scholarly journals Creating and Validating an Advanced Practical Word List

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Chen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Word List ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Word Families ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking

<p>This study aims to create and validate a list of highly practical words used in the daily lives of people living in an English-speaking environment. These words are known to most native speakers of English, but are unknown to most advanced non-native speakers. The resulting list will be of great value to advanced non-native users of English who may function well in their respective domains of work but encounter many embarrassments for not having the vocabulary for daily communications. Three contemporary dictionaries were used in the initial development of the Advanced Practical Word List (hereafter APWL). Seven native speakers were then asked to rate the usefulness of the initial word list. Sixty advanced non-native speakers and 40 native speakers of English were asked to identify the words that were known to them. Based on these criteria, 867 word families have been identified by all native speakers as of high practical value but were unknown to most of the advanced non-native speakers in this study. The APWL comprises words from a wide range of frequency levels, and includes both words that should have been known to the advanced learners, and those that are beyond their proficiency level. The APWL is divided into 25 categories, each representing a type of words useful in daily life scenarios. Additionally, the APWL is divided into two types of sublists, one based on the words' frequency levels and another based on the potential usefulness of the words. The APWL is an important aid for advanced learners in an English-speaking context. It helps them cope with words that are frequently used by native speakers in daily life. The APWL is also important, as it attempts to look for another type of vocabulary in addition to the four tiers of words identified by Nation (2001).</p>

scholarly journals Creating and Validating an Advanced Practical Word List

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Chen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Word List ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Word Families ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking

<p>This study aims to create and validate a list of highly practical words used in the daily lives of people living in an English-speaking environment. These words are known to most native speakers of English, but are unknown to most advanced non-native speakers. The resulting list will be of great value to advanced non-native users of English who may function well in their respective domains of work but encounter many embarrassments for not having the vocabulary for daily communications. Three contemporary dictionaries were used in the initial development of the Advanced Practical Word List (hereafter APWL). Seven native speakers were then asked to rate the usefulness of the initial word list. Sixty advanced non-native speakers and 40 native speakers of English were asked to identify the words that were known to them. Based on these criteria, 867 word families have been identified by all native speakers as of high practical value but were unknown to most of the advanced non-native speakers in this study. The APWL comprises words from a wide range of frequency levels, and includes both words that should have been known to the advanced learners, and those that are beyond their proficiency level. The APWL is divided into 25 categories, each representing a type of words useful in daily life scenarios. Additionally, the APWL is divided into two types of sublists, one based on the words' frequency levels and another based on the potential usefulness of the words. The APWL is an important aid for advanced learners in an English-speaking context. It helps them cope with words that are frequently used by native speakers in daily life. The APWL is also important, as it attempts to look for another type of vocabulary in addition to the four tiers of words identified by Nation (2001).</p>

scholarly journals The Speech Act of Complimenting as Part of the Ukrainian, Russian and English-Speaking Communities: Ukraine and the USA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anzhelika Solodka ◽  
Luis Perea
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personal Appearance ◽  
The Usa ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Language Context

Compliments as speech acts have the reflection and expression of cultural values. Many of the values reflected through compliments are personal appearance, new acquisitions, possessions, talents and skills. It is especially important in linguistic interaction between people. This research aims to analyze the speech acts of complimenting in Ukrainian and American cultures in order to use them for teaching pragmatics second language (L2) students. Defining the ways of complimenting in Ukrainian, Russian and American English help to avoid misunderstandings and pragmatic failures. This study uses a method of ethnomethodology. Speach acts are studied in their natural contexts. To carry out this research native speakers of English in the United States and native speakers of Russian and Ukrainian from all over Ukraine were interviewed on-line. The analysis was made on the data that included: 445 Russian, 231 Ukrainian and 245 English compliments. Results of this study show how native speakers tend to compliment people: syntactical structure of expressions, cultural lexicon, attributes praised and language context. It has implications for teaching English to Ukrainians and for teaching Russian and Ukrainian to speakers of English. Knowing how to use speech acts allows the speaker to have pragmatic competence. Upon completion of the data analysis on the current study, further information on deeper analysis in terms of semantics and metaphorical language can be provided.

scholarly journals 'Real English' in Japan : team teachers' views on nativeness in language teaching

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Sutherland
Keyword(s):  
Team Teaching ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Interview Research ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

In Japan, English is often taught by teams composed of a local Japanese teacher of English (JTE) and a native English speaking assistant English teacher (AET). This form of team teaching is typically assumed to be beneficial as it provides the students with exposure to models of native English which they would otherwise not encounter. Research has found that students and JTEs approve of team teaching as it provides students with motivation to study a language that would otherwise have little relevance to their daily lives. Less research has been done to explore how team teaching affects the JTEs with regards to their feelings about their own skills as English language users. In this paper, based on interview research with JTEs, I argue that team teaching reinforces the dichotomy between native and non-native speakers to the detriment of both Japanese teachers and their students.

