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)

Follow this presentation onwww.perezparedes.es

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