The Use of Discourse Markers among Mandarin Chinese Teachers, and Chinese as a Second Language and Chinese as a Foreign Language Learners

2015 ◽  
pp. amv057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Shu Tsai ◽  
Wo-Hsin Chu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Chinese Teachers ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

The Business of Pragmatics. The Case of Discourse Markers in The Speech of Students of Business English and English Linguistics

2011 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 10-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven Buysse
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Business English ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Native Speech

Abstract This paper investigates how foreign language learners use discourse markers (such as so, well, you know, I mean) in English speech. These small words that do not contribute much, if anything at all, to the propositional content of a message but modify it in subtle ways, are often considered among the last elements acquired in a foreign language. This contribution reports on close scrutiny of a corpus of English-spoken interviews with Belgian native speakers of Dutch, half of whom are undergraduates majoring in Commercial Sciences and half of whom are majoring in English Linguistics, and sets it off against a comparable native speaker corpus. The investigation shows that the language learners exhibit a clear preference for “operative discourse markers” and neglect or avoid “involvement discourse markers”. It is argued that in learner speech the former take on functions typically fulfilled by the latter to a greater extent than in native speech, and that in some cases the learners revert to a code-switching strategy to cater for their pragmatic needs, bringing markers from Dutch into their English speech. Finally, questions are raised as to the place of such pragmatic devices in foreign language learning.

scholarly journals Gij zult andermans taalfouten koesteren! Tolerantie voor taalveranderingen en spellingfouten

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (5 Zeszyt specjalny) ◽  
pp. 95-104
Author(s):  
Agata Kowalska-Szubert
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Compound Words ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Dutch Language

This essay is a plea for more careful use of Dutch language, in particular by translators and teachers of Dutch. In particular, the spelling always proves to be a difficult stumbling block, and not just for second-language or foreign-language learners. The essay examines the problem of compound words and mistakes made by professional language practitioners of Dutch when writing these words or not.

Meeting at the Wiki

2010 ◽  
pp. 209-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Oskoz ◽  
Idoia Elola
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Individual Work ◽  
Writing Assignment

This chapter introduces the use of wikis and written and voice web applications as supporting tools for collaborative writing. It reports on a study examining the processes advanced Spanish foreign language learners engage in while working collaboratively using wikis and chat to complete a writing assignment. Through analysis of students’ essays, wiki-based drafts, chat transcripts, and questionnaire responses, it was observed that students maintained an interest in their essays’ accuracy as well as a focus on global rather than local aspects. In addition, the combination of wikis and chat provided students with an environment in which to state a clear thesis, provide supporting evidences, and refine the organization of the essay in a manner often missing in individual work. The authors expect that the benefits observed when using social web applications while working collaboratively will provide more evidence for pedagogical shifts that will help students become better writers in their second language.

Effects of the interface categories on the acquisition patterns of English reflexives among learners of English as a foreign language

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjun Wu ◽  
Lawrence Jun Zhang ◽  
Di Wu ◽  
Tongshun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Binding Properties ◽  
Value Judgment ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
Discourse Interface

Objectives: Binding properties are difficult for learners to fully acquire. This study explored English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ acquisition patterns of the three binding properties of English reflexives and the effectiveness of the Interface Hypothesis. Methodology: One hundred and twenty-two native speakers of Chinese, a language with different binding properties, participated in the study; they were categorized into low, intermediate and advanced groups according to an English proficiency test. They were read 32 stories of 2 to 5 sentences each and were required to provide a comment sentence instantiating the three binding properties; i.e. c-command, subject orientation and locality. Data and analysis: A mixed repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with group and individual results of the experimental task to ascertain whether there were significant differences across different binding properties and among the three proficiency groups. Findings: Results from a truth-value judgment task indicate that the within-groups difficulty order of the three distinct binding properties is that: (a) for the low-proficiency group, c-command was easier than locality and orientation; and (b) for the intermediate-proficiency and the high-proficiency groups, c-command was easier than locality which, in turn, was easier than orientation. Among the three proficiency-groups, four acquisition patterns were found, which standard Binding Theory and its extensions cannot adequately explain. Originality: This is the first study to provide a variable-dependent account. It is argued that success or failure in establishing interface relations in second language grammars is likely to depend on a number of variables, including the involvement of the syntax–lexicon interface, syntax–semantics interface and syntax–discourse interface. Implications: The research suggests that the acquisition of English reflexives is variable-dependent, but not domain-wide. Specifically, the relationship between the binder and anaphoric expression can be established between the anaphors and some of their potential antecedents in second language English grammars, but not others, lending support to the Interface Hypothesis.

