Language Ego Research Articles

Investigating Language Ego as an Affective Factor Influencing Second Language Acquisition in the Learning Process

ABSTRACT: Real-life observation has shown that second language (L2) learners differ in their L2 learning process in which this individual difference is virtually related to the factors influencing second language acquisition. Many researchers have been interested in finding those factors, yet there is still a little study examining the impact of language ego as the affective factor. Thus, this paper aims to elaborate on how the language ego influences second language acquisition. By having a thorough understanding of language ego in L2 learning, it is expected that it can give some enlightenment to a better learning process for L2 learners.To provide an adequate explanation of language ego, this paper uses a literature review. This method is used to aggregate empirical findings related to a narrow research question which is the language ego as one of the affective factors influencing second language acquisition. Some previous studies that discuss a similar topic are collected, and the data is analyzed in accordance with the objective of this paper.As one of the affective factors, language ego is a psychological state of a learner in which it refers to the identity that a person develops in reference to the language. In this paper, it is hypothesized that the language ego influences second language acquisition in positive correlation when the focus is the permeability of the language ego. The permeability shows how the ego can be flexible and adaptable to the second language. The higher the learner’s language ego permeability is, the higher the learner’s chance of successful second language acquisition is.

THE ANALYSIS OF AFFECTIVE FACTORS ENHANCEMENT ON EFL TEACHING ACTIVITY

Learning English has its own challenge for Junior High school students in Indonesia. One of the ways to cope with the challenges is by enhancing students’ affective factors such as self-confidence, language ego, risk-taking willingness, and connecting with first language culture. However, researches on these types of affective factors are insufficient thus the researchers were interested to conduct research on the topic. The current study was implementing the narrative qualitative method, where EFL teaching activity was observed. It intended to analyze the teachers’ effort to develop EFL students’ affective variables. The EFL class observed the 9th grade of a private junior high school in West Java which was involving one EFL teacher and 29 students. The research shows that teachers did give favor the development of students’ affective variables as many as 32% from the lists observed. However, it is not sufficient, not programmed, and not systematical. The researchers suggest the educators systematically enhance students’ affective factors in the classroom setting. For further research, it is recommended to conduct research related to the effective factors with broader scopes and samples.
 Keywords: Affective Factors, Affective enhancement, EFL Students, Teacher Effort

Social Interactions as a Barrier to Second Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective

Peer interactions between learners are useful as such interactions have linguistic value to learners of the second language in both academic and non-academic classrooms. However, for learners of the second language, social interaction challenges may impact on their learning and acquisition of the second language. The present study investigates from the sociocultural perspective whether social interactions are barriers to second-language acquisition and education between Arab undergraduates’ students of English in Arab universities. The study used the descriptive approach. A questionnaire was distributed to 240 randomly selected learners whose results revealed that sociocultural factors or lack of thereof might serve as a barrier to conversational interactions from the perspective of students. For learners of the second language, attributes like language ego, fear, low self-esteem, aptitude, and low motivation influence their involvement in conversational interactions. As a result, it can be observed how they perceive themselves and how their peers see them in academic classrooms. The results of the study indicate the extent to which social interactions as barriers to second language learning vary according to gender; however, no statistical difference from the point of view of the type of the university was evident in this study. The study recommends further research into the social interactions as barriers to second language learning in higher education institutions.

The Enlightenment of Second Language Ego to Oral English Teaching in Senior High School

Affective factors play a vital role in second language acquisition. Language ego, as a crucial affective factor, should be taken into consideration when teachers teach oral English in senior high school. Learning a new language is the process of acquiring a new language ego. A positive second language ego can promote students’ English learning. A negative language ego, especially inhibition, can become the major hindrance to students’ oral English learning. However, many English teachers cannot realize the importance of second language ego, which causes many problems in oral English teaching. In this paper, the author elaborates the concept of language ego and demonstrates that the primary focus of developing a positive second language ego in senior high school is to overcome inhibition, which is beneficial to oral English learning. Furthermore, the author also gives some suggestions to English teachers concerning solving problems when they teach oral English. As a result, students can get into an optimal learning state, then the efficiency of oral English teaching can also be improved.

