Le contexte algérien est fait de plusieurs langues en contact, dont les interactions varient suivant les situations géographiques, socio-culturelles et socio-économiques observées. Leur coexistence/leur concurrence créent des situations d’enseignement/apprentissage complexes et particulières, dont l’étude précise est nécessaire pour que l’école algérienne puisse tirer parti de la richesse du plurilinguisme, car actuellement le plurilinguisme est la règle et le monolinguisme est l’exception. Cela dit, il est à noter que l’arabe standard moderne tout comme le français ne constituent nullement la langue maternelle du locuteur algérien même si l’on retrouve ces deux langues dans des domaines multiples et variés comme les média, l’administration, l’économie, les sciences…néanmoins un conflit existe et perdure, ce sont les parlers du quotidien, les idiomes locaux, régionaux qui dominent dans ce pays et qui influent sur ce processus d’enseignement/apprentissage des deux langues . / The algerian context is composed of several languages in contact, of which the interactions varie according to the geographical locations, sociocultural and socio-economic observed. Their coexistence/their competition create sophisticated and particular situations of teaching and learning. Their precises studies are necessary so that the algerian school takes advantage of the richness of the plurilingualism, because currently the plurilingualism is the rule and the monolingualism is the exception. However, it should be noted that neither modern standard arabic nor french constitute the mother tongue of any algerian speaker even if one finds these two languages in multiple and varied fields such as the media, the administration, the economy, sciences… nevertheless a conflict exists and continues : it is a matter of the daily speeches, the local and regional idioms which dominate in this country with their influence on the process of teaching and learning these two languages .

The present study present study explored the relationships among language use, phonological skill, and vocabulary development for 36 Cuban and Puerto Rican ELL preschoolers. Family-level variables included mother's education level and mother's language ability. Three-way ANOVAs were used to investigate the relationships among child- and family-level variables and children's performance on articulation (completeness of phonetic inventory (CPI) and proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP)) and language measures (Picture Vocabulary (PV) and Memory for Sentences (MS) subtests of the WLPB-R) in English and Spanish. Regression and correlational analyses were conducted to describe relationships between variables. Findings indicated that children in all language groups (predominantly English speaking, predominantly Spanish speaking and bilingual) demonstrated strong phonological skills, as measured by CPI and PWP, in both languages. Strength in phonological skill appeared to be related to frequency of language use, especially in English. Similarities in children's phonetic inventories across languages suggested that exposure to two languages does not interfere with phonological development in ELL children. The fact that English and Spanish share many of the same phonemes may contribute to this finding. Results for the PWPs were consistent with the findings from the CPI analyses. PWPs were found to predict children's English vocabulary level in the early stages of dual language learning. A predictive relationship was found between mother's English language ability and child's phonological skill, suggesting that when more English was used in the home, children exhibited greater English phonological production skills. In addition, mother's Spanish language ability was shown to predict child's Spanish vocabulary knowledge. This finding supports the use of the native language in the home. While phonological skill was a strength, language skills, as measured by the PV and MS subtests, were significantly below average. With the exception of the PE group in English, all children performed more than 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for both subtests in both languages, suggesting that they are not acquiring sufficient vocabulary knowledge to support academic learning in either language. It is suggested that delivery of adequate vocabulary instruction that meets the needs of these ELL children requires collaboration between teachers and speech-language pathologists.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if girls of preschool ages find more success in learning letters of the alphabet, their sounds, and simple two and three letter words formed from these letters, than boys of similar ages; and in addition to compare the achievement of three-year -old children to that of four-year-old children. The children were introduced to six letters of the alphabet and the sound associated with these l etters. They were then introduced to sixteen two and three-letter words that could be formed from these letters. At the conclusion of the ten tasks, a post test was administered and the results were studied to compare the achievement of girls to boys and three-year-old children to four-year-old children. It was found that there is no appreciable difference between the scores of girl s and boys, nor is the difference between the scores of three-year-old children and four-year-old children meaningful.

There are competing theories in the literature regarding the extent to which the translation of print to speech involves single or multiple routes. Regardless of the number of routes in a model, all models of reading must account for both sight vocabulary (SV) processing, which specializes in mapping whole-word representations, and phonetic decoding (PD) processing, which specializes in mapping sub-word representations. The purpose of the present work was to examine two hypotheses regarding the relationship between SV and PD: independence versus redundancy. Both behavioural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments were conducted and the results supported the hypothesis that SV and PD are behaviourally and neurobiologically independent processes. Furthermore, in the interest of advancing all models of basic word recognition, the neurobiological representations of some of the sub-systems within SV and PD routes were explored and the contribution that particular brain regions make to the completion of naming particular stimuli was evaluated. Finally, basic and applied areas of research were integrated to demonstrate how diagnostic stimuli developed from basic reading research can inform us about impaired reading performance following traumatic brain injury.

