Holding up one’s end of the conversation in spoken English

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Castello ◽  
Sara Gesuato1
Keyword(s):  
Trinity College ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds

Abstract This study investigates the use of lexical backchannels in the discourse of L2 English users sitting Trinity College London’s Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE). It is based on the Trinity Lancaster Corpus Sample and explores the language produced during the Discussion, Conversation and Interactive tasks of the language examinations by L2 English users from Chinese, Indian and Italian linguistic backgrounds, whose proficiency ranges from the B2 to C2 levels (i.e. high intermediate, advanced, expert) of the CEFR. The findings suggest that the L2 users with an Italian background and to a lesser extent those with a Chinese background often supported their examiners’ turns with items conveying uncertainty, while those with an Indian background with items of certainty. Furthermore, the L1 Chinese speakers used lexical backchannels the most, especially those expressing surprise or request for confirmation, while the speakers from India used them the least. Implications for the assessment of oral proficiency are discussed.

scholarly journals The use of discourse markers but and so by native English speakers and Chinese speakers of English

Pragmatics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binmei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Oral Discourse ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Abstract Previous studies have found that but and so occur frequently in native and non-native English speakers’ speech and that they are easy to acquire by non-native English speakers. The current study compared ideational and pragmatic functions of but and so by native and non-native speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews with five native English speakers and ten L1 Chinese speakers. The results suggest that even though the Chinese speakers of English acquired the ideational functions of but and so as well as the native English speakers, they underused the pragmatic functions of them. The findings indicate that there is still a gap between native and non-native English speakers in communicative competence in the use of but and so. The present study also suggests that speakers’ L1 (Mandarin Chinese) and overall oral proficiency in oral discourse affect their use of but and so.

Spreektoetsen Moderne Vreemde Talen

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 145-152
Author(s):  
Peter Paffen
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Original Model ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Grammar School ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
School Based ◽  
Speech Test ◽  
New Research

In 1988 CITO started research into the feasibility of valid and reliable oral proficiency tests based on communicative principles. This was to meet the demand for a communicative speech test to be used in school based examinations in secondary education. Using the Test of Spoken English as a guideline, tests for French, German and English were developed. Simultaneous research into the reliability and validity of the tests led to various adaptations of the original model. From 1992 onwards oral proficiency tests for each of the three languages in question have been published at levels VBO/MAVO, HAVO and VWO (approxi-mately: vocational, secondary modern and grammar school). The results of a user inquiry held in 1994 led to a number of further changes to improve the user-friend-liness of the tests. Early in 1996 a new research project concerning the reliability and validity of the tests was started. The results will be published in the autumn of 1996.

The Sociolinguistic Registers of ‘Malaysian English’

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Vollmann ◽  
◽  
Soon Tek Wooi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Group Communication ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Malaysian Chinese ◽  
Ingroup Identity

The interplay of four standard languages and a number of spoken languages makes Malaysia an interesting case of societal multilingualism. There is extensive convergence between the spoken varieties. ‘Malaysian English’ (ME) has developed its own structures which can be shown to copy structures of the mother tongues of the speakers at all levels of grammar, thereby being an example for localisation and the creation of a new dialect/sociolect. An analysis of the basilectal register of ME in ethnic Chinese speakers finds that converging patterns of ME and Malaysian (Chinese) languages, with situational lexical borrowing between the various languages. Sociolinguistically, ME plays the same role as any dialect, with covert prestige as an ingroup (identity) marker which is avoided in acrolectal (outgroup) communication. Spoken English in Malaysia can therefore be seen as a localised creoloid dialect of English, based on linguistic substrates. Sociolinguistically, ME is mainly an orate register for basilectal and mesolectal intra-group communication.

Fluency versus accuracy in advanced spoken learner language

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Brand ◽  
Sandra Götz
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
International Database ◽  
Average Performance ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Temporal Variables ◽  
Multi Method Approach ◽  
Learner Language ◽  
Method Approach

In this paper we present a possible multi-method approach towards the description of a potential correlation between errors and temporal variables of (dys-)fluency in spoken learner language. Using the German subcorpus of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI) and the native control corpus Louvain Corpus of Native English Conversation (LOCNEC), we first analysed errors and temporal variables of fluency quantitatively. We detected lexical and grammatical categories which are especially error-prone as well as problematic aspects of fluency for all learners in the LINDSEI subcorpus, e.g. confusion in tense agreement across clauses or an overuse of unfilled pauses. In the ensuing qualitative analysis of five prototypical learners, no trend for a possible correlation of accuracy and fluency could be observed. Fifty native speakers’ ratings of these five learners revealed that the learner with an average performance across the investigated variables received the highest ratings for overall oral proficiency.

scholarly journals Exploring the Role of Dialogic Teaching in Improving Learners’ Spoken English at Intermediate Level in District Bannu

sjesr ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 90-95
Author(s):  
Ihsan Ullah Khan
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
English Language ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Dialogic Teaching ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Teaching Learning

The study aims to explore the role of dialogic teaching, derived from Bakhtin's 'Dialogism', at an intermediate level in the English language teaching-learning process in District Bannu. An experimental research design was used in the study. Pre and post-tests were used for data collection. A 12th Grade Class of a public sector college was selected for the conduction of the experimental study. In this design, two groups namely, the control group and treatment group were administered pre and post-tests. Only the treatment group was given the treatment. The pre-test was designed to assess the oral proficiency of the treatment group. A paired sample t-test was used for the analysis of data. After the analyses of the data results were drawn. Data revealed that monologic teaching was prevalent in most of the classrooms, with no or very little space for the students to interact in the English language. Dialogic pedagogy proved very effective in finding out a solution to a real-world problem. Being dialogic, the pedagogy improved the oral proficiency of the students of the treatment group considerably.

The effect of training and rater differences on oral proficiency assessment

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okim Kang ◽  
Don Rubin ◽  
Alyssa Kermad
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Rater Training ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Attitudinal Factors ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Proficiency Assessment ◽  
Oral Proficiency Assessment ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
The Impact

As a result of the fact that judgments of non-native speech are closely tied to social biases, oral proficiency ratings are susceptible to error because of rater background and social attitudes. In the present study we seek first to estimate the variance attributable to rater background and attitudinal variables on novice raters’ assessments of L2 spoken English. Second, we examine the effects of minimal training in reducing the potency of those trait-irrelevant rater factors. Accordingly, we examined the relative impact of rater differences on TOEFL iBT® speaking scores. Eighty-two untrained raters judged 112 speech samples produced by TOEFL® examinees. Findings revealed that approximately 20% of untrained raters’ score variance was, in part, a result of their background and attitudinal factors. The strongest predictor was the raters’ own native speaker status. However, minimal online training dramatically reduced the impact of rater background and attitudinal variables for a subsample of high- and low-severity raters. Implications suggest that brief and user-friendly rater-training sessions offer the promise of mitigating rater bias, at least in the short run. This procedure can be adopted in assessment and other related fields of applied linguistics.

scholarly journals ASSESSING REAL-WORLD USE OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF): A VALIDITY ARGUMENT

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheryl Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Validity Argument ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Communicative Ability ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds

Real-world use of English involves speakers and listeners from various linguistic backgrounds whose primary goal is mutual comprehensibility and the majority of conversations in English do not involve speakers from the Inner Circle (Graddol, 2006; Kirkpatrick, 2007). Yet, rather than focusing on comprehensibility, many tests continue to measure spoken performance with reference to an idealised, native-speaker form, weakening the validity of these tests in evaluating authentic spoken communicative competence as it is used in a global lingua franca context and leading to a narrowing of the construct of ELF, or to the inclusion of construct irrelevant factors. Validation of a test of English as a tool for global communication includes demonstrating the link between the construct (real-world communicative ability in a particular context) and the test tasks and rating criteria (McNamara, 2006), and evidence to support the interpretation of a test score needs to be presented as part of the overall validity argument. First, this paper argues that the context of English use that many high-stakes test-takers aspire to – that of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) – is frequently an ELF context; second,  Toulmin’s (2003) argument schema is leveraged to explore what evidence is required to support warrants and claims that a test provides a valid representation of a test-taker’s ability to use ELF.  The framework as it relates to the validation of language tests in general is presented and the model is then applied to two tests of spoken English by way of illustration. Although examples are included, the main aim is to provide a theoretical justification for a focus on comprehensibility and the inclusion of linguistic variation in the assessment of ELF and to present a validation framework that can be applied by test developers and test users.

Discourse Structure in Nonnative English Discourse

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Tyler ◽  
John Bro
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Organizational Patterns

A frequently discussed hypothesis concerning the source of cross-linguistic communication difficulty in written discourse is conflicting organizational patterns (Kaplan, 1966, 1987). Extending the argument to oral discourse, Young (1982) argued that spoken English discourse produced by Chinese speakers evidenced a discourse-level topic-comment structure that native English speakers find difficult to follow. However, Tyler (1988) argued that the perception of incoherence might better be understood as the cumulative result of interacting miscues at the discourse level, that is, miscues in syntactic incorporation, lexical discourse markers, tense/aspect, and lexical The study reported here aims at testing these competing hypotheses. One hundred fifteen subjects rated four versions of the Chinese-produced English discourse presented in Young's study for comprehensibility. Results indicated that the effect of discourse miscues on comprehensibility was highly significant (F = 70, p <.0001). However, there was no significant effect for order of ideas (F = .47, p <.49).

scholarly journals How effective are lexical richness measures for differentiations of vocabulary proficiency? A comprehensive examination with clustering analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhui Zhang ◽  
Weiping Wu
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Clustering Analysis ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Lexical Richness ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
Overall Evaluation ◽  
Proficiency Assessment ◽  
L1 And L2

AbstractThis study proposed an innovative automated approach to differentiation of the vocabulary proficiency of Chinese speakers. A robust K-means algorithm was designed to compare the oral proficiency between L1 and L2 Chinese speakers regarding lexical richness and how relatively effective the various lexical measures were in performing the differentiation task. Eighteen lexical richness measures were surveyed and compared using the clustering analysis. The effectiveness of each selected measure as well as an overall evaluation of all the measures for the concerned differentiation tasks were comprehensively calibrated. The results demonstrate that, while the L1 versus L2 group difference in lexical richness was observed with statistical significance for each of the chosen measures, the clustering and membership prediction accuracy of individual speakers varied greatly from one measure to another. The implication is that a more fully defined metric of lexical richness is still a worthwhile endeavor for language proficiency assessment, with optimal directions for such endeavors discussed in the concluding remarks.

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