Title: Easy as Pie, the Myth of Child Second Language Learning

 

Who: Patsi Lightbown

 

When: September 26th, 2007

 

Abstract/Description:  It is widely believed that children learn additional languages with ease. Claims such as "the younger the better" and "they soak it up like a sponge" are often heard in reference to the benefits of early second language exposure. Furthermore, many people believe that children learn best when they simply use the language in natural communication rather than when they are explicitly taught in a language classroom. In this presentation, the basis for these ideas - and some challenges to them - will be discussed. The emphasis will be on how different learning contexts and conditions lead to different outcomes.

Dr. Patsy Martin Lightbown is Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Applied Linguistics) at Concordia University in Montreal. The principal area of her research is second language acquisition in the classroom, particularly the complementary contributions of communicative and form-focused activities. With Nina Spada, she co-authored How Languages are Learned (Oxford University Press), an introduction to second language acquisition research for teachers that is now in its third edition.

The TESOL/Applied Linguistics Program at Teachers College, Columbia University is proud to present guest lectures by leading experts in the field. The following lecture by ……….. is titled ………… and was recorded on ………….”

 

Who: Dr. Joowon Suh

 

When: March 2007

 

 

About: English lingua franca (ELF) interaction, where English is used exclusively by nonnative speakers (NNS), has received relatively little attention in both second language acquisition research and discourse analysis despite its increasing occurrence. The presenter will talk about a study that investigated how NNS interlocutors, employing English as a lingua franca, resolve interactional troubles which emerge in the talk. The study specifically focused on other-initiated repair (OIR) (i.e., repair initiated by someone other than the trouble-source speaker) within naturally-occurring international business meetings involving negotiations. The data set for this study consisted of business meetings between Korean sellers and the buyers from seven different countries (i.e., Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand), taking place in one Korean electric company in Seoul, Korea. Approximately 10 hours of seven audio-taped business meetings were transcribed employing the notational system proposed by Atkinson and Heritage (1984). The study examined OIR in terms of its linguistic construction, sequential environment, and interactional function, using conversation analysis as a primary analytical framework. The major findings of the study and their theoretical implications will be presented, and suggestions for discourse analysis research within the field of second language acquisition will be offered.

 

Title:

Who: Xiaoming Xi

When: November 2006

Description/Abstract: With the emergence of automated scoring systems in the past two decades, theoretical work that defines the nature and scope of the validation work and empirical efforts to validate such systems have been growing. This talk will address the considerations and issues involved in developing an automated speech scoring system, using SpeechRater as an example. SpeechRater was deployed for the TOEFL Practice On-line (TPO), which helps examinees to better prepare for the TOEFL iBT test. The immediate goal of the SpeechRater system is to improve the scoring efficiency of the TOEFL iBT Speaking Practice test while maintaining quality comparable to that of trained human raters. The long-term goal is to provide instructional and diagnostic feedback based on automated features beyond the score feedback provided by human scoring.

I will first present the research that supported the development of the SpeechRater system, focusing on the three major pieces: the development of the speech recognition and processing system, the computation and evaluation of speech features, and the development of the scoring model. In particular, I will focus on the processes used to compute and evaluate the relevant features and to compare the alternative methodologies to build the scoring model.

I will then describe an argument-based approach to validate the system (Clauser, Kane & Swanson, 2002). As has been established in the literature, it requires evidence beyond the human-automated score agreement to establish the validity of an automated scoring system. The decision to use automated scoring will not only impact the strength of the evaluation inference, which links test performance to observed test scores, but also the subsequent inferences in the validity argument. This is described as the “ripple effects” of automated scoring that “extend through each step in the argument” in Clauser et al. (2002). In my talk, I will discuss a principled approach to anticipating the potential threats that may be introduced by automated scoring and to developing the relevant evidence necessary to reduce each potential threat and support the whole validity argument.

Title:

Who: Teresa Naves

When: October 2006

Description/Abstract: In terms of the effects of age on second language learning, many researchers (Ellis, 1994; Krashen, Long and Scarcella, 1978, 1982 reprint) have claimed that the sooner young learners start learning a foreign language, the more chances they have in reaching higher levels of proficiency. When younger and older learners are compared, the younger learners appear slower at first, but do better in the long run. In naturalistic settings, these comparisons appear similar in foreign language contexts (Singleton, 1995; Singleton & Ryan, 2004). However, in foreign language contexts, researchers (e.g., Muñoz, 2006; García-Mayo & García Lecumberri, 2003) have shown that in fact, the notion of ‘the younger the better’ does not hold true in instructional settings.

The current study investigates the long-term effects of an early start in a foreign language context on general EFL proficiency--as well as on writing. In particular, it examines whether or not less than 1,000 hours of instruction provides ample opportunities for early start EFL learner to catch up to or surpass those who started later.