Current third-party funded projects at the Department of English Studies
When Your Native Language Sounds Foreign: Characterizing Foreign Accent in First Language Attrition Project
Duration: 2020/01/13-2024/01/12
Project management: Univ.-Prof. PhD Ineke Mennen
Amount: € 397,124.03
Short description: Most individuals learning a second language (L2) in adulthood end up speaking it with a foreign accent. Foreign-accented speech results from differences from native speaker pronunciation norms and often retains traces of the speakers’ first language (L1). Recent research has shown, however, that the reverse is also possible, i.e. that learning an L2 can affect pronunciation in the L1, even to the extent that individuals sound foreign in their native language. This decline from an individual’s previous L1 language abilities in a healthy individual immersed in an environment where the L2 is dominant is commonly referred to as L1 attrition.
The proposed project aims to uncover the nature of foreign accent in L1 attrition by experimentally addressing a series of research questions. First, we will systematically investigate whether some areas of pronunciation are more prone to attrition than others, and if so which. To this end, using innovative methods, the pronunciation of English expatriates in Austria will be investigated for perceived differences from the native L1 norm, taking both individual sounds, such as vowels and consonants, and larger entities, such as intonation and rhythm into account.
Secondly, this project is the first to investigate the relationship between subjective perceptions of changes to L1 pronunciation and their measurable acoustic-phonetic manifestation. This will be achieved by systematically examining those aspects that were perceived as non-native in the L1. To identify differences from the native norm, the acoustic data will be compared to speech productions by native English speakers living in England. In addition, it will be investigated if changes to L1 pronunciation are caused by interactions with the respective features in the L2. To this end, the participants’ acoustic data will be compared to the German pronunciation patterns of native German speakers from Austria.
Finally, the project aims to establish why some individuals are perceived as non-native while others in similar circumstances are not. Accordingly, a large number of potential variables will be investigated that may predict L1 phonetic attrition, e.g. how often the L1 and L2 are used, how old they are when they start learning the L2, how motivated they are, whether or not they have a particular talent for pronunciation, etc. In this context, it will also be determined whether speakers who are very proficient in the L2 are more prone to L1 attrition.
Overall, the project will significantly contribute to a better understanding of L1 phonetic attrition by showing how and under what circumstances pronunciation can be ‘unlearned’. Alongside these theoretical contributions, the project will also be of practical value for L2 teachers and learners.
A multi-level model of middle school student engagement
Period: 01.09.2022 - 31.08.2025
Funding body and funding program: FWF ESPRIT program
Grant amount: 294,015.98
Unit: Institute of English Studies
Project management: Giulia Sulis MA. PhD.
Collaborators: Prof. Sarah Jane Mercer, B.A. M.A. M.Sc. Ph.D.
In recent years, Austria has faced many challenges when it comes to reducing the achievement gap between students with a migrant background and their peers without a migrant background. Recent statistics have shown that the performance of students in urban middle schools (MS) with a high proportion of migrants is below the national average and significantly below that of their peers in general secondary schools. To understand how the performance of all learners in MS can be improved, the project turns to the construct of engagement as a key contributor to learning success. The project examines three different dimensions of engagement: (a) engagement in English language learning, (b) engagement in school, and (c) engagement with learners' language repertoires, both in and out of school.
The project has five main aims. First, to investigate how middle school students' engagement in English lessons changes during an assignment, a lesson and a school year. Secondly, to investigate the factors that may help or hinder engagement across these different time periods. The third aim of the project is to examine middle school students' engagement over the course of a school year. The fourth aim is to understand how middle school students with and without an immigrant background engage with their language repertoire inside and outside of school over the course of a school year. In the fifth aim, the project explores the links
between engagement in English classes, generally in school, and with different languages over multiple time periods to create a multi-level model of language learning engagement for middle school students in Austria.
The proposed project comprises two main phases. In Phase I, participants will be recruited from two English classes in two different middle schools in Graz; one located in an urban setting with a high proportion of migrants, the other in a suburban setting with a different proportion of students with and without a migrant background. Data will be collected using the following instruments: (a) classroom observations; (b) video and audio recordings of lessons; (c) real-time tracking of engagement; and (d) post-lesson interviews. Phase II will include a large-scale questionnaire survey that will be distributed to all public secondary schools in the city of Graz.
The aim of the project is to better understand how to support and promote the academic success of students from diverse cultural, social and linguistic backgrounds, with a particular focus on the engagement of middle school students with a migrant background.