Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-language influence on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill

Figueredo, Lauren

doi:10.1007/s11145-006-9014-1

Cited by 81 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…However, common procedural elements may become fewer and transfer less likely as skills become more highly specialised (Henry 1968). Study of skill transfer has many applications in applied psychology and sports science (Taylor et al 2005;Figueredo 2006;Osman 2008). For example, students trained to juggle a football with the feet performed better than controls at juggling with the knees after subsequent training (Weigelt et al 2000).…”

Section: Memory Systems and Skill Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Warburton

Hughes

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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IntroductionInvestigations of the role of learning and memory in the foraging behaviour of fishes are at an exciting stage. Although less thoroughly studied than traditional laboratory favourites such as rats, pigeons or bees, fish species are no longer to be consigned to the 'poorly understood' category. It is now possible to place the capacities of fish in the context of learning and memory as a whole, as evidenced by previous reviews such as those by Hart (1986Hart ( , 1993, Hughes et al. (1992) and Kieffer & Colgan (1992). The present chapter attempts to integrate perspectives and findings from the fields of behavioural ecology and comparative psychology. This approach has been adopted for the following reasons:1. Comparative psychology has revealed broad regularities in the general principles of learning across invertebrate and vertebrate taxa (Logue 1988; Domjan 1998) and across spatial and temporal domains (Cheng & Spetch 2001). The general principles that apply to learning in bees, pigeons and rats are likely to apply to fishes also. Psychology can clarify the mechanisms that underlie observed behaviour, while behavioural ecology can evaluate the adaptive significance of behavioural capacities demonstrated by psychology. 2. In several cases, static first-generation models based on optimal foraging theory (OFT) that do not represent temporal changes in internal state fail to predict observed behaviour (Hart 1993). More recent studies using more flexible (e.g. dynamic-programming) models have been more successful because of their ability to represent changes in internal state (e.g. physiology and learning), interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic variables and continuous behavioural adjustment in response to these factors (Ehlinger 1989;Kieffer & Colgan 1991;Hart 1993;Dall et al. 1999). Although standard OFT models predict that animals should exhibit all-or-nothing choice, experiments usually reveal partial preferences. It is likely that future models will draw increasingly on psychological effects (e.g. discrimination, memory, cue competition, interference and attention) to explain such divergences from the predictions of simple or idealised models and to test models based on risk and information (Shettleworth 1988).

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Section: Memory Systems and Skill Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Warburton

Hughes

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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“…The studies available about the connection between first and second language spelling are relatively scarce in comparison to the body of research available about spelling in English as a first language. The findings from the studies conducted on native English speakers cannot be generalized on second language learners of English because the two groups go through different literacy acquisition processes as they learn English (Figueredo, 2006). Nevertheless, the limited available body of research about the relationship between first and second language has repeatedly shown that phonological awareness in first language highly correlates with reading and spelling in a second language, and therefore, it is a good predictor of these skills (e.g., Abu-Rabia & Siegel, 2002;Chen, Kao, & Wei, 2008;Gottardo, Yan, Siegel, & Wade-Woolley, 2001;Sparks, Patton, Ganschow, & Humbach, 2009;Sparks, Patton, Ganschow, Humbach, & Javorsky, 2006, 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spelling performance of English consonants among students whose first language is Arabic

Allaith

Joshi

2011

Read Writ

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of some aspects of the Arabic phonological system on spelling English words. In Study 1, the spelling performance of Arabic students from grades four and six was compared with English students in cognate phoneme pairs which exist across both languages (/d/ and /t/), and pairs in which only one of the phonemes exists in Arabic (/b/ and /p/, /f/ and /v/) using a spelling test which contained words with the target phonemes. The findings showed that the Arabic participants performed similarly to the English participants on the phonemes /t/ and /d/, but they tended to spell the phonemes /b/, /p/, /f/, and /v/ using their cognate pairs more often than the English participants did. In Study 2, the spelling performance of Arabic students was compared across grades 4, 6, 8, and 10 for the same target phonemes. The analyses showed no difference between the Arabic participants in how often they confused the target phonemes with their cognate pairs across the different grade levels, except for the phonemes /p/ and /v/, for which the effect size was small. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of phonology in spelling, as well as the influence of the first language on spelling in a second language. They also indicate that Arabic students continue to be dependent on phonological processes when spelling English words even as they grow older.

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“…If the new language of instant messaging is truly a new or a complementary language (e.g., Crystal, 2006;Lewis & Fabos, 2005), then we might expect both positive and negative transfer between the two ''languages'' (Figueredo, 2006;Sparks, Patton, Ganschow, Humbach, & Javorsky, 2008) based on interdependencies between the two languages (Cummins, 1979). Good spellers in conventional English might make greater use of new language compared with poorer spellers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

lol: new language and spelling in instant messaging

et al. 2009

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Written communication in instant messaging, text messaging, chat, and other forms of electronic communication appears to have generated a ''new language'' of abbreviations, acronyms, word combinations, and punctuation. In this naturalistic study, adolescents collected their instant messaging conversations for a 1-week period and then completed a spelling test delivered over instant messaging. We used the conversations to develop a taxonomy of new language use in instant messaging. Short-cuts, including abbreviations, acronyms, and unique spellings were most prevalent in the instant message conversation, followed by pragmatic signals, such use of emoticons, emotion words, and punctuation, and typographical and spelling errors were relatively uncommon. With rare exceptions, notably true spelling errors, spelling ability was not related to use of new language in instant messaging. The taxonomy provides an important tool for investigating new language use and the results provide partial evidence that new language does not have a harmful effect on conventional written language.

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Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-language influence on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill

Cited by 81 publications

References 77 publications

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Learning of Foraging Skills by Fish

Spelling performance of English consonants among students whose first language is Arabic

lol: new language and spelling in instant messaging

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