Brian Richards

Input and interaction in language acquisition

List of figures List of tables Preface Introduction Part I. General Issues: 1. The language of primary caregivers Julian M. Pine 2. The changing role of negative evidence in theories of language development Jeffrey L. Sokolov and Catherine E. Snow 3. Crosslinguistic and crosscultural aspects of language addressed to children Elena V. M. Lieven 4. Child-directed speech and influences on language acquisition: methodology and interpretation Brian J. Richards Part II. Specific Aspects Of Input And Interaction: 5. The rest of the family: the role of fathers and siblings in early language development Michelle E. Barton and Michael Tomasello 6. Phonetic and prosodic aspects of baby talk Alan Cruttenden 7. Language learning at home and school Peter Geekie and Bridie Raban Part III. Types Of Language Learner: 8. Language interaction with atypical language learners Gina Conti-Ramsden 9. Interaction and childhood deafness Clare Gallaway and Bencie Woll 10. Input and interaction in second language acquisition Majorie Bingham Wesche Conclusion References Author index Subject index.

Investigating accommodation in language proficiency interviews using a new measure of lexical diversity

Lexical diversity is an important indicator of language learners’ active vocabulary and how it is deployed. Traditionally it has been measured by the Type-Token Ratio (TTR), the ratio of different words to total words used. Unfortunately, TTR is a function of sample size: larger samples of words will give a lower TTR and even commonly used measures derived from TTR which are claimed to be independent of sample size are problematic. To overcome this, the authors have developed an innovative measure of vocabulary diversity, D, based on mathematically modelling how new words are introduced into larger and larger language samples, and have produced software (vocd) to calculate it. Previous research by the authors into language proficiency interviews (Richards and Malvern, 2000) investigated linguistic and discourse accommodation of teacher-testers using a wide range of student and teacher variables. In a study of teenage learners of French, the aspect of teachers’ language in oral interviews that was most responsive to the ability of their students was lexical diversity. The analysis reported here focuses on this finding in greater depth using the new measure, D. The relationship between D and other measures of foreign language proficiency is investigated, the Ds of students and teachers are compared and the correlations between teachers’ D and students’ proficiency are computed. Results firstly demonstrate the validity of D as a measure of vocabulary diversity and the effectiveness of vocd as a tool to analyse language data. Secondly, with regard to accommodation processes in oral testing, the two teachers did not finely tune their vocabulary diversity to the proficiency of individual students. Instead, each teacher roughly adjusted his or her language to the ability of the class they examined.

Language development and individual differences : a study of auxiliary verb learning

Part 1. Introductory Sections: 1. The auxiliary and the young language learner 2. Rate of auxiliary verb learning in thirty-three children Part II. Individual Differences and Auxiliary Verb Learning in Seven Children: 3. Research design 4. Rate of development 5. Indicators of analytic and piecemeal learning 6. The complexity principle as an indicator of holistic learning 7. Individual differences and the development of auxiliaries in tag questions 8. The development of auxiliary DO 9. The development of CAN Part III: Environmental Influences and Individual Differences in Auxiliary Verb Learning: 10. Previous research 11. Yes/No questions and rate of auxiliary learning for thirty-two children 12. Conclusion Notes References Index.

Vocabulary Studies in First and Second Language Acquisition

This book presents recent original research on vocabulary that explores common themes and current issues in both first and second language over a wide range of ages and stages. A key feature is that, in every case, the issues have implications for educational practice and policy.

Environmental Correlates of Child Copula Verb Growth.

A recurring result from studies which relate the frequency of input variables to rate of language development, is the link between auxiliary verb growth and yes-no questions addressed to children. Explanations for this relationship usually concentrate on the advantages of hearing stressed and non-contracted auxiliary forms in sentence-initial position over hearing unstressed, contracted forms in medial position in declaratives. If such accounts are correct, then it can be predicted that yes-no questions which place forms of COPULA be in initial position will also increase the rate of growth of childrens COPULA verb development. This prediction was tested using a sample of 33 children, carefully matched for stage of language development at 1;9 and 2;0 years; rate of copula verb growth was then measured over the succeeding nine months. Analyses include an examination of the contribution of sub-categories of yes-no question, tag questions, and utterances containing sentence-final copulas to the growth of contracted and full copulas. Results confirm that the frequency of inverted copulas in yes-no questions predicts childrens copula development. Nevertheless, caution is urged before interpreting the relationship in terms of a direct causal model.

Introduction: Special issue on knowledge and use of the lexicon in French as a second language

This special issue of JFLS focuses on what learners know about French words, on how they use that knowledge and on how it can be investigated and assessed. In many ways, it is a sequel to the special issue on the Acquisition of French as a Second Language edited by Myles and Towell that appeared in JFLS in 2004. While articles on the L2 acquisition of the French lexicon have appeared in a variety of journals, including JFLS, this special issue (SI) is the first volume which specifically focuses on lexical knowledge and use among learners of French as a second language. The issue is timely, because of the growing importance of vocabulary in the SLA research agenda, but also because research into vocabulary acquisition appears at the top of a list of areas in which teachers of Modern Foreign Languages are most interested.

REPORTED VOICE DIFFICULTIES IN STUDENT TEACHERS: A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

ABSTRACT: As professional voice users, teachers are particularly at risk of abusing their voices and developing voice disorders during their career. In spite of this, attention paid to voice care in the initial training and further professional development of teachers is unevenly spread and insufficient. This article describes a questionnaire survey of 171 trainee teachers at the end of their Postgraduate Certificate in Education year that included the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) ( Jacobson et al., 1997 ). The survey aimed to identify the prevalence and types of voice problems experienced by students during their teaching practice and to relate these to previous history and to the area of the curriculum they were teaching. The analysis suggests that over a third of trainees suffer from voice difficulties on teaching practice and that one student in 12 was classified as having a moderate handicap as defined by the VHI. Trends of symptoms particular to individual curricular areas appear to be a fruitful area for further study.

Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: Insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12–13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN TEACHER EDUCATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIAGNOSTIC LANGUAGE TEST FOR TRAINEE TEACHERS OF GERMAN

ABSTRACT:  This article describes the development and validation of a diagnostic test of German and its integration in a programme of formative assessment during a one-year initial teacher-training course. The test focuses on linguistic aspects that cause difficulty for trainee teachers of German as a foreign language and assesses implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge as well as students’ confidence in this knowledge. Administration of the test to 57 German speakers in four groups (first-year undergraduates, fourth-year undergraduates, postgraduate trainees, and native speakers) provided evidence of its reliability and validity.

A New Method of Measuring Rare Word Diversity: the Example of L2 Learners of French

In his summary of measures of effective vocabulary use, Read (2000) includes among his four dimensions of lexical richness ‘A selection of low frequency words … rather than just general, everyday vocabulary [including] technical terms and jargon as well as the kind of uncommon words that allow writers to express their meanings in a precise and sophisticated manner’ (p. 200). He refers to this characteristic as lexical sophistication.