scholarly journals Factors Influencing EFL Learners’ Attitudes toward English Varieties

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-289
Author(s):  
Arifumi Saito
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Japanese Students ◽  
Attitudes Toward English ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Japanese English

This study explores how intercultural communication and the knowledge of ‘English as an International Language’ (EIL) affect EFL learners’ perception and attitudes toward “non-native” English varieties. Since EIL encourages non-native English speakers to use their own English with expressions reflecting their cultures and identities, introducing EIL in EFL classes is expected to lead EFL learners to positively change their mindset for English varieties and enhance their confidence in their own English. In this research, Japanese and Chinese/Vietnamese college students were divided into two groups and assigned different readings (EIL vs. non-EIL readings) before the discussion on English varieties. After the intercultural communication, participants were asked to write about their ideas on EIL, and their reflective writings were qualitatively analyzed to examine how the knowledge of EIL would influence the students’ attitudes toward English varieties. As a result, the Japanese students who did the EIL readings showed a positive attitude toward “non-native” English varieties, including ‘Japanese English’. In contrast, the Chinese and Vietnamese students showed a negative attitude toward them across the board even after learning about EIL. We aim to investigate the reasons and backgrounds of the results including what makes the difference between the Japanese and the Chinese/Vietnamese students.

Second language learning of phonological alternations with and without orthographic input: Evidence from the acquisition of a German-like voicing alternation

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-545
Author(s):  
Shannon L. Barrios ◽  
Rachel Hayes-Harb
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
New Words ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Naming Test

AbstractWhile a growing body of research investigates the influence of orthographic input on the acquisition of second language (L2) segmental contrasts, few studies have examined its influence on the acquisition of L2 phonological processes. Hayes-Harb, Brown, and Smith (2018) showed that exposure to words’ written forms caused native English speakers to misremember the voicing of final obstruents in German-like words exemplifying voicing neutralization. However, they did not examine participants’ acquisition of the final devoicing process. To address this gap, we conducted two experiments wherein native English speakers (assigned to Orthography or No Orthography groups) learned German-like words in suffixed and unsuffixed forms, and later completed a picture naming test. Experiment 1 investigated learners’ knowledge of the surface voicing of obstruents in both final and nonfinal position, and revealed that while all participants produced underlyingly voiced obstruents as voiceless more often in final than nonfinal position, the difference was only significant for No Orthography participants. Experiment 2 investigated participants’ ability to apply the devoicing process to new words, and provided no evidence of generalization. Together these findings shed light on the acquisition of final devoicing by naïve adult learners, as well as the influence of orthographic input in the acquisition of a phonological alternation.

How native and non-native English speakers adapt to humor in intercultural interaction

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy D Bell
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Intercultural Interaction ◽  
Second Language Speakers ◽  
Negative Message ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

AbstractHumor can often carry an implicit negative message and thus be potentially dangerous to use. In addition, it is culturally and linguistically complex and sophisticated. Because of these things, it poses a challenge for L2 (second language) speakers and we might expect to see attempts at humor failing and causing offense in intercultural interaction. This paper reports on a study that examined humor in interaction between native and non-native speakers of English and found that humor did not seem to be a cause of conflict because of adjustments speakers made to their speech and their situated interpretations of meaning. In general, taboo topics and potentially dangerous forms of humor were avoided and humor was carefully contextualized. Native speakers reported being careful about the vocabulary they used in creating humor and both sides appeared to approach humor in intercultural communication prepared to accommodate the other and with an attitude of leniency.

scholarly journals The Realization of Complaint Strategies among Iranian Female EFL Learners and Female Native English Speakers: A Politeness Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Atefeh Eshraghi ◽  
Mohsen Shahrokhi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Completion Test

<p>Speech acts are interesting areas of research and there has been much research on speech acts. Complaint is a type of speech act and how to use it in interaction is important to EFL learners. The complaint strategies employed by Iranian female EFL learners and female English native speakers were compared in this study. Also, the effects of contextual variables (Social distance and Social power) on the choice of complaint strategies by Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers were studied in this research. Thirty Iranian female EFL learners and thirty female native English speakers participated in this study. The two instruments which were used in this study included Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and Discourse Completion Test (DCT). The (DCT), as an open-ended questionnaire was administrated to them to elicit complaint speech acts. Then, the collected data were analyzed according to a modified taxonomy of complaint strategies proposed by Trosoborg (1995). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between Iranian female EFL learners and female native English speakers in terms of using complaint strategies. Iranian female EFL learners used indirect complaint, while female native English speakers used the direct complaint more frequently; and contextual variables had a great influence on complaint strategy choice by participants of two groups.</p>

scholarly journals EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

LITERA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Mahripah
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes

This study aims to describe EFL learners’ attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. The data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 131 students of Department of English Language Education. The results of the dataanalysis show that all respondents show positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. Although female students have more positive attitudes than male students, the difference is not significant. The results also show that students’ attitudes towards their speaking performance change in accordance with their learning time. Their self-assessment of their speaking performance has a significant correlation with their attitudes. Their positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance serve as a foundation to the success of the English language learning. Therefore, learners should pay attention to and maintain attitudes to improve their speaking performance.

scholarly journals Attitudes toward English phonetics learning: a survey on Indonesian EFL learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-217
Author(s):  
Sri Ayu Istiqomah ◽  
Alies Poetri Lintangsari ◽  
Widya Caterine Perdhani
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Phonetic Learning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Attitudes Toward English ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
English Literacy

Indonesian EFL learners face challenges in comprehending English phonemes as it becomes one of the significant predictors of English literacy. Hence, the English Phonetics subject is considered one of the most difficult ones, making the teaching and learning process less effective. Addressing Indonesian EFL learners’ attitudes toward English phonetics teaching is significant to improve phonetics teaching, yet, research on this has not received much attention. This present study was conducted to explore EFL learners’ attitudes toward English phonetic learning. A quantitative approach with survey design was employed involving 112 Indonesian EFL students. The researchers identified students’ attitudes using an adapted questionnaire from Lintunen and Mäkilähde (2015). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was utilized to analyze the data. The results indicate that Indonesian EFL students perform positive attitudes toward English phonetic learning, although they confess that phonetics is challenging. It implies that phonetics learning is potential and promising to support their English fluency; hence, lecturers need to make phonetics Learning more enjoyable, easier and participating in drawing the students' full engagement by considering their preferences and attitude toward phonetics learning.

scholarly journals The Use of Complaints in the Inter-Language of Turkish EFL Learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanju Deveci
Keyword(s):  
Negative Transfer ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Classroom Language ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Teacher Students

Many Turkish EFL learners struggle with giving complaints and criticisms in the EFL classroom. Language instructors must find way to provide students with the linguistic and pragmatic elements of EFL to be able to appropriately complain as EFL users. The purpose of this study is to investigate the complaint speech used by Turkish EFL learners in two different situations: speaking to a commiserating teacher and speaking to a contradicting teacher. Four kinds of data sources were used to collect data in the classroom: twenty native English speakers’ role-plays, twenty-five Turkish native speakers’ role-plays, and forty students’ role-plays. The subjects’ complaint speech act sets were a coding scheme borrowed from a previously conducted study by Murphy and Neu (1996). The baseline and the inter-language data were compared to see to what extent they were similar or different, whether or not the Turkish EFL learners made positive and negative transfer, and if there were any features unique to the inter-language of the learners. The findings revealed that when speaking to the commiserating teacher, students made both positive and negative transfer in using ‘demand’. The students speaking to the contradicting teacher made positive transfer in the components ‘explanation of purpose’, ‘complaint’ and ‘justification’. The component ‘demand’ was subject to negative transfer.

scholarly journals THE USE OF LEXICAL COLLOCATIONS IN SOME ARTICLES OF SEVENTEEN.COM WEBSITE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsya Aprila Tayibnapis ◽  
Lina Meilinda ◽  
Yessy Purnamasari
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Research Technique ◽  
Lexical Collocations

Collocations are one of the problems faced by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners when learning English language. This study is intended to help the EFL Learners and non-native English speakers to add knowledge about collocations. Therefore, this study is aimed to find the use of lexical collocations and their meaning. This study used a descriptive qualitative research technique. The source of the data is eleven articles from eight sections in seventeen.com. om the research, there were 79 lexical collocations and they were classified as six out of seven types that Benson et al. (2010) proposed. The data showed that the most used type is L3 (adjective + noun) and the least used is L4 (noun + verb). The meaning of the lexical collocations was defined from the contexts. 

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