Effect Of English Proficiency Research Articles

Effects of English Proficiency on Chinese Students Recognition and Pronunciation of English Lexical Stress

English is a stress-timed language, stress is very important in English. However, Chinese is a tonal language, which leads to pronunciation difficulties for Chinese students in learning English. This study studies the recognition and production of English lexical stress by Chinese students who are not English majors and the factors that may affect stress assignments. Eight students between the ages of 18-22 (four males and four females) who have passed CET 6 will be tested, including a phonetic quiz and a listening test. Four kinds of vocabularies were selected as research materials: Polysyllabic Word, Word with Affixes, Compound Word, and Homograph. Results indicate that: (1) For non-English major students, the correlation between English proficiency and lexical stress is not high, but is mostly affected by personal reading habits; (2) Students know very little about the word stress. They identify and pronounce stress relying on their personal habits.

Effects of English proficiency on motivational regulation in a videoconference-based EFL speaking class

Effects of English proficiency on motivational regulation in a videoconference-based EFL speaking class

Effects of English Proficiency on Caucasian Face Gender Perception by Chinese-English Bilinguals: Evidence from ERP

Chinese and English differ in the encoding of biological gender in the spoken forms of 3rd person singular pronouns. Linguistic relativity theories predict that structural differences across languages are accompanied with differences in non-linguistic cognition. However, the pronoun difference between the two languages seems so trivial that its influence on gender perception is unbelievable except with empirical support. The present study conducted an ERP experiment with native speakers of Chinese learning English as a foreign language and differing in English proficiency. The odd-ball paradigm was used to examine whether L2 proficiency would influence how these Chinese-English bilinguals perform on Caucasian face gender perception. The experiment yielded null effect of L2 proficiency on the vMMN that was elicited for the gender category, as well as the control age category. The results suggest that the difference in the pronoun encoding of biological gender between Chinese and English may not influence gender perception in the nonlinguistic context, although it is not surprising considering the triviality of such cross-linguistic difference and the widespread gender binary opposition in daily life.

Factors Affecting Freshman Engineering Students’ Attitudes Toward Mathematics

Students’ attitudes toward mathematics play a key role in their academic achievements. Still, concerns regarding the low grades in mathematics tests of engineering students have raised questions about the reasons for their poor performance. Prior research has mentioned the impact of engineering students’ attitudes on their grades. Few studies have attempted to explore the factors that influence and form engineering students’ attitudes toward mathematics. The current study aims to investigate the factors that affect freshman engineering students’ attitudes toward mathematics using a qualitative research design. Interviews with 26 participants enrolled at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) in Saudi Arabia provided insight into the students’ experiences through survey questions. Thematic content analysis was used in this study to analyze the interviews. The results of the interview indicate that the freshman engineering students’ attitudes are most affected by their fathers and their teachers. The causes that form students’ attitudes toward mathematics can be divided into two parts: internal and external. The internal causes result from the students themselves, which include practice and preparation, assessments and grades, effect of English proficiency, and time management. The external causes include teachers’ characteristics and parental support.

Effects of English Capitals on Reading Performance of Chinese Learners: Evidence from Eye Tracking

Native English speakers need more time to recognize capital letters in reading, yet the influence of capitals upon Chinese learners’ reading performance is seldom studied. We conducted an eye tracker experiment to explore the cognitive features of Chinese learners in reading texts containing capital letters. The effect of English proficiency on capital letter reading is also studied. The results showed that capitals significantly increase the cognitive load in Chinese learners’ reading process, complicate their cognitive processing, and lower their reading efficiency. The perception of capital letters of Chinese learners is found to be an isolated event and may influence the word-superiority effect. English majors, who possess relatively stronger English logical thinking capability than non-English majors, face the same difficulty as the non-English majors do if no practice of capital letter reading has been done.

