Scott Jarvi
Biographic Data
| ID | 3843654 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Scott Jarvi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Scott |
| FAMILY NAME | Jarvi |
| SIGNATURE | JARVI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ohio University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5191-5487 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Odlin, Terence
Terence Odlin, PhD, is a well‐known and respected American linguist who holds emeritus status in the Department of English at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Is my bilingual your bilingual? Researchers’ definitions and operationalizations of multilingual terminology
Comparisons of results from studies of “bilinguals” often assume that the participants come from a comparable “bilingual” population. This study examines consistency in researchers’ use and definition of seven terms describing an individual’s language experience: monolingual, bilingual, trilingual, multilingual, heritage language user, language learner, and language attriter. We report preliminary data from 19 language researchers who completed a…
Sentence repetition, paraphrasing, and comprehension: Can you repeat a sentence without understanding it
The present study addresses the question of whether an individual who does not understand a sentence might still be able to repeat it verbatim. To answer this question, we examined paraphrasing and repetition data from two previous studies: Pavlenko et al. (2019), which analyzed L1 and L2 participants’ paraphrasing of seven Miranda warning sentences, and Akbary et al. (2023), which compared L1 and L2 participants’ paraphrasing and elicited imitat…
Do Large Language Models Produce Texts With “Human‐Like” Lexical Diversity? Evidence From Four ChatGPT Models
The degree to which large language models produce writing that is truly human‐like remains unclear despite the extensive empirical attention that this question has received. The present study addresses this question from the perspective of lexical diversity. Specifically, the study investigates patterns of lexical diversity in texts generated by four ChatGPT models (ChatGPT‐3.5, ChatGPT‐4, ChatGPT‐o4 mini, and ChatGPT‐4.5) in comparison with text…
The Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2025 at Northern Arizona University
Investigating the relationship between L2 proficiency and Miranda rights comprehension: A partial replication of Pavlenko et al. (2019)
This is a partial replication of Pavlenko et al. (2019), who demonstrated that non-native speakers of English generally fail to comprehend a common version of the Miranda warning. The present study investigates whether this finding can be replicated with a different population of non-native speakers and a different measure of Miranda comprehension. Participants’ language proficiency and Miranda comprehension were tested with a standard elicited i…
Exploring motion event construal: How much attention do speakers of different languages and cultures pay to context
Assessing the Validity of Lexical Diversity Indices Using Direct Judgements
Indices of lexical diversity have been used to estimate the size of a writer’s vocabulary and/or a writer’s lexical proficiency for some time. One issue with many commonly used indices of lexical diversity (e.g., TTR and index) is that they vary as a function of text length. Accordingly, much research has been devoted to the development of indices that are text length independent. However, very little research has investigated the degree to which…
An illusion of understanding
The purpose of the Miranda rights in the USA is to ensure that suspects know their fundamental rights under the law, yet even native speakers of English do not always understand their rights (Rogers, Rogstad, Gillard, Drogin, Blackwood and Shuman, 2010; Rogers, Rogstad, Steadham and Drogin, 2011). To evaluate their understanding, Grisso (1998) developed Miranda Rights Comprehension Instruments (MRCI), normed with native speakers and widely accept…
Grounding lexical diversity in human judgments
The present study discusses the relevance of measures of lexical diversity (LD) to the assessment of learner corpora. It also argues that existing measures of LD, many of which have become specialized for use with language corpora, are fundamentally measures of lexical repetition, are based on an etic perspective of language, and lack construct validity. The proposed solution draws from Zipf’s (1935) emic perspective of language, which views LD a…
Clarifying the Scope of Conceptual Transfer
This article clarifies the purposes of research on conceptual transfer by defining it as cross-linguistic influence in the expression and interpretation of conceptual meaning and by discussing what conceptual meaning entails and how conceptual meaning and conceptual transfer relate to the pursuits of linguistic relativity research, on the one hand, and traditional research on cross-linguistic influence on the other. I focus on three general quest…
Capturing the Diversity in Lexical Diversity
The range, variety, or diversity of words found in learners' language use is believed to reflect the complexity of their vocabulary knowledge as well as the level of their language proficiency. Many indices of lexical diversity have been proposed, most of which involve statistical relationships between types and tokens, and which ultimately reflect the rate of word repetition. These indices have generally been validated in accordance with how wel…
Crosslinguistic Influence and Multilingualism
Crosslinguistic influence is the often preferred term for a phenomenon more commonly known as transfer , which is the influence of one language on another, as witnessed in the language use (both comprehension and production) and other language‐related behavior (e.g., categorization, gesturing, similarity and typicality judgments, reaction times) of both individuals and discourse communities. The former term is often preferred because it more natu…
Predicting lexical proficiency in language learner texts using computational indices
