Timms Angie Timms Dr.

John Nelson Linguistics December 11, 2012 Analyzing Second Language Acquisition Through Storytelling Learning a second language is generally a slow and arduous journey - one that is even

more difficult as an adult. There are often many factors that determine an individuals acquisition rate, which include age, first-language acquisition hypotheses, and sociocultural, personal, and cognitive factors. To learn the developmental process of second language acquisition by an adult, I studied two transcripts of a popular Japanese folktale that were verbally translated from Japanese to English. The folktale chosen by the translator is called Momotaro, The Peach Boy, which dates back to 1753 and has numerous variations. The main storyline is about a boy who came from inside a peach, and was raised by the elderly couple who found him. Upon reaching manhood, he traveled to Demon Island to defeat the evil demons inhabiting the island, and picked up three companions along the way: a dog, a pheasant, and a monkey. They defeated the demons and brought the stolen, horded treasure back home as their reward. The recorded translations of Momotaro were done one month apart by a student enrolled in the ESL program at DSU, and were transcribed into a written document. The student, named Koji, a twenty-five year old Japanese male, had had very little formal English education before coming to the U.S. to study English on August 23rd, 2012. He had taken an English course in high school, but claims he was not a good student. Now, Koji has returned to school to study English and Computer Science, and is determined to do well. By using textual analytical tools, and studying each transcript manually word for word, and also drawing from research pertaining to second

Timms language acquisition, I will decipher the process of Kojis second language acquisition by comparing the language he used to tell the folktale first after two months in America, then after three months. There are three main theories of first language acquisition: innatist, interactionist, and behaviorist; these theories also apply to second language acquisition. According to Noam Chomsky, acquiring a language before puberty is far easier because children have an innate learning device hard wired into their brains. This innate learning device provides the backbone

for the innateness hypothesis of learning language, in which children have the innate capacity to differentiate phonemes, extract words from the stream of language, and process grammar (Rowe 237). Studies done by researchers Dulay and Burt back up the innatist perspective as part of second language acquisition by concluding that, most English language learner errors were best described as similar to errors made by children acquiring English as a first language (Longman 52). However, this innateness becomes less applicable in language acquisition after puberty according to the critical period hypothesis, which states, the language acquisition device ceases to function, and the ability to acquire language with native fluency declines (Rowe 237). So an adult who wishes to acquire a second language must pursue it on a more intellectual level in which it will not be achieved as naturally as first-language acquisition. The second hypothesis called the behaviorist approach, explains the act of learning language through imitation, repetition, and reinforcement of grammatical structures (Longman 54). Like children learning their native tongue first by listening and speaking, then by reading and writing, second language learners are taught in a similar method based on the assumption that this is the natural process. Research and surveys of English language learners have shown that this technique has not been very successful on its own.

Timms Combining the behaviorist hypothesis with the innatist hypothesis, or the concepts of nurture with nature, creates the third theory of language development, the interactionist hypothesis. The innate language device, or universal grammar, combined with social interaction helps an individual acquire language. In a social context for second language acquisition, the

interactionist is interested in the communicative give and take of natural conversations between native and non-native speakers (Longman 51). They observe how native speakers change their speech in order to be understood by English learning students, and are also interested in how non-native speakers use their budding knowledge of the new language to get their ideas across and to achieve their communicative goals (Longman 51), which is a process called negotiation of meaning. Negotiation of meaning occurs frequently in the many conversations I have with ESL students, as well as several times during Kojis translations. Analyzing the transcripts using the electronic analytical tools first, I was able to reveal useful statistical information. After converting the transcripts to plain text files and uploading them to the Voyant tools website a web based analytical toolset developed by Stefen Sinclair and Geoffrey Rockwell, I was able to examine statistics such as word count, word density, and word frequency. Invaluable information about the entire corpus can be gleaned by examining the summary evaluation on the front page of the website, which includes the number of words in the corpus, the vocabulary density, the most frequent words used, and distinctive word use. This site is most helpful for providing distant reading analyses on large corpora by examining high frequency words in context, but it is also useful for providing basic statistics to reveal meaningful information in shorter texts. The first transcript had 358 tokens, (all the words in the document), 130 types, (unique words), creating a word density of 363.1, (number of types divided by number of tokens

Timms multiplied by 1000 - the higher the value, the richer the vocabulary). The second transcript had 269 tokens and 112 types, which created a word density of 416.4. Based on these statistics, Kojis second translation was filled with a richer vocabulary and was shorter and more precise. Comparing distinctive words between the two transcripts provided several insights. The word and appeared 30 times in the first translation, making it the most frequent word used; whereas in the second translation, the word to was the most frequent word used appearing 19 times, followed by and at only 12 occurrences. This story telling device is similar to a young childs narration skills that continually use and as the first word in a sentence to tell a story. And was spoken far less in the second translation having been replaced with the word then, which is not used at all in the first translation. The use of and mimics native English speakers language development; this example provides reason to believe that it may be part of the innate

hypothesis. Although then is used correctly in most instances, it is overused, and replaces and where it should not. For example, in the second translation Koji says, Then theres a child in the peach. In the first translation, Koji used and in the same sentence; in this case, using and to combine this sentence with the previous sentence would have been more grammatically correct. Another distinctive word listed on the summary that appears in the second translation far more than the first translation is the word the. English language learners frequently forget to include articles in their statements. Koji is remembering more times than not to include the article before the noun in the second translation. Based on the statistics from the analytical toolset of word density and distinctiveness alone, Kojis grammar and language have developed fairly substantially in only one months time. Kojis vocabulary has also broadened quite a lot in one month. His more descriptive language leaves fewer gaps in the plot and makes the fable more understandable. For instance, he

