RELATIONSHIP AMONG BRAIN HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE, ATTITUDE TOWARDS L1 AND L2, GENDER, AND LEARNING SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

Oral skills are important components of language competence. To have good and acceptable listening and speaking, one must have good pronunciation, which encompasses segmental and suprasegmental features. Despite extensive studies on the role of segmental features and related issues in listening and speaking, there is paucity of research on the role of suprasegmental features in the same domain. Conducting studies which aim at shedding light on the issues related to learning suprasegmental features can help language teachers and learners in the process of teaching/learning English as a foreign language. To this end, this study was designed to investigate the relationship among brain hemispheric dominance, gender, attitudes towards L1 and L2, and learning suprasegmental features in Iranian EFL learners. First, 200 Intermediate EFL learners were selected from different English language teaching institutes in Hamedan and Isfahan, two provinces in Iran, as the sample. Prior to the main stage of the study, Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to homogenize the proficiency level of all the participants. Then, the participants were asked to complete the Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire to determine their dominant hemisphere. They were also required to answer two questionnaires regarding their attitudes towards L1 and L2. Finally, the participants took suprasegmental features test. The results of the independent samples t-tests indicated left-brained language learners’ superiority in observing and learning suprasegmental features. It was also found that females are better than males in producing suprasegmental features. Furthermore, the results of Pearson Product Moment Correlations indicated that there is significant relationship between attitude towards L2 and learning suprasegmental features. However, no significant relationship was found between attitude towards L1 and learning English suprasegmental features. The findings of this study can provide English learners, teachers and developers of instructional materials with some theoretical and pedagogical implications which are discussed in the paper

British or American? Iranian EFL learners’ Perceptions toward English Accents: Exploring possible relationships

Native English accents (British and American) are known as highly favored and accepted varieties compared to other existing accents in English as foreign language (EFL) context. Notwithstanding the research accomplished on EFL learners’ attitudes toward either of the accents (British or American), studies are still scant regarding the investigation of their perspectives in detail toward one of the accents specifically within the context of Iran. The aim of this study is to examine the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward the two major known English accents (British and American. Additionally, the study highlights the major factors contributing to the learners’ preferences toward either of the accents (British or American). To that aim, a developed and validated questionnaire was distributed among 108 EFL learners selected from two of the major EFL contexts (universities and private institutes). The results indicated that the majority of the learners preferred American over British English accent. Besides, factor analysis revealed that American English exposure, lack of guidance, and lack of reinforcement toward British accent were among the mentioned factors accepted by learners for their preference of American. Finally, the study concludes with interpretations regarding the learners’ decision making issues in either of the two major accents, and recommendations are provided for revisiting the EFL learners’ attitudes and insights toward native English accents

EFFECTS OF SPEAKER\u27S ACCENT IN A MULTIMEDIA TUTORIAL ON NON-NATIVE STUDENTS\u27 LEARNING AND ATTITUDES

Research in the field of multimedia has yielded principles for the design of effective multimedia instructional messages including Mayer\u27s principles regarding voice. According to the voice principle, students learn more deeply when the narration in a multimedia lesson is spoken by a native voice rather than a non-native voice. The generalizability of the voice principle has been demonstrated when applied to multimedia users who are native speakers of the language used in narration. However, three out of four English users are non-native speakers of English, and the vast majority of verbal exchanges in English do not involve any native speakers of the language at all. By focusing on non-native users, the results of this study should clarify the applicability of the voice principle to a broader target audience. The study investigated whether the accent of the narrator in a multimedia tutorial affected participants\u27 learning and attitudes toward the narrator. The independent variable of the study was narrator\u27s accent with two levels: native accent and non-native shared accent. The dependent variables of the study were participants\u27 learning and their attitudes toward the narrators. Sixty-five Chinese participants at a Midwestern university in the United States were randomly assigned to one of two groups in this experimental design. Data to test the dependent variables were collected through a learning achievement test and an attitude survey. Data analyses revealed that there was no significant difference in overall learning and recall level learning between the two accent groups. However, the group who heard the narration spoken with the native American English accent had significantly more positive attitudes toward their respective narrator than the group who heard the narration spoken with a non-native shared Chinese accent. The study qualifies the voice principle by establishing the limits of its generalizability to non-native English speakers. The study suggests to instructional designers that the use of a non-native shared accent should not affect students\u27 learning negatively although it may affect their attitudes toward the speakers. In addition, the study helps assure non-native instructors that they can record their own voices to use in multimedia instruction as their non-native students will learn as effectively as with a native English accent

The contribution of individual differences to L2 pronunciation learning: Insights from research and pedagogical implications

