Native English Speakers Research Articles

The relationship between L2 learners’ production and perception of English vowels: The role of native-speaker acoustic patterns in production

Despite the abundance of research on the relationship between second language (L2) learners’ production and perception of target-language contrasts, the nature and details of this connection remain unclear. The aim of this study was to extend our understanding of the relationship by investigating whether learners who can produce L2 vowels with the same acoustic properties as those used by native speakers of the target language also perceive the vowels more accurately. To this end, we examined the production and perception of two English vowel contrasts (tense /i/ vs. lax /ɪ/, mid /ε/ vs. low /æ/) in 29 native-speakers of American English and 33 L2 learners of English from three native-language backgrounds: Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. We found that the L2 learners who produced distinctions between the target vowels using the same acoustic properties as do native speakers of English had significantly better perception scores for these vowels compared to the learners who distinguished the vowels using a pattern of acoustic properties that is not used by native speakers. This was also true when their patterns were compared to the learners who did not make any acoustic distinctions at all. The findings provide compelling evidence that L2 learners’ production patterns are linked to their perception skills.

Evaluation of soundscape attribute translations from English to Croatian

The methods for data collection and analysis in soundscape research have been standardized in the ISO/TS 12913 group of standards. The perceived quality of soundscapes is now assessed using the eight standardized soundscape attributes distributed around the circumplex model: ‘pleasant’, ‘vibrant’, ‘eventful’, ‘chaotic’, ‘annoying’, ‘monotonous’, ‘uneventful’, and ‘calm’. As a part of the Soundscape Attribute Translation Project (SATP), the objective of this research is to provide the translations of these eight attributes into Croatian language and to evaluate the validity of these translations. Based on the Croatian translations of the attributes used in previous soundscape studies and the additional optional translations provided by independent translators, the eight soundscape attributes have been translated into Croatian as ‘ugodan’, ‘uzbudljiv/živahan’, ‘sadržajan/pun događaja’, ‘kaotičan/uznemirujuć’, ‘neugodan’, ‘dosadan’, ‘besadržajan/prazan’, and ‘smirujuć’, respectively. The validity of these translations was evaluated through a listening experiment with 32 Croatian native speakers as participants, who rated the 27 sound samples that form the audio dataset of the SATP project. The data collected in the experiment was compared to the results of the study performed in the United Kingdom with English native speakers who used the standardized questionnaire in English. The results show that the Croatian translations of the fundamental, primary attributes that define the pleasantness-eventfulness plane, i.e. ‘pleasant’ − ‘annoying’ and ‘eventful’ − ‘uneventful’ are unambiguous and appropriate, as Croatian listeners understood and rated them in the same manner as their UK counterparts. On the other hand, the results reveal a very strong association of the perception of vibrancy with eventfulness, the perception of chaoticity with annoyance, and the perception of calmness with pleasantness displayed by the Croatian participants. This finding calls for a revision of the translations of the composite, secondary attributes ‘vibrant’, ‘chaotic’, and ‘calm’ respectively. The translation of the composite attribute ‘monotonous’ has been chosen well, as the results reflect its proper perception as a blend of uneventfulness and annoyance.

Sensory, motor, and emotion associations for landscape concepts differ across neighbouring speech communities

A long-standing debate centres around our mental representation of landscape: is it experienced in largely the same way across all humans or is it shaped to some extent by cultural and linguistic experience? Previous research supporting differences across cultures has often relied on introspection or qualitative ethnolinguistic methods. Departing from this, we collected systematic sensory, motor, and emotion ratings for different landscape terms from 289 native speakers of German, English and French. The results show that speakers within and across groups agree to a large extent in their ratings of landscape terms, particularly in their sensory and motor associations. However, there is cultural shaping too. This suggests more caution is required when extrapolating findings about landscape understandings and preferences across cultures and languages.

