Competencia instrumental en la reproducción textual en lengua extranjera : procesos de consulta léxica en fuentes externas /

Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaEl presente trabajo tiene por objeto el estudio de la competencia instrumental, que se entiende como suma del conocimiento y del dominio de recursos externos. En el curso de nuestra anterior investigación sobre recursos concretos hemos llegado a la conclusión de que se podría hablar de un mecanismo universal de consulta, que tendría sus orígenes en los procesos mentales y sería aplicable por tanto a cualquier recurso. Explicamos este mecanismo de consulta a partir de rasgos conceptuales sirviéndonos de la teoría conexionista. Además, situamos la consulta en el marco de la resolución de problemas, pudiendo así relacionar el apoyo interno, que consiste en el uso de la memoria, con el apoyo externo, que consiste en el empleo de recursos externos. Siguiendo los recientes descubrimientos en psicolingüística, nos proponemos a explicar cómo los problemas conceptuales o léxicos, identificados y definidos en términos propios de la memoria humana, se transforman en preguntas concretas dirigidas a los recursos y formuladas en sus términos. Para llevar a cabo la parte teórica de nuestro estudio, empezamos analizando cómo el conocimiento está representado en la memoria, prestando especial atención al proceso de recuperación léxica. Paralelamente describimos cómo el mismo conocimiento se encuentra representado en diversos recursos externos, según el tipo de acceso y de contenido que ofrece cada uno de ellos. Nuestro objetivo final es llegar a entender cómo funciona el proceso de recuperación léxica de los recursos. Primero, no obstante, es necesario averiguar qué es lo que impulsa al usuario a realizar una consulta léxica. Para ello, tenemos que analizar en detalle los dos subprocesos de la reproducción textual en lengua extranjera: la comprensión y la producción. En este trabajo de tesis desarrollamos modelos de estos procesos basados en rasgos conceptuales. A partir de aquí, establecemos los tipos de problemas que pueden solucionarse con estrategias de apoyo interno y que, en cambio, necesitan consultas en recursos externos. Los modelos de los procesos de comprensión y de producción se van completando a lo largo del trabajo, llegando a explicar cómo se recuperan las posibles variantes alternativas de la memoria y de los recursos y cómo se evalúan. Finalmente, definimos la competencia instrumental y creamos un modelo de recuperación léxica de los recursos que se sostiene sobre tres pilares: el papel de la tarea, el papel de la clave del acceso y el papel de los criterios de búsqueda. La parte práctica de esta tesis pretende validar el mencionado modelo de consulta. Nuestro corpus está constituido por las conversaciones que nuestros sujetos mantuvieron por escrito a través del programa Messenger mientras realizaban una tarea de corrección de errores en grupos. Se corrigieron unos resúmenes compuestos por estudiantes como parte de su proyecto semestral. El profesor únicamente marcó los errores, dejando que los estudiantes realizaran todo el proceso de resolución de estos problemas, buscando respuestas tanto en su memoria como en los recursos, en este caso diccionarios electrónicos. Las conversaciones se analizaron y se establecieron cadenas de acciones, lo que nos permitió verificar una serie de hipótesis. Hemos descubierto que una mayor implicación cognitiva por sí misma no lleva a mejores resultados, al contrario que una mayor profundidad de búsqueda en recursos. Además, identificamos algunas de las razones del éxito y del fracaso de una consulta. Palabras claves: recursos, diccionarios, consulta, competencia, proceso, memoriaThe object of the present study is instrumental competence, understood as a sum of theoretical knowledge and practical command of external reference sources. In the course of our previous investigation in specific resources we've come to the conclusion that it is possible to speak of some universal reference mechanism that would have its origins in mental processes and thus would be applicable to any resource. We explain this reference mechanism as based on conceptual features according to the connexionist theory. In addition, we situate the reference process into a solving problem framework, which allows us to establish relationship between internal support, understood as the use of memory, and external support, consisting in the use of reference sources. Following recent developments in psycholinguistics, we want to explain how lexical problems, identified and defined in terms of our memory, get transformed into specific inquiries addressed to resources and formulated in their terms. We start the theoretical part of our study analyzing knowledge representation in human memory, paying special attention to the process of lexical retrieval. At the same time, we describe how this very knowledge is represented in various external resources, according to the access and content possibilities each of them offers. Our final aim is to come to understand how the process of lexical retrieval from resources works. First, however, we need to find what makes the user take the decision about the use of resources. With this objective in mind, we study in detail the two subprocesses that form part of text reproduction in foreign language: comprehension and production. In this paper we develop models of these two processes based on conceptual features. This makes possible for us to establish the problem types that can be solved with internal support strategies only and those that, on the contrary, require use of resources. The models of comprehension and production processes are being completed throughout the paper, getting to explain how we generate alternative variants from our memory and from external resources and how we evaluate them. Finally, we define the instrumental competence and create a model of lexical retrieval from reference sources based on three axes: the task function, the access key function and the search criteria function. The practical part of this thesis aims at validating the mentioned model of reference. Our corpus is composed by Messenger chat conversations our subjects had in groups while engaged in the task of correcting mistakes. The texts to be corrected were composed by students as summaries and formed part of their semester project. The teacher had previously marked the mistakes, leaving it to the students to follow with the problem solving process. The subjects could look for answers in their memory as well as in the resources, electronic dictionaries in our case. The resulting chat conversations were analyzed and action sequences were established, which allowed us to verify several hypotheses. We've discovered that a deeper cognitive implication was not directly related to better results, while a deeper search in resources was. Moreover, we identified some of the causes of look-up success and failure. Key words: resources, dictionaries, reference, competence, process, memor

