Foreign Language Users Research Articles

Analisis Pemahaman dan Penggunaan Bahasa Indonesia Ilmiah dalam Ranah Perguruan Tinggi

The Indonesian language, as the national language, plays a crucial role in higher education, serving not only as a means of communication but also as a vehicle for the development of scientific knowledge. However, the understanding and usage of academic Indonesian in universities remain challenging. This study analyzes the comprehension and utilization of academic Indonesian at the Universitas Negeri Medan by both students and lecturers. The research methodology employs a qualitative approach with a literature review technique. Findings reveal that the usage of Indonesian still falls short of linguistic standards, particularly in formal academic contexts. Factors such as a lack of reading interest, inadequate awareness of the importance of academic Indonesian, and the predominance of foreign language usage impact the comprehension and application of academic Indonesian. Therefore, efforts are required to enhance the understanding and usage of academic Indonesian, including through mentoring, training, and increasing awareness of the significance of proper national language usage.

Teaching Meaningful EFL Small Talk: Exploration, Supportiveness, and Celebration

Whilst teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) rightly focuses on meaningful and purposeful transactional language use, interpersonal language is often downplayed or given cursory treatment even though it is an equally essential and perhaps even more fulfilling dimension of target language interaction. Interpersonal language as expressed through small talk, for instance, represents an important personal and interactional resource for establishing, developing, and maintaining relationships. However, small talk is often reduced to formulaic categorisation or practised through routinised communicative functions. To understand how foreign language users engage in small talk, a qualitative study was carried out through conducting participation-observations. The results of this study reveal the exploratory, celebratory, and supportive relational dimensions to small talk and illustrate how such insights can be exploited in FL teaching and learning. In this article, we argue that small talk should be appreciated, valued, and accentuated not only for its ability to enhance meaningful and productive communication but also needs to be exploited for its exploratory, celebratory, and supportive interactive function.

텍스트마이닝(Textmining) 기법을 활용한 『제인 에어』 아동용과 성인용 번역본의 어휘 텍스트 비교분석

This study facilitates text mining analytics to compare and analyze lexical differences between the children's (2005) and the adult's (2000) translation of Jane Eyre from English to Korean. Through the present research, we find out the following results: First, regarding pronoun usage, the children's version frequently reiterates a person’s names, resulting in a higher frequency of proper nouns. On contrary, the adult version uses more pronouns to refer a person, presumably aiming to enhance comprehension for children by explicitly using specific names, while adults are assumed to employ pronouns for referents. Second, in terms of Chinese character usage, the adult version utilizes around 230 characters, while the children's version abstains from their use. This suggests that the children's version excludes Chinese characters to facilitate comprehension, while the adult version actively employs them to diversify the lexicon. Last, concerning foreign language usage, the adult version integrates French, corresponding to English, alongside Korean. In contrast, the children's version exclusively uses Korean. This can be interpreted as an effort in the children's version to enhance comprehension by excluding foreign languages, while the adult version seeks to increase linguistic diversity by combining Chinese characters and foreign languages. These findings underscore variations in style and language choices across different translations of Jane Eyre and emphasize the importance of employing suitable translation strategies tailored to a reader’s age and comprehension levels.

Phenomenon-Based Learning in Teaching a Foreign Language: Experiences of Lithuanian Teachers

Phenomenon-based learning (hereinafter PhenoBL) is widely studied in the majority of European countries, especially given that research data indicate that PhenoBL is more successful in providing effective learning, better student achievement, a stronger interest in science, and even a higher happiness index. However, there are sparse data on the educational practice of this method in Lithuania, particularly in foreign language teaching (FLT). Thus, teachers’ professional preparation for the effective implementation of PhenoBL remains one of the most relevant research problems. For this reason, this study aims to analyse the experiences of Lithuanian foreign language teachers in incorporating PhenoBL into FLT. Fifteen individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the obtained data were analysed by applying qualitative inductive content analysis. An inductive content analysis of the interview reports revealed six themes and related categories: the perception of student-centred teaching, the development of subject integration competencies, teamwork development competencies, research-planning skills, the positioning of personal responsibilities and duties, and foreign language usage emancipation, i.e. setting free from personal fears (fear to make grammar, vocabulary mistakes, while speaking in public) to speak a foreign languages. The content of the revealed themes indicated that teachers highlighted the flexibility of PhenoBL from the perspective of its application to different language learning levels within one group. The majority of the respondents underlined the necessity for the development of an active didactic competence. Other respondents mentioned the importance of the correlation between personal creativity competence development and success in PhenoBL. It was also stressed that if a teacher wants to be successful while using PhenoB, they must to be prepared to work with integration-based and communication-emancipatory methods, must be student-centred, must have competencies in teaching several subjects, must be good at teamwork, and must be good at managing learning time.

