• Title/Summary/Keyword: Language Acquisition

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The Effects of Collocation-Based Instruction on L1-Korean High School Students' English Vocabulary Acquisition

  • Kim, Youngsu;Ma, Jee Hyun
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.141-159
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    • 2011
  • This study examined the effects of collocation-based instruction on L2 vocabulary acquisition and learners' interests in it. Fifty one students were randomly assigned to the experimental group (collocation-based instruction group) and to the control group. The participants' English vocabulary capacity was checked through pre and post tests, and two surveys were used to probe the learners' vocabulary learning behaviors and their interests in English vocabulary learning respectively. To better understand the participants' opinions and feelings on the collocation-based learning, follow-up interviews were also carried out. The results showed that second language (L2) learners' vocabulary capacity was significantly improved through collocation-based instruction. However, the participants' degree of interest in vocabulary learning did not reach our expectation partly because of external factors such as the Test for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and lack of familiarity of collocations. Such results indicate that the high school students' rooted perception of putting importance on test-based language learning could not be easily changed since it is closely related to their immediate needs. Based on the results, this study suggested how to implement collocations into L2 classrooms effectively.

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Defining the Nature of Online Chat in Relation to Speech and Writing

  • Lee, Hi-Kyoung
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.87-105
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    • 2006
  • Style is considered a pivotal construct in sociolinguistic variation studies. While previous studies have examined style in traditional forms of language such as speech, very little research has examined new and emerging styles such as computer-mediated discourse. Thus, the present study attempts to investigate style in the online communication mode of chat. In so doing, the study compares text-based online chat with speech and writing. Online chat has been previously described as a hybrid form of language that is close to speech. Here, the exact nature of online chat is elucidated by focusing on contraction use. Differential acquisition of stylistic variation is also examined according to English learning background. The empirical component consists of data from Korean speakers of English. Data is taken from a written summary, an oral interview, and a text-based online chat session. A multivariate analysis was conducted. Results indicate that online chat is indeed a hybrid form that is difficult to delineate from speech and writing. Text-based online chat shows a somewhat similar rate of contraction to speech, which confirms its hybridity.. Lastly, some implications of the study are given in terms of the learning and acquisition of style in general and in online contextual modes.

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The Use of Phonetics in the Analysis of the Acquisition of Second Language Syntax

  • Fellbaum, Marie
    • Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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    • 1996.10a
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    • pp.430-431
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    • 1996
  • Among the scholars of second language (L2) acquisition who have used prosodic considerations in syntactic analyses, pausing and intonation contours have been used to define utterances in the speech of second language learners (e.g., Sato, 1990). In recent research on conversational analysis, it has been found that lexically marked causal clause combining in the discourse of native speakers can be distinguished as "intonational subordination" and "intonational coordination(Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, forthcoming.)". This study uses Pienemann's Processability Theory (1995) for an analysis of the speech of native speakers of Japanese (L1) learning English. In order to accurately assess the psycholinguistic stages of syntactic development, it is shown that pitch, loudness, and timing must all be considered together with the syntactic analysis of interlanguage speech production. Twelve Japanese subjects participated in eight fifteen minute interviews, ninety-six dyads. The speech analyzed in this report is limited to the twelve subjects interacting with two different non-native speaker interviews for a total of twenty-four dyads. Within each of the interviews, four different tasks are analyzed to determine the stage of acquisition of English for each subject. Initially the speech is segmented according to intonation contour arid pauses. It is then classified accoding to specific syntactic units and further analysed for pitch, loudness and timing. Results indicate that the speech must be first claasified prosodic ally and lexically, prior to beginning syntactic analysis. This analysis stinguishes three interlanguage lexical categories: discourse markers, coordinator $s_ordinators, and transfer from Japanese. After these lexical categories have been determined, the psycholinguistic stages of syntactic development can be more accurately assessed.d.

