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"Language Aptitude"
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Second language pragmatics aptitude
The present study aimed at investigating whether language pragmatics aptitude is a separate component of the construct of language aptitude distinct from the already conceived components. To do so, the Second Language Pragmatics Aptitude Test and the LLAMA test were administered to 200 native English-speaking adults, within the age range of 18 to 38, who entered the study through availability sampling. An exploratory factor analysis was run and the results showed loadings on two components indicating that pragmatics aptitude is distinct from the other components of language aptitude measured through the currently used language aptitude batteries. In order to confirm this finding, a subset of the data from 40 randomly-selected participants (out of the original 200) was subjected to paired-samples t-test. The results demonstrated a significant difference between test scores implying that the two tests neither overlap with each other nor yield redundant results. This proves the SLPAT and the LLAMA measure two distinct constructs suggesting that there is an aptitude for second language pragmatics learning, which could be measured to predict future success in learning the pragmatics of a second language.
Journal Article
Making numbers count : the art and science of communicating numbers
\"Understanding numbers is essential -- but humans aren't built to understand them. Chip Heath outlines specific principles that reveal how to translate a number into our brain's language. This book is filled with examples of extreme number makeovers, vivid before-and-after examples that take a dry number and present it in a way that people click in and say \"Wow, now I get it!\" This book will help math-lovers and math-haters alike translate the numbers that animate our world - allowing us to bring more data, more naturally, into decisions in our schools, our workplaces, and our society.\"-- Publisher's description.
Book
Language aptitude: Desirable trait or acquirable attribute?
The traditional definition of language aptitude sees it as “an individual’s initial state of readiness and capacity for learning a foreign language, and probable facility in doing so given the presence of motivation and opportunity” (Carroll, 1981, p. 86). This conception portrays language aptitude as a trait, in the sense of exhibiting stability over long periods of time and being immune to training. The trait view of language aptitude tends towards the notion that it is innate, and indeed language aptitude has often been associated with the popular notion of a “gift for languages” (cf. Rosenthal, 1996, p. 59). The view of language aptitude as an innate trait has, however, long been questioned (see e.g., Neufeld, 1978). Recently, this questioning has intensified (see Singleton, 2014), especially since the development of a widespread consensus that working memory needs to be recognized as an important component of language aptitude (see Wen, 2016). Working memory was also once thought of as a trait, but is now recognized as susceptible to the influence of experience and instruction (see e.g., Williams, 2012). The present paper will track the trajectory of the above theoretical discussion and will explore the implications of the stage it has now reached.
Journal Article
Long-term relationships among early first language skills, second language aptitude, second language affect, and later second language proficiency
Fifty-four students were followed over 10 years beginning in first grade to determine best predictors of oral and written second language (L2) proficiency. Predictor variables included measures of first language (L1) skill administered in first through fifth grades, L1 academic aptitude, L2 aptitude (Modern Language Aptitude Test), and L2 affect (motivation, anxiety). All participants completed 2 years of L2 study in high school. Findings revealed strong correlations between early L1 skills and later L2 proficiency, but the Modern Language Aptitude Test was the best predictor of overall L2 proficiency and most L2 proficiency subtests. However, L1 word decoding was the best predictor of L2 word decoding skills. Early L1 skills, L2 motivation, or L2 anxiety added a small amount of variance to the prediction models. Findings suggested that language-related variables are the most robust predictors of L2 proficiency. Results are discussed in the context of long-term cross linguistic transfer of early L1 skills to later L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency.
Journal Article
An Investigation Into Second Language Aptitude for Advanced Chinese Language Learning
In this study the author examines the construct of aptitude in learning Chinese as a second language (L2) to an advanced level. She tests 2 hypotheses: first, that L2 aptitude comprises 4 components-working memory, rote memory, grammatical sensitivity, and phonemic coding ability-and second, that L2 aptitude affects learning both directly and indirectly (mediated by strategy use and motivation). Native speakers of English (n = 96) studying advanced Chinese took the Modern Language Aptitude Test and a phonological working memory test and responded to motivation and strategy use questionnaires. Using end-of-course listening, reading, and speaking proficiency test results as measures of Chinese learning, she constructed a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. The model fit the observed data. Of the 4 components foreseen to comprise L2 aptitude, rote memory contributed the most and working memory the least. Aptitude, strategy use, and motivation had about the same impact on learning but varied in how well they predicted the individual skills of listening, reading, and speaking. The results shed light on L2 aptitude in the particular context of an advanced L2 Chinese course. (Verlag, adapt.).
