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This thesis is placed in the context of the ongoing debate on the issue whether second language acquisition occurs on the basis of innate language-specific learning mechanisms or general learning mechanisms. The author shares the view of scholars who propose that an innate knowledge base underlying first language acquisition does not extend to second language acquisition due to the lack of uniform success in the acquisition of native speaker competence, the possibility of fossilisation and the facilitative potential of form-focused instruction. It is, thus, assumed that the sequential second language acquisition process can be accounted for by general learning mechanisms. The key to these learning mechanisms is, firstly, the investigation of the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures for speech production in the context of M. Pienemann’s (1998a) Processability Theory and, secondly, the investigation of the nature of its acquisition process. Pienemann’s Processability Theory explains and predicts the sequential acquisition process of a second language as the result of the hierarchically ordered development of the processing procedures of the grammatical processor to grammatically encode conceptual information. It shares with Levelt’s (1989) theory of speech production the assumptions concerning the nature of the knowledge underlying the grammatical encoding procedures, which require further investigations for verification. Since the Processability Theory does not specify how the assumed knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is acquired, an investigation of the nature of its acquisition process is necessary. This investigation highlights the interdependence between the nature of the knowledge to be acquired and the nature of its acquisition process by demonstrating that the knowledge underlying grammatical encoding is predominantly implicit and, consequently, determines the implicit nature of its acquisition process. Such implicit knowledge is dissociated from explicit knowledge, which determines the explicit nature of its acquisition process. This investigation also demonstrates that explicit grammar teaching and practice in the context of the manipulation of the learners’ attentional orientation mediated by alertness may contribute to the implicit learning process under certain conditions. In conjunction with the provision of guidance by the Processability Theory in regard to the achievement of instructional focus and the independent finding that comprehensible input is needed in order for second language acquisition to occur, these results constitute the basis for the formulation of detailed instructional measures for the effective organisation of the sequential second language acquisition process. These measures are exemplified by their implementation for the initial stages of the acquisition of German as a second language. / PhD Doctorate

This thesis investigates the acquisition of the copula be in present Simple Tense in English by native speakers of Russian. The aim of the study is to determine whether or not Russian students with different levels of English proficiency encounter any problems while using the copula be in Present Simple Tense in English. The study also identifies the domains related to the use of the copula be that appear to be most problematic for native speakers of Russian. To carry out the current research two diagnostic tests measuring receptive and productive skills related to the use of the copula be in Present Simple Tense in English were developed. The data were collected from three groups of Russian students who were in the first, fourth and eighth years of learning English. The data in each of the domains related to the use of the copula be in Present Simple Tense in English were classified under four main categories: (i) correct use, (ii) omission, (iii) misinformation, (iv) addition. Both, quantitative and qualitative analyses were used in the study. The results of the study indicated that all the native speakers of Russian who participated in the study had difficulties with the acquisition of the copula be in Present Simple Tense in English. The findings of the study revealed that along with the developmental mistakes/errors (i.e., omissions of the copula be and misuse of the forms of the copula be), which seem to disappear with the lasting exposure to English, there are other mistakes/errors in the performance of the native speakers of Russian which are persistent. Negative transfer at the morphological level and incomplete understanding and application of the rule are suggested as the underlying reasons for the persistent mistakes/errors made by the Russian learners.

This study investigates the refusal realizations of native speakers of American English (AE), Turkish (TUR) and Turkish learners of English with advanced level of proficiency (TRE). It aims to uncover the refusal strategies of young AE, TUR and TRE in conversations between equals and also to uncover if the learners display pragmatic transfer in their refusal strategies. In addition to this, the extent to which the social variables of level of closeness and refusal eliciting acts affect the refusal productions of each group is pursued. The thesis also aimed to provide an explanation for the rapport management orientations of the three examined groups when refusing equal-status interlocutors. To this end, the data are collected from three different groups using a Discourse Completion Test (DCT), which is developed out of the situations in a TV Serial. The analysis of data is done manually and each refusal is coded. CLAN CHILDES is utilized in order to see the typical combinations of refusal semantic formulae used by three groups. Later, PASW is used to run descriptive statistics and calculate the frequency and percentages of refusal strategies/semantic formulae. The results of the study show that refusals and rapport management orientations while refusing status equal interlocutors are culture and situation specific and they differ both cross-culturally and intra-culturally. Research findings also reveal that TRE often produce pragmatically appropriate refusals because refusal strategies they use correspond to those of AE. However, there are some cases in which the evidence of pragmatic transfer are observed with respect to the frequency of certain semantic formula usages.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-212).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 81-84).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-84). Also available in print.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Department of Linguistics, 2007. / Bibliography: 269-288.

