scholarly journals The Acquisition of Mandarin Consonants by English Learners: The Relationship between Perception and Production

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Xinchun Wang ◽  
Jidong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Speech Learning

This study investigates native English CFL (Chinese as a Foreign Language) learners’ difficulties with Mandarin consonants at the initial stage of learning and explores the relationship between second language (L2) speech perception and production. Twenty-five native English CFL learners read the eight Mandarin consonants (j/tɕ/, q /tɕʰ/, x /ɕ/, zh /tʂ/, ch /tʂʰ/, sh /ʂ/, z /ts/, and c /tsʰ/) in sentences and identified the target sounds in a forced-choice identification task. Native Mandarin listeners identified the consonants produced by the learners and rated the quality of each sound they identified along a scale of 1 (poor) to 7 (good). The learners’ mean percentage accuracy scores ranged from 29% to 80% for perception and 25% to 88% for production. Moderate correlations between the perception and production scores were found for two of the eight target sounds. The Mandarin retroflex, palatal, and dental fricatives and affricates, though all lack counterparts in English, pose different problems to the English CFL learners. The misperceived retroflex and palatal sounds were substituted with each other in perception but mis-produced palatal sounds were substituted with each other, not with retroflex sounds. The relationship between perception and production of L2 consonants is not straightforward. The findings are discussed in terms of current speech learning models.

PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT BUT HOW ABOUT ITS QUALITY?

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 999-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Sato ◽  
Kim McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Declarative Knowledge ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
University Level ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study explored the impact of contextualized practice on second language (L2) learners’ production of wh-questions in the L2 classroom. It examined the quality of practice (correct vs. incorrect production) and the contribution of declarative knowledge to proceduralization. Thirty-four university-level English as a foreign language learners first completed a declarative knowledge test. Then, they engaged in various communicative activities over five weeks. Their production of wh-questions was coded for accuracy (absence of errors) and fluency (speech rate, mean length of pauses, and repair phenomena). Improvement was measured as the difference between the first and last practice sessions. The results showed that accuracy, speech rate, and pauses improved but with distinct patterns. Regression models showed that declarative knowledge did not predict accuracy or fluency; however, declarative knowledge assisted the learners to engage in targetlike behaviors at the initial stage of proceduralization. Furthermore, whereas production of accurate wh-questions predicted accuracy improvement, it had no impact on fluency.

scholarly journals The Impact of Oral and Written Feedback on EFL Writers With the Use of Screencasts

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Alvira
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Private University ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Oral Feedback ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Results

<p>This article, based on an action research study performed at a Colombian middle-sized private university, proposes specific strategies to provide feedback to English as a foreign language learners and uses a Web 2.0 tool called screencasting. The findings of the study suggest that the use of coded, written, and oral feedback is widely accepted by students and yields positive results in the improvement of their writing skills at the paragraph level, and that the use of screencasting is a promising strategy that is motivational to students and increases the quality of their uptake.</p>

Patterns of Vocabulary Development in Foreign-Language Learners

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Palmberg
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Introductory Discussion ◽  
The Relationship

After an introductory discussion of the concepts of vocabulary knowledge continua and foreign-language learners' mental lexicons, the paper presents the results of a longitudinal pilot study whose aim was to make preliminary insights into vocabulary development as it takes place in an ordinary foreign-language classroom setting involving elementary-level Swedish-speaking learners of English. The results are discussed in terms of vocabulary growth in general, the learners' accessibility to words under time pressure, the relationship between “old,” well-known words and newly learned words, and finally, the stability of the learners' immediate access to words.

scholarly journals FRAME MARKERS AND COHERENCE IN L2 ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-71
Author(s):  
Višnja Pavičić Takač ◽  
Sanja Vakanjac Ivezić
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
The Relationship

Academic literacy includes the learners’ ability to use their language knowledge to form articulate texts. In communicative competence models this ability is subsumed under the notion of discourse competence which includes the concepts of cohesion and coherence. Starting from the premise that constructing a coherent text entails efficient use of metadiscourse (i.e. means of explicit text organisation) this study focuses on elements referring to discourse acts, text sequences or stages called frame markers, i.e. items providing framing information about elements of the discourse and functioning to sequence, label, predict and shift arguments, making the discourse clear to readers or listeners (Hyland 2005). It analyses patterns of L2 learners’ use of frame markers, compares them to English native speakers’, and explores the relationship between frame markers and coherence. The corpus includes 80 argumentative essays written by early undergraduate Croatian L2 learners of English at B2 level. The results indicate that foreign language learners’ argumentative essays are characterized by an overuse of a limited set of frame markers. Finally, implications are drawn for teaching and further research.

scholarly journals The relationship between language learning experience, motivation and some other individual variables of mature foreign language learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Zofia Chłopek
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Learner Motivation ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Individual Variables ◽  
The Relationship

