Native English Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Pronunciation Proficiency among Arabic and English Department Students Using Accent Software

One way to improve pronunciation skills is to use sophisticated technology, namely software that can help reduce accent errors. In this study we used ELSA Speak software which is an application (app) for moderating a non-native English accent. This study aims to determine whether accent reduction software can improve students’ pronunciation abilities. It uses quantitative methods with an experimental research approach. The research was conducted at one of the Islamic universities in Indonesia. We recruited 40 students – 20 from the English department and 20 from the Arabic language department. Their ages are between 19 and 20, and they have been studying English and Arabic within their departments for four semesters. Ten students from each department were allocated to the experimental class, and ten other students from both majors were placed in the control class. The experimental class was taught by researchers using accent reduction software, while the control class was taught by an English teacher using conventional techniques. We used a voice recorder to capture students’ pronunciation. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis and t-test. The results of the study show that the application of accent reduction software as a medium for teaching English pronunciation can improve students’ skills in English pronunciation (t = 3.538, tcalculate> ttable). This software helps students produce English words clearly and easily because they can hear and imitate the sounds it generates. The implication of using the software can help students to imitate native speaker pronunciation and teachers can reduce their efforts in pronouncing native English sounds because the software functions as a pronunciation learning aid

Improving pronunciation of -S ending in an Ecuadorian EFL class

This research aims to improve students' pronunciation of the -S ending sound in a group of twenty-one EFL learners from a private high school on the Ecuadorian coast where the pronunciation of the -s ending appears weak on them. By using PRAAT computer software and exploring whether, after using it, their pronunciation had improved; To answer this question, we present to students the specific grammar aspect of /z/ /iz/ /s/ English pronunciation, recorded sounds with complete sentences, verbs and nouns from a native English speaker is used to help students to analyze their pronunciation as the native speaker does by using this software. The final results demonstrated that some learners improved their pronunciation of the -S ending sounds, yet others did not; students concerned about their English proficiency improved compared to the ones with low proficiency levels. The study suggests using technological tools to teach and learn pronunciation, as some students do not like to learn a second language. Teachers must apply their curriculum to teach pronunciation with the help of technological tools.

Students’ 2018 PISA reading self-concept: Identifying predictors and examining model generalizability for emergent bilinguals

Decades of research have indicated that reading self-concept is an important predictor of reading achievement. During this period, the population of emergent bilinguals has continued to increase within United States' schools. However, the existing literature has tended to examine native English speakers' and emergent bilinguals' reading self-concept in the aggregate, thereby potentially obfuscating the unique pathways through which reading self-concept predicts reading achievement. Furthermore, due to the overreliance of native English speakers in samples relating to theory development, researchers attempting to examine predictors of reading achievement may a priori select variables that are more aligned with native English speakers' experiences. To address this issue, we adopted Elastic Net, which is a theoretically agnostic methodology and machine learning approach to variable selection to identify the proximal and distal predictors of reading self-concept for the entire population; in our study, participants from the United States who participated in PISA 2018 served as the baseline group to determine significant predictors of reading self-concept with the intent of identifying potential new directions for future researchers. Based on Elastic Net analysis, 20 variables at the student level, three variables at the teacher level, and 12 variables at the school level were identified as the most salient predictors of reading self-concept. We then utilized a multilevel modeling approach to test model generalizability of the identified predictors of reading self-concept for emergent bilinguals and native English speakers. We disaggregated and compared findings for both emergent bilinguals and native English speakers. Our results indicate that although some predictors were important for both groups (e.g., perceived information and communications technologies competence), other predictors were not (e.g., competitiveness). Suggestions for future directions and implications of the present study are examined.

