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ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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ELTA Journal: An International & Interdisciplinary Journal of the ELT Practice & Research
ISSN 2334-9662 (Online)
ELTA – English Language Teachers’ Association
Nemanjina 28, 11000 Belgrade Serbia + 381 (0) 63 210 460 + 381 11 36 11 644 ext. 110
[email protected] Danijela Serafijanović, ELTA President
Editor-in-Chief: Maja Jerković, Vocational Medical School, Zrenjanin, Serbia
Co-editor:
Olivera Ćatić, MA student of Lifelong Learning, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Marija Panić, ELTA - English Language Teachers’ Association, Belgrade, Serbia
Website:
http://eltajournal.org.rs/
Send your submissions electronically to: [email protected]
Contributors are requested to refer to the guidelines on the ELTA Journal
website: http://eltajournal.org.rs/submission-guidelines/
The authors bear full responsibility for the content of their papers.
The journal is published annually.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Editorial ELTA Journal
ELTA, teachers' association in Serbia is proud to present the second issue of ELTA Journal.
In this first issue, last December, we presented the ideas that have shaped the creation of
ELTA Journal and, this year, we would like to introduce new ideas that have guided us in
developing this issue.
Our aim was to connect research and practice and to present some theoretical
considerations in the field of ELT. Our journal is blind peer-reviewed, allowing our authors to
have their articles rechecked, reevaluated and inspected by unbiased experts.
Carefully selected articles that we have prepared for you in this issue are written by
teachers, associate professors and researchers in the ELT field. For some authors this is
another way of reflecting on their practice and, for others, this is a form of teacher
development.
We are particularly proud that, as in the previous issue, our contributors are both domestic
and international, and tackle interesting research areas in their studies in theoretical
discussions. Our readers might be interested in an article by Radmila Palinkašević on a very
current topic of bilingualism and its advantageous and disadvantageous effects on cognition
and third language acquisition. Join another one of our colleagues Brankica Bojović in her
exploration of the rich experience of translating metaphors from SL to TL and vice versa, and
her use of Newmark’s translating methods in her classroom practice with students. Our
contributor from a Tribhuvan University in Nepal, Pramod Kumar Sah, gathered and
analysed data on how the undergraduate students in China, through their peer interactions,
mediate understanding about the new language introduced to them and how they develop
language competence. See what the result was of the joint study of Aleksandra Oletić from
Stockholm University and Nina Ilić from University of Novi Sad on levels of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivations to learn English as a foreign language among high school and
university students. Ali Erarslan and Devrim Hol explored language interference and transfer
of L1 into L2 when students do a translation test, while a UK freelancer Willy Cardoso
shared with us his consideration of how teaching is a form of artistry, stressing the
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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importance of teacher intuition, and value of inquiry and collective engagement. Zorana
Vasiljević will familiarize you with collocation studies in corpus and applied linguistics and
offer suggestions for making criteria for the selection of target collocation, and developing
activities that help students learn them and use them autonomously. Last, but not least,
ELTA’s known contributor, Nina Kisin, discussed the ways of teaching business English
vocabulary which is a rich source of new terminology in English and used around the world.
The Editorial team would like to thank all the people who contributed to this issue and our
former Editor-in-Chief, Ms Marija Ivanović, who was also among the initiators of ELTA
Journal.
We owe much gratitude to eminent professors and colleagues who reviewed the articles
and, of course, to our contributors whose ideas will help advance the EFL research and the
teaching practice.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue and we look forward to receiving your feedback and
article contributions for our next issue.
Yours faithfully,
ELTA Journal Editorial Team
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Table of Contents
1. Language Interference on English: Transfer on the Vocabulary, Tense and reposition
Use of Freshmen Turkish EFL Learners by Ali Erarslan and Devrim Hol
2. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Learning English as a Foreign Language by
Aleksandra Oletić and Nina Ilić
3. Mediation in Peer Interaction among Chinese EFL Learners by Pramod Kumar Sah
4. Teaching Collocations in a Second Language: Why, What and How? By Zorana
Vasiljević
5. Strategies of Metaphor Translation by Brankica Bojović
6. The Influence of Bilingualism on Cognition and Third Language Acquisition by
Radmila Palinkašević
7. Developing Artistry in Teaching by Willy Cardoso
8. Teaching and Learning Financial English Vocabulary by Nina Kisin
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Language Interference on English:
Transfer on the Vocabulary, Tense and
Preposition Use of Freshmen Turkish
EFL Learners
by Ali Erarslan, Pamukkale University, Turkey
and
Devrim Hol, Pamukkale University, Turkey
Abstract In this study, the degree to which Turkish EFL learners make use of L1 transfer was examined in terms of vocabulary use, use of prepositions and the use of Simple Present Tense. The study was conducted by having participants perform a translation task and take a translation test. Results showed that most L1 interference took place in the use of prepositions and vocabulary following it. Participants showed more signs of transfer while they were making guesses on the meaning of given vocabulary items, phrases or sentences. The least rate of L1 transfer was observed in the use of Simple Present Tense. Key words: L1 transfer, language interference, cross-linguistic influence, errors Apstrakt U ovom radu ispitaćemo u kojoj meri turski učenici stranog jezika koriste transfer maternjeg jezika po pitanju upotrebe vokabulara, predloga i sadašnjeg vremena (The Simple Present Tense). Studija je izvedena tako što su učesnici imali prevod kao zadatak i tako što su radili test na kome su imali prevod. Rezultati pokazuju da se većina transfera iz maternjeg jezika dešava pri upotrebi predloga, a zatim pri upotrebi vokabulara. Znaci transfera kod učenika su uočljiviji kada su učesnici pogađali značenja datog vokabulara, fraza i rečenica. Najmanji transfer maternjeg jezika je primećen pri upotrebi sadašnjeg vremena (The Present Simple Tense). Ključne reči: L1 transfer, transfer jezika, među-lingvistički uticaj, greške
1. Introduction
The nature and extent of the influence of
native language (L1) on L2 learning
process have been debated in ESL and
EFL contexts in the field of Second
Language Acquisition (SLA) over the past
four decades. Though there have been
various discussions related to what
"transfer" is or not, one of the most
accepted definitions of the term "transfer"
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is made by Odlin (Odlin, 1989) since this
definition is regarded as broad enough to
include different viewpoints related to
“transfer". According to Odlin (Odlin, 1989,
pg 27): "transfer is the influence resulting
from similarities and differences between
the target language and any other
language that has been previously (and
perhaps imperfectly) acquired”. Transfer is
also known as L1 interference, linguistic
interference or cross-linguistic influence.
First language “interference” and “transfer”
are sometimes used interchangeably and
sometimes as two different terms.
Interference is the automatic transfer, due
to habit, of the surface structure of the first
language onto the surface of the target
language(Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982).
Lott (Lott, 1983, p. 256) defines
interference as ‘errors in the learner’s use
of the foreign language that can be traced
back to the mother tongue’. As Lott (Lott,
1983) suggests, by analyzing the students'
errors, teachers can begin to attribute a
cause to an error with some degree of
precision and find out whether, for
example, mother tongue interference, or
teaching techniques, or problems inherent
in the target language are the major cause
of their students’ errors. Additionally, Ellis
(Ellis, 1994) refers to interference as
‘transfer’, which he says is 'the influence
that the learner’s L1 exerts over the
acquisition of an L2'. He argues that
transfer is governed by learners’
perceptions about what is transferable and
by their stage of development in L2
learning. In learning a target language,
learners construct their own interim rules
(Selinker, 1971, Seligar, 1988 and Ellis,
1994) with the use of their L1 knowledge,
but only when they believe it will help them
in the learning task or when they have
become sufficiently proficient in the L2 for
transfer to be possible. In fact, the
difference between the terms “interference”
and “transfer” comes from the similarity or
the difference in the structures of the two
languages. According to Ellis (Ellis, 1994)
two languages having distinct linguistic
structures may result in a high frequency of
errors in the target language which in turn
indicates an interference of L1 on L2.As
suggested by Gao (Gao, 2013), the learner
who comes in contact with a foreign
language may resort to his/her native
language features to replace those
difficulties in the target language.
One of the most important changes in
second language researches has been the
issue of “errors”. Traditionally, learners’
producing an ill-formed structure in target
language was seen negatively and thus the
teachers needed to correct such ill-formed
structures as soon as possible. Among
different methods in second language
teaching, behaviorist theory views errors
as a part of habit formation and they
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should be corrected immediately in order
not to be fossilized (Griffiths,2008).
However, some recent methods regard
errors as an indicator of actual acquisition
process in action (Yule, 1996, James,
1998).According to Harmer (2003), errors
are part of the students’ interlanguage,
which is a developmental area of the
learners and changes continuously until
the learners become proficient in the
language. Historically, in the 1950s and
1960s, it was considered that by
comparing and contrasting the structures
of L1 and the target language, errors would
be easily predicted with the error analysis
which saw a reaction in the 1970s claiming
that the L2 was learned in the same way
as the L1, and independently of it; however
currently it is accepted that transfer occurs,
but in a more complex way and it is not
regarded as the source of errors only
(Benson, 2002). As suggested by Benson
(Benson, 2002), transfer can be facilitative
(positive transfer), or transfer can result in
avoidance if the structure of the target
language does not exist in L1 and it can
lead to different rates of development
(p.68). Additionally, another phenomenon
regarding L1 influence is the effect of L2
proficiency. The relationship between L2
proficiency and its effect on transfer is
listed by Jarvis (Jarvis, 2000, p.246,247)
as:
1. L1 influence decreases with
increasing L2 proficiency.
2. L1 influence increases with
increasing L2 proficiency.
3. L1 influence remains constant
with increasing L2 proficiency.
4. L1 influence ultimately
decreases, but nonlinearly.
5. L1 influence ultimately increases,
but nonlinearly.
6. L1 influence ultimately never
decreases nor increases, but
its presence continually fluctuates
as L2 proficiency increases.
Arguments related to the term "transfer"
mainly focus on "errors"; thus, all these
views raised another important question:
what is the distinction between errors and
mistakes? According to Ellis (Ellis, 1994),
an error takes place when the deviation
arises as a result of lack of knowledge and
he views mistakes as the result of
problems that prevent learners from
accessing their knowledge of a target
language rule and cause them to fall back
on some alternative, non-standard rule that
they find easier to access. Ellis (Ellis,
1994) also refers to errors as gaps in the
knowledge of the learners, which assumes
that the learners ‘system of knowledge is
the source of the errors. Thus, errors are
considered systematic and occur
repeatedly. On the other hand, according
to Corder (1967, cited by Ellis 2008), a
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‘mistake’ is a deviation in learner language
that occurs when learners fail to perform
their competence. Within this point of view,
mistakes as randomly occurring slips,
unlike errors, are regarded as an indicator
of performance.
It is assumed that the learner’s mother
tongue (MT) will positively or negatively
affect his learning a foreign language in
second language acquisition (SLA). When
the learner’s mother tongue and target
language are similar, the native language
will actively aid foreign language in
learning that is in case of similarities
between the native language and target
language, the transfer functions positively,
while in case of differences, it functions
negatively. Considering that Turkish
language belongs to the Altaic branch of
the Ural-Altaic family of languages and
English is a West Germanic language of
Indo European family of languages, most
learners are assumed to transfer linguistic
structures in a negative way because of
the distance between these two languages.
Through the language learning process,
learners appear to rely on their mother
tongue (L1) considering L1 facilitates L2
learning in that both languages have
similarities with each other. However,
these learners usually make use of at
least three domains in terms of linguistic
knowledge while acquiring the target
language as (1) the L2-input in a natural
L2 speaking or classroom based learning
environment (2) the structures of their
native language (L1); and (3) innate
linguistic knowledge 7.
Learners appear to accumulate structural
entities of English, but demonstrate
difficulty in organizing this knowledge into
appropriate, meaningful structures and
there seems to be a significant gap
between the accumulation and the
organization of the knowledge. When
writing or speaking in English, the target
language (L2), Turkish students seem to
rely on their Turkish language (L1)
structures to produce written or spoken
pieces. Thus, with this aim in mind, based
on the learners' level of English, this study
seeks answer to the following research
question:
1- Based on language levels of students in
English (elementary, pre-intermediate and
intermediate), how does L1 transfer affect
the use of English in terms of
a. Vocabulary
b. Prepositions
c. Tense (Present Continuous
Tense instead of Simple
Present Tense)?
This study aims to investigate the effects of
Turkish language on students’ production
of English; transfer on vocabulary, tense
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and preposition use of students at a state
university in Turkey.
2. Method
This research study was primarily designed
as a descriptive study and therefore adopts
a quantitative approach. In line with the
approach, survey methodology was used
to obtain the opinions of participants.
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3. Setting and Participants
This study was conducted at a state university aiming to explore the degree to which L1
transfer was evident in producing vocabulary, tense and prepositional items in English. In the
research, the degree of L1 transfer on vocabulary, preposition and tense was evaluated
separately depending on the students’ level of English. In the study, in order to investigate
how L1 transfer was evident in English, 323 participants participated in the study at a state
university in Turkey. The participants were randomly selected based on their language levels
in English as Elementary, Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate level. The students receive
English education in these levels under a program run by School of Foreign Languages and
all the students use the same course book within the same framework. It has been an
advantage for this study that using the same book in all English levels eliminates the risk of
language transfer due to material use provided to students.
Table 1. Distribution of participants and their language levels (N=323)
General characteristics of the participant English preparatory class students were
investigated in terms of their age, gender, and their level of English. Of the 323 students 255
(29 %) were between the age of 17-20 and 68 (21,1% ) were between the age of 21-25.
Additionally, 216 (66,9%) were female and 107 (33,1 %) were male. As for the participants’
level of English, nearly half of the participants (46,4 %) were Elementary level students, 27,6
% were pre-intermediate and 26 % were in intermediate level.
f %
Age 17-20 255 78.9
21-25 68 21.1
Total 323 100.0
Gender Female 216 66.9
Male 107 33.1
Total 323 100.0
Lang. Level
Elementary
Pre-intermediate
150
89
46.4
27.6
Intermediate 84 26
Total 323 100.0
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4. Data Collection
Initially, before constructing the items in
the data collection tool in the form of a
knowledge and translation test, a total of
90 students' assignments in their writing
course were randomly English and
analyzed for each level. The written
assignments were collected and analyzed
in the second semester to ensure that they
all had acceptable knowledge and skills in
L2 writing. When the academic year starts,
students in preparatory classes are
exposed to writing exercises embedded in
the core language course in the first three
months until the end of first semester. In
the second term, writing course starts and
they learn writing based on “process
approach”. During the academic year, the
students are taught paragraph writing and
paragraph types first, and then essay
writing and essay types (Erarslan, 2011).
Students' writing assignments both in the
paragraph and in essay format were
analyzed based on their transfer errors.
After the analysis, their transfer errors
were categorized and it was seen that
three major errors were found to be in the
vocabulary, tense and preposition use.
Thus, for the actual study, based on their
writing assignments, three parts were
chosen as vocabulary, tense and
preposition use. For the vocabulary and
preposition parts, the items were chosen
from the students' writings. Moreover,
those which were added for the actual
study were chosen based on "The
General Service List (GSL)"(West,
1953), which contains the most widely
useful 2,000 word families in English.
West (1953, cited in Fox, 1979) used a
variety of criteria to select these words,
including frequency, ease of learning,
coverage of useful concepts, and stylistic
level. In addition, Academic Word List
(AWL), containing 570 words which
appear with high frequency in academic
textbooks across a range of disciplines
was used as the vocabulary criteria. The
AWL was created so that this word list
could be used by students to learn the
words most needed to study at universities
(Coxhead, 2000).
After constructing the test items, to collect
data, a form was developed having two
parts: a translation part and a test part
where the participants were provided 20
vocabulary items, 10 tense items and 10
preposition items in each part. In both
parts, students were provided the same
vocabulary, tense and preposition items.
All our participants were asked to
complete a translation task having 20
vocabulary items, which mainly consisted
of phrasal verbs, collocations and
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compound words our students find difficult
to understand, 10 phrases with
prepositions and 10 sentences that require
the use of Simple Present Tense. The
participants were asked to translate these
items into English. In this task another
important point was that the participants
were provided with two columns. They
were asked to write their translations to
the column with the heading “I know” if
they were definitely certain about their
response and they were asked to write
their translation to the column with the
heading “I guess” if they were not certain
about their response but guessed that it
should be such. The aim was to find out
the rate of transfer occurred in guesses
and in definitely known items. Transfer
items in the “I know” column would be
interpreted as mistakes; whereas, the
ones in the “I guess” column would be
interpreted as transfer errors.
Immediately after the transfer task,
participants were asked to take a
translation test. In this test, the same items
in the first part were asked, however, this
time participants were provided with a
correct translation and a literal translation
of the items in the form of multiple choice
items. Participants were asked to identify
the choice they thought was the correct
alternative. The aim of this test was to find
out whether input would make any change
in the rate of transfer items, if yes, in what
way.
5. Procedure
The study was conducted in a state
university in Turkey among students who
have one year intensive English
preparatory education. It was conducted in
the first thirty minute of the course and
participants were given brief information
about what the aim of the study was and
what they had to do while doing the tasks.
They were specifically asked to write
whatever they think as the English
equivalents of the provided phrases in
Turkish. In order to make the participants
feel free in their responses, they were
asked not to write their names on any of
the tasks given. The study was conducted
in elementary, pre-intermediate and
intermediate level classes at the same
time.
6. Data Analysis
In analyzing the collected data, any kind of
literal translation, either partial or
complete, was accepted as language
transfer in the vocabulary section. In the
preposition section, any kind of literal
translation, absence of preposition where
needed, use of unnecessary preposition in
order to replace a suffix in Turkish, and
finally, any kind of word transformation to
replace a suffix in Turkish was accepted
as language transfer. In the tense section,
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any use of Present Continuous Tense or
attempt to use Present Continuous Tense;
that is, using auxiliary verb in front of the
main verb without adding the –ing or
adding –ing without using ‘auxiliary' in front
of the main verb was accepted as
language transfer.
The translation tasks and translation tests
were evaluated separately. In the
translation task, each transfer item the
total number of questions answered in
each section was identified. The same
procedure was followed in the preposition
section, tense section, “I know” section
and “I guess section”. So, after each
analysis, it was possible to see how many
questions were answered by the
participant in each section and how many
of them were transfer items. The
translation test was also checked in the
same way. The number of answers given
by the participant to each section and the
transfer items in each section were
carefully marked.
The results obtained from the research
have been analyzed separately and
calculated according to their percentage of
transfer.
7. Results
1) Vocabulary Transfer of Elementary, Intermediate and Intermediate Level Students
a) Vocabulary Transfer of Elementary Level Students
Table 2. Transfer Evident in Vocabulary Items in Elementary Level of English
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
5,69 11,83 35%
At first, the data obtained were analyzed in terms of vocabulary, tense and preposition based
on the participants' level of English. Elementary level students' responses in the tests related
to vocabulary items analyzed and students answered an average of 11,83 vocabulary items
out of 20 questions in translation part. Among vocabulary items answered, the transfer
evident in vocabulary was 5,69 in average which was 35 % in total. Table 2 shows that
students at university apply their knowledge from Turkish language to English in vocabulary
choice which are mostly irrelevant to their English equivalents. Among vocabulary items
where Turkish transfer was intensively applied are “Mutfak Robotu” which means “Food
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Processor” in English. However, this word was mostly translated as “Kitchen Robot” as a
direct translation and “Spor Ayakkabı” meaning “trainers” transferred as “Sports Shoes” by
the students. Additionally, it is possible to say that the same case is true for “Köpek Balığı”
meaning “Shark” in English. A majority amount of students translated it as “Dog Fish” just
focusing on its Turkish equivalent word by word. One possible reason for such negative
transfer is that words such as “köpek balığı” and “spor ayakkabı” are compound words in
Turkish and students prefer using a compound translation in English. Their limited exposure
to English may also be another reason for their incorrect transfer of vocabulary choice as
they may still fail in mastery of target language.
b) Vocabulary Transfer of Pre-Intermediate Level Students
Table 3. Transfer Evident in Vocabulary Items among Pre-Intermediate Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
3,19 14,56 21,90%
When compared to transfer evident in vocabulary items according to Elementary Level of
English(see Table 2.), transfer in vocabulary items according to Pre-intermediate level of
English, students answered an average of 3,19 vocabulary items out of 20 questions in
translation part. Among vocabulary items answered, the transfer evident in vocabulary was
14,56 in average which was 21,90 % totally. Table 3 shows that Pre-intermediate level
students show less tendency to use Turkish vocabulary knowledge compared to Elementary
students. The total amount of vocabulary transfer is 35% according to Elementary Level of
English while it is 21,90 % totally according to Pre-intermediate level of English. However,
the results here show that vocabulary transfer is still evident in both groups.
c) Vocabulary Transfer of Intermediate Level Students
Table 4. Transfer Evident in Vocabulary Items among Intermediate Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
4,21 14,86 28,33%
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In terms of transfer in vocabulary items according to intermediate level of English, students
answered an average of 4,21 vocabulary items out of 20 questions in translation part. Among
vocabulary items answered, the transfer evident in vocabulary was 14,86 in average which
was 28,33 % totally. Table 4 shows that intermediate students make more use of Turkish
vocabulary knowledge than Pre-intermediate level students and less transfer compared to
elementary students.
One of Studies related to L1 (Turkish) transfer to L2 was conducted by Erkaya (Erkaya,
2012) and in her study in which written texts of the participants in terms of errors were
analyzed, it was the word choice appeared with the highest percentage as transfer error the
students applied using their L1 knowledge. Additionally, according to another study focusing
on written essays of the adult beginner Turkish students conducted by Kırkgöz (Kırkgöz,
2010), learners had mainly two types of errors as interlingual and intralingual errors and she
suggests that one of major sources of student errors was result of L1 transfer. In her study,
the words transferred from Turkish did not prevent the comprehension as Erkaya (Erkaya,
2012) mentions. Similarly, according to Karakas (n.d), Turkish students had serious
problems in generating words and combining them into phrases and finally into sentences,
which might range from a very simple to highly complex ones.
2) Preposition Transfer of Elementary, Intermediate and Intermediate Level Students
a) Preposition Transfer of Elementary Level Students
Table 5. Transfer Evident in Preposition Items among Elementary Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
3,19 7,61 41%
The most striking result of the study was in the use of preposition in English. Transfer evident
in preposition items according to Elementary Level of English was analyzed and students
answered an average of 3,19 preposition items out of 10 questions in translation part. Among
preposition items answered, the transfer evident was 7,61 in average which was 41 % totally.
Table 5 shows that students in university level apply their knowledge from Turkish language
to English in preposition choices which are mostly irrelevant to their English equivalents. This
result indicates that preposition use is the most problematic part of students’ English learning
process. The reason for this may be that the Turkish equivalents of “in, on, at” in English are
all “-de, and –da” in Turkish. For example, almost all students answered the question “Ayşe
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ile evlenmek” as “marry with Ayşe” in English instead of “marry to Ayşe”. The preposition “ile”
is “with” in English. As a result, when students come across or have to produce a phrase
including “ile” in Turkish translation of an English phrase, they prefer to use it with its Turkish
equivalent. On the other hand, the other most commonly transferred preposition item was
“eve gelmek” for “come home”. In this question, most students again gave its English
equivalent referring to its Turkish translation “come to home”, as it includes -e, -a suffixes
showing direction.
b) Preposition Transfer of Pre-Intermediate Level Students
Table 6. Transfer Evident in Preposition Items among Pre-Intermediate Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
1,52 7,07 21,49%
Transfer evident in preposition items according to Pre-intermediate level of English was
analyzed and students answered an average of 1,52 preposition items out of 10 questions in
translation part. Among preposition items answered, the transfer evident was 7,07 in average
which was 21,49 % totally. Table 6 indicates that Pre-intermediate students tend to make
less transfer in preposition items compared to elementary students. It is quite surprising that
while elementary students have the highest amount of transfer in preposition use, the figures
related to pre-intermediate students do not make so much difference compared to
vocabulary and tense items.
c) Preposition Transfer of Intermediate Level Students
Table 7. Transfer Evident in Preposition Items among Intermediate Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
1,57 7,36 21,33%
Transfer evident in preposition items among intermediate students was analyzed and
students answered an average of 1,57 preposition items out of 10 questions in translation
part. Among preposition items answered, the transfer evident was 7,36 in average which was
21,33 % totally. Table 7 shows that intermediate students tend to make transfer in
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preposition items equally. However the highest amount of transfer in preposition was seen
among elementary students.
Studies on prepositions show that Turkish students also have overgeneralization from L1
when applying prepositional rules to TL 16. Karakas (n.d) mentions that most prepositional
errors can be explained as an L1 impact as the translation of the preposition encompasses
the meaning of "through" in L1. According to Koban (Koban, 2011), the largest number of
errors consisted in the misuse of prepositions and it may be caused by the fact that the
learners probably learned a particular preposition with one type of verb and later used the
same preposition with similar verbs (p.170).
3) Tense Transfer of Elementary, Intermediate and Intermediate Level Students
a) Tense Transfer of Elementary Level Students
Table 8. Transfer Evident in Tense Items among Elementary Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
1,66 8,71 19%
Transfer evident in tense items according to Elementary Level of English was analyzed and
students answered an average of 1,66 tense items out of 10 questions in translation part.
