An investigation of Turkish speakers' of English and native English speakers' recognition of the writing of Turkish speakers of English and native English speakers

Abstract

This study investigated whether or not Turkish non-native English speakers and native English speakers would recognize the writing of advanced Turkish speakers of English and the writing of native English speakers. It was hypothesized that there were features of the non-natives' writing that made it recognizable as non-native; features which gave the Turkish non-native English speakers' writing the quality of having a "written foreign accent." The study attempted to determine if both Turkish non-native speakers of English and native English speakers would perceive differences in the writing of these two linguistic groups and be able to distinguish between non-native and native writing. It was also hypothesized that native English speakers would make the distinction more frequently and more readily than Turkish non-native English speakers, because of a native English speaker's intuitive sense about what "sounds like English." Essays were collected from Turkish non-native English speakers and native English speakers. The essays were then read by both non-natives and natives, who were asked to indicate whether they thought the essays were written by Turkish nonnative English speakers or by native English speakers. The readers were also asked to indicate the reasons for their decisions. The study provided data on some of the features of nonnative and native writing that the readers used to distinguish between the writing from these two linguistic groups. A serious linguistic analysis of these perceived differences was not a part of this study since the aim of the study was merely to determine if readers were able to recognize non-native and native writing. Following this, the data showed that these perceived differences were recognizable to natives and to non-natives as well. This data proved the second hypothesis wrong: natives were not able to recognize Turkish non-native English speakers' writing more frequently and more readily than non-natives could do so.