Production and Interpretation of Accentual Intonation Tunes in L2 Acquisition

Intonation is one of the most problematic aspects of the English prosody for L2 speakers. Studies on Nigerian English (NigE) intonation have claimed that Standard English intonation differs significantly from native Englishes but studies on the interpretation and production of accentual intonation tunes of L2 acquisition have been rare. Fifty final-year university undergraduates from Nigeria (25 males and 25 females) were purposively sampled. Each of the respondents was given 10 English sentences to produce and interpret. Interpretations of each of the respondents was captured and converted to simple percentages while the voice production of each of the respondents was elicited from a Speech Filing System (SFS) installed on Hp250 laptop. Respondents' frequency of occurrence at production level showed appropriate use of 134 (26.8%) while inappropriate use amounted to 366 (73.2%) out of 500 expected results of accentual tunes. Production on gender basis revealed males and females appropriate use at 67 (13.4%) each and inappropriate use was 183 (36.6%) respectively, both sexes showing no difference in accentual tunes use. Findings revealed that out of the 500 expected results for interpretation of accentual tunes, respondents appropriately interpreted the English sentences in 360 (72%) instances while 140 (28%) respondents misinterpreted the English sentences. Though, results of respondents revealed competence in the interpretation of accentual tunes (72%) but at the production level, respondents did not apply accentual tunes (26.8%) on English expressions. This study concludes that Nigerian spoken English accent differs significantly from native Englishes and should be described as an outer circle English.

YOUNG ENGLISH LEARNERS’ ANXIETY: THE CASE IN INDONESIAN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM

It is a common phenomenon that English language learners suffer from anxiety when they step into a language class, especially in the oral-focused lesson. This situation is experienced not only by adult English learners but also by the young ones who are learning in English-speaking classes at the elementary school level. Language anxiety they have is triggered by or originated from numerous factors, including the teacher’s identity factor. A teacher who is a ‘native’ speaker of the language is believed to gear greater anxiety among English as a foreign language learners resulted in passiveness and withdrawal from oral activities in the class. Referring to the circumstance, this study, was conducted to see the level of anxiety in English speaking classes which were taught by a native English speaker teacher (NEST) as well as to see the possible aspects evoking foreign language anxiety among young English learners. This present research, particularly, involved 69 active students of Tarakanita 1 elementary school in Jakarta. The research data was collected using a qualitative method with a set of questionnaires as a major data collection instrument, embracing three key indicators namely fear of communicating, fear of negative evaluations, and testing anxiety. To identify similarities and differences among students of differing anxiety levels, five categories: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high anxiety are applied. Quantitative analysis of the data revealed that the participants exhibit different levels of anxiousness in speaking English with a native English speaker. The highest percentage fell at high level category which was applied for the three aforementioned indicators. Pertaining to the factors influence might arouse anxiety in speaking class fear of communicating, contribute as much as the other two: fear of negative evaluations, and testing anxiety. The findings of this study are expected to benefit both teachers and students. It is hoped that students will develop more awareness towards factors, as anxiety, that may hinder them from mastering English-speaking skill and find solutions to overcome anxiety in speaking. Moreover, teachers are hoped to be more understanding and concerned with the anxiety young English learners experience and help them reduce their anxiety during the classroom performance through implementing various strategies.

Absence of Vowels in the English Spelling of Arabic Personal Names on Social Media

Many users of social media from different countries and speaking different languages that use non-Latin orthography such as Arabic choose to transliterate their first name and surname in Romanized script, vis English. Due to the differences between the user’s native language and English in vowels and consonants and how they are pronounced, some people make vowel and consonant errors in the English spelling of their names due to the user’s proficiency level in English and their awareness level of the grapheme-phoneme correspondences in their native as well as English language. This study aims to investigate vowel omissions in the English spelling of Arabic personal names, what kind of vowels are omitted, location of the missing vowels, why educated Arabs omit vowels in the English spelling of their names, whether vowel omissions are attributed to transfer from the native language (Arabic) or lack of competence in English spelling. Analysis of a sample of Arabic personal names with missing vowels in their English spelling showed that in the vast majority of misspelled names, one short vowel is missing. In most cases, the missing short vowel is fatha /a/ in the first syllable of the name. It seems that educated Arabs transfer the Arabic vowel system to English. The Arabic orthographic system has 3 long vowels represented by written letters ا و ي /a:, i:, u:/ and 3 short vowels that are represented by diacritics which are pronounced but not shown in the written form of Arabic words. In addition, omission of short vowels in the English spelling of Arabic names may be attributed to how the name is pronounced in the dialect of the Arabic speaker, not how it is pronounced in Standard Arabic, especially when the vowel is in the initial syllable of some surnames. Vowel deletion may also be due to insufficient proficiency in English and lack of contrastive knowledge of the Arabic and English vowel and spelling systems. Examples of transliterated personal names with missing vowels, explanations, causes, and recommendations for more accurate spelling in English are given.

