English as a foreign language: how emotional can it be?

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Engleski kao strani jezik: koliko emocionalan može biti?
• Author: Ivana Milanović
• Mentor: Stela Letica Krevelj (mentor)
• Committee member: Renata Geld (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Jasenka Čengić (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Stela Letica Krevelj (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2019-09-20, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

Most of the studies that used normative ratings to compare emotional intensity of words have used a monolingual sample and then compared the emotionality between languages. This study compared valence ratings, i.e. pleasantness ratings of the same positive and negative emotion-laden words, presented in L1 Croatian and L2 English. All participants (n=27) were Croatian young learners at the age of 11 (Mage= 11.1), who were learning English in an instructed context. The participants were presented with a booklet containing eight English words (four positive and four negative) and their Croatian equivalents. They had to rate how pleasant or unpleasant each word was using a 9-point scale. The results showed that L1 emotion-laden words were more extreme in valence. However, in some cases, L2 words were slightly higher rated than L1 words. These results contribute to the bilingualism research by highlighting that differences in emotion processing of different languages could be noticeable in a dimension such as valence.

Abstract (croatian)

Većina istraživanja koja su koristila normativne ocjene riječi kako bi usporedili njihov emocionalni intenzitet u različitim jezicima koristila su jednojezični uzorak. Ovo istraživanje uspoređuje normativne ocjene riječi koje izazivaju pozitivne i/ili negativne emocije koje su isti pojedinci ocijenili u hrvatskom i engleskom jeziku. Svi sudionici (n = 27) bili su jedanaestogodišnji hrvatski učenici koji su usvojili engleski jezik u školi. Koristeći ljestvicu od devet stupnjeva, sudionici su ocjenjivali koliko ugodne ili neugodne su im riječi na engleskom (četiri pozitivne i četiri negative) te prijevodi istih na hrvatski. Rezultati su pokazali da su hrvatske riječi koje izazivaju emocije imale veće vrijednosti. Međutim, engleske riječi imale su veće vrijednosti u nekim slučajevima. Ovi rezultati pridonose istraživanju dvojezičnosti ističući da razlike u obradi emocija različitih jezika mogu biti vidljive u dimenziji kao što je valencija.

• Keywords: valence; bilingualism; normative ratings; emotion-laden words
• Keywords (croatian): valencija; dvojezičnost; normativne ocjene; riječi koje izazivaju emocije
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:370532
• 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: 2019-10-05 11:27:41