Language Learners' Social Interaction during Study Abroad

2016 ◽  
pp. 722-754
Author(s):  
Rikki Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Depth Interviews

There is a common belief that one of the best methods for learning a foreign or second language is to develop social relationships with native speakers and to communicate with them using that language. In order to increase such interactional opportunities, participation in study abroad programs where the target language is spoken is frequently recommended. However, language learners often report disappointment in their degree of interaction and friendship development with native speakers while abroad. With a focus on learners of Japanese, the study reported in this chapter examines the contexts in which study abroad students in Japan find opportunities to interact and establish friendships with native Japanese speakers, and discusses the participants' satisfaction with and benefits of such interaction and friendships. The results draw upon 36 questionnaire responses, as well as in-depth interviews with four focal informants, all of who experienced a study abroad in Japan between 2010-2013.

scholarly journals Second language learners’ divergence from target language pragmatic norms

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pia Gomez-Laich
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
Direct Explanation ◽  
The Individual

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable aspect of language ability in order for second and foreign language (L2/FL) learners to understand and be understood in their interactions with both native and nonnative speakers of the target language. Without a proper understanding of the pragmatic rules in the target language, learners may run the risk of coming across as insensitive and rude. Several researchers (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Kasper & Rose, 2002) suggest that L2 pragmatics not only can be taught in the L2/FL classroom, but, more importantly, that explicit approaches that involve direct explanation of target pragmatic features are beneficial for learning pragmatics. Just as native speakers of a language acquire a “set of dispositions to act in certain ways, which generates cognitive and bodily practices in the individual” (Watts, 2003, p. 149), instructors can help learners to become aware of the pragmatic features that characterize the target language. Although the importance of explicit teaching of pragmatics is well recognized in the literature, learning norms and rules of pragmatics largely depends on learners’ subjectivity. Learners’ convergence or divergence from the L2 pragmatic norms, both consciously and out of awareness, sometimes depends on whether these norms fit their image of self and their L1 cultural identity. Since identity-related conflict can have significant consequences for the acquisition of second language pragmatics, failing to consider the centrality of learners’ identities will produce an inadequate understanding of SLA. This paper synthesizes studies that document the reasons why learners opt to remain foreign by resisting certain L2 practic-es. The following synthesis question was proposed: Why do language learners resist the pragmatic norms of the target language?

Second language learners’ production of geminate consonants in Japanese

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukari Hirata
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Production Accuracy

This chapter examines whether learners of Japanese at an intermediate level make progress in accurately producing singleton and geminate stops after being immersed in Japan without specific training. Seven learners of Japanese, with two years of classroom instruction in the USA, recorded words such as [kako] and [kakːo] in a carrier sentence at three speaking rates before and after a four-month study-abroad experience in Japan. Duration of various segments was analysed, and the singleton and geminate boundary ratio of native Japanese speakers was used to determine learners’ production accuracy. Results indicated that the learners did make a singleton/geminate distinction, but their production accuracy showed limited improvement. The results suggest continuing difficulty in the mastery of native-level durational control.

Tense-Aspect Distinctions within the Subjunctive Mood in the Spanish of Native Speakers and Second-Language Learners

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aarnes Gudmestad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Frequency Of Use

AbstractThe current study constitutes the first empirical investigation of the complete repertoire of tense-aspect forms of the subjunctive mood in Spanish. In this study, I identify the frequency of use of the full range of tense-aspect forms of the subjunctive mood (e.g. present, pluperfect) that native speakers and five proficiency levels of second-language learners use in mood-choice contexts and seek to determine the linguistic contexts (i.e. functions) in which these forms occur. The results show that native speakers use the present, imperfect, and pluperfect subjunctive forms more frequently than other subjunctive forms and that they use these three forms in a range of linguistic contexts. The analysis also demonstrates that learners use these three forms in largely the same contexts as the native speakers and that they restructure the strength of their form-meaning associations as they become more proficient in the target language.

Economy in the acquisition of English universal quantifier sentences: The interpretations of deaf and hearing students and second language learners at the college level

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERALD P. BERENT ◽  
RONALD R. KELLY ◽  
TANYA SCHUELER-CHOUKAIRI
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Universal Quantifier ◽  
College Level ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Sentence Interpretation

ABSTRACTEnglish sentences containing the universal quantifiers each, every, and all are highly complex structures in view of the subtleties of their scope properties and resulting ambiguities. This study explored the acquisition of universal quantifier sentences as reflected in the performance of three diverse college-level student groups on a multipicture sentence interpretation task. The participant groups (hearing native speakers, deaf students, and second language learners of English) all exhibited fundamental knowledge of universal lexical, semantic, and syntactic properties that contribute to quantifier sentence interpretation. The native speakers outperformed the deaf and second language groups, whose performance was strikingly parallel. Performance patterns are explained in terms of the influences of derivational economy, including the option to restrict in situ indefinite noun phrases to singleton indefinites. The symmetry effect observed in child language studies was also observed among the college-aged participants in this study. It is explained in terms of a pragmatic challenge in managing contextual information that invokes an unexpected singleton indefinite interpretation. The results contribute to the understanding of sentence comprehension under conditions of restricted learner access to target language input and underscore the value of seeking correlates of theory-internal derivational economy in language acquisition and use.

