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This paper tackles the usefulness of comparing L2 learners against native speakers in empirical SLA studies focusing on grammatical aspect. Adapting the view that interlanguage grammars should be analysed in their own right instead of as a deficient form of the target, we show that expressing perspectivity (fulfilled by grammatical aspect markers) methodologically complicates the analyses of Grammaticality Judgment Tasks in aspect studies. For Spanish past tenses, we show that especially with items constructed as allegedly ungrammatical natives behave heterogeneously. This casts doubt on the question whether these data can be used as a baseline against which learners' data could be compared. By analysing the interlanguage separately (not only in comparison to the controls), our findings among German learners of L2 Spanish suggest the use of the forms depends essentially on temporal markers which can be related to both their L1 lacking grammatical aspect and the pedagogical input. Crucially, though the interlanguage does not match the target (i.e., past tenses do not necessarily correlate with aspectuality), the systems are not chaotic but follow well-defined rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the pedagogical implications and implementations of a Cognitive Construction Grammar (Goldberg, Adele E. 2006. Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. New York: Oxford University Press) approach for the teaching of construal in the L2 class of Spanish at an advanced level. To this end, this paper focuses on instances of secondary predication (involving a direct object and an object-related XPCOMP) with decir "say" and other verbs of saying and calling in present-day Spanish, under the rubric of the denominative subjective-transitive construction. This construction comprises a number of lower-level configurations involving a reflexive direct object (the reflexive subjective-transitive construction), and an imperative verb (the imperative subjective-transitive construction). The verb decir is also frequently attested in the reflex passive construction (the impersonal subjective-transitive construction), under which two different, though closely connected, lexically-filled lo que se dice XPCOMP configurations can be posited, which may function as a focusing/emphasizer subjunct or as a summative conjunct in present-day Spanish. A default inheritance system of the type invoked in Cognitive Construction Grammar is shown to capture broad and specific generalizations at a horizontal level (among the verbs attested in the (sub-)construction(s)) and a vertical level (among constructions of varying degrees of specificity) and can thus be informally used to optimize the pedagogical efficiency of the input for the explicit instruction of grammar in the advanced Spanish L2 class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports work-to-date on a particular practical context, applying one approach to interlanguage, the discourse domains approach, merged with the rhetorical-grammatical approach, involving both language and content. The context is an MA course for teacher residents placed in urban schools, and their English language learners (ELLs) in math and science classes, providing content area teachers the linguistic support they need to teach the language of their content, and thus the content itself. We were interested in how exactly learners' interlanguage creation interacts with their understanding of scientific concepts. We primarily look at the rhetorical function "definition," with discourse level semantic choices, and attendant grammar, with ELL data gathered by the teacher residents. Correct definitions in expected grammatical form point to an understanding of the scientific concept within the discourse domain, providing evidence that the science or mathematics content has been understood by the student. In our data analysis, we concentrated on the semantics and grammar of this rhetorical function, but other functions kept intruding, especially "classification". Cross-language transfer appears not to be a factor, but cross-domain transfer is. Finally, we discuss how the marriage of this view of interlanguage with safe rule rhetorical/grammatical functions can better support teacher preparation, especially given how challenging teaching ELLs is for content area teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudo-copulative change-of-state (PCOS) verbs are predicates that involve a change in the composition of an entity undergoing a particular event. Due to their complex linguistic nature, these verbs are not easy to be accounted for and consequently, they represent a real challenge to language teachers and learners. First, this paper critically examines the specialized L1 and L2 literature on PCOS verbs in Spanish. Then, it is shown that previous studies are unable to provide a unanimous theory, but rather offer heterogeneous explanations that are full of exceptions and overlook semantic nuances. The second part of this work presents a corpus-based constructional study of the PCOS verbal structure [Vcl+NP] in two PCOS verbs, hacerse 'make.cl' and volverse 'turn.cl'. It is argued that a multi-level family of PCOS constructions captures both the specificity of fully-saturated constructions (María se hizo mujer 'María became a woman'), as well as the more general abstract patterns ([Subject PCOS-verb Object]). This constructional approach offers a unified and motivated explanation for these PCOS verbs that can be very useful for Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines bidirectional transfer between L1 English and L2 Spanish in the motion domain, both in boundary crossing [BC] and non-boundary crossing [NBC] situations. It focuses on the semantic component of Path. Furthermore, it