Languages, Literatures, & Cultures Theses and Dissertations
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Item DO MEASURES OF INDIVIDUAL WORDS AND FORMULAIC SEQUENCES TAP INTO THE SAME TRAIT: THE PERSPECTIVE OF ASSESSMENT AND THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PHONOLOGICAL SHORT-TERM MEMORY AND EXPOSURE(2024) Deng, Zhiyuan; Hui, Bronson; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Nativelike language use is characterized by a high level of formulaicity (Pawley & Syder, 1983; Sinclair, 1991), and formulaic sequences are often believed to be building blocks of language acquisition (Christiansen & Arnon, 2017) and crucial to language fluency (Saito, 2020). Although they consist of multiple words and are analyzable, some researchers argued that the knowledge of formulaic sequences is largely lexical in nature, i.e., stored and processed holistically without recourse to analysis (Wray, 2002). Wray (2008) further proposed a heteromorphic view of mental lexicon, pushing the boundary of vocabulary to encompass not only individual words but also larger-than-word units such as formulaic sequences. The main purpose of the present study was to empirically test this proposal from the perspective of assessment, i.e., see if measures of formulaic sequences tap into the same latent construct underlying measures of individual words. In addition, the present study also investigated the contributions of phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and exposure to the knowledge of formulaic sequences and individual words. The study was carried out in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, and 136 Chinese participants of intermediate to advanced proficiency completed a battery of nine linguistic measures assessing their receptive and controlled productive knowledge of collocations, phrasal verbs, and individual words. In addition, their capacity of PSTM was measured by a non-word span test, and their engagement in various types of English-medium activities was measured by an exposure questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and model comparisons were conducted to examine the factor structure of nine linguistic measures, and a bi-factor solution with a single latent trait factor underlying all nine linguistic measures and a method-specific grouping factor for all six receptive measures was selected as the best-fitting model in terms of fit and parsimony. In addition, structural equation modeling revealed that PSTM, exposure, and length of learning English were all significant predictors for the knowledge of formulaic sequences and the knowledge of individual words. The three predictors combined explained about 33.4% of variance in the knowledge of formulaic sequences and 30.9% of the variance in the knowledge of individual words. However, the contributions of PSTM and exposure to the knowledge of formulaic sequences and to the knowledge of individual words were not significantly different in magnitude. The results provided psychometric evidence supporting the legitimacy of conceptualizing a heteromorphic mental lexicon showing that measures of formulaic sequences and individual words tapped into the same latent trait.Item THE CROSS-LANGUAGE ACTIVATION OF FIRST LANGUAGE (L1) HOMONYMS TRANSLATIONS IN SECOND LANGUAGE (L2) PROCESSING: AN INVESTIGATION OF WHETHER L1 TRANSLATION ARE ACTIVATED IN L2 SENTENCE CONTEXT(2024) Alsalmi, Mona Othman; Jiang, Nan; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A present study aimed to investigate the role of a first language (L1) translation on a second language (L2) word processing in a sentential context by relatively advanced Arabic learners of English. The focus is on cases where a homonymous word in the L1 is realized by independent words in the L2, (e.g. Arabic قرش realized by English shark and coin). Using the visual-world paradigm, Arabic-English bilinguals and English native participants were auditorily presented with English sentences that are predictive of a target word (e.g., “shark” in Scuba divers saw the sharp teeth of a giant shark yesterday) while looking at a visual screen. The screen contained one of the three critical objects: a target object whose English name corresponded to the target word (shark; Arabic: قرش) in the target condition, an Arabic competitor object whose Arabic name shared the same Arabic translation with the target word (coin; Arabic: قرش) in the Arabic condition, or an object that was unrelated to the target word (drums; Arabic طبل) in the control condition.Compared to native speakers of English, relatively advanced Saudi learners of English made more fixations on the critical objects in the Arabic condition compared to the control condition. This study supports the potential automatic activation of L1 translations when processing sentences in L2, even in relatively proficient learners and suggests evidence for the verification model in L2 word recognition.Item A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY GROWTH(2023) Mackey, Beth; Gor, Kira; Bolger, Donald; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The U.S. Military Services employ thousands of servicemen and women in language-related positions that are critical to the nation’s national security. These positions require personnel with high-level capability in various languages and dialects (Asch & Winkler, 2013). A complex accession and training system that begins at local recruiting stations across the nation leads to worldwide placement of language professionals who serve multiyear tours in the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. High levels of cognitive ability, as