English Norms Research Articles

Developmental eye movement test results of Hebrew-speaking children with cross-linguistic comparisons.

The developmental eye movement (DEM) test is designed to assess saccadic eye movements and visual-verbal automaticity in children. This study aimed to assess whether there is a need for independent DEM Hebrew norms and to compare DEM results for Hebrew-speaking children with eight other language norms. The DEM test was administered to 224 Hebrew-speaking children aged 6-13 years who met the inclusion criteria and read the numbers in Hebrew. Test C of the DEM was performed twice, once from right (R) to left (L) and once from L to R, in random order. Age group and language comparisons, including vertical and horizontal reading speeds, errors and horizontal/vertical (H/V) ratios in both directions were analysed. The participants were almost evenly distributed between the sexes (46.8% female). Statistically significant differences were found between age groups (6-9 and 10-13 years) for vertical and horizontal reading speeds and H/V ratios in both directions (p < 0.001). Older children, as compared to younger children, exhibited faster vertical and horizontal times, with fewer errors, as well as lower ratios (p < 0.001). No significant difference was noted between reading directions for horizontal time and H/V ratio within both age groups (6-9 year olds: p = 0.27 and p = 0.06; 10-13 year olds: p = 0.89 and p = 0.49, respectively). Comparison of DEM norms across languages showed significant differences, with post-hoc analysis revealing specific language-related variations. DEM results for Hebrew-speaking children had similar outcomes to both original English and French values. This study compared DEM results of Hebrew-speaking children and scores across nine languages. DEM test values for Hebrew-speaking children aligned with norms from other languages, particularly the French and original English norms, with consistent ratio scores. It is recommended for practitioners who test Hebrew-speaking children to continue using the original English norms and to enable the children to read using their preferred reading direction.

Promoting linguistic and cultural diversity through global Englishes teacher education: classroom practices, challenges, and rewards

This multiple-case study is framed within the Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) paradigm, calling for a break from standard English norms in teacher education. Though relevant literature underscores the positive influence of GELT-focused teacher training on teachers’ perceptions, classroom applications remain underexplored. Thus, this study explored the long-term impact of a GELT course on teachers’ instructional practices along with enablers and challenges of Global Englishes practices in diverse settings. The findings show that teachers’ practices became more inclusive linguistically and culturally, offering insights for teachers and teacher educators keen to integrate GELT-informed strategies into their practices.

When No Speech Norms Exist: Observations From Sinhala.

A well-established set of language-specific norms for phonological development is imperative in the assessment of child speech sound difficulties. Currently, English norms are used clinically (in the absence of norms for local languages) to determine if a child displays age-appropriate, delayed or disordered speech patterns in Sinhala. This preliminary exploratory study aimed to document phonological processes observed in typically developing Sinhala-speaking children aged 3;0-6;11 (years;months). The Test of Articulation and Phonology-Sinhala, a picture-based assessment, was devised by the researchers and administered to 102 Sinhala-speaking children from three geographical locations (Colombo, Kandy, and Gampaha). The quantitative measures included percent consonants correct, percent vowels correct, and percent phonemes correct, while the qualitative analysis identified phonological processes. The quantitative results showed a marked influence of age on phoneme production accuracy with over 75% consonants correct by 3 years 6 months. The qualitative findings demonstrate common typical phonological processes and less common phonological processes in Sinhala compared to the speech pathology and cross-linguistic literature. Common phonological processes included fronting, stopping, and weak syllable deletion widely documented in linguistic and speech-language pathology literature. Many shared phonological processes were observed between Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamil, the two main local languages, including fronting of retroflex sounds and lateralization. The phonological process of denasalization of prenasalized stops was observed in Sinhala, with no documentation of the phonological process found within the mainstream speech-language pathology literature. These findings reinforce the need to document and use language-specific typical phonological processes in Sinhala given the implications for early and accurate identification of speech difficulties and intervention. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27068173.

Validation of Serbian version of the LittlEARS® Early Speech Production Questionnaire for the assessment of early language development in typically developing children.

