scholarly journals The relationship between phonotactic awareness and pronunciation in adult second language learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-214
Author(s):  
Hanna Kivistö-de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L1 English ◽  
L2 Pronunciation

Abstract: This study examined to what extent L1 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) EFL learners are aware of L2 phonotactics and whether there would be a relationship between L2 phonotactic awareness and L2 pronunciation accuracy. The language learners were tested regarding their awareness of L2 onset consonant clusters with a lexical decision task presenting nonword stimuli with legal and illegal onset clusters. L2 pronunciation was measured with a Foreign Accent Rating Task. The results showed that L1 BP participants showed a high awareness concerning L2 phonotactics, not differing from L1 English speakers, t(86)=.20, p =.83. Furthermore, high phonotactic awareness was found to be related to higher accuracy in L2 pronunciation (r= -.46, p <.001). The results suggest that phonotactics should be taught in foreign language classrooms since increasing learners’ awareness might be beneficial for the accuracy of their L2 pronunciation.

Dialect comprehension and identification in L2 Spanish: Familiarity and type of exposure

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Schoonmaker-Gates
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Nonnative Listeners ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Previous work has shown that both native and nonnative listeners’ production and perception of regional variation changes with an individual’s residential history, social ties, and exposure to different dialects. The present study investigates the relationship between L2 learners’ dialect familiarity and their ability to understand and identify regional varieties in the read speech of native speakers from six different regions. The source and depth of participants’ past dialect exposure, as well as a measure of their proficiency in Spanish, were also accounted for in this investigation of 60 L1 English speakers’ performance on a transcription task and a dialect identification task. Results revealed that familiarity was a significant predictor of learners’ dialect identification regardless of level, and it also predicted the dialect comprehension of more advanced students. Comprehension but not identification was also more accurate when multiple types of exposure were reported and when exposure was through native instructors, study abroad, and media from a specific region. Ultimately, the present findings shed light on second language learners’ comprehension and identification of different regional varieties of Spanish with and without prior exposure to each dialect, including the effects of different sources of exposure on participants’ perception.

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. 

Review on Motivation of Second Language Learners in Class

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 4229-4233
Author(s):  
Yi Xia
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Motivational Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

This paper will provide insight into motivation through the lenses of learning style, interaction and feedback. If the relationship between motivation and three factors are well understood, then the learning of second foreign language can be facilitated in the classroom. Motivational strategies also will be presented after each lens. At the end of the paper, it concludes with the limitations of these researches and specific implications such as classroom environment for further teaching practice.

Exploring Japanese EFL Learners’ Attitudes Toward English Pronunciation and its Relationship to Perceived Accentedness

2020 ◽  
pp. 002383091990037
Author(s):  
Aki Tsunemoto ◽  
Kim McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
School Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Attitudes Toward English ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L2 Pronunciation

This study investigates what individual differences may play a role in second language (L2) learners’ pronunciation, exploring whether English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ attitudes toward English is linked to their perceived accentedness. Japanese EFL secondary school students ( N = 62) carried out a 69-word read-aloud task and their speech samples were evaluated by 16 raters for accentedness. A ten-item questionnaire examined the attitudes toward L2 pronunciation of Japanese EFL learners. From the questionnaire, an exploratory factor analysis revealed three dimensions: pronunciation significance, interest in English sounds, and confidence in pronunciation. However, only confidence in pronunciation was significantly correlated with accentedness scores. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between affective factors and L2 pronunciation attainment.

scholarly journals Does Autonomy Really Matter in Language Learning?

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 98-111
Author(s):  
Gülnihal Şakrak-Ekin ◽  
Cem Balçıkanlı
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Education ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Personal Variables ◽  
The Relationship

The main aim of this study was to unravel the possible relationship between individuals’ level of autonomy as EFL learners and academic success in terms of language learning at the tertiary level. Additionally, this quantitative study focused on exploring EFL learners’ level of autonomy and also the relationship between learner autonomy and some personal factors, including gender, age, English level, and the length of English education. In order to assess the participants’ levels of autonomy, a questionnaire consisting of 66 items was administered to 267 university students, who were Turkish-speakers of English as a foreign language. The findings showed that more than half of the learners (65.2%) had a high autonomy level with a mean autonomy score of 461.37 out of 660. As for the personal variables, only gender was found to be a significant factor in regards to learners’ autonomy, in this case, in favour of females. Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between learner autonomy level and the academic success of language learners. In other words, the academic success of language learners increased with their autonomy and vice versa. In accordance with the literature, the present study revealed that learner autonomy could be considered one of the factors that affects the success of language learners. Based on the findings, it might be suggested that learner autonomy and possible ways to promote it in and out of class should be given more importance. Further empirical research was suggested in order to comprehend unexplored aspects of learner autonomy in language learning.

scholarly journals The influence of content knowledge on NNS-NNS conversations

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Yuh-Fang Chang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Relationship

