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Descriptors:
Semantics; Artificial Intelligence; Foreign Countries; Instructional Effectiveness; Bilingualism; Language Processing; Simulation; English; German; French; Spanish; Italian; Indo European Languages; Translation; Databases; Correlation; Contrastive Linguistics; Language Research; Computational Linguistics

Abstract:
Researchers on bilingual processing can benefit from computational tools developed in artificial intelligence. We show that a normalized Levenshtein distance function can efficiently and reliably simulate bilingual orthographic similarity ratings. Orthographic similarity distributions of cognates and non-cognates were identified across pairs of six European languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. Semantic equivalence was determined using the conceptual structure of a translation database. By using a similarity threshold, large numbers of cognates could be selected that nearly completely included the stimulus materials of experimental studies. The identified numbers of form-similar and identical cognates correlated highly with branch lengths of phylogenetic language family trees, supporting the usefulness of the new measure for cross-language comparison. The normalized Levenshtein distance function can be considered as a new formal model of cross-language orthographic similarity. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Evidence; Phonetics; Language Patterns; Intonation; Spanish; Dialects; Phonology; Statistical Analysis; Indo European Languages; Syntax; Contrastive Linguistics

Abstract:
This paper is an experimental investigation on the tonal structure and phonetic signaling of declarative questions by speakers of Manchego Peninsular Spanish, a dialect of Spanish for which little experimental research on intonation is currently available. Analysis 1 examines the scaling and timing properties of final rises produced by 16 speakers under various pressures of tonal crowding. The quantitative results provide evidence for two contrasting nuclear pitch accent specifications: L* vs. H*. These data are consistent with the findings and analyses of final rises in Dutch, although certain time pressure effects had not been reported in this previous body of research. Analysis 2 provides a phonetic comparison of the two question contours uncovered in Analysis 1 with those of lexically and syntactically identical declarative statements. The findings indicate that speakers differentiate the two question contours from corresponding statement contours in dissimilar fashion and that for the L*H% contour, the terminal rise may be the only F0 signal of its question intent. Some speculation on the possible causes of this variation is offered in conclusion. (Contains 24 notes, 13 tables and 17 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Phonemes; Phonology; Individual Differences; Native Speakers; Second Language Learning; Pronunciation; Adults; Indo European Languages; Slavic Languages; Auditory Stimuli; Linguistic Input; Language Tests; Native Language; Auditory Perception; Task Analysis; Speech

Abstract:
Many learners of a foreign language (L2) struggle to correctly pronounce newly learned speech sounds, yet many others achieve this with apparent ease. Here we explored how a training study of learning complex consonant clusters at the very onset of L2 acquisition can inform us about L2 learning in general and individual differences in particular. To this end, adult Dutch native speakers were trained on Slovak words with complex consonant clusters (e.g., "pstruh"/pstrux/"trout", "stvrt"/tvrc/"quarter") using auditory and orthographic input. In the same session following training, participants were tested on a battery of L2 perception and production tasks. The battery of L2 tests was repeated twice more with 1 week between sessions. In the first session, an additional battery of control tests was used to test participants' native language (L1) skills. Overall, in line with some previous research, participants showed only weak learning effects across the L2 perception tasks. However, there were considerable individual differences across all L2 tasks, which remained stable across sessions. Only two participants showed overall high L2 production performance that fell within 2 standard deviations of the mean ratings obtained for an L1 speaker. The mispronunciation detection task was the only perception task which significantly predicted production performance in the final session. We conclude by discussing several recommendations for future L2 learning studies. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 8 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Language Planning; Foreign Countries; Government Publications; Economic Factors; Immigration; Conflict; Second Language Learning; Cultural Pluralism; College Entrance Examinations; Educational Finance; International Trade; Second Language Instruction; Chinese; Japanese; Indonesian; Korean; Spanish; French; Italian; Greek; German; Indo European Languages; Semitic Languages; Thai; Russian; Serbocroatian; Turkish; Indigenous Populations

