scholarly journals Orientations towards English among English-medium Instruction Students

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Karakaş
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
American English ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
British English ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
English Medium Instruction

Abstract Based on the empirical data of my PhD research, this paper analyses the perceptions of 351 undergraduate students enrolled at English-medium universities towards English in terms of the language ideology framework. The students were purposively sampled from three programs at three Turkish universities. The data were drawn from student opinion surveys and semi-structured interviews. The findings paint a blurry picture, with a strong tendency among most students to view their English use as having the characteristics of dominant native varieties of English (American English & British English), and with a high percentage of students’ acceptance of the distinctiveness of their English without referring to any standard variety. The findings also show that many students’ orientations to English are formed by two dominant language ideologies: standard English ideology and native speaker English ideology. It was also found that a large number of students did not strictly stick to either of these ideologies, particularly in their orientation to spoken English, due, as argued in the main body, to their experiences on language use that have made them aware of the demographics of diverse English users and of the diverse ways of using English.

Recent change in non-present perfect constructions in British and American English

Corpora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyue Yao ◽  
Peter Collins
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Present Perfect ◽  
British English ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
General Decline ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries

A number of recent studies of grammatical categories in English have identified regional and diachronic variation in the use of the present perfect, suggesting that it has been losing ground to the simple past tense from the eighteenth century onwards ( Elsness, 1997 , 2009 ; Hundt and Smith, 2009 ; and Yao and Collins, 2012 ). Only a limited amount of research has been conducted on non-present perfects. More recently, Bowie and Aarts’ (2012) study using the Diachronic Corpus of Present-Day Spoken English has found that certain non-present perfects underwent a considerable decline in spoken British English (BrE) during the second half of the twentieth century. However, comparison with American English (AmE) and across various genres has not been made. This study focusses on the changes in the distribution of four types of non-present perfects (past, modal, to-infinitival and ing-participial) in standard written BrE and AmE during the thirty-year period from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. Using a tagged and post-edited version of the Brown family of corpora, it shows that contemporary BrE has a stronger preference for non-present perfects than AmE. Comparison of four written genres of the same period reveals that, for BrE, only the change in the overall frequency of past perfects was statistically significant. AmE showed, comparatively, a more dramatic decrease, particularly in the frequencies of past and modal perfects. It is suggested that the decline of past perfects is attributable to a growing disfavour for past-time reference in various genres, which is related to long-term historical shifts associated with the underlying communicative functions of the genres. The decline of modal perfects, on the other hand, is more likely to be occurring under the influence of the general decline of modal auxiliaries in English.

scholarly journals A Bridge to Portugal: Language and Identity in Bridgeport, CT

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Fabio Scetti
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
American English ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Status

Here I present the results of BridgePORT, an ethnographic study I carried out in 2018 within the Portuguese community of Bridgeport, CT (USA). I describe language use and representation among Portuguese speakers within the community, and I investigate the integration of these speakers into the dominant American English speech community. Through my fieldwork, I observe mixing practices in day-to-day interaction, while I also consider the evolution of the Portuguese language in light of language contact and speakers’ discourse as this relates to ideologies about the status of Portuguese within the community. My findings rely on questionnaires, participant observation of verbal interaction, and semi-structured interviews. My aim is to show how verbal practice shapes the process of identity construction and how ideas of linguistic “purity” mediate the maintenance of a link to Portugal and Portuguese identity.

scholarly journals THE PREFERRED MODEL OF ENGLISH FOR PERSONAL, NATIONAL, AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATION IN ELF CONTEXT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN FILIPINOS AND INDIANS

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 549
Author(s):  
Olusiji Lasekan
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
American English ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Global Communication ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Global Identity ◽  
British English ◽  
Future Research Directions

An experimental investigation was conducted to compare preferred models of English for personal, national, and global communication in ELF context between Filipinos and Indians. Drawing upon the data gathered through questionnaire and accent recognition survey from over 200 undergraduate students in these two nations, it was revealed that both nationals prefer British English for personal communication. But for national communication, Indians prefer their own standardized variety of English, i.e. Indian English, while the majority of Filipinos chose American English. British English and American English are considered to be the most ideal English varieties to express global identity by Indians and Filipinos, respectively. Finally, the degree of familiarity with the native English varieties which was higher among Filipinos than Indians is inversely proportional to level of awareness of their standard local English variety. Implications of the results and future research directions were also presented.

