Acquisition of Agreement Structures by Ghanaian Arabic Learners
A Processability Theory Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31973/aj.v1i137.915Keywords:
AFL learners, agreement structures, developmental trajectories, interlanguage, morphosyntax, Processability TheoryAbstract
The study investigated acquisition of agreement structures by Arabic as Foreign Language (AFL) learners in Ghana from the Processability Theory (PT) perspective. Five Arabic agreement structures at the phrasal, sentence and subordinate clause levels of PT’s processing procedures were tested in a cross-sectional study. It aimed to establish predictions about the implicational nature of the processing procedures. Data were elicited from 15 students of the University of Ghana Arabic learners who were at different proficiency levels. Grammaticality Judgment Task and Elicited Production Task were used to elicit data. The result suggested that acquisition of agreement structures by Ghanaian AFL learners develop, generally, according to PT’s predictions. While the study largely conforms to PT predictions, the behaviour of the Noun Predicative Adjective structure in the interlanguage system of participants suggests that factors other than processing constraints may be involved in the processing architecture of the L2 learners in Ghana.
Downloads
References
Al Shatter, G. (2011). Processability approach to Arabic L2 teaching and syllabus design. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 127-147.
Anyidoho, A. (2018). Shifting sands: Language policies in education in Ghana and implementation challenges. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 7, 225-243. https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v7i2.10
Azaz, M. (2018). The link between morphosyntactic accuracy and textbook presentation: The
morphosyntax of subject‐verb agreement in Arabic. Foreign Language Annals, 51, 831– 851. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12367
Alhawary, M. (2003). Processability Theory: Counter-evidence from Arabic Second Language Acquisition Data. Al-'Arabiyya, 36, 107-166.
Alhawary, M.T. (2009a). Arabic second language acquisition of morphosyntax. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Alkuhlani, S., & Habash, N. (2011). A corpus for modeling morpho-syntactic agreement in Arabic: gender, number and rationality. Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics: short papers (pp. 357–362). Portland, Oregon: Association for Computational Linguistics.
Ambridge, B., & Rowland, C. F. (2013). Experimental methods in studying child
Language acquisition. WIREs Cogn Sci, 4, 149-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1215
Aoun, J., Benmamoun, E., & Sportiche, D. (1994). Agreement, word order and conjunction in some varieties of Arabic. Linguistic Inquiry, 25 (2), 195-220.
Baten, K. (2011). Processability Theory and German case acquisition. Language Learning, 61(2), 455–505.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00615.x
Braidi, M. S. (1999). The acquisition of second language syntax. London: Arnold
Publishers.
Boeckx, C. (2006). Agreement systems. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing company. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.92
Bolotin, N. (1995). Arabic and parametric VSO agreement. In M. Eid (Ed.), Perspective on Arabic Linguistics, VII (pp. 7-28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins publishing conmpany. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.130.04bol
Buyl, A. & Housen, A. (2015). Developmental stages in receptive grammar
acquisition: A Processability Theory account. Second Language Research, 31, 523-550. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658315585905
Doughty, C. (1991). Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence
from an empirical study of SL relativization. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 431-469. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100010287
Di Biase, B., & Kawaguchi, S. (2002). Exploring the typological plausibility of Processability Theory: language development in Italian second language and Japanese second language. Second Language Research, 18, 274–302. https://doi.org/10.1191/0267658302sr204oa
Dyson, B. (2016). Variation, individual differences and second language
processing: A
Processability Theory study. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6, 341 - 395. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.14007.dys
Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Gass, S. & Mohamed, A (2017). Approaches to Second Language Acquisition in
Relation to
Arabic. In K. M. Wahba, L. England, & Z. A. Taha (Eds.), Handbook for Arabic language teaching professionals in the 21st century: Volume II. (pp. 41-61). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315676111
Hakansson, G. (2017). Typological and developmental considerations on specific
language impairment in monolingual and bilingual children: A Processability Theory account. Language Acquisition, 24, 265-280. https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2016.1192634
Husseinali, G. T. A. (2006). Processability and development of syntax and agreement in the interlanguage of learners of Arabic as a foreign Language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Hatch, E. & Lazaraton, A. (1991). The research manual: Design and statistics for applied linguistics. NY: Newbury House Publishers.
Lakshmanan, U., & Selinker, L. (2001). Analysing interlanguage: How do we know what learners know? Second Language Research, 17(4), 393–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/026765830101700406
Mansouri, F. (2000). Grammatical markedness and information processing in the acquisition of Arabic L2. Muenchen, Germany: Lincom Europa.
Mansouri, F. (2001). The development of Arabic interlanguage morphology, Languages and Linguistics, 7(21), 95-112.
Mansouri, F. (2005). Agreement morphology in Arabic as a second language:
Typological
features and their processing implications. In M. Pienemann (Ed.), Cross-linguistic aspects of Processability Theory (pp. 117-153) Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.30.06man
Meisel, J., Clahsen, H., & Pienemann, M. (1981). On determining developmental
stages in
natural second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 3, 109-135. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100004137
Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second language learning theories. London:
Arnold Publishers.
Nielsen, H. L. (1997). On acquisition order of agreement procedures in Arabic learner language. Al-cArabiyya, 30, 49–94.
Pallotti, G. (2007). An Operational Definition of the Emergence Criterion, Applied Linguistics, 28, 361–382. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm018
Pienemann, M. (1998a). Language processing and second language development: Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.15
Pienemann, M. (2005). Cross-linguistic aspects of Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.30
Pinemann, M. (2011) Developmental schedules. In Pienemann, M. & Kebler, J. (Eds.), Studying processability theory: An introductory textbook (pp. 17-25). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.1.01dev
Pienemann, M. (2015). An outline of Processability Theory and its relationship to
other approaches to SLA. Language Learning, 65, 123-151. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12095
Pienemann, M., Di Biase, B., Kawaguchi, S., & Håkansson, G. (2005). Processing
constraints on L1 transfer, in J.F. Kroll & A.M.B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of Bilingualism: psycholinguistic Approaches (pp. 128-153). New York: Oxford University Press.
Ryding, K.C. (2005). A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975
Spinner, P. (2013). Language production and reception: A Processability Theory
study. Language Learning, 63, 704-739. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12022
Spinner, P & Jung, S. (2018). Production and comprehension in Processability
Theory: A self-paced reading study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 295–318. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263117000110
Tremblay, A. (2005). Theoretical and methodological perspectives on the use of grammaticality judgment tasks in linguistic theory. Second Language Studies, 24(1), 129-167.
Yamaguchi, Y. & Kawaguchi, S. (2016). Development of relative clause
constructions in English L2, International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 5(1), 83-93. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.5n.1p.83
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright and Licensing:
For all articles published in Al-Adab journal, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work.
Reproducing Published Material from other Publishers: It is absolutely essential that authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, schemes, tables or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyrightholder (usually the Publisher, please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyrightholder).
Permission is required for: Your own works published by other Publishers and for which you did not retain copyright.
Substantial extracts from anyones' works or a series of works.
Use of Tables, Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified.
Photographs for which you do not hold copyright.
Permission is not required for: Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please notice that in this case you must cite the source of the data in the form of either "Data from..." or "Adapted from...".
Reasonably short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission.
Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks that are completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission.
Obtaining Permission
In order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication process, you should start obtaining permissions as early as possible. If in any doubt about the copyright, apply for permission. Al-Adab Journal cannot publish material from other publications without permission.
The copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed; otherwise follow the style: "Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].' at the end of the caption of the Table, Figure or Scheme.
How to Cite
