scholarly journals Improving Speaker’s Use of Segmental and Suprasegmental Features of L2 Speech

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Azza A. M. Abdelrahim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Collaborative Reflection ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
L2 Phonology ◽  
Suprasegmental Features ◽  
L1 Acquisition ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Time Of Instruction

Unlike L1 acquisition, which is based on automatic acquisition, L2 adult learners’ acquisition of English phonology is based on mental reflection and processing of information. There is a limited investigation of L2 phonology research exploring the contribution of the cognitive/theoretical part of pronunciation training. The study reports on the use of online collaborative reflection for improving students’ use of English segmental and suprasegmental features of L2 speech. Ninety participants at the tertiary level at Tabuk university in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia were divided into two groups which used an online instruction. The only difference between the instruction of the experimental group and the control group is that the experimental group spent part of the time of instruction on collaborative reflection, while the control group spent this time on routine activities without using collaborative reflection (but all other activities were the same). The results showed that the online collaborative reflection improved the pronunciation of the experimental group. The learners learned the pronunciation of the major segmentals (e.g., vowels, consonants, diphthongs), minor segmentals (e.g., the way of articulation), and the suprasegmental features (e.g., intonation, stress). The results also showed that students perceived the online collaborative reflection as a helpful means in improving their use of L2 English phonology features. The findings have important implications and contribute to our theoretical knowledge of second language acquisition and L2 phonetics instruction research.

The Sociolinguistic Impact of Service-learning on Heritage Learners Sojourning in Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-98
Author(s):  
Francisco Salgado-Robles ◽  
Angela George
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Local Features ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Experimental Group

Over the past three decades, a considerable number of studies have investigated the connection between study abroad and second language acquisition to the exclusion of another emerging language profile, that of heritage language learners who study abroad to enhance their home language skills. The few studies on heritage language learners’ development of local features abroad have focused on phonological ones, concluding that more in-depth exposure to the varieties abroad was related to increased production of the local features (Escalante, 2018; George & Hoffman-González, in press). Research on the effects of international service learning have also been limited to second language learners, demonstrating increased second language use and proficiency (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010) along with the development of geographically-variable patterns of use (Salgado-Robles, 2018). The current study combines these two fields and investigates the development of a variable local feature (vosotros versus ustedes) by 20 U.S. Spanish-speaking heritage language learners of Mexican descent studying abroad for four months in Spain. The experimental group (N = 10) participated in a service learning course in addition to traditional coursework, while the control group (N = 10) completed traditional coursework and no service learning course. The results of the Oral Discourse Completion Task demonstrated that all participants significantly increased their use of vosotros from the beginning to the end of the semester; however, the change by the experimental group was two times higher than the control group. This could be explained by the results of the Language Contact Profile, which revealed more use of Spanish and less use of English by participants in the experimental group. This study offers implications for future study abroad programs, the linguistic impacts of service-learning, and the development of sociolinguistic competence.

Second language acquisition and Binding Principle B: child/adult differences

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia White
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Knowledge Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Value Judgement

L1 acquirers experience considerable delays in mastering properties related to Binding Principle B, performing inaccurately with respect to possible antecedents for pronouns well after the age of 6. Most accounts attribute this delay to performance phenomena (lack of pragmatic knowledge, processing capacity, etc.). In this article, I show that adult learners do not exhibit the same kinds of problems with Principle B. Intermediate-level adult learners of English as a second language (French and Japanese speakers), as well as a native-speaker control group, were tested using a truth value judgement task to determine their interpretations of pronouns. The L2 learners performed like native speakers in disallowing local antecedents for pronouns, suggesting that Principle B is not problematic in adult acquisition, in contrast to child acquisition.

scholarly journals Using Audiobooks for Developing Listening Comprehension among Saudi EFL Preparatory Year Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manal Mohamed Khodary Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Northern Border ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Preparatory Year ◽  
Experimental Group

The current study investigated the usefulness of using audiobooks on developing listening comprehension among Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) preparatory year students. It employed the quasi-experimental design which included two groups: an experimental group (n = 44) and a control group (n = 44). The participants were EFL preparatory year students at Arar Branch, Northern Border University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before conducting the treatment, the experimental group and the control group were pre-tested by using the pre Listening Comprehension Test (LCT) for equivalence of listening comprehension. By the end of the treatment, the experimental group and the control group were post-tested by using the post LCT. The t-test was used to calculate the differences between the mean scores of the pre and post LCT. The results showed that a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the post LCT in favor of the experimental group. The results also revealed that a statistically significant difference was found in the mean scores of the experimental group between the pre and post LCT in favor of the post LCT. Thus, it can be concluded that the audiobooks helped the experimental group develop listening comprehension as they exceeded the control group on the post LCT and they achieved a better result on the post LCT than the pre LCT.

