The general aim of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences in knowledge and processing of Japanese passive constructions by heritage speakers and second language (L2) learners of Japanese. These groups acquire language differently in terms of age and context/manner of acquisition, and comparing their linguistic behaviour allows us to examine whether heritage speakers have an advantage over L2 learners due to their early exposure and natural context of input. In order to examine this issue, the linguistic knowledge of Japanese passives and the way in which they are processed were compared between the two populations. I tested the two different types of passives that are available in Japanese: the type that involves the syntax-semantics-discourse interface (indirect passive and ni-direct passive), and the one that does not involve that interface (niyotte passive). It has been found that advanced heritage speakers and L2 learners have difficulties with structures involving different structural levels, especially structures at the interface with discourse (Laleko & Polinsky, 2013; Montrul & Polinsky, 2011, among many others), as the interfaces involving an external cognitive domain (e.g., syntax-discourse) require more processing resources than linguistic internal interfaces (e.g., syntax-semantics) (Sorace, 2011). While such representational and processing difficulties have been reported for several languages, previous studies on the acquisition of Japanese passives by both L1 and L2 learners have found the opposite: namylt, that the niyotte passive, which does not involve an external interface, being acquired later than the other two passives, which are discourse dependent (Harada & Fukuda 1998 for L1; Hara 2002 for L2). These results may be attributed to syntax derivation or frequency of use. The niyotte passive is considered to be derived by movement, while the other two are said to be base-generated. Thus, both the complexity of the syntactic derivation and the fact that usage of niyotte passive is usually limited to formal speech or written texts may delay acquisition. Examining the acquisition and processing of Japanese passives allows us to analyse the factors that play a crucial role in determining the difficulty of acquisition. In order to investigate these factors, I used two experimental tasks, an acceptability judgment task (AJT) and a self-paced listening task (SPL). The former investigated heritage speakers’ and Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners’ knowledge of each type of Japanese passives. The latter allowed us to test whether there are any differences in the processing of the two types of passives; specifically, whether the passives with an external interface are more difficult for L2 learners and heritage speakers to process. A control group of native speakers and a group of first generation immigrants to Canada were also tested to compare their results to those of the two experimental groups, allowing us to investigate whether heritage speakers have knowledge and processing patterns similar to those of the control group due to their early language exposure to the language and contextualized input. The results of the AJT showed that each experimental group displayed a stronger knowledge of different aspects of Japanese passives. While the heritage speakers recognised the pragmatic features of the ni-direct passive, the JFL learners did not. In contrast, the JFL learners showed syntactic and semantic knowledge of the indirect passive, unlike the heritage speakers. These contrastive results indicate that different manners of input lead to different acquisition outcomes. Furthermore, neither group demonstrated knowledge of the low frequency niyotte passive, and thus input frequency, rather than the discourse-related interface, appear to be more critical for the acquisition of Japanese passives. With respect to the SPL, the speakers’ performance was native-like in the case of the heritage speakers but non-native with the JFL learners, indicating that early age of exposure has an effect on language processing. Taken together, the results from the both tasks showcase the importance of both implicit and explicit manner of input, especially in the case of low frequency structures, as well as the early age of acquisition of a language.

The main objective of this dissertation is to investigate the effects of acquiring a second language (L2) at later periods of language development and native-like homonym processing in the first language (L1) from the perspective of Event-Related brain Potentials (ERP) using a cross-modal lexical decision task. To date, there is a lack of neurophysiological investigations into the effect that acquiring an L2 can have on processing strategies in the L1, and whether or not there is a precise age at which L2 exposure no longer affects native-like language processing. As such, my goal is to pinpoint this sensitive period specifically for homonym processing. To achieve this, I will present and discuss the results of two studies. The first study employs behavioural response measures using a cross-modal lexical decision task where participants simultaneously heard a sentence and made a decision to a visually-presented pseudoword or real word. The second study employs ERP measures using a novel ERP paradigm which investigates not only the main objective of this dissertation, but the second objective as well. This second objective is for this dissertation to become the first to evaluate the outcome of combining the cross-modal lexical decision task with ERPs. The behavioural and neurophysiological results for the monolingual group support the Reordered Access Model (Duffy, Morris, & Rayner, 1988) while the results for the bilingual groups do not. The results of the current studies indicate that those bilinguals who acquired French as an L2 rather than as a second native L1 show increasing divergence from monolingual native speakers in L1 homonym processing, with later acquirers exhibiting an exponentially marked divergence. This was found even though the task was carried out in English, the L1 (or one of the L1s) of all participants. The diverging performances of the bilinguals from the monolinguals were apparent in behavioural responses as well as in the amplitude, scalp distribution, and latency of ERP components, These differences were unique to each group, which supports the hypothesis that the acquisition of an L2 influences processing in the L1 (Dussias & Sagarra, 2007). Specifically, the early and late bilingual groups exhibited a marked divergence from the monolingual group as they revealed syntactic priming effects (p<.001) as well as lexical frequency effects (p<.001). They also revealed the greatest P600-like effect as they processed target words which were inappropriately- related to the priming homonyms (such as skin in Richard had a shed in the back of the garden). This suggests a heightened sensitivity to surface cues due to the L2 influencing homonym processing in the L1 (Cook, 2003; Dussias & Sagarra, 2007). Comparatively, the monolingual group revealed equal N400-like effects for lexical ambiguities overall compared to the unrelated conditions, and a context-by-frequency-interaction slowing their processing of the target word that is appropriately-related to the subordinate reading of the priming homonym, suggesting that they are not as sensitive to these same surface cues. Importantly, these results confirm that using ERPs along with a cross-modal lexical decision task is a promising paradigm to further study language processing.

This study investigated the perception and production of L2 English and L1 Portuguese stops in initial position by analyzing the acquisition of voice onset time (VOT) categories. 36 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) learners of English and 36 monolingual BP speakers, all of them living in Brazil, participated in this study. There were two language sessions, English and Portuguese (monolinguals took part in the Portuguese session only). In each language session, participants took part in a production and a perception task in the respective language (the tasks were mirror-images of each other). To elicit the production data, participants took part in a delayed repetition task. To elicit the perception data, participants took part in a two-alternative forced-choice identification test. The analysis of the data showed that improvement in L2 may entail improvement in L2 perception of stops. On the other hand, the lack of effects of proficiency in L2 production of stops may suggest occurrence of learning stabilization of L2 VOT categories. L1 phonetic drift was observed in the production of the Portuguese /b/, /k/, and /g/ (but not for /p/). However, no effects of L2 learning on L1 was observed for the perception of Portuguese /b/-/p/. L2 learners who had learned English in their L1 country and in formal settings demonstrated that they were able to form new phonetic categories for the production of /p/, /b/, and /g/. The higher-proficiency group (but not the lower-proficiency group) demonstrated that they developed language-specific phonetic strategies for /p/-/b/ since they were able to process the same set of sounds on a continuum from /b/ to /p/ as either L1 or L2 stops as a function of language mode. The perception study showed that language-specific phonetic strategies, which had been observed among highly fluent bilinguals, could also be possible for this population.

