Age, Accent, and Experience in Second Language Acquisition

Age, Accent, and Experience in Second Language Acquisition
Author: Alene Moyer
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781853597176

This work critically addresses the age debate in second language acquisition studies, presenting an in-depth study of factors that predict foreign accent. Quantitative and qualitative analyses confirm that cognitive, social, and psychological factors contribute to attainment, and that biological influences must therefore be considered alongside these essential aspects of learner experience.

Foreign Accent

Foreign Accent
Author: Roy C. Major
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2001-03-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135649413

Even though second-language learners may master the grammar and vocabulary of the new languages, they almost never achieve a native phonology (accent). Scholars and professionals dealing with second-language learners would agree that this is one of the most persistent challenges they face. Now, for the first time, Roy Major's Foreign Accent covers the exploding scholarship in this area and lays out the issues specifically for audiences in the second language acquisition and applied linguistics community.

Foreign Accent

Foreign Accent
Author: Alene Moyer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107328276

To what extent do our accents determine the way we are perceived by others? Is a foreign accent inevitably associated with social stigma? Accent is a matter of great public interest given the impact of migration on national and global affairs, but until now, applied linguistics research has treated accent largely as a theoretical puzzle. In this fascinating account, Alene Moyer examines the social, psychological, educational and legal ramifications of sounding 'foreign'. She explores how accent operates contextually through analysis of issues such as: the neuro-cognitive constraints on phonological acquisition, individual factors that contribute to the 'intractability' of accent, foreign accent as a criterion for workplace discrimination, and the efficacy of instruction for improving pronunciation. This holistic treatment of second language accent is an essential resource for graduate students and researchers interested in applied linguistics, bilingualism and foreign language education.

The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition

The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition
Author: David Michael Singleton
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1995-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781853593017

This book takes a hard look at some of the assumptions that are customarily made concerning the role of age in second language acquisition. The evidence and arguments the contributors present run counter to the notion that an early start in second language learning is of itself either absolutely sufficient or necessary for the attainment of native-like mastery of a second language. Another theme of the book is a doubt that there is a particular stage of maturity beyond which language learning is no longer fully possible. In short, the book presents a challenge to those who take it as given that second language learning is inevitably different in its essential nature from language acquisition in the childhood years and that second language knowledge acquired beyond the critical period is in all circumstances and in all respects doomed to fossilize at a non-native-like level.

The Accent Handbook

The Accent Handbook
Author: Jessica Hammett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2024-10-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1350243353

Need to learn an accent for an audition? Got the part but can't quite grasp the sounds? Want to expand your repertoire? The Accent Handbook is a novel approach to accent-learning, providing a practical, digestible and customisable way of learning any accent of your choosing. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience coaching students and leading stage and screen actors, the book offers more than 200 empowering exercises to actively explore and hone accent features. You can dip in and out or go from cover to cover, depending on your aims, what you're learning or how much time you have. The book is accompanied by a wide-ranging and diverse library of contemporary accent recordings from across the globe. Uniquely, it also offers a guide to finding accent samples and getting more out of your listening. A section devoted to accent and acting delves into the powerful interplay between dialect, character and performance. Approachable and encouraging, this book is an essential companion to keep by your side as you take on an accent, from first listen to performance.

Pragmatics of Accents

Pragmatics of Accents
Author: Gaëlle Planchenault
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2021-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027258864

What impact do accents have on our lives as we interact with one another? Are accents more than simple sets of phonetic features that allow us to differentiate from one dialect, variety or style, to the other? What power relationships are at work when we speak with what those around us perceive as an 'accent'? In the 12 chapters of this volume, an international group of sociolinguists, applied linguists, anthropologists, and scholars in media studies, develop an innovative approach that we describe as the ‘pragmatics of accents’. In this volume, we present a variety of languages and go beyond the traditional structural description of accents. From ideologies in national contexts, to L2 education, to accent discrimination in the media and the workplace, this volume embraces a new perspective that focuses on the use of accents as symbolic resources, and emphasizes the importance of context in the human experience of accents.

Foreign Accent

Foreign Accent
Author: Alene Moyer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107005817

To what extent do our accents determine the way we are perceived by others? Is foreign accent inevitably associated with social stigma? In this fascinating account, Alene Moyer examines the social, psychological, educational and legal ramifications of sounding 'foreign'.

American Accent Training

American Accent Training
Author: Ann Cook
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series, Incorporated
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780764173691

Directed to speakers of English as a second language, a multi-media guide to pronouncing American English uses a "pure-sound" approach to speaking to help imitate the fluid ways of American speech.

Second Dialect Acquisition

Second Dialect Acquisition
Author: Jeff Siegel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2010-08-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139490710

What is involved in acquiring a new dialect - for example, when Canadian English speakers move to Australia or African American English-speaking children go to school? How is such learning different from second language acquisition (SLA), and why is it in some ways more difficult? These are some of the questions Jeff Siegel examines in this book, which focuses specifically on second dialect acquisition (SDA). Siegel surveys a wide range of studies that throw light on SDA. These concern dialects of English as well as those of other languages, including Dutch, German, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese and Spanish. He also describes the individual and linguistic factors that affect SDA, such as age, social identity and language complexity. The book discusses problems faced by students who have to acquire the standard dialect without any special teaching, and presents some educational approaches that have been successful in promoting SDA in the classroom.

Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes

Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes
Author: Mirjam Schmalz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2023-12-04
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110733722

This book is the first of its kind to provide an integrative look at World Englishes, (second) language acquisition, and sociolinguistics in a variety of contexts of English around the globe with a focus on the language of children and adolescents. It thus aims to bridge the paradigm gaps that have been identified between these approaches but have rarely been explored in greater detail. The range of topics includes the areas of first and second language acquisition; sociolinguistic variation and awareness; language use and choice; family language policies; language attitudes and perception; modelling children’s and adolescents’ language in World Englishes; the role of child language acquisition in processes of language change; as well as methodologies of eliciting speech and writing from children and adolescents. The book combines qualitative and quantitative approaches and draws on psycholinguistic, corpus-linguistic, and ethnographic methodologies. What unites the contributions to the volume is that they all address the theoretical implications that a joint approach between World Englishes, sociolinguistics, and language acquisition has, i.e. why it is fruitful and how it can contribute to a deeper understanding of the different research paradigms.