The Phonological Structures of Open and Close Junctures in Utterances for English Teachers

Junctures are specific phonemes in English language and work like what the traffic lights do in the structures of phrases at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. They indicate both the pauses and continuation in the flow of speech in between or among the utterances some of which can be the cause of misperceptions and misunderstandings. At the word and phrase level, open and close junctures come to the stage to give hard times to the non-native speakers in perception of speech and production of speech. By nature, sounds signal pauses, segmentation, and which the listeners need them to perceive the spoken utterances. Close junctures take place in compound words while the open or plus junctures are situated in or among the phrases. They both change the meanings of utterances; therefore, they are accepted as phonemes in English. If they are not perceived by the listeners, they change the meanings of utterances and thus the listeners are misled and soon find themselves in communication breakdown. Key words: juncture phoneme, pause, open juncture, close junctur

DEVELOPING A MODEL FOR TEACHING THE PROBLEMATIC VOCABULARY ITEMS BY COMPUTER

This study proposes a new design of computer-based vocabulary teaching learning and teaching activity so as to enhance opportunities for learners to expand their vocabulary knowledge. There are a lot of opportunities on the internet to compensate the hampering effect of learning vocabulary items and to improve their vocabulary by means pronunciation, intonation, meaning of target language vocabulary items by using internet facilities with almost no expenses. In this research, a new vocabulary teaching model, called Morphological Pairing Model,is proposed by using electronic dictionaries, audacity programs, and text to speech labs. Some vocabulary items are really difficult to learn due to the shift of stress phonemes, internal vowel changes, intonation, and meaning variation. In this model, problem-causing words are diagnosed and then collected via diagnostic tests. Then, words are grouped in terms of morphological pairs regarding the psycholinguistic difficulties they inherit. Later, the pronunciation and transcription of them are put together in isolation for repetition by downloading them from the electronic dictionaries. Finally, some sentences for each vocabulary item are written down, and while the speaking robots from the Text to Speech Labsread them out, they are downloaded by the Audacity programs. After this, the foreign language teacher designs different types of exercises and practices them in native speaker-like pronunciation and intonation in form of a PowerPoint, which is handed over to the students at the end of the lesson after the classroom practices are over for further practice on their own.                                                                                                                                      

Long vowels versus diphthongs in North American English: Which one is easy to recognize and hear?

The aim of this presentation is to measure to what extent long vowels are confused with diphthongs by Turkish English majors. A diphthong is made of two components. By definition and sound structure, diphthongs are a combination of two separate vowel sounds that, when uttered, the first vowel glides onto the second vowel forming a single syllable, as heard in /aɪ, aʊ, eɪ, oʊ, ɔɪ/. By nature, diphthongs happen to be long vowels. Long vowels, on the other hand, do not include two vowels that do not glide, as in /ɑ:, i:, u:, ju:, ɔ:, ɜ:/. No vowel sound has a fixed length and many other factors affect length, such as the voiced consonant sound directly after a vowel sound will affect its length (voicing), reduction and intonation. It is said that to hear vowel sounds within words is easier than it is to hear the sound alone. Long vowels are generally said to be the easiest vowels for non-native English speakers to distinguish and hear correctly. This assumption will be tested with 30 instructors of English language education who are enrolled for MA degree at a foundation university in Ankara. The perception of long vowels vs diphthongs in written words and the audition of them in oral forms were measured within two separate applications of a pre-test and a post-test. It was discovered that the Turkish English instructors perceived the diphthongs (86, 3%) better than long vowels (73,3% ). It was deduced that the main cause of learning difficulty behind the diphthongs and long vowels, apart from L1 intervention, was the fact that Turkish learners of English suffer from a psycho-orthographic trauma created by the spelling of the diphthongs and long vowels by means of several letters

THE PLACE OF PRONUNCIATION SPELLING IN TEACHER TRAINING

A pronunciation spelling (henceforth, PS) is supposed to represent a pronunciation more closely than a traditional spelling. The converse of spelling pronunciation is pronunciation spelling: the creation of a new spelling form on the basis of pronunciation. It indicates a pronunciation of a word that is influenced by its spelling and does not follow standard usage. In pronunciation spelling, there is the spelling of words intended to match a certain pronunciation more closely than the traditional spelling. They are frequently used in speech in colloquial English.  It is also accepted as contraction, but this is not true because PS goes beyond contractions and has more complicated structures.  In this research, the problem- causing influence of pronunciation spelling on 30 MA students in a foundation university was being investigated. It was discovered that after a three-hour intense teaching period the perception of the participants’pronunciation spelling on words, phrases, clauses, and sentences developed from 65 % to 76 %

