Investigating ESL Learners' Awareness of Semantic Prosody across Proficiency Levels

Autor/inn/en	Dushku, Silvana; Paek, Youngshil
Titel	Investigating ESL Learners' Awareness of Semantic Prosody across Proficiency Levels
Quelle	In: Language Awareness, 30 (2021) 3, S.234-256 (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0965-8416
DOI	10.1080/09658416.2020.1871360
Schlagwörter	Semantics; Intonation; Suprasegmentals; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Metalinguistics; Vocabulary Development; Verbs; Receptive Language; Language Tests; Word Frequency; Language Proficiency; Pragmatics; Expressive Language; Teaching Methods; Correlation; Intensive Language Courses; Undergraduate Students; Test of English as a Foreign Language + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Semantik; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Metalanguage; Metasprache; Wortschatzarbeit; Rezeptive Kommunikationsfähigkeit; Language test; Sprachtest; Word analysis; Frequency; Wortanalyse; Häufigkeit; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Pragmalinguistik; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Korrelation; Intensivkurs; Sprachkurs
Abstract	This study examines low-intermediate to advanced ESL learners' awareness of semantic prosody. Semantic prosody is a word/unit association that expresses an attitudinal meaning (described as favourable, neutral, unfavourable), which emerges from the word's typical lexical environment. Sensitivity to and awareness of such associations is an indicator of the learners' depth of vocabulary knowledge. The study investigates ESL learners' implicit semantic prosody knowledge via high-frequency verbs with known semantic prosody tendencies. 123 ESL students, whose proficiency ranged from low-intermediate to advanced, took an elicitation and recognition test on 13 of these verbs. The test assessed the students' performance on productive and receptive semantic prosody. The results of this study evidence the learners' difficulty to produce semantic prosody in comparison to their ability to observe and recognise it. They confirm that semantic prosody awareness appears to need time to develop significantly, and such development does not always correlate with the learners' proficiency level. Implications for incorporating semantic prosody in vocabulary teaching and developing learners' pragmatic competence are provided. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01