The Role of Native Speaker Peers on Language Learners’ Fear of Negative Evaluation and Language Anxiety

This study investigated graduate-level international students’ linguistic and learning experiences in classrooms predominated by native English-speaking (NES) students. The central objective was to discern the impact of NES students’ presence on the fear of negative evaluation experienced by international students speaking English as a second language in an American university. A survey was initially administered to 22 graduate-level international students, and five international students, distinguished by heightened levels of anxiety associated with negative evaluation in classrooms primarily dominated by NES students, were interviewed. The interview data were analyzed with domain analysis. The findings elucidated that international students’ fear of negative evaluation depended mainly on instructors’ practices and international students’ perceptions of NES peers’ attitudes. Moreover, the increased fear of negative evaluation adversely impacted their linguistic behaviors and overall engagement with instructional content. The findings implied a need for more inclusive and safe learning environments in graduate schools.

The Modification and Psychometric Test of Anemia Complication Prevention Instruments Based on The Health Belief Model

The high maternal mortality rate in middle-income countries is mostly caused by pregnancy complications, one of which is anemia in pregnancy. Behavioral instruments that use the health belief model are osteoporosis prevention, oral hygiene in pregnant women, and disaster preparedness. This instrument needs to be developed because based on previous literature searches it has not shown how the health belief model concept can be used to help pregnant women prevent anemia complications. This research aims to test the construct validity and reliability of the modified questionnaire for preventing anemia complications based on the health belief model. An internal validity test was conducted in Yogyakarta. Five specialists from different health fields - nurses, midwives, nutritionists, health promotion experts, and medical doctors- participated in the study. Some of the things that were done were as follows: 1) defining appropriate concepts and objectives; 2) defining and identifying domains; and 3) defining and creating items. 4) creating the measuring instrument, 5) finalizing the translation with the help of two native English speakers 7) preparing the test instrument for the content validity test, 6) running the validity test with five medical professionals, 7) Applying the Index of Content Validity (I-CVI) to the analyses. 8) Using Cronbach's alpha to conduct a reliability test on thirty pregnant women. The content validity index of the crucial indicator of behavioral prevention of consequences from anemia is one, and the relevance indicator also returns one, resulting in a total score of 0.99. Expert agreement in English has a kappa value of 0.442. Results of reliability using Cronbach's alpha of 0.807. The instrument for preventing anemia issues in pregnant women is valid and reliable, according to the study's findings.

The ambiguity of “true” in English, German, and Chinese

Through a series of empirical studies involving native speakers of English, German, and Chinese, this paper reveals that the predicate “true” is inherently ambiguous in the empirical domain. Truth statements such as “It is true that Tom is at the party” seem to be ambivalent between two readings. On the first reading, the statement means “Reality is such that Tom is at the party.” On the second reading, the statement means “According to what X believes, Tom is at the party.” While there appear to exist some cross-cultural differences in the interpretation of the statements, the overall findings robustly indicate that “true” has multiple meanings in the realm of empirical matters.

The resistance to translanguaging, spontaneous translanguagers and native speaker saviorism

ABSTRACT Translanguaging has been theoretically argued and empirically proven to have transformative and constructive potential because it provides language users with potential access to and opportunities for rich and equal educational and linguistic resources. However, we remind in this article that many ‘spontaneous translanguagers’ – language users who are understood to have a translanguaging instinct and predisposition for natural translingual use – tend to resist translanguaging in certain institutional contexts in order to fit into the dominant Anglophone society. This resistance to translanguaging is deeply provoked by the impact of pervasive language ideology – native speaker saviorism– the longstanding assumption that people of color around the world need to speak like a native speaker of English in order to fully enjoy the social, cultural, linguistic, and financial status of Whiteness. While we stand in solidarity with applied linguists who advocate for the transformative potential of translanguaging, we also caution that many actual translanguagers in certain social scenarios still carry enduring skepticism about the benefits of translanguaging. If we continue to advocate for translanguaging, it is essential to deal with core issues that hinder its application in various social settings from the perspectives of various spontaneous translanguagers.

