No Cover Image

E-Thesis 563 views 186 downloads

Individual profiling of second language learners through word association. / George Michael Higginbotham

Swansea University Author: George Michael Higginbotham

Abstract

This thesis explores the organisation of second language learners' mental lexicons through the use of word association tests; a reliable measure of which would complement established measures of lexicon size. Following studies with native speakers (Russell & Jenkins, 1954; Ervin, 1961), res...

Full description

Published: 2014
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42500
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
first_indexed 2018-08-02T18:54:51Z
last_indexed 2018-08-03T10:10:19Z
id cronfa42500
recordtype RisThesis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>42500</id><entry>2018-08-02</entry><title>Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>203598bdf6620ba8246158e0caf63398</sid><ORCID>NULL</ORCID><firstname>George Michael</firstname><surname>Higginbotham</surname><name>George Michael Higginbotham</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>true</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2018-08-02</date><abstract>This thesis explores the organisation of second language learners' mental lexicons through the use of word association tests; a reliable measure of which would complement established measures of lexicon size. Following studies with native speakers (Russell &amp; Jenkins, 1954; Ervin, 1961), research with second language learners began in the late 1950's (Lambert. 1956) although much of the methodology and theory had been developed decades before by clinical psychologists (Jung, 1918). Unlike the LI studies, the L2 studies have been plagued by inconsistent findings, leading some to conclude that the use of word associations to assess L2 learners is unfeasible (Kruse et al., 1987). In an attempt to realise the potential that word association tests have as a method of measuring the organisation of learner lexicons, a series of experiments was conducted. The initial experiment was a replication of Wolter (2001) using a traditional classification system. This was followed by five more experiments that centred around a quite different methodology and approach to data analysis put forward by Fitzpatrick (2006; 2007). The reliability of Fitzpatrick's individual profiling approach was tested using various kinds of stimulus words. The results indicate that the word class and frequency of the stimuli have little effect on the reliability of the response profiles generated, Improvements to the methodology and issues that arose during the experiments are discussed. The experiments were all conducted in Japan, with college aged learners between early 2007 and mid-2012. In that six year period, over 20,000 responses were elicited from 213 learners involved in the pilot tests and main experiments.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><journalNumber></journalNumber><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>Foreign language education.;Language arts.</keywords><publishedDay>31</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2014</publishedYear><publishedDate>2014-12-31</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>English Language and Applied Linguistics</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><degreelevel>Doctoral</degreelevel><degreename>Ph.D</degreename><apcterm/><lastEdited>2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967</lastEdited><Created>2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics</level></path><authors><author><firstname>George Michael</firstname><surname>Higginbotham</surname><orcid>NULL</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>0042500-02082018162459.pdf</filename><originalFilename>10801730.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2018-08-02T16:24:59.4000000</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>16492372</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><embargoDate>2018-08-02T16:24:59.4000000</embargoDate><copyrightCorrect>false</copyrightCorrect></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967 v2 42500 2018-08-02 Individual profiling of second language learners through word association. 203598bdf6620ba8246158e0caf63398 NULL George Michael Higginbotham George Michael Higginbotham true true 2018-08-02 This thesis explores the organisation of second language learners' mental lexicons through the use of word association tests; a reliable measure of which would complement established measures of lexicon size. Following studies with native speakers (Russell & Jenkins, 1954; Ervin, 1961), research with second language learners began in the late 1950's (Lambert. 1956) although much of the methodology and theory had been developed decades before by clinical psychologists (Jung, 1918). Unlike the LI studies, the L2 studies have been plagued by inconsistent findings, leading some to conclude that the use of word associations to assess L2 learners is unfeasible (Kruse et al., 1987). In an attempt to realise the potential that word association tests have as a method of measuring the organisation of learner lexicons, a series of experiments was conducted. The initial experiment was a replication of Wolter (2001) using a traditional classification system. This was followed by five more experiments that centred around a quite different methodology and approach to data analysis put forward by Fitzpatrick (2006; 2007). The reliability of Fitzpatrick's individual profiling approach was tested using various kinds of stimulus words. The results indicate that the word class and frequency of the stimuli have little effect on the reliability of the response profiles generated, Improvements to the methodology and issues that arose during the experiments are discussed. The experiments were all conducted in Japan, with college aged learners between early 2007 and mid-2012. In that six year period, over 20,000 responses were elicited from 213 learners involved in the pilot tests and main experiments. E-Thesis Foreign language education.;Language arts. 31 12 2014 2014-12-31 COLLEGE NANME English Language and Applied Linguistics COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Doctoral Ph.D 2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967 2018-08-02T16:24:29.4781967 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics George Michael Higginbotham NULL 1 0042500-02082018162459.pdf 10801730.pdf 2018-08-02T16:24:59.4000000 Output 16492372 application/pdf E-Thesis true 2018-08-02T16:24:59.4000000 false
title Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
spellingShingle Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
George Michael Higginbotham
title_short Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
title_full Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
title_fullStr Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
title_full_unstemmed Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
title_sort Individual profiling of second language learners through word association.
author_id_str_mv 203598bdf6620ba8246158e0caf63398
author_id_fullname_str_mv 203598bdf6620ba8246158e0caf63398_***_George Michael Higginbotham
author George Michael Higginbotham
author2 George Michael Higginbotham
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2014
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This thesis explores the organisation of second language learners' mental lexicons through the use of word association tests; a reliable measure of which would complement established measures of lexicon size. Following studies with native speakers (Russell & Jenkins, 1954; Ervin, 1961), research with second language learners began in the late 1950's (Lambert. 1956) although much of the methodology and theory had been developed decades before by clinical psychologists (Jung, 1918). Unlike the LI studies, the L2 studies have been plagued by inconsistent findings, leading some to conclude that the use of word associations to assess L2 learners is unfeasible (Kruse et al., 1987). In an attempt to realise the potential that word association tests have as a method of measuring the organisation of learner lexicons, a series of experiments was conducted. The initial experiment was a replication of Wolter (2001) using a traditional classification system. This was followed by five more experiments that centred around a quite different methodology and approach to data analysis put forward by Fitzpatrick (2006; 2007). The reliability of Fitzpatrick's individual profiling approach was tested using various kinds of stimulus words. The results indicate that the word class and frequency of the stimuli have little effect on the reliability of the response profiles generated, Improvements to the methodology and issues that arose during the experiments are discussed. The experiments were all conducted in Japan, with college aged learners between early 2007 and mid-2012. In that six year period, over 20,000 responses were elicited from 213 learners involved in the pilot tests and main experiments.
published_date 2014-12-31T03:53:05Z
_version_ 1763752631915773952
score 11.036706

Similar Items