The authors present a model of lexical proficiency based on lexical indices related to vocabulary size, depth of lexical knowledge, and accessibility to core lexical items. The lexical indices used in this study come from the computational tool Coh-Metrix and include word length scores, lexical diversity values, word frequency counts, hypernymy values, polysemy values, semantic co-referentiality, word meaningfulness, word concreteness, word imaga…
Connected Words: Word Associations and Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition – By Paul Meara
What Is Lexical Proficiency? Some Answers From Computational Models of Speech Data
Lexical proficiency, as a cognitive construct, is poorly understood. However, lexical proficiency is an important element of language proficiency and fluency, especially for second language (L2) learners. For example, lexical errors are a common cause of L2 miscommunication (Ellis, 1995). Lexical proficiency is also an important attribute of L2 academic achievement (Daller, van Hout, & Treffers-Daller, 2003). Generally speaking, lexical proficien…
MTLD, vocd-D, and HD-D: A validation study of sophisticated approaches to lexical diversity assessment
A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain
Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition
A cogent, freshly written synthesis of new and classic work on crosslinguistic influence, or language transfer, this book is an authoritative account of transfer in second-language learning and its consequences for language and thought. It covers transfer in both production and comprehension, and discusses the distinction between semantic and conceptual transfer, lateral transfer, and reverse transfer. The book is ideal as a text for upper-level …
The Use of Picture Stories in the Investigation of Crosslinguistic Influence
III One remarkable fact about the use of visual prompts in L2 research is that the characteristics that can make a picture story inappropriate for certain purposes can make that same picture story quite useful for other purposes.This is what we have found regarding our use of picture stories (and also films) in investigations of crosslinguistic and cross-cultural influences on L2 acquisition and use.From the perspective of the 33 criteria propose…
Vocd: A theoretical and empirical evaluation
A reliable index of lexical diversity (LD) has remained stubbornly elusive for over 60 years. Meanwhile, researchers in fields as varied as stylistics, neuropathology, language acquisition, and even forensics continue to use flawed LD indices — often ignorant that their results are questionable and in some cases potentially dangerous. Recently, an LD measurement instrument known as vocd has become the virtual tool of the LD trade. In this paper, …
Same Source, Different Outcomes: A Study of Swedish Influence on the Acquisition of English in Finland
With a Finnish-speaking majority and a Swedish-speaking minority, Finland offers a striking contrast in the kinds of cross-linguistic influence that can occur in the acquisition of English in a multilingual setting. While much previous research has looked at the differences between Finnish and Swedish influences, our study compares Swedish influence on the use of English by native speakers of Swedish and by native speakers of Finnish, both positi…
Short texts, best-fitting curves and new measures of lexical diversity
Following up on recent work by Malvern and Richards (1997, this issue; McKee et al., 2000) concerning the measurement of lexical diversity through curve fitting, the present study compares the accuracy of five formulae in terms of their ability to model the type-token curves of written texts produced by learners and native speakers. The most accurate models are then used to consider unresolved issues that have been at the forefront of past resear…
Methodological Rigor in the Study of Transfer: Identifying L1 Influence in them Interlanguage Lexicon
Numerous conflicting claims exist concerning the nature of L1 influence. This article argues that much of the confusion could be eliminated if a unified framework were established for this area of inquiry. Such a framework would minimally require transfer studies to consider at least 3 potential effects of L1 influence: (a) intra-L1-group similarities, (b) inter-L1-group differences, and (c) L1-IL performance similarities. This study examines all…
Capturing the Diversity in Lexical Diversity
The range, variety, or diversity of words found in learners' language use is believed to reflect the complexity of their vocabulary knowledge as well as the level of their language proficiency. Many indices of lexical diversity have been proposed, most of which involve statistical relationships between types and tokens, and which ultimately reflect the rate of word repetition. These indices have generally been validated in accordance with how wel…
Same Source, Different Outcomes: A Study of Swedish Influence on the Acquisition of English in Finland
With a Finnish-speaking majority and a Swedish-speaking minority, Finland offers a striking contrast in the kinds of cross-linguistic influence that can occur in the acquisition of English in a multilingual setting. While much previous research has looked at the differences between Finnish and Swedish influences, our study compares Swedish influence on the use of English by native speakers of Swedish and by native speakers of Finnish, both positi…
Methodological Rigor in the Study of Transfer: Identifying L1 Influence in them Interlanguage Lexicon
Numerous conflicting claims exist concerning the nature of L1 influence. This article argues that much of the confusion could be eliminated if a unified framework were established for this area of inquiry. Such a framework would minimally require transfer studies to consider at least 3 potential effects of L1 influence: (a) intra-L1-group similarities, (b) inter-L1-group differences, and (c) L1-IL performance similarities. This study examines all…
