English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

scholarly journals The Impact of Native Language Use on Second Language Vocabulary Learning by Saudi EFL Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Saleem Khan
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Impact

<p>This paper strives to explore the impact of Native Language use on Foreign Language vocabulary learning on the basis of empirical and available data. The study is carried out with special reference to the English Language Programme students in Buraydah Community College, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The Native Language of these students is Arabic and their Second Language is English. The participants in this research study are the post-secondary students of Buraydah Community College in Intensive Course Programme. The instrument used in this study was in the form of two tests. It is well known that in language assessment tests play a pivotal role in evaluating the EFL learners’ language proficiency. The use of native language as a semantic tool for assessing second language learners’ understanding shouldn’t be rejected altogether especially for the undergrad Saudi EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The outcomes of the study show that in learning the vocabulary of target language is significantly helped by the use of translation method of native language (Arabic) in understanding the meaning of novel words and expressions of foreign language (English). This method is widely welcomed by majority of the students of Buraydah Community College. It’s recommended to use this method in order to take the students directly to the core meaning of the word or expression. It also, sometimes, gives a sense of accuracy of the meaning of native language equivalents.</p>

Examining authenticity from an ELF perspective: the development of listening test papers in Hong Kong (1986–2018)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-165
Author(s):  
Jim Yee Him Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Hong Kong English

Abstract The present study examined the degree of situational and interactional authenticity in Hong Kong’s listening examination papers throughout the history of colonisation and globalisation (1986–2018) with reference to world Englishes and particularly English as a lingua franca (ELF) research. By means of a detailed content analysis, the evaluation of situational authenticity was based on the context of language use (e.g., speech event type, nature of interaction, identity and accent of interlocutor) in the audio samples, while the evaluation of interactional authenticity centred on the speaker’s use of communicative strategies. Our findings suggest that the speech samples generally reflected the changing situations of language use over time by increasingly adopting dialogue (rather than monologue) and locally/globally relevant language use contexts, but only included native-speaker and (from 2012) Hong Kong English accents as speech models. Despite the lack of non-standardness and speakers of different cultures in the speech samples, there were numerous instances of explicitness strategies relevant to ELF interactions throughout the sample, probably owing to the intent of the listening examination to highlight key information for the candidates. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these trends in listening paper design for the future development of English language teaching from an ELF perspective.

scholarly journals Predicting bilingual preschoolers’ patterns of language development: Degree of non-native input matters

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (05) ◽  
pp. 1189-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Unsworth ◽  
Susanne Brouwer ◽  
Elise de Bree ◽  
Josje Verhagen
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Input Quantity ◽  
Input Quality ◽  
Family Constellation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWhile numerous studies have recently shown that variation in input quantity predicts children’s rate of acquisition across a range of language skills, comparatively little is known about the impact of variation in input quality on (bilingual) children’s language development. This study investigated the relation between specific quality-oriented properties of bilingual children’s input and measures of children’s language development across a number of skills while at the same time taking family constellation into account. Participants were bilingual preschoolers (n = 50) acquiring Dutch alongside another language. Preschoolers’ receptive and productive vocabulary and morphosyntax in Dutch were assessed. Parental questionnaires were used to derive estimates of input quality. Family constellation was first operationalized as presence of a native-speaker parent and subsequently in terms of patterns of parental language use. Results showed that proportion of native input and having a native-speaker parent were never significant predictors of children’s language skills, whereas the degree of non-nativeness in the input, family constellation in terms of parental language use, and language richness were. This study shows that what matters is not how much exposure bilingual children have to native rather than non-native speakers, but how proficient any non-native speakers are.

The Impact of Anglicizing Former German-Language Psychology Journals on Authorship and Citation Frequencies

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günter Krampen ◽  
Thomas Huckert ◽  
Gabriel Schui
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
German Language ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Number Of Citations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Number Of Authors

Exemplary for other than English-language psychology journals, the impact of recent Anglicization of five former German-language psychology journals on (1) authorship (nationality, i.e., native language, and number of authors, i.e., single or multiple authorships), (2) formal characteristics of the journal (number of articles per volume and length of articles), and (3) number of citations of the articles in other journal articles, the language of the citing publications, and the impact factors (IF) is analyzed. Scientometric data on these variables are gathered for all articles published in the four years before anglicizing and in the four years after anglicizing the same journal. Results reveal rather quick changes: Citations per year since original articles’ publication increase significantly, and the IF of the journals go up markedly. Frequencies of citing in German-language journals decrease, citing in English-language journals increase significantly after the Anglicization of former German-language psychology journals, and there is a general trend of increasing citations in other languages as well. Side effects of anglicizing former German-language psychology journals include the publication of shorter papers, their availability to a more international authorship, and a slight, but significant increase in multiple authorships.

scholarly journals Implementasi UML Dan Grennfoot Untuk Membangun Aplikasi Pengucapan Bahasa Inggris

