Dunlap, Susan
(2012)
Orthographic Quality in English as a Second Language.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Learning new vocabulary words in a second language is a challenge for the adult learner, especially when the second language writing system differs from the first language writing system. According to the lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti & Hart, 2001), there are three constituents to word-level knowledge: orthographic, phonological, and semantic. A set of studies investigated the nature of orthographic knowledge in advanced learners of English as a second language. In a data mining study, students’ spelling errors were analyzed. Results showed that first language background and second language proficiency have an effect on the rates and types of spelling errors made. In two training interventions, students showed learning gains from two different types of spelling instruction: a form focus condition and a form-meaning integration condition (Norris & Ortega, 2000). In a separate audio dictation task, non-native English speakers were shown to be sensitive to word frequency and age of acquisition but not regularity. In a cross-modal matching task, the same students were most susceptible to transposition foils that preserved target letters but in an incorrect order, and least susceptible to phonological foils that preserved phonological but not orthographic form of the target word. In a spell checking task, students had more difficulty rejecting misspelled words that maintained the phonological form of the target word than misspelled words that did not preserve phonology of the target. Overall, findings suggest that intermediate to advanced learners of English as a second language still show difficulty with the language’s deep orthography, but that they can benefit from minimal amounts of instruction. Furthermore, these students appear to be acquiring orthographic knowledge via exemplar-based rather than rule-based strategies. This research expands upon the lexical quality hypothesis and finds support for the arbitrary mapping hypothesis.
Share
| Citation/Export: |
|
| Social Networking: |
|
Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
26 September 2012 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
2 August 2012 |
| Approval Date: |
26 September 2012 |
| Submission Date: |
16 August 2012 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
132 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
spelling
adult learners
English L2 |
| Date Deposited: |
27 Sep 2012 00:31 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:02 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/13614 |
Metrics
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}