• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

This paper investigated the rhythmic features of speakers of English as a lingua franca in Asian contexts. A speech corpus of 150 conversations between speakers of English in Asia with different L1 backgrounds was collected and %V, ${\Delta}V$, VarcoV, and nPVI-V of each speaker were analyzed. It was found that L1 difference of the speakers and the speakers' daily use of English influenced %V, while the speakers' daily use of English influenced ${\Delta}V$. The gender difference of the speakers also affected the rhythm of the utterances in VarcoV. A weak correlation between the two speakers' rhythm in each conversation was also found in %V and ${\Delta}V$. No significant effects were found in nPVI-V. The results revealed that the speakers tended to accommodate the rhythm of their utterance to that of the interlocutors'. Further study on the speaking rate of the speakers is required to overcome some inconsistencies found in the results of the rhythmic metrics used in this study.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-39
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• 2023

Recent research in usage-based Second Language Acquisition has provided new insights into second language (L2) learners' development of formulaic language (Wulff, 2019). The current study examines the use of phrase-frames, which are recurring sequences of words including one or more variable slots (e.g., it is * that), in written and oral production data from Asian learners of English across four proficiency levels (beginner, low-intermediate, high-intermediate, advanced) and native English speakers. The variability, predictability, and discourse functions of the most frequent 4-word phrase-frames from the written essay and spoken dialogue sub-corpora of the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) were analyzed and then compared across groups and modes. The results revealed that while learners' phrase-frames in writing became more variable and unpredictable as proficiency increased, no clear developmental patterns were found in speaking, although all groups used more fixed and predictable phrase-frames than the reference group. Further, no developmental trajectories in the functions of the most frequent phrase-frames were found in both modes. Additionally, lower-level learners and the reference group used more variable phrase-frames in speaking, whereas advanced-level learners showed more variability in writing. This study contributes to a better understanding of the development of L2 phraseological competence.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.11-17
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• 2018

This study reports on a production experiment designed to investigate how Korean speaking learners of English produce English forms ending in stops. In a repetition experiment, Korean participants listened to English nonce words ending in a stop and repeated what they heard. English speakers were recruited for the same task as a control group. The experimental result indicated that the transcriptions of the Korean productions by English native speakers showed vowel insertion in only 3% of productions although the pronunciation of English final stops showed that noise intervals after the closure of final stops were significantly longer for Korean speakers than for English speakers. This finding is inconsistent with the loanword data where 49% of words showed vowel insertion. It is also not compatible with the perceptual similarity approach, which predicts that because Korean speakers accurately perceive an English final stop as a final consonant, they will insert a vowel to make the English sound more similar to the Korean sound.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.41-55
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• 2023

In data-driven learning (DDL), learners explore a corpus to understand vocabulary and grammar. Although many studies have emphasized the role of DDL in second language (L2) acquisition, L2 light verbs have been largely under-explored. To bridge this gap, this study focused on the learning outcomes of L2 light verbs among 29 intermediate-level Japanese university students. The research zeroed in on six prevalent light verbs in English: "make," "do," "take," "have," "give," and "get." Over nine weeks, the participants engaged with verb-noun collocations using worksheets that juxtaposed Japanese translations of the target collocations with their English equivalents, with the verbs omitted. With the aid of Wordbanks Online, they filled in the blanks and constructed accurate sentences. Before this activity, a 20-minute tutorial was given to the participants on how to interpret the concordance lines. The effectiveness of the DDL method was evaluated using pre-tests, immediate post-tests, and delayed post-tests. The results showed that DDL significantly improved the participants' knowledge of the target collocations of light verbs and nouns; the post-test and delayed post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. The results showed that, overall, DDL contributed to memorizing the collocations of light verbs and nouns; however, DDL had different effects on the memorization of collocations across different light verbs. The extent of work on the worksheet is not the only factor in its retention, and observing concordance lines may promote learners' memorization of light-verb collocations.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 2021

It has been widely recognized that there are two varieties of lateral liquid /l/, which are light /l/ (a non-velarized allophone) and dark /l/ (a velarized allophone). However, this categorical view has been challenged in recent studies, both on articulatory and acoustic aspects. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether to consider /l/ velarization as a continuum in American English and provide supporting data. A spontaneous American English speech database called the Buckeye Speech Corpus was used for the material. The formant frequencies of /l/ in each syllable position were measured and analyzed statistically. The formant frequencies of /l/ in each syllable position, especially F2 values, were significantly different from each other. The results showed that there were other significantly different varieties of /l/ in American English, which support the continuum view on /l/ velarization. Regarding the effect of the adjacent vowel, the backness of the adjacent vowels was shown to affect the degree of /l/ velarization, regardless of the syllable position of the lateral liquid. This result will help provide a solid ground for the continuum view.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-76
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• 2017