Impact of Language Ego, the Native Language Effect on Oral English Learning of High School Students

Language transfer, especially the native language effect on the process of second language acquisition, has always been a hot issue of various linguists. Language transfer is inevitable in the process of second language acquisition, which can be divided into positive transfer and negative transfer. The positive transfer will promote the foreign language learning while negative transfer of mother tongue will hinder the second language learning. In English learning, compared with reading and writing, oral English learning is more important and more complex. Chinese high school students are often disturbed by negative effect of their mother tongue in oral English communication. In China, experts and scholars have done a lot of researches on the negative native language effect in English learning, but most of the researches focus on writing and translation skills, while few of them emphasize on listening and speaking skills.At present, English teaching is undergoing a profound reform, and English teachers and learners are paying an increasing number of attention to the study of spoken English. In order to fill the gap and correctly understand the influences of oral English acquisition of high school students, through the analysis of the principle of native language effect, this paper finds that the vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and pragmatics of mother tongue all have negative transfer to foreign language learning. What’s more, language ego, as an important part of affective principles, has a profound impact on the process of oral English learning. There is a strong and negative correlation between language ego and oral English learning to some extent. The less students´language ego is, the more oral English output students will produce.

UCZENIE SIĘ JĘZYKÓW OBCYCH W FORMIE E-LEARNING. ANALIZA PORÓWNAWCZA WARUNKÓW UCZENIA SIĘ OSÓB WYBIERAJĄCYCH NAUKĘ NA DWÓCH RODZAJACH PLATFORM

Cel badań. Celem analizy jakościowej było porównanie dwóch rodzajów kursu języka obcego e-learning: kursu języka hiszpańskiego na platformie Duolingo i kursu typu MOOC Basic Spanish 1: Getting started pod względem warunków uczenia się. Badanie ilościowe zrealizowano w celu porównania osób wybierających kurs na wspomnianych dwóch rodzajach platform pod względem poziomu samooceny globalnej, samooceny językowej oraz motywacji do nauki języków.
 Metodologia. Jako kryteria analizy jakościowej przyjęto dwanaście zasad dobrych praktyk w edukacji językowej zaproponowanych przez Browna (2002); to jest: (1) automatyzacja, (2) uczenie się ze zrozumieniem (ang. meaningful learning), (3) antycypacja nagrody, (4) motywacja wewnętrzna, (5) strategiczna inwestycja, (6) językowe ego (ang. language ego), (7) samoocena, (8) podejmowanie ryzyka, (9) relacja język – kultura, (10) wpływ języka ojczystego, (11) interjęzyk (ang. interlanguage) oraz (12) kompetencja komunikacyjna. W badaniu ilościowym wzięło udział 261 uczących się języka hiszpańskiego, którzy utworzyli dwie grupy badawcze: grupę użytkowników platformy Duolingo oraz grupę użytkowników kursów typu MOOC na platformie edX, FutureLearn i Udemy. Zostali oni poproszeni o wypełnienie trzech kwestionariuszy w wersji elektronicznej (SES Rosenberga, kwestionariusz do badania samooceny językowej oraz kwestionariusz do badania motywacji do nauki języków obcych autorstwa Noels, Clément i Pelletier (2001)). Do analizy wyników wykorzystano test t-Studenta oraz test niezależności chi-kwadrat.
 Wyniki. Analiza kursu języka hiszpańskiego na platformie Duolingo oraz kursu typu MOOC na platformie edX wykazała, że Duolingo w większym stopniu spełnia ryteria automatyzacji, antycypacji nagrody oraz samooceny, a kurs MOOC ma przewagę w zakresie uczenia ze zrozumieniem, włączania kultury w naukę języka, balansu pomiędzy językiem obcym a językiem ojczystym oraz kompetencji komunikacyjnej. Analiza ilościowa nie wykazała istotnych różnic pomiędzy grupami w zakresie samooceny globalnej. Osoby uczące się na platformie Duolingo miały za to wyższą samoocenę językową od osób uczących się na kursach MOOC. Grupy różniły się również pod względem wskazywanych motywacji do nauki.
 Wnioski. Analiza jakościowa ujawniła różnice pomiędzy dwoma implementacjami e-learningu, a także ich braki. Materiał językowy bywa odarty z kontekstu i przekazywany w zmechanizowany sposób (Duolingo) lub kurs w niewystarczający sposób motywuje i utrwala zdobytą wiedzę (edX). Zmienną pośredniczącą w badaniu ilościowym mógł być wiek badanych, gdyż 49,2% grupy uczących się na kursach typu MOOC stanowiły osoby w wieku powyżej 61 roku życia.

