School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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ItemAustralian Indigenous language learner’s guides for revitalisation: language acquisition and materials evaluation( 2019)Given that many Australian Indigenous communities have undergone language loss and wish to (re)learn their heritage language, and that existing learner’s guides for these languages written by linguists are limited in their pedagogical capacities, this study is set out to investigate the current state and possible improvement of learner’s guides in response to Penfield and Tucker’s (2011) call for applied linguists with an expertise in language acquisition to step into this area. Specifically, this present study first adopts the learner-centred second language acquisition (SLA) stance and interviews four community-based language workers to identify the learning goals and needs of Indigenous communities. The study also evaluates nine existing learner’s guides published over the past four decades with Tomlinson’s (2010, 2011, 2016) principles proposed for SLA materials development as the fundamental framework. Findings suggest that one of the major learning goals of Indigenous communities be communicative competence, which matches with Tomlinson’s (2016) emphasis. Additionally, comprehensibility is the most salient issue of learner’s guides at present. To compare the insights of the interviewees in this study and the results of the learner’s guides evaluation, it is found that the SLA frameworks adopted in this study can indeed inform future development of learner’s guides for Australian Indigenous languages, but the application requires modifications in order to achieve cultural appropriateness, especially considering the colonial history of Australia. Beyond learner’s guides per se, the governing principle of future learner’s guides development is to have community consultation, involvement, and ideally, initiation. Positioned as an initial attempt to bridge language revitalisation and SLA, this study provides novel perspectives to both fields, introducing a theoretically and practically informed approach to develop pedagogical materials for Indigenous languages and an insight into a less studied audience in SLA research.
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ItemThe effects of study-abroad: the acquisition of English embedded wh-questions by L1 Cantonese speakers( 2018)Motivated by the growth of study-abroad (SA) population and the various findings in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature, this thesis investigates the effect of the SA context on the acquisition of English embedded wh-questions by first-language (L1) Cantonese speakers. 21 (11 at-home, AH and 10 SA) Cantonese learners of English participated in the study. The data were elicited by an oral production task (OPT), a grammaticality judgement task (GJT), a language contact profile (LCP) and an interview. The focus of the OPT and GJT was the inversion error made by the participants in the production and judgement of English embedded wh-questions, while the LCP and interview aiming at figuring out the possible factors of the participants’ knowledge of the target feature or the lack thereof. Moreover, the study set out to examine the difficulties of different wh-words (what, who, which, when, where, how and why) and whether the argument (what, who, which) – adjunct (when, where, how and why) asymmetry existed. The results showed no significant difference between the scores of the SA group and the AH group, suggesting that SA does not have a superior effect on the acquisition of L2 syntax. Diverse difficulties of different wh-words and the argument-adjunct asymmetry were found. These findings were discussed in light of the concepts of explicit and implicit knowledge as well as usage-base approaches. The study has pedagogical and theoretical implications.
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ItemSecond language interactional competence: solicitation effects on suggestions( 2014)This study investigated the acquisition of second language interactional competence via the speech act of suggestion produced by Vietnamese learners of English. The study employed a cross-sectional design to examine the effects of proficiency level and learning environment on learners’ pragmatic development. Specifically, the data elicitation instruments – role-play scenarios - were designed to uncover the solicitation effects on suggestion making. Four groups of learners of different proficiency levels in ESL and EFL environments were recruited for the study: a group of ESL learners of high proficiency level, a group of EFL learners of high proficiency level, a group of EFL learners of middle proficiency level, and a group of EFL learners of low proficiency level. A group of Australian native speakers were also recruited to provide baseline data. The employment of conversation analysis analytical apparatus in data analysis revealed significant solicitation effects on suggestion making. While the analysis of linguistic features of suggestions did not reveal any marked differences between two types of suggestions, the two types did differ in their sequence organizations. Discursive patterns of solicited suggestions varied in insertions and post-expansions whereas patterns of unsolicited suggestions varied in pre-expansions and post-expansions. Similarly, significant differences of preference organization of the two types of suggestions were found. While solicited suggestions were preferred ones, unsolicited suggestions were dispreferred. A number of preferences in suggestions were also documented. The examination of proficiency effects on learners’ performance showed a non-linear developmental pattern in unsolicited suggestions. That is, learners of mid proficiency and low proficiency levels were able to mitigate their suggestions while learners of high proficiency level did not attempt to use mitigating devices. On a learning environment note, learners in a second language environment resembled native speakers’ performance while learners in a foreign language environment differed significantly. The research contributes to the discursive pragmatics and interactional competence development in CA-for-SLA literature. It suggests important implications for pragmatics instruction and methodological implications for interlanguage pragmatic research.
