Bilingual children sometimes respond to their interlocutors using a different language than the one in which they were addressed. These language choices, their concurrent correlates, and relations to subsequent language growth were examined in 91 Spanish-English bilingual children (44 girls, 47 boys). Children's language choices were assessed at 30 months, and their English and Spanish productive vocabularies and receptive language skills were examined at the ages of 30, 36, and 42 months. Children's language choices were concurrently related to English and Spanish productive and receptive language scores and to mothers' English and Spanish proficiency levels. Longitudinal multi-level modeling analyses indicated that children's language choices at 30 months were uniquely related to language growth on measures of English and Spanish productive vocabulary and Spanish receptive language, when controlling for language expo sure. These findings suggest that language use plays a causal role in language development. The findings of this study have implications for the maintenance of heritage languages in the U.S. and for the development of children's English language skills. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Teixeira Maggi da Silva.pdf: 1940112 bytes, checksum: f67de4db105b9e577d41ad3239dc1356 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / This research investigated the phenomenon of transfer of learning from the following guiding question: How is the process of transfer of learning obtained in MBA programs to the workplace, in the view of students and alumni? The overall objective was to understand the process of transfer of learning acquired in MBA programs to the workplace. The theoretical framework is grounded in the international literature and presents and analyzes the models that evaluated the transfer of learning in different types of educational activities, including the MBA itself. We also sought to understand the characteristics of the MBA as a program in management education. In this sense, it was presented a brief history of this program, contextualizing the model of MBA in Brazil and the main criticism it has received over the past few years. The research of descriptive character, was developed based on the assumptions of the basic or generic qualitative studies. This option was considered the most appropriate because it seeks to understand a phenomenon, from the perspective of the research participants, in this case, the MBA students. The interview was the main strategy used for data collection. Thirteen students and alumni of MBA with specialization from a higher education institution in the city of São Paulo were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed, allowing the generation of analytical codes hierarchically organized into categories, facilitating the analysis and interpretation of meanings. The main results reported in the research show that the student is the protagonist in the transfer of learning process from the MBA to the workplace. The factors related to the design of the course and the work environment were less significant. The results also revealed that the transfer of learning occurs in various disciplines throughout the course. Finally, it was found that the hard skills are easier to be transferred and generate faster results. / Esta pesquisa investigou o fenômeno da transferência da aprendizagem, a partir da seguinte questão orientadora: Como se dá o processo de transferência das aprendizagens obtidas nos programas de MBA para o trabalho, na visão de alunos e ex-alunos? O objetivo geral foi compreender o processo de transferência das aprendizagens adquiridas em programas de MBA para os locais de trabalho. O referencial teórico está embasado na literatura internacional e apresenta e analisa os modelos que avaliaram a transferência de aprendizagem em diferentes tipos de ações educacionais, incluindo o próprio MBA. Procurou-se também compreender as características do MBA como um programa de educação gerencial. Neste sentido, apresentou-se um breve histórico sobre esse programa, contextualizando o modelo de MBA no Brasil e as principais críticas que ele vem recebendo ao longo dos últimos anos. A pesquisa, de caráter descritivo, foi desenvolvida com base nas premissas dos estudos qualitativos básicos ou genéricos. Esta opção foi considerada a mais adequada, pois visa compreender um fenômeno, a partir da perspectiva dos participantes da pesquisa, no presente caso, os próprios alunos do MBA. Como estratégia de coleta de dados, foram realizadas treze entrevistas com alunos e ex-alunos de cursos de MBA com especialização de uma instituição de ensino superior na cidade de São Paulo. As entrevistas foram analisadas, possibilitando a geração de códigos analíticos organizados hierarquicamente em categorias, facilitando a análise e a interpretação dos significados. Os principais resultados revelados na pesquisa mostram que o aluno é o protagonista no processo de transferência das aprendizagens do MBA para os locais de trabalho. Os fatores relacionados ao desenho do curso e ao ambiente de trabalho se mostraram menos significativos. Os resultados revelaram ainda que a transferência das aprendizagens ocorre nas várias disciplinas ao longo do curso. Por fim, foi possível verificar que as habilidades do tipo hard skills são mais fáceis de serem transferidas e geram resultados mais rápidos.

