Search results for "language and linguistics"

The role of motor system in action-related language comprehension in L1 and L2: An fMRI study

2018

The framework of embodied cognition has challenged the modular view of a language-cognition divide by suggesting that meaning-retrieval critically involves the sensory-motor system. Despite extensive research into the neural mechanisms underlying language-motor coupling, it remains unclear how the motor system might be differentially engaged by different levels of linguistic abstraction and language proficiency. To address this issue, we used fMRI to quantify neural activations in brain regions underlying motor and language processing in Chinese-English speakers’ processing of literal, metaphorical, and abstract language in their L1 and L2. Results overall revealed a response in motor ROIs …

From conceptualization to constructions in Finnish as an L2 : a case study

2017

AbstractThis study traces the individual learning trajectories of an adult beginner L2 Finnish learner in expressing the extralinguistic concept of evaluation from a dynamic usage-based perspective. Our results provide support for the view of learner language as a dynamic system in which patterns wax and wane and in which a change in one component has the potential to affect the whole system. In the early stages of learning there was a strong preference to use lexical verbs first, and then adjectives. The study also shows that variability plays a role. Finally, the study confirms that the learning of L2 constructions is in some cases item based. However, another highly frequent and superfic…

Guiding and assessing development of L2 writing process : the role of peer collaboration

2022

This study, informed by Vygotskian notion of mediation and reporting on a partnership between a researcher (the first author) and a teacher (the second author), aims at exploring how peers’ comments can inform teacher assessment and guidance of learners’ L2 (second/foreign language) writing. The participants were 19 L2 English learners in an upper secondary school in Finland. We largely focus on the notes that one pair of learners made on each other’s essays and how they responded to peer assistance. Triangulating these data with classroom observation and a questionnaire, we traced how learners co-constructed their understanding of how their texts can be developed. The foci and how the iden…

Mobilizing ‘context’: Vocabulary checks in ESL tutoring sessions

2022

This study investigates the practice of unplanned and emergent vocabulary checks, i.e. turns through which a speaker explicitly checks whether the recipient knows a word, in small-group tutorial instruction. The data are video-recorded English as a second language (ESL) tutoring sessions between a native English speaker tutor and ESL students at an urban community college in the United States. By drawing on conversation analysis, we analyze how vocabulary checks emerge sequentially and with the help of contextual interactional resources. Findings suggest that vocabulary checks constitute a practice for managing both shared understanding and pedagogical concerns. By singling out a vocabulary…

Learning Grammar for Social Action : Implications for Research and Language Teaching

2022

Kirjoitusprosessi suurennuslasin alla

2020

Arvioitu teos:
 Olga Gaitšenja: Venekeelsete eesti keele õppijate kirjutamisprotsess. Tallinn: Tallinna ülikool 2019. 254 s. isbn 978-9949-29- 466-4. Saatavilla verkossa osoitteessa http://www.digar.ee/id/nlib-digar:406495.

Kielen oppimisen ekologiaa

2021

Arvioitu teos: Minna Intke-Hernandez: Maahanmuuttajaäitien arjen kielitarinat. Etnografinen tutkimus kieliyhteisöön sosiaalistumisesta.Kasvatustieteellisiä tutkimuksia103. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto 2020. Johdanto 112 s. + 4 artikkelia. isbn 978-951-51-6837-5. Johdanto-osa saatavillaverkossa osoitteessa http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-51-6838-2.

Foneettisten piirteiden ja vieraan aksentin yhteydestä suomen kielessä

2018

Tapaustutkimuksemme tarkoituksena on selvittaa muutaman foneettisen piirteen ja vieraan aksentin yhteytta suomen kielessa. Analysoimme ilmiota kuulijatestilla, akustisin mittauksin ja kirjoittajien tekemin kuulonvaraisin havainnoin. Puhujina ovat varsin edistyneet suomenpuhujat, jotka puhuvat suomea toisena tai vieraana kielenaan. Tuloksemme antavat uutta tietoa vieraan aksentin ja foneettisten piirteiden yhteyksista seka tarjoavat avauksia jatkotutkimukselle. Tutkitut piirteet ovat pitkien vokaalien etaisyydet, aannekestot, perustaajuuden (f0) vaihteluvali, f0:n vaihtelun jyrkkyys ja keskihajonta seka artikulaationopeus. Tuloksemme osoittavat, etta kaikilla piirteilla on yhteys vieraaseen …

Investigating Syntactic Complexity in EFL Learners' Writing across Common European Framework of Reference Levels A1, A2, and B1

2019

Abstract The study investigates the linguistic basis of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) levels in English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing. Specifically, it examines whether CEFR levels can be distinguished with reference to syntactic complexity (SC) and whether the results differ between two groups of EFL learners with different first languages (Sindhi and Finnish). This sheds light on the linguistic comparability of the CEFR levels across L1 groups. Informants were teenagers from Pakistan (N = 868) and Finland (N = 287) who wrote the same argumentative essay that was rated on a CEFR-based scale. The essays were analysed for 28 SC indices with the L2 Syntactic Co…

Lexically specific vs. productive constructions in L2 Finnish

2020

ABSTRACTIt is assumed from a usage-based perspective that learner language constructions emerge from natural language use in social interaction through exemplar learning. In L1, young learners have been shown to develop their constructions from lexically specific, formulaic expressions into more productive, abstract schemas. A similar developmental path has been shown for L2 development, with some exceptions. The aim of the current study is to explore to what extent the default assumption holds for L2 learning. The development of two constructions was traced in four adults learning L2 Finnish. Free-response data, collected weekly over a period of 9 months, were used to investigate the produ…