Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2005. / Department of World Languages and Cultures, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-80)

This thesis looked at the concept of sonority and its influence in the acquisition of complex coda consonant clusters by ESL Spanish speakers. An experiment was performed to test the relationship between the sonority values of the segments of final complex clusters and the rate of errors. The goal of this thesis was to test the hypothesis that the Sonority Sequencing Principle was a powerful linguistic constraint that affected the acquisition of L2 phonology. The findings confirmed the idea that sonority played a crucial role in the phonological acquisition of L2 learners. Subjects reduced the least sonorant segment of the final cluster in order to achieve the minimal sonority descent. The choice of the segment could not be attributed to possible L1 interference since Spanish did not license complex codas and any final obstruents except /s/. The minimal sonority distance factor effected the rate of errors. Subjects produced more errors in clusters where the sonority distance between their segments was small (e.g., one, two, and three).

The research begins with an examination of the problems attending the growth in the use of English as a lingua franca between non-native speakers. It is argued that vanable first-language specific phonological 'errors' generate much of the miscommunication that is a characteristic of such interlanguage talk (ILT), original support for this claim being provided by a pilot study involving non-native speaker postgraduate students. Following a brief reappraisal of the place of language transfer in second language acquisition, its role in interlanguage (IL) phonology is examined in detail. Phonological transfer is revealed as a central and complex feature of the developing IL The theoretical position is exemplified by a selection of phonological transfer errors drawn from ILT classroom observation, such errors being redefmed in seriousness according to a taxonomy of new criteria based essentially on their effects on ILT communication. The extensive variation to which these taxonomic errorS are subject is discussed in the light of current theories of IL variation, and Accommodation Theory is concluded to have the greatest potential to account for phonological transfer or variation in ILT. The motivations underlying the accommodative processes of convergence and divergence are discussed and the framework is then extended to a motivation considered more salient in ILT: that of interlocutor comprehensibility. Two empirical studies investigate phonological variation in ILT from an accommodation perspective, the findings leading to the conclusion that while accommodation has an essential role in determining phonological error in ILT, its linguistic manifestation is usually one of suppression and non-suppression rather than of traditional convergence and divergence. Pedagogical implications of the research include the benefits of pair and smallgroup work, thus supporting previous research, and the need for classroom exposure to IL varieties of English.

This thesis examines the possibility that connectivity in learner lexicons can be measured using receptive word-association tasks.

Note:

Immersion is an acclaimed method for second language acquisition, but is not available to majority of students. The idea of this study is to create Mobile Immersion on smartphone using Instant Messenger, WhatsApp. 45 Form 1 (7th Grade) students participated in a 3-month experiment. They were divided into two big groups: one with Mobile Immersion (Mobile Group) and the other without (Control Group). A vocabulary list of 200 high-frequency verbs was the main learning material. Net Gain in vocabulary score between pre-test and post-test was used to measure their learning progress. The statistics show no significant difference between the two groups’ means. However, within Mobile Group, there is significant correlation between individual’s chat frequency and vocabulary gain. Furthermore, chat histories of participants reveal a possible theme that has implications for researchers and educators. A questionnaire is also used to survey participants’ attitudes towards the Mobile Immersion. This paper shares the experience from the case study and draws insights into a new direction contributing to the knowledge base of Second Language Acquisition and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the relation between the teaching of Chinese syntax and the acquisition process by adult learners based on multitheoretical and multimethodological approaches. Through a brief review of the features of Chinese syntax and a comparative study of three different syntactic analytic systems, a Chinese linguistic background is provided. A further study of pedagogical Chinese syntax was conducted by investigating the teaching materials and methods introduced in three commonly used Chinese textbooks. Based on the Chinese linguistic and pedagogical background, the surveys were designed to probe the learners' acquisition process of Chinese syntax. The studies involved a total of 73 subjects who are native English speakers learning Chinese at different universities. It has been found that: (1) adult learners' acquisition order and rate are closely related to their cognitive skills; (2) the scope of acquisition in adults is subject to time limitations; (3) analysis & analogy are the main methods used by adult learners in the acquisition of syntax; (4) the learning environment & the knowledge of the target syntax by adult learners are not required to be situationally linked; (5) the process of syntactic transfer is incomplete among adult learners due to the lack of target language input; (6) the general failure rate in L2 acquisition partially associates with the lack of the fully functional innate language faculty; (7) the adult learners' common mistakes in syntactic acquisition process are predictable due to syntactic transfer and the influences from L1; (8) different teaching methods result in different strengths in students; (9) there is a gap between grammatical competence & communicative competence in the adult learners' acquisition process. According to those features, I proposed nine pedagogical principles for the Chinese syntax teaching, and a case study of teaching Chinese structures with three post-verbal complements was conducted in order to have a field-test. The discussion in this dissertation has partially confirmed the claim made by psycho-linguistic researchers that learning a second language is a complex process. There is a hierarchical order in acquiring language competence, and the acquisition of hierarchically ordered skills requires integrated approaches.

In this study, the effect of the word processor on third semester Spanish students at the University of Arizona was examined. The study was performed over two semesters, using a control and an experimental group each time. The communicative language approach for second language learning was implemented in a cooperative learning environment for both control and experimental groups. Control groups used paper and pencil to write their class essays and experimental groups used the word processor. The experimental groups outperformed the control groups. The semester variable by itself was also significant. However, there was no significant interaction between group and semester. Replication studies are needed to validate the results of this study.

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