Journal Article
Explicit Information, Grammatical Sensitivity, and the First-Noun Principle: A Cross-Linguistic Study in Processing Instruction
This study presents the results of four experiments in the framework of processing instruction conducted with four language learner groups (Spanish, n = 43; German, n = 46; Russian, n = 44; and French, n = 48; discussed in that order). In each experiment, the processing problem was held constant (the First-Noun Principle) although the structure was unique to the language. The independent variables were explicit information prior to treatment and grammatical sensitivity as measured by the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Two dependent measures were included: (a) trials-to-criterion (how long it took participants to begin processing correctly) and (b) improvement over time (pretest/posttest). Results show that explicit information may be useful for the processing of some structures but not others; however, explicit information is not necessary. Results also show that grammatical sensitivity does not significantly correlate with any of the measures under any conditions except for the German group that received explicit information. Our conclusion is that when instructed SLA is viewed as processing, variables such as explicit information and grammatical sensitivity may not play the same role as when instructed SLA is viewed as rule learning. (Verlag).
Journal Article
Native Language Predictors of Foreign Language Proficiency and Foreign Language Aptitude
Fifty-four students were tested at specific time intervals over 10 years to determine best native language (NL) predictors of oral and written foreign language (FL) proficiency and FL aptitude. All participants completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Each was administered measures of NL literacy, oral language, and cognitive ability in elementary school. A measure of FL aptitude was administered at the beginning of ninth grade and FL proficiency was evaluated at the end of the 10th grade. Among the variables, NL literacy measures were the best predictors of FL proficiency, and NL achievement and general (verbal) intelligence were strong predictors of FL aptitude. Results suggest that indices of NL literacy as early as first grade are related to FL proficiency and FL aptitude nine and 10 years later. Findings provide strong support for connections between L1 and L2 skills, and for speculation that \"lower level\" skills in phonological processing are important for written language development and oral proficiency in a FL.
Journal Article
Aptitude-treatment interaction effects on explicit rule learning: A latent growth curve analysis
Finding the match between individuals and educational treatments is the aim of both educators and the aptitude-treatment interaction research paradigm. Using the latent growth curve analysis, the present study investigates the interaction between the type of explicit instructional approaches (deductive vs. explicit-inductive) and the level of foreign language aptitude (high vs. low) in the learning of explicit grammar rules. The results indicate that on the whole the two equally explicit instructional approaches did not differentially affect learning performance. However, when the level of language aptitude, measured by grammatical sensitivity, associative memory, and memory for text (with the last variable being the best measure), was taken into account, low-aptitude learners performed significantly better with the deductive instruction, in the sentence-correction tests. The interaction effects of equally explicit instructional approaches suggest the need for considering aptitude-treatment interaction to maximize learners' potential for success in second language learning. (Verlag).
Journal Article
APTITUDE AS GRAMMATICAL SENSITIVITY AND THE INITIAL STAGES OF LEARNING JAPANESE AS A L2
In this article, we challenge the notion that aptitude—operationalized as grammatical sensitivity as measured by the Words in Sentences section of the Modern Language Aptitude Test—is central to adult second language (L2) acquisition. We present the findings of a study on the acquisition of two properties of Japanese, head-final word order and case marking, by naïve learners of Japanese as a L2 who had no prior knowledge of this language or any other head-final, case-marking language. Participants underwent an input treatment in which they heard and saw basic subject-object-verb sentences in Japanese and were subsequently tested on these basic sentences and also on sentences to which they were not exposed during the treatment (i.e., polar questions and embedded clauses). Reading times on grammatical and ungrammatical sentences served as measures of underlying sensitivity to violations of grammatical word order for both the basic sentences and the novel sentences. Our results yielded three groups of learners: those who showed sensitivity to violations of basic word order, polar questions, and embedded clauses (parameter reset); those who showed sensitivity to violations of basic word order and polar questions only (partial parameter reset); and those who showed sensitivity to violations of basic word order only (no parameter reset). Because our measure of aptitude as grammatical sensitivity did not emerge as a factor distinguishing the three groups from one another, we argue that this component of aptitude is not a factor in whether learners are able to reset parameters. We also found that all participants, regardless of group, demonstrated sensitivity to case-marking violations, suggesting that aptitude as grammatical sensitivity plays no role in the acquisition of underlying features related to case or to the surface-level markings of case in Japanese.
Journal Article