The effect of instruction on the acquisition of relativization in English as a second language / Catherine Doughty.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Doughty, Catherine.

Contributor:

Pica, Teresa, 1945- advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Linguistics.

Linguistics--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Linguistics.

Linguistics--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xiv, 243 leaves ; 29 cm

Production:

1988.

Summary:

A growing body of second language acquisition studies has revealed "some potentially very positive contributions that instruction can make" (Long, 1987). The present study targeted relativization and examined, in detail, the effects of instruction on interlanguage development. The first research question addressed was: (1) Does instruction affect the acquisition of relativization in ESL? A second research interest centered on type of instruction and linguistic material contained therein. Accordingly, the second question addressed was: (2) Do different types of instruction differently affect the ability to relativize in ESL? Because we remain uncertain as to how best to encourage linguistic competence in the classroom, two instructional techniques were tested. Both were developed within a comprehension-based approach to language teaching; one was meaning oriented and the other structure oriented. The instruction further incorporated a previously identified relationship between typological markedness conditions that obtain for relativization--an implicational ordering of relativization categories known as the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) (Keenan & Comrie 1977)--and language acquisition. Thus, the third research question of this study was motivated: (3) Does instruction focused at a low position of the NPAH have a positive effect on the ability to relativize higher up on the hierarchy? Evidence has suggested that efficient relativization instruction would begin at the more marked, or less accessible, end of the hierarchy because learners are hypothesized to project features of relativization observed in marked contexts to applications in less marked contexts at the accessible end of the NPAH.

A pretest-posttest, control group, experimental design compared the changes in relativization ability among two instructional treatment groups and a control group. Instruction/control treatments were contained within ten computer reading lessons. Results indicated: (1) Instruction positively affected the acquisition of relativization. (2) Meaning-oriented instruction and rule-oriented instruction, were equally effective with respect to relativization acquisition. (3) The markedness principle was relevant to second language acquisition in two ways: NPAH orderings were reflected initially in the second language relativization development of subjects; and subsequently, it was possible, through instruction taking advantage of the principle of markedness, to provide a shortcut to more efficient learning.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics)--Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1988.

Includes bibliography.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 88-16121.

OCLC:

46045817