This study examines L2 learners’ difficulties in the acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive. In particular, it investigates the interpretations English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish assign to the subjunctive in temporal, concessive, and conditional clauses, where mood choice involves the interaction of morpho-syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic knowledge. In contrast to previous research that has given little attention to the difficulties L2 learners experience, this study hypothesizes they might be attributed to “input traps” resulting from L1 transfer of syntactic and semantic properties of the subjunctive adjuncts and misanalysis of the input due to the lack of integration of different types of information. This study tests this claim by comparing the grammars of English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish with those of native Spanish speakers. If L2 learners share similar patterns with L1 speakers in contexts where both languages behave similarly, and exhibit different patterns from L1 speakers in contexts where both languages behave differently, difficulties should be attributed to L1 influence on the L2. On the other hand, if L2 learners exhibit different patterns from L1 speakers in contexts where semantic or pragmatic features determine the use of the subjunctive, difficulties should be attributed to failures in form-meaning mappings. Data collection involved a Preference Task with three possible options: a sentence with the indicative, with the subjunctive, or no preference. Subjects were asked to select which of the three choices they preferred according to the context presented in the story. Twenty advanced English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish and twenty native speakers from different Spanish-speaking countries, who served as the control group, took part in this study. Results indicate that subjunctive adjuncts present difficulties in L2 acquisition even for advanced L2 learners. Although they exhibit sensitivity to certain subjunctive features and contextual meanings, data reveal that convergence and non-convergence were primarily determined by L1 influence on L2. Crucially, those features absent from the L1 give rise to greater efforts and difficulties in L2 form-meaning mappings of mood selection.

This study examines L2 learners’ difficulties in the acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive. In particular, it investigates the interpretations English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish assign to the subjunctive in temporal, concessive, and conditional clauses, where mood choice involves the interaction of morpho-syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic knowledge. In contrast to previous research that has given little attention to the difficulties L2 learners experience, this study hypothesizes they might be attributed to “input traps” resulting from L1 transfer of syntactic and semantic properties of the subjunctive adjuncts and misanalysis of the input due to the lack of integration of different types of information. This study tests this claim by comparing the grammars of English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish with those of native Spanish speakers. If L2 learners share similar patterns with L1 speakers in contexts where both languages behave similarly, and exhibit different patterns from L1 speakers in contexts where both languages behave differently, difficulties should be attributed to L1 influence on the L2. On the other hand, if L2 learners exhibit different patterns from L1 speakers in contexts where semantic or pragmatic features determine the use of the subjunctive, difficulties should be attributed to failures in form-meaning mappings. Data collection involved a Preference Task with three possible options: a sentence with the indicative, with the subjunctive, or no preference. Subjects were asked to select which of the three choices they preferred according to the context presented in the story. Twenty advanced English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish and twenty native speakers from different Spanish-speaking countries, who served as the control group, took part in this study. Results indicate that subjunctive adjuncts present difficulties in L2 acquisition even for advanced L2 learners. Although they exhibit sensitivity to certain subjunctive features and contextual meanings, data reveal that convergence and non-convergence were primarily determined by L1 influence on L2. Crucially, those features absent from the L1 give rise to greater efforts and difficulties in L2 form-meaning mappings of mood selection.

Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) is a self-regulation method shown to increase goal achievement through a combination of positive visualization and planning to overcome anticipated obstacles, specifically in time management, physical fitness, smoking cessation, dieting, social interaction, and classroom performance (Duckworth et al. 2013; Oettingen & Reininger 2016) Because second language (L2) acquisition is highly influenced by learner motivation, this study investigated whether MCII could be applied to motivation to acquire L2 vocabulary in beginning Arabic classes. A control group was compared to two treatment groups, one receiving vision-oriented MCII training that asked them to recall what first motivated them to begin language study when facing lack of motivation and a second receiving action-oriented MCII training encouraging participants to create an action-based plan when facing lack of motivation. Motivation levels of all participants were tracked through a survey of student motivation given at the beginning and end of the semester as well as through shortened weekly surveys tracking motivation level and L2 vocabulary acquisition over time. The results of this study showed that while there was no statistically significant motivational gain in any one group, there were several level items that revealed statistical significance within and between groups. No significant differences were found between groups in terms of motivation development, but raw averages of student motivation levels pre and post MCII training show that more participants in the vision-oriented groups saw motivational gains than those in the action-oriented group. Additionally, qualitative student comments revealed that many participants had failed to incorporate their MCII plans into their study regularly. This consequently may have limited the impact of MCII. Additional qualitative comments by students who did incorporate MCII suggest that they felt positively about MCII and believed it benefited their motivation and vocabulary acquisition. Consequently, additional research in which greater participation and more active use of MCII are promoted and qualitative data such as student journals and post interviews of students utilizing MCII are carefully analyzed is recommended. is recommended to further understand the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of MCII as applied to learner motivation level.

