IULC Indiana University Linguistics Club

27th Annual Arabic Linguistics Symposium

Time: 08:30am - 07:00pm 

Place: IMU Georgian Room

Syntax II
Discourse/Corpus Analysis
Keynote Address: Modeling sociopragmatic language use in social media in Arabic and English: A comparative computational perspective
Sociolinguistics and Variation
Keynote Address: The Maghreb-Mashreq language ideology and the politics of identity in a globalized Arab world
Historical Linguistics

For more information see http://www.indiana.edu/~csme/als2013.shtml

In category: Unclassified

Formulaic Expressions Project

Time: 01:30pm - 03:00pm 

Place: Psychology 128 (conference room)

C. Sophia Rammell

Previous studies have suggested that formulaic expressions are stored as single, unanalyzed units, instead of as individual elements like literal sentences (e.g., VanLancker, Canter, Terbeek, 1981). To test this theory, we presented 140 sentences in random order to naïve listeners. Half of the sentences are idioms, and the other half are novel sentences matched for length and phonetic inventory. The first part of the experiment was a transcription task. All sentences in the first part were degraded using 8-channel Cochlear Implant simulated speech. In the second part of the experiment, subjects heard all 140 sentences, again in random order, in the clear. This time, subjects responded with how often they said the sentence on a 3-point scale. Pilot data from 22 undergraduates were analyzed. Pilot data suggest that subjects correctly identify formulaic expressions more often than novel expressions under degradation. Also, subjects identify expressions they report to use more often with higher accuracy than those they report to use less often. Future studies, including new ways of measuring familiarity and using the task with non-native speakers of English, will be discussed.

In category: Morphosyntax and semantics

The effect of instruction on pragmatic routines in academic discussion

Time: 02:30pm - 04:00pm 

Place: Ballantine Hall 205

Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig and Sabrina Mossman

This study investigates the effect of instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic routines used in academic discussion, specifically expressions of agreement, disagreement, and clarification. Thirty-seven learners, including an instructed group of 26 students and a control group of 11 students, participated in the study. Five intact classes received instruction across four 50-minute lessons. Input consisted of authentic language samples extracted from the MICASE corpus; instruction included noticing and production activities. Evaluation in the form of a pretest/posttest was administered through a computer-delivered oral-production test, which allowed for free production in a researcher-controlled context. The task included 30 items, including 10 agreement, 10 disagreement, and 10 clarification scenarios. Two-tailed paired-sample t-tests revealed that production of both speech acts and targeted expressions increased significantly in the experimental condition, whereas the control group did not show significant change. The results show that instruction has a significant positive effect on the use of expressions as measured by oral production in conversation simulations. We attribute this positive outcome to two components, instruction and means of evaluation.

In category: Second language acquisition

The Effect of Video Materials on Motivation and Performance of Advanced EFL Learners

Time: 03:00pm - 04:00pm 

Place: Wright Education Building - Balcony

Ahmed Lachheb

Bruce and Hogan (1998) argue that technologies are embedded in everyday discourse and activity which make them slip into the background of our lives. Regarding the presence of information technology in English language classrooms, remarkable changes occur in the expectations about the abilities students have to acquire in order to be successful EL users(Bruce&Hogan,1998).The integration of information technology into EFL classrooms has been always under investigation from educational technologists and language learning theorists' perspectives(Kuang-wu,2000).The question of motivational effect and the quest to truly discover the effect of videos as instructional materials seem to differ from one context to another, and thus done through many ways. This study aims to investigate the effect of video instruction on motivation and academic performance of advanced EFL learners, using the ARCS Model developed by Keller, and an unpaired T-test Analysis of pre-and post- tests. The experiment was done on a group of 36 Tunisian students majoring in English studies at a Tunisian university. 

Part of the poster session of the Instructional Systems Technology Conference 2013

For details see: http://portal.education.indiana.edu/istconference/ConferenceSchedule2013.aspx

In category: Second language acquisition

Linguistics Panel I: Codeswitching and Bilingualism

Time: 03:30pm - 04:10pm 

Place: Swain East 105

The Phonology of Codeswitching: Slips of the Tongue and Grammar Interaction (Michael Dow, Indiana University)

Nou oblije pale mo-to: Negotiating boundaries between closely related varieties (Jason Siegel, Indiana University)

(Part of the French and Italian Graduate Student Organization Conference)

In category: Sociolinguistics and pragmatics

Languages in contact - Spanish and Haitian Creole: Acquisition of interface phenomena among bilinguals

Time: 04:00pm - 05:30pm 

Place: Ballantine Hall 103

Luis Ortiz López (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus)

(Talk will be delivered in Spanish. Questions will be entertained in English or Spanish)

In category: Sociolinguistics and pragmatics