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Acquisition of English speech rhythm by Chinese learners of English at different English proficiency levels

  • Zhang, Jiaqi;Lee, Sook-hyang
    • Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.71-79
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    • 2019
  • This study aims to investigate the rhythmic patterns in the English speech produced by Chinese learners of English who learn English as a foreign language (EFL learners). Utilizing interval-based rhythm metrics, namely, VarcoC, VarcoV, nPVI-C, nPVI-V, and %V, the study compared the rhythmic differences in English speech between ten native speakers from the United States and forty Chinese EFL learners from mainland China. A sentence elicitation task consisting of thirty picture prompts and corresponding thirty stimuli sentences with at least five vocalic and four consonantal intervals was conducted. Statistical results reveal that both Chinese advanced learners and beginners had significantly lower degree of stress-timed in their English speech, indicating that the acquisition of the L2 speech rhythm was influenced by the learners' L1 rhythmic pattern. In addition, the results also show that the Chinese advanced learners had significantly higher degree of stress-timed in their English speech than beginners and showed no significant difference with native speakers in VarcoC and nPVI-C. These results indicate that the direction of L2 speech rhythm development was from more syllable-timed to more stress-timed.

A Study to the Acquisition of Honorific Markers by Three-, Four-, and Five-year-old Young Children (만 3.4.5세 유아의 존댓말 습득에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Jin-Iee;Kim, Min-Jin
    • Korean Journal of Child Studies
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.153-166
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this study was to examine Korean young children's acquisition of honorific expressions. The participants of the present study were 297 young children (ages 3-5 years) from Kyunggi province. The results of the study showed that young children acquire honorific markers in the order of hearer-honorific expressions, subject-honorific expressions, and then object-honorific expressions. Five-year old children acquired at least 75% of the hearer-honorific expressions. The result can be explained by the fact that most of them were used in greetings. Even though more than 90% of five-year old children acquired the subject-honorific marker si, the acquisition rates of subjecthonorific nouns and subject-honorific verbs were less than 10%. Finally, the acquisition rates of objecthonorific expressions were less than 20%, with the exception of the object-honorific noun ce. The results of the study suggest that educational programs should be developed in order to facilitate the acquisition of honorific markers in young children.

How Different are Learner Speech and Loanword Phonology?

  • Kim, Jong-Mi
    • Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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    • v.1 no.3
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    • pp.3-18
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    • 2009
  • Do loanword properties emerge in the acquisition of a foreign language and if so, how? Classic studies in adult language learning assumed loanword properties that range from near-ceiling to near-chance level of appearance depending on speech proficiency. The present research argues that such variations reflect different phonological types, rather than speech proficiency. To investigate the difference between learner speech and loanword phonology, the current research analyzes the speech data from five different proficiency levels of 92 Korean speakers who read 19 pairs of English words and sentences that contained loanwords. The experimental method is primarily an acoustical one, by which the phonological cause in the loanwords (e.g., the insertion of [$\Box$] at the end of the word stamp) would be attested to appear in learner speech, in comparison with native speech from 11 English speakers and 11 Korean speakers. The data investigated for the research are of segment deletion, insertion, substitution, and alternation in both learner speech and the native speech. The results indicate that learner speech does not present the loanword properties in many cases, but depends on the types of phonological causes. The relatively easy acquisition of target pronunciation is evidenced in the cases of segment deletion, insertion, substitution, and alternation, except when the loanword property involves the successful command of the target phonology such as the de-aspiration of [p] in apple. Such a case of difficult learning draws a sharp distinction from the cases of easy learning in the development of learner speech, particularly beyond the intermediate level of proficiency. Overall, learner speech departs from loanword phonology and develops toward the native speech value, depending on phonological contrasts in the native and foreign languages.