Pausing behavior of late bilingual and monolingual English speakers

This study examined the differences in the pausing behavior between native and non-native English speakers. Specifically, it examined the location and duration of pauses in relation to the syntactic and lexical complexity of the clauses in which these pauses occur and the nature of the prosodic phrasing of the utterances containing pauses. Speech samples from 10 native (L1) English and 10 Mandarin non-native English speakers from the Archive of L1 and L2 Scripted and Spontaneous Transcripts and Recordings (ALLSSTAR) were included in the analysis. The results showed that lower-level prosodic boundaries and syntactically complex phrases were associated with significantly longer pause duration in the L2 speech. Additionally, phrases with less frequent words tended to induce longer pauses. These findings suggest that insufficient knowledge of the L2 syntax, lexicon, and prosody might determine the location and duration of pauses and ultimately affect the speech fluency of L2 speakers.

Sociophonetic Variation in Vowel Categorization of Australian English.

This study involves a perceptual categorization task for Australian English, designed to investigate regional and social variation in category boundaries between close-front vowel contrasts. Data are from four locations in southeast Australia. A total of 81 listeners from two listener groups took part: (a) so-called mainstream Australian English listeners from all four locations, and (b) L1 Aboriginal English listeners from one of the locations. Listeners heard front vowels /ɪ e æ/ arranged in 7-step continua presented at random. Varied phonetic contexts were analyzed, with a focus on coda /l/ because of a well-known prelateral merger of /e æ/ through mid-vowel lowering (e.g., celery-salary) reported to occur in some communities in this part of Australia. The results indicate that regional variation in Australian English is evident in perception. In particular, merging of /el/-/æl/ is shown to occur in the southernmost regions analyzed, but rarely in the northern regions of the geographical area under investigation. Aside from regional variation observed, age was also a factor in how participants responded to the task: older speakers had more merger than younger speakers in many locations, which is a new finding-previously, the merger was thought to be increasing in frequency over time, yet here we see this in only one location. Aboriginal English listeners also responded differently when compared with mainstream Australian English listeners. By analyzing the perception results across a variety of regional locations, with data from two different Australian social groups in the same location, this study adds a new dimension to our understanding of regional and social variations in Australian English.

Critical Engagement with Teacher Perceptions of Language and Communication

In recent years, we have seen growing awareness of ELF principles and research, with extensive discussion of the relevance of ELF in all manner of educational settings. Nevertheless, it is also apparent that approaches to language awareness and analysis continue to be underscored by monolingualism and language ideologies. This paper re-examines some long-standing assumptions in language education about the perceived role of Native Speaker English (NSE), both as a pedagogic model and as a means of determining language competence. In doing so, I critically appraise the concept of emergent language, an increasingly influential idea gaining currency in language teaching methodology. As I have argued for some time now, to promote greater uptake of ELF pedagogic principles among practising language teachers, we must engage in critical discussion of the pedagogic impact of ELF in the curriculum for language teacher education. Only by facilitating the development of critical awareness can we hope to move beyond convention and enable teachers to adopt an ELF perspective. This paper is thus primarily concerned with two key questions: what do teachers need to know about language, and how do they respond to student language in the classroom? In order to address this, I will interrogate and offer alternatives to the manner in which knowledge about language is broadly oriented in language teacher education, which, when framed from an ELF perspective, is in need of substantial critical engagement.

