Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication:Teaching Korean Grammar to Non-native Speakers

Grounded upon the interactive relationship between intercultural communication(IC)and foreign language education and the recent gradual salience of communicative language teaching(CLT)in foreign language grammar learning sectors,the study reported in this paper deals with the issue of teaching Korean grammar to non-native speakers in terms of teaching Korean as a foreign language(TKFL).This paper attempts to examine and analyze several Korean language textbooks prepared for foreign learners of Korean,which is used overseas,especially in Hong Kong(HK).It is also attempted to evaluate the textbooks in terms of CLT and communicative competence.By doing so,we can further understand the methods of Korean grammar instruction provided to foreigners as a second language or a foreign language.

A Critique of Ali Shehadeh's Non-native Speakers'Production of Modified Comprehensible Output and Second Language Learning

This study examined the NNSs' ability of modifying their interlanguage utterances in modified comprehensible output to give response to other-initiation and self-initiation,which was studied in both NS-NNS and NNS-NNS interactions.It was the qualitative study by using two different tasks which were picture-dictation task and opinion-exchange task to collect the data.There were 32 participants whose age ranged of 22 to 37.The author proposed two hypotheses based on his expectation that NNS-NNS interactions would provide more opportunities for NNS participants to give comprehensible output for other-initiated clarification requests and self-initiated clarification attempts than NS-NNS interactions.The author was good at using numbers to illustrate and describe the data in his writing.

Native/Non-native English Speakers’Attitudes:Addressing Learners’Goals and Needs Towards Pronunciation Issues

The study attempts to explore native and non-native English speakers’attitudes towards accents and pronunciation-related issues.The sample group surveyed is composed of non-native English speakers,specifically,Italian students studying at the University of Calabria(Italy)and native English speakers from Alberta University(Canada)and Florida Atlantic University(USA).An online link to a questionnaire was sent via email to all participants and was used as a research instrument to collect quantitative data.The research questions will investigate learners’attitudes in relation to the following aspects:accent and identity,beliefs about native/non-native accents,impact of pronunciation on communication,and learners’expectations towards pronunciation teaching.Firstly,mean scores in relation to the aforementioned aspects will be examined.Secondly,differences between native/non-native speakers’responses will be statistically analysed.Thirdly,non-native learners’responses will be correlated with their proficiency level in English to identify the extent to which language competence may affect learners’attitudes.The study aims to gain useful insights that may hopefully raise students and teachers’awareness of what models we expect learners to imitate and attain in the English language classroom,how appropriate and relevant these may be especially in the globalized English world where non-native speakers will increasingly use English in a diversity of forms to achieve their communicative goals.The preliminary results will be presented and pedagogical considerations suggested.

In the Age of ‘World Englishes’,Native Speaker Teachers or Non-native Speaker Teachers?

This paper attempts to argue that in the age of‘World Englishes', it is not necessary to differentiate native speaker teachers from non-native speaker teachers. It is concluded that non-native speaker teachers can be as effective as their native colleagues and they have equal chance to achieve professional success, even though native speaker teachers have great advantages over non-native teachers in some aspects. It is time for employers, as well as ELT professionals to shut their eyes to the glaring differences between native speaker teachers and non-native speaker teachers and optimize such unique resources.

Rethinking multi-spatial information for transferable adversarial attacks on speaker recognition systems

Adversarial attacks have been posing significant security concerns to intelligent systems,such as speaker recognition systems(SRSs).Most attacks assume the neural networks in the systems are known beforehand,while black-box attacks are proposed without such information to meet practical situations.Existing black-box attacks improve trans-ferability by integrating multiple models or training on multiple datasets,but these methods are costly.Motivated by the optimisation strategy with spatial information on the perturbed paths and samples,we propose a Dual Spatial Momentum Iterative Fast Gradient Sign Method(DS-MI-FGSM)to improve the transferability of black-box at-tacks against SRSs.Specifically,DS-MI-FGSM only needs a single data and one model as the input;by extending to the data and model neighbouring spaces,it generates adver-sarial examples against the integrating models.To reduce the risk of overfitting,DS-MI-FGSM also introduces gradient masking to improve transferability.The authors conduct extensive experiments regarding the speaker recognition task,and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of their method,which can achieve up to 92%attack success rate on the victim model in black-box scenarios with only one known model.

