• Holger Hopp，布伦瑞克工业大学
• 麦子茵，香港中文大学
• Clare Wright，利兹大学
• 张东波，澳门大学
• 赵杨，北京大学

 

• Shigenori Wakabayashi, 中央大学
• 常辉，上海交通大学
• 王骏，上海交通大学

 

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A Learner’s Journey: Sentence Processing in L2 Development

Holger Hopp, Technische Universität Braunschweig

Abstract

In this talk, I explore how learners can process to learn a second language. I will outline how language processing mechanisms, like prediction and priming, can do double duty as language learning mechanisms by way of providing the learner with implicit feedback to zero in on the grammar of the target language. Using several recent studies from my lab, I will also illustrate how cross-linguistic influence can affect the scope and direction of how learners acquire the second language grammar via processing. Finally, we will see how learners capitalize on language processing strategies in order to make grammatical generalizations in learning. Importantly, learners make different generalizations in the course of second language development. At first, they rely more on surface-level patterns, and then they gradually shift to syntactic detail for generalization. We will explore how the combination of cross-linguistic influence and shallow, surface-level processing can shape learning trajectories in a second language. Finally, we will discuss the implications of learning via processing for foreign-language teaching.

Biography

Holger Hopp is a Professor of English Linguistics at the TU Braunschweig (Germany). His research interests span from second language acquisition and multilingualism, to language processing, syntax and its interfaces. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of multiple projects: “Learning to Process and Processing to Learn: How linguistic and cognitive processing shapes grammar acquisition”, funded by DFG (2020-2023; with Sarah Schimke and Gregory Poarch); “SILPAC – Structuring the Input in Language Processing, Acquisition and Change”, a research unit funded by DFG (2022-2026); “Ini-Seg – Initial foreign speech segmentation in school-aged children”, funded by DFG (2022-2025; with Katie Von Holzen); “BILDEV – Modelling bottom-up and top-down linguistic knowledge across different contexts of bilingual development”, funded by DFG, ANR and ESRC (2023-2026; with Monika S. Schmid and Barbara Köpke). In addition, he is an Executive Editor of “Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism”, an associate member of the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism at the University of Reading, UK and an International Partner, PIRE Project “PIRE: Bilingualism, mind, and brain: An interdisciplinary program in cognitive psychology, linguistics, and cognitive neuroscience”, National Science Foundation.

 

Language Input and Cross-linguistic Interaction in Multilingual Chinese-learning Children: from Bilinguals to Trilinguals

 Ziyin Mai, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Abstract

In Hong Kong, Singapore and many overseas Chinese-speaking communities, young children commonly acquire Chinese (Mandarin and/or Cantonese) alongside another language, in some cases, English. The quantity and quality of input they receive in each language can differ from that in corresponding monolingual cases in significant ways; cross-linguistic similarities and differences between the languages can give rise to delayed and accelerated development to different extents. How do different language input conditions and cross-linguistic interactions affect early development in young children? How do the language learning mechanisms of the young learners respond to such challenges and opportunities? Over the years, the research team at the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has carried out extensive research with Cantonese-English and Mandarin-English bilingual children. Recently we have expanded our research scope to include early trilingual development in Cantonese, Mandarin and English in toddlers. Our data were collected using different combinations of methods such as longitudinal and cross-sectional naturalistic corpus data, parental report, speech samples from standard caretaker-child play, controlled experiments and standardized language and cognitive assessments. In this talk I will discuss the findings of our recent and on-going research on early bilingual and trilingual development in Chinese-learning children, focusing on how toddlers and preschoolers strategically draw on cross-linguistic similarities to supplement reduction of input in specific languages and support language development across phonological, lexical and syntactic domains.

