The present study examines the interface between syntax and discourse-pragmatics in the production of verb second (V2) structures in a corpus of English texts by advanced L1 German and Dutch speakers. The evidence shows that the residual V2 produced by the learner groups studied is the result of a deficit at the interface rather than the transfer of narrow V2 syntax per se. The analysis offered...

This study examined the effect of language proficiency on repeated mention reduction in L2 English spontaneous speech by Korean native speakers. We found a significant effect of L2 proficiency on word duration in repeated mentions. Specifically, as with native English speakers (EN), Korean learners of English with high English proficiency (KH) reduced the duration of repeated words, while those...

This study examined the predictive role of several learner factors in second language (L2) incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading: L2 proficiency, motivation, anxiety, and mastery of strategies. Participants were 129 English learners in a comprehensive university in China. Participants read two English texts and were given an unannounced vocabulary test to assess their incidental voc...

This paper investigates the speech rhythm of Porteño (Buenos Aires) Spanish (PORTE), which is strongly influenced by Italian due to migration-induced contact, and L2 Peninsular Spanish, produced by Italian natives (SPA L2). It is hypothesized that Italian learners transfer the rhythmic values of their L1 to the target language Spanish and that the data produced by speakers of both the contact v...

This paper addresses the task of readability assessment for the texts aimed at second language (L2) learners. One of the major challenges in this task is the lack of significantly sized level-annotated data. For the present work, we collected a dataset of CEFR-graded texts tailored for learners of English as an L2 and investigated text readability assessment for both native and L2 learners. We ...