Cross-Theoretical Explorations of Interlocutors and Their Individual Differences by Gurzynski-Weiss Laura;

Author:Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura; [Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Published: 2020-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Existing research: Second languages

As we turn our attention to interlocutors and their role in second language acquisition and use, there is a more limited database upon which to draw. Nevertheless, several classic studies confirm the importance of the interlocutor in second language interactions, and we provide a brief review of these before identifying some promising new research on this topic. In Beebe’s (1977) study of Chinese-Thai bilinguals who spoke Thai with two different interlocutors, one of whom was ethnically Thai and one of whom was ethnically Chinese, the bilinguals exhibited higher rates of phonetic Thai variants when speaking with Thai listeners and Chinese variants with Chinese listeners. Likewise, Beebe (1980) showed that the phonetic production of initial and final /r/ exhibited by Thai learners of English could be explained by stylistic variants in the first language (Thai) that indicated formality, even though this was not the case in the second language (English). Specifically, for final /r/, accuracy increased in the more formal task as was predicted, whereas for initial /r/, which is produced as [l] in formal contexts in Thai, accuracy decreased (i.e., use of the first language formal variant increased) in the more formal task. These and other findings led Beebe and Zuengler (1983) to conclude that the interlocutor, rather than the target culture, was a better indicator of the dynamics of social and psychological distance on the part of the second language learner. Berkowitz (1989) studied Dominican learners of English and found that perceptions of cultural empathy were related to degree of target-like phonetic production. In other words, to some degree the amount to which the learner believed their interlocutor to be empathetic influenced the accuracy of their second language production. The relationship between cultural empathy and the linguistic variants examined was not uniform, showing a positive correlation in some cases (e.g., higher perceived cultural empathy led to greater accuracy on /r/) and a negative correlation in others (e.g., higher perceived cultural empathy led to lower accuracy rates for final clusters) (see Berkowitz, 1989, p. 111). Interestingly, perceptions of cultural empathy were also related to proficiency, length of residence in the US, and attitudes toward American culture. We see also the effect of the second language interlocutor on the native speaker. Gass and Varonis (1985) studied the English production of Spanish and Arabic native-speaking learners and found that the speech of native English speakers changed in terms of the amount of total speech, amount of negation, scope of repair, elaboration, and transparency as a function of the perceived proficiency of the second language interlocutor. Bayley (1994) looked at some of these same factors for Chinese learners of English and found that while linguistic factors were the greatest determinant of second language variation, social factors also played a role. For example, a speaker’s social networks influenced the past tense forms produced, where learners with mixed social networks (native English speakers and native Chinese speakers) differed from those with monolithic social ties. Of interest for the current chapter is that Bayley also

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