In the field of second and foreign language acquisition, a second-language learner’s language (i.e. interlanguage), like the language of native speakers, varies. What is not clear, however, are the underlying causes of this variation. Causes of interlanguage variation such as linguistic contexts, tasks, and interlocutors have been researched. However, there are other important factors in interlanguage variation that are under-researched. Topic of discourse is one such under-researched factor. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between discourse topics and second language learners’ oral performance.　Twenty-six Taiwanese students participated in this study. Data were collected from NNS-NNS conversations. It was found that discourse topics have a great impact on the grammatical complexity and fluency of L2 learners’ speech production. 第二言語習得や外国語の習得において、学習者の言語（いわゆる中間言語）も母語話者の習得言語と同様に変異があるということはよく知られているが、未だ解明されていないのは何が変異を起こしているのかである。言語、文脈、タスク、対話者などの要因についてはこれまで比較的多く研究されている。しかしながら談話上のトピックについてはほとんど調査が行われていない。本研究の目的は談話上のトピックと学習者の発話行動の関係を探ることである。26名の台湾人の学生が調査に参加した。非母語話者どうしの対話からデータを収集し分析した結果、談話のトピックは文法構造の複雑度および流暢さに大きく影響することがわかった。

Morphophonemic transfer in English second language learners

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
SZE WEI PING ◽  
SUSAN J. RICKARD LIOW
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
English Word ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Transitional Probability ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
L1 English

Malay (Rumi) is alphabetic and has a transparent, agglutinative system of affixation. We manipulated language-specific junctural phonetics in Malay and English to investigate whether morphophonemic L1-knowledge influences L2-processing. A morpheme decision task, “Does this <nonword> sound like a mono- or bi-morphemic English word?”, was developed by crossing English Transitional Probability (high vs. low) with Malay Transitional Possibility (possible vs. impossible). The data for Malay-L1/English-L2 adults (N = 21) provide clear and reliable empirical evidence of L1-to-L2 morphophonemic transfer: Participants were more accurate at identifying transitional boundaries in English when they are also possible in Malay. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Picture or non-picture? The influence of narrative task types on lower- and higher-proficiency EFL learners’ oral production

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuyan Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Task Types

Abstract Picture-based storytelling tasks, i. e. telling a story relying on some pictures, and short speech tasks, i. e. producing a speech with a given topic without pictures, are two types of oral narrative tasks widely adopted in previous studies. However, few have discussed what effects these two types of tasks may exert on second language learners’ speaking performance. In this study, sixty English as a foreign language learners, divided into lower- and higher-proficiency groups, performed a picture-based storytelling task and a short speech task. Stimulated recalls were collected from seventeen participants. Their oral discourses were analysed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Stimulated recalls were analysed based on Levelt’s speaking model. The short speech tasks raised participants’ accuracy and lexical complexity and were more effective for higher-proficient learners regarding structural complexity. The findings yield suggestions for designing oral narrative tasks for EFL learners with different L2 proficiency levels.

Situation-Bound Utterances and Formulaic Competence: The Case of Chinese Learners of English as a Foreign Language

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gong Zhiqi ◽  
Jiang Hui
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Chinese Learners Of English

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between situation-bound utterances (SBUs thereafter) and formulaic competence, focusing on the acquisition of three subcategories of SBUs among early intermediate and early advanced Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). A group of native English speakers also participated in this study to provide baseline data. One-way ANOVA analysis and post hoc tests confirmed that linguistic competence usually preceded formulaic competence for EFL learners. The findings also showed no statistically significant difference existing between the three groups of participants in the use of plain SBUs, and this could be attributed to the low degree of cultural-embeddedness and high semantic transparency of plain SBUs. It was further argued that a threshold has to be reached for EFL learners to go through a movement from rules to wholes.

scholarly journals Shadow-Reading Effect on Reading Comprehension: Actualization of Interactive Reading Comprehension: (A Vygotskyan View!)

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elahe Sadeghi ◽  
Akbar Afghari ◽  
Gholam-Reza Zarei
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control

<p>Reading comprehension has been the main concern for second language learners and researchers. Today with rising interests towards Vygotskyan Sociocultural Theory (SCT), attempts have been made to insert Vygotskyan approach into Foreign/Second Language classrooms emphasizing the role of scaffolding and meaningful interactions to promote learners’ comprehension. Having this on mind, the current study used shadow-reading as a means of meaning internalization to see if it affects on reading comprehension. To this end, 52 junior EFL learners from two universities were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. A pretest of reading comprehension including 4 reading passages with 20 Multiple Choice items was administered to the learners to see if they were at the similar level of reading comprehension. During 10 sessions, the learners were provided with shadow-reading strategy in which they were required to listen and repeat the passage in a well-disciplined imitative task and, then summarize what they had comprehended from the text. A reading comprehension post test was also administered at the end of the semester after 10 sessions of conducting shadowing. The data of the first and the last sessions was analysed. The findings of the study showed that shadow-reading has significantly influenced learners’ comprehension. The results also lent support to Vygotskyan theory in that using shadowing as a means of meaningful imitation and interaction facilitates comprehension among learners. The results also shed light on the way through which instructors try to promote learners’ comprehension. It seems that shadow reading due to its sociocultural traits can be used as an appropriate means of promoting reading comprehension all over the world.</p>

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