measured by two cognitive aptitude batteries, one general (ASVAB) and one language (DLAB), are required for selection into these positions. Following significant investments in basic levels of training, the jobs themselves demand high level skills, and the service members find themselves constantly challenged to grow their skills. Traditional research on the effectiveness of the accession and training processes focuses on learning outcomes, rather than growth. This research used a longitudinal design to investigate how general aptitude, language aptitude, non-cognitive and language distance measures impact language proficiency growth. Hierarchical linear models and hierarchical generalized linear models were used and the significant findings were similar. The study found that overall, while language test scores followed a drop-and-recover pattern, there was very little growth overall. Three aptitude subtests, one from ASVAB (Mechanical Comprehension) and two DLAB subtests (Part 3 and Part 4) were found to constrain initial growth in the listening modality. Language distance was found to constrain initial and subsequent growth in listening and reading.Item INVESTIGATING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES’ PREDICTION OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OUTCOMES: A LATENT GROWTH CURVE MODELING APPROACH(2023) Rhoades, Elizabeth Rogler; Gor, Kira; Clark, Martyn; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Although decades of research within the field of second language acquisition have been dedicated to investigating the impact of individual differences on second language learners’ success, longitudinal research focused on individual differences and their impact on adult second language acquisition is extremely limited. Additional longitudinal research on individual differences is necessary to further our understanding of the nature of the process of adult second language acquisition. This area of research is also critical to the U.S. Government and the Department of Defense as thousands of military service members work in language-related positions, and these service members’ maintenance of high levels of language proficiency is critical for our nation’s national security. The current study used a longitudinal design to investigate the impact of individual differences such as general cognitive ability, language aptitude, and attitude toward learning assigned second language (L2) on military service members’ language proficiency outcomes. Latent growth curve modeling (LGM) was used to model participants’ initial proficiency levels and growth trajectories, and measures of cognitive ability, language aptitude, and attitude toward learning assigned L2 were used to measure the impact of these individual differences on language proficiency outcomes. Additional variables including GPA, age, education level, number of language training hours, billet type, and sex were also included in the analyses. The results from the four phases of analyses support the conclusion that the predictive value of individual difference factors on language proficiency outcomes differ not only by DLI Language Difficulty Category, as suggested by previous research, but also by language and even language modality.Item Individual Differences in Comprehending Japanese Scrambled Sentences(2019) Eshita, Yoko; Ross, Steven J; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study’s aim is to investigate further into the relationship between individual differences—working memory and sound recognition ability—and sentence processing of Japanese scrambled sentences for second language (L2) Japanese learners. L2 Japanese learners drawn from 3rd year college-level courses or above were tested on their listening comprehension accuracy in identifying case marking particles in canonical and scrambled sentences. Participants demonstrated a significant slowdown in reaction time and low accuracy rates for scrambled sentences compared with canonical sentences. In addition, even participants with high working memory and proficiency had difficulty in comprehending scrambled sentences and could not process case markings efficiently and accurately in a timed setting. This study is significant in that it is one of the first to examine the relationship between individual differences and comprehending Japanese case markings.Item Lexical competition in native and nonnative auditory word recognition(2018) Lancaster, Alia; Gor, Kira; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)During auditory word recognition, lexical representations that match the input as the word unfolds are activated and compete for selection. The strength of a lexical competitor during this process depends on many factors, such a frequency of occurrence. These lexical characteristics affect competition within individuals who speak primarily one language, monolinguals (e.g., Marslen-Wilson, 1987). Within those who speak two or more languages, bilinguals, the same variables induce even stronger consequences (e.g., Bradlow & Pisoni, 1999). In both speaker types, successfully managing lexical competition requires inhibiting lexical competitors according to some theories (e.g., McClelland & Elman, 1986; Norris, 1994). In bilinguals, lexical inhibition may be related to domain-general inhibition (e.g., Blumenfeld & Marian, 2011). This link is posited to underlie the bilingual advantage, which predicts that bilinguals are more efficient at managing lexical competition due to additional native and nonnative lexical competitors. This account contrasts with the entrenchment hypothesis (Diependaele et al., 2013), which states