When Chinese language learners reach intermediate level, approximately in the second year of their Chinese study, they start to encounter near-synonyms, words that have the same translations in English, and characters that look alike. These words are often called 易混淆词 yi hunxiao ci “easily confusable words” by Chinese scholars. This lexical acquisition study researches a group of near synonyms about Chinese verbs of ‘change’, which either express a stative change (where an argument which expresses the result of the change is required) or causative change (where an argument which expresses the instigator or cause of the change is required). The study selected seven typical Chinese verbs, which are approximately equivalent to the words ‘to change’ and ‘to become’ in English. This study explores how the seven verbs of ‘change’ are different from each other through both literature review and an analysis of native speakers’ corpus. Among Chinese verbs of ‘change’, the most difficult pairs are 变成 biancheng and 成为 chengwei, 改 gai, 变 bian and 改变 gaibian, because of their morphological, semantic and syntactic similarities. 变成 biancheng and 成为 chengwei are very close in meaning, however, 成为 chengwei indicates a change that has gone through a development, while 变成 biancheng emphasizes on the comparison of status before and after the action. 成为 chengwei is used mainly to describe getting a new job or obtaining a special status, while 变成 biancheng is mostly to describe physical changes. As for 改 gai and 变 bian, under the sense of ‘to change’, 变 bian is more often used as an intransitive verb to express a stative change, 改 gai in contrast, is frequently used to express a causative change. As for collocations, 改 gai, 变 bian and 改变 gaibian collocate with very different nouns and other syntactic structures. This acquisition study then adopts an interlanguage analysis and experiment test as means to determine the effect that these semantic differences have on language learners. Heritage language learners have demonstrated advantages since the first year. Participants in their fourth year of Chinese classes have demonstrated their full knowledges on the verbs’ pronunciation and meaning, including secondary meaning of polysemy, which are comparable to Chinese speakers. Nevertheless, foreign language learners after four years of learning have not yet achieved native level in term of using the verbs correctly in sentences. The most difficult lexical pairs are 改 gai and 变 bian; 变成 biancheng and 成为 chengwei. Even though heritage and foreign language learners have different learning patterns, it is found that as students proceed in studying Chinese, their performance on Chinese verbs of ‘change’ improves in U-shape patterns. With in-depth comparison and analysis, it is determined that the causes of difficulties may come from English and Chinese differences, complexities of Chinese verbs of change, transfer of training.

No description available.

Notre travail se focalise sur deux phénomènes observés dans le cadre de l'apprentissage de l'anglais langue seconde (L2) chez des adultes francophones: d'une part, l'usage non conventionnel de verbes, et d'autre part, l'importance du taux de production des verbes génériques (vs spécifiques). Notre population est constituée d'un groupe d'étudiants universitaires francophones en situation d'apprentissage de l'anglais de niveau B1 (population cible), ainsi que d'un groupe de locuteurs d'anglais L1 (population de référence), placés en situation de dénomination orale de 42 vidéos d'actions de type cut et break. Nos résultats montrent des différences significatives entre la manière dont les deux groupes catégorisent ces types d'actions, avec un taux plus élevé de descriptions non conventionnelles et de verbes génériques chez les locuteurs de l’anglais L2. A l'appui de ces résultats, nous soulignons l'importance de l'usage des verbes non conventionnels et génériques, qui constitue des stratégies de communication permettant aux apprenants L2 de pallier leurs lacunes lexicales. / Our work focuses on two phenomena that appear in the language of English L2 learners: the use of unconventional verbs, and the production of generic, high-frequency verbs (rather than specific verbs). Our study involves a group of Francophone university students learning English as a second language, with a B1 level (experimental group), as well as a group of native English speakers (control group), both placed in a naming task using 42 videos that show cut- and break-type actions. Results show significant differences in the way that the two groups categorize these types of actions, with a higher frequency of unconventional and generic verbs used by the L2 learners. Based on these results, we highlight the importance of the use of these types of verbs as a communication strategy, allowing L2 learners to compensate for gaps in their lexicon.