The role of awareness in implicit and explicit knowledge

Abstract This study investigates the initial incidental acquisition of two L2 morphosyntactic rules and their immediate usage in production. Using a miniature artificial language paradigm, multiple exposure sessions, realistic exposure, non-salient linguistic features, as well as multiple outcome measures, we demonstrate that adult learners can learn animacy with low levels of awareness, but not case. Forty adult native speakers of English participated in the experiment. Participants were exposed to audio sentences in the artificial language paired with pictures on the computer screen for three sessions. Knowledge of animacy and case was measured with production and grammaticality judgment tests. Results demonstrated that concrete, contiguous and easily trackable L2 properties that lend themselves to distributional learning, such as animacy marking, can benefit from incidental exposure. However, more abstract L2 properties, like the morphological paradigm of case, seem not to be learnable by incidental means, and opportunities for explicit learning must be provided.

The Prevailing Issue of Native Speakerism: A Critical Discourse Analysis of ELT Institutions’ Websites

The English language teaching (ELT) industry has been expanding in China, and at present there are private online ELT institutions which provide English lessons which focus mainly on communication skills. The official websites of these institutions not only provide information about the programmes offered but also communicate their English language teaching pedagogical beliefs and stances. This paper aims to examine the language use in these websites and to explore how it reflects language ideologies. The websites of nine Chinese online ELT institutions were selected. Textual data were collected from the front page and subfields of these websites and were subjected to a critical discourse analysis based on Fairclough’s (1995) three-dimensional methodology. The findings suggest that there is a prevailing bias toward native-speakerism language ideology in the ELT industry. This emerged from the use of intentional vocabulary and word choice for their marketing campaigns. Repeated use of these words normalizes the authoritative image of teachers who are native English speakers. Additionally, these institutions also adopt multiple discursive strategies which intensify the stereotype of native speakerism to the public whilst seeming to discriminate against teachers who are not native speakers of English. The findings shed light on social inequity and biases in private online ELT institutions.

Do Learners Acquire the Functions of the English Passive Along with Its Form? Case Study of Armenian Learners

The study investigates the impact of learners’ mother tongue (L1) on second language (L2) acquisition, with a focus on Armenian learners of English. By analyzing the use of the passive voice in both native English speakers’ and Armenian learners’ corpora, the study aims to address a research gap concerning the influence of L1 on the acquisition of form but not function in the Armenian context. The study hypothesizes that the pragmatic aspect of the passive voice in Armenian would influence its usage in English. Utilizing Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to analyze the Armenian learners’ corpus (compiled in line with International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE)) and a sub-corpus of the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOUVAIN). The analysis revealed that Armenian learners effectively utilized the passive voice without errors, and their pragmatic usage closely resembled that of native speakers. This finding contradicts the hypothesis that learners struggle with acquiring the functions of grammar issues.

The <i>eye</i> lexeme conceptual sphere in differently structured languages: Based on paroemias

The article is devoted to the comparative typological analysis of Russian, English and Japanese paroemias with the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] in terms of cognitive linguoculturology as one of the most dynamically developing areas in modern linguistics. We focus on the issues of the formation mechanism of the conceptual models within the framework of paremias in differently structured languages. The purpose of the study is to identify and describe paremias with the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] as a micromodel of reality, reflecting the way of understanding, perception and conceptualization of the world by native speakers of Russian, English and Japanese. The subject of the study is the semantics and structure of paremiological units, such as proverbs, sayings and signs reflecting a certain nationally oriented way of the surrounding reality encoding. The comparative analysis, considering the paradigmatic and syntagmatic combinations of the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] in differently structured languages, allows us to conclude that the paremiological units’ analysis contributes to the reconstruction of the so-called naive world picture, referring to earlier, ancient life periods of the particular people. The core of the national concept is the referential lexeme meaning, the peripheral layer is characterized by variability, since it reflects not only the territorial conditions, but also ancient traditions, customs, beliefs of the particular people. To achieve the goal of the undertaken research, we used the traditional descriptive and lexicographic methods, in addition to the comparative linguistic and cultural methods.

Rhetorical Analysis of Engagement in Discussion Section of Doctoral Dissertations Written by Kurdish Native Speakers

Academic writing is commonly regarded as a means to facilitate communication between authors and readers. As a result, scholars are expected not only to present information about the external world through their texts but also to employ language to acknowledge, construct, and foster social connections. Textual engagement requires significant linguistic and cognitive effort, regardless of the writers’ backgrounds. It involves complex knowledge, skills, and familiarity with social practices, which require explicit teaching and time. Even native English speakers find it challenging to acquire the necessary academic skills and social practices of the academic setting due to the discursive nature of higher education. This study aimed to explore the level of engagement in the discussion sections of applied doctoral dissertations written by Kurdish native speakers. To achieve this objective, the researcher analyzed eight randomly selected doctoral dissertations in applied linguistics authored by Kurdish native speakers, employing Martin and White’s (2005) framework. The study identified each dialogic engagement resource’s frequency of occurrence and functions, providing explanations and examples. The findings indicated that the writers being studied utilized different dialogic resources for engaging in conversation with their potential audience. Additionally, they preferred to employ resources that fostered expansive dialogue more often than those that limited it, possibly to reduce the chances of encountering rejection or opposition.

Ruled by construal?

Abstract In cognitive linguistics, grammatical structure is known to be representative of meaning. This is also true of English articles. In this paper, we argue that the choice of article, when the grammar allows it, is dependent on the wider discourse context and most importantly on how the speaker construes this context. Using survey data from 181 native speakers of English, we show that the choice of article depends on the activation of semantic frames and how speakers may choose to highlight different elements of a frame to construe the situation differently. We rely on Entropy to measure the restrictiveness of a context and to identify particular contexts in which choice is allowed or inhibited. We find that some contextual features such as the specificity of the referent are more restrictive while Hearer Knowledge is more open to construal.

Age Impacts Speech-in-Noise Recognition Differently for Nonnative and Native Listeners.

The purpose of this study was to explore potential differences in suprathreshold auditory function among native and nonnative speakers of English as a function of age. Retrospective analyses were performed on three large data sets containing suprathreshold auditory tests completed by 5,572 participants who were self-identified native and nonnative speakers of English between the ages of 18-65 years, including a binaural tone detection test, a digit identification test, and a sentence recognition test. The analyses show a significant interaction between increasing age and participant group on tests involving speech-based stimuli (digit strings, sentences) but not on the binaural tone detection test. For both speech tests, differences in speech recognition emerged between groups during early adulthood, and increasing age had a more negative impact on word recognition for nonnative compared to native participants. Age-related declines in performance were 2.9 times faster for digit strings and 3.3 times faster for sentences for nonnative participants compared to native participants. This set of analyses extends the existing literature by examining interactions between aging and self-identified native English speaker status in several auditory domains in a cohort of adults spanning young adulthood through middle age. The finding that older nonnative English speakers in this age cohort may have greater-than-expected deficits on speech-in-noise perception may have clinical implications on how these individuals should be diagnosed and treated for hearing difficulties.

Analyzing Factors Influencing Students' and Teachers’ Pronunciation in Speaking English

This research aims to examine the factors that influence students' and teachers' creativity in speaking English. However, both non-native English students and teachers often face difficulties in this aspect. This research uses qualitative methods to identify factors that influence pronunciation in English for students and teachers. Data was collected through observation, interviews, and analysis. The findings of this research reveal that the influencing factors are the mother tongue, level of phonological awareness, practice habits, social interaction, and effective teaching methods. The influence of the mother tongue has proven to be an important factor in student and teacher pronunciation. Students whose native language has different sounds from English tend to have difficulty pronouncing these sounds accurately. The same applies to teachers with different mother tongues. The level of phonological awareness, which refers to the ability to distinguish and produce sounds in a language, also plays an important role in achieving good pronunciation. Students and teachers who actively engage in social interactions with native English speakers have a greater opportunity to improve their pronunciation skills. Lastly, effective teaching methods are important to improve student and teacher pronunciation.