Cognitive-Code Learning Theory and Foreign Language Learning Relations

There are many competing theories on foreign language teaching. Teachers who have been trained in foreign-language education, bilingual education, ESL education, and related fields — such as linguistics — usually have learned about predominant second-language-learning theories and their correlated instructional implications (Fitzgerald, 1994:339). Cognitive -code learning theory (CCLT) is a theory of L1 and L2 studies and research. This view was developed in the 1960s as an alternative to Behaviorism (Richards & ‎S. Rodgers (2014:26).  CCLT is said to have briefly replaced behaviorism in the late 1960s.  At this time, Chomsky’s theory of Transformational generative Grammar, which claimed language is rule-governed and creative, strongly emphasized rule-governed nature of language and language acquisition, rather than habit formation: this trend gave rise to CCLT in which language learners are encouraged to work out grammar rules deductively for themselves.According to Dulay et al. (1982:140), Chomsky and his followers, with their influential papers, influenced the theory of language, and also the theory of language learning ‘overnight.’  Chomsky alone started to bombard the background of the Behaviorist Approach by his establishment of a new approach called the Cognitive-code Approach, which, in turn, gave an offspring called Cognitive code-learning Theory within the influences of Cognitive Psychology. It was intended as an alternative to the Audio-lingual Method which stresses habit formation as a learn-by-doing-activity (Demirezen, 1988a:161) within the process of language learning; also, it is contrary to Behavioral perspective, the Developmental perspective and the Constructivist perspective. Because of emphasis of Cognitive Theory, which the initiator of CCLT, on studying a foreign language as a system of rules and rule-governed behaviors and knowledge, the cognitive approach is sometimes considered the modern version of the grammar-translation method.CCLT is a subset of Cognitive- code Approach (Richards & ‎Rodgers (2014). It was also advocated by cognitive psychologists and applied linguists such as J. B. Carroll (1916–2003) and K. Chastain (1971), in the 1960s.  J. B. Carroll was an American psychologist known for his contributions to psychology and educational linguistics.  CCLT is also based on Gestalt psychology which states learning should be holistic. Carroll and Chastain proposed the cognitive- code approach to the study of a second language as an alternative to the audio-lingual method dominant at the time. They advocated the conscious study of language rules as central to the learning of a foreign language.CCLT is accepted as a merger of Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar and Carroll’s Psychology (Carroll, 1965). It is based on Gestalt psychology as well as formational Generative Grammar (Chastain, 1969:98).  "...learning a language is a process of acquiring conscious control of the phonological, grammatical, and lexical patterns of the second language, largely through study and analysis of these patterns as a body of knowledge." (Carroll, 1966:102). A conscious study of language rules as central to the learning of a foreign language. As a theory, it attaches more importance to the learner's understanding of the structure of the foreign language. Rule- deduction is a facility, which develops automatically with use of the language in meaningful situations within meaningful drillings.By emphasizing mental processes, CCLT places itself in opposition to behaviorism, which largely ignores mental processes. Therefore, CCLT is briefly said to have replaced Behaviorism in the late 1960s.  The term “cognitive-code” indicates any conscious attempt to organize foreign language teaching materials around a grammatical syllabus so as to make way for meaningful practice and practical use of language. One of its most important precepts is meaningful practice. Language practice is must be meaningful, then the learner understands the rules involved in practice in relation to the goal of gaining conscious control of the grammatical, lexical, and auditory patterns. Thus, CCLT represents a sharp contrast to the Audio-lingual Method which relies on pattern drills as a means of teaching syntax, with explicit explanation of grammatical rules

Comparison of the impacts of different multimodalities on incidental L2 vocabulary learning

