scholarly journals Listening Difficulties among Non-Native Speakers of Arabic

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Fatma Yousuf Al-Busaidi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Sultanate Of Oman ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Radio Programs ◽  
Perspective Analysis

This qualitative study analyzed the listening difficulties of 19 students learning Arabic as a foreign language in the Sultanate of Oman from a social-constructivist perspective. Analysis of the data obtained from interviews and students’ diaries has indicated that learners experienced five listening difficulties that occurred either in the classroom setting, in their real-life conversation with Omanis or while listening to TV and radio programs. It was found that their listening difficulties were related to speed of speech, quickly forgetting what was heard, missing the next part when thinking about meaning, the inability to understand what they had heard and inability to match the sound of the word with what they already know.This paper also investigates and analyzes the causes of listening problems. The most frequent difficulties seemed to result from the lack of opportunities to practice Arabic. It has been also found that cultural differences have a strong relationship to listening comprehension problems. 

Foreign language teaching – Integrationism vs. MGM

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Marion Grein
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Game Model ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Modern Language

Abstract Modern language teaching is no longer grammar based, but based on authentic real life dialogues (dialogic speech acts) which enable learners to communicate or rather to interact verbally and nonverbally competent with native speakers. The conception of language teaching curricula, especially with regard to the development of textbooks, is in need of an applicable model of communication, based on regularities or principles of language-usage. Both, Integrationism and the Mixed Game Model (MGM) opt against segregational static approaches of linguistic analysis and – at first glance – could be considered suitable approaches within the field of language teaching. Yet, I will argue that the Integrational approach is hardly applicable here, whereas the MGM perfectly suits the needs of foreign language textbook authors and editors.

scholarly journals REASONS FOR MISTAKES IN FOREIGN SPEECH PERCEPTION: BASED ON RUSSIAN AND CHINESE

2019 ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Bai Xuhaoran ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Negative Interference ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Sentence Patterns

Fluencyin a foreignlanguagepresupposesadvancementinvariousskills. When learning a foreign language, listening is one of the most difficult types of language practices for non-native speakers. The results of the present research based on the survey of 52 Chinese and 50 Russian L2 learners, aged 18-28 (Bachelor, Master and PhD levels) in Chelyabinsk support this viewpoint. The current paper analyzes the causes of mistakes in listening comprehension made by Chinese learners of Russian and Russian learners of Chinese. The causes can be of psychological nature (anxiety and the lack of motivation), of linguistic nature reflected on the phonetic (number of sounds, syllable tone vs lexical stress, connected speech processes), lexicographic, lexical-grammatical (the lack of vocabulary, differences of grammatical categories and syntactic sentence patterns) levels, as well as the lack of knowledge regarding cultural realities. These mistakes are a naturally expected as a result of the negative interference of the mother tongue.

scholarly journals “The Words Disappeared When Faced with Real Life Situations”: Communication Difficulties of Non-Native Speakers of Arabic in the Sultanate of Oman

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Fatma Yousuf Al-Busaidi
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sultanate Of Oman ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Native Arabic Speakers ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Colloquial Arabic ◽  
Teaching Programs ◽  
Authentic Life

The learning of Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) is increasing around the world. Even so, non-native speakers learners of Arabic face an array of communication difficulties. The present study is intended to explore some of the possible communication difficulties encountered by adult learners of Arabic in the Sultanate of Oman. An interpretive approach was adopted for the study, using in-depth interviewing and participants’ diaries. The findings of the study revealed that non-native Arabic speakers face four distinct difficulties when they attempt to communicate in Arabic. These difficulties are categorized as: putting thoughts into words, maintaining continuous speaking, pronunciation-related issues and applying grammar in their speech. These findings call for improved teaching programs, bridging the gap between classroom teaching activities and authentic life situations and the placing of parallel emphasis on both standard (written) Arabic and vernacular spoken Arabic in its different contextual communities. It is recommended that more studies investigating the dichotomy between colloquial Arabic varieties and standard Arabic should be undertaken.

scholarly journals Difficulties of perception of sounding speech in Russian by schoolchildren-non-native speakers

KANT ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 230-235
Author(s):  
Elena Alekseevna Zhelezniakova ◽  
Polina Vasilevna Novikova
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
School Age ◽  
Speech Activity ◽  
Theoretical Part ◽  
Systematic Development ◽  
The Russian Language

The article reveals the problems of listening comprehension in a foreign-language audience, in particular, by students who are non-native speakers. The theoretical part is a brief characteristic of listening as a type of speech activity: the content of the term, its internal components – the psychophysiological mechanisms involved, the difficulties associated with them. In the practical part the authors of the article demonstrate exercises from the purposefully developed lesson on the removal of difficulties in the perception of sounding speech in non-native speakers children of middle school age, consisting in the systematic development of mechanisms of listening comprehension. Based on the analysis of the experimental lesson, solutions for systematic and consistent work in the classes within the additional remedial course in the Russian language in order to prevent errors and difficulties, as well as to facilitate the process of listening comprehension are proposed.

