No description available.

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.

No description available.

No description available.

Degree: MA in Psychology by Coursework and Research Report, 2016 / A comprehensive study has demonstrated that language experience provides cognitive benefits above the attainment of a second language (Bialystok, Craik, Green & Gollan, 2009) and thus it is purported that being a bi/multilingual stimulates memory and other executive functions (Jessner, 1999).The relation between language experience and verbal working memory and visual and verbal long-term memory was explored by assessing 30 healthy, young multilingual adults. The instruments that were used for this study are as follows: The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) which rated self-reported language experience/s, the Letter-Number Sequencing subtest from the WAIS-IV which assessed verbal working memory, the Visual Reproduction (VR) subtest from the WMS-IV which evaluated visual long-term memory and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) which measured verbal memory and learning. The results of the ANOVA statistics found that there was a correlation between language experience and verbal long-term memory (which was measured by utilising the RAVLT), but no links between language experience and verbal working memory and visual long-term memory were found. The results suggest that the language experience of young, multilingual adult South Africans is not related with verbal working memory and visual long-term memory. / MT2017

Lexical acquisition requires the ability to identify word boundaries in a continuous auditory speech stream. This complex task is even more challenging when learning a new language in adulthood. Previous studies have shown that word boundary identification can be enhanced by pairing musical tones with native language phonemes. The objective of this dissertation study was to investigate whether musical tones also have this effect in a novel pseudo-language that uses non-native speech sounds. The N400, a brain event-related potential that has been linked with familiarity responses and detection of statistical regularities during exposure to pseudowords, provides an index of brain activation associated with semantico-lexical processing. In this study, language-like stimuli incorporating a French phoneme (a high, front, rounded vowel that is not part of the English phonetic inventory) were presented to typically developing English monolingual adults. Participants were presented to one of two types of exposure conditions for 7 minutes: monotone presentation of the concatenated language-like stimuli; or the same speech stream with a musical tone associated with each syllable. The exposure protocol was based on Schön, Boyer, Moreno et. al. (2008). Exposure was followed by a lexical decision task, requiring participants to distinguish “words” (heard during the exposure in a concatenated speech stream) from “part words” (end of one word and the beginning of another, crossing word boundaries). High-density EEG was recorded during the lexical decision and analyzed offline to determine N400 event-related responses to the stimuli in each condition. Although behavioral measures did not reveal any significant differences between groups or conditions, we found a N4 significantly different response to “partword” in the tone-exposed group, compared to the monotone. This difference only occurred in a frontal region with a right-hemisphere bias, and was not found to be significant over the left hemisphere. This difference suggests that participants in the tone group were supported in differentiating “words” from “partwords”, supporting the view that the inclusion of tonal information is beneficial in the early stages of L2 lexical learning.