A/synchronous telecollaborative digital media projects: comparative effects on learners’ macro-and micro-level oral proficiency and intercultural competence

Being described as two sides of one coin, language and culture are increasingly recommended to be inseparably addressed. Thanks to technological advances, this is now more feasible than before. In response, this study examined the comparative effects of synchronous and asynchronous telecollaborative digital media projects (DMPs) on learners’ macro-and micro-level oral proficiency and intercultural competence. Telecollaboration took place between Egyptian TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) student-teachers (N = 56, randomly selected) and a convenient sample of English natives (N = 28) at Michigan State University in the US. Each group was randomly assigned to two groups: synchronous and asynchronous. The concurrent triangulation mixed-method design was followed to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. The study concluded that synchronous and asynchronous telecollaborative DMPs yielded improvements in all micro-and macro-level oral proficiency skills except discourse management, which did not only improve among the synchronous participants but also retreated among the asynchronous ones. Also, synchronous telecollaborators outperformed the asynchronous ones in all macro-and micro-level skills except vocabulary and grammar. Besides, despite improvement after telecollaboration, none of the four groups outdid the others either in overall or factor-level intercultural competence. Qualitative findings revealed that TEFL participants appreciated telecollaboration and DMP generation and exchange activities, whereas they were dissatisfied with the inadequate and unequal opportunities for interaction with the natives, native speakers being too natural, and being restricted to single-mode interaction. However, they reported a number of linguistic, cultural, and emotional gains from these experiences.

Semantic Interpretations of Ditransitive Constructions in English

This study addresses claims made by two theories—the Alternative Projection and Verb Sensitive approaches—regarding an interpretation of possession attributed to certain ditransitive constructions. The Alternative Projection approach argues that an interpretation of possession is only available in the double object (DO) pattern expressed by English ditransitive verbs (1a) and is not available in the prepositional (PP) pattern (1b). The Verb Sensitive approach argues that this possession interpretation is either available for both the DO and PP patterns, or for neither pattern, depending on the class of ditransitive verb with which the patterns occur. (1a) The salesperson gave the young farmer the grain mixture. (1b) The salesperson gave the grain mixture to the young farmer. Both approaches posit a possession interpretation of the DO pattern across all ditransitive verbs. This study tests to what degree native English speakers interpret a meaning of possession from the DO and PP patterns through an online survey with 88 participants. Ditransitive verbs from five semantic classes are analyzed to determine if the interpretation of possession varies based on use of the DO or PP pattern (Alternative Projection) or by the semantic class of the verb (Verb Sensitive). The results do not support the Alternative Projection approach. The results suggest partial support for the Verb Sensitive approach, as semantic classes do not entirely follow the pattern predicted by this approach. Further, judgements reported in this study contradict some judgements reported in the literature, highlighting the importance of quantitative studies in evaluating theoretical claims. KEYWORDS: Ditransitives in English; Ditransitive Verbs; Survey; the Dative Alternation; Semantics; Verb Semantics; Alternative Projection approach; Verb Sensitive approach

Home language variation in the narratives of urban First Nations Australian children in their first year of school

ABSTRACT First Nations children may speak a dialect of English that has different grammatical rules from Standard Australian English (school language). Limited studies have investigated Aboriginal English (home language) dialect in First Nations children and its impact on differential diagnosis of language disorder. This study measured the density of home language dialect and grammatical accuracy in oral narratives produced by typically developing First Nations children. Non-standardised assessment narrative protocols were used to elicit language samples from 27 Australian First Nations children aged 4.5–6 years. Local home language dialectal features were coded into the sample and grammatical accuracy was calculated separately for school language and home language. All children displayed some use of home language features. The most common home language features used were alternative use of regular past tense and irregular past tense, zero use of regular and irregular past tense, and alternative use of pronouns. Dialect density varied highly amongst participants. Grammatical accuracy was higher for home language than school language. Speech pathologists and teachers need to be aware of differences between home and school language for First Nations children to avoid misdiagnosis of language disorder. More research is required to gain normative data that informs culturally appropriate assessment practices for this population.

