The structure of spoken English: A contrastive analysis of native and
non-native speaker interviews.
Pascual Pérez-ParedesD. Filología Inglesa, U. Murcia
www.perezparedes.es
There has been a distinct shortage of informationand evidence available to linguists, and this givesrise to a particular balance between speculationand fact in the way in which we talk about oursubject. In linguistics up till now wehave been relying very heavily on speculation.
This is not a criticism; it is a fact of life.
John Sinclair (2004:9)
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The structure of spoken English: A contrastive analysis of native and
non-native speaker interviews.
Discuss: pair/group work
1. The Oral Proficiency Interview
2. Research methodology
3. Learner language
4. Native language
5. Moving from here
The structure of spoken English: A contrastive analysis of native and
non-native speaker interviews.
How to tell the differencebetween two different
registers?
Preliminary question
Fiction and conversation?
Academic language and conversation?
What do you expect from thesedifferent registers in terms of
language characteristics?
Why is that?
Language is conventional
What do we knowabout spoken
interaction/conversation?
What do we know aboutconversation?
• Shared context: ellipsis, pro-forms,deictics,• High frequency of pronouns• High frequency of “inserts”• Avoidance of elaboration: low density of lexical words• Shorter phrases• Higher frequency of verbs and adverbs• Avoidance of specification of meaning• Interactivennes: co-constructed text (negation, q. Tags,
vocatives, attention signalling)• Expression of stance• Real time production¡: add-on strategy
Pictures used as cues and prompters
1. The OPI
Why is it interesting to find outabout registers from a linguistic
perspective?
1. The OPI
Why is it intresting to find out aboutregisters from a linguistic perspective?
A university education requires the ability to read and understand academic prose, a variety that is extremelydifferent from face-to-face conversation. Further, studentsmust learn how to produce written texts from many […] Oneof the main goals of a university education is to learn thespecialized register of a particular profession, whetherelectrical engineering, chemistry, sociology, finance, orEnglish education. Success requires learning the particular language patterns that are expected for particular situations and communicative purposes.
Biber & Conrad (2009:3)
What kind of language do youexpect to find after this
prompt?
1. The OPI
Can we expect differences in theNS & learner, NNS groups?
1. The OPI
Can we expect differences in the NS & learner, NNS groups?
1. The OPI
Pérez-Paredes, P., & Sánchez Tornel, M. (2015). A multidimensional analysis of learner language during storyreconstruction in interviews. In M. Callies & S. Götz (Eds.), Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Based on evidence, not on opinion orspeculation
Evidence=data
Data=language corpora
Corpus linguistics
2. Research methodology
2. Research methodology: subjects
• LOCNEC
• British component of CAOS-E
• 78 INTERVIEWS
Nativespeaker
language
• Spanish learners
• LINDSEI-ES
• 50 INTERVIEWS
Learnerlanguage
2. Research methodology: OPI
• Set topic1
• Free discussion2
• Picture description3
2. Research methodology: data
• Transcription1
• Mark-up2
• POS tagged3
• Multidimensional analysis4
2. Research methodology: data
Distribution of co-ocurring features
Word categories
Syntacticconstructions
Vocabulary
2. Research methodology: data
• How interactive? D1
• How narrative?D2
• How explicit?D3
• How persuasive?D4
• How abstract?D5
• How interactive?
• Private verbs
• That-deletion
• Contractions
• Present tense verbs
• 2nd person pronouns
• Do as pro-werb
• Deictics
3. Learner language
43.4
• How “interactive” are LINDSEI ES speakers?
3. Learner language
• Verbs• Non-past tense
verbs• Pronouns• Nouns• 3rd person
pronouns
• Clausalcoordination
• Concrete nouns• 2nd person
pronouns• Animate nouns
3. Learner language
3. Learner language
4. NS language
24.6
• How “interactive” are NS speakers?
4. NS language
• Verbs• Pronouns• Nouns• Non-past tenses• 3rd person pronouns• Prepositions• Adverbs• Mental verbs
• Adjectives• It pronouns• 1st person pronouns• Existential verbs• Activity verbs• 2nd person pronouns• Concrete nouns• Inifinitives
3. Learner language
• Verbs• Non-past tense
verbs• Pronouns• Nouns• 3rd person
pronouns
• Clausalcoordination
• Concrete nouns• 2nd person
pronouns• Animate nouns
5. Discussion
• LINDSEI ES & NS approach the OPI register in different ways
• NNS need more words
• When NNS fewer words (Polish), D1 scores resemble NS
• NNS rely more on lexical verbs to express stance
• NNS: opinion task / NS: factual picturedescription
• It + existential verbs
Can we expect differences in the NS & learner, NNS groups?
1. The OPI
YES
Other NNS SLA Other OPIs
References
• Aguado, P., Pérez-Paredes, P. & Sánchez, P. 2012. Exploringthe use of multidimensional analysis of learner language topromote register awareness. System 40(1): 90–103.
• Biber, D. 1988. Variation across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: CUP.
• Gilquin, G., De Cock, S., Granger, S. 2010. The LouvainInternational Database of Spoken English Interlanguage. Handbook and CD-ROM. Louvain-la-Neuve: PressesUniversitaires de Louvain.
• Pérez-Paredes, P., & Sánchez Tornel, M. (2015). A multidimensional analysis of learner language during storyreconstruction in interviews. In M. Callies & S. Götz (Eds.), Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Thanks for your attention
Pascual Pérez-ParedesD. Filología Inglesa, U. Murcia
www.perezparedes.es