Examining politeness in the explanation of English and Tshivenda apologies and greetings

Proficiency in English politeness is an invaluable tool in maintaining effective communication. Differences in beliefs, culture and customs, values and norms exist between English and other languages. Non-native English speakers encounter difficulties when making apologies and greetings in the language. The research examined politeness of English and Tshivenda apologies and greetings. The research paper adopted a qualitative research approach designed to build a holistic narrative description concerning social or cultural phenomenon. Formal and informal interviews were carried out ethnographically to collect data from selected 15 historical experts at Phawe, Zoutpansberg in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Data were quantified, simplified, organised, and interpreted using an 'emic' approach because they were interpreted from the perspective of the population under study. The research found that some Vhavenda people could narrate stories around politeness in their society. The research recommends the continuous practice of apologies and greetings to preserve the Vhavenda culture and custom.

Helping Second Language Student Writers Improve Their Revision

Writing ability is a comprehensive evaluation of language learning level. Nowadays, most universities offer writing-related courses to help students lay a good foundation for writing and contribute to their subsequent studies. Compared with native English speakers, second language learners need to do more revision, which is a great challenge for second language learners. Therefore, in this paper, the aim is to make the second language students understand and apply the revision correctly.

Attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English among Native and Non-native Speakers of English

This paper explores attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-accented English among native and non-native speakers of English. Three groups of listeners (native English speakers, Jordanian Arab specialists and non-specialists in English) were asked to rate three groups of speakers (a group of native English speakers and two groups of Jordanian Arabic bilinguals) reading a short story in English on the degree of foreign accentedness, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity. The results showed that the Jordanian Arabic speakers, especially those with a lower level of English, were perceived less favourably than the native speakers. Furthermore, the English native listeners generally had more favourable perceptions than the non-native listeners with regard to the non-native speakers. The degree of foreign-accentedness was highly correlated with attitudes toward non-native speakers, especially among the non-native speakers themselves. The results confirm that a native English accent is preferred over non-native accents.

THESAURUS-I OF THE SECONDARY LANGUAGE PERSONALITY REPRESENTED IN THE ECONOMIC TEXTS IN ENGLISH

This article is devoted to the study of the verbal-semantic level (Thesaurus-I) of the secondary linguistic personality based on the analysis of texts on economic and financial topics. 8 texts (17,348 words, 97,712 characters, 132 minutes 36 seconds), which are transcripts of a monologue public speech by non-native English speakers at a TED conference, and 10 texts (19,227 words, 110,133 characters, 125 minutes 44 seconds), which are transcripts of native English speakers’ speeches, are served as the material for this study. The paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of the use of words frequency, proving the fact that Thesaurus-I of the secondary linguistic personality under analysis corresponds to the verbal-semantic level of native speakers. Further, the results of a statistical analysis of the use of Word Classes frequency are given indicating that the analyzed texts are a reflection of the real English language picture of the world. In addition, a thesaurus of English texts of an economic orientation has been built and analyzed, which allows describing the main characteristics of an English language picture of the world fragment, verbalized in texts of an economic orientation, and highlighting its inherent archetypes.

Linguistic variables of Comprehensibility, Accentedness and Fluency in L2 Spanish: Listener type and ability level differences

The aim of this study is to identify which linguistic variables are most strongly related to comprehensibility, accentedness and fluency in Spanish as L2, and how the results may also vary according to the type of listener (expert or non-expert) and to the speakers’ level of ability in these three dimensions. To this end, 40 native English speakers of Spanish orally described picture narratives that were subsequently rated by four groups of raters using 9-point Likert scales. The first two groups were composed of 109 novice and 42 expert raters assessing comprehensibility, accentedness and fluency. The last two groups consisted of 35 phoneticians and 35 linguistic raters responsible for analyzing and scoring a total of 14 speech measures (7 per group) targeting pronunciation, disfluencies, lexis, grammar and discourse. The results reveal that comprehensibility is associated with a wide range of elements, while accentedness is determined especially by segmentals, and fluency by speech rate. Additionally, the impact of linguistic parameters varies according to the speakers’ level of performance, and there are differences between novice and expert raters, with the former being more affected by pronunciation and the experts by lexis and grammar.

Comparing the Language Style Used by Native and Non-native English Speakers in The Ellen Show

As the user of communication especially in English, the speaker has to consider the interlocutor’s position in order to achieve good communication. Here, the speakers which include native and non-native English speakers must choose an appropriate language style for the different interlocutors to avoid social consequences. The purposes of this research were to analyze the use of language style of those speakers in The Ellen Show. Also, it focused on the differences and the similarities between those speakers. Last, it focused on the factors influencing the use of language style. The research used the qualitative method which focuses on content analysis. Here, it focused on three native speakers and three non-native speakers of English as the guests in The Ellen Show. The Ellen Show is a talk show program with a casual discussion that talks about a particular topic or issue which consists of a host, the guest(s) being interviewed, the home audience, and the studio audience from which the host might get some responses from.The findings revealed that the native English speakers used all types of language styles. Meanwhile, the non-native speakers used three types of language styles. Then, the similarities were that both speakers applied formal style, consultative style, and casual style in their utterances. However, the difference was the non-native English speakers did not apply frozen style and intimate style. Furthermore, those speakers used language style because it influenced the participant, the setting, the topic, and the function. Therefore, it is concluded that language styles were useful in English utterances either by native speakers or non-native English speakers. The speaker has to consider the interlocutor’s position in order to achieve good communication. Here, the speakers which include native and non-native English speakers must choose an appropriate language style for the different interlocutors to avoid social consequences. The purposes of this research were to analyze the use of language style of those speakers in The Ellen Show. Also, it focused on the differences and the similarities between those speakers. Last, it focused on the factors influencing the use of language style. The research used the qualitative method which focuses on content analysis. Here, it focused on three native speakers and three non-native speakers of English as the guests in The Ellen Show. The findings revealed that the native English speakers used all types of language styles. Meanwhile, the non-native speakers used three types of language styles. Then, the similarities were that both speakers applied formal style, consultative style, and casual style in their utterances. However, the difference was the non-native English speakers did not apply frozen style and intimate style. Furthermore, those speakers used language style because it influenced the participant, the setting, the topic, and the function. Therefore, it is concluded that language styles were useful in English utterances either by native speakers or non-native English speakers.