L1 transfer, proficiency, and the recognition of L2 verb-noun collocations: A perspective from three languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
English Only ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer in the recognition of second language (L2) collocations and unacceptable word combinations across low-intermediate to advanced learners of English, and the relationship between proficiency and the recognition of L2 collocations. The study targeted learners from two different L1 backgrounds and native speakers of English in order to disentangle the effect of L1 transfer from the effect of intralingual factors. Four types of English verb-noun combinations were included: English-Korean-Mandarin, English-only, Korean-only, and Mandarin-only phrases. A phrase acceptability judgment task and a phrase recognition report were used. The performances of 92 participants were analyzed using mixed effects modeling. The results from both Korean and Mandarin groups revealed no L1 influence in the recognition of unacceptable L2 word combinations, even at low levels of proficiency. The results also showed that L2 proficiency predicts learners’ ability to rule out grammatical-but-unacceptable L2 word combinations, but not the ability to recognize L2 collocations

Examining the impact of task demands on morphological variability in native and non-native Spanish*

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz López Prego ◽  
Alison Gabriele
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
Perfect Performance ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact

The study tests representational and computational accounts of morphological variability in English-speaking learners of Spanish by examining performance on gender and number agreement under different task demands. Second language (L2) learners took either a Speeded grammaticality judgment task (GJT) or an Untimed GJT. The tasks targeted agreement violations of two types: errors in the use of ‘default’ morphology and errors involving ‘feature clashes’ (McCarthy, 2008). In addition, three groups of native speakers took the Speeded GJT at three different presentation rates to examine whether native speakers under a processing burden perform similarly to learners. Natives in the fastest speed performed better with feature clash errors for both gender and number. Learners showed the same pattern for number, but performed better with default errors in gender, suggesting different effects of processing demands for properties unique to the L2. On the Untimed GJT, a subset of advanced learners showed perfect performance with both gender and number.

Universal Grammar and the acquisition of French verb movement by native speakers of English

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Hawkins ◽  
Richard Towell ◽  
Nives Bazergui
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Syntactic Differences

White (1989) has shown that L1 English-speaking learners of L2 French appear to be more successful in acquiring the postverbal location of French manner and frequency adverbs than L1 French-speaking learners of L2 English are in acquiring the preverbal location of English manner and frequency adverbs. One implication of recent work by Pollock (1989) on the structure of English and French clauses is, however, that the task of acquiring the placement of manner and frequency adverbs should be the same for both sets of learners, because English provides learners with as much positive syntactic evidence for preverbal manner/frequency adverbs as French does for the postverbal location of such adverbs. The problem, then, is to explain why there should be this difference in success. On the basis of a detailed study of the developing intuitions of English-speaking adult learners of L2 French it is suggested in this article that the English-speakers' success is only apparent. Both groups of learners have great difficulty in resetting a parametrized property of the functional category Agr, but the English- speaking learners of French are able to make use of nonparametrized properties of Universal Grammar to handle surface syntactic differences between English and French, properties which are not so readily available to the French-speaking learners of English. It is suggested that this finding is in line with an emerging view about the role of parametrized functional categories in second language acquisition.

Lexical and discourse factors in the second language acquisition of Spanish word order

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy Jandrey Hertel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Beginning Learners

This study investigates the acquisition of Spanish word order by native speakers of English. Specifically, it considers the development of sensitivity to the distinct interpretations of subject-verb (SV) vs. verb-subject (VS) order, as determined by lexical verb class (unaccusative and unergative verbs) and discourse structure.Participants included a native speaker control group and learners at four proficiency levels. Results from a contextualized production task indicate that beginning learners transferred the SV order of English for all structures. Intermediate learners showed a gradual increase in the production of lexically and discourse-determined inversion, although their data was also characterized by indeterminacy and variability. The advanced learners demonstrated a sensitivity to the word order effects of unaccusativity and discourse factors, but also tended to overgeneralize inversion to unergative verbs in a neutral discourse context.