(Non)-Conformity to Native English Norms in Postgraduate Students' Writing in UK Universities: Perspectives of Native and Non-Native Students and Academic Staff

Postgraduate writing is a major academic feature through which students' learning progress is assessed. It is thus of paramount importance that students must meet the academic writing demands required by their respective academic schools and departments in order to pass their chosen courses. The study strives to explore the extent to which native and non-native English-speaking postgraduate students are required to conform to the norm of native-speakerism preferable to native English faculty members in some United Kingdom (UK) universities. This study is mainly qualitative and it involves three research instruments: (a) open-ended surveys targeting 111 native and non-native postgraduate students and 65 lecturers from different departments, (b) semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 lecturers and 10 students, and (c) an analysis of lecturers’ feedback on 53 students’ written productions. The findings show that the recommendations to conform to native English conventions exist only in some theoretical research. In practice, however, UK universities and academic staff do not save efforts to enable their students to express their ideas in clear comprehensible academic English. These results yield some insightful penetrations not only to the host universities but also to overseas governments as well. In addition, this study offers some implications for postgraduate students.

Thomas Hardy’s Racialization of English Natives in The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy’s Racialization of English Natives in The Return of the Native

Is secondary stress phonetically real for second-language learners? Evidence from Japanese-accented English

Speakers of a non-stress language such as Japanese often have difficulty producing lexical stress distinctions in languages such as English. Distinguishing primary-stressed versus unstressed syllables may be difficult, but distinctions involving secondary stress may be even more challenging. Some studies report that Japanese learners of English (JE) do not distinguish secondary-stressed and unstressed syllables in terms of vowel duration and quality whereas native American English speakers (AE) do. However, the data are limited and inconclusive. To resolve this issue, the present study asked AE and two groups of JE differing in English proficiency to produce 83 English words that exhibit stress shift, e.g., phótogràph-phòtográphic-photógraphy and conducted acoustic analysis of vowels in corresponding positions, which have the same consonantal context but differ in stress level. Preliminary results indicate that JE frequently produce devoiced vowels in unstressed syllables, particularly in phonetic environments similar to where devoicing occurs in Japanese. Devoicing, however, does not seem to occur in secondary-stressed syllables, suggesting that JE might distinguish secondary-stressed and unstressed syllables with respect to devoicing. Results from duration and formant analysis will also be reported and discussed in relation to theories of native-language influences on second-language speech learning. [Work supported by JSPS.]

Investigating the interaction between voice quality and plosive production in Australian Englishes: Acoustic features of vowel-/t/ sequences

A number of researchers have posited a link between voice quality and consonant production (e.g., Keating and Esposito 2007). This work investigates the connection between the acoustics of voice quality (laryngeal behaviour) and consonant realization (supralaryngeal behaviour) in Australian Englishes. Focusing on speech produced by 52 Australian English speakers (both “mainstream” and Aboriginal English speakers), we show that in vowel-/t/ sequences “breathy” t-categories (e.g., affricates, fricatives) co-occur with breathier vowels (including those with pre-aspiration), while laryngealized t-categories (e.g., ejectives, glottal stops) co-occur with creakier vowels. Vowels preceeding breathy /t/ categories have stastistically significantly higher F0 and H1–H2 values compared to vowels preceding canonical /t/. Meanwhile, vowels preceding glottal t-categories generally have lower mean spectral tilt measures (H1–H2, H1–A1), signifying increased creakiness in the vowel prior to glottal variants. We also report on dynamic analyses of H1–A1, paying attention to acoustic features of the last 25% of the vowel where peaks/troughs occur depending on consonant quality. A relationship between the voice quality of the vowel and the (broad) consonant type is demonstrated, however, it is not one-to-one. Rather voice quality appears to assist in creating the right conditions for particular consonantal variants. Keating, P. and C. Esposito. (2007), “Linguistic voice quality”, UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 105: 85-91.