Second language acquisition (SLA) is seldom entirely successful with adult learners. It has been suggested that all second language (L2) learners, in the process of mastering a target language (TL), develop a linguistic system that is self-contained and different from both the learner's native language and the TL. This system is referred to as 'interlanguage' (lL). In the process of SLA, IL evolves into an ever-closer approximation of the TL, and ideally, a learner's IL should continue to advance until it becomes equivalent to the TL. However, it has been observed that somewhere in the L2 learning process, IL may reach one or more plateaus during which the development of the IL is delayed or arrested. A permanent cessation of progress toward the TL is referred to as 'fossilization'. Researchers in SLA agree that motivation is one of the key factors influencing language-learning success and studies suggest that some language learning motivation may be related to the need for achievement. The purpose of this research was to establish if adult ESL learners are aware of fossilization and, to examine if motivation, and more specifically achievement motivation, is a factor in IL fossilization. The participants in this study consisted of 15 ESL learners in Puerto Rico who had at least eight years of formal ESL training. The instrument used to gather information included a questionnaire to obtain demographical and qualifying data, an 'English Language Proficiency Evaluation' to determine levels of IL fossilization, a 'Measure of Achievement Motivation' to ascertain achievement motive, and individual and group interviews in order to ascertain perception(s) regarding the role of motivation on fossilization and perceptions regarding the barriers to achieving TL competency. The research demonstrated that there is a moderate to strong positive relationship between IL fossilization and achievement motivation, i.e., high achievement motive is correlated to TL competency and descending levels of achievement motive are correlated to ascending levels of IL fossilization. The findings have significant implications for both ESL learning and instruction, and suggest that not all IL fossilization may be permanent.

La présente thèse est dédiée à l'étude du système vocalique de l'interlangue desMarocains étudiant la langue italienne (LE), et ce dans le but de déterminer lalangue qui a le plus d’influence sur la prononciation correcte des voyellesitaliennes: l’arabe (LM) ou le français (L2).La partie expérimentale de l’étude a eu lieu au sein de la Faculté de Ain Chock-Casablanca, au cours de l'année scolaire 2012-2013. Dans le but de constituer unebase de données, sur laquelle cette étude est basée, des étudiants ont étéenregistrés en train de lire une liste de phrases contenant des paires minimales.Pour vérifier leur prononciation nous nous sommes appuyé sur un groupe decontrôle natif de langue italienne. Toutes les données ont été, dans une secondephase, traitées avec Praat et analysées dans une feuille de calcul Excel (LFSAG).Pour la visualisation des voyelles nous avons utilisé le plan classique F1-F2.Après avoir analysé les différentes erreurs de prononciation des voyellesitaliennes, nous avons remarqué qu’elles sont souvent attribuables à des difficultésphonologiques dues à l'échange des phonèmes /i/ avec /e/ et /u/ avec /o/ et viceversa.Les résultats obtenus révèlent que l'interférence de la langue française estmoins importante et qu’elle se produit uniquement dans le cas des mots qui ont lemême aspect graphique. Aussi, l’étude réalisée montre que l’arabe est la languequi influe le plus sur la prononciation des voyelles italiennes.En effet, une analyse du système phonologique de la langue arabe et du dialectemarocain révèle qu’il se caractérise par des modalités d’articulation secondairesramenées traditionnellement au concept d’emphase. Ces dernières modifient letimbre de la consonne affectée qui, à son tour, détermine le timbre de la voyellequi l’entoure. Si l'articulation des voyelles italiennes est indépendante du contexteconsonantique, celle des voyelles arabes est en partie dépendante de la consonnequi les précède ou qui les suit. Au contact avec une consonne emphatique, letimbre des voyelles change, le /u/ est articulé comme [o], et le /i/ comme un [e] etvice-versa.Les résultats obtenus dans cette recherche confirment que les facteurs influençantla prononciation des voyelles italiennes sont les modalités emphatiques présentesen arabe. Ces difficultés peuvent être surmontées à l’aide d’exercices spécifiquespermettant aux étudiants d’acquérir de nouvelles habitudes d'articulation menant àune bonne prononciation de la langue italienne / This thesis is dedicated to the analysis of the vocalic system of the interlanguageof Moroccan students of Italian (FL). The aim of this work is to determine