Language Acquistion Data

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Applied Linguistics Workshop

University of AnnabaBede McCormack, Ph.D.

Day 2June 27th, 2011



Issues in First Language Acquisition



Issues in Second Language Acquisition

Theories of SecondLanguage Learning

Learner Age

Critical PeriodProximity to TL

Behaviorism

Lado, 1964

Language is a habit

Silent Period ComprehensibleInput

Innatism

Avoid Mistakes

CAH

ChomskyWhite

Krashen

Language in internallygenerated

Competence &Performance

GrammaticalityJudgments

Natural Order

The Monitor Model

Acquisition vs. Learning

i + 1

Affective filter



Theoretical Approaches I:Looking at Language Data



The learner and acquisition:• learner characteristics• learning conditions• theories of L2A• Behaviourism (CAH)• innatism• The Monitor model

Data collection in second language research• generalizing patterns from the data• study types• hypothesis testing• hypothesis generating• data collection• longitudinal• cross sectional • data elicitation types• spontaneous data• experiments and tests• multiple choice• truth value judgments • grammaticality judgments



Some questions to ask when reading a research article:

• What did they do?

• Why did they do it?

• How did they do it?

• What did they find?

• How is this important for me? Do I believe it?



Theories of SLA

What are Taxonomies, Frameworks, Hypotheses,

Models and Theories?



Overview of data collection and analysis

Study types

-hypothesis testing

-hypothesis generating

Data Collection

-Longitudinal studies

-fewer informants

-more time

-closer inspection of linguistic phenomena

-developmental trends become apparent

-qualitative analysis of data

-spontaneous (guided) data collection



-Cross-sectional studies

-many informants

-shorter time needed for data collection

-researcher must generalize from sub-group to sub-group

-quantitative analysis of data

-tests used for data on specific structures



Data Elicitation

-elicited imitation

-picture telling stories

- grammaticality judgments

-truth-value judgments

-multiple choice tests



Analyzing Data

-Is there any regularity?

-Can we generalize a learner “system” (IL) from this

regularity?e.g. “learner marks all plural nouns with /s/ except

those that are preceded by a quantifying phrase

quantifying word.”

Examples:

“My shoes”, “Those womans”vs.

“Three rose”, “Several cheese”

Replication

-needed to validate previous findings

-not always feasible



Spontaneous data collection requires the

researcher to comb through the data in search of target formsNot always possible given time constraints.

Focus on Data Collection Techniques-Classroom-based spontaneous data



Experiments If carefully developed and implemented, experiments allowresearchers to efficiently target and elicit specific linguistic

forms. Two types of experiments are commonly used in

linguistic research to elicit data: comprehension tasks and

grammaticality judgments.

Three types of comprehension tasks: Act-out tasks,

direct questioning tests, and grammaticality judgments

Act out tasks require children to manipulate dolls and

other realia, or to play games. Otsu (1981: 177), testing L1

acquisition of binding, used a set of toy zoo animals and

had children manipulate them in response to statements

such as



(1) The lions patted each other.

Wexler and Chien (1985: 145) developed a

multi-participant act-out game of “Simon says” in

which children had to point at themselves or each

other in response to commands. This task was further

developed by having children give out toys to each

other (Chien and Wexler, 1987).



Direct questioning tests can be multiple-choice tests, or

truth-value judgment tests.



John said that Bill hit himself .

a. John

b. Bill

c. either John or Bill

d. someone else

e. don’t know

-Hirakawa’s (1990) cross-sectional study using native Japanese

speaking ESL students at four different levels.



Truth-value judgment tests. The second type of direct

questioning test, the truth value judgment test asks a subject

to listen to or read a passage followed by a statement about

the passage. The test subject then must decide if the

statement accurately represents the inform ation contained

in the initial passage.

Crain and McKee (1986) used a truth-value judgment task

to show that L1 English children do permit backwards

anaphora as in:

When she was outside playing, Alice ate an ice cream cone.



Another type of truth-value judgment developed to

test reflexives consists of short two to three sentence

stories, with a following statement which included an

anaphoric expression (see White 1995 and 1997).

Consider the next three examples:

(1) Annie is a student. There was a new teacher in

her class today. During class, the teacher asked

Annie some questions about Annie’s hometown.

Annie told the teacher that she was born in

Montreal.

Annie gave the teacher some information

about herself. (Subject antecedent, true)



(2) A young boy was looking at one of Mr. Robins’

antique guns. The young boy accidentally pulled the

trigger and the gun fired. Unfortunately, the bullet

hit Mr. Robins in the arm.

Mr. Robins realized that the boy shot himself accidentally. (Matrix subject (long

distance) antecedent, false)

(White et al. 1997: 167)



These examples of truth value judgment (TV) test items

demonstrate how the test subject is led to see the

connection between the anaphor and the subject antecedent

nnie in (1), and the illegal long distance subject matrix

subject antecedent Mr. Robins in (2).



Grammaticality judgment tests (“GJs”) elicit a speaker’s

udgments about the well-formedness of utterances. Early

examples of grammaticality judgments are found in

Chomsky (1957), where he uses his own intuitions to makehis seminal claims about the nature of language.



White et al. 1997

In their study of knowledge of L2 binding in Japanese and

French speakers described above, White et al. (1997) use

both a truth value judgment test which they refer to as

“story and picture tasks”, and a grammaticality judgment

test to collect their data. In their study, however, the

grammaticality judgment test serves only to confirm the

learners’ sensitivity to grammaticality in monoclausal

sentences controlled for gender as in:

The man showed his daughter a photograph of hersel

as a baby.

(White et al. 1997: 155)



Experiments into IL phenomena require, a careful

consideration of what target feature will be

investigated, some knowledge of the informants L1,

a meaningful and realistic means of collecting data on

the target structure, and a thoughtful analysis of the

resulting data.As you think about research, what language features

might you be interested in? Who might your

informants be? How might you collect your data?



THE END!

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