Second Language Sentence Processing

Second language (L2) sentence processing research studies how adult L2 learners understand sentences in real time. I review how L2 sentence processing differs from monolingual first-language (L1) processing and outline major findings and approaches. Three interacting factors appear to mandate L1–L2 differences: ( a) capacity restrictions in the ability to integrate information in an L2; ( b) L1–L2 differences in the weighting of cues, the timing of their application, and the efficiency of their retrieval; and ( c) variation in the utility functions of predictive processing. Against this backdrop, I outline a novel paradigm of interlanguage processing, which examines bilingual features of L2 processing, such as bilingual language systems, nonselective access to all grammars, and processing to learn an L2. Interlanguage processing goes beyond the traditional framing of L2 sentence processing as an incomplete form of monolingual processing and reconnects the field with current approaches to grammar acquisition and the bilingual mental lexicon.

Lexicogrammatical aspects in English for dentistry acquisition materials

In the 21st century, globalization and massive migration have increased the global demand for effective transnational communication skills in English in the health care workplace and academic contexts, including dentistry. English for Dentistry falls under the umbrella of English for Specific Purposes (ESP): this refers to teaching and learning English as a foreign language in a particular domain. While the role of grammar acquisition in ESP courses is often understated in the key theoretical literature on ESP, this article highlights the importance of lexicogrammatical knowledge. Dentistry students and practitioners in Latvia highly value the accuracy in communication since the knowledge of various syntactic and morphological rules of grammar and their use in the dentistry-related context contribute to the accuracy required in the performance of different communicative tasks, for instance, asking for, explaining, and providing information, giving instructions. Besides, if dentists are unable, for example, to explain a diagnosis, agree on treatment options with the patient in a meaningfully accurate way, the dentist’s authority may be undermined, resulting in unsuccessful communication. The case study reports on the tasks employing lexicogrammatical strategies in the material “Dentistry and Language Integrated Learning”, which has been developed by the authors of this article working in close collaboration with individual academic staff at the the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Latvia. The material piloted amongst both dentistry practitioners and students suggests that the applied strategies of morphological derivation, for instance, recognizing and building new words by gaining control of affixation devices, can be considered as useful tools in the new lexeme meaning-making process in dentistry. As a result, this study has attempted to support the assumption that ESP and content and language integrated learning (or CLIL) are compatible and can be efficiently mastered in the professional discourse development process.

Language Acquisition: The Role of Grammar Acquisition and Instruction in Second Language Teaching and Learning

This scoping review studies the role of grammar in second language teaching and learning. This scoping review mainly directs to synthesizing relevant studies and literature on acquiring grammar and looking for strategies for achieving it. Grammar acquisition requires the subconscious mind of accepting grammatical knowledge that is then confined and used in communication. Its implicit nature makes it hard to conduct studies about it, and there is a need for more information that can help contribute to the existing knowledge about it. Hence, this scoping review gathered and scrutinized recent and relevant papers from various databases. The collected papers consist of qualitative and quantitative studies. Many language teachers agree that pedagogic grammar is crucial in second language acquisition. Hence, this paper analyzes recent and relevant papers about grammar acquisition. This scoping review found out that the importance of studies about grammar acquisition should not be forsaken; thus, more investigations must be done to contribute to the already existing knowledge. A byproduct of these studies can lead to better strategies for promoting grammar acquisition to language learners. Hence, the amelioration of Second Language Learning and Second Language Teaching is inevitable.

Grammar Teaching in the Turkish Language Course Curriculum: An Examination in the Context of Acquisitions, Activity, and Teachers’ Opinions

This research aimed to reveal teachers’ opinions about how the grammar-teaching process is related to the acquisitions in the curriculum, activities, and acquisitions presented in the textbooks teaching in mother tongue, the study reviewed different textbooks from four publishers, Cem, Sonuç, Koza, and Ministry of National Education (MEB) publications prepared for the 2018 primary school Turkish language course curriculum and Education Information Network (EBA) of the Turkish Ministry of Education. Moreover, opinions of ten primary school teachers who have taught all grades regarding the teaching process for grammar acquisition were investigated. The study conducted a case study method, which is one of the qualitative research techniques. Besides, a document analysis was conducted to obtain the research findings. Structured interview protocol and document review were used as the data collection tool. The findings of the study revealed that acquisition in the learning areas of reading and writing for grammar in the curriculum was not clearly and transparently identified, and the limits of the teaching framework were not specified. The study findings also revealed that information was transferred only in the majority of the grammar activities in the textbooks. Also, classroom teachers reported that they used different methods on the subjects they could embody in the teaching process, but they claimed to have difficulties in teaching abstract concepts.

Audio-visual input for learning L2 vocabulary and grammatical constructions

This article addresses the benefits of audio-visual input for learning second language (L2) vocabulary and grammatical constructions. Specifically, it explores the role of frequency, the effects of subtitles and captions, and the mediating role of learner proficiency on language gains in two longitudinal studies. Study 1 targets vocabulary acquisition in two groups of adolescents with an elementary L2 proficiency level who view 24 episodes of a TV series spread weekly over a whole academic year, one group with subtitles (first language) and one with captions (second language). Study 2 targets grammar acquisition in two groups of university students with an intermediate proficiency level who view 10 episodes over five weeks, one group with captions and one without captions. Results of both studies show significant correlations between language gains and frequency in the input, but the size of the frequency effect appears to depend on the type of support provided by the on-screen text. The analyses also show no significant advantage of captions or subtitles for vocabulary learning at this proficiency level, a significant advantage of captions over no captions for grammatical constructions learning, as well as the significant role of proficiency. It is concluded that viewing audio-visual material leads to L2 learning and it can support learners in their preparation for study abroad and maximize their learning experience during their sojourn.

Depth-Bounded Statistical PCFG Induction as a Model of Human Grammar Acquisition

This article describes a simple PCFG induction model with a fixed category domain that predicts a large majority of attested constituent boundaries, and predicts labels consistent with nearly half of attested constituent labels on a standard evaluation data set of child-directed speech. The article then explores the idea that the difference between simple grammars exhibited by child learners and fully recursive grammars exhibited by adult learners may be an effect of increasing working memory capacity, where the shallow grammars are constrained images of the recursive grammars. An implementation of these memory bounds as limits on center embedding in a depth-specific transform of a recursive grammar yields a significant improvement over an equivalent but unbounded baseline, suggesting that this arrangement may indeed confer a learning advantage.

Fostering foreign language grammatical competence. Ways of representing linguistic knowledge

This study presents the framework for mastering foreign language grammar within a University curriculum. Fostering learners’ grammatical competence (GC) is identified as a desired effect of grammar acquisition. The premise is advanced that to achieve this target, the teaching and learning process has to take into account multiple factors, which might facilitate enhancing GC. It is hypothesized that developing GC can be efficacious on condition that the teacher considers cognitive profiles of the students and takes into account affective determinants of grammar acquisition. Multiple ways of presenting linguistic knowledge are emphasized in the paper. Specifically, the key idea is that rationally combining various types of linguistic input may turn out conducive to the understanding, conceptualization, and internalization of the subject matter.