Author: gustavorernesto

PDF #42 – Iranian English Language Learners’ Attitude towards their Accent in English Language An Ecological Approach 

Exotic Accents in English- With the spread of English around the world and the recognition of English as a lingua franca (ELF), a large number of studies have investigated the attitudes of learners towards different varieties of English as well as their related accents. However, this attitude towards L1 accented English within the context of Iran has not been explored yet.

Thus, the present study ecologically investigated the attitudes of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners towards their L1-accented English based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) nested ecosystems model consisting of micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro- systems.

To do this, a triangulation of data collection using an attitudinal questionnaire distributed among 157 respondents (118 female and 39 male) and semi- structured interviews with 60 participants (38 female and 22 male) were collected. The findings indicated a dominant emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the ecology of Iran along with the acknowledgement of L1 accented English.

Maintaining linguistic security and self-confidence as well as teachers’ role and materials used within the microsystem of the class, learners’ background experiences within the mesosystem, policies of English language institutes at the ecosystem, and the public view towards accent at the macrosystem contributed to the emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the context of Iran.

Foreign Loanwords in English and the “Exotic Charm” of Accents

Some foreign words imported into English have “diacritical marks”, better known as “accents”. Most of these words are from French but there are many also from Spanish, Portuguese, German and other languages. Just how important to the English language are accented characters?

And will they withstand the test of time? asks the author of this article for the “Week”. For example, in English one no longer puts the circumflex accent on rôle or hôtel, and résumé is often written with no accents or one only. But sometimes accents are added even if there is no reason: latté has no accent in Italian, where the word comes, and maté has none in Spanish and Portuguese.

The double-dot crown named “umlaut,” is so fashionable that it is even being added to English words (e.g. the Blue Öyster Cult band) and used in US brands (Söfft shoes). Why? Some claim accents have an “exotic charm”. Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, says “Sojourning in a chateau can’t be nearly as much fun as sojourning in a château!”

ccents are actually also very useful when you need to distinguish between rose and rosé, divorce and divorcé, expose and exposé, says the author. The downsides? Accents don’t show up in web addresses and are rarely reproduced in newspapers, say critics. The Chicago Manual of Style, leading guide for book publishers, for its part, “plants its flag squarely in the accent camp”. And, thanks to Unicode, a variety of accents are available, and even smartphone users now have plenty to choose from.

After reading “Exotic Accents in English” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #41 – Brazilian Accents of English An International Attitude Study

Brazilian Accents in English – We live days in which the English language is being used by peoples from many parts of the globe, 80% of them are non-native (Crystal 2006) and use the language to a diversity of intercultural encounters (Seidlhofer 2011).

This reality has demanded a decentralization of the symbolic ownership of the English language. We, researchers on English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), believe that taking the native Standards as the only target reveals a restrictive and outdated approach when it comes to our students’ needs.

It is in this context that studies are being developed aiming to build up to the recognition of the legitimacy of non-hegemonic Englishes. As the accent is considered the first and most powerful aspect of language to provoke reactions to language variations (Jenkins 2007), this research is going to investigate the attitude of 18 foreign speakers of English towards 2 samples of a local Brazilian accent of English.

The relevance of this study is in the reflections prompted by the data for the linguistic authorship of the Brazilian speakers of English starting from the accent. This conceptual effort is congruous with the issues addressed by a revolutionary critical pedagogy, decentralized of its whiteness, self-reflective and sensitive to the needs of others (Scheyerl 2012).

After reading “Brazilian Accents in English” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #40 – Theory and Practice in Applied Linguistics

1 – Indigenous Middle Belt Peoples and their Hausa Neighbours: Linguistic Right, Politics and Power in Nigeria Adegboye Adeyanju

2 – Relationships between Reading Span Tasks and L2 Learning: Possibilities for Concern Involving Construct Equivalency Cem Alptekin & Gülcan Erçetin

3 – The summarising function of university Engineering lectures: a cross-cultural perspective Siân Alsop & Hilary Nesi

4 – The role of (meta)linguistic awareness in cross-linguistic interferences of L3
English Tanja Angelovska

5 – Online Language Choice and Identity: The case of 3arabizi, Salafi English, and Arabic Robert Bianchi

6 – An Analysis of the Washback Effect of TEM-4 on Teaching of English Majors – Taking Beijing Sport University as an Example Han Bing, Tian Hui & Liu Lirui

7 – The variability of lexical diversity and its relationship to learning style. Paul Booth

8 – Idea Generation in L1 and FL Writing Esther Breuer

9 – The emergence of Applied Linguistics in France – investigated through its scientific Journals (1962-2012) Danielle Candel