The present investigation analyzed early second language (L2) learning in adults. A common finding regarding L2 acquisition is that early learning appears to be necessary in order to perform on the same level as a native speaker. Surprisingly, many current theoretical models posit that the human ability to learn novel speech sounds remains active throughout the lifespan. In light of this fact, this project examines L2 acquisition in late learners with a special focus on L1/L2 use, input, and context of learning. Research regarding L1/L2 use has tended to be observational, and throughout the previous six decades of L2 research the role of input has been minimized and left largely unexplained. This study includes two production experiments and two perception experiments and focuses on the role of L1/L2 use and input in L2 acquisition in late learners in order to add to current research regarding their role in accurately and efficiently acquiring a novel speech sound. Moreover, this research is concerned with shedding light on when, if at all, during the acquisition process late learners begin to acquire a new, language-specific phonetic system, and the amount of exposure necessary in order to acquire L2 fine-phonetic detail. The experimental design presented in the present study also aims to shed light on the temporal relationship between production and perception with regard to category formation. To begin to fully understand these issues, the present study proposes a battery of tasks which were administered throughout the course of a domestic immersion program. Domestic immersion provides an understudied linguistic context in which L1 use is minimized, target language use is maximized, and L2 input is abundant. The results suggest that L2 phonetic category formation occurs at an early stage of development, and is perceptually driven. Moreover, early L2 representations are fragile, and especially susceptible to cross-language interference. Together, the studies undertaken for this work add to our understanding of the initial stages of the acquisition of L2 phonology in adult learners.

A Lei 10.436/02 reconhece a Língua Brasileira de Sinais (LIBRAS) como língua e o Decreto 5626/05 garante aos surdos o acesso à educação por meio da língua de sinais. Este último estabelece, ainda, que a LIBRAS seja inserida como disciplina curricular obrigatória em todos os cursos de formação de professores e licenciaturas, assim como que se ofereça o ensino de Português como segunda língua nos cursos de Letras, tendo como prazo limite para a instituição dessas exigências o ano de 2010. Essas mudanças coincidem com outra, recém-instituída, a da Reforma das Licenciaturas (Resoluções nos 1 e 2 CNE/CP 2002). Assim, a dissertação teve por objetivos: (1) verificar como foram instituídas as duas disciplinas, exigidas pelo Decreto em questão, nas novas grades curriculares das universidades públicas; e (2) identificar discursos sobre o surdo e a língua de sinais que circulam nesses espaços de formação docente. O trabalho visou a responder às seguintes perguntas de pesquisa: como se estabelece o diálogo entre as exigências do Decreto, a Reforma das Licenciaturas e as Universidades? Que concepções sobre a LIBRAS e o ensino de línguas circulam nessas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) responsáveis pela formação de professores e de futuros pesquisadores? A análise teve como córpus ementas de disciplinas referentes ao ensino de LIBRAS e de Português como segunda língua para surdos das cinco universidades públicas do estado do Rio de Janeiro. A perspectiva teórica seguiu pressupostos da Análise do Discurso francesa de base enunciativa – interdiscurso (MAINGUENEAU, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2008), intertextualidade e memória discursiva (ORLANDI, 2007) –, assim como noções de enunciado, dialogismo e gênero do discurso (BAKHTIN 1992, 1993). A metodologia teve caráter exploratório. Verificamos, no que se refere à implementação dessas exigências legais, um entendimento diferenciado por parte de cada uma das universidades, que instituem distintos perfis profissionais. Contudo, os resultados da análise apontaram para o predomínio de uma concepção de ensino baseada numa visão estruturalista de língua e na decodificação de vocábulos.

The present study offers an initial exploration of the implications of metaphoric competence in L2 writing in the Swedish educational context. Metaphors from a cognitive perspective, are a core part of our daily lives. Moreover, they are a reflection of our thoughts and cognition, and an important part of every student learning path towards mastering a second language. The development of metaphoric competence, which includes the ability to understand and produce metaphors, can contribute substantially to second language proficiency. This paper examines the extent to which students obtaining the highest grades in the Swedish national test for grade 9 use metaphors in comparison to students who get the lowest grades and see whether there is a difference in the metaphoric comptence among students. For the study, 20 essays were analysed using the metaphor identification procedure (MIP). Finally, the paper explores the educational implications of these results in the EFL classroom.