Multimodality of input in incidental L2 vocabulary learning has recently been a topic of interest among language acquisition researchers, yet the results have been somewhat contradictory. This study seeks to compare the impacts of two different multimodalities on incidental L2 vocabulary learning, namely, reading-plus-watching (experimental group I) vs. reading-plus-listening (experimental group II), as compared to the reading only condition, which is included as a control measure. Experimental group I watched and read the transcriptions of four news texts with electronic glosses for the target words, while experimental group II read and listened to the same news texts again with electronic glosses for the same 20 target words. Next, the two experimental groups swapped roles with a new set of four news texts glossed for another group of 20 target words. The control group only read the same eight news texts without glosses. The results suggest that reading-plus-listening can be a more conducive multimodal presentation for incidental vocabulary learning as compared to reading-plus-watching. The results also challenge the validity of some principles of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning in incidental L2 vocabulary learning, while providing supporting evidence for some other principles

The auditory perception of north american English diphthongs in vocabulary items by english teachers in Turkey

Diphthongs are double vowel sounds made by combining two vowels in the same syllable.During their articulation in the oral cavity, the first vowel sound glides onto the next vowelfrom one position of the mouth to another within the same syllable. That’s why they are heardas single-vowel phonemes by listeners. Because of a gliding movement in their articulation,most learners find them difficult to articulate and understand them at first. Hence, they can betricky sounds to master for non-native speakers. The aim of this research is to explore theperceptibility of North American English diphthongs (NAE), which are /a?, o?, e?, ??, a?/ byTurkish English language teachers. A pre-test will be used to measure the perception of themin vocabulary items, which will be given to 30 Turkish English language teachers in a five scalemultiple choice tests. The participants will be asked to choose the correct option. Then, a threehour implicit and explicit teaching will be conducted by doing practices in a variety of exercisesin the classroom. After the elapse of two weeks, the same pre-test will be administrated to theparticipants as a post-test. A comparison and contrast of the two tests results will be made tofind out the existence and degrees of the perceptibility of the diphthongs in vocabulary itemsby Turkish English language teachers

Investigation of the mediator role of life satisfaction in the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility and psychological well-being

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of life satisfaction in the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility levels and psychological well-being. In this study, which was designed in the relational research model, which is one of the quantitative research types, psychological well-being of pre-service teachers was determined as the dependent variable, cognitive flexibility levels as the independent variable, and life satisfaction as the mediating variable. In addition, the study group of the research consists of 173 pre-service teachers studying at Akdeniz University Faculty of Education in the 2021-2022 academic year and participating in the research voluntarily. Research data were collected with Life Satisfaction Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Scale and Psychological Well-Being Scale. The problem situation was determined by the researchers for the data obtained from the aforementioned scales and it was tested by conducting mediation analysis. SPSS 25 and LISREL 8.80 programs were used to analyze the data. Besides, the hypotheses determined by the researchers were tested using the Process Macro developed by Hayes. Within the scope of the research, it was concluded that the cognitive flexibility level of pre-service teachers has a significant effect on psychological well-being and life satisfaction has a mediating role in this effect. In this context, it can be said that it is possible to improve the psychological well-being of pre-service teachers by increasing their cognitive flexibility levels. Also, suggestions have been made to guide the researchers in future studies. As a result, hypotheses regarding the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility levels and life satisfaction were confirmed and the tested model was presented based on the literature

THE AUDITORY PERCEPTION OF NORTH AMERICAN ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS IN VOCABULARY ITEMS BY ENGLISH TEACHERS IN TURKEY

Abstract Diphthongs are double vowel sounds made by combining two vowels in the same syllable.  During their articulation in the oral cavity, the first vowel sound glides onto the next vowel from one position of the mouth to another within the same syllable. That’s why they are heard as single-vowel phonemes by listeners. Because of a gliding movement in their articulation, most learners find them difficult to articulate and understand them at first. Hence, they can be tricky sounds to master for non-native speakers. The aim of this research is to explore the perceptibility of North American English diphthongs (NAE), which are /aʊ, oʊ, eɪ, ɔɪ, aɪ/ by Turkish English language teachers. A pre-test will be used to measure the perception of in vocabulary items, which will be given to 30 Turkish English language teachers in a five scale multiple choice tests. The participants will be asked to choose the correct option. Then, a three-hour implicit and explicit teaching will be conducted by doing practices in a variety of exercises in the classroom. After the elapse of two weeks, the same pre-test will be administrated to the participants as a post-test. A comparison and contrast of the two tests results will be made to find out the existence and degrees of the perceptibility of the diphthongs in vocabulary items by Turkish English language teachers. Keywords: diphthong, monophthong, long vowel, vowel length, perceptio