Cantonese Learners Of English Research Articles

Processing focus in native and non-native speakers of English: an eye-tracking study in the visual world paradigm

AbstractThis “visual-world” eye-tracking study investigated the processing of focus in English sentences with preverbal only by L2 learners whose L1 was either Cantonese or Dutch, compared to native speakers of English. Participants heard only-sentences with prosodic prominence either on the object or on the verb and viewed pictures containing an object-focus alternative and a verb-focus alternative. We found that both L2 groups showed delayed eye movements to the alternative of focus, which was different from the native speakers of English. Moreover, Dutch learners of English were even slower than Cantonese learners of English in directing fixations to the alternative of focus. We interpreted the delayed fixation patterns in both L2 groups as evidence of difficulties in integrating multiple interfaces in real time. Furthermore, the similarity between English and Dutch in the use of prosody to mark focus hindered Dutch learners’ L2 processing of focus, whereas the difference between English and Cantonese in the realization of focus facilitated Cantonese learners’ processing of focus in English.

A preliminary study of the thinking processes and speech act comprehension patterns of Contonese learners of English

Abstract The paper aims to reveal the thinking processes and identify comprehension patterns of three groups of Cantonese learners of English who were secondary students while they were working on a multiple-choice speech act comprehension exercise. The elicited verbal protocols provide significant information for interlanguage pragmatic comprehension and development from the learners.A multiple-choice pragmatic comprehension exercise which consisted of five English direct and indirect speech acts (requests, apologies, refusals, compliments and complaints) in contextualized dialogues was conducted to 156 Cantonese learners of English. They were studying from F2 to F6 of about ages 14 to 18 in three Hong Kong secondary schools during the research period. The comprehension exercise scores showed that the interlanguage pragmatic competence of the three groups of secondary students progressed steadily. The students� verbal protocols exhibited that they were less reliant on literal meaning in interpretation of meaning, and adopted more varied and complex processing strategies from F2 to F6 gradually. The variety and complexity of comprehension strategies and patterns illustrate the characteristic features of the formal representation stage in Bialystok�s cognitive processing model.

Suprasegmental features of Chinese‐accented English.

This study compares read speech by Cantonese and Mandarin learners of English with those by native speakers of English. The utterances produced by learners of English are all rated as accented. We aim to identify measurable prosodic differences leading to such perceptual judgment. The prosodic correlates we examine include both syllable duration and pitch values. Our preliminary results reveal in generally mean syllable durations of Cantonese and Mandarins learners are very similar, and much longer than that of the native speakers of English. It is also found that all learners’ production exhibits much greater variations in duration than native speakers. Examination on duration of stressed and unstressed syllables reveals more differences across L1 groups. With regard to pitch correlates, a much wider pitch range is found in the production of native speakers of English than in those of both Mandarin and Cantonese learners of English. Of the Chinese learners, Mandarin group employ a wider pitch range than Cantonese. Moreover, Cantonese learners’ speech is found dominated by a rather “flat” overall pitch contour. We propose that the prosodic deviations in Chinese learners’ English from a native speaker can be accounted for from the perspective of rhythmic and tone system in Chinese.

Strategy and linguistic preference of requests by Cantonese learners of English: An interlanguage and crosscultural comparison

Extending Lee's (2005) work, the researcher further investigates the requestive behaviour of a group of Cantonese learners of English (CLEs) in Hong Kong in terms of their strategy and linguistic preference. The data were collected from a discourse completion test (DCT). Their requestive behaviour is studied in three social and power hierarchical situations (low-high, equal-equal and high-low) in the university context and is compared with a group of native Cantonese speakers' (NCSs) and native English speakers' (NESs) requestive behaviour, respectively. The dual comparison results in three important findings. First, the evidence shows some L1 influence on the syntactic structure of the CLEs' query preparatory strategy. The equivalent interrogative form of (Nei 1 / Ngo5) ho2 ji5/h2 m ho2 ji5: (you/I) can/can-not-can in Cantonese and Can/Could/May you/I ...? in English contributes to the frequent use of the CLEs' indirect requestive behaviour in English. Nevertheless, the difference in direct and indirect strategies between the two groups is significant (p < 0.005). Second, there is cross-cultural agreement on indirect requestive behaviour in the three situations between the CLEs and the NESs. Both groups use the politeness marker of cing2 or please to mitigate imposition and increase politeness. However, the CLEs demonstrate limited pragmalinguistic resources to enhance the force and politeness of the speech act compared to the NESs. The strengths and weaknesses of CLEs' requestive behaviour, their limited pragmalinguistic resources and the limitations of the study are discussed.

Effects of visual cues and phonetic contexts in perception of non‐native contrasts by Cantonese learners of english.

Visual articulatory information, in addition to audio features, is integrated in L1 and L2 speech perception automatically and unconsciously [McGurk and MacDonald (1976); Rosenblum et al. (1997); Hardison (2003); Hazan et al. (2005)]. Previous literature on consonant perception has reported that visual aid is most significant with places of articulation, and that with manners, except with /r/ and /l/, has received little attention due to lack of research significance. Contrary to the commonly held idea, however, that the articulation of [l] and [n] is visually similar, our examination on video recording of three native English speakers’ production of words contrasting [l] and [n] syllable initially suggests visual differences in advancement of tongue tips. This study investigates effects of such visual information in the identification of the non‐native contrast by Cantonese learners of English. Results show that the relatively more distinct visual information can only help Cantonese speakers better perceive the two sounds in certain contexts, and in others cause more confusion.

English and Cantonese Phonology in Contrast: Explaining Cantonese ESL Learners' English Pronunciation Problems

It is argued that most if not all of the pronunciation problems encountered by Cantonese learners of English may be adequately accounted for by the contrastive differences discussed in this paper. The phonological differences between the two languages are examined, ranging from their phoneme inventories, the characteristics of the phonemes, the distributions of the phonemes, syllable structure, to the function of tones and their respective rhythmic patterns. At the segmental level, substitution by a related sound in the native language, deletion and epenthesis are by far the most common strategies Cantonese speakers employ when speaking or reading English. Pronunciation problems are also found at the suprasegmental level, that is, in connected speech and rhythm, resulting in the impression of a somewhat unnatural, "flat and boring" foreigner accent.