Among tense items answered, the transfer evident in tense items was 8,71 on average which
was 19 % totally. Table 8 indicates that university students who have been learning English
in Elementary Level tend to rely on Turkish knowledge in the use of tense less when
compared to vocabulary items. One of the most challenging items in tense translation was
the ambiguity caused by meaningless responses given by the students. Some papers
included responses such as “I am work post office” as an equivalent of “I work at the post
office”.
b) Tense Transfer of Pre-intermediate Level Students
Table 9. Transfer Evident in Tense Items among Pre-Intermediate Level Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
1,59 8,00 19,87%
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Transfer evident in tense items according to Pre-intermediate level of English was analyzed
and students answered an average of 1,59 tense items out of 10 questions in translation
part. Among tense items answered, the transfer evident was 8,00 in average which was
19,87 % totally. Table 9 indicates that Pre-intermediate students tend to make transfer in
tense items equally with elementary students.
c) Tense Transfer of Intermediate Level Students
Table 10. Transfer Evident in Tense Items among Intermediate Students
Average Transfer Rate Average Test Items
Answered
Total Percentage of
Transfer
1,79 8,43 21,23%
Transfer evident in tense items among intermediate was analyzed and students answered an
average of 1,79 tense items out of 10 questions in translation part. Among tense items
answered, the transfer evident was 8,43 in average which was 21,23 % totally. When
compared to previous groups, Table 10shows that intermediate students tend to make
transfer in tense items mostly. Though the results are nearly same in two other groups, the
highest amount of tense transfer is seen among intermediate students. In theory, it is
expected that the more the students have input in learning a second language, the less they
make L1 interference.
According to the study of Erkaya (Erkaya, 2012), among the transfer errors, the verb tense
errors were not as many as word choice and preposition errors. Similarly, among the errors
identified in Koban’s (Koban, 2011)study, tense errors were listed as the less frequent ones
compared to prepositional and lexical errors, however, Koban (Koban, 2011, p.171) mentions
that “the actual source of most tense errors is interference from the other terms of the
English system, and only rarely from the corresponding Turkish form. The influence of
Turkish is apparent in the second category in which the verbs are marked with -ing for the
progressive aspect”. In fact, although tense choice of the participants focused only at
progressive form and at present form as in our study, as Koban stated (Koban, 2011), the
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influence of Turkish on English is apparent in terms of –ing form in tense use, and for this
reason instead of focusing on other aspects of tenses, this study only focused on –ing
aspect. Similar to our study, Kirkgoz (Kirkgoz, 2010, p. 435) explains based on her study that
“the major source of errors in the tense choice is that for the given situations, simple present
tense is used to express in English language, whereas in Turkish present continuous tense is
employed”. It is true that most state verbs are expressed in Present Continuous tense in
Turkish language, thus most Turkish students have a tendency to say” I am loving you”
instead of “I love you” as the English equivalent.
Figure 1. Comparison of Vocabulary, Preposition and Tense Transfer among language
levels
Figure 2. The Transfer Evident Based on “I Know” and “I Guess” section
Figure 2 shows the amount of transfer items in vocabulary, tense and preposition sections
according to language levels. The table shows the amount of the transferred items based on
participants' choices "I know" or "I guess" indicating that whether they know the English
equivalents of the test items or they guess them. In the ‘I know’ column, Elementary
students' rate of transfer was 29%, Pre-intermediate level was 18, 87%, and the rate of
transfer among intermediate students was 20, 35%.
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In the ‘I guess’ column, the amount of the transfer in the Elementary group was 41%, Pre-
intermediate level was 40%, and the rate of transfer among intermediate students was 49%.
Table 11. Transfer Evident in Vocabulary in Both Translation and Test Item
Vocabulary Preposition Tense
Translation Part 31% 33% 19%
Test Part 40% 46,98% 24%
Table 11shows the percentages of items based on transfer in two parts of the data collection
instrument as “Translation task” and “test item”. The rate of all the item types asked in the
study showed an increase in Test item part. Interestingly, the aim of providing input in the
test item part of the study was to see if the students could find the true equivalents of the
items asked in Turkish. Contrary to the expectations, students used their knowledge of
Turkish in a greater extent in Test item part though they were given the right answer in the
options. Transfer on vocabulary increases by 9% in test item part, the rate of increase was
5% in tense and transfer on preposition increased by 13, 98% in test item part.
8. Conclusion
The major concern of this study has been
to investigate Turkish language
interference, or transfer, on English in
vocabulary, tense and preposition use.
The learners have used some L1
structures to produce appropriate
responses in L2, producing acceptable
equivalents of the Turkish phrases.
However, the learners have also used L1
structures interchangeably with L2
structures, producing inappropriate L2
responses, indicating an interference of L1
on L2. In both translation and test item
phases, the responses which the students
gave reflect failure in producing
appropriate use of the target language
among the provided items. In using L1
structures, the learners have taken some
risks that include guessing of a more or
less informed kind. They have attempted
to use invented or borrowed items,
producing meaningless items in English.
Most linguists agree that transfer is mostly
seen in beginner levels and in less
proficient learners. Studies have shown
that less proficient learners have been
reported to transfer more elements from
their first language than learners who
present higher levels of proficiency
(Cenoz, Hufeisen and Jessner, 2001).
Jiang and Kuehn (Jiang and Kuehn, 2001)
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conducted a study on immigrant students from different language backgrounds. They found
out that beginner to intermediate level students made use of transfer strategies while
advanced students made use of cognitive strategies. Major (Major, 1986) and Wenk (Wenk,
1986) have also found out that beginner level students were more likely to make transfer
errors than more advanced ones. On the other hand, linguists such as Kellerman (Kellerman,
1983) see the errors of beginner level learners as developmental errors and claim that, in
order to be able to make transfer errors learners should have developed awareness in the
language (cited in Ellis, 1994). Our study also shows similar results in that the elementary
level students made use of L1 transfer more than the advanced ones. Additionally, Ringbom
(Ringbom, 2007) views transfer as lexical borrowing. Similarly, Odlin (Odlin, 1989) states that
lexical level transfer in the early stage is seen in the form of borrowing as is seen in our
study.
When the learners fail to recognize the appropriate items in English and interpret
them out of their actual use, they adjust the form of their L2 written responses by using items
which are part of their L1. The analysis of the learners 'translation and test item tasks
revealed the extent to which their L2 responses are affected by their L1, the procedures
aimed to express the phrases which included vocabulary, tense and preposition items and to
see the extent to which and the manner in which L1 knowledge interferes with L2. The L2
errors made are traceable to the learners' L1 and we can conclude that there is definite
interference of L1 on L2.
In the process of attempting to relate L1 to L2, they consider about the similarity or
difference between L2 and L1. The result is that the students rely heavily on their L1
knowledge and respond to items of L2 under known categories in L1, hence a translation
process has taken place. It is seen in this study that the second language learners have
adopted their L1 structures to help them in their L2 translations and option choices.
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References:
Albirini Abdulkafi, & Benmamoun Elabbas. (2014). Aspects of second-language transfer in the oral production of Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, Vol. 18(3), 244– 273. Benson, C. (2002) ‘Key concepts in ELT: transfer / cross-linguistic influence’. ELT Journal 56/1: 68-70. Bhela, B. (1999). Native language interference in learning a second language : Exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage, 1(1), 22–31. Jiang, B. & Kuehn, P. (2001). Transfer in the Academic Language Development of Post-secondary ESL Students, In R.DeVillar & J. Tinajero (Eds.) Bilingual Research Journal, 25 (4), 653-672. Cenoz, J, B. Hufeisen & U. Jessner. (2001). Cross-linguistic Influence in Third Language Acquisition: Psycholinguistic Perspectives. Bristol: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Coxhead, A. (2000). A New Academic Word List, TESOL Quarterly34(2), 213–238. Dulay, H., Burt, M. & Krashen, S. (1982), Language Two, Oxford University Press, New York. Erarslan, A.(2011). “Perceptions and Attitudes of the Preparatory Class Students towards the Writing Course and Attitude-Success Relationship in Writing in the School of Foreign Languages at Pamukkale University.” Unpublished Master's Thesis Erkaya, R. (2012). Vocabulary and L1 Interference – Error Analysis of Turkish Students ’ English Essays, 36(2), 1–11. Ellis, R. (1994). The study of Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press. Gao, H. (2013). On Source Language Interference in Interpretation. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(7), 1194–1199. doi:10.4304/tpls.3.7.1194-1199 Griffiths, C. (2008). Strategies and good language learners. In C. Griffiths (Ed.),Lessons from good language learners (pp. 83-98). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Harmer, J. (2003). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education Ionin, T., Zubizarreta, M. L., & Maldonado, S. B. (2008). Sources of linguistic knowledge in the second language acquisition of English articles. Lingua, 118(4), 554–576. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2006.11.012 James, C. (1998). Errors in Language Learning and Use. Exploring Error Analysis. London & New York: Longman. Jarvis Scott. (2000). Methodological Rigor in the Study of Transfer: Identifying L1 Influence in the Interlanguage Lexicon. Language Learning, 50(2), 245–309. Karakas, A. (1996). No Title. Retrieved from http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/turkerrorspf_ali.htm Kellerman, E. (1983). Now you see it, now you don’t. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language learning (pp. 112-134). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Kirkgöz, Y. (2010). An analysis of Written Errors of Turkish Adult Learners of English. World Conference on Educational Sciences February, Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2: 4352-4358 Koban, D. (2011). A Case Study of Turkish ESL Learners at LaGuardia Community College , NYC Error Analysis, 26, 168–172. Lott, D. (1983). Analysing and Counteracting Interference Errors. ELT Journal Ringbom, H. (2007). Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign language Learning. Bristol: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Seligar H. (1988). Psycholinguistic Issues in Second Language Acquisition’ in Issues in Second Language Acquisition: Multiple Perspectives, London
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Selinker, L. (1971). The Psychologically Relevant Data of Second Language Learning in The Psychology of Second Language Learning. Cambridge University Press Major, R. C. (1986). The Ontogeny Model: Evidence From L2 Acquisition Of Spanish R. Language Learning, 36: 453–504. Murphy, S. (n.d.). Second Language Transfer During Third Language Acquisition, 1–21. Wang, X. (2009). Exploring the Negative Transfer on English Learning. Asian Social Science, 5(7), 138–143. doi:10.5539/ass.v5n7p138 Wenk, B. J. (1986). Crosslinguistic influence in second language phonology: speech rhythms. In Kellerman, E. and Sharwood Smith, M. A. , editors, Crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon , 120-133. West, M. (1953). A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman, Green & Co. Yule, G.(1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press
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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for
Learning English as a Foreign Language
by Aleksandra Oletić, Stockholm University / Stockholm, Sweden
Nina Ilić, University of Novi Sad / Novi Sad, Serbia
Abstract In the last few years, the topic of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has raised a lot of interest in EFL learning. Intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation and the correlation between motivation and success in learning a foreign language have been examined. The goal of this paper is to examine how the self-determination framework (Deci and Ryan, 2000) for L2 learning motivation extends to a group of Serbian language learners of English. The focus of our research is on examining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of Serbian students of English, with the aim of answering the question whether or not the students are intrinsically/extrinsically motivated and to what extent. High school students and university students were given the Post-Experimental Intrinsic Inventory test and the method used for analyzing the results was descriptive statistics. The results obtained show that there are generally low levels of intrinsic motivation present among both high school and university students. It was expected that the results for Interest/Enjoyment would be more decisively in favor of university students, but this was not the case. The differences in motivation are minimal in relation to gender, even though female students show an increase of intrinsic motivation across the age variable. Key words: motivation, intrinsic, extrinsic, students Apstrakt U poslednjih nekoliko godina interesovanje za temu intrinzične i ekstrinzične motivacije stalno raste u oblasti učenja engleskog kao stranog jezika. Istražuju se intrinzična i/ili ekstrinzična motivacija i korelacija između motivacije i uspeha u učenju stranog jezika. Cilj ovog rada je da istraži kako se teorija samoodređenja (Deci i Rajan, 2000)u okviru motivacije za učenje stranog jezika može primeniti na grupu učenika engleskog jezika iz Srbije. Naše istraživanje se bavi ispitivanjem intrinzičke i ekstrinzičke motivacije učenika srednjih škola i studenata engleskog jezika u Srbiji, sa ciljem dobijanja odgovora na pitanje da li su učenici intrinzički/ekstrinzički orijentisani i u kojoj meri. Učenici srednje škole i studenti su ispitani metodom posteksperimentalnog intinzičkog inventara ličnosti, a rezultati su obrađeni deskriptivnim statističkim tehnikama. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da je kako kod učenika srednjih škola tako i kod studenata prisutan relativno nizak nivo intrinzičke motivacije. Očekivalo se da će rezulatati za varijablu Interesovanje/ Uživanje biti u značajnoj meri u korist studenata, ali ovo nije bio slučaj. Razlike u motivaciji su minimalne kada je u pitanju pol kao nezavisna varijabla, iako ženski studenti pokazuju malo veću sklonost ka intinzičkoj motivaciji. Ključne reči: motivacija, intrinzična, ekstrinzična, učenici
1. Introduction
In the last few years, the topic of intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation has raised a lot of
interest in EFL learning. The goal of this
paper is to examine how the self-
determination framework for L2 learning
motivation extends to a group of Serbian
language learners of English. The focus of
our research is on examining intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation of Serbian students of
English, with the aim of answering the
question whether or not the students are
intrinsically/extrinsically motivated and to
what extent.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Definition and theories
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In basic terms, motivation can be defined
as the main incentive a person may have
to perform a particular action. Motivation is
what urges people to initiate an action and
to persist in performing it (Topalov, 2011).
As far as student motivation is concerned,
it is based to a great extent on the
students’ subjective experiences, i.e. their
willingness and personal motives to
engage in the learning process (Brophy,
2004). This section will provide an
overview of different theories of motivation,
beginning from its early development under
the influence of behaviorism to more
dynamic current models based on
cognition.
The first theories of motivation were
developed under the influence of
behavioral theory in the 1950’s. At first,
behaviorism emphasized the importance of
human drives and needs. Later, the focus
shifted to reinforcement as the primary
means of shaping behavior (Brophy, 2004).
In the classroom environment, various
reinforcements are available: praise, high
grades, extra points, competitions etc. To
be precise, some behaviorists often talked
about control rather than motivation.
Stimulus control is what reminds learners
that a certain kind of behavior will lead to
reinforcement. If a desired behavior is not
yet accomplished, gradual improvement is
achieved by the means of approximations.
Once it is accomplished, occasional
reinforcement is what preserves it (Brophy,
2004). However, the subsequent phase of
motivation research moved away from the
mechanical interpretation of motivation
within the behaviorist framework.
In the last few decades, more
cognitive approaches to motivation were
developed. They emphasized the
importance of students’ interpretation of
certain events and the role of their beliefs,
emotions and values in achievement
situations. Therefore, motives were no
longer looked for outside, but inside the
individual (Topalov, 2011). The three
important theoretical approaches within the
cognitive framework are expectancy-value
theories, goal theories, and self-
determination theory.
Expectancy-value theories treat
behavior as a function of one’s
expectancies and the value of the goal
toward which one is working. Atkinson’s
achievement motivation theory holds that
motivation to succeed depends on the
motives, one’s estimate of the degree of
probability of succeeding in the task, and
the degree to which one values the
potential rewards (Topalov, 2011).
According to this theory, the two essential
parts of achievement motivation are
motivation to succeed and motivation to
avoid failure (Brophy, 2004). As opposed
to achievement theory in which people
orient themselves toward the future,
attribution theory explains how people
interpret their past behavior. Furthermore,
attribution theorists focus on how those
explanations influence people’s future
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motivation and performance (Topalov,
2011).
Goal theories are oriented towards
the goals which individuals seek to fulfill.
Two theories have been particularly
influential in the last two decades: goal-
setting theory and goal orientation theory.
The former stresses the importance of goal
existence for purposeful action and
motivation, whereas the latter deals with
success and achievement in the
classroom. There are two tendencies that
can be distinguished in relation to goal
orientation: learning goal and performance
or ego-involvement goal (Topalov, 2011).
Finally, self-determination theory
was created by Edward Deci and Richard
Ryan. According to self-determination
theory, motivated actions can be either
self-determined or controlled. Self-
determined actions are those which
individuals freely choose and want to do.
This means that the only incentive for
undertaking this kind of actions comes
from one’s enjoyment and interest in a
particular activity i.e. intrinsic motivation.
On the other hand, controlled actions are
those which are determined by an external
force. Therefore, they come as a result of
extrinsic motivation (Brophy, 2004).
2.2. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation is related to an internal
wish to do something. Deci (1975:23)
defines intrinsically motivated activities as:
“the ones for which there is no apparent
reward except the activity itself.” Self-
determination theory puts emphasis on
three innate psychological needs which
need to be satisfied in order for an
individual to feel intrinsically motivated.
Those needs are: autonomy (in deciding
what to do and how to do it), competence
(abilities and skills by which we manage to
control our environment) and relatedness
(relationships we develop through our
interaction with others). This assumption
has significant implications for students
engaged in the learning process. Namely,
students are more likely to experience
intrinsic motivation in an environment that
promotes the satisfaction of these needs
than in the one which neglects them
(Brophy, 2004). Moreover, according to
some studies, intrinsically motivated
learning tends to be more valuable than
extrinsically oriented one (Deci and Ryan,
2000).
Intrinsic motivation was adeptly
illustrated by the concept of flow,
developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Flow represents the feeling of complete
absorption in the activities which we enjoy.
For an artist, flow is most likely to take
place while creating a certain piece; for a
mathematician, while solving a math
problem. At any rate, whenever it happens,
people lose their sense of time. They stay
focused on the task without letting any
distractions keep them away from what
they are doing (Brophy, 2004).
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On the other hand, those who are
extrinsically motivated perform a certain
action not because they truly enjoy it, but
because of a reward that is available in
their environment (Topalov, 2011).
Extrinsic goals can vary from short-term
goals (good grades, prizes from the
teacher and parents, participation in
competitions, etc) to long-term ones
(possibility of winning scholarships, better
job opportunities, higher social status, etc).
Certain studies carried out in the 1970s
and 1980s showed that rewards can lead
to a decrease in intrinsic motivation among
people who are already doing something
because of their own reasons (Brophy,
2004).
Even though the distinction
between the two types of motivation is still
essential when discussing motivation, the
attitude towards extrinsic motivation has
changed. Today, it is thought that intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic reward can work
together toward motivated learning
(Topalov, 2011). In line with this, Deci and
Ryan (2000) have reconsidered their
original theory of self-determination in
order to include extrinsic motivation. This
reviewed theory claims that even
extrinsically motivated behavior can be
self-determined if the process of
internalization (transformation of external
regulations into internal ones) takes place.
Four types of extrinsic regulation can be
identified in relation to the degree of
internalization. The first type is external
regulation, which is connected to those
actions purely motivated by external
rewards or constraints. Therefore, the
actions are fully controlled. The second
type, introjected regulation, is responsible
for those activities which are slightly more
internalized, in the sense that we have
learned how to behave in an expected
way. If not, we feel guilty, which means
that we no longer need an external factor
which would control our behavior.
However, the mechanisms we have
adopted are in conflict with our sense of
self. The next type of regulation, identified
regulation occurs when an individual
identifies a certain value that s/he has
adopted as important. Finally, integrated
regulation is the most self-determined type
because of the complete integration of
adopted values and one’s sense of self
(Brophy, 2004).
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2.3. Related work
Noels, Clement, and Pelletier (2001)
measured the intrinsic, extrinsic, and
integrative motivation of French students in
a summer immersion course. The
questionnaire administered to the students
measured their perceptions of autonomy
and competence, learning effort,
determination, and reasons for language
learning with their achievement in the
course. They analyzed the connection
between different types of motivation
(hierarchically ordered from extrinsic
motivation and its subtypes as less self-
determined to intrinsic motivation as the
most determined type) and its expected
antecedents and consequences. The
variables they chose were students’
perception of autonomy and English
competence compared with their
persistence in English studies (their
intention to continue their studies), and
motivation (the effort they exerted for
studying language).
They hypothesized that perceived
autonomy and competence were the
antecedents of motivation and that
persistence in learning, motivation in
learning, and that final grades were the
consequences. In their research, extrinsic
and identified regulations were endorsed to
a larger degree than intrinsic motivation
and introjected regulation. Their findings
suggest that amotivation (lack of any, both
extrinsic and intrinsic, goals for learning
(2001, Noel)) is indicative of lack of effort in
learning English. Greater identified
regulation and intrinsic motivation
correlated with higher intensity and
persistence in learning English. In fact,
both Anglophone and non-English learners
of English showed high levels of identified
and external regulation and low levels of
amotivation. French students of English
reported that they were motivated
extrinsically (due to internal or external
pressures) if the learning environment did
not support their sense of autonomy. On
the other hand, the presence of internal or
external pressures did not predict the
amount of effort a student would put into
the learning process. The results of the
research indicate that the amount of effort
is influenced by the proximity of external
punishment/reward, whereas intrinsic
motivation correlates with higher levels of
learning effort.
Bakar, Sulaiman and Rafaai (2010)
explored motivation of Muslim learners of
Arabic. The purpose of the study was to
see if the 7-factor structure of motivational
orientation, which accounted for the
previous study of Anglo-French learners of
English and French (Noels, 2000), would
be appropriate for Muslim learners of
Arabic as well. They used 45 items related
on a 7-point scale. Items were based on
the subscales which were adopted by
Noels et al. (2000): intrinsic motivation-
knowledge, intrinsic motivation-
accomplishment, intrinsic motivation-
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stimulation, extrinsic motivation-external
regulation, extrinsic motivation-introjected
regulation, extrinsic motivation-identified
regulation and amotivation. Specific
religious orientations were also
incorporated into the existing scale.
The results of this study show that a
difference should be made between the
types of motivation, since no correlation
between the subscales was found.
However, the scales that proved to be
important for Muslim learners are not
identical to those found in the previous
study by Noels (2000). Namely, intrinsic
motivation-knowledge, intrinsic motivation-
accomplishment, extrinsic-motivation
identified regulation, amotivation and
religious motivation surfaced as distinctive
orientations. What should be pointed out is
that Religious motivation appeared as a
new dimension as a result of the religious
environment in which the study was carried
out. Since Arabic is the sacred language of
the Muslim religion and Muslim students
have very strong feelings about it, items
which had a religious connotation could no
longer be classified under the initial
subscales, but ensured a special
dimension. Although 5 out of 6 items in this
newly established dimension were initially
part of the Introjected Regulation construct,
students’ religious motives were so
internalized that they surpassed the
intrinsic/extrinsic boundary. All this shows
that social and cultural factors are very
important when it comes to motivation
orientations.
Finally, we would like to mention a
study that comes from another field of
education (Physical Education). The
reason for mentioning it is to show the
distribution and usefulness of Intrinsic
Motivation Inventory (IMI), which we used
in our research. McAuley and Duncan
(1988) claim that IMI is a flexible
assessment tool and that neither inclusion
nor exclusion of one of the factors
negatively affects other dimensions.
Moreover, they state that IMI is a very
useful instrument, because items can be
easily paraphrased in order to adjust to
different types of activities. This allows
researchers to freely moderate the items in
a most convenient way, which suits their
needs and goals. This was the case with
our study as well.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
Two groups of students completed the
questionnaire: the first group consisted of
30 high school students (ages 17 to 18,
average age = 17) and the second group
were 30 third year university students at
the English department of the Faculty of
Philosophy in Novi Sad, Serbia (ages 21-
27, average age = 22). Women comprised
74% of the study’s sample, and men 26%.
Even though the number of female
students is much higher than of male
students, the sample gathered is
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representative of the prototypical
classroom setting in which English is
learned as a second language in Serbia.
3.2. Instrument
The instrument consisted of a set of 23
randomly ordered items of a Post-
Experimental Intrinsic Motivation Inventory
test developed by Ryan in 1982. Each item
belonged to one of the following
subcategories of motivation:
Interest/Enjoyment, Effort/Importance,
Perceived Choice, Value/ Usefulness. We
adapted the instrument by completing the
items in the Value/Usefulness category so
that they would fit the purpose of research
which was to examine the students’
general motivation for learning language.
Students were to select a number on a
scale from 1 to 5 which represented the
extent to which a given statement applied
to them.
3.3.1. Interest/Enjoyment. Seven
items of the questionnaire (1, 8, 12, 17, 20,
21 and 23) belonged to this sub-category,
with two negative statements whose score
was reversed. A high mean score for this
item indicates a strong interest (intrinsic
motivation) for learning activities.
3.3.2. Effort/ Importance. Five
items of the questionnaire (2, 7, 11, 13 and
14) belonged to this sub-category, with two
negative statements whose score was
reversed. A high mean score for this item
indicates a high amount of effort and
degree of perceived importance of learning
English.
3.3.3. Perceived Choice. Five
items of the questionnaire (3, 6, 10, 16 and
18) belonged to this sub-category, with
three negative statements whose score
was reversed.
3.3.4. Value/ Usefulness. Six items
of the questionnaire (4, 5, 9, 15, 19 and 22)
belonged to this sub-category. A high
mean score for this item indicates a high
degree of usefulness and perceived value
(extrinsic motivation) of learning English.
