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AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF FIRST LANGUAGE IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ______________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Claremont Graduate School and San Diego State University ____________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Education ________________________________________________________ by Ioana Daciana Ionescu Fall 2014 © Copyright Ioana Daciana Ionescu, 2014 All rights reserved. CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY SAN DIEGO STATE U NIVERSITY The Undersigned Faculty Committee Approves the Dissertation of Ioana Daciana Ionescu: An Analysis of the Role of First Language in Second Language Acquisition ________________________________________ Ph.D. Marva Cappello, Co-Chair San Diego State University _________________________________________ Ph.D. Philip Dreyer, Co-chair Claremont Graduate University ___________________________________________ Ph.D. Albert Ochoa San Diego State University __________________________________________________ Ph.D. William Perez Claremont Graduate University ____________________________________________________ Approval Date ABSTRACT An Analysis of the Role of First Language in Second Language Acquisition by Ioana D. Ionescu Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University: 2014 The impact of first language (L1) on nine prominent second language acquisition (SLA) theories has garnered broad attention in recent years. One topic of interest is to what extent are language identity and culture of English second language (ESL) college learners intertwined. Extensive research has been directed toward understanding the influence of writing instruction on written discourse whereas far less attention, and hence the focus of this research, has been allotted to how L1 affects metadiscourse, miscues, and hedging in writing in a second language. English writing assignments of 141 culturally- and linguistically-diverse ESL college students enrolled in a “Linguistics Department” composition course at San Diego State University (SDSU) from 2010-12 were analyzed. This effort was augmented by conducting written interviews with six Linguistics professors who have taught ESL composition classes. Findings provided insights into (1) the role of L1 in acquiring written literacy skills in L2 English as perceived through nine SLA theories; (2) the writing capabilities expected of ESL college students from the perspective of the six linguistic professors; (3) the metadiscourse variations occurring within steps of two genre types (Summary of a Commentary, Statement of Purpose); (4) the significant differences among language groups in the use of article and subject- verb agreement miscues; (5) the connection between linguistic discourse and ethnic culture employed by ESL students in written assignments through the lens of hedging (e.g. modal auxiliaries, non-factive reporting and tentative linking verbs), a valued trait in self-expression for ESL students. Dispersion plots for sixty L1 Spanish students revealed usage patterns. The study revealed challenges faced by Linguistics professors due to the diversity of the academic goals, interests, and writing purposes among ESL college students. The findings suggested various pedagogical implications comprising the Linguistic professors’ advocacy of their students by using L1 as a bridge for transferring schema to L2, providing specific genre knowledge and reinforcing the writer and audience connection. This study contributes to an understanding of SLA and the incremental process in mastering L2 writing skills as well as the mosaic of the influences of L1 and culture in developing biliteracy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research effort would not have been possible without the lifelong support of my mother and father, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I would also like to thank Ph.D. Robert S. Nelson (my husband) for his tireless efforts on my behalf and my light of knowledge. In appreciation of our son Sigurd R. Nelson who reminds me that every day we have to climb a mountain, to never lose our curiosity and to never halt querying. Hence, I would like to thank the extended Nelson family for advocating me in my academic endeavor. I would like to thank all four members of my committee for their continuous guidance in this research. Furthermore, I wish to thank Dr. Ochoa for being my mentor throughout this entire journey. I would like to thank my Chair, Dr. Cappello, for sharing her wealth of knowledge and her guidance in this academic endeavor. I deeply appreciate the collaboration with my colleagues in this research effort (Robert Courtney, Lisa Davis, Julie Hernandez, Brian Mark, Vickie Mellos, Tim Mountain, Hector Ortega, Marija Petrovic) and all of the professors who shared their knowledge with me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………..……………………….……. xv LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………….………………………….…...xvii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………….…………………………………………1 1.1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM……………………..……………….……..1 1.2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY………………………………….…………………2 1.3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK…………………………….………………….3 1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS……………………………………………………...4 1.5. DEFINITION OF TERMS…………………………………………..……….….5 II. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………………11 2.1. NINE THEORIES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION…………...…11 2.1.1. THE NATURE OF THEORIES…………..…………………………..…12 2.1.2. EARLY THEORIES IN SLA…………………...……………………….14 2.1.3. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THIS RESARCH EFFORT…...............…16 2.1.4. THEORIES THAT ASSIGN A VITAL ROLE TO L1 IN SLA…...……17 2.1.5. THEORIES THAT DO NOT ATTRIBUTE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE TO THE L1………………………….………………………………...…34 2.1.6. CONCLUDING REMARKS IN SLA ACROSS NINE CONTEMPORARY THEORIES…..……………………………………42 2.1.7. THE ROLE OF L1 IN SLA………………………………………..…….47 2.2. GENRE………………………………………………………………...……….50 2.3. CULTURE………………………………………...……………………………53 vi III. METHODS…………………………………………………..………………………56 3.1 DESIGN……………………………….................................................................56 3.2 RESEARCH CONTEXT…………………………………….…………………..57 3.3 PARTICIPANTS…………………………………………………………...……58 3.3.1. SIX LINGUISTIC PROFESSORS……………………………………..…59 3.3.2. 141 ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE STUDENTS……………………59 3.4. DATA SOURCES………………………………………………………………60 3.4.1. SIX LINGUISTIC PROFESSORS WRITTEN INTERVIEWS………..…60 3.4.2. 141 ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE STUDENTS’ WRITTEN DOCUMENTS…………………………………………………………………...62 3.5 ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………63 3.5.1. SIX LINGUISTIC PROFESSORS WRITTEN INTERVIEWS………..…63 3.5.2. 141 ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE STUDENTS WRITTEN DOCUMENTS…………………………………………………………………...64 3.5.3. METADISCOURSE ANALYSIS MOVES AND STEPS USED IN SUMMARY OF A COMMENTARY AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (SOP)…………………………………………………………...…….………….64 3.5.4. MISCUES EMPLOYED BY ESL STUDENTS…………………....…….65 3.5.5. AN ANALYSIS OF HEDGING IN 141 ESL STUDENTS’ WRITINGS………………………………………………………………………69 3.6. PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS………………………………………...………70 3.7. LIMITATIONS……………………………………………………………….....72 3.8. SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………..72 vii IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE WRITTEN INTERVIEW DATA FROM SIX LINGUISTIC PROFESSORS……………………………………………………………….74 4.1. WRITING CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ESL STUDENT………………...….75 4.2 THEORIES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA)…….….…...…80 4.3 TYPES OF MISCUES THAT ESL STUDENTS IMPLEMENT IN THEIR WRITINGS……………………………………………..………………………...….87 4.4 GENERAL METADISCOURSE OR GENRE ANALYSIS IN TEACHING WRITING……………………………………….……………………………...…....91 4.5 AMERICAN CULTURE EMLOYED IN TEACHING ESL CLASSES AND THE CHALLENGES PROFESSOR ENCOUNTERED IN TEACHING ESL STUDENTS………………………………………………………………………….93 4.6 SUMMARY OF WRITEN INTREVIEW DATA FROM SIX LINGUISTIC PROFESSORS…………………………………………………………………...…105 V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF METADISCOURSE ANALYSIS MOVES AND STEPS USED IN SUMMARY OF A COMMENTARY AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (SOP)……………………………………………………………………………….………112 5.1. GENERAL OVERVIEW…………………………………………………...….112 5.1.2. RESEARCHER OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE COMMENTARY ‘YOU ARE BEING LIED TO ABOUT PIRATES’ BY JOHANN HARI……………………………………………….……………..…113 5.1.3. GENRE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS WRITING: A SUMMARY OF A COMMENTARY ‘YOU ARE BEING LIED TO ABOUT PIRATES’ WRITTEN BY JOHAN HARI………………………………...……………………………114 viii 5.1.4. CONCLUDING FINDINGS FOR STUDENTS’ SUMMARY OF A COMMENTARY ‘YOU ARE BEING LIED TO ABOUT PIRATES’ WRITTEN BY JOHAN HARI……………………………………………………………...124 5.2. METADISCORSE OF MOVES AND STEPS IN THE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (SOP)………..…………………………………………….……………125 5.2.1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE CONTENT………………………..….…126 5.2.2. METADISCOURSE OF MOVES AND STEPS FOUND IN THE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (SOP)………………………………………..…128 5.2.3. CONCLUDING FINDINGS IN THE METADISCORSE IN STATEMENT OF PURPOSE………………………………………………………………..…141 VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE MISCUES EMPLOYED BY ESL COLLEGE STUDENTS……………………………………………………………………………...…144 6.1. FINDINGS OF ESL COLLEGE STUDENTS’ MISCUES USING QUALITATIVE METHODS………………………………………………………145 6.1.1. LANGUAGE FEATURE OF ARTICLES……………………………....146 6.1.2. LANGUAGE FEATURE OF VERBS FORMSL (VF) AND VERB TENSES (VT)……………………………………………………………..……150 6.1.3. LANGUAGE FEATURE OF SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT……….159 6.2. THE ROLE OF L1 PERCIEVED THROUGH 9 LINGUISTIC THEORIES AND MISCUES LENSES………………………………………………………………..163 6.2.1. SUMMARY REGARDING MISCUES (ARTICLES, VERBS AND SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT) USING QUALITATIVE METHODS.........169 ix 6.3. FINDINGS OF ESL COLLEGE STUDENT’S MISCUES USING QUANTITATIVE METHODS…………………….……………………………....170 6.3.1. DEMOGRAPHICS AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS……………....171 6.3.2 CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS AMONG THREE VARIABLES (ARTICLES, VERBS AND SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT)………………173 6.3.3. ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE RESULT (ANOVA) FOR ESL STUDENTS AMONG DIFFERENT MISCUE VARIABLES (ARTICLES, VERBS AND SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT)………………………………………..……173 6.3.4 SUMMARY REGARDING MISCUES (ARTICLES, VERBS AND SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT) USING QUANTITATIVE METHODS…………………………………………………………………..…175 VII. HEDGING IN 141 ACADEMIC WRITING DOCUMENTS FROM 141 ESL COLLEGE STUDENTS……………………………………………………………………177 7.1. AN ANALYSIS OF HEDGINC IN 141 ESL WRITTEN DOCUMENTS……177 7.2. NON-FACTIVE AND TENTATIVE LINKING VERBS………………….…185 7.3. SELECTED MODALS USED BY ELS COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO’S L1s WERE GERMAN, SOMALI, VIETNAEMESE, SWEDISH, THAI AND LAO…188 7.4. USAGE OF MODALS AND VERBS AMONG 60 ESL STUDENTS WHOSE L1 WAS SPANISH…………………………………………………...……………192 7.5. DISPERSION PLOTS FOR 60 L1 SPANISH SPEAKERS…………………..194 7.6. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS…………………………………………….…….199 VIII. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND REFLECTIONS……………………………………….…204 x

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PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS………………………………………………70. 3.7. What role does the first language (L1) play in the success of ESL .. (e.g. Krashen's Monitor Theory (MT) (1985); Chomsky's Universal Grammar . The participants had four different language backgrounds: Arabic, Farsi,
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