This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer on Arabic ESL learners' acquisition of the relative clauses, the passive voice and the definite article. I used Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Error Analysis (EA) to analyze 50 papers written by Arabic ESL students at the ACTFL Advanced Mid proficiency level. The analysis was paired with interviews with five advanced students to help determine whether L1 transfer was, in fact, influencing students' errors predicted by CA. Students in this study made L1 errors along with other errors. Although no statistical difference was found between the frequency of transfer and other (non-transfer) errors, L1 transfer errors were still common for many learners in this data. The frequency of the relative clause L1 transfer errors was slightly higher than other errors. However, passive voice L1 errors were as frequent as other errors whereas definite article L1 errors were slightly less frequent than other errors. The analysis of the interviews suggested that L1 still played a crucial role in influencing learners errors. The analysis also suggested that the frequency of transfer errors in the papers used in this study might have been influenced by CA-informed instruction students received and students' language level. Specifically, learners reported that both factors helped them reduce the frequency of L1 transfer errors in their writing. The teaching implications of this study include familiarizing language instructors with possible sources of errors for Arabic ESL learners. Language instructors should try to identify sources of errors by conducting their own analyses or consulting existing literature on CA paired with EA. Finally, I recommend adopting a CA-informed instruction to help students reduce and overcome errors that are influenced by their L1.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-273).

This thesis investigates how the outcomes of the acquisition of second language (L2) argument structure will vary depending on the nature of the learner's first language (L1). The focus is on motion verbs appearing with a prepositional/postpositional phrase that expresses the final endpoint of the motion (goal PP). In English, manner-of-motion verbs (e.g., walk ) and directed motion verbs (e.g., go) can appear with a goal PP as in John walked (went ) to school. In contrast, Japanese allows only directed motion verbs to occur with a goal PP. Thus, Japanese motion verbs with goal PPs form a subset of their English counterparts. I propose an analysis of these crosslinguistic differences in terms of different incorporation patterns in lexical-syntax (Hale & Keyser, 1993). L1 transfer and learnability considerations (White, 1991b), then, lead me to hypothesize that Japanese-speaking learners of English will be able to acquire the L2 representation on the basis of positive evidence, but that English-speaking learners of Japanese will have difficulty acquiring the L2 representation due to the lack of positive data motivating the restructuring of the L1 representation to the L2. A series of experiments tested these hypotheses using grammaticality judgment and picture-matching tasks. Results in general supported this prediction, suggesting that whether the L1 constitutes a subset of the L2 or vice versa indeed affects the outcomes of L2 argument structure. The results indicate full involvement of L1 and UG in L2 acquisition, thus supporting the Full-Transfer/Full-Access model of L2 acquisition (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1994).

This thesis examines the role of transfer of first (L1) language properties and access to knowledge of Universal Grammar in second language (L2) acquisition. Two empirical components are included: a study of the syntax of anaphora in Serbo-Croatian and an experimental study of second language acquisition of reflexive binding. Data from field work on the coreference properties of anaphors in Serbo-Croatian are discussed in terms of standard, parameterized, LF movement, and Relativized SUBJECT approaches to Binding Theory. Recent versions of the theory identify a categorial distinction between morphologically simple ($ rm X sp circ$) and complex (XP) anaphor types as a crucial factor in determining coreference relations between reflexive pronouns and their syntactic antecedents. / The predictions of a morphological approach to the Binding Theory were tested in a study of the acquisition of the binding properties of English XP reflexives by native speakers of Serbo-Croatian, a language with $ rm X sp circ$ reflexives. Acquisition of the English binding pattern by this group of L2 learners requires recognition of the morphological complexity of English reflexives. Prior to reanalysis, learners are predicted to produce an incorrect L1 coreference pattern in the L2 environment. / Two sentence comprehension tasks were administered to adolescent and adult Serbo-Croatian speaking L2 learners of English and similar groups of English native speaker controls. Picture identification and multiple choice comprehension tasks produced convergent results with significant differences between control (n = 47) and L2 learner (n = 73) interpretations of reflexives in complex noun phrases and object control infinitival sentences. Their pattern of interpretation shows evidence of transfer of the $ rm X sp circ$ anaphor type found in Serbo-Croatian to the target grammar and suggests L2 learners are able to apply a deductive system constrained by Universal Grammar to compute binding domains in second language acquisition.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-68).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Stockholm, 1986.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Leipzig, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-279).