scholarly journals On the native/nonnative speaker notion and World Englishes: Debating with K. Rajagopalan

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-611
Author(s):  
John Robert SCHMITZ
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
American English ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Indian English ◽  
British English ◽  
Nonnative Speaker ◽  
The World ◽  
Australian English

ABSTRACT In a series of three articles published in the Journal of Pragmatics (1995, henceforth JP), the purpose of the papers is to question the division of English spoken in the world into, on one hand, "native" varieties (British English, American English. Australian English) and, on the other, "new/nonnative" varieties (Indian English, Singaporean English, Nigerian English). The JP articles are indeed groundbreaking for they mark one of the first interactions among scholars from the East with researchers in the West with regard to the growth and spread of the language as well as the roles English is made to play by its impressive number of users. The privileged position of prestige and power attributed to the inner circle varieties (USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is questioned. Rajagopalan (1997, motivated by his reading of the JP papers, adds another dimension to this questioning by pointing to the racial and discriminatory stance underlying the notions "native speaker" and "nonnative speaker" (henceforth, respectively NS and NNS). Rajagopalan has written extensively on the issue of nativity or "nativeness"; over the years, Schmitz has also written on the same topic. There appears, in some cases, to be a number of divergent views with regard to subject on hand on the part of both authors. The purpose of this article is to engage in a respectful debate to uncover misreading and possible misunderstanding on the part of Schmitz. Listening to one another and learning from each another are essential in all academic endeavors.

Lexical-grammatical patterns in spoken English

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadja Nesselhauf ◽  
Ute Römer
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Considerable Extent ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Future Time ◽  
British English ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Pattern Frequency

Based on a large set of data from one of the biggest available corpora of spoken British English (the 10-million word spoken component of the BNC), this article explores central lexical-grammatical aspects of progressive forms with future time reference. Among the phenomena investigated are verb preferences, adverbial co-selection, subject types, and negation. It is demonstrated that future time progressives in spoken British English are patterned to a considerable extent (for example that it is individual verbs, rather than semantic groups of verbs, that preferably occur in such constructions) and that actual language use often runs counter to claims that can be found in traditional grammatical descriptions of the construction. A number of general and often neglected issues in the analysis of lexical-grammatical patterns are also addressed, in particular the notion of pattern frequency.

scholarly journals Research Forum: “I Didn’t Know Who Is Canadian”: The Shift in Student Expectations During the Initial Stages of a Study Abroad Program

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kato ◽  
Kenneth Reeder
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Nonnative Speaker ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Language User ◽  
Study Abroad Program

An interview-based case study was used to identify the shift in expectations for 5 Japanese undergraduate students studying abroad at a Canadian university. Using a modified expectancy violation framework, this study examined the initial stage of an 8-month study abroad program, using semi-structured interviews supported by observational data gained in classroom observation. An inductive, qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed that expectation of interaction was the most commonly violated expectation for the participants. Most participants struggled with assuming the identity of a less competent language user but nonetheless sought out opportunities to become competent in their study abroad context, in some cases creating and shaping their own contexts for language use and growth. Further, participants faced the challenge of addressing the native speaker/nonnative speaker dichotomy in a multicultural study abroad environment, particularly outside the classroom. The paper concludes with curricular, policy, and research implications. 本研究は、カナダの大学に留学中の日本人学生5人を対象に、留学先の学校や現地の人々、自身への期待の変化をケース・スタディの手法を用いて調べたものである。8か月間の留学期間の初期段階に授業観察及び半構造的面接を行い、データを修正版期待違反理論の枠組みで分析した。質的帰納的な分析の結果、現地人との交流に対する期待が最も満たされなかったことが判明した。本研究が対象とした留学生は、英語力が劣る話者というアイデンティティーの葛藤を抱えながらも、英語上達の機会を積極的に見出し、英語を使う機会も創出した。さらに、現地の多民族社会の中で、特に教室外で英語のネイティブ・非ネイティブという従来の二項対立の意味を再検討するという課題に直面した。本稿はカリキュラム、政策、本研究の意義についても言及する。

scholarly journals The effects of lecturers’ non-native accent strength in English on intelligibility and attitudinal evaluations by native and non-native English students