CASE STUDY ON LANGUISTIC MEANS OF EDITING FOR VOICE AND TONE IN CORPORATE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

The research analyses a small corpus of in-house writing of a multinational SME by non-native speakers of English and the edits and revisions made by a marketing expert and a technical writer (native English speakers). The analysis focuses on identifying, classifying and analysing edits regarding the voice and tone guidelines, i.e. how pragmatics concepts (politeness and audience accommodation) are grammatically and semantically encoded. The research uses style guides to analyse the “comparable” monolingual corpus of drafts and final versions, while the annotation includes tags for pragmatically motivated changes whose purpose is establishing a friendly relationship with the target audience. The research employs norms for qualitative research in public relations and marketing communication (Daymon & Holloway, 2010). The research shows that a) non-native speakers of English tend to have a self-centred approach to workplace English writing and often fail to achieve the company voice and tone, and b) the company voice and tone require elimination of culturally specific concepts and use of relatively simple grammatical structures and lexicon.

Generation 1.5 and Academic Libraries: Strategies for Supporting English Learners (ELs) in Reference and Instruction

Background – Compared to native English speakers, English Learners (ELs) often face additional barriers to academic success. Though typically competent in social English, Generation 1.5 ELs struggle with academic English at the postsecondary level and are still considered to be in the process of learning English. As colleges become increasingly linguistically diverse, academic librarians must adapt to support the growing numbers of ELs in the campus community. Objective – This paper aims to provide academic librarians with information on the scope of English Learners in K-12 through postsecondary education, academic challenges of Generation 1.5 students at the postsecondary level, and strategies that librarians can employ to support English learners in the contexts of reference and instruction. Methods – The author searched journals in the disciplines of academic libraries, higher education, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and linguistics. Additional resources searched include education data and statistics, research institute publications, and English as a New Language (ENL) teaching resources. These sources were explored in regard to the topics of EL educational statistics, K-12 ENL programs, ENL pedagogy, ELs in postsecondary education, Generation 1.5 students, ELs’ academic challenges and educational needs, and academic libraries and ELs. Results – A review of the literature on ELs in academic libraries, particularly Generation 1.5 students, reveals that Generation 1.5 is a population that is in need of support at the postsecondary level. Because Generation 1.5 students often hold strong social English skills, they may enter college without an EL designation or specialized academic support. However, research shows that Generation 1.5 students struggle with college-level academic English, specifically in grammar and vocabulary. These challenges impact students’ communicative success both in college classroom and library environments. Conclusion – Academic librarians may adopt pedagogical strategies commonly employed in ENL classrooms to use in reference and instruction environments. Techniques include themes such as awareness of language use and reinforcement of content, and require low-stakes implementation into library practice. Though librarians may be unaware of the language learning needs of their students, such strategies have shown to be useful for all students. Because techniques that are helpful to ELs also typically benefit all students, these strategies are also applicable to native English speakers.

A cross-cultural study of condolence strategies in a computer-mediated social network

Among the various speech acts, an under-investigated one is condolence speech act. The present study sought to investigate the verbal strategies of expressing condolence used by (1) Iranian native speakers of Persian, (2) Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, and (3) American native speakers of English. Accordingly, a total of 200, 42, and 50 responses were collected respectively from the informants who responded to an obituary post followed by a picture consisting of a situation related to the news of a celebritys death on Instagram (In the case of Iranians: Morteza Pashaii , a famous singer in the case of Americans: B. B. King , an American singer-songwriter). After creating a pool of responses to the death announcements and through careful content analysis, the utterances by native Persian speakers, EFL learners, and native English speakers were coded into seven, nine, and seven categories, with expression of affection ( n = 109, 46.38%), wishes for the deceased ( n = 34, 59.64%), and wishes for the deceased ( n = 32, 23.70%) being the most prevalent ones, correspondingly. Moreover, tests of Chi-square revealed that there was a statistically significant difference among the three groups. The results showed that there were significant differences among the participants in terms of using condolence strategies in Expression of affection (love and grief), Wishes for the deceased, Expression of shock, use of address terms, expression of gratitude, Offering condolences, expression of happiness for his peaceful death, and Seeking absolution from God categories, with Expression of affection being the most prevalent one among Iranian Persian speakers. The findings have pedagogical implications for EFL teachers as wells as textbook and course designers.