scholarly journals Summarization in English as a Foreign Language: A Study Comparing Summary Performances to Summarizers’ Vocabulary Size

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Makiko Kato
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Native Language ◽  
English Summary ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Size Groups

The study examined the impact of a first language’s summarizing skill and second language vocabulary size on summary performances in a second language. A total of 40 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners from a Japanese university with a mixed level of English language proficiency were asked to write a summary in English (i.e., their non-native language, L2) and in Japanese (their native language, L1) from a text written English and Japanese respectively. The effect of L1 summarizing skill on L2 summary performances was examined using multiple regression analysis. L1 summary performances (i.e., summarizing skill) slightly influenced English summary performances for summary writers with lower-level English language proficiency but not L2 summary performances for those with higher-level English language proficiency. The participants’ vocabulary size measured by Nation’s (2007) test was positively correlated with their English summary performances. Moreover, the results showed that the vocabulary size in the highest and smallest-vocabulary size groups was correlated with scores on two rating scales (i.e., Language use and Source use) in their English summary. In contrast, the vocabulary size in the middle-level vocabulary size groups was correlated with their scores on two different rating scales (i.e., Main idea coverage and Integration) in their English summary. This study concluded that L1 summary performance had not impact on L2 summary performances because several characteristics influence of summary writers’ English vocabulary size. The study made several recommendations to EFL teachers who teach summary writing and for further study.

Linguistic Expats and Bounded Fluency

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-57
Author(s):  
Tsedal Neeley
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Conference Call ◽  
Remote Location ◽  
Japanese Employees

This chapter focuses on the Japanese linguistic expats and their linguistic shock, which initially presents a barrier to learning a foreign language. It provides the results of the seemingly insurmountable challenge at the mandate's announcement—base English language proficiency for the Japanese domestic workforce. Here, the term “linguistic expat” is used to describe employees like Kenji who live in their home country yet must give up their mother tongue when they enter their place of employment or sign into a conference call from a remote location. This chapter shows how this twist—a mismatch between language, nationality, and organizational culture—made the Japanese employees uncomfortable. Learning English, at least in the first phase, required that they form new perceptions of themselves, their company, and their jobs. The demands of the mandate made them feel anxious about their productivity and insecure about their future at Rakuten. Although the majority of the linguistic expats progressed in their acquisition of English, few were able to reach a level where fluency was automatic.

scholarly journals The Impact of Native Language Use on Second Language Vocabulary Learning by Saudi EFL Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Saleem Khan
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Impact

<p>This paper strives to explore the impact of Native Language use on Foreign Language vocabulary learning on the basis of empirical and available data. The study is carried out with special reference to the English Language Programme students in Buraydah Community College, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The Native Language of these students is Arabic and their Second Language is English. The participants in this research study are the post-secondary students of Buraydah Community College in Intensive Course Programme. The instrument used in this study was in the form of two tests. It is well known that in language assessment tests play a pivotal role in evaluating the EFL learners’ language proficiency. The use of native language as a semantic tool for assessing second language learners’ understanding shouldn’t be rejected altogether especially for the undergrad Saudi EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The outcomes of the study show that in learning the vocabulary of target language is significantly helped by the use of translation method of native language (Arabic) in understanding the meaning of novel words and expressions of foreign language (English). This method is widely welcomed by majority of the students of Buraydah Community College. It’s recommended to use this method in order to take the students directly to the core meaning of the word or expression. It also, sometimes, gives a sense of accuracy of the meaning of native language equivalents.</p>

scholarly journals Sociolinguistic Factors in the Development of English Language Proficiency Among Students in Malaysia

ELT-Lectura ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvina Melvina
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
School Environment ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Home Support ◽  
Native Language Proficiency ◽  
Malaysian Students

Sociolinguistics factors influence the level of English Language proficiency among Malaysian students. Thereare three contextual factors involved which are the participants, the environment and culture. Participants refer to the students who come from different backgrounds with diverse needs and goals of learning the language. Language distance, native language proficiency, prior knowledge of the second language, dialect and register language status and attitudes play a crucial role in this factor. Besides that, the participants’ integrative and instrumental motivations are also contributing factors to the different level of proficiency in second language acquisition. The second factors is the environment which includes home support, the school environment and the community. Home support is concerned with atmosphere that parents create at home regarding language use, the school environment refers to peer groups, teachers and the learningprocess, whereas the community deals with the society that the students interact with. Finally cultural factors such as cultural differences and settings also have brought the different levels of proficiency among students in Malaysia.

scholarly journals The Importance of Getting Automated Grammar Feedback via Grammarly, for Increasing Students' English Language Proficiency

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Stefanus Soegiyarto ◽  
Radya Ayufa Putri ◽  
Samiaji Dwi Saputra
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
University Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
To Receive

