scholarly journals A contrastive study of apologies performed by Greek native speakers and English learners of Greek as a foreign language

Pragmatics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyridoula Bella
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Assessment Questionnaire

This paper investigates apologies produced by Greek native speakers and English learners of Greek as a foreign language in two informal (-P, -D) and two formal situations (+P, +D). Drawing on data elicited by means of an assessment questionnaire, a DCT and the participants’ verbal reports, the study attempts to explore the extent to which the two groups differ in their contextual assessments of the apology situations under examination and in strategy use. The results indicated that the learners of the study differed significantly from the native speakers in regard to their assessments of the contextual parameters (power, distance, severity of offence) involved in each apology situation. Furthermore, significant quantitative and qualitative differences were attested in relation of the two groups’ preferences in strategy use when performing apologies in Greek. On the basis of these results it is argued, that these learners interlanguage apology behavior is influenced both by their native cultural values and (negative) politeness orientation, as well as from lack of adequate socio-pragmatic development resulting mainly from their foreign language learner status.

THE INTERACTION OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES AS AN OBJECT OF POLYPARADIGMATIC RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (103) ◽  
pp. 118-125
Author(s):  
TATYANA E. VLADIMIROVA
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Unity Of Language ◽  
Active Communication ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
The Way

The focus of this article is on the integral unity of language and culture, which predetermined the evolution of the person speaking . An appeal to the ancient holistic methodology revealed the trinity of psychological intention and speech itself in the correlation with cultural values. Consequently, teaching a foreign language, focused on active communication with native speakers, is also an object of polyparadigmatic research, which should precede the development of new teaching technologies. The undertaken consideration made it possible to single out a synergetic approach as combining the teaching of a foreign language, culture and the way of beingness formed on their basis with a personal need for self-development and self-realization.

scholarly journals A Contrastive Study of English and Igala Segmental Phonemes: Implications for ESL Teachers and Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 31-43
Author(s):  
Abraham Sunday Unubi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
College Of Education ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
State College ◽  
Efl Teachers

This paper investigated a contrastive study of English and Igala segmental phonemes: implications for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and learners. A contrastive analysis is a linguistic tool used in comparing two unrelated languages, and the main objective of it is to bring out the differences in the two languages compared with a view to emphasising on the effects which such differences have on both EFL teachers and learners. This research appealed only to the secondary sources of data, which included the orthographies of both languages under study. The Igala orthography was obtained from the department of Igala Language and Culture, Kogi State College of Education Ankpa, in addition to other material in Igala. The consonant and vowel phonemes of the two languages were placed contiguously in a tabular form and given appropriate heading to be able to observe their level of differences and similarities easily. Then words in which these phonemes occur in the Igala language were supplied and the phonemes indicated. Some of the findings of this research revealed the following: (i) that the consonant phonemes such as /ð/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /v/ and /z/, and the vowel phonemes /ǝ/ and /ʌ/, which are present in English are however absent in Igala, just as  /kp/, /gb/, /ny/, /kw/, /gw/ and /nw/ that are present in Igala are absent in English; (ii) English has twelve pure vowels (monophthongs) and eight diphthongs, while Igala has fourteen monophthongs and eleven diphthongs; (iii) that these differences have posed certain teaching and learning difficulties to both EFL teachers and learners who are native speakers of the Igala language; and (iv) that while English has twenty-four consonant phonemes, Igala has twenty-three.

Grammar and pragmatics

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 137-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela Håkansson ◽  
Catrin Elisabeth Norrby
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Development ◽  
High Level

This paper compares grammatical and pragmatic development in foreign language learners of Swedish. For the analysis of grammatical proficiency, data from translation tasks and essays were tested against the stage model proposed in Processability Theory, which identifies five stages of morpho-syntactic development for Swedish (Pienemann 1998, Pienemann and Håkansson 1999). For the pragmatic analysis a gap-fill task was used, inspired by the discourse completion task (Blum-Kulka 1982, Kasper and Roever 2005), but taking into consideration sequential aspects of the interaction. All tasks were piloted with a control group of Swedish native speakers. The results indicate a relationship between native-like pragmatic command and a high level of morpho-syntactic processability. The findings suggest that students whose grammatical processing capacity is restricted to lower levels find it difficult to contextualise their utterances in a pragmatically appropriate way.

Text-based negotiated interaction of NNS-NNS and NNS-NS dyads on Facebook

ReCALL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hsueh-Jui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Negotiated Interaction ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Given

AbstractThis study sought to determine the difference in text-based negotiated interaction between non-native speakers of English (NNS-NNS) and between non-native and natives (NNS-NS) in terms of the frequency of negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use when the dyads collaborated on Facebook. It involved 10 native English speakers and 30 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). NNS-NNS dyads consisted of five H-H pairs and five L-L pairs (H and L representing high- and low-proficiency learners). Similarly, NNS-NS dyads comprised five H-N pairs and five L-N pairs (N being native speakers). All dyads were required to use text chats to complete the given reading tasks synchronously in chatrooms on Facebook. The results suggested that negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use occurred more frequently in H-H pairs than in L-N, L-L, or H-N pairs. In terms of strategy use, H-H, H-N, and L-N dyads were likely to engage in negotiated interaction by employing strategies such as clarifying unclear expressions or checking their comprehension, while L-L used interactional mechanisms infrequently and tended to use strategies such as continuers and asking for assistance. The research concludes with the pedagogical implications of the results.

scholarly journals Does the MS Spell Checker Effectively Correct Non-Native English Writers’ Errors? A Case Study of Saudi University Students

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Nasser Alasmari ◽  
Nourah Alamri
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Real Time ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spelling Errors ◽  
Spell Checker ◽  
Research Questions