The Linguistic Landscape of a Historic Center Commercial Area: Aspects of Foreignness and Multilingualism Practices in Top-Down and Bottom-Up Signs

This paper reports aspects of foreignness and multilingualism practices displayed in the linguistic landscape, top-down and bottom-up signs, and shop owners’ motivation of the choice of languages, of thirteen streets in the historic center commercial area of São Luís. The results of the analyses indicated that 90.6 percent of the foreign language found was English and all of the top-down signage had translation Portuguese-English. All of the top-down city maps had a logo in its top left sign with three languages, Portuguese, English and French translation stating “World Heritage”, a title the city holds. 50 percent of the usage of adding an apostrophe and the letter s in bottom-up signage was done for aesthetic reasons, 40 percent said it indicated plural, and 10 percent said it was to show possession. 70 percent had the perception that foreign language usage is somehow superior to the native language what bestows both the notions of status and trust that are attributed to foreign language usage.

Differences in Heterogeneous Returns to Foreign Language Use at Work Among Natives and Migrants in Europe

The cultural-demographic profile of Europe has been heavily influenced by migration dynamics over the past decades. The question is whether language diversity in a host country – in particular, language proficiency and foreign language use at work – has implications for the workers’ wages. Our study examines the heterogeneous impacts of foreign language use at work on earnings of both native-born workers and foreign-born workers. To that end, a Mincer earnings equation is specified. The model is tested by means of an extensive data set that captures all relevant variables. Despite the dated nature of the data used, several interesting outcomes on wage differentials in Europe – as a result of foreign language use at work – are found. First, for native-born workers with a tertiary diploma, using a foreign language at work is found to have an unambiguously positive impact on their earnings (2%). Second, for foreign-born workers, returns to foreign language use at work is highly complementary to education. Foreign language users below the upper secondary educational level earn significantly less (−8%) than those who use the local language at work. Third, a linguistically distant foreign language gives native-born workers the highest wage premium, while the use of EU official languages pays off the most for foreign-born workers. Fourth, our results do not show evidence that the lack of local language knowledge of low-educated migrants causes these results, as immigrants for whom the mother tongue is similar to the local language show similar outcome.

Does Gendered Language Exist in a Foreign Language Context? A Study in Written Discourse of Saudi Male and Female EFL Learners

This investigation aims to verify the hypothesis that gendered language exists in foreign language usage as manifested in the EFL learners’ writing output in a Saudi university. The motivation behind this is to, ultimately, check and weed out elements of gendered language that are early on embedded amongst the genders which, with the passage of time, lead to various biases. Though it may be utopian to think of eradicating linguistic bias, yet this study hopes to contribute meaningfully to curb it and substitute the temptation of allowing it to seep into communication, by educating and training EFL users to substitute these with gender-free language and helping ensure greater gender equality. The writing output of 42 EFL learners was analyzed using an electronic parsing tool called Stanford Parser (v. 3.7.0), and all components classified as grammatical dependencies. Results showed that differences existed in male and female writings in the use of noun in subject position which occurred more frequently in female text at 69.15 mean dependency occurrence. This has long been held as a marked feature of female language use. The same dependency stands at a much lower 51.28 mean occurrence in males. Further, female writing has long been associated with a great deal of use of ‘empty’ modifiers, such as ‘very’ which act as modifiers to adverbs and adjectives. The current study upheld this contention as well. Lastly, backchanneling occurred more in female output in EFL than their male counterparts.