What Is Lexical Proficiency? Some Answers From Computational Models of Speech Data
Lexical proficiency, as a cognitive construct, is poorly understood. However, lexical proficiency is an important element of language proficiency and fluency, especially for second language (L2) learners. For example, lexical errors are a common cause of L2 miscommunication (Ellis, 1995). Lexical proficiency is also an important attribute of L2 academic achievement (Daller, van Hout, & Treffers-Daller, 2003). Generally speaking, lexical proficien…
A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain
Exploring motion event construal: How much attention do speakers of different languages and cultures pay to context
Clarifying the Scope of Conceptual Transfer
This article clarifies the purposes of research on conceptual transfer by defining it as cross-linguistic influence in the expression and interpretation of conceptual meaning and by discussing what conceptual meaning entails and how conceptual meaning and conceptual transfer relate to the pursuits of linguistic relativity research, on the one hand, and traditional research on cross-linguistic influence on the other. I focus on three general quest…
The Use of Picture Stories in the Investigation of Crosslinguistic Influence
III One remarkable fact about the use of visual prompts in L2 research is that the characteristics that can make a picture story inappropriate for certain purposes can make that same picture story quite useful for other purposes.This is what we have found regarding our use of picture stories (and also films) in investigations of crosslinguistic and cross-cultural influences on L2 acquisition and use.From the perspective of the 33 criteria propose…
Methodological Rigor in the Study of Transfer: Identifying L1 Influence in them Interlanguage Lexicon
Numerous conflicting claims exist concerning the nature of L1 influence. This article argues that much of the confusion could be eliminated if a unified framework were established for this area of inquiry. Such a framework would minimally require transfer studies to consider at least 3 potential effects of L1 influence: (a) intra-L1-group similarities, (b) inter-L1-group differences, and (c) L1-IL performance similarities. This study examines all…
Short texts, best-fitting curves and new measures of lexical diversity
Following up on recent work by Malvern and Richards (1997, this issue; McKee et al., 2000) concerning the measurement of lexical diversity through curve fitting, the present study compares the accuracy of five formulae in terms of their ability to model the type-token curves of written texts produced by learners and native speakers. The most accurate models are then used to consider unresolved issues that have been at the forefront of past resear…
Same Source, Different Outcomes: A Study of Swedish Influence on the Acquisition of English in Finland
With a Finnish-speaking majority and a Swedish-speaking minority, Finland offers a striking contrast in the kinds of cross-linguistic influence that can occur in the acquisition of English in a multilingual setting. While much previous research has looked at the differences between Finnish and Swedish influences, our study compares Swedish influence on the use of English by native speakers of Swedish and by native speakers of Finnish, both positi…
Vocd: A theoretical and empirical evaluation
A reliable index of lexical diversity (LD) has remained stubbornly elusive for over 60 years. Meanwhile, researchers in fields as varied as stylistics, neuropathology, language acquisition, and even forensics continue to use flawed LD indices — often ignorant that their results are questionable and in some cases potentially dangerous. Recently, an LD measurement instrument known as vocd has become the virtual tool of the LD trade. In this paper, …
Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition
A cogent, freshly written synthesis of new and classic work on crosslinguistic influence, or language transfer, this book is an authoritative account of transfer in second-language learning and its consequences for language and thought. It covers transfer in both production and comprehension, and discusses the distinction between semantic and conceptual transfer, lateral transfer, and reverse transfer. The book is ideal as a text for upper-level …
The Use of Picture Stories in the Investigation of Crosslinguistic Influence
III One remarkable fact about the use of visual prompts in L2 research is that the characteristics that can make a picture story inappropriate for certain purposes can make that same picture story quite useful for other purposes.This is what we have found regarding our use of picture stories (and also films) in investigations of crosslinguistic and cross-cultural influences on L2 acquisition and use.From the perspective of the 33 criteria propose…
A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain
MTLD, vocd-D, and HD-D: A validation study of sophisticated approaches to lexical diversity assessment
Predicting lexical proficiency in language learner texts using computational indices
The authors present a model of lexical proficiency based on lexical indices related to vocabulary size, depth of lexical knowledge, and accessibility to core lexical items. The lexical indices used in this study come from the computational tool Coh-Metrix and include word length scores, lexical diversity values, word frequency counts, hypernymy values, polysemy values, semantic co-referentiality, word meaningfulness, word concreteness, word imaga…
Connected Words: Word Associations and Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition – By Paul Meara
What Is Lexical Proficiency? Some Answers From Computational Models of Speech Data
Lexical proficiency, as a cognitive construct, is poorly understood. However, lexical proficiency is an important element of language proficiency and fluency, especially for second language (L2) learners. For example, lexical errors are a common cause of L2 miscommunication (Ellis, 1995). Lexical proficiency is also an important attribute of L2 academic achievement (Daller, van Hout, & Treffers-Daller, 2003). Generally speaking, lexical proficien…
