Core Issues: Nature of the L2 User
Opening questions
- are you a bilingual?
- what are the advantages of knowing two languages?
- what are the disadvantages?
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Differences
of the L2 user from the monolingual
native speaker L2 users: •
think differently from monolinguals; •
use language in different ways; •
have an increased awareness of language
itself; •
have slightly different knowledge of
their first language; •
are more efficient communicators in
their first language; •
look at written language differently. So L2 users have a distinct range of language
abilities and knowledge from monolingual native speakers. |
|
E-deletion
test Cross
out the letter ‘e’s Grace
Paine lived in an isolated village for most of her life. In middle-age
she came to New York, and was astonished at city life. Best of all she
loved her cooker with its row of controls. One day she told me about her
amazing cooker. She had left her whole evening meal in the oven; at five
o'clock the electric clock would switch it on and by seven a three
course meal would be ready to welcome her home. I almost envied her. But
when we next met she related what had actually occurred: however
automatic your cooker, you have still got to remember to turn it on. |
References
Athanasopoulos, P., & Kasai, C. (2008). Language and thought in bilinguals: the case of grammatical number and nonverbal classification preferences. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 105-123.
Bassetti, B. (2007), ‘Bilingualism and thought: grammatical gender and concepts of objects in Italian-German bilingual children’, The International Journal of Bilingualism, 11, 3, 251– 273
Cook, V.J. (1992), 'Evidence for multi-competence', Language Learning, 42, 4, 557-591
Cook, V.J. (ed) (2003), Effects of the Second Language on the First, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
Cook, V.J., Bassetti, B., Kasai, C., Sasaki, M. & Takahashi, J.A. (2006), 'Do bilinguals have different concepts? The case of shape and material in Japanese L2 users of English', International Journal of Bilingualism, 2, 137-152Cook, V.J., Iarossi, E., Stellakis, N. & Tokumaru, Y. (2003), 'Effects of the second language on the syntactic processing of the first language' in V.J. Cook (ed.), 193-213
De Bot, K., Lowie, W. & Verspoor, M. (2005), second language acquisition: an Advanced Resource Book, Routledge
Mennen, I. (2004), ‘Bi-directional interference in the intonation of Dutch speakers of Greek’, Journal of Phonetics, 32, 543-563
Pavlenko, A. (2003), '"I feel clumsy speaking Russian": L2 influence on L1 in narrat-ives of Russian L2 users of English’. In V.J. Cook (ed), 32-61
Queen, R.M. (2001), ‘Bilingual intonation patterns:
evidence of language change from Turkish-German bilingual children’, Language in Society, 30, 55-80Spivey, M.J. & Marian, V. (1999), ‘Cross talk between native and second languages: partial activation of an irrelevant lexicon’, Psychological Science, 10, 181-84
Yelland, G.W., Pollard, J. & Mercuri, A. (1993), ‘The metalinguistic benefits of limited contact with a second language’, Applied Psycholinguistics, 14, 423-444
Answers to e-deletion test
Grac
e Paine lived in an isolated village for most of her life. In middle-age she came to New York, and was astonished at city life. Best of all she loved her cooker with its row of controls. One day she told me about her amazing cooker. She had left her whole evening meal in the oven; at five o'clock the electric clock would switch it on and by seven a three course meal would be ready to welcome her home. I almost envied her. But when we next met she related what had actually occurred: however automatic your cooker, you have still got to remember to turn it on.