scholarly journals ‘When most I wink, then’ – what? Assessing the comprehension of literary texts in university students of English as a second language

2022 ◽  
pp. 096394702110627
Author(s):  
Matthias Bauer ◽  
Judith Glaesser ◽  
Augustin Kelava ◽  
Leonie Kirchhoff ◽  
Angelika Zirker
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Language Poetry ◽  
Reading Experience ◽  
Comprehension Skills

This article introduces a test for literary text comprehension in university students of English as a second language. Poetry is especially suited for our purpose since it frequently shows features that offer challenges to comprehension in a limited space. An example is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43, on which our test is based: it is suited for assessing not only if a text has been understood but also the ability of respondents to reflect on their own comprehension skills. We show that the test’s psychometric properties are satisfactory, and we demonstrate its validity by analysing relevant external indicators. Thus, we can show a direct link between general reading experience and text comprehension as tested: the more students read, the better do they perform. The collaboration of literary studies with psychometrics moreover allows for a statistically valid identification of specific challenges to comprehension and thus advance our knowledge of what readers find difficult. This will be of interest not only in a hermeneutic and linguistic perspective but also with a view to addressing those difficulties in an educational context. For example, asking someone whether they have understood an utterance (in this case: a line of poetry) does not elicit reliable answers. Being able to say how one has established the meaning of a line seems to be a more reliable indicator of actually having understood it.

scholarly journals SPHERE CONCEPT OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN THE STUDY OF LITERARY TEXT

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-80
Author(s):  
VIOLETTA GRIGORYAN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Text Study ◽  
The Russian Language

Joining Russian culture through literary texts is very important in the process of learning Russian as a foreign language (RFL). It may promote to intelligence of mode of thinking, attached to a new sphere concept, which can effectively help students to be acculturated in the process of creating a second language person at lessons of Russian language in higher school. In the present article we attempt to examine the sphere concept of the Russian language in the system of literary text study.

scholarly journals Self-Monitoring and Self-Regulation of University Students in Text Comprehension

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62
Author(s):  
Eduard Balashov ◽  
Ihor Pasichnyk ◽  
Ruslana Kalamazh
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Metacognitive Processes ◽  
Comprehension Skills ◽  
Regulated Learning

Many empirical researches and theoretical studies of the topics regarding the interconnection of the processes of student higher education, self-regulated learning, studying motivation and outcomes, text comprehension have been executed in psychology. However, comparatively small part of them has been connected with text comprehension of the students during educational process, especially the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of it. In this article, a phenomenon of metamemory and its role in self-regulated learning and development of text comprehension skills of students have been characterized. We have determined the direction for future research of self-regulated learning and metacognitive processes in the students’ text comprehension activities and their effective use in the educational process. Study of the metagognitive aspects of self-regulation and metamemory will help to improve self-monitoring and self-regulation of students’ training activity in text comprehension. The article characterizes the term of the metamemory phenomenon and its role in the process of self-regulated training and development of text comprehension skills. We have also distinguished possible directions of future researches in self-regulated training and metacognitive processes of students’ activity that is connected with text comprehension as well as with their efficient usage in the teaching process. The necessity of metamemory learning and the process of knowledge transmission in the monitoring-regulation-learning cycle have been distinguished. Theoretical model of metacognitive combination of metacognitive and cognitive processes such as sense of knowledge, metamemory judgments and their categories have been investigated. The conclusions about necessity of the future advanced study of the metamemory phenomenon and students’ training process self-regulation in text comprehension have been made. Possible directions of future researches in metacognition and self-regulation of university students’ studying activity in text comprehension as well as their efficient implementation into the teaching process have been determined.

scholarly journals Effects of Integrating Literary Texts in Enhancing the Quality of Academic Writing of University Students in Bahrain

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Fatima Talal Fakhroo ◽  
Abdulaziz Mohammad Bulaila
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Difficulties ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
The University

The research explored the effects of integrating literary texts on the writing performance of selected university students. It also documented the attitudes of the university students on the integration of literary texts in their regular writing course and their perceptions on the difficulties they encounter in the writing process. These research objectives were rationalized by the need to address the writing difficulties by applying theoretical assumptions and addressing the empirical gaps of previous studies on the effectiveness of literature as a rich resource in developing language competence. The research participants were composed of first year business students who were enrolled in an ESP course in one of the universities in Bahrain. Each group was composed of 35 students with an equal distribution of male and female participants. A mixed method approach was used to address the core research questions with the primary application of an experimental design. The results revealed that literