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The article discusses English-language impact on Estonian in online blogs. The data comprises of blog entries from 15 Estonian fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogs from 2012 to February 2016. Th e corpus consists of 283 post entries (141,480 words (tokens)). Th e research showed that there are far fewer selective copies than global copies, probably because selective copies appear at more advanced stages of acquisition. Global copies are usually copied due to semantic specificity, for example fashion lexis (e.g. look, etc.). They are also copied due to their importance at the discourse level, for example god, oh well, etc. Often the English something is done by someone and have-constructions are copied, as these are already habitualized in Estonian. There is also evidence of semantic copying, which causes changes in content or usage of unusual expressions under English influence. There are also mixed copies, where global copies are used as lexical cores in copied combinational patterns (e.g. Eng. ‘epic’ used to form an adjective). A mixed copy often represents a transitory stage between a global copy and a selective copy; this might be the case in this research, as there were more mixed copies than selective ones. This might be because selective copies appear at more advanced stages of acquisition.
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This paper comparatively describes verb-initial morphosyntactic patterns in the written language use of C1 level learners of Estonian, i.e. proficient L2 users, and educated native speakers. For this purpose, verb-initial four grams were investigated. A further aim of the study is to help provide research-based linguistic content to define language acquisition levels.The research material consists of L1 and L2 argumentative writings: – essays written by L2 learners of Estonian, which have been evaluated o represent the proficient user level C1 were taken from the inter language corpus of the Tallinn University (75,320 tokens, 8364 four grams);– L1 reference corpus was compiled from opinion articles published in the two leading newspapers in Estonia during December 1–31 in 2014 and written by highly educated non-linguists, considered the benchmark for both L1 and L2 learners (107,590 tokens, 11,437 four grams).Cluster analysis was applied to bring forth identical linear sub sequences of morphological and syntactic tags based on frequency. These sequences were grouped into more general patterns of language use. Four grams where the word classes of the components coincide (e.g. VPSS, representing verb-pronoun-substantive-substantive) constitute bundles, referred to as clusters. 'e highest level in the hierarchy has been presented on the basis of the word class of the first and last component of four grams. These groups of four grams (e.g. V–S, representing verb–substantive) are referred to as morphological classes. 'us, clusters are distinguished by the variation of the middle components of four grams. The analysis revealed mostly statistically relevant differences in the frequencies of classes and clusters of four grams. E.g. the adjective-final class V–A is more common in L1 use, while the pronoun-final class V–P is more common in L2 use. Furthermore, the preferred clusters mostly do not overlap, e.g. the preferred cluster in class V–A is VSSA (verb-substantive-substantive-adjective) in L1 and VVDA (verb-verb-adverb-adjective) in L2. The morphological, syntactic and lexical comparison of the preferred clusters of L1 and L2 within the same class (e.g. VSSS favored by L1 users and VPSS favored by L2 users in class V–S) brought out several interesting tendencies: 1) negative verb forms are used more frequently in L2 than in L1; 2) analytic tense forms (Present and Past Progressive) are less common to L2 language use; 3) there is a tendency of the subject to precede the verb more commonly in L2 than in L1, therefore, subjects are rarer in L2 verb-initial structures; 4) the object, however, follows the verb more commonly in L2 than in L1; 5) in L2 there is a wider use of predicative that occur together with the existential verb to be;7) lesser use of infinitive verb forms in L2 shows in the compared clusters;8) the use of modal verbs is relatively similar in the two groups;9) a greater lexical diversity shows in L1, especially in substantives, as well as in adjectives and verbs, whereas there is no difference in the lexical diversity of adverbs, conjunctions, and pronouns.
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The development of specific linguistic competences of the students in economics aims their successful professional abilities through the power of their competent oral and written expression. Our purpose is to point out that the etymological awareness of the professional language is not only wisdom and art of living, but also an instrument to make business effective. The article encompasses the study of the specific vocabulary origins, the relationship between the specific language development and its extra-linguistic economic context. The samples of the English for Economics vocabulary processed etymologically reveal the contribution of the awareness of the language cultural content to the accuracy, appropriateness and richness of the specific language acquisition and use which makes the business card of the professional effectiveness. It also encourages the development of similar teaching experiences according to the specific English class settings.