that individuals with more entrenched lexicons (i.e., monolinguals) more efficiently manage lexical competition. Both theories anticipate that domain-general inhibitory control may be a resource to manage lexical competitors. The current study seeks to answer questions relating to how different speaker groups manage lexical competition and if other cognitive resources come into play. Participants completed a visual-world task, which assessed the degree of competitor influence during target access when targets and competitors phonologically overlapped (e.g., butter-bubble) and the competitor was present. A phonological priming task investigated processing of a previously inhibited target in prime-target pairs with phonological overlap. Competitor strength was operationalized by frequency in both tasks, with higher-frequency cohort competitors predicted to be stronger lexical competitors. Participants also completed tasks measuring domain-general inhibitory control. Lexical competition was more evident in the visual-world than in the phonological priming task, and bilinguals were generally more susceptible to frequency effects in their second language, as predicted by the entrenchment hypothesis. Higher second language proficiency, a proxy for degree of lexical entrenchment, led to less competitor influence in bilinguals. Monolinguals outperformed bilinguals in domain-general inhibitory control, which did not exhibit any impact on the lexical competition process.Item SPEECH MODIFICATION TO NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS AND CONTENT DILUTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION (EMI)(2018) Al Thowaini, Assma Mohammad; Long, Michael H; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With the rapid growth of language education programs, such as Content-and-Language-Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English as a medium of instruction (EMI), research on input modification shifted perspectives. The current study investigates L2 input modification by comparing the speech of non-native speakers to that of native speakers towards low-proficiency learners of English using quantitative methods. Furthermore, the study explores the effects of these modifications on learners’ content comprehension and the possible content dilution (e.g., loss of essential information) triggered by linguistic simplification. In this experiment, two types of participants were recruited: speakers and listeners. Twenty native and advanced non-native speakers of English participated (ten of each). The speaker participants were divided into two subgroups: those with language teaching experience and those without. For the listeners, three groups were recruited: 20 native speaker controls, 20 high-proficiency, and 20 low-proficiency English learners (listeners). Each speaker narrated stories to three assigned listeners (one from each condition) in one-on-one sessions. Each session included an introduction, two warm-up stories, and three main stories. Speech was audio-recorded to examine the types of modification employed with high- and low-proficiency listeners, as opposed to native listener controls, and the effects of those modifications on story content and listener comprehension. After each story, the listeners took a content comprehension assessment. The transcripts were coded for lexical complexity (diversity and sophistication), syntactic complexity, and content dilution. The results showed a significant difference between native and non-native speakers in their speech to the three listener conditions in terms of lexical sophistication and syntactic complexity, as well as a significant difference between speakers with language teaching experience and speakers without in terms of lexical diversity. Furthermore, all speaker conditions exhibited significant linguistic modification (lexical diversity, lexical sophistication, and syntactic complexity) in their speech towards low- and high-proficiency listeners compared to their speech towards the native controls. In addition, only native speakers showed significant content dilution (measured by the count of mentioned information bits) in their speech towards high- and low-proficiency listeners. Finally, the high- and low-proficiency listeners’ scores on the content comprehension assessment were significantly lower than the scores of the native controls.Item TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRACTICE AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE ACQUISITION AND RETENTION OF L2 MANDARIN TONAL WORD PRODUCTION(2017) Li, Man; DeKeyser, Robert M; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigated the effects of temporal distribution of practice (relatively massed vs. distributed) on the learning and retention of oral Mandarin tonal word production by native English-speaking adults within the theoretical framework of skill acquisition and retention theories. The present study focused on oral production of Mandarin two-syllable words as a function of temporal distribution of practice. It also explored whether the effects of this distribution differ depending on the type of knowledge to be acquired or retained (declarative word knowledge vs. skills in oral production) and on individual differences in cognitive aptitudes (including working memory, phonological short-term memory, declarative memory, procedural memory, and musical aptitude). Eighty native English-speaking adults who did not have any prior knowledge of a tonal language completed all sessions of the study and provided data for analysis. These participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, i.e., Condition