A Toast to Toastmasters Helping non-native English speakers improve more than just language skills

Daisy Xiao,51,felt her hands trembling as she stood at her first Toastmasters Club meeting.Well aware of her shortcomings in English,it was why she thought she'd check outtheclub.For decades,Texas Dragon Toastmasters Club,part of Toastmasters International,has helped people like Xiao improve their English and public speaking.The weekly meetings are more than just a place to improve your English and speech,however.They are also a place for sharing;a place where they can tell stories of personal struggles and improvement and let sometimes-stifled personalities shine through.

Overview of Native-speaker English Teacher Versus Non-native-speaker English Teacher

As much more non-native-speaker English teachers teach alongside native-speaker English teachers, either in China or any other non-English-speaking country, research on the differences between native-speaker English teacher and non-native-speaker English teacher is necessary. This paper offers an overview of such difference between the two groups of English teachers in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, teaching styles and approaches. The conclusion suggests that cooperation and communication be emphsised and that the two groups of teachers communicate more and exchange their ideas on how to teach the same group of students more effectively.

ELF Interactions Among Chinese, Greek, and Swiss Speakers of English

The paper concerns the issue of ELF （English as a lingua franca） in the European and Asian context. The authors start from a brief conceptual perspective to shed light on salient aspects related to ELF. Then, this paper discusses the study investigating the interactions among NNS （non-native speakers） of English in the naturalistic settings, namely in Zhangjiajie （China）, Masouri （Kalymnos/Greece）, and Unterwasser （Switzerland）. The main objective of the research based on the qualitative methodology was to analyze the ELF interactions from the linguistic point of view focusing on lexicogrammar and pragmatic features. The secondary objective was to establish whether the identified ELF features contributed to communication intelligibility. The obtained results indicated a few significant similarities with the Seidlhofer＇s list of the ELT characteristics. Furthermore, it was established in the study that the ELF features did not interfere with effective communication between interlocutors

Non-Native Insects in Urban and Forest Areas of Slovenia and the Introduction of Torymus sinensis with Dryocosmus kuriphilus

We survey non-native insects species in whole territory of Slovenia. Data on non-native species were collected in field, and we also used results of projects in which we participated and with overview of literature data in scientific pub-lications. Correspondence Analysis (CA) of data was carried out with the soft-ware Statgraphics Centaurion XVI, U.S.A. Up to 254 non-native insect species are present: around 83% are phytophagous (43% feed on woody plants, 40% on other plants);around 12% are non-phytophagous;and 5% are parasitoids or predators of other insects or mammals. Among the phytophagous species, Hemiptera predominates (with 38.2%), followed by Coleoptera (29.8%) and Lepidoptera (14.5%). Non-native insects that do not feed on plants include Coleoptera (80%), Lepidoptera (6.5%), Hymenoptera (6.5%) and Diptera (6.5%). Most of phytophagous species are associated with introduction of plants on which they are specialists, but some have also shifted from introduced to native plant hosts. 36 non-native phytophagous species (14.17% of all non-native insects) have become harmful plant pests of urban trees and crops. 20 appear on woody plants, but only Dryocosmus kuriphilus, appears in urban forest areas. In the past decades species such as D. kuriphilus, Leptoglossus occidentalis, Xylosandrus germanus, Gnathotrichus materiarius, Dasineura gledichiae, Phyllonorycter issikii, Cinara curvipes, Ophiomyia kwansonis have been recorded in parks and forests. Some non-native species are spreading in Slovenian urban forests and affect economic, ecological and other forest and urban forest functions. The number of harmful insects in forests is extremely small probably due to high diversity of the forest ecosystem, where close-to-nature forest management is practiced, which retains forest’s self-regulatory ability to control pests. Such management enables for example the reduction of D. kuriphilus with expansion of its parasitoid, Torymus sinensis. We attempt to explain this phenomenon: we assume that T. sinensis was introduced in Slovenia as diapaused eggs in its host, D. kuriphilus.