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882098314
Author(s):  
Berna Hendriks ◽  
Frank van Meurs ◽  
Nina Usmany
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
British English ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking ◽  
English Students

The rapid spread of English medium instruction (EMI) across the globe has led to a growing number of non-native lecturers teaching in English to student populations that are increasingly international. The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent lecturers with slight or moderate Dutch accents or native British English accents are evaluated differently in terms of intelligibility, comprehensibility and attitudinal impressions by non-native and native English-speaking listeners. In an experiment, 189 Dutch listeners, 175 international non-native listeners and 158 native English listeners evaluated fragments recorded by moderately accented Dutch, slightly accented Dutch and native English speakers. Findings showed that the moderately non-native accented lecturers were evaluated more negatively than lecturers with slight or native accents by both Dutch and international non-native listeners, but not by native English listeners. This suggests that non-native listeners evaluate the accents of non-native lecturers according to native speaker pronunciation norms.

scholarly journals A Review of the Major Varieties of English Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ligang Han
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
British Isles ◽  
British English ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Parts

English is clarified as a Germanic language, and it began in what is now the British-Isles. After years of development, English language has many varieties in different parts of the world. Different varieties differ in accent, vocabulary, grammar, discourse, sociolinguistics, and have its respective characteristics in pronunciation, tone, intonation, spelling and so on. Therefore, it is important for English language learners to observe the differences in language use. The present paper is an attempt to explore the regional characteristics of the two most commonly used varieties of the English Language–British English and American English. It is concluded that there will be intercommunications which will make the regional differences mild and easily understood. However, some differences may disappear, the others will remain so.

An historical analysis of species references in American English

Corpora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-349
Author(s):  
Craig Frayne
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Google Books

This study uses the two largest available American English language corpora, Google Books and the Corpus of Historical American English (coha), to investigate relations between ecology and language. The paper introduces ecolinguistics as a promising theme for corpus research. While some previous ecolinguistic research has used corpus approaches, there is a case to be made for quantitative methods that draw on larger datasets. Building on other corpus studies that have made connections between language use and environmental change, this paper investigates whether linguistic references to other species have changed in the past two centuries and, if so, how. The methodology consists of two main parts: an examination of the frequency of common names of species followed by aspect-level sentiment analysis of concordance lines. Results point to both opportunities and challenges associated with applying corpus methods to ecolinguistc research.

Informed consent: Towards improved lay-friendliness of patient information sheets

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-211
Author(s):  
Morten Pilegaard ◽  
Hanne Berg Ravn
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Microsoft Word ◽  
Text Production ◽  
Linguistic Intervention ◽  
Set Up

Regional research ethics committee (REC) members have voiced a need for the linguistic improvement of informed consent documents to ensure duly informed consent and to ease committee deliberation. We have little knowledge of what elements of language use hamper comprehension, or of the extent of medical researchers’ appreciation of this problem and their willingness to accept intervention. This qualitative, explorative study proposes an intervention design and tests its feasibility and acceptability. Semi-structured interviews with potential REC applicants informed a linguistic intervention benchmarked against existing guidelines, mandated locally and nationally, and then evaluated quantitatively in a semi-controlled set-up and qualitatively via questionnaires. Potential applicants professed the psychological acceptability of linguistic intervention. The intervention comprised a downloadable Microsoft Word template outlining information structure, a detailed guideline offering advice for each move and self-selected linguistic screening. It was used by 14 applicants and had a measurable effect on REC deliberation time and approval rates. The intervention instruments overall made it easier for applicants to produce informed consent documents meeting prescribed ethical standards concerning lay-friendliness. In conclusion, it was found that linguistic intervention is relevant, feasible and psychologically acceptable to REC applicants; it aids their text production process and seems to enhance the lay-friendliness of these texts.

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