Learnability, negative evidence and the L2 acquisition of the English passive

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinichi Izumi ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
English Only ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Experimental Group

An issue currently being debated in second language acquisition research is whether negative evidence (i.e., information to the learner that his or her utterance is ungrammatical) plays a positive role in the acquisition of the L2. Some researchers, such as White (1991a; 1991b) and Carroll and Swain (1993), have argued that negative evidence has positive effects while others (see, for example, Schwartz and Gubala-Ryzak, 1992) are sceptical about such effects. In this article, we report the results of a small-scale study that investigated the effects of formal instruction on the acquisition of the English passive by native speakers of Japanese. Japanese has both the ‘direct’ and ‘indirect passive’, whereas English only has the direct passive. The ‘indirect passive’ is possible in Japanese because of the dual status of the passive morpheme rare, which can function not only as a non-thematic (auxiliary) verbal element but also as a lexical/thematic verb. A learnability problem posed by the differences between Japanese and English is that Japanese ESL learners may initially treat the passive auxiliary be in English as being similar to rare in Japanese and thus assume that English, like Japanese, allows not only the ‘direct passive’ but also the ‘indirect passive’. Negative evidence will, therefore, be necessary in order to enable them to arrive at the correct L2 grammar. A group of Japanese ESL learners, who were pretested on the English passive, were placed in an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was explicitly instructed on the impossibility of the indirect passive in English, whereas the control group was not. Following instruction, both groups were post-tested. The results indicated that the experimental group improved dramatically, whereas the control group did not.

scholarly journals Plateaux in pronunciation

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Fiona Farr
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Optimal Conditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Norms ◽  
Conditions Of Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

Within the field of second language acquisition the question of cessation of learning short of the target language norms, particularly among adult populations, has been widely discussed since the term FOSSILIZATION was first coined by Selinker in 1972. This article briefly outlines the main theoretical concerns of this phenomenon, which has had various terminological badges over the past three decades. It then details an experimental study whose aim it was to uncover the destabilizing potential of instruction on the pronunciation of advanced French learners of English as a Foreign Language who displayed fossilization tendencies. The results indicate significant improvements made by the experimental group relative to the control group. In conclusion it is deemed appropriate to classify such learners as stabilized and not permanently fossilized, as changes in pronunciation systems can occur give optimal conditions of learning and exposure.

scholarly journals ‘The moustache’ returns: referential metonymy acquisition in adult learners of English as an additional language (EAL)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
JOSEPHINE BOWERMAN ◽  
INGRID LOSSIUS FALKUM ◽  
NAUSICAA POUSCOULOUS
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Japanese Adult ◽  
L1 Acquisition

abstract Referential metonymy, e.g. ‘the moustache (= man with a moustache) sits down first’, appears early in L1 acquisition (Falkum, Recasens & Clark, 2017). Yet how does it emerge in pragmatically mature but linguistically developing adult L2 learners? We used one comprehension and two production tasks, based on Falkum and colleagues (2017), to investigate metonymy abilities in 34 Japanese adult learners of English as an additional language (EAL) and a control group of 31 native English speakers. We also examined how time constraints and exposure to examples of referential metonymy affected production. In the comprehension task, both EAL-learner and native-speaker participants chose metonymic readings at above chance levels. In both production tasks, all participants produced innovative metonyms. Additionally, the findings indicate that, in L2, exposure to examples dramatically increases metonymy production, while time pressure decreases it. The results suggest that participants can both comprehend and produce novel metonyms in L2, with a possible explicitness vs. production costs trade-off.

scholarly journals The Effect of Task Based Language Learning (TBLL) on Developing Speaking Skills of Secondary School Learners in Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Munir Hussain Anjum ◽  
Muhammad Munir Kayani ◽  
N. B. Jumani
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Natural Setting ◽  
Skill Test ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Speaking Skills

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of task based language learning on developing speaking skills of secondary level learners. To achieve this objective, a task based instructional programme consisted of four units of textbook of grade IX was developed. The students of IX grade of Islamabad district were the population of the study. Two groups experimental and control were randomly taken in a natural setting from a randomly selected school of Islamabad district. Both groups were pre and post-tested to determine the difference in their mean scores. Both groups were administered a teacher made speaking skill test as pre-test before starting intervention of treatment. The experimental group got treatment, while control group was taught conventionally for 45 days. Same teacher made speaking skill test was administered to both experimental and control groups as post-test after 45 days. Two tailed t-test was applied at 0.05 levels. The results of the present study showed statistically significant differences between mean scores of the experimental group subjects in term of speaking skills as the post-test scores of experimental group were noticeably higher than the scores of control group. The results of the study support the effectiveness of TBLL as a foreign language. The present study recommends that Pakistani teachers should adopt TBLL approach which is pragmatic, instead of struggling with obsolete traditional methods in second language acquisition.