In the last decade, technology has played a significant part in human civilization. One example of technological advancement is the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for learning. One digital application, namely Grammarly, is an AI tool used to edit sentences to eliminate grammar errors and deliver conciseness and engagement for the readers. We conducted research involving Indonesian university students, in which they do not possess English as a native language. Using this application to receive feedback and help with learning writing in English, we hope to find out how Grammarly as an AI tool for learning has a significant effect on English proficiency. The results showed that Grammarly had helped them form English sentences, learn grammar rules, and improve their writing performance overall.

scholarly journals English language proficiency and academic performance of Nursing Students speaking English as a second language

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Manal F. Alharbi ◽  
Sahar M. Yakout
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Correlational Design ◽  
Language Acculturation ◽  
Open Questions

Abstract Introduction. Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) may face considerable challenges at English language universities. Aim. To investigate the English language proficiency and academic performance of ESL bachelor’s degree nursing students. Methods. A correlational design was used with a sample of 136 nursing students who completed a structured questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, variables that affect language proficiency, open questions, and English Language Acculturation Scale (ELAS) to identify their English proficiency. Results. Forty-three percent of the participants experienced difficulty in understanding the second language in clinical practice, 68% experienced challenges in studying the second language, and 47% were embarrassed to speak English. Approximately 71% of the participants had low ELAS scores and 58% had a good grade point average (GPA). Regression analysis revealed that internal motivation, study challenge, and entrance GPA were predictors of academic performance. Conclusions. The results suggest that students’ grades were correlated with their use of English to read and write during their studies. Thus, faculty administrators should have concrete plans for improving and monitoring the English language proficiency of students throughout their enrolment.

Non-native EFL teachers’ email production and perceptions of e-(im)politeness

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis ◽  
Helen Woodfield ◽  
Christine Savvidou
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Politeness Strategies

AbstractThe present study investigates the nature of email requests to faculty produced by non-native speaker (NNS) teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), the importance attached by these teachers to linguistic forms designed to achieve email politeness and status-congruence, and the extent to which perceptions and evaluations by the NNS teachers and native-speaker (NS) lecturers might differ with regard to these emails. The study found that the non-native speaker teachers (NNSTs) evidenced a developed sense of sociopragmatic knowledge in high imposition L2 requests for action, and employed politeness strategies that were indicative of a concern to maintain social and face relationships in virtual consultations. It is argued that despite their advanced English language proficiency, the teachers’ reliance on directness, excessive formality, and lengthy grounders could still put them out-of-status and render their emails as pragmatically inappropriate. The study further confirmed significant differences in how the two groups perceive appropriateness and politeness in direct and unmodified student email requests to faculty. Overall, while the NSs judged the emails primarily according to their content and, to a lesser extent, according to their form and framing devices, the NNSTs focused almost exclusively on form and framing devices (in/formality, in/directness, nature and extent of mitigation, opening/closing moves, forms of address).

scholarly journals French versus English: A sociolinguistic study of Moroccans’ foreign language attitudinal tendencies

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (13) ◽  
pp. 121-150
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Seddik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
French Language ◽  
Power Struggle ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
French And English ◽  
Overall Evaluation

The complexity of the Moroccan language landscape sparks off a power struggle between languages. The focus in this chapter is on the apparent French/English language contest over supremacy. Here comes the current investigation that aims at gauging Moroccan’s perceptions of French and English through a language questionnaire. Responses were subjected to statistical analyses to support or reject the hypothesis that gender, age and language proficiency affect Moroccans’ evaluations of French and English. The study reveals that Moroccans’ attitudes towards English are significantly more favorable than those towards the French language. Age, but not gender, has turned out to have a statistically significant difference in the overall evaluation of French and English. These evaluations have also been shown to correlate with the respondents’ French and English language proficiency. The result of this study is an indication that Moroccans’ attitudes toward French and English are undergoing a change from a conventional preference for French to a recent favor of English whose phenomenal growth globally may have affected language attitudes locally.

scholarly journals CONDITIONS OF BILINGUAL PERSONALITY FORMATION AND ENGLISH SPEECH INTONING SKILLS (SURVEY RESULTS)

2018 ◽  
pp. 208-212
Author(s):  
E. N. Makarova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Mexican Students ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Different Levels

The article deals with the results of research of sociolinguistic factors’ effect on English phrasal accentuation in the reading authentic English material by Mexican subjects. It features a survey data analysis of the characteristics of the Mexican testees with different levels of English language proficiency. The survey has supplied information about their age at the beginning period of English learning process and its conditions, intensity of its usage at present and subjects’ attitude to the necessity of English phonetics acquisition. The current paper introduces some results of phonetic experiment aimed at revealing Mexican subjects’ ability to intone English speech, namely to choose nucleus in the English utterance. Mexican students’ linguistic competence is proved to be the crucial factor responsible for the correctness in identifying nucleus location. The results presented can be used to contribute to the effectiveness of the English and Spanish as a foreign language teaching as well as for improvement of survey construction in sociolinguistic studies.

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