scholarly journals Second Language Learners’ Competence of and Beliefs About Pragmatic Comprehension: Insights From the Chinese EFL Context

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
He Yang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
Efl Context ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension

It can be a great challenge for second language (L2) learners to comprehend meanings that are implied in utterances rather than the surface meaning of what was said. Moreover, L2 learners’ attitudes toward pragmatic learning are unknown. This mixed-methods study investigates L2 learners’ ability to comprehend conversational implicatures. It also explores their beliefs about and intentions to develop this ability using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB). A total of 498 freshmen from a public university in China participated in the study. Data were collected using a web-based test, stimulated recall tasks and semi-structured interviews. Results show that the participants differed in recognizing the intended meanings. Complicated factors account for the variations. In addition to the types of implicature, learners’ beliefs about developing pragmatic comprehension also influence their learning intention, and subsequent performance. These beliefs include learners’ multi-layered, complex attitudes toward the outcomes of pragmatic learning, perceived self-efficacy beliefs regarding language proficiency and L2 cultural knowledge, actual behavioral control over opportunities and resources for pragmatic learning, and perceptions of less social pressure on pragmatic learning. The use of TPB may help language teachers and test designers to understand learners’ beliefs about L2 pragmatic learning in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Understanding the factors influencing learners’ intention will help design more effective teaching curricula that may integrate pragmatic instruction and testing in the future.

scholarly journals The Case Study of Pragmatic Failure in Second Language of Pakistani Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asif ◽  
Zhiyong Deng ◽  
Zahoor Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Pragmatic Failure ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Level Of Significance ◽  
High Level

The current study explores the pragmatic failure in the second language (L2) of Pakistani learners at the graduate level. Pragmatic failure occurs mainly because of the lack of the cultural awareness and knowledge, and it offers an angle for the discussion in this study. However, the development of L2 learners’ pragmatic competence plays a significant role in accomplishment of communicative competence. This study was aimed to examine the relationship between pragmatics and language proficiency. The data were selected from two universities, i.e., University of Management and Technology, Lahore, and Minhaj University Lahore. The sample of 80 L2 learners participated in this study, and forty students were selected from each university. They were studying English as L2 for four years, respectively. All learners were Urdu speakers and their age ranged from 22 to 28. To assess participants’ language proficiency, Oxford Quick Placement Test (1999) was employed. The data were analyzed through the SPSS software (version 22) to answer the research questions. The descriptive analysis is utilized to find out the results. In order to evaluate the data, One Way ANOVA was run to see the level of significance among the three groups, i.e., High, Mid and Low. It is 0.445 between High and Mid group, and finally the level of significance between Low and Mid group is 0.001. The results reveal that L2 Pakistani learners have a lot of problems not only in pragmatic competence but in language proficiency as well. However, there is a significant relationship between pragmatics and language proficiency. And finally, it is found that there is no difference between male and female learners in pragmatic field, and eventually we came to this conclusion that pragmatic feature of English is predictable, namely, those students who are in a high level of language proficiency do better in pragmatic situations.

scholarly journals Dot the pill down: Investigating the linguistic needs of foreign rugby players and lexicon of spoken rugby discourse

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Stuart Benson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Technical Vocabulary ◽  
Word Lists ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Load Analysis ◽  
Rugby Players

<p>Traditionally a sport which is played predominantly in English speaking countries such as New Zealand, England, and Australia, rugby is gaining in popularity in other countries such as Japan. International rugby competitions, such as the World Cup and Super Rugby, and increased migration of players and coaches in the sport contribute to this growth. In rugby, spoken communication with community members such as players, coaches, managers, and the referee, is a fundamental aspect of the sport. This communication presents a challenge for second language (L2) learners wanting to immerse themselves in a foreign rugby setting, in the case of Japanese players coming to New Zealand or New Zealand players going to Japan. It also presents a challenge for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers who might be faced with developing courses and materials to help second language speakers learn what they need to know to play rugby in another language, and in another country. To date, no research has focused on the linguistic and communicative needs of these players. A feature of this communication is technical language, for example ruck, maul, and lineout, but no previous research has focused on the specialised vocabulary of this game. This thesis explores two aspects in the rugby domain: vocabulary, especially technical vocabulary, and the linguistic needs of foreign players and coaches in New Zealand and Japan. The study consists of two phases which were conducted to address these gaps in the research.   To find out more about the nature of vocabulary in spoken rugby, phase one contained two parts. The first part was a corpus-based analysis of television commentary and team-based rugby speech. This analysis included conducting a lexical profile and vocabulary load analysis. The findings were compared to a written corpus, containing the Laws of Rugby. The results of the vocabulary profile analysis showed that high frequency vocabulary make up the majority words in each corpora. Additionally, other lexical items such as marginal words (e.g. fillers and swear words), as well as proper nouns, are important for comprehension, depending on the type of discourse. The vocabulary load analysis found 4,000 word families plus four supplementary lists and a rugby-specific list were needed for 98% comprehension in spoken rugby discourse. Part two of the first phase investigated the nature of technical vocabulary in rugby discourse. Four single-word and multi-word unit word lists using the spoken and written corpora were developed for use in the language classroom. A total of 293 spoken and 250 written word types were selected from the corpora following frequency and semantic meaning principles to create the technical single-word lists, for example lineout, tighties, and loosies. The technical words provided 12.04% and 35.41% coverage of the corpora from which they were developed. Next, lists of technical multi-word unit lists with 223 spoken and 417 written units, such as over the ball and lineout players, were created to be used in conjunction with the technical single-word lists.   Phase two of the study utilised the results from phase one to conduct a linguistic needs analysis in New Zealand and Japan. Drawing on online surveys and semi-structured interviews, the results showed language difficulties occur throughout the rugby domain, especially when playing and practising the sport. Furthermore, general and rugby vocabulary are the two main language aspects affecting communication for both players and coaches. These findings indicate explicit instruction in spoken language is needed for L2 learners.   This thesis has methodological implications for research into spoken technical vocabulary, as well as pedagogical implications for ESP. For example, the word lists can be used to help L2 rugby players and coaches learn the vocabulary that they will encounter and be expected to use fluently in games and at practice. This means they can receive specialised support for their language needs and ultimately be able to perform at their highest level in the foreign rugby community.</p>