3.4. Procedure
The questionnaire was administered to
university students during regular class
hours. The participants were informed that
the data gathered were anonymous and
used for the purpose of research. Only
their age and gender was collected from
personal information. The questionnaires
were filled out at the students’ own pace,
but the average time of completing the
data sampling was approximately 10
minutes.
For the purpose of this paper, we
used descriptive statistics to quantitatively
describe our results. We measured
standard deviation and the mean and
average value for the student’s answers to
different items of the survey and compared
them across the variables of age and
gender. The results reflect the students’
general attitudes toward learning English
and are to be interpreted as broad
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generalizations rather than definite
descriptions. However, the sample
selected for this study is representative of
the target group in a real-life situation and
thus the descriptions in the following can
be used to pinpoint some tendencies that
may be a possible course of future
research.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Data
Table 1: Responses from all participants
ITEM Student item responses (%)
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5
1 3.33 6.67 20 28.33 41.67 3.98 1.09
8 15 18.33 33.33 20 13.33 2.98 1.23
12 8.33 13.33 36.67 16.67 25 3.37 1.22
17 15 10 28.33 21.67 25 3.32 1.35
20 11.7 18.33 36.67 16.67 16.67 3.08 1.22
21 18.3 25 31.67 20 5 2.68 1.13
23 13.3 11.67 41.67 15 18.33 3.13 1.23
Total: 3.22 1.21
2 8.33 16.67 23.33 36.67 15 3.33 1.16
7 5 15 28.33 6.667 45 3.72 1.31
11 11.7 10 31.67 21.67 25 3.38 1.28
13 0 6.67 15 35 43.33 4.15 0.91
14 3.33 20 20 23.33 33.33 3.63 1.22
Total: 3.64 1.18
3 5 5 31.67 40 18.33 3.62 1.02
6 6.67 8.33 11.67 13.33 60 4.12 1.28
10 15 21.67 26.67 10 26.67 3.12 1.40
16 0 8.33 13.33 20 58.33 4.28 0.98
18 13.33 8.33 21.67 11.67 45 3.67 1.45
Total: 3.76 1.23
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4 0 3.33 5 21.67 70 4.58 0.74
5 0 3.33 3.33 15 78.33 4.68 0.7
9 1.67 1.67 10 31.67 55 4.37 0.86
15 3.33 3.33 15 36.67 41.67 4.1 0.99
19 0 1.67 18.33 28.33 51.67 4.3 0.82
22 0 5 16.67 31.67 46.67 4.2 0.89
Total: 4.37 0.83
In table 1, we present the results of all our participants. At first sight, it is apparent that the
subjects are more extrinsically than intrinsically oriented, since the Value/Usefulness
variable is the highest rated one (4.37). What is interesting is that the highest rated item is
the item 5, which means that the majority of students believe they will have a long-term
reward i.e. learning English will help them while traveling abroad. The variable with the
lowest mean is Interest/Enjoyment (3.22). The only two items which were rated lower than 3
(items 8, 21) belong to this variable, which suggests students do not find activities they do in
their English classes especially fun. However, this does not mean that students are not
intrinsically motivated, since the mean of the both of the remaining two variables exceeds
3.5. It should be pointed out that it is important for students to do well (mean 3.64) and that
they consider learning English to be their own choice to a large extent (3.76).
Table 2: Student responses in relation to age
ITEM
Male and female high school
students
Male and female university
students
MEAN SD MEAN SD
1 3.47 1.18 4.5 0.7
8 2.8 1.28 3.17 1.2
12 3.17 1 3.57 1.4
17 3.03 1.43 3.6 1.2
20 3.03 1.2 3.13 1.2
21 2.57 0.96 2.8 1.3
23 3.07 1.21 3.2 1.2
Total: 3.02 1.18 3.28 1.2
2 2.7 1.04 3.97 0.9
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7 3.3 1.29 4.13 1.2
11 2.97 1.28 3.8 1.1
13 3.87 1.02 4.43 0.7
14 3.13 1.15 4.13 1.1
Total: 3.19 1.16 4.09 1
3 3.2 1.05 4.03 0.8
6 3.87 1.23 4.37 1.3
10 2.83 1.27 3.4 1.5
16 3.73 1.09 4.77 0.5
18 2.63 1.28 4.7 0.6
Total: 3.25 1.18 4.25 0.9
4 4.6 0.84 4.57 0.6
5 4.77 0.5 4.6 0.8
9 4.2 0.95 4.53 0.7
15 3.83 1 4.37 0.9
19 4.5 0.72 4.1 0.9
22 4.27 0.89 4.13 0.9
Total: 4.36 0.82 4.38 0.8
What student responses in relation to age (Table 2) show is that there are differences in the
students’ perception of Importance/Effort and Perceived Choice. University students try
harder and it is more important for them to do well in their classes. Moreover, they feel that
learning English is their choice more so than high school students do. This was somewhat
expected due to the fact that the university students participating in the study are
professional learners of English. Having this in mind, it is a bit surprising that one item in the
Perceived Choice variable was rated only 3.4 (item 10), which shows that a certain number
of them feel somewhat obligated to learn English. As far as other two variables are
concerned, the results are virtually the same. It was expected that the results for
Interest/Enjoyment would be more decisively in favor of university students, but this was not
the case.
Table 3: Gender variation in student responses
ITEM Female student responses Male student responses
MEAN SD MEAN SD
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1 4.07 1.1 3.75 1.03
8 3.02 1.25 2.88 1.17
12 3.34 1.28 3.44 1.06
17 3.39 1.35 3.13 1.32
20 3.09 1.22 3.06 1.2
21 2.73 1.19 2.56 0.93
23 3.2 1.24 2.94 1.2
Total: 3.26 1.23 3.11 1.13
2 3.39 1.11 3.19 1.29
7 3.75 1.28 3.63 1.36
11 3.39 1.28 3.38 1.27
13 4.23 0.82 3.94 1.09
14 3.68 1.2 3.5 1.27
Total: 3.69 1.14 3.53 1.26
3 3.8 0.87 3.13 1.22
6 4.25 1.25 3.75 1.3
10 3.34 1.4 2.5 1.22
16 4.36 0.93 3.94 1.09
18 3.7 1.53 3.56 1.17
Total: 3.89 1.19 3.38 1.2
4 4.64 0.68 4.44 0.86
5 4.64 0.74 4.81 0.53
9 4.41 0.78 4.25 1.03
15 4.14 0.92 4 1.17
19 4.32 0.82 4.25 0.83
22 4.23 0.88 4.13 0.93
Total: 4.39 0.8 4.31 0.89
When it comes to gender variation (Table 3), we can see that women are more motivated
than man regardless of the variable. However, differences between them are minimal.
Therefore, a separate comparison of female high school and female university students and
male high school and male university students was needed (Table 4). Indeed, this analysis
provided some more relevant data. Namely, female university students are much more
motivated than female high school students according to all the variables except Value /
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Usefulness, where the results are the same (mean 4.4). The results of male high school and
university students are more similar.
Female student responses Male student responses
ITEM High school University
ITEM High School University
MEAN SD MEAN SD MEAN SD MEAN SD
1 3.4 1.2 4.6 0.56 1 3.6 1.1 4 0.82 8 2.7 1.27 3.3 1.17 8 3 1.3 2.67 0.94
12 2.9 0.89 3.7 1.43 12 3.7 1 3 1 17 2.8 1.44 3.9 1.05 17 3.5 1.3 2.5 1.12 20 2.9 1.11 3.3 1.27 20 3.4 1.3 2.5 0.76 21 2.6 0.97 2.9 1.33 21 2.6 0.9 2.5 0.96 23 3.1 1.24 3.3 1.21 23 3.1 1.1 2.67 1.25
Total: 2.9 1.16 3.6 1.15 Total: 3.27 1.1 2.83 0.98 2 2.7 1 4 0.84 2 2.7 1.1 4 1.15 7 3.3 1.27 4.1 1.17 7 3.3 1.3 4.17 1.21
11 2.8 1.17 3.9 1.17 11 3.3 1.4 3.5 0.96 13 4 0.95 4.4 0.64 13 3.6 1.1 4.5 0.76 14 3.1 1.12 4.2 1 14 3.3 1.2 3.83 1.34
Total: 3.2 1.1 4.1 0.96 Total: 3.24 1.2 4 1.09 3 3.5 0.92 4.1 0.7 3 2.7 1.1 3.83 1.07 6 4.2 1.06 4.3 1.37 6 3.3 1.3 4.5 0.76
10 2.9 1.18 3.7 1.46 10 2.7 1.4 2.17 0.69 16 3.8 1.08 4.8 0.37 16 3.6 1.1 4.5 0.76 18 2.3 1.19 4.9 0.33 18 3.3 1.2 4 1
Total: 3.3 1.09 4.4 0.85 Total: 3.12 1.2 3.8 0.86 4 4.6 0.8 4.7 0.54 4 4.7 0.9 4 0.58 5 4.8 0.43 4.5 0.91 5 4.8 0.6 4.83 0.37 9 4.2 0.75 4.6 0.76 9 4.2 1.2 4.33 0.47
15 3.9 0.83 4.3 0.94 15 3.7 1.3 4.5 0.76 19 4.5 0.74 4.2 0.87 19 4.6 0.7 3.67 0.75 22 4.4 0.8 4.1 0.91 22 4 1 4.33 0.75
Total: 4.4 0.73 4.4 0.82 Total: 4.33 0.9 4.28 0.61
4.2. Discussion
Relatively low results for the
Interest/Enjoyment variable can have
practical applications for professors and
teachers who could use the results as
impetus to modify the existing curriculum.
In particular, because the majority of
students rated English learning activities as
not fun, efforts should be made to make
learning English an inherently pleasant
process by introducing elements of fun to
the curriculum. However, it is a positive
sign that university student answers
indicate that they feel that learning English
is their choice to a greater degree than
high school students. At the same time, it
is somewhat peculiar that they show a very
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high degree of extrinsic motivation. A
possible reason for this could be that they
believe English will form the basis of their
future careers, secure job opportunities,
etc. In fact, one of the highest rated items
of the survey was Item 5, which indicated
that all survey participants judged English
to be useful for traveling abroad.
Even though the distribution of students
across the gender variable is
representative of learning situations in real
life, a possible venue of future research
would be to collect a larger sample of male
student responses in order to get a more
precise picture of the nature and levels of
their motivation.
Paper-and-pencil self-report scales have
become the dominant method in studies of
student motivation. Even though the
structure of the self-report consisting of
numerical scales offers the benefits of
quick administration and inferential
statistical analysis, this method is limited in
focus. Namely, it considers only the
cognitive aspect of motivation and neglects
affect-related factors, possibly due to the
definition of motivation in relation to the
individual’s character (Murphy and
Alexander, 2000). Indeed, the main
criticism of self-report scales is that it treats
motivation as a stable trait because there
are some lines of research that hold that
motivation is a fluid concept that changes
across situations (Hidi et al, 1992). A more
general criticism of self-report
methodologies is that it is based on the
assumption that students have conscious
mental access to motivation, and Hannula
showed that an individual has only partial
access to motivation (2006). A criticism
more specifically related to this research
paper is that it is difficult to use the same
self-report scale to measure motivation
across different age groups due to
developmental changes in students’ self-
concept and motivation. A longitudinal
study of self-motivation may address these
limitations.
The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory imposes
certain limitations, as well. It contains items
such as “I believe/think/… that learning is
important”, which measure values rather
than intentional commitment of the
students. Elliot and Murayama noted that
these items contain complex constructs
whose analysis goes beyond the scope of
the survey method (2008). Another
problem with these items is that different
elements of them are subject to the
individual’s interpretation (Fulmer and
Frijters, 2009). In addition, they observed
that self-reports usually merge the goals of
an activity with the reasons for performing
an activity, even though different students
may pursue the same goal for a different
reason. Furthermore, different researchers
use dissimilar subscales on self-reports to
analyze same domains, and consequently,
there are scales that appear to be
equivalent but measure different domains,
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as well. For example, for assessing
students’ general motivation, Gottfried
examined students’ curiosity, persistence,
and desire to master challenging tasks
(1986), and Harter assessed their
preference for challenge, independent
judgment, and other (1981).
Because there are no tests that have
proven validity and robust measures,
researchers tend to use non-published and
modified self-report scales for assessing
motivation. This causes another issue;
namely, some researchers give a new
name to a previously existing concept,
which adds to terminological confusion and
decreases construct validity of self-report
scales. This is particularly true for the
concepts of self-concept, self-esteem, and
self-efficacy. A very specific criticism of the
numerical scale is that students’ select the
middle value or the neutral response for
various reasons such as indecision,
disapproval, rebellion, and these may not
be related to the construct the item is
testing (Fulmer and Frijters, 2009). To
summarize, the self-report scale method
may be improved by combining it with
alternative methods (some of which are
outlined in Fulmer and Frijters, 2009), but
these are often time-consuming and
significantly reduce the objectivity of the
results.
5. Conclusion
The results of this research show that there
are generally low levels of intrinsic
motivation present among high school and
university students. The results of this
study should be used as indications of
possible tendencies to be researched in
the future and not as exhaustive data. It
was expected that the results for
Interest/Enjoyment would be more
decisively in favor of university students,
but this was not the case. The differences
in motivation are minimal in relation to
gender, even though female students show
an increase of intrinsic motivation across
the age variable.
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Elliot, A. J. & Murayama, K. (2008). On the measurement of achievement goals: Critique,
illustration, and application. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 613–628.
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the measurement of student motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 21/3, 219-246.
Gottfried, A. E. (1986). Manual for the children's academic intrinsic motivation inventory.
Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources
Hannula, M. S. (2006). Motivation in mathematics: Goals reflected in emotions. Educational
Studies in Mathematics, 63, 165–178.
Harter, S. (1981). A new self-report scale of intrinsic versus extrinsic orientation in the
classroom: Motivational and informational components. Developmental Psychology, 17,
300–312
Hidi, S., Renninger, K. A. & Krapp, A. (1992). The present state of interest research. In K. A.
Renninger, S. Hidi& A. Krapp (Eds.), The role of interest in learning and development (pp.
433–447). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
McAuley, E. & Duncan, T. (1989). Psychometric Properties of the Intrinsic Motivation
Inventory in a Competitive Sport Setting: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Research
Quaterly for Exercise and Sport, 60/1, 48-58.
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Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 3–53.
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second language? Motivational orientations and self‐determination theory. Language
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ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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www.eltajournal.org.rs Page 38
*****
Nina Ilić was born in Novi Sad in 1991. She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad
with a degree in English language and literature in June 2014. She applied for master studies at the
same college in October 2014. She is interested in teaching, theoretical and applied linguistics.
Aleksandra Oletić was born in Novi Sad in 1991. She earned her BA in English Language and
Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. She enrolled in the Master’s Programme in
Applied Linguistics at Stockholm University in Sweden, where she is pursuing her degree with a focus
on interlanguage development, second language acquisition and inter-cultural pragmatics.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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www.eltajournal.org.rs Page 39
Mediation in Peer Interaction among
Chinese EFL Learners
by Pramod Kumar Sah, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Abstract It is widely accepted that classroom interaction, either between peers and a teacher or among learners facilitates students’ language learning. An individual learner can benefit from his/her peer(s) who are at higher level of competence through interaction. The most common proposition of the role of peer interaction is the mediation of understanding that helps them develop language competence by noticing the gap. This study examines the strategies adopted by the Chinese undergraduate level learners while mediating the understanding. The data has been generated from peer interaction while doing language classroom activities. In the interaction, the participants attempt to mediate the understanding about the language introduced to them and the activity they were asked to do. The study reveals that Chinese learners of English basically use repetition, first language, elaboration, paralinguistic signs, and contextual and real life instances in order to mediate their understanding. Key words: classroom interaction, Mediation of understanding, ZPD, paralinguistic signs Apstrakt Široko je prihvaćena činjenica da interakcija u učionici, bilo između vršnjaka ili nastavnika i učenika, olakšava učenje jezika. Učenik kao pojedinac može kroz interakciju imati koristi od svog vršnjaka koji poseduje viši nivo jezičkih kompetencija. Najčešća teza o ulozi vršnjačke interakcije je posredovanje u razumevanju koje im pomaže da razviju jezičke kompetencije primećujući leksičke praznine. Ova studija ispituje strategije koje su usvojili kineski preddiplomski učenici dok su posredovali u razumevanju. Podaci su generisani iz vršnjačke interakcije, tokom jezičkih aktivnosti u učionici. U interakciji, učesnici pokušavaju posredovati u razmevanju jezika kome su izloženi i zadatim aktivnostima. Istraživanje otkriva da kineski studenti engleskog jezika u osnovi koriste ponavljanje, maternji jezik, elaboraciju, paralingvističke znakove i kontekstualne i životne primere kako bi pospešili razumevanje. Ključne reči: interakcija u učionici, medijacija razumevanja, ZPD, paralingvistički znaci
1. Introduction
It has been largely evidenced that it is not
always the teachers to mediate the
understanding among the learners. There are
plenty of spaces where the learners can learn
from other peers. However, the peer who
mediates is believed to have higher level of
competence in language. The mediator uses
different techniques in order to mediate the
understanding. The techniques they use might
differ according to contexts. To be specific, this
study attempts to discover the techniques
Chinese EFL learners use in particular.
2. Defining Mediation
Mediation largely refers to the use of auxiliary
objects or tools to execute an activity efficiently.
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It is the creation and use of artificial auxiliary
means of acting physically, socially and
mentally (Lantolf, 2009). These auxiliary
resources are used to do our tasks with ease.
Such auxiliary tools, in the physical world,
include hammers, shovels, dynamites,
bulldozers, etc. These tools greatly enhance
human capacity to perform tasks with ease and
less effort. In particular, we use shovels to dig
the ground that makes our job easier than
digging with our hand. Here, shovels function
as mediators to perform tasks efficiently.
Identically, such auxiliary tools are also used in
social and physical worlds, in which the tools
such as numbers, graphs, models, drawings
and linguistic symbols are used for efficient
performance. In addition, in communication we
broadly use linguistic symbols while interacting
with other interlocutors (Lantolf and Throne,
2006, Karpov & Hayward, 1998). In this regard,
language is one of the most important symbolic
systems for the mediation of human mental
activity (Lantolf, 2009).
3. Theoretical Orientation
The development of mediation is the core
feature of the socio cultural theory (SCT) of
Vygotsky (1986). The basic principle of SCT is
that all types of human cognitive and emotional
activities that refer to learning a language are
mediated by psychological tools such as
language, signs and symbols (Karpov and
Hayward, 1998). To put it other way, when a
person interacts with other interlocutors and
artefacts, his/her behaviour is mediated by
sign/ symbol system (Swain et al., 2011) and
(Van Lier, 2000).
Following Oheta (2000), SCT believes that
language learners are not only as processers of
input or producers of output, they are rather
speakers or hearers involved in developmental
processes which are realized in interaction .The
rate of mental activity goes higher in humans in
interactions when they enter into with other
members (Lantolf, 2009 and Donato &
McCormick, 1994). Watanbe (2008) seems to
believe the Vygotsky’s (1978) principle that
learning comes from social mediation as he
also states that knowledge and cognition are
built through social interaction. Vygotsky’s SCT
of mind points out that concept appears
through dynamic interaction by shaping and
transforming each other in an interconnected
system. Consequently, language development
is intrinsically a social process (Apple and
Lantolf, 1994). Learning a language supports
cognitive development in a human being since
it mediates interaction between two humans,
one with comparative more knowledge to
support another person (Vygotsky, 1986).
The next view of SCT believes that language
development takes place in the context of
collaborative activities (Vygotsky, 1978). Van
Lier (1996, p.171) supports the thesis as “in
order to learn, a person must be active”.
Language development does not continue as
an unfolding of inborn capacities, rather it is the
transformation of innate capacities as they are
linked to socio culturally constructed
meditational tools (Lantolf and Pavlenko, 1995).
Mediation can be of different types but useful
mediation must be linked to learners’ zone of
proximal development (ZPD) (Lantolf, 2009).
ZPD refers to the gap between the real
developmental level and the potential
developmental level that a learner can achieve
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with support from others with higher level in
course of interaction (Vygotsky, 1978). This
shows that a mediator needs to know what an
individual can acquire with support or additional
mediation. The ZPD is related to the different
characteristics that a learner possesses and
the actual activities the learner undertakes; as
a consequence, what is unachievable alone
becomes achievable (Lantolf, 2009).
4. Peer interaction
Peer interaction is a broadly used technique in
a language teaching and learning that
promotes learning by mediating it. It is only
myth to say learning does not take place in the
absence of experts. Lantolf (2009) advocates
that learning does not always emerge from
expert, it can even occur in the absence of
experts. Dialogues or interaction among
learners can be as effective as the instructional
conversations between learners and experts
(Swain, 1995). In this regard, Lantolf (2009)
claims that learners can scaffold each other
more efficiently by using interactive strategies
that are sensitive to their ZPD.
Stressing on the learning originated through
peer interaction, Olmendo (2003) argues that a
group member in a peer interaction (as a
mediator) can judge the understanding of other
peers and facilitates comprehension. They
produce scaffolding to other peers to enhance
communication and understanding. A language
learner can make the most of the affordances
(Van Lier, 2000) or occasions for learning
(Swain & Lapkin, 1998) that are often made
available by the peers in the interaction.
Olmedo (2003) suggests the following steps for
the participation in the language mediation role
in peer interactions.
a. The mediator must have clue for
the communicative intention of
his/her peer’s speech.
b. The mediator should be able to
monitor the behaviour of the peers
to ensure that they have got the
message.
c. The mediator must opt for a
strategy that ensures real
understanding of the message
conveyed.
d. The mediator should address the
peers that strategy.
5. Related Research
A large amount of research has been
conducted on classroom interaction, most of
which is on a group and pair work. These
studies usually focus on the linguistic
interactions that occur between the participants
of the same group (Long, 1983). Almost all the
studies have evidenced their findings in
reference to Vygotsky’s (1986) theory of
cognitive development that basically refers to
the knowledge constructed through interactions
between individuals within society. The findings
of some research have outlined the general
strategies that the learners use in mediation
while interacting with others.
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Olmedo (2003) based his research to
investigate the strategies adopted by learners
to mediate understanding in English. The study
showed that the learners use different types of
strategies to mediate understanding such as,
translation, paraphrasing, code-switching,
scaffolding by providing verbal cues,
paralinguistic cues, modelling the behaviour,
providing situational cues and interpreting
contextual and situational cues.
With regard to peer’s assistance in learning a
language, Watanbe (2008), in a research on
peer interaction, evidenced that both the higher
and the lower proficiency peers could provide
opportunities for learning when they work
collaboratively. Identically, Storch (2002)
researched four different patterns of interaction
in pair works that include: collaborative,
expert/novice, dominant/dominant and expert/
passive. The findings of the study showed that
language learning takes place more effectively
in pairs when the activity is done collaboratively
or if the interaction is organized between an
expert and novice. Similarly, Swain (2000), in
his study on collaborative dialogue (the
dialogue in which all the learners take active
role and engage with each other’s ideas),
suggested that when learners involve in
collaborative dialogues, they complete a task
and construct their knowledge. Moreover,
Donato’s (1994) research also demonstrated
that the university level students can
collectively build scaffolding for each other’s
performance in a collaborative interaction.
Correspondingly, Gibbons (2003) focused on
the ways how the teachers tend to mediate
between the students’ present linguistic level in
English and their understanding of the content
of the subject through interaction with students.
His findings showed that teachers can mediate
language learning in a number of ways such as
mode shifting through recasting, signifying the
need for reformulation, signalling to learners’
ways to formulate and recontextualising
individual knowledge.
In particular to Chinese context, Gao’s (2010,
p.69) data supports the argument that “the
participants experience of learning English and
strategy use were mediated by their interaction
with peers, although their learning of English
was largely done in isolation”. Cheng (2000) as
cited in Gao (2010) also finds that in learning
process, Chinese students participate in
interaction with other English language learners
at schools and universities in light of the strong
culture for mutual collaboration among other
Chinese learners.
6. Methodology
6.1. Objectives of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the
strategies Chinese learners of English adopt to
mediate understanding while taking part in peer
interactions.
6.2. Subjects
The subjects of the study were Chinese
learners of English who were undertaking
undergraduate course in International Business
Communication at the Shanghai University of
International Business and Economics,
Shanghai, China. The study was conducted
while those students were taking a short EAP
course. Three different groups were formed
comprising of lower and higher level learners
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and their interactions were observed while they
were doing the tasks.
6.3. Method
This research is largely based on the primary
source of data that was elicited from classroom
activities while the participants were attending a
short EAP course. As already stated, three
specific groups were formed that included both
lower and higher level of learners. While they
were asked to do classroom activities, primarily
grammar based exercises, the interaction
between lower and higher level learners was
observed without giving any clue to them of
being observed. The learners were not
informed that they were being observed
because they might have acted differently. In
other words, Mackey and Gass (2005, p. 187)
call this limitation as “The Hawthorne Effect”
when the participants act differently upon their
knowledge of being observed. This is one of
the reasons that the researcher did not opt for
recording the interaction, and other being the
case that observation is a good tool for
gathering in-depth information about activates,
interactions, instructions that occur in
classroom (Mackey and Gass, 2005). The
teacher being the researcher observed the
strategies used by the higher level learner while
mediating comprehension to the lower level
learners. However, it does not seem to be
possible to take over the lesson and keep
everything noticed in the memory
simultaneously. So, the researcher maintained
journal writing for four different lessons to draw
valid conclusion.