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English is known to be a “Lingua Franca” in the global sense, whereby it is the language of communication in international meetings in Europe and beyond. As such, English is a language from which many languages, especially of Europe, have been borrowing words. Albanian is no exception to this new global trend. In this newly created reality, not just in Kosovo, where English has the status of a bridge language, a lot of Albanian students who study abroad have English as their language of study and communication. Being under the exposure of English, code-switching, alongside borrowing as common aspects of bilingual speech, has become part of their everyday communication. Given their widespread use in recent times, attention will be paid on code-switching as a phenomenon in the speech of Kosovan bilinguals. More precisely, it seeks to analyze the extent to which code-switching is used among Kosovan bilingual students who were highly exposed to English with the latter being the language of their studies, followed by grammatical analyses of the switches, gender differences, the exposure to English at an earlier age, as well as the motivations for code-switching. Data was collected by means of tape recorder in a focus group gathered for the purpose of this study. The study reveals that CS is used to a great extent, notably when surrounded by people of similar backgrounds. In terms of structure, the intra-sentential CS is used more than the inter-sentetial one. Besides their preference to use either intrasentential or intersentential CS, no gender differences appear to be significant in the use of CS among participants of the focus group.
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The tools used in the course have an important place for language learners to recognize the learning strategies. The activities in the textbooks play a crucial role for the learner’s using the strategies in the language learning process and selecting them according to situations. Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to determine which language learning strategies were employed in speaking activities at A2 level. For this purpose, Oxford's classification was utilized. In the study, document analysis method was used and A2 level textbook speaking activities were examined in terms of memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, social and affective strategies. As a result of the research, it was seen that the strategies were used unbalanced in the textbooks, and there was a proportional difference in the use of other strategies despite the predominant use of cognitive strategies at all of them. Besides, it was determined that the activites of textbooks look weak in terms of affective strategies, and also are insufficient in terms of all aspects of the strategies. For this reason, it can be said that the learning activities and tasks in the textbooks should revise in terms of teaching the learning strategies to learners.
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The paper describes the development of children’s narrative ability by analysing the use of anaphora as a means of creating cohesive discourse. Our study seeks to establish whether the pronouns and ellipses used by 4- and 10-year olds are co-referential with their antecedents, at what age co-referential relations start to manifest within a sentence, and what type of co-referential relations is the most prevalent one. The results have confirmed our hypotheses that children under the age of six do not use their pronouns and ellipses co-referentially with their antecedents, that the presence of co-referential links within a sentence increases with age, and that the dominant type of co-referential relations is subject-subject.
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Language contacts can be studied in three directions: language acquisition; b) language borrowing; c) translation. This paper presents a research in all the three directions. The process of language borrowing is analysed on four levels: phonological, morphological, semantic, and syntactic. The adaptation of a model (a foreign word) shows primary and secondary changes that take place on all four levels. The adaptation on the quoted levels is carried out according to the three types of transphonemization (zero, compromise, and free), three types of transmorphemization (zero, compromise, and complete), and in accordance to the degree of the change of meaning on the semantic level.
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This research analyzes the approach in teaching English for Specific Purposes (Business English) at the University of National and World Economy. It comes to the following conclusions: the successful approach attracts students’ attention, makes them eager to participate in class, putting their passive knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to real use (turning it to active), and opens the channel for effective lecturer-student communication because the lecturer shows the students that he/she is interested in their personal opinions and experience.
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A narrow coastal part of the Slovenian Istria is a bilingual region, where the Italian and the Slovenian language and culture coexist. In the coastal area Italian and Slovenian are official languages and are used for official purposes. Pupils learn both languages in school and can enroll in a primary or secondary school (at the age of 6, for the duration of 12 or 13 years) with the Italian or the Slovenian language of instruction. In both cases they are supposed to be, at least in theory, bilingual individuals when finishing school. The paper addresses the issue of bilingualism in the Slovenian Istria. It focuses on the possibilities of revitalizing the current position of Italian language especially among pupils. The paper presents an overview of the position of bilingualism in the Slovenian Istria focusing on the 80’, when the position of Italian was different and better compared to the present (Kompara 2014). We also present the current position of the Italian language, as seen from the perspective of primary and secondary school teachers and students. The paper also focuses on the results of the final state exam (the matura examination) in the Italian language, because the results have been worsening year by year (RIC 2017). The paper suggests possible ideas for revitalizing the Italian language in bilingual areas of the Slovenian Istria, focusing mainly on the specific areas of revitalization, from primary to secondary school revitalization. The process of revitalization is oriented towards the strengthening of the position of Italian in the Slovenian society, towards the establishing of good relations with the Italian minority in Slovenia, and promoting the acquisition of the Italian language. The paper presents the general ideas for promoting and preserving bilingualism in the Slovenian Istria.
