Non-native Students’ Dismay in the Spoken Context in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Non-native English users may not be comfortable during their stay in a native context experiencing that English is used slightly in a different way from what they learnt from books. The differences between the English of text-books and the English of daily life in a native context can contribute to an experience of language shock for non-native English users who need to use English in a native context when they travel abroad for higher education. Though both native and non-native speakers can experience language shock in either a spoken or a written context, English users who have learned English mainly from text books are at a higher risk of language shock in a native spoken context than in an academic context. This paper will critically examine how naturally spoken English in a native context differs from the academic English of text books, illustrating why the experience of language shock is more probable in any spoken context than in any written context.