scholarly journals Pronunciation Problems among Palestinian English Major Students in Hebron University

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
English Major ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
Modern Standard

The purpose of this research is to identify few common pronunciation mistakes among Palestinian English major students in Hebron University and the factors that cause these problems. The paper discusses selected phonetic and phonological problems related to specific consonants and vowels besides problems related to pronunciation of consonant sequences. The participants of this study were 120 English major students from Hebron University. The instruments used for collecting the data were a questionnaire and a recorded pronunciation test. In addition to the previous instruments, interviews were conducted with eight students and two instructors. The findings of the study revealed that Hebron University English major students have difficulties in pronouncing English consonants that are not part of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) such as [ŋ], [p], [ɫ], [ɹ], [ʒ], [tʃ] (though some consider [ŋ], [ɫ], [ʒ], [tʃ] as allophonic variants and are used in the different dialects of Arabic), problems in consonant clusters(epenthesis), silent letters, and vowels that have more than one pronunciation. During the interviews, the interviewees pointed various reasons for their errors and suggested some solutions to some of these pronunciation problems. Among the mispronunciation reasons mentioned are: interference from Arabic and the lack of correct models, exposure to native speakers, and practice. The researchers concluded that learners' errors are caused by several linguistic factors, such as the disparity between Arabic and English sound systems, the effect of spelling on pronunciation, the influence of the first language (L1) on the second language (L2), and English vowel inconsistency. Finally, ideas to overcome some of the pronunciation problems are suggested.

scholarly journals Competing Pressures in Diglossia: Avoiding Colloquial Elements in Writing Modern Standard Arabic

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 146-168
Author(s):  
Alexander Magidow
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Negative Interference ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Positive Interference ◽  
Modern Standard

This article investigates speaker choice of variant lexemes and structures when writing in formal Modern Standard Arabic, using a multiple-choice survey that was distributed to 28 native speakers of Damascene Arabic. The study finds that speakers tend to avoid elements that are common in their local colloquial dia-lect, even if they are attested and permissible in Modern Standard Arabic, what might be called “negative interference.” However, in some cases interference from the colloquial form is so strong that speakers appear to be confused as to which form is correct (“positive interference”), and when given the choice, prefer to avoid problematic forms altogether. These results suggest that there are a number of competing pressures in diglossia, supplementing previous studies which have primarily found evidence of positive interference from the local dialects on Modern Standard Arabic. This study concludes that this avoidance behavior may explain the historical robustness of diglossia, as well as some of the regional variation that occurs in Modern Standard Arabic.

Codeswitching between Modern Standard and Colloquial Arabic as L2 sociolinguistic competence

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lama Nassif
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Practice ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Sociolinguistic Competence ◽  
Colloquial Arabic ◽  
Modern Standard

Multidialectal use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Colloquial Arabic (CA) has become standard practice among Arabic speakers. Therefore, a question facing Arabic instructors and curriculum planners is what methods to adopt to raise learners’ awareness of this sociolinguistic reality. Some programs introduce MSA and one variety of CA from the beginning of Arabic instruction. However, the question of how learners who receive multidialectal training use MSA and CA simultaneously in their speech productions and how their MSA–CA use evolves over their years of Arabic study remains under-researched. The current study addressed these questions by studying the speech productions of 51 second language (L2) Arabic learners enrolled in three years of Arabic instruction. The data show that the participants consistently code-switched between MSA and CA, and seemed to conform to sociocultural norms designating MSA as more formal and CA as more personal and intimate. As learners’ proficiency levels increased, a wider range of sociolinguistic functions was observed. The study reinforces the importance of L2 Arabic curricula decisions that embrace the multidialectal use of Arabic in the L2 Arabic classroom and asserts learners’ ability to use MSA and CA simultaneously.

Non-native Japanese listeners’ perception of vowel length contrasts in Japanese and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimiko Tsukada
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Modern Standard

This study aimed to compare the perception of short vs. long vowel contrasts in Japanese and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) by four groups of listeners differing in their linguistic backgrounds: native Arabic (NA), native Japanese (NJ), non-native Japanese (NNJ) and Australian English (OZ) speakers. The NNJ and OZ groups shared the first language (L1), but differed in their familiarity with Japanese. In both Japanese and MSA, vowel length is phonemic. In contrast, vowel duration plays a more limited (although not insignificant) role in English. Of interest was the discrimination accuracy of NNJ listeners who learned Japanese as a second (L2) or foreign language in adulthood. As expected, the NA and NJ groups discriminated their L1 contrasts more accurately than all the other groups, but the NNJ listeners showed a significant shift in their perceptual behaviour and outperformed the OZ listeners who have no knowledge of Japanese in discriminating the Japanese vowel length contrasts. Furthermore, NNJ was the only group who did not differ in their discrimination accuracy for the Arabic and Japanese stimuli. Taken together, the results obtained in this study suggest that NNJ learned to discriminate Japanese vowel length contrasts to some extent, but the learning did not carry over cross-linguistically to the processing of vowel length contrasts in an unknown language.

scholarly journals Acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic by Speakers of Different Arabic Colloquial Varieties: Resumption in Object Relative Clauses *1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Sami Alresaini
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
First Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Object Relative ◽  
Modern Standard

It is often claimed that there are no native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) due to possible effect of late age of first exposure (AoE) and possible effect of the acquired colloquial variety ofArabic, which is considered as the first language (L1). This empirical study examined the impact of AoE and knowledge of the L1on the ultimate attainment of resumption in MSA object relative clauses. 147adolescent participants from Egypt, the Levant, and the gulf regions, were recruited to examine their underlying knowledge ofresumption in MSA through completing an Acceptability Judgment Task. Using ANOVAand planned comparisons, the differences in participants' judgments to resumptionwere evaluated across 5 groups corresponding to different AoE and the colloquialvarieties they speak. The analysis of the data showed no significant effect of AoEnorof the L1, and post hoc tests showed no significant differences between the groups ofparticipants. These results were discussed in relation to theories on L1 influence and tothe critical period hypothesis.

The effects of motivation on processing instruction in the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Ayah Farhat ◽  
Alessandro Benati
Keyword(s):  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Processing Instruction ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Modern Standard Arabic ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Modern Standard

The present study investigates the effects of motivation and processing instruction on the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic gender agreement. The role of individual differences (e.g. age, gender, aptitude, language background and working memory) on the positive effects generated by processing instruction has been investigated in the last few years. However, no previous research has been conducted to measure the possible effects of motivation on L2 learners exposed to processing instruction. In addition, a reasonable question to be addressed within the processing instruction research framework is whether its positive effects can be generalised to the acquisition of Modern Standard Arabic. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and the Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) motivation questionnaires were used to capture different variables that influence motivation in order to create the two different groups (high and low motivated). In this experimental study, forty-one native English school-age learners (aged 8–11) were assigned to two groups: ‘the high motivated group’ (n = 29): and the ‘low motivated group’ (n = 12). Both groups received processing instruction, which lasted for three hours. Sentence-level interpretation and production tasks were used in a pre-test and post-test design to measure instructional effects. The learners were required to fill in gaps in both written and spoken mode for the activities. The study also included a delayed post-test administered to the two groups four weeks later. The results indicated that both groups improved equally from pre-test to post-test in all assessment measures and they both retained the positive effects of the training in the delayed posttests. Processing instruction was proved to be the main factor for the improvement in performance regardless of the learner’s level of motivation.

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