Search results for: Chinese English learners
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3564

Search results for: Chinese English learners

3534 Language Processing in Arabic: Writing Competence Across L1 (Arabic) and L2 (English)

Authors: Abdullah Khuwaileh

Abstract:

The central aim of this paper is to investigate writing skills in the two languages involved, English and Arabic, and to see whether there is an association between poor writing across languages. That is to say, and it is thought that learners might be excellent in their L1 (Language 1: Arabic) but not in L2 (language 2: English). However, our experimental research findings resulted in an interesting association between L1 and L2. Data were collected from 150 students (chosen randomly) who wrote about the same topic in English and Arabic. Topics needed no preparation as they were common and well-known. Scripts were assessed respectively by ELT (English Language Teaching) and Arabic specialists. The study confirms that poor writing in English correlates with similar deficiencies in the mother tongue (Arabic). Thus, the common assumption in ELT that all learners are fully competent in their first language skills is unfounded. Therefore, the criticism of ELT programs for speakers of Arabic, based on poor writing skills in English and good writing in Arabic is not justified. The findings of this paper can be extended to other learners of English who speak Arabic as a first language and English as a foreign and/or second language. The study is concluded with several research and practical recommendations

Keywords: language, writing, culture, l1

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3533 A Corpus-Based Contrastive Analysis of Directive Speech Act Verbs in English and Chinese Legal Texts

Authors: Wujian Han

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In the process of human interaction and communication, speech act verbs are considered to be the most active component and the main means for information transmission, and are also taken as an indication of the structure of linguistic behavior. The theoretical value and practical significance of such everyday built-in metalanguage have long been recognized. This paper, which is part of a bigger study, is aimed to provide useful insights for a more precise and systematic application to speech act verbs translation between English and Chinese, especially with regard to the degree to which generic integrity is maintained in the practice of translation of legal documents. In this study, the corpus, i.e. Chinese legal texts and their English translations, English legal texts, ordinary Chinese texts, and ordinary English texts, serve as a testing ground for examining contrastively the usage of English and Chinese directive speech act verbs in legal genre. The scope of this paper is relatively wide and essentially covers all directive speech act verbs which are used in ordinary English and Chinese, such as order, command, request, prohibit, threat, advice, warn and permit. The researcher, by combining the corpus methodology with a contrastive perspective, explored a range of characteristics of English and Chinese directive speech act verbs including their semantic, syntactic and pragmatic features, and then contrasted them in a structured way. It has been found that there are similarities between English and Chinese directive speech act verbs in legal genre, such as similar semantic components between English speech act verbs and their translation equivalents in Chinese, formal and accurate usage of English and Chinese directive speech act verbs in legal contexts. But notable differences have been identified in areas of difference between their usage in the original Chinese and English legal texts such as valency patterns and frequency of occurrences. For example, the subjects of some directive speech act verbs are very frequently omitted in Chinese legal texts, but this is not the case in English legal texts. One of the practicable methods to achieve adequacy and conciseness in speech act verb translation from Chinese into English in legal genre is to repeat the subjects or the message with discrepancy, and vice versa. In addition, translation effects such as overuse and underuse of certain directive speech act verbs are also found in the translated English texts compared to the original English texts. Legal texts constitute a particularly valuable material for speech act verb study. Building up such a contrastive picture of the Chinese and English speech act verbs in legal language would yield results of value and interest to legal translators and students of language for legal purposes and have practical application to legal translation between English and Chinese.

Keywords: contrastive analysis, corpus-based, directive speech act verbs, legal texts, translation between English and Chinese

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3532 English for Specific Purposes: Its Definition, Characteristics, and the Role of Needs Analysis

Authors: Karima Tayaa, Amina Bouaziz

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The rapid expansion in the scientific fields and the growth of communication technology increased the use of English as international language in the world. Hence, over the past few decades, many researchers have been emphasizing on how the teaching and learning of English as a foreign or as an additional language can best help students to perform successfully. English for specific purpose is today quite literally regarded as the most global language discipline which existed practically in every country in the world. ESP (English for Specific Purposes) involves teaching and learning the specific skills and language needed by particular learners for a particular purpose. The P in ESP is always a professional purpose which is a set of skills that learners currently need in their work or will need in their professional careers. It has had an early origin since 1960’s and has grown to become one of the most prominent of English language teaching today. Moreover, ESP learners are usually adults who have some quittances with English and learn the language so as to communicate and perform particular profession. Related activities are based on specific purposes and needs. They are integrated into subject matter area important to the learners. Unlike general English which focuses on teaching general language courses and all four language skills are equally stressed, ESP and practically needs analysis determine which language skills are the most needed by the learners and syllabus designed accordingly. This paper looked into the origin, characteristics, development of ESP, the difference between ESP and general English. Finally, the paper critically reviews the role of needs analysis in the ESP.

