1,720,980 research outputs found
French interlanguage oral corpora: recent developments
No full textThe raw data for any second language acquisition research, namely interlanguage corpora, are one of our most expensive resources to collect. New methodologies now make it relatively easy to share this resource, by storing digitised soundfiles and transcripts on the Internet, thus making oral interlanguage corpora accessible to other L2 researchers.The article first discusses the possibilities offered by new methodologies, in terms of data storage, management and data analysis, and it then presents current efforts to develop web-based access to French oral interlanguage corpora of learners at different levels and with different backgrounds.Finally, the article presents a short inventory of the French interlanguage oral corpora currently available, indicating in each case the author and main outputs to date, as well as providing information about the learners, the format of the corpus (e.g. longitudinal versus cross-sectional data; transcription conventions) and its accessibility to users
A cross-sectional study of french interlanguage development in an instructional setting
No full textAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN044243 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
Learning vocabulary in the primary languages classroom: What corpus analysis can tell us
No full textThe national curriculum for primary schools in England now includes study of a foreign language in Key Stage 2 (years 3-6). However organised instructional time is very limited (typically 30-40 minutes per week), and there is little or no informal exposure to the target language outside class. Yet it is known that a sense of progression is crucial for children’s sense of motivation and self-efficacy as language learners. It is therefore important to use classroom time as effectively as possible, taking account of children’s characteristics as learners to develop and consolidate their TL knowledge.This chapter draws together a range of evidence from the ESRC-funded study ‘Learning French from Ages 5, 7 and 11’, (Myles 2017; Myles et al. 2012) regarding the development of target language vocabulary knowledge by early learners over a year’s instruction in French as foreign language. The available data include lesson plans, videorecordings and transcriptions of complete lesson series, as well as receptive vocabulary tests constructed to sample systematically the vocabulary actually taught, which were administered on 3 occasions (part way through the instructional period, then as Posttest and Delayed Posttest). We examine the influence on vocabulary development of a variety of contextual and pedagogic factors, including word frequency and word functions in classroom talk, the status of lexical items as cognates/non-cognates, the nature of observed multimodal support for novel lexical items (including use of images and gestures), activity types in which new words were encountered and practised (focused repetition/ role play/ story/ song) and the relationship between spoken and written input. We further examine briefly how far variation in vocabulary learning is due to individual learner characteristics (age, Working Memory scores, L1 literacy levels, and observed classroom engagement). We draw tentative conclusions regarding the rate of progress in vocabulary learning which can be generally expected in a constrained classroom context, and highlight the factors which seem to promote development most consistently
Using CHILDES tools for researching second language acquisition
No full textThe second language acquisition research community needs datasets of oral production in order to study linguistic development. The use of digital technologies, as already seen in other areas, has the potential to improve the collection, analysis and sharing of such data. Attempts to develop uniquely SLA specific tools have been abandoned. This paper evaluates some of the CHILDES tools (MacWhinney 2002, http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/), originally developed for first language acquisition research, in the context of a project investigating linguistic development of French . The CHILDES tools are part of an active and well-funded international community of language researchers, and consequently keep pace with relevant technological developments (e.g. digitised sound and video files, XML compatible formats). Although considerable time was required to become sufficiently familiar with the tools, and some project-specific modifications were necessary in order to benefit from the recently-developed computerised French morphosyntactic analyses, we argue that the CHILDES package can offer the SLA community flexible and efficient means of data preparation, analysis and sharing. Our experience suggests that training in and use of the tools could significantly enhance current practice
The acquisition of functional categories in early French second language grammars: The use of finite and non-finite verbs in negative contexts
No full textThis cross-sectional study of first language (L1) English adolescents learning French as a second language (L2) uses their development of negatives in relation to finite and non-finite verbs to investigate the status and nature of functional categories in these learners’ emerging grammars. Analysing oral data from elicited production tasks from instructed learners, it provides evidence for a lack of functional categories in the Initial State and the earliest L2 grammars (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1996; Hawkins, 2001). However, the results from the study also indicate that the functional category I (or T) then emerges reasonably rapidly. The pattern of development of negation and finite and non-finite verbs in these learners’ grammars also suggests that feature values are in place for the functional categories once they are projected, as learners consistently raise the verb. The learners do use root infinitives but the properties of these root infinitives differ to those found in L1 acquisition (Pierce, 1992; Wexler, 1994; 1998), thus supporting Wexler’s maturational account of Optional Infinitives in L1 acquisition. Additionally, the rare occurrence of raised non-finite verbs would indicate that there is a problem with the realization of surface morphology in accordance with the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis of Prévost and White (2000a) rather than an impairment in the grammar (Meisel, 1997; Hawkins, 2000)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
- …