Studying problem solving through group discussion in chat rooms

In the present article we use a chat conversations' corpus to study the process of resolving language problems. Our corpus includes chat conversations which took place between LSP students engaged in correcting errors in their peers' summaries. Theparticipants worked in groups and used the Windows Messenger program forcommunication within the group. Their task also included making use of electronic dictionaries and other reference materials. The conversations'corpus obtainedas a result of this exercise was analyzed holistically for possible indicators of each particular stage of the problem solving process. Later these indicators were validated throughout the entire corpus. Each problem solving process was thus represented as a chain of indicators and acceptability was determined for each error correction. The resulting problem solving chains were used to prove our hypotheses concerning internal and external support in text reproduction

ESP students' views on online language resources for L2 text production purposes

The use of online language resources for L2 text production purposes is a recent phenomenon and has not yet been studied in depth. Increasing availability of new online resources seems to be changing the very nature of L2 text production. The traditional dictionary, hitherto a default resource to help with language doubts, is being left behind while online resources are taking the lead. What are these resources? Do students need any specific training on how to use them? At what moment of L2 text production do students wish to resort to resources? Rather than analysing the usefulness of a specific kind of resource, this paper focuses on the students' perceived needs. In particular, we would like to see to what extent our students are open to using language resources, if they are willing to master their use and, finally, if they use resources properly, which is with cognitive implication behind

No free lunch does technology enhance students' writing skills?

Este trabajo analiza "Online Translation Use in Spanish as a Foreign Language Essay Writing: Effects on Fluency, Complexity and Accuracy" de Kent Fredholm y discute si las tecnologías de traducción automàtica en línea como Traductor de Google ayudan a los estudiantes a mejorar sus habilidades de expresión escrita en lengua extranjera.This paper analyses Kent Fredholm's "Online Translation Use in Spanish as a Foreign Language Essay Writing: Effects on Fluency, Complexity and Accuracy" and discusses whether the use of online translation technology such as Google Translate enhances students' writing skills in a foreign language

University Students’ Personal and Professional Development: The Socio-Cultural Environment Effect

AbstractTaking into account the role of socio-cultural environment in human development, the paper focuses on examining university students’ subjective evaluation of their local settings in the context of basic values realizability. Being one of the main factors of human behaviour and activity, basic values from this perspective can be viewed as an indicator of the socio-cultural environment potential. The study presented involved methods of exploring one's personal potential, career orientations and subjective evaluation of basic values realizability in the local settings. The results obtained are discussed in terms of university students’ personal and professional development

The peculiarities of Adaptation of First-Year Students to the University during COVID-19Pandemic in Russia

The speed and efficiency of student adaptation largely determines the success of the educational process. This is especially true for university freshmen, as the older adolescent organism, with its specific neurophysiological characteristics, is very sensitive to changes in the environment. The situation with SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic has added to the problem of adaptation. The present study aims to examine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the first-year students’ adaptation to university studies in Russia. The study involves 692 freshmen with an average age of 18.7, majority of women (80.6%), from three Russian universities: Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan Federal University and Kazan Aviation University. The results show that during the COVID-19 period statistically significant changes occurred in almost all the adaptation components: physiological adaptation (p < .0001), socio-psychological adaptation (p < .05), academic adaptation (p < .05). There was a decrease in the level of physiological adaptation, while socio-psychological adaptation and academic adaptation increased. Comparison by gender during the COVID-19 period shows differences between adaptation processes of men and women. Comparison of foreign students with Russian citizens during the COVID-19 period demonstrates that foreign students stand out in socio-cultural adaptation (4.94 - foreigners, 4.64 - citizens of Russia, p < .05), physiological adaptation (5.36 - foreigners, 4.36 - citizens of Russia, p < .00001) and academic adaptation (5.28 - foreigners, 4.99 - citizens of Russia, p < .05).Las peculiaridades de la adaptación de los estudiantes de primer año a la universidad durante la pandemia COVID-19 en Rusia. La velocidad y eficiencia de la adaptación de los estudiantes determina en gran medida el éxito del proceso educativo. Esto es especialmente cierto para los estudiantes de primer año de universidad, ya que el organismo de los adolescentes mayores, con sus características neurofisiológicas específicas, es muy sensible a los cambios en el entorno. A las habituales dificultades de adaptación se ha sumado la problemática generada por la pandemia del virus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). El presente estudio tiene como objetivo examinar la influencia de la pandemia COVID-19 en la adaptación de los estudiantes de primer año a los estudios universitarios en Rusia. El estudio involucra a 692 estudiantes de primer año con una edad promedio de 18,7 años, la mayoría mujeres (80,6%), de tres universidades rusas: Universidad Tecnológica de Investigación Nacional de Kazán, Universidad Federal de Kazán y Universidad de Aviación de Kazán. Los resultados demuestran que durante el período COVID-19 ocurrieron cambios estadísticamente significativos en casi todos los componentes de la adaptación: adaptación fisiológica (p <.0001), adaptación socio-psicológica (p <.05), adaptación académica (p <.05). La comparación por género durante el período COVID-19 muestra diferencias entre los procesos de adaptación de hombres y mujeres. La comparación de estudiantes extranjeros con ciudadanos rusos durante el período COVID-19 demuestra que los estudiantes extranjeros destacan en adaptación sociocultural (4.94 - extranjeros, 4.64 - ciudadanos de Rusia, p <.05), adaptación fisiológica (5.36 - extranjeros, 4.36 - ciudadanos de Rusia, p <.00001) y adaptación académica (5,28 - extranjeros, 4,99 - ciudadanos de Rusia, p <.05)

