Segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Søballe Horslund ◽  
Parker F. Van Nostrand
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Pronunciation Instruction ◽  
Accented English ◽  
Second Language Speech Production ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Sheer Number

Abstract Research suggests that explicit pronunciation teaching improves second language speech production, but language teachers often lack the relevant knowledge to teach pronunciation. This study examined segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English and the relationship between segmental errors and foreign accent ratings in two groups differing in amount of second language experience. Our study identified a number of common segmental error patterns in Finnish-accented English, which may guide formal pronunciation instruction. We further found that the sheer number of segmental errors in a sentence affected foreign accent ratings as did the number of vowel errors in a sentence. We speculate that the detrimental effect of vowel errors may be related to the finding that vowel errors resulted in non-English segments more often than consonant errors did. Finally, we found a facilitative effect of second language experience on foreign accent rating that cannot be reduced to number of segmental errors, despite the finding that number of consonant errors was reduced with increased second language experience.

scholarly journals Laulun sanoja lausumalla taitavaksi ääntäjäksi?

2018 ◽  
pp. 18-44
Author(s):  
Leena Maria Heikkola ◽  
Jenni Alisaari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Second Language Teachers ◽  
Song Lyrics ◽  
Teaching Pronunciation

The aim of the study was to investigate how different teaching methods, singing, listening to songs and reciting song lyrics, affect the development of pronunciation of Finnish as a foreign language pronunciation. The second objective of the study was to investigate whether future classroom teachers and future Finnish as a second language teachers evaluate the strength of foreign accent differently. The results indicate that reciting song lyrics is the most beneficial for the development of pronunciation. This teaching method is especially useful for beginners’ level language learners. The future class teachers gave stricter evaluations of foreign accent than the future Finnish as a second language teachers. Based on the results of the study, it could be argued that reciting song lyrics could be used for teaching pronunciation. Further, the results support previous findings that more experienced listeners give milder evaluations than more unexperienced. Thus, it would be valuable for future teachers to gain experience in listening diverse accents.

Generative phonology and contrastive studies

1976 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Fisiak
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Precise Formulation ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Theoretical Status ◽  
Methodological Status ◽  
The Relationship

The development of contrastive studies (CS) in recent years, judging by the proliferation of projects and published materials, has been accompanied since the late sixties by vigorous discussions and controversies concerning the theoretical status of CS, their form and their place in both general and applied linguistics.Many linguists and language teachers have gone so far as to reject the validity and usefulness of CS (cf. Alatis, 1968). It seems that this attitude results from a number of misunderstandings created by such factors as the peculiar methodological status of CS, the lack of a clear-cut distinction between theoretical and applied CS (Stockwell, 1968:25; Fisiak, 1971:88ff), and the lack of any precise formulation of the different aims of theoretical CS and applied CS, as well as the confusion of the relationship between CS, psycholinguistic theories of interference and errors, and the theory of second language learning (Zabrocki, 1976). Some confusion also stems from the misunderstanding of the relationship between CS and linguistic theory.

Can willingness to communicate, communication in English anxiety, behavioural inhibition and behavioural action predict perceived L2 fluency?

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110440
Author(s):  
Reza Zabihi ◽  
Shiva Ghominejad ◽  
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Partial Correlation ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Behavioural Inhibition ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to investigate whether and how willingness to communicate, communication in English anxiety, behavioural inhibition and action predict perceived second language (L2) fluency. The study also looked at whether L2 proficiency moderates the strength of relationships between these affective factors and L2 perceived fluency. One hundred learners of English were recorded while doing the Suitcase task (a monologic task) and were asked to complete a series of questionnaires and proficiency tests. Speech samples were then prepared for presentation to 26 experienced language teachers (and highly proficient users of English) as raters. Their task was to rate the speech samples in terms of perceived fluency. Results revealed that while willingness to communicate is a strong and positive predictor of perceived fluency, communication in English anxiety negatively predicts perceived L2 fluency. We also found that L2 proficiency does not seem to moderate the relationship between perceived fluency and willingness to communicate (WTC), but it does change the partial correlation figure for communication in English anxiety from r = −0.24 ( p = .013) to r = −0.38 ( p < .001). This variation suggests that less proficient L2 speakers’ perceived fluency could be more severely affected by communication in English anxiety.

Foreign and second language anxiety

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine K. Horwitz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety State ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
The Relationship

The possibility that anxiety interferes with language learning has long interested scholars, language teachers, and language learners themselves. It is intuitive that anxiety would inhibit the learning and/or production of a second language (L2). The important term in the last sentence is ‘anxiety’. The concept of anxiety is itself multi-faceted, and psychologists have differentiated a number of types of anxiety including trait anxiety, state anxiety, achievement anxiety, and facilitative-debilitative anxiety. With such a wide variety of anxiety-types, it is not surprising that early studies on the relationship between ‘anxiety’ and achievement provided mixed and confusing results, and Scovel (1978 – this timeline) rightly noted that anxiety is ‘not a simple, unitary construct that can be comfortably quantified into ‘high’ or ‘low’ amounts’ (p. 137). Scovel did not, however, anticipate the identification in the mid-1980s of a unique form of anxiety that some people experience in response to learning and/or using an L2. Typically referred to as language anxiety or foreign language anxiety (FLA), this anxiety is categorized as a situation-specific anxiety, similar in type to other familiar manifestations of anxiety such as stage fright or test anxiety.

