L'Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria 2013-2 E-Book

VV. AA.

• Herausgeber: EDUCatt
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

L’Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria è una rivista internazionale di linguistica e letteratura peer reviewed. Ha una prospettiva sia sincronica che diacronica e accoglie ricerche di natura teorica e applicata. Seguendo un orientamento spiccatamente interdisciplinare, si propone di approfondire la comprensione dei processi di analisi testuale in ambito letterario come anche in ambito linguistico. La rivista è organizzata in tre sezioni: la prima contiene saggi e articoli; la seconda presenta discussioni e analisi d’opera relative alle scienze linguistiche e letterarie; la terza sezione ospita recensioni e una rassegna di brevi schede bibliografiche riguardanti la linguistica generale e le linguistiche delle singole lingue (francese, inglese, russo, tedesco). La rivista pubblica regolarmente articoli in francese, inglese, italiano e tedesco, e occasionalmente anche in altre lingue: nel 2010, ad esempio, ha pubblicato un volume tematico interamente in russo.

Leseprobe

L’ANALISI LINGUISTICA E LETTERARIA Facoltà di Scienze Linguistiche e Letterature straniere Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Anno XXI - 2/2013 ISSN 1122-1917

ISBN edizione cartacea 978-88-6780-074-2

ISBN edizione ePub 978-88-6780-853-3

Direzione

Luisa Camaiora

Giovanni Gobber

Marisa Verna

Comitato scientifico

Luisa Camaiora – Arturo Cattaneo – Enrica Galazzi

Maria Cristina Gatti – Maria Teresa Girardi

Giovanni Gobber – Dante Liano – Federica Missaglia

Lucia Mor – Margherita Ulrych – Marisa Verna

Serena Vitale – Maria Teresa Zanola

Segreteria di redazione

Laura Balbiani – Sarah Bigi – Laura Bignotti

Elisa Bolchi – Giulia Grata

I contributi di questa pubblicazione sono stati sottoposti alla valutazione di duePeer Reviewersin forma rigorosamente anonima

© 2014 EDUCatt - Ente per il Diritto allo Studio universitario dell’Università Cattolica Largo Gemelli 1, 20123 Milano | tel. [phone] | fax [phone]e-mail: [email protected] (produzione); [email protected] (distribuzione)web: www.educatt.it/libri

Redazione della Rivista: [email protected] |web: www.educatt.it/libri/all

Indice

Exploring vocabulary-related epistemological beliefs with Q-methodology

James Rock

Gli atti direttivi nei foglietti illustrativi dei medicinali tedeschi

Daniela Puato

Il fascismo contro i francesismi della moda. Il Commentariodizionario di Cesare Meano

Maria Francesca Bonadonna

Complessità della gerarchizzazione sintattica in L2: confronto fra il russo degli apprendenti italofoni e quello dei parlanti nativi

Nataliya Stoyanova

Lingua italiana e immagini dell’Italia nella scrittura migrante di Concetta Coppolino

Margherita Di Salvo

Die Literarisierung des entzifferten Ägypten. Wissenschaft und Fiktion im RomanUarda (1877) von Georg Ebers (1837-1898)

Lucia Mor

I talismani di al-Maʿarrī: il prologo dell’Epistoladel perdono e una divagazione in rima

Martino Diez

Recensioni e Rassegne

Recensioni

Rassegna di Linguistica generale e di glottodidattica

a cura di Giovanni Gobber

Rassegna di Linguistica francese

a cura di Enrica Galazzi e Chiara Molinari

Rassegna di Linguistica inglese

a cura di Margherita Ulrych e Amanda Murphy

Rassegna di Linguistica russa

a cura di Anna Bonola

Rassegna di Linguistica tedesca

a cura di Federica Missaglia

Abstracts

Indice degli Autori

Exploring vocabulary-related epistemological beliefs with Q-methodology

James Rock

1. Introduction

In recent decades, various studies have shown that individuals’ beliefs may directly affect their behaviour, motivation and learning outcomes1. In terms of learner behavior, there certainly appears to be a positive correlation between what learners believe represents an effective learning strategy and the kinds of strategies they use2. Moreover, further research suggests that the kinds of beliefs language learners have in their ability to successfully perform a language learning task can determine both the frequency and kinds of strategies they adopt3. As a result, it is becoming increasingly apparent that teachers need to make a greater effort to understand how students view the learning process and themselves as learners. This means becoming more knowledgeable and aware of the kinds of beliefs that students hold, as well as being able to differentiate between students who differ in terms of personal beliefs. Finally, teachers need to be more familiar with the pedagogical applications that can be introduced to encourage more sophisticated belief systems.

When discussing beliefs, it is necessary to differentiate between the types of beliefs that students possess about learning, i.e. epistemological beliefs, and those beliefs that they hold about themselves as learners, i.e. self-efficacy beliefs. The former refer to the beliefs students possess about learning and knowledge, whereas the latter have a high-degree of context-specificity and concern an individual’s beliefs about his or her ability to successfully perform a specific task within a domain. In this study, attention is restricted to solely exploring individuals’ epistemological beliefs, however, teachers should be aware that such beliefs only represent a single domain and that learners possess other kinds of beliefs.