scholarly journals Promoting English Speaking Confidence through Online Expanding Circle Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 01010
Author(s):  
Arifumi Saito ◽  
Younghyon Heo
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
International Language ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Confidence ◽  
Reading Activities

This study explores how expanding circle communication (i.e., intercultural communication between “non-native” speakers of English) boosts the confidence of Japanese EFL learners by developing a positive attitude toward their own English. Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese university students participated in four sessions of online discussion. Since the idea of “English as an International Language” (EIL) is considered as a key to promote the learners’ positive mindset for what had been considered “non-native” English varieties and boost the confidence in their own English, it was introduced in the reading activities in each session. After the completion of four intercultural communication sessions, reflective writings on two questions asking 1) their self-confidence in speaking English and 2) their attitude about EIL were collected. The result shows that the expanding circle communication brought the Japanese participants to raise their confidence in speaking English in relatively high percentage (73%) of all cases. Regarding the attitude on EIL, on the other hand, students were divided into two groups with the negative (43%) and positive (57%) attitude. In this study, therefore, the gap in the percentage between the participants’ confidence in speaking English and attitude on EIL was examined and discussed.

scholarly journals An investigation of accuracy and response time regarding processing mechanism of English relative clauses in EFL contexts

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Navid Nasrollahi Shahri ◽  
Masoud Motamedynia ◽  
Mohammad Ghazanfari
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Processing Mechanism ◽  
English Relative Clauses

Sentence comprehension in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts is influenced by many factors. One of the most important ones is the processing mechanism of relative clauses which can be analyzed in different frameworks by researchers. So far, a wide range of research has been conducted on the processing mechanism of relative clauses in a number of languages. The results have shown a tendency toward two major categories which have been proven to be of significance, namely subject preference and object preference. Studies conducted on native speakers of English, for instance, have demonstrated subject preference by the participants. Consequently, in this study, the researchers conducted a self-paced reading experiment employing Linger software, and the data were analyzed by using the SPSS Statistics version 25. It aims to investigate the processing mechanism of English relative clauses by Iranian EFL learners. The participants were nine males and 21 females of advanced English learners majoring in the English literature, all being native speakers of Farsi. The results indicate that that the correctness percentage of subject relative clauses, and also subject modifying ones, are significantly higher than that of object ones. The results also indicated that subject relatives were processed swifter than object relatives. Finally, the researchers discussed the reasons behind such a tendency among the participants of the experiment in terms of a number of theories and principles. The findings of this study are expected to be employed in language syllabus designing as well as in grading or sequencing of materials by educators and teaching material developers.

scholarly journals Probing rhythmic patterns in English-L2: a preliminary study on vowel reduction by Brazilian learners at different ages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo Mangueira Lima Jr ◽  
Guilherme Duarte Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Vowel Reduction ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Initial Exposure ◽  
Formal Instruction ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Categorical Classification ◽  
Preliminary Study

Languages are traditionally classified as mora-timed, syllable-timed or stress-timed in relation to their rhythmic patterns. The distinction between syllable-timed and stress-timed languages, however, lacks solid evidence in the literature. Syllable-timed languages typically have similar duration across unstressed and stressed syllables, whereas stress-timed languages tend to have similar inter-stress intervals, and unstressed syllables are shorter than stressed syllables. According to this categorical classification, English is a stress-timed language, thus having more reduction in unstressed vowels. Brazilian Portuguese, on the other hand, is typically classified as syllable-timed, and thus has little reduction of unstressed vowels. If these categorical rhythmic differences are correct, then acquiring the rhythmic patterns of English should be a challenging task to Brazilian learners, who are not expected to produce unstressed vowels with asmuch reduction as English native speakers. However, recent studies have found that the typology of rhythm is best understood as not categorical, but rather gradient, and that Brazilian Portuguese has a mixed classification, with more stress timing than would be expected from a traditional and categorical perspective. We therefore hypothesize that Brazilian learners of English should not have major difficulties reducing unstressed vowels, even when exposed to the second language later in life. To test this hypothesis, we analyze production data of native speakers of English (control group) and two groups of Brazilian advanced learners of English who differ in their age of initial exposure to formal instruction. The results show that neither group of learners is credibly different from the control group, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the mixed rhythm present in Brazilian Portuguese in fact facilitates the acquisition of the rhythmic patterns of English, a stress-timed language, at least in terms of unstressed vowel reduction.

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