The Role of Prior Knowledge in L3 Learning

8/3/2019 The Role of Prior Knowledge in L3 Learning

1/25

The role of prior

knowledge in L3learning and use

Evidence on psychotypologicaldimensions

Study by Muiris Laoire and David Singleton(2006;2007)


2/25

Ireland: at least two languages (English and Irish) are atthe language users disposal when they approach thestudy of a third language. Research on multilingualism: why do we resort to

language Ywhen using language Z?

PSYCHOTYPOLOGY perspective:lg user perceives Y

as typologically closer to Zthan any other availablelanguage

L2 FACTOR perspective (Hammarberg 2001): lg Yis, justas lg Z, a non-native lg; Acquisition mechanisms for L2 different from those of

L1; hence a reactivation of the L2 type mechanisms inL3 acquisition;

A desire to suppress L1 as being non-foreign;


3/25

Study A:English, Irish and Frenchcross-lexical influence


4/25

Study A typological background

Languages under analysis: English, Irish and French;

belong to different lg families but are not equidistant Thousands of borrowings from French into English; many

shared borrowings from Latin and Greek; French loanwords in Irish counted in hundreds; Latin

borrowings completely assimilated;

Distance between English and French is considerablysmaller than between Irish and French.

Cognates shared by French are quickly recognized bylearners


5/25

Study A general overview

Hypothesis: Given the greater lexicalproximity, AND perceived proximity betweenEnglish and French (as opposed to thatbetween Irish and French), cross-lexicalinfluence from English would far outstrip anysuch influence from Irish (p82)

Study A conducted in two parts: in 2004 and 2005.The first part (2004) proved the influence from English tobe predominant, but English was the participants L1, and

therefore another study (2005) with balanced bilingualswas required to neutralize the possible role of the L1 factor;


6/25

Study A - participants 1st part: conducted in 2004 in classes of three secondary schools in the

south-west of Ireland, involving 42 learners in allClass A [N=13] was in a mixed English-medium comprehensive school in asmall village. Students had a 4-and-a-half-year education in French andtwelve-and-a-half-year education in Irish.

Class B [N=15]: similar to Class A, but the school was located in a largetown.

Class C [N=14] was in a small Irish-medium secondary school for girlslocated in a small town.

2nd part: conducted in 2005, with 24 pupils from classes in two seperatesecndary schools; all participants were in late teens and had beenstudying French for four and a half years.

Class D [N=11]: based in an Irish-medium school located in the south-westGaeltacht region. Students had been studying French for four and a halfyears and were identified by the class teacher as balanced bilinguals.

Class E [N=13]: based in a small Irish-medium school in Connemara. Theirprofile in relation to experience in French resembled that of Class D.


7/25

Study A methodology andinstrumentation

TASK 1: subjects were to read 20 French sentences andsupply a synonymous and an antonymous expression foran underlined word in each of the sentences, e.g.:

1. Maman a perdu ses cls.EXPRESSION SYNONYME:EXPRESSION ANTONYME:

2. Quand il a vu la personne qui arrivait, il a cri de joie.EXPRESSION SYNONYME:EXPRESSION ANTONYME:

The level of the text designed to trigger a consciouslexical search in which resources of other availablelanguages would be considered


8/25

Study A methodology andinstrumentation

TASK 2: subjects were to translate the underlined target lexicalitems into English or Irish (to check whether the language ofTask1 was at their level), state for each example whether theyfound it difficult or easy to supply a synonym, and comment on

their search for an appropriate word (INTROSPECTION), e.g.:1. perdu

TRANSLATION:

SYNONYM: difficult/not difficultComments on search:


9/25

Study A results

Examples of indications of English influence in data fromthe French synonym/antonym provision (TASK 1)

expensif: as synonym for cher(dear), non-existent in French;cf. Eng expensive

despis: as synonym for dteste(detest), non-existent in

French; cf. Eng despise

Examples of indications of Irish influence in data from theFrench synonym/antonym provision (TASK1)

trablod:as synonym for guerre(war),non-existent in French;cf. Irish triobloid(troubles)crua: as synonym for complexe(complex), non-existent in

French; cf. Irish crua(difficult)


10/25

Study A results

Examples of references to English in introspection data

(TASK2):

It sounds like the english so thats what I went bythought of it in english and translatedcosil le focal Barla (like the English word)Samoineamh as Barla (Thinking in English)

Examples of references to Irish in introspection data(TASK2):

I couldnt think of any word. I thought about words in english

and Irish and frenchI kept thinking of the Irish wordsmaoinigh m as Gaeile ar dts (I thought in Irish at first)


11/25

Study A results

After the data was quantified, it turned out that Englishpredominated massively over Irish in both tasks:

Elements indicating English/Irish influence in Frenchsynonym/antonym provision task:

English:Irish:

Study A, Part I46 (93.9%)3 (6.1%)

Study A, part II15 (79%)4 (21%)

References to English/Irish in introspection task:

English:Irish:

Study A, Part I359 (98.9%)

4 (1.1%)

Study A, part II48 (92%)4 (8%)


12/25

Study A conclusions

L2 factor proved to play a minor role in participants cross-linguistic consultation when faced with challenges in theirL3 of the two L1 of the bilinguals, the language mostly

drawn upon was English.

