Normative L2 Arabic Acquisition Order in Jordanian Children
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Samira Farwaneh (Co-Chair), Dr. Diane Ohala (Co-Chair), Dr. Mahmoud Azaz
Abstract: A common practice in the development of curricula and assessment for English as a second or foreign language uses the long-established normative sequence of morphosyntactic acquisition in first language (L1) learners to help structure the teaching of second language (L2) learners. A few studies have looked at L2 Arabic acquisition order, and less than two dozen studies exist regarding the acquisition of Arabic as a first language, mostly in the field of speech language pathology, which is nascent in the Arab countries, and hampered by the dearth of linguistic research establishing norms of Arabic language acquisition. Nothing has been published since the Omar (1973) dissertation on the question:
- In what relative order do toddlers acquiring Levantine colloquial Arabic begin to produce the components (morphemes) of verbs and verb-like structures that account for tense, gender, number and aspect?
This study will record urban and rural Jordanian children aged 24 to 56 months interacting with their caregivers and the investigator approximately every four weeks for eight months, including both spontaneous production and response to audiovisual prompts focused on eliciting verb production. Verbs and verb-like structures (e.g. “to have” is not a verb in Arabic, but functions like a verb in the deep structure) will be identified, and a descriptive quantitative analysis will look for patterns of sequence and correlation to the ages of the children regarding their use of verbs and verb-like structures. Findings will provide an initial direction for research leading eventually to the establishment of a normative order of morpheme acquisition that could form the foundation for more effective Arabic as a Foreign Language curricula and assessment, and also contribute to establishing acquisition norms for the nascent field of Arabic speech language pathology.
Location: Please email Maryah directly at mconverse@arizona.edu for the location information.