Timms ventures to explain that grandfather went to the mountain to cut wood in the second translation, while the first translation only explains grandfather went to mountain. Along with it being more descriptive, heres an example where he included the article the correctly before the noun. Also, by replacing the adjective good with nice to describe the peach, the context

subtly changes meaning. From using the correct vocabulary, Kojis storytelling has become more precise. The first translation was over sixteen minutes long, and the second recording was only twelve minutes long. He has become less repetitive in trying to make his message understood, which then made the second translation shorter. In other words, Koji was more apt to speak the sentence correctly the first time by using correct grammar and by including all of the descriptive words in the correct order during the second translation. In the first translation, he would often leave out a word in the first utterance, which would force him to go back and repeat the entire phrase adding a word or two to correct either grammar mistakes or to add a descriptive word. The following example, (which comes after learning that Momotaro had grown up to be a strong man), shows Kojis correct use of the infinitive phrase, and how his broadened vocabulary has honed his narrative skills allowing for more information: First translation: One day Momotaro said, I'm going to go Demon Island. Demon Island. And I beat him. I kill him. I will kill him. Not kill but strike him. Strike demon. Second translation: One day Momotaro said, I'm going to go to Demon Island to attack demon, because demon is not good for us. Bad man. He's bad to everyone. Theres no explanation about who the demon is or why Momotaro wants to attack the demon in the first translation, but in the second translation it is clear. This may be because Koji was so focused on trying to find the correct verb that he forgot to mention the motivation for the attack.

Timms Searching for the correct vocabulary word is similar to negotiation of meaning only it involves another person. During the first translation I did not understand the word food which Koji pronounced ooze or /uz/; Koji used negotiation of meaning to try to define the word in context to help me better understand. First translation: He met dog. Dog said, Momotaro where are you going? Momotaro say, I'm gonna go demon island. Dog said, If you give me /uz/

some /uz/, this /uz/ grandmother give, this /uz/ Momotaro. This /uz/, /uz/ give me, that /uz/ give me. I can go with you, dog said. And Momotaro and dog go went to demon island. Second translation: When he went to the demon place, he saw dog and dog said, Where are you going Momotaro? If you give me dumpling, I'm gonna go Demon's place with you. Then dog was given dumpling, and dog decided to go to Demon's island with Momotaro. In the second translation dumpling was substituted for food even though, by this point he was able to correctly pronounce food. Along with pronunciation and vocabulary, this excerpt shows his growing understanding of past tense verb agreement, was given, decided to go to, and the possessive form of Demons, even though in this case it is fine to say Demon Island as a proper noun. An example of the behaviorist theory affecting Kojis language development is the informal word use gonna instead of going to. This must have been learned by listening to casual conversation and not in the classroom setting. Another difficulty for many people learning English is understanding the use of personal pronouns. In Japan, use of personal pronouns is not common, and it is not necessary to include the subject in a sentence. Koji explained, rather than saying, Im hungry he would just say the

Timms word for hunger, and it would be assumed that he is the one who has hunger. Also, when

speaking of, or addressing another person, the Japanese would use that persons name rather than a pronoun; it is considered more polite to use an individuals name rather than a pronoun. Kojis pronoun usage developed quite a lot in the month from the first translation to the second. For instance, he replaced peach with it, and rather than repeating grandmother and grandfather like he did in the first translation, he used the pronoun they not always, but more often than the first time. Also, they was used to replace dog, monkey, bird, Momotaro when explaining the groups travel plans in the second translation. It got a bit cumbersome during the first translation having to correctly repeat dog, monkey, bird, Momotaro, however beneficial the practice may have been for his pronunciation. Kojis pronunciation improved drastically in a month as well. He was able to differentiate between /l/ and /r/, /b/ and /v/, and correctly pronounce the /th/ sound. So, crothes became clothes, bery became very, and za became the. This could be due to a number of reasons related to both the behaviorist theory, from being corrected in his pronunciations, and the interactionist theory, from Koji listening and picking up the pronunciations from native speakers. Another noticeable improvement in Kojis language development is apparent through his correct verb usage. In the first translation the verbs were constantly changing from past tense to present progressive. The second translation shows significant improvement on correct verb agreement. For example: First translation: Grandmother was washing crothes and big peach flow in river. Was flow in river. She said, "Oh this is good seven year, (souvenir) for grandfather. And lift up, she lift up peach, big peach and bring they home.

