Vilket undervisningsspråk favoriserar vilka elever?

Ju starkare ett språk är politiskt, desto mer gynnade är det språkets talare. Utan tve- kan är engelska det globalt starkaste språket idag. Bland alla de fördelar personer med engelska som modersmål har är gynnsamma utbildningsvillkor ett exempel: Om man har engelska som modersmål får man nämligen nästan alltid hela sin grundläggande skolgång och vidare utbildning på sitt eget språk. (...

Age de l’exposition initiale et niveau terminal chez des locuteurs quasi-natifs du suédois L2

Cette étude analyse les performances de groupes de locuteurs du suédois langue seconde (L2) que l’on prend pour des autochtones dans la communication quotidienne. Ces sujets avaient débuté leur acquisition du suédois dans l’une des tranches d’âge suivantes : 4-5 ans ; 8-10 ans ; 12-15 ans ; 19-23 ans. Chaque groupe d’âge, défini selon l’Age de l’Exposition Initiale (AEI), comportait 5 sujets. On a comparé les performances de chaque groupe avec celles de locuteurs autochtones du suédois (n = 5) et avec celles d’un groupe de locuteurs non-natifs (n = 5), de niveau très avancé, mais qui ne passent pas pour des autochtones dans la communication quotidienne. Tous ces groupes ont passé trois tests différents : test à trous, jugements de grammaticalité, répétition de phrases produites dans des conditions de bruit. Les résultats montrent des différences quantitatives significatives entre autochtones et locuteurs de L2, quel que soit le groupe AEI auquel ils appartiennent. En revanche, l’écart était petit entre les résultats obtenus par les différents groupes AEI, qui ne montraient le plus souvent pas de différences significatives. La variabilité intra-groupe était restreinte chez les locuteurs autochtones, tandis qu’elle était importante à l’intérieur de chaque groupe de locuteurs non-natifs. Ces résultats vont à l’encontre de l’hypothèse selon laquelle il existe une période « critique » pour l’acquisition des langues.Subjects for the present study were selected on the criterion that their second language, Swedish, sounded native-like in everyday oral communication. They had started their acquisition at one of four age ranges : 4-5 ; 8-10 ; 12-15 ; 19-23. Each age of onset (AO) group comprised 5 subjects. Two comparison groups were included, namely native speakers of Swedish (n = 5) and highly advanced but clearly non-native speakers of Swedish (n = 5). Results from three kinds of data (a cloze test, grammaticality judgments, and repetition in white noise) are presented here. They show significant differences between first and second language speakers, irrespective of AO group. Differences between the different AO groups, on the other hand, were small and in most cases not significant. While within-group variation was salient among the five groups of second language speakers on all tasks, it was minimal in the native speakers comparison group

Pluricentric languages

Many languages are pluricentric in nature, i.e. they exist as a national or official language in more than one nation. They range from languages diffused widely across different continents, such as English or Spanish, to languages predominantly used in neighbouring countries, such as Dutch or Swedish. In the following we introduce readers to both foundational and more recent research of pluricentric languages, as well as current debates in the field. While the first attempts to describe the conditions typical of pluricentric languages appeared in the 1960s, it took until the 1980s for the field to establish itself, through theoretical as well as empirical accounts of pluricentricity. From early on, there have been accounts of the power relationships between different varieties of pluricentric languages, in particular with regard to power asymmetries between national varieties, often expressed as dominant versus non-dominant varieties. Among other things, this has resulted in extensive research into the varying status of non-dominant national, or sub-national, varieties, an endeavour which also draws attention to language ideologies and linguistic rights of national (and other) varieties of pluricentric languages. A related issue here concerns whether the description primarily should follow national borders or concern regional variation within a language, often subsumed under the headings pluricentricity and pluriareality respectively. Parallel to such theoretically motivated inquiry, there has been substantial empirical research from the outset. The early, foundational work in the field was primarily concerned with the description of linguistic structural differences, such as phonological, morphological or lexical variation between varieties of pluricentric languages. This interest has hardly abated, but it has been complemented by other perspectives in more recent years. In particular, there has been an increasing emphasis on pragmatic and interactional variation. The shift in interest to include pragmatic variation can to a large extent be credited to work within the field variational pragmatics where pluricentricity is treated as a case of regional variation. While studies in variational pragmatics have explored micro-pragmatic variation, based on both experimental and actual discourse, more recently others have focused on the sequentiality of authentic interactional data from the perspective of conversation analysis and interactional linguistics. Even though some methodological differences exist between variational pragmatics and the interactional paradigm, they also have much in common and there has been cross-fruition between the two.Peer reviewe

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

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

Can chunk size differences explain developmental changes in lexical learning?

In three experiments, we investigated Hebb repetition learning (HRL) differences between children and adults, as a function of the type of item (lexical vs. sub-lexical) and the level of item-overlap between sequences. In a first experiment, it was shown that when non-repeating and repeating (Hebb) sequences of words were all permutations of the same words, HRL was slower than when the sequences shared no words. This item-overlap effect was observed in both children and adults. In a second experiment, we used syllable sequences and we observed reduced HRL due to item-overlap only in children. The findings are explained within a chunking account of the HRL effect on the basis of which we hypothesize that children, compared with adults, chunk syllable sequences in smaller units. By hypothesis, small chunks are more prone to interference from anagram representations included in the filler sequences, potentially explaining the item-overlap effect in children. This hypothesis was tested in a third experiment with adults where we experimentally manipulated the chunk size by embedding pauses in the syllable sequences. Interestingly, we showed that imposing a small chunk size caused adults to show the same behavioral effects as those observed in children. Departing from the analogy between verbal HRL and lexical development, the results are discussed in light of the less-is-more hypothesis of age-related differences in language acquisition.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Markers of success: A study of twins' instructed second language acquisition

We examined the association between proficiency in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) and previous bilingualism, starting age of ISLA, language anxiety and attitude. The analyses were conducted on 564 adolescent Australian twins. Additionally, by examining discrepancies within approximately 100 pairs of monozygotic twins, we sought to specifically identify the environmental effects related to attitude and anxiety on achievement (i.e. with genetic effects removed). We found a clear relationship between attitude towards language learning and proficiency in the second language. Furthermore, the analyses on the monozygotic twins point to the possibility that higher language anxiety is associated with higher proficiency. On the other hand, bilingualism and starting age of ISLA appear to be unrelated to proficiency in the language being learned

Input and age-dependent variation in second language learning: A connectionist account

Language learning requires linguistic input, but several studies have found that knowledge of second language (L2) rules does not seem to improve with more language exposure (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). One reason for this is that previous studies did not factor out variation due to the different rules tested. To examine this issue, we reanalyzed grammaticality judgment scores in Flege, Yeni‐Komshian, and Liu's (1999) study of L2 learners using rule‐related predictors and found that, in addition to the overall drop in performance due to a sensitive period, L2 knowledge increased with years of input. Knowledge of different grammar rules was negatively associated with input frequency of those rules. To better understand these effects, we modeled the results using a connectionist model that was trained using Korean as a first language (L1) and then English as an L2. To explain the sensitive period in L2 learning, the model's learning rate was reduced in an age‐related manner. By assigning different learning rates for syntax and lexical learning, we were able to model the difference between early and late L2 learners in input sensitivity. The model's learning mechanism allowed transfer between the L1 and L2, and this helped to explain the differences between different rules in the grammaticality judgment task. This work demonstrates that an L1 model of learning and processing can be adapted to provide an explicit account of how the input and the sensitive period interact in L2 learning