On the repetition of words with the potential for metaphoric extension in conversations between native and non-native speakers of English

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona MacArthur ◽  
Jeannette Littlemore
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Joint Construction ◽  
Interview Format ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Metaphor Use

Although quite a lot is known about the way that non-native speakers of English may interpret and produce metaphors in their second language, we know little about metaphor use in face-to-face conversation between primary and secondary speakers of English. In this article we explore the use of metaphors in two types of conversational data: one elicited in a semi-structured interview format, the other consisting of naturally occurring conversations involving one non-native speaker in dialogue with various native speakers. We found that although native speakers’ use of metaphor was occasionally problematic for the interaction, metaphor also afforded opportunities for topic development in these conversations. The repetition of a word with the potential for metaphoric extension was a particularly valuable strategy used by non-native speakers in these conversations in constructing their coherent contributions to the discourse. In contrast, the use of phraseological metaphors (often the focus of activities aimed at fostering second language learners’ mastery of conventional English metaphors) did not contribute to the joint construction of meanings in these circumstances. We discuss the role of high frequency vocabulary in these conversations and some implications for further research.

AGE AND ULTIMATE ATTAINMENT IN THE PRONUNCIATION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Bongaerts ◽  
Chantal van Summeren ◽  
Brigitte Planken ◽  
Erik Schils
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Late Start ◽  
Ultimate Attainment

This paper reports on two studies that addressed the issue of ultimate attainment by late second language learners. The aim of the studies, which included a carefully screened group of highly successful Dutch learners of English in their designs, was to determine whether or not late second language learners who had achieved a nativelike performance in the pronunciation of a second language could be identified. Speech samples provided by two groups of learners, one of which consisted of highly successful learners only, and a native speaker control group were rated for accent by native speakers of English. The ratings obtained by some learners were within the range of the ratings assigned to the native speaker controls. Such results suggest that it is not impossible to achieve an authentic, nativelike pronunciation of a second language after a specified biological period of time. Examination of the learning histories of the highly successful learners lead the authors to argue that certain learner characteristics and learning contexts may work together to override the disadvantages of a late start.

Factors driving lexical variation in L2 French: A variationist study of automobile, auto, voiture, char and machine

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERRY NADASDI ◽  
RAYMOND MOUGEON ◽  
KATHERINE REHNER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Lexical Variation ◽  
Neutral Variant ◽  
The Prestige

ABSTRACTOur paper examines lexical variation in the spoken French of second language learners and focuses on words referring to the notion of ‘automobile’ (i.e., automobile, auto, voiture, char and machine). Results reveal that while students do follow the native speaker pattern of using the neutral variant auto in most instances, they diverge from native speakers by making no use of the vernacular form char and relatively high use of the prestige variant voiture. The principal external factors that influence variant choice are students' home language and the representation of variants in the input to which students are exposed.

The case of the conditional and the imperfect in variable mood-choice contexts in second-language and native-speaker Spanish

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Range Of Functions ◽  
Mood Choice

The current study builds on research on mood distinction in Spanish, which has focused on the subjunctive mood, by examining the full inventory of verb forms that second-language learners and native speakers (NSs) of Spanish use in mood-choice contexts. Twenty NSs and 130 learners corresponding to five proficiency levels completed three oral-elicitation tasks. The results show that participants use a wide repertoire of tense/mood/aspect forms in mood-choice contexts and that NSs and learners use largely the same forms. An analysis of the conditional and imperfect suggests that learners tend to restructure and strengthen their form-function connections between these verb forms and a range of functions.

scholarly journals Processingwh-dependencies in a second language: a cross-modal priming study

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Felser ◽  
Leah Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Gap Control ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Antecedent Reactivation

This study investigates the real-time processing of wh-dependencies by advanced Greek-speaking learners of English using a cross-modal picture priming task. Participants were asked to respond to different types of picture target presented either at structurally defined gap positions, or at pre-gap control positions, while listening to sentences containing indirect-object relative clauses. Our results indicate that the learners processed the experimental sentences differently from both adult native speakers of English and monolingual English-speaking children. Contrary to what has been found for native speakers, the learners' response pattern was not influenced by individual working memory differences. Adult second language learners differed from native speakers with a relatively high reading or listening span in that they did not show any evidence of structurally based antecedent reactivation at the point of the indirect object gap. They also differed from low-span native speakers, however, in that they showed evidence of maintained antecedent activation during the processing of the experimental sentences. Whereas the localized priming effect observed in the high-span controls is indicative of trace-based antecedent reactivation in native sentence processing, the results from the Greek-speaking learners support the hypothesis that the mental representations built during non-native language processing lack abstract linguistic structure such as movement traces.