(Applied) Psycholinguistics for Foreign Language Teachers: A Diachronic Perspective

In discussing any scholarly discipline in both its theoretical and empirical dimensions, there is value in taking a diachronic view to determine the starting point, the direction and to assess achievements leading to new developments. The aim of this article is to outline the evolutionary character of psycholinguistics (and applied psycholinguistics), with emphasis on those areas of psycholinguistic research which are relevant for language practitioners: teachers, learners and users of foreign languages. The choice of topics made is by no means exhaustive, as psycholinguistics over decades has been—and still is—is a vast multidisciplinary domain of study. Only selected topics are discussed here, and the selection is based on the personal assessment of the author as to their importance and the evolutionary and dynamic impact they have had on language education and practical FL classroom instruction across time. This overview offers a brief discussion of psycholinguistic research from the fifties of the previous century to the present day. In each of the areas outlined, implications relevant for foreign language teachers, learners and users are discussed to create an overall picture of the developing contribution of (applied) psycholinguistics to foreign language education.

How Students Perceive the Learning of English as an International Language: A Theoretical and Practical Approach

English is no longer the language belonging to about 375 million native English speakers. It is also an international language spoken by more than a billion of second and foreign language users. The models used to teach English as a second or foreign language have traditionally been mainly native speaker models. However, in the last few years, a large number of researchers have suggested integrating a model of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) into the English classroom because it has several benefits for international communication, since international intelligibility is now the main goal. In this work, a research study has been carried out to analyze how Spanish students of English (B2 level) value some of the main tenets of the ELF model, such as the importance of confidence, intelligibility and the dichotomy native vs. non-native accent while speaking the foreign language.

Interpersonal perception of emotional intensity by English first (L1) and foreign (LX) language users in audio(visual) communication

ABSTRACT Many studies have revealed multilinguals’ reduced emotionality of a foreign language (LX) compared to a first language (L1). Contrary to the bulk of research so far, which has focused on multilinguals’ own emotion experience or emotion processing, this study focuses on interpersonal communication and investigates how one perceives the intensity level of someone else’s emotional experience. Data were collected via an online survey. A total of 557 L1 users and 811 upper-intermediate to advanced LX users of English rated the intensity of the emotional experience of a British actress enacting different emotional events in six audiovisual or audio-only clips in English. Overall, audiovisual stimuli yielded higher intensity ratings than audio-only stimuli. More surprisingly, the L1 participants’ intensity ratings were lower than the LX participants’ ratings in both conditions. English proficiency was not significantly correlated with intensity ratings among L1 and LX users, which suggests that paralinguistic skills develop independently from linguistic skills.

Interactive Mobile Home Tasks vs. Individual Home Tasks in University Foreign Language Education at the Upper-Intermediate Level

Homework, being an indispensable part of learning, needs special planning and modification in line with the latest educational development. In this view, we assume that mobile devices can provide ample opportunities for students to interact and collaborate with their group-mates to enhance learning outcomes in university foreign language education. Interactive mobile homework assignments combined with individual ones can noticeably improve these outcomes from different perspectives. They engage students in communicative foreign language usage, encouraging both receptive and productive speech acts, student-to-student cooperation in learning through communication, peer-teaching, and pooling resources which promote the amplification of the learning environment through content and language sharing. On the other hand, interactive mobile homework assignments also have certain risks that may decrease the quality of learning, such as possible error exchange, a superficial approach, a switch to use of native language, and chatting, etc. Nevertheless, interactive mobile homework assignments keep students on the task for a longer period of time because they require each student’s pre-task preparation, longer oral exchanges during the “while phase” and post-task individual summary, therefore providing more practice. The study described in the article highlights the characteristics of the interactive mobile homework tasks, suggests a list of homework task types, both individual and interactive, and compares the results of their practical application in university foreign language education. The authors attempt to identify a trend in their contribution to the learning outcomes achieved by the students while completing their homework, either interactively or individually.

Positive Psychology can help overcome the pernicious native speaker ideology

The world of applied linguistics and the profession of foreign language teaching needs to finally sweep away the notion of “Native Speaker” (NS) and the deficit perspective surrounding foreign language learners. We argue that Positive Psychology is a source of inspiration for a new and more positive perspective on foreign language learners and users. Rather than obsessing about negative aspects of life, Positive Psychologists defend a more holistic perspective. By transforming the view of learners as failed “NS” of the target language to that of increasingly competent and happy users of a foreign language would lift a huge burden from the shoulders of foreign language learners and their teachers alike. We argue that the unexpected longevity and ubiquity of the NS in the foreign language teaching profession are its deep historical roots in linguistics and culture, and that only a radical paradigm shift can dislodge it.

