On the Awareness of English Polysemous Words by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

Abstract

This study measures the extent to which Arabic-speaking EFL learners are aware of polysemy in English. It also investigates whether the English proficiency level of Arabic-speaking EFL learners plays a role in their ability to distinguish between the various meanings of English polysemous words, and whether they face problems when they encounter these words in unusual contexts (i.e. the contexts that employ the extended meanings of the target polysemous words). To these ends, a translation test in which the participants were asked to give full Arabic translation for fifteen English sentences was designed. The words open, run, and make were the target polysemous words in this study. The Results show that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have little awareness of polysemy in English, and their English proficiency level does play a role in their ability to distinguish between the different meanings of English polysemous words. It was also found that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have no problems guessing the primary meaning of the English polysemous words. However, they face difficulty guessing the extended meanings of polysemous words in unusual contexts. Moreover, some Arabic-speaking EFL learners can guess the extended meanings of the polysemous words they encounter in familiar contexts, or when they understand some cues provided to disambiguate these words. This study concludes with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further studies.

Disambiguating ambiguity: A comparative analysis of lexical decision-making in native and non-native English speakers

“…Thus, L2 proficiency was not a determinant of ambiguity resolution although it played an assistive role in some types of ambiguity resolution. However, there was some agreement with Alnamer's (2017) study in which proficiency level played a vital role in predicting polysemous word meanings. Another factor explored in the curre nt study was familiarity with word meanings.…”

“…On the contrary, homonyms (accidental ambiguity) deal with words that are identical in spoken and written forms but have semantically unrelated meanings such as the word "bark" which means either the sound a dog makes or part of the tree (Rodd et al, 2002). L2 English speakers and learners can greatly benefit from knowing these words as a basic vocabulary and for text comprehension due to the fact that polysemous terms make up over 40% of the English vocabulary and are among the most often used words(see Alnamer, 2017). In research, homonyms changing denotative meaning are also problematic for L2 users (e.g., Demir, 2020;Yu, Xu, & Sun, 2011).…”

The correlated influence of semantic types, L1 translation equivalents and language proficiency on EFL learners' production of polysemous words

“…In most cases, core meanings are acquired prior to the periphery meanings, so L2 learners tend to be more proficient in acquiring the core meanings (Schmitt, 1998), and quite weak in learning the periphery meanings. The core meanings have been put much emphasis in the previous researches, which suggested that the core meaning is a key factor in helping learners acquire periphery meanings (Morimoto and Loewen, 2007;Mark, 2016;Abdul and Alnamer, 2017). However, from the perspective of classroom second language teaching and learning, the function of the core meanings is very likely to be overestimated.…”

“…However, from the perspective of classroom second language teaching and learning, the function of the core meanings is very likely to be overestimated. One of the reasons is that, if the learners are very familiar with the core meaning of a polysemous word, they tend to stick to the meaning they know (Laufer, 1997) and are reluctant to abandon it even when it is used in a different context with periphery meanings, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding in both receptive and productive communications (Abdul and Alnamer, 2017). Thus it is a tough task for learners to get full mastery of a polysemous word with both core meanings and periphery meanings.…”

The Use of Loanwords in Emirati Arabic According to Speakers’ Gender, Educational Level, and Age

“…In fact, no language in the world is completely free of 'loanwords', and this is why this phenomenon has been an attractive field for investigation for researchers (Uffmann, 2006;Haspelmath & Tadmor, 2009;Alahmadi, 2015 among others). Language can never perish; vocabulary is always enriched by the production of new words by different means, i.e., by morphological means or by the development of polysemy (Alnamer, 2017). Morphologically, some words are no longer used while new words are added to the language in different ways, among which is borrowing words from other languages (AlSaidat, 2011).…”