Biography

Ziyin Mai is Associate Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, and Deputy Director of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre (CBRC) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She obtained BA and MA degrees from Peking University and MPhil and PhD degrees from University of Cambridge, focusing on adult second language learners of Chinese. She joined CBRC as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2013 and began to work with young children. Before returning to CUHK in 2023, she was Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. Her current research interests are language acquisition and multilingual development in children and adults. She has used corpus, experimental and statistical methods to investigate the development and maintenance of Chinese languages alongside English in young and older learners. She has published in leading journals in the field of bilingual and second language acquisition and is currently serving on the Editorial Boards ofSecond Language Research and Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. Her research is funded by multiple grants from the Research Grants Council, HKSAR and CUHK.

 

Why Should Assessment not be a “Cinderella” in Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) Vocabulary Studies? 

Dongbo Zhang, University of Macau

Abstract

The second language (L2) vocabulary literature, and SLA literature in general, traditionally gave limited attention to assessment issues. This was largely the case in the field of L2 Chinese vocabulary studies. The trends, however, have begun to shift over the past two decades, although assessment may still be considered a “Cinderella” in L2 Chinese vocabulary research. I argue that the shift has happened as a result of several “internal and external pressures,” such as 1) the demand for rigorous tools to assess vocabulary knowledge as a multidimensional competence and increase the validity of conclusions on vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary processes in L2 learning; 2) cross-linguistic approaches to lexical processing and implications for teaching multilingual students; and 3) classroom-based assessments to promote lexical understandings and vocabulary learning. I will discuss these pressures with particular references to vocabulary assessments in L2 Chinese. I will cite evidence from my scoping review of relevant literature, and make a case for due research attention to L2 Chinese vocabulary assessments. Directions for future research will also be discussed.

Biography

Dongbo Zhang holds a PhD in Second Language Acquisition and is Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Macau. Prior to the current appointment, he was Professor of Language Education and Director of the Center for Research in Language and Literacy at the University of Exeter, the United Kingdom. Previously he also held academic appointments in the United States, Singapore, and China. Professor Zhang’s research focuses on second language reading, vocabulary knowledge, language assessment, and language teacher education. His publications have appeared in a number of high-impact journals on applied linguistics, literacy, and psychology, such as Language Learning, Modern Language Journal, Reading Research Quarterly, and Journal of Educational Psychology. He co-edited Chinese as a Second Language Assessment (Springer) and Reading in Chinese as an Additional Language(Routledge), and has served on the editorial board of many journals. He is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of Language and Education (Q1; Taylor & Francis).

 

The Role of Consistency and UG-as-Guide in SLA: Why are Specific Rules more Difficult to Apply than Others in L2 Use?

Shigenori Wakabayashi, Chuo University

Abstract

This talk deals with the learnability and development of learner grammar, focusing on how consistency in using morphosyntactic items associated with features leads the learner grammar to develop from one state to the next. Although bound morphemes are inherently more difficult to use than free morphemes in elaborating grammatical structure due to a principle of economy (Wakabayashi, 2021), differences in the acquisition of grammatical rules arise from multiple factors. Here, we suggest consistency plays an additional key role in acquiring an L2 formal feature, as shown in Wakabayashi and Negishi (2003) and Wakabayashi (2022). Assuming that linguistic knowledge is actively utilized as a parser and processor in L2 performance, our discussion will draw on two data sets. One is a developmental change in Englishwh-question formation, where consistent processing of specific linear orders is likely to trigger Universal Grammar to “guide” learner grammar in retreating from a wild grammar to a UG-consistent one and consequently to acquire a formal feature, in accordance with UG-as-Guide as proposed in Kimura and Wakabayashi (2024). The other is learners’ inconsistent sensitivity to the (un)grammaticality of sentences with(out) English past-tense morphology, as shown in Yamazaki et al. (2022). We suggest that the variable appearance of a grammatical morpheme leads learner grammar to fail to consistently activate a formal feature in derivation, resulting in context-sensitive grammar, as suggested in Hawkins and Casillas (2008). Still, unlike Hawkins and Casillas, we attribute this inconsistency to optionality in Numeration (i.e., for learners to occasionally fail to activate a formal feature needed in the computation of the relevant structure), as in Wakabayashi (2009). Based on this analysis, we reject accounts in which input frequency and/or saliency determine the relative difficulties among grammatical morphemes and syntactic rules. Instead, we maintain that consistency is critical in determining whether a relevant feature is acquirable.

