Re-examining Phonological and Lexical Correlates of Second Language Comprehensibility:The Role of Rater Experience

Few researchers and teachers would disagree that some linguistic aspects of second language (L2) speech are more crucial than others for successful communication. Underlying this idea is the assumption that communicative success can be broadly defined in terms of speakers’ ability to convey the intended meaning to the interlocutor, which is frequently captured through a listener-based rating of comprehensibility or ease of understanding (e.g. Derwing & Munro, 2009; Levis, 2005). Previous research has shown that communicative success – for example, as defined through comprehensible L2 speech – depends on several linguistic dimensions of L2 output, including its segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation, fluency-based characteristics, lexical and grammatical content, as well as discourse structure (e.g. Field, 2005; Hahn, 2004; Kang et al., 2010; Trofimovich & Isaacs, 2012). Our chief objective in the current study was to explore the L2 comprehensibility construct from a language assessment perspective (e.g. Isaacs & Thomson, 2013), by targeting rater experience as a possible source of variance influencing the degree to which raters use various characteristics of speech in judging L2 comprehensibility. In keeping with this objective, we asked the following question: What is the extent to which linguistic aspects of L2 speech contributing to comprehensibility ratings depend on raters’ experience

A Review of Research on the Chinese EFL Learners’ Production of Linguistic Prosody in Turn Organization

Prosody features play crucial roles in the management and organization of conversations, among which turn-taking plays crucial roles in conversation organization. The appropriate use of prosodic features is an indispensable part of conversation strategies or skills, but the interaction between linguistic prosody and turn-taking is difficult to be acquired for EFL learners. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical studies of interrelation between prosody and turn-taking, and the EFL learners’ acquisition of prosody in conversation organization in order to supply references for future studies in the similar fields

Multilingualism and third language acquisition : Learning and teaching trends

The purpose of this book is to present recent studies in the field of multilingualism and L3, bringing together contributions from an international group of specialists from Austria, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States. The main focuses of the articles are three: language acquisition, language learning and teaching. A collection of theoretical and empirical articles from scholars of multilingualism and language acquisition makes the book a significant resource as the papers present a wide perspective from main theories to current issues, reflecting new trends in the field. The authors focus on the heterogeneity and complexity that characterize third language acquisition, multilingual learning and teaching. As the issues addressed in this book intersect, it represents an asset and therefore the texts will be of great relevance for the scientific community. Part I presents different topics of L3 acquisition, such as syntax, phonology, working memory and selective attention, and lexicon. Part II comprises texts that show how the research on language acquisition informs pedagogical issues. For instance, the role of the knowledge of previous languages in the teaching of L3, the attitudes of multilingual teachers to plurilingual approaches, and the benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy versus classroom monolingual bias. In sequence, Part III consists of texts on individual learning strategies, such as motivation and attitudes, crosslinguistic awareness, and students’ perceptions about teachers’ “plurilingual nonnativism”. All these chapters include several different languages in contact in an acquisition/learning context: Basque, English, French, German, Italian, Ladin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning and teaching trends

The purpose of this book is to present recent studies in the field of multilingualism and L3, bringing together contributions from an international group of specialists from Austria, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States. The main focuses of the articles are three: language acquisition, language learning and teaching. A collection of theoretical and empirical articles from scholars of multilingualism and language acquisition makes the book a significant resource as the papers present a wide perspective from main theories to current issues, reflecting new trends in the field. The authors focus on the heterogeneity and complexity that characterize third language acquisition, multilingual learning and teaching. As the issues addressed in this book intersect, it represents an asset and therefore the texts will be of great relevance for the scientific community. Part I presents different topics of L3 acquisition, such as syntax, phonology, working memory and selective attention, and lexicon. Part II comprises texts that show how the research on language acquisition informs pedagogical issues. For instance, the role of the knowledge of previous languages in the teaching of L3, the attitudes of multilingual teachers to plurilingual approaches, and the benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy versus classroom monolingual bias. In sequence, Part III consists of texts on individual learning strategies, such as motivation and attitudes, crosslinguistic awareness, and students’ perceptions about teachers’ “plurilingual nonnativism”

Intonation and second language acquisition : a study of the acquisition of English intonation by speakers of other languages

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA) research, the study of intonation, and prosodic systems generally, suffers from a considerable under-representation.This has far-reaching consequences. From the large body of empirical work on various aspects of SLA over the last three decades, a great deal has been turned to pedagogical use. Indeed, the field of SLA is closely linked to that of language pedagogy, as the dual acquisition theoretical and pedagogical character of many current journals and conferences shows.However, the mutually nourishing relationship between SLA research and language teaching suffers if either component is inadequate.In the case of intonation, this is exactly the case. At a time when the processes of SLA are under analysis from a wide range of linguistic, psychological and sociolinguistic perspectives, relatively little is known, even on a simple descriptive level, about the acquisition of intonation. There is no body of studies of L2 intonational form comparable, for example, to the 'morpheme studies' or to studies of 'developmental sequences' which informed much thinking in the field in the 1970s and 1980s (see Ellis 1994, Ch.3); no substantial body of work, that is, which might form the basis of further research.The present study aims to contribute to current knowledge on the acquisition of intonational form in second languages. It seeks to provide a detailed account of how certain aspects of L2 English intonation develop, both in terms of their phonetics, and also in terms of the linguistic and discoursal ends to which they are put. The study is divided into two parts:Part One: in which the theoretical and descriptive bases of the study are established. It deals first with aspects of intonational form in English, describing in detail the prosodic systems which are employed to mark various aspects of informational structure within the spoken language, and also considers briefly the current state of language teaching in these areas (Chapter One). Then a review of research into the acquisition of sound systems in second languages is presented, looking particularly at intonational form and other aspects of prosodic production and perception (Chapter Two).Part Two: in which the experiments which have been undertaken as part of this study are presented. Firstly, the procedural and analytical aspects of these experiments will be described (Chapter Three). The findings will then be presented and discussed (Chapters Four to Seven). Finally, findings will be summarised and some general conclusions drawn (Chapter Eight)

