Native-speakerism and professional teacher identity in L2 pronunciation learning

Many studies in different contexts have examined both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ convictions about the connection between nativeness in English and professional teacher identity; however, very few studies solely focused on that connection in second language (L2) pronunciation teaching. This paper explores EFL university students’ experiences in learning English pronunciation from ‘native’- and ‘nonnative’- English-speaking teachers (NESTs and NNESTs). Based on an empirical study of undergraduates-prospective English language teachers-at the University of Jordan, the paper finds that most students still view ‘nativeness’ as the main descriptor of effective teaching, strongly believing NESTs to be the ‘authority’ and source of ‘correctness,’ both of which convictions are emblematic of native-speakerism, which in turns leads to both cultural panic and voicelessness on the part of NNESTs and learners. The study concludes with calling for the need to raise awareness among EFL students of the various manifestations of English as a global language-particularly the irrelevance of nativeness to effective teaching-and incorporating NNESTs into teaching L2 pronunciation and rejecting their marginalisation in teaching pronunciation in EFL contexts

Euphemistic strategies in Algerian Arabic and American English

This study aims to explore the use of euphemistic strategies by Alge-rians and Americans when dealing with three unpleasant topics: death, lying, and disease. It also examines the effect of degree of formality on the use of euphemistic strategies. To achieve this objective, a discourse completion task (DCT) was distributed to 21 Algerians and 21 Americans. The data were analysed using SPSS. The data analysis revealed that there are some differences and similarities between the two groups. The euphemistic strategies used by the Americans when they deal with death topics are synonyms and part for the whole. The Algerians use part for the whole, over-statement, and synonyms when they deal with death. Regarding the topic of lying, the Americans employ strategies of understatement and deletion, whereas the Algerians use understatement and metaphor. As for the topic of disease, the Americans use vagueness, and the Algerians use vagueness, metaphor, and deletion. These findings reveal that both groups resort to euphemism when dealing with these three unpleasant topics. However, their use of euphemistic strategies is culture-bound

First language and second language English editorialists’ use of interactional metadiscourse

This study explores the use of interactional1 metadiscourse by first language (L1) and second language (L2) English editorialists. The study uses Hyland’s (2019) model of metadiscourse to analyse 80 editorials published between 2020 and 2021 in The Guardian and The Jordan Times newspapers (40 from each newspaper). A mixed-method approach  – adopting quantitative and qualitative measures – was used to analyse the data. The frequency of interactional metadiscourse resources was statistically examined to find similarities and differences (if any) between the two corpora. The analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in the use of interactional metadiscourse resources in the editorials of the two newspapers. For instance, L2 editorialists used fewer hedges in their editorials and more boosters than L1 editorialists. In addition, engagement markers were used the most by L1 editorialists. The study provides some implications for editorialists who write in English and recommendations for future research

Refusal strategies used by Jordanians and Syrian refugees in Jordan

This study investigates the use and linguistic properties of refusal strategies by Jordanians and Syrian refugees in Jordan. To achieve this objective, a Discourse Completion Test (DCT), consisting of 10 situations: three requests, three offers, two invitations, and two suggestions was used. The participants were 40 (20 male and 20 female) Jordanians and 40 (20 male and 20 female) Syrian refugees in Jordan. The mixed-method data analysis resulted in a total of 1351 refusals: 719 Jordanian refusals and 632 Syrian refugees’ refusals. The refusals were classified by semantic formulas, directness (a dimension of communication style), and frequency of semantic formulas. The results show that the two groups utilize different semantic formulas with different frequencies when making their refusals. The two groups used a different number of direct and indirect formulas. Although the two groups belong to the Arabic culture, the differences were significant. One main difference is that Jordanians’ refusals were more direct and were often expressed as negative willingness, while the Syrian refugees’ refusals were less direct, providing an explanation of their refusals. The results also indicate that gender is a significant variable where females in the two samples tended to respond with lengthy responses when making their refusals, employing at least three refusal strategies

A cross-cultural analysis of disagreement strategies in Algerian and Jordanian Arabic

This study aims to explore the use of disagreement strategies in two Arabic dialects: Jordanian and Algerian Arabic. It also investigates the effect of social status on the choice of disagreement strategies adopting Muntigl’s and Turnbull’s (1998) taxonomy. To achieve these objectives, 40 participants (20 Jordanians and 20 Algerians) were randomly recruited to respond to a discourse completion task (DCT). The participants were requested to read six situations and to react to them by making disagreements with people of higher, equal and lower statuses. A mixed-method approach was used to analyse the data. The results showed that the participants in the two study groups share similar preferences in the use of two main disagreement strategies that scored the highest in High to Low, Low to High, and in Equal statuses. The findings are discussed in the light of (im)politeness and provide implications for socio-pragmatic research in Arabic linguistics