Our learners quest for lexical resources beyond their

knowledge of French seemed to be influenced by the

recognition of the lexical closeness of English and French(p99)


13/25

Study B: English, Irish and

Germanmorphosyntactic influence


14/25

Study B typological background

Languages under analysis: English, Irish and German.

German and English are both Germanic languages, BUT in lexicalterms English is more Romance than Germanic.

Concerning morphosyntax: In English non-finite clauses of purpose (Im here to buy books)

the direct object (DO) follows the main verb. In German, theopposite is true, the main verb is placed after DO(Ich bin hier, umBcher zu kaufen= Im here in orderbooks to buy). The same

rule holds for Irish (T m anseo chun leabhair a cheannach=Am I here in orderbooks for buying) In English there is no morphological inflection in NPs after

prepositions (The box is empty. Put the book on the box), while itis present (and extremely complex) in both German and Irish.


15/25

Study B general overview

Given the similarities between Irish and German and theircommon distance from English () the learners ofGerman might consciously or unconsciously draw uponIrish. This perception might be more firmly established inlearners with more exposure to and experience of Irish(p91)

The study looked at two groups of English-speakingparticipants, for whom German was their L3, and who hadIrish as their L2 or (in a few cases) as second L1.

The study focused on two areas of morphosyntax where Irishis closer to German than English: word order in non-finitepurpose clauses, and morphological inflection in NPsfollowing prepositions.


16/25

Study B participants

32 native speakers of English learning German as their L3.All were male, attending the same school (large boys

secondary school in a large city in the south-west ofIreland); all had been studying German for at least 4 yearsand Irish for at least 11 years;

Group A [N=22]: students studying German as L3 through themedium of English, whose L2 was Irish;

Group B [N=10]: participants in an Irish-medium programme;for most of them, Irish was their L2, but for four of them itwas a second L1;

(Group B: increased exposure to Irish)


17/25

Study B methodology andinstrumentation

TASK 1: WORD ORDERSubjects were asked to supply a noun/pronoun with a verb(provided in parenthesis) in correct word order in 5 non-finite

purpose clasuses in German, e.g.:

Will hat kein Brot. Er muss spter ausgehen um _______ (kaufen)

Hypothesis: subjects may resort to Irish as their sourcelanguage, since the Irish word order is similar to German


18/25


TASK 2: MORPHOLOGICAL INFLECTION IN NPs AFTERPREPOSITIONS

subejcts were presented with 5 incomplete sentences andrequired to fill them with the appropriately inflected form of thedefinite article following a given preposition to express the

meaning indicated in the accompanying drawing, e.g.:

Die Damme kommt _________ Kirche (aus).

Hypothesis: this task would trigger cross-linguisticconsultation, specifically of Irish, where parallelmorphological inflections exist.


19/25


Introspection instrument was also used. Having completed thetasks, the subejcts were asked to supply a short profile ofthemselves as learners and to introspect on theirproduction.

Qs:for TASK 1: How long have you been learning German (Irish)?

How do you rate yourself as a learner of German (Irish)?How did you find the excercise? How long did it take you tocomplete it?

For TASK 2: State whether you found the excercise difficult oreasy; state which of the languages you study helped youmost in making changes and why;


20/25

Study B QUAN results

A dictinction was made between subjects production of

correct word order, and lexico-grammatical accuracy; (1 pointfor WO and 1 for accuracy)

TASK 1

English-medium students (N=22)

Word order: 95/110(86.36%)

Lexico-grammaticalaccuracy:

34/110(30.9%)

Irish-medium students (N=10)

Word order: 50/50(100%)

Lexico-grammaticalaccuracy:

16/50(32%)

Both sets of data were subjected to a t-test, but no significant

difference between the groups emerged (p=0.1166)


21/25


TASK 2:

English-medium students (N=22)

Case: 64/110

(58.8%)

Accuracy: 49/110

(44.5%)Irish-medium students (N=10)

Case: 25/50(50%)

Accuracy: 16/50(32%)

Both sets of data were subjected to a t-test, but nosignificant difference between the groups emerged (p=0.49)


22/25


To sum up the quantitative results:

Learners knowledge of WO in Irish non-finite

purpose clauses may have a facilitative effect on theircapacity to produce appropriately ordered clauses inGerman, BUT exposure to Irish experienced byGroup B did not differentiate them significantly fromGroup A


23/25

Study B QUAL results

Concerning WO, though subjects drew upon their L2 to

produce correct L3 sentences, it appears they were notmetalinguistically aware of it only 50% of informantsincluded some comments on the process of production, andthese were mostly short comments, e.g.:

Wasnt sure about the gender

Couldnt remember pluralThe translation was easyI guessedThere were even fewer comments on the facilitative role of

English or Irish in completing the task: 25% of informantsmade some reference either to English or Irish or to bothEnglish and Irish; in all: 21 references to English, 5 referencesto Irish;

English words resemble German wordsEnglish similarities in words lernen and Monate


24/25

Study B - conclusions

Learners ability to produce correct WO in German was at ahigh level, even though their accuracy level was very low.This is strengthen by the fact that English-speakinglearners of German without Irishseem to have great

difficulty with German WO (Pienemann 1998; Jansen 2008)

There was no indication that the learners knowledge of

morphological modifications in prepositional phrases in theL3; the similairites between Irish and German in this areaare not obvious enough for learners to triggerpsychotypologically based facilitation


25/25

THE END

Documents

The Role of Prior Knowledge in L3 Learning