Esta Tese situa-se na área de Semiótica e Lingüística Geral do Departamento de Lingüística da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo. Tem por tema os processos semióticos da construção do sentido no ensino-aprendizagem da Língua Inglesa (L2) com vistas à interação educador-educando. Está fundamentada nos pressupostos teóricos da Semiótica Discursiva Greimasiana (1979), complementados por alguns aspectos da Psicanálise Lacaniana (1966), incluindo a teoria da comunicação de Jakobson (1969). A hipótese que orienta o estudo realizado considera que o discurso pedagógico viabiliza um modo de aplicação metodológico adequado às necessidades do educando adulto, bem como um olhar sensível às dificuldades encontradas, por ele, em seu processo de aquisição de uma língua estrangeira. Assim, tanto um quanto outro constroem percursos possíveis para chegarmos ao objeto de valor (Ov) dos sujeitos envolvidos nesse processo, em especial, o educando. O corpus desta pesquisa é constituído pela parte teórica, que sustenta a argumentação desta Tese, e pela parte observacional, que se refere à análise dos problemas do educando no processo de aquisição da L2. O procedimento metodológico adotado foi teórico-analítico e descritivo durante o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Os passos seguidos, para esse procedimento, basearamse no modelo lingüístico-pedagógico, proposto pela pesquisadora: 1ª etapa - entrevista (needs analysis), testes oral e escrito; 2ª etapa - revisão dos conteúdos lingüísticos e exercícios escritos e orais; e 3ª etapa - desenvolvimento e aprofundamento dos conteúdos lingüísticos. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é contribuir para uma postura diferenciada na relação que se estabelece entre educador e educando, e os objetivos específicos são: 1) identificar sistemas de significação verbais, não verbais e sincréticos e verificar como se dá, nesses sistemas e no processo de enunciação, a conversão dos modelos mentais, em estruturas semióticas e sua manifestação em discurso; 2) buscar as possibilidades de aplicação desses processos ao ensino de língua inglesa para falantes do português como língua materna; e 3) examinar em que medida os modelos mentais e os processos de semiotização desses modelos podem ser transpostos para outra semiótica-objeto, em fase de aquisição de competência pelo mesmo sujeito. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que a hipótese foi adequada e os objetivos atingidos, satisfatoriamente. Além disso, os resultados provaram que o mal-estar do educando, advindo de um processo falho na interação entre educador e educando, na transmissão de um saber lingüístico, pode ser superado não só por um olhar sensível, mas também pela instauração de um processo de ensino-aprendizagem eficaz e adequado às necessidades do educando adulto. / This Thesis is set in the field of Semiotics and General Linguistics of the Department of Linguistics of Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo [School of Philosophy, Arts and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo]. Its theme is the semiotical processes of the construction of meaning in the \"teaching-learning\" of English Language (L2) aiming at the \"teacher-learner\" interaction. It is based on the theoretical premises of Greimasian Discursive Semiotics (1979), supplemented by some aspects of the Lacanian Psychoanalysis (1966), including the communication theory of Jakobson (1969). The hypothesis that guides the accomplished studies considers that the pedagogical discourse enables a methodological way of application appropriated to the needs of the adult learner, as well as a sensitive look at the difficulties found by him/her in his/her acquisition process of a foreign language. Therefore, both teacher and learner create possible paths for us to get to the object of value (Ov) of the individuals involved in this process, especially the learner. The corpus of this research is constituted by the theoretical part, that supports the argumentation of this Thesis, and by the observational part, that refers to the analysis of the learner\'s problems, in the L2 acquisition process. The adopted methodological procedure was a theoretical analytical and descriptive one, during the process of \"teaching-learning\". The steps followed for this procedure were based on the linguistic pedagogical model proposed by the researcher: 1st stage - interview (needs analysis), oral and written tests; 2nd stage - review of the linguistic contents and oral and written exercises; and 3rd stage - development and profound study of the linguistic contents. The main purpose of this project is to contribute to a different attitude in the relationship established between the teacher and the learner, and the specific purposes are: 1) to identify verbal, non-verbal and syncretic meaning systems and to verify how, in these systems and in the enunciation process, the conversion of mind models into semiotic structures and its manifestation into discourse happen; 2) to seek the possibilities of applying these processes to the teaching of English language for the speakers of Portuguese as the mother tongue; and 3) to study to what extent the mind models and the semiotization processes of such models can be transposed to another semiotic object, in the competence acquisition phase by the same individual. The results obtained showed that the hypothesis was appropriate and the purposes were satisfactorily reached. In addition, the results proved that the learner uneasiness, arising from an ineffective process of the interaction between the teacher and the learner in the transmission of the linguistic knowledge, can be overcome not only by a sensitive look, but also by the establishment of a \"teaching-learning\" process that is effective and appropriate to the needs of an adult learner.