Keywords: English language teaching, English for general purposes, English for specific purposes, needs analysis

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3531 Effects of Word Formation Dissimilarities on Youruba Learners of English

Authors: Pelumi Olowofoyeku

Abstract:

English as a language has great reach and influence; it is taught all over the world. For instance, in Nigeria, English language is been taught and learned as a second language; therefore second learners of English in Nigeria have certain problems they contend with. Because of the dissimilarities in word formation patterns of English and Yoruba languages, Yoruba learners of English mostly found in the south west of Nigeria, and some parts of Kwara, Kogi, and Edo states of Nigeria have problems with word formation patterns in English. The objectives of this paper therefore, are: to identify the levels of word formation dissimilarities in English and Yoruba languages and to examine the effects of these dissimilarities on the Yoruba learners of English. The data for this paper were graded words purposely selected and presented to selected students of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos, who are Yoruba learners of English. These respondents were randomly selected to form words which are purposively selected to test the effects of word formation dissimilarities between Yoruba (the respondent’s first language) and English language on the respondents. The dissimilarities are examined using contrastive analysis tools. This paper reveals that there are differences in the word formation patterns of Yoruba and English languages. The writer believes that there is need for language teachers to undertake comparative studies of the two languages involved for methodological reasons. The author then suggests that teachers should identify the problem areas and systematically teach their students. The paper concludes that although English and Yoruba word formation patterns differ very significantly in many respects, there exist language universals in all languages which language educators should take advantage of in teaching.

Keywords: word formation patterns, graded words, ESL, Yoruba learners

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3530 Study on the Overseas Dissemination and Acceptance of the English Translation of YU Hua’s to Live

Authors: Luo Xi

Abstract:

Taking the English translation of Yu Hua's To Live as an example, this paper makes a quantitative description and qualitative analysis of its overseas dissemination and acceptance from the perspective of the actual audience -- readers. It is found that the English translation of To Live has been widely disseminated and accepted overseas. The book has been well received overseas. With the English version of To Live, overseas readers have an in-depth understanding of Chinese history, politics, and culture. At the same time, the work shows the admirable qualities of Chinese people. It also conveys the core human values. And thus, overseas readers have gained a deeper understanding of life and are spiritually inspired. From the perspective of readers, this paper studies the successful overseas dissemination of the English translation of Yu Hua's To Live to provide a reference for the further overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.

Keywords: to live, english translation, overseas dissemination and acceptance, readers’ comments

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3529 Placement of English Lexical Stress by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners: How Computer-Generated Spectrographic Representations of Correct Pronunciations Can Provide a Visual Aid to Learners

Authors: Rami Al-Sadi

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The assignment of lexical stress in English to its correct syllable is an enormous challenge to EFL learners, especially if their first language (L1) phonology is very different from English phonology. Arabic-speaking EFL learners not only stumble very frequently when it comes to placing the lexical stress in a given word, but they also seem to relegate the role of lexical stress as unimportant, mainly because in Arabic, unlike in English, lexical stress is not phonemic. This study aims at exploring the possible benefits of utilizing spectrographic representations of English words correctly pronounced, for the purpose of finding out how these spectrograms can provide a visual aid to the learners and help them rectify their stress placement errors as they see in real time spectrograms of the correct pronunciations juxtaposed on a computer screen with spectrograms of their own pronunciations for easy comparison. The study involved 120 students from the English Department at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. 60 participants were taught the English lexical stress rules and also received spectrographic guidance on pronunciation; the other 60 received only verbal instruction on the stress rules and verbal feedback on their pronunciations. Statistical results showed that when the learners had the opportunity to ‘see’ their pronunciation mistakes, they were three times more likely to rectify their placement of lexical stress.

Keywords: Arabic-speaking EFL learners, lexical stress, pronunciation, spectrographic representation, stress placement

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3528 Chinese Fantasy Novel: New Word Teaching for Non-Native Learners

Authors: Bok Check Meng, Goh Ying Soon

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Giving additional learning materials such as Chinese fantasy novel to non-native learners can be strenuous. Instructors have to understand the underpinning theories about cognitive theory for new word instruction. This paper discusses the underpinning theories. Relevant literature reviews are given. There are basically five major areas of cognitive related theories mentioned in this article. These include motivational learning theory, Affective theory of learning, Cognitive psychology theory, Vocabulary acquisition theory and Bloom’s cognitive levels theory. A theoretical framework has been constructed. Thus, this will give a hand in ensuring non-native learners might gain positive outcomes in the instruction process. Instructors who are interested in teaching new word from Chinese fantasy novel in specific to support additional learning might be able to get insights from this article.

Keywords: Chinese fantasy novel, new word teaching, non-native learners, cognitive theory, bloom

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3527 Production of Oral Vowels by Chinese Learners of Portuguese: Problems and Didactic Implications

Authors: Adelina Castelo

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The increasing number of learners of Portuguese as Foreign Language in China justifies the need to define the phonetic profile of these learners and to design didactic materials that are adjusted to their specific problems in pronunciation. Different aspects of this topic have been studied, but the production of oral vowels still needs to be investigated. This study aims: (i) to identify the problems the Chinese learners of Portuguese experience in the pronunciation of oral vowels; (ii) to discuss the didactic implications drawn from those problems. The participants were eight native speakers of Mandarin Chinese that had been learning Portuguese in College for almost a year. They named pictured objects and their oral productions were recorded and phonetically transcribed. The selection of the objects to name took into account some linguistic variables (e.g. stress pattern, syllable structure, presence of the Portuguese oral vowels in different word positions according to stress location). The results are analysed in two ways: the impact of linguistic variables on the success rate in the vowels' production; the replacement strategies used in the non-target productions. Both analyses show that the Chinese learners of Portuguese (i) have significantly more difficulties with the mid vowels as well as the high central vowel and (ii) do not master the vowel height feature. These findings contribute to define the phonetic profile of these learners in terms of oral vowel production. Besides, they have important didactic implications for the pronunciation teaching to these specific learners. Those implications are discussed and exemplified.