Timms Second translation: When grandmother washed the clothes, the big peach flowed down river to grandmother. She said this is nice souvenir for grandfather. Grandmother picked up the big peach and brought it back home.

In the second translation, all of the verbs were in agreement: washed, flowed, picked, brought, whereas in the first translation Koji was trying for verb agreement by using was but then switched to present tense in the next sentence about bringing the peach home. Another example of using correct verb usage came in the second translation when Koji described Momotaro growing up. First translation: Momotaro grow up and strong man. And become a strong man. Second translation: Momotaro was growing up to strong man. In trying to use the correct past tense of grow, Koji mistakenly uses past continuous rather than the irregular simple past grew, and in focusing on the correct tense of the first verb, he left out the second verb be to make it a correct statement. Also, another example concerning correct verb usage appears in the first translation with the statement, everyone attack him changed to they were attacking demon rather than use the simple past by adding -ed, Koji inserts an auxiliary verb using the continuous past tense instead. All of these examples of verb usage have similar mistakes for the first translation, and similar corrections for the second translation. It shows Kojis struggle and arduous progress at conquering the thirteen difficult verb tenses in the English language. The results of the comparison between the two translations show Kojis considerable progress in language acquisition during the short span of one month. The electronic analytical tools revealed a brief and insightful summary about what was to be expected in the manual analysis. The statistical information about vocabulary density and distinctive word use provided

Timms

an advantageous position upon delving into the more in depth manual analysis, which ultimately revealed areas of improvement in pronoun and verb usage, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Kojis informal daily interactions with native speakers, along with his formal English education, all help contribute to his successful second language acquisition. Although learning a second language is a difficult task, Koji should be fairly fluent in English in a short time if he continues at this rate of development.

Timms 10 Translations: October 25 A long time ago there's grandfather and grandmother. Grandfather went to mountain and grandmother went to river to wash crothes. She was washing crothes and big peach was fell in river. Was floating river. She said, oh this is good seven year, souvenir for grandfather. And lift up she lift up peach, big peach and bring they home. And they was trying to eat, trying to eat, they are cutting peach. And there is a baby in the peach. They say oh, this child God give us this child. Grandfather and grandmother don't have child so they are berry happy. The child born from peach, so the child name is Momotaro. Momotaro grow up and strong man. And become a strong man. One day Momotaro said, I'm going to go Demon Island. Demon Island. And I beat him. I kill him. I will kill him, not kill but strike him. Strike demon. And grandmother gave some food to Momotaro and Momotaro went to Demon Island. On the way he met dog. Dog said, Momotaro where are you going? Momotaro say I'm gonna go demon island. Dog said, If you give me ooze some ooze. This ooze grandmother give, this ooze Momotaro. This ooze. Ooze give me. That ooze give me. I can go with you, dog said. And Momotaro and dog go went to demon island. And on the way they met bard (bird) and same situation. What are you going. Are you gonna go demon island. If you give za food me, I can go with you. And Momotaro and they met monkey. Same situation. And dog, monkey, bird, Momotaro went to alive demon island. And demon eating expensive dinner, drink drunk. And dog, monkey, bird, Momotaro attack him. And demon said give up, or please. Give up. And Momotaro get - got treasure. And back home and grandfather and grandmother met him and happy he's fine and they are happy life in their life with treasure. Good very expensive, a lot of money. They are very happy. Life.

November 27 A long time ago in someplace there are grandfather and grandmother. Grandfather went to the mountain to cut wood and grandmother went to river to wash clothes. When grandmother washed the clothes, the big peach flowed down river to grandmother. Grandmother said, This is nice souvenir for grandfather. Grandmother picked up the big beach and brought it back home. Then, they are trying to cut, to eat the peach. Then theres a child in the peach. They said this child must be kind of child of God, kind of. They didn't have child, so they are very happy. They named the child Momotaro. Momotaro was growing up to strong man. One day Momotaro said, I'm going to go to demons island to attack demon, because demon is not good for us. Bad man. He's bad to everyone. Grandmother gave Momotaro some good food. Special dumpling. When he went to the demon place, he saw dog and dog said, Where are you going Momotaro? If you give me dumpling, I'm gonna go demon's place with you. Then dog was given dumpling, and dog decided to go to demon's island with Momotaro. Then,

Timms 11 they met monkey, and Momotaro give monkey dumpling and monkey decided to go to demon's place with them. Last they met pheasant, and Momotaro give pheasant dumpling and pheasant decide to go demon's island with them. Then they got to demon's place and Momotaro said. Demon was eating big dinner, feast, and enjoyed very much. Then they were attacking demon. At last Demon gave up. Then everyone got demon's treasure and bring it back home. Then everyone be happy.

Timms 12 Works Cited Longman, comp. "Chapter 2." N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Second Language Acquisition. Web. <http://ablongman.com/html/productinfo/peregoy5e/0205593240_ch2.pdf>. Rowe, Bruce M., and Diane P. Levine. A Concise Introduction to Linguistics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012. Print.