Biography

Professor Wakabayashi obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. His academic interest lies in applied linguistics, particularly in modeling second language learners’ mental representations of morphology and syntax in the framework of generative grammar and psycholinguistics. He was a founding member of the Japan Second Language Association (J-SLA) and actively organized other international conferences, including PacSLRF. He also serves on the editorial board of Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, among other journals.

 

 

Processing of Chinese double-topic Sentences by L1-Korean Learners

Hui Chang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Abstract

The Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) claims that L2 learners tend to underuse syntactic information and rely more on lexical-semantic and pragmatic information during online processing. To evaluate the SSH, the current study investigates the processing of Chinese double-topic sentences by L1-Korean learners with a self-paced reading task.

In Chinese double-topic sentences, there is a syntactic constraint that requires the base-generated topic to precede the moved topic. Once the syntactic constraint is violated, the whole sentence would be unacceptable. For example, in sentence (1), “早饭” , located at the initial position, is a base-generated topic. It bears no syntactic relation with the rest parts of the sentence. What follows the base-generated topic is the moved topic “面包”，serving as the object of “吃” before syntactic movement. Sentence (2) violates the syntactic constraint and thus is unacceptable since the moved topic “面包” precedes the base-generated topic“早饭”.

(1)早饭，面包小王只吃一片，所以他很少买面包。(double-topic sentence)
(2) *面包，早饭小王只吃一片，所以他很少买面包。(double-topic sentence with syntactic violation)
(3) 平时，面包小王只吃一片，所以他很少买面包。(single topic sentence)  

Three conditions were designed in the self-paced reading task. Condition A contained acceptable Chinese double-topic sentences as in (1). Condition B were unacceptable Chinese double-topic sentences like (2), violating the syntactic constraint. Condition C were acceptable single-topic sentence, serving as the control condition. Each condition consisted of 12 sentence. All 36 target sentences were randomized with 72 fillers in a Latin Square design.

85 Korean learners of Chinese and 42 native Chinese speakers participated in the experiment. Korean learners were divided into intermediate and advanced groups based on their Chinese proficiency. Participants were asked to read the sentences on the screen in segments by pressing the SPACE key. When they finished reading, there would be a judgment about the content of the sentence and they were asked to decide whether the judgment was true or false by pressing “J” or “F” based on their understanding. The reading time for each segment and the accuracy rate for their judgment were recorded and analyzed. When finishing the self-paced reading task, they were asked to complete a grammaticality judgment task of the target Chinese double-topic sentences. Those who did not have clear or enough grammatical knowledge were excluded.

The results showed that the intermediate and advanced learners showed similar patterns to native Chinese speakers in processing the three-sentence initial NPs (the double topics and the subject), and only the advanced learners and the native speakers showed sensitivity to the syntactic constraint for the double-topic sentences, providing evidence against the SSH.

It is indicated that compared with native speakers, divergent and convergent syntactic processing patterns coexist in L2 processing. When L2 learners need to retrieve, revisit, and identify between two semantically close NPs, they are more susceptible to interference and assign limited cognitive computing load for syntactic information.

Biography

Hui Chang is a professor at the School of Foreign Languages, executive director of the National Research Center for Language and Well-Being, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include second language acquisition and language disorders. He has published extensively in leading journals in the fields of second language acquisition and language disorders home and abroad. He has also served as the PI of several national level grants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 袁博平
• 刘兴华
• 徐俪珑
• 合佳妮
• 戴雨娇
• 刘一诺