Second and foreign language
data
Chapter 3 - Part I
A. Data analysis
B. What data does not reveal
C. More on methodology issues
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A. Data analysis
 A central part of understanding the field of SLA is
gained by hands-on experience in data analysis and
interpretation.
 There is often ambiguity with regard to interpretation.
There is no “correct” answer but good argumentation
that lessens the ambiguity of analysis.
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Data set I: plurals
 The data were collected from three adult native
speakers of Cairene Arabic, intermediate to
advanced speakers of English, shortly after they had
arrived in the US. The data source was compositions
and conversations.
 Hand out 3-1.
 Pay attention to the phrases in boldface. Decide
whether it is English-like or non-English-like.
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Possible answer 1
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Possible answer 2
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Generalization --- Hypothesis
1. Based on the pattern of responses, we
can propose an initial hypothesis:
 Whenever there is a quantifying phrase or
a nonnumerical quantifying word before
the noun, there is no overt marking on the
plural of that noun.
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Test the suggested generalization
 How do you explain 3-13?
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2. Another IL hypothesis:
 Mark all plural nouns with /s/ except those
that are preceded by a quantifying phrase
or a nonnumerical quantifying word.
 Again : Table 3.3
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Test the hypothesis
 3-11 nine month
• Pronunciation simplification?
 3-14 How many month or years
• Type of conjunction?
 3-10 Many people have ideas
• Irrelevant: an unanalyzed chunk
• This is evidence to support the hypothesis if we
believe that the students know that “ideas”is a
word by itself and categorize it as a nonplural form.
• Not support if we believe that the students think the
word “many” is the modifier for “ideas” and know
that “ideas” is a plural form yet they still use the
plural form
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 Knowing how to deal with apparent exceptions
is just as important as knowing how to deal
with the bulk of the data.
 Exceptions can be real and, if in sufficient
quantity, may suggest an incorrect initial
hypothesis, or they may be reflections of
another rule/constraint at play.
• E.g. “nine month”:
phonological simplification? But differ between
native speakers and nonnative speakers
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Data set II: verb+-ing markers
 These utterances were produced by a native
speaker of Arabic (female) at the early stages of
learning English. At the time of data collection,
the learner had had no formal English instruction.
All of the sentences were gathered from
spontaneous utterances. In parentheses, the
researchers have provided the most likely
intention (given the context) of these utterances
when the intention is not obvious from the forms
produced.
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Handout 3-2.
 Observation:
• The subject has two forms she can use to
express progressive meaning (eating versus
watch).
 A rough hypothesis:
The learner is using an IL rule that restricts
the occurrence of Verb+-ing to sentencefinal position.
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Formal hypothesis
Formal Hypothesis 1 is a more complex
hypothesis that takes into consideration
semantic aspects beyond structure:
“Whenever there is an intended
progressive, put the Verb+-ing form in
final position.”
It’s really easy to reject this hypothesis…
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Improving the hypothesis
 A second hypothesis involving the use of the
simple form of the verb:
“Whenever there is no overt subject, the
simple form of the verb is used.”
• This hypothesis tells us little about the use
or nonuse of Verb+-ing.
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 A third hypothesis can be formulated to
distinguish between transitive and intransitive
sentences.
“The Verb+-ing form is used in sentences
without overt objects. The simple form of
the verb is used with transitive verbs with
overt objects.”
How do you like this one?
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3-25 is an exception; Explanation?
a) This learner is able to deal with no more
than two- and three-word utterances.
b) The units he’s , she’s, it’s and Hani’s (her
husband) are stored as single lexical
items. The s in 3-25 is not part of the
verb form, thus missed.
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B. What data analysis does not reveal
 One question that arises with all data
collection is the appropriateness of ascribing
meaning to leaner utterances.
 Good argumentation can lessen the
ambiguity inherent in most learner-language
data.
 With most learners, this is best done through
the NL; clearly this is not always possible.
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 Data should always be collected for a
particular purpose, which often arises from
the unanswered questions of previous
analyses.
 Empirical example:
• What else is there that we want to know
based on previous analyses in the previous
two examples?
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Data set I
1. Separate data sources: conversations
versus compositions
E.g. 3-14. pronunciation issue?
2. Isolate data of individual learners
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3. “Comparative fallacy” (Bley-Vroman, 1983):
Comparing second language forms to TL standards
may lead analysts down a path that precludes an
understanding of the systematic nature of the
learner system in question.
 E.g. How many month or years
 Collect more data to see: Is it a valid mixture of
overtly marked plurals and non-marked plurals in
“or” phrases in Arabic-English or is it a one-time
anomaly that can be safely ignored?
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Data set II
1. Does transitivity play a role in expressing
progressive meaning?
2. Does the existence of overt subjects play a
role?
3. Could it be that the “s” representing the verb
to be is stored with the subject as one unit?
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C. More on methodology issues
 Data do not yield unique results
 What data to include
 Point of reference for comparison
 The methodology used for analysis
• Huebner’s data: Figure 3.1 vs. Table 3.6
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Example -Huebner-Handout 3-3
What does Figure 3.1 tell us?
1. It shows little development in terms of Ge’s
knowledge of the article system.
2. It does not show what it is about the article
system Ge does and does not know.
 How about Table 3.6?
 Clear differences exist between Time 1 and
Time 4.
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Summary
 Be aware of your research purpose.
 Collect data for a specific purpose.
 Observing the data and initiate a
hypothesis.
 Study the evidence for and against it.
 Proposing further hypothesis and rule out
alternatives.
 An on-going procedure.
 Cross-validation.
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