6.4. Analysis
This section accounts for the classroom
interaction of the students in which they tend to
mediate their understanding in various ways.
Based on the researcher’s journals, he
attempts to analyse the language used by the
students in order figure out the strategies that
the students used while mediating their
understanding. The following are different
interactions of the students.
Task 1
(Talk to your partner. What was the last plan
you cancelled? Why did you cancel it? When
was the last time you did something even
though you didn’t feel like it?)
Mediation 1
Li: What is ‘cancel’?
Lao: Means ....(.......) (Chinese word).
Li: Ok. Um....what I should write?
Lao: Ok...suppose. You had decided to go on
shopping and.... it was raining....... but
you didn’t cancel your plan.
Li: Ok...I understood.
Mediation 2
Yang: Chen ...which language to use?
Chen: Teacher told.....um....language of
contrast.
Yang: Con-?
Chen: Contrast. (Modified pronunciation)
Wang: How?
Chen: We can use ‘despite’.
Wang: Oh..like he said.
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In the excerpts above, it can be noticed that all
the participants work collaboratively to
comprehend the task, so it is a collaborative
dialogue (Swain, 2000). In mediation 1, Loa
has higher level of competence, and so does
he try to mediate understanding to Li. At the
beginning, the first technique Lao used is
Chinese language (participants’ first language)
to make Li understand the meaning of the word
‘cancel’. At the same time, Li asked for clues to
write the answer. Lao attempts to explain the
task by giving a real life and contextual
example.
Correspondingly, in mediation 2, Chen being
better known than others mediates
comprehension. It can be seen that when Yang
is unable to understand the pronunciation,
Chen pronounces the word ‘contrast’. Chen
tends to repeat the word with modified
pronunciation to mediate understanding and it
works.
As a result, it can be analyzed that Chinese
learners of English use the techniques such as
first language, repetition, modified
pronunciation, and real and contextual
examples to mediate understanding.
Task 2
(The students were given a set of corpus data
to work on in order to find the pattern and use
of the discourse marker ‘despite’. They had to
find out the patters that follow and precede
‘despite’, and to construct sentences based on
the patterns.)
Mediation 3:
Kong: What he mean to say follow and proceed
despite?
Peng: Ok....um..look at sentence. Which word
is before despite?
Kong: Um..use
Zhai: So, this is follow despite?
Peng: Yes, you’re right.
Kong: Ok...a recall is follow?
Peng: Yeah.
Mediation 4:
Peng: Have you noticed? ....There is doing
word after despite!
Kong: Yeah, you mean ‘riding’ in sentence 2?
Peng: Yes.
Zai: Then, what is the meaning?
Peng: This is showing contrast.
Zai: What is contrast?
Peng: Um..means .. in contrast to
something....opposite idea.
Kong: I didn’t understand.
Peng: (..........) (uses Chinese language)
Zai: Oh, I got it.
Having a look at the mediation 3, Kong does
not know the meaning of follow and precede in
the task. In this concern, Peng tries to mediate
the meaning through elaborating the concept
by getting their peers to raise their
consciousness at the same time. As a result of
peer interaction, both Kong and Zhai seem to
have understood the meaning. This indicates
that their peer is able to offer them opportunity
for learning (Wantabe, 2008 & Stroch, 2002).
Next, in mediation 4, Kong asks Peng to tell her
the meaning of the term ‘contrast’. Initially,
Peng tries to mediate meaning by defining the
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term but Kong does not seem to understand
the meaning. Then, he explains the concept in
Chinese language. This reveals the fact that
the mediator feels easy to translate into their L1
after s/he fails to mediate through other
techniques. However, using L1 is only possible
in monolingual classrooms.
Despite they produce grammatically incorrect
utterances, they are able to communicate with
ease and the mediator is able to mediate the
comprehension among his/her peers using
techniques such as repetition, first language,
elaboration, paralinguistic signs, and contextual
and real life instances in order to mediate their
understanding.
7. Conclusion
The analysis based on the interaction that
occurred among the Chinese peers in the class
specifies that they use different strategies to
mediate comprehension (Olmendo, 2003). The
key strategies the Chinese EFL learners use
include: repetition, first language, elaboration,
paralinguistic signs, and contextual and real life
instances in order to mediate their
understanding
The results can be interpreted in terms of
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development.
These techniques, using language as a
cognitive tool to make and shape meaning
(Swain,2006), have helped the participants
mediate their understanding. The researcher
noticed that the participants involved in task
collaboratively and co-constructed the
understanding, which is also evidenced by the
interaction patterns. The knowledge was
subsequently appropriated and internalized by
the members of the group through mediation.
The mediators were able to provide support to
their peers during the interaction (Donato, 1994
and Webb, 1989) and to facilitate the
understanding to their peers (Olmendo, 2003
and Webb, 1989). To put it other way, they
were capable of scaffolding each other quite
efficiently using different strategies and learning
occurred through those strategies (Lantolf,
2009). More significantly, from a pedagogical
perspective, the finding of this study might also
suggest that learning seems to take place when
students get the opportunity to work
collaboratively and a learning strategy that an
individual develops while working in group may
assist their future learning.
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language research, (1994): 33456.
Donato, R. and McCormick, D. A sociocultural perspective on language learning strategies: The role
of mediation. The Modern Language Journal, 78 (1994): 453-464.
Gao, X. Strategic language learning: the role of agency and context. Bristol: Multilingual Matters,
(2010).
Gibbons, P. Mediating language learning: Teacher interactions with ESL students in a content based
classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 37(2003): 247-273.
Karpov, Y. V. and Haywood, H. C. Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky's concept of mediation. American
Psychologist, 53 (1998): 27.
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acquisition, 28(2006): 67-109.
Lantolf, J. P. Second language learning as a mediated process. Language teaching, 33(2009): 79-96.
Lantolf, J.P. The sociocultural approach to second language acquisition. In Dwight, A. (Ed) Alternative
approaches to second language acquisition. London, New York: Routledge,2011.
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Applied Linguistics, 15(1995): 108-124.
Long, M. H. Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible
input. Applied Linguistics, 4(1983): 126–141.
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Erlbaum Associates Publishers,2005.
Ohta, A.S. Rethinking interaction in SLA: Developmentally appropriate assistance in the zone of
proximal development and the acquisition of L2 grammar. In J.P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural
theory and second language learning (pp. 51–78). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Olmedo, I.M. Language mediation among emergent bilingual children. Linguistics and education, 14
(2003): 143-162
Storch, N. Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language learning,52 (2002): 119-158.
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Swain, M. Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (eds.),
Principle & practice in applied linguistics. Studies in Honour of H. G.Widdowson, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1995: 125-44.
Swain, M. The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative
dialogue. Sociocultural theory and second language learning, 97,(2000). 114.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion
students working together. The Modern Language Journal, 82 (1998): 320-337.
Swain, M, et al. Languaging: University students learn the grammatical concept of voice in
French. The Modern Language Journal, 93 (2009): 5-29.
Van Lier, L. Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy and authenticity. London:
Longman, 1996.
Van Lier, L. From input to affordance: Social-interactive learning from an ecological
perspective. Sociocultural theory and second language learning, (2000): 245- 259.
Vygotsky, L.S. Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Vygotsky, L. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986.
Watanabe, Y. Peer–peer interaction between L2 learners of different proficiency levels: Their
interactions and reflections. Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des
langues vivantes, 64 (2008):605-635.
Webb, N. M. Peer interaction and learning in small groups. International journal of Educational
research, 13 (1989):21-39.
*****
Pramod Kumar Sah is a Non-native EFL teacher from Nepal. He earned a Master’s Degree in
Education, specialization in English Language from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and a Master of Arts
Degree in TESOL with Applied Linguistics from the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He began
his career as a school level EFL teacher and later worked as a Lecturer for an affiliated college of
Tribhuvan University, Nepal. In addition, he worked as TV presenter in Nepal. After his mover to the
UK, he was invited as a guest lecturer in a Chinese university and later worked as part-time
teacher at the University of Central Lancashire.He is particularly interested in corpus-driven
language learning and has investigated into the effectiveness of Data-driven learning (DDL). He has
authored a couple of books namely ‘Academic Writing’ and ‘English for Mass Communication’, and
has presented and published papers at national and international level.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Teaching Collocations in a Second
Language: Why, What and How?
by Zorana Vasiljevic, Bunkyo University, Japan
Abstract Although there is little doubt that collocation knowledge is crucial for fluent language use, collocations often do not receive sufficient attention, either inside or outside the language classroom. While more recent EFL textbooks include some collocation work, this work is rarely systematic and the associated activities are often too few. Due to curriculum constraints and time pressure, teachers are frequently not in a position to create supplementary collocation study materials, and as collocations usually do not pose comprehension problems, they may opt not to attend to them at all. Furthermore, collocations may present a challenge for instructors. While they may have a good command of grammatical patterns and a large receptive vocabulary, they may lack confidence when it comes to selection of syntagmatic phrases or advising students about acceptable word combinations in the target language. Learners, for their part, are often not even aware of the significance of collocation knowledge. They tend to identify vocabulary learning with an expansion of vocabulary size, and they perceive knowledge of difficult or specialized words as an indicator of language progress. As a result, they often focus on memorising long, decontextualized word lists, and they seldom pay attention to how these words are actually used. This paper will review some major findings that have emerged from collocation studies in corpus and applied linguistics, and it will offer some suggestions for possible applications of these findings in the language classroom. Special attention will be given to the criteria for the selection of target collocations, and the activities that may help bridge the gap between the learners’ receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. Finally, some ideas about how student autonomy in collocation learning could be fostered will be shared. Key words: collocation teaching activities and tests, online corpora, learner autonomy Apstrakt Premda kljucne za tecnu upotrebu jezika, kolokacijama se ne poklanja dovolno paznje ni u ucionici ni izvan nje. Iako noviji udzbenici za ucenje engleskog ukljucuju neke aktivnosti za vezbu kolokacija, one su nesistematicne i nedovoljne. Zbog programskih obaveza i nedostatka vremena, profesori cesto nisu u mogucnosti da pripreme dodatne materijale, i kako poznavanje kolokacija obicno nije kljucno za razumevanje teksta, one su ponekad i potpuno eliminisane iz programa. Dodatni razlog za njihovu eliminaciju je i to sto kolokacije cesto predstavljaju teskoce i za same profesore.Uprkos dobrom vladanja gramatikom i poznavanja velikog broja reci, nije neobicno da i profesori imaju nedoumica kad je u pitanju izbor sintagmatskih izraza ili upucivanje studenata ka pravom izboru reci na stranom jeziku. Studenti, sa druge strane, cesto nisu ni svesni koliko je poznavanje kolokacija vazno. Oni poistovecuju ucenje vokabulara sa povecanjem broja reci i veruju da je poznavanje teskih reci ili specijalizovanih izraza dokaz njihovog napretka.Rezultat je njihovo koncentrisanje na memorizaciju dugih, nekontekstualizovanih lista reci i nedovoljno paznje posvecene njihovoj upotrebi.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Ovaj clanak sumira neka od vaznijih saznanja iz studija kolokacija u okviru korpusne I primenjene lingvistike, i upucuje na nacine na koje bi se ona mogla primeniti u jezickim institucijama. Posebna paznja je posvecena kriterijumima za selekciju kolokacija za direktnu nastavu i aktivnostima kojima bi se mogao smanjiti procep izmedju pasivnog i aktivnog vokabulara. Clanak takodje izlaze ideje za podsticanje studentske autonomije u ucenju kolokacija. Ključne reči: poducavanje i testiranje kolokacija, elektronski korpus, autonomija studenata
1. Introduction: The notion of
collocations
One feature common to natural languages
is that words tend to occur together with a
restricted set of other words. These
frequently co-occurring word strings are
known as collocations. A collocation is a
phrase which consists of the focus item
known as the node or the base, a co-
occurring word or the collocate, and the
span, which is an environment in which
the node and the collocate co-occur. The
relationships between the phrase
constituents within a span are by no
means uniform and clear-cut, and a wide
range of classification schemes have been
developed. Handl (2009) identifies three
dimensions along which collocations can
be classified:1) semantic, 2) lexical and 3)
statistical. On a semantic level,
collocations differ in their level of
transparency. As can be seen from the
examples below, while the meanings of
some phrases are transparent and
matches that of the component words,
other phrases are highly idiomatic.
Table 1. Examples of collocations of different levels of transparency (based on Reveir, 2009)
Transparent Semi-transparent Non-transparent
Example 1:
Example 2
make tea
take the money
make a complaint
take a course
make the grade
take sides
Some researchers (e.g. Reveir, 2009)
argue that semantic transparency affects
how the collocations are processed.
According to Reveir (2009), transparent
collocations tend to be processed
compositionally (i.e. as separate items),
and their use is linked to general lexical
and grammatical knowledge. However, the
use of semi-transparent and non-
transparent collocation requires the
phrases to be stored and accessed as
holistic units.
On the lexical level, collocations differ with
regard to the number of words that
particular phrase components tend to
collocate with. While some words have a
large number of syntagmatic associations,
others have a highly restricted use (e.g. a
slice of bacon vs. a rasher of bacon).
On the statistical level, collocations can be
analyzed with regard to their combined
frequency as well as the frequency of the
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phrase constituents. The ratio between the
two frequencies reveals the strength of the
collocation and the direction of the
attraction between the phrase
constituents.
Collocations also differ in terms of the
level of substitutability of their combinatory
elements (Howarth, 1998a). While some
phrases are characterized by a relatively
high level of commutability of the
constituent words, others tend to be more
restricted, as can be seen from the
following examples: blow a trumpet (free
combination), blow a fuse (restricted
collocation), blow your own trumpet
(figurative idiom), blow the gaff (pure
idiom) (Howarth, 1998b)
As can be seen from the examples above,
the concept of collocation covers a large
number of multiword chunks of different
compositional structure, associative
strength and semantic transparency.
2. WHY should collocations be taught?
One of the most important tasks that
language learners face is acquiring an
extensive vocabulary. Collocation
knowledge is one of the most important
properties of lexical competence.
Language is phrasal in its nature, and
collocations represent building blocks of
spoken and written discourse (Wray,
2002). They facilitate communication by
reducing the processing load of both
speakers and hearers alike (Halliday,
1966).Native speakers notice, process
and store formulaic word sequences as a
whole, and that allows them to take
advantage of language idiomaticity during
language comprehension and gives them
fluency during language production
(Pawley & Syder, 1983; Wray 2002).
Collocations are also important because
they define the meaning of individual
words and phrases or, as Firth (1957:179)
famously put it, “You shall know a word by
the company it keeps.” In other words, the
sense of a lexical item and its functional
value are defined through its use and
through the relationships it forms with
other words in a specific situational
context (e.g. run a marathon vs. run a
shop vs. run a risk).
However, while collocation knowledge is
an essential component of communicative
competence, collocations also pose one of
the biggest challenges for second
language learners even at very advanced
stages of language proficiency (Arnaud &
Savignon, 1997; Barfield, 2009; Howarth,
1998a, 1998b).
There are several reasons why collocation
development is a slow and difficult
process. One problem is that collocational
restrictions are not imposed by the
semantic compatibility of the phrase
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constituents but by the norms of language
use. Knowledge of collocations is not the
same as the knowledge of the phrase
component parts. Even advanced learners
may experience difficulty in using common
delexical verbs such as ‘make’ and ‘take’,
although they are familiar with their
meaning (Nesselhauf, 2003).
Another problem is that learners often do
not recognize the importance of
collocation knowledge (Jiang, 2009;
Laufer 2005; Peters 2007).One reason for
this may be the fact that collocations tend
to pose little difficulty in language
comprehension. Learners often
underestimate the difference between
receptive and productive vocabulary
knowledge, and they assume that if they
understand the words, they will be able to
use them as well. As a result, many
students tend to identify vocabulary
learning with the acquisition of new words,
and they fail to pay sufficient attention to
collocational relationships in the input.
Insufficient attention given to word
combinations during class instruction and
limited coverage of syntagmatic phrases in
the reference books are also some
reasons why L2 collocations are difficult to
acquire. Due to curricular constraints and
time pressure, many teachers find it
difficult to integrate collocation instruction
in regular classes. For example, Jiang
(2009) found that about two-thirds of 75
Chinese students she surveyed had never
done any collocation-focused vocabulary
practice. Similarly, due to limitations of
space, lexicographers cannot include
extended collocational information in
learner dictionaries, despite the great
progress that has been made in corpus
studies in recent years.
Lack of awareness combined with a lack
of attention to collocational phrases may
significantly impede learners’ progress.
The inability to recognize collocations
means that learners cannot take
advantage of the lexical priming in the
natural discourse. Words that they
encounter in the text do not generate any
expectations for them, which significantly
increases the pressure on their working
memory and slows down their processing
of the input (Siyanova & Schmitt, 2008).
Lack of collocation competence also
causes problems during language
production. Languages differ in the range
of acceptable combinatory choices of
phrase constituents. For example,
according to the Oxford Collocations
Dictionary for Students of English (2002),
some common verb collocates of the noun
decision are make, take, arrive at, come to
and reach. In Japanese, however,
‘decision’ collocates with ‘do’ (kettsui
/kesshin/kettei + suru). Spanish allows
take but not do or make (tomar decisión),
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while in Serbian decision collocates with
bring (doneti odluku). Due to the lack of
awareness and L1 interference, learners’
attempts to “re-assemble” individual items
often result in erroneous, unnatural or
oversimplified output (Lewis, 2000;
Schmitt, 2004; Singleton, 1999; Wray,
2002; Yang & Hendricks, 2004).
The findings above suggest that if learners
are to benefit from the reduced processing
load, fluency and idiomaticity that
collocation knowledge offers, they must
learn to approach L2 vocabulary as a
network. This means that instruction
should aim at helping students learn to
process, store and retrieve word strings
holistically, in chunks, rather than
assembling them at the production stage.
For this purpose, it is necessary to have a
systematic and comprehensive analysis of
common word combinations in native
speakers’ corpora, and develop effective
teaching strategies that would make these
combinations more accessible to language
learners. The next section will examine the
problem of the selection of collocations for
targeted teaching.
3. WHAT should be taught?
The sheer number of collocations and
their pervasiveness in natural language
pose challenges in terms of setting the
learning goals and in terms of choosing
the learning priorities. The Oxford
Collocations Dictionary for Students of
English (2002) includes about 150,000
collocations, and that list is far from being
exhaustive. In the limited class time
available, teachers have to be highly
selective with regard to the phrases that
will become the focus of class instruction.
One common criterion for collocation
selection is their frequency of occurrence
in the corpus. Developments in computer
technology have enabled the analysis of
very large language corpora making it
possible for researchers to obtain
comprehensive data on the frequency of a
particular word combination in the natural
language. There are a number of online
corpora available to language teachers
and researchers. Some of the biggest
ones are the 100 million-word British
National Corpus (BNC) and the 450
million-word Corpus of Contemporary
American English (COCA). Both corpora
include a large collection of samples of
written and spoken language from a wide
range of sources. The corpora websites
offer a number of useful features such as
search by word or phrase, by lemma, or
by a part of speech, and they enable the
users to perform an analysis of word
frequencies, collocates, and distribution of
synonyms in different types of texts, as
well as indifferent time periods. These
corpora have served as a basis for a large
number of research publications
throughout the world, and have permitted
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the development of authentic teaching
materials and resources.
The COCA corpus
(http://corpus.byu.edu/coca), from which
the examples in this paper are taken, is
balanced between five different text types:
spoken, fiction, magazine, newspaper and
academic, allowing a comparison of word
frequencies and use in different contexts.
There are four basic search functions: 1)
LIST which shows a list of words or word
combinations ranked according to their
frequency; 2) CHART which allows a
comparison of frequencies in different
genres or time periods; 3) KWIC (Key
Word in Context) which displays search
words in context with colour-coding for
different parts of speech, and 4) the
COMPARE option which allows a
comparison of two words according to
their general frequency or with their
specific collocates. A variety of search
options available to researchers goes
beyond the scope of this paper, but for
readers who are interested in learning
more, the three COCA tutorials shared
online by Professor David Brown
(http://www.thegrammarlab.com/?page_id
=15) present an excellent general
introduction into how corpora could be
used for research purposes. As the
research interfaces are similar, the
tutorials will also come in useful in the
search of other corpora.
This paper will now examine more closely
how corpora like COCA could be used to
facilitate the development of the
collocation knowledge of second language
learners. COCA contains the largest and
one of the most accurate lists of
collocations currently available, with about
4.3 million node/ collocate pairs extracted
from a 450 million-word corpus.
Collocation data can be of use in various
strands of linguistic research such as the
analysis of syntactic patterns, pragmatics,
semantic prosody, and sociolinguistic and
discourse analysis. One way to search
collocations in COCA is to type in the
target word in the search field followed by
a tag for the specific part of speech. For
example, in order to search for which
prepositions can follow the adjective
similar they should type in the following
search string: similar [i*], where [i*] stands
for “all prepositions”.
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Figure 1. Searching collocations in COCA using the basic search field
The results show the most frequent collocates of ‘similar’ and their frequency of occurrence.
Figure 2. Most common prepositions that collocate with similar and their corpus frequencies
A click on the particular collocation provides concordance data, that is, the keywords
displayed in context. Concordance data includes information about the year in which when
the phrase was used, the text-type and the sub-genre from which the phrase was extracted.
Figure 3. A sample of concordances similar to
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This analysis can be extended by using the KWIC option, which displays search words in
context using a colour code for different parts of speech.
Another way to search collocations in COCA is by entering a word string in the search field
(e.g. similar to) and then use the COLLOCATES function to take advantage of additional
search options. The COLLOCATES function, for instance, makes it possible to set the
collocation range. For research purposes, the span is conventionally set at + 4, that is four
orthographic words to the left or to the right of the node, as this is a distance at which 95% of
collocational influences have been found to occur (Jones & Sinclair, 1974). This span,
however, can be modified depending on the research question that we are trying to answer.
Figure 4. Collocation search with COLLOCATES option
COLLOCATES search can also be useful when users are not sure which word might be
suitable in a particular phrase, but they are aware of the part of speech that they are looking
for. For example, a learner may not know a suitable preposition for a sentence “I am going to
Cuba _______ Christmas break”. COCA has a so-called ‘wildcard’ search option that allows
the user to search for a specific phrase collocates by part of speech only. Typing Christmas
break in the WORD box and selecting “prepALL” tag in the POS LIST shows that during and
over may be good choices in this context.
COCA can also help learners adjust their level of formality. For example, if we enter the
phrase ‘You’re kidding ‘and select the CHART option, we will get the following results:
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Figure 5. Collocation distribution analysis by text type
The bar chart clearly shows that ‘You’re kidding ‘is most likely to occur in fiction and spoken
language and is rarely found in journalistic publications or academic work.
The use of the COMPARE button allows a comparison of collocates of two different words at
the same time. This function can help learners to select a more common collocate of a
particular word. For example, if a learner wants to know whether it is better to say reduce
stressor decrease stress, he/she should select COMPARE, enter reduce and decrease in
the search fields, type stress in the COLLOCATES box, set the collocate range and click on
SEARCH. In the example given below, the range was set at 0:4, which means that
collocates should appear within 4 word slots after the search words.
Figure 6. Collocation search with COMPARE option
A COCA search produced the following results.
Figure 7. Results of collocate search in COCA using COMPARE option
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The word reduce (W1) was used 410
times, while decrease (W2) was used only
32 times. Therefore, a learner can
conclude that reduce would be a better
choice.
Some limitations of corpora-based
collocation research are that the results
obtained are based only on the statistical
probability of particular words occurring
within a certain span. The data reveals
little about the degree of opacity and the
substitutability of the combinatory
elements of particular formulaic
sequences. Computation scores do not
account for homonymy and polysemy and
the figures tell little about the
phraseological significance of the
extracted text. Nevertheless, there is no
doubt that online corpora can be a very
useful tool in foreign language instruction.
Computer-based corpora such as COCA,
allow teachers to select the phrases that
should be given priority, and present
learners with a large number of
contextualized examples as well as
quantitative data that can help them to
make better syntactic and stylistic choices.
4. HOW should collocations be taught?
4.1 Dictionary training
Like online corpora, dictionaries can also
be a very useful tool in collocation
learning. In addition to meaning
explanations and grammatical notes,
learners’ dictionaries today include
common and useful collocations that can
help learners improve their fluency,
precision and naturalness of expression.
Useful collocations are typically
highlighted in bold type tomake them more
salient. In some learners’ dictionaries such
as the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary (CALD), collocations are
grouped in semantic sets making it easier
for the learner to select the appropriate
word combinations. The CD-ROM version
of the CALD dictionary also has a special
collocation search option which allows
learners to quickly access detailed
information about the collocates of the
headword quickly. The collocates are
grouped by part of speech and followed by
examples of usage. The entries also
include information about the formality
level of individual expressions aimed at
helping learners select the appropriate
language register.