scholarly journals Foreign Language Learners Acquire L2 Phonetic Detail: Goose and Foot Fronting in Non-Native English

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-403
Author(s):  
Šárka Šimáčková ◽  
Václav Jonáš Podlipský
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Relevant Question ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Phonetic Detail ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
L2 Phonology ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Input Form

Whether late learners discern fine phonetic detail in second-language (L2) input, form new phonetic categories, and realize them accurately remains a relevant question in L2 phonology, especially for foreign-language (FL) learning characterized by limited exposure to interactional native input. Our study focuses on advanced Czech learners’ production of the L2 English vowels GOOSE and FOOT. While English /u/ and /ʊ/ have been undergoing fronting, their Czech equivalents, /uː/ and /u/, are fully back. We show that although the spectral differentiation of /u/-/ʊ/ is smaller in the learners’ than in native speech, the vowels being contrasted primarily in length, even FL learners can shift their L2 sound categories towards native-like targets, or in this case, produce English /u/-/ʊ/ as fronted.

scholarly journals Pour un enseignement systématique des marqueurs discursifs à l’aide de corpus en classe de FLE : l’exemple des marqueurs de reformulation

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thi Thu Hoai Tran ◽  
Agnès Tutin ◽  
Cristelle Cavalla
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Semantic Properties

This article focuses on the role of corpus in language classroom, a tool that allows to identify syntactic and semantic properties of discourse markers that are not discussed in traditional grammar books. The use of the corpus could assist French Foreign Language learners to be familiar with a new kind of academic writing. This raises questions about the methodology of teaching/learning of discourse markers that we try to address in this paper.

scholarly journals Advanced second language learners experience difficulties processing reduced word pronunciation variants

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam Ernestus ◽  
Mirte E. Dikmans ◽  
Ghislaine Giezenaar
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Reduced Word ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Syntactic Information

Abstract Words are often pronounced with fewer segments in casual conversations than in formal speech. Previous research has shown that foreign language learners and beginning second language learners experience problems processing reduced speech. We examined whether this also holds for advanced second language learners. We designed a dictation task in Dutch consisting of sentences spliced from casual conversations and an unreduced counterpart of this task, with the same sentences carefully articulated by the same speaker. Advanced second language learners of Dutch produced substantially more transcription errors for the reduced than for the unreduced sentences. These errors made the sentences incomprehensible or led to non-intended meanings. The learners often did not rely on the semantic and syntactic information in the sentence or on the subsegmental cues to overcome the reductions. Hence, advanced second language learners also appear to suffer from the reduced pronunciation variants of words that are abundant in everyday conversations.

What makes second language perception of Mandarin tones hard?

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-78
Author(s):  
Eric Pelzl
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Learning Difficulty ◽  
Chinese Teachers ◽  
Mandarin Tones

Abstract Mandarin Chinese tones are known to be difficult for second language learners. A large body of research has examined non-native perception of tones, and may provide useful and interesting insights about the sources of tone learning difficulty for Chinese teachers and learners. However, much of the literature is in journals that may be difficult to access or written in technical language that may be hard for non-specialists to understand. This review article aims to summarize key findings from this research in an accessible fashion. I will draw on the research to answer five broad questions: (1) Why are tones more difficult for some learners than others? (2) Why are some tones more difficult than others? (3) Why are tones in words more difficult than in meaningless syllables? (4) Why are tones in context more difficult than in isolation? (5) What can we do about tone learning difficulties?

Extended discourse in first and second language acquisition: A challenge and an opportunity

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Snow
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Word Generation ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Effective Component

AbstractFirst language learners acquire vocabulary in the context of participation in discourse, and the quantity and richness of that discourse is the best predictor of their progress. Similarly, we argue, engagement in discourse, in particular debate and discussion, is an effective component of classroom instruction for second and foreign language learners. Evidence supporting the effectiveness of a particular discussion-based program, Word Generation, is presented, in particular its effectiveness with current and former second language learners of English. Principles implemented in Word Generation that could be applied in any educational setting are identified.

scholarly journals Exploring Second Language Vocabulary Learning in ESL Classes

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Haifa H. Alghamdi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
Work Activities ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Esl Reading

This research investigates how foreign language learners learn vocabulary in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. The participants are eleven foreign students from an advanced ESL Reading class in Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, WA. A questionnaire was used as an instrument to inquire about the students’ vocabulary learning methods. The results of the study proved that students are more engaged and motivated during group work activities and they learn more vocabulary from reading classes. The study concludes with pedagogical implications that ESL teachers might consider when teaching vocabulary in their ESL classrooms.

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