A Meta-analysis: Shape of Age Effects and Second Language Grammar Acquisition

This study reports findings of a meta-analysis on the effects of the age of first exposure, known as the age of onset (AO), on the acquisition of morphosyntax in a second language (L2). Several studies report restrictive effects of AO on L2 grammar acquisition (Abrahamsson, 2012; DeKeyser et al., 2010; Qureshi, 2016); however, there is a disagreement about the way sensitivity to second language acquisition declines (Birdsong, 2009; Long, 2013). Researchers disagree about the nature of the decline and argue whether the decrease that occurs in learners\u27 ultimate proficiency in the second language is gradual and continuous or gradual but followed by a plateau, without further decline. To explore the nature of AO, 29 samples from 14 studies were analyzed. The results revealed a large effect size (d = 1.13, SD = .06) for the impact of AO on ultimate proficiency in L2 morphosyntax. However, for the disaggregated data (i.e., when earlier & late learners are separated), a linear decline was observed for the 6 to 16 age-group (21 samples), while a flattening of the regression line was detected for the 17 to 24 age-group (8 samples). More importantly, the findings revealed two different shapes of decline based on participants\u27 first language and the target L2. Overall, the findings support a bounded critical period for second language acquisition and indicate the typological distance between the two languages as a major influencing factor

Age of Onset, English-medium Instruction, and Gains in Second Language Grammar Knowledge

The current study examined differences in grammatical knowledge of second language learners whose age of onset (AO) for exposure to English-medium instruction (EMI) was at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary educational levels. One hundred and thirty-five students enrolled in two universities in Pakistan participated in the study. Data collection involved a background questionnaire, a grammaticality judgment task, and an editing task. Based on the background questionnaire, the participants were divided into early, middle, and late learners—those individuals exposed to EMI at first grade, secondary, and tertiary levels, respectively. The results revealed a significant multivariate main effect for the AO on grammar knowledge. The post hoc analysis confirmed a significant effect on the editing task. No significant effects were observed for the grammaticality judgment task. Underlying causes are discussed, including possible age-related cognitive factors in the students or instructional features in the schools

Building Student Background for Specific Academic Vocabulary

Students from different majors, such as music, medical sciences, and applied linguistics, likely understand the word “instrument” differently. Students in music might think of a tool used for producing melodic sounds; those from the medical sciences might connect the term to an apparatus used for delicate surgeries; students in applied linguistics might associate an instrument with a test or a task used for measuring learners\u27 language proficiency. These diverse interpretations of the same word and different saliencies given to dissimilar words in diverse majors (e.g., the word “plot” in creative writing and “validity” in assessment) reinforce the need for developing students\u27 background for specific academic vocabulary. After learners have mastered the 3,000 most frequent words in English, it is wise to direct vocabulary teaching to more specialized uses

Grammaticality judgment task: Reliability and scope

© 2004 AsiaTEFL.org. All rights reserved. Although extensively used, concerns have been expressed about the reliability and generalizability of grammaticality judgment tasks (GJTs; Alanazi, 2015). It has been argued that learners might guess grammaticality based on feel (Bialystock, 1979) and that the GJT-based results ignore grammatical complexity (Ellis, 1991). While several studies have attempted to validate the results of a GJT against other tasks, the tasks used in these studies required language production (e.g., Leow, 1996; Mandell, 1999), which is different from error identification and correction. The current study used an editing task (ET) to validate learners’ performance on a GJT. An editing task, like a GJT, requires identification of grammatical inaccuracies. Besides, it situates errors in a meaningful context and offers opportunities for multiple corrections of the same error. Overall, 311 participants took part in the study. A paired sample t-test showed a significant difference (t = 24.10, p = .00, d = 1.91) between the two tasks. Fifteen percent of the data (45 participants) was further inspected to have a better understanding of learners’ error correction-pattern on the editing task. The results revealed that about 20% of the errors identified were wrongly corrected, which exposes limitations of the GJTs that only require judging the well-formedness of a construction. Moreover, performance on the editing task revealed a greater level of diversity in learners’ responses. On average, eight of the total twelve grammatical features were corrected in 5.87 (SD = 2.47) different ways. The variety of responses on the ET reveals the dynamic nature of learners’ interlanguage that allows for multiple ways for correction. The ET, as compared to the GJT, provides an ecologically more valid way to assess L2 learners’ grammatical proficiency

Age and knowledge of morphosyntax in english as an additional language: Grammatical judgment and error correction

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. Research on age and second language acquisition (L2A) is vast, but inconclusive. Such research has mainly been motivated by the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), which postulates that language acquisition becomes extremely difficult after the onset of puberty. Also, there is a lack of research on age and third/additional language (L3/Ln) learning. To fill this gap, this article examines differences in morphosyntactic knowledge between early and late learners of English as a L3/Ln. In this study, \u27early\u27 and \u27late\u27 learners are those participants first exposed to English as a medium of instruction (MOI) in 1st and 11th grades, respectively. Participants\u27 morphosyntactic knowledge was assessed based on two tasks: (a) a Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) and (b) an editing task. Three hundred and thirty five undergraduate and graduate students from two universities in Pakistan voluntarily participated in the research. Results of the group comparisons showed no statistically significant differences between early and late learners on the GJT; however, on the editing task, a modest but significant difference was observed between the two groups, with late learners scoring higher. This finding contradicts the predictions of the CPH