Keywords: Chinese learners, learners’ phonetic profile, linguistic variables, Portuguese as foreign language, production data, pronunciation teaching, oral vowels

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3526 Teaching–Learning-Based Optimization: An Efficient Method for Chinese as a Second Language

Authors: Qi Wang

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In the classroom, teachers have been trained to complete the target task within the limited lecture time, meanwhile learners need to receive a lot of new knowledge, however, most of the time the learners come without the proper pre-class preparation to efficiently take in the contents taught in class. Under this circumstance, teachers do have no time to check whether the learners fully understand the content or not, how the learners communicate in the different contexts, until teachers see the results when the learners are tested. In the past decade, the teaching of Chinese has taken a trend. Teaching focuses less on the use of proper grammatical terms/punctuation and is now placing a heavier focus on the materials from real life contexts. As a result, it has become a greater challenge to teachers, as this requires teachers to fully understand/prepare what they teach and explain the content with simple and understandable words to learners. On the other hand, the same challenge also applies to the learners, who come from different countries. As they have to use what they learnt, based on their personal understanding of the material to effectively communicate with others in the classroom, even in the contexts of a day to day communication. To reach this win-win stage, Feynman’s Technique plays a very important role. This practical report presents you how the Feynman’s Technique is applied into Chinese courses, both writing & oral, to motivate the learners to practice more on writing, reading and speaking in the past few years. Part 1, analysis of different teaching styles and different types of learners, to find the most efficient way to both teachers and learners. Part 2, based on the theory of Feynman’s Technique, how to let learners build the knowledge from knowing the name of something to knowing something, via different designed target tasks. Part 3. The outcomes show that Feynman’s Technique is the interaction of learning style and teaching style, the double-edged sword of Teaching & Learning Chinese as a Second Language.

Keywords: Chinese, Feynman’s technique, learners, teachers

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3525 The Roles of Mandarin and Local Dialect in the Acquisition of L2 English Consonants Among Chinese Learners of English: Evidence From Suzhou Dialect Areas

Authors: Weijing Zhou, Yuting Lei, Francis Nolan

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In the domain of second language acquisition, whenever pronunciation errors or acquisition difficulties are found, researchers habitually attribute them to the negative transfer of the native language or local dialect. To what extent do Mandarin and local dialects affect English phonological acquisition for Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL)? Little evidence, however, has been found via empirical research in China. To address this core issue, the present study conducted phonetic experiments to explore the roles of local dialects and Mandarin in Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of L2 English consonants. Besides Mandarin, the sole national language in China, Suzhou dialect was selected as the target local dialect because of its distinct phonology from Mandarin. The experimental group consisted of 30 junior English majors at Yangzhou University, who were born and lived in Suzhou, acquired Suzhou Dialect since their early childhood, and were able to communicate freely and fluently with each other in Suzhou Dialect, Mandarin as well as English. The consonantal target segments were all the consonants of English, Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect in typical carrier words embedded in the carrier sentence Say again. The control group consisted of two Suzhou Dialect experts, two Mandarin radio broadcasters, and two British RP phoneticians, who served as the standard speakers of the three languages. The reading corpus was recorded and sampled in the phonetic laboratories at Yangzhou University, Soochow University and Cambridge University, respectively, then transcribed, segmented and analyzed acoustically via Praat software, and finally analyzed statistically via EXCEL and SPSS software. The main findings are as follows: First, in terms of correct acquisition rates (CARs) of all the consonants, Mandarin ranked top (92.83%), English second (74.81%) and Suzhou Dialect last (70.35%), and significant differences were found only between the CARs of Mandarin and English and between the CARs of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect, demonstrating Mandarin was overwhelmingly more robust than English or Suzhou Dialect in subjects’ multilingual phonological ecology. Second, in terms of typical acoustic features, the average duration of all the consonants plus the voice onset time (VOT) of plosives, fricatives, and affricatives in 3 languages were much longer than those of standard speakers; the intensities of English fricatives and affricatives were higher than RP speakers but lower than Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect standard speakers; the formants of English nasals and approximants were significantly different from those of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialects, illustrating the inconsistent acoustic variations between the 3 languages. Thirdly, in terms of typical pronunciation variations or errors, there were significant interlingual interactions between the 3 consonant systems, in which Mandarin consonants were absolutely dominant, accounting for the strong transfer from L1 Mandarin to L2 English instead of from earlier-acquired L1 local dialect to L2 English. This is largely because the subjects were knowingly exposed to Mandarin since their nursery and were strictly required to speak in Mandarin through all the formal education periods from primary school to university.