Persian immigrants’ language choice for swearing: the effects of socio-biographical variables and personality traits

ABSTRACT Swearing uses language forms that are taboo and potentially offensive. These are often used for emotional expression. Multilingual research shows that because the first language retains most emotional force (Dewaele [2004]. “The Emotional Force of Swearwords and Taboo Words in the Speech of Multilinguals.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 25 (2/3): 204–219; Pavlenko [2012]. “Affective Processing in Bilingual Speakers: Disembodied Cognition?” International Journal of Psychology 47 (6): 405–428), it is often the language of choice for swearing. Furthermore, swearing frequency and language preference are associated with different personality traits (Dewaele [2017a]. “Self-Reported Frequency of Swearing in English: Do Situational, Psychological and Socio-Biographical Variables Have Similar Effects on First and Foreign Language Users?” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38 (4): 330–345). This study draws together these multilingualism research areas to investigate Persian immigrants’ language choice for swearing, with reference to personality traits and socio-biographical factors, and in light of the Iranian cultural context. A mixed methods approach was adopted combining questionnaire and interview data. 204 Persian–English multilinguals residing outside Iran participated. Key findings revealed nuanced gender and personality dimensions. Specifically, women with higher Social Initiative (Extraversion) used English swearwords more frequently than Persian swearwords. Men who showed lower Emotional Stability (high Neuroticism) used Persian swearwords more frequently than English swearwords. There was also a positive relation between frequency of the use of Persian/English, self-rated knowledge in Persian/English, and Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Semi-structured interviews provided deeper insight into these language choices. The study highlights how language preferences for swearing are shaped by both personality and socio-biographical factors in complex and nuanced ways.

Using a Foreign Language Changes Medical Judgments of Preventative Care.

Every day, multilinguals around the world make important healthcare decisions while using a foreign language. The present study examined how the use of a native vs. non-native language shapes evaluations and decisions about preventative care. Bilinguals were randomly assigned to evaluate a series of medical scenarios in either their native or non-native language. Each scenario described potential adverse effects of a medical condition and a preventative treatment, as well as the population risk of disease- or treatment-related complications. Participants judged the perceived negativity and likelihood of experiencing adverse effects and indicated how willing they would be to accept the preventative treatment. We found that bilinguals using a foreign language perceived disease symptoms and treatment side effects to be less negative than those using their native tongue. Foreign language users were also more likely to account for the objective risks associated with medical conditions and treatments when making decisions about preventative care. We conclude that the use of a native vs. foreign language changes how people evaluate the consequences of accepting and declining preventative treatment, with potential implications for millions of providers and patients who routinely make medical choices in their non-native tongue.

Implementation of the meta-subject approach in the process of foreign language training of future teachers at a pedagogical university

A future teacher who speaks foreign language is in more demand by school today than ever before. Pedagogical universities change their activities to meet the school educational system’s requirements. The need of English for future teachers is determined by the necessity of subject activity. In the process of teaching the teacher not only stimulates the mastering of the basics of science, but also creates the opportunity to develop learning skills, critically realize their experience of foreign language usage. First and second year students, while learning foreign language, improve their speaking skills, learn to use the best way to build their learning activity. The goal of the next step of professional training is to master teaching methods, which will let the students use their foreign language knowledge. Teaching English on the basis of meta-subject approach principles will allow to solve these problems. The article is devoted to the analysis of solving the problems of foreign language education of future teachers. The author suggests using the meta-subject potential of a foreign language as a general strategy of foreign language education. The experimental pedagogical work carried out at the Pavlodar Pedagogical University allows us to draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of the proposed ideas.

Does a pedagogical agent\u2019s gesture frequency assist advanced foreign language users with learning declarative knowledge?

Since the conception of pedagogical agents in multimedia environments, researchers have advocated for agents to be designed to exhibit social cues that prime the social interaction of the target audience. One powerful social cue has been agent gesturing. While most agents are created only to use deictic (pointing) gestures, there is recent evidence that agents that perform all gesture types (iconic, metaphoric, deictic, and beat) with enhanced frequency help foreign language users learn more procedural knowledge. Therefore, this research examines how all gesture types and different frequencies influence agent persona and learning outcomes when foreign language users learn declarative knowledge. The results indicated that the use of gestures, regardless of frequency, significantly increase agent persona. However, gesture frequency produced conflicting learning outcomes. While enhancing gestures were beneficial for cued recall and recognition, the average gesture condition was not, which indicates that the strength of social cues is important.