The problem, however, is that due to the
limited amount of space; collocation
information in general dictionaries is
seldom presented in detailed and
systematic way. Sometimes, there is no
clear division between the literal and
extended meanings (Revier, 2009), and
learners are left to decide for themselves
which of the word combinations that they
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encounter in a lexical entry are significant
and worth remembering (Handl, 2009).
In an effort to correct these shortcomings,
a number of specialized collocation
dictionaries have been developed in
recent years.
The Oxford Collocations Dictionary for
Students of English (OCDSE) released in
2002 defines different meanings of
polysemous words and provides a list of
common collocates for each word sense
with some usage examples. The
collocates are grouped according to their
grammatical category and listed in
alphabetical order. Phrasal verbs are
treated separately at the end of the verb
entries. The dictionary also includes some
information about the register, usage
restrictions and figurative meaning of the
phrases.
The Macmillan Collocations Dictionary,
first published in 2010, was the first fully
corpus-based dictionary specially
designed to help upper-intermediate to
advanced students produce natural and
more accurate English. The headwords
are printed in red font, and when a word
has more than one meaning, each
meaning is numbered and followed by a
definition. Codes show the grammatical
relationship between headwords and
collocates (e.g. adj+N; v+N). Collocates
are semantically grouped and followed by
examples of usage in which common
prepositions are highlighted in bold type.
The dictionary also includes notes about
the typical usage of the expressions.
As in the examples above, collocation
dictionaries are comprehensive and
include information that can potentially be
highly useful to the learner. However, as
Laufer and Kimmel (1997) point out, the
usefulness of a dictionary, that is, the
extent to which a dictionary provides the
necessary information to the user, is not
the same as its usability, which is defined
by the user’s willingness to use a
particular dictionary and their satisfaction
with it. Klotz (2003) points out that while
the overall layout of the entries in OCDSE
is clear, having the collocates listed in
alphabetical order can make it difficult for
the learner to distinguish between near-
synonyms listed in the same entry. A
similar observation was made by Komuro
(2009) who monitored Japanese learners’
OCDSE use during a translation task and
found that learners often felt overwhelmed
by a large number of collocates presented
together. The questionable semantic
grouping of the collocates combined with
structural differences between L1 and L2
made it difficult for them to retrieve the
correct sytnagmatic phrases.
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These findings suggest that learners are
likely to benefit from some dictionary use
training. This can be done by presenting
learners with the questions that would
prompt them to examine the information
about collocations in their dictionaries. For
example, learners may be asked to
consult their dictionary and list the
collocates of the target word that they can
find, or to observe how these collocates
are marked and whether or not their
dictionary indicates the level of formality of
the collocations. A comparison of the
entries for the same word in several
dictionaries can also raise learners’
awareness about the differences that exist
between them and the ways that they can
be used.
McCarthy and O’Dell (2005:11) suggest
an activity in which the learners are asked
to group the collocates based on their
meaning. The learners are asked to
classify expressions such as to suffer
pain, to alleviate pain, to be racked with
pain etc. in one of the following three
groups: 1) expressions that mean ‘making
others experience pain’, 2) phrases that
refer to the experience of ‘being in pain’
and 3) expressions that convey the idea of
‘making pain go away’. This exercise
requires from learners to closely examine
the usage examples in their dictionaries
and can help them learn the collocates in
semantic groups.
In short, both general and specialized
collocation dictionaries can help students
improve their vocabulary usage, but
learners need to develop dictionary skills
in order to take advantage of them.
4.2 Teaching Activities
The limited exposure to the target
language and learners’ tendency to
overlook chunks when they do not cause
comprehension problems are strong
arguments for the explicit teaching of
collocations. However, considering the
limited time that most learners have at
their disposal, instruction must be efficient
and effective. Therefore, collocations must
be a part of the planned language input. In
their excellent book Teaching Chunks of
Language, Lindstromberg and Boers
(2008) proposed the following three-stage
programme for teaching multiword chunks:
1) helping learners notice chunks and
raising their awareness of chunk
importance;
2) helping learners commit chunks to
memory;
3) helping learners consolidate knowledge
that they acquired through review.
Given the large number of lexical chunks
that exist, teachers must be highly
selective in their choice of target phrases.
The frequency of use is one of the most
commonly applied criteria, and as
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discussed earlier, dictionaries and online
corpora can help instructors make more
informed choices. Teachers must also be
selective with regard to the number of
collocation patterns they may want to
introduce. In some resource books such
as BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English
(Benson, Benson & Ilson, 1986), a
distinction is made between lexical and
grammatical collocations. In a grammatical
collocation, a node (noun, adjective or
verb) is combined with a preposition or
grammatical structure. Lexical collocations
are made of nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs only. Benson and his colleagues
identified 7 types of lexical and 8 types of
grammatical collocations, which, with a
number of subcategories, resulted in over
30 collocation patterns. While these
patterns may be interesting for research
purposes, they may be overwhelming for
an ordinary language learner. In my
experience, for teaching purposes, it is
more effective to restrict the term
collocation to the following seven patterns:
1) Adjective + noun
2) Noun + verb
3) Noun + noun
4) Verb + noun
5) Verb + preposition
6) Verb + adverb
7) Adverb + adjective.
To help students notice the target
phrases, they could be asked to read a
text and then complete a chart with one or
more of the patterns above. Their choices
could then be examined through class
discussion, and the teacher could draw
their attention to some important phrases
that they might have missed.
Lindstromberg and Boers (2008) also
suggest activities such as reading out loud
with pauses and memorizing short
dialogues. Another interesting activity that
they propose is text reconstruction, a
modified form of ‘dictogloss’ with the focus
on lexical chunks. The teacher selects the
important phrases from a text, writes them
on the board and makes sure that the
learners understand them. After that
he/she reads the text, which contains all
the chunks aloud. The learners are then
asked to work in pairs or groups, and use
the chunks that they can see on the board
to reconstruct the text. Another activity
that is both fun and conducive to learning
is putting chunks into chronological order.
Chunks related to romantic relationships
work particularly well. Lindstromberg and
Boers (2008) suggest the following
phrases: make up, pop the question, tie
the knot, hang out together, chat…up,
have a row, break off their engagement,
catch…eye, get on, be engaged to be
married, fall in love, hit it off, set a date for
and so far so good. The learners are
presented with a list of jumbled sentences
that contain the phrases above, asked to
guess their meaning, and to make a
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typical story. Later they can be asked to
tell their stories without looking at the
paper.
In addition to helping learners notice
collocations, teachers should also try to
help them remember common word
combinations. This can be done by
making the learners aware of the linguistic
motivation of multiword chunks.
Lindstromberg and Boers (2008) identify
three types of linguistic motivation:
1) the influence of the past, of culture, and
of economics;
2) the influence of register and genre;
3) the influence of the repetition of sounds.
For example, if the teacher explains that
words which have their origin in Norman
French or Latin tend to be more formal
than words of a Germanic origin, it may be
easier for learners to understand and
remember why it is more common to say
remain in custody as opposed to stay in
custody. Recognition of sound repetition
patterns may also have a positive
mnemonic effect. As Lindstromberg and
Boers observe (2008), while words from
different kinds of combinations, the ones
that provide sound repetition sound more
natural. For instance, sound repetition
may explain why it is more common to say
boy bands as opposed to guy bands, head
of the house and not boss of the house, or
to go from hero to zero rather than to go
from hero to nothing.
Finally, just like in the case of individual
words, review is crucial for the acquisition
of multiword chunks. Learners must be
given opportunities to encounter the target
phrases, in different contexts and in a
relatively short period of time, so that
memory traces can be formed. For this
reason, it is important that the instructors
keep a record of the phrases that were
covered in the course. One activity that
could be used for the consolidation of
collocations is giving learners a text that
they have already encountered with
slashes indicating the phrases that they
should recall. Lindstromberg and Boers
suggest this be done as a pair activity
where one student reads the text and
pauses and the other has to guess the
word or the rest of the phrase.
Alternatively the students could be given a
list of the target phrases and asked to
place them in a new text.
Another way collocations can be reviewed
is by asking students to correct the
sentences containing collocation errors
such as in the following example:
I succeeded my dream. I achieved /
accomplished my dream.
Problematic collocations can also be
practiced through a translation exercise,
so that the students can re-notice the
differences between L1 and L2 word
combinations. For example, English
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students of Spanish may be asked to
translate a sentence such as: I spent the
whole year studying Spanish where the
literal translation of the verb spend as
gastar would be inappropriate.
Vocabulary substitution exercises can also
be useful ways of consolidating learners’
collocation knowledge. Focus Paraphrase
(Vasiljevic, 2008) is a pair work activity in
which learners are provided with a list of
words grouped by part of speech from
which they need to form appropriate or
adjective-noun collocations so that they
can paraphrase the target L2 sentences.
Adjectives
Nouns
Example: strong big heavy
vehicles transportation traffic
There were many cars on the street that
day. Traffic was heavy that day.
To make the activity more interactive, the
learners work in pairs. One student has to
paraphrase a sentence and the other acts
as a “coach”, who has the model answer
and can correct his / her partner. The
activity has two parts, so that each student
gets to play both roles.
Collocation Bingo (Vasiljevic, 2008) is
another activity that can be used to review
the words that the students encountered in
the class materials and to consolidate their
collocation knowledge. The teacher reads
a list of associates that the learners should
be familiar with and the students need to
identify the target word.
Sample Bingo Card
Teacher: “delicious exquisite rich strong mellow subtle…..”
ingredients restaurant menu
specialty order serving
flavour portion cuisine
In short, collocation learning requires teacher-led guidance as learners tend to overlook the
common word combinations in the text and they often lack the knowledge and language
sensitivity to take advantage of linguistic motivation behind the meaning and the form of
multiword phrases. For learners to remember collocations, it is necessary to have well-
planned and well-structured instruction that will prompt them to notice important collocations
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and then help them remember them through multiple exposures and activities that promote
deep level processing and draw on linguistic motivation with regard to multi-word phrases.
5. Testing
In order to assess learners’ needs and their lexical progress, it is necessary to have good
and reliable tests of their phrasal knowledge. Regular testing of collocations may have a
positive backwash effect leading to an increase in learners’ awareness of the importance of
lexical chunks. However, currently there are still no standardized tests that can objectively
measure learners’ syntagmatic competence in the second language. As Eyckmans (2009)
points out, some reasons may be the difficulties associated with defining lexical phrases.
Multiword phrases differ in their lexical composition, in the function they have, as well as the
collocation patterns they exhibit. Some popular ways of testing collocation knowledge are:
1) L1-L2 translation;
2) L2 sentence cloze items;
3) sentence generation tasks;
4) discrete tests where learners are presented with a node-word prompt and asked to select
or supply one or more of its collocates.
However, each of the test formats above has some limitations. For example, it would not be
practical to use a translation test in a context in which learners come from different language
backgrounds. In sentence cloze format, leaving out the whole collocation has been found to
result in multiple responses with different types of collocations. A more restricted format
where the first one or two letters of the lexical constituents were provided made some
learners focus on finding the words that matched the letters so much that they overlooked
the propositional meaning of the sentence prompt (Revier, 2009). Sentence generation
format can be time-consuming, and therefore the number of items that can be tested at one
time is limited. Some studies (e.g. McNeill, 1996) also suggest that advanced learners can
sometimes produce acceptable sentences even if they do not have a good understanding of
the target words, which raises concerns about the validity of this test format. The scoring
may be arbitrary too. Discrete tests where learners are asked to select or produce
associates of a node-word do not provide sufficient information of the learner’s knowledge of
the whole collocation (Revier, 2009).Just like single words, collocations have their own
formal, semantic and usage properties. For example, productive knowledge of a verb -
object noun collocation requires knowledge of not only the phrase meaning but also its
grammatical properties such as noun determination and number.
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The limitations above made Revier (2009) argue that collocations should be viewed as an
independent construct and tested as a whole. He developed a new test format entitled
CONTRIX, which presents a modified form of a cloze test where learners are asked to select
the combination of a verb, article and noun that best complete a sentence.
The quickest way to win a friend’s trust is to show
that you are able to
tell a / an joke
take the secret
keep truth
(Revier, 2009:129)
Revier argues that although the test involves selection, which is a characteristic of receptive
tests, the CONTRIX format requires test takers to combine phrase constituents and
grammatically encode the noun constituent for determination, providing some insight into the
learners’ productive vocabulary knowledge. Revier pilot-tested the CONTRIX format with a
group of Danish EFL learners and found that the test met the criteria of validity and reliability
and proved to be very effective in distinguishing among learners of different L2 proficiency.
Some downsides of this test format are that sentence prompt writing, distractor selection,
and native-speaker norming make the test somewhat time- consuming to prepare.
Furthermore, as Revier himself observes, while the test validity could be improved by
increasing the number of items per section, there is a risk that a longer test may have lower
reliability due to the possible fatigue of test takers, in particular those at lower levels of
proficiency.
Gyllsatad (2009: 157~158) offers two new test formats for testing collocation knowledge. In
the first one entitled COLLEX (collocating lexis), the learners are presented with three word
sequences and asked to select the one that is most likely to be used by native English
speakers.
a. drive a business b. run a business c. lead a business a b c
The second format known as COLLMATCH is basically a Yes / No test, where learners are
asked to judge whether or not the given word sequences are common English collocations.
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catch a cold draw a limitation
yes yes
no no
For both tests, an important issue is the selection of the target phrases. Gyllstad suggests
that one possibility would be to sample a large corpus such as BNC for a particular
syntagmatic pattern (e.g. V + NP)and then use a stratified random sampling technique to
select the target items. This approach however, would also require some manual analysis in
order to eliminate idioms and free word combinations.
Some research suggests that intonation patterns may also be indicative of the learners’
collocation knowledge. In fluent, coherent speech, phraseological sequences tend to be
produced with no or little hesitation and with unbroken intonation contour (Lin & Adoplphs,
2009; Moon, 1997; Wray, 2004).If multiword phrases are pronounced as single intonation
units, then prosodic breaks can show where language chunking takes place. Lin and
Adolphs (2009) predicted that as learners’ speech tends to be slower and contains more
hesitations, smooth and fluent stretches of speech are likely to be salient, which in turn
would make the presence of phraseological units more explicit. This hypothesis was partially
confirmed. A complete match between phraseological unit boundaries and intonation unit
boundaries was found 55% of the time. While these results raise some concerns about the
test validity, some mismatches were caused by the use of conjunctions at the beginning of
the phrases and word repetitions. Further studies are needed in order to determine to what
extent phraseological units determine intonation boundaries, and whether intonation patterns
can be used to identify multiword phrases in the learner language.
6. Learner Autonomy
In spite of the great advances in corpus research and lexicography, very little is still known
about how learners approach collocation learning, how they achieve a particular level of
performance, and how they interpret their own learning practices. One of very few studies
which has examined individual learner development of collocation knowledge was conducted
by Barfield (2009), who followed collocation learning practices of four language learners over
one academic year. He identified five major processes of development:
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Understanding and reconfiguring past vocabulary practices;
Interpreting different worlds of everyday use;
Moving from quantity of lexical knowledge to quality of collocation use;
Reconnecting what is known and projecting new identities;
Developing authorship(Barfield, 2009:211-212).
Barfield’s observations confirmed the tendency of second language learners to identify
vocabulary learning with expansion of vocabulary size. However, with practice, his students
became aware of the limitations of this approach, and modified their learning strategies. For
example, one of the students started to question her own learning strategies as she got
more experienced with collocation learning. She noticed that “more” does not necessarily
mean ”better”, and that indiscriminate recording of collocations just resulted in long lists of
phrases that she found difficult to remember. She finally opted for a simpler form of
representation that entailed creating small lexical networks that she labeled ‘collocation
packages’ that enabled her to skillfully use a highly limited number of collocation choices.
This transformation can clearly be seen in the following two figures:
debt
fall into debt
get into debt
run up debt
clear a debt
owe a debt to ~
be in debt
Figure 8. A sample of a learner’s collocation notes at the beginning of a school year
(Barfield, 2009: 214).
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“Developed countries should control industrial emission levels.”
Figure 9. A sample of a learner’s collocation notes at the end of a school year (Barfield,
2009: 221)
Another learner reported reducing the number of collocations and moving from two-word
combinations to longer phrases. This shift from quantity to quality is believed to reflect the
greater control that learners establish over their learning (Benson & Lor, 1998).
This process of transformation was fostered by the teacher inviting learners’ to reflect on
their practices and through collaborative learning with other students. Barfield (2009) asked
his students to interview each other about their collocation learning experiences. In order to
prepare for the interviews they had to look into their collocation development, and reconsider
the reasons behind the selection of particular phrases, their ways of recording, and the
strategies they used to remember them.
Barfield also observed that learners’ collocation development was to some extent affected by
the process of sociocultural reorganization that they underwent in the course of language
learning. The way the learners selected the vocabulary, and their willingness to use the
phrases, were influenced not only by their communicative needs but also by their beliefs and
attitudes, and the new social identities that they assumed during the learning process. For
example, some students reported that good command of collocations helped them sound
‘less Japanese’, ‘more international’ and ‘cool’.
These results are encouraging. Japanese students are known for their conformist and
teacher- dependent learning style, and for being part of an English language education
where vocabulary learning is often identified with memorizing long lists of decontextualised
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words in preparation for the university entrance exam. The transformation of Barfield’s
students shows that with some guidance learners are capable of and willing to adopt more
autonomous learning practices and shift their priorities from the quantity of lexical knowledge
to the quality of collocational use. The results of other studies suggest that just raising
learners’ awareness of the importance of collocation knowledge is likely to make them
become more aware of multiword phrases, even when the instruction is not collocation-
oriented. For example, Peters (2009) observed that advanced EFL learners who were
familiar with the concept of collocations, were likely to remember vocabulary in phrases even
when collocations were not explicitly targeted as part of the learning task. This finding is
significant as it suggests a long-term positive effect of consciousness-raising activities; if
learners recognize the importance of collocations they may be able to overcome some of the
deficiencies they may encounter in the teaching materials and in classroom instruction.
One way of helping learners become more selective and more independent in their
collocation learning is by giving them some practice with the use of online corpora. Corpus
analysis can help learners focus their attention on the phrases with the highest frequency of
use. Corpus data can also be used to promote learners’ autonomy in error correction. Self-
correction is an important aspect of language learning that raises both the learner’s
language awareness and his / her confidence. Therefore, helping learners become more
self-sufficient should be an important teaching objective and students must be given
opportunities to make adjustments to their language production. However, error correction, if
left unguided, can turn into a very frustrating experience. For the reasons discussed earlier,
collocation errors may be particularly difficult to detect. Therefore, the teachers can help
learners by letting them know that they have a problem in terms of word choice. For
example, a student may say I succeeded my dream. The teacher should underline the
incorrect word and ask the student to look for a more appropriate expression. This can be
done by using the earlier explained ‘wildcard search’ or doing a synonym inquiry as below.
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Figure 10. Synonym search in COCA
The results of the search show that
achieved may be the best synonym in this
context.
In short, considering the amount of
language that needs to be covered in the
classroom, it is essential to equip learners
with the skills that will enable them to learn
collocations and confirm their vocabulary
choices outside the classroom. By
encouraging learners to reflect on their
learning practices and offering them some
training in the use of online corpora,
teachers can help students take control
over their vocabulary learning.
7. Conclusion
This paper has highlighted the importance
of incorporating collocation instruction in
the L2 classroom, discussed the
resources that could help teachers and
learners select their vocabulary learning
targets, introduced some activities that
could help learners to notice and
remember the L2 collocations, and
examined some test formats through
which learners’ needs and progress could
be assessed. Attention was also paid to
the challenges that learners face in
reconfiguration of their learning practices
during their transition to more autonomous
productive word learning and resources
that could help them in that process.
As discussed above, many of the features
relevant to vocabulary learning in general,
such as noticing, depth of processing, and
multiple encounters with the target
phrases are applicable to collocation
learning as well. First, in order to revise
their learning priorities, students must
recognize the value of a chunk-based
approach to vocabulary learning.
Unselective, mechanical recording of
teacher-selected phrases is not likely to
produce the desired effect. What is
needed is learners’ active engagement in
the learning process. They need to
redefine what word knowledge entails and
recognize that vocabulary learning is more
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than just adding single new words to the
lexicon. It is only when learners can see
the significance of collocations that they
will persist in their efforts to master them.
Teachers play an important role in guiding
students to appreciate the importance of
collocation knowledge.
Second, learners need class instruction
where selected multiword phrases are
targeted explicitly. Learners sometimes
lack the cognitive resources to notice new
language elements in the input (Laufer &
Hulstijn, 2001), and therefore simple
exposure to authentic language may not
be sufficient for phrase uptake. Planned
and structured in-class learning tasks are
necessary to help learners commit
language chunks to memory and to
ensure that they have multiple encounters
with the target phrases in order to ensure
consolidation of their collocation
knowledge.
Finally, learners need to acquire the
cognitive and metacognitive strategies that
will help them to identify and remember
multiword combinations effectively outside
the classroom, and enable them to
monitor their progress and take control of
their vocabulary learning. Given the
enormous number of collocations in the
English language, even the most
dedicated teachers will only be able to
teach a small fraction of them.
Furthermore, while collocation learning
may begin with the acquisition of the most
frequent word combinations, in the end, it
is the learners’ communicative needs and
their perception of usefulness that will
determine which word combinations will
be attended to. To this end, in addition to
explicit teaching of the selected multiword
phrases, classroom instruction should
incorporate dictionary use training and
practice in using online corpora such as
COCA. In addition, students should be
introduced to different ways of making
collocation notes and prompted to discuss
their strengths and weaknesses. They
should also be encouraged to experiment
with various collocation recording formats
until they develop the style that best suits
their needs. Class practice should be
complemented with homework activities
designed to promote more autonomous
learning. For example, students could be
asked to keep journals in which they
reflect on their learning. These reflections
should prompt learners to reexamine their
learning strategies and make adjustments
where necessary.
8. Future directions
One of the remaining challenges for
teachers and for textbook writers is
establishing better connections between
EFL materials and the results of
experimental research. In spite of the
great progress in corpus studies and
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lexicography, a large number of the
existing course books target too few
language chunks and do not do enough to
help learners remember them
(Lindstromberg & Boers, 2008). New
insights about the various kinds of
collocational relationships should be
reflected in the teaching materials as well
as in classroom methodologies.
More research is needed to find out how
learners use dictionaries and other
reference materials, and which strategies
they employ to master L2 collocations.
There is also a need for new, more
sensitive ways of tracking the
development of learners’ collocation
knowledge, and assessing the
effectiveness of different kinds of input on
learners’ uptake of lexical phrases. It is
hoped that this paper will encourage
teachers to adopt the chunk-based
approach to vocabulary instruction and
prompt them to further explore creative
and communicative ways through which
such an approach can be implemented in
the language classroom.
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*****
Zorana Vasiljević is associate professor at the Faculty of Language and Literature at Bunkyo
University, Japan. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics (University of Queensland). Her research
interests include vocabulary acquisition, EFL methodologies and learner autonomy.
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Strategies of Metaphor Translation
by Brankica Bojović, PhD, Associate Professor,
Alpha University, Belgrade
Abstract Specialised English dictionaries offer a unique treatment of metaphors, showing how lexicalised metaphors and phrases have monosemous or polysemous metaphorical meanings. Besides them, there can be found some specific regular patterns which can help students in the cognitive mechanism of translating metaphors. This paper discusses the usefulness of Newmark's dual theory of semantic and communicative methods of translation. He proposes seven strategies of metaphor translation that are here analysed, discussed and illustrated by a corpus from classes. For Newmark, translation is a craft. A student, as a translator, acquires a technique in which the process to be followed takes into account the acts of comprehension, interpretation, formulation and recreation. My students in our translatology workshops are involved in the translation process and they both practice and gain skills in the strategies of translation of figurative language from the SL to TL and vice versa. Key words: strategies, translation, figurative language, Newmark's prescriptive model Apstrakt Specijalizovani rečnici engleskog jezika nude jedinstven prikaz metafora time što pokazuju kako leksičke metafore i idiomi mogu biti jednoznačni ili višeznačni. Osim toga, u njima se mogu pronaći određene šeme ili 'paterni' koji mogu pomoći učenicima u kognitivnim mehanizmima prevođenja metafora. Ovaj članak obrađuje temu korisnosti Njumarkove dvojne teorije semantičkih i komunikativnih metoda prevođenja i njegovih sedam strategija za prevođenje metafora će se analizirati, razmotriti i ilustrovati korpusom primera sa časova. Za Njumarka prevod je veština. Učenik kao prevodilac stiče tehniku pri kojoj process koji treba da prati podrazumeva činove razumevanja, interpretacije, formulacije i stvaranja. Moji učenici na našim prevodilačkim radionicama su uključeni u proces prevođenja i time vežbaju i stiču veštine u okviru strategija prevođenja figurativnog jezika sa izvornog jezika na ciljni jezik i obratno. Ključne reči: strategije, prevod, figurativni jezik, Njumarkov preskriptivni model
1. Introduction
Scholars of metaphor use different
theoretical concepts and parameters for
the purposes of identifying, describing
metaphors and their translatability as well
as transfer methods. Such parameters,
either combined with others from within
translatology or used in specialised papers
of scholar’s journals, can form the basis
for the research of metaphors in the
process of translation. A number of
translation strategies in dealing with this
issue will be discussed and suggested.