КОММУНИКАТИВНЫЕ И ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ ЯЗЫКОВОГО ЭГО В СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНЫХ УСЛОВИЯХ

The aim of the article is to analyze the stable connection between the notion “language ego” and the ability to learn a foreign language effectively. Ideas are realized and various methods on the formation and all-round development of the trainees’ “language ego” phenomenon in the practice of teaching foreign languages are examined. A brief review of scientific research in the field of the “language ego” phenomenon is given. The rules for the regulation of subjects’ speech interaction are considered both from linguistic and psychological points of view. The cognitive aspect makes it possible to approach the study of “language ego” in a new way, to reveal its communicative and psychological peculiarities, and to consider it on the basis of a wide range of the phenomena accompanying educational process and speech activity.

The Barriers of Teaching Speaking English for EFL Learners

This research portraits the barriers in teaching speaking for EFL learner. The barriers in teaching speaking English come form two aspects: internal and external factors. Internal factors are native language, age, exposure, innate phonetic ability, identity and language ego, and motivation concern for good speaking English and external factors are teaching speaking English at large class and learners’ autonomy. Each barrier is connected with the available method used in teaching speaking English. The conclusion of this research is teacher must focus on the learners need, the second is teacher applies for environment analysis before conducting teaching speaking English, the last is teacher chooses the suitable method based on the problems that he/she found in his/her teaching speaking English. Several methods that are often used in teaching speaking English are Direct Method, The Silent Way, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, and Communicative Language Teaching.Keywords: barriers in teaching speaking, internal factors, external factors

Comparison and Contrast between First and Second Language Learning

This research paper tends to focus on comparison and contrast between first and second language learning. It investigates the different factors that have inhibiting influences on the language learning process of the learners in the two different environments. There are many factors involved in this respect. The age factor is one of the vital factors that influence the progress of learners in the language learning process. The other factor between first and second language learning, which mostly influences the performance of second language learners, is language input in terms of the quantity and quality in both cases of the limitations of the second language learning in classroom. This research study also studies the language input in both cases and limitations of second language learning in classroom. The present research also investigates the individual differences between first and second language learning, covering aptitude of the language learner, motivation of teacher and classmates, language anxiety and language ego. This research paper suggests that motivation of the teacher and other class fellows, aptitude of learner and teacher’s instructions and teaching methodology as well as classroom setting may help the second language learners to overcome their language anxiety and language ego in the classroom. Keywords: First language learning, Second language Learning, Age Factor, Individual Differences, Language Input, Language Anxiety and Language Ego

Ego is a Hurdle in Second Language Learning: A Contrastive Study between Adults and Children