The Role of Curriculum Design and Teaching Materials in Pronunciation Learning

This paper aims to provide insights into the role of curriculum design and teaching materials in the development of English pronunciation skills in EFL contexts. One of the main contextual factors negatively affecting the development of pronunciation abilities of EFL learners relates to the ‘often-unchanging’ curriculum design and the ‘blind’ choice of teaching materials without regard to students’ needs and goals. This study utilises structured interviews and focus group discussions (N=2 sessions) to elicit the views of a group (N=71) of third- and fourth-year English-major students at a university college in Saudi Arabia on the appropriateness of the curriculum design and teaching materials to their learning expectations in the area of English pronunciation. The results show that the great majority of students spoke unfavourably about the overall curriculum and teaching materials and considered those to be among the obstacles that they encounter in their learning of English pronunciation. This finding raises the question of curriculum design of English language teaching programs and the extent to which these curricula meet the needs of learners. The study suggests that a reformation of the structure of the curriculum in the study context is urgently needed and that more involvement of students’ perspectives on the design of curricula is of major importance

Persuasive appeals in Jordanian and Algerian telecommunication television commercials

The present study seeks to explore the link between persuasion and advertising by examining the persuasive appeals used by telecommunication companies in Jordanian and Algerian television commercials. To this end, 12 television advertisements (six from Jordan and six from Algeria) were randomly selected from YouTube. The data were analysed based on previous categorisations of persuasive appeals. The findings revealed that both groups of advertisements adopted various appeals to persuade their target audience to purchase products and experience their services, and that the most widely used appeals were play on words, brand, celebrity and music appeals. These findings provide insights into the value of understanding how persuasion is used in media discourse and in different linguistic and cultural milieus

Resilience and self-efficacy in a study abroad context: A case study

AbstractThis descriptive study aims to examine English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ experiences in a study abroad context and the adaptation strategies they use to deal with academic and socio-cultural challenges. It also aims to show how the students’ experiences and resilience affect their self-efficacy. The data are collected from nine Algerian female students who were enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Jordan at the time of data collection. Face-to-face interviews and a self-efficacy scale were used to collect data from the participants. The findings reveal that the student participants faced many academic and socio-cultural challenges in the target context but managed to overcome them using adaptation strategies such as familiarizing themselves with the new teaching context and developing their self-efficacy. The results obtained from the self-efficacy scale show that most of the students developed a sense of self-efficacy, and that their study abroad experiences positively affected their level of self-efficacy

The effect of the workplace on women’s language: A view from Jordan

AbstractThis study explores the effect of the workplace on language use by Jordanian working women in terms of variety, lexis, and pronunciation. To this end, the study adopted a triangulation of research methods utilising qualitative and quantitative analyses, i.e. a questionnaire, ethnographic field notes, and interviews. Ethnographic field notes were taken for Jordanian working women in two different settings over three weeks. The questionnaire was distributed to two groups: an experimental group of 246 Jordanian working women in three different working environments in Amman, Jordan and a second group of 54 non-working women as the control group. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 working women from the experimental group. The recordings of the interviews were transcribed and analysed. The results show that the workplace strongly affects Jordanian working women’s language use, and that solidarity and professionalism are the main reasons that drive Jordanian women to change their language in their workplaces

A cross-cultural analysis of the speech act of congratulating in Kabyle and Jordanian Arabic

Congratulating others is an essential aspect of human social interaction and a speech act that is realised differently in languages. This study aims to investigate the pragmalinguistic realisations of the speech act of congratulating in Kabyle and Jordanian Arabic (JA) by comparing the strategies that Kabyle-speaking and JA-speaking students employ when offering congratulations. The data are analysed with reference to social status, gender and cultural background of the participants. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) which included four situations of different social statuses is used to collect data from 30 JA-speaking students (15 males and 15 females) at the University of Jordan and 30 Kabyle-speaking students (15 males and 15 females) from three different universities in Algeria region of Kabylie. Elwood's (2004) framework is adopted in the classification of strategies. A mixed-method approach is applied in the analysis with the frequency of strategies being quantitatively analysed and the semantic formulas vis-à-vis status are qualitatively analysed. The results show that there are slight differences in the use of congratulating strategies between the two groups of participants, and these are discussed in terms of sociopragmatic and sociocultural dimensions of variational pragmatics