Native Speakers Research Articles

Writing direction influences the spatial representations of past- and future-tense forms: Evidence from eye tracking.

The present study tests the hypothesis that the directionality of reading habits (left-to-right or right-to-left) impacts individuals' representation of nonspatial events. Using the blank screen paradigm, we examine whether eye movements reflect culture-specific spatial biases in processing temporal information, specifically, grammatical tense in Russian and Hebrew. Sixty-two native speakers of Russian (a language with a left-to-right reading and writing system) and 62 native speakers of Hebrew (a language with a right-to-left reading and writing system) listened to verbs in the past or future tense while their spontaneous gaze positions were recorded. Following the verb, a visual spatial probe appeared in one of the five locations of the screen, and participants responded manually to indicate its position. While participants' response latencies to the spatial probe revealed no significant effects, their gaze positions along the horizontal axis for past- and future-tensed verbs aligned with the reading and writing direction in their language. These results provide novel evidence that eye movements during auditory processing of grammatical tense are influenced by culturally specific reading and writing conventions, shifting leftward or rightward on the horizontal plane depending on the stimuli's time reference (past or future) and the participants' language (Russian or Hebrew). This spatial bias indicates a common underlying cognitive mechanism that uses spatial dimensions to represent temporal constructs.

Influence of Cultural Nuances on Translation Accuracy between English and Chinese

This review aims to identify key cultural factors that affect translation quality and propose strategies to enhance accuracy in cross-cultural translation. A programmatic method is a viable culture competency approach that involves learning by participating, interacting, and immersing in the target culture through intercultural exchange programs or by interacting with native speakers. The analysis begins with data extraction, where valuable information is collected from selected articles on author(s), publication year, research design, methodology, findings, and translation practice implications. the results are synthesized to provide a comprehensive overview of the themes and patterns that emerged from the data, presented in a narrative format. NVivo or similar software will be used to facilitate data analysis, coding, and theme identification. Your conclusion provides a comprehensive overview of the importance of cultural awareness in translation and offers practical solutions for enhancing translation accuracy in cross-cultural contexts.

Exploring the Development of Progressive Construction in Chinese and Japanese EFL Writing: A Usage‐Based Approach

AbstractThis study investigates the developmental trajectory of progressive construction among Chinese and Japanese EFL learners through a usage‐based approach. A total of 600 written essays, produced by EFL learners from China and Japan with proficiency levels ranging from elementary to upper‐intermediate, were analyzed. The findings reveal that advanced EFL learners, irrespective of their L1 backgrounds, exhibit higher productivity in using progressive constructions, aligning more closely with native English speakers. Moreover, the results support the aspect hypothesis, as activity verbs are predominantly marked with progressive across all learner groups. As for the development of progressive construction, less prototypical verb types in progressives increase proportionally with proficiency levels in the top 10 contingencies. However, discrepancies in proportions among Chinese and Japanese EFL learners underscore the need for a further examination of the intricate patterns of non‐prototypical form‐meaning associations across L1 backgrounds. The present study bears significance in shedding light on the acquisition of tense‐aspect morphology influenced by L1 transfer and learner proficiency.

Decentering the colonial native speaker

Abstract: In this article, we advocate a speakerhood studies approach as part of an effort to decenter the 'native speaker' in linguistics. Recent critiques of native-speakerhood problematize this construct's links to essentializing discourses born of ethnolinguistic nationalism and colonialism and advocate for more specific and less reductionist approaches to describing speakers in linguistics (e.g. Babel & Grammon 2021, Birkeland et al. 2024, Cheng et al. 2021). We argue that it is important to consider—indeed, to center—conceptions of speakerhood in multilingual, transnational communities that offer a contrast to discourses centered on language purism, nationalism, and standard language ideologies. We examine data from speakers of Quechua, analyzing ways in which their ideologies of speakerhood diverge from naturalized scientific discourses in linguistics, in order to demonstrate the possibilities and the stakes of a speakerhood studies approach.

