On the Source of U-Shape Learning in Interlanguage Processing: A Pilot Study on the L2 Acquisition of Number Agreement in French by Jordanian Arabic Learners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1305.29Keywords:
Number agreement, input-providing va. output-pushing corrective feedback, U-shape processingAbstract
This paper investigates the L2 acquisition of the morphosyntax of number agreement of French by L1 learners. The study is based on a pilot study that investigates learners’ knowledge of number agreement of two paradigms of subject-verb number agreement in French: the so-called matching paradigm in which agreement in number is expressed audibly via an alternation of the verb stem between a singular and plural forms and the mismatching paradigm in which the number agreement is not audible realized via singular vs. plural alternation. We discussed our sample’s proficiency in (de-)normalizing number agreement and the implications it has for the theory of corrective feedback and linguistic input in L2 processing in Language acquisition.
References
Abu Helal, A. (2019). On Discourse Features Inheritance in the VP Information Structure: Evidence from Depictive Secondary Predication in standard Arabic. Stud. Ling. 73(2), 248-298.
Abu Helal, A. (2022). A puzzle related to superlative modification in definite relative clauses in Jordanian Arabic. Heliyon, 8(8), e10115
Al-Gharaibeh, A. (2019). aaliat ʔl-ħidʒaadʒ ʔl-uɣawi wa ʃibh ʔl-mantˠqi l-wasˠaya ʔlħukamaʔ fi ʔl ʕasˤr ʔl-dʒaahili " muqarabh tadawilya"- The mechanisms of linguistic and semi-logical argument for the recommendations of the wise in the pre-Islamic era “Semantic Analogy”. Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, 46(4). 62-78.
Ågren, M.et al. (2021). “Les copains *dit au revoir”: On Subject–Verb Agreement in L2 French and Cross-Linguistic Influence. Languages 2021, 6, 7.
Ashwell, T. (2000). Patterns of teacher response to student writing in a multiple-draft composition classroom: Is content feedback followed by form feedback the best method? Journal of Second Language Writing, 9, 227-257.
Ard, J., & Gass, S. (1987). Lexical constraints on syntactic acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9, 235–255.
Bialystok, E. (1978). A theoretical model of second language learning. Language Learning, 28, 69–84.
Birdsong, D. (1989). Metalinguistic performance and interlinguistic competence. New York: Springer Verlag.
Bley-Vroman, R. (1989). What is the logical problem of foreign language learning? In S. Gass & J. Schachter (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 41–68). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Carlucci, L. et al. (2005). Variations on U-shaped learning. In P. Auer & R. Meir (Eds.), Learning Theory, Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference on Learning Theory, COLT 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (No. 3559, pp. 382–397). New York: Springer Verlag.
Chandler, J. (2003). The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement in the curacy and fluency of L2 student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing. 12, 267-296.
Cho, J. & Slabakova, R., (2014) Interpreting definiteness in a second language without articles: The case of L2 Russian. Second Language Research. 30(2) 159– 190.
Chomsky, N. (1959). Review of Skinner (1957). Language, 35(1), 26–58.
Chomsky, N., (1995). The Minimalist. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Chomsky, Noam (1964), Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, The Hague: Mouton.
Chomsky N (2004) Beyond explanatory adequacy. In: Belleti A (ed.) Structure and beyond: The cartography of syntactic structures. New York: Oxford University Press, 104–31.
Crookes, G. (1989). Planning and interlanguage variation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11, 367–383.
Crookes, G. (1991). Second language speech production research: A methodologically oriented review. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 113–132.
Egi, T. (2007). Interpreting recasts as linguistic evidence: length, and degree of change. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 29, 511-537.
Ellis, R. (1987). Interlanguage variability in narrative discourse: Style shifting in the use of the past tense. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9, 1–20.
Ellis , R. , & Sheen , Y. (2006). Re-examining the role of recasts in L2 acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 575 – 600.
Eubank, L. (1991). Point counterpoint: Universal grammar in the second language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fathman, A., & Whalley, E. (1990). Teacher response to student writing: Focus on form versus content. In B. F. Kroll (Ed.), Second language writing: Research insights for classroom (pp. 178-190). New York: Cambridge University.
Farrar, M. J. (1990). Discourse and the acquisition of grammatical morphemes. Journal of Child Language, 17, 607–624.
Gass, S. (1988a). Integrating research areas: A framework for second language studies. Applied Linguistics, 9, 198–217.
Gass, S., Behney J and Plonsky L. (2013). Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.