A with a 1-day ISI (intersession interval) and a 1-week RI (retention interval), Condition B with a 1-day ISI and a 4-week RI, Condition C with a 1-week ISI and a 1-week RI, and Condition D with a 1-week ISI and a 4-week RI. Each participant came in for five sessions. All participants completed a set of cognitive aptitude tests and underwent the same number and content of training sessions, which differed only on training or testing schedules. The results showed that the effects of ISI and RI differed depending on the type of knowledge/skill to be retained, declarative versus procedural. For the retention of declarative knowledge, RI had a robust effect: the longer the RI, the worse the retention. Spacing, or distributed practice seemed to improve long-term retention of declarative knowledge; however, this ISI effect was much weaker. With regard to procedural knowledge retention, ISI seems to play a role, but not RI, and it was massed practice that had an advantage over distributed practice. Musical aptitude, working memory, and declarative memory ability were found to play facilitative roles in L2 learning of Mandarin tonal word productions. Procedural memory ability was found to interact with ISI and RI for various RT outcome measures.Item EXPLICIT WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK AND LANGUAGE APTITUDE IN SLA: IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LINGUISTIC ACCURACY(2016) Benson, Susan Dianne; DeKeyser, Robert; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Most second language researchers agree that there is a role for corrective feedback in second language writing classes. However, many unanswered questions remain concerning which linguistic features to target and the type and amount of feedback to offer. This study examined two new pieces of writing by 151 learners of English as a Second Language (ESL), in order to investigate the effect of direct and metalinguistic written feedback on errors with the simple past tense, the present perfect tense, dropped pronouns, and pronominal duplication. This inquiry also considered the extent to which learner differences in language-analytic ability (LAA), as measured by the LLAMA F, mediated the effects of these two types of explicit written corrective feedback. Learners in the feedback groups were provided with corrective feedback on two essays, after which learners in all three groups completed two additional writing tasks to determine whether or not the provision of corrective feedback led to greater gains in accuracy compared to no feedback. Both treatment groups, direct and metalinguistic, performed better than the comparison group on new pieces of writing immediately following the treatment sessions, yet direct feedback was more durable than metalinguistic feedback for one structure, the simple past tense. Participants with greater LAA proved more likely to achieve gains in the direct feedback group than in the metalinguistic group, whereas learners with lower LAA benefited more from metalinguistic feedback. Overall, the findings of the present study confirm the results of prior studies that have found a positive role for written corrective feedback in instructed second language acquisition.Item AUTOMATIC ACTIVATION OF SEMANTIC REPRESENTATION DURING SECOND LANGUAGE PROCESSING(2015) AHN, SUN YOUNG; JIANG, NAN; Second Language Acquisition and Application; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study is motivated by two questions. First, can late learners of a second language (L2), who begin learning after puberty and are unbalanced bilinguals, activate or visualize the meaning of an L2 word or sentence as quickly as do first language (L1) speakers? Second, if so, what factors—such as L2 proficiency and the amount of its use—contribute to developing native–like efficient processing in L2? To address these questions, the degrees of automatic semantic activation were compared between L1 and L2 speakers through emotional involvement during word recognition and mental imagery generation during sentential reading. To this end, a total of 60 late–advanced L2 Korean speakers participated in the emotional Stroop Task and the sentence–based picture recognition task along with 36 L1 Korean speakers. The results revealed that the emotional Stroop effect was not statistically significant in the late L2 group but was significant in the L1 group; whereas the sentence–picture congruency effect was significant in both L2 and L1 groups with similar degrees. This means that late L2 Korean speakers could activate sentence meaning during L2 sentential reading as automatically as L1 speakers but could not activate word meaning as efficiently as L1 speakers. Different degrees of semantic activation among the L2 group across experiments compared to L1 speakers can be considered as cross–task variation; that is, L2 speakers exhibited native–like patterns when semantic activation was promoted but did not when constrained in the tasks (in a sentence–based picture recognition task and an emotional Stroop task, respectively). Furthermore, the results showed that the effect of L2 use was positively significant both on the emotional Stroop effect and the sentence–picture congruency effect. These findings suggest that the degree of automatic semantic activation during L2 word recognition, as well as sentence reading can be improved with increased L2 use, despite the late starting age of L2 acquisition. Overall, the present study found positive evidence that late L2 speakers may achieve native–like efficiency in reading comprehension in L2, assisted with the extensive L2 use in addition to high proficiency in L2.