An Analysis of the Effect of English Proficiency towards Students' Academic Performance in University of Malaysia Sabah

Students are the main assets of universities. Students’ academic performance has been the top priority for themselves, educators, researchers, government, and parents. There have been many studies that sought to investigate factors that influence students’ academic performance and they discover that hard work, discipline, class attendance, self-motivation, previous schooling and family’s income affect students’ academic performance, and these seem to have significant effects on the students’ final Cumulative Grade Point Average, CGPA. This study aims to investigate whether students’ English language results and their entry results during admission are also factors that influence their final Cumulative Grade Point Average, CGPA. Multiple linear regression was the analysis used to determine the effect of English proficiency towards students’ academic performance. Thus, the results will show the factors that significantly contribute to the students’ academic performance.

Would you work abroad? The effect of English proficiency on Chinese employees’ willingness to accept international assignments

The process of globalization has led to a considerable number of expatriates working abroad. In this article, we investigate whether those with a higher level of English proficiency are more willing to accept international assignments. To examine our hypotheses, we conducted a time-lagged survey of 239 employees from Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs). The results reveal that employees’ English language proficiency is positively related to their willingness to accept international assignments, and that their openness to corporate globalization mediates this relationship. In addition, employees’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) moderates the mediating effect of English language proficiency on willingness to accept international assignments via openness to corporate globalization. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Influence of Language and English Proficiency on Asian American Educational Attainment and Multigenerational Assimilation

This study focused on college completion or higher among Asian American population and the effect of English proficiency and other Asian languages spoken at home. Whether speaking English “well” or “not well” influences individual’s educational attainment. Assimilation theory and social capital theory were utilized. Data utilized form IPUMS 2011, examine six Asian ethnic languages, English proficiency, education, employment status, multigenerational, family formation, income, age, and sex among Asian Americans. Findings show overall English proficiency are statistically significant at the .001 level that Asians who speak English only, “very-well, “well”, and “not well” are more likely to obtain a college degree. Future implications will examine ethnic behaviors and migration patterns on educational attainment.

The Effects of English Proficiency and English Self-Efficacy on English Language Learning

The Effects of English Proficiency and English Self-Efficacy on English Language Learning

Pedagogical Implications of Intercultural Competence

The present study explored the factors affecting intercultural competence (ICC), with the aim of finding more effective ways to promote it. A total of 147 Korean English learners responded to a questionnaire which was adopted and revised for this study from Fantini and Tirmizi (2006). Study one directly compared the effects of learners’ experience in an English-speaking country with the education that promotes ICC. Study two investigated whether even a short-term IC education can have a positive impact on the learners’ ICC development. The results from independent-samples t-test and ANOVA suggest that both overseas experience and IC education fostered the development of ICC. However, the effect of English proficiency was not evident on the ICC development. The advantage of IC education over overseas experience was not statistically significant but educationally notable in that, even a short period of IC education led to noticeable ICC development in Study two using paired independent t-test.

영어수준이 논술적 수필쓰기에서 인식양상 사용에 미치는 영향

영어수준이 논술적 수필쓰기에서 인식양상 사용에 미치는 영향

The effect of English proficiency and ethnicity on academic performance and progress.

Non-local ethnicity or nationality and lower English proficiency have been linked with poor performance in health professional education. This study sought to compare the relative contributions of ethnicity and English proficiency, and to do so in a context where students had not been selected via interviews or some other proxy for language proficiency. Ethnicity, citizenship, and demographic data, as well as academic performance and progress were obtained for three successive cohorts (entering in 2007, 2008 and 2009) into a three-year pharmacy programme, following a common first-year. Complete data was available for all 297 students entering via this path. By the end of the programme, controlling for grades at entry, students from some non-local ethnic backgrounds (p<.001) underperformed local students, as did males (p<.001) and those who had been identified as having low English proficiency in year 1 (p<.01). Males (p<.01) and one non-local ethnic group (p<.01) were also more likely to have to repeat a year of study. Ethnicity was a stronger predictor than English proficiency or acculturation, but English proficiency was still independently and additively predictive. This suggests that targeted support strategies for students with lower English language proficiency are still important, but that cultural differences should not be underestimated.