O curso de língua portuguesa, na China, têm passado por uma expansão nos últimos dez anos com o crescimento rápido da economia, no entanto encontram-se problemas evidentes tanto com relação à adequação dos livros didáticos (LDs). Esta dissertação tem por objetivo pesquisar, com base em entrevistas e questionários, as aspirações dos alunos e dos docentes chineses no que se refere ao tipo de LD e também conhecer as dificuldades para sua produção. Assumindo a perspectiva sociocultural (Vygotsky, 1978; Leontiev, 1981; Luria, 1982), a cognição humana é formada por meio do engajamento do indivíduo em atividades sociais. Para análise dessas relações, torna-se instrumento eficiente de verificação os materiais mediadores. Os LDs, nesta dissertação, assumem esse papel. Esperamos identificar se os LDs de português na China revelam um processo interativo, mediado pela cultura, pelo contexto, pela línguagem e pela interação social (Johnson, 2009). Quando tratamos de LD, não podemos desprezar o papel social dos docentes de língua portuguesa no contexto chinês, tampouco as necessidades manifestadas pelos alunos. Metodologicamente, decidimos realizar uma pesquisa qualitativa e os instrumentos que permitiram escutar os professores que ensinam há mais de dois anos e os alunos de nível mais avançado na aprendizagem do português foram questionários e entrevistas. Esses materiais foram analisados quanto ao conteúdo discursivo e os resultados demonstram a existência de lacunas que devem ser consideradas para melhorar os LDs. Ao final, apresentamos uma proposta de sequência didática que atende às necessidades dos agentes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / The course of Portuguese language in China have experienced an expansion in the past decade with the rapid growth of the economy, however there are obvious problems both with respect to the adequacy of textbooks. This thesis aims to research, based on interviews and questionnaire, the aspirations of students and Chinese teachers in relation to the type of textbooks of Portuguese and also know the difficulties in their production. Assuming the sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978; Leontiev, 1981; Luria, 1982), human cognition is formed through the individual engagement in social activities. For analysis of these relationships, it becomes efficient instrument to identify mediators materials. The textbooks in this thesis assume that role. We hope to identify whether the Portuguese textbooks in China reveal an interactive process, mediated by culture, context, by language and social interaction (Johnson, 2009). When dealing with textbooks, we can not overlook the social role of Portuguese-speaking teachers in the Chinese context, neither the needs expressed by the students. Methodologically, we decided to conduct a qualitative research in which the teachers who have teaching experience for more than two years and the students of advanced level in learning Portuguese accepted our questionnaires and interviews. These materials were analyzed for discursive content and the results demonstrated the shortage that should be considered to complete of the textbooks. Finally, we propose a didactic book that meets the needs of the agents of the teaching-learning process.

