Psycholinguistics - Orthographic Processing in Native English Speakers And Non-Native English Speakers - Psycholinguistics Assignment Help

Internal Code: 1AADEA

Psycholinguistics Assignment Help

TASK The present research report explores the orthographic processing and cues of stress syllables which is examined through non-noun and non-verb like words. Many studies explore ambiguity of the word stimuli presented to participants and as a result, it shows that English disyllables are influenced by cues, noun status and stress. In the methodology here, stress assignments in isolation and context were given to participants to investigate the processing of lexical stress, whether if it would be the first or second syllable. In the experiment, we found an effect of orthography demonstrating that lexical stress is reliant on orthography. We discuss the implications of these findings with regard to stimuli in isolation and in context. Orthographic processing is a means of visual interpretation and meaning making of words and non-words. We explore if native, monolingual speakers of English (NS) use this cue at the beginning of each word to assign lexical stress. Boland (1997) reiterates that studies demonstrate that language users of English can misinterpret the grammatical comprehension of ambiguous words such as duck, which can be expressed as a noun (bird) or a verb (‘duck down’). We test non-words in isolation and in context to determine any differences of stress cues and to conclude the significance of the stimuli presented within a sentence structure. The grammatical context of one’s initial native language and their proficiency in English reading ability may influence their reliance on orthographic markers. Interestingly, for native speakers, there was no statistically high significant difference between NNA when classifying word stimuli (Arciuli and Cupples, 2007). Moreover, a modern approach by Cassidy and Kelly (1991, 2001) shows that children and adults can be vulnerable to the amount of syllables within a noun or a verb, which can affect their perception of a non-noun or a non-verb word. Furthermore, findings from Arciuli and Cupples (2007) convey with no statistically high significance that both native and non-native speakers of English were able to identify common stressed nouns and verbs in opposed to unfamiliar stressed nouns and verbs. With regard to NS and NNS reliance on orthographic markers, we test if using grammatical context will reduce their dependence on these cues.  Davis and Kelly (1997) found that non-native speakers of English were significantly quicker and precise at identifying trochaic nouns and iambic verbs in comparison to words that contained uncommon stress patterns (iambic nouns and trochaic verbs). Furthermore, when stimulus is initially acting as verb but is put into a sentence context where it is acting as a noun, native English speakers would also allocate the first-syllable stress to a disyllabic non word (Kelly and Bock, 1988). The proposed research questions include; (i) Do native, monolingual, speakers of English (NS) use orthographic markers at the beginnings of words to assign lexical stress? (ii) If so, can the grammatical context in which words are embedded reduce NS’ reliance on orthographic markers? (iii) Do non-native, bilingual, speakers of English (NNS) differ from NS in their demonstrated sensitivity to orthographic markers of lexical stress and/or grammatical context? In the experimental logic, we hypotheses that If NS use orthographic markers to assign lexical stress, they will: Assign first syllable stress (the typical nominal pattern) more often to non-words with “noun-like” orthographic beginnings than to non-words with “verb-like” orthographic beginnings, when presented in isolation. Secondly, If NS use grammatical context to reduce reliance on orthographic markers to lexical stress, their preference for assigning first syllable stress to non-words with “noun-like” beginnings more often than to non-words with “verb-like beginnings” will be reduced when non-words are presented in grammatical contexts that conflict with their orthography (i.e., “noun-like” non-words used as verbs, and “verb-like” non-words used as nouns). Lastly, if NNS resemble NS in their sensitivity to orthographic markers and grammatical context, they will also: Assign first syllable stress more often to “noun-like” non-words than to “verb-like” non-words presented in isolation. In addition to this, participants will Show a reduced preference for assigning first syllable stress to non-words with “noun-like” than “verb-like” beginnings when non-words are presented in grammatical contexts that conflict with their orthography. This study will enable researchers to further develop a syllabus/programme that is catered specifically to those who are NS and NNS by using the results which have been identified in the studies as mentioned. These results set a precedent and a pattern which will allow the researchers to follow to further increase the statistical accuracy of any further study. Participants involved 71 native, monolingual, speakers of English and 50 Non-native, bilingual speakers of English, whom were all undergraduate student volunteers of Macquarie University. Moreover, the task involved Boston Naming test where participants were provided an image in order for the researcher to evaluate their English vocabulary knowledge. The test encodes 60 stimulus images which were displayed for 10-20 seconds without repetition, using memory storage participants were required write down what they saw. Secondly, participants were given a stress assignment in isolation where they had to circle the first or second syllable of each word based on what they believe has stress. Similarly, the third component involved a stress assignment in context to also examine whether which of the first or second syllable had stress when put into a sentence structure. In order for this task to be completed, participants had to use visual cues on how it would be said if it were to be read aloud for the given list of 24 non-word stimuli. The procedure took place in a classroom tutorial where the tutor gave instructions to students along with response papers for the tasks given. The Boston Naming Test was presented first via PowerPoint presentation where stimuli begins easy and becomes more challenging. The stress assignment in isolation was completed before stress assignment in context consisting of different non-words in each task, each word examined had to be answered without reading aloud. Table 1 For vocabulary results (Boston Naming Test) the group difference between Native speakers and Non-native speakers is statistically highly significant p<.001 with t-value of t(199)= 5.35. Table 2 There is no significant main effect of language background and no significant interaction that indicates the same pattern of sensitivity in non-native as native speakers. There is a main effect of orthography indicating that lexical stress assignment relies on orthography. Table 3 Placing a noun-like non-word into a verbal context (e.g., “They liked to cussant”)  leads to a reduction in assignment of first-syllable stress. Placing a verb-like non-word into a nominal context (e.g., “They liked the  abrond”) leads to an increase in assignment of first-syllable stress. The same pattern of sensitivity is seen in non-native as native speakers. Effects of stimuli having context: two analyses was conducted to examine whether noun-like and verb-like is affected by orthography cues and lexical stress. Firstly, noun-like stimuli with no context and with context. Secondly, Verb-like with context and no context were examined Native Speakers of English do use orthographic markers at the beginning of words to assign lexical stress. When grammatical context is incorporated with the word stimuli, NS’ reliance on orthographic markers are deduced. [USE RESULTS TO CLARIFY] The main finding of this experimental design was that all speakers are vulnerable to orthographic cues, grammatical category and lexical stress of non-noun and non-verb words. Thus, in research hypothesis (iii) there was no disparity between Non-native, bilingual, speakers of English and NS as all speakers conveyed sensitivity to orthographic markers of lexical stress and grammatical context. Results indicated when assigned with a stress assignment, there was no difference between native and non-native speakers of English, and thus cultural differences did not influence orthographic cues. Another intriguing discovery from this experiment Were able to accept the null hypothesis – that If NS use orthographic markers to assign lexical stress …words in isolation where non-words with “verb-like” orthographic beginnings Secondly, If NS use grammatical context to reduce reliance on orthographic markers to lexical stress, their preference for assigning first syllable stress to non-words with “noun-like” beginnings more often than to non-words with “verb-like beginnings” will be reduced when non-words are presented in grammatical contexts that conflict with their orthography (i.e., “noun-like” non-words used as verbs, and “verb-like” non-words used as nouns). Lastly, if NNS resemble NS in their sensitivity to orthographic markers and grammatical context, they will also: Assign first syllable stress more often to “noun-like” non-words than to “verb-like” non-words presented in isolation. In addition to this, participants will Show a reduced preference for assigning first syllable stress to non-words with “noun-like” than “verb-like” beginnings when non-words are presented in grammatical contexts that conflict with their orthography.