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Code-Switching of English Learners in the TEE Program

  • Kim, Eunjeo;Choe, Sook Hee
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.99-118
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    • 2011
  • Research on strategic Code-Switching (CS) of second language learners in teaching English in English (TEE) program provides an elaborate framework for analyzing how learners manage to express themselves in spite of their limited knowledge of the target language. This research presupposes that L2 learners' CS presents innovative solutions for communicative strategy, and that CS used as communicative strategy can promote L2 learners' language acquisition. The major questions of current research involve examining the significant patterns of different functions of CS in L2 learners' interaction and investigating L2 learners' CS styles according to the different functions of CS. The implication of CS utility is regarded as a teaching technique in the TEE program. Recorded transcript is analyzed to trace the same pattern and the categorization of CS as well as to recognize the functions of CS and their ratio. Hence, this leads to the conclusion that learners' negotiation between code selection and communication intention occurs in patterns. The learners' CS tends to be predictable, reproductive, and systematic, as one of the language acquisition phases. Therefore, the attention to the CS in the TEE program should be redirected in communication substantiality toward the principles of pragmatics. As an additional advantage of the CS analysis, this research elaborates on a conceptual acceptance of CS as a set of learners' strategies in the TEE program.

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Linguistics in Postmodern Science Fiction: Delany's Babel 17 and Stephenson's Snow Crash

  • Kim, Il-Gu
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.41-59
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    • 2006
  • As the late partner to science fiction, various experimental languages such as animal language, telepathic language, newly invented language, alien language often appear as "unexpected and frightened situations" in SF. Like generative semanticists, some SF writers daringly delve into the sacred mystery of semantics in language whereas others avoid the dream of a universal language by holding themselves to manageable data. Samuel Delany's description of the ideal telepathic universal language in Babel 17 shows us humans' dream to be like God by showing to us the new process of communication in the factual interplanetary environment. Similar to the mystery of alien language in SF, the baby's babbling reveals how language is both simple and complicated. Children's language shows us the changing process of a soul revealed by language use and it is no wonder that many languages of AIs in SF often borrow their source from children's language acquisition processes. In short, science fiction as the repository of tropes illuminates other literary language studies and other literary genres. Especially in terms of the futuristic study of linguistics, the relationship between science fiction and linguistics is much closer than we thought.

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Null Subjects in Crosslinguistic Acquisition Data and Theoretical Implications (주어 탈락 현상의 언어간 비교와 이론적 모색)

  • Kim, Young-Joo
    • Annual Conference on Human and Language Technology
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    • 1995.10a
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    • pp.264-280
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    • 1995
  • 한 문장의 주어가 우리말에서처럼 수의적으로 나타날 수 있는가 혹은 영어에서처럼 반드시 표면에 나타나야 하는가에 따라 공주어언어 (null-subject language)와 비공주어언어(non-null-subject language)로 분류된다. 이러한 주어 탈락 현상에 대하여 이론적으로 다양한 가설이 제기되어 왔다. 본 논문에서는 한국어의 언어 습득 자료에 나타나는 주어 탈락의 양상을 살피고, 이를 비공주어언어인 영어자료와 공주어언어인 이탈리아어, 포르투갈어, 중국어자료와 비교함으로써 궁극적으로 이론적 가설을 비교 평가하는 데 이바지하고자 한다.

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A FPGA Design of Improved Acquisition System for DS-CDMA (DS-CDMA을 이용한 개선된 동기 획득 시스템의 FPGA 설계)

  • 박종우;조병록;송재철
    • Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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    • 1999.11a
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    • pp.67-70
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    • 1999
  • DS-CDMA is used to widely spread spectrum for a cellular mobile digital communication that maximizing users- capacity at the limited frequency bandwidth, solving technical matters with the channel. Especially, the capability of a spread spectrum receiver relied on fast code acquisition time at the demodulation. In this paper, we considered that fast code acquisition time when a spread spectrum system is designed, and existed code acquisition system set up one code epoch on a position at initial processing, but the proposed code acquisition system improved that two code epoch are set up at the same time, therefore code acquisition time is diminished in effect. The structure modeling to VHDL language. Its synthesized the synthesized and, is implemented FPGA chip

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