Why do foreigners nearly always sound wrong?

1. Why do foreigners nearly always soundwrong? Lubov Tsurikova Voronezh University, Russia

2. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) TESL vs TEFL Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL/TESOL) Foreign Language Learning Taught outside English speaking country English is a school subject with no recognised social function or status Little or no exposure to L2 outside classroom No real communication outside classroom → Artificial (classroom) communication Second Language Acquisition Taught in English speaking country or country where English has special communicative or sociopolitical status Exposure to L2 outside classroom L2 needed for real communication outside classroom

3. EFL CONTEXT In EFL setting both NNS teachers and students • are separated from authentic English language culture • share different frame of conceptualisation and discourse patterns • usually act in communication accordingto their native interactive schemata • Non-native Speakers lack socio-culturally conditioned pragmatic competence

4. Writing a Сard in English: Non-Native Speakers

5. Writing a Сard in English NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER NON-NATIVE SPEAKER

6. Experimental Data • Authentic English Cards - 258 • Authentic Russian Cards - 246 • Cards written in English by Russian speakers - 134

7. Writing Christmas Cards

8. Writing Christmas Cards

9. Writing Birthday Cards

10. Writing Birthday Cards

11. Writing Cards in English and Russian:Different Text Format Дорогие Катя, Миша и Леночка! От всего сердца поздравляем вас с наступающим Новым Годом и предстоящим Рождеством!Желаемвам крепкого здоровья, удачи, успехов и радости! Пусть целый год вам сопутствует счастье! Оля, Саша, Лида To Gill and Pete With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year lovexx Rosalind, Mike & Charlie Russian New Year/Christmas card British Christmas/New Year card

12. Writing Cards in English and Russian:Different Text Format Дорогая Эммочка! Поздравляем тебя с Днем рождения!Желаем здоровья, благополучия, оптимизма и удачи во всех делах!Оставайся всегда такой красивой, энергичной, чуткой и отзывчивой, какой мы тебя знаем! Обнимаем, с уважением, Микеровы To Gill Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. I’ll be thinking of youon July 26. Much love Ted Russian Birthday card British Birthday card

13. Writing Cards in English and Russian Pragmatic Differences Important for Communication • Social value of the ritual (attitudes towards certain conventions and practices) • Circumstances of communication • When to write • Who to write • Norms of discourse organisation • What to write (content) • How to write (conventional linguistic forms and their communicative meaning) • Text structure (salutation + greeting + closing + signature) • Text layout • Punctuation • Paragraph spacing • Alignment

14. Writing Cards in English:Pragmatic Errors RUSSIAN RUSSIAN speaker of ENGLISH Andrew Happy birthday and every good wish for goodhealth, happiness andsuccess in the year tocome from Gillian and Kelly ENGLISH Dear Tom! I’m glad to congratulateyou on this wonderful day! You’re 25 today! I wish you good luck and good mood during your whole life! Happy birthday to you! Your Natalya Дорогая Эммочка! Поздравляем тебя с Днем рождения!Желаем здоровья, благополучия, оптимизма и удачи во всех делах!Оставайся всегда такой красивой, энергичной, чуткой и отзывчивой, какой мы тебя знаем! Обнимаем, с уважением, Микеровы

15. Pragmatic transfer : projection of the speaker’s existing knowledge of the native language use and interaction patterns to similar communicative situations in the target language culture

16. result in inappropriate language use Pragmatic transfers PRAGMALINGUISTIC TRANSFERS cause errors resulting from failure to correctly identify or express the conventional meaning of linguistic forms related to mistaken beliefs about the language SOCIOPRAGMATIC TRANSFERS cause errors resulting from the failure to identify the situationcorrectly related to mistaken beliefs about the norms of behaviour in the society result in inappropriate language use

17. Pragmatic transfers NORMS LANGUAGE SPECIFIC CULTURE SPECIFIC PRAGMALINGUISTIC SOCIOPRAGMATIC TRANSFERS TRANSFERS FAILURE TO IDENTIFY FAILURE TO IDENTIFY OR EXPRESS SITUATION CORRECTLY MEANINGCORRECTLY DEAL WITH MISTAKEN BELIEFS DEAL WITH MISTAKEN BELIEFS ABOUT THE LANGUAGE ABOUT THE NORMS OF BEHAVIOUR IN SOCIETY BOTH RESULT IN INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE USE

18. Pragmatic transfers in non-native speakers • Non-native speakers tend to base their discourse choices on their native rules, values, beliefs and knowledge schemata • As a result their communication style in the target language remains “unauthentic” and deviates from the “normal” communication styleand expectations accepted in the target language culture(s) • Grammatically correct but pragmatically problematic expressions produced by non-native speakers can be misleading and cause communication failure

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