The paper focuses on the practical
dimension of the translation process
between two different languages: English
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and the native language (Serbian,
Montenegrin), at my translatology
workshops.
Metaphors are very frequent and widely
used tropes in English. According to Steen
et al. (2010), every seven-and-a-half
lexical units in the British National Corpus
is related to a metaphorical mapping
structure. This means that translators
should deal with them on a daily basis and
attention should be paid to this. As
outlined in the following paper, Newmark’s
typology was used to examine the kinds of
metaphors in the texts. A distinction was
made between lexicalised and
unlexicalised expressions.
2. About Newmark’s types of
metaphors
For many centuries, metaphors were
studied within rhetorics. Strategies of
translating metaphors can be prescriptive
(Newmark) and descriptive (Snell-Hornby).
In this paper it was decided that
prescriptive ones would be considered,
since I translated the other type into
Serbian with authorised rights three years
ago, and on this occasion they will not be
analysed.
According to Newmark (1988:106) any
word can be a metaphor and to find out if
it is, the primary meaning has to be
matched against the linguistic and cultural
contexts.
Evans and Green (2006:303) pointed out
that an important idea relates to hiding
and highlighting: when a target is
structured in terms of a particular source,
this highlights certain aspects of the target
while simultaneously hiding other aspects.
Invoking the metaphor ARGUMENT IS
WAR highlights the adversarial nature of
argument but hides the fact that argument
often involves an ordered and organised
development of a particular topic (he won
the argument, I couldn’t defend that point,
and so on). In contrast, the metaphor AN
ARGUMENT IS A JOURNEY highlights
the progressive and organisational
aspects of arguments while hiding the
confrontational aspects. (We will proceed
in a step-by-step fashion. We have
covered a lot of ground.) In this way
metaphors can perspectivise a concept or
conceptual domain.
The most important definitions associated
with metaphors, which help understanding
the theme in the best way, will be
mentioned since they can create
difficulties in the translation process
because of their vagueness and
implication
In the Oxford English Dictionary (2002) a
metaphor is described as a figure of
speech in which a name or descriptive
phrase is transferred to an object or an
action different from, but analogous
to, that to which it is literally applicable; 2.
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A thing considered as representative of
some other (usu. abstract) thing.
A metaphor is defined as an indirect
comparison between two or more
apparently unrelated things. The point of
similarity may be physical but often it is
chosen for its connotations (Newmark
1988:85). He states that the first purpose
of a metaphor is to describe something
comprehensively, economically and
generally more forcefully than what is
possible in literal language (Newmark
1988:111).
According to Newmark (1988:104),
metaphor could be any figurative speech:
the transferred sense of a physical word;
the personification of an abstraction; the
application of a word or collocation to what
it does not literally denote, i.e. to describe
one thing in terms of another. Note also
that metaphor incidentally demonstrates a
resemblance, a common semantic area
between two or more or less similar things
the image and the object.
On the basis of his typology of metaphors,
he distinguishes six types of them
(1988:108):
(1) Dead metaphors, whose images are
highly unmarked (e.g. at the mouth of the
river, the arm of a chair);
(2) Cliché metaphors, which refer to the
use of cliché expressions in text (e.g. long
time, no see; a transparent lie);
(3) Stock or standard metaphors, which he
defines as an established metaphor […]
not deadened by overuse. These
metaphors are frequently applied in
informal language (e.g. the body of a car;
he sees fear in my heart);
(4) Adapted metaphors, where the
fixedness of a stock metaphor has been
adapted or personalised in some way.
Usually, proverbs, which reflect the
relationship between language and
culture, fall into this category. They are
actually stock metaphors, but adapted by
a translator or speaker into a new context.
Newmark illustrates this type by the
following (e.g. the ball is a little in their
court, get them in the door); (5) Recent
metaphors, where an anonymous
metaphorical neologism has become
generally used in the SL. Newmark
categorises this metaphor as a live
metaphor (e.g. groovy)
(6) Original metaphors, which are created
by the writer or speaker usually to make
discourse more interesting and often used
to highlight particular points or as
reiteration. It is created from the SL’sown
original thoughts and ideas (e.g. a forest
of fingers).
3. Newmark’s prescriptive model of
metaphor translation
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The word translation is defined either as a
process (Meaning 1) or a product
(Meaning 2) as it is described:
e.g. translation, n.
1. The act or an instance of
translating.
2. A written or spoken expression
of the meaning of a word,
speech, book etc in
another language.
It means that the translation process goes
beyond the simple concept of merely
replacing words in one language with
words in another. Metaphor has been
widely discussed within translatology,
primarily in the translatability and
strategies of their translation.
There are three main strategies of
metaphor translation found in translatology
(Bassnett, Lefevere, 1993; Snell-Hornby,
2006) and these are: 1) a metaphor into
the same metaphor, named direct
translation; 2) a metaphor into a different
metaphor—substitution of the image in the
SL by a TL metaphor with the same or a
similar sense and the same or similar
associations; 3) a metaphor into the
sense—paraphrase, a shift to a non-
figurative equivalent.
Postmodern trends in translatology have
been recognised by Bassnett (1993:47),
who perceived them as inaugurating a
poststructuralist stage in the discipline,
given that translation is now perceived as
one of a range of processes of textual
manipulation, where the concept of
plurality replaces dogmas of faithfulness to
a source text, and where the idea of the
original is being challenged from a variety
of perspectives.
Newmark binds the translation strategies
to the type of metaphor (standard, recent,
dead, original, adapted, cliché) as well as
text types.
According to Newmark’s prescriptive
model of metaphors translation (1988)
there are strategies for transfer of their
proper meaning.
While dead metaphors are not especially
problematic, literal translation is often not
possible.
In vocative texts, cliché metaphors should
be upheld in the TT (Newmark 1988: 107).
In informative texts, they should be
reduced to their sense or replaced with a
more credible stock metaphor.
For the translation of stock metaphors, the
SL image should be legitimately
reproduced in the TL, but the metonyms
used may be transferred as long as the
substitutes have the same connotations as
the SL. However, the SL image is more
commonly translated by images that are
established to a similar degree. Stock
metaphors may also be reduced to their
sense or literal language.
Adapted metaphors should be translated
using equivalent adapted metaphors or
reduced to their sense.
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Recent metaphors should be translated
using componential analysis (ibid. 114).
In vocative texts, original metaphors
should be translated literally, as they
“contain the core of an important writer’s
message…” (ibid. 112). If the metaphor is
obscure and of little importance to the text,
it should be replaced with a descriptive
metaphor or reduced to its sense. In
informative texts, consideration should be
given to the number and variety of original
metaphors in the text as a whole and a
decision should be taken between literal
translation, reduction to its sense or
modification of the metaphor.
Newmark contributed to translatology with
his seven strategies of metaphor
translation that have almost always been
taken up by the researchers and which are
considered here.
They are:
1. Reproducing the same image in the TL.
This is the best way to translate stock
metaphors, most frequently, idioms.
2. Replacing the image in the SL with a
standard TL image. It is used when there
is no image that corresponds exactly to
the one in the SL and which does not
clash with the TL culture.
3. Translating metaphor by simile. This
strategy modifies an emotive metaphorical
expression to suit the TL if that context is
not as emotive in character as the SL.
4. Translating metaphor by simile + sense.
5. Converting a metaphor to its sense.
This is a strategy where the image of the
SL is reduced to its sense and rewritten to
suit the TL.
6. Deleting. It is used when the metaphor
is redundant.
7. Combining the same metaphor with the
sense.
These strategies are arranged according
to preference, which means that Newmark
recommends that translators opt for the
replacement strategy in the first instance
and only if this is not possible, due to
cultural clashes, to move down the list and
opt for an alternative strategy. Newmark
(1988: 48-49) argues that the most
translatable metaphors are dead ones,
whereas the translatability of stock and
original ones is proportional to the
proximity of the two systems involved.
Semantically speaking, the issue of
metaphor translation deals with
translatological equivalence which is
bound to their communicative role and
type, nature and function of a trope as
such.
As for types of metaphors, the criterion of
time, or in other words, the novelty or
originality of expressions, as proposed by
Newmark has been often applied. On one
hand, there are unlexicalised metaphors
which are absolutely or relatively novel
and creative, while on the other hand,
there is a whole world of lexicalised
metaphors whose metaphorical nature is
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still apparent, but which are already
established in the language.
Here Newmark’s typology of metaphors
(1988:106) is considered and discussed:
1) Dead metaphors (are metaphors where
you are hardly conscious of the image and
describe and relate to universal terms like
space and time; their figurative meaning is
lost or very hard to distinguish and they
are lexicalised.
2) Cliché metaphors (are ones that have
temporarily outlived their usefulness like
jewel in the crown of the country’s
education); Newmark (1981:87)
distinguishes them by saying that clichés
are made up of two types of fixed
collocations (figurative adjective + literal
noun or figurative verb + figurative noun).
They are similar to dead metaphors
because they have been overused and
very often, their secondary, figurative
meanings can be found in dictionaries.
Newmark (1988:108) argues that it is the
translator’s choice to distinguish stock
metaphors from clichés since they
overlap.
3) Stock or standard metaphors (are
established metaphors used in an informal
context referentially pragmatically efficient
like oil the wheels); they are often
culturally bound, they have certain
emotional warmth and are not, as
opposed to most dead and cliché
metaphors, deadened by overuse
(Newmark, 1988:108).
4) Adapted metaphors (are metaphors
which involve an adaptation of an existing
metaphor)
5) Recent metaphors (are metaphorical
neologisms which spread fast in language,
like skint without money); these metaphors
are lexicalised ones.
6) Original metaphors are unlexicalised
ones; they portray the writer’s personality
and comment on life (Newmark 1988:112).
Newmark (1988:104) considers as
metaphors those that have two purposes:
the first one is to describe a mental
process or state, a concept, a person, an
object, a quality or an action more
comprehensively and concisely than is
possible in literal or physical language.
The second one is that metaphors should
appeal to the senses, to interest, to clarify
graphically, to please, to delight. His
definition can be explained as both
cognitive and aesthetic, since a metaphor
on its own covers these two purposes
together.
4. Conclusion
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Over the decades, beginning from
Aristotle, metaphors have been classified
in different ways by different linguists. This
paper has primarily discussed Newmark’s
classification (1988) of metaphors into six
types and his categorisation was
considered easier to apply to the analysis
of English metaphors, because of the
practical way that the definitions were
provided and the students’ practical skills
and explanations at translatology
workshops.
In translatology, metaphors were reflected
on with respect to translatability or what
was lost in translating them, their
originality, cultural background or TL
language richness. Metaphors are also
culture-specific; they cannot be transferred
intact from a source language (SL) to a
target language (TL). There are several
strategies of metaphor transfer from SL to
TL.
Newmark contributed to translatology with
his seven strategies of metaphor
translation that have often been taken up
by other researchers. Most of the work in
translatology has commented on
metaphors in a more traditional view,
defining a metaphor as a linguistic
expression which can describe the object
more comprehensively, succinctly and
forcefully than is possible in literal or
physical language (Newmark 1988: 95).
By using Newmark’s typology, it was
possible to categorise different metaphors
depending on type, such as dead, cliché,
stock, recent or original metaphors. His
extensive research on the strategies of
metaphor translation proved immensely
significant in the practical translatological
perspective.
However, since the advent of a cognitive
approach, mainly initiated by Lakoff and
Johnson (1980), it has repeatedly been
demonstrated that metaphors have not
been just decorative elements of rhetoric,
but rather basic resources for thought
processes in human society. They are
cognitive devices for forming and
communicating conceptualisations of
reality.
In conceptual metaphor theory, metaphors
are means to understand one domain of
experience, a new, unknown one, a target
domain, in terms of another, a familiar
one, a source domain. The source domain
is mapped onto the target domain. The
structural components of the base
conceptual schema are transferred to the
target domain, thus also allowing for
knowledge-based inferences and
entailments.
For Newmark (1988:84) translatology is
mainly concerned with the huge purpose
of metaphor which is to describe an entity,
event or quality more comprehensively
and concisely and in a more complex way
than is possible by using literal language.
And translators, my students, decide on
their translation strategies focusing on the
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items such as the SL or TL, culture and
style.
References:
Bassnett S. (1993) Comparative Literature. A Critical Introduction, Oxford, Blackwell.
Bojović B. (2011) Pravci u studijama prvođenja, Podgorica, Obodsko slovo. (autorizovani
prevod Snel-Hornbi M.)
British National Corpus, BNC Interface: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (2002)
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2011)
Evans V. and Green M. (2006)Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Lakoff G. & Johnson M.(1980) Metaphors We Live By, Chicago and London, The
University of Chicago Press, online.
Newmark, P. (1981; 1988) Approaches to Translation, London, Prentice Hall
International
Newmark, P. (1988) A textbook of translation. London, New York, Prentice Hall International
Steen G. J. et al. (2010) Metaphor in usage, Cognitive Linguistics Vol. 21/ 4 (765-796)
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The Influence of Bilingualism on
Cognition and Third Language
Acquisition
by Radmila Palinkašević, Mihailo Palov Preschool Teacher Training College,
Vršac, Serbia
Abstract The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly to explore how bilingualism influences cognition and secondly how it influences the third language learning process. Some of the most prominent advantages of bilingualism on cognition were explored such as higher level of metacognition, inhibitory control, task switching etc. together with the most significant disadvantages to form a comprehensive view of the issue. The effects on third language acquisition were explored with a slight emphasis on cross-linguistic influence and transfer. In order to understand why bilingualism can have such diverse effects the factors that influence the development of bilingualism were also explored. Key words: bilingualism, acquisition, cross-linguistic influence, cognitive advantages, transfer Apstrakt Ovaj članak se bavi odgovorom na dva pitanja, gde je prvo kako bilingvizam utiče na kogniciju, a drugo kako utiče na usvajanje trećeg stranog jezika. Istražene su neki od najznačajnijih pozitivnih uticaja bilingvizma na kogniciju kao što su viši nivo metakognicije, brzo menjanje zadataka itd. Takođe su istraženi i negativni uticaji bilingvizma. Pri razmatranju uticaja bilingvizma na usvajanje trećeg stranog jezikastavljen je blag naglasak na međujezički uticaj i transfer. Razmotreni su i faktori koji utiču na razvoj bilingvizma i kognitivnih prednosti. Ključne reči: bilingvizam, usvajanje, međujezički uticaj, kognitivne prednosti, transfer
1. Introduction
In the 21st century where knowledge is the
most valuable commodity the importance
of language is even more prominent. It is
no longer enough to know only one
language to be a successful and integrated
individual in today’s society. Bilingualism
and multilingualism is no longer considered
a rare phenomenon, there are actually
more bilingual and multilingual speakers in
the world than monolinguals. According to
the Ethnologue (2009) more than 7000
languages are spoken in 149 countries. In
such a linguistic environment
multilingualism and bilingualism are
inevitable. Furthermore David Cristal
(2003:69) estimates that two thirds of the
world’s children grow up in a multilingual
environment. Consequently research on
bilingualism and multilingualism has
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dramatically increased in the last few years
in quantity, quality and breadth (T. K.
Bhatia 2013).
Therefore this article aims to explain how
this omnipresent phenomenon influences
cognition and even more relevant for
teachers, how it influences the acquisition
of a third language.
2. The influence of bilingualism on
cognition
Bilingualism is a phenomenon which has
always provoked a strong response. Our
understanding of bilingualism and its
effects has colossally changed over the
years. From the early 19th century to
approximately the 1960’s it was considered
that bilingualism had a negative effect on
cognitive development. The research
supported the view that bilingual children
suffered from academic retardation, were
socially maladjusted and had a lower IQ
than monolingual children. Pinter & Keller
(1922) spoke of ‘linguistic handicap’ and
Sear (1923) spoke of ‘mental handicap’ to
describe the bilingual cognitive
development (Baker 2011, Hammers
2000).
However, modern research gives us
opposite research findings and speaks of
positive effects of bilingualism on cognitive
development. This difference is explained
by the fact that the early research had
many methodological problems (for a
detailed overview of these problems refers
to Baker 2011).
The first in the series of studies in which
the conditions met modern standards was
Pearl and Lambert (1962) where the age,
socioeconomic status and sex of the
participants were matched. Here balanced
bilinguals were chosen to participate in the
study. The results were that bilinguals
showed higher scores on verbal and non-
verbal intelligence. Their explanation of
these results is that since bilinguals
manipulate two symbolic systems they
analyze underlying semantic features in
greater detail and have greater mental
flexibility and facility in concept formation
(Hammers 2000).
Since this important study numerous
cognitive advantages of bilinguals have
been found, we will note just some of the
most prominent but not a comprehensive
list. Some of the advantages of
bilingualism on cognition are (according to
Hammers 2000): better ability in
reconstructing perceptual situations
(Balkan 1970); superior results on verbal
and non-verbal intelligence tests, verbal
originality and verbal divergence tests (
Cummins & Gulutzan 1974); greater
sensitivity to semantic relations between
words (Lanco-Worrall 1972, Cummins
1978), higher scores on Piagetian concept
formation tasks (Liedtke & Nelson, 1968);
better performance in rule-discovery tasks
(Bain, 1975); a greater degree of divergent
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thinking ( Da Silveira 1989); higher
efficiency in verbal-transformation and
symbol substitution tasks (Ekstrand 1981);
greater originality in creative thinking
(Torrance, 1970); greater metalinguistic
ability (Pattnaik & Mohanty, 1984).
Recent studies have focused on bilingual’s
enhanced problem solving abilities where
solutions depend on inhibitory control
(Grosjean 2011). The bilinguals’ advantage
in tasks where inhibitory control is needed
is explained by the “inhibitory control
theory” which was proposed by D. W.
Green in 1998 (Hilchey& Klein 2011).
Research has shown that when a bilingual
person uses one language, the other is
activated at the same time. When people
listen they do not hear the whole word
simultaneously and even before the whole
word is said our brain starts to process the
information and guess what the word could
be. Therefore if a person hears the word
‘can’ he/she will probably also activate the
word ‘candle’ or ‘candy’ at least in the
earlier stages of word recognition. For
bilingual speakers this process is not
limited to the language that they are using
but both languages are activated (Marian &
Shook, 2012). In order to retrieve the
relevant word, one of the words needs to
be inhibited. The supervisory attentional
system (SAS) regulates this process in
which only the relevant semantic unit for
speech or language is retrieved by solving
the conflict associated with two
simultaneously activated semantic units, by
virtue of inhibition (Hilchey & Klein 2011).
Because bilingual speakers need to
activate the SAS every time they speak or
listen it is highly strengthened.
Bilingual people are also better at
switching between two tasks and switching
strategies quickly on the fly (Prior &
MacWhinney 2010). Bilinguals also have
heightened metalinguistic abilities but it is
only present when inhibitory control is
needed for the task. Therefore when a
problem contains a conflict like for example
counting the words in correct sentences
bilinguals would have an advantage, but if
it were just a metalinguistic task without the
conflict like for example correcting
mistakes in sentences or replacing one
sound with another bilinguals and
monolinguals obtain similar results
(Grosjean 2011).
Bialystok, Craik and Freedman (2007)
discovered that bilingualism protects
against symptoms of dementia into old
age. This relates to the ‘cognitive
enrichment hypothesis where a wide
variety of specific lifestyle factors have
pervasive beneficial effects on cognitive
functioning through the lifespan (Hilchey&
Klein 2011).
Another area in which bilinguals differ from
monolinguals is the neurological activation.
Bilinguals appear to have advantages in
auditory attention. ‘The cognitive control
required to manage multiple languages
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appears to have broad effects on
neurological function, fine-tuning both
cognitive control mechanisms and sensory
processes.’ (Marian & Shook 2012, p 5).
The brain’s structure is also influenced by
bilingualism. Bilinguality correlates with
higher gray matter volume in the left
inferior parietal cortex (Mechelli et al.,
2004). Scientists have found that damage
to this part of the brain causes uncontrolled
language switching which implies that it
may play an important role in managing the
contextual usage of language. Furthermore
researchers have found that white matter
volume changes in bilingual children and
adults (Luk et al., 2011; Mohades at al.
2012). All this implies that bilingualism not
only influences the neurological functioning
but also the neurological structures (Marian
& Shook 2012).
However the parallel activation of two
languages in bilinguals can also have
some negative effects. Scientists have
concluded that bilinguals are slower on
picture naming tasks (Gollan, Montoya,
Fennema-Notestine, & Morris, 2005), that
they produce fewer words in verbal fluency
tasks (Rosselli, Ardila, Araujo, Weekes,
Caracciolo, Padilla, & Ostrosky-Solis,
2000) perform worse on lexical decision
tasks (Ransdell & Fischler, 1987), and
experience much more difficulty with lexical
access, despite sometimes similar
receptive vocabulary scores (Gollan &
Acenas,2004 as cited in Hilchey & Klein
2011). It appears that one domain in which
they do less well than monolinguals are
verbal tasks such as “choose a picture that
illustrates the spoken word” or the ones
that have been mentioned earlier. These
results could be explained by the
complementary principle according to
which the bilinguals usually use their
languages for different purposes in
different contexts and with different people.
When bilinguals are tested in both their
languages the results improve significantly
(Grosjean, 2011).
3. The influence of bilingualism on
third language acquisition
Most of the research on the effects of
bilingualism on third language acquisition
shows that bilingualism has a positive
effect on third language acquisition (Cenoz
et al, 2001). As evidence for this statement
we can mention some studies done in
Spain where the acquisition of English as
the L3 was tested in monolingual Spanish
students and bilingual (Basque-Spanish or
Catalan-Spanish) students. Catalan and
Basque are minority languages in Spain
but they are regarded as an asset by the
whole community in Spain. The
monolingual learners received education in
Spanish while the bilinguals were educated
in their minority languages. In these
conditions the results of research from
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Cenoz, 1991, 1996; Cenoz & Valencia,
1994; Lasagabaster, 1998, 2000
concluded that bilingualism was a factor
that predicted better general proficiency in
the third language regardless of other
factors such as age, intelligence, exposure
and motivation (Mesaros [no year] ).
However, other researchers suggest that it
is not bilinguality, but biliteracy which
facilitates the acquisition of an L3 (Swain,
Lapkin, Rowen & Hart, 1990 as cited in
Sanz 2000).
L3 learners have more experience at their
disposal than do the L2 learners because
they have already gone through the
process of learning a language twice
(Cenoz and Jessner, 2000). Furthermore
the knowledge of these two languages and
the experience of the acquisition process
of another language are likely to influence
the acquisition of a third language (Cenoz
et al, 2001).
One of the most researched positive
effects of bilingualism on L3 acquisition is
the higher level of metalinguistic
awareness. Metalinguistic awareness
allows a person to deeper understand and
analyze language by focusing on different
levels of linguistic structure such as words,
phonemes, syntax, phonological
awareness, word awareness, sentence
awareness and semantic awareness
(Weiqiang 2011). Research by Bialystok
(1986, 1987, 1991), Diaz (1985),
Galambos and Goldin-Meadow (1990),
Yelland, Pollard, and Mercury (1993), and
Ricciardelli (1992a, 1992b) found bilinguals
to have greater explicit knowledge of the
language. According to Ellis (1994) the
weak interface position in L2 acquisition
theory proposes that: “while explicit
knowledge cannot be transformed into
implicit knowledge of the L2, it can help in
the acquisition process by acting as an
advanced organizer, focusing learners’
attention on the relevant features of the
language. That is, heightened
metalinguistic awareness, which results
from exposure to literacy in two languages,
gives bilinguals the capacity to focus on
form and pay attention to the relevant
features in the input. Just as more efficient
use of memory space enhances the
amount of input that can be processed into
intake, metalinguistic awareness enhances
the quality of the intake that feeds into the
interlanguage system.”(Stanz 2000, p 14).
Klein (1995) suggests that because
bilinguals have two sets of vocabularies
they have a better understanding of the
arbitrary relationship between words and
their referents. This suggests that
bilinguals would have an advantage over
monolinguals in lexical awareness. This is
important for L3 acquisition because the
skills used in the acquisition of the second
set of vocabulary are transferable and
applicable to the acquisition of the L3
vocabulary. However, this positive effect is
more evident in consecutive than
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simultaneous bilinguals since in the case of
simultaneous bilinguals the acquisition of
both vocabularies was spontaneous and
not as much attention was given to the
learning strategies as in the case of
consecutive bilinguals (Weiqiang 2011).
The advantages connected to lexical
awareness brought up the issue of transfer
which in turn invokes the question of cross-
linguistic influence, because transfer is just
one of the forms of cross-linguistic
influence.
It is by now fairly obvious that L3
acquisition is not just another case of L2
acquisition. Even though the two
processes may be similar as Clyne (1997:
113) put it: “the additional language
complicates the operations of the process”
(as cited in Mesaros [no year]). The
differences are most evident when we look
at Cross-linguistic influence. In second
language acquisition the first language can
influence the second and vice versa so that
the cross-linguistic influence can occur in
these two languages in both directions (L1
← → L2). This process is considerably
more complicated in third language
acquisition because cross-linguistic
influence occurs between the first
language and the second language, the
first language and the third language as
well as between the second language and
the third language (L1 ← → L2; L1←
→L3; L2← →L3) (Cenoz et al., 2001).