Are schematic diagrams valid visual representations of concepts? Evidence from mental imagery in online processing of English prepositions

Abstract Embodied imagery hypothesis proposes the activation of perceptual-motor systems during language processing. Previous studies primarily used concrete visual stimuli to investigate mental imagery in language processing by native speakers (NSs) and second language (L2) learners, but few studies employed schematic diagrams. The study aims to investigate mental imagery in processing prepositional phrases by English NSs and L2 learners. Using image-schematic diagrams as primes, we examine whether any mental imagery effect is modulated by target preposition (over, in), the abstractness of meaning (spatial, extended), and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA; 1,040 ms, 2,040 ms). A total of 79 adult L2 learners and 100 NSs of English completed diagram–picture matching and semantic priming phrasal decision tasks. Results revealed interference effects on L2 processing of over phrases and under 2,040 ms SOA, but no such effects were observed in the NS group. The selective interference effects in L2 suggest different mental imagery patterns between L1 and L2 processing, and processing schematic diagram primes requires high cognitive demands, potentially leading to difficulties in integrating visual and linguistic information and making grammaticality judgments. The findings partially validate schematic diagrams as visual representations of concepts and suggest the need for further examination of schematic diagrams with varying degrees of complexity.

Factors Associated With Inadequate Health Literacy: An Academic Otolaryngology Clinic Population Study.

To characterize the prevalence of inadequate health literacy among otolaryngology patients and assess the association of individual patient factors with inadequate health literacy. Cross-sectional study. Tertiary academic medical center otolaryngology clinic. Adult patients presenting to the clinic were recruited from March to June 2022. Participants completed a validated health literacy questionnaire in the waiting room. Data on age, sex, race, insurance, county of residence, and language were extracted from the electronic medical record, linked to the survey responses, and deidentified for analysis. Logistic regression analyses assessed the association between inadequate health literacy and patient factors. Of 374 participants, the mean age was 54.8 years (SD = 17.8) and most were white (79%) and native English speakers (95%). The median health literacy score was 14.5 (Q1-Q3: 12.0-15.0) and 43 participants (12%) had inadequate health literacy. Bivariate analysis showed the odds of inadequate health literacy were 2.5 times greater for those with public insurance (95% confidence interval[CI]: 1.24-5.20, P = .011), 3.5 times greater for males (95% CI: 1.75-6.92, P < .001), and significantly different among race groups (P = .003). When all factors were evaluated simultaneously with multivariable regression, only sex (P < .001) and race (P = .005) remained significant predictors of inadequate health literacy. There were no significant associations between health literacy and age or rurality. Inadequate health literacy was associated with sex and race, but not with age or rurality. 12% of patients had inadequate health literacy, which may perpetuate disparities in care and necessitate interventions to improve care delivery in otolaryngology.

Linguistic modulation of the neural encoding of phonemes.

Speech comprehension entails the neural mapping of the acoustic speech signal onto learned linguistic units. This acousto-linguistic transformation is bi-directional, whereby higher-level linguistic processes (e.g. semantics) modulate the acoustic analysis of individual linguistic units. Here, we investigated the cortical topography and linguistic modulation of the most fundamental linguistic unit, the phoneme. We presented natural speech and "phoneme quilts" (pseudo-randomly shuffled phonemes) in either a familiar (English) or unfamiliar (Korean) language to native English speakers while recording functional magnetic resonance imaging. This allowed us to dissociate the contribution of acoustic vs. linguistic processes toward phoneme analysis. We show that (i) the acoustic analysis of phonemes is modulated by linguistic analysis and (ii) that for this modulation, both of acoustic and phonetic information need to be incorporated. These results suggest that the linguistic modulation of cortical sensitivity to phoneme classes minimizes prediction error during natural speech perception, thereby aiding speech comprehension in challenging listening situations.

L1 Influence on the Use of the English Present Perfect: A Corpus Analysis of Russian and Spanish Learners’ Essays

Background: Mastering verbal tenses, especially those expressing aspect, in a second language presents a challenge as learners frequently link the semantic nuances of verbal forms in their second language (L2) to the characteristics of the verbal systems in their native languages (L1). This study explores the impact of L1 on the usage of the English Present Perfect (PP) among non-native speakers. Purpose: In an effort to contribute to the ongoing research on the mechanisms governing the acquisition of English tenses, this study focuses on the variations that affect the usage of the PP in the writing of English learners. The investigation is particularly centered on university students whose L1 is Russian and Spanish, seeking to delve into the ways in which their first language influences the utilisation of the PP in their English writing. Method: Analysis of L2 English by Russian and Spanish learners, based on corpora of argumentative essays written by undergraduate Russian and Spanish learners of English, controlled by a corpus of essays produced by native speakers of English; frequency and distribution of the PP in learner writings; examination of semantic contexts; identification of error types. Results: The findings indicate that, despite a higher occurrence of the PP in texts produced by Spanish learners compared to Russian learners, the rate of errors in its application is nearly identical in both learner corpora. These errors are likely attributable to challenges in comprehending the functions of the PP and in distinguishing its semantics from those of other English tenses, particularly the Past Simple. Conclusion: The study suggests that the increased prevalence of PP usage by L2 learners may be attributed to positive transfer from their L1 when it exhibits structures analogous to the English PP. Conversely, patterns indicative of, for example, undergeneralisation of semantic contexts suggesting the relevance of an action, or of overgeneralisation of adverbs compatible with the PP can be interpreted as evidence of negative transfer. The results of this study hold significance for language pedagogy, as they highlight potential challenges in acquiring the PP that learners from diverse L1 backgrounds may encounter.

A comparative study of lexical bundles in linguistics and biology Ph.D. dissertations

Lexical bundles are considered as one of the main rhetorical features in academic genres. The appropriate use of these features adds to the coherence and naturalness of the texts. Recently, genre analysis studies tend to investigate the similarities and differences across different academic disciplines and the effects of the first language of writers on the employment of these linguistic features. There are limited studies, however, in the field with a mere focus on the use of lexical bundles in PhD dissertations and the similarities and differences on the employment of these features among native and non-native English writers. In this regard, the current study, following a comparative corpus-based approach, investigated the use of lexical bundles in English PhD dissertations written by native English-speaking and nonnative Kurdish-speaking writers across the two disciplines of biology and linguistics. All the compiled dissertations were selected from the ones published between 2010 to 2020 in British universities to keep the compiled corpora comparable. In the next phase, the distribution, linguistic structures, and functions of bundles used in introduction and literature review sections of the compiled dissertations were analyzed using WordSmith 6th edition concordancing software. The analysis provides a list of the most frequently used lexical bundles in each scientific field and among the two groups of writers. The structural analysis showed that noun phrases and prepositional phrases were the most frequently used bundles between both groups of writers and of disciplines. It was also found that passive structures were commonly used in biology dissertations. The functional analysis revealed that non-native Kurdish writers tended to use more research-oriented and text-oriented bundles in comparison with their native counterparts. It was suggested that the rhetorical differences and similarities between the two groups of writers and the disciplines could be attributed to the experience or proficiency levels of writers and the conventions, knowledge construction principles and research approaches of each academic discourse community. Pedagogically speaking, it is discussed that teaching discursive features and including language teaching tasks drawn from authentic texts such as text analysis tasks, focused tasks, extended writing tasks enable EAP learners to learn how to employ these linguistic features effectively to improve the flow of information, coherence and fluency in their academic texts.