The Role of Stylistic Variation and Language Proficiency Level in the L2 Acquisition of English Plurality
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Published:
Oct 31, 2018
Keywords:
English plural morpheme L2 morpheme acquisition stylistic variation second language acquisition
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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to provide more evidence around L2 morpheme acquisition by examining the English plural morpheme production of 20 adult Thai L2 learners of English in two different speech contexts. L2 learners at two proficiency levels - lower-proficiency and advanced - participated in the experiment. Picture Storytelling and Short Sentence Reading Tasks were designed to elicit informal and formal registers, respectively. The findings from the Picture Elicitation Task highlight late acquisition of the English plural morpheme despite the fact that Thai students are taught this feature from a very young age. The presence of orthography in the formal setting as tested in Short Sentence Reading Task did not have a major impact on the performance of the lower-proficiency group, but greatly affected the performance of the advanced group.
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References
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Berko, J. (1958). The Child's Learning of English Morphology. Word. 14(2-3).
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de Villiers, J. & de Villiers, P. (1973). A cross-sectional study of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes in child speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2, 267-278.
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Eckman, F. (1991). The structural conformity hypothesis and the acquisition of consonant clusters in the interlanguage of ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 23-41.
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Krashen. S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the input hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal, 73, 440-464.
Krashen, S. & Seliger, H. (1976). The role of formal and informal linguistic environments in adult second language learning. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 3, 15-21.
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Larsen-Freeman, D. (1975). The acquisition of grammatical morphemes by adult ESL students. TESOL Quarterly, 9(4), 409-419
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Major, R. (2004). Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology. Language Variation and Change, 16, 169-188.
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Richards, J. (1969). Pronunciation Feature of Thai Speaker of English. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand, 10, 67-75.
Romaine, S. (1978). Postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English: Sound change in progress? In P. Trudgill (Ed.), Sociolinguistic patterns in British English (pp. 144-157).
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Sangchote, S. (2014). The Acquisition of the English Plural Morpheme by Thai L2 Learners. (M.A. Independent Study), Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Schmidt, R. (1977). Sociolinguistic variation and language transfer in phonology. Working Papers in Bilingualism, 12, 79-95.
Silveira, R. (2007). Investigating the Role of Orthography in the Acquisition of L2 Pronunciation: A case study. Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, 459-472.
Smyth, D. (2005). Thai: An Essential Grammar. New York: Routledge.
Tarone, E. (1979). Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning, 29, 181-191.
Tarone, E. (1983). On the variability of interlanguage systems. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 142-164.
Tiewcharoenkij, A. (2005). Variations of the /r/ in French according to styles and academic years of French major students. (M.A. Thesis), Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Treyakul, S. (1986). Stylistic variations of (r) and (l) in Bangkok Thai: A study of the pronunciation of Bangkok F.M. radio newscasters. (M.A. Thesis), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weinberger, S. (1987). The influence of linguistic contest on syllable simplification. In G. Ioup & S. H. Weinberger (Eds.), Interlanguage phonology. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Wolfram, W. (1989). Systematic variability in second language tense marking. In M. R. Eisenstein (Ed.), The dynamic interlanguage: Empirical studies in second language variation (pp. 187-197).
New York: Kluwer. Yavas, M. (2011). Applied English phonology. (2nd ed.). Hong Kong: Wiley-Blackwell.
Yin, M. (2015). The Effect and Importance of Authentic Language Exposure in Improving Listening Comprehension. Culminating Projects in English, 33.
Adjemain, C. (1976). On the nature of interlanguage systems. Language Learning, 26(2), 297-320.
Andersen, R. (1978). An implicational model for second language research. Language Learning, 28, 221-281.
Audacity Team. (2016). Audacity 2.1.2. Retrieved January 20th, 2016 from https://www.audacityteam.org/
Bailey, N., Madden, C. & Krashen, S. (1974). Is There a ‘Natural Sequence’ in Adult Second Language Learning? Language Learning, 24, 235-243.
Beebe, L. (1974). Socially conditioned variation in Bangkok Thai. (Doctoral dissertation), University of Michigan.
Beebe, L. (1980). Sociolinguistic variation and style shifting in second language acquisition. Language Learning, 30(1), 433-447.
Berko, J. (1958). The Child's Learning of English Morphology. Word. 14(2-3).
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Cancino, H., Rosansky, E., & Schumann, J. (1975). The acquisition of the English auxiliary by native Spanish speakers. TESOL Quarterly, 4, 421-430.