examines whether learners' proficiency has an impact on the degree of cross-linguistic influence [CLI] between their L1 and L2. An experimental study was conducted with five groups of informants: an English monolingual group, a Spanish monolingual group and three groups of L1 English learners of L2 Spanish. The findings support the existence of bidirectional transfer. The three groups of learners exhibited L1 typological patterns when retelling motion events in L2: (a) they used fewer path verbs than the monolingual Spanish group in BC and NBC; (b) they produced examples of satellites encoding the Path in BC and NBC; and (c) they expressed event conflation with one main verb in BC. In addition, the L2 influenced the L1, although this influence was restricted to learners with higher levels of L2 proficiency who used more path verbs than the monolingual English group. These results provide evidence for the role of bidirectional transfer in second language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed study on the role of corrective feedback (CF) in the development of second language (L2) oral proficiency. Learners practiced speaking with a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system that employs automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to provide CF. The system tracks learner behaviour by logging the system-user interactions. Two language learning conditions are compared. In the CF condition learners received immediate, automatic CF on the grammaticality of their spoken output. In theOCF condition, learners practiced speaking with the option to self-correct. The target structure under investigation is Dutch verb second (V2) in the main clause. The results show that learner proficiency improved in both conditions. The CF condition shows an additional benefit for learning that is related to the learner's initial knowledge of the target structure (which we call V2 proficiency). Learners at a lower V2 proficiency level benefitted more from practice with CF than learners in the NOCF condition. Learner evaluations are in line with these results: both the CF and the NOCF groups positively evaluated practice with the system, but the CF condition was preferred by learners starting at a lower V2 proficiency level. For more information on these outcome measures, we investigated the learners' behaviour during practice. The two groups were found to receive equal amounts of input, but learners in the CF condition produced more (grammatically correct) output during treatment. We found that the CF group repaired their errors in fewer attempts as they progressed through practice. Learners in the NOCF condition generally did not (attempt to) repair their errors. However, the learners answered correctly more often as they progressed in the training. The log data, therefore, shows learning of the target structure in both conditions. We discuss these results and how learning outcome is related to learner behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' oral corrective feedback (CF) may be influenced by the communication orientation of the lessons, but little research has taken lesson focus into account when examining the relationship between teachers' CF beliefs and practices. This study explores teachers' CF beliefs, practices, and the relationship between the two constructs in Vietnamese high school EFL classrooms. The study also compares and contrasts the teachers' CF practices in relation to two opposing lesson types in terms of communication orientation. The participants were ten experienced EFL teachers from two public high schools. Analysis of audio-recorded in-depth interviews and video and audio-recorded classroom observations (n = 20 lessons, 15 h) showed a strong relationship between the lesson focus and the teachers' practices in various aspects of feedback provision. The teachers' beliefs were reflected more consistently in grammar lessons (where the teaching is more form-focused) than in speaking lessons (where the teaching is more meaning-focused). There was also a difference in the teachers' CF strategies used between the two lesson types. This difference could be explained by the teachers' background and the difference in the predictability of the learning activities and learner contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of whether negative sentences containing auxiliary do in L1 and L2 English share the same underlying syntactic representation. To this end, I compare the negative sentences produced by 77 bilingual (Spanish/Basque)L2 learners of English with the corresponding data available for L1 acquirers reported on in Schütze (Carson, The status of he/she don't and theories of root infinitives, 2001), under the assumption that L1 and L2 grammars may be underspecified for Tense and/or Agreement features. I conclude that, despite similarities in the type of errors children and L2 learners produce, the L2 data do not show evidence of underspecification. Rather, it appears that L2 learners use a lexical strategy whereby they adopt don't as an independent preverbal negative marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports an empirical study investigating whether English and Spanish speakers can reconstruct thematic structures in their second language (L2) grammars of Chinese Double Object Constructions. Data collected from an acceptability judgement task and an animation matching task suggest that learners are able to reconstruct L2 grammars to accommodate new target properties. However, it is also found that learners have difficulty removing thematic relations transferred from their first language (L1), implying that adult L2 grammars might permanently deviate from grammars of native speakers. The difficulty is accounted for on the basis of Yuan's (2014) Dormant-Feature Hypothesis, which assumes