Keywords: acquisition of L2 English consonants, role of Mandarin, role of local dialect, Chinese EFL learners from Suzhou Dialect areas

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3524 Tracing the Developmental Repertoire of the Progressive: Evidence from L2 Construction Learning

Authors: Tianqi Wu, Min Wang

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Research investigating language acquisition from a constructionist perspective has demonstrated that language is learned as constructions at various linguistic levels, which is related to factors of frequency, semantic prototypicality, and form-meaning contingency. However, previous research on construction learning tended to focus on clause-level constructions such as verb argument constructions but few attempts were made to study morpheme-level constructions such as the progressive construction, which is regarded as a source of acquisition problems for English learners from diverse L1 backgrounds, especially for those whose L1 do not have an equivalent construction such as German and Chinese. To trace the developmental trajectory of Chinese EFL learners’ use of the progressive with respect to verb frequency, verb-progressive contingency, and verbal prototypicality and generality, a learner corpus consisting of three sub-corpora representing three different English proficiency levels was extracted from the Chinese Learners of English Corpora (CLEC). As the reference point, a native speakers’ corpus extracted from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays was also established. All the texts were annotated with C7 tagset by part-of-speech tagging software. After annotation all valid progressive hits were retrieved with AntConc 3.4.3 followed by a manual check. Frequency-related data showed that from the lowest to the highest proficiency level, (1) the type token ratio increased steadily from 23.5% to 35.6%, getting closer to 36.4% in the native speakers’ corpus, indicating a wider use of verbs in the progressive; (2) the normalized entropy value rose from 0.776 to 0.876, working towards the target score of 0.886 in native speakers’ corpus, revealing that upper-intermediate learners exhibited a more even distribution and more productive use of verbs in the progressive; (3) activity verbs (i.e., verbs with prototypical progressive meanings like running and singing) dropped from 59% to 34% but non-prototypical verbs such as state verbs (e.g., being and living) and achievement verbs (e.g., dying and finishing) were increasingly used in the progressive. Apart from raw frequency analyses, collostructional analyses were conducted to quantify verb-progressive contingency and to determine what verbs were distinctively associated with the progressive construction. Results were in line with raw frequency findings, which showed that contingency between the progressive and non-prototypical verbs represented by light verbs (e.g., going, doing, making, and coming) increased as English proficiency proceeded. These findings altogether suggested that beginning Chinese EFL learners were less productive in using the progressive construction: they were constrained by a small set of verbs which had concrete and typical progressive meanings (e.g., the activity verbs). But with English proficiency increasing, their use of the progressive began to spread to marginal members such as the light verbs.

Keywords: Construction learning, Corpus-based, Progressives, Prototype

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3523 An Exploration of the Effects of Individual and Interpersonal Factors on Saudi Learners' Motivation to Learn English as a Foreign Language

Authors: Fakieh Alrabai

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This paper presents an experimental study designed to explore some of the learner’s individual and interpersonal factors (e.g. persistence, interest, regulation, satisfaction, appreciation, etc.) that Saudi learners experience when learning English as a Foreign Language and how learners’ perceptions of these factors influence various aspects of their motivation to learn English language. As part of the study, a 27-item structured survey was administered to a randomly selected sample of 105 Saudi learners from public schools and universities. Data collected through the survey were subjected to some basic statistical analyses, such as "mean" and "standard deviation". Based on the results from the analysis, a number of generalizations and conclusions are made in relation to how these inherent factors affect Saudi learners’ motivation to learn English as a foreign language. In addition, some recommendations are offered to Saudi academics on how to effectively make use of such factors, which may enable Saudi teachers and learners of English as a foreign language to achieve better learning outcomes in an area widely associated by Saudis with lack of success.

Keywords: persistence, interest, appreciation, satisfaction, SL/FL motivation

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3522 Exploring Non-Native English Language Teachers' Understandings and Attitudes towards the Integration of Intercultural Competence

Authors: Simin Sasani

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This study will explore a group of English language teachers’ understanding of intercultural competence to find out if they are aware of the concept and how important it is for them. It will investigate how much they are concerned about the challenges that the learners might face in their intercultural communications and to what extent they can help the learners to overcome the barriers to increase students’ insight into cultural differences. In addition, it will explore how a group of non-native English language teachers define culture in relation to their English language teaching practices. More specifically, the research tries to take the how and why of inclusion of intercultural competence into consideration and how non-native teachers think they can improve their learners’ knowledge and skills in this domain. The study will be conducted in the UK and the participants are eight non-native English language teachers who are currently teaching general English language courses for foreigners. A pilot study have been conducted for this research which its results show three non-native English teachers are aware of the notion although they have not had any formal education about intercultural competence. Their challenges and limitation were also highlighted through interviews and observations.

Keywords: English, English language teachers, intercultural communications, intercultural competence, non-natives

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3521 Morphological Analysis of English L1-Persian L2 Adult Learners’ Interlanguage: From the Perspective of SLA Variation

Authors: Maassoumeh Bemani Naeini

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Studies on interlanguage have long been engaged in describing the phenomenon of variation in SLA. Pursuing the same goal and particularly addressing the role of linguistic features, this study describes the use of Persian morphology in the interlanguage of two adult English-speaking learners of Persian L2. Taking the general approach of a combination of contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage analysis, this study focuses on the identification and prediction of some possible instances of transfer from English L1 to Persian L2 across six elicitation tasks aiming to investigate whether any of contextual features may variably influence the learners’ order of morpheme accuracy in the areas of copula, possessives, articles, demonstratives, plural form, personal pronouns, and genitive cases.  Results describe the existence of task variation in the interlanguage system of Persian L2 learners.

