The Integration of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Information in Second Language Sentence Processing.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

The English Article Use by Non-Native English Teachers in Korea: Task-Type Variability in Interlanguage Performance and its Pedagogical Implications

This study examines the English article use of incumbent primary and secondary English teachers in Korea. As learners of English as a foreign language themselves, the 17 participants showed statistically significant discrepancy between their metalinguistic knowledge and their actual English article use in real-time oral production. A multiple-choice written test on the English articles was given for the metalinguistic knowledge assessment and their videotaped demo lessons in English were used for the real-time oral production data. The implications such discrepancy has on the current English education policy of Teaching English only through English are discussed. (Seoul National University

The Prosodic Resolution of Syntactic/Semantic Ambiguity: An Exemplar-based Account

This study tests the hypothesis that the ambiguity of a null argument construction in Korean like Lwummeituka mwusewun ka poayo (The roommate must be scared/scary) can be prosodically resolved. The null argument construction is tested with two-place psychological predicates such as mwusewun (scared/scary) and kwichanun (bothered/bothersome). A naturalness rating experiment shows the following: (1) when the NP Lwummeituka is the experiencer of the psychological predicate scare and the sentence means The roommate must be scared, both an Accentual Phrase (AP) boundary and an Intonational Phrase (IP) boundary are equally accepted between the NP and the VP; (2) when the NP is the stimulus (The roommate must be scary), only an AP boundary is perceived natural. Reaction time and comprehension question accuracy data further display the role played by prosody in ambiguity resolution. The results are discussed within the exemplar framework

Proceedings 2012 Selected papers from the sixteenth college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics & literature

Selected papers from the sixteenth annual college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics & literature, at the University of Hawai`i at MānoaSelected papers from the sixteenth annual college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics & literature, at the University of Hawai`i at Māno

L2 Korean Speakers Thematic Role Resolution in a Psych-predicate Construction

This study investigated how second language (L2) and heritage Korean learners whose first language (L1) is English identify an ambiguous thematic role (experiencer vs. stimulus) of a null argument psych-predicate construction in Korean. Participants listened to stories where a null argument construction such as lwummeituka mwusewun ka poayo (∅ must be afraid of the roommate vs. The roommate must be scary) was disambiguated contextually with matching and mismatching prosodies and answered comprehension questions that asked to identify the thematic role of an overt NP. Advanced-level learners were more accurate and faster in identifying a stimulus, preferred Accentual Phrases that accompany the stimulus reading, and showed an interaction between thematic role and prosody. An independent analysis also showed that the preference for stimulus reading could be attributed to the advanced learners being heritage Korean speakers. Hypotheses on different roles of L1 and heritage grammar are discussed in light of the results.This research was funded by a Elizabeth Carr-Holmes scholarship in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

Interleukin 12 gene therapy of cancer by peritumoral injection of transduced autologous fibroblasts: Outcome of a phase I study

A phase I dose-escalation clinical trial of peritumoral injections of interleukin 12 (IL-12)-transduced autologous fibroblasts was performed in patients with disseminated cancer for whom effective treatment does not exist. The goals of this study were to assess the safety and toxicities as well as the efficacy, and ancillarily the immunomodulatory effects, of peritumoral IL-12 gene transfer. Primary dermal fibroblasts cultured from the patients were transduced with retroviral vector carrying human IL-12 genes (p35 and p40) as well as the neomycin phosphotransferase gene (TFG-hIL-12-Neo). Patients received four injections at intervals of 7 days. Nine patients were enrolled in this dose-escalation study, with secreted IL-12 doses ranging from 300 ng/24 hr for the first three patients to 1000, 3000, and 5000 ng/24 hr for two patients in each subsequent dosage level. Although a definite statement cannot be made, there appears to be perturbation of systemic immunity. Also, the locoregional effects mediated by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and CD8(+) T cells were observed with tumor regression. Treatment-related adverse events were limited to mild to moderate pain at the injection site; clinically significant toxicities were not encountered. Transient but clear reductions of tumor sizes were observed at the injected sites in four of nine cases, and at noninjected distant sites in one melanoma patient. Hemorrhagic necrosis of tumors was observed in two melanoma patients. These data indicate that gene therapy by peritumoral injection of IL-12-producing autologous fibroblasts is feasible, and promising in patients with advanced cancer