The Treatment of Foreground-Background Information in the On-Line Descriptive Discourse of Second Language Learners

1984 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell S. Tomlin
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Discourse Production ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This paper compares the foregrounding strategies of native speakers of English and advanced learners of ESL. Fifteen native speakers and thirty-five advanced learners produced on-line (play-by-play) descriptions of the unfolding action in an animated videotape. A methodology for the quantitative analysis of discourse production is described which permits the explicit identification of foreground-background information and its interaction with both native speaker and interlanguage syntaxes. Results show that: (1) Native speakers and learners exhibit one universal discourse strategy in retreating to a more pragmatic mode of communication under the severe communicative stress of on-line description, as revealed through the systematic loss of the coding relations ordinarily holding between foreground-background information and clause independence/tense-aspect; (2) Learners also exhibit a learner-specific general communication strategy in which significant events are described but nonsignificant events avoided.

scholarly journals Extrametricality and second language acquisition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Duarte Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Phonetic Cues ◽  
Stress Patterns

This pilot study investigates the second language acquisition (SLA) of stress in Portuguese (L2) by native speakers of English (L1). In particular, it examines the interaction between extrametricality and default stress through two judgement tasks. Stress is suprasegmental, relative and involves a variety of phonetic correlates: Cross-linguistically, stressed syllables tend to be realized with higher pitch, longer duration and greater intensity—but languages differ as to which of these correlates is more or less significant. Phonologically, stress presents some unique characteristics, such as the absence of a categorical feature [±stress]. Languages may also differ as to whether syllable shape affects stress (weight-sensitive) or not (weight-insensitive). Second language learners (L2ers) have to deal with such variability and, more importantly, have to acquire new stress patterns—some of which are often vastly different (even contradictory) when compared to the patterns (and phonetic cues) in their L1.

Identity and Accents: Do Students Really Want to Speak Like Native Speakers of English?

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822093924
Author(s):  
Melinda L.F. KONG ◽  
Hye In KANG
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
School Students ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking Teachers

There is a growing recognition of diverse settings and different varieties of English and accents. However, there seems to be a lack of research on the investments and views of Expanding Circle students who relocate to study in Asian Outer Circle countries, especially on the identities of proficient speakers and/or teachers of English. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the perceptions of Korean secondary school students in Malaysia through online questions and face-to-face interviews. Among others, findings suggest that the students had investments not only in English but also in their own sociocultural identities which were connected to their own accents. The students also felt that proficient English speakers and/or teachers should have pronunciation and accents that they could understand and that they were familiar with. Since they could not understand some of their native English-speaking teachers (NESTs), they did not feel that a person needed to be a native speaker in order to be a proficient speaker of English. Neither did they have any desire to imitate native speakers’ accents in learning to be proficient speakers because their own accents could be understood. The findings of this study suggest that NESTs may not necessarily be ideal English speakers with accents that need to be imitated. Instead, teaching and learning English should focus on communication between interlocutors from various contexts.

THE ENGLISH -ING PARTICIPIAL ADJUNCTS IN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE WRITTEN DISCOURSE

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Maria Filiouchkina Krave
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Temporal Succession ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

The study reported on in this article shows that the -ing participial adjuncts are used differently by native speakers of English depending on the genre they occur in. A comparison of data from written re-narrations of a film with the data from argumentative essays shows that these constructions are more frequent in narrative texts. The -ing participial adjuncts are typically used to express temporal succession (e.g. Anteriority) in narrative texts, whereas Means is the most frequent function of these constructions in argumentative essays. The native speaker data is then compared to that of Norwegian learners of English. The non-native-like patterns in the L2 data are attributed to L1 transfer and lack of knowledge about the genre-specific uses of the -ing clauses.

Acquisition, study abroad and individual differences

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bret Linford ◽  
Sara Zahler ◽  
Melissa Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Contact Hours

Abstract The current study examines the combined effect of type and quantity of contact with the target language on the second language development of a variable structure, ‘subject pronoun expression’ in L2 Spanish. A written contextualized task and a language contact questionnaire were given to 26 second language learners of Spanish before and after a six-week study abroad in Valencia, Spain. Their selection of overt and null subject pronouns was compared to native speakers from the study abroad region as well as to learners and native speakers in previous research in a US university context. Results suggest that learners with higher rates of self-reported contact with native speakers while abroad approximate the Valencian native speaker norms more at the end of study abroad than those who report fewer contact hours. However, differences between the groups at the beginning of study abroad indicate that characteristics other than contact hours also differentiate the two learner groups.

scholarly journals Hand in Hand: A Comparison of Gestures Accompanying Japanese Native Speaker and JSL Learner Refusals

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Jungheim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Actual Performance

The purpose of this study is to describe how native speakers of Japanese and Japanese as a second language learners use gestures as an integral part of Japanese refusals. Participants were 10 native speakers and 33 Japanese as a second language learners who performed a series of role plays that included refusals. This study focused on refusals of an offer and refusals of an invitation. Although learners tended to use manual gestures with refusals of an offer and head movements with refusals of an invitation as did native speakers, there were noticeable differences in the actual performance of these gestures. Implications are that in spite of experience living in the Japanese culture, learners could possibly benefit from additional instruction dealing with gestures as an integral part of Japanese refusals. 本研究は、日本人母語話者と第２言語としての日本語学習者が、日本語の断り表現における主要な表現手段としてのジェスチャーをどのように用いているかを明らかにしようとしたものである。被験者は１０人の母語話者と３３人の日本語学習者で、断りを含む一連のロールプレイを行った。特に焦点を当てたのは、何かの申し出に対する断りと招待に対する断りである。学習者は母語話者と同様に、申し出に対する断りには手の動きで、招待に対しては頭の動きでそれを示す傾向にあったが、実際のこれらのジェスチャーには顕著な違いが見られた。この結果は、日本の文化に触れる経験がすべてなのではなく、日本語の断り表現としてのジェスチャーを大切な要素として学習者に指導することによっても学習者がそれを学べる可能性があることを示唆している。

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