Cognitive aspects of problem solving using dictionaries in L2 writing

This article reports on the use of dictionaries for L2 text production purposes by first-year ESP students. Research into dictionary use and cognitive studies of L2 writing are combined in this paper to outline the cognitive dimension of a dictionary consultation. Our objective is to focus on the situation in which an information need occurs, with a freshman ESP student as a specific user in mind

Resolving L2 written text production problems using reference sources

Little attention has been paid to reference skills in L2 written text production in comparison with L2 text comprehension. This may be explained by the fact that the relation between L2 text production and the process of consultation of external resources has not yet been the object of exhaustive research, largely because text production is viewed exclusively as an encoding activity. The place of the consultation of external resources in text production will only be recognised when the latter is viewed as an encoding activity continuously interrupted by decoding sequences when internal support fails and additional information is required. To obtain this additional information, writers must turn to external resources and engage in decoding. The consultation of external resources is thus a conscious problem-solving strategy which is closely related to one's definition of a problem, knowledge and beliefs about external resources, and attitude towards their use. In this article we present a cognitive model of the problem-solving process in L2 text production which includes the use of reference sources. Using this model, we have analysed how students envisage, and carry out, their problem-solving processes in L2 written text production. A customised questionnaire was used to obtain data on students' beliefs concerning the relation between internal and external support; their perceived knowledge of external resources; and their attitude to reference skills training. This data was contrasted to the problem-solving processes actually carried out by the students. Results suggest that, in theory, students correctly describe the stages of the consultation process. In practice, however, some fail to complete the process at a certain stage. Detecting when this happens allows us to design appropriate reference skills training

The Spanish Translation of the function words in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Las palabras funcionales no aportan significados léxicos, pero tienen una importancia incuestionable en todas las lenguas y el chino clásico no es una excepción (Chen, 2006), porque son articuladores entre las palabras con significados llenos. La vaciedad en significado léxico de este tipo de vocablos obstaculiza la traducción, puesto que es difícil encontrar su equivalente en la lengua meta. El objetivo del presente trabajo es indagar cómo se traducen las palabras funcionales más frecuentes en Romance de los Tres Reinos. Con apoyo de un corpus paralelo ad hoy de conocimientos de estadística, hemos seleccionado ejemplos representativos que contienen los vocablos en cuestión. A continuación, los hemos analizado partiendo de las teorías sobre palabras funcionales y de las bases conceptuales de Newmark (2001a, 2001b): la traducción semántica y la traducción comunicativa. Como resultado, hemos elaborado un glosario que permite visualizar las palabras funcionales estudiadas y sus posibles traducciones, el cual podría ser interesante para estudiosos que quieran traducir al español obras clásicas de China.Function words convey few concrete lexical meanings. However, they are of unquestionable importance in expression in almost all verbal languages (Chen, 2006), as they serve as a grammatical connective between words with full meanings. In Classical Chinese language, they are no exception. The vacuum in lexical meaning, in addition to the obscurity in diverse functions, makes it difficult to translate a language unit in Classical Chinese with words of this kind. This article, with specialized corpus and statistical analysis, explores the possibility and, if so, ways to translate the function words most frequently used in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Segments or sentences with such function words that are difficult to translate are selected as typical examples. Relevant analysis is conducted based on Peter Newmark’s theory of semantic translation and communicative translation. As a result, a Chinese-Spanish version of the function words studied is presented, a glossary that is convinced to be interesting for scholars in the field of the bilingual translation