Keywords: English L1, Interlanguage Analysis, Persian L2, SLA variation

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3520 Encounters of English First Additional Language Teachers in Rural Schools

Authors: Rendani Mercy Makhwathana

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This paper intends to explore teachers' encounters when teaching English First Additional Language in rural public schools. Teachers are pillars of any education system around the globe. Educational transformations hinge on them as critical role players in the education system. Thus, teachers' encounters are worth consideration, for they impact learners' learning and the well-being of education in general. An exploratory qualitative approach was used in this paper. The population for this paper comprised all Foundation Phase teachers in the district. A purposive sample of 15 Foundation Phase teachers from five rural-based schools was used. Data were collected through classroom observation and individual face-to-face interviews. Data were categorized, analyzed, and interpreted. Amongst the revealed teachers' encounters are learners' inability to read and write and learners' lack of English language background and learners' lack of the vocabulary to express themselves. This paper recommends the provision of relevant resources and support to effectively teach English First Additional Language to enable learners' engagement and effective use of the English language.

Keywords: first additional language, english second language, medium of instruction, teacher professional development

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3519 Syntactic Errors in Written Assessments of Non-Native English-Speaking Undergraduate Students and Pedagogical Implications in Correcting Grammatical Mistakes

Authors: Cheng Shuk Ling

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This paper examines the English syntactic errors and their patterns in the written assignments of a General Education course at City University of Hong Kong. Subjects are 60 local and non-local (exchange) undergraduate students who are all EFL learners and L2 users with diversified education and disciplinary background (i.e. their major of study), which are unrelated to English language studies. The objective of this paper brings to the foreground a broad discussion of EFL/L2 undergraduate learners’ average syntactic ability in terms of written assessment. This paper is an attempt in classifying the patterns and categories of syntactic errors committed by students who were brought up and educated in non-native English-speaking countries. Thus, pedagogical recommendations are offered for both EFL/L2 learners and educators in tertiary education settings in such ways as to calibrate how and in what manner English language as the medium of instruction can lead to more enduring effects in learners within non-native English-speaking countries.

Keywords: syntactic errors, english as a foreign language, second language users, pedagogy

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3518 Implementing Contextual Approach to Improve EFL Learners’ English Speaking Skill

Authors: Samanik

Abstract:

This writing is correlated with English teaching material development, Contextual Teaching Learning (CTL). CTL is believed to facilitate students with real world challenge. Contextual Teaching and Learning is identified as a promising strategy that actively engages students and promotes skills development. It is based on the notion that learning can only occur when students are able to connect between content and context. It also helps teachers link between the materials taught with real-world situations and encourage students to make connection between the knowledge possessed by its application. Besides, it directs students to be critical and analytical. In accordance, this paper looks for the opportunity to improve EFL learners’ English speaking skill through tour guide presentation. A single case study will be conducted to highlight EFL learners’ experience of doing tour guide presentation in the English class room setting. The writer assumes that CLT will contribute positively to EFL learners’ English speaking skill.

Keywords: English speaking skill, contextual teaching learning, tour guide presentation

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3517 Acquisition of the Attributive Adjectives and the Noun Adjuncts by the L3 Learners of French and German: Further Evidence for the Typological Proximity Model

Authors: Ali Akbar Jabbari

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This study investigates the role of the prior acquired languages, Persian and English, concerning the acquisition of the third language (L3) French and German at the initial stages. The data were collected from two groups of L3 learners: 28 learners of L3 French and 21 learners of L3 German, in order to test the placement of the attributive adjectives and the noun adjuncts through a grammaticality judgment task and an element rearrangement task. The aim of the study was to investigate whether any of the models proposed in the L3 acquisition could account for the case of the present study. The results of the analysis revealed that the learners of L3 German and French were both affected by the typological similarity of the previous languages. The outperformance of the German learners is an indication of the facilitative effect of L2 English (which is typologically more similar to the German than that of French). English had also a non-facilitative role in the acquisition of French and this is proved in the lower performance of the French learners. This study provided evidence for the TPM as the most accepted model of L3 acquisition.

Keywords: cross-linguistic influence, multilingualism, third language acquisition, transfer

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3516 Corpus-Based Description of Core English Nouns of Pakistani English, an EFL Learner Perspective at Secondary Level

Authors: Abrar Hussain Qureshi

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Vocabulary has been highlighted as a key indicator in any foreign language learning program, especially English as a foreign language (EFL). It is often considered a potential tool in foreign language curriculum, and its deficiency impedes successful communication in the target language. The knowledge of the lexicon is very significant in getting communicative competence and performance. Nouns constitute a considerable bulk of English vocabulary. Rather, they are the bones of the English language and are the main semantic carrier in spoken and written discourse. As nouns dominate the bulk of the English lexicon, their role becomes all the more potential. The undertaken research is a systematic effort in this regard to work out a list of highly frequent list of Pakistani English nouns for the EFL learners at the secondary level. It will encourage autonomy for the EFL learners as well as will save their time. The corpus used for the research has been developed locally from leading English newspapers of Pakistan. Wordsmith Tools has been used to process the research data and to retrieve word list of frequent Pakistani English nouns. The retrieved list of core Pakistani English nouns is supposed to be useful for English language learners at the secondary level as it covers a wide range of speech events.