Adult second language (L2) learning often exhibits great variability in its rate and outcome. Although research shows that learning trajectories are partly shaped by social and contextual factors (e.g. Larson-Hall, 2008), certain learner factors play an important role in enhancing L2 pronunciation learning by helping L2 learners notice and process input efficiently, whereas certain learner factors may impede L2 pronunciation learning by impairing attention control or slowing down L2 input processing. Therefore, in order for language teachers to provide effective instruction and help their students improve their L2 pronunciation proficiency, it is beneficial for them to understand the differential impact of learner characteristics on L2 learning and adapt such understanding to their instruction and learning activities. The aim of the current article is to provide a review of existing studies that have explored individual differences (IDs) in relation to L2 pronunciation acquisition and to present implications for effective L2 pronunciation teaching. The article begins with an introduction of the paradigm shift in L2 pronunciation research and the conceptual framework of ID proposed by Dörnyei (2009). This is followed by a summary of the processes involved in L2 pronunciation learning. The third section focuses on the characteristics of four IDs that have been found to influence the development of L2 pronunciation. Those IDs include foreign language learning aptitude (e.g. Saito and Hanzawa, 2016), musical aptitude (e.g. Milovanov et al., 2010), L2 learning motivation (e.g. Moyer, 1999) and anxiety (e.g. Baran-Łucarz, 2016). Based on the discussion in the third section, the last section will offer various applications of IDs research findings to L2 pronunciation instruction (e.g. instructional approaches, feedback, and pronunciation syllabi) for successful L2 pronunciation teaching

BUILDING AWARENESS OF WORLD ENGLISHES AMONG UNIVERSITY PREPARATORY STUDENTS

The increasing number of non-native English speakers in the world has led to the use of varieties of English. Today, the number of speakers of English in the expanding circle has exceeded the number of speakers in the outer and inner circles. This has given rise to the scrutiny of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). In this regard, the research and studies in this particular area have increased over the last decades. The purpose of this action research was to build awareness of World Englishes (WEs) among preparatory students at a private university in Turkey. The study was mainly concerned with acquainting the group with the term and raising consciousness about this subject matter. The research was conducted in a private university in İstanbul, Turkey to 20 preparatory students aged 18-21 with A2 level English proficiency. Adapted EFL materials including videos, dialogues, reading and listening texts were utilized. The data were collected through questionnaires and reflective essays. With regard to the results, the students had an idea about the concept of WEs and they became aware of the varieties of English to some extent; specifically, they displayed consciousness about the status of English across the world and sympathy toward WEs.Keywords: world Englishes, ELF, expanding circle, lingua franc

Perception of Fa by non-native listeners in a study abroad context

The present study aims at exploring the under-investigated interface between SA and L2 phonological development by assessing the impact of a 3-month SA programme on the pronunciation of a group of 23 Catalan/Spanish learners of English (NNSs) by means of phonetic measures and perceived FA measures. 6 native speakers (NS) in an exchange programme in Spain provided baseline data for comparison purposes. The participants were recorded performing a reading aloud task before (pre-test) and immediately after (post-test) the SA. Another group of 37 proficient non-native listeners, also bilingual in Catalan/Spanish and trained in English phonetics, assessed the NNS' speech samples for degree of FA. Phonetic measures consisted of pronunciation accuracy scores computed by counting pronunciation errors (phonemic deletions, insertions and substitutions, and stress misplacement). Measures of perceived FA were obtained with two experiments. In experiment 1, the listeners heard a random presentation of the sentences produced by the NSs and by the NNSs at pre-test and post-test and rated them on a 7-point Likert scale for degree of FA (1 = “native” , 7 = “heavy foreign accent”). In experiment 2, they heard paired pre-test/post-test sentences (i.e. produced by the same NNS at pre-test and posttest) and indicated which of the two sounded more native-like. Then, they stated their judgment confidence level on a 7-point scale (1 = “unsure”, 7 = “sure”). Results indicated a slight, non-significant improvement in perceived FA after SA. However, a significant decrease was found in pronunciation accuracy scores after SA. Measures of pronunciation accuracy and FA ratings were also found to be strongly correlated. These findings are discussed in light of the often reported mixed results as regards pronunciation improvement during short-term immersion

A quantitative study of Chinese learners’ identities as reflected in their attitudes toward English accents

Once an asset owned exclusively by native English speakers (NESs) in inner circle, the native English speaking norms, specifically the standard varieties of British and American English, have been taken for granted as models for non-native English speakers (NNESs) in outer and expanding circles to imitate and approximate to. But this paradigm is under severe attack given the fact that people who use English as a lingua franca (ELF) have far outnumbered NESs. This paper aims to show how Chinese tertiary-level second language (L2) learners perceive different English accents and how their perceptions were related to their identities within the framework of ELF. By means of an online questionnaire survey, data from 574 English major students were retrieved and analysed with the assistance of SPSS 20.0 and Nvivo 11.0. The current study focuses on ambivalence in respondents’ attitudes toward different English accents. On the one hand, there was an obvious bias towards NES norms and accents and a strong bias against Chinese-accented English and other NNES accents; on the other hand, there was an emergence of linguistic rights and learner identity experienced by some respondents, which demonstrated itself in highlighting pragmaticity in communication, endorsing L1-accented Chinese identity, and questioning benchmark roles accorded to NES accent standards. The implication of the current study is to acknowledge an urgency of addressing the controversies between the linguistic reality and the prescriptive standards, and between the respondents’ hidden appeals for projecting their identity via L1-accented English and highly-acclaimed NES accent models