The effects of age of exposure on knowledge of english grammar in english-medium instruction

The current study examined differences in morphosyntactic knowledge of Arabic learners who had significant exposure to English as a medium of instruction at the primary and tertiary educational levels. The study involved a grammaticality judgment task, an editing task, and a background questionnaire. Based on the background questionnaire, the participants (n = 84) were divided into early and late learners - those first exposed to English medium instruction in the primary and undergraduate levels, respectively. The results of the multivariate analysis revealed a main effect for the age of first exposure to English medium instruction. The post hoc univariate analysis confirmed these effects in favor of early learners only for the grammaticality judgment task; no such effects were observed for the editing task. Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications of the study are discussed

A meta-analysis: Age and second language grammar acquisition

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Although there are many existing reviews of research on age and second language acquisition (L2A) of morphosyntax, none has benefited from the systematicity that results from quantitative research synthesis and meta-analysis. To address this gap, this research quantifies the impact of age and its moderators (i.e., contexts, testing conditions, and modalities) on second language (L2) morphosyntactic ability. Mean differences were obtained for 26 samples with a group-comparison design and 20 with a correlational design. Consistent with previous research, age groups that were younger or older than 11 years were considered as early and late starters in FL contexts; whereas in SL settings, younger than 15 and older than 16 were grouped as early and late learners, respectively. Results reveal small to medium effect sizes for overall effects of age on L2A (d = 0.46 and Zr = −0.40). This relationship varies according to several moderators including context (second vs. foreign language) and testing conditions (timed vs. untimed, aural vs. written). In addition to providing methodological implications and guidance for second language policy, the findings point to the need to further refine models of the relationship between age and second language grammar development

Mitigating Risk of Failure by Expanding Family Entrepreneurship and Learning from International Franchising Experiences of Johnny Rockets: A Case Study in Pakistan

It is generally believed worldwide and backed by research too that startups face a high risk of failure and eight to nine out of ten ideas may not work (Hisrich, Peters, & Shepherd, 2009). However, many experts claim that the situation can turn vice versa for family entrepreneurship (or creative family businesses) and franchise ventures (Francorp, 2016). This exploratory probe aims to discover these two phenomena for Johnny Rockets (JR) Pakistan, which is an international franchise of fast food chain of restaurants, and simultaneously it is a family business extension. Literature is reviewed from four perspectives: family entrepreneurship and business, franchise business, internationalization of companies, and fast food restaurant industry in Pakistan. Primary data is garnered from three sources: in-depth interviews from middle to top management of Johnny Rockets, owners of the franchises, and from its consumers in accordance with phenomenology method and purposive sampling to analyze their lived experiences with JR and its direct rivals. The data analytic techniques comprise thematic analysis and constant comparison. The findings unveil that in the wake of tolerating several difficulties, now Johnny Rockets seems to be on the right path of sustainable growth. The study underpins the notions that family entrepreneurship and franchise ventures enjoy a high probability of success, but it requires an organizational culture of the congenial work environment, and propensity to create a customer-centric modern learning organization, ready to accept trials and errors and continuously innovating its processes and systems

Failure Behavior of Pultruded GFRP Members Under Combined Bending and Torsion

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite sections, manufactured through pultrusion process, are known for their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, low thermal conductivity, electric and magnetic transparency, low life cycle cost and ease of fabrication. They are being widely applied in infrastructure systems.;The load response of thin-walled GFRP composite sections is different from that of isotropic slender members. For instance, stress variation exists across the wall thickness and the FRP members are more prone to warping and local buckling including shear-lag. The literature survey revealed that the response of pultruded GFRP sections under combined bending and torsion has not yet been studied both in terms of the strength and stiffness.;Thru this research, the behavior of full scale sections was investigated under bending, torsion and combined bending and torsion. The shapes under investigation include circular, square and wide-flange with dimensions from 2 to 6 and lengths from 24 to 144 . The analytical part is based on modified flexural and torsional theories for anisotropic materials.;Due to the absence of any formulation on combined bending and torsion of orthotropic sections, the formulae for isotropic sections were extended for orthotropic ones. Some finite element analysis models were also included to make a comparison.;The experimental work consists of (i) determining the laminate properties at coupon level through tension-tests, shear-tests, burnout-tests and microscopy, and (ii) investigating the behavior of full-length samples under 3-point bending, pure torsion and combined bending and torsion. Under torsion and combined loading, a dedicated apparatus was designed, fabricated, instrumented and calibrated at WVU-CFC Major Units laboratory. This apparatus is capable of incorporating samples of cross-sections up to 6 x6 and lengths up to 144 ; with the angle of twist measurement ranging from +60° to -60°.;It was found from coupon tests that strength and modulus values are measurable with a reasonable range of accuracy, but fiber alignment and fiber volume fraction may vary along the cross-section. The bending behavior of full-length closed-sections was controlled by strength and that of wide-flange sections was due to flange-buckling. The torsional behavior of closed sections was also strength controlled, while the wide-flange section practically showed no torsional strength. The behavior under combined bending and torsion was influenced by principal stresses and maximum shear stresses under the effect of compressive bending and torsional shear stresses. On the T/Tmax - M/Mmax interaction curve, some of the data-points agreed-well with the ideal curve, while the others lay beyond that. The reasons of deviation were investigated to be load rate, variations in fiber content and different types of losses in the apparatus