The present paper investigates the issue of motivation of foreign language learners. The main research question, concerning a possible link between the amount of language learning experience and learner motivation, remains unanswered. However, it turns out that a few learner characteristics which some researchers believe to correlate with language learning experience can probably serve as good predictors of foreign language learners’ motivation.

scholarly journals WPŁYW UMUZYKALNIENIA NA PRZYSWAJANIE PODSYSTEMU FONICZNEGO U UCZĄCYCH SIĘ JĘZYKÓW OBCYCH: WYNIKI BADANIA

Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (43/2) ◽  
pp. 168-179
Author(s):  
Wioletta Piegzik
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Musical Ability ◽  
Music School ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

This report presents the results of a study into the relationship between musical ability and the development of a phonological system by foreign language learners. Our own experiences both as a foreign language teacher and as a musical group leader have raised a number of questions and lines of enquiry. These challenge previous researchers’ findings concerning the allegedly absolutely positive effect of music on language learning and as a result this study has been undertaken.After a brief theoretical presentation, we describe the research project in which learners abilities to distinguish and produce different phonemes as well as the prosody of the language studying are analyzed. Two groups of learners were compared in this study. One group attended a music school. The second group had no musical experience. The study showed that receptive skills were not significantly different between the two groups. The group of learners with musical training was more articulate but this was the only difference. The statistical approach used in analysis of data was the Wilcoxon test.

scholarly journals The relationship between the anxiety level of Iranian elementary EFL learners and their vocabulary learning strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-175
Author(s):  
Ghasem Tayyebi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Anxiety Level ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Vocabulary Learning Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Learning English

The current study aimed at examining the relationship between anxiety level of Iranian elementary English as a foreign language learners and the strategies that they adopt for learning English vocabulary. To this end, based on the performance of the participants on the Quick Placement Test, the researcher recruited 100 participants through availability sampling. To determine the strategies that the participants employ for learning English vocabulary, Schmitt’s taxonomy of vocabulary learning (VL) strategies questionnaire was administered. Also, the Spearman correlation was run to determine the correlation between various levels of anxiety and different VL strategies. The findings of the current study indicated that the effects of anxiety can adversely affect a person’s use of VL strategies. Likewise, when there is an increase in anxiety, VL strategy use decreases to a significant extent. Keywords: Vocabulary learning, strategies, foreign language, classroom, anxiety scale.

An Investigation of the Relationship between Pragmatic Competence and Motivation for Non-English Majors

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 1308
Author(s):  
Xiaojing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning Motivation ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Relationship

Language is used for communication. Pragmatic competence, which is essential in English teaching, is an important component of communicative competence. The development of pragmatic competence will enhance that of foreign language learners’ communicative competence. This study discusses the relation between pragmatic competence and language learning motivation. Results show that students’ general pragmatic competence is at a low level. Most of the subjects hold instrumental motivation as their dominant motivation. Significant correlation has been found between pragmatic competence and language learning motivation (r=.582; p=.000). According to the survey results, the author provides several suggestions on cultivating and maintaining learners’ motivation in their pragmatic learning.

Attainment of Syntactic and Morphological Accuracy by Advanced Language Learners

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig ◽  
Theodora Bofman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Specific System ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Syntactic Development ◽  
The Relationship

The present study examines the relationship between syntactic development, or complexity, and overall accuracy evidenced in the written English of advanced adult foreign language learners. Similar acquisition profiles were found to exist for 30 learners across five language groups: Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Malay, and Spanish. Syntactic complexity, measured in number of clauses per T-unit, is found to be similar in all five groups. These advanced foreign language learners, who show similar patterns of error distribution, all show relative strength in syntax, what Newport, Gleitman, and Gleitman (1977) call a universal design feature of language, but relative weakness in morphology, which is always a language-specific system.

scholarly journals NATIVE LANGUAGE INTERFERENCE IN ARRANGING ENGLISH TEXT BY INDONESIAN STUDENT

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Kadek Restu Sumaranama
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
English Text ◽  
Correct Word ◽  
Lexical Choice ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Contextual Meaning

This research was conducted based on the goal for finding and analyzing the emergence of interference or integration in the English text arranged by student whose native language is Bahasa. The interference was found in the field of syntax, with some mistakes in picking the word with correct word category, such as mistakenly replaced noun by verb, adjective by noun, noun by verb, and noun by adjective.  These all mistakes were all perceived as the interference of Indonesian as native language, since in Indonesian, the distinction between words in different categories or class is less-likely unseen. Besides, semantically, the lexical choice of the students in their arrangements was also observed. The dictionary meaning was chosen by the student and less-aware to the contextual meaning. The last one was the copula issue, that is about the relationship between subject and its to BE, where the students did mistakes in mistakenly put the BE, that is in Indonesian is commonly omitted.  Based on the analysis, it was found that the interference was frequently found and unavoidably committed by the students in their English use.  Therefore, expectantly this study may become the preliminary study that leads to the further intelligent tactic from the overall parties of people, linguists and the learners in responding and maintaining this phenomenon faced by the foreign language learners or Indonesian.

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