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Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese

Language experience shapes the gradual maturation of speech production in both native (L1) and second (L2) languages. Structural aspects like the connectedness of spontaneous narratives reveal this maturation progress in L1 acquisition and, as it does not rely on semantics, it could also reveal stru...

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Autores principales: Botezatu, Mona Roxana, Weissheimer, Janaina, Ribeiro, Marina, Guo, Taomei, Finger, Ingrid, Mota, Natalia Bezerra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9496641/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36160589
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.940269
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author Botezatu, Mona Roxana
Weissheimer, Janaina
Ribeiro, Marina
Guo, Taomei
Finger, Ingrid
Mota, Natalia Bezerra
author_facet Botezatu, Mona Roxana
Weissheimer, Janaina
Ribeiro, Marina
Guo, Taomei
Finger, Ingrid
Mota, Natalia Bezerra
author_sort Botezatu, Mona Roxana
collection PubMed
description Language experience shapes the gradual maturation of speech production in both native (L1) and second (L2) languages. Structural aspects like the connectedness of spontaneous narratives reveal this maturation progress in L1 acquisition and, as it does not rely on semantics, it could also reveal structural pattern changes during L2 acquisition. The current study tested whether L2 lexical retrieval associated with vocabulary knowledge could impact the global connectedness of narratives during the initial stages of L2 acquisition. Specifically, the study evaluated the relationship between graph structure (long-range recurrence or connectedness) and L2 learners’ oral production in the L2 and L1. Seventy-nine college-aged students who were native speakers of English and had received classroom instruction in either L2-Spanish or L2-Chinese participated in this study. Three tasks were used: semantic fluency, phonemic fluency and picture description. Measures were operationalized as the number of words per minute in the case of the semantic and phonemic fluency tasks. Graph analysis was carried out for the picture description task using the computational tool SpeechGraphs to calculate connectedness. Results revealed significant positive correlations between connectedness in the picture description task and measures of speech production (number of correct responses per minute) in the phonemic and semantic fluency tasks. These correlations were only significant for the participants’ L2- Spanish and Chinese. Results indicate that producing low connectedness narratives in L2 may be a marker of the initial stages of L2 oral development. These findings are consistent with the pattern reported in the early stages of L1 literacy. Future studies should further explore the interactions between graph structure and second language production proficiency, including more advanced stages of L2 learning and considering the role of cognitive abilities in this process.
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spelling pubmed-94966412022-09-23 Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese Botezatu, Mona Roxana Weissheimer, Janaina Ribeiro, Marina Guo, Taomei Finger, Ingrid Mota, Natalia Bezerra Front Psychol Psychology Language experience shapes the gradual maturation of speech production in both native (L1) and second (L2) languages. Structural aspects like the connectedness of spontaneous narratives reveal this maturation progress in L1 acquisition and, as it does not rely on semantics, it could also reveal structural pattern changes during L2 acquisition. The current study tested whether L2 lexical retrieval associated with vocabulary knowledge could impact the global connectedness of narratives during the initial stages of L2 acquisition. Specifically, the study evaluated the relationship between graph structure (long-range recurrence or connectedness) and L2 learners’ oral production in the L2 and L1. Seventy-nine college-aged students who were native speakers of English and had received classroom instruction in either L2-Spanish or L2-Chinese participated in this study. Three tasks were used: semantic fluency, phonemic fluency and picture description. Measures were operationalized as the number of words per minute in the case of the semantic and phonemic fluency tasks. Graph analysis was carried out for the picture description task using the computational tool SpeechGraphs to calculate connectedness. Results revealed significant positive correlations between connectedness in the picture description task and measures of speech production (number of correct responses per minute) in the phonemic and semantic fluency tasks. These correlations were only significant for the participants’ L2- Spanish and Chinese. Results indicate that producing low connectedness narratives in L2 may be a marker of the initial stages of L2 oral development. These findings are consistent with the pattern reported in the early stages of L1 literacy. Future studies should further explore the interactions between graph structure and second language production proficiency, including more advanced stages of L2 learning and considering the role of cognitive abilities in this process. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9496641/ /pubmed/36160589 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.940269 Text en Copyright © 2022 Botezatu, Weissheimer, Ribeiro, Guo, Finger and Mota. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Botezatu, Mona Roxana
Weissheimer, Janaina
Ribeiro, Marina
Guo, Taomei
Finger, Ingrid
Mota, Natalia Bezerra
Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title_full Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title_fullStr Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title_full_unstemmed Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title_short Graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of Spanish and Chinese
title_sort graph structure analysis of speech production among second language learners of spanish and chinese
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9496641/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36160589
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.940269
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