Are EFL pre-service teachers’ judgment of teaching competence swayed by the belief that the EFL teacher is a L1 or LX user of English?

This quasi-experimental study investigates whether knowing that an English Foreign Language (EFL) teacher is a ‘native speaker’ (NS) or not may elicit implicit biases in judgements of teaching competence. Participants were 266 pre-service teachers studying in Graz (Austria) and Munchen (Germany). After watching the same identical 5-minute video of a teacher in front of a classroom, they were invited to rate her on four dimensions (language, teaching, assessment, communication) and asked whether they would love to have this person as an English teacher. Close to half of the participants were explicitly told that the teacher was a ‘NS’ and slightly over half that she was a ‘NNS’. No significant differences were found between both conditions. Multiple regression analyses showed that teaching skill was the strongest predictor of loving the teacher, followed by language skill. Analysis of feedback collected through an open question revealed that only a small minority of participants mentioned the words NS/NNS. These findings suggest that bias about ‘NS/NNS’ is minimal in this population. We conclude by pleading to retire the toxic terms ‘NS/NNS’ and to replace them with the ideologically neutral and more flexible dichotomy of first and foreign language (L1/LX) user (Dewaele 2018).

Differences in emotional reactions of Greek, Hungarian, and British users of English when watching television in English

AbstractWe investigated differences in self‐reported Emotional Reactions (ER) of first (L1) and foreign (LX) language users of English when watching television in English and identified the predictors. Participants were 271 British citizens, 282 Greek, and 271 Hungarians living in their home country. English LX users had significantly lower values for ER compared to L1 users. Frequency of watching television in English and Trait Emotional Intelligence were the strongest predictors of ER among LX users. No significant predictors emerged for L1 users. Significant differences emerged between the Greeks and Hungarians despite having similar levels of proficiency. This suggests that the implicit assumption in previous research that any group of LX users with the same L1 and LX represent all LX users in the world is incorrect.

Foreign Language Usage and National and European Identification in the Netherlands

Multilingualism is considered a pathway to European identification but might also undermine national identification. We examine regular foreign language usage and two psychological constructs that can explain the relationship between multilingualism and European and national identification in the Netherlands: greater mental openness and a deprovincialized worldview. Using structural equation modeling, the results of two studies conducted with national Dutch samples show that foreign language usage predicted greater mental openness (cultural in Study 1, and cognitive in Study 2), which then predicted greater European identification. Foreign language usage also predicted greater deprovincialization which, in turn, predicted lower national identification.

Training teachers to integrate technology: Drawing parallels between fluent (L2) and foreign language (EFL) users of English

The present study ascertained the impact of technology integration in the L2 classroom using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) for student teachers and using the implications in EFL settings. In simple words, TPACK means the readiness, both in terms of attitude and knowledge, of teachers to use technology in their classrooms. The study used a quasi-experimental approach, blending both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data at state-run universities in India on the population of student teachers of English. It may be pointed out here that though English is the language most spoken by Indians, it is officially the second or even third language in most state schools. Yet, it is not a ‘foreign language’ but one of the official languages in the country. Therefore, the premise that findings in this study can be used in EFL settings as in KSA. The data for this study was collected using mixed methods which provides definitive and useful results. The TPACK scale results and interviews indicated a major increase in the overall TPACK self-efficacy of student teachers of English after participating in CALL. The change was noticeable in TPACK's technology-related domains. This study generally demonstrates that TPACK CALL preparation holds great promise for students training to be English teachers and the incorporation of CALL into ELTEPs in L2 and EFL settings is highly recommendable. Also, after engaging in CALL workshops, student teachers' TPACK-Language self-efficacy increased. It can be suggested on the basis of the findings of this study that while CALL integration is paramount in ELTEPs, many student teachers need various hands-on opportunities and a kind of internship to promote their self-efficacy with TPACK-English to be in a better position to use technology correctly and efficiently inside language teaching.