Keywords: corpus, EFL, frequency list, nouns

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3515 Morphological and Syntactic Meaning: An Interactive Crossword Puzzle Approach

Authors: Ibrahim Garba

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This research involved the use of word distributions and morphological knowledge by speakers of Arabic learning English connected different allomorphs in order to realize how the morphology and syntax of English gives meaning through using interactive crossword puzzles (ICP). Fifteen chapters covered with a class of nine learners over an academic year of an intensive English program were reviewed using the ICP. Learners were questioned about how the use of this gaming element enhanced and motivated their learning of English. The findings were positive indicating a successful implementation of ICP both at creational and user levels. This indicated a positive role technology had when learning and teaching English through adopting an interactive gaming element for learning English.

Keywords: distribution, gaming, interactive-crossword-puzzle, morphology

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3514 Error Analysis of Students’ Freewriting: A Study of Adult English Learners’ Errors

Authors: Louella Nicole Gamao

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Writing in English is accounted as a complex skill and process for foreign language learners who commit errors in writing are found as an inevitable part of language learners' writing. This study aims to explore and analyze the learners of English-as-a foreign Language (EFL) freewriting in a University in Taiwan by identifying the category of mistakes that often appear in their freewriting activity and analyzing the learners' awareness of each error. Hopefully, this present study will be able to gain further information about students' errors in their English writing that may contribute to further understanding of the benefits of freewriting activity that can be used for future purposes as a powerful tool in English writing courses for EFL classes. The present study adopted the framework of error analysis proposed by Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), which consisted of a compilation of data, identification of errors, classification of error types, calculation of frequency of each error, and error interpretation. Survey questionnaires regarding students' awareness of errors were also analyzed and discussed. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, this study provides a detailed description of the errors found in the students'freewriting output, explores the similarities and differences of the students' errors in both academic writing and freewriting, and lastly, analyzes the students' perception of their errors.

Keywords: error, EFL, freewriting, taiwan, english

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3513 Learners’ Characteristics as Correlates of Effective English Language Teaching in English as a Second Language Classroom

Authors: Jimoh Olumide Yusuf

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Various factors have continued to bedevil the effective teaching and learning of English Language in Nigeria and prominent among these factors are learners’ characteristics. Unfortunately, these particular factors seem to have recorded paucity of research efforts by scholars and the problem of lack of proficiency in the target language continues to linger. This study therefore investigates the relationship between specific learners’ characteristics and effective teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. To this end, Self-Determination, and Integrative Motivation Theories were applied to investigate motivation, language learning, learners’ characteristics and its relationship to language proficiency. A survey of 500 students and 100 English Language teachers across 20 schools was conducted. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data and findings revealed that; specific learners’ characteristics such as learners’ age, learning style and motivation significantly determine the performance of students in English Language. Specifically, students with appropriate school age, visual learning style and intrinsic motivation, demonstrated English Language proficiency; as they performed better than students with extrinsic motivation, audio and kinaesthetic learning styles. Moreover, teachers related factors such as teaching experience; teaching strategies and teachers’ extrinsic motivation also emerged as essential correlates of effective language teaching. The findings conclude that learning characteristics are significant factors that should be considered by the teachers and education planners for adequate, sequential and effective implementation of the ESL curriculum in Nigeria.

Keywords: senior secondary school, English as a second language, intrinsic motivation, Kinaesthetic learning style

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3512 On the Comprehension of English Compound Nouns by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

Authors: Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh, Mohamma Alaghawat, Hiba Alhendi

Abstract:

This paper reports an investigation of the comprehension of English compound nouns by sixty Arabic-speaking English Foreign Language (EFL) learners majoring in English at the University of Jordan, Amman. The investigation focused on the problems that these learners may encounter in understanding certain types of compounds and their ability to use their L1 compound noun knowledge to produce the meaning of L2 compound nouns. Participants whose English proficiency level was advanced underwent a test to identify the meaning ofan underlined compound without using a dictionary. Theresponses to the three different types of compounds were analyzed usingTwo-Way repeated measures ANOVA, and the results showed that there were different endocentric and exocentric compound responses within subordinative compounds, with a statistically significant difference between the two in favor of endocentric compounds. We argue that the endocentric, especially subordinative endocentric compounds,weremore easily understood due to its representative nature, i.e., because the head represents the meaning of the whole compound. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for teaching compound nouns.

Keywords: morphology, compounding, SLA, arabic-speaking EFL learners

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3511 Anxiety Factors in the Saudi EFL Learners

Authors: Fariha Asif

Abstract:

