School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemKaipuleohone, The University of Hawai'i's Digital Ethnographic Archive(University of Hawaii Press, 2009)The University of Hawai‘i’s Kaipuleohone Digital Ethnographic Archive was created in 2008 as part of the ongoing language documentation initiative of the Department of Linguistics. The archive is a repository for linguistic and ethnographic data gathered by linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and others. Over the past year, the archive has grown from idea to reality, due to the hard work of faculty and students, as well as support from inside and outside the Department. This paper will outline the context for digital archiving and provide an overview of the development of Kaipuleohone, examining both concrete and theoretical issues that have been addressed along the way. The creation of the archive has not been problem-free and the archive itself is an ongoing process rather than a finished product. We hope that this paper will be useful to scholars and language workers in other areas who are considering setting up their own digital archive.
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ItemExplaining the Linguistic Diversity of Sahul Using Population Models(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2009-11)The region of the ancient Sahul continent (present day Australia and New Guinea, and surrounding islands) is home to extreme linguistic diversity. Even apart from the huge Austronesian language family, which spread into the area after the breakup of the Sahul continent in the Holocene, there are hundreds of languages from many apparently unrelated families. On each of the subcontinents, the generally accepted classification recognizes one large, widespread family and a number of unrelatable smaller families. If these language families are related to each other, it is at a depth which is inaccessible to standard linguistic methods. We have inferred the history of structural characteristics of these languages under an admixture model, using a Bayesian algorithm originally developed to discover populations on the basis of recombining genetic markers. This analysis identifies 10 ancestral language populations, some of which can be identified with clearly defined phylogenetic groups. The results also show traces of early dispersals, including hints at ancient connections between Australian languages and some Papuan groups (long hypothesized, never before demonstrated). Systematic language contact effects between members of big phylogenetic groups are also detected, which can in some cases be identified with a diffusional or substrate signal. Most interestingly, however, there remains striking evidence of a phylogenetic signal, with many languages showing negligible amounts of admixture.
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ItemGenre and disciplinary competence: A case study of contextualisation in an academic speech genre(PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2009-10)
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ItemMeasuring the Speaking Proficiency of Advanced EFL Learners in China: The CET-SET Solution(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2009)
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ItemPair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity and accuracy(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2009-07)The assessment of oral language is now quite commonly done in pairs or groups, and there is a growing body of research which investigates the related issues (e.g. May, 2007). Writing generally tends to be thought of as an individual activity, although a small number of studies have documented the advantages of collaboration in writing in the second language classroom (e.g. DiCamilla & Anton, 1997; Storch, 2005; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Particularly in university contexts, group or pair assignments are widely used in many disciplines. In addition, collaborative writing could be used in second language classroom assessment contexts as formative assessment. However, research which compares texts produced by learners collaboratively to texts produced individually, and the implications of this for assessment practices, is rare. This study is a first step in the investigation of using collaborative writing in second language contexts and comparing the performance of two groups of second language learners: one group worked individually, and the other group worked in pairs. When writing in pairs, each pair produced a single text. All participants completed one writing task: an argumentative essay. The performances of the individuals (N = 48) and the pairs (N = 48) were compared on detailed discourse analytic measures of fluency, complexity and accuracy. This comparison revealed that collaboration impacted positively on accuracy, but did not affect fluency and complexity. A detailed analysis of the pair transcripts recorded during the writing activity provides insights into the ways in which pairs work together, and the foci of their endeavour. The implications of these findings for in-class assessment of second language writing are discussed.
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ItemMah Meri(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2009-08)Mah Meri (ãʔ məri) belongs to the Aslian branch of Mon-Khmer within the Austroasiatic family. It is classified as a Southern Aslian language, along with Semelai, Semoq Beri and Temoq (Benjamin 1976). Mah Meri is spoken by the Mah Meri ethnic group in scattered settlements along the south-west coast of the Malay peninsula stretching from Port Kelang to Bukit Bangkong, Sepang in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The island of Sumatra lies a short distance away across the Malacca Strait. The Mah Meri language, which may have as many as 2,185 speakers, has no written tradition and is highly endangered.
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ItemDiagnostic assessment of writing: A comparison of two rating scales(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2009-04)Alderson (2005) suggests that diagnostic tests should identify strengths and weaknesses in learners' use of language and focus on specific elements rather than global abilities. However, rating scales used in performance assessment have been repeatedly criticized for being imprecise and therefore often resulting in holistic marking by raters (Weigle, 2002). The aim of this study is to compare two rating scales for writing in an EAP context; one `a priori' developed scale with less specific descriptors of the kind commonly used in proficiency tests and one empirically developed scale with detailed level descriptors. The validation process involved 10 trained raters applying both sets of descriptors to the rating of 100 writing scripts yielded from a large-scale diagnostic assessment administered to both native and non-native speakers of English at a large university. A quantitative comparison of rater behaviour was undertaken using FACETS. Questionnaires and interviews were administered to elicit the raters' perceptions of the efficacy of the two types of scales. The results indicate that rater reliability was substantially higher and that raters were able to better distinguish between different aspects of writing when the more detailed descriptors were used. Rater feedback also showed a preference for the more detailed scale. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for rater training and rating scale development.
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ItemAccessing Grammar in Senior Secondary English: A Victorian Exemplar(AATE-AUSTRALIAN ASSOC TEACHING ENGLISH, 2009)