10 – Test-taker familiarity and speaking test performance: Does it make a difference? Lucy Chambers & Evelina D Galaczi

11 – A study of formulaic language in Chinese EFL learners writing at university level Jiaoyue Chen

12 – The role of context in forming young learners’ attitudes and motivation to
learning French Louise Courtney

13 – Students’ rights in higher education classrooms: An exploration of tutors’
beliefs and their turn-taking practices Doris Dippold

14 – The Story of Young Jae: JSL learning experience of a Korean School Age Sojourner in Tokyo Sachiyo FujitaRound

15 – ‘I don’t want to talk about the bullshit’: Foreigner talk and the Quest for
Authenticity Shuang Gao

16 – Black College Students: Their Motivation and Anxiety Levels Regarding Foreign Language Acquisition

After reading “Theory and Practice in Applied Linguistics” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #39 – Peace Corps TEFL TESL Teaching English as a Foreign or Second

Teaching English as a Foreign Language- TEFL/TESL: Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language is for Volunteers who are currently teaching or who are about to teach English. It is a practical guide for the classroom teacher.

The manual describes procedures and offers sample exercises and activities for a wide range of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, whole-class, small-group, and individual participation, classroom testing and preparing students for national examinations.

It covers a great variety of teaching situations, primary and secondary schools and college, the office or workplace, school and work settings which have limited facilities for instruction and those which provide ample support, any geographical or cultural setting where Peace Corps Volunteers may be found.

Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) refers to teaching the English language to students with different first languages, typically used to imply that the English Language Learner may have already learned more than one language, prior to learning English. TEFL can occur either within the state school system or more privately, at a language school or with a tutor.

TEFL can also take place in an English-speaking country for people who have immigrated there (either temporarily for school or work, or permanently). TEFL teachers may be native or non-native speakers of English. Other acronyms are TESL (teaching English as a second language), TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages), and ESL (English as a second language, a term typically used in English-speaking countries, and more often referring to the learning than the teaching).

Students who are learning English as a second language are known as ESL (English as a second language) or EFL (English as a foreign language) students. More generally, these students are referred to as ELL (English language learner) students. Some of these terms are not in widespread use outside of the materials of providers of various programs and materials.

After reading “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #38 – Esayas Teshome Taddese – The Practice of Teaching Speaking Skills the case of three Secondary Schools in Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia

Teaching Speaking Skills – The primary purpose of this study was to explore the practice of teaching speaking skill in selected secondary schools in Gedeo Zone, Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, the research used descriptive survey research design.The participantsof the study consist of 11 (9 male, 2 female) secondary school teachers and 272 grade 9 students.

Questionnaire, interview and classroom observation were the data collection tools. The data analysis, interpretation and discussion of the findings indicated the practice of teaching speaking skill depends on few interactive activities named group discussion; brainstorming and pair work with little follow up discussion on the side of the teachers.

The balance between the accuracy and fluency aspect of speaking skills lacks equilibrium with more emphasis placed on accuracy practice. The factors that challenge the practice of teaching speaking skill include large class size, use of mother tongue during discussions, inhibition and fear of making mistake on the side of the students and shortage of practice time.

After reading “Teaching Speaking Skills” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #37 – Jack C Richard and Theodore S Rodgers – Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching 

Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching is designed to provide a detailed account of major twentieth-century trends in language teaching. To highlight the similarities and differences between approaches and methods. This model is presented in Chapter 2 and is used in subsequent chapters. It describes approaches and methods according to their underlying theories of language and language learning; the learning objectives; the syllabus model used; the roles of teachers, learners, and materials within the method or approach; and the classroom procedures and techniques that the method uses.

This new edition is an extensive revision of the first edition of this successful text. Like the first edition, it surveys the major approaches and methods in language teaching, such as grammar translation, audiolingualism, communicative language teaching, and the natural approach. This edition includes new chapters on topics such as whole language, multiple intelligences, neurolinguistic programming, competency-based language teaching, cooperative language learning, content-based instruction, task-based language teaching, and the Post-Methods Era. Teachers and teachers-in-training will discover that this second edition is a comprehensive survey and analysis of the major and minor teaching methods used around the world.

Teaching a foreign language can be a challenging but rewarding job that opens up entirely new paths of communication to students. It’s beneficial for teachers to have knowledge of the many different language learning techniques including ESL teaching methods so they can be flexible in their instruction methods, adapting them when needed.

Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about the most popular foreign language teaching methods. Some of the ones covered are the communicative approach, total physical response, the direct method, task-based language learning, sugguestopedia, grammar-translation, the audio-lingual approach and more.

After reading “Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.