Training the Brain to Weight Speech Cues Differently: A Study of Finnish Second-language Users of English

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1319-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Ylinen ◽  
Maria Uther ◽  
Antti Latvala ◽  
Sara Vepsäläinen ◽  
Paul Iverson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Spectral Cues ◽  
Phonetic Cues

Foreign-language learning is a prime example of a task that entails perceptual learning. The correct comprehension of foreign-language speech requires the correct recognition of speech sounds. The most difficult speech–sound contrasts for foreign-language learners often are the ones that have multiple phonetic cues, especially if the cues are weighted differently in the foreign and native languages. The present study aimed to determine whether non-native-like cue weighting could be changed by using phonetic training. Before the training, we compared the use of spectral and duration cues of English /i/ and /I/ vowels (e.g., beat vs. bit) between native Finnish and English speakers. In Finnish, duration is used phonologically to separate short and long phonemes, and therefore Finns were expected to weight duration cues more than native English speakers. The cross-linguistic differences and training effects were investigated with behavioral and electrophysiological methods, in particular by measuring the MMN brain response that has been used to probe long-term memory representations for speech sounds. The behavioral results suggested that before the training, the Finns indeed relied more on duration in vowel recognition than the native English speakers did. After the training, however, the Finns were able to use the spectral cues of the vowels more reliably than before. Accordingly, the MMN brain responses revealed that the training had enhanced the Finns' ability to preattentively process the spectral cues of the English vowels. This suggests that as a result of training, plastic changes had occurred in the weighting of phonetic cues at early processing stages in the cortex.

scholarly journals Phrasal Verbs in English as a Second/Foreign Language

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Abid Thyab
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are used very regularly in the English language, and native English speakers are found to use phrasal verbs on a daily basis and cannot do without the use of phrasal verbs in everyday communicative situations. However, phrasal verbs in English language teaching as a second/foreign language is almost non-existent. That is, English as a second language (ESL)/English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching environments, in the Arab world, and specifically in Iraq, hardly teach the meaning of phrasal verbs to students, and neglect teaching the correct ways of using them, despite the fact that they are an essential part of daily native English communication. Therefore, and due to the vitality of phrasal verbs to native speakers of English, ESL/EFL students should be taught and educated to be capable of understanding and using phrasal verbs when interacting in English because knowledge of phrasal verbs would normally lead to better English language proficiency and more native-like communication. Nonetheless, phrasal verbs are not easy, and students often find them difficult, because phrasal verbs carry a specific meaning which is not inferable from the meaning of its composing words inseparable form as well as other reasons which have been explained within this paper. Hence, this paper points to the necessity of including phrasal verbs in English language teaching. Through implementing a qualitative approach, the aim, within this paper, is to identify and list causes of difficulty that learners of the English language may face when it comes to knowledge of English phrasal verbs, with regard to the spontaneous and fluent use of phrasal verbs by native English speakers. The significance, here, is to point out the need of taking this matter into serious concern and to offer suggestions and recommendations for better English as a second/foreign language learning and teaching, all in hope of better English language proficiency and ability.

scholarly journals Looking for an EIL Pronunciation Standard: A Literature Review and Classroom Experience from the Russian L1 Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Tatiana Skopintseva
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Academic Environment ◽  
Classroom Experience ◽  
International Language ◽  
Significant Area ◽  
Areas Of Concern

This article concerns itself with the identification of language units essential to the intelligibility of communication of non-native English speakers (NNESs) in international settings, or English as an international language (EIL) communication. It focuses on a seemingly narrow but nevertheless significant area of speech production and reception – pronunciation. Based on the works of pronunciation scholars and classroom experience, we outline areas of concern for NNES training and suggest pronunciation foci for Russian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). We specifically examine areas where academic discourse goals overlap with the goals of developing NNES pronunciation fluency and rhetorical competence, targeting those features that, if improved upon, would make NNES speech sound intelligible, educated and cultured as the academic environment requires. We consider these features in view of their importance for two emerging pedagogical domains: English as a lingua franca (ELF) and English as a medium of instruction (EMI), particularly taking into account their approach to NNESs’ identity and attitude.

SOME FEATURES OF TEACHING SPANISH AS A SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO THE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Y.V. Maslova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Further Training ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Initial Perception

The article considers teaching the Spanish language as a second foreign language to those students who already speak English as their first foreign language. The relevance of the work lies in the fact that at present new techniques of teaching students who speak two or more foreign languages should be reconsidered. It is also necessary to actively use the skills, knowledge and abilities that have already been developed while learning the first foreign language. The aim of the work is to identify the necessary techniques that can make teaching Spanish as a second foreign language to students studying English as their first foreign language more effective. The article compares English and Spanish in order to determine the factors contributing to a positive transference when learning Spanish as a second language, as well as those that complicate this process. Based on the analysis, a number of exercises are presented, which include those for initial perception, formation of speech skills and habits, development of the same and further training, which takes into account the factor of positive influence of the first foreign language and addresses the negative ones. The exercises presented include comparing and contrasting the two languages. The observation carried out while teaching two groups of students showed that taking into consideration the mutual influence of the two foreign languages, as well as including teaching materials for native English speakers in the learning process, increases students’ interest in the language and culture, and allows one to facilitate the process of learning Spanish.