Multilingualism and third language acquisition

The purpose of this book is to present recent studies in the field of multilingualism and L3, bringing together contributions from an international group of specialists from Austria, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United A All these chapters include several different languages in contact in an acquisition/learning context: Basque, English, French, German, Italian, Ladin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. Part I presents different topics of L3 acquisition, such as syntax, phonology, working memory and selective attention, and lexicon. Part II comprises texts that show how the research on language acquisition informs pedagogical issues. For instance, the role of the knowledge of previous languages in the teaching of L3, the attitudes of multilingual teachers to plurilingual approaches, and the benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy versus classroom monolingual bias. In sequence, Part III consists of texts on individual learning strategies, such as motivation and attitudes, crosslinguistic awareness, and students’ perceptions about teachers’ “plurilingual nonnativism”. The authors focus on the heterogeneity and complexity that characterize third language acquisition, multilingual learning and teaching. As the issues addressed in this book intersect, it represents an asset and therefore the texts will be of great relevance for the scientific community. Collection of theoretical and empirical articles from scholars of multilingualism and language acquisition makes the book a significant resource as the papers present a wide perspective from main theories to current issues, reflecting new trends in the field. States. The main focuses of the articles are three: language acquisition, language learning and teaching

Fonetické aspekty plynulosti ve čtené a spontánní řeči

The aim of this BA thesis was to compare linking and prosodic phrasing parameters in the recordings of students of English and American studies. We examined the speech of B2 Czech speakersof Englishwithstrongly accentedpronunciation to see whether thecompletion of English Phoneticsand Phonology course hadan impact on students' performance of these aspects of fluency. We analyzed two sets of recordings by 8 speakers, one was recorded when participants were in their first year of studies, another a couple of years later. We analyzedrecordings from Prague Phonetic and LINDSEI corpora, where we counted the numberof linked vsglottalized words, analyzed the structuring of prosodic phrases, and measured their temporal characteristics such as the length of prosodic phrases and speech rate. The use of linking was found to be significantly higherand prevailing over glottalizationin later recordings. Participants were successful in structuring logic prosodic phrases in both sets of recordings.No dynamicchangesin temporal characteristics of prosodic phrasing were observed.These results show thattraining thepronunciation of linking leads to a long-term improvement of skills. However, the same cannot be stated about the prosodic phrasingperformancewithin the framework of this study. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)Hlavním cílem této bakalářské prácebylo porovnat vázání a některé prozodické parametry vnahrávkách studentů anglistiky-amerikanistiky. Zkoumali jsme řeč českých mluvčích angličtiny -na úrovni B2 -se sílným přízvukem,za účelem zjištění, zda absolvování kurzu fonetiky a fonologie angličtiny mělo vliv na zlepšení těchtoaspektů v plynulosti řeči. Analyzovali jsme dva soubory nahrávek 8 mluvčích, první souborbyl nahrán,když účastníky byli vprvním ročníku studia, a druhý o několik let později. Zpracovávali jsme nahrávky Pražského Fonetického a LINDSEI korpusu, ve kterých jsme spočítali korelaci mezi vázanýmia glotalizovanýmislovy, analyzovali jsme strukturování prozodických frází, změřili jsme jejich temporální charakteristiky,jako třeba délkuprozodických frází čimluvní tempo. Bylo zjištěno, že použití vázání se výrazně zlepšilo a začalopřevládatnad glotalizací. Žádné dynamické změný vtemporálních charakteristikách prozodického frazovánínebyly nalezeny. Výsledky tohoto výzkumu ukazují, že cvičení výslovnosti vázání vede kdlouhodobému zlepšení návyků. Nicméněse, vrámci tohotovýzkumu,nedá použit stejné tvrzení ohledně prozodického frázování. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)Ústav anglického jazyka a didaktikyDepartment of the English Language and ELT MethodologyFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult

Second Language Acquisition

This volume presents a collection of current research on pedagogies, practices and perspectives in the field of second language acquisition. It brings together different aspects of learning, teaching and researching a second language with chapters covering a range of topics from emotional communication, pragmatic competence, transformative pedagogy, inclusion, reflective teaching and innovative research methodologies. The authors address a global audience to offer insights into contemporary theories, research, policies and practices in second language acquisition. This collection of work is aimed at students, teachers and researchers wishing to reflect on current developments and identify potential research directions