-established comprehension strategies such as world knowledge, they also demonstrated strategies for understanding gender and number inflections which have not been previously reported. Gender and number inflections were modified in some of the fathers' utterances in the CDS in a way that violates the rules of Arabic grammar.

The present study explores cross linguistic influence (CLI) on L3 Korean acquisition in Hong Kong higher education through analyzing learner’s particle errors in composition, particularly identifying the specific source of CLI –L1 (Cantonese/Chinese) or/and L2(English) in comparative linguistic perspective. A hybrid research approach is designed. Respondent’s particle errors in text assignment data and survey data are analyzed in descriptive and statistical approach correspondingly. In this thesis, majorities of findings regarding EA of particles are consistent with literature and there are also evidences of CLI on morphology stated in the literature such as inter-language grammars in word-order and semantic equivalence in different syntactic categories between source and target languages have been found in our data. It is argued positive transfer of morphology is possible if the semantic and syntactic function of morphemes between source languages and target language are identical or very similar and concluded that analysis of morpho-syntax would be crucial to identify CLI on Korean particle acquisition. Some of the important findings about the negative relationship between proficiency in source languages and CLI on Korean particle acquisition have been pinpointed. Significantly, the different roles of proficiency in L1 Chinese and L2 English are assumed as factors indicating learner’s error pattern and particle error rates respectively. The final part of the thesis is to apply theory into pedagogy. It is hoped that a tailor-made pedagogy, teaching L3 Korean in Hong Kong higher education where L2 English is teaching medium, will be achieved with the better understandings of learner’ particle errors and their causes. Certain issues of causes of particle errors except CLI are also outlined for further research in this area. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

As a result of migratory movements in recent decades, an increasing number of children are educated in a language which is not their mother tongue. For these children, learning to read takes place in their second language. This learning context is made unique by two challenges. First, the learning of the written code occurs simultaneously with the learning of the oral language. Second, no reference to the written code of the maternal language is made available to these children. / This particular learning context can lead to inequity between the second language learner and his or her unilingual peers in terms of phonetic encoding and decoding. Furthermore, the limited vocabulary of a beginning language learner can impede the direct lexical access used when learning to read. / Fourteen students were evaluated for their metalinguistical abilities, lexical and phonic knowledge. Following these tests, an analysis was conducted of student reading errors made in a real reading context. / This descriptive study explores the interaction between reading strategies used by second language learners: bottom-up (word comprehension derived from the context of the text) and top-down (text comprehension derived from word recognition). In addition, this study seeks to describe the linguistic and metalinguistic abilities of these second language students in the process of learning to read.

Within the framework of generative grammar, it is assumed that children are endowed with an innate language faculty called Universal Grammar (UG). Children learn their native language on the basis of the interaction of positive evidence in the input with the principles and parameters of UG. In terms of parameter setting, positive evidence consistent with just one value of a parameter causes the preemption of any incorrect settings hypothesized by the child, in accordance with the Uniqueness Principle (Pinker 1984, Wexler and Culicover 1980) which ensures that only one parameter setting can be held at a time in the child's grammar (Berwick 1985). / This thesis investigates the operation of preemption in parameter setting in second language (L2) acquisition in cases where the learner initially adopts the L1 value of a parameter. Focussing on a parametric difference between French and English, namely, the verb movement parameter (Pollock 1989) which relates to (among other things) the placement of adverbs, 58 grade 5 francophone students learning English as a second language in intensive programmes in Quebec schools were exposed over a two week period to a flood of positive evidence on adverb placement in English--input which was consistent with only the English value of the parameter. The results indicate that the subjects did not reset the verb movement parameter to the English value, suggesting that preemption does not function in L2 as in L1 acquisition. Possible explanations for these results and their implications for theories of L2 learnability are developed.

This study primarily examined the use of second language production as a measure of second language text comprehension in 18 first-year nursing students enrolled in French for Nursing courses (nine low-intermediates, nine high-intermediates). / Although few differences were found between the two levels of proficiency with respect to recall and inference, the high-intermediates were more proficient in reading highly variable material and difficult vocabulary in their second language than the low-intermediates as measured by sentence reading times. The within-subjects results indicate a greater amount of propositional recall of the second language text when it was interpreted in the first language than when it was interpreted in the second language.

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