teaching business english for arab learners · implications o instructors of business english...
TRANSCRIPT
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Teaching Business English for Arab
Learners
Mira Alameddine 25th Annual BESIG- IEATFL Conference
16-18 November
Stuttgart-Germany
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Outline O Introduction
O Acquisition of L2
O Four Problems
O Negative Transfer
O Differences in writing strategies
O Prepositional knowledge
O Collocational patterns
O Implications
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Introduction
O Increasing
population of Arab
learners goes to
English schools
O Need English
language to
communicate at
work
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Introduction (cont’d)
O Arab learners enroll
in business English
courses so they can
have the chance of
working in
multinational
corporation
O As EFL learners, they
face some
difficulties
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Introduction (cont’d) O Arab speakers face several problems while
learning English
O Phonological
O Morphological
O Structural
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Acquisition of L2
O "Acquisition requires meaningful interaction
in the target language - natural
communication - in which speakers are
concerned not with the form of their
utterances but with the messages they are
conveying and understanding." Stephen
Krashen
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Acquisition of L2 (cont’d) O "The best methods are therefore those that
supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety
situations, containing messages that
students really want to hear. These methods
do not force early production in the second
language, but allow students to produce
when they are 'ready', recognizing that
improvement comes from supplying
communicative and comprehensible input,
and not from forcing and correcting
production." Stephen Krashen
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Acquisition of L2 (cont’d) O Instructors: must design
course and material that
allow learners acquire
desired skills through
O Meaningful interactions
O Provide enough time for
assimilating the information
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Four Problems
O Negative transfer
O Different writing
strategies
O Prepositional
knowledge
O Collocational
pattern 11/27/2012 M. Alameddine-Rafic Hariri University 9
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Negative Transfer O Transfer: to cause something to pass from
one place to another
O Two types of transfer: Negative & Positive
O Negative transfer: the use of prior knowledge
in the production of 2nd language which
results into unacceptable forms
O Damages, hinders and delays the acquisition of L2
O Positive transfer: the same as negative
transfer in terms of the use of prior
knowledge/skills in the learning of L2
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Negative Transfer (cont’d)
OTransfer in L2
OArabic compared to English
ODifferent alphabet
ODifferent phonology
ODifferent syntax
ODifferent morphology
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Negative Transfer (cont’d) O Examples of Negative transfer:
O Students transfer from L1 to L2: hinders
the learning and results into
O Distorted word order:
O L1: Verb+ Subject+ Object
O L2: Subject+ Verb+ Object
O Ate Maya the apple.
O The correct form: Maya ate the apple.
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Negative Transfer (cont’d) O Examples (cont’d)
O Translation: translating expressions
O Ex: I cut the street
O Grammatically correct but semantically incorrect
O Correct form: I crossed the street
O Ex: By accomplishing these plans, I will insure myself
a great business plan
O Putting strategies for business management works
my brain.
O I am disabled; I can’t work anymore.
O The party then tasted a wonderful sense of share
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Transfer in L2 ONegative transfer, therefore
has a damaging effect
O It blocks acquisition of the
language
O Instructor has to include
activities that help learner
overcome this obstacle
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Writing Strategies O Culture affects how people write
O Culture: “the way we do things here
or solve problems” (Dudley-Evans &
St John, 1998)
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Writing Strategies (cont’d)
O Different expectations regarding rhetorical
patterns or logical organization of any text
(Bruce & Rafoth, 2004)
O Language reflects culture
O Arab discourse depends on its logic and
cultural patterns
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Writing Strategies (cont’d)
O Arabic writing is:
O filled with
embellished
literary style
O Bases its style on
the Quran
O Refers to religious
concepts as
supporting points
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Writing Strategies (cont’d)
O Arabs face three types of errors in verb phrase
O Verb formation
O What I want to be?
O You have a brother?
O Tenses
O I have been doing that since a long time ago.
O I have planned for the project for a long time.
O Subject-verb agreement
O The workers always finishes their report on time.
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Prepositional Knowledge O Prepositions have different
purposes in English &
Arabic
O There are some
prepositions in English that
don’t have equivalence in
Arabic
O Arab learners usually
depend on L1 prepositional
knowledge to understand
English prepositions
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Prepositional Knowledge (cont’d)
O In Arabic, there are
verbs that do not take
prepositions
O Compete, like, wait,
result, collide,
engage
O Some English
prepositions may have
several Arabic
translations
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Prepositional Knowledge (cont’d) O An Arabic preposition may be translated by
English prepositions
O Becomes difficult for Arab learners to choose
which one to use
O In my way to school.
O Getting an early start about the project can
help by determining about the time to excuse it.
O I have trouble at work because ۩ the lack of
skills in management.
O We have been working together ۩ long time.
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Collocational Patterns O Collocation: “sequence of lexical items which
habitually co-occur, but are nonetheless fully
transparent in the sense that each lexical
constituent is also a semantic constituent”
(Curse, 1987).
O “group of words which occur repeatedly in a
language” (Carter, 1998)
O “the way words combine in a language to
produce natural-sounding speech and writing”
(Oxford Collocations Dictionary, 2011)
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Collocational Patterns (cont’d)
O Collocation plays an important role in
learning L2
O Learners need to know the co-text with
which a word is used to learn it
O Collocation problems exist when a
difference between L1 & L2 partners exist
O Do mistakes
O Become/Get bankrupt
O Raise an objection
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Implications O Instructors of Business English should:
O Involve their learners in real-life situations
O Provide hands on activities that help students be more accurate
O Supply exercises focusing on verb “be” & article usage
O Use sentence combing exercises stressing S-V agreement & subject and object relative pronoun deletion and plural formation
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Implications (cont’d) O Provide rules that help learners
choose the correct preposition
O Provide learners with proper
expressions through sufficient practice
opportunities
O Expose learners to new supporting
arguments for their formal reports
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Implications (cont’d)
O Work at supplying their business English
learners with exercises that help them
write correct form of sentences based
on analysis of ideas
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Thank you for you time and
attention
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