The current study investigated whether Korean learners' English-learning environments, especially target English accent (General American English (GAE) vs. Southern British English (SBE)) and English-language experience affected their production of English vowels. Thirty six EFL learners, 27 ESL-US learners, and 33 ESL-UK learners produced 8 English vowels with a bVt frame (beat, bit, bet, bat, bought, bot, boat, boot). The learners' productions were acoustically analyzed in terms of F1 and F2 frequencies. The overall results revealed that the learners' target accent had an effect on their production of some English vowels. The EFL and ESL-US learners' (especially, female learners') production of bought, bot, boat, and boot, which show characteristic differences between the GAE and SBE accents, was closer to that of the native American English (AE) speakers than the native British English (BE) speakers. In contrast, the ESL-UK learners' production of bought and bot demonstrated the opposite pattern. Thus, the impact of target accent was not demonstrated across the board. The effect of the learners' different English-language experience was also rather limited. This was because the EFL learners' production was not much different from the ESL-US learners' production, in spite of the ESL-US learners' residence in the US for more than 9 years. Furthermore, the Korean learners, irrespective of their different English-language experience, tended to produce bit and bat with lower F1 than the native AE and BE speakers, thus resulting in bit and bat to be produced similarly to beat and bet, respectively. This demonstrates the learners' persistent L1 effects on their English vowel production despite the learners' residence in the English speaking countries or their high English proficiency.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.71-87
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• 2005

The role of interaction in second language (L2) classrooms has been examined from different angles, ranging from early studies of foreigner talk to the studies of the teacher- and task-based talk. However, most of the research on L2 classroom interaction has been based on a traditional psycholinguistic view of language and learning, failing to reconceptualize a broad and holistic understanding of L2 learning. Currently, many researchers have attempted to explore and describe classroom interaction in L2 classrooms from a sociocultural perspective. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Vygotsky's theoretical framework in terms of L2 classroom interaction and research from a sociocultural perspective, by describing three key concepts (zone of proximal development, private speech, and activity theory) in Vygotsky's theoretical framework and relating them to L2 classroom interaction. The results demonstrated the importance of social interaction for second language acquisition with the review of the related research study. It was also suggested that the dynamic and interactive processes of second language learning in the classroom should be valued by L2 researchers as well as L2 teachers. Finally, implications for the concepts for L2 classroom research and pedagogy are presented in the conclusion.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.43-51
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• 2013

English native listeners have a tendency to treat strong syllables in a speech stream as the potential initial syllables of new words, since the majority of lexical words in English have a word-initial stress. The current study investigates whether Korean (L1) - English (L2) late bilinguals perceive strong syllables in English continuous speech as word onsets, as English native listeners do. In Experiment 1, word-spotting was slower when the word-initial syllable was strong, indicating that Korean listeners do not perceive strong syllables as word onsets. Experiment 2 was conducted in order to avoid any possibilities that the results of Experiment 1 may be due to the strong-initial targets themselves used in Experiment 1 being slower to recognize than the weak-initial targets. We employed the gating paradigm in Experiment 2, and measured the Isolation Point (IP, the point at which participants correctly identify a word without subsequently changing their minds) and the Recognition Point (RP, the point at which participants correctly identify the target with 85% or greater confidence) for the targets excised from the non-words in the two conditions of Experiment 1. Both the mean IPs and the mean RPs were significantly earlier for the strong-initial targets, which means that the results of Experiment 1 reflect the difficulty of segmentation when the initial syllable of words was strong. These results are consistent with Kim & Nam (2011), indicating that strong syllables are not perceived as word onsets for Korean listeners and interfere with lexical segmentation in English running speech.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.97-121
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• 2011

This study aims to examine how motivational constructs are interrelated with social, context-specific factors and, as a result, contribute to L2 writing achievement within the framework of self-determination theory. The data consisted of 67 Korean college students' questionnaire responses, final scores in an on-offline blended writing course, and qualitative interviews with 5 students. In the descriptive and the correlation analyses, the participants' extrinsic motivation was found higher than intrinsic motivation, with low amotivation. Among social factors, immersion environment, foreign instructor, and peer comparison marked high scores, whereas Korean instructor and online material gained low scores. Those contextual factors were interrelated with each other, such that the immersion factor correlated significantly with Korean instructor and peer comparison. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivational subscales engendered strong correlations with the high-scored social factors, i.e., immersion, foreign instructor, and peer comparison, which were also closely interrelated with L2 writing achievement. The findings illuminate intricate workings of motivation in its effects on L2 achievement and corroborate the roles of contextual factors. The effect of motivational subscales on achievement may be valid through interplay with some social factors. The dynamics of motivation is discussed for pedagogical applications.

• Language and Information
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-86
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• 2007

The semantic literature on definiteness and specificity shows that the former is relatively an established notion, whereas the latter is still a vague notion that needs to be more clarified and confirmed. Given this, Ionin (2006) argues for the reality of specificity based on the informal use of this. She proposes this in spoken English as a specificity marker which has a semantic feature indicating "peaker intent to refer" and "noteworthiness." She also provides as evidence the results of some crosslinguistics studies including an L2 acquisition study with both L1-Russian and L1-Korean L2-English learners. However, this paper will argue that the informal use of this does not seem to mark specificity according to Ionin's definition of specificity. It will also be argued that the L2 acquisition study cannot be used as evidence for the reality of specificity. Based on these arguments, this paper will try to redefine specificity, based on the notions of existence and uniqueness.