El efecto de la enseñanza explícita de modismos en la elección de estrategias por parte de estudiantes de inglés en una prueba de comprensión lectora

Recepción: 05 de febrero de 2017Aceptado: 23 de febrero de 2017Correspondencia: Yasin KhoshhalCorreo-e: [email protected]: 0000-0003-0290-1091Evaluadores:Dra. Karen McMullin. Trent University (Canada). ORCID: 0000-0002-1449-3550Dra. Marzia Fiorini. Università degli Studi di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (Italia). Identificador Dialnet: 778877Abstract: Research has shown that students tend to choose their preferred strategy when they are asked to find the meaning of idiomatic phrases in a text. This study investigates how English learners choose their preferred strategies to find the correct definition of idiomatic phrases. Thirty-three learners of English were given a reading passage which consisted of twenty idiomatic expressions, and their strategy choice in finding the correct definition of each phrase was examined. The participants were divided into two groups. The experimental group (with seventeen students) was taught idioms explicitly during the course and the control group (with sixteen students) did not receive any explicit instruction in learning idioms. The results showed that among the given strategies, the group which was taught explicitly tended to choose “using dictionary” more often whereas the other group preferred to “ask the teacher”. As Rodríguez and Winnberg (2013) observed, learners try different strategies and techniques when they encounter a problem and as teachers it is important to notice that every student has a particular way of learning. This study suggests that teaching idioms explicitly should be combined with implicit learning in EFL contexts. Furthermore, learners need more exposure (explicit or implicit) to the meaning and usage of idiomatic phrases in order to master this complex field of learning.Resumen: La investigación muestra que los estudiantes tienden a escoger su estrategia preferida al pedirles que encuentren el significado de modismos en un texto. Este estudio investiga la elección de estrategias preferidas por parte de estudiantes de inglés para encontrar la definición correcta de estas expresiones. A treinta y tres estudiantes de inglés se les proporcionó un texto escrito que consistía en veinte modismos y se examinó la estrategia elegida para encontrar la definición correcta de cada frase. Los participantes se dividieron en dos grupos. Al grupo experimental (con diecisiete estudiantes) se le enseñaron modismos de forma explícita durante el curso. El grupo control (con dieciséis estudiantes) no recibió instrucción explícita de las expresiones. Los resultados muestran que de las estrategias proporcionadas, el grupo que recibió instrucción explícita eligió “usar el diccionario” más a menudo mientras el otro grupo prefería “preguntar al profesor”. Como observaron Rodríguez y Winnberg (2013), los estudiantes prueban diferentes estrategias y técnicas cuando encuentran un problema y como profesores es importante tener en cuenta que cada estudiante tiene un estilo particular de aprendizaje. Este estudio sugiere que la enseñanza explícita de modismos se debe combinar con el aprendizaje implícito en contextos de aprendizaje de inglés como lengua extranjera. Además, los estudiantes necesitan más contacto (explícito o implícito) con el significado y uso de modismos para dominar esta complicada área de aprendizaje.Universidad de Granada. Departamento de Psicología Social. Proyecto de Innovación Docente ReiDoCre

Master of Science

thesisCentral coherence has been described as the tendency of the normal cognitive system to experience an unconscious drive for coherence or meaning when processing stimuli. Considerable evidence suggests that individuals with autism are less efficient at using contextual information to make inferences and to extract global meaning. This processing style has been termed weak central coherence. It has also been suggested that individuals with autism lack a theory of mind, or the cognitive ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, and to understand that other individuals have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own. This study tested assumptions of both theory of mind and weak central coherence theory with respect to the role of context in idiom comprehension in individuals with and without autism using eye tracking technology. Participants were recruited from the Utah Autism Research Program at the University of Utah and from the surrounding community. Participants with autism were assessed with two measurements: (a) Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised and (b) Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic. Participants met the criteria for autism. Eye gaze was recorded using an Applied Sciences Laboratory EyeHead Integration system while the participants read passages containing an idiom that was preceded by context that was either neutral or biased toward the intended meaning of an idiom presented later in the text. A subsequent target sentence contained the idiom, followed by a phrase that disambiguated the idiom towards either its literal or figurative meaning. Both first pass and second pass reading times were recorded for the idiom and disambiguating phrase. Both groups appeared to use contextual information to similar degrees in processing idioms. Although context facilitated comprehension of the idiom in its figurative sense for both groups, participants with autism experienced stronger and longer lasting comprehension difficulty when presented with the figuration interpretation of idioms

Translation \u3cem\u3eal Mercato del Pesce\u3c/em\u3e: The Importance of Human Input for Machine Translation

This thesis investigates translation of Italian idioms and metaphors into English, and the difficulties encountered by Machine Translation in this process. I use a framework of foreign concepts to explain many of the difficulties, as well as interviews with native Italian and English speakers to provide further context for the cultural knowledge encoded in figurative language. I conclude that in Machine Translation a consistent human input interface as well as a continuous training in language corpora is crucial to improve the accuracy of translated metaphors and idioms, using Italian to English translation as a case study

Different Associations of Animal Words in English and Chinese and the Relevant Translation Strategies

