Cross-linguistic influences, language proficiency and metalinguistic knowledge in L3 Italian subject placement

Fairly recently, the construct of metalinguistic knowledge and its relation to L2 learners’ language proficiency have been the focus of numerous theoreticians, researchers, and the educators in the field. With respect to second language teachers assessment, however, little attempt has been made to explore the metalinguistic knowledge and its relationship between serving and non-serving teachers. The current study, accordingly, was designed to investigate whether there is a relationship between non-native in-service and pre-service teachers performing the metalinguistic and linguistic knowledge tests and if there is a difference between the two groups of teachers’ performance on these two tests. To collect the data on the two constructs of linguistic and metalinguistic knowledge, 80 non-native teachers performed on the Cloze Test and untimed Grammaticality Judgment Test from an English language institute. Following a range of statistical analyses, the findings revealed no positive correlation between the Linguistic and Metalinguistic tests both in the in-service and pre-service teachers of English language. It was also found that the two groups of teachers did not differ significantly with respect to their performance on the Linguistic test while the in-service teachers outperformed their counterpart in the Metalinguistic knowledge test.

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Market research in India: does the choice of language cause questionnaire contamination?

Journal of Indian Business Research ◽

10.1108/jibr-09-2016-0100 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 149-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wolfgang Messner

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Response Bias ◽

Market Research ◽

Quality Data ◽

Indian Language ◽

Content Type ◽

Situational Influences ◽

Customer Feedback ◽

Tier Ii ◽

Linguistic Influences

PurposeWhile English is the most commonly used language for market research, surveys and customer feedback in India, it does not reach the subcontinent’s entire population. Therefore, many questionnaires are bilingual, offering the respondent a choice between English and an indigenous Indian language. This, however, presupposes that answers to items are not influenced by people’s language proficiencies and response styles in different languages. This paper aims to examine whether market researchers in India should be careful about nonrandom measurement error caused by language response bias. Design/methodology/approachEnglish and Kannada questionnaires are administered in a test-retest scenario to 160 respondents in the Indian Tier-II city of Mysore. The data evaluation is organized by dispositional (language proficiency in English and Kannada) and situational influences (language of the questionnaire in English or Kannada); a series of tests to elucidate language response bias is conducted. FindingsWhile the significance of the two-tailed English-Kannada paired-sample tests is borderline, a more detailed look reveals surprising differences for the dispositional as well as situational linguistic influences. Moreover, the response style peculiarities in the Indian multilingual environment are not always consistent with differences in other international bilingual environments. Originality/valueHigh-quality data are central to all empirical research, but situational and dispositional language response bias seems to contaminate questionnaires in the Indian multi-lingual environment. This study highlights the effect and provides Indian market researchers with some first strategies for managing the challenge.

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The Study of the Metalinguistic Knowledge of English by Students in an Intensive and a Traditional Course

International Journal of English Linguistics ◽

10.5539/ijel.v7n1p215 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 215

Author(s):

Somaye Nazarian ◽

Siros Izadpanah

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

English Language ◽

T Test ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Intermediate Students ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Intensive Courses ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Language Proficiency Test ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge

The goal of the current research was to study the relationship among learning contexts and, levels of metalinguistic knowledge of the Iranian intermediate EFL learners. This research explores the level of learners’metalinguistic knowledge in English in two different contexts (traditional and intensive courses). Participants included 44 intermediate students at Shoukoh Language Institute, Zanjan, Iran. The selection violated the randomization criterion, thus the quasi-experimental was taken for the current study. The instruments used for data collection were Nelson English Language Proficiency Test (NELPT) as a placement test which used to measure level of students prior to the experiment and, a metalinguistic knowledge English test (MKET) was also, administered at the beginning and ending the semester as pre and post-test to measure their metalinguistic knowledge. The data collected from the administration of the above mentioned two tests were submitted to different statistical analysis such as ANCOVA, one independent sample t-test and, one paired sample t-test. The results revealed that there was a significant distinction between two sets performance in the metalinguistic test. An intensive English course had an important helpful influence on MKE of the students. They enhanced their MKE in an intensive semester. As an implication of this study, the findings will motivate language teachers to focus on intensive semester because intensive instruction was found to be effective in improving the EFL learners’ MKE. Further study is needed before the results of the research can be generalized.

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Metalinguistic Knowledge, Language Awareness and Language Proficiency

US-China Foreign Language ◽

10.17265/1539-8080/2015.01.004 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ilaria Venuti

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Language Awareness ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge

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How do differences in exposure affect English language learning? A comparison of teenagers in two learning environments

Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching ◽

10.14746/ssllt.2021.11.2.2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 185-212

Author(s):

Carmen Muñoz ◽

Teresa Cadierno

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

English Language ◽

Linguistic Distance ◽

Knowledge Test ◽

School Activities ◽

Language Measures ◽

Metalinguistic Knowledge ◽

Out Of School

This study investigates whether potential differences in the weight of out-of-school and in-school learning environments affect the acquisition of L2 English by teenagers in two geographical contexts, more and less English-rich, and with less and more linguistic distance to English, respectively. Participants were two groups of 14-15-year-olds, from Denmark and Spain. Language measures included a listening comprehension test, a metalinguistic knowledge test, and a grammaticality judgment test. Data about out-of-classroom exposure was elicited via a questionnaire. The study showed that (a) the Danish group attained a significantly higher level in all language tests except for the metalinguistic knowledge test; (b) the Danish group engaged longer in out-of-school activities although the preference for some activities over others was similar in the two groups; and (c) the types of associations between out-of-school activities and language measures were different between the two groups. These results suggest that the potential influence of out-of-school activities on different language aspects is related to the particular context in which the L2 is learned and to the language proficiency of the learner.

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