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摘要：Construction grammar (CG) has been proposed as an adequate grammatical formalism for building intelligent language tutoring systems because it is highly compatible with the learning strategies observed in second language learning. Unfortunately, the lack of computational CG implementations has made it impossible in the past to corroborate these proposals with actual language tutoring prototypes. However, recent advances in Fluid Construction Grammar (FCG) now offer exciting new ways of operationalizing robust and open-ended language processing within a CG approach. This paper demonstrates its adequacy for ICALL applications through a case study on error diagnosis in the domain of Spanish tense, aspect and modal morphology. The performance of the FCG tutor is tested on the Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpus (SPLOCC 2). This first FCG Spanish error diagnostic prototype achieves an accuracy of 70% on a total of 500 conjugation errors in four oral tasks carried out by 20 low intermediate and 20 advanced English learners of Spanish. Follow-up experiments will test this prototype on larger learner corpora of differing proficiency levels. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The study examined the acquisition of two morphological procedures of noun pluralization in Palestinian Arabic: Sound Feminine Plural (SFP) and Broken Plural (BP). We tested if noun pluralization was affected by (1) the type of morphological procedure, (2) the degree of familiarity with the singular noun stem, and (3) the frequency of plural patterns. Thirty-six native Arabic-speaking children in three age groups were tested on three experimental tasks: a repetition task, a structured production task, and a seminatural production task. In line with earlier research, the results showed that SFP pluralization was acquired earlier and had a shorter developmental trajectory than BP plurals. Also, the errors of children showed that SFP was a dominant default procedure. However, despite its early consolidation, SFP formation was affected by familiarity with the singular noun stem. BP nouns also appeared rather early in the production of children and were affected by both familiarity with the noun stem and frequency of the plural pattern. Yet, they took longer to acquire and did not reach comparable levels to SFP in the age groups tested. The implications of the results for models of language acquisition and the acquisition of Arabic morphology are discussed. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Morphological variability and the source of these errors have been intensely debated in SLA. A recurrent finding is that postpuberty second language (L2) learners often omit or use the wrong affix for nominal and verbal inflections in oral production but less so in written tasks. According to the missing surface inflection hypothesis, L2 learners have intact functional projections, but errors stem from problems during production only (a mapping or processing deficit). This article shows that morphological variability is also characteristic of heritage speakers (early bilinguals of ethnic minority languages) who were exposed to the family language naturalistically in early childhood but failed to acquire age-appropriate linguistic competence in the language. However, because errors in heritage speakers are more frequent in written than in oral tasks, the missing surface inflection hypothesis does not apply to them. The discussion considers how morphological errors in the two populations seem to be related to the type of experience. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study investigates the effects of an optional and required (jigsaw) task on learners' quantity and quality of use of language under synchronous and asynchronous conditions. The question raised is: Does performing either of these task types under synchronous conditions cause a compounding effect that either positively or negatively impacts language production? Eighty-six beginning learners of German participated in this study. The results show that the optional task yielded significantly more learner output, both in terms of target language and c-unit counts. The impact of the condition appears to be mixed, favoring the synchronous mode. Regarding quality, students produced fewer errors when performing the required than the optional task. The results of this study have implications for task design and implementation in online learning environments. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This paper presents a comparative analysis of corrective feedback provided by participants in an eTandem interaction between university students in Japan and Australia who were learning each other's language. Corrective feedback provided to tandem partners during interaction via text-based Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (SCMC) is compared to corrective feedback provided to tandem partners post-chat utilizing logs of the chat interaction. Results show that implicit corrective feedback on NNS errors occurred in the text-based SCMC interaction but not frequently. On the other hand, negotiation of meaning occurred most often to overcome communication problems during chat exchange rather than in direct relation to errors. This is a crucial element for L2 development since the learner finds himself/herself in the sort of context that allows for recognition of developmental gaps. Further, explicit corrective feedback utilizing conversation logs and exchanged by email achieved high rates of correction both in English and Japanese sessions. The strategy of sending post-chat corrective feedback is shown to be an effective eTandem language learning strategy providing learners with opportunities to focus on form in their L2. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Recent studies illustrate the potential that intercultural telecollaborative exchanges entail for language development through the use of corrective feedback from collaborating partners (Kessler, 2009; Lee, 2008; Sauro, 2009; Ware & O'Dowd, 2008). We build on this growing body of research by presenting the findings of a three-month-long research project that explored the impact of peer feedback on the development of learner accuracy. Our aim was to study participants' attention to form and the relative effectiveness of error correction strategies. In order to do so, we organised an e-mail exchange between seventeen post-secondary learners of Spanish and German. Data consist of exchanges between the five dyads who completed the full three-month project. As suggested by Vinagre and Lera (2008), analysis of these data indicate that despite frequent use of error correction, the use of remediation led to a higher percentage of errors recycled and was more conducive to error recycling in later language production. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study investigated the effect of direct and indirect comprehensive corrective feedback (CF) on second language (L2) learners' written accuracy (N= 268). The study set out to explore the value of CF as a revising tool as well as its capacity to support long-term accuracy development. In addition, we tested Truscott's (e.g., 2001, 2007) claims that (a) correction may have value for nongrammatical errors but not for errors in grammar; (b) students are inclined to avoid more complex constructions due to error correction; and (c) the time spent on CF may be more wisely spent on additional writing practice. Results showed that both direct and indirect comprehensive CF led to improved accuracy, over what is gained from self-editing without CF (control group 1) and from sheer writing practice without CF (control group 2), and this was true not only during revision but also in new pieces of writing (i.e., texts written during posttest and delayed posttest sessions, 1 and 4 weeks after the delivery of CF). Furthermore, a separate analysis of grammatical and nongrammatical error types revealed that only direct CF resulted in grammatical accuracy gains in new writing and that pupils' nongrammatical accuracy benefited most from indirect CF. Moreover, CF did not result in simplified writing when structural complexity and lexical diversity in students' new writing were measured. Our findings suggest that comprehensive CF is a useful educational tool that teachers can use to help L2 learners improve their written accuracy over time.