Cross-linguistic variability in audiovisual enhancement of coronal consonants

The role of auditory perceptibility in phonological contrast is uncontroversial. In clear speech, speakers increase acoustic distance between contrastive phones, thereby improving perception. Although visual cues are also known to improve perception, it is unclear whether speakers actively enhance their speech for visual perceptibility. 20 native English and 20 native Mandarin speakers participated in a two-part production experiment. Words containing /l d n s r/ (and English /θ/) were elicited, with vowels balanced for height, backness, and rounding. Speakers first recited each word while alone in a soundproof booth. Words were then spoken for a native listener (who attempted to guess the word) over Zoom with heavily degraded audio. Audio and high-speed video were recorded. English speakers showed a significant increase in visually exaggerated articulations for /l, θ/ (but not /n, d, s, r/), including interdental and linguolabial productions with external lingual protrusion. Mandarin speakers increased their use of interdental articulation for /n, l, t, s/ (but not /r/), although lingual protrusion was limited. These results demonstrate that speakers may enhance their speech for visual over auditory perceptibility but suggest that enhancement is mediated by language-specific factors including phonological contrast and the articulatory characteristics of sounds in normal speech.

초등 예비교사들의 영어 화용에 대한 인식

This study investigates the extent of pragmatic awareness in English of primary
 pre-service teachers. It addresses two research questions. First, do Korean learners of
 English exhibit a marked discrepancy between grammatical awareness and pragmatic
 awareness? Second, if they are less aware of pragmatic violations than grammatical
 errors, how does this manifest in their speech act strategies? To answer the first
 question, a written survey on pragmatic awareness was carried out with Korean
 pre-service teachers (N = 28). To address the second question, an acceptability
 judgment task was conducted with another group of Korean pre-service teachers (N
 = 32) and English natives (N = 65). The results showed that Korean pre-service teachers
 were less aware of pragmatic violations than grammatical errors and that their speech
 act strategies deviated from those of English natives. Regarding apology speech acts,
 they tended to use more semantic formulas compared to English natives. Concerning
 request speech acts, they relied on politeness markers rather than the negative politeness
 strategies preferred by the English natives. Finally, the study offers some suggestions
 for enhancing their pragmatic competence.

Higher education students’ attitudes towards English as a lingua franca in virtual exchange settings

Abstract Mentored online intercultural and international collaboration projects using English as a lingua franca (ELF) in tertiary curricula are a valuable pedagogical approach to develop intercultural communicative competence. However, students’ perceptions of ELF in virtual exchange (VE) projects remain largely unexplored. This mixed-methods study investigates students’ attitudes towards ELF interactions in the context of online collaborations involving four countries in the Global North and South. The students participated in a six-week VE and collaboratively completed tasks set by their teachers. Results of the qualitative and quantitative data show that the students’ attitudes towards ELF interactions varied in different contexts and that the experience encouraged reflections, for instance, on students’ linguistic effectiveness in intercultural situations. The findings show a (re)evaluation of native and non-native English and attitudinal shift for some students. The results indicate that online intercultural exchanges can be a catalyst for students to reflect on international English usage and global ownership. The article provides implications for setting up ELF-VE projects regarding its potential to (trans)form ELF identities and gives advice for ELF practitioners.

Singing Songs Facilitates L2 Pronunciation and Vocabulary Learning: A Study with Chinese Adolescent ESL Learners

The present study assesses the effect of a three-session classroom-based training program involving singing songs with familiar melodies on second-language pronunciation and vocabulary learning. Ninety-five adolescent Chinese ESL learners (M = 14.04 years) were assigned to one of two groups. Participants learned the lyrics in English of three songs whose melodies were familiar to them either by singing or reciting the lyrics, following a native English singer/instructor. Before and after training, participants performed two vocabulary tasks (picture-naming and word meaning recall tasks) and two pronunciation tasks (word and sentence oral-reading tasks). The results revealed that although both groups showed gains in vocabulary and pronunciation after training, the singing group outperformed the speech group. These findings support the value of using songs with familiar melodies to teach second languages at the early stages of learning in an ESL classroom context.