scholarly journals Some Challenges in Using Computer-Aided Translation Tools to Facilitate Second Language Fluency in Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Dianne Excell
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Translation Tools ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Academic Fluency

At every level of education, from early years to postgraduate, students can arrive in the UK (or US) classroom with little or no English language ability. It is impossible for teachers to have knowledge of every first language that students bring into the classroom and thus they may rely on a computer-aided translation tool so that their students can have access to the English needed in all subjects across the curriculum. At the same time, students need to move from basic English skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing towards the subtleties of academic English which they must achieve in order to reach the UK government’s required standards in English at every level of assessment. Using her extensive knowledge of the challenges that students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) and their teachers face in the classroom situation and the English needed in assessments, the author examines possible benefits of computer-aided translation tools such as Google Translate and Talking Pen and outlines some of the problems and drawbacks with such tools that create barriers to acquiring full academic fluency, thus posing challenges to future translation tool developers.

scholarly journals Pronunciation Of The English Voiceless Postalveolar Affricate /tʃ/ In Yemeni EFL Learners’ Production

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Najah Ahmad Khamis ◽  
Rohaiza Jupri
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Quantitative Case Study

<p>Achieving a near-native speaker’s pronunciation is so essential for EFL learners. However, many factors contribute to the challenges faced by EFL learners, mainly due to the difference in the sound system of English Language and that of their first language. For this reason, Arab learners of English Language may mispronounce some English sounds. This paper analyzed one of the few problematic sounds to the Arab Yemeni EFL learners - the pronunciation of the English voiceless postalveolar affricate /ʧ/. The study which has a quantitative case study design uses four Yemeni EFL postgraduate students as its participants. The participants’ pronunciations of /tʃ/ sound in the initial, middle and final word-positions were analyzed using Praat phonetic software. The findings of the study showed that Yemeni EFL learners have difficulties in producing the /tʃ/ sound, especially in the initial and final positions, and deaffrication of /tʃ/  occurred in the  pronunciation of the four participants. The current study is expected to be of value, particularly for EFL learners, teachers, as well as material writers.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals An Empowerment Tool for Teaching English Effectively to Refugees: A Case Study of Syrian Adult Refugees in the UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 389
Author(s):  
Aisha M. Alhussain
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Education ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Rote Learning ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
The Uk

There is a growing demand today to fill the gap in the literature with studies that focus on teaching English to adult refugees who are illiterate or have had interrupted education and no English proficiency. This group has been ignored because ESOL courses are not designed to serve their needs, namely, to be self-reliant and socially integrated. This paper shares my personal experience with six Syrian adult refugees, 2 females and 4 males ranging in age from 26 to 52, with either interrupted elementary education or illiteracy. They had no English language proficiency and could neither speak nor understand English at all. Their first language was Arabic. The rote learning approach was used as an empowerment tool to teach self-reliance in speaking and listening when dealing with these participants&rsquo; priority themes. The approach is based on memorization using both repetition and recall. Their remarks of progress towards self-reliance varied due to age and motivational factors. Four participants moved from A0 level to A1+, while the other two reached A2 level. Gaining self-reliance helped them to socially integrate, find a job, and gain greater self-confidence. Results of the study might be useful to teachers who are involved in teaching English to refugees as volunteers and to refugees&rsquo; organizations to shift from relying totally on interpretation to rote learning when specifically dealing with this group of refugees.

scholarly journals Refugees in the UK Labour Market: The Conflict between Economic Integration and Policy-led Labour Market Restriction

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICE BLOCH
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
English Language ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Integration Strategy ◽  
Secondary Sector ◽  
Market Restriction ◽  
Labour Market Activity ◽  
The Uk

This article draws on data from a survey of 400 refugees and shows low levels of labour market activity. The minority of refugees who are working are in secondary sector jobs with little opportunity for progression. Moreover, refugees with high levels of skills who are working are not in jobs commensurate with their skills and qualifications. The article examines the human capacity and personal characteristics that have an impact on refugee employment, and finds the greatest difference in employment is between men and women, although English language fluency and training are also very important. Employment is a major part of the refugee integration strategy, and employment initiatives focus on capacity-building rather than discrimination or reversing restrictive policies. The article concludes that strategies need to focus on individual employability as well as measures to overcome personal and structural barriers to the labour market.

