Tolerance of ambiguity in young multilinguals: Decoding meaning in an unknown language

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Tolerancija neodređenosti kod višejezične djece: Dekodiranje značenja na nepoznatom jeziku
• Author: Ida Karabajić
• Mentor: Stela Letica Krevelj (mentor)
• Committee member: Janja Čulig (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2022-12-01, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

The study aimed at examining how learners decode meaning of unknown words and sentences presented through a multilingual picture storybook as well as at examining variations in learners' tolerance of ambiguity. The instruments used were the multilingual picture storybook Mixter and Mixus Mic: Europe Adventure and the Tolerance of Ambiguity Questionnaire that the learners completed after reading and listening to the storybook. The findings suggest that the learners use a set of vocabulary discovery and lexical inferencing strategies when decoding meaning of words and phrases in foreign languages, and that they extensively rely on their previous language knowledge in this process. Additionally, it has been found that a choice of strategies and knowledge sources they use depends on the contextual factors, i.e. availability of resources, contextual cues and the nature of a task at hand.

Abstract (croatian)

Cilj rada bio je istražiti kako učenici dekodiraju značenje nepoznatih riječi i fraza predstavljenih putem višejezične slikovnice, te istražiti varijacije u njihovoj toleranciji neodređenosti. Kao instrumenti korišteni su višejezična slikovnica Mixter and Mixus Mic: Europe Adventure i upitnik o toleranciji neodređenosti koji su sudionici ispunili nakon čitanja i slušanja slikovnice. Rezultati su pokazali da učenici koriste sklop strategija za otkrivanje vokabulara i leksičko zaključivanje kada dekodiraju značenje riječi i fraza na stranim jezicima, te da se u tom procesu uvelike oslanjaju na svoje prethodno znanje jezika. Osim toga, utvrđeno je da izbor strategija i izvora znanja ovisi o kontekstualnim čimbenicima, tj. o dostupnosti resursa, kontekstualnim znakovima i prirodi samog zadatka.

• Keywords: lexical inferencing; meaning decoding; multilingualism; plurilingualism; tolerance of ambiguity; vocabulary discovery
• Keywords (croatian): dekodiranje značenja; leksičko zaključivanje; otkrivanje vokabulara; plurijezičnost; tolerancija neodređenosti; višejezičnost
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:413980
• 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 engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2022-12-03 15:46:15