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Dongilli, Sophia J. "Separable English phrasal verbs: a comparison of L1 English speakers and L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English." Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/19120.
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Master of ArtsDepartment of Modern Languages
Earl K. Brown
How to teach phrasal verbs to L2 learners of English has been the subject of debate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses and materials alike. These multi-part verbs, consisting of a verb and one or more particles, convey a new lexical meaning different from their individual parts. Further complicating this is the fact that some transitive phrasal verbs can be separated from their particles to varying degrees by a direct object. Though variables affecting verb-particle separation lie below the level of consciousness for most native speakers, they make the acquisition of particle placement difficult for L2 English language learners. Additionally, the presentation of these verbs in EFL textbooks and university English language programs (ELPs) is inadequate. TEFL textbooks tend to place emphasis on the lexical acquisition of phrasal verbs, ignoring separable versus non-separable distinctions. However, native English speakers separate phrasal verbs from their particles about 66.5% of the time in spoken conversation. In order to determine whether traditional textbook problems associated with phrasal verb presentation persist, I analyzed eleven TEFL textbooks used in Kansas State University’s ELP. I also administered a grammaticality judgment survey in order to find out whether L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English view separation of transitive phrasal verbs and their particles to be grammatical. L1 Spanish Speakers of L2 English are disadvantaged by the fact that their native language is verb-framed, meaning that it does not make use of particles in the same way that English does. It is for this reason that native Spanish-speakers of L2 English constitute the experimental group in this study. The results of the TEFL textbook analysis reveal that none of the eleven textbooks analyzed could stand alone in the classroom to effectively teach phrasal verbs. The results of the grammaticality judgment survey show that L1 Spanish speakers of L2 English differ at a statistically significant level from L1 American English speakers in their acceptability of phrasal verb-particle separation. These findings have pedagogical implications for TEFL instructors, textbook writers, and English language programs, and demonstrate the need for more extensive and authentic phrasal verb instruction.
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Brighenti, Irene <1990>. "The Native Speaker’s Dilemma: Language Choice in ELF Interactions Between Native Speakers and Non Native Speakers of English." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/7330.
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Questa ricerca mira a delineare il ruolo dei madrelingua inglesi nelle dinamiche di interazione nell’ambito dell’uso dell’inglese come lingua franca. Con essa si vuole determinare in che modo il recente diffondersi dell’inglese in Europa abbia contribuito a cambiare le dinamiche della scelta linguistica nelle interazioni fra madrelingua e non madrelingua inglesi e come i primi percepiscano questo cambiamento.
Una ricerca preliminare sull’influenza dell’inglese come lingua madre nell’apprendimento delle lingue straniere aveva confermato la necessità di includere i madrelingua inglesi nel dibattito sull’uso dell’inglese come lingua franca, poiché raramente essi vengono considerati quando se ne discutono le conseguenze.
Il primo capitolo tratterà la letteratura esistente sui seguenti argomenti: la cultura del monolinguismo ad oggi presente nei paesi anglofoni; il ruolo della motivazione nell’apprendimento linguistico, con una distinzione fra la motivazione strumentale e quella integrativa; l’apprendimento linguistico nell’ambito di esperienze di studio/lavoro all’estero; l’uso dell’inglese come lingua franca, in particolare il suo diffondersi nell’istruzione superiore ed il ruolo dei suoi madrelingua; le dinamiche di scelta linguistica e di accomodamento nell’interazione di parlanti di lingue diverse.
La ricerca preliminare summenzionata verrà poi riassunta, per comprendere fino a che punto il diffondersi della lingua inglese in Europa abbia influenzato la motivazione e la capacità di apprendimento delle lingue straniere nei suoi madrelingua in contesti di studio/lavoro all’estero. I partecipanti hanno dimostrato scelte linguistiche differenti a seconda del contesto in cui si trovavano ad agire (incontri occasionali con gli abitanti del luogo, contatti con gli amici, compagni di corso o colleghi) e del paese in cui stavano trascorrendo il semestre all’estero.
Nel secondo capitolo verrà presentata la ricerca condotta da Labrie e Quell nel 1997: “Your language, my language or English? The potential language choice in communication among nationals of the European Union”. Basandosi sui dati dell’Eurobarometro del 1994 sulle competenze linguistiche medie degli europei, essi hanno calcolato quale lingua avesse la maggior probabilità di essere scelta in un incontro occasionale fra persone di nazionalità diverse. Verranno quindi presentati i calcoli aggiornati sulla base degli ultimi dati disponibili (Eurobarometro 2012). Prevedibilmente, la recente diffusione dell’inglese ha alzato la probabilità che questa lingua venga utilizzata come mezzo di comunicazione.
La terza parte tratterà lo studio compiuto per verificare empiricamente la validità del metodo di Labrie e Quell. Attraverso un questionario compilato sia da madrelingua che da non madrelingua inglesi, esso prova i limiti del metodo non empirico. Infatti, sebbene la scelta dell’inglese come lingua franca sia innegabilmente diffusa nelle interazioni fra i due gruppi, essa è fortemente influenzata dal contesto in cui i parlanti si trovano ad agire piuttosto che dalla loro nazionalità.
Questa tesi mira a far crescere l’interesse nei confronti delle conseguenze che l’uso dell’inglese come lingua franca ha sui suoi parlanti ed il ruolo che essi ricoprono in interazioni in cui la loro lingua madre viene utilizzata come lingua franca. In conclusione, per comprendere a fondo i futuri sviluppi dell’inglese come lingua franca sembra essere necessario includere i suoi madrelingua nel dibattito.
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Nymeyer, Kayla Marie. "Parameters that Affect the Comfort Levels of Native English Speakers Communicating with Non-Native English Speakers." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2015. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5770.
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This study explores how native English speakers (NESs) are affected by the backgrounds of non-native English speakers (NNESs) when it comes to being comfortable interacting with then in English. Speech samples of 12 NNESs were gathered from the Level Achievement Tests conducted at Brigham Young University's English Language Center. There were six speakers who spoke Spanish as their first language (L1) and six speakers who spoke Chinese as their L1. In each L1 group, there were two Low proficiency speakers, two Mid proficiency speakers, and two High proficiency speakers. The speech samples were included in a Qualtrics survey which was completed by 122 American NES participants. The NES participants listened to each speech sample and rated their comfort level interacting with each NNES speaker in six different communication situations categorized as either formal or casual. The results were statistically analyzed in order to determine the effect of proficiency level, L1, and communication situation on NES comfort levels in NNES interactions. High proficiency speakers were rated significantly higher than Mid proficiency speakers which were in turn rated higher than Low proficiency speakers. Spanish L1 speakers were rated higher than Chinese L1 speakers. The more casual communication situations were ranked higher than the more formal communication situations. A statistical analysis of the interaction between proficiency level and L1 revealed that Spanish L1 speakers were strongly preferred at higher proficiency levels but Chinese L1 speakers were preferred at lower proficiency levels. These results suggest that Spanish L1 speakers have a greater need to be higher than Low proficiency while Chinese L1 speakers have a greater need to achieve High proficiency. NNESs who anticipate being in formal situations should also aim for High proficiency.
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Yao, Michelle. "How English speakers learn Chinese characters." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31601790.
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Yao, Michelle, and 姚君霓. "How English speakers learn Chinese characters." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31601790.
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Akbas, Erdem. "Commitment-detachment and authorial presence in postgraduate academic writing : a comparative study of Turkish native speakers, Turkish speakers of English and English native speakers." Thesis, University of York, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7083/.
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This thesis reports an exploratory and contrastive corpus study examining two phenomena in postgraduate academic writing: expressing commitment/detachment and signalling authorial presence in dissertations. More specifically, the overall purpose of the study is to investigate how postgraduate academic writers from particular contexts build their academic stance and voice by employing a range of linguistic items that could be identified as hedges, boosters and authorial references. The corpus consists of a total of 90 discussions sections of master’s dissertations, 30 from Turkish L1 writers, 30 from Turkish writers of English and 30 from UK English L1 writers. A range of items, discourse functions and roles were determined during the pilot study via Nvivo 9. Then, the whole corpus was searched and analysed via WordSmith 5.0 based on the linguistic item list signalling certainty/doubt or authorial presence. In order to address two crucial phenomena in dissertation writing of postgraduates represented by three groups, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adapted. Three key findings are as follows: 1. The postgraduates polarised: they either frequently qualified their level of commitment or else they seemingly intentionally withheld their commitment from what they asserted. The tone of writing adopted by the Turkish L1 writers differed markedly from that of the English L1 & L2 writers, as evidenced by their use of linguistic signalling expressions; the English L1 and L2 writers preferred to sound more detached from their knowledge claims, compared with the Turkish L1 writers. Therefore, the findings emphasise the importance of the language factor in expressing commitment-detachment across groups. 2. The authorial references included two broad categories: (1) Explicit authorial references (I and we-based pronouns); (2) Implicit authorial references (passive and element-prominent constructions speaking for the author). The Turkish L1 writers and the Turkish writers of English (from Turkish culture) appeared to construct less personal academic prose compared with the English L1 writers. This seems to reflect a broader cultural difference. 3. In terms of the authorial roles identified in relation to the accompanying verbs, the postgraduate writers tended to appear in their discourse most frequently as (1) Research Conductor, followed by (2) Discourse Creator & Participant; then (3) Opinion Holder. The rhetorical role indicating the membership of the postgraduates to a community (either academic or institutional), (4) Community-self, was the least frequent role adopted by the postgraduates in their discussion sections. It is recommended that, in order to raise postgraduates’ awareness about the writing conventions and practices in their disciplines, they should be provided with the standards required with respect to style via modelling from previous successful dissertations completed in their field. This is suggested as particularly important for ‘novice’ writers.
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Jansson, Hanna. "Native Swedish Speakers’ Problems with English Prepositions." Thesis, Örebro University, Department of Humanities, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-958.
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This essay investigates native Swedish speakers’ problems in the area of prepositions. A total of 19 compositions, including 678 prepositions, written by native Swedish senior high school students were analysed. All the prepositions in the material were judged as either basic, systematic or idiomatic. Then all the errors of substitution, addition and omission were counted and corrected. As hypothesised, least errors were found in the category of basic prepositions and most errors were found in the category of idiomatic prepositions. However, the small difference between the two categories of systematic and idiomatic prepositions suggests that the learners have greater problems with systematic prepositions than what was first thought to be the case. Basic prepositions cause little or no problems. Systematic prepositions, i.e. those that are rule governed or whose usage is somehow generalisable, seem to be quite problematic to native Swedish speakers. Idiomatic prepositions seem to be learnt as ‘chunks’, and the learners are either aware of the whole constructions or do not use them at all. They also cause some problems for Swedish speakers. Since prepositions are often perceived as rather arbitrary without rules to sufficiently describe them, these conclusions might not be surprising to teachers, students and language learners. The greatest error cause was found to be interference from Swedish, and a few errors could be explained as intralingual errors. It seems as if the learners’ knowledge of their mother tongue strongly influences the acquisition of English prepositions.
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Paetzold, Gustavo Henrique. "Lexical simplification for non-native English speakers." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/15332/.
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Lexical Simplification is the process of replacing complex words in texts to create simpler, more easily comprehensible alternatives. It has proven very useful as an assistive tool for users who may find complex texts challenging. Those who suffer from Aphasia and Dyslexia are among the most common beneficiaries of such technology. In this thesis we focus on Lexical Simplification for English using non-native English speakers as the target audience. Even though they number in hundreds of millions, there are very few contributions that aim to address the needs of these users. Current work is unable to provide solutions for this audience due to lack of user studies, datasets and resources. Furthermore, existing work in Lexical Simplification is limited regardless of the target audience, as it tends to focus on certain steps of the simplification process and disregard others, such as the automatic detection of the words that require simplification. We introduce a series of contributions to the area of Lexical Simplification that range from user studies and resulting datasets to novel methods for all steps of the process and evaluation techniques. In order to understand the needs of non-native English speakers, we conducted three user studies with 1,000 users in total. These studies demonstrated that the number of words deemed complex by non-native speakers of English correlates with their level of English proficiency and appears to decrease with age. They also indicated that although words deemed complex tend to be much less ambiguous and less frequently found in corpora, the complexity of words also depends on the context in which they occur. Based on these findings, we propose an ensemble approach which achieves state-of-the-art performance in identifying words that challenge non-native speakers of English. Using the insight and data gathered, we created two new approaches to Lexical Simplification that address the needs of non-native English speakers: joint and pipelined. The joint approach employs resource-light neural language models to simplify words deemed complex in a single step. While its performance was unsatisfactory, it proved useful when paired with pipelined approaches. Our pipelined simplifier generates candidate replacements for complex words using new, context-aware word embedding models, filters them for grammaticality and meaning preservation using a novel unsupervised ranking approach, and finally ranks them for simplicity using a novel supervised ranker that learns a model based on the needs of non-native English speakers. In order to test these and previous approaches, we designed LEXenstein, a framework for Lexical Simplification, and compiled NNSeval, a dataset that accounts for the needs of non-native English speakers. Comparisons against hundreds of previous approaches as well as the variants we proposed showed that our pipelined approach outperforms all others. Finally, we introduce PLUMBErr, a new automatic error identification framework for Lexical Simplification. Using this framework, we assessed the type and number of errors made by our pipelined approach throughout the simplification process and found that combining our ensemble complex word identifier with our pipelined simplifier yields a system that makes up to 25% fewer mistakes compared to the previous state-of-the-art strategies during the simplification process.
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Schaefer, Martina. "Stuttering characteristics of German-English bilingual speakers." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Communication Disorders, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/1508.
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To date, limited research has been reported on stuttering and bilingualism. Existing data reports conflicting results on stuttering characteristics across languages of bilingual people who stutter (PWS). Investigations to date include language acquisition, language proficiency, cultural influence, and linguistic as well as phonetic aspects in bilinguals PWS. Thus, assumptions on causal factors of stuttering are plenty, but research is missing to either support or refute those assumptions. Small sample sizes have been an additional obstacle. The purpose of this study was to analyse stuttering characteristics in German - English bilingual PWS. 15 German - English bilingual PWS, ranging in age between 10 and 59 years (mean = 25) were investigated. For all of the participants, German was acquired first (L1) and English second (L2). L2 exposure ranged from 5 to 20+ years (mean = 10). 15 minute conversational speech samples were collected in each language. In addition, an English proficiency test (Cloze Test) and a post-conversational questionnaire were administered. Analysis focused on differences in stuttering severity across languages, the distribution of stuttered content and function words across languages, and possible relationships between L2 proficiency and stuttering. Results indicated significantly more stuttering in L1 compared to L2. In L1, stuttering occurred significantly more often on content words. In L2, no significant difference between stuttering on function and content words was observed. For percentage of syllables stuttered, across language analysis detected significantly more stuttering on content words in German (L1) and more stuttering on function words in English (L2). No direct correlations between stuttering and language proficiency have been found. Results are discussed in light of current theories of stuttering and relationships to past findings are drawn.
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Al-rasheed, Abdulrahman Saud. "Colour cognition in Arabic and English speakers." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2010. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/2960/.
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Hewings, Martin John. "The English intonation on non-native speakers." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.511650.
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It is widely assumed, first, that errors of English intonation by learners represent a significant barrier to effective communication and, second, that these errors result from differences between the intonation systems of English and the learners' mother tongues. However, little work has been done to establish the extent of the errors, their characteristics, or their origin. This study compares intonation in a corpus of recordings from 12 adult native-speaker informants and 12 adult learners of English, four each from Korea, Greece and Indonesia. The main data analysed are 24 parallel readings of a scripted dialogue. Findings are checked against intonation choices in samples of spontaneous speech from the same informants. The descriptive and interpretative apparatus used is the "discourse intonation" model outlined in Brazil (1985a). Comparison focuses on the functional oppositions recognised in this model, realised in the systems of prominence, tone, key and termination. Excluded from the comparison are the phonetic implementation of these categories, such as the typical shape of falling or rising tones, and other non-systemic features. The main findings of the study are that the native and non-native informants generally make the same intonation choices to achieve the same communicative goals. Differences are seen to arise from the non-natives' lack of proficiency in English, their lack of awareness of the role of intonation in social conventions, and the influence of prior teaching. Implications of these findings for teaching intonation are discussed.
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Doetzer, Ruthanne V. "Nasometric assessment of bilingual Spanish/English speakers." College Park, Md.: University of Maryland, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/8979.
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Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Hearing and Speech Sciences. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Barto, Karen Anne. "Mandarin Speakers' Intonation in their L2 English." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/347161.
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In the field of second language acquisition, a great deal of work has been done on first (L1) to second language (L2) transfer of linguistic patterns from various levels of language, ranging from syntactic (i.e., Clahsen & Felser, 2006; Dussias, 2003; Nicol et al., 2001) and lexical (i.e. Jiang, 2004; Kroll & Tokowicz, 2001) to sound patterns at the segmental level (i.e. Flege, 1987; Flege & McKay, 2004; see work of Flege and colleagues). However, an area that has previously received less attention is that of L2 intonation, especially that of native speakers of a non-intonation language (some exceptions: Chen, 2007; McGory, 1997; Nguyen et al., 2008). The present study seeks to fill that gap, considering the L2 English intonation patterns of native speakers of Mandarin, a tone language. This work was approached from an experimental phonetic perspective, though it draws from theoretical work on intonation of both phonological and phonetic nature (intonational phonology of Ladd, 2008; see work of Ladd and colleagues, and PENTA of Xu & Xu, 2005; see work of Xu and colleagues). A series of production experiments was undertaken with native English speakers as a control group, and Mandarin speakers of higher proficiency (university students in America). Experiments treated stress patterns at the lexical level through production of target items in narrow focus, as well as treating the changes seen in such target items at different intonational points in sentences, elicited in a broad focus production experiment. In addition, the intonational patterns of questions vs. statements and contrastive focus were investigated. Because Mandarin is a lexical tone language, its speakers may tend to produce lexical items similarly regardless of their intonational situation, implementing a sort of lexical tonal transfer strategy. Even lexical tone languages have complementary intonation patterns, however, and these may also be transferred to English (Chen, 2007; Gussenhoven, 2004; Liu, 2009; McGory, 1997; Xu & Xu, 2005). In fact, results do indicate evidence of transfer at the tonal level, where it appears that a rising tone 2 is mapped onto English stressed syllables, and a falling tone 4 is mapped onto post-stressed syllables. Results also indicate intonational transfer, with a lack of sentence-final lowering in broad focus statements, as well as pitch patterns that can lead to an overall higher register in yes/no questions and post-focal lowering in contrastive focus questions.
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ALDOSSARI, SARAH ABDULLAH. "ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH FLAP AMONG SAUDI SPEAKERS." OpenSIUC, 2013. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1075.
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This study investigated two variables in relation to American English flapping among Saudi speakers. These two variables were gender and phonetic environment of flapping. For the purpose of the study, 20 Saudi university students, 10 male and 10 female, were chosen. In addition, three environments of flapping have been used in two production tasks. These environments were, flapping followed by syllabic /ɹ/, flapping followed by syllabic /l/, and flapping followed by a vowel. The two tasks were a word list and a paragraph. The results of the study revealed that female participants flapped less often than male participants in all three environments in both tasks. Female participants flapped 19% of the time in both tasks. On comparison, male participants flapped 65% of the time in both tasks. The difference between genders was high at 46%. The average of the first environment was 47% for both genders, 40% for the second environment, and 37% for the third. Age, word frequency, age of onset, and economic class did not have a significant relation in the flapping production.
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Sterzuk, Andrea. "A study of indigenous English speakers in the standard English classroom." Thesis, McGill University, 2003. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=19389.