scholarly journals The influence of orthography in second language phonological acquisition

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Rachel Hayes-Harb ◽  
Shannon Barrios
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Phonological Contrast ◽  
Phoneme Perception ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract We provide an exhaustive review of studies in the relatively new domain of research on the influence of orthography on second language (L2) phonological acquisition. While language teachers have long recognized the importance of written input—in addition to spoken input—on learners’ development, until this century there was very little systematic research investigating the relationship between orthography and L2 phonological acquisition. Here, we review studies of the influence of written input on L2 phonological awareness, phoneme perception, the acquisition of phonological processes and syllable structure, and the pronunciation and recognition of words. We elaborate the variables that appear to moderate written input effects: (1) whether or not a novel phonological contrast is systematically represented by the L2 writing system (systematicity); (2) whether some or all of the L2 graphemes are familiar to learners from the L1 (familiarity); (3) for familiar graphemes, whether the native language (L1) and the L2 employ the same grapheme-phoneme correspondences (congruence); and (4) the ability of learners to perceive an auditory contrast that is systematically represented in writing (perceptibility). We conclude by calling for future research on the pedagogical implications of this body of work, which has thus far received very little attention by researchers.

Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility, redux

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-309
Author(s):  
Murray J. Munro ◽  
Tracey M. Derwing
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Original Text ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pronunciation Instruction ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Assessment Techniques

Abstract We revisit Munro and Derwing (1995a), providing retrospective commentary on our original methods and findings. Using what are now well-established assessment techniques, the study examined the interrelationships among accentedness, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second-language learners. The key finding was that the dimensions at issue are related, but partially independent. Of particular note was our observation that speech can be heavily accented but highly intelligible. To provide a fresh perspective on the original data we report a few new analyses, including more up-to-date statistical modeling. Throughout the original text we intersperse insights we have gained over the past 25 years. We conclude with retrospective interpretations, including thoughts on the relevance of the study to contemporary second language teaching and especially pronunciation instruction.

scholarly journals I Meant to Say That: How Adult Language Learners Construct Positive Identities Through Nonstandard Language Use

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Szabo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Adult Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Teachers ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this article is to raise awareness in L2 education about the relationship between second-language learners' linguistic choices in the L2 and their identities. The author reviews empirical research and language-learning narratives that show that L2 learners may purposely use nonstandard L2 forms. Using a poststructuralist framework to conceptualize identity, the author argues that these second-language learners use nonstandard language in the L2 in order to create positive identities, and in some cases to resist social inequalities, in the L2 community. The implications of this research for second-language teachers are discussed and suggestions for classroom practice are offered.

Second language acquisition, teacher education and language pedagogy

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Relationship

Various positions regarding the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) – Language Pedagogy (LP) nexus have been advanced. Taking these as a starting point, this article will examine the nature of the SLA/LP relationship both more generally and more concretely. First, it will place the debates evident in the different positions regarding the relationship in a broader educational and professional context by examining the nature of the theory/practice nexus – because the issues at stake do not just concern SLA. Second, it will examine critically a number of options for bridging the divide (e.g. through presenting the pedagogical implications of research, engaging teachers in researching their own classroom or promoting research–teacher collaboration). Third, it will probe the relationship in terms of a framework that links (i) SLA researchers, (ii) classroom researchers, (iii) teacher educators and (iv) language teachers. This framework will serve as a basis for formulating a set of eleven principles that can guide attempts to use SLA theory and research in teacher education programmes.

scholarly journals Frequency Effects in Second Language Acquisition: An Annotated Survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Galip Kartal ◽  
Ece Sarigul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between frequency and language acquisition from many perspectives including implicit and explicit instruction, frequency effects on morpheme acquisition in L2, the relationship between frequency and multi-word constructions, frequency effects on phonetics, vocabulary, gerund and infinitive constructions, bitransitive constructions, and so on. In his impressive article on frequency, Ellis (2002a) asked this crucial question about the relationship between frequency and SLA: “How exactly does the frequency of patterns in the input affect acquisition?” Another fundamental question that needs to be answered is: “What purpose does frequency serve in language acquisition?” In addition, frequency and range are said to be the most salient criteria for determining the general usefulness of a word (Koprowski, 2005). Moreover, both corpus and experimental data suggest that frequency has significant effects on second language acquisition. These questions and arguments, which constitute the foundation of frequency studies in second language acquisition, led and guided this study. This annotated survey, summarizing the studies on frequency effects on L2 learning, shows that there are still lots of ways to go with research on the relationship between frequency and second language acquisition in the literature. Some pedagogical implications are discussed with recommendations for the stakeholders of foreign language contexts (i.e. curriculum designers, coursebook writers, language teachers and learners).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document