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Grammar is the backbone of any language learning; it is the main constituent of booth written language and oral communication. Grammar also facilitates the transfer of thoughts and ideas to the other people. Thus, the researchers and language theorists have different views on the importance of teaching grammar to language learners. On one hand, some researchers argue for teaching structural grammar, while the others argue for the communicative teaching approach. In order to test the main research questions this research was based on adopted questionnaire that was distributed to undergraduate students at the International University of Sarajevo. The questionnaire entitled “Student’s perceptions of grammar learning,” determined student’s perceptions, ideas, methods and experiences in learning grammar. This research also analyzed how students acquired grammar by examining their definitions of grammar, importance of grammar, need of grammar learning, grammar learning techniques and methods and error correction and feedback in ESL. In order to get the results we used SPSS program in which frequencies for specific questions were obtained. Obtained data from the research on both teaching and learning grammar will be valuable for course development, planning and teaching grammar. Data will lead researchers and teachers to match students’ needs and interests on the path of effective grammar learning in ESL.
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The purpose of the current study is to determine the effect of concept maps on the development of middle school students’ speaking skills. To understand the level of the efficiency of the concept map technique used to develop the students’ speaking skills, the students’ opinions were elicited with an interview form. The study employed the pretest-posttest control group design; one of the qualitative research methods. The study was conducted with the participation of 7th-grade students attending a middle school in a city located in the Central Western Anatolian region in the 2018-2019 school year. The application period of the study lasted for 12 weeks. While the pre-prepared speaking activities were performed by using concept maps in the experimental group, they were conducted by using the methods and techniques proposed in the Turkish curriculum in the control group. As the data collection tool, ‘The Speaking Skill Evaluation Scale” and a semi-structured interview form were used. The findings obtained in the study have revealed a significant difference in favour of the experimental group while no significant difference in favour of the control group was found. The data obtained from the interviews conducted with the students to elicit their opinions about the concept map have revealed that the students positively approached the concept map technique used while they were conducting their speaking activities. In light of all these findings, it was concluded that the concept map technique is influential in the development of speaking skills.
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This study has been carried out to identify the attitudes of secondary school students towards improving vocabulary. A descriptive survey model has been used in the research. The study group of the research consisted of 233 students who studied at a secondary school in İstanbul in the academic year of 2018-2019. The quantitative data of the research has been obtained through the personal information form and Attitude towards Improving Vocabulary Scale. In the analysis of the data, t-test and One-way ANOVA test have been used. Following ANOVA test, Scheffe test has been used as a complementary post-hoc analysis to identify the differences. This research scrutinises the relationship between the attitudes of secondary school students towards improving vocabulary and the variables such as gender, school type, the education and economic levels of the family, using social media instruments or not. While the scores for students’ attitudes towards learning words; using a dictionary; and improving vocabulary have shown significant differences by age; class level; having a library at home; and dictionary use, no significant difference has been observed by the parents’ education levels; number of siblings; parents’ jobs; monthly income of the family; and school type. In the light of these results, some recommendations have been made to increase the attitudes of secondary school students towards improving vocabulary.
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One of the strategies to understand text recently proposed in language and literature education is close reading. Regarding this strategy, it can be said that there is a theoretical and practical deficiency in Turkish textbooks and Turkish Language Teaching Program (2018). Close reading is a strategy that helps the student become competent in many ways such as critical thinking, examining a difficult text from an academic point of view, and questioning details. Therefore, in Turkish education, teachers and students should be made aware of close reading and opportunities should be created for the internalization of this strategy. The main purpose of this study, which is designed with the descriptive survey model, is to concretize how to use the close reading strategy in Turkish education with an activity draft. For this purpose, a close reading-based activity was prepared about the story called “İhtiyar Çilingir” which is above the level of 8th grade students and needed a guide. The sample activity aimed to improve the student's summarizing skills. A variety of activity drafts, structured by close reading and with different goals (such as understanding the track, understanding the narrative components) can be prepared. Then, these activities can be implemented in the classroom and the effectiveness of the close reading strategy can be evaluated from different perspectives.
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People experience uncertainty in every aspect of life and researchers have investigated the concept in domains of psychology and communication in various contexts such as decision-making, health contexts, business, organizational settings and relational issues. Uncertainty is also a key concept in educational settings as it is unavoidable in life and it is a natural characteristic of learning contexts. Thus, it seems significant to expand our understandings of how students experience uncertainty while language learning. From the complex dynamic systems perspective, language learning is characterized as meaning making and this process of meaning making involves uncertain situations. This study was designed to investigate how language learners experience uncertainty; that is how they appraise uncertainty and how they feel in uncertain situations. As the language classrooms are emergent, selforganizing systems, uncertainty stems from various sources in different forms. In order to find out about language learners’ uncertainty experiences multiple data sources were employed. The results revealed that uncertainty was a pervasive experience for language learners. They experienced uncertainty related to the course, cognitive processes, and social factors and they develop positive and negative appreciations of uncertainty.
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One of the purposes of foreign language teaching is to help students to be communicatively competent so that they can use the language both in and outside the class. Traditional English as a foreign language (EFL) classes are limited in giving the opportunity to the students to use the language effectively in order to develop fluency. There are many graduated students who are unable to speak in public or engage in real communication as they lack confidence in using the language. They can understand the language that is spoken around them, but in practice they fail to use the language they have learned effectively. The impetus for this study raised when such shortcomings were detected in an undergraduate class called Literary Terminology. Eight junior students who were studying in English Language and Literature (ELL) Department of a private university in north Cyprus participated in the study. Drama activities were incorporated into the course as an intervention which lasted sixteen weeks. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with all the participants to be analyzed qualitatively. The qualitative analysis revealed that a great majority of the participants benefited from the intervention in terms of speaking anxiety, personal development and socialization.
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A growing body of research underlines the significance of self-regulation in foreign language learning (Dörnyei, 2005; Oxford, 2011; Chamot, 2014). In line with this, researchers have developed numerous instruments to help learners deal with the challenge of language learning. However, these instruments have been generally designed within the framework of language learning strategies not within the framework of social and emotional learning (SEL). From this point of view, the current study tries to fill this gap by developing an appropriate instrument to assess university students’ self-regulatory competences in foreign language learning within the framework of SEL. Moreover, the effects of gender on language learners’ self-regulatory competences were also examined by using structural equation model. Data was gathered using three different samples of 1439 preparatory school students from a university in total. Principal component analysis of the Self-Regulation Foreign Language Learning Scale (SRFLLS) yielded an eight-factor structure: Recognition of Strengths and Emotions, Self-Efficacy, Emotional Costs, Self-Motivation, Self-Discipline, Goal-Setting, Help-Seeking and Curiosity. In accordance with confirmatory factor analyses, it was observed that the model fit indices were acceptable and there was a significant difference based on gender in language learners’ self-regulatory competences of Self-Discipline, Help-Seeking and Curiosity. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
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This study was planned to investigate prospective English language teachers’ competence in implicature production. The participants were 88 trainee teachers who were studying English language teaching in the first, second and third years in a university in Cyprus. They were given an Implicature Production Instruments with twelve situations, and they were asked to respond according to the situations in an implicit way. The results showed that female participants used more implicatures than the male participants, older participants used more implicatures and that the third year participants used more implicatures as compared to the other years. The second-year group was not homogenous regarding implicature production. The outcomes indicated that although pragmatic competence concerning implicature production may develop naturally. English language learners and trainee teachers need to be supported regarding pragmatic competence in the same way as they are supported in other competency areas.
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The aim of this study was to examine how the collaborative technique influenced undergraduate English Language Teaching students’ writing skills in general and creative collaborative short story writing skills in particular. The study commenced by investigating the writing background of the students. Then the participants experienced an intervention period in which they were taught the creative collaborative technique and practiced collaborative short story writing. The effects of this technique on the participants’ writing skills and their creative collaborative short story writing skills were investigated, which was the principal focus of this research study. The study was conducted with a mixed methods research design which is a methodology for conducting research that integrating quantitative and qualitative research with 8 students studying in the English Language Teaching Department at Near East University. The students’ short story writings and interview questions were used as a data collection tools. The textual data that was gathered regarding the writing background of the senior students was analysed by thematic content analysis, whereas the pre- and post-tests regarding the students’ creative collaborative writing results were analysed with Wilcoxon test. The findings showed that, even in a short time, creative and collaborative story writing activities had a positive effect on writing success. Moreover, the results revealed that writing success was supported by performing creative writing in conjunction with group writing activities.
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The aim of the current paper is to explore the way in which economics students from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Romania) make use of the opportunity to conduct research in modern languages provided by the Annual Students’ Conference. We resort to a quantitative analysis focused on the panels organised by the Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication during the period 2016-2019. We place our investigation against the background of the 21st century job market demands for multilingual professionals with higher-order thinking skills.
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