Grimshaw, J., & Pinker, S. (1989). Positive and negative evidence in language acquisition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 341–342.
Jarrah, M., (2019). Record Your Agree: A case study of the Arabic complementizer ʔinn. J. linguist.55, 83-122.
Jimenez- Fernandez A & Spyropoulos A. 2013. Feature Inheritance, VP Phases and the Information Structure of Small Clauses. Studia Linguistica, 67(2):185–224.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. London: Pergamon.
Lardiere D. (2008) Feature-assembly in second language acquisition. In: Liceras J, Goodluck H, & Zobl H (eds) The role of formal features in second language acquisition. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum, 107–40.
Leeman, J. (2003). Recasts and second language development: Beyond negative evidence. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25, 37 – 63.
Lightbown, P. (1985). Great expectations: Second language acquisition research and classroom teaching. Applied Linguistics, 6, 173–189.
Lightbown, P. (1983). Exploring relationships between developmental and instructional sequences in L2 acquisition. In H. Seliger & M. H. Long (Eds.), Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 217–243). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413–468). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Long, M. H., Inagaki, S., & Ortega, L. (1998). The role of implicit feedback in SLA: Models and Recasting Japanese and Spanish. The Modern Language Journal, 82, 357–371.
Lyster, R. (2002). Negotiation in immersion teacher-student interaction. International Journal of Educational Research, 37, 237 – 253.
Lyster, R. (2007). Learning and teaching languages through content: A counterbalanced approach. Amsterdam: Benjamins .
Lyster, R., & Mori, H. (2008). Instructional counterbalance in immersion pedagogy. In R. Fortune & D. Tedick (Eds.), Pathways to bilingualism and multilingualism: Evolving perspectives on immersion education (pp. 133 – 151). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
McLaughlin, B. (1990). Restructuring. Applied Linguistics, 11, 113–128.
McLaughlin, B., & Heredia, R. (1996). Information-processing approaches to research on second language acquisition and use. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 213–228). San Diego: Academic Press.
Miyagawa, S. (2010). Why agree? Why move? Unifying agreement-based and discourse-configurational languages. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Nelson, K. E. (1987). Some observations from the perspective of the rare event cognitive comparison theory of language acquisition. In K. E. Nelson & A. van Kleeck (Eds.), Children’s language (Vol. 6, pp. 289–331). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nicholas, H., Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2001). Recasts as feedback to language learners. Language Learning, 51, 719-758.
Pesetsky, D. & Torrego (2000), E. Probes, Goals and Syntactic Categories. Paper presented at the 7th annual Tokyo conference on Psycho-linguistics. Keio University, Japan.
Pinker, S. (1984). Language learnability and language development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pinker, S. (1989). Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ramchand, G. and Svenonius, P. (2008) Mapping a parochial lexicon onto a universal semantics. In: Biberauer M (ed.) Limits of syntactic variation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 219–45.
Ranta, L., & Lyster, R. (2007). A cognitive approach to improving immersion students’ oral language abilities: The awareness-practice-feedback sequence. In R. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology (pp. 141 – 160). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Saxton, M. (1997). The Contrast Theory of negative input. Journal of Child Language, 24, 139–161.
Schachter, J. (1988). Second language acquisition and its relationship to Universal Grammar. Applied Linguistics, 9, 219–235.
Schwartz, B. (1986). The modular basis of second language acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.
Schwartz, B. (1998). On two hypotheses of “transfer” in L2A: Minimal trees and absolute influence. In S. Flynn, G. Martohardjono, & W. O’Neil (Eds.), the generative study of second language acquisition (pp. 35–59). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Segalowitz, N. (2003). Automaticity and Second Languages. In C. Doughty, & M. H. Long (Eds.), the Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 382-408). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Sheen, Y (2010). Differential effects of oral and written corrective feedback in the ESL classroom. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 203- 234
Thomas, M. (2003). Two textbook representations of second language acquisition and Universal Grammar: “access” and “constraint”. Second Language Research, 19(4), 359–376.
Truscott, J. (1998). Noticing in second language acquisition: A critical review. Second Language Research, 14, 103–135.
White, L (2015). Linguistic theory, universal grammar, and second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (eds.), Theories in second language acquisition (pp. 34–53). New York: Routledge.
Williams, J. (1990). Discourse marking and elaboration and the comprehensibility of second language speakers. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum, Eugene, OR.
Yang, Y (2010). Effects of form-focused practice and feedback on Chinese EFL learners acquisition of regular and irregular past tense forms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32(02):235 – 263.
