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Nonnative Speakers (nonnative + speakers)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Making a Request for a Service in Spanish: Pragmatic Development in the Study Abroad Setting

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2010
Rebeca Bataller
Abstract: This study addresses the development of the request strategies used in two service encounter scenarios by 31 nonnative speakers of Spanish spending 4 months living and studying in Valencia, Spain. The main method of data collection was an open role-play in which participants interacted with a Spanish native speaker. Results show that while there were some aspects of the learners' request production that changed after the study abroad experience, there were other aspects that remained unaffected. Knowing which aspects from the nonnative speakers' request production are acquired and which ones are not after a student has been immersed in the target culture for 4 months is relevant to informing second language acquisition, specifically the field of interlanguage pragmatics in the study abroad setting. [source]

Greater leftward lateralization of the inferior frontal gyrus in second language learners with higher syntactic abilities

HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 11 2009
Arihito Nauchi
Abstract There is a great individual variability for acquiring syntactic knowledge in a second language (L2). Little is, however, known if there is any anatomical basis in the brain for individual differences in syntactic acquisition. Here we examined brain structures in 95 nonnative speakers of English, including 78 high-school students and 17 adult international students. We found a significant correlation between the performance of a syntactic task and leftward lateralization of a single region in the triangular part (F3t) of the inferior frontal gyrus, which has been proposed as the grammar center. Moreover, this correlation was independent of the performance of a spelling task, age, gender, and handedness. This striking result suggests that the neural basis for syntactic abilities in L2 is independent of that for lexical knowledge in L2, further indicating that the individual differences in syntactic acquisition are related to the lateralization of the grammar center. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Conversation Orientation and Cognitive Processes: A Comparison of U.S. Students in Initial Interaction With Native- Versus Nonnative-Speaking Partners

HUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003
Ling Chen
The present study compares thought patterns, perceptions of interaction (perceived interaction smoothness and interaction involvement), and conversation orientation of U.S. students (N = 60) in dyadic interaction with a partner who is either another American or a non-American nonnative speaker of English. As hypothesized, U.S. participants with nonnative-speaking partners perceived interaction as more difficult, or less smooth, than did their counterparts with native-speaking partners. U.S. participants with nonnative-speaking partners also displayed different thought patterns, having more thoughts showing confusion, as well as more thoughts focused on the partner and less on the content of the ongoing conversation, than those with fellow native-speaking partners. U.S. participants with a nonnative-speaking partner also exhibited a different conversation orientation pattern, focusing more on understanding of the other's message, less on clarifying their own message, and less on displaying their own involvement. Specific thought categories and perceived interaction smoothness were correlated with conversation orientation indices for participants in interactions between native and nonnative speakers. Finally, interaction involvement was found to contribute most to variation in perceived interaction smoothness for both U.S. and non-U.S. participants in interactions between native and nonnative speakers. Implications of the findings are discussed. [source]

Word Searches in NNS,NS Interaction: Opportunities for Language Learning?

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2003
Catherine E. Brouwer
A substantial portion of second language acquisition research focuses on interactional practices in which nonnative speakers (NNSs) engage. From various theoretical viewpoints, it is assumed that certain types of interactional practices, specifically those in which participants focus on linguistic form, may promote language learning. The question of whether, and under which conditions, such sequences can be seen as providing the NNS with language learning opportunities, is considered in a purely data-driven way, applying conversation analysis (CA) as a method. The article considers one specific type of interactional practice, "word search" sequences, and opportunities for language learning that they may provide for NNSs on the basis of naturally occurring interactions between native speakers of Danish and Dutch speakers of Danish. It is argued that in order to distinguish between "language learning opportunities" and other types of interactional practices, the researcher needs to analyze the data in detail. [source]