This study focused on investigating students’ complex L2 motivational systems in an equally complex educational environment. It analyzed students’ motivation while learning Spanish in a Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) course taught in a student-centered technology-enhanced classroom at a university in the Midwest. The innovative curriculum for the course emphasized student interaction, and revolved around the development of a collaborative entrepreneurial wiki project. This study addressed the expanding call for considering motivation as multidimensional, changing and contextualized (Crookes & Schmidt, 2006; Dörnyei, MacIntyre, & Henry, 2015) by steering away from simplistic cause–effect quantitative paradigms. It addressed the topic through the lens of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) and utilized two contemporary L2 motivation frameworks for making sense of the data: the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009), and Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) (Muir & Dörnyei, 2013; Dörnyei, Ibrahim, & Muir 2015). It adopted in-depth qualitative case study methodology to answer the following research questions: 1. How can students' L2 motivations be described while learning Business Spanish through an innovative curriculum? 2. What are the factors affecting students’ L2 motivations throughout the course? Four students enrolled in this class during the Fall 2015 were randomly selected as the participants for this study. Data were collected throughout the academic semester and included: 1) four in-depth interviews with each student; 2) the work students developed collaboratively on the wiki; 3) course evaluations submitted to the instructor of the course; 4) students’ academic records and 5) classroom observations of the times students worked on the wiki. Findings revealed that the self system interacted with the motivational system of students in this class, and was determinant in guiding their motivational trajectories throughout the semester. The self system was also instrumental in shaping experiences students had related to the elements of the immediate L2 learning context. Moreover, factors stemming from the immediate L2 context that fulfilled students’ self-concordant goals were also instrumental in keeping students engaged with the process of learning; and completing the wiki project became a shared goal for students in each group. These factors led students to experience a group motivational wave — with characteristics of group DMCs — as they became more and more involved with the wiki project for the course. In terms of the work completed, students’ motivations translated into detailed wiki projects that incorporated more content than specified by the project’s guidelines and requirements. Finally, the study also generated insights into areas in which the L2MSS and DMCs could be expanded or refined in order to better account for students’ complex motivational trajectories.

<p>The theory underlying L2 oral fluency has focused on cognitive processes, particularly proceduralization (Anderson, 1983; Levelt, 1989, 1999) and linguistic constructs, especially vocabulary and grammar (Segalowitz, 2010). Towell, Hawkins, and Bazergui (1996) argued that development of formulaic language enables automatic speech production. However, no research has studied the longitudinal development of L2 oral fluency concurrently with any of the following lexical variables: lexical frequency profile, formulaic language use, and MTLD (a measure of lexical diversity). The purpose of the present study is to clarify the process by which L2 oral fluency, syntax, and vocabulary develop concurrently.</p> <p>Data analysis involved three sequential phases: oral fluency analysis, lexico-syntactic analysis, and discourse analysis. Oral fluency measures were calculated using the transcribed oral test responses of 100 L1-Chinese EAP learners at the beginning and end of a required two-course EAP language and culture sequence at Purdue University. The task completed was a computer-administered, two-minute argumentative speaking task. This study included eight oral fluency measures: speech rate, mean length of speech run, articulation rate, phonation time ratio, mean length of silent pause, mean length of filled pause, silent pause frequency, and filled pause frequency. For the ten participants who made the largest percentage-wise oral fluency gains (in terms of the oral fluency variable associated with the largest effect size of gains), oral transcripts were analyzed to compute descriptive statistics for the three lexical variables mentioned above and three syntactic variables: coordinate clause ratio, dependent clause ratio, and words per T-unit. </p> Results indicated significant change in all oral fluency measures, except mean length of silent pause and mean length of filled pause. The largest gains were made in mean length of speech run. Of the linguistic variables, the largest longitudinal change was associated with coordinate clause ratio. Discourse analysis of the transcripts of large fluency gainers' pre-post responses suggested that large fluency gainers used coordinate clauses to build more sophisticated discourse models in the post-test response than they did in the pre-test response. Implications for L2 oral fluency theory, EAP pedagogy, and L2 oral assessment are discussed.