Effects of Automatic Speech Recognition Software on Pronunciation for Adults With Different Learning Styles

2020 ◽  
pp. 073563312097201
Author(s):  
Katerina Evers ◽  
Sufen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Automatic Speech Recognition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Speech Recognition Software ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Experimental Group

This study investigated how learning styles (visual/verbal) and the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) software affect English as a Second Language adult learners’ improvement during a 12-week course focusing on pronunciation. In the control group (n = 28), the teacher corrected and gave feedback on the adult learners’ pronunciation; experimental group 1 (n = 33) used dictation ASR along with peers’ correction; and experimental group 2 (n = 31) used dictation ASR alone. Their pre- and post-tests on pronunciation in reading tasks and live conversation were analyzed with their learning styles taken into account, using 2-way ANCOVA. The results suggest that learning styles made a significant difference in the pronunciation performance of the reading task in all groups. Visual style learners outperformed verbal style learners in the reading task. The combination of ASR and peer correction yielded the highest improvement in both reading tasks and live conversation.

scholarly journals The effect of teaching using the Internet Web on the first grade secondary students’ achievement in Physics and their attitudes towards it: أثر التدريس باستخدام شبكة الإنترنت في تحصيل طلاب الصف الأول الثانوي  في مادة الفيزياء واتجاهاتهم نحوها

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (32) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Mutlaq Alosaimi
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The current study aimed at investigating the effect of teaching using the Internet Web on the first grade secondary students’ achievement in Physics and their attitudes towards it. The experimental method was employed by using the two-group pre-post quasi-experimental design to answer the aforementioned questions. The sample consisted of (82) first grade secondary students enrolled in two sections which were randomly selected from all first grade secondary sections at Abhor educational complex in Jeddah province in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using the cluster random sampling technique, where the two sections were randomly assigned into the two groups. The students were distributed evenly by the two groups such as (41) students in each group, where the students in the experimental group were taught using the Internet, while the students in the control group were taught using the traditional method. For the purposes of data collection, two equivalent forms of an achievement test have been developed in order to measure the first three levels (remembering, understanding, and application) of the cognitive domain in the “movement representation” unit within the physics curriculum being taught to the first grade secondary school students in the academic year 2013/2014 H in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Each form consisted of (35) multiple-choice questions with four alternatives. On the other hand, a pre-developed valid and reliable attitude scale towards physics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was used. The results of the study revealed a statistically significant difference (α = 0.05) between the achievement post-test mean scores of the experimental and control groups for the favor of the experimental group who was taught using the educational site, which was designed and set up on the Internet Web. Similarly, the results revealed a statistically significant difference (α = 0.05) between the attitudes towards Physics post-test mean scores of both groups in favor of the experimental group. In light of the findings of the study, the researcher recommends conducting further studies on the benefits of using the Internet Web in the educational process in general and in distance learning in particular.

scholarly journals E-learning effectiveness in developing scientific research skills among high school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: فاعلية التعليم الإلكتروني في تنمية مهارات البحث العلمي لدى طالبات المرحلة الثانوية بالمملكة العربية السعودية

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (32) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eman Amubarak A Alghamdi, Eman Mohamed Mabrouk Kotb
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

The study aimed to measure the effectiveness of e-learning in developing scientific research skills for high female school students in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the study relied on the semi-experimental Method in order to reveal the effectiveness of the independent variable (e-learning) on ​​the dependent variable which is (the development of scientific research skills), the study population consisted of secondary school students in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the academic year 1439 ah, in the second secondary class of the twenty-fourth secondary school for girls in Dammam, and the second secondary school for girls in Dammam, as the individuals of the sample were randomly chosen, and the number of female students for whom the study was applied was (72) female students, they were divided into two groups, one is experimental and the other is a control, and the experimental group consisted of (36) female students, using e-learning program, while the control group consisted of (36) female students, using traditional learning, the study tools have been built, which are: an achievement test, a note card, and ensuring the validity and reliability of the tools, The researcher reached through the study that there is a statistically significant difference at the level (0.05) between the average scores of female students of the experimental group that use (e-learning) and the average score of female students of the control group that use (traditional learning) in the post-application of the achievement test and the observation card for scientific research skills in favor of the experimental group, The researcher recommended it through the study the need to take advantage of e-learning to teach various performance concepts and skills for high school female students.

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