The LittlEARS® Early Speech Production Questionnaire (LEESPQ) was developed to provide professionals with valuable information about children's earliest language development and has been successfully validated in several languages. This study aimed to validate the Serbian version of the LEESPQ in typically developing children and compare the results with validation studies in other languages. The English version of the LEESPQ was back-translated into Serbian. Parents completed the questionnaire in paper or electronic form either during the visit to the paediatric clinic or through personal contact. A total of 206 completed questionnaires were collected. Standardized expected values were calculated using a second-order polynomial model for children up to 18 months of age to create a norm curve for the Serbian language. The results were then used to determine confidence intervals, with the lower limit being the critical limit for typical speech-language development. Finally, the results were compared with German and Canadian English developmental norms. The Serbian LEESPQ version showed high homogeneity (r = .622) and internal consistency (α = .882), indicating that it almost exclusively measures speech production ability. No significant difference in total score was found between male and female infants (U = 4429.500, p = .090), so it can be considered a gender-independent questionnaire. The results of the comparison between Serbian and German (U = 645.500, p = .673) and Serbian and English norm curves (U = 652.000, p = .725) show that the LEESPQ can be applied to different population groups, regardless of linguistic, cultural or sociological differences. The LEESPQ is a valid, age-dependent and gender-independent questionnaire suitable for assessing early speech development in children aged from birth to 18 months.

METAPHOR AS A MEANS OF THE LINGUO-CULTURAL CONCEPT “AMERICAN DREAM” VERBALIZATION – TRANSLATION ASPECT

The purpose of the article is to consider the problem of verbalization of the linguistic and cultural concept AMERICAN DREAM through metaphor in the works of F. S. Fitzgerald and in translations by M. Pinchevsky. The theoretical and methodological basis of our research isthe scientific works of O. Borysova, A. Bondarenko, O. Vorobiova, O. Ladyka, A. Ogar and others. The research methodology is comprehensive, using various methods and techniques, including the translation-comparative method of analyzing original and translated texts with the use of elements of contextual and quantitative analysis.The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the functions of F. S. Fitzgerald’s linguistic and stylistic devices were identified and investigated, namely, the construction of the figurative and conceptual structure of the work. The article reveals the concept, paying special attention to metaphors, their classification, use, and translation. The results of the study of the problem of verbalization of the linguistic and cultural concept AMERICAN DREAM through metaphor in F. S. Fitzgerald’s works and in M. Pinchevsky’s translations reveal the conceptual, syntactic and semantic components of the considered expressive means in the translation aspect, as well as show the differences in the language norms of English and Ukrainian, which is of great importance for improving the methods translation of texts loaded with linguistic and stylistic techniques.

What's in a Name? Global Englishes—An Umbrella Term to Address Silo Mentality or a Misunderstood Paradigm Reinforcing Silos?

AbstractIn this article, I explore growing scholarship in various sub‐fields of Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) that explore the use of English in an increasingly globalized and multilingual world. With different, yet overlapping, conceptual frameworks to guide research, scholarship in various fields provide a growing evidence base on the need for change in TESOL curricula to better reflect the global use of English, and other languages, in an ever‐increasingly globalized world. I explore the introduction of Global Englishes (GE), an umbrella term and inclusive paradigm that was introduced to unite scholarship across the fields of World Englishes (WE), English as an International Language (EIL), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and to draw parallels with translanguaging and multilingualism. I provide clarity on the introduction of this broader paradigm, which aimed to unite such scholarship into a comprehensible framework to guide and facilitate a paradigm shift in TESOL curricula away from outdated “native” English norms. I end with a call to focus less on terminology and for scholars to work flexibly across academic boundaries to connect scholarship, particularly when it has a shared goal of achieving a more equitable English language education.

Bridging Worlds, Blazing Bridges: Understanding the Enticing Saga of ELF in ELT and Its Complicated Nexus

To unpack the complexities that ELF undergoes within the current methodology of ELT, this study bears down to reveal the challenges of incorporating the two practices presented by the increasing stigma attached to the “correct” use of language. Through a thorough analysis of theories and previous studies, the books and articles that span the years 2020 to 2023 (previous studies) are chosen to explore and comprehend the theories to dismantle the common preconception that influences the integration of ELF into ELT, as well as the principles of ELF that educators should follow along with the framework supporting ELT. It explores how the resilience of current EFL in ELT practices is towards Western English norms and the consequent consequences for both teachers and students. As a result, due to the tendency that is firmly ingrained in the norms of Western English, which has an impact on learning resources and evaluation methods, a shift in the paradigm of ELT practices is needed to accommodate students’ different learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and linguistics origins to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn. At the end of this review paper, suggestions for further research and the implications for policymakers of ELT and EFL English teachers regarding the issues have been made.

