No description available.

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

by Yang Xiaolu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-140). / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Parameter Model of Acquisition --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- "Positive Evidence, Negative Evidence and the Catapult Hypothesis" --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- The Focus of the Present Study --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- The Organization of the Thesis --- p.9 / Chapter 2. --- Null Arguments: A Theory of Parameters and Language Acquisition --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1 --- A Theory of Parameters: the Null Argument Parameters --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- Predicting and Explaining L1 Acquisition --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- A Summary of Research Findings --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Initial Setting --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Identification of Early Null Arguments --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Triggers in the L1 Acquisition of the Target Parameters --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3 --- A Review of L2 Acquisition Studies: Related Issues --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The Null Argument Phenomenon in L2 Acquisition --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The Initial Setting and the Role of L1 --- p.35 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Identification of the Null Arguments in Interlanguages --- p.36 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Parameter Resetting and Triggers --- p.37 / Chapter 3. --- The Formulation of The Present Study --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Status of Null Arguments in Chinese --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Null Argument Parameters in Chinese and English --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3 --- Resetting the Null Argument Parameters and Unlearning Null Arguments --- p.53 / Chapter 3.4 --- Suggesting Triggers in the L2 Acquisition of English --- p.54 / Chapter 3.5 --- "Predictions: Null Arguments, Triggers and ILs" --- p.57 / Chapter 4. --- The Present Study (I): The Experiment´ؤMethodology --- p.59 / Chapter 4.1 --- Subjects --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Tasks --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3 --- Coding and Marking --- p.67 / Chapter 5. --- The Present Study (II): The Experiment´ؤResults --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1 --- An Overview of the Written Results --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Comparing Task Performance --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1.1.1 --- Comparing Task 1 and Task2 --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1.1.2 --- Comparing Task 2 and Task3 --- p.72 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- An Overall View of the Written Results --- p.73 / Chapter 5.2 --- Null Elements in the Interlanguages of Chinese Learners of English --- p.75 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Null Subjects and Null Objects --- p.76 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Null Expletives --- p.79 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Null Subjects in Matrix Clauses and Tensed Embedded Clauses --- p.81 / Chapter 5.2.3.1 --- Null Thematic Subjects --- p.82 / Chapter 5.2.3.2 --- Null Expletive Subjects --- p.86 / Chapter 5.3 --- Infl and Null Thematic Subjects --- p.89 / Chapter 5.4 --- Expletives and Null Arguments --- p.92 / Chapter 5.5 --- Results: Oral Task --- p.94 / Chapter 6. --- Discussion --- p.97 / Chapter 6.1 --- The Expletives-as-triggers Hypothesis Reconsidered --- p.97 / Chapter 6.2 --- "There, Weather it and Raising it: Their Status as the Triggering Experience" --- p.101 / Chapter 6.3 --- Triggering the Unlearning of Null Arguments --- p.108 / Chapter 7. --- Conclusion --- p.112 / Appendix --- p.118 / References --- p.134

This longitudinal study aims to trace the developmental route from nominal to pronominal reference to person in a bilingual first language acquirer of two typologically distinct languages : Mandarin and English. The study reveals that experiencing different types of input influences the speed and movement by which personal pronouns are learned in language production. The study provides some exploration into the role of the weaker language in bilingual language development as well as the nature and extent of the early separation and interaction of two linguistic systems in a language environment which is fundamentally unlike the one parent-one-language setting. The data-set of the work consists of over 65 tape recorded sessions of naturalistic speech collected over 30 months in context-based language use in either Mandarin or English, where Mandarin is the home(and minority) language spoken by both parents and other family members while English is the(dominant)language of all other environments. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

The present study was a one sample pre- and post-session, quasi experimental design, conducted during an intensive English course in 2003 in Taiwan. Participants were fifty tertiary level freshmen from a medical college in Southern Taiwan. In order to understand the effects of graphic organizers on participants' EFL, reading comprehension and attitudes towards reading in English, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Research has shown that the graphic organizer is effective in facilitating reading comprehension and learning attitudes when students construct their own graphic organizers cooperatively in group-work in the post-reading session. The purpose of the present study was three-fold. First, the study investigated the effects of two different types of graphic organizer strategies, teacher- and student-generated on Taiwanese TVES (Technological and Vocational Education System) tertiary freshmen's EFL reading comprehension achievement. Secondly, the study explored participants' attitudes towards EFL reading after the use of the two types of organizer strategies. Thirdly, the study examined the participants' attitudes towards the use of the two types of organizer strategies. The study was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the teacher-generated graphic organizer strategy was employed. In the second stage, participants generated graphic organizers in a group-work setting. Two comprehension tests generated by the researcher as a pre- and post-test were administered. Following analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data three important conclusions can be made. First, the student-generated graphic organizer strategy had significantly positive impact on the students' reading comprehension. I-Iowever, the ceiling effect of language proficiency inhibited low-scorers' comprehension performance. Secondly, the use of student-generated graphic organizers in a group-work setting had a significantly positive impact on students' attitudes towards EFL reading, particularly those of the low-scorers. Thirdly, students' attitudes towards the use of two graphic organizer strategies did not show any significant differences. Although these conclusions are based on a small sample, the findings of this study suggest that the use of graphic organizers is an effective pedagogical tool for promoting EFL, reading comprehension and improving attitudes toward EFL reading, particularly when students generate their graphic organizers cooperatively, Key words: EFL reading, tertiary students, graphic organizers, reading comprehension, attitudes towards reading.

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This thesis investigated how a third-born female child acquired the deictic meaning of feminine third-person pronouns in English. The child began producing feminine third-person pronouns at 24 months of age and made few production errors. In contrast, she made systematic comprehension errors between 24 and 36 months of age and did not master the correct comprehension until 40 months of age. Analysis of the child's person errors indicated that she held the proper name interpretation that the feminine third-person pronoun her referred to herself. In production, however, the child rarely called herself with feminine third-person pronouns because she had already mastered the correct use of first-person pronouns in self-reference. The issues of why the child made systematic person errors for such a long period of time and how she corrected the errors are discussed with regard to Oshima-Takane's (1985, 1998) pronoun-learning model.

This thesis examines the use of conjunctions in texts, and in particular their function as a marker of text type. Children's acquisition of this aspect of conjunction usage is the main focus. An examination of the characteristics of various text types and the nature of coordinate and subordinate conjunctions in English serves as a framework within which the experimental evidence from adults and children (aged three to five) is considered. Three types of texts--conversation, narratives, and game explanations--were collected. It was found that both the types of conjunctions used and the frequency of conjunctions as a class vary according to text type; conjunctions are much more frequent in narratives and explanations than in conversation. It is shown here that pragmatic or cognitive factors cannot account for these findings; they can only be explained as a function of text type. The data from the children provide evidence that their conjunction usage is also constrained by text type, although their patterns of use are not exactly the same as the adults'. The results indicate that by age five children have a definite conception of text as a linguistic entity.