scholarly journals Narrowing the Gap between EFL and ESL:

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-98
Author(s):  
Xin Chen
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
International Graduate Students ◽  
Discourse Communities ◽  
Academic English ◽  
International Graduate ◽  
The U.S

The sharp increasing number of international students in the U.S. has warranted more research into the academic literacy development of those students whose first language is not English. A great number of studies have found that how to socialize themselves into the new discourse communities at university remains a challenge for most international students because of language and cultural barriers. The gap between learning the English language in EFL contexts and using the language in ESL contexts also becomes an issue in international students’ academic performance that needs to be addressed. This case study examines how a graduate student from Korea (an EFL country) developed her academic English when pursuing her degree in the U.S. (an ESL context for her). The research demonstrated her strategies of surviving the academic life despite the language limitations and investigated the factors that influenced her language development. Implications for how to support international graduate students in improving linguistic and cross-cultural competences are discussed.

Number and two languages in the early years

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Wilkinson ◽  
John Bradbury
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Concept Development ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Arnhem Land ◽  
Early Number

This paper focuses on the role of language and some issues associated with identifying appropriate language of instruction for three foundational Maths ideas in the Early Years of schooling. These are considered in relation to the project: Strong Literacy and Numeracy in Communities – Numeracy Component. This had two broad goals, firstly to work with paraprofessional Indigenous teachers to determine an effective language of instruction for specific foundational numeracy concepts and secondly, to create a resource to enable this to be shared. Only two of the project sites are considered here. Both are in Yolŋui communities in northeast Arnhem Land, where English is not widely used for interaction. We focus on the use of first language, Djambarrpuyŋu, for the children’s concept development. The English language that can be used is determined by what is possible for early second language learners. We will share some samples of the Djambarrpuyŋu identified for teaching early number ideas. We will describe the process by which suitable expressions for the key ideas in Djambarrpuyŋu were identified and some issues that arose regarding the use of language for comparing numbers. The project showed how ‘Maths’ lessons are a time both for concept development and for language development.

scholarly journals A contrastive study of grammatical metaphors in abstracts of Chinese MA theses and expert academic writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziou Huang ◽  
Hui Yu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
English Academic Writing

Abstract As a significant indicator of College students’ ability in academic English communication, academic papers, especially their condensed abstracts require various writing techniques among which the use of grammatical metaphors (GMs) is typical. To improve the English academic writing level of Chinese postgraduate students, it is significant to compare their use of GMs with that in expert research articles. On the basis of Halliday’s reclassification of GMs, this study aims to compare the characteristics of GMs in abstracts of MA theses and expert research articles (RAs). It is found that there is universal use of nearly all GM types in both groups. The two groups are similar in that they share the top five most frequently used GMs, and there are no significant differences in the use of more than half of the GM types. However, the overall GM frequency of expert RAs is significantly higher than that of MA theses. Significant differences are also found in the use of six GM types. Furthermore, some correlations between certain GM types found in expert RAs are missing in MA theses. Reasons for these differences may include the limited understanding of GM, the underdeveloped cognitive ability, the genre differences and the first language differences. Based on these findings, implications for teaching and learning are discussed.

Pre-Referral Procedures: Meeting Unique Needs of English Language Learners

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Joanna Burton ◽  
Betsy Wendt
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
School System ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public School System ◽  
Language Difference ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
School Team

An increasingly large number of children receiving education in the United States public school system do not speak English as their first language. As educators adjust to the changing educational demographics, speech-language pathologists will be called on with increasing frequency to address concerns regarding language difference and language disorders. This paper illustrates the pre-referral assessment-to-intervention processes and products designed by one school team to meet the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELL).

Working With Interpreters to Support Students Who Are English Language Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette W. Langdon ◽  
Terry Irvine Saenz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Support Students

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.

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