Interference Errors in Numerical Expression by Vietnamese EFL Speakers

This paper aims to investigate numerical expression by Vietnamese speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study identifies and explains the causes of interference errors in expressing number of nouns. A descriptive-cognitive research design was conducted error-oriented investigation of 62 high-school students and 30 employees working in English-speaking companies participating in writing a 45-minute essay for numerical errors from the essays collected. The findings revealed that Vietnamese EFL speakers had difficulty in expressing the number of the entities represented by the nouns due to differences in means and manner of numerical expression in English whose sentences are numerically compulsory and grammatically relevant as opposed to those in Vietnamese whose numerical category is grammatically unimportant, but lexically relevant, and seen with number-neutral nouns or general numbers. Errors also occurred as Vietnamese EFL speakers failed to acquire the count-uncount distinction due in part to differences in perceptualizing the numerical meaning of the entities represented by nouns, ascribing the countability wrong and keeping the same property of countable/uncountable nouns despite having referred to different referents. The paper ended with some pedagogical implications to help Vietnamese EFL speakers improve numerical errors when using English.

Normative Nasalance Values in Vietnamese With Southern Dialect: Vowel and Tone Effects

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine normative nasalance values in Vietnamese adult speakers with Southern dialect and to investigate the effects of vowels and tones on nasalance. Previous studies examining nasalance have been mainly conducted with Indo-European languages. Limited information on nasalance is available in tone languages other than Chinese. Furthermore, tone and vowel effects on nasalance scores in tone languages have not been fully examined. Method Nasalance scores of various speech stimuli including passages, syllables, and prolonged vowels were obtained from Vietnamese-speaking adults with Southern dialect ( M age = 23 years) using a nasometer (KayPENTAX 6450). Results The average nasalance scores of Southern Vietnamese adult speakers were 24.16%, 38.17%, and 70.03% for the oral, oral–nasal, and nasal passages, respectively. Southern Vietnamese speakers produced the highest nasalance scores on the vowel /a/, followed by /i/ and /u/. Nasalance scores of stimuli produced with the falling and restricted tone were significantly lower than those produced with the other tones. Conclusions The normative nasalance values of the current study will contribute as a reference index for the Vietnamese language. The effects of vowels and tones can also provide insight into the development of nasalance testing stimuli and for characterizing nasalance values across languages.

RUSSIAN VOCALISM AT VIETNAMESE SPEAKERS: FORMATION OF PRONUNCIATION SKILLS

В работе рассматриваются результаты использования в учебном процессе разработанного и первично апробированного авторами обучающего материала, а также связанных с ним приемов обучения носителей вьетнамского языка русскому как иностранному. Анализ опыта работы по формированию звукопроизношения с опорой на нормативный артикуляционный уклад гласных звуков русского языка позволил не только дать детализированное описание нарушений звукопроизношения в русской речи вьетнамских учащихся, но и уточнить ряд его характеристик. Так, особенности воспроизведения гласных звуков русского языка обусловлены межъязыковой интерференцией, а именно влиянием особенностей вьетнамского вокализма, вьетнамской фонотактики и структурно-функциональных характеристик вьетнамского слога. Изучение особенностей произношения, отражающих звуковой строй родного языка и непосредственно влияющих на освоение русского языка иностранцами, имеет важное практическое значение: оно позволяет преподавателям русского языка как иностранного предвидеть типичные затруднения студентов иностранцев и скорректировать программу обучения. Проведенный эксперимент выявил положительную динамику процесса обучения, продемонстрировав соответствие результатов обучения запланированным на всех этапах ее освоения, высокий уровень развития речевых умений и способности эффективно использовать полученные навыки. The paper considers the results of employing new drill material developed and initially tested by the authors as well as related techniques in the process of teaching Russian as a Foreign Language to Vietnamese speakers. The undertaken pronunciation training analysis based on standard articulatory structure of Russian vowels contributed to a detailed description of pronunciation faults and to identification of a number of its characteristics. Thus, the peculiarities of pronunciation of Russian vowels are conditioned by interlingual interference, i.e. Vietnamese language vocalism, phonotactics and syllable structure and functioning. The study of pronunciation peculiarities manifesting the sound system of Vietnamese language and directly influencing the study of the Russian language demonstrates the significance of practical application as it allows a teacher of Russian as a Foreign Language to predict typical pronunciation mistakes and to customize a training programme. The conducted experiment revealed positive dynamics of the learning process, demonstrating the conformance of learning outcomes with the planned ones at all teaching stages as well as a high level of development of speech skills and the ability to employ the acquired skills.

Ethno-linguistic patterns of degree completion in BC universities: How important are high-school academic achievement and institution of entry?