<div>This dissertation investigates three utterance fluency features and two vocabulary features of 409 speech samples from advanced intermediate and advanced L2 English speakers, who participated in the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) between the year of 2009 and 2015. Among the 409 L2 English speakers, there are 80 L1 Hindi speakers rated as advanced intermediate, 32 L1 Hindi speakers rated as advanced, 286 L1 Mandarin speakers rated as advanced intermediate, and 11 L1 Mandarin speakers rated as advanced.</div><div><br></div><div>Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was conducted and presented four different clusters among all the L2 English speakers. The four different clusters are: (1) Low Mean Syllables per Run (MSR), low Speech Rate (SR), very high Pause Rate (PR), medium Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), and medium percentage of words on the Academic Word List (AWL); (2) Medium Mean Syllables per Run (MSR), medium Speech Rate (SR), high Pause Rate (PR), low Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), and low percentage of words on the Academic Word List (AWL); (3) High Mean Syllables per Run (MSR), high Speech Rate (SR), low Pause Rate (PR), medium Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), and medium percentage of words on the Academic Word List (AWL); (4) Medium Mean Syllables per Run (MSR), medium Speech Rate (SR), low Pause Rate (PR), very high Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity, and very high percentage level of words on the Academic Word List (AWL).</div><div>Chi-square results show that L2 English speakers’ cluster membership is strongly associated with both their L1 background and level of L2 oral English proficiency. While most of the advanced intermediate L1 Mandarin speakers are in Cluster 1 and Cluster 2, the majority of the advanced intermediate L1 Hindi speakers concentrate in Cluster 3. A large number of advanced L1 Mandarin speakers and L1 Hindi speakers are also located in Cluster 3.</div><div><br></div><div>Twelve raters were invited to evaluate speech samples representative of the four clusters in terms of accent difference and listener effort. Twelve speakers were selected from the four clusters, whose speech samples have values of the five linguistic features closest to the cluster mean.</div><div><br></div><div>Multi-facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) results show that L1 Mandarin speakers generally received lower ratings in accent difference and listener effort. The connection among fluency, vocabulary, and accentedness/listener effort, however, functions differently for L1 Mandarin speakers and L1 Hindi speakers. For advanced intermediate L1 Mandarin speakers, those who speak slower and use more diverse vocabulary and more academic words were evaluated to be less accented, meanwhile costing less listener effort. However, advanced intermediate L1 Hindi speakers were rated as less accented and cost less listener effort when they demonstrate higher fluency measures and lower vocabulary measures.</div><div><br></div><div>Advanced L2 English speakers, in contrary, received reverse rating results. The advanced L1 Mandarin speaker, who speaks faster and uses less diverse vocabulary and fewer academic words, was evaluated to be less accented and cost less listener effort. However, the advanced L1 Hindi speaker, who speaks slower and uses more diverse vocabulary and more academic words, was rated as less accented and cost less listener effort.</div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation reemphasizes that holistic rating rubric does not deny the existence of multiple linguistic profiles. Raters are sensitive to different combinations of fluency and vocabulary features even if they have been asked to use a holistic scale. In addition, L2 English speakers may adopt individual strategies to accommodate while delivering, which calls for further pedagogical attention.<br></div><div><br></div>

This study aims to examine if English as a L2 influences the construction of Swedes’ social identities but also whether any linguistic strategies are used to strengthen their identity. Furthermore, the study aims to study if there is a difference in bilingual Swedes' reflections on the topic compared to multilingual Swedes. With Giles and Johnson’s Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory and Gumperz’ Interactional Theory as theoretical backgrounds, data was gathered through both quantitative methods, such as an online questionnaire, and qualitative methods in the form of a focus group consisting of both bilingual and multilingual Swedes. The results vary as some of the participants see English as influential to their identity construction while others view it merely as a practical tool. Moreover, the data also shows that it is more common amongst multilingual Swedes to use linguistic strategies such as code-switching, to strengthen their in-group relationships whilst bilingual participants used linguistic strategies for a different purpose: to distance themselves from their in-group identity.