Effect of English Proficiency and Research Funding on Acceptance of Submitted Articles to Stroke Journal

Science is a shared and global undertaking that requires cumulative contributions from scientists from all around the world. Peer-reviewed publications, which are an essential part of the dissemination of scientific research, provide information on innovative interventions and discoveries,1 guide funding agency grant-making decisions, constitute a major criterion in academic faculty promotion, affect the receipt of career milestone awards, and can be pivotal in the allocation of public health resources.2,3 As the channels through which peer-reviewed publications become accessible to the scientific world, journals are science’s gatekeepers, wielding tremendous influence on whether various scientific works receive broad readership and recognition. Given that the English language has become the international lingua franca of scientific communication, with most high effect journals being published in English,4,5 authors’ native language may be a barrier to the publication of otherwise scientifically worthy articles, thereby limiting international knowledge exchange among scientists. Indeed, it is conceivable that novel ideas or projects not properly articulated in English may be inadvertently assigned low-priority scores, whereas less innovative, but well-written articles (ie, from countries with high English proficiency) may receive high-priority scores and eventually be published. Another nonscientific issue that may affect an article acceptance could be economic: articles from countries with relatively lower overall research funding may be held to a higher threshold of acceptance, based on a perception of potentially less developed scientific culture and rigor. Worldwide, the journal Stroke is generally regarded as the premier scientific journal covering cerebrovascular disorders. For Stroke , priority scores depend on the experimental design, effect, innovation, and quality of the article, but other factors also influence the acceptance rate as highlighted in a previous report.6 A better understanding of language barriers and economic factors influencing the acceptance rate would be informative for Stroke readers, …

Effect of Hispanic Ethnicity and Language Barriers on Appendiceal Perforation Rates and Imaging in Children

To determine the association between Hispanic ethnicity and limited English proficiency (LEP) and the rates of appendiceal perforation and advanced radiologic imaging (computed tomography and ultrasound) in children with abdominal pain. We performed a secondary analysis of a prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study of children aged 3-18 years presenting with abdominal pain concerning for appendicitis between March 2009 and April 2010 at 10 tertiary care pediatric emergency departments in the US. Appendiceal perforation and advanced imaging rates were compared between ethnic and language proficiency groups using simple and multivariate regression models. Of 2590 patients enrolled, 1001 (38%) had appendicitis, including 36% of non-Hispanics and 44% of Hispanics. In multivariate modeling, Hispanics with LEP had a significantly greater odds of appendiceal perforation (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.20-1.74). Hispanics with LEP with appendiceal perforation of moderate clinical severity were less likely to undergo advanced imaging compared with English-speaking non-Hispanics (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43-0.95). Hispanic ethnicity with LEP is an important risk factor for appendiceal perforation in pediatric patients brought to the emergency department with possible appendicitis. Among patients with moderate clinical severity, Hispanic ethnicity with LEP appears to be associated with lower imaging rates. This effect of English proficiency and Hispanic ethnicity warrants further investigation to understand and overcome barriers, which may lead to increased appendiceal perforation rates and differential diagnostic evaluation.

Effects of English proficiency and text type on the use of lexical inferencing strategies by Korean middle school students

Second language (L2) readers are expected to apply various inferencing strategies when they encounter unfamiliar lexical items while reading. This study investigated the effects of L2 proficiency levels (high vs. low) and text types (expository vs. narrative) on the use of lexical inferencing strategies by 12 Korean middle school students. The participants were asked to translate the two types of texts into their mother tongue while thinking aloud. Detailed analyses of the transcribed think-aloud data and retrospective interview results revealed several important findings, including (1) high proficiency readers used inferencing strategies more actively and successfully than low proficiency readers; (2) high proficiency readers tended to use the flow of the context most frequently, although using other types of clue around the target words was the most successful strategy for them; (3) low proficiency readers heavily relied on their background knowledge to guess unknown words. This strategy, together with the strategy of analyzing morphemes of the target words, was found to be a successful one; (4) using background knowledge in the expository text, and analyzing morphemes of the target words in the narrative text, were found most successful. The findings on the frequencies and the success rates of each strategy type would contribute to better-informed practices in vocabulary instruction.

