Age factor in visual representation of meaning in EFL

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Utjecaj dobi na prikazivanje značenja vizualnim metodama na engleskom kao stranom jeziku
• Author: Lea Hlad
• Mentor: Renata Geld (mentor)
• Committee member: Stela Letica Krevelj (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Jasenka Čengić (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Renata Geld (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2019-09-16, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is on the ways Croatian elementary and secondary school learners of English strategically construe the meaning of particle-verb (PV) constructions with particles in and out through visual representations. The participants were asked to represent the meanings of given PVs by drawing, which is considered to be a challenging task because learning through visualization is not particularly encouraged in Croatian schools. The aim of the research was also to detect possible differences in the participants’ pictorial answers in relation to age and semantic nature of the verb. According to the results, all the participants, regardless of their age, relied mostly on the strategy of visual paraphrase in meaning construal. However, there were some instances, especially among older learners, of a successful analysis of PV components and figurative meanings, which points to the ability of EFL learners to perceive cognitive motivation behind meaning. This leads us to the conclusion that age factor has a major role in meaning construal through the pictorial mode and that metaphoric thinking, as well as introduction of visual instruction may help learners process PV constructions meaningfully and consequently facilitate their acquisition.

Abstract (croatian)

Cilj ovog rada bio je istražiti načine na koje hrvatski učenici engleskog jezika koji pohađaju osnovnu i srednju školu strateški konstruiraju značenja engleskih fraznih glagola s česticama in i out koristeći vizualne metode. Zadatak je bio prikazati značenja zadanih fraznih glagola crtežom, što je sudionicima predstavljalo velik izazov jer se učenje kroz vizualizaciju naročito ne potiče u hrvatskim školama. Cilj istraživanja bio je također otkriti moguće razlike u slikovnim odgovorima sudionika koje su se mogle javiti pod utjecajem čimbenika kao što su dob ili semantička priroda glagola. Rezultati su pokazali da su se svi sudionici, bez obzira na dob, uglavnom oslanjali na strategiju vizualnog parafraziranja značenja. Međutim, bilo je i slučajeva uspješnog analiziranja zasebnih komponenti fraznih glagola i njihovih figurativnih značenja, osobito među starijim učenicima, što upućuje na sposobnost govornika kojima engleski nije materinski jezik da prepoznaju kognitivnu motivaciju značenja. To dovodi do zaključka da dob ima značajan utjecaj na konstruiranje značenja fraznih glagola vizualnim metodama i da bi metaforičko razmišljanje, kao i uvođenje vizualnog poučavanja, moglo pomoći učenicima da smisleno analiziraju engleske frazne glagole i time olakšati njihovo učenje.

• Keywords: particle-verb construction; strategic construal; visual representation; age factor
• Keywords (croatian): frazni glagoli; strateško konstruiranje; vizualne metode; dob
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:370930
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: TEFL; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2019-10-02 14:44:42