Application of ChatGPT to Support Nutritional Recommendations for Dialysis Patients – A Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation

ObjectivesThe diversity of food preferences and the need for personalized care can be challenging for renal dietitians. We explored ChatGPT-4 to support nutritional advice given to dialysis patients. DesignIn this simulation study, we tasked ChatGPT-4 with generating a personalized daily meal plan, including nutritional information. SettingThe study used virtual “patients” generated through Monte Carlo simulation. SubjectsData from a randomly selected virtual patient were presented to ChatGPT. InterventionWe provided to ChatGPT patient demographics, food preferences, laboratory data, clinical characteristics, and available budget, to generate a one-day sample menu with recipes and nutritional analyses. The generated content was rated by a renal dietitian and compared with a USDA-approved nutrient analysis software. ChatGPT also analyzed nutrition information of two recipes published online. We also requested a translation of the output into Spanish, Mandarin, Hungarian, German, and Dutch. Main outcome measureThe outcome measures were the accuracy of ChatGPT's nutritional analysis, the quality of recipe and cooking instructions on a five-point Likert scale, and a quantitative nutritional analysis. ResultsChatGPT generated a daily menu with five recipes. The renal dietitian rated the recipes at 3 (3,3) [median (Q1, Q3)], the cooking instructions at 5 (5,5), and the nutritional analysis at 2 (2,2) on the five-point Likert scale. ChatGPT’s nutritional analysis underestimated calories by 36% (95% CI: 44-88%), protein by 28% (25-167%), fat 48% (29-81%), phosphorus 54% (15-102%), potassium 49% (40-68%), and sodium 53% (14-139%). The nutritional analysis of online available recipes differed only by 0 to 35%. The translations were rated as reliable by native speakers (4 on the five-point Likert scale). ConclusionWhile ChatGPT-4 shows promise in providing personalized nutritional guidance for diverse dialysis patients, improvements are necessary. This study highlights the importance of thorough qualitative and quantitative evaluation of AI-generated content, especially regarding medical use cases.

GeoTraductores: A Collaborative Initiative Democratizing Science Communication in Latin America

AbstractGeoTraductores is an collaborative initiative between Eos, Planeteando, andGeoLatinas that aims to provide Spanish‐speaking communities access to current scientific findings. This goal is accomplished by translating science articles originally published in English on AGU's Eos.org, within their Science News magazine, into Spanish. This cross‐organizational initiative has translated, edited, and published over 150 articles, breaking the language barrier for Spanish‐speaking communities. Our experience since 2020 has allowed us to tailor an efficient co‐production model, which starts with (a) the selection of articles of interest to translate, followed by (b) the translation, reviewing, and editing process by volunteers, and (c) the publication and social media dissemination of the translated article. The tangible impact of GeoTraductores is evident in the substantial surge of visitor traffic to the Eos website between 2020 and 2023, particularly from Latin American countries. Notably, increases exceeding 85% were observed in Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, with 20% or greater growth in Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, and Ecuador, confirming the initiative's success in meeting a genuine need. This impact extends globally, with Spain experiencing a 40% increase in visitors. Our co‐production model is possible thanks to the contribution of around 40 GeoTraductores, mainly women (85%), who are native Spanish speakers or bilingual (Spanish and English speaking). These early‐career scientists, through their volunteer work, enhance their bilingual communication skills while breaking down language barriers in science communication. The Eos‐Planeteando‐GeoLatinas co‐production model fosters science democratization for Latin America while promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in Earth Sciences, one translation at a time.

An Ecolinguistic Study of Language Teachers as Activists in Promoting Dialogue on SDGs

The present study examines the effect of EFL teachers assuming the role of activists in promoting dialogues regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among university-level students. The study aims to quantitatively assess the influence of EFL teachers who adopt an activist attitude on the knowledge, involvement, and understanding of global sustainability concerns among a particular group of first-year students at the university level. These students, ranging from 19 to 22 years old, were native Arabic speakers from Saudi Arabia. Through a quasi-experimental structure, this investigation compares the results obtained from an experimental group, which undergoes an instructional regimen that integrates SDG-focused activism, to a control group that receives traditional EFL instructions. Data collection is structured around pretest and posttest assessments. The results are anticipated to emphasize the effectiveness of incorporating ecolinguistic principles and activist teaching approaches in language education. The observations mentioned above have the potential to substantially impact the ecolinguistic study field and instructional approaches designed to cultivate a more profound comprehension and dedication to sustainability goals. This study not only emphasizes the capacity to utilize language teaching to promote awareness of sustainability among young students but also establishes a model for forthcoming investigations into the function of education in tackling global environmental and societal predicaments.

Conceptual structure of emotions.