The aim of this research paper is to find out by comparing and contrasting between the adults and children in second language learning process how language ego of adult learners affects them to learn second language, and how it becomes a barrier for them in second language learning process. Nowadays learning English as foreign and second language is one of the most dominant socio-cultural requirements of people for seeking employment, foreign tour, business, education and other basic communicative purposes. Therefore, English as foreign and second language is definitely necessary for everybody because it is one of the most urgent socio-cultural pre-requisites of the Post-modern era. It is commonly observed during teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Pakistan, that language ego hinders the adults to learn it properly. Therefore, children are more successful L2 learners than the adults are. Children learning L2 use to reproduce construction process just as they do in their L1 learning and they have the ability to cognize and reproduce new and novel utterances. The compare and contrast between adult and child second language learner will be highlighted in this research paper, which may be helpful for teachers, researchers and scholars on the subject. Keywords : Second Language Learning Process, Adult Learner, Child Learner, Language Ego, Critical Period and Puberty Period

Self and Language Anxiety

This paper discusses relationships between language anxiety and self. Self refers to an individual’s (a) self-confidence, (b) language ego, L2/FL self or identity developed during second or foreign language learning, or a combination of both L1 self and L2/FL self. Based on previous literature on language anxiety and L2 or FL learning, language learners’ self-confidence might imply a lack of language anxiety which enhances language achievement (e.g., Casado & Dereshiwsky, 2004; Clément, 1980; Liu & Chen, 2013; Matsuda & Gobel, 2004; Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 1999; Peng & Woodrow, 2010; Ro, 2013). Language anxiety is an experience unique to the language learning process, and this unique emotion or experience may be associated with the anxiety of feeling limited, broken, incompetent, having another self or a different personality in a target language. I believe that while learning target languages, L2 or FL identities are developing, and L1 identities are reconstructed. Language learners may feel the loss of L1 identities in a target language context or may feel that they are not able to express their thoughts in a target language. When learners feel the loss of L1 identities, feel limited or broken, this may be language anxiety arising.

Video Game: A Way to Reduce Inhibition and Enhance Language Achievement

This research investigates whether videogame plays any role in reducing the inhibitions of language learners and examines the effects of video game on students’ language ego. Ten people were interviewed to find out if there were any differences between language achievement within classrooms or videogames. Five of the interviewees had experienced learning the language through video games, while the other five were benefiting from classroom instruction only. Using video games, students subconsciously suppress their inhibitions and this leads to facilitation of learning.

The Many Faces of the Language ego: Exploring Tensions of Linguistic and Cultural Adaptation in Immigrants and Adult Language Learners

Immigrants and sojourners arriving to Canada represent the cohorts of additional language learners whose experience of cultural and linguistic adjustment evokes a wide range of discomforting reactions typically accompanying the act of displacement from the home country. Application of psychoanalytical theories provides an additional perspective on the causes of these reactions as well as the personal inhibitions blocking the successful accommodation in the new environment. The sense of the perceived self that accounts for how the learner feels connected to the target linguistic and cultural environment may be the key component of such process. This paper discusses the themes that emerged in the phenomenological study conducted by the author in 2009 in the University of Manitoba, which addressed the transformative role of the language ego (Erhman, 1993; Guiora et al., 1972; 1980) on the process of the learner's identity development in the new cultural and linguistic milieu.

