159 research outputs found
Factors Affecting Grammatical and Lexical Complexity of Long-Term L2 Speakers’ Oral Proficiency
There remains considerable disagreement about which factors drive second language (L2) ultimate attainment. Age of onset (AO) appears to be a robust factor, lending support to theories of maturational constraints on L2 acquisition. The present study is an investigation of factors that influence grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment. Grammatical and lexical complexity were assessed in 102 spontaneous oral interviews. Interviewees' AOs ranged from 7 to 17 years old. Multifactorial analyses yielded consistently significant effects of gender and level of education for grammatical and lexical complexity. Additionally, native language use at work was a significant predictor for lexical complexity; conversely, AO did not emerge as a significant factor. We conclude that grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment is the result of a complex interplay of variables that are general to language learning and performance rather than L2 specific
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Acquisition of Second Language Grammar Under Incidental Learning Conditions: The Role of Frequency and Working Memory
Although frequency is recognized as an important factor in second language (L2) acquisition, it has remained relatively under-investigated in terms of its impact on the acquisition of grammatical knowledge under incidental learning conditions. This article reports the results of an experiment where 100 novice adult learners were exposed to a complex noun-adjective agreement pattern in Russian under four incidental learning conditions in which type and token frequency of the stimuli were manipulated. The results show that accuracy was greater in the low type/low token condition and that low token frequency played a more significant role than low type frequency, supporting a “starting small” approach for productive knowledge acquisition. Working memory was differentially involved in production of acquired knowledge in different conditions and not engaged when learning was facilitated by frequency
2003 NFLRC summer institute: Corpus Linguistics for Korean Language Learning and Teaching
NW34Evaluation of the 2003 NFLRC summer institute, Corpus Linguistics for Korean Language Learning and Teaching
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