Strategic Construal and Visual Representation of English Particle Verbs by Croatian High School Learners

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Strateško konstruiranje značenja i vizualni prikaz engleskih fraznih glagola kod hrvatskih srednjoškolaca
• Author: Enio Brečević
• Mentor: Renata Geld (mentor)
• Committee member: Stela Letica Krevelj (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Mateusz-Milan Stanojević (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: 2023-01-26, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

This thesis proposes to explore some aspects of strategic construal of English verb-particle constructions, with the focus on factors that are theorized to influence learners’ visual representations of particle verbs. In order to determine what features of idiomatic particle verbs influence learners’ visual conceptualizations, a study was conducted on 80 Croatian high school students who are learning English. The participants were asked to draw the meaning of 24 verb-particle constructions containing 4 particles (out, in, up and down) and verbs that can semantically be described as either light (less specific, schematic) or heavy (more specific, denoting concrete actions). It was determined that the semantic nature of the verb played a role in how the participants visually represented the chosen particle verbs, as they were able to meaningfully decompose particle verbs more consistently when the lexical part of the construction was a heavy verb. Additionally, particle verbs with a heavy lexical element produced more responses that were characterized as lexical determination, while topological determination was prevalent in the case of light verbs. An overwhelming number of analyzed drawings contained concrete symbols and props, suggesting that learners favor this type of self-generated visual representations, and potentially implying that detailed illustrations might be more accessible to high school students, compared to decontextualized schematic diagrams. Another insight gleaned from the study was that Croatian high school learners of English are capable of conceptual integration, since their drawings incorporated the literal meaning of either one or both components of the relevant particle verb and its target figurative meaning in 31.74% of all drawings.

Abstract (croatian)

Cilj ovog rada je istražiti aspekte strateškog konstruiranja značenja engleskih fraznih glagola s naglaskom na čimbenike koji utječu na slikovni prikaz fraznih glagola kod učenika engleskog jezika. Kako bi se utvrdilo koje značajke idiomatskih fraznih glagola određuju kako će učenici vizualno koncipirati te strukture, provedeno je istraživanje na 80 hrvatskih srednjoškolaca koji uče engleski. Od sudionika se tražilo da nacrtaju značenje 24 frazna glagola, u kojima su bila zastupljena 4 različita prijedloga (out, in, up i down), kao i jednak broj značenjski određenih te značenjski neodređenih glagola. Utvrđeno je da značenjska struktura (određenost) glagola igra ulogu u tome kako sudionici slikovno prikazuju frazne konstrukcije, s obzirom na to da su u većem broju slučaja prikazali jednu ili obje komponente fraznih glagola u crtežima koji se odnose na konstrukcije sa značenjski određenim glagolima. Nadalje, frazne konstrukcije sa značenjski određenim glagolima polučile su više crteža koje karakterizira leksičko određenje, dok se gramatičko/topološko određenje pokazalo svojstvenim za neodređene glagole. Veliki udio svih analiziranih crteža sadržava konkretne simbole i specifične predmete, što ukazuje na to da učenici preferiraju takav oblik individualnih vizualnih prikaza, i što potencijalno implicira da bi konkretne ili detaljne ilustracije mogle biti razumljivije srednjoškolcima, u usporedbi sa shematičnim dijagramima lišenima konteksta. Također je utvrđeno da su hrvatski srednjoškolci koji uče engleski sposobni konceptualno integrirati doslovna značenja elemenata fraznog glagola s cjelokupnim prenesenim značenjem izraza, što predočuje činjenica da su ispitanici u crtežima prikazali doslovno značenje jedne ili obiju komponenti frazne konstrukcije uz ciljano preneseno značenje fraznog glagola u 31.74% svih crteža.

• Keywords: strategic construal; particle verb; visual representation; topological determination; lexical determination; conceptual integration
• Keywords (croatian): strateško konstruiranje značenja; frazni glagol; vizualni prikaz; topološko određenje; leksičko određenje; konceptualna integracija
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:414111
• 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: 2023-02-06 13:19:47