Approaching Language Transfer through Text Classification: Explorations in the Detection-based Approach

Published by Multilingual Matters 2012

Approaching Language Transfer through Text Classification

Explorations in the Detection-based Approach

Edited by: Scott Jarvis and Scott A. Crossley

In the series Second Language Acquisition

https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847696991

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book explains the detection-based approach to investigating crosslinguistic influence and illustrates the value of the approach through a collection of five empirical studies that use the approach to quantify, evaluate, and isolate the subtle and complex influences of learners’ native-language backgrounds on their English writing.

Author / Editor information

Jarvis Scott :

Scott Jarvis is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utah, USA. His areas of research include crosslinguistic influence and lexical diversity. He is the co-editor (with Scott Crossley) of Approaching Language Transfer through Text Classification (2012).

Crossley Scott A. :

Scott A. Crossley is an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University. His work involves the application of natural language processing theories and approaches for investigating second language acquisition, text readability, and writing proficiency. His current research interests include lexical proficiency, writing quality, and text coherence and processing.

Scott Jarvis (Ph.D., Indiana University) holds the title of Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Ohio University, where his main research interests include crosslinguistic influence, cognitive linguistics, and research methods related to the investigation of language proficiency and the measurement of lexical diversity. His work in these areas has appeared in several authored and edited books, numerous book chapters and journal papers in the fields of second language acquisition and multilingualism. Professor Jarvis is also Associate Executive Director for the journal Language Learning.

Scott A. Crossley is an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University. His work involves the application of natural language processing theories and approaches for investigating second language acquisition, text readability, and writing proficiency. His current research interests include lexical proficiency, writing quality, and text coherence and processing.

Reviews

Terence Odlin, Ohio State University, USA:

This book indeed opens a new path in the study of language transfer. The investigations brought together here combine the strengths of earlier work on transfer with those of two other fields, computational linguistics and corpus research, which have much to offer students and researchers interested in second language acquisition and multilingualism. There can be little doubt that the tools used in this seminal work will continue to offer important insights for a long time to come.

Pavel Trofimovich, Concordia University, Canada:

This is an articulate, comprehensive, and timely volume on a fascinating yet largely underexplored area. Jarvis and Crossley have produced an impressive collection of research-based evidence on language transfer using a corpus-based approach. The volume is a must-have for students, scholars, and practitioners interested in language transfer, corpus linguistics, forensic linguistics, text classification, second language writing, error analysis, and language assessment.

Håkan Ringbom, Emeritus Professor, Åbo Akademi University, Finland:

In this bold and pioneering interdisciplinary study, experts on SLA research, computational analysis and statistics collaborate to try to identify the L1 background of non-native writers. The result is a most impressive work which will take the field of crosslinguistic studies a long way forward. A MUST for all SLA researchers!

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
1. The Detection-Based Approach: An Overview Scott Jarvis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Detecting L2 Writers’ L1s on the Basis of Their Lexical Styles Scott Jarvis, Gabriela Castañeda-Jiménez and Rasmus Nielsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
3. Exploring the Role of n-Grams in L1 Identification Scott Jarvis and Magali Paquot Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
4. Detecting the First Language of Second Language Writers Using Automated Indices of Cohesion, Lexical Sophistication, Syntactic Complexity and Conceptual Knowledge Scott A. Crossley and Danielle S. McNamara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
5. Error Patterns and Automatic L1 Identification Yves Bestgen, Sylviane Granger and Jennifer Thewissen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
6. The Comparative and Combined Contributions of n-Grams, Coh-Metrix Indices and Error Types in the L1 Classification of Learner Texts Scott Jarvis, Yves Bestgen, Scott A. Crossley, Sylviane Granger, Magali Paquot, Jennifer Thewissen and Danielle McNamara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
7. Detection-Based Approaches: Methods, Theories and Applications Scott A. Crossley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178

Language: English
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Pages
- Main content: 208
Keywords: transfer in language learning; transfer in SLA; crosslinguistic influence; crosslinguistic influence in SLA; learners’ native-language backgrounds; computer classifiers to detect language background; detection-based approach

eBook

Published: March 14, 2012
ISBN: 9781847696991