Chinese Native Speakers' Counterfactuals Revisited

This paper examines whether or not Chinese native speakers (CNSs) have difficulties in understanding English counterfactuals, whether CNSs have counterfactual reasoning problems in their own language, what the causes of these difficulties may be, and the problems in teaching English subjunctives. It also proposes on how to improve CNSs’ English counterfactual comprehension.

Postpartum psychosis in a non-native language-speaking patient: A perspective on language barriers and cultural competency

SUMMARY Postpartum psychosis is a condition characterised by rapid onset of psychotic symptoms several weeks after childbirth. Outside of its timing and descriptions of psychotic features, minimal research exists due to its relative rarity (1 to 2 per 1000 births in the USA), with greater emphasis on postpartum sadness and depression. With the existi叩 literature, cultural differences and language barriers previously have not been taken into consideration as there are no documented cases of postpartum psychosis in a non-English-speaki叩 patient. Correctly differentiating postpartum psychosis from other postpartum psychiatric disorders requires adeptly evaluating for the presence of psychotic symptoms with in-depth history taking.

English Language Needs of Non-native Foreign Students

This paper will investigate the English language needs of non-native foreign students who are studying at the University of Otago, New Zealand. These students comprise of students from Asia （China, Thailand, Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, to name a few） and Europe. For these students, English is their second or third language and they face proficiency problems. To them, mastery of English is most important because all the courses in the university are taught in English and unless the students are proficient to operate in English, they will lose out and face difficulties in securing good grades for their subjects. Findings of this research will provide insights for the curriculum developers and English teachers at public universities especially in Malaysia that have been accepting students from Asia and the Middle East. The present curriculum need to be reviewed or a new curriculum need to be designed to meet the English needs of their non-native foreign students

The non-native species to the intercontinental regions of Asia (on an example Trans-Baikal territory)

This article is devoted to the study of the composition, diversity and distribution of non-native plant elements to the intercontinental regions of Asia on an example Trans-Baikal territory. The number of non-native plants in the Trans-Baikal areas is determined by the degree of urbanization, favorable climate and the availability of skidding ways proximal to their vicinity.

Analysis of Deaf Speakers’ Speech Signal for Understanding the Acoustic Characteristics by Territory Specific Utterances

An important concern with the deaf community is inability to hear partially or totally. This may affect the development of language during childhood, which limits their habitual existence. Consequently to facilitate such deaf speakers through certain assistive mechanism, an effort has been taken to understand the acoustic characteristics of deaf speakers by evaluating the territory specific utterances. Speech signals are acquired from 32 normal and 32 deaf speakers by uttering ten Indian native Tamil language words. The speech parameters like pitch, formants, signal-to-noise ratio, energy, intensity, jitter and shimmer are analyzed. From the results, it has been observed that the acoustic characteristics of deaf speakers differ significantly and their quantitative measure dominates the normal speakers for the words considered. The study also reveals that the informative part of speech in a normal and deaf speakers may be identified using the acoustic features. In addition, these attributes may be used for differential corrections of deaf speaker’s speech signal and facilitate listeners to understand the conveyed information.

著名的海德公园一角——Speakers’Corner

在英国伦敦的繁华市区,坐落着著名的海德公园。园内绿草如茵,鲜花缤纷;令人心驰神往的石雕掩映在花草树木丛中。空气清新,景色宜人,碧空如洗,白云悠闲,给人宽松敞亮之感。19世纪以来,在公园的东北角,形成了一块热闹的“自由论坛”——Speakers’Corner(演讲者之角)。每个星期天的下午,人们站在装肥皂用的木箱上发表演说。

The Intelligibility of Thai Speakers’ Pronunciation from Chinese Listeners’ Perspective