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ItemMediation, internalization, and perezhivanie in second language learning: An autoethnographic case study of learning Mandarin as an L2 through Livemocha( 2013)The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the sociocultural concepts of mediation and internalization in second language learning. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) has gained acceptance within second language acquisition (SLA) research, however, SLA researchers have maintained cognitivist tendencies, and overlooked the methodological holism that Vygotsky had proposed. I argue that restoring his concept of perezhivanie (lived experience) as a unit of analysis allows researchers to take a more holistic approach to SCT-SLA to better understand the experience of mediation and internalization in language learning. To embrace a holistic approach, I undertook an autoethnography of learning Mandarin as an L2 through the social network language learning site, focusing on the ways in which my language learning was mediated. Spending two to three hours a day for five weeks on Livemocha, I kept a journal of my experiences learning Mandarin. Through four cycles of qualitative analysis, five themes emerged. First, my L1 was not simply a passive influence, but a resource that I could draw on to make associations with the L2, sometimes in unexpected ways. Second, the experience of frustration appeared to motivate my use of superficial strategies, like guessing, as my orientation shifted from learning language to completing tasks. Third, I found that memory (and the associated concept of noticing), as a mediator, was directed not only to linguistic forms, but also to experiences such as frustration, confusion, and forgetfulness. Fourth, I argue that shifts in my perception of Mandarin (e.g., from seeing separate morphemes, to seeing whole multi-morphemic words), are possibly indicative of internalization. Finally, as my attitudes towards the course content of Livemocha grew increasingly negative, I found myself relying more and more on the feedback—a form of social mediation—I was receiving from speakers of Mandarin on the website. In concluding the study, I discuss the implications of these themes, arguing that the emic perspective employed here problematises previously cognitivist conceptions within SLA. Embracing holism, the use of autoethnography in this study foregrounds the role of lived experience in better understanding how mediation operates, and internalization manifests, in learning. Considered together, the five themes that emerged from the study point to an important experiential dimension of learning that needs further investigation to supplement SLA research generally, and SCT approaches specifically.
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ItemAdolescent identity and pragmatic marker acquisition in a study abroad context( 2010)This longitudinal study investigated the acquisition of interpersonal markers by adolescent German students on a five or ten month exchange to Australia. Interpersonal markers were defined as syntactically optional elements of speech that provided implicit information about the relationship between the speakers and the message. The study also explored how structured and semi-structured data collection methods impacted on interpersonal marker use. The data consisted of audio-recordings of informal conversational interviews and the retelling of a story based on Mr Bean DVD clips. A language contact questionnaire was also used to help explain variation in acquisition. Three groups of sixteen to seventeen year old adolescents were recruited for the study: an experimental group of twenty-six German exchange students to Australia, a control group of twenty adolescents in Germany and native-speaker data from a group of twelve Australian adolescents. The experimental group was further divided into fourteen teenagers on a ten month exchange and twelve adolescents on a five month exchange to Australia. The exchange students acquired a large number of those interpersonal markers most associated with adolescent language within the first five months of their exchange. However, even after ten months of the exchange, levels of interpersonal marker use did not always match that of native speakers. Lower levels of interpersonal markers were found for students participating on a five month exchange compared to those on a ten month programme. This was most likely due to lower levels of personal investment and social integration in the five month cohort. Little or no acquisition was observed for German high school students who did not participate in an extended exchange. On a methodological level, a reliable system for the coding of pragmatic markers was developed. The study also highlighted issues of task effects in interview versus retelling data collection and of collecting information via written language contact profiles. The research adds to the growing repertoire of study abroad and developmental pragmatic competence literature and is of particular interest to exchange programme development as well as curriculum design for second language teaching.