Full Transfer and that if the input provides no evidence confirming or disconfirming the transferred property, the property will lose its vigour and become dormant. This dormant status leads to random behaviours in L2 judgements and interpretations. This is confirmed in this study, in which English speakers are found to transfer one interpretation of indirect objects from their L1 and Spanish speakers are found to transfer two interpretations from their L1 that are not instantiated in the target language Chinese. Due to the misleading evidence in the Chinese input that shares surface similarity with the transferred property, English speakers are hindered from restructuring their L2 grammars, and the transferred interpretation remains active. On the other hand, the absence of informative evidence in the Chinese input leaves the two transferred interpretations to a dormant status in Spanish speakers' L2 Chinese grammars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether second language (L2) speakers can pre-empt a first language (L1) property which involves uninterpretable features, such as resumption. The Interpretability Hypothesis predicts persistent L1 effects in L2 grammars because uninterpretable features resist resetting beyond some critical period (Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou 2007). Unlike English, Saudi Arabic allows grammatical resumption in complex wh-interrogatives, which is highly preferred with (D)iscourse-linked wh-forms (e. g. ʔayy-NP 'which-NP') but disallowed with non-D-linked ones (e. g. ʔeeʃ 'what'). The study was conducted with fifteen native English speakers and 34 (very)-advanced Saudi Arabic L2 speakers of English with age of onset (AO 1–13 years). In a bimodal, timed acceptability judgment task, their accuracy judgments of 32 (un)grammatical wh-interrogatives were tested. As predicted, results show that L2 speakers of very advanced levels inaccurately accepted resumption especially with D-linked wh-interrogatives. The results also show non-significant differences between AO 1–6 and 7–13 years in their rejection accuracy of resumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we compare two instruction approaches (cognitive and traditional) to the teaching of Spanish deictic motion verbs –ir, venir, llevar and traer– to German and Italian learners. We also analyse whether the students' first language (Italian or German) influences the results of the cognitive methodology we applied. The Cognitive Instruction combined the basic principles of Cognitive Grammar with those of Processing Instruction for activities in which students practice both comprehension and production. We carried out a survey of 274 university students who were learning Spanish (Level B1) at universities in Italy and Germany. Students carried out a test prior to receiving the instruction and three tests subsequently, one immediately afterwards, the second a week later and the third, a month later. The cognitive methodology proved to be beneficial and positive. The students who received cognitive instruction made better form-meaning connections and showed higher performances in the use of deictic motion verbs than those who received traditional instruction. The learners' L1 did not appear to influence the results of the groups that received the cognitive method of instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether sequences in which grammar topics are presented in textbooks for German as a foreign language (henceforth GFL) match empirically determined, universal acquisition sequences. Moreover, it explores what patterns course books display regarding a set of grammar structures that are particularly interesting from an L1-perspective. From the literature we know that some grammar phenomena such as verb placement display a general acquisition pattern irrespective of the learners’ L1. In addition, we find L1-specific research such as studies on the acquisition of case assignment for Dutch learners of German. The current study considers a range of Dutch, Finnish, and global textbooks for young adolescent learners (13–15 years) at a beginner level to identify the sequence in which they introduce simple and complex verbal structures, tense, case, and pronouns. Across all these domains, the results display mainly similarities. When differences are found, these are often related to language-specific characteristics of the L1 and the typological distance between the L1 and L2 German, namely when Finns learn German pronouns and separable verbs. Overall, the analyzed teaching materials introduce the majority of the grammar issues in accord with the acquisition sequences but more L1-specific empirical research is necessary. We argue that analyses of grammar sequences in textbooks can be used as input for both SLA/FLA empirical research and theory development, especially concerning the teachability of grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research demonstrates that L2 learners are sensitive to morphophonological and semantic information regarding grammatical gender in European languages (e.g., Spinner & Juffs, 2008). In this study we examine the use of morphophonological and semantic information by two groups of English-speaking learners acquiring Swahili gender (noun class). The results of an oral agreement-marking task, a written gender assignment task, and interviews indicate that learners are sensitive to morphophonological information regarding gender in Swahili. The findings for semantic information are more complex; learners appear to be sensitive to animacy but not to other 'minor' semantic information such as tree or active body part. We propose the Semantic Core Hypothesis, which suggests that core semantic principles such as biological sex, animacy and humanness may be more easily accessible to L2 learners than other