English L2 personas and the imagined global community of English users

I have Danish parents, grown up in France, lived in the UK for 10 years and now living in Holland for the past 9 years. I am a different person in each language, adapting myself to the culture of the people who speak it. I have always wondered how the language could affect the message so much. It also affects my tone of voice and my emotions. [Christina, on July 27th, 2011]I find myself being more self-depreciating and less likely to accept praise when speaking in Japanese than when speaking English. Furthermore, a colleague once told me that even if he can't hear, he can tell which language I am using from 10-15 metres away, by looking at my posture, gestures and general body language. [Tim, on July 27th, 2011]My friends once told me that when I switch to Russian even my facial features change, becoming colder and harsher – set jaw, narrow eyes, speaking in a low voice, but with an intensity that makes everyone else listen. [Julia, on July 30th, 2011]The above quotations represent just a small portion of blogosphere postings from bilingual and multilingual individuals commenting on how they perceive and appear to have very distinct and separate personalities when speaking the different languages in their linguistic repertoires. Many such postings, like the first one above by Christina, explicitly attribute this phenomenon to attempts on the part of speakers to assimilate to the cultural norms of the countries where the languages are traditionally spoken. Scholarly treatments of the same phenomenon (e.g., Bryant, 1984; Hu & Reiterer, 2009; Zukowski/Faust, 1997) generally do likewise, often citing Schumann's (1978, 1986) Acculturation Model, which equates L2 proficiency with the extent to which a learner is able to adopt the culture of a target language group, and Guiora's (1967, 1979) concept of Language Ego, in which the permeability of one's L1 identity determines receptiveness to taking on new linguistic identities. According to these theories, a learner of Korean, for example, would be likely to develop a distinctly Korean L2 persona (as well as linguistic proficiency) if he or she has both a high level of affinity for Korean culture and a very permeable L1 language ego. Such arguments still, no doubt, apply to languages such as Korean or Japanese that are intrinsically associated with specific countries and cultures. Given the status of English as an international lingua franca in today's world, however, it can no longer be assumed that learners of English have any motive or desire to acculturate into traditionally English-speaking cultures, such as those of the US, England, or Australia. If learners/users of English associate the language not with such traditionally English-speaking cultures, but instead with an imagined global community of English users, do they still develop English L2 personas that are distinct from their L1 personas and feel ‘like a different person’ when speaking English?

English-only Instruction in Post-secondary Education in Taiwan: Voices from Students

The internationalization of higher education in Taiwan has become a trend since Taiwan entered the World Trade Organization (WTO). One of the most popular internationalizing mechanisms for Taiwan is to provide English-taught courses in postsecondary education. Despite its proliferation, we rarely have empirical studies on its effectiveness, which 15 particularly important since Vinke et al. (1998) found that the effects of using English as the only medium of teaching to facilitate one' s language abilities and international understanding were not totally positive. This paper thus aims to report student voices regarding English-Only instruction in one department in a comprehensive, private university in Taiwan. Ten student interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed by Carspecken's (1996) reconstructive analysis. The results showed delicate complexity between positive and negative learning effects. The students perceived English improvement in terms of listening, vocabulary and confidence, while they expressed worries about a loss in their acquisition of professional knowledge. In addition to teachers' clarity and expressiveness, students' language ego, intrinsic motivation, proficiency levels and time for adjustment also account for learning effectiveness. Although the results are inconclusive, the complicated factors emerging from student data, I believe, function as a preliminary step for an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness of English-only instruction and the anticipated future internationalization of higher education in Taiwan.

IRC Français: The Creation of an Internet-Based SLA Community

Research into text-based chat environments for foreign language learning has shown that discussions online have a significantly different character from those in the classroom. In this paper, we begin with a brief design history of one of these environments: IRC Français. Our experience both illustrates the challenges involved in moving these chat environments from the language lab to the Internet and offers insight into some of the causes of these changes in conversation. The initial challenges we encountered ranged from ethical difficulties in doing research in Internet-based chat environments to bootstrapping a synchronous community. After exploring these challenges, we present a study taking a closer look at the interactions online and in the classroom over the course of a semester. During this semester, classroom interaction was largely teacher-oriented, despite the best efforts of the teachers involved. Even though teachers initiated online conversations in the same way, however, online interaction was student-driven and significantly more interactive. These observations lend credibility to the language ego permeability theory and its emphasis on inhibition. Quantitative findings of this study mirror a number of other studies. Qualitative findings suggest that important features of the medium lead students to feel more comfortable in the online environment. In particular, the “almost realtime” nature of this medium seems to offer a blend of benefits that arise in both face-to-face conversation and asynchronous interaction. In doing so, however, some new challenges are introduced. We conclude with some suggestions for new research directions into both these challenges and more general issues in second language acquisition in online environments.

