This paper attempts to investigate the influence of learners‘ culture on foreign language vocabulary. It seeks to demonstrate that there is a link between culture and lexico-semantic errors committed by learners of English as a foreign language among Dioula speaking students in Burkina Faso. A sample population of 157 of Dioula speaking students from two secondary schools was purposively selected, using the non-probability sampling technique. A language test composed of two written activities was used as the data collection instrument. These activities were translation activities from Dioula into English. A tape-recorder was used during a story-telling session as an oral activity to collect supplementary data. The data were analysed first qualitatively and then quantitatively. The SPSS software version 17.0 (2008) was used to process the quantitative data. The qualitative method was employed to determine the link between Dioula culture and lexico-semantic errors committed by learners of English as a foreign language. Similarly, the quantitative method was used to establish the seriousness of the influence of the Dioula culture on the learning of vocabulary as a foreign language. The results revealed that the Dioula speakers‘ English is influenced by their culture. These results have some pedagogical implications. They, therefore, suggest that we adapt the teaching of EFL vocabulary to learners‖ culture.
In the literature on the acquisition of English articles based on Huebner's (1983) model, Thomas (1989) suggested that data on the use of articles in the generic context is critical in deciding whether L2 learners associate the definite article with thefeature Specific Referent, [+SRJ, or Assumed Known to the Hearer, [+HK], as suggested by earlier studies (Huebner, 1983;Master, 1987;Thomas, 1989). This paper discusses the results of a crosssectional study, undertaken in 1996, which examined the phenomenon of referentiality in the acquisition of English as a foreign language by francophone English major college students in Burkina Faso. The research focused on the acquisition of the article system. The study involved 177 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Ouagadougou with at least 7 years of English instruction. A cloze test of 107 items was used to collect the data. Demographic information was also collected using a 16-item questionnaire. The result does not give support to Thomas ' (1989) view that L2 learners associate the definite article with [+HK] context since the L3 leaners in this study associate the zero article with [+HK] feature.Although studies using Huebner's (1983) proposed features of referentiality:
Many scholars and language practitioners have stressed the importance of listening and speaking in language learning and teaching particularly in formal contexts. However, learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Burkina Faso appear to perform very poorly in those basic language skills. This experimental study investigates the potential of digital audio-visuals to improve the listening skills of EFL learners in secondary schools in Burkina Faso. Assuming that learners born around the year 2000 are digital natives, we have tried to integrate smartphone-friendly audio-visuals in their EFL classrooms in a four-week experiment involving one Experimental Group and one Control Group. The experiment aimed at gauging the effectiveness of those aids operated via students‘ smartphones in improving learners‘ listening and speaking skills. Independent T-tests were used to compare the groups and Sample Paired T-Tests to make comparisons within groups. Furthermore, Cohen‘s d, an effect size formula, was used to measure the effect size. The findings show that the listening skills of the students exposed to the digital audio-visual aids improved on average from 10.2 to 18.5. It was noticed incidentally that their speaking skills improved as well. The study suggests that, if appropriately used, smartphones are excellent devices for language teachers and learners in this digitizing world.
Burkina Faso was considered to be a politically stable country in West Africa. However, this situation changed in October 2014 due to the intention of the ruling party to modify article 37 of the Constitution from two to three terms of the Presidential mandate. The Opposition and Civil Society saw in this act a way of maintaining President Blaise Compaoré in power after serving 27 years. The popular uprising in Burkina Faso on the 30th and 31st October 2014 can be explained from different viewpoints. From our perspective, the uprising could be in part due to the manipulation effects of the political discourses of the political stakeholders. This paper seeks to analyse the different discourses in the build up to the uprising. It attempts to clarify how political and civil society leaders use language and other non-linguistic elements to influence the ordinary citizens' minds and indirectly their actions. This Critical Discourse Analysis would be based on Van Dijk's (2006) Socio-cognitive approach. The paper analyses the cognitive, the social and the discursive dimensions of manipulation in six political speeches (two speeches from Civil Society, two from the ruling party and two from the political opposition). The results suggest that the three groups manipulated their audiences and finally the ruling party lost with the resignation of the Head of State and the takeover by the Transition government.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.