Those learning English as a second or foreign language use spell checkers to correct the mistakes and errors they may have made while typing texts on a computer. However, scholars have debated the effectiveness of such checkers, which were originally designed to fix the spelling mistakes of native speakers. An example of these checkers is the Microsoft (MS) Word program, which constitutes the focus of the current study. This study examined how MS Word treats misspellings made by Saudi learners of English as a foreign language. It specifically addressed three research questions: (1) which L2 spelling errors were successfully fixed by MS Word; (2) which L2 spelling errors were unsuccessfully fixed by MS Word; and (3) how did intermediate L2 learners respond to alternative corrections provided by MS Word. A screen-tracking software, Screencast-O-Matic, was used to monitor the MS Word spell checker’s treatment of misspelled words. It was also used to track learners’ reactions to alternative corrections provided by MS Word in real time. The study analysed 401 errors made by25 female intermediate-level English learners at a Saudi university.

scholarly journals An investigation into Iranian English learners’ use of cognitive strategies and writing performance across different language backgrounds and proficiency levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-13
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Poorebrahim ◽  
Simin Sattarpour ◽  
Hossein Jalalee Nobari ◽  
Assef Khalili
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Strategy Types

Background : The significance of strategy use in writing is well established. However, particular strategy types which different learners can use in different contexts provides invaluable insights for the stakeholders. The current study examined the frequency of cognitive strategy use in writing as well as the quality of writing produced by language learners at different levels of proficiency (high or low) and from different language backgrounds (Turkish-Persian or Persian). Methods: For this study, 176 Iranian learners of English were divided into bilingual (n=91) and monolingual (n=85) categories and participants were placed at high (n=95) or low (n=81) proficiency levels based on their scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) administered for placement purposes. The research data was collected through writing cognitive strategy questionnaire and argumentative writing samples. Results: The results of ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests revealed that (1) language background and proficiency level could jointly affect the frequency of cognitive strategy use, (2) could each influence the quality of the written products on its own, and (3) the strongest relationship between cognitive strategy use and writing quality existed among the bilingual participants with high language proficiency. Conclusion: Knowing a second language may increase learners’ use of writing cognitive strategies, thereby enhancing the quality of their writing. These findings could prove useful for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and content developers.

scholarly journals INFORMATIONAL POTENTIAL OF THE ENGLISH POLYCODE DICTIONARY ENTRIES

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Tomchakovskiy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Situational Context ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Semiotic Systems ◽  
Verbal Message ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

The article is devoted to the study of the informational potential of the polycode dictionary entries in English learner’s lexicography. The communicative specificity of learner’s dictionaries consists in their targeting to a clear segment of the readership. These are non-native speakers of English, studying it as a foreign language and living outside the area of its functioning, and, therefore, outside the situational context. The features of users to whom learner’s dictionaries are addressed determine the content and presentation of lexicographic material, which is aimed primarily at expanding the vocabulary of the reader and, moreover, familiarizing him more closely with the culture of Englishspeaking society. The main task of a lexicographic article in an explanatory dictionary is to provide a certain amount of information necessary for the reader to adequately understand a particular word of interest. To solve this problem, compilers of dictionaries resort to using both typesetting and pictorial non-verbal communication means. A polycode lexicographic article is a combination of two definitions of the same sememe, which are made with signs of two different semiotic systems: symbolic (linguistic) and iconic (pictographic). The analysis of the informational potential of polycode articles in English learners’ dictionaries gives grounds to claim that the appearance of the pictographic component in any case optimizes the transmission and perception of information. In addition, the iconic message, as a rule, increases the amount of information conveyed by the verbal message (definition), firstly, by explaining the ontological characteristics of the structure, existence and functioning of the nominated referent in the world, and secondly, by creating clusters semantically and linguistically related lexical items. As a result, new quanta of information appear (absent in the definition) and the information itself is structured into some microsystems that permeate the macrosystem of the dictionary.

Mapping meaning onto form

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelia Ramón García
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Data Selection ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Working Procedure ◽  
Grammatical Structures

This paper is a corpus-based contrastive study of one particular semantic area — the modification of nouns — and the grammatical structures available in English and Spanish to actualize this particular meaning within the scope of the NP. Two large monolingual reference corpora, one in each language, have been used to extract the empirical data on which to base the analysis. A functional approach has been followed, starting from perceived similarities in meaning and trying to reveal the subtle links between particular semantic functions and the structures most commonly employed by native speakers of the two languages to convey those semantic functions. The working procedure will be described in detail, from the data selection process, to the description, juxtaposition and final contrast. This paper presents part of the contrastive results found in a larger study (Ramón 2003), and shows the appropriateness of the methodology employed in order to obtain contrastive data useful in applied areas such as foreign language teaching, and, especially, in the field of translation.

scholarly journals Requests Made by Australian Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Wenying Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Request Strategies ◽  
Strategy Types ◽  
Selection Of

This study examines how Australian learners of Chinese make requests as compared to those made by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Data were collected through a written production questionnaire comprising six situations. Results showed that learners and native speakers shared a preference for conventional indirectness. However, they favoured different strategy types in the realizations of requests. Moreover, native speakers tended to adjust their selection of request strategies according to social variables such as relative power, social distance, and rank of imposition, whereas learners displayed little sensitivity to social variables in the selection of request strategies. This study also provides some evidence of pragmatic development. Learners’ use of directness decreased but their use of conventional indirectness increased with increased proficiency. Moreover, learners’ acquisition of pragmalinguistic competence seemed to outperform their sociopragmatic competence. This study adds to the small body of research on requests by learners of Chinese as a foreign language. It highlights the importance of the inclusion of pragmatics in foreign language teaching.

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