The Two Faces of Language Ego

A fair amount of attention has been paid over the years to a unique domain in second language behavior, namely pronunciation. Pronunciation seems to be different from other domains, such as vocabulary, grammar, syntax and idiom. The difference lies in its intractability beyond a certain age. Most people, most of the time, in most circumstances will fail to acquire native pronunciation in a foreign language. Guiora has offered a psychological theory, a theory of inhibition, to account for this phenomenon (Guiora, 1991, 1992). This theory is based on the constructs of language ego and permeability of language ego boundaries. It can account, alone of the contending hypotheses, for both the extreme rigidity and relative flexibility of the pronunciation behavior.The need arises now to develop a general theory that could also explain the reasons why other language domains, such as voca-bulary, syntax, grammar and idiom seem to be governed by rules different from the rules governing pronunciation. In this paper an attempt is made to formulate such a theory, going beyond the psychological theory of pronunciation, and extending it to all language behavior. And perhaps suggesting a theoretical relevance that may go beyond language behavior itself.

The Two Faces of Language Ego

A fair amount of attention has been paid over the years to a unique domain in second language behavior, namely pronunciation. Pronunciation seems to be different from other domains, such as vocabulary, grammar, syntax and idiom. The difference lies in its intractability beyond a certain age. Most people, most of the time, in most circumstances will fail to acquire native pronunciation in a foreign language. Guiora has offered a psychological theory, a theory of inhibition, to account for this phenomenon (Guiora, 1991, 1992). This theory is based on the constructs of language ego and permeability of language ego boundaries. It can account, alone of the contending hypotheses, for both the extreme rigidity and relative flexibility of the pronunciation behavior. The need arises now to develop a general theory that could also explain the reasons why other language domains, such as voca-bulary, syntax, grammar and idiom seem to be governed by rules different from the rules governing pronunciation. In this paper an attempt is made to formulate such a theory, going beyond the psychological theory of pronunciation, and extending it to all language behavior. And perhaps suggesting a theoretical relevance that may go beyond language behavior itself.

Language ego, language fear and regression in adult language learning

Abstract The affective aspects of language learning have been the subject of much discussion in literature, both in their positive and negative manifestations. This paper is concerned with negative affect in formal classes, upon English-speaking adults learning foreign languages in the adult education mode, as a compulsory element of a higher degree. The paper is based on diaries which students were required to keep as part of the course.2 The diaries were primarily intended to facilitate deliberate introspection and explicit consideration by the students of their own learning process and the various factors, linguistic and non-linguistic, which affected their learning. Diary and introspective studies as a qualitative, rather than a quantitative tool for research into language learning, have been undertaken by Bailey (1983), Schumann (1977 and 1980), McDonough (1978) and Rivers (1983). They do not however deal with the quite startling fears and anxieties manifested in our study nor with the consequences for their success or otherwise in language learning. This paper sets out to provide details of student perceptions, especially the sometimes extreme manifestations of fear and anxiety they reveal. The authors hypothesize, on the basis of the diaries, that it is the individual’s “language boundary” or “language ego” which is severely threatened by public exposure in the foreign language classroom and which results in these manifestations of fear, anxiety and regression.

THE EFFECTS OF BENZODIAZEPINE (VALIUM) ON PERMEABILITY OF LANGUAGE EGO BOUNDARIES 1

This study was designed as an extension of previous research in which pronunciation of a foreign language was experimentally manipulated using alcohol or hypnosis, to confirm a relationship between permeability of language ego boundaries and pronunciation. The present study used Benzodiazepine (Valium) to manipulate pronunciation in Thai. Seventy‐five subjects were assigned to one of four treatment conditions: Placebo, 2 mg., 5 mg., or 10 mg., and subsequently tested on the Standard Thai Procedure (STP) and the Digit Symbol Test. Results seem to suggest that Benzodiazepine (Valium) facilitates the empathic sensitivity of the subjects to the tester rather than to the voice on the tape. The combined findings of the Valium and alcohol studies are interpreted as supporting the theoretical connection between language ego boundaries and ego boundaries in general and illustrate the extraordinary sensitivity of the test to fluctuations in the state of the subject's ego.