The Saudi EFL learners face a number of problems in EFL learning, anxiety is the most potent one among those. It means that its resolution can lead to better language skills in Saudi students. That’s why, the study is carried out and is considered to be of interest to the Saudi language learners, educators and the policy makers because of the potentially negative impact that anxiety has on English language learning. The purpose of the study is to explore the factors that cause language anxiety in the Saudi EFL learners while learning speaking skills and the influence it casts on communication in the target language. The investigation of the anxiety-producing factors that arise while learning to communicate in the target language will hopefully broaden the insight into the issue of language anxiety and will help language teachers in making the classroom environment less stressful. The study seeks to answer the questions such as what are the psycholinguistic factors that cause language anxiety among ESL/EFL learners in learning and speaking English Language, especially in the context of the Saudi students. What are the socio-cultural factors that cause language anxiety among Saudi EFL learners in learning and speaking English Language? How is anxiety manifested in the language learning of the Saudi EFL learners? And which strategies can be used to successfully cope with language anxiety? The scope of the study is limited to the college and university English Teachers and subject specialists (males and females) in public sectors colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia. Some of the key findings of the study are:, Anxiety plays an important role in English as foreign language learning for the Saudi EFL learners. Some teachers believe that anxiety bears negatives effects for the learners, while some others think that anxiety serves a positive outcome for the learners by giving them an extra bit of motivation to do their best in English language learning. Language teachers seem to have consensus that L1 interference is one of the major factors that cause anxiety among the Saudi EFL learners. Most of the Saudi EFL learners are found to have fear of making mistakes. They don’t take initiative and opt to keep quiet and don’t respond fearing that they would make mistakes and this would ruin their image in front of their peers. Discouraging classroom environment is also counted as one of the major anxiety causing factors. The teachers, who don’t encourage learners positively, make them anxious and they start avoiding class participation. It is also found that English language teachers have their important role to minimize the negative effects of anxiety in the classes. The teachers’ positive encouragement can do wonders in this regard. A positive, motivating and encouraging class environment is essential to produce desired results in English language learning for the Saudi EFL learners.

Keywords: factors, psychology, speaking, EFL

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3510 Frequency of the English Phrasal Verbs Used by Iranian Learners as a Reference to the Style of Writing Adopted by the Learners

Authors: Hamzeh Mazaherylaghab, Mehrangiz Vahabian, Seyyedeh Zahra Asghari

Abstract:

The present study initially focused on the frequency of phrasal verbs used by Iranian learners of English. The results then needed to be compared to the findings from native speaker corpora. After the extraction of phrasal verbs from learner and native-speaker corpora the findings were analysed. The results showed that Iranian learners avoided using phrasal verbs in many cases. Some of the findings proved to be significant. It was also found that the learners used the single-word counterparts of the avoided phrasal verbs to compensate for their lack of knowledge in many cases. Semantic complexity and Lack of L1 counterpart may have been the main reasons for avoidance, but despite the avoidance phenomenon, the learners displayed a tendency to use many other phrasal verbs which may have been due to the increase in the number of multi-word verbs in Persian. The overall scores confirmed the fact that the language produced by the learners illustrates signs of more formal style in comparison with the native speakers of English by using less phrasal verbs and more formal single word verbs instead.

Keywords: corpus, corpora, LOCNESS, phrasal verbs, single-word verb

Procedia PDF Downloads 201
3509 Second Language Skill through M-Learning

Authors: Subramaniam Chandran, A. Geetha

Abstract:

This paper addresses three issues: how to prepare the instructional design for imparting English language skill from inter-disciplinary self-learning material; how the disadvantaged students are benefited from such kind of language skill imparted through m-learning; and how do m-learners perform better than the other learners. This paper examines these issues through an experimental study conducted among the distance learners enrolled in a preparatory program for bachelor’s degree. This program is designed for the disadvantaged learners especially for the school drop-outs to qualify to pursue graduate program through distant education. It also explains how mobile learning helps them to enhance their capacity in learning despite their rural background and other disadvantages. In India, nearly half of the students enrolled in schools do not complete their study. The pursuance of higher education is very low when compared with developed countries. This study finds a significant increase in their learning capacity and mobile learning seems to be a viable alternative where the conventional system could not reach the disadvantaged learners. Improving the English language skill is one of the reasons for such kind of performance. Exercises framed from the relevant self-learning material for enhancing English language skill not only improves language skill but also widens the subject-knowledge. This paper explains these issues out of the study conducted among the disadvantaged learners.

Keywords: English language skill, disadvantaged learners, distance education, m-learning

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3508 The Impact of Language Anxiety on EFL Learners' Proficiency: Case Study of University of Jeddah

Authors: Saleh Mohammad Alqahtani

Abstract:

Foreign language Anxiety has been found to be a key issue in learning English as foreign language in the classroom. This study investigated the impact of foreign language anxiety on Saudi EFL learners' proficiency in the classroom. A total of 197 respondents had participated in the study, comprising of 96 male and 101 female, who enrolled in preparatory year, first year, second year, and fourth year of English language department at the University of Jeddah. Two instruments were used to answer the study questions. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used to identify the levels of foreign language (FL) anxiety for Saudi learners. Moreover, an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test was used as an objective measure of the learners’ English language proficiency. The data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that Saudi EFL learners' experience a level of anxiety in the classroom, and there is a significant differences between the course levels in their level of language anxiety. Moreover, it is also found that female students are less anxious in learning English as a foreign language than male students. The results show that foreign language anxiety and English proficiency are negatively related to each other. Furthermore, the study revealed that there were significant differences between Saudi learners in language use anxiety, while there were no significant differences in language class anxiety. The study suggested that teachers should employ a diversity of designed techniques to encourage the environment of the classroom in order to control learners’ FLA, which in turns will improve their EFL proficiency.