Kong, Ying Yuk. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-142). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter CHAPTER ONE: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO: --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Corrective Feedback --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Focus on Form (FonF) --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Different Forms of Corrective Feedback --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The Role of Corrective Feedback in SLA --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Summary --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3 --- Interaction and Language Development --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Input during Interaction and SLA --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Output during Interaction and SLA --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4 --- Definition(s) of Recasts --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Long's Definition of Recasts (2007) --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Other Forms of Recasts in Classroom Settings --- p.20 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Summary --- p.21 / Chapter 2.5 --- The Supporting Side FOR the Role of Recasts --- p.21 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- High Frequency of Occurrence --- p.21 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Increase Learners' Noticing --- p.22 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Empirical Support --- p.23 / Chapter 2.6 --- The Opposing Side AGAINST the Role of Recasts in SLA --- p.23 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Recasts and its Ambiguity --- p.23 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Recasts， Repair and Uptake --- p.24 / Chapter 2.6.3 --- Summary --- p.28 / Chapter 2.7 --- Recasts and its Saliency --- p.29 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- General Overview of the Forms of Recasts in Previous Studies --- p.29 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- : Doughty and Varela (1998) --- p.30 / Chapter 2.7.3 --- Leeman (2003) --- p.31 / Chapter 2.7.4 --- Lowen and Philp's Study (2006) --- p.34 / Chapter 2.7.5 --- Summary --- p.35 / Chapter 2.8 --- Noticing and SLA --- p.35 / Chapter 2.8.1 --- Attention，Noticing and Understanding --- p.36 / Chapter 2.8.2 --- Difficulty in Operationalizing 'Noticing' --- p.38 / Chapter 2.8.3 --- Summary: Saliency of Recasts，Noticing and Uptake --- p.40 / Chapter 2.9 --- The Notion of Learnability --- p.41 / Chapter 2.9.1 --- Processability Theory (PT) --- p.41 / Chapter 2.9.2 --- Relationship between Learnability and Provision of Feedback --- p.44 / Chapter 2.10 --- Pilot Study (2007) --- p.45 / Chapter 2.10.1 --- The Aim of the Pilot Study --- p.45 / Chapter 2.10.2 --- Methods --- p.45 / Chapter 2.10.3 --- General Results and Discussions --- p.47 / Chapter 2.10.4 --- Modification of the Instrumentation --- p.49 / Chapter 2.10.5 --- Summary --- p.50 / Chapter 2.11 --- Research Questions --- p.51 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- METHODOLOGY --- p.54 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.54 / Chapter 3.2 --- Participants --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3 --- Target Structure --- p.55 / Chapter 3.4 --- Materials --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Testing Tasks --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Treatment Tasks --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.3. --- Others --- p.58 / Chapter 3.5 --- Design --- p.58 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Salient Recasts vs. Non-Salient Recasts --- p.58 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Participants ´ة Developmental Level --- p.59 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Participants ' Responses to Recasts --- p.60 / Chapter 3.6 --- Procedures --- p.61 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Pre-Test --- p.62 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Treatments --- p.63 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Post-Test and Delayed Post-Test --- p.63 / Chapter 3.7 --- Data Processing --- p.64 / Chapter 3.8 --- Data Analysis --- p.65 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- GENERAL STATISTICAL RESULTS FROM SPSS --- p.66 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.66 / Chapter 4.2 --- General Results --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- General Mean Scores of the Testing Tasks --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Participants ' Responses to Recasts --- p.70 / Chapter 4.3 --- Answer to Research Question 1 --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- Answer to Research Question 2 --- p.84 / Chapter 4.5 --- Answer to Research Question 3 --- p.89 / Chapter 4.6 --- Answer to Research Question 4 --- p.97 / Chapter 4.7 --- Conclusion --- p.100 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- DISCUSSION --- p.103 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.103 / Chapter 5.2 --- Discussion about Each Research Question --- p.103 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Discussion about Research Question 1 --- p.104 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Discussion about Research Question 2 --- p.108 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Discussion about Research Question 3 --- p.111 / Chapter 5.2.4 --- Discussion about Research Question 4 --- p.116 / Chapter 5.3 --- "Input Saliency, Uptake, Noticing and Long-term Memory" --- p.119 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Input Saliency vs. Noticing --- p.120 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Input Saliency vs. Uptake vs. Noticing --- p.123 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Input Saliency vs. Input´ةs Long-term Memory --- p.124 / Chapter 5.4 --- Conclusion --- p.126 / Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- "PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH" --- p.127 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.127 / Chapter 6.2 --- Pedagogical Implications --- p.127 / Chapter 6.3 --- Limitations of the Current Study --- p.131 / Chapter 6.4 --- Suggestions for Future Research --- p.133 / REFERENCES --- p.135 / APPENDIX I TESTINF TASK / APPENDIX II TREATMENT TASK / APPENDEX III-VIII SPSS Outputs

This study investigated the underlying factor structure of second language (L2) cloze test performance as explained by a theoretical model including the following hypothetical constructs: cloze-taking ability, knowledge of language, knowledge of text content, and knowledge of contextual constraints. Eight cloze tests reflecting the posited factors were constructed and administered to 182 Francophone, university-level students. The factors were examined separately and in combination through a causal model building process. A model composed of three orthogonal factors was confirmed and accepted as the best explanation of the data. The results indicate that cloze performance is dependent upon knowledge of a specific language (second language or first language) and nonlinguistic-specific knowledge related to close-taking ability that crosses over linguistic boundaries. Cloze has been considered as an overall L2 proficiency measure. This study empirically demonstrates that factors other than language are significantly contributing to cloze performance. It also demonstrates the potential of a causal modeling approach.

In L2 performance assessment, raters can significantly affect test validity due to rater variability, a source of construct-irrelevant variance in scores caused by differences in raters’ characteristics rather than test takers’ ability. To improve scoring validity, we must investigate what rater characteristics are likely to contribute to rater variability. The current study thus investigated the combined effects of three major rater characteristics, i.e., rater expertise, working memory capacity (WMC), and cognitive functionality, on raters’ scoring performance in L2 speaking assessment. Exploring these questions may increase our understanding of what rater-associated factors contribute to rater variability, thereby shedding light on rater selection, training, and scoring practices. To this end, 90 raters from the US and the UK participated in two parts of the study. In Part I, the 90 raters completed a rater background survey designed to measure their L2 performance assessment-related experience, scored 27 responses from the Aptis speaking test, and completed one verbal working memory task. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to explore: 1) the relative contributions of rater expertise and WMC to scoring performance, and 2) any possible interaction between the two characteristics in their joint influences on scoring performance. Results from the analysis indicate that rater expertise had a significant effect on raters’ scoring accuracy. However, WMC was not found to significantly influence raters’ scoring performance. In addition, no significant interaction was found between rater expertise and WMC, which suggests independent influences of these two characteristics on scoring performance. In Part II, six out of the 90 raters were randomly selected to participate in a cognitive lab session, where they scored three Aptis spoken responses and verbally reported their thinking process during scoring. The raters’ reports were coded and analyzed based on a hypothesized taxonomy of rater strategies invoked in the L2 scoring process. Fourteen major strategies were identified from the raters’ verbal reports. Differences were also found in the expert and novice raters’ quantity and quality of strategy use. These findings have revealed the mental mechanisms underlying raters’ scoring performance and associated differences in the raters’ strategy use to different levels of rater expertise.

No description available.