Research on cross-linguistic
influence in L3 acquisition is grounded on
psycholinguistic theories of speech
processing and production in monolinguals
(Levelt, 1989) and bilinguals (Green, 1986;
De Bot, 1992; Grosjean, 1997), as well as
on specific proposals of cross-linguistic
influence in second language acquisition
(Kellerman, 1983 as cited in Cenoz et al.,
2001).
It is beyond the scope of this paper to go
into all of the aspects and factors that
affect cross-linguistic influence. Therefore
we will only focus on one aspect of cross-
linguistic influence – transfer.
The definition of transfer that I will use in
this paper is Odlin’s (1989): “transfer is the
influence resulting from similarities and
differences between the target language
and any other language that has been
previously (and perhaps imperfectly)
acquired” (p 27 as cited in Murphy, 2005). I
have selected this definition because it is
rather general and it includes both positive,
facilitative and negative transfer.
The first question that arises when we talk
about transfer in L3 acquisition is from
what language to what language the
transfer occurs. Different hypothesis
propose different answers to this question,
and we will mention some that we perceive
to be the most representative.
The Developmentally Moderated Transfer
Hypothesis (Hakansson et al. 2002) which
incorporates transfer in Processability
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theory argues that transfer will occur only
between the L1 and L2 and L1 and L3 but
that no transfer will occur between L2 and
L3 (Bardel & Falk, 2007). The Failed
Features Hypothesis (Hawkins 1998, 2000;
Hawkins & Chan 1997; Smith & Tsimpli
1995) also states that no transfer will
happen between L2 and L3 but that L1 will
influence both L2 and L3 (Leung, 2005).
On the other hand the Full Transfer Full
Access Hypothesi (FTFAH)s, as the name
implies, argues that transfer happens
between all of the languages in other
words L1 ← → L2; L1← →L3; L2← →L3
(Leung, 2005).
Transfer hypothesis also differ in regard to
the presumed impact of the L1 grammar.
According to the FTFAH all syntactic
properties of L1 initially constitute a base
for new developing grammar, which is
constructed with the involvement of
Universal Grammar. There are weaker
views which predict different levels of
involvement of first language grammar. For
example Vainikka and Young-Scholten
(1994; 1996) propose that there is only
transfer of the lexical categories. Eubank
(1993/94; 1994) proposes that both lexical
and functional categories are transferred
but that feature strength is not. After this
initial transfer phase, the learner is
assumed to construct an interlanguage
grammar on the basis of L2 input and the
Universal Grammar (Bardel& Falk 2007).
Bardel and Falk (2007) studied the effects
of bilingualism on third language
acquisition. More specifically they wanted
to see whether transfer would occur and
from what language. They tested the
placement of sentence negation. The
participants were separated into two
groups: In the first group were bilinguals
whose L1 had the same placement of
negation (verb second V2) as the target
language L3, in the second group were
bilinguals whose second language L2 had
the same placement of negation (V2) like
the L3. This study showed that transfer did
occur. Transfer occurred from L2 to L3 in
both groups. The researchers interpreted
these results by attributing the fact that
transfer occurred only from L2 to L3 to the
stronger status factor of the L2 which in
this case overpowered the typology factor.
The results of this research also confirm
the Full Transfer Full Access Hypothesis if
we accept the explanation as to why L1
transfer did not occur.
As we have seen from the results from the
aforementioned study transfer and cross-
linguistic influence is a phenomenon which
is influenced by many factors. These
factors can be loosely divided into two
categories: learner based variables and
language based variables. The learner
based variables are: proficiency, amount of
target language exposure, language mode,
age, linguistic awareness and educational
background. The language based variables
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are typology, frequency and word class
(Murphy, 2005).
However, the evidence of the positive
effects that bilingualism has on L3
acquisition should not lull us into acquiring
a black and white view on this topic and
immediately assume that if a person is
bilingual they have acquired these
advantages.
There are a number of studies that show
no statistical differences between bilingual
and monolingual performance (Balke-
Aurell & Lindblad, 1982; Jaspaert &
Lemmens, 1990; Sanders & Meijers, 1995;
Schoonen et al.,2002). The effects of
bilingualism on internal cognitive variables
are mediated by external factors related to
particular sociolinguistic situations.
The sociolinguistic situation results either
in subtractive or additive bilingualism
(Sanz, 2000). In the case of additive
bilingualism the bilingual should show the
positive cognitive abilities of bilingualism
while in subtractive bilingualism no
advantages will be acquired in comparison
to monolingual speakers. A number of
factors influence which type of bilingualism
will be acquired.
Additive bilingualism occurs when both
languages have high social standing and
are valued by the community. If the
languages are valued by the community
this will also influence the learners
motivation and attitude towards the
language. Motivation and attitude are
important factors since they directly
influence the level of language proficiency
that will be achieved. If the level of
proficiency is high in both languages then
the bilingual will enjoy the cognitive
benefits that come with additive
bilingualism (Hammers 2000).
This is supported by Cummins’s (1979)
threshold theory according to which a
bilingual will be able to acquire the
cognitive benefits associated with
bilingualism only if a certain minimum
threshold of competence in a second
language is acquired. There are essentially
two thresholds the lower and the higher
threshold of bilingual competence. If the
lower threshold is reached the individual
will be a dominant bilingual and will not
reap the benefits of the cognitive
advantages of bilingualism but will also not
suffer from the disadvantages of
subtractive bilingualism. If the higher
threshold of bilingual competence is
reached the individual will be a balanced
bilingual who enjoys the cognitive
advantages of bilingualism.
The developmental interdependence
hypothesis (Cummins 1979) tells us how
L1 and L2 skills are related. It proposes
that the level of L2 competence which a
bilingual child attains is partially a function
of the type of competence the child has
developed in L1 at the time when intensive
exposure to L2 begins. For children whose
L1 skills are less well developed in certain
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respects, intensive exposure to L2 in initial
grades is likely to impede the development
of L1. If this would happen the individual
would not gain the cognitive benefits
associated with bilingualism.
As we have mentioned status of the
languages affects the motivation and
attitude of the learner but it is also linked to
the distinction between elite bilingualism
and folk bilingualism. The languages of
elite bilinguals as the name implies are
highly valued in the community and country
in which they live. An example of this
would be English- or German-speaking
immigrants in the Netherlands who
consider their language a valuable asset
and make every effort to maintain it and
pass it on to their children –efforts which
are encouraged by the host community.
The languages of folk bilinguals do not
enjoy high social status. An example of this
are Turkish migrants who will be
confronted with the attitude that it is
detrimental for them to continue speaking
their L1 and for their children to learn it,
that this will impair their chances for
assimilation and career opportunities, and
that a switch to monolingual Dutch is
preferable. It is evident that elite
bilingualism would have positive effects on
the gain of bilingual cognitive advantages
(Baker, 2011).
The country's minority language policy is of
crucial importance. As we have mentioned
before it is not bilingualism per se, but
biliteracy which enables the forming of
cognitive advantages of bilingualism
therefore an opportunity for the bilinguals
to be educated in both their languages
improves their chances of reaping the
benefits of bilingualism (Stanz, 2000).
When the L2 is present in the community
the quality and quantity of the interaction
with the speakers of the L2 is another
factor. This is connected to L1
maintenance, if we are talking about a
minority language situation. As we know
from the developmental interdependence
hypothesis the higher the levels in the two
languages the better developed the
cognitive functions. But it has also been
confirmed that in minority settings it is
better for the family to communicate in their
L1. This is because L1 maintenance
positively influences the acquisition of the
L2 and L3.
4. Conclusion
As we have seen the effects of bilingualism
on cognition are quite a complicated
matter. The stand on this issue today is
well described in the quote by Ellen
Bialystok and Xiaojia Feng: "The picture
emerging from these studies is a complex
portrait of interactions between bilingualism
and skill acquisition in which there are
sometimes benefits for bilingual children,
sometimes deficits, and sometimes no
consequence at all."(p. 121 as cited in
Grosjean 2011).
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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References:
Bahtia, T.K., William, C. R. (2013). The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Second Edition. Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. [Electronic version] (25.03.2014)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118332382.fmatter/pdf
Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 5th edition. [Electronic
version] Clevedon: Multilingual Matters (26 February 2014)
http://books.google.rs/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fEt5VKBIMSsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=bilingualis
m+pdf&ots=iFMiKum-
HR&sig=Mm0WyQzx75N0Fjx8WR8peCdUH1k&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bilingualism%2
0pdf&f=false
Bardel, C. & Falk Y. (2007). The role of the second language in third language acquisition:
the case of Germanic syntax. Second Language Research 23,4 (2007); pp. 459-484 (30
May 2014) http://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/docs/00/57/07/36/PDF/PEER_stage2_10.1177%252F0267658307080557.pdf
Cenoz, J., Jessner U. (Eds.)(2000). English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language.
Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto, Sydney: Multilingual Matters (17 April 2014)
http://books.google.rs/books?hl=en&lr=&id=iaEGdFnQDJcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=bilingualis
m+and+third+language+acquisition&ots=ax42Cq-
mTH&sig=J5CT4FoRbk_NRXUsRPTCOMF6_s0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bilingualism%
20and%20third%20language%20acquisition&f=false
Cenoz, J., Hufeisen, B. &Jessner U. (Eds.)(2001). Cross-linguistic Influence in Third
Language Acquisition: Psycholinguistic Perspective [Electronic version]. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters. (19 Jul 2013)
http://books.google.rs/books?hl=en&lr=&id=E3VonNCY8TcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=bilinguali
sm+and+third+language+acquisition&ots=JHhaqvtm0q&sig=8wQPE_b9rhcx52cpT5oTao7x8
-
U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bilingualism%20and%20third%20language%20acquisition&f
=false
Cummins, J. (1979). Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of
Bilingual Children. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Spring, 1979), pp. 222-
251; American Educational Research Association (28 June 2013)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1169960
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E-mail correspondence: [email protected] Copyright ELTA Journal 2014
www.eltajournal.org.rs Page 92
Grosjean, F. (2011). What are the Effects of Bilingualism. Psychology Today (19 March
2014) http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201106/what-are-the-effects-
bilingualism
Hammers, J. F. & Blanc, M.H.A. (2000).Bilinguality and Bilingualism.2nd edition [Electronic
version] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (09 January 2013)
http://books.google.rs/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2r2l3Nre9sAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=definition+
of+bilingualism&ots=cvA2Rqs4_y&sig=CylsoviO8fdy3AqdDrgVhv-
sovM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Hilchey, M.D., Klein, M. R. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic
interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control process. Psychonomic
Society, Inc.2011. [Electronic version] (23 June 2013)
http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/839/art%253A10.3758%252Fs13423-011-0116-
7.pdf?auth66=1412286766_f2dbb47dcb4809d233cc95d13711e85c&ext=.pdf
Leung, Y. I. (2005) Second vs. Third Language Acquisition of Tense and Agreement in
French by Vietnamese Monolinguals and Cantonese-English Bilinguals. Proceedings of the
4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. MA: Cascadilla Press. (16 April 2014)
http://www.lingref.com/isb/4/105ISB4.PDF
Marian, V. & Shook, A. (2012).The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual. The DANA
Foundation.(23 April 2014)
https://dana.org/Cerebrum/2012/The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Being_Bilingual/
Mesaros, B.T. (no year). Learning English as a Third Language “The Case of Romanian
Community in Spain”. Universitat Jumae. [Electronic version] (22 June 2013)
http://www.uji.es/bin/publ/edicions/jfi14/filang/3.pdf
Murphy, S. (2005). Second Language Transfer During Third Language Acquisition. Teachers
College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL and Applied Linguistics (16 April
2014) http://journals.tc-library.org/index.php/tesol/article/viewFile/23/28
Sanz, C. (2000). Bilingual education enhances third language acquisition: Evidence from
Catalonia. Applied Psycholinguistics 21 (2000), 23-44; (3 May 2014)
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/sanzc/Sanz2000.pdf
Weiqiang, A. A. (2011) Bilingualism and Multilingualism: The Effects of Bilingualism on the
Acquisition of a Third Language (02 March 2014)
https://www.academia.edu/6050076/The_Effect_of_Bilingualism_on_the_Acquisition_of_a_T
hird_Language
*****
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
E-mail correspondence: [email protected] Copyright ELTA Journal 2014
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Radmila Palinkašević has graduated from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade And she is currently
doing her PhD thesis. She works at the Mihailo Palov Preschool Teacher Training College in Vršac.
Her interests are ESL methodics, bilingualism and psycholinguistics.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Developing Artistry in Teaching
by Willy Cardoso, freelance, Oxford, UK
Abstract Considering the current practice that evaluates teaching in terms of demonstrable classroom behaviours, and teacher knowledge in terms of the accumulation of techniques, there is an increasing concern that the artistry of language teaching is not given enough credit. In this article, the author discusses how this impacts on the work of teachers, especially in terms of performance evaluation and definitions of best practice. This paper also suggests some alternative frames to address areas such as disposition towards inquiry-based development, acknowledgment of the centrality teacher intuition, and the necessity of collective engagement. Key words: artistry, professional development, teacher knowledge, reflective practice, professional knowledge, evaluation Apstrakt S obzirom na trenutnu praksu koja ocenjuje nastavu u smislu dokazivih ponašanja u učionici, i znanja nastavnika u smislu akumulacije tehnika, sve je veća zabrinutost da umetnost učenja jezika nije dobila dovoljno na važnosti. U ovom članku, autor ukauzuje na to kako ovo utiče na rad nastavnika, posebno na polju ocenjivanja i definicijama najbolje prakse. U radu se takođe ukazuje na neke alternativne okvire za rešavanje ove oblasti kao što su određenje prema istraživačko-baziranom razvoju, priznanje važnosti intuicije nastavnika i nužnosti kolektivnog angažmana. Ključne reči: umetnost, profesionalni razvoj, znanje nastavnika, reflektivna praksa, stručno znanje, ocenjivanje
1. Introduction
At the present moment, one of the
challenges of teacher development and
evaluation, both formal and informal, is to
swim against the current of a so-called
‘box-ticking’ culture (Cardoso and
Madhavan, 2014). A box-ticking culture is
one that: (a) focuses on visible behaviour
as the main form of evidence of
professional knowledge; (b) considers that
change in behaviour means change in
cognition; (c) focuses on teachers’
techniques, methodologies, classroom
management and control, repertoire of
activities, rationales for activities, etc; all of
which matching externally constructed
knowledge and its translation into
assessment criteria (i.e. boxes to tick).
With modes of evaluation defining what
valid professional knowledge is, we have to
be reminded that evaluation is never
neutral, and that valid professional
knowledge is never neutral either. They are
constructed within discourse, which is
inevitably value-laden: culturally and
politically. Within these interrelated spaces
there are power structures that will
delineate the dominant mode of discourse,
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which can be emancipatory for some and
oppressing for others. Advances in our
understanding of the role teachers tend to
open up new ways of thinking; however,
they can simultaneously limit or suppress
less dominant ways of thinking as well. By
evaluating teaching in terms of
demonstrable classroom behaviours, and
teacher knowledge in terms of the
accumulation of techniques, current modes
of evaluation, with their focus on
competencies, may give us a false
impression of teaching as a coherent,
linear process, when in fact, the day-to-day
teacher would not find it hard to evaluate
one’s practice in terms of “uncertainty,
rupture, dissonance, tentativeness,
provisionality and self-disclosure” (Smyth,
1995, p.8).
The challenge is that at the same time the
work of teachers becomes more regulated
and standardised; teachers are asked to
become reflective practitioners and to
engage in lifelong learning through
continuous professional development. The
kind of reflection teachers are encouraged
to engage in is also constituted within a
dominant discourse which reinforces that
teachers should reflect on the practical and
personal, which may neglect reflection on
the values constituting their teaching. If
your work is mainly spoken in practical and
personal terms then you are accepting a
definition of yourself as you speak
(Goodson, 1995). This means reproducing
the status of teachers as ‘classroom
technicians’ and giving away the
intellectual work and responsibility to
others. One of the main implications would
be that “differences in teaching practices
are viewed as merely differences in
teaching style rather than as differences
that derive from ethical and critical
considerations” (Hursh p. 102). As a
counter-narrative, the author proposes
through this article a view of teaching as
art, and that teacher development takes
onboard elements similar to the
development of artistry. He also proposes
that classroom experiences work their way
towards the opening up of more
opportunities for artistic experiences. It
should be emphasised that this is not a
novel or revolutionary view of teaching, but
it is one that is not promoted as often as it
should. This article is then taken as an
opportunity to join in the debate and invite
others to this less travelled route of inquiry
into our profession.
2. Understanding artistry in teaching
It is curious that after many years of
experience and many years of academic
engagement with teaching, a well-prepared
teacher may still find that his/her lesson
plan failed to address the reality of the
students, as individuals and as a group
studying together. Sometimes, the
knowledge we have about what we should
do does not fit, and sometimes we find
ourselves in classroom situations which
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are so context/person-specific that it would
have been impossible to foresee and plan
for a known outcome; even though,
generally speaking, these situations are
nothing but common. For example, what
kind of knowledge stock the author draws
from to tackle situations in which: students
seem to be unresponsive to the material
presented; a student starts to cry out of
frustration for not achieving a task; one can
overhear a ‘good’ student say the lesson is
boring. It is felt that these fairly common
classroom situations are practically
impossible to be theorised and studied
based on an overarching conception of
teaching.
These doubts led the author to look at the
knowledge base of our profession: how it is
constructed, what philosophies and
ideologies underlie the methodologies
teachers use; what assumptions they hold
about teaching and the work of teachers.
The author found out that there was a
certain world view, a way of seeing things,
that could maybe be lacking in some
respect; that would have certain
normalised ways of being and behaving
that could be counterproductive to the work
teachers do and consequently to the
learning they are trying to bring about in
their students.
One of these views, and the dominant one,
is that teaching is a science, or better an
applied science. The contrasting view, and
the one promoted is that teaching is also
an art. It could even be argued that it is
more of an art form than a science one.
However, one cannot be entirely sure
about it. At any rate there are some very
important things to reconsider if we agree
that teaching resembles artistry.
Elliot Eisner (1985) defines teaching as an
art in the sense that teachers, like artists,
make judgments based on qualities that
are emergent, that is, which unfold during
the course of action, a course of action
which is not dominated by prescriptions but
by contingencies – unpredictability.
Teaching then is dependent on the
perception and control of these emergent
qualities. Likewise, the ends achieved in
teaching are also emergent, that is, ends
are not predetermined but often found in
interaction with students.
For the sake of clarity and simplicity, the
author will confine this exploration of
artistry in teaching within an understanding
of artistry which consists of artistic ability,
artistic quality, and artistic pursuit. With this
in mind, he will further explore how
teachers can develop artistry.
3. Inquiry-based development and
problem-setting mindset
It is difficult not to relate artistry in teaching
to the notion of the reflective practitioner.
Especially in ELT, this theory of practice is
usually traced back to the work of Donald
Schon, who in turn was influenced by the
philosophy of education of John Dewey.
Schon builds his theory on the hypothesis
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that “there is an irreducible element of art
in professional practice” (Schon, 1987: 18)
and because of that we should revisit what
an epistemology of practice looks like and
in turn rewrite what is valid professional
knowledge and how people acquire it. For
Schon, professional practice is not only
about solving problems but also, and very
importantly, about ‘finding the problems’
(problem-setting). It is with the latter
concern that problem-setting becomes
central in the art of reflective practice.
Problem-setting, in essence, consists of an
exercise in naming and framing, which can
form a continuous cycle once in the ‘art’ of
practice it is unlikely that a solution to a
problem will always be the only solution
possible. In Schon’s words,
When we set the problem, we select what
we will treat as the “things” of the situation,
we set the boundaries of our attention to it,
and we impose upon it a coherence which
allows us to say what is wrong and in what
directions the situation needs to be
changed. Problem setting is a process in
which, interactively, we name the things to
which we will attend and frame the context
in which we will attend to them. (ibid. p. 40)
The process then is always open-ended,
working in iterations and becoming more
developed as it becomes more reflective.
However, this is easier said than done. The
major problem is that of mindset, or the
epistemological standing of the
professional when faced with situations of
problem solving and problem setting. In
lacking the tradition, and therefore the
instruments and the language, to describe
‘artful competence’, teachers may find
themselves unable to make sense of the
situation and the process of naming and
framing once their foundational grounds or
models no longer apply (at least in theory);
i.e. they have nowhere to go and grasp the
necessary knowledge that will solve the
problem if we agree with Schon that
knowledge is in the action. In sum,
“complexity, instability, and uncertainty are
not removed or resolved by applying
specialized knowledge to well-defined task”
(ibid. p. 19). In sum, an inquiry-based
approach to teacher development which is
focused on problem-setting requires the
teacher to accept the unpredictable nature
of his/her practice. The challenge, on the
other hand, is that in many cultures the
teachers’ job is equated to control, that is,
to direct students’ behaviour and cognition
through effective control of materials and
group dynamics.
In practice, that means that in trying to
develop artistry from an inquiry-based
approach, a teacher could consider
‘development’ as being able to do more
with less; that is, with a lesson plan that is
never ‘complete’ as it always leaves room
to experience and experiment with what
emerges. This approach requires a
relatively different set of skills and
dispositions.
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4. Observing and evaluating practice
If relying on scientific knowledge to
develop the practice of teaching is to be
temporarily suspended in order to give way
to artistry, then what will lay the grounds
for practice? That is, what can teachers
rely on? An interesting analogy to start to
formulate an answer is that of how
musicians improvise.
Musicians know that behind a seemingly
effortless performance or improvisation
there is an incredible amount of training.
The purpose of such an intense training is
that during the actual performance the
musician can “forget” all s/he knows. In this
case, during the performance the
improviser will rarely think about what has
just happened or what is about to happen;
improvising requires an incredible
awareness, and a need, to be in the
present. For this reason, besides the
technical knowledge and skills, improvisers
show us they have a ‘feel’ for what is going
on as they adjust their play in light of what
others are playing; and vice-versa.
Linked to the idea of developing a ‘feel for’
the material or situation is that of ‘tact’.
Tact seems characterized by moral
intuitiveness: A tactful teacher seems to
have the ability of instantly sensing what
the appropriate, right or good thing to do
on the basis of perceptive pedagogical
understanding of children's individual
nature and circumstances is. (van Manen,
1995, p. 10)
A tactful teacher makes classroom
decisions on the fly by interpreting
students’ indirect clues such as body
language and expression. Tact involves
seeing through what is apparently only a
cause-effect relation (van Manen, 1995).
In practice, intuition can be developed by
reflecting on classroom decision-making.
By examining the factors that led the
teacher to make a pedagogical decision on
the spots he might find that many of these
decisions are not supported by her
formal/explicit knowledge of teaching.
When realising a decision was made
based on intuition the teacher can then
examine the conditions in which this was
possible (e.g. who was involved, the time
of the day, the type of lesson and material,
and so on) - these will not determine future
practice of similar situations but will inform
them. If successful, these classroom
events will also build the teacher’s self-
confidence on partly relying on intuition. To
this end, reflection journals and video
recordings of classrooms come highly
recommended.
As Eisner (1985) put it, the arts teach us to
judge in the absence of rule and to make
choices based on an attention to nuances
and a reliance on feel. For Parks (1992),
there are certain attributes of artistry which
should be included as a model for judging
the quality of teachers’ performance. In
terms of ‘artistic’ communication, teachers
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would demonstrate sensitivity to allegory,
metaphor, irony and other similar concepts,
as well as the ability to think qualitatively
about the best way to communicate an
idea which can trigger empathic and
interested responses from students.
Another relevant attribute is self-knowledge
and its relation to the subject and skills
taught; along with self-motivation and self-
directedness which enable the
artist/teacher to place the pursuit of
knowledge and personal growth above
other activities and beyond custom and
conventions.
From a similar perspective, but with an
added layer of critical theory, Smyth (1995)
argues that teachers can gain some control
over defining best practice through self-
government, self-regulation and self-
responsibility, which will be essential
aspects of their portrayals of practice and
reflection. This will reinforce the view that
teachers are the ones who know best
about teaching.
In sum, one of the downsides of
evaluations following a technical-rational
model of knowledge is the emphasis on
prediction and control, perhaps at the
expense of exploration and discovery. This
model diminishes the importance of
opening oneself to uncertainty, and
consequently to artistic practices (Eisner,
1985).
5. Collective engagement
The author suggests that professional
development should focus on teachers’
active process of contesting and
determining the ends of their work; instead
of just adapting to innovations which focus
on ends determined by others. There has
been a constant call for teachers to
develop in the light of the ‘new’ - that is,
methodological or technological
innovations. But many times what is
needed is development which focuses on
renewal. A focus on renewal will pool the
local expertise already present in a school
and create conditions for teachers to
collectively strengthen local knowledge
arising from critical examination of their
accumulated personal experiences (Eraut,
1994). In this case, teachers become
central in determining the ends of their
practice, and not only the processes.
Each discipline requires us to learn how to
think within it, however, disciplines are not
static and unsullied, by thinking within a
discipline we can learn how to change it.