The intelligibility of Thai speakers’English pronunciation from Chinese listeners’perspectives have not been analyzed deeply in current researches.As is known to all,the interconnection between China and Thailand is greatly developed with the sup⁃port of‘One Belt and One Road initiative’.However,it is inevitable for non-native English speakers to encounter some pronuncia⁃tion problems,which would affect them to communicate with each other.As for Chinese English learners,Thai accent to some ex⁃tent would be a great challenge during the conversation with Thai speakers.In order to promote a better communication,it is neces⁃sary to analyze the origin of Thai speakers’English pronunciation problems.Therefore,this research based on the previous studies to categorize the common pronunciation problems among Thai speakers.However,there are numerous English learners in Thailand that have various language proficiency.In this respect,two Thai speakers with different IELTS scores have been selected for com⁃parison,and six postgraduate students in the Education University of Hong Kong are invited to serve as a listener.As a result,this research will base on the listeners’feedback to highlight some suggestions to enhance the intelligibility of Thai speakers’pronun⁃ciation.

Overview of Students' Attitudes towards Non-native English Speaking-Teachers

It is reported that non-native English Speaking Teachers’knowledge and performance are subordinate to Native English Speaking Teachers’and students hold a negative attitude towards non-native English Speaking Teachers.The paper explores students’attitudes towards both groups of teachers from previous studies,suggests school administrators not rush to employ Native English Speaking Teachers before considering students’attitudes and recommends non-native English Speaking Teachers to enhance English proficiency,capitalize on pedagogical skill,interpersonal skill and personal qualities for effective teaching.

An Efficient Text-Independent Speaker Identification Using Feature Fusion and Transformer Model

Automatic Speaker Identification(ASI)involves the process of distinguishing an audio stream associated with numerous speakers’utterances.Some common aspects,such as the framework difference,overlapping of different sound events,and the presence of various sound sources during recording,make the ASI task much more complicated and complex.This research proposes a deep learning model to improve the accuracy of the ASI system and reduce the model training time under limited computation resources.In this research,the performance of the transformer model is investigated.Seven audio features,chromagram,Mel-spectrogram,tonnetz,Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients(MFCCs),delta MFCCs,delta-delta MFCCs and spectral contrast,are extracted from the ELSDSR,CSTRVCTK,and Ar-DAD,datasets.The evaluation of various experiments demonstrates that the best performance was achieved by the proposed transformer model using seven audio features on all datasets.For ELSDSR,CSTRVCTK,and Ar-DAD,the highest attained accuracies are 0.99,0.97,and 0.99,respectively.The experimental results reveal that the proposed technique can achieve the best performance for ASI problems.

The Position of Non-native English Teachers in Globalisation

The traditional prejudice against Non-native English language teachers(NNETs)has been challenged recently.This essay examines features of NNETs and calls for acknowledging their integral position in global English teaching filed thanks to their established bilingual models for learners,mastery of professional knowledge,resourcefulness in teaching practice,and adaptability to local contexts.

Optical Ciphering Scheme for Cancellable Speaker Identification System

Most current security and authentication systems are based on personal biometrics.The security problem is a major issue in the field of biometric systems.This is due to the use in databases of the original biometrics.Then biometrics will forever be lost if these databases are attacked.Protecting privacy is the most important goal of cancelable biometrics.In order to protect privacy,therefore,cancelable biometrics should be non-invertible in such a way that no information can be inverted from the cancelable biometric templates stored in personal identification/verification databases.One methodology to achieve non-invertibility is the employment of non-invertible transforms.This work suggests an encryption process for cancellable speaker identification using a hybrid encryption system.This system includes the 3D Jigsaw transforms and Fractional Fourier Transform(FrFT).The proposed scheme is compared with the optical Double Random Phase Encoding(DRPE)encryption process.The evaluation of simulation results of cancellable biometrics shows that the algorithm proposed is secure,authoritative,and feasible.The encryption and cancelability effects are good and reveal good performance.Also,it introduces recommended security and robustness levels for its utilization for achieving efficient cancellable biometrics systems.