30.3242, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Hyltenstam (2018)
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LINGUIST List: Vol-30-3242. Tue Aug 27 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.
Subject: 30.3242, Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition: Hyltenstam (2018)
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Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 11:09:29
From: Christopher Sams [samsc at sfasu.edu]
Subject: Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/29/29-2947.html
EDITOR: Kenneth Hyltenstam
TITLE: Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages
SERIES TITLE: Studies on Language Acquisition [SOLA]
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2018
REVIEWER: Christopher D. Sams, Stephen F. Austin State University
SUMMARY
“Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages,” edited by
Kenneth Hyltenstam, is a volume in De Gruyter Mouton’s series on Studies on
Language Acquisition. The book has a specific focus on research-based evidence
of second language learners “…who have accomplished no less than enviably
advanced proficiency level in one or more second, or additional, languages”
(Preface). The book is the result of “a long term research programme at
Stockholm University” (Preface) that the contributors participated in. The
book contains a preface, a table of contents listing the introduction and the
eight chapters’ titles and contributors, an alphabetical list of the
contributors and their affiliations, the eight chapters (which are each
subdivided), and a subject index.
In the three-part introductory chapter ‘Introduction: Perspectives on advanced
second language proficiency,’ Kenneth Hyltenstam of Stockholm University
provides an overview of the objectives of the volume. In Part One, he explains
that the first five chapters provide “a detailed account of how second
languages are used at this [advanced-level proficiency] level” (1). The final
three chapters discuss “more spectacular examples of second language
achievement” (1). In Part Two of the chapter, Hyltenstam covers terminology
relevant to L2 (second language) proficiency. He outlines and provides rating
systems such as those used in the “internationally recognized” Test of English
as Foreign Language (TOEFL), the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages) guidelines, and the European CEFR (Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages) scale. He has an excellent footnote
acknowledging the debate of the definition of “native speaker” and provides
references for the debate. In Part Three, he presents the limited research
regarding studies of advanced L2 proficiency.
In Chapter 1 ‘Pragmatic Markers in high-level second language use,’ Lars Fant
reports on a case study involving Spanish and an interaction between two
native speakers and two non-native Spanish speakers whose L1 is Swedish. He
devotes a good deal of attention to defining pragmatics markers and ultimately
presents three categories relevant to the study: argumentation markers,
own-communication markers, and interaction management markers. The controlled,
quantitative study did not produce any reliable “generalizations to be drawn”
(34). It was a single 35 minute encounter of the participants which produced
5,866 words. The case study was a pilot that provides questions for future
research.
Inge Bartning examines ‘Morphosyntax and discourse in high-level second
language use’ in Chapter 2. This study examines L2 French and lays out stages
for acquisition by Bartning and Schlyter (2004). For this chapter, recordings
of ten Swedish L1 speakers who met a defined set of criteria (e.g., age,
proficiency level, time spent living in France) were examined in a corpus
along with eight native French speakers. Both sets of participants were asked
to perform a series of tasks, such as interviews, retelling of events based on
media, and grammatical judgment tests. This study yielded qualitative results
and generalizations.
In Chapter 3, ‘The lexicon of advanced L2 learners’, Camilla Bardel reviews
the state of the field in the following sections: Second language vocabulary
learning: Background, High-level L2 proficiency vis-à-vis the native speaker’s
proficiency; Words and word knowledge (this is the largest section); The
organization of the mental lexicon; Cross-linguistic influence; and How can
word knowledge be assessed?
In Chapter 4, Britt Erman, Fanny Forsberg Lundell, and Margareta Lewis address
‘Formulaic language in advanced second language acquisition and use’. The
authors briefly discuss theories that address frequency (e.g., Frame
semantics, Construction grammar, Meaning-Text Theory, Phraseology) and survey
the existing literature regarding both advanced spoken and written production,
including psycholinguistic data.