scholarly journals DISCOURSE MARKERS IN AN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) CLASSROOM SETTING: A REFLEXIVE STUDY ON TEACHING DISCOURSE

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 723-742
Author(s):  
Alan Tocantins Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Study

This paper is a reflexive teaching study to investigate the use of discourse markers (DMs) in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom setting with non-native speakers. It is a qualitative and quantitative study that focuses on the teacher’s discourse by analysing the occurrences and frequencies in the use of DMs during interaction in class. The corpus was extracted from recordings made during four classes, and later documented through transcriptions. With items selected and categorized in an inventory, it was possible to explain the main functions of the markers used. With the aid of the AntConc© software, it was possible to visualize how the words and phrases of interest appeared in the corpus, in addition to their frequencies. The analysis reveals pragmatic awareness and the use, however restricted, of DMs in the building and organization of classroom interaction by teacher, which contributes to the coherence of his discourse.

scholarly journals Discourse marking in spoken intercultural communication between British and Taiwanese adolescent learners

Pragmatics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Liang Lin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
Exchange Students ◽  
Intercultural Exchange

This study investigates and compares the use of discourse markers (DMs) by native speakers and learners of English based on a corpus of adolescent intercultural exchange students. Thestudy employs a discourse analytical approach, in whichFung and Carter’s (2007)multi-category framework is appliedwith a view to examiningDMs used bya group of Taiwanese and British adolescentsin an intercultural setting.The analytical frameworkcontains four main functional categories: Interpersonal, referential, structural and cognitive DMs. Each DM was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively in order to identifythe functions it serves in its original contextandtofurther reveal the different uses of DMs between Taiwanese and British participants. The findings demonstrate that the DMs used by both groups of participants serve the fourcentral functions,andin particularTaiwanese participants display a significant use of interpersonal (e.g., yeah, oh) and structural DMs (e.g., so, okay), while British participants have a significantly higher usage of referential (e.g., coz/because, and) and cognitive DMs (e.g., like, well). The results of this study have direct pedagogical implications that can enhance the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL)to better prepare learners for real life communication scenarios.

scholarly journals Typological constraints in foreign language acquisition

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Iakovleva
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition ◽  
Conceptual Transfer ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mirror Motion

This study examines the impact of typological constraints on second language acquisition. It explores the hypothesis of a conceptual transfer from first to foreign language (L1 to L2). Based on Talmy’s (2000) distinction between Verb- and Satellite-framed languages, corpus-based analyses compare descriptions of voluntary motion events along three paths (up, down, across), elicited in a controlled situation from native speakers (Russian, English) and Russian learners at two levels (upper- intermediate and advanced) acquiring English in a classroom setting. Results show that in spite of considerable differences between Russian and English native speakers’ performance, particularly with respect to the relative variability in their lexicalization patterns, idiosyncratic forms and structures produced by L2 learners rarely mirror motion conceptualization in their first language, which suggests the absence of a substantial transfer from L1.

Listening comprehension, shadowing and simultaneous interpretation of two ‘non-standard’ English speeches

Interpreting ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Sabatini
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Simultaneous Interpretation ◽  
Simultaneous Interpreting ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Working Hypotheses ◽  
Very High

Ten final-year interpreting students, all native speakers of Italian, were asked to perform three tasks using two ‘non-standard’ English speeches, one by an Indian speaking English as a second language (speaker A), and one by an American speaking English as a native language with a strong accent (speaker B). The duration of each speech was about 11 minutes, of which a different section was used for each task. First, subjects listened to the initial part of each speech (about 3 minutes) and were tested for listening comprehension. They then shadowed part of the speeches (about 2 minutes), after which they simultaneously interpreted the remainder from English into Italian. The working hypotheses were that: (i) the three tasks involve an increasing level of complexity: listening comprehension being the simplest and simultaneous interpretation the most difficult; (ii) ‘non-standard’ language in the source speech is a potential problem trigger for the interpreter. Performance in the three tasks was evaluated by examining the subjects’ answers to questions in the listening comprehension task (the highest score possible being 12), and by transcribing the shadowing and the simultaneous interpretation (both scored on a 12 point scale). In addition, subjects’ handling of previously identified problem areas in each simultaneous interpreting task was evaluated, again on a 12 point scale. Scores for each task were divided into bands, to distinguish between ‘very high’, ‘high’, ‘low’, and ‘very low’. Performance in the three exercises partly reflected their growing complexity, listening comprehension being the simplest and simultaneous interpretation the most difficult. The non standard characteristics of the two speeches were indeed difficult for some of the subjects to interpret. Taking Gile’s Effort Model as a theoretical basis, the study also provides some insight as to which phase of simultaneous interpretation caused most difficulties.

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