Kitabu hiki kinaleta matumaini makubwa ya kuwawezesha wengi ku-soma juu ya lugha yao na kuamsha hamasa ya kujifunza zaidi juu ya lugha hii tukufu na lugha nyingine za kiafrika.

none

The present study aimed to investigate whether students¡¦ error types in word recognition would be contingent upon teaching strategies. Based on the perspectives of feature-matching theory in pattern recognition, it was predicted that, the phonetic compound strategy would reduce the error rate in the recognition of the picto-phonetic character, whereas the radical recognition strategy would lower the error rate in the recognition of the radical character. A quasi-experiment was conducted in which ninety-nine 4th-grade elementary students were assigned to three groups receiving phonetic compound strategy, radical recognition strategy, and distributed recognition strategy respectively. The dependent measures consisted of shape error rate and pronunciation error rate. The results showed that those students who received the phonetic compound strategy exhibited lower shape and pronunciation error rates of the picto-phonetic character than the students who received the distributed recognition strategy. On the other hand, those students who received the radical recognition strategy exhibited lower shape error rate of the radical character than the students who received the distributed recognition strategy. Regarding the interaction of character types and error types within a specific teaching strategy, for those students who received the phonetic compound strategy, the shape error rate of the picto-phonetic character was lower than the pronunciation error rate of the radical character. For those students who received the radical recognition strategy, both the shape and pronunciation error rates of the radical character were lower than those of the picto-phonetic character. The contingent relationships between teaching strategies and error types in word recognition were partially supported by empirical data. Possible reason would be that the pronunciation might produce a more prominent facilitation effect than that of the shape in Chinese word recognition. Finally, implications for teaching strategies in word recognition and directions for future research are also discussed.

This dissertation assesses a new technique intended to improve Arabic learning outcomes by enhancing the ability of learners to perceive a phoneme contrast in Arabic that is notoriously difficult for native speakers of English. Adopting a process approach to foreign language listening comprehension pedagogy, we identify and isolate an important listening subskill, phonemic identification, and develop a methodology for improving that skill. An online training system is implemented that is based upon known principles of speech perception and second language speech learning and has previously been used to improve phonemic perception in a laboratory setting. An empirical study investigating the efficacy of the training methodology was conducted with 24 2nd and 3rd year students of Arabic in several different intensive Arabic programs in American universities. The contrast under investigation was the Arabic pharyngeal (/h̄/) versus laryngeal (/h/) voiceless fricatives. Training participants completed 100 training modules, each consisting of a 24 item minimal pair test featuring the /h̄/-/h/ contrast in word initial position for a total of 2400 training trials over 4 weeks. The training website design was based on the high variability training protocol (Logan, Lively & Pisoni, 1991). The experiment finds significantly greater improvement (F₁,₂₂=8.89, p = .007, [mathematical symbol]₂ = .288) on a minimal pair test contrasting /h̄/ and /h/ for a group that received approximately 5 hours of phonetic training (n=10) compared to a control group (n=14) with no training. Critically, these perceptual improvements were measured with stimuli that were not part of the training set, suggesting language learning and not just stimulus learning. Qualitative data from participants suggested that these perceptual gains were not restricted to the simple minimal pair task, but carried over to listening activities and perhaps even pronunciation. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of phonemic perception and foreign language instruction and implementation of phonetic training within an Arabic curriculum. / text

Consonant assimilation between noncontiguous consonants within words is one of the characteristic error patterns for children reported in observations of the earliest periods of speech acquisition. Previous analyses of consonant assimilation in young children have been based on formal phonological theories. However, phonological perspectives do not provide comprehensive explanations for potential mechanisms underlying children’s output forms when they are different from adult forms. The present study tests the hypothesis that functionalist phonetic approaches have the potential to provide a more comprehensive explanation for assimilation patterns in children’s speech output. Consonant assimilation patterns were observed from the onset of word use (approximately 12 months) to 36 months of age in ten English-speaking children. Assimilated forms in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) and consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel (CVCV) words produced by these children were analyzed. Predictions based on the Frame/Content perspective were evaluated relative to place and manner characteristics, vowel context, word level, and development over time. Results confirmed the prediction that motorically less available forms assimilate to more available forms in children acquiring ambient language speech patterns. Labial and coronal place of articulation more frequently motivated assimilation than dorsal. Stop and nasal manner of articulation more frequently motivated assimilation than fricative. The vowel context effects in assimilated forms were stronger for lingual consonants than labials and greater for CVCV more than CVC word forms. A word shape effect was observed related to place characteristics, direction of assimilation, and vowel context. A word position effect was observed for manner assimilations. Analysis of developmental trends revealed that children maintained a preference for motorically available forms in assimilations. The vowel context effects decreased over time. These findings suggest that patterns of consonant assimilation in these children are strongly motivated by behaviors already available within their production system capacities from the pre-linguistic babbling period, rather than being driven by patterns found in the targets they are attempting. Results also suggest that perceptual influences from language input may influence assimilation patterns to a lesser extent. Functionalist phonetic approaches that emphasize the understating of the production system and perceptual influences played a seminal role in understanding of children’s speech development relative to assimilation patterns. / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics