Polish and Finnish teenagers’ motivation to learn English:the role of context

Abstract Language learning motivation has been investigated in a number of contexts (Dornyei and Ushioda 2009). However, there has been only one attempt (Taguchi et al. 2009) at a systematic comparison of models of motivation to learn English by students from different countries. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of context by comparing motivational characteristics and SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) models of language learning motivation of 15-16 year-old students from Finland and Poland. The data from both countries was collected using the same motivational questionnaire with a total of 351 students completing it. A number of differences were identified between the two …

Slog v russkoj spontannoj reči i pri čtenii : struktura i dlitel'nost'

Ensikielen tunnistamisen merkityksestä suullisen kielitaidon arvioinnissa Yleisissä kielitutkinnoissa

In this paper, we present a multidisciplinary study addressing fairness in the speaking test in a high-stakes language proficiency test in Finnish, National Certificates of Language Proficiency. The background of the research lies in studies on language assessment and (reversal) linguistic stereotyping and language attitudes. The focus L1 groups were Thai, Estonian, Finland Swedish, Arabic and Russian. Altogether 49 speech samples of test takers of these L1s were rated on a digital platform by 44 raters of the test system. The current paper reports on the sub-study that investigated whether the raters’ recognition of the test takers’ L1 affected their ratings and whether the effect differed…

Motivaation yhteys luku- ja kirjoitustaitoon venäjää kotikielenään puhuvilla peruskoululaisilla

Motivaatiota on aiemmin tutkittu laajasti ja tiedetään, että sillä on merkitystä toisen ja vieraan kielen oppimisessa (Dörnyei 1994, 273). Kuitenkin maahanmuuttajien motivaatiota kotikieltään kohtaan on tutkittu melko vähän. Raportoimme tässä artikkelissa yhden pro gradu -tutkielman (Perikangas 2015) tuloksia. Tutkielmassa selvitettiin venäläistaustaisten koululaisten motivaatiota kotikieltään venäjää kohtaan sekä sitä, millainen yhteys motivaatiolla on venäjän kielen luku- ja kirjoitustaitoon. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin sitä, mitkä taustatekijät mahdollisesti ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden motivaatioon. nonPeerReviewed

Segment duration in Finnish as imitated by Russians

The paper reports findings of a study in which Russian speakers without any prior knowledge of Finnish imitated utterances in that language, and, in particular, how they succeeded in imitating segmental duration. The data was analysed using acoustic measurements of segment duration as well as auditory analysis by four judges. The results show that Russian speakers faced difficulties in imitating some aspects of the complicated Finnish quantity system. On the other hand, many of the imitated words were judged as comprehensible. Index Terms: duration, length, Finnish, imitation, language learning

Inlärningen av de svenska tonaccenterna hos finska S2-talare – automatiseras uttalet?

Swedish has two tone accents, accents 1 and 2. There are approximately 350 minimal pairs such as ánd-en (duck) and ànde-n (spirit) differentiated only by tone accent. As all stressed words in Swedish have a tone accent, tones are important for achieving nativelike pronunciation. However, this is a challenging task for L2 speakers. In Swedish, the tone accents are potentially difficult both acoustically (cf. phonetic realization) and lexically (cf. morphological distribution). The present study focuses on the learning of Central Swedish tones by advanced L2 speakers with Finnish as their L1 (n = 10). The aim is to reveal if the learning of tones is a realistic goal for advanced adult learner…

Toisen ja vieraan kielen ääntämisen oppimisen haasteet

Katsausartikkelissamme käsittelemme niitä seikkoja, jotka vaikuttavat toisen tai vieraan kielen ääntämisen oppimiseen. Yleisiä oppijaan liittyviä tekijöitä ovat esimerkiksi oppijan ikä ja hänen motivoituneisuutensa. Myös oppimisympäristö vaikuttaa. Kun kieltä opitaan oleskelemalla kohdekielisessä ympäristössä, oppimiseen voivat vaikuttaa mm. maahantuloikä, oleskeluaika ja erilaiset yhteisölliset seikat (esim. asennoituminen vieraaseen aksenttiin), kun taas kielen formaalissa opiskelussa kouluissa ja oppilaitoksissa tärkeitä voivat olla esimerkiksi opetuksen keinot ja oppimateriaalit. Myös oppijan äidinkielen ja opittavan kielen äänteelliset erot ja yhtäläisyydet vaikuttavat oppimiseen. Lisä…

Identification of Russian accented Finnish by native and non-native listeners with and without Finnish proficiency


 
 
 The study focuses on how different groups of listeners, that is native Finnish speakers (n = 18), non-native learners of Finnish (n = 12) and non-native non-learners of Finnish (n = 18), judge samples (n = 80) of Russian accented Finnish in an auditory experiment. The samples are read-aloud phrases of three Finnish speakers and three L1 Russian beginner learners of Finnish who were recorded three times at six-month intervals during their residence in Finland. The results show that the listener groups differ significantly from each other in the ability to identify the Russian accented samples. In addition, all the listener groups reported to have paid more attention to p…

Kaksikieliset oppilaat suomea ja venäjää kirjoittamassa : minun rakkaus väri - valeasininen ja violetti

The present study focuses on Russian-Finnish bilingual pupils’ writing performances which were evaluated on the Common European Framework of Reference scale by three raters. The aim is to investigate how the pupils differ in their two languages in writing. In addition to CEFR-ratings we attempt to characterize the pupils’ performances on a more qualitative level as well as to describe their background in order to understand the reasons behind the level of their performances. Especially the pupils performing poorly in both languages are discussed. The results show that growing to become bilingual is complex: in addition to speaking Russian at home, the immigrant pupils should also read and w…

The Development of Russian Heritage Pupils' Writing Proficiency in Finnish and Russian

James Cummins has stated that “a cognitively and academically beneficial form of bilingualism can be achieved only on the basis of adequately developed first language (L1) skills” (1979, p. 222). In this chapter we focus on bilingual writing development and its connections to learners’ cognitive and linguistic skills in L1 and L2 and background factors. Our participants come from Russian-speaking immigrant families living in Finland. All participants go to Finnish schools and are either integrated into mainstream classes or have started a preparatory class specially designed for recently arrived immigrant children. The basic aim of this chapter is two-fold and thus, the study is introduced …

På väg mot bättre språkundervisning - FOKUS på uttal

Nykytrendi kommunikatiivisuuden painottamiseen kieltenopetuksessa tuntuu tapahtuneen ääntämisen kustannuksella. Koska monet opettajat kokevat ääntämisen opettamisen liian haastavaksi, se jää usein taka-alalle tai kokonaan opettamatta kielten oppitunneilla. Hyvä ääntäminen on kuitenkin tärkeä osa suullista kielitaitoa. Se helpottaa sekä ymmärretyksi tulemista että muiden ymmärtämistä suullisessa vuorovaikutuksessa. Luottamus omaan suulliseen kielitaitoon myös lisää kielenoppijan rohkeutta käyttää kieltä. Sitä paitsi monet oppilaat haluavat oppia ääntämään. Mihin suuntaan kieltenopetusta pitäisi ryhtyä kehittämään ääntämisen osalta, jotta oppilaat osaisivat ja uskaltaisivat käyttää opiskelemi…

Ensikielen tunnistamisen merkityksestä suullisen kielitaidon arvioinnissa Yleisissä kielitutkinnoissa

In this paper, we present a multidisciplinary study addressing fairness in the speaking test in a high-stakes language proficiency test in Finnish, National Certificates of Language Proficiency. The background of the research lies in studies on language assessment and (reversal) linguistic stereotyping and language attitudes. The focus L1 groups were Thai, Estonian, Finland Swedish, Arabic and Russian. Altogether 49 speech samples of test takers of these L1s were rated on a digital platform by 44 raters of the test system. The current paper reports on the sub-study that investigated whether the raters’ recognition of the test takers’ L1 affected their ratings and whether the effect differed…

Studier i uttalsinlärning i finska, svenska och engelska : litteraturöversikt

Denna översiktsartikel presenterar forskningsresultat om S2-uttal i andra- och främmandespråkskontexter hos talare med finska, svenska eller engelska som förstaspråk (S1) när målspråket (S2) är finska, svenska eller engelska. Det finns drygt 100 vetenskapliga studier i de undersökta kombinationerna men ingen tidigare översikt. Syftet med artikeln är att sammanfatta empiriska forskningsresultat om receptiva och produktiva aspekter av S2-uttal i dessa språkkombinationer. Forskningsresultaten illustrerar ytterligare hurdana svårigheter språkinlärare har med uttal och vilka drag som speciellt bör beaktas i språkundervisning. Artikeln är avsedd att vara till nytta för lärare och forskare som arb…

Young Russian Immigrants' Segmental Duration and Length in Finnish

This pilot study sheds light on how young Russian immigrants (n=10) produce Finnish segmental duration and length in read-aloud speech as compared to native Finnish speakers (n=5). Segment duration is distinctive in Finnish and an important feature of Finnish phonology, whereas in Russian it only plays a marginal role. The results show a general tendency of durational contrasts being difficult to learn with great interspeaker differences. peerReviewed

9. Fluency in Language Assessment

Venäjän ääntämisen sietämätön helppous

Venäjän kieli herättää monissa kieltä osaamattomissa usein kaksi mielleyhtymää: kyrilliset aakkoset ja ässät. Nämä ovat myös ne syyt, miksi monet pitävät kieltä jotenkin erityisen vaikeana oppia. Tämän artikkelin tavoitteena on perehtyä tähän myyttiin mm. Erlinin (2019) pro gradu -tutkielman tulosten valossa. Tutkielma käsittelee aikuisten alkeisoppijoiden soinnillisten ja soinnittomien äänteiden osaamista sekä tuottamisen että havaitsemisen näkökulmasta. Lisäksi pohdimme venäjän ”ässien” vaikeutta suhteessa muiden suomenkielisten osaamien kielten samantapaisiin äänteisiin sekä lopuksi annamme vinkkejä niiden oppimiseen ja opetukseen. nonPeerReviewed

Fluency development in L2 during study abroad: Finnish students of Russian

Uusi perusteos suomen kielen fonetiikasta

Kirja-arvio Suomi, Kari & Toivainen, Juhani & Ylitalo, Riikka: Fonetiikan ja suomen äänneopin perusteet nonPeerReviewed

Da. Eto vopros! : prosodic development of Finnish students' read-aloud Russian during study in Russia

Pitch contours in Russian yes/no questions by Finns

The aim of this paper is to determine the pitch contours Finns use when uttering yes/no questions in Russian. In addition, the pitch contours will be compared to native speech as well as subjected to native speaker evaluation. So far, there has been very little research on the prosody of Russian as a second language. L1 Finnish students are an interesting group to study because intonation in Finnish is not distinctive whereas in Russian it is. peerReviewed

Speech Rate as and Indicator of Fluency in the Russian of Finnish Learners.

This study focuses on the speech rate development of 12 Finnish university students of Russian during their 3.5-month-study abroad experience. Speech and articulation rates are measured in phonetic words per second and syllables per second in the Russian read-aloud speech of the subjects. This is done at three recordings: prior to, during and following their stay in Russia. The results are compared to their read-aloud Finnish speech. The students are also compared depending on the residence (host-family vs. dormitories) in Russia. The study shows that speech and articulation rates correlate with the evaluated fluency of the speech samples. It was found that speech rate is a better indicator…

How do native speakers of Russian evaluate yes/no questions produced by Finnish L2 learners?

This study analyzes native Russian speakers’ evaluation of seven Russian yes/noquestions each produced by Finnish speakers in two sets of recordings (during a stay in Russia and after it). The Finnish speakers were six female university students of Russian. This research question is interesting because the two typologically unrelated languages differ in the prosody of yes/no-questions. In Russian a yes/no-question is created from a lexically and syntactically corresponding statement by means of intonation, whereas in Finnish the cue for questioning is an interrogative particle – ko/-kö instead of prosody. Hence, native Finnish speakers are likely to have difficulties in pronouncing Russian …