Cross-Linguistic Stylistic Fusion: How English Political Discourse Shapes Russian Political Science Professionals

The pervasive impact of the English language on global linguistic landscapes is undeniable, with Russian being no exception to this trend. This study explores the extent to which English has influenced Russian-language political discourse, particularly focusing on the stylistic elements that have percolated into the vernacular of Russian student political scientists. Through a meticulously designed experiment, the authors investigated whether the continuous exposure to authentic English political texts – both oral and written – within a structured academic setting has led to the stylistic emulation in the students’ own Russian-language political speeches. Utilizing a complex analytical approach that combines linguistic-stylistic, functional-linguistic, structural-semantic, and statistical methods, the research revealed a notable incorporation of imagery and humor akin to that found in Anglophone political discourse. The findings of the study indicate that a majority of participants have adopted and actively employed stylistic devices such as humor, irony, self-irony, and expressive language tools in their speeches. These devices stand in stark contrast to the traditional tenets of Russian political oratory, suggesting a discursive-stylistic convergence with English norms. The implications of this study are twofold. Academically, it contributes to an understanding of cross-linguistic stylistic influences in an era of increasing globalization. Practically, the insights gleaned from this research have the potential to enhance the teaching methodologies for foreign language acquisition in the field of political science, ensuring that future professionals are equipped with a nuanced command of language that reflects contemporary communicative practices.

Vernon Lee's Anti-Imperial Decadence

Abstract: Vernon Lee wrote an anti-imperial allegory, Satan the Waster , during and after World War I. She also composed a decadent ghost story in the 1880s that took aim at English global hegemony. This tale, "Oke of Okehurst; Or, The Phantom Lover," roots for its heroine Alice, who deviates from elite English norms and seems to welcome imperial decline. Lee traces a common thread from "Oke of Okehurst" to Satan the Waster : from a private, prophetic implosion of the family and its imperialist pretensions in the 1880s to a public, culminating implosion of nationalist progress narratives in the teens of the next century.

Address pronouns in a diasystematic perspective

Our paper concerns different strategies of communication with respect to formality and politeness, and how these differences relate to the diasystematic dimensions. Our contrastive approach involves forms of address in French and Italian compared to Danish, German, and English norms and usage. Both Romance and Germanic languages have two systems of address pronouns with different levels of formality. There are, however, significant differences in usages in the respective languages, both typological and interlinguistic. Different language areas have different conventions for communication and politeness, and we believe that address forms reflect such socio-cultural differences. Our analyses of these differences are anchored in the diasystematic dimensions as proposed by Eugenio Coseriu, with special focus on the diaphasic variation and its intertwinement with diastratically conditioned factors.

Words and meanings – decolonising dance-music terminology

This article aims to identify and situate problems of dance and music terminology arising when we, as scholars in this field, write about a practice in another language than that spoken by the practitioners. This happens ever more often because English is rising to become a world language. In the first section of the article, a brief discussion of political argumentation regarding language hegemony outlines the context in which the problem arises, and the minimal room there is for any general language decolonisation. The second part of the article attempts to illustrate the problems arising from a linguistic perspective. Translation is about conveying the meaning of a word as it appears in each specific context. Then the one actual meaning suffices even if five more English words might be needed to give all the meanings. An academician investigating a phenomenon labelled by the word needs the whole range of meanings to understand how the word is situated in its language. The third, applied part discusses possible measures for achieving decolonisation, such as how one can navigate between a mother tongue and a hegemonic language. It asks if the many non-native users should have a say on the norms of academic English, discusses principles for borrowing terms between languages, and points to the need to analyse the different ranges of meanings carried by dance and music terms in any language. The article concludes with the argument that even modest measures such as these can bring more respect to languages. Language are tools for people to make sense of their surroundings and culture, just as is the research of traditional music and dance. By strengthening their esteem, we increase the stringency of our research and support them in a world mostly politically barren to language diversity.

CONcreTEXT norms: Concreteness ratings for Italian and English words in context.

Concreteness is a fundamental dimension of word semantic representation that has attracted more and more interest to become one of the most studied variables in the psycholinguistic and cognitive neuroscience literature in the last decade. Concreteness effects have been found at both the brain and the behavioral levels, but they may vary depending on the constraints of the context and task demands. In this study, we collected concreteness norms for English and Italian words presented in different context sentences to allow better control and manipulation of concreteness in future psycholinguistic research. First, we observed high split-half correlations and Cronbach's alpha coefficients, suggesting that our ratings were highly reliable and can be used in Italian- and English-speaking populations. Second, our data indicate that the concreteness ratings are related to the lexical density and accessibility of the sentence in both English and Italian. We also found that the concreteness of words in isolation was highly correlated with that of words in context. Finally, we analyzed differences between nouns and verbs in concreteness ratings without significant effects. Our new concreteness norms of words in context are a valuable source of information for future research in both the English and Italian language. The complete database is available on the Open Science Framework (doi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/U3PC4).