Alan McMillion and Philip Shaw examine ‘Reading proficiency in advanced L2
adult learners’ in Chapter 5. They provide background, definitions, and
compare L1 and L2 reading processes. The authors’ research focuses on English.
Participants were tested on whole-skills reading tasks, vocabulary size and
quality, grammatical knowledge, and processing. The study was controlled in
selecting participants with similar academic backgrounds (first-year students
of biology in Britain and Sweden). One interesting finding is that “[m]any L2
users scored within the L1 range not only on holistic tasks like the
multiple-choice reading test, but also on sub-skill tests like word
recognition speed, which presumably assess purely linguistic receptive
proficiency. This is an area in which advanced second-language learners may
well outdo L1 learners” (176).
Kingsley Bolton of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, examines
‘Linguistic outsourcing and native-like performance in international call
centres: An overview’ in Chapter 6. The impetus for the study was the
potential for world Englishes (there is a footnote addressing the use of this
term) used in call center in Asian societies. The study examined call center
agents in two major call centers in India and the Philippines. The study is
then broken into findings at the Philippine call center (and the features of
Philippine English, such as the phonological features and extensive lexical
borrowing from Spanish). The chapter includes an 85-line transcript from the
corpus taken from call center interactions and qualitative statements from
call center agents that highlight some key issues.
Chapter 7, ‘The polyglot-- an initial characterization on the basis of
multiple anecdotal accounts’ by Kenneth Hyltenstam, provides information on 94
polyglots. They are categorized by profession. Of note here is a footnote
where Hyltenstam addresses professional linguists who are on the list and the
issue of separating advanced grammatical knowledge from “speaking” a language.
An appendix at the end of the chapter gives the names of these polyglots,
along with their lifespan, numbers of languages purportedly spoken,
profession, and source of the information.
In the final chapter, Kenneth Hyltenstam explores ‘The exceptional ability of
polyglots to achieve high-level proficiency in numerous languages’. This
chapter focuses on case studies. It includes the discussion of factors that
contribute to being a polyglot such as motivation, learner autonomy, aptitude,
language awareness and metalinguistic knowledge, systemizing, and cerebral
correlates.
EVALUATION
This book is, for the most part, reader friendly and would be of use to any
student or researcher interested in high-level proficiency second language
acquisition. The authors do an exemplary job of defining terms within
individual chapters. However, in some instances, most notably in Chapter 4,
descriptions of theories are extremely brief and those not familiar with the
tenets of Frame Semantics or Construction Grammar would have a difficult time
following the argumentation. However, this volume’s greatest strength lies in
its extensive references listed at the end of each chapter. The volume is
extremely well organized and coherent, and each chapter is formatted in the
same manner, so a reader can easily read a chapter on its own. As for its
place in academia, the book performs two major functions: it covers an area of
study that is under researched and it opens the door to an amazing amount of
questions for future research. What the book seems to lack is more empirical
evidence. The study in Chapter 1 is a good model for future research. The
study in Chapter 6 (albeit qualitative) does have quantitative data that could
be extrapolated. Both studies utilized research control protocol as much as
possible. In Chapter 7, the use of Wikipedia as a source seems to detract from
the credibility of the chapter. The polyglots mentioned in the chapter who
were tested using a formal method hold much more weight than those who
self-reported (or had reported via a biography) their ability or number of
languages spoken or written. As the author notes, language proficiency is a
fluid concept. However, the main point the author was making in the chapter
seemed to be with the professions of the subjects. His argument is that they
are “highly motivated” individuals, such as professional linguists,
translators, and interpreters. On the whole, this volume is an excellent point
of departure for researchers in various subareas of linguistics looking to
further an understudied field.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Chris Sams is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Stephen F. Austin State
University in Texas. His research and teaching interests are second language
acquisition, forensic linguistics, linguistic typology and universals,
language description and documentation, Romance linguistics, historical
linguistics, and translation studies.
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