Abstract PR05: The effect of language on the self-rated health of Latina breast cancer survivors: Cancer self-efficacy and spiritual well-being as potential mediators of this association.

Abstract Purpose of study: The study aim was to assess associations between various acculturation measures and self-rated health (SRH), as well as potential mediation by spiritual well-being and cancer self-efficacy of any associations. Experimental procedure: Secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional telephone survey of a population-based registry sample of 330 self-identified Latina breast cancer survivors was conducted. Multivariate logistic regression models assessed relationships between acculturation measures (i.e., the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (SASH), country of birth (foreign or U.S. born), and English proficiency (main predictor)) and SRH (outcome). The role of cancer self-efficacy (measured with a version of the Cancer Behavior Inventory CBI-B) and spiritual well-being subscales (Sense of Peace/Meaning and Faith) of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy as mediators was also assessed in multivariate logistic regression models. New Data: The sample mean age was 58.3 years (range 30-90 years; SD 11.9), about 60% were foreign-born and approximately half were English proficient (EP, speaks English well/very well) vs. limited English proficient (LEP, speaks English not at all/poorly/fairly well). Approximately 70% were of Mexican origin, about 70% had a high school education or less, and two-thirds were privately insured. Almost all were 2-3 years post-diagnosis (283; 85.8%). The mean cancer self-efficacy score was 3.43 (SD 0.59; range 1-4). The mean sense of peace/meaning score was 26.6 (SD 5.31; range 0-32) and the mean faith score was 14.20 (SD 2.99; range 0-16). About one-quarter of the women reported poor or fair SRH. In unadjusted analyses of the acculturation measures, English proficiency demonstrated the strongest association with SRH; women who were EP were more likely than LEP women to rate their health as good/very good/excellent (OR= 2.26 CI= 1.15, 4.45, p&amp;lt;0.000). Country of birth and SASH scores were related to SRH at p&amp;lt;0.15. Greater cancer self-efficacy (OR= 2.24 CI= 1.22, 4.10, p&amp;lt;0.001) and sense of peace/meaning (OR= 3.00 CI= 1.66, 5.44, p&amp;lt;0.001) were associated significantly with better SRH; faith was not. In multivariate models English proficiency was associated significantly with SRH independent of other sociodemographic characteristics (OR=2.26; 95% CI 1.15, 4.45). Adding cancer self-efficacy to the model attenuated the effect of English proficiency on SRH (OR=1.76, 95% CI 0.87, 3.55), and self-efficacy was positively associated with SRH (OR=2.24, 95% CI 1.22, 4.10). In the final model, adding sense of peace/meaning was associated independently with SRH (OR= 2.44, 95% CI 1.30, 4.56) and attenuated the association of self-efficacy and SRH (OR=1.67, 95% CI 0.88, 3.18). Conclusion: The association of English proficiency with SRH was partially mediated by cancer self-efficacy and sense of peace/meaning, with the latter explaining much of the effect. Findings support development of interventions for Latina breast cancer survivors that target modifiable resiliency factors, like sense of peace/meaning or self-efficacy, to address racial disparities in quality of life (QOL) and SRH for Latina breast cancer survivors; particularly for those at risk of poorer QOL and SRH given English proficiency limitations. This abstract is also presented as Poster B25. Citation Format: Maria DeLourdes Garcia-Jimenez, Jasmine Santoyo-Olsson, Carmen Ortiz, Anna M. Napoles. The effect of language on the self-rated health of Latina breast cancer survivors: Cancer self-efficacy and spiritual well-being as potential mediators of this association. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr PR05.