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This thesis explores the experience of dialect speakers of Indigenous English in the Standard English School. Indigenous English is a dialect of English spoken by many Aboriginal people in Canada; it is especially discernable in the Prairie Provinces, yet it is not widely recognized by the majority of the population. This classroom study was conducted in a semi-urban community in East Central Saskatchewan. The focus of the research was six children in a Grade 3 classroom, four of whom are First Nations and Indigenous English Speakers. The remaining two children are White and speakers of Standard English. The results of this study indicate that the First Nations children of this study speak a dialect of English that differs phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, and lexically from the Standard English spoken in Saskatchewan. These children are all below grade level in Language Arts and follow modified programs. They experience difficulty in phonics and spelling and are receiving additional support from classroom assistants, resource room teachers and speech pathologists. It would also appear that these children are experiencing institutional racism in a number of forms. Possible resolutions to the problems faced by these students may include teacher training and dialect awareness classes. This field has not been adequately explored and further research is needed to discover viable solutions to the issues experienced by dialect speakers of Indigenous English in the Standard English classroom.
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Wong, Yuk-ling Denise. "On evaluating errors produced by some L2 speakers of English." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 1985. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42128225.
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Sarbini, Monaliz. "Morpho-syntactic competence of L2 speakers : the case of Malay L2 speakers of English." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/4133.
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This study compares the morpho-syntactic competence of two groups of Malay speakers of English. Its purpose is to investigate whether the English of Malay L2 speakers of English who had exposure to English-medium instruction is closer to the norms of the inner circle English variety (Kachru, 1986,1988) when compared to Malay L2 speakers of English who received Malay-medium instruction. Prior to Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957, the colonial government and missionaries set up primary and secondary schools using English as the medium of instruction. In 1970, in the process of developing a unified multiracial, multicultural and multilingual nation, Malaysia made Malay the official national language and Malay replaced English as the medium of instruction in all government and government-aided schools (except vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools). That meant that there was a generation of students, between 1957 and 1970, who were educated in English. Since the 1970s, there has been a popular assumption in Malaysia s that the English of Malaysian speakers has declined, particularly with respect to the use of inflection morphology. Despite this long-held assumption, no study has explored the morpho-syntactic differences for pre-1970 and post-1970 generations in Malaysia. A complicating factor is that there has since been considerable development in Malaysian English and it has emerged as one of the New World Englishes (Platt et al., 1984; Kachru, 1986). Malaysian English, according to Schneider (2003) was still in its nativization phase. It is in this environment the present study is set. In particular it looks at speakers' production of aspects of English morpho-syntax including pronominal subjects, past-tense inflection, copula verbs, auxiliary verbs, subject-verb agreement in main/lexical, copula and auxiliary verbs, articles and plural marking. It also investigates whether certain extralinguistic factors can be found to have influenced speakers' English. These included sex, level of education (secondary or tertiary), formal ii exposure to English (total hours of English instruction) current use of English at home/office and online; interaction in English with native speakers in English and with non-native speakers in English. Results from 23 participants for whom these factors as well as English-medium education showed that their English was closer to inner-circle English than the Malay-medium educated participants. Keywords: L2 acquisition, morpho-syntactic competence, variability, grammatical features/morpheme, English medium education, Malay medium education, extralinguistic factors.
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Ryan, Ann Margaret Gitzean. "Vowel blindness in Arabic learners of English." Thesis, Swansea University, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.570310.
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Shi, Hui. "Pragmatic Transfer in English Emails Produced by Chinese L2 English speakers : A Study of the Underlying Cultural Ethos, and the Effect of Speakers’ English Proficiency andExposure to English." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Engelska institutionen, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-41107.
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This study focuses on the pragmatic transfers that emerge in the English emails produced byChinese L2 English speakers. Despite doubts about taking Chinese English as a new variety, the study believes there are some common and unique pragmatic features existing in the English text produced by Chinese L2 English speakers. 104 emails written by 13 subjects with different English proficiency and different English exposure were collected. Questionnaires were sent out to the same subjects, trying to find out the factors that affect their pragmatic performance. The study accomplished the following main findings: 1) There are differences in the extent to which pragmatic transfer occurs among different subjects. 2) The individual subject’s pragmatic performance in English is not necessarily decided by the subjects’ English proficiency. 3) The extent of pragmatic transfer in the individual subject’s case seems to be much more complex situation than depending on any single factor of the following: English proficiency, exposure to English, or confidence in using English. 4) Some email writers have different extent of pragmatic transfer in the situations with different levels of tension. 5) However, whether the subjects have different extent of pragmatic transfer or not seems again to be too complex a situation to decide which of the factors (English proficiency, exposure to English, or confidence in using English) plays a decisive role.
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Jeon, Yunju. "The use of English articles by L2 speakers." Thesis, University of Essex, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.573019.
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This thesis examines the use of English articles by speakers of languages with no articles (Korean) and speakers of languages with articles (Spanish). Previous proposals concerning omission and substitution in the use of English articles by L2 speakers are critically evaluated, in particular those of Ionin et al (2004, 2008) on article substitution and Trenkic (2007) on article omission. An additional observation is made - that there is an asymmetry in the degree of variability in the use of the and a that has not been dealt with by previous accounts. The implicit assumption that article-less languages do not instantiate the grammatical category of determiner is challenged and it is shown that article-less languages such as Korean do in fact have a determiner phrase, which has an identical structure to that of the determiner phrase of languages with articles such as English and Spanish. Borer's (2005) exo-skeletal model of Universal Grammar is adopted to defend such a position. The notion of range assignment in Borer's model is introduced and is proposed as a source of L1 transfer. A specific proposal is made concerning the nature of this transfer: adult L2 learners fluctuate permanently between the L1 range assignment mechanism and the L2 range assignment mechanism - a phenomenon I term the Permanent Fluctuation Hypothesis. This hypothesis is tested through three experimental tasks - a forced-choice elicitation task, a spontaneous oral production task and a spontaneous written production task. These were completed by Korean and Spanish learners of English at three proficiency levels - upper intermediate, advanced, and very advanced. The data show a similar pattern of substitution and omission as in previous studies. But this pattern is given an alternative explanation from the perspective of Borer's model of grammar and the Permanent Fluctuation Hypothesis. It is shown that the asymmetry between the and a cannot be explained by the proposals of either Ionin et al or of Trenkic, but can only be successfully explained by the account given in this study.
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Awad, Dina. "The acquisition of English articles by Arabic speakers." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.618333.
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Mastering the English Article system is a long tern challenge for L2 learners. The difficulty originates from the fact that appropriate usage requires stacking multiple functions into limited forms, the numerous exceptions to the rules and the mismatch between the grammatical criteria of countability and number that determine the appropriate supply of the indefinite article and the lexical-pragmatic values on which definiteness depends. In addition, differences between the first and target languages can also cause problems even for advanced learners. We investigated the use of English articles in the production of Arab university students by collecting data from three different tests that varied in the degree of control and the type of knowledge they examine. Development was followed cross sectionally after dividing the participants into three proficiency level groups according to their scores on the Oxford Placement Test. Statistical analyses were performed to calculate the differences across groups, tasks and compare between learners' use of the two articles. The results were also compared to findings from other L2 studies to determine whether the development map corresponds to/differs from the tendencies of learners from other L1 backgrounds. It was found that Arabic influenced the participants' decisions to a large extent, especially at lower levels. In other respects error patterns paralleled those of other L2 learners. The definite article was mastered before the indefinite while the correct marking of non-referential bare nominals (zero article) seemed to be the most difficult aspect of article use to master. The results suggest that task type influenced learner's choices considerably. Finally, faulty associations between definiteness and linguistic notions of specificity. pre-modification and concreteness in learner hypotheses caused variability in L2 article production.
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TrenkicÌ, Danijela. "The acquisition of English articles by Serbian speakers." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.275438.
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Borden, David S. (David Scott). "Non-Native Speakers of English and Denominal Regularization." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1994. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279230/.
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The purpose of this study was to determine whether nonnative speakers of English have access to specifically-linguistic constraints governing past tense morphology. Forty non-native speakers of English rated the naturalness of 29 exocentric, or headless, verbs in a partial replication of Kim, Pinker, Prince, and Prasada (1991) which looked at the same phenomenon in native speakers. Nonnative speaker performance was similar to the 40 subject native speaker control group. A correlation also existed between length of residence and subject ratings. The results imply that non-native speakers have access to the rules governing past tense morphology although not as completely as native speakers.
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Frew, Dorothy Jean. "An Improved English Article System for Japanese Speakers." PDXScholar, 1994. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5020.
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One aspect of the English language which has been overlooked by English-as-a-Second-Language educators is the article system, a, the, and 0. For students from articleless first languages such as Japanese, learning this complex system is a formidable challenge. Performance studies show an error rate among advanced Japanese students of approximately thirty percent. There may be several reasons for this high rate: 1) the differences between Japanese and English, 2) the unusually high degree of complexity/difficulty of the article system itself compared to other English morpheme systems and 3) inadequate treatments of the subject as revealed in this thesis' survey of forty ESL textbooks. Recent pragmatic discoveries about article function reveal subtle, contextual influences which have not been well integrated into traditional treatments. Definiteness may be dependent on sentential, discourse, and situational contexts, on whether referents are unique and manifest to the hearer, and on the nature of certain implicatures induced by the articles. Computerized, interactive tutorials are the best way to capture how these variables interact to constrain article choice. A prototype for a tutorial is submitted with this thesis. In addition to exhaustive explanations of contexts and implicatures in the form of actor's "asides," it features Japanese translations throughout, and, to show how uniqueness may be culture bound, utterances that take place within Japanese culture. Although the tutorial presented here needs enlargement, it is believed that an animated, computerized tutorial emphasizing subtle pragmatic features is more illustrative of actual article usage than have been traditional hard copy explanations.
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Yoshii, Hiroko. "Japanese students’ reconceptualization of racialized English and English speakers through study abroad." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/57947.
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Japan’s kokusaika (internationalization), despite its literal meaning, has been considered to be a form of Westernization, largely influenced by Western countries, especially the United States (Fujimoto, 2001; Kubota, 1998, 2002). As a consequence of the Western or U.S.-favored policies, Japanese people have developed racial attitudes toward the English language and English speakers. While Japanese people have a propensity toward white people and their English varieties, they tend to show discriminatory attitudes toward those who have other racial and linguistic backgrounds (Kobayashi, 2010; Kubota & McKay, 2009). At the same time, the number of Japanese study abroad (SA) students, specifically in Kachru’s (1985) Inner Circle countries, is increasing. While some research suggests that Japanese SA students tend to develop racial attitudes and stereotype certain racial groups, there is still a dearth of studies regarding how these attitudes and stereotypes change over time. For example, scholars have not yet examined how Japanese SA students’ interactions with an unfamiliar Other in Japan influence their attitudes during their SA, and how these attitudes change again once immersed in the SA site. Thus, drawing on intergroup contact theory (Pettigrew, 1998) and critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001), this multiple case study investigated how Japanese students (re)conceptualize their attitudes toward racialized English and English speakers through interactions with diverse English speakers. Data were collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with six Japanese SA students. This study found that the participants’ pre-departure intergroup contact situations had been constructed according to Japan’s skewed kokusaika, which resulted in their assumption that white people were the only legitimate English speakers. However, during SA, the participants experienced frequent intergroup contacts with various English speakers, reconceptualizing their racialized views, regarding anyone as an English speaker regardless of his/her racial and linguistic backgrounds. Additionally, the participants acknowledged that they would like to keep their transformed views after SA. This thesis concludes with implications for pre- and post-SA English language teaching in Japan so that the potential for SA to de-racialize Japanese students’ attitudes toward English and English speakers might be realized.Education, Faculty of
Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of
Graduate
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Roberts, Alison Divett. "Perceptions of English Proficiency Levels: The Unspoken Expectations of Native English Speakers." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2013. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3683.
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This study investigates the relationship between nonnative English speaker (NNES) proficiency level and native English speaker (NES) level of comfort interacting with NNES. The purpose of this study was to discover at what proficiency level NESs feel comfortable interacting with NNES. This study also looked at how communicative task and NES demographic variables affected the proficiency expectations NNESs have for NESs. Participants included 120 NESs and 7 NNESs. The NESs listened to sound clips from the 7 NNESs and rated how comfortable they would feel (on a scale of 0-10, 10 indicating very comfortable) interacting with the speaker in a variety of communication tasks. Listeners rated intermediate and advanced level speakers significantly higher than the novice speakers. Additionally, there was not a significant difference between mean ratings for the intermediate and advanced speakers. Communication task was revealed as having a significant main effect on task. Listeners rated that they would feel least comfortable communicating with the speakers over the phone while discussing a customer service issue. They also indicated that they would feel least comfortable interacting with the speakers if they were their boss. Listener demographic variables did not have a significant main effect on overall ratings, but were significant for some tasks when task was analyzed individually. Specifically, age and frequency of interaction with NNES had an effect on some tasks; however the reliability of this result is affected by sample size. These results suggest a threshold relationship between NES comfort ratings and speaker proficiency level. Additionally, the data suggests that task may be more important than proficiency level in some interactions. A larger sample is needed to better understand the role NES demographic variables may play in level of comfort during NES and NNES interaction.
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Neal, Peggy Parker. "Stress patterns in English of two groups of Slavic speakers /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Kwon, Bo-Young. "Korean speakers' production of English consonant clusters articulatory and perceptual accounts /." Diss., Connect to online resource - MSU authorized users, 2006.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, 2006.Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 19, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-304). Also issued in print.
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Partington, Ann. "Storage and retrieval of English words by Hong Kong Cantonese speakers of English." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.308699.
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This thesis is concerned with the phonological representations of words used in lexical storage and retrieval, during speech perception by second language speakers. There is evidence of categorical perception of certain phonological features of words by native speakers of particular languages. This can be constrained by language- particular phonological properties, such as lexical tone, or by distinctions between certain types of consonant. If native language perceptual strategies were used in second language word retrieval, then this would mean there were differences in word storage for second language speakers. This would be reflected in differing patterns of word retrieval for second language speakers of a language with different phonological properties from their own. In order to test this possibility, Hong Kong Cantonese speakers with English as their second language were required to retrieve English words from their word store. Their native language is tonal, unlike English, and they have been found to perceive tones in their native language categorically. Subjects were presented aurally with English sentences which each contained a malapropism for the last word, and were asked to produce the correct word. The malapropisms were systematically varied in their phonological similarity to the target. The phonological variation was determined from evidence drawn from speech error analyses in production and from an analysis of a high frequency sample of words conducted as part of the thesis. Native speakers of English were used as controls in the experiments. Results showed similarities and differences in retrieval between the two groups of subjects. Both groups made use of a number of phonological properties in retrieval. The differences were associated with perceptual strategies involving a suprasegmental phonological property of English, that of lexical stress. Correct words could be retrieved by the Cantonese speakers when word stress was the only shared phonological property of error and target. Native speakers only made use of word stress when other phonological properties were shared by error and target. The use of a number of phonological properties by both sets of speakers during word retrieval is consistent with recent generative linguistic accounts of enriched phonological structure in phonological representations. It is possible that the mind takes account of such constituent structure during speech perception to disanibiguate phonetic stimuli. However, the phonological organisation of lexical representations may vary from one language to another, with information from the same sound signal being used differently by second language speakers of a given language from native speakers
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Im, Jiyon Michelle. "Native English speakers' perceptions of intelligibility in the extended discourse produced by non-native speakers." [Ames, Iowa : Iowa State University], 2007.
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Atapattu-Bakmeewewa, Dinushee. "Lexical retrieval in bilingual Sinhala-English and monolingual Sinhala healthy speakers and speakers with aphasia." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/21630/.
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When language breakdown subsequent to neural injury occurs, an apparent disruption of language production skills follow. This is particularly evident in the major grammatical classes of nouns and verbs. This deficit could be selective, effecting either nouns or verbs or both in asymmetrical severity, in selected language modalities or at varied linguistic complexity (i.e. naming vs. connected speech). In bilinguals, these selective disassociation may manifest in equal or varying degrees across the languages known. This is influenced by the differences in the linguistic structure of the bilinguals’ languages. The need for language and culture specific assessment tool and data is therefore critical. This three-phase cross sectional exploratory study aimed to compare word retrieval skills in monolingual and bilingual people with aphasia (PwAs) post stroke. Investigated here are specific language populations of Sri Lanka; Sinhala monolingual (ML) and Sinhala- English bilingual (BL) healthy speakers and PwAs who have not been studied to date. In the first phase, the study adapted test tools and material published in English and develops some other stimuli anew, to gather data from healthy adults. This data was then used as a normative baseline against which 26 PwAs in the said populations were assessed in the second and third phases of the study. The subsequent data compared word production performances between and within the language conditions in the ML and BL groups, across word classes and language tasks. It is anticipated that the findings of this study would contribute towards the cross-linguistic database on aphasia in bilingual speakers and particularly towards developing an evidence-based research and clinical platform for bilingual PwAs in Sri Lanka.
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Miner, Sarah Lynne. "Reading Idioms: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study of Native English Speakers and Native Korean Speakers." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2018. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7334.
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This quantitative study used eye-tracking technology to compare the attentional focus of 32 native English speakers and 26 native Korean speakers at the university level as they read idiomatic and literal phrases within well-formed sentences. Results revealed that native Korean speakers read both literal and idiomatic sentences slower than native English speakers. Additionally, native Korean speakers read idiomatic sentences slower than literal sentences, whereas native English speakers did not show a significant difference. Variables relating to language socialization, language development and idiom knowledge were also investigated to find which variables were correlated with reading measures. Of the variables tested, idiom knowledge was the only one that had significant effect on reading measures. These findings suggest that Korean speakers take longer to process English idioms as lexical units, though idiom familiarity seems to mitigate this effect.
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Ganchi, Fatima. "An analysis of requests produced by second language speakers of English and how these requests are received by English first language speakers." Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/71918.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the course of my work as Communications lecturer at a multicultural university, I have noticed differences in the manners in which Sesotho-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking students make the same requests to me while speaking English. There exists a possibility that these second language (L2) requests could be deemed inappropriate and/or unintelligible by first language (L1) speakers of English. It is possible that miscommunication may result when requests by one culture group is judged as inappropriate and/or unintelligible by another. The aims of my study were to investigate (i) whether there are indeed differences in the manners in which L1 Sesotho and L1 Afrikaans speakers make requests when speaking English and (ii) how the differences in the (a) politeness, (b) formalness, (c) appropriateness, (d) grammaticality and (e) intelligibility of these requests made by the above-mentioned two groups manifest, as judged by L1 speakers of English. In terms of research methodology, I elicited requests in English from two culturally and linguistically different groups of students (17 L1 Afrikaans and 17 L1 Sesotho) by means of a written scenario completion task. One scenario involved a high imposition situation and the other a low imposition. The requests made by the two groups were then analysed using the Cross Cultural Speech Act Realisation Project (CCSARP) framework of Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989a). Each request was also judged by eight L1 English speakers. Data analysis showed that there are indeed differences in the way in which Afrikaans- and Sesotho-speaking people put forth English requests. In terms of CCSARP categories, the Sesotho speakers used more alerters and more politeness markers than the Afrikaans speakers did. Sesotho and Afrikaans speakers also differed in their responses to high and low imposition situations – for example, Sesotho speakers used more grounders in the low imposition request than in the high imposition request, whereas Afrikaans speakers’ requests showed the reverse pattern. In terms of ratings received by L1 speakers, although Sesotho speakers’ requests were judged as more polite, Afrikaans speakers’ requests were judged as more appropriate and grammatically correct. The findings have implications for curriculum design: By being mindful of the workings of intercultural verbal and nonverbal communication and by acknowledging that people from different cultural backgrounds bring to a conversation certain culturally inherited factors which influence them and the interlocutors, I can use the results of this study to better inform the different L1 groups in my classes how to change their requesting behaviour so as to make requests that are judged by L1 English speakers as being appropriate.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tydens my werk as Kommunikasie-dosent aan ‘n multikulturele universiteit het ek verskille opgelet in die manier waarop Sesotho-sprekende en Afrikaanssprekende studente dieselfde versoeke aan my rig wanneer hulle Engels praat. Die moontlikheid bestaan dat hierdie tweedetaal- (T2) versoeke as ontoepaslik en/of onverstaanbaar beskou kan word deur eerstetaal- (T1) sprekers van Engels. Dit is moontlik dat miskommunikasie kan ontstaan wanneer versoeke deur een kultuurgroep as ontoepaslik en/of onverstaanbaar beoordeel word deur ‘n ander kultuurgroep. Die doelstellings van my studie was om die volgende te ondersoek: (i) of daar inderdaad verskille bestaan in die manier waarop T1 Sesotho- en T1 Afrikaanssprekendes versoeke in Engels rig en (ii) hoe verskille in die (a) hoflikheid, (b) formeelheid, (c) toepaslikheid, (d) grammatikaliteit en (e) verstaanbaarheid van hierdie versoeke deur bogenoemde twee groepe manifesteer, soos beoordeel deur T1-sprekers van Engels. In terme van navorsingsmetodologie het ek versoeke in Engels van twee kultureel en talig verskillende groepe studente (17 T1 Afrikaans en 17 T1 Sesotho) ontlok deur gebruik te maak van ‘n geskrewe scenario-voltooiingstaak. Een scenario het ‘n versoek met ‘n hoë afdwingingsvlak (imposition) behels en die ander met ‘n lae afdwingingsvlak. Die versoeke gerig deur die twee groepe is toe geanaliseer deur gebruik te maak van die sogenaamde Cross Cultural Speech Act Realisation Project (CCSARP)-raamwerk van Blum-Kulka, House en Kasper (1989a). Elke versoek is ook deur agt T1-sprekers van Engels beoordeel. Data-analise het aangedui dat daar wel verskille is in die manier waarop Afrikaans- en Sesotho-sprekendes versoeke in Engels rig. In terme van CCSARP-kategorieë het die Sesotho-sprekendes meer attentmakers (alerters) en meer hoflikheidsmerkers as die Afrikaanssprekendes gebruik. Sesotho- en Afrikaanssprekendes het ook verskil in hul reaksie op hoë en lae imposisie-situasies – Sesotho-sprekendes het meer redeverskaffers (grounders) in die lae afdwingingsversoek as in die hoë afdwingingsversoek gebruik terwyl Afrikaanssprekendes die teenoorgestelde gedoen het. Alhoewel die Sesotho-sprekendes se versoeke as meer hoflik beskou is deur die T1-sprekende beoordelaars, is Afrikaanssprekendes se versoeke as meer toepaslik en grammatikaal korrek beskou. Die bevindinge het implikasies vir kurrikulum-ontwerp: Deur bewus te bly van die aard van interkulturele verbale en nie-verbale kommunikasie en deur te erken dat persone van verskillende kulturele agtergronde sekere kultuur-inherente faktore na ‘n gesprek toe bring wat hulle en hulle gespreksgenote beïnvloed, kan ek die resultate van hierdie studie gebruik om die verskillende T1-groepe in my klasse beter in te lig hoe om hul versoekgedrag aan te pas om versoeke te kan rig wat as toepaslik beskou word deur T1-sprekers van Engels.
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Yokoyama, Takahiro. "The impact of TESOL teacher education on job satisfaction for native English speakers teaching English to speakers of other languages in Japan." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2016. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/101737/1/Takahiro_Yokoyama_Thesis.pdf.
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This study examined potential effects of teacher training or education in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages upon job satisfaction of ‘native English speaker’ teachers in Japan. While multiple regression analyses discovered only certain types of training showed a positive influence, the interview participants revealed how their existing skills were often not fully utilised in the Japanese context. The pedagogical implications and recommendations for teacher education are discussed, along with administrative implications and suggestions for the future recruitment of ‘native English speaker’ teachers in Japan.
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Sin, Nga-lam Caroline. "English and globalization attitudes of some Hong Kong speakers /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31642421.
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Case, Megan. "Idiolect Change in Native English Speakers Living in Sweden." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Engelska, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-4648.
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Srisuruk, Patana. "Politeness and pragmatic competence in Thai speakers of English." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/1189.
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This study examines the language use and specifically the level of politeness of Thai speakers of English when confronted with face threatening acts related to their daily life and workplace: requests, complaints and disagreements. Data were collected by role play and discourse completion test from people employed in hotels and travel agencies, and from Rajabhat university students. Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory was used as a framework to analyse and interpret the data. The overall results showed that negative politeness is the most common strategy for all groups, followed by bald on record and positive politeness. Their participants’ choice of politeness strategies in part reflected their occupational identities. For the hotel workers, negative politeness is the chosen strategy in most scenarios, and the focus is on showing deference to and maintaining distance from their interlocutors. For the other groups, although negative politeness is still the most common strategy, positive politeness and bald on record are found quite often. Use of both negative and positive politeness suggests that respondents attach importance to avoiding confrontation and showing solidarity as well as to direct expression. Through analysis of the use of negative and positive politeness for different scenarios and status levels, I determine that these participants possess pragmatic competence in the context of the “small culture” of the workplace. It is also clear that sociological variables (e.g. power, social distance) influence the use of language and the level of politeness on the speaker side.
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Otto, Elisabeth. "Morphological processing in bilingual speakers of German and English." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2012. http://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/e6cb7013-8831-d99e-5426-9849e41f1a35/9/.
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It has been demonstrated that in early visual word processing, monolingual speakers process morphologically complex words in terms of their constituent morphemes (e.g., hunt+er), irrespective of the semantic relationship between stem and suffix (e.g., corn+er) (e.g., Longtin, Segui, & Halle, 2003; Rastle, Davis, & New, 2004). However, research into bilingual morphological processing has produced support for and against the notion that bilinguals process morphologically complex words akin to monolingual speakers (Clahsen, Felser, Neubauer, Sato, & Silva, 2010; Diependaele, Dufiabeitia, Morris, & Keuleers, 2011). The experiments in this work explored the nature of bilingual morphological processing in early visual word recognition, by means of masked priming. Using prime target pairs sharing a morphological a nd semantic (e.g., hunter-hunt), only a pseudo-morphological (e.g., corner-corn), and neither morphological nor semantic relationship (e.g., yellow-yell), Experiments 1 and 2 explored morphological priming in English for English L1 - German L2 and German L1 - English L2 speakers, respectively. The design was expanded to German, testing bilingual German L1 and L2 speakers in Experiments 3 and 4. Results showed similar trends with consistent priming across all conditions for bilingual English L1 and L2 speakers, but different priming magnitudes for bilingual German L1 and L2 speakers. Using primes ranging from very low to very high frequencies, the relative contribution of prime frequency with respect to these findings was explored first for native English speakers in Experiment 5, and expanded to English L2 speakers in Experiment 6. Although prime frequency affected reaction latencies in both monolingual and bilingual speakers, Experiment 7, a re-test of Experiment 1 with monolingual speakers with no knowledge of a foreign language, indicated that it may be the sound command of another language that influences morphological processing in the participants' native language. The results are discussed in relation to the current literature and models of bilingual word processing.
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冼雅琳 and Nga-lam Caroline Sin. "English and globalization: attitudes of some Hong Kong speakers." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31642421.
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Wang, Ying. "Chinese speakers' perceptions of their English in intercultural communication." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2012. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/367398/.
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In the field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research, an overarching question is why native English should be exclusively followed by all users around the world regardless of their purposes of communication and identity projection. This provides the starting point of my investigation into Chinese speakers’ perceptions of their English in intercultural communication, which is traditionally considered as ‘learner English’ due to its difference from native English. Influenced by the ELF perspective, I consider Chinese speakers’ English as both fluid and subject to Chinese speakers’ appropriation according to their purposes in engaging intercultural communication, and label it as Chinese speakers’ English as a Lingua Franca (CHELF). Four dimensions of CHELF are considered in this research: linguistic creativity, community, identity and attitude, while the empirical data focuses on CHELF users’ perceptions in order to offer an insight into their attitudes, identities, beliefs, and contextual factors related to their perceptions. The research findings illuminate contrast, complementation, uncertainty and conservation in the participants’ attitudes towards, and identities in, their use of English, and reveal an interplay between a traditional EFL perspective and the ELF perspective that underlined their attitudes and identities. The data highlights contextual factors as playing a key role in influencing, shaping and developing the participants’ perceptions of ELF. Importantly, a good understanding of the concept of ELF makes a difference in the participants’ confidence in their ELF use. The findings thus suggest the possibility of CHELF developing legitimacy, as well as the challenges involved in such a development. This study thus provides a fresh insight into Chinese speakers’ English and contributes to ELF research at large. In particular, the establishment of contextual factors to CHELF users adds to the growing evidence of the necessity of including ELF in pedagogy.
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Yeh, Ellen. "Parental Involvement in Non-Native English Speakers' Postsecondary Enrollment." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1400070424.
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Sacak, Begum Sacak. "Hypertext Reading Strategies of Advanced Non-Native English Speakers." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1534161093520165.
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Ho, Wai Ching. "The English spoken and written narratives of Cantonese speakers." HKBU Institutional Repository, 1996. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/76.
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Ho, Victor Chung Kwong. "Making requests : how Cantonese speakers of English demonstrate politeness." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2003. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/499.
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Gordon, Leslie S. "Factors affecting English speakers' perception of L2 Spanish vowels." Connect to Electronic Thesis (ProQuest) Connect to Electronic Thesis (CONTENTdm), 2008. http://worldcat.org/oclc/436442802/viewonline.
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Watkins, Michael Alan. "Variability in vowel reduction by brazilian speakers of english." Florianópolis, SC, 2001. http://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/handle/123456789/80175.
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Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão.Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-18T11:16:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0Bitstream added on 2014-09-25T22:54:17Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 177264.pdf: 6590582 bytes, checksum: afc360097304eb736675a3409f31d4f9 (MD5)
Analisa variabilidade no uso das formas reduzidas de quatro preposições no inglês falado por brasileiros, usando o programa VARBRUL para medir o efeito relativo de vários aspectos do contexto fonológico. Os resultados mostram que quatro variáveis fonológicas estão exercendo um efeito estatisticamente significativo. Levanta-se também a possibilidade de que haja influência de outros fatores não-lingüísticos.
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Felker, Helen Margaret. "Effects of Language Dominance in Spanish-English Bilingual Speakers." Master's thesis, Temple University Libraries, 2018. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/523710.
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Communication SciencesM.A.
Despite the rise of globalization and increasing multilingualism, the effect of language dominance on thought and perception in bilingual speakers has received little attention. This study examines the semantic networks of Spanish-English bilingual adults and monolingual English-speaking peers to determine whether language dominance structures the semantic space of a bilingual speaker to more closely match the semantic space of a monolingual speaker of the dominant language. It is predicted that semantic ratings produced by English-dominant bilinguals will correlate more closely to the semantic ratings of monolingual English-speaking participants than ratings produced by Spanish-dominant bilinguals. Spanish-English bilinguals (n=20) completed the Bilingual Language Profile regarding language use, attitudes, and fluency (Birdsong, Gertken, & Amengual, 2012). Spanish-English bilingual participants and monolingual English-speaking participants (n=20) then rated a series of translationally equivalent nouns (n=80) according to sound, color, morality, valence, size, and position. Using these ratings, a Euclidean distance matrix containing the ratings of English-dominant bilinguals, Spanish-dominant bilinguals, and English monolinguals was analyzed within and between groups using hierarchical cluster analysis, matrix comparisons (Mantel Tests), Spearman correlations, and qualitative k-means clustering analysis. Results suggest the possibility of dynamic interconnection between languages, with semantic connection weights determined by the dominant language (Malt et al, 2015). However, more research is needed to draw firm conclusions.
Temple University--Theses
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Ghabanchi, Zargham. "Aspects of academic writing : a comparative analysis of English texts written by native speakers of English (L1E), Persian texts written by native speakers of Persian (L1P) and English texts written by native speakers of Persian (L2E)." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.266053.
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Huang, Lan Fen. "Discourse markers in spoken English : a corpus study of native speakers and Chinese non-native speakers." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/2969/.
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This thesis explores the use of discourse markers (DMs) in the speech of Chinese non-native speakers (NNSs) of English and native speakers (NSs), using corpus methodologies, the 'Linear Unit Grammar' analysis (Sinclair and Mauranen 2006) and text-based analyses. It reports that the DMs for analysis, 'like', 'oh', 'well', 'you know', 'I mean', 'you see', 'I think' and 'now', occur more frequently in the dialogic genres than in the monologic genres extracted from the three corpora, SECCL, MICASE and ICE-GB. The co-occurrence of DMs is taken as evidence to determine the categories for discussion with the suggested functions being secondary interpretations. Surprisingly, there are similarities in the use of DMs between Chinese NNSs and NSs. For the differences, some require NSs to become more tolerant and inclusive of the versions of English and some require pedagogical interventions for the Chinese NNSs. This thesis demonstrates that the use of DMs correlates with the genre, context, type of activity and identity of the speaker. All such factors affect the speakers' choice of a DM to use when giving priority to discourse organisation, fluency, the engagement of the listeners, the construction of the speaker‟s persona and the creation of solidarity.
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Law, Mei-han Crystal. "The acquisition of English subject-verb agreement by Cantonese speakers." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31627766.
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