semantic principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the long-term effects of starting age and the effects of input in an instructed language learning setting. First, with respect to the effects of starting age, the findings suggest that in the long term and after similar amounts of input, starting age is not a predictor of language outcomes. Second, the study examines the effects of input using multiple measures derived from responses to an extended questionnaire. The analysis reveals modest but significant effects of input on participants' proficiency, confirming that input never ceases to play a role in an instructed language learning setting, in contrast with opposite claims from studies of naturalistic language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to determine the nature of naturalistic learners' difficulty with grammatical gender in a complex morphological system, the longitudinal production data of an early naturalistic L1-Italian and L1-Turkish learner who are acquiring German are examined in light of current theories of gender within Chomsky's (1995) Minimalist Program. After analyzing the speakers' marking on determiners, adjectives and pronouns, we conclude that these learners' errors in the gender of German nouns are the result of at least four factors: inadequate lexical learning, mapping difficulty, processing pressure, and parsing errors that cause the paradigm to be inadequately learned. These factors may be particularly problematic for learners acquiring a system such as the one in German, where gender marking is conflated with case and number on determiners, adjectives and pronouns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent Focus on Form studies have emphasized the importance of learner – rather than teacher – generated attention to formal aspects of interlanguage. In this study, we took advantage of EFL learners' analytical grammar knowledge and designed a post-task approach to foster learners' self-initiated attention. Student dyads transcribed their dialogues cooperatively and then individually reflected on various aspects of their oral production. Learners were found to be able to pay close attention to their mistakes according to their individual learning needs and proficiency levels. Results suggested that, with minimal instructor time, this approach is effective in raising student awareness. The significance of Focus on Form for students in different learning contexts is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning a language in a natural way is normally understood to involve the development of implicit knowledge of that language. The acquisition of such knowledge takes place through communication and is driven by learner-internal mechanisms which cannot be directly influenced by formal instruction. In the case of foreign or second language (L2) learning, the role of instruction is, then, to provide learners with opportunities for communication, and with assistance in those areas in which implicit learning is impossible or inefficient. This article argues that in the case of adult L2 learners the term “natural learning” should be interpreted as referring to explicit learning. This means that adult L2 instruction should primarily aim to engage the learners' problem-solving mechanism by providing them with explicit rules about the target code, and then with opportunities for proceduralizing and automatizing those rules. L2 acquisition is thus treated as the acquisition of a complex skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we test the prediction, derived from the Critical Period Hypothesis, that a native level in L2 grammar cannot be attained by learners who start acquiring a second language after childhood. We selected 43 very advanced late learners of Dutch (native speakers of German, French and Turkish) and compared their performance on a grammar test with that of 44 native speakers of Dutch. The test consisted of an elicited imitation task and a sentence preference task. In these tasks, participants were tested on their knowledge of dummy subject constructions. These construction types are known to be very hard to acquire for L2-learners of Dutch and are hardly covered in Dutch grammars or L2 Dutch textbooks. The results show that it is possible to attain a native level of proficiency for learners who start acquiring an L2 after puberty, even for learners with a typologically distant L1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent linguistic research postulates the view that the linguistic competence of humans as well as their performance should be seen as cognitive faculties consisting of semi-autonomous modules, which have their specific structural and organizational properties, but which may also interact with each other. According to the modular approach, speakers of a language have a grammar at their disposal, consisting of several modules: syntax, semantics, and phonology. The modular approach to language acquisition has been extremely fruitful, both descriptively as well as in terms of explanation. If the source lies outside the domain of grammar proper, we may expect the problem to show up independently of the language to be learned. The modules syntax, semantics, phonology and pragmatics are "connected" by a system of mapping rules. It is this mapping system in which one expects most, if not all, language variation. How mapping between the components is arranged in the process of both first and second language acquisition is the main focus of this thematic IRAL issue.

Looks into the errors made by Saudi students in their production and recognition of grammatical structures in English. Previous literature on the linguistic errors of Arab learners of English; Saudi students' competence in grammatical production and recognition; Recommendations for EFL teachers.