Keywords: foreign language anxiety, FLA, language use anxiety, language class anxiety, gender, L2 proficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 260
3507 A Study on the Acquisition of Chinese Classifiers by Vietnamese Learners

Authors: Quoc Hung Le Pham

Abstract:

In the field of language study, classifier is an interesting research feature. In the world’s languages, some languages have classifier system, some do not. Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese languages are a rich classifier system, however, because of the language system, the cognitive, cultural differences, so that the syntactic structure of classifier of them also dissimilar. When using Mandarin Chinese classifiers must collocate with nouns or verbs, in the lexical category it is not like nouns or verbs, belong to the open class. But some scholars believe that Mandarin Chinese measure words are similar to English and other Indo European languages. The word hanging on the structure and word formation (suffix), is a closed class. Compared to other languages, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and other Asian languages are still belonging to the classifier language’s second type, this type of language is classifier, it is in the majority of quantity must exist, and following deictic, anaphoric or quantity appearing together, not separation between its modified noun, also known as numeral classifier language. Main syntactic structure of Chinese classifiers are as follows: ‘quantity+measure+noun’, ‘pronoun+measure+noun’, ‘pronoun+quantity+measure+noun’, ‘prefix+quantity+measure +noun’, ‘quantity +adjective + measure +noun’, ‘ quantity (above 10 whole number), + duo (多)measure +noun’, ‘ quantity (around 10) + measure + duo (多) +noun’. Main syntactic structure of Vietnamese classifiers are: ‘quantity+measure+noun’, ‘ measure+noun+pronoun’, ‘quantity+measure+noun+pronoun’, ‘measure+noun+prefix+ quantity’, ‘quantity+measure+noun+adjective', ‘duo (多) +quanlity+measure+noun’, ‘quantity+measure+adjective+pronoun (quantity word could not be 1)’, ‘measure+adjective+pronoun’, ‘measure+pronoun’. In daily life, classifiers are commonly used, if Chinese learners failed to standardize this using catergory, because the negative impact might occur on their verbal communication. The richness of the Chinese classifier system contributes to the complexity in the study of the system by foreign learners, especially in the inter language of Vietnamese learners. As above mentioned, Vietnamese language also has a rich system of classifiers, however, the basic structure order of two languages are similar but both still have differences. These similarities and dissimilarities between Chinese and Vietnamese classifier systems contribute significantly to the common errors made by Vietnamese students while they acquire Chinese, which are distinct from the errors made by students from the other language background. This article from a comparative perspective of language, has an orientation towards Chinese and Vietnamese languages commonly used in classifiers semantics and structural form two aspects. This comparative study aims to identity Vietnamese students while learning Chinese classifiers may face some negative transference of mother language, beside that through the analysis of the classifiers questionnaire, find out the causes and patterns of the errors they made. As the preliminary analysis shows, Vietnamese students while learning Chinese classifiers made some errors such as: overuse classifier ‘ge’(个); misuse the other classifiers ‘*yi zhang ri ji’(yi pian ri ji), ‘*yi zuo fang zi’(yi jian fang zi), ‘*si zhang jin pai’(si mei jin pai); homonym words ‘dui, shuang, fu, tao’ (对、双、副、套), ‘ke, li’ (颗、粒).

Keywords: acquisition, classifiers, negative transfer, Vietnamse learners

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3506 Latinx Adults’ Emergent Bilinguals’ Perceptions of Culturally Diverse Teaching Strategies

Authors: Sharon Diaz Ruiz

Abstract:

The population of Latinx adult English language learners (ELLs) in the United States will increase in the next few years and become even more racially and linguistically diverse. Our classrooms reflect these demographic changes; therefore, there will always be the need to identify language teaching practices that would allow educators to meet this linguistic diversity. This qualitative study explores Latinx adult English language learners' perceptions of culturally responsive teaching strategies. Participants in this study will be enrolled in an English developmental course for the Fall of 2022. The data collection process will consist of overt observation during five presentations/activities, including culturally inclusive readings and student reflections. The teaching materials selected will align with the course module's goals and objectives. The result of this investigation will shed light on the gap in the literature documenting the application of culturally responsive pedagogy to Latino adult language learners.

Keywords: emergent bilinguals, adult learners, Latinx learners, ELL

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3505 English Writing Anxiety in Debate Writing among Japanese Senior High School EFL Learners: Sources, Effects and Implication

Authors: Maria Lita Sudo

Abstract:

The debate is an effective tool in cultivating critical thinking skills in English classes. It involves writing evidence-based arguments about a resolution in a form of constructive speech and oral discussion using constructive speech, which will then be attacked and defended. In the process of writing, EFL learners may experience anxiety, an emotional problem that affects writing achievement and cognitive processing. Thus, this study explored the sources and effect of English writing anxiety in the context of debate writing with a view to providing EFL teachers pedagogical suggestions in alleviating English writing anxiety in debate writing. The participants of this study are 95 Japanese senior high school EFL learners and 3 Japanese senior high school English teachers. In selecting the participants, opportunity sampling was employed and consent from Japanese English teachers was sought. Data were collected thru (1) observation (2) open-ended questionnaire and (3) semi-structured interview. This study revealed that not all teachers of English in the context of this study recognize the existence of English writing anxiety among their students and that the very nature of the debate, in general, may also be a source of English writing anxiety in the context of debate writing. The interview revealed that English writing anxiety affects students’ ability to retrieve L2 vocabulary. Further, this study revealed different sources of writing anxiety in debate writing, which can be categorized into four main categories: (1) L2 linguistic ability-related factors (2) instructional –related factors, (3) interpersonal-related factors, and (4) debate- related factors. Based on the findings, recommendations for EFL teachers and EFL learners in managing writing anxiety in debate writing are provided.

Keywords: debate, EFL learners, English writing anxiety, sources

Procedia PDF Downloads 137