scholarly journals Situation-Specific Speaking Anxiety: University-Level Students’ Experiences

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Alzamil
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Major Obstacle ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
University Level

Second language (L2) learners are very keen to master speaking in their L2, and this is among the most important of all language skills. However, speaking anxiety is a major obstacle to successful L2 learning. This study was designed to investigate university-level students&rsquo; attitudes towards speaking in English and their experience of anxiety. 81 participants who majored in English with an average age of 21.8 years were recruited. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews and administered a four-point Likert-scale questionnaire with 18 items, designed to address three constructs: a) fear of speaking in English; b) fear of making mistakes in English; and c) fear of being judged by others. The findings showed that although the participants were generally unconcerned about speaking English, their attitudes were different when they were asked about specific situations. When asked about their fear of making mistakes in front of their classmates, or of being judged by them, they agreed that in those circumstances they would experience anxiety.

scholarly journals What vocabulary size tells us about pronunciation skills: Issues in assessing L2 learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Paolo Mairano ◽  
Fabian Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Speaking Skills

AbstractMeasures of second language (L2) learners’ vocabulary size have been shown to correlate with language proficiency in reading, writing and listening skills, and vocabulary tests are sometimes used for placement purposes. However, the relation between learners’ vocabulary knowledge and their speaking skills has been less thoroughly investigated, and even less so in terms of pronunciation. In this article, we compare vocabulary and pronunciation measures for 25 Italian instructed learners of L2 French. We measure their receptive (Dialang score) and productive (vocd-D, MTLD) vocabulary size, and calculate the following pronunciation indices: acoustic distance and overlap of realizations for selected L2 French vowel pairs, ratings of nasality for ratings of foreign-accentedness, fluency metrics. We find that vocabulary measures show low to medium correlations with fluency metrics and ratings of foreign-accentedness, but not with vowel metrics. We then turn our attention to the impact of research methods on the study of vocabulary and pronunciation. More specifically, we discuss the possibility that these results are due to pitfalls in vocabulary and pronunciation indices, such as the failure of Dialang to take into account the effect of L1-L2 cognates, and the lack of measures for evaluating consonants, intonation and perception skills.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition and the Mastery of Discourse Connectives: Assessing the Factors That Hinder L2-Learners from Mastering French Connectives

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathis Wetzel ◽  
Sandrine Zufferey ◽  
Pascal Gygax
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Discourse Connectives

Even though the mastery of discourse connectives represents an important step toward reaching high language proficiency, it remains highly difficult for L2-learners to master them. We conducted an experiment in which we tested the mastery of 12 monofunctional French connectives conveying six different coherence relations by 151 German-speaking learners of French, as well as a control group of 63 native French speakers. Our results show that the cognitive complexity of the coherence relation and connectives’ frequency, both found to be important factors for native speakers’ connective mastery, play a minor role for the mastery by non-native speakers. Instead, we argue that two specific factors, namely the connectives’ register and meaning transparency, seem to be more predictive variables. In addition, we found that a higher exposure to print in L1, correlates with a better mastery of the connectives in L2. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of second language acquisition.

scholarly journals How L2 learners of French and English express modality using verbal means: A crosslinguistic and developmental study

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Leclercq ◽  
Amanda Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
French And English ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
English Speaking

AbstractThis study describes and analyzes how native and non-native speakers express modality using verbal means during oral retellings. Participants included native speakers of French and English, as well as English-speaking learners of French and French-speaking learners of English at three levels of language proficiency. All participants performed the same short film retelling, which was then transcribed and analyzed in terms of modalization. Results show that all groups use verbal modal means, although rates, meanings and types of modal forms used vary across the two languages, and especially as a function of second language proficiency.

scholarly journals Second language acquisition and first language loss in adult early bilinguals: exploring some differences and similarities

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Montrul
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Usa ◽  
English Dominant