Crosslinguistic Influence and Multilingualism
Crosslinguistic influence is the often preferred term for a phenomenon more commonly known as transfer , which is the influence of one language on another, as witnessed in the language use (both comprehension and production) and other language‐related behavior (e.g., categorization, gesturing, similarity and typicality judgments, reaction times) of both individuals and discourse communities. The former term is often preferred because it more natu…
Capturing the Diversity in Lexical Diversity
The range, variety, or diversity of words found in learners' language use is believed to reflect the complexity of their vocabulary knowledge as well as the level of their language proficiency. Many indices of lexical diversity have been proposed, most of which involve statistical relationships between types and tokens, and which ultimately reflect the rate of word repetition. These indices have generally been validated in accordance with how wel…
Clarifying the Scope of Conceptual Transfer
This article clarifies the purposes of research on conceptual transfer by defining it as cross-linguistic influence in the expression and interpretation of conceptual meaning and by discussing what conceptual meaning entails and how conceptual meaning and conceptual transfer relate to the pursuits of linguistic relativity research, on the one hand, and traditional research on cross-linguistic influence on the other. I focus on three general quest…
Grounding lexical diversity in human judgments
The present study discusses the relevance of measures of lexical diversity (LD) to the assessment of learner corpora. It also argues that existing measures of LD, many of which have become specialized for use with language corpora, are fundamentally measures of lexical repetition, are based on an etic perspective of language, and lack construct validity. The proposed solution draws from Zipf’s (1935) emic perspective of language, which views LD a…
An illusion of understanding
The purpose of the Miranda rights in the USA is to ensure that suspects know their fundamental rights under the law, yet even native speakers of English do not always understand their rights (Rogers, Rogstad, Gillard, Drogin, Blackwood and Shuman, 2010; Rogers, Rogstad, Steadham and Drogin, 2011). To evaluate their understanding, Grisso (1998) developed Miranda Rights Comprehension Instruments (MRCI), normed with native speakers and widely accept…
Assessing the Validity of Lexical Diversity Indices Using Direct Judgements
Indices of lexical diversity have been used to estimate the size of a writer’s vocabulary and/or a writer’s lexical proficiency for some time. One issue with many commonly used indices of lexical diversity (e.g., TTR and index) is that they vary as a function of text length. Accordingly, much research has been devoted to the development of indices that are text length independent. However, very little research has investigated the degree to which…
Exploring motion event construal: How much attention do speakers of different languages and cultures pay to context
Investigating the relationship between L2 proficiency and Miranda rights comprehension: A partial replication of Pavlenko et al. (2019)
This is a partial replication of Pavlenko et al. (2019), who demonstrated that non-native speakers of English generally fail to comprehend a common version of the Miranda warning. The present study investigates whether this finding can be replicated with a different population of non-native speakers and a different measure of Miranda comprehension. Participants’ language proficiency and Miranda comprehension were tested with a standard elicited i…
Odlin, Terence
Terence Odlin, PhD, is a well‐known and respected American linguist who holds emeritus status in the Department of English at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Is my bilingual your bilingual? Researchers’ definitions and operationalizations of multilingual terminology
Comparisons of results from studies of “bilinguals” often assume that the participants come from a comparable “bilingual” population. This study examines consistency in researchers’ use and definition of seven terms describing an individual’s language experience: monolingual, bilingual, trilingual, multilingual, heritage language user, language learner, and language attriter. We report preliminary data from 19 language researchers who completed a…
Sentence repetition, paraphrasing, and comprehension: Can you repeat a sentence without understanding it
The present study addresses the question of whether an individual who does not understand a sentence might still be able to repeat it verbatim. To answer this question, we examined paraphrasing and repetition data from two previous studies: Pavlenko et al. (2019), which analyzed L1 and L2 participants’ paraphrasing of seven Miranda warning sentences, and Akbary et al. (2023), which compared L1 and L2 participants’ paraphrasing and elicited imitat…
Do Large Language Models Produce Texts With “Human‐Like” Lexical Diversity? Evidence From Four ChatGPT Models
The degree to which large language models produce writing that is truly human‐like remains unclear despite the extensive empirical attention that this question has received. The present study addresses this question from the perspective of lexical diversity. Specifically, the study investigates patterns of lexical diversity in texts generated by four ChatGPT models (ChatGPT‐3.5, ChatGPT‐4, ChatGPT‐o4 mini, and ChatGPT‐4.5) in comparison with text…
The Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2025 at Northern Arizona University
Linguistics (18 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Second Language Acquisition and Learning (10 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Text Readability and Simplification (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Lexical Diversity (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works)