The Effects of English Proficiency and Text Difficulty on Collaborative Dialogue During Dictogloss

It is well known that L2 learners’ interaction during focus-on-form tasks is influenced by many factors such as proficiency, familiarity, gender, task type and so on. Of these potential factors, this study investigated how learners’ English proficiency and text difficulty affect collaborative dialogue during a dictogloss task. Twenty-four first grade middle school students were divided into six groups of four members in terms of their English proficiency: two high homogeneous groups, two intermediate homogeneous groups, and two high-intermediate mixed groups. The groups were engaged in two dictogloss tasks targeting present and past tense, once with a relatively easy text and once with a more difficult text. Their performances were recorded and analyzed in terms of the amount, type (word, sentence, or discourse level), and outcome (correct, incorrect, or unresolved) of focus-on-form episodes (FFEs). The results revealed that all groups tended to focus on forms including target forms. The mixed and intermediate groups showed the most frequent FFEs and the better resolution of them in dictogloss with an easy text. When the text became difficult, however, the number of FFEs sharply decreased for these groups, indicating that the lower level learners were more sensitive to text difficulty in dictogloss. Also collaborative orientation seemed to be more important than proficiency difference in interaction. These findings suggest that if the teacher selects a proper level of text and promotes a collaborative orientation among learners, middle school students can contribute to and benefit from a dictogloss task regardless of their English proficiency.

The Effects of Sociocultural Factors on Older Asian Americans' Access to Care

Most Asian American elders are immigrants to the United States, and sociocultural factors such as English proficiency and immigration status are prominent factors in their lives. Using data from the California Health Interview Surveys to focus on Asian Americans over age 50, this study seeks to identify interethnic differences, and the effects of English proficiency and immigration status in the way older Asian Americans access healthcare. The results indicated that Asian ethnicity, English proficiency, and immigration status have significant independent effects on older Asian Americans' access to care. Implications for social work's role in addressing access disparities are discussed.

Structural Analysis of Factors Influencing the Adjustment Behaviors of Korean Children in the U.S

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing the adjustment of Korean children who live in the U.S. Specifically, this study examined the following predictor variables: English proficiency, peer relationships, family relationships, and school experiences. Forty seven Korean children who were attending the Korean Language School and their parents participated in this study. Pearson product moment correlations indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between the adjustment of Korean children who live in the U.S. and their English proficiency, peer relationships, and school experiences. There was no statistically significant relationship between the adjustment of Korean children who live in the U.S. and their family relationships. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was examined to explore how English proficiency, family relationships, peer relationships, and school experiences may serve as influential factors for adjustment of Korean children who live in the U.S. The resulting model had a good fit, χ2 = 2.02, χ2/df = 1.01, comparative fit index (CFI) = 1.00, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.02, which is small enough to indicate a good fit, and indicated that Korean children’s school experiences had the strongest relationship with their overall adjustment score (β = .73, p < .001). However, the effects of English proficiency and family relationships on adjustment were mediated through school experiences, although it is important to note that English proficiency did not have a positive relationship with school experience (β = -.38, p = .340), but Korean children’s school experiences were positively associated with their English proficiency (β = .68, p < .05).

The Effects of English Language Proficiency on Adjustment to University Life

Higher education institutions in the United States recognize the economic and educational benefits of international students. Although non-native English speakers (NNES) submit evidence of English language proficiency for admission purposes, many struggle with the demands of English. This study draws on qualitative and quantitative data to provide insights into the international student experience from the perspectives of students and faculty. It examines how English language proficiency affects academic and social adjustment, identifies useful types of support, and considers the effects of English proficiency on intercultural learning. Students are generally satisfied with their proficiency, appreciate English as a Second Language courses, and feel their English is improved through course work and social interaction. Professors feel students' skills are adequate but could be improved, and report adjusting their teaching approaches to accommodate NNES. Intercultural interaction aids English development and intercultural growth, but students may tend to remain within their own linguistic groups.