whichis the language that has the biggest influence on the pronunciation of Italianvowels: Arabic (NL) or French (L2).The empirical part of this research took place in the faculty of Ain Chock-Casablanca, during the academic year 2012-2013. The informants, on whose datathe research is based, were been recorded while reading a list of sentences whichcontains minimal pairs. In order to verify the correct pronunciation we used acontrol group of Italian natives (recorded at the University of Turin). All the oraldata were treated with PRAAT and analyzed in an electronic document (LFSAG).For visualization of the vowel spaces we opted for the measurement of the firstand the second formants and their display in F1-F2 diagrams.After analyzing the different errors of pronunciation of the Italian vowels wenoticed that they are attributable to phonological difficulties due to vocalicexchange of the phonemes /e/ with /i/ and /o/ with /u/ and vice-versa. Additionallythe results show that the interference of the French language less than expected,and only occurs when there are two words with the same graphical aspect. Arabic,on the other hand, as the mother tongue of all the informants, is the languagewhich has the most effect on the pronunciation Italian vowels.The analysis of the phonological system of both Moroccan and standard Arabichas revealed that it is characterized by secondary articulation manners which aretraditionally attributed to emphasis, which modifies the timbre of the consonant.The consonant in its turn change that of the adjacent vowel. While the articulationof the Italian vowels is more independent from the consonantal context, thearticulation of the Arabic vowels appears to be dependent on the context sincetheir timbre depends partially on the preceding and following consonants: if theseare emphatic, then the vowel is emphatic ([e], [o]), and if they are not emphatic,then the vowel is non emphatic ([i], [u]).The results obtained in this research confirm that what affects the pronunciation ofthe vowels are the emphatic modes present in Moroccan and standard Arabic.These difficulties can be overcome with specific exercises, which allow thestudents to acquire new articulatory habits in order to reach a good pronunciationof the Italian language. / La presente tesi è dedicata all’analisi del sistema vocalico dell’interlingua deglistudenti marocchini di italiano (LS) per risalire alla lingua che interferisce di piùsulla corretta pronuncia delle vocali italiane: arabo (LM) o francese (L2).La parte empirica si è svolta presso la Facoltà di Ain Chock-Casablanca (FLSU),durante l’anno scolastico 2012-2013. Gli informanti, sui cui dati si basa la ricerca,sono stati registrati mentre leggevano una lista di frasi contenenti coppie minime.Per verificare la loro pronuncia ci siamo affidati a un gruppo di controllo nativo diitaliano (registrato presso l’Università di Torino). Tutti i dati orali sono statitrattati in una seconda fase con PRAAT e analizzati in un foglio elettronicopredisposto per la rappresentazione dei grafici (LFSAG). Per la visualizzazionedelle vocali abbiamo optato per la misura della prima e della seconda formante ela rappresentazione sui classici diagrammi F1 - F2.Dopo aver analizzato i diversi errori di pronuncia delle vocali italiane abbiamonotato che sono prevalentemente riconducibili a difficoltà fonologiche dovute alloscambio vocalico del fonema /e/ col fonema /i/ e del fonema /o/ col fonema /u/ eviceversa. I risultati ottenuti rivelano che l’interferenza della lingua francese èminore del previsto e si verifica quando si hanno due parole che presentano lostesso aspetto grafico. Quanto all’arabo è la lingua che influisce molto di più sullapronuncia delle vocali italiane essendo la madrelingua di tutti gli informanti.In effetti, l’analisi del sistema fonologico sia dell’arabo marocchino sia di quellostandard, rivela che si caratterizza per la presenza di modalità articolatoriesecondarie, ricondotte tradizionalmente alla cosiddetta enfasi che cambia il timbrodella consonate che a sua volta cambia quello della vocale adiacente. Sel’articolazione delle vocali italiane risulta più indipendente dal contestoconsonantico, quella delle vocali arabe, invece, avviene in modo dipendente dalcontesto dato che il loro timbro dipende in parte dalla consonante che precede osegue, cioè se è enfatica ne consegue una vocale enfatica ([e], [o]), e se invecenon è enfatica ne consegue una vocale non enfatica ([i], [u]).I risultati ottenuti in questa ricerca confermano che ciò che influisce sullapronuncia delle vocali italiane sono le modalità enfatiche presenti sia in dialettomarocchino sia in lingua araba. Tali difficoltà possono essere superate con degliesercizi specifici permettendo agli studenti di acquisire nuove abitudiniarticolatorie cui consegue una buona pronuncia della lingua italiana