This study compares the linguistic knowledge of adult second language (L2) learners, who learned the L2 after puberty, with the potentially ‘eroded’ first language (L1) grammars of adult early bilinguals who were exposed to the target language since birth and learned the other language simultaneously, or early in childhood (before age 5). I make two main claims: (1) that the L1 grammar of bilinguals at a given stabilized state (probably endstate) resembles the incomplete (either developing or stabilized) grammars typical of intermediate and advanced stages in L2 acquisition; and (2) that despite similar patterns of performance, when language proficiency is factored in, early bilinguals are better than the L2 learners, probably due to exposure to primary linguistic input early in childhood. I offer empirical evidence from an experimental study testing knowledge of the syntax and semantics of unaccusativity in Spanish, conducted with English-speaking L2 learners and English-dominant Spanish heritage speakers living in the USA. I consider recent treatments of unaccusativity and language attrition within the generative framework (Sorace, 1999; 2000a; 2000b), that offer a unifying account of the formal parallels observed between these two populations I discuss how input, use and age may explain differences and similarities in the linguistic attainment of the two groups.

scholarly journals On L1 attrition and the linguistic system

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 212-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika S. Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
First Language ◽  
Quantitative Difference ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Native Language Proficiency

One of the most puzzling observations for linguists is the difference between learning a language from birth and later in life: while all normally developing children can attain full native language proficiency, there is considerable variability in ultimate attainment among older speakers who attempt to acquire a second language (L2). There is an ongoing controversy in linguistic research on whether this discrepancy is due to a maturationally constrained window of linguistic development making language learning difficult or impossible after puberty, or to general cognitive factors linked to the fact that the later an L2 is established, the stronger the competition it has to overcome from the more deeply entrenched first language (L1). Studies attempting to resolve this controversy have so far focussed exclusively on the development of L2 skills. New insights may be provided by investigating the first language skills of migrants who have become dominant in the L2 (referred to as L1 attriters). Such speakers learned their L1 as monolinguals during childhood, and were therefore not impeded by maturational constraints in the acquisitional process. Having lived in an L2 environment for a long period of time, however, their seldom-used L1 shows signs of the influence of their highly active L2. A systematic comparison of L1 attriters and L2 learners may therefore be able to shed some light on the question of whether there is a qualitative or merely a quantitative difference between L1 acquisition in childhood and L2 acquisition later in life: If being a native speaker is maturationally constrained, even attrited L1 systems should remain native-like. But if the persistent problems of L2 learners are due to issues such as lack of practice and exposure, and competition between their two language systems, bilinguals who use their second language dominantly should become more similar to L2 speakers.

scholarly journals Intergenerational Literacy Learning with Bilingual Families: A Context for the Analysis of Social Mediation of Thought

1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin G. Thornburg
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Literacy Program ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Mediation ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Scaffolding Strategies

This research initiative was undertaken to examine the effects of an intergenerational literacy program, held weekly for 2 hours over a 6-month period, on the measured English proficiency of nine bilingual families (9 parents, 15 children). The research was also conducted to explore the relationships among changes in the participants' use of identified categories of discourse during literacy activities and changes in their second-language competency on tests of literacy. Program goals were to encourage the parents to read storybooks to their children in the home as well as to provide literacy-based activities to family members, including storybook reading, hands-on projects related to the stories read, formal English instruction for the parents, and free play for the children. Sixteen observations (24 hours) of participants' discourse were conducted by the researcher and an assistant using a format adapted from research of family-based literacy learning and classroom discourse; semi-structured interviews with parents and teachers were also held. Results of pre-post comparisons of children's scores on the PLS and parents' scores on the CTBS revealed significant improvements. Frequencies of identified categories of parent-and-child discourse between the third and fifteenth observations were also compared and revealed several significant differences. Significant correlations were also found between participant test scores and differences in their use of identified categories of discourse. These empirical results, as well as descriptive findings, are interpreted using Vygotsky's (1978, 1987) sociocultural theory of learning. It is proposed that teacher scaffolding strategies, as well as the parents' and children's efforts to linguistically mediate each other's learning, were integral to the gains in the families' second-language proficiency.

scholarly journals Facilitating reflection in teletandem through automatically generated conversation metrics and playback video

2021 ◽  
pp. 88-93
Author(s):  
Aparajita Dey-Plissonneau ◽  
Hyowon Lee ◽  
Michael Scriney ◽  
Alan F. Smeaton ◽  
Vincent Pradier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Review ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Learning English

This pilot study focuses on a tool called L2L that allows second language (L2) learners to visualise and analyse their Zoom interactions with native speakers. L2L uses the Zoom transcript to automatically generate conversation metrics and its playback feature with timestamps allows students to replay any chosen portion of the conversation for post-session reflection and self-review. This exploratory study investigates a seven-week teletandem project, where undergraduate students from an Irish university learning French (B2) interacted with their peers from a French university learning English (B2+) via Zoom. The data collected from a survey (N=43) and semi-structured interviews (N=35) show that the quantitative conversation metrics and qualitative review of the synchronous content helped raise students’ confidence levels while engaging with native speakers. Furthermore, it allowed them to set tangible goals to improve their participation, and be more aware of what, why, and how they are learning.

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