Abstract:
This article seeks to explore how various language policies may have impacted Year 12 language candidature in Victoria. Australian Federal and Victorian State Government language policies are but one of the influences yet, it may be argued, the most significant influence. These stand alongside waves of immigration, global events and conflicts, and the agitations of community groups and academics. Data available on languages candidature at the Year 12 examination in its various iterations are examined. The framework referred to throughout this article is that devised by Lo Bianco with Slaughter (2009) as a means of describing, as a sequence, the overlapping periods of language planning in Australia. The phases are described as comfortably British, assertively Australian, ambitiously multicultural, energetically Asian, and fundamentally economic (Lo Bianco, 2009, p. 15). (Contains 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Females; Language Skills; Males; Gender Differences; Foreign Countries; Age Differences; Cross Cultural Studies; Language Acquisition; Social Influences; German; Indo European Languages; Spanish; Languages; French; Slavic Languages; Comprehension; Infants; Toddlers; Children; Nonverbal Communication

Abstract:
The present study explored gender differences in emerging language skills in 13,783 European children from 10 non-English language communities. It was based on a synthesis of published data assessed with adapted versions of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) from age 0.08 to 2.06. The results showed that girls are slightly ahead of boys in early communicative gestures, in productive vocabulary, and in combining words. The difference increased with age. Boys were not found to be more variable than girls. Despite extensive variation in language skills between language communities, the difference between girls and boys remained. This suggests that the difference is caused by robust factors that do not change between language communities. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Spanish Culture; Paleontology; Foreign Countries; French; Science Education; History; Teaching Methods; Translation; English; Indo European Languages; Italian; German; Spanish

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the Spanish appropriation of one of the great French eighteenth-century best-sellers, the "Spectacle de la Nature" (1732-1750) by the "abbe" Antoine Noel Pluche. In eight volumes, the "abbe" discussed current issues in natural philosophy, such as Newtonianism, the origin of fossils, artisan techniques, natural history, machines, gardening or insect-collection in a polite-conversation format. It was translated into English (1735), Dutch (1737), Italian (1737), German (1746) and Spanish (1753). But the four Spanish editions were very different from their European counterparts. In Spain, it was delivered in 16 carefully printed and extensively commented volumes. In Pluche's original, there was a concern for the young gentleman's education, new pedagogical methods and an enthusiastic defence of experimental knowledge. However, "Le Spectacle" in Spain was conceived as a useful tool for modernizing the country, it served political and propagandist goals, defended Spanish culture and science (in particular with respect to American flora, fauna and geography) and the Jesuit contribution to science and aimed to harmonize experimental knowledge and scholastic tradition. The analysis of the more than 1500 footnotes, prefaces, some readers' comments and other questions related to the format gives insight on how it was appropriated. (Contains 87 footnotes and 7 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Visual Stimuli; Imagery; Vocabulary Development; Recall (Psychology); Second Language Learning; Spanish; Second Language Instruction; College Students; Introductory Courses; Receptive Language; Pictorial Stimuli; Language Tests

Abstract:
According to the Dual-Coding Theory (Paivio & Desrochers, 1980), words that are associated with rich visual imagery are more easily learned than abstract words due to what is termed the concreteness effect (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; de Groot, 1992, de Groot et al., 1994; ter Doest & Semin, 2005). The present study examined the effects of attaching visual imagery to abstract words through use of a meaning recall test. Eighty-seven American university students of first-year Spanish participated in the study. Participants were placed in either picture or non-picture groups and were given a treatment of 12 abstract and 12 concrete words. The treatment included three input phases lasting approximately 17 minutes. The posttest and delayed posttest involved a meaning recall test to measure receptive knowledge in which participants were supplied the L2 lexical item and asked to write the L1 translation. The results indicated that participants in the abstract picture group outperformed those in the abstract non-picture group on both posttest and delayed posttest; however, no such effect was found for concrete words. Findings suggest that meaning recall of abstract words can be facilitated by usage of metaphorical, emotive, or symbolic imagery. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Listening Comprehension Tests; Item Response Theory; Statistical Analysis; Foreign Countries; Listening Comprehension; Reading Comprehension; Educational Research; Testing Programs; Language Tests; Difficulty Level; Questionnaires; Second Language Learning; French; German; Italian; Japanese; Chinese; Indonesian; Test Items; Secondary School Students; Student Attitudes; Test Format