Investigating the degree of humorous enjoyment in reading Chinese language errors

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223
Author(s):  
Guangyan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Gender Difference ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Chinese Teachers ◽  
Reading Chinese ◽  
People’S Perceptions

AbstractSecond language learners often make errors when they use their target language for communication. People perceive some of these errors as humorous. Many factors influence these perceptions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these factors affect people’s perceptions when they read CSL (Chinese as a second language) learners’ humorous errors. The factors mainly refer to error stimuli and readers’ backgrounds. The researcher collected 25 error stimuli from two popular and often-cited online articles. 57 participants responded to these errors and rated them in the following three categories: Very Funny, Somewhat Funny, and Not Funny. These participants included 51 Native Speakers (NSs) of Chinese and six Non-Native Speakers (NNSs). The NSs consisted of 28 females and 23 males. Out of the participants, 17 were Chinese teachers and 40 were non-teachers. The results indicate that teachers perceived these texts as less funny than non-teachers; No significant gender difference was found; NNSs seemed to perceive these error stimuli as less funny than NSs, however, readers should be cautious in interpreting this result because of the limited number of NNSs. In addition, this study compared the humorous texts that were perceived as the funniest and the ones perceived as the least funny. The results demonstrate that an error-evoked “Very Funny” joke text had two overlapping and opposing scripts. The more overlapping and opposing the two scripts within a joke text were, the more humorous enjoyment a reader experienced. These findings improve our understanding of the interrelationship of language and humor that has been neglected in CSL, Chinese linguistics, and humor literature.

Language Teaching Strategies

2016 ◽  
pp. 198-213
Author(s):  
Gilda Martinez-Alba ◽  
Judith Cruzado-Guerrero
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Second Language Instruction ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Course Experience ◽  
Different Cultures

This chapter provides tips for leading a study abroad course from professors who taught a course focused on instruction and assessment for Second Language Learners to American teachers studying abroad. The author shares information from four, two-week study abroad programs that embedded participation in the International Reading Association's, currently known as the International Literacy Association, World Congress or European Conference in the study abroad course experience. Seeing different cultures and experiencing second language instruction firsthand added depth to the course discussions. This chapter will provide readers with information about what the instructors learned over the progression of the four courses, including tips about language strategy activities to use on trips abroad.

How do second language learners build syntactic structure?

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Eva M. Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Shallow Structure Hypothesis

Understanding the mechanisms learners use to process target language input is crucial to developing a complete model of both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition. If adult L2 learners are found to process the target language with mechanisms that differ from those used by child L1 learners and adult native speakers, what implications might this have for the developing grammar? Clahsen and Felser review evidence that appears to point to such differences, generalizing their findings under a shallow structure hypothesis about how adult learners process input in L2.

scholarly journals Media Literacy in the Structure of the Secondary Linguistic personality

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Asst. Inst. Samaher Hasan Dawood
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Media Literacy ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Given ◽  
Russian Linguistic ◽  
Current Stage

The current study aims at investigating the importance of forming media knowledge of the structure of the second language learners in the current stage of social development. Thus, the text deals with the basic linguistic concepts associated with the problematic issues including "secondary linguistic personality", "media literacy", "communicative competence", and "media text".The study also investigates the source of the media literacy phenomenon in the framework of the secondary linguistic personality that is based on the traditional model of Russian linguistic level of linguistic personality developed by G.I. Bogin and Yu.N. Karaulov. Moreover, it discusses the possibility of using the most important data on the linguistic consciousness of the native- speakers of the target language which obtained from psycholinguistic lexicography in which they exhibit the options of using the results of the given associative experiment as being one of the main tools that can be used to improve the media knowledge of students who learn Russian as a second language.

scholarly journals Ausspracheabweichungen im Hochdeutsch thailändischer Immigrantinnen in der Deutschschweiz

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Korakoch Attaviriyanupap
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Female Immigrants ◽  
Sound Patterns

The situations of Thais not being understood by German native speakers even though they use correct words have always been experienced. However, the pronunciation difficulties of Thai native speakers are mostly just taken for granted as typical errors, but not systematically listed and discussed. As found out in the corpus consisting of utterances in Standard German of 16 female immigrants living in German-speaking Switzerland, their pronunciation variations which differ from the norm of the target language are very systematic and predictable because they are based on Thai sound patterns. This article aims to present a contrastive analysis of German and Thai in terms of segmental elements and syllable structure and to give an overview of systematic nontarget-like pronuncation of German second language learners who are native speakers of Thai. The findings should be made useful in teaching German as second language to this group of learners.

Acquisition, study abroad and individual differences

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bret Linford ◽  
Sara Zahler ◽  
Melissa Whatley
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Contact Hours

Abstract The current study examines the combined effect of type and quantity of contact with the target language on the second language development of a variable structure, ‘subject pronoun expression’ in L2 Spanish. A written contextualized task and a language contact questionnaire were given to 26 second language learners of Spanish before and after a six-week study abroad in Valencia, Spain. Their selection of overt and null subject pronouns was compared to native speakers from the study abroad region as well as to learners and native speakers in previous research in a US university context. Results suggest that learners with higher rates of self-reported contact with native speakers while abroad approximate the Valencian native speaker norms more at the end of study abroad than those who report fewer contact hours. However, differences between the groups at the beginning of study abroad indicate that characteristics other than contact hours also differentiate the two learner groups.

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