Native and non-native speech sound processing and the neural mismatch responses: A longitudinal study on classroom-based foreign language learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 94-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea B. Jost ◽  
Aleksandra K. Eberhard-Moscicka ◽  
Georgette Pleisch ◽  
Veronica Heusser ◽  
Daniel Brandeis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
Native Speech

scholarly journals THE USE OF LEXICAL COLLOCATIONS IN SOME ARTICLES OF SEVENTEEN.COM WEBSITE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsya Aprila Tayibnapis ◽  
Lina Meilinda ◽  
Yessy Purnamasari
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Research Technique ◽  
Lexical Collocations

Collocations are one of the problems faced by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners when learning English language. This study is intended to help the EFL Learners and non-native English speakers to add knowledge about collocations. Therefore, this study is aimed to find the use of lexical collocations and their meaning. This study used a descriptive qualitative research technique. The source of the data is eleven articles from eight sections in seventeen.com. om the research, there were 79 lexical collocations and they were classified as six out of seven types that Benson et al. (2010) proposed. The data showed that the most used type is L3 (adjective + noun) and the least used is L4 (noun + verb). The meaning of the lexical collocations was defined from the contexts. 

(Mis) perception of consonant clusters and short vowels in English as a foreign language

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Ho-Cheong Leung ◽  
Martha Young-Scholten ◽  
Wael Almurashi ◽  
Saleh Ghadanfari ◽  
Chloe Nash ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Production Problems

Abstract Research addressing second language (L2) speech is expanding. Studies increasingly demonstrate that a learner’s first language (L1) filters the L2 input, resulting in learners misperceiving what they have heard. This L1 filter can result in learners perceiving sounds not actually present in the input. We report on a study which explored English consonant clusters and short, unstressed vowel perception of 70 Arabic-, Mandarin-, Spanish-speaking foreign language learners and 19 native English speakers. These are the vowels which speakers from two of the L1s typically insert in their production of English to break up L1-disallowed consonant clusters and the schwa which is documented to cause both perception and production problems. Results show that participants misperceive stimuli containing consonant clusters and counterparts where clusters are broken up by epenthetic/prothetic elements. In line with Sakai, Mari & Colleen Moorman 2018. We call for the inclusion of such findings on perception in pedagogical advice on pronunciation.

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 Behavioral effect of mismatch negativity neurofeedback on foreign language learning

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254771
Author(s):  
Ming Chang ◽  
Hideyuki Ando ◽  
Taro Maeda ◽  
Yasushi Naruse
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Behavioral Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Training Time ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Spoken English

Listening is critical for foreign language learning. Listening difficulties can occur because of an inability to perceive or recognize sounds while listening to speech, whereas successful listening can boost understanding and improve speaking when learning a foreign language. Previous studies in our laboratory revealed that EEG-neurofeedback (NF) using mismatch negativity event-related brain potential successfully induced unconscious learning in terms of auditory discrimination of speech sounds. Here, we conducted a feasibility study with a small participant group (NF group and control group; six participants each) to examine the practical effects of mismatch negativity NF for improving the perception of speech sounds in a foreign language. Native Japanese speakers completed a task in which they learned to perceive and recognize spoken English words containing the consonants “l” or “r”. Participants received neurofeedback training while not explicitly attending to auditory stimuli. The results revealed that NF training significantly improved the proportion of correct in discrimination and recognition trials, even though the training time for each word pair was reduced to 20% of the training time reported in our previous study. The learning effect was not affected by training with three pairs of words with different vowels. The current results indicate that NF resulted in long-term learning that persisted for at least 2 months.

Cultural Expats and the Trojan Horse of Language

2019 ◽  
pp. 58-81
Author(s):  
Tsedal Neeley
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Language Barrier ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Japanese Employees ◽  
American Employees

This chapter follows the native English speakers through their first phase, when euphoria reigned because they (incorrectly, as it turned out) assumed that Englishnization was solely about language. It also follows them through the second phase, about two years into Englishnization. By this time, they found it nearly as difficult to accept the changes wrought in their day-to-day workplace as did the native Japanese speakers. While the Japanese employees had to change to adopt a foreign language, the American employees had to change to adopt the Rakuten organizational culture that had been mostly suppressed by the language barrier. Employees in both groups had to adjust their perception of themselves and their place in the company—in this respect, the groups were mirror images of one another.

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