Acoustic properties of the monophthongs of Assamese Indian English speakers

AbstractThis study investigates acoustic properties of the monophthongal vowels of English as spoken by 20 Assamese speakers in North East India, based on their medium of education being English or Assamese. Research suggests that English in India may be converging to a more homogenous standard, at least among educated speakers, despite common first language (L1) differences (Maxwell &amp; Fletcher, 2009; Sirsa &amp; Redford, 2013; Wiltshire, 2020). Assamese, a member of the Indo‐Aryan language family, shares phonological characteristics with surrounding languages from the Tibeto‐Burman family. We find that the vowels of Assamese Indian English speakers maintain characteristics reflecting their L1, especially those similar to local Englishes spoken by L1 Tibeto‐Burman speakers. However, English‐medium educated speakers do more closely approximate the norms of the central Indian standard, suggesting that although North East Indian English norms diverge from those of central India, there is some convergence across India among English‐medium educated speakers, regardless of L1s.

DECOLONIZING ANGLOPHONE EAP INFLUENCE IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT

It is widely known that English teaching practices are largely rooted in colonialism and linguistic imperialism – the belief in the superiority of the Western teaching methods and linguistic norms established in such countries as the UK and the US. The current trend to decolonize English teaching has been gaining momentum for over three decades but has not entirely penetrated into the mainstream teaching of English, with English for Academic Purposes not being an exception. Relatively little focus has been placed in the research onto non-English speaking contexts with the purpose of analysing the current state of EAP provision at universities and gauging the influence of the native-speakerist academic English norms on EAP students’ writing. In the case of the EU context, it may be particularly pertinent to investigate the potential influence that Brexit might have had in terms of rejecting the imposition of the Standard British English norms and associated teaching approaches. This paper is meant to be a reflection with an attempt to stimulate the discussion of EAP teaching practices and academic discourses in the EU higher education in the post-Brexit era. It will consider the issues in the EAP provision in the EU with the example of Portuguese HE and will reflect on the native-speakerist tendencies within the academia and ways to tackle the dominance of the Anglophone norms. This paper hopes to contribute to the argument in favor of the decolonization of EAP teaching practices in non-English speaking contexts, as decolonization can help foster a more equitable and inclusive world.

B - 45 Differences in the Association between Social Activity and Neurocognition between Latino and Non-Hispanic White Older Adults with HIV.

Older Hispanics/Latinos/as/x (henceforth Latinos) are disproportionately affected by HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts. We examined social activity as a possible protective factor against worse neurocognitive outcomes for older people with HIV (PWH). Given cultural values regarding interpersonal relationships, we also examined whether the association between social activity and neurocognition was stronger for Latino than White PWH. Community-dwelling PWH (N = 114; 50% Latino [53% Spanish-speaking]; Overall group: Age: M = 58.03 SD = 5.75; Education: M = 13.29, SD = 3.39; 82% male; 58% AIDS; 95% on antiretroviral therapy; 4% detectable plasma RNA) completed neuropsychological and neuromedical evaluations. Global neurocognition was derived from demographically adjusted T-scores on a battery of 10 tests with separate norms for English and Spanish-speakers. A questionnaire assessed participants' engagement in 7 social activities over the past year. Covariates included physical activity, depressed mood, and HIV disease characteristics. There were no ethnic differences in degree or nature of social activity. A linear regression model revealed a significant interaction between ethnicity and social activity on global neurocognitive T-scores, (β= 0.45, SE = 0.18, p = 0.02), such that increased engagement in social activities was associated with better global neurocognition in White PWH (β= 3.40, SE = 1.13, p < 0.01), but not Latino PWH (β= 0.57, SE = 1.00, p = 0.57). Results indicate a possible protective influence of social activity on neurocognition in older White, but not Latino PWH, highlighting the importance of examining the generalizability of this relationship across ethnic/cultural groups. Future studies might examine the quality of social activities and their link with neurocognition in diverse older PWH.

(Non)-Conformity to Native English Norms in Postgraduate Students' Writing in UK Universities: Perspectives of Native and Non-Native Students and Academic Staff

Postgraduate writing is a major academic feature through which students' learning progress is assessed. It is thus of paramount importance that students must meet the academic writing demands required by their respective academic schools and departments in order to pass their chosen courses. The study strives to explore the extent to which native and non-native English-speaking postgraduate students are required to conform to the norm of native-speakerism preferable to native English faculty members in some United Kingdom (UK) universities. This study is mainly qualitative and it involves three research instruments: (a) open-ended surveys targeting 111 native and non-native postgraduate students and 65 lecturers from different departments, (b) semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 lecturers and 10 students, and (c) an analysis of lecturers’ feedback on 53 students’ written productions. The findings show that the recommendations to conform to native English conventions exist only in some theoretical research. In practice, however, UK universities and academic staff do not save efforts to enable their students to express their ideas in clear comprehensible academic English. These results yield some insightful penetrations not only to the host universities but also to overseas governments as well. In addition, this study offers some implications for postgraduate students.

