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1

Developing language awareness: A study of Japanese students’ perceptions toward English language education

100%

Yamada M.

Language, Discourse & Society

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2018

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vol. 6

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issue 2

133-150

EN

In globalized societies where English uses and users are diverse, promoting intercultural communication skills becomes important in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education curricula. Drawing on discussions of language awareness, this article explores how Japanese EFL teacher trainees perceive their own English learning and use and how they plan to structure their future English teaching within a multicultural and multilingual Japan. To elicit actual voices and experiences of EFL teacher candidates, in-depth interviews were conducted with Japanese students who were enrolled in the English language teaching courses at one of Japan’s national universities. The article discusses the findings from interviews, and suggests that as a part of EFL teacher training, both teachers and learners should be encouraged to foster language attitudes in order to establish more egalitarian intercultural relationships among English users.

2

Phonotactic Probabilities and Sub-syllabic Segmentation in Language Learning

88%

Luef E. M., Resnik P.

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

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2023

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vol. 9

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issue 1

1-31

EN

High phonotactic probabilities are known to exert a facilitative effect on word learning in children and adults in their first language. The present study was designed to investigate the role of phonotactic probabilities when learning a foreign language. Focusing on Austrian and Korean learners of English, we investigated two hypotheses related to phonotactic frequency effects: (1) High-frequency segments have more deeply entrenched phonetic representations, with more automatized pronunciation patterns, rendering phonetic learning of homophonous segments more difficult; (2) High-frequency segments are associated with higher phonetic variability in the first language, which can facilitate phonetic learning in a foreign language. Additionally, the locus of phoneme/ bigram frequency effects was analyzed in relation to left-branching and right-branching syllable structure in German and Korean. We found that proximity to English voice-onset time is correlated with phoneme and bigram frequencies in the first language, but results varied by learner group. Sub-syllabic segmentation of the first language was also shown to be an influential factor. Our study is grounded in research on frequency effects and combines its central premise with phonetic learning in a foreign language. The results show a tight relationship between first language statistical probabilities and phonetic learning in a foreign language.

3

The Dynamics of Needs in a Course in English Phonetics for In-Service Primary School Teachers of English

63%

Kapranov O.

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

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2020

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vol. 6

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issue 2

107-132

DE

Dieser Artikel stellt eine Studie zur Dynamik der Bedürfnisse von berufstätigen Lehrenden für Englisch als Fremdsprache (EFL) in der Grundschule vor, die an einem Kurs zur englischen Phonetik an einer regionalen Universität in Norwegen teilnehmen. Der Kurs richtet sich an Englischlehrende (im Weiteren als „Teilnehmer“ bezeichnet), die ihren Vollzeitunterricht mit der Beteiligung an Kursen für Englisch als Fremdsprache verbinden. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es herauszufinden, wie sich die Dynamik der Bedürfnisse der Teilnehmer über einen Zeitraum von zwei Semestern ändert. Die Forschung basiert auf den theoretischen Prämissen der Bedarfsanalyse (NA) von Hyland (2006), der die Bedürfnisse von Fremdsprachenlernenden als einen kontinuierlichen Prozess betrachtet, der sich im Laufe der Zeit ändert. Die Ergebnisse der Bedarfsanalyse verweisen darauf, dass die Teilnehmer am Anfang ein starkes Bedürfnis nach Abschluss des Sprachunterrichts auf einem höheren Niveau zum Ausdruck bringen, um eine Fremdsprache an der Grundschule zu unterrichten. Diese Einstellung entwickelt sich jedoch gegen Ende des Kurses dahingehend, dass der Rolle des Lehrers, der als nachzuahmendes Vorbild für Lernenden im Bereich der Geläufigkeit, der Intonation und des Unterrichtens nur in der Fremdsprache fungiert, mehr Gewicht beigemessen wird. Diese Beobachtungen bilden eine Basis für weitere Überlegungen in dieser Arbeit.

EN

This article presents a study that seeks to explore the dynamics of needs experienced by a group of in-service primary school teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) who are enrolled in a course in English phonetics at a regional university in Norway. The course in English phonetics is designed for the group of EFL teachers (further – participants) who combine working full-time with taking in-service EFL courses. The aim of the study is to explore how the dynamics of the participants’ needs change within the time frame of two semesters. The study is based upon theoretical premises of needs analysis (further – NA) formulated by Hyland (2006), who regards EFL learners’ needs as a continuous process that changes over time. The results of NA indicate that whereas initially the participants explicitly express the need for obtaining tertiary-level education in English to be able to teach English at primary school, their needs change towards the end of the course to involve the focus on becoming role models in an EFL classroom, paying attention to speech fluency, intonation, and conducting English-only EFL classes. These findings will be further discussed in the article.

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2 Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

1 Language, Discourse & Society

1 Kapranov O.

1 Luef E. M.

1 Resnik P.

1 Yamada M.

1 2023

1 2021

1 2018

Developing language awareness: A study of Japanese students’ perceptions toward English language education

Phonotactic Probabilities and Sub-syllabic Segmentation in Language Learning

The Dynamics of Needs in a Course in English Phonetics for In-Service Primary School Teachers of English