On Variables Affecting L1 Transfer in L2 Acquisition

This paper focuses on variables affecting L1 transfer in L2 acquisition, which, according to the author, are categorized into three groups： learner-related variables, language-based variables and socio-linguistic variables, and each of them is clarified in more details.

Exploration of Difference between L1 Acquisition and L2 Acquisition

What is the difference between L1 acquisition and L2 acquisition？ How does knowing this help us as teachers of English to speakers of other languages？ Could we use this knowledge of the difference in class？ The article tries to explore the difference and answer these questions.

Fast acquisition of L2C CL codes based on combination of hyper codes and averaging correlation

This paper provides a direct and fast acquisition algorithm of civilian long length（CL） codes in the L2 civil（L2C） signal. The proposed algorithm simultaneously reduces the number of fast Fourier transformation（FFT） correlation through hyper code technique and the amount of points in every FFT correlation by using an averaging correlation method. To validate the proposed acquisition performance, the paper applies this algorithm to the real L2C signal collected by the global positioning system（GPS） L2C intermediate frequency（IF） signal sampler—SIS100L2C. The acquisition results show that the proposed modified algorithm can acquire the code phase accurately with less calculation and its acquisition performance is better than the single hyper code method.

A Review of Research on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading

The crucial role of lexis in both first and second language acquisition has long been acknowledged by researchers.With that notion, many researchers and instructors has paid much attention to L2 vocabulary acquisition. The paper here attempts to give a brief review of some related research and is supposed to spark some ideas about L2 vocabulary acquisition on a theoretical and pedagogical basis.

The Contrary Effect of Collaborative Writing on ESL Students＇ Vocabulary Acquisition

Writing task is an integral part of education in ESL （English as a Second Language） at the foundation level. It has been observed that foundation level 3 students of Arab Open University have an insufficient knowledge of vocabulary which is reflected on their writing, as their usage of vocabulary is confined to a number of limited common words. This research explores the effect of collaborative writing on students＇ vocabulary acquisition. All the writing tasks were related to educational topics in order to provide students with the lexical items related to the same subject. This study took place in one of the foundation level 3 classes at Arab Open University, Oman branch. Fourteen anonymous Arab students for whom English is considered as the second language participated in this study. All students are in the intermediate level of English language proficiency. For each writing task, five collocations were selected to be taught in the class over a period of five weeks. The achieved outcomes revealed contrary results to the previous studies that had shown the effective impact of collaborative writing. This study has discussed the contrary impact of collaborative writing on improving the learners＇ vocabulary acquisition in addition to the challenges students faced during collaborative writing task. Finally, this research provides recommendations for the effective collaborative writing in the foundation students＇ language proficiency.

The Acquisition of Speech Acts and Pedagogical Implications

The paper begins with the recent development of second language acquisition, in particular, L2 pragmatics, the study of acquisition of speech acts. Secondly, after exploring the distinction of competence and communicative competence, looking into the to-do-things nature of utterances as well, the paper introduces the empirical researches on acquisition of request, apology, refusal, ect. in detail, emphasizing the significant findings. The paper finally draws some practically useful pedagogical implications on the basis of acquisition of speech acts.

The Influence of L1 Mental Lexicon on L2 Mental Lexicon

This paper deals with the influence of L1 （first Language） mental lexicon on L2 （second Language） mental lexicon with Chinese subjects. It proves two possibilities： the response types in L1 and L2 of a single individual may be similar, and the dominant language （mostly L1） and the L2 may interfere with each other＇s vocabulary depth and breadth. The result is of great significance for Chinese learners of English.

L2 Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading——Incidental Learning and Intentional Learning

二语词汇习得过程中主要涉及到两种不同的方法:直接学习和间接学习。本文通过调查中国非英语专业学习者在阅读语境中词汇习得现象,发现在间接学习的基础上增加直接学习对学习者不同知识层面(从认知到运用)的词汇习得能力的提高和词汇记忆有很大帮助。英语学习者的水平在产出性词汇附带习的得中起到很大作用。

Mock Conference’s Impact on Internalizing Translating and Interpreting Learners’ Motivation

The internalization of motivation in second/foreign language(L2)learning and the use of mock conferences(MCs)to prepare translating and interpreting learners for future professional careers have been widely researched by scholars,but whether MC can facilitate the internalization of T&I learners’motivation is under-researched.Based on self-determination theory(SDT),this thesis investigates the effectiveness of MC in facilitating internalization of motivation through an empirical study which involves a 2-week long pedagogical experiment on two parallel classes of T&I learners taught by the same teacher in their 1st year of graduate study at Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation,Beijing Foreign Studies University.The research shows that compared with traditional teachercentered teaching model,MCs can better facilitate internalization of T&I learners’motivation.This article justifies the use of MCs as a situated approach in interpreting teaching and describes the design of MCs according to the psychological needs of SDT.In addition,the paper offers suggestions for further improvement of MCs design at the postgraduate level.

An Exploration of the Influence of Willingness to Communicate on Second Language Communication

This qualitative study aims at exploring the influence of L2 learners' willingness to communicate(WTC) on second language communication. The participants involved in this study were 7 beginners learning Mandarin in a Chinese university whose native languages were totally different. Multiple sources of data were collected, including classroom observations, semistructured interviews and stimulated recalls. The results indicate that the students with higher level of WTC were more fluent in L2 Chinese communication, and the student whose native language or second language is Russian performed better in Chinese communication.

A CASE STUDY OF AN ADVANCED ENGLISH LEARNER'S ERRORS IN NATURALLY OCCURRING SPEECH

Identifying, describing and analyzing errors have been seen by many linguists as one of the main ways of investigating L2 acquisition.The present paper will focus on analyzing an advanced English learner' s errors in naturally occurring speech. Firstly, it describes in detail the errors that a Chinese advanced learner made in her first few months' the naturalistic communication, then analyzes the main types and causes of errors.Lastly, there is a conclusion that language errors are caused by the limits of human language (L1/L2) abilities and L2 errors are closely related to L1 interference.

Interpretation of English Ambiguous VerbLocative Prepositional Phrase Constructions by Mandarin and Spanish Speakers:Evidence for the Representational Deficit Hypothesis

This paper presents an empirical study of the acquisition of English ambiguous verb-locative prepositional phrase constructions （VLPPs） by adult Mandarin and Spanish speakers. This study assumes that the semantic properties of the target VLPPs that relate to change-of-location in sentences such as The boat floated under the bridge arise from an uninterpretable syntactic feature selected by English but unselected by Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. Results obtained from an animated cartoon selection task indicate that neither the Mandarin nor the Spanish speakers at any level of English proficiency possess native-like interpretative knowledge. Tense/ Aspect effects on the interpretation of the target constructions by Spanish speakers were also found. These results are interpreted as consistent with the Representational Deficit Hypothesis view （Hawkins, 2003, 2005） of adult second language acquisition.