An artist develops techniques with which
s/he can manipulate materials that aid the
expression of his art; and in many cases
the artwork is an expression of deeper
values, commitment and ideologies - with
this awareness, the teacher can also
develop techniques that will serve as a
means to an end. In other words, teaching
techniques are not the ends; the
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accumulation of resources, materials,
activities, etc, is not the ends of teacher
professional development - if taken as
artistry; it is a means by which the teacher
can express her educational values and
achieve her educational aims.
A conflict of ends cannot be resolved by
the use of techniques derived from applied
research. It is rather through the non-
technical process of framing the
problematic situation that we may organize
and clarify both the ends to be achieved
and the possible means of achieving them.
(Schon1983, p. 41)
In a recent interview for TEA Austria, I was
asked whether the forces of box-ticking
cultures in this age of measurability are
unstoppable. I think they are, indeed,
unstoppable – but that they don’t preclude
the emergence of parallel narratives, or
even counter-narratives. Many artistic
expressions develop first as a subculture,
and are initially frowned upon for their
subversion of the status quo; however
imperfect they are they can form novel
forms of communities of practice and bring
freshness to the field.
In this scenario, engagement stops being
an option and becomes a necessity. If left
to the external forces of curriculum,
policies, performance indicators, and other
influencers, the classroom can contribute
to and become a representation of the
teacher’s isolation. We ought to be careful
when collective concerns are turned into
individualised concerns; because where
teachers could benefit from sharing there
might be in place a culture in which asking
for help is seen as a sign of weakness
(Britzman, 1986). In face of a certain kind
of (isolating) autonomy culture, collective
engagement is thus of utmost importance.
This bottom-up counter-narrative is what
can actually empower teachers.
6. Conclusion
To make sense of their experiences in
artistic terms, teachers will have to
overthrow the image created by
researchers, administrators and
policymakers (Smyth, 1992). One way to
rework this cultural image is to reframe
teaching as a transformative intellectual
activity (Aronowitz and Giroux, 1985). The
artist-teacher as a transformative
intellectual can offer a counter-narrative for
what is possible (and potentially desirable)
in classrooms.
Because perception of relationship
between what is done and what is
undergone constitutes the work of
intelligence, and because the artist is
controlled in the process of his work by his
grasp of the connection between what he
has already done and what he is to do
next, the idea that the artist does not think
as intently and penetratingly as a scientific
inquirer is absurd. (Dewey, 1934 p. 45)
Rubin (1985) talks of attitude and
professional “hunger” being the roots of
great teaching. Artistry in teaching is
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important, but artistry alone does not
suffice - it is less a matter of talent and
more a matter of developing talent along
with the sort of dedication and attitude
which do not come prescribed.
In this vein, a number of questions remain:
how can teachers tap into acts of artistry?
How can they create classroom cultures
that welcome artistry? What role should
artistry play in professional development
activities and what would it look like, feel
like, if it played the lead role?
From this brief development of the
opportunities and necessities of
understanding teaching as an art form, we
can see teachers and artists share similar
functions and characteristics. Not the least
important of which is that becoming a
teacher or an artist involves more than
making a career choice; above all it is a
choice of how one wants to live –a life
choice.
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In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical discourses on teacher development. London: Cassell.
Goodson, I. F. (1995). Studying the teacher’s life and work. In J. Smyth (Ed.), Critical
discourses on teacher development. London: Cassell.
Van Manen, M. (1995) On the Epistemology of Reflective Practice. Teachers and Teaching:
theory and practice. 1(1), pp. 33-50.
*****
Willy Cardoso is a freelance teacher trainer and course writer with 13 years’ experience in ELT. He
tutors in the Certificate in Teaching English as a Life Skill and is the publications editor of IATEFL
Teacher Development SIG. He has an MA in Education from the University of Bath.
http://willycardoso.com
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Teaching and Learning Financial English
Vocabulary
by Nina Kisin, MA in English language and literature (the Faculty of
Philosophy, the University of Novi Sad)
PhD candidate, Teaching Methodology (the Faculty of Philosophy, the
University of Novi Sad)
Abstract English today is growingly based on English for Finance. Knowledge of new, specific terminology in English not only enriches the rhetoric and the written word, but also leads to the creation of successful diplomatic relations. This article is aimed at presenting some ways of teaching and learning Financial English at intermediate level. Our aim is to present the ways of teaching and throw some light on the new and compelling Business English terms, as well as their widespread use. Data was mostly found in Cambridge University Press – Professional English Online and many dictionaries, with occasional reference to newspaper headlines dealing with current socio-economic developments. Key words: teaching, learning, Financial English, intermediate level, financial vocabulary Apstrakt Savremeni engleski jezik sve se više bazira na engleskom za finansije. Poznavanje nove, specifične terminologije na engleskom jeziku, ne samo da obogaćuje retoriku i pisanu reč, već i dovodi do stvaranja uspešnih diplomatskih odnosa. Ovaj članak ima za cilj predstavljanje nekih načina poučavanja i učenja engleskog za finansije na srednjem nivou znanja. Naš cilj je da predstavimo načine poučavanja i predstavimo novu i interesantnu terminologiju poslovnog engleskog jezika, kao i njenu široku primenu. Podaci su uglavnom prikupljeni iz: Cambridge University Press - Professional English Online i mnogih rečnika, s povremenim pozivanjem na novinske naslove koji se bave aktuelnim društveno-ekonomskim kretanjima. Ključne reči: poučavanje, učenje, finansijski engleski, srednji nivo, finansijski vokabular.
1. Introduction
A language is a reflection of our times. Still,
when it comes to the semantic
development of the lexeme, it seems as if
every epoch had something in common
with the previous one. Thus, from
Shakespeare's sonnets in which a
ʻmortgage’ was used, as in: “and I my self
am mortgaged to thy will” (Shakespeare
1609, In (eds.): R. Proudfoot et al. 1998:
40) to the present ‘Harry Potter Stock
Index,’ lexemes convey meaning and link
the old views with the new ones. A
conscious language speaker should keep
pace with changes that affected lexeme
meanings and vocabulary of many
languages. Business English is that
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contemporary and sophisticated area in
which the vocabulary develops by
immense introduction of new words.
Teaching Business English is an umbrella
term for English for Specific Purposes
(ESP). ESP represents, as its name says,
concrete purposes for learning, such as
technical, professional, or academic
studies (Hashimoto, 1994: 101). More
precisely, “ESP is an approach to language
teaching in which all decisions as to
content and method are based on the
learner's reason for learning” (Hutchinson
and Wafters, 1987: 19 as cited in
Hashimoto, 1994: 101). Having this in
mind, we need to create adequate
materials and use different techniques with
business (English) students, because
“business English is not only about
language, but about language use”
(Robinson, 1990 as cited in Stan,
2013:102). Consequently, it becomes
extremely important to present the
techniques for teaching and learning
vocabulary of English for Specific
Purposes (Financial English, in particular),
although, unfortunately, this topic is not
present to that extent in scientific research.
Vocabulary instruction is often neglected in
classroom, as well, whereas grammar is an
inevitable and significant part of foreign
language learning and instruction.
This article is aimed at presenting some
ways of teaching and learning Financial
English at intermediate level. This paper
will be recognized, hopefully, as a signpost
to the teachers of Business English
whenever they find themselves in need of
a better technique for teaching vocabulary
and learners of Business English searching
for a better way to learn financial
vocabulary. Techniques for vocabulary
learning and instruction are classified into
three groups (explicit, independent and
incidental vocabulary learning). The
vocabulary is, however, adapted to the
students of Business English at
intermediate level.
2. Different approaches to
vocabulary learning and
instruction
There are three different approaches to
vocabulary learning and instruction:
1. Explicit vocabulary learning
2. Independent strategy development
3. Incidental vocabulary learning
A reader of this article will be able to link
these approaches to some of the
techniques for Financial English
vocabulary learning and instruction
mentioned further in this text.
Explicit vocabulary learning relies on the
direct way of vocabulary learning. The
learning aim is lexeme acquisition in the
second language, L2. It includes some of
the techniques for learning Financial
English vocabulary, mentioned in this
article: dictionary use, vocabulary lists and
their translations, matching words with
different definitions, semantic mapping…
(Nation 2001 as cited in Trong Tuan 2011:
1689). The drawback of this vocabulary
learning approach is that it is too teacher-
oriented (Schmitt, 2000as cited in Trong
Tuan 2011: 1689) and relies on the first
language, L1, especially in translation.
However, it is useful in teaching
elementary learners (Coady, 1997as cited
in Trong Tuan 2011: 1689).
Pictorial vocabulary teaching and learning,
presented further in this article belongs to
the independent vocabulary learning. In
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this approach, the meaning is inferred from
context or through “pictures, diagrams,
charts…” (Nunan 1999 as cited in Trong
Tuan 2011: 1689).
The incidental vocabulary learning could
be defined as learning a foreign language
by accident, or unintentionally. Nation
(2001) defined it as “the fact that a person
can expand his or her vocabulary
knowledge while being involved in any
language activities without any specific
intention to focus on vocabulary” (Nation
2001 as cited in Trong Tuan 2011: 1689).
This includes: “learning from joining
conversations; listening to radio, stories,
music; watching movies, television;
especially extensive reading; or any other
exposure of input and output both in and
out of the classrooms” (Ibid.). This article
presents reading specialized journals and
case studies as shining examples of
incidental vocabulary learning.
Furthermore, since incidental vocabulary
learning requires a context from which we
deduce meaning, Financial English
vocabulary can be contextualized in a
sentence.
3. Contextualizing Financial English
vocabulary in sentence / case
studies
Teaching Financial English vocabulary is a
challenge that teachers face. First, lexeme
meaning found in Financial English is
specific, often context-dependent. Students
at intermediate level, in general, find it
difficult to understand the meaning and
make nouns or compounds memorable.
The form (pronunciation, spelling) of
lexemes is another problematic aspect
when it comes to students’ output.
However, there are many effective ways to
teach new lexemes. For example, first, as
it was suggested in Cambridge University
Press – Professional English Online, we
tried to play hangman and see if students
could guess the missing letters. Then, we
provided them with the definition of ʻcash
cowʼ as “a very profitable business or part
of a business” (Longman Business English
Dictionary 2000: 66). This was quite a
successful technique, as well as the
translation of ʻcash cowʼ into Serbian.
Students readily offered their translations
of ʻcash cowʼ into Serbian, although they
improvised to some extent: krava muzara,
zlatna koka…
A learning technique to make novel
lexemes memorable is to use them in a
sentence. The students mentioned above
did not know how to use ʻcash cowʼ in a
sentence. Thus, teacher provided them
with example sentences (input): ‘Souvenirs
sold at The Royal wedding were the cash
cow’ (Cambridge University Press –
Professional English Online, n.d.); “GM
and Ford have used luxury cars as cash
cows; giving those up could have a terrible
impact on profitability” (Longman Business
English Dictionary 2000: 66). The former
sentence can provoke further discussion
on the topic of the Royal Wedding, for
example. This is an excellent way to
incorporate culture in EFL (English as a
Foreign Language) classroom.
Also, case studies represent a valuable
teaching technique. Unlike using lexemes
in a sentence, case studies provide a wider
context in which students can eventually
learn some new nouns or compounds that
appear in the text.
There are some characteristics of an
effective case study: “a good case
presents an interest provoking issue and
promotes empathy with the central
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characters” (Boehrer and Linsky1990: 45
as cited in Stanford University Newsletter
on Teaching 1994: 1).The author of this
paper remembers the reactions of
Business English students at intermediate
level after they read the case study
entitled: “Florida father battles to save his
home” (Connolly 2010, bbc.co.uk). The
case study is completely dedicated to the
dangers of sub-prime mortgages. This
case study provides a good context for
understanding the meaning of this noun
and it promotes critical thinking in
classroom. Sub-prime mortgages entered
Financial English vocabulary in 2007 when
“loans to sub-prime borrowers, which had
previously registered high profits, turned
sour as millions of borrowers were unable
to keep up repayments on their loans and
defaulted on their debts” (General
Secretariat of the Council 2012: 4).
4. Fill-in task and matching exercise
It is believed that fill-in tasks increase the second language acquisition. Fill-in task is an
excellent way to learn novel nouns (compounds) or other parts of speech. Below is an
example of this effective technique for learning Financial English. Students are satisfied with
this technique, primarily because it is an excellent way to use new lexemes in contexts.
Later, a translation of key words into Serbian is offered to them.
Figure 1. Example of fill-in the gaps exercise
(Data source: Sweeney, S. Test your Professional English – Finance, England: PENGUIN
English, 2007: 73)
Teacher can also translate some additional unknown lexemes that appear in the text (loans,
wages). For instance, there is a significant distinction between loan and mortgage, or wage
and salary. ‘Loan’ is “money that an organization such as a bank lends and somebody
borrows” (Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary of Business English, 2006: 279). On the other
hand, ‘mortgage’ is defined as “a legal agreement by which a bank or similar organization
lends you money to buy a house […] and you pay the money back over a number of years”
(Ibid. 307). Wage is “a regular amount of money that you earn, every week, for work or
COMPLETE THE SPACES WITH WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE BOX.
consumer spending building societies balance of payments exchange rates interest rates
When banks and _______________ offer credit, or cheap loans at low _______________,
consumer spending rises and _______________ go up. High _______________ creates
pressure to increase wages. High consumer spending also creates more demand for imports.
This causes problems for the _______________.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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services” (Ibid. 523), whereas salary is paid on a monthly basis. These differences in
meaning should be highlighted and lexemes should be translated into the first language, L1.
ENGLISH SERBIAN
consumer
spending
potrošnja potrošača
building
societies
građevinska društva
balance of
payments
platni bilans
interest rates kamatne stope
exchange
rates
kursna lista
Table 1. Example of a translation technique
Matching exercise purpose is twofold: to benefit teachers by providing them with a reliable
input for teaching quite abstract Financial English vocabulary and to benefit learners by
providing them with a list of new lexemes and their definitions/synonyms, or sometimes,
translations into L1. Furthermore, it is proved that we can enhance vocabulary learning by
accompanying text-based vocabulary exercises, such as, e.g. matching exercise or
crossword puzzle (Wesche & Paribakht, 2000 as cited in Nam, 2010: 133).
Figure 2. Matching exercise (new key words-definitions)
Data source: Tonya Trappe, T. and Tullis, G. New Insights into Business, LONGMAN, 2004
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Figure 3. Matching exercise (new key words-translations into L1)
Data source: Tonya Trappe, T. and Tullis, G. New Insights into Business, LONGMAN, 2004
5. Semantic mapping
Semantic mapping is similar to the keyword method to some extent. However, the difference
is in the fact that with semantic mapping, we rely on the links between the lexemes. As can
be seen in Figure 4, a keyword (i.e. finance) is connected with other related concepts
(banks, money etc.) by using arrows on the basis of their related meaning.
Figure 4. Simple semantic map for “FINANCE”
Semantic mapping is a technique that can be used successfully with beginner, intermediate
or advanced students. New lexemes require semantic networks of related terms so that we
can understand their meaning.
Many authors describe semantic mapping as an effective learning technique. Semantic
maps can be used successfully in Business English, since many concepts that are abstract
(money, assets) can be related to a solid term (finance). Novak and Gowin (1984) based the
technique of semantic mapping on "learning how to learn" (Novak and Gowin, 1984 as cited
in Oxford and Crookall, 1990: 22). Brown-Azarowicz, Stannard, and Goldin (1986) referred
to the technique of semantic mapping, as “a concept tree, for memorizing foreign language
vocabulary” (Brown-Azarowicz, et al. 1986 as cited in Oxford and Crookall, 1990: 22).
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Memorizing foreign language vocabulary through visual aids (charts, maps, pictures…) is
always a good option since learners are able to observe and find semantic similarities
between lexemes.
6. Teaching Financial English vocabulary through pictures
Pictorial vocabulary teaching is presenting “target vocabulary items […] with their equivalent
pictures and written annotations” (Nam, 2010: 130). The L1 intervention can be helpful in
learning the vocabulary of the second (foreign) language, L2. Jiang (2004) claimed that
“adult L2 learners could draw on the mature conceptual and lexical systems of their native
languages (L1s); in part becausetarget vocabulary items usually have corresponding words
in L1s” (Jiang, 2004: 416-432as cited in Nam, 2010: 130). Furthermore, we are accustomed
to the linkage between verbal and visual symbols: no-smoking signs on airplanes and stop
signs (Oxford and Crookall, 1990:17), or warning signs. As for presenting new lexemes
through pictures, “a large number of learners in our culture are primarily visual learners”
(Dunn & Dunn, 1972 as cited in Oxford and Crookall, 1990:17), and “94% of all people are at
least moderately good at using visual imagery” (Goleman, 1986as cited in Oxford and
Crookall, 1990:17).
Figure 5. True/false type of exercise with pictorial vocabulary teaching
(Data source: Sweeney, S. Test your Professional English – Finance, England: PENGUIN
English, 2007: 73)
In Financial English, though, it becomes difficult to use pictorial vocabulary teaching to
present new lexemes. Financial English vocabulary is abstract. For instance, it is difficult to
present/explain by using pictures the lexemes such as budget, interest rates, cash flow plan,
(toxic) assets, liquidity. However, Figure 5 given above is an attempt of pictorial vocabulary
teaching combined with true/false type of exercise. It leads students to the conclusion on the
meaning of interest rates (true/false): “Stable and low inflation and interest rates are an
economic ‘good thing’” (answer: true). In the second part of the task students need to circle
the correct answers: Low interest rates/high interest rates help to control inflation/small
banks; answer: “High interest rates help to control inflation”.
Alternatively, teachers can present new vocabulary in Financial English, by using the
keyword method. Teachers can use PowerPoint presentation to provide students with a
review of the key vocabulary, as in Figure 6 (data source: Tonya Trappe, T. and Tullis, G.
New Insights into Business, LONGMAN, 2004). This is a good way to present abstract
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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vocabulary. In Figure 6, Stock market (or, stock exchange) is a key lexeme surrounded by
related lexemes.
Figure 6. The key vocabulary review by using PowerPoint presentation
Data source: Tonya Trappe, T. and Tullis, G. New Insights into Business, LONGMAN, 2004
7. Teaching Financial English
through specialized journals
Another interesting and quite novel aspect
of teaching Financial English vocabulary is
through specialized journals (The
Economist, The Financial Times, etc.) that
offer current and relevant terminology.
Content-based teaching is an important
part of languages for specific purposes.
With this technique, “language becomes a
vehicle to convey the goals of content”
(Stan, 2013: 102).
Financial English vocabulary is unique,
since it contains the lexemes which are
found in determined contexts (economic,
financial, social…). Thus, it becomes
important to provide students with an input
which contains up-to-date, relevant data on
financial, economic, or social development.
An article written by Michael White, entitled
“Turbulence and turmoil in the market or
the language of a financial crisis” illustrates
the usage of finance-related lexemes
(‘turbulence,’ ‘turmoil’) by many examples
from the eminent newspapers (The Times,
The Financial Times, September 1992).
For instance, “Foreign exchange markets
were heading for turmoil this morning after
the shock announcement of the
devaluation of the lira...,” as well as: “[…]
but if post-war history is any guide the
likely outcome is months of turbulence,
followed by capitulation to political and
market pressure” (White 2004: 73).
‘Turmoil’ is usually related to chaos and
disorder. ‘Turbulence’ is associated with
“weather phenomena, especially related to
problems in air travel or extreme
meteorological phenomena such as
hurricanes or tornados” (Ibid. p. 74).
Further exploration of these finance-related
lexemes leads us to the fact that both
ʻturbulenceʼ and ʻturmoilʼ can refer to the
currency crisis: “... the plan will protect the
pound from any market turbulence [...]” and
“in the third successive day of currency
turmoil [...]” (White 2004: 75). Still, there
are some differences between ʻturbulenceʼ
and ʻturmoilʼ. The former refers to the fluid
dynamics, natural phenomena and weather
phenomena, while the latter refers to the
‘social upheaval’ (Ibid.). The following
sentence puts ‘turmoil’ into an appropriate
context of the currency crisis:
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“Given the turmoil in the currency markets,
Mr. Helmut Kohl's meeting with Mr.
Mitterand ... looks like a case of
rearranging the deck chairs on the
Titanic”(White 2004: 78).
In addition to this, it is interesting to
observe the dynamics of lexemes, since
they always appear in different contexts.
Sometimes, teachers can even make
reference to the famous books or novels so
as to connect the “old” and “new” views.
For instance, in Shakespeare’s times,
‘turmoil’ was used in The Two Gentlemen
of Verona (II, vii) as follows: “And there I'll
rest, as after much turmoil,” where ‘turmoil’
had its usual uncountable form and
meaning – chaos, disorder.
By using specialized journals technique
teachers can widen the scope of contexts
in which a certain phrase or term can be
used. Also, students will get a relevant and
appropriate input. Successful output will be
in the form of well-developed written
communication skills, since “extensive
reading can improve not only learners’
reading comprehension but also learners’
writing skills […] and can also enhance
learners’ autonomy, independence, and
reading interest” (Stan, 2013: 102).
Research conducted by Vanda Stan, PhD,
the University “Vasile Goldis” showed that,
after the provided input in the form of
content-based teaching, “77% students
claimed they would continue reading to
keep up with the changing world outside
their country’s borders, 68% students
considered that reading business articles in
English was no longer hard to them” (Ibid:
103-104).
8. Conclusion
This article attempted to present different
techniques for teaching and learning
Financial English vocabulary. Techniques
for vocabulary learning and instruction
were classified into three groups (explicit,
independent and incidental vocabulary
learning). These techniques are applicable
to many foreign language learning
situations. The choice and usage of an
adequate teaching/learning technique
should be wisely crafted and well-planned.
We relied on theory and practical examples
in our presentation of teaching/learning
techniques. Our focus in this article was
primarily Financial English at intermediate
level. Further research should be
undertaken to observe the relation
between the choice of vocabulary
techniques and learning and teaching
styles.
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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References:
Cambridge University Press – Professional English Online. (n.d.). Cambridge: University
Press. http://peo.cambridge.org/ (15.06.2014).
Connolly, K. (2010). “Case study: Florida father battles to save his home”, 15.10.2010.
BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11528878(14.07.2014).
General Secretariat of the Council. (2012). Financial crisis: Key Terms in 23 languages.
Brussels.
Hashimoto,M. (1994). English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and the Teaching of Financial
English. KANAGAWA University Repository.
Longman Business English Dictionary.(2000). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Nam, J. (2010). “Linking Research and Practice: Effective Strategies for Teaching
Vocabulary in the ESL Classroom”. TESL Canada Journal 28 (1).
Oxford learner's pocket dictionary of Business English.(2006). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Oxford, R.and Crookall, D. (1990). “Vocabulary Learning: A Critical Analysis of Techniques”.
TESL Canada Journal 2 (7), pp. 9-30.
Shakespeare, W. (1609). The Sonnets. In: R. Proudfoot, A. Thompson, D. S.Kastaneds.
1998. Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. London, A & C Black: 17-49.
Shakespeare, W. (1594). The Two Gentlemen of Verona In: W. Carroll ed. 3rd edition, 2004.
Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare. Bloomsbury Publishing: London.
Stan, V. (2013). “ESP Rules! Teaching Financial /Business English Using Specialized
Journals”. International Journal of Business and Social Science 4 (10).
Stanford University Newsletter on Teaching. (1994). “Teaching with Case Studies”. Speaking
of teaching 5 (2) pp. 1-4.
Sweeney, S. (2007). Test your Professional English – Finance. England: PENGUIN English.
Tonya Trappe, T. and Tullis, G. (2004). New Insights into Business. LONGMAN.
Trong Tuan, L.(2011). “An Empirical Research on Self-learning Vocabulary”. Theory and
Practice in Language Studies 1 (12), pp. 1688-1695.
White, M. (2004). “Turbulence and turmoil in the market or the language of a financial crisis”.
Ibérica 7: 71-86.
*****
Nina Kisin was born in 1988 in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She graduated from the Faculty of
Philosophy (the University of Novi Sad) in June 2011, with a degree in English Language and
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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www.eltajournal.org.rs Page 113
Literature, BA. She defended her master's thesis in the field of linguistics in September 2012(the
Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Novi Sad). In October, 2012 she enrolled in a PhD program at
the Faculty of Philosophy (the University of Novi Sad) with a focus on Teaching Methodology.
Currently, she is successfully finishing the third, final year of her PhD studies. Contact email:
ELTA Journal • December 2014 • Volume 2, No. 2
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Ethical considerations ELTA Journal reviewing process follows the guidelines of the double peer review and neither the reviewer nor the submission authors are informed of the other. ELTA Journal reviewers have been recruited according to their field of academic specialization, academic credibility, their degree level (Ph.D.) and /or the track record of their engagement in the ELT or other educational fields. ELTA Journal reviewers in the current issue have been:
• Tatjana Glušac, Ph.D., Assistant professor, Faculty of Law and Business Studies Dr Lazar Vrkatić, Union University Belgrade; Serbia;
• Bojana Nikić Vujić, MA., The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia;
• Slobodanka Kitić, Ph.D., Associate professor, Mediterranean
University, Podgorica, Montenegro;
• Vladimir Široki, MA. Freelance consultant in English Language & Literature, Novi Sad, Serbia;
• Ana Sentov, MA. Lecturer; Faculty of Law and Business Studies
Dr Lazar Vrkatić, Union University Belgrade; Serbia;