Theories of semantic organization have historically prioritized investigation of concrete concepts pertaining to inanimate objects and natural kinds. As a result, accounts of the conceptual representation of emotions have almost exclusively focused on their juxtaposition with concrete concepts. The present study aims to fill this gap by deriving a large set of normative feature data for emotion concepts and assessing similarities and differences between the featural representation of emotion, nonemotion abstract, and concrete concepts. We hypothesized that differences between the experience of emotions (e.g., happiness and sadness) and the experience of other abstract concepts (e.g., equality and tyranny), specifically regarding the relative importance of interoceptive states, might drive distinctions in the dimensions along which emotion concepts are represented. We also predicted, based on constructionist views of emotion, that emotion concepts might demonstrate more variability in their representation than concrete and other abstract concepts. Participants listed features which we coded into discrete categories and contrasted the feature distributions across conceptual types. Analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the distribution of features among the category types by condition. We also examined variability in the features generated, finding that, contrary to expectation, emotion concepts were associated with less variability. Our results reflect subtle differences between the structure of emotion concepts and the structure of, not only concrete concepts, but also other abstract concepts. We interpret these findings in the context of our sample, which was restricted to native English speakers, and discuss the importance of validating these findings across speakers of different languages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Musician Advantage for Segregation of Competing Speech in Native Tonal Language Speakers

The aim of this study was to replicate previous English-language musician advantage studies in Mandarin-speaking musicians and nonmusicians. Segregation of competing speech, melodic pitch perception, and spectro-temporal pattern perception were measured in normal-hearing native Mandarin-speaking musicians and nonmusicians. Speech recognition thresholds were measured in the presence of two-talker masker speech. The masker sex was either the same as or different from the target; target and masker speech were either co-located or spatially separated. Melodic pitch perception was tested using a melodic contour identification task. Spectro-temporal resolution was measured using a modified spectral ripple detection task. We hypothesized that, given musician advantages in pitch perception, musician effects would be larger when the target and masker sex was the same than when different. For all tests, performance was significantly better for musicians than for nonmusicians. Contrary to our expectation, larger musician effects were observed for segregation of competing speech when the target and masker sex was different. The results show that musician effects observed for non-tonal language speakers extend to tonal language speakers. The data also suggest that musician effects may depend on the difficulty of the listening task and may be reduced when listening tasks are too easy or too difficult.

Co-speech head nods are used to enhance prosodic prominence at different levels of narrow focus in French.

Previous research has shown that prosodic structure can regulate the relationship between co-speech gestures and speech itself. Most co-speech studies have focused on manual gestures, but head movements have also been observed to accompany speech events by Munhall, Jones, Callan, Kuratate, and Vatikiotis-Bateson [(2004). Psychol. Sci. 15(2), 133-137], and these co-verbal gestures may be linked to prosodic prominence, as shown by Esteve-Gibert, Borrás-Comes, Asor, Swerts, and Prieto [(2017). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141(6), 4727-4739], Hadar, Steiner, Grant, and Rose [(1984). Hum. Mov. Sci. 3, 237-245], and House, Beskow, and Granström [(2001). Lang. Speech 26(2), 117-129]. This study examines how the timing and magnitude of head nods may be related to degrees of prosodic prominence connected to different focus conditions. Using electromagnetic articulometry, a time-varying signal of vertical head movement for 12 native French speakers was generated to examine the relationship between head nod gestures and F0 peaks. The results suggest that speakers use two different alignment strategies, which integrate both temporal and magnitudinal aspects of the gesture. Some evidence of inter-speaker preferences in the use of the two strategies was observed, although the inter-speaker variability is not categorical. Importantly, prosodic prominence itself is not the cause of the difference between the two strategies, but instead magnifies their inherent differences. In this way, the use of co-speech head nod gestures under French focus conditions can be considered as a method of prosodic enhancement.

Assessing the English Language Needs and Challenges of Chinese Undergraduates in Thai Universities

Background and Aim: Studying undergraduate in Thai universities is a popular option for Chinese students. International programs covering popular fields not only meet the goals of Chinese students but are also seen by Chinese students as the best way to harvest specialized knowledge and English ability because of the all-English teaching course. However, since the English language is the only communication medium for Chinese students, there are some difficulties and problems encountered by these students who are not English native speakers. Therefore, this study aims to explore the specific English language skills Chinese undergraduates need and the challenges they face in academic and everyday contexts in Thai universities. Materials and Methods: Participants involved 80 Chinese undergraduates studying four-year international programs in Thai public universities with an IELTS overall score of 5. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we distributed a questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale to all participants and conducted focus group interviews with 12 participants. Results: Findings indicate a critical need to enhance writing and speaking for academic success, with an emphasis on specific-field terminology, and to improve listening and speaking skills for daily life communication. Besides, the lack of academic writing strategies and English communication in official institutions are the problems that undergraduates encounter in academic and daily contexts respectively. Conclusion: The study underscores the urgent need for tailored EAP courses that address both academic and everyday English use, with a particular focus on writing with academic vocabularies and enhancing communicative competence in key scenarios like immigration processing.