摘要：While it is common for teachers to focus on learners errors in the EFL classroom, little attention is given to the errors that native English speakers make in their mother tongue. This paper reports on a study to assess the reaction of Japanese university students to an activity that primarily required identifying ungrammatical forms in audio clips of English NSs. The results of a post-activity questionnaire suggest that exposure to this particular feature of spoken language may make students less inhibited about making errors and thus help to overcome their reticence to speak in class. These initial findings were confirmed in a follow-up study conducted at a second Japanese university. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Research suggests that late bilinguals may have persistent difficulties with the automatic access and use of some second language structures because of a lack of underlying integrated knowledge of those structures. In contrast, early bilinguals show advantages in aspects of language use that require this type of automatic knowledge. This study investigated whether early and late English-Spanish bilinguals evidence integrated knowledge of agreement in Spanish by examining their sensitivity to agreement errors while reading for comprehension. The results of a pilot and two experiments indicate that both early and late bilinguals do possess integrated knowledge of subject-verb number agreement and noun-adjective gender agreement in Spanish, although sensitivity to agreement errors interacts with properties of the experimental stimuli. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Recasts are the most commonly studied type of corrective feedback in interaction research and lately the investigation has extended to what makes recasts beneficial or unbeneficial. Expanding the investigation to the effect of different types of recasts (i.e., declarative or interrogative) on learners' noticing, the present study reports the findings of an empirical study that examined whether learners' noticing of morpho-syntactic recasts is influenced by recast type, and whether learners subsequently recognize their morpho-syntactic errors and the target-like reformulations they received during task-based interaction. Results show that learners noticed 10% of morpho-syntactic recasts and there was no significant difference by recast type. In subsequent recognition tasks, learners tended to recognize recasted forms (i.e., target-like forms) more than their errors (i.e., non-target forms). [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：The current research investigated the acquisition of the copula be in Present Simple Tense (PST) in English by native speakers of Russian. The aim of the study was to determine whether or not Russian students with different levels of English proficiency would encounter any problems while using the copula be in PST in English. The study also identified domains related to the use of the copula be that appear to be problematic for native speakers of Russian. To carry out the research, two diagnostic tests and a taxonomy of the domains of the use of the copula be were developed. The data were collected from three groups of Russian students who were in their first, fourth and eighth years of learning English. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were used in the study. The findings of the study revealed that some of the errors, such as omission or misuse of copula forms, disappeared with further exposure to the language. However, some of the errors were fossilised and were observed in the Russian students' performance even after eight years of learning English. Negative transfer at the morphological level and incomplete understanding and application of the copula be rule were suggested to be the underlying reasons for the fossilised errors made by the Russian learners. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：There is a large body of research indicating that L2 learners often have trouble with the word form. Learners often transfer their L1 processing routines over to the L2 in their attempt to process the L2 forms, whether those routines are appropriate to the L2 form system or not. This study explores the problems of learning L2 vocabulary word form by focusing on Arabic-speaking ESL learners. These learners have been shown to have difficulties with the spelling of English vowels in general ('vowel blindness'). This study explored the relative difficulty of short and long English vowels for these learners. Our results show that Arabic speakers have more problems with short vowels than long ones. The results also show that they are able to notice spelling errors in which the English vowel is missing (conclsion) somewhat better than when the vowel is represented by the wrong letter (imprave). These results suggest that Arabic speakers process English short and long vowels in a way similar to their L1, which affects their ability to spell and recognize English words. The study concludes by providing an additional analysis of the participants' overall spelling errors. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：Truscott's (1996) indictment on error correction in second-language (L2) writing has ignited much discussion and research on the appropriateness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in L2 contexts. Out of this has emerged a body of research that suggests that WCF can positively impact the linguistic accuracy of student writing. However, these studies have examined only one or two error types. A central aspect of the efficacy of any corrective measure has to do with using feedback that is appropriate for the learner and the learning context. This paper builds on previous studies of dynamic WCF, which targets all linguistic errors simultaneously. Previously, dynamic WCF was studied in the context of an intensive English program where students' linguistic accuracy was positively affected. The current study tested the efficacy of dynamic WCF in the context of ESL students who are enrolled in university undergraduate studies. A comparative study was conducted measuring ESL learners who were taught using dynamic WCF against students who received traditional process writing instruction. Results indicated that students who received traditional process writing instruction experienced some declines in linguistic accuracy while those who received dynamic WCF showed significant improvement in the linguistic accuracy of their L2 writing. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]