Global Englishes: Textbook Analysis and Teachers’ Perception

This study investigated the manifestation of Global Englishes features in three English textbooks commonly used in the lower secondary schools of eastern Thailand. It further explored whether the teachers who used the textbooks were aware of the Global Englishes features manifested in the textbooks. The data revealed that Global Englishes features were primarily taken for granted when designing the three English textbooks. In contrast to the Global Englishes paradigm, the three English textbooks mainly represented the target interlocutors, ownership of English, and norms of English from &amp;lsquo;native&amp;rsquo; English-speaking (NES) countries. Even though attempts were made to include some diversity regarding the target interlocutors, it was unbalanced distribution. However, cultural content in reading materials is found to be diversely represented. When exploring teachers&amp;rsquo; perceptions of Global Englishes in the textbooks, it was revealed that they lacked knowledge about Global Englishes. They were aware of cultural diversities in the readings but did not try to discuss them with the students since they perceived reading skills as more important than cultural content. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed.

The cross-linguistic comparison of perceptual strength norms for Korean, English and L2 English.

This study aimed to establish perceptual strength norms for 1,000 words in the languages of Korean, English, and L2 English, in order to investigate the similarity and difference across languages as well as the influence of the environment on semantic processing. The perceptual strength norms, which are a collection of word profiles that summarize how a word is experienced through different sensory modalities including the five common senses and interoception, provide a valuable tool for testing embodiment cognition theory. The results of this study demonstrated that language users had parallel sensory experiences with concepts, and that L2 learners were also able to associate their sensory experiences with linguistic concepts. Additionally, the results highlighted the importance of incorporating interoception as a sensory modality in the development of perceptual strength norms, as it had a negative correlation with both vision and concreteness. This study was the first to establish norms for Korean and L2 English and directly compare languages using the identical and translation-equivalent word list.

JIĀO/JIÀO 教 Chinese bilingual doctoral researchers to theorise translingually: A pedagogy for intercultural doctoral education

The transcultural and translingual diversity of bilingual doctoral researchers who speak languages other than English, in particular those with non-Anglophone backgrounds, has been emphasised in recent years to challenge the monolingual English norm. To explore effective pedagogies to motivate these bilingual doctoral researchers to theorise translingually, this paper draws upon methodologies about translingualism and intercultural doctoral education to dispel the recurrent doubts raised by these bilingual doctoral researchers. Thus, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Chinese bilingual doctoral researchers and their supervisors in Australia and China to understand their perceptions and practices regarding using the linguistic and epistemological resources buried in Chinese for academic purposes. In response to the concerns expressed by the participants, three critical roles of supervisors are highlighted, namely exemplifying, teaching and demanding translingual theorising. These three roles are further developed into a pedagogical framework inspired by the Chinese word jiāo/jiào 教, which itself is an example of translingual theorising.

Relationships Between Young/Older Japanese Women and Filipino/Western English Teachers: Age, Gender, Ethnicity and English-Speaker Status

Pre-pandemic studies indicate that East Asian students’ migration to ASEAN Outer Circle nations to study English by no means marks their departure from an idealized anglophone English world. Via research conducted during the pandemic when online learning had become mainstream, this study further explores the significance of such students’ English study with Outer Circle teachers. A questionnaire survey was administered to 200 Japanese female English learners aged 20–59 who have taken English lessons provided by both western and Filipino teachers. The textual data analyses reveal that the respondents’ essentialized appreciation of Filipino teachers’ ‘Asianness’ and their English-as-a-second-language background is caused by their identity as Asian English learners struggling to acquire ‘correct’ English. Meanwhile, quantitative analyses identify the presence of many Japanese women who study English as a hobby irrespective of their age and teachers’ ethnicity. This finding provides an additional insight about Japanese female English learners who are well discussed in light of marginalized young Japanese women's longing for western men from/in the idealized West. Moreover, based on the statistical analysis of age differences in reasons for taking private English lessons and concern about teachers’ accent, this study discusses a possible impact of teacher–student age/gender matching on young or mature Japanese female English learners’ perceptions about lessons provided by predominantly young Filipino women or western men. It concludes with suggestions for future research that examines the significance of learning English from Filipino and other Outer Circle English teachers amid the pervasive native English norms tied to Inner Circle English teachers.