Examining the LLAMA aptitude tests

This study assesses the reliability1 of the LLAMA aptitude tests (Meara, 2005). The LLAMA tests were designed as shorter, free, language-neutral tests loosely based on the MLAT tests (Carroll & Sapon, 1959). They contain four sub-components: vocabulary acquisition, sound recognition, sound-symbol correspondence and grammatical inferencing. Granena (2013) and Rogers et al. (2016) provided initial results regarding factors which might influence LLAMA test scores. This paper develops this previous work by examining some of issues raised with a larger cohort and focuses on the following research questions. 1. Are the LLAMA tests language neutral?2. What is the effect of bilingualism on LLAMA test scores?3. What is the effect of age on LLAMA test scores?4. How much variance can background factors account for in the LLAMA test results? Data were collected from 240 participants aged 10–75 for RQ1–3. We found no significant differences in terms of language background (RQ1) but instructed second language learners significantly outperformed monolinguals (RQ2). For RQ3 we found that the younger groups were outperformed by all the other groups. For RQ4, we investigated how much variance in LLAMA test results six individual background factors could explain. We combined data from Rogers et al. (2016) and this study giving 404 participants in total. Using a multiple regression analysis, we found that prior L2 instruction predicted more of the variance (6%) than any other factor. We suggest that when using the LLAMA tests, researchers should consider controlling for language learning experience. This study scrutinises the components of the LLAMA tests with a large set of data. We conclude that the results are robust across a range of individual differences but suggest that different norms may be needed for younger age groups and those who have received prior L2 instruction

The attachment and personality dynamics of reader response

grantor: University of TorontoThe present research consisted of two studies. The first study explored the connection between attachment style and reader response. The sample consisted of 68 fiction readers who read the short story "Bardon Bus" by Alice Munro and wrote about the personal impressions and memories evoked by the story. Participants also completed two self-report questionnaries, the Attachment Style Questionnaire (Feeney, 1994), and the Reader Response Questionnaire (Maill & Kuiken, 1995). Study results pointed at a significant relationship between attachment and literary response. Specifically, subjects with a preoccupied attachment style produced more emotion-based literary responses, whereas avoidant individuals produced more abstract, and emotionally detached literary responses. Secure subjects drew on both intellectual and emotional resources in interpreting the literary material. The second study examined the relationship between personality style and reader response. The study focussed on the affective and self-restraint styles as two important dimensions of human personality. The sample consisted of 96 fiction readers who read the short story "Sojourner" by Carson McCullers and wrote about their personal memories and literary response to the story. Subjects also completed The Weinberger Adjustment Scale (Weinberger, 1990) which yielded four major personality styles of reactive, over-socialized, self-assured, and repressor. Results highlighted a significant relationship between personality style and literary response. Reactives who are high in distress and low in self-restraint produced memories and literary responses that were primarily emotion-based. Self-assured who demonstrate moderate levels of distress and self-restraint produced memories and literary responses that drew on both affect and intellect, and repressors who are characterized by low distress and high self-restraint produced more cerebral and emotionally-constrained memories and literary responses. Results supported Holland's theory of reader response (1975) suggesting that readers recreate their personal identity through the act of reading.Ph.D