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wire Bagye
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Object Oriented Programming ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Recording Material ◽  
English Pronunciation ◽  
Black Box Testing ◽  
The Right

One of the materials in the English Language course is listening, namely the skill of hearing the pronunciation of English sentences. Learning listening must use native speaker or recording material so that the pronunciation is heard according to the original. If you use the course participants as a sound source, there is a high probability of mistakes in the pronunciation of words or sentences. Then an application is needed to help with course activities as tutors or native speakers in giving correct English pronunciation. In this research, English Pronunciation Application was built using the Greenfoot Application with the object oriented programming concept. This application is to help pronoun learning that can output audio when the object clicked. The development method uses SDLC, application modeling uses UML and testing using Black-box testing. The English pronunciation application is compiled into a .jar file so that it can be run on a computer with a Windows operating system that has JDK installed. The test results show that this English learning application can replace tutors, produce the right audio, and can replace native speakers. This can be seen from the results of the questionnaire showing 82%.

scholarly journals Analysis of Factors Affecting the Auditory Attention of Non-native Speakers in e-Learning Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. pp159-169
Author(s):  
Nikesh Bajaj ◽  
Jesús Requena Carrión ◽  
Francesco Bellotti ◽  
Riccardo Berta ◽  
Alessandro De Gloria
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Sentence Length ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Significant Drop ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Impact

: One of the most striking characteristics of e-Learning audiences is their diversity. Native and non-native learners can be expected among such audiences and therefore, when developing e-Learning courses it is important to consider the impact of the language level on learning. Specifically, non-native learners are expected to have a diminished auditory perception compared to native ones and hence reduced attention capabilities that could result in a poorer performance. In this study, we assess the impact of linguistic and auditory factors on the attention of non-native learners, namely semanticity, sentence length and noise level. An English language platform mimicking real e-Learning environments is used and attention is quantified by measuring the number of English words correctly identified during a listening task. Our results show that changes in each factor affect the attention score significantly. Interestingly, the effects of semanticity are apparent in noiseless environment, but vanish in noisy ones.  Results also show that in noiseless environments, a change in the length of semantic sentences from small or medium to long causes a significant drop in the attention score. Our results demonstrate the importance of carefully accounting for linguistic and auditory factors when designing effective e-Learning courses, especially when they target global audiences and learners with different language abilities are expected.

Social Media Escapism: Exploratory Study of the use of Digital Media by Tirana University Students of English Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-211
Author(s):  
Iris Klosi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
State University ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Impact

The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism. The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism.

scholarly journals Linguistic Markers and Stylistic Attributes of Hedging in English Academic Papers Written by Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

MANUSYA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Amara Prasithrathsint
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Markers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Academic Writing ◽  
The Impact

Hedging means mitigating words so as to lessen the impact of an utterance. It may cause uncertainty in language but is regarded as an important feature in English academic writing. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the style of academic writing in English with particular reference to the significant role of hedging and the linguistic features that mark it. The data was taken from academic articles in the humanities written by native speakers of English, Filipino speakers of English, and Thai speakers of English. It is hypothesized that speakers of English as a foreign language use fewer and different hedging devices than native speakers of English. The result of the analysis shows that the prominent linguistic markers of hedging are the auxiliaries may, might, could, the verbs suggest, appear, seem, and the adverbs perhaps and often. They are divided into three groups according to their stylistic attributes of hedging; namely, probability, indetermination, and approximation. The use of hedging found in the data confirms what Hyman (1994) says; i.e., that hedging allows writers to express their uncertainty about the truth of their statements. It is also found that English native speakers use hedges most frequently. The Filipino speakers of English are the second, and the Thai speakers of English use hedges the least frequency. This implies that hedging is likely to be related to the level of competence in English including knowledge of stylistic variation, and that it needs to be formally taught to those who speak English as a second or foreign language.

scholarly journals Multilingual access: Language hegemony and the need for discoverability in multiple languages

2018 ◽  
Vol 79 (11) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Kelly McElroy ◽  
Laurie M. Bridges
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

It is widely accepted that English is the current lingua franca, especially in the scientific community. With approximately 527 million native speakers globally, English ranks as the third most-spoken language (after Chinese and Hindu-Urdu), but there are also an estimated 1.5 billion English-language learners in the world.The preeminence of English reflects the political power of the English-speaking world, carrying privileges for those who can speak, write, and read in English, and disadvantages to those who cannot. This is also the case in scholarly communication. Linguist Nicholas Subtirelu identifies three privileges for native English speakers: 1) easier access to social, political, and educational institutions; 2) access to additional forms of capital; and 3) avoiding negative opinions of one’s speech.For example, we were both born into families that speak American English at home, we were surrounded by English books and media growing up, and our entire education was in English. Even defining who counts as a “native” speaker can be refracted through other social identities. As college-educated white Americans, our English is never questioned, but the same is not true for many equally fluent people around the world. 

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