<div>Voice Onset Time (VOT) and onset f0 are known correlates of voicing distinctions in stops and both contribute to the production and perception of voicing (House & Fairbanks, 1953; Abramson & Lisker, 1965; Ohde, 1984). As the values of VOT and onset f0, which correspond to voicing categories, vary cross-linguistically, a second language (L2) learner has to acquire a novel use of these acoustic cues to produce and perceive voicing in their L2. Although the acquisition of the primary voicing cue, VOT, has been studied extensively in L2 research (Flege & Eefting, 1988; Flege 1991; Birdsong et al. 2007), little is known about the acquisition of onset f0. The present study compares the use of VOT and onset f0 in French and English speech produced by American learners of French (23). The study also examines evidence for phonetic drift in L2 learners by comparing their English productions to a monolingual control group (33). Results indicate that although learners’ VOT values in French were heavily influenced by English, their onset f0 production in both English and French were on target, showing that learners are able to manipulate the two cues independently of one another. Little evidence of the effect of learners’ second language on the first language was found.</div><div>This study also examines the role of individual learning history on the realization of VOT and onset f0, determining that average number of hours speaking French and age of L2 acquisition (AOA) reported by learners shows the strongest correlation with the learner’s acoustic productions.</div>

O curso de língua portuguesa, na China, têm passado por uma expansão nos últimos dez anos com o crescimento rápido da economia, no entanto encontram-se problemas evidentes tanto com relação à adequação dos livros didáticos (LDs). Esta dissertação tem por objetivo pesquisar, com base em entrevistas e questionários, as aspirações dos alunos e dos docentes chineses no que se refere ao tipo de LD e também conhecer as dificuldades para sua produção. Assumindo a perspectiva sociocultural (Vygotsky, 1978; Leontiev, 1981; Luria, 1982), a cognição humana é formada por meio do engajamento do indivíduo em atividades sociais. Para análise dessas relações, torna-se instrumento eficiente de verificação os materiais mediadores. Os LDs, nesta dissertação, assumem esse papel. Esperamos identificar se os LDs de português na China revelam um processo interativo, mediado pela cultura, pelo contexto, pela línguagem e pela interação social (Johnson, 2009). Quando tratamos de LD, não podemos desprezar o papel social dos docentes de língua portuguesa no contexto chinês, tampouco as necessidades manifestadas pelos alunos. Metodologicamente, decidimos realizar uma pesquisa qualitativa e os instrumentos que permitiram escutar os professores que ensinam há mais de dois anos e os alunos de nível mais avançado na aprendizagem do português foram questionários e entrevistas. Esses materiais foram analisados quanto ao conteúdo discursivo e os resultados demonstram a existência de lacunas que devem ser consideradas para melhorar os LDs. Ao final, apresentamos uma proposta de sequência didática que atende às necessidades dos agentes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / The course of Portuguese language in China have experienced an expansion in the past decade with the rapid growth of the economy, however there are obvious problems both with respect to the adequacy of textbooks. This thesis aims to research, based on interviews and questionnaire, the aspirations of students and Chinese teachers in relation to the type of textbooks of Portuguese and also know the difficulties in their production. Assuming the sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978; Leontiev, 1981; Luria, 1982), human cognition is formed through the individual engagement in social activities. For analysis of these relationships, it becomes efficient instrument to identify mediators materials. The textbooks in this thesis assume that role. We hope to identify whether the Portuguese textbooks in China reveal an interactive process, mediated by culture, context, by language and social interaction (Johnson, 2009). When dealing with textbooks, we can not overlook the social role of Portuguese-speaking teachers in the Chinese context, neither the needs expressed by the students. Methodologically, we decided to conduct a qualitative research in which the teachers who have teaching experience for more than two years and the students of advanced level in learning Portuguese accepted our questionnaires and interviews. These materials were analyzed for discursive content and the results demonstrated the shortage that should be considered to complete of the textbooks. Finally, we propose a didactic book that meets the needs of the agents of the teaching-learning process.