Rejecting nativeness to produce a more accurate and just Linguistics

Abstract: Both the concept of native speaker/signer and the term itself have been widely critiqued across fields of language research. However, this term is still often used uncritically by linguists, with some disciplines centering the behavior and knowledge of native speakers as the main object of inquiry. We argue that the term native speaker/signer should not be treated as an objective analytic category. Instead, it is a language-ideological assemblage, a cluster of related language ideologies that assume essentialized relationships between linguistic practices and social identities. By valorizing normative modes of language learning and use, nativeness excludes already marginalized language users. Rather than simply avoiding the term or replacing it, we argue that linguists must interrogate the role of this concept and its associated theoretical baggage. We anticipate that moving away from nativeness and the ideas surrounding it will encourage linguists to account for the diverse linguistic repertoires held by all language users, force theoretical approaches to center nonnormative language use, and lead overall to a more accurate and just discipline.

Dynamic Interaction Between Text Characteristics, Order and Time of Assessment on Bilingual Student Reading Efficiency in Spanish and in English

In this study, we examine the dynamic interaction between (a) text characteristics such as genre, number of multisyllabic words, order of texts, and time of assessment (i.e., beginning, middle, or end of the school year), and (b) student fluency described here as text reading efficiency (TRE; Kim et al., 2021) in Spanish and in English. TRE is operationalized as words read correct per minute (WCPM). Participants were 817 s grade Spanish native speakers attending different types of bilingual programs. To examine the interaction of text characteristics and TRE, we first equated texts and then ran a series of mixed effects models. We also examined text characteristics descriptively. Findings indicated that, in general, text characteristics, order of texts, and different timepoints had a significant effect on students’ TRE. Although a clear pattern of differences between texts within and across languages did not emerge, regardless of language, students read fewer words in texts in the beginning of the year than in the middle and at the end of the year. Spanish texts included more multisyllabic words than did English texts, which could explain, in part, lower WCPM in Spanish than in English. Impact Statement Words read correct per minute (WCPM) is considered a reliable indicator of students’ reading fluency and comprehension in the early grades in Spanish and in English. Given potential differences in text characteristics and in the time of assessment (i.e., beginning, middle, or end of the school year), equating texts and examining their differences in Spanish and in English can lead to more accurate and effective identification and support for a student population that is increasingly more culturally and linguistically diverse.

Direct lexical control of eye movements in Chinese reading: Evidence from the co-registration of EEG and eye tracking

The direct-lexical-control hypothesis stipulates that some aspect of a word’s processing determines the duration of the fixation on that word and/or the next. Although the direct lexical control is incorporated into most current models of eye-movement control in reading, the precise implementation varies and the assumptions of the hypothesis may not be feasible given that lexical processing must occur rapidly enough to influence fixation durations. Conclusive empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is therefore lacking. In this article, we report the results of an eye-tracking experiment using the boundary paradigm in which native speakers of Chinese read sentences in which target words were either high- or low-frequency and preceded by a valid or invalid preview. Eye movements were co-registered with electroencephalography, allowing standard analyses of eye-movement measures, divergence point analyses of fixation-duration distributions, and fixated-related potentials on the target words. These analyses collectively provide strong behavioral and neural evidence of early lexical processing and thus strong support for the direct-lexical-control hypothesis. We discuss the implications of the findings for our understanding of how the hypothesis might be implemented, the neural systems that support skilled reading, and the nature of eye-movement control in the reading of Chinese versus alphabetic scripts.

КЫРГЫЗ ЖАНА АРАБ ТИЛДЕРИНДЕГИ АДАМДЫН ТЕРС САПАТЫН БИЛДИРҮҮЧҮ АНИМАЛИСТТИК ЖАНА СОМАТИКАЛЫК ФРАЗЕОЛОГИЗМДЕР

This article will talk about idioms used to describe a person's character. Through animalistic and somatic phraseology in the Kyrgyz and Arabic languages, an attempt was made to clearly reflect the negative qualities of the character of each nation. In our work, we divided negative qualities into thematic and physical parts. The negative nature and qualities of a person were described, the phraseological units expressing these qualities in the Kyrgyz and Arabic languages were taken from various texts and analyzed for their semantic and stylistic functions. It was shown that in the Kyrgyz and Arabic languages, phraseological combinations showing the negative nature and qualities of humanity differ in abundance and stylistic coloration, as well as the abundance of stylistic evaluative properties, compared to the phraseological units expressing the positive nature and qualities. Also, the artistic and aesthetic properties of this type of animalistic and somatic phraseology are shown through examples taken from the works. Animalistic and somatic phraseology includes one of the oldest layers of vocabulary, which is characterized by a high frequency of use, semantic stability and the ability to metaphorize. Phraseologisms characterize each individual culture and the native speakers of a given culture, allowing one to create a full-fledged portrait of a linguistic personality.