In terms of personal epistemology, my aim is to apply Schommer’s4 multidimensional epistemological framework to the domain of vocabulary learning, in an effort to understand which epistemological dimensions are more or less favoured by Italian university learners of English as a foreign language. It is hoped that this study will, thus, provide us with a better understanding as to the motivation behind the adoption of certain vocabulary learning strategies by some learners and not by others.

Attention will now be given to discussing epistemological beliefs in more detail. This will be followed by a description of Q-methodology, which is the research strategy adopted in this investigation. Q-methodology is an extremely effective way of studying the subjective viewpoint, or beliefs, of a subject, and has not, to my knowledge, been used in the field of vocabulary learning.

2. Theoretical framework

2.1 Epistemological beliefs

Research on epistemological beliefs can be traced back to Perry’s5 seminal work that provides the basis for many existing models6. Perry argued that students go through stages of development of epistemological beliefs. Early on, students view knowledge as either right or wrong and they believe that an authority figure, such as a teacher, knows the answers. As students become more epistemologically mature and, thus, reach a more advanced stage of epistemological development, they realise that there are multiple possibilities for knowledge and that one must firmly commit to certain ideas. In essence, therefore, a learner moves from being a passive recipient of knowledge to being actively involved in the learning process.

It is particularly important to point out that Perry hypothesises that personal epistemology progresses in a linear fashion and can be captured in a single dimension. This view has been strongly opposed by Schommer7, who argues that personal epistemology is non-linear and is composed of several more or less independent dimensions. She presents a multidimensional model of epistemological beliefs, which identifies five core constructs reflecting students’ epistemological beliefs: a) innate ability; b) speed of knowledge; c) source of knowledge; d) structure of knowledge; and e) certainty of knowledge. This theory of personal epistemology forms the structural foundation for the current study of epistemic beliefs.

a. The first dimension, innate ability, is derived from research on beliefs about the nature of intelligence. Some students have a strong belief that intelligence is fixed, whereas others believe that it is incremental. A person with a more sophisticated view of innate ability believes that intelligence functions more like a skill that can be improved with effort and persistence.

b. The second dimension refers to speed of knowledge acquisition. This dimension is derived from work by Schoenfeld8. His research found that some students seem to believe in quick, all-or-nothing learning. The more sophisticated view here is that learning is a gradual process that requires continued effort and persistence.

c. The third dimension, source of knowledge, reflects a range of views regarding the role of an authority. The unsophisticated view is that knowledge is external to the learner and must be obtained from an authority. The more sophisticated view sees the learner as an active participant rather than a passive recipient.

d. The fourth dimension concerns the structure of knowledge. This reflects a continuum that ranges from an understanding of knowledge as a simple collection of discrete, concrete facts, and progressing to a viewpoint with a more complex contextual understanding of knowledge.

e. The last of Schommer’s hypothesised dimensions is certainty of knowledge. This belief describes a continuum that ranges from an unsophisticated view of knowledge as absolute truth to a more sophisticated view that knowledge is tentative and evolving.

An interesting finding has been that the effects of learner beliefs on learning seem to exist independently of one’s ability to learn. Thus, positive beliefs could potentially compensate for one’s limited ability. Students who believe, for instance, that intelligence can be increased through learning good study skills could outperform those who are possibly superior in intelligence, but believe in fixed intelligence9. Furthermore, learners who are confident in their ability to control important aspects of their learning are often more likely to persist in challenging learning situations than those who are not10.

The majority of epistemological belief studies have investigated the effects of learner beliefs on learning in general, but not specifically on language learning. However, in the last decade researchers have begun to focus on domain- or discipline-specific epistemological beliefs11. Findings suggest that students’ epistemological beliefs may vary by domain, thus, learners may have very different beliefs about certain domains, such as mathematics and languages. In this study, it is argued that as language learning, and its sub-component ‘vocabulary learning’, is a specific type of learning, the theoretical framework used in educational research could be useful in understanding the vocabulary-related epistemological beliefs of learners.

2.2 Using Q-methodology to explore vocabulary learning beliefs

Most studies on epistemic beliefs have been undertaken using interviews or self-report questionnaires12. Although both methodological instruments have, indeed, helped provide detailed, in-depth data, and consequently furthered our knowledge of individuals’ epistemological belief systems, they also possess certain limitations. The collection and analysis of qualitative interview data is a lengthy tiresome process and it is often difficult for a researcher to find a suitably-sized sample that is reasonably representative of the population. Furthermore, interviews are difficult to replicate, thus, resulting in researchers finding it extremely difficult to make broad conclusions from their research. In terms of quantitative analysis, an inherent weakness of questionnaire data regards the degree of accuracy of the data provided by respondents. Thus, it is extremely difficult to gauge whether individuals’ responses actually reflect reality, or have been influenced by other variables, such as ‘social desirability bias’. In addition, some researchers are sceptical as to how well traditional quantitative measures are able to reveal subjective elements, such as beliefs, points of view, values and feelings. Indeed, research by De Backer et al suggests that findings from Schommer’s commonly-used Epistemological Questionnaire should be interpreted cautiously.