We examine bachelor's degree completion in the British Columbia post-secondary system, which is noted for its multiple pathways to graduation and ethnically diverse student population. Employing an administrative longitudinal dataset, we compare how the probability of degree completion by students enrolled at research-intensive, teaching-intensive, and college-technical institutions differs by ethno-linguistic background and high school grades. Estimates from multi-level logistic regression modelsdemonstrate that Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers have lower probabilities of degree completion than English-speaking students. The type of institution a student initially enters is, however, an important correlate of degree completion for all ethno-linguistic groups. Students with lower high school grades who initially enter a research-intensive institution are more likely to graduate compared with higher-achieving students who enter a teaching-intensive or college-technical institution. To improve completion by institutional type and among ethno-linguistic groups, our study highlights the need for research on why degree completion is lower at certain institutions for all ethno-linguistic groups and consistently lower among Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers regardless of their level of academic achievement in high school or the type of post-secondary institution they initially entered.

Ethno-linguistic patterns of degree completion in BC universities: How important are high-school academic achievement and institution of entry?

We examine bachelor's degree completion in the British Columbia post-secondary system, which is noted for its multiple pathways to graduation and ethnically diverse student population. Employing an administrative longitudinal dataset, we compare how the probability of degree completion by students enrolled at research-intensive, teaching-intensive, and college-technical institutions differs by ethno-linguistic background and high school grades. Estimates from multi-level logistic regression modelsdemonstrate that Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers have lower probabilities of degree completion than English-speaking students. The type of institution a student initially enters is, however, an important correlate of degree completion for all ethno-linguistic groups. Students with lower high school grades who initially enter a research-intensive institution are more likely to graduate compared with higher-achieving students who enter a teaching-intensive or college-technical institution. To improve completion by institutional type and among ethno-linguistic groups, our study highlights the need for research on why degree completion is lower at certain institutions for all ethno-linguistic groups and consistently lower among Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers regardless of their level of academic achievement in high school or the type of post-secondary institution they initially entered.

Offering in English and Vietnamese

The study aims to help speakers of English find out types of general English offering which are widely applied in everyday communications and how to use offering forms correctly according to social distance and relative power of English native speakers and Vietnamese speakers in particular situations. The study is carried out with the hope of contributing to a better English language teaching and learning status and it is also expected that Vietnamese learners of English would have a chance to get used to the natural way of making offers in English so as to be successful cross-cultural communicators.

Korean L2 learners’ perception and production of Vietnamese tones

This study investigated the production and perception of Vietnamese tones by Korean second language (L2) learners [n = 11], comparing their performance in an Imitation task to that in Identification and Read-Aloud tasks. The results showed that the Imitation task was generally easier for Korean speakers than the Identification and Read-Aloud tasks, suggesting that imitation was performed without some of the skills required by the other two tasks. The result on tonal F0 range and speakers’ tonal range showed that the Korean leaners have significantly narrower tonal F0 range than control Vietnamese speakers [n = 11]. The results of error pattern analysis and tonal transcription in this study also suggested the effects of phonetic realizations of lexical tones in Vietnamese that are in interaction with language transfer from Korean phonology.

Optimality Theory in ESL Phonology: A Practice of Final Consonant Clusters from Vietnamese L1 Speakers

The present study aims to adopt the Optimality Theory to investigate the strategies of pronouncing the final consonant clusters in English by a group of Vietnamese L1 speakers. Vietnamese is a language without the final consonant clusters; therefore, Vietnamese ESL learners tend to have different strategies to pronounce those. Seven Vietnamese graduate students were employed to record their word-list out-loud reading. Each of the consonants occurring in their pronunciation production was considered as one token to be analyzed. The result shows that Vietnamese ESL learners employ five different strategies to generate the final consonant clusters. After that, by adopting the Optimality Theory, this study provides both faithfulness constraints and markedness constraints for each strategy with the attempt to generalize the cases of the final consonant pronunciation of Vietnamese speakers. This study is significant for ESL teachers to understand how the Vietnamese language affects the ESL learners’ final sound pronunciation

The Lexicalization Patterns of Manner Motion Events in Vietnamese

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Vietnamese students lexicalize or express in words the idea of motion. This study was conducted on the traditional foundation of Talmy’s (1985) lexicalization patterns. This theory involved in the way of people’s experience is rendered into languages via the semantic content of lexical items to express experiential categories. The data were derived from the analysis of the writings of fifty 12th- graders and fifty 6th- graders at Phu Rieng secondary school, Binh Phuoc province, Vietnam about the picture story “Frog where you” are by Mayer (2003). The results of the research provided insights into how Vietnamese speakers express the experience of motion in their language. These results suggest that there are considerable differences between Vietnamese and some other languages in the accounts of motion events.