Communication in the Workplace: Request Mitigations in Instant Messaging (IM) among Native Malay Speakers

Communication in the Workplace: Request Mitigations in Instant Messaging (IM) among Native Malay Speakers

Cognitive load associated with speaking clearly in reverberant rooms

Communication is a fundamental aspect of human interaction, yet many individuals must speak in less-than-ideal acoustic environments daily. Adapting their speech to ensure intelligibility in these varied settings can impose a significant cognitive burden. Understanding this burden on talkers has significant implications for the design of public spaces and workplace environments, as well as speaker training programs. The aim of this study was to examine how room acoustics and speaking style affect cognitive load through self-rating of mental demand and pupillometry. Nineteen adult native speakers of American English were instructed to read sentences in both casual and clear speech—a technique known to enhance intelligibility—across three levels of reverberation (0.05 s, 1.2 s, and 1.83 s at 500–1000 Hz). Our findings revealed that speaking style consistently affects the cognitive load on talkers more than room acoustics across the tested reverberation range. Specifically, pupillometry data suggested that speaking in clear speech elevates the cognitive load comparably to speaking in a room with long reverberation, challenging the conventional view of clear speech as an ‘easy’ strategy for improving intelligibility. These results underscore the importance of accounting for talkers' cognitive load when optimizing room acoustics and developing speech production training.

A Broken Duet: Multistable Dynamics in Dyadic Interactions.

Misunderstandings in dyadic interactions often persist despite our best efforts, particularly between native and non-native speakers, resembling a broken duet that refuses to harmonise. This paper delves into the computational mechanisms underpinning these misunderstandings through the lens of the broken Lorenz system-a continuous dynamical model. By manipulating a specific parameter regime, we induce bistability within the Lorenz equations, thereby confining trajectories to distinct attractors based on initial conditions. This mirrors the persistence of divergent interpretations that often result in misunderstandings. Our simulations reveal that differing prior beliefs between interlocutors result in misaligned generative models, leading to stable yet divergent states of understanding when exposed to the same percept. Specifically, native speakers equipped with precise (i.e., overconfident) priors expect inputs to align closely with their internal models, thus struggling with unexpected variations. Conversely, non-native speakers with imprecise (i.e., less confident) priors exhibit a greater capacity to adjust and accommodate unforeseen inputs. Our results underscore the important role of generative models in facilitating mutual understanding (i.e., establishing a shared narrative) and highlight the necessity of accounting for multistable dynamics in dyadic interactions.

Dual drivers of bilingual semantic accent: Semantic relations and input limitations

Research question: Second language (L2) learners may have a “semantic accent,” using L2 words differently from a native speaker. The current studies investigate how learning conditions and the need to use different semantic dimensions may constrain the acquisition of L2 meanings. Approach: In Experiment 1, we asked whether first language (L1) Mandarin speakers would successfully learn English carry and hold with intensive input in a laboratory training procedure. In Experiment 2, we asked whether the difficulties observed were due to differing semantic dimensions per se or to the need to move from a larger number of fine-grained native distinctions to a smaller number of broader English meanings. Data and analysis: Word definitions and label choice after training were scored for consistency with native performance. Conclusions: Experiment 1 supported the idea that intensive input helps, but Experiment 2 suggested that any kind of semantic difference from L1 is challenging even with intensive input. Originality: The current study clarifies the contributions of learning conditions and L1-L2 semantic differences in semantic accent. Implications: Reducing semantic accent may require instruction in specific L1-L2 differences and cultivation of metacognitive sensitivity to the potential for differences.

IDIOMS IN BUSINESS ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS: THE CASE OF MARKET LEADER AND BUSINESS RESULT

Idioms represent an important part of effective communication between native speakers, but they are quite necessary among non-native speakers too. Their crucial role in making communication flow easily makes them attractive and important to be studied. Their use in not very common among non-native speakers, because they are usually taught at higher levels, such as C1 and above. This paper is a systematic analysis of idioms representation in Business English textbooks used in higher education, both Market Leader and Business Result. The focus is in identifying their presence in these textbooks, followed by an analysis and categorization of idiomatic expressions across various units and topics. A thorough approach of their complex nature and connection to real-world business scenarios is taken in order to see the efficacy of their inclusion in the textbooks. The paper contains extractions, which show how these expressions are introduced to students in these two textbooks, and if they are equivalent to the requirements in the Common European Framework of Languages. This research’s objective is to help teachers, educators and curriculum see how idiomatic language is treated in Business English textbooks. Also, the study adds a contribution of raising awareness of the role idioms play in language acquisition and the implications for effective business communication.