Carlisle, R. (2006). The sonority cycle and the acquisition of complex onsets. In B. O. Baptista & M. A. Watkins (Eds.), English with a Latin beat: Studies in Portuguese/Spanish-English interphonology (pp. 105-137). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Chaichanasak, S. (1995). Stylistic variation of (r) in the Thai and German of undergraduate German majors, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University. (M.A. Thesis), Thammasat University, Bangkok.
de Villiers, J. & de Villiers, P. (1973). A cross-sectional study of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes in child speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2, 267-278.
Dulay, H. & Burt, M. (1974). Natural sequences in child second language acquisition. Language Learning, 24(1), 37-53.
Eckman, F. (1991). The structural conformity hypothesis and the acquisition of consonant clusters in the interlanguage of ESL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 23-41.
Ettlinger, M. & Zapf, J. (2011). The Role of Phonology in Children's Acquisition of the Plural. Language Acquisition, 18(4), 294-313.
Hakuta, K. (1976). A case study of a Japanese child learning English as a second language. Language Learning, 26(2), 321-351.
Hudak, T. (1990). Thai. In B. Comrie (Ed.), The world’s major languages (pp. 757-775). New York: Oxford University Press.
Iwasaki, S. & Ingkaphirom, P. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Thai. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Khamkhien, A. (2010). Teaching English speaking and English speaking tests in the Thai context: A reflection from Thai perspective. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 184-190.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press Inc.
Krashen. S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the input hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal, 73, 440-464.
Krashen, S. & Seliger, H. (1976). The role of formal and informal linguistic environments in adult second language learning. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 3, 15-21.
Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Labov, W. (1969). The study of language in its social context. Studium Generale, 23, 30-87. Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures: Applied Linguistics and Language Teachers. University of Michigan Press.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1975). The acquisition of grammatical morphemes by adult ESL students. TESOL Quarterly, 9(4), 409-419
Levy, J. (2010). The social stratification of (r) in Boston. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 33.
Major, R. (2004). Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology. Language Variation and Change, 16, 169-188.
Mongkolla, P. (2013). The Acquisition of English Plural Morpheme and The Effect of Orthography: A case study of Thai L2 learners. (M.A. Independent Study), Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Neuman, S. & Koskinen, P. (1992). Captioned television as comprehensible input: Effects of incidental word learning from context for language minority students. Reading Research Quarterly, 1, 95.
Noom-Ura, S. (2013). English-teaching problems in Thailand and Thai teachers’ professional development needs. English Language Teaching, 6(11), 139-147.
Ottenheimer, H. (2006). The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction of Linguistics Anthropology. California: Wadsworth Publishing.
Phootirat, P. (2012). Register Variation in Thai-English Interphonology: The Contrast of /r/ and /l/. (Doctoral dissertation). University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Richards, J. (1969). Pronunciation Feature of Thai Speaker of English. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand, 10, 67-75.
Romaine, S. (1978). Postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English: Sound change in progress? In P. Trudgill (Ed.), Sociolinguistic patterns in British English (pp. 144-157).
Baltimore: University Park Press. Rosansky, E. (1976). Methods and morphemes in second language acquisition research. Language Learning, 26(2), 409-425.
Sangchote, S. (2014). The Acquisition of the English Plural Morpheme by Thai L2 Learners. (M.A. Independent Study), Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Schmidt, R. (1977). Sociolinguistic variation and language transfer in phonology. Working Papers in Bilingualism, 12, 79-95.
Silveira, R. (2007). Investigating the Role of Orthography in the Acquisition of L2 Pronunciation: A case study. Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech, 459-472.
Smyth, D. (2005). Thai: An Essential Grammar. New York: Routledge.
Tarone, E. (1979). Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning, 29, 181-191.
Tarone, E. (1983). On the variability of interlanguage systems. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 142-164.
Tiewcharoenkij, A. (2005). Variations of the /r/ in French according to styles and academic years of French major students. (M.A. Thesis), Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Treyakul, S. (1986). Stylistic variations of (r) and (l) in Bangkok Thai: A study of the pronunciation of Bangkok F.M. radio newscasters. (M.A. Thesis), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weinberger, S. (1987). The influence of linguistic contest on syllable simplification. In G. Ioup & S. H. Weinberger (Eds.), Interlanguage phonology. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Wolfram, W. (1989). Systematic variability in second language tense marking. In M. R. Eisenstein (Ed.), The dynamic interlanguage: Empirical studies in second language variation (pp. 187-197).
New York: Kluwer. Yavas, M. (2011). Applied English phonology. (2nd ed.). Hong Kong: Wiley-Blackwell.
Yin, M. (2015). The Effect and Importance of Authentic Language Exposure in Improving Listening Comprehension. Culminating Projects in English, 33.