Abstract:
The Assessment of Language Competence (ALC) certificates is an annual, international testing program developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research to test the listening and reading comprehension skills of lower to middle year levels of secondary school. The tests are developed for three levels in French, German, Italian and Japanese, and at two levels in Chinese and Indonesian. There is a mixture of target language and English questions in the Level 2 and 3 tests. Some teachers have raised this as a concern in the belief that all questions should only be offered in English for the sake of fairness. Their view is that the tests are unduly difficult when they are designed with questions in the language. Arising from this concern, the aim of the research to be reported in this paper was to investigate the effects of the language of the question on student performance. We drew on data from a trial test and a final listening test, a questionnaire administered to students to gauge their perceptions of the tests and an examination of public documentation about the ALC. For the statistical analysis, we used Item Response Theory for calibrating items and for comparing item difficulty estimates, and fit statistics to verify how well items with English and target language question formats worked together. We found that where the questions involved listening for simple, explicitly stated information, students found the items in the target language relatively easier. In questions that required students to listen for global meaning, language choice either did not matter or tended to favour items in English rather than the target language. Furthermore, each of the six tests with some items in English and others in the target language showed a high level of reliability and fit to the single latent scale, indicating that items were functioning consistently regardless of the language of the test question. (Contains 1 table, 5 figures and 3 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Role Models; Independent Study; Student Attitudes; Quality of Life; Foreign Countries; Communicative Competence (Languages); Distance Education; Chinese; French; German; Spanish; Universities; Introductory Courses; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Tutoring; Electronic Learning; Cooperation

Abstract:
This article reports on a collaborative research project which involved first-year distance learners of Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish at a New Zealand university. Drawing on the principles of Allwright's exploratory practice, the study aimed to gain an insight into the learners' experiences and conceptualisations in terms of their goals, the challenges they encountered and their strategic orientations towards dealing with these. The research revealed that learners regarded their own effort as the most important factor in achieving their goals and overcoming the challenges of isolation, a key barrier to achieving their primary goal of communicative competence in their target language (TL). We argue that the learners' strong sense of self-reliance is an important catalyst for autonomous and independent learning, which needs to be supported through learning environments where students can act and interact in new and creative ways and which can help them cope with adopting new roles and ways of learning. To this end, the study's findings contributed to enhanced e-tutoring and the development of digitalised advice by near-peer role models, which aimed to reduce the learners' sense of distance, promote interaction and, ultimately, improve their quality of life as distance learners. (Contains 1 note and 3 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Experimental Groups; Control Groups; Instructional Effectiveness; German; Teaching Methods; Second Language Learning; Attention; Sentence Structure; Recall (Psychology); Second Language Instruction; Vocabulary Development; Language Tests; Translation; Scores; Indo European Languages; Native Speakers; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
This article reports a small-scale study that investigated the effect of (1) an instructional method, viz. directing learners' attention to formulaic sequences (FS) in a text, and (2) typographic salience, i.e. bold typeface and underlined, on foreign-language (FL) learners' recall of FS and single words (SW). Twenty-eight FL learners read a glossed German text in two conditions. The experimental group was instructed to pay attention to both FS and SW during reading and write down unfamiliar FS and SW, whereas the control group was instructed to pay attention to unfamiliar vocabulary in general. All the participants were forewarned that a vocabulary posttest would follow the reading task. Unlike the control group, the experimental group was explicitly told that they would have to translate SW as well as FS into German. The target items were divided into 12 SW and 12 FS. Half of these SW and FS were underlined and printed in bold typeface, the other half was not. The results indicate that typographic salience had an effect on participants' recall scores, whereas the instructional method did not. Furthermore, the effect of typographic salience seemed to be particularly beneficial for learning FS. These findings suggest that typographic salience facilitates FL learners' noticing and learning of unknown lexical items and of FS in particular. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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