There are a large number of phrases containing animal words both in English and Chinese. However, many associative meanings concerning animal words existing in English and Chinese cultures are different or even opposite due to historical and cultural differences. In order to translate relevant phrases correctly, translator should know the different associations of animal words in English and Chinese. This paper aims at pointing out associative differences of a large quantity of animal words in English and Chinese as well as dealing with translation of animal idioms and relevant phrases with domestication, foreignization, and domestication or foreignization plus explanation so as to reach dynamic equivalence of source language and target language in translation

Translation Strategies of English Idiomatic Expression in Sherlock Holmes "The Six Thatcher" Film

This research aimed to discuss about types of idiomatic expression and strategies used by the translator to translate Sherlock Holmes "The Six Thatcher" film. This research based on two theories, they were: verb+object, prepositional phrase, compound, simile, binomials, trinomial, and whole sentences. And also use Baker's theory to find out the strategies used which mentioned five ways of handling idioms as follows: using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, translation by omission, and compensation. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative method. The researcher used note taking as instrument in order to get the valid data. As the result of the research, it was found that there were 33 data found in Sherlock Holmes "The Six Thatcher" film. The researcher concluded that the idioms type compound is the most widely type of idiom used. Meanwhile the most preferred strategies applied by the translator in translating an idiom subtitle Sherlock Holmes "The Six Thatcher" film is strategy of translating an idiom by similar meaning but dissimilar form

Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles

The article reports on multiple meanings in sentences and metalinguistic awareness in education. Comprehension of lexical ambiguity and structural ambiguity are presented as key components of reading education. The author explores the use of riddles in teaching language comprehension and having students develop their own riddles. The author concludes that riddles can encourage metalinguistic skill development and awareness. Other topics include homonyms, ambiguous sentences, riddle books, and brainstorming

Hemisphere differences in idiom comprehension: The influence of ambiguity, transparancy, and familiarity

Idioms are verb phrases that must be interpreted figuratively, such as to bury the hatchet (Gibbs, 1999). Recent finding suggest that the right hemisphere may have an advantage when readers comprehend language that must be understood figuratively (McDonald, 200). However, it is currently unclear how idioms are processed in the right and left hemispheres. It is possible that not all idioms are processed similarly in the hemispheres, and that several factors between idioms may affect hemispheriC processing. First, the plausibility of an idiom\u27s literal interpretation (i.e., ambiguity) may influence processing in the hemispheres. for example, some idioms have plausible literal interpretations (such as to break the ice and are classified as high ambiguity idioms, whereas other idioms do not have literal interpretations (such as to feel under the weather _and are classified as low ambiguity idioms (Titone &Connine) 1999) Second, the extent to which an idiom\u27s literal meaning contributes to its figurative meaning (i.e., transparency) may influence hemispheric processing during idiom comprehension. For example, to blaze a trail is high in transparency, because trail relates to blaze a trail\u27s figurative meaning ( to lead the way ). However, to kick the bucket is low in transparency, because no word in to kick the bucket relates to the figurative meaning ( to die )(Titone & Connine, 1999). Third, of the level of familiarity of an idiom may influence the hemispheric processing of idioms. For example, some idioms are encountered more frequently and are more easily recognizable than other idioms (Titone&Connine, 1999). Thus, the current set of experiments investigated how idioms that differ in the level of ambiguity, transparency, or familiarity are processed in the left and right cerebral hemispheres during text comprehension. To investigate how idioms are processed in the cerebral hemispheres, the current study used a divided visual field paradigm to investigate how participants respond to idiom-related targets works presented to either visual field-hemisphere. In Experiment 1, participants read texts containing high ambiguity idioms, low ambiguity idioms, or texts with no idioms. Next participants made lexical decision to related target words presented to the left visual field-right hemisphere or the right visual field-left hemisphere. In Experiment 2, participants read texts containing high transparency idioms, low transparency idioms, or texts with no idioms. In Experiment 3, participants read texts containing familiar idioms, less familiar idioms, or texts with no idioms. Findings from the current study showed evidence that the right and left hemispheres process idioms that differ in their levels of ambiguity or transparency differently, but no hemispheric differences were found between familiar and less familiar idioms. Greater facilitation was found for low ambiguity idioms in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere, but greater facilitation was found for high ambiguity idioms in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere. Facilitation was greater for high transparency idioms in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere, but no hemispheric differences were evident for low transparency idioms. Finally, greater facilitation was evident in the left hemisphere for both familiar and less familiar idioms compared to the right hemisphere. These finding suggest that the left hemisphere may be dominant when readers process high ambiguity idioms. Specifically, the figurative meaning of high transparency idioms and low ambiguity idioms seems to be easily accessible and highly related to the idiom\u27s figurative meaning, because the left hemisphere has an advantage for accessible, highly related meanings, because the left hemisphere has an advantage for accessible, highly related meanings (Beeman et al., 1994). In contrast, the figurative meaning of high ambiguity idioms may be less accessible than the figurative meaning of low ambiguity idioms, because the right hemisphere has an advantage when readers need to select one of several potential meanings (Giora, 2003;Tompkins, 2001)

The “What E.L.S.E.” Resource Guide for E.S.L. Students

This field project is a resource guide for ESL students who want to study English on their own. This resource guide is ideal for motivated students who are at least high intermediate to advanced English students. This guide helps students create learning strategies that help them learn efficiently. There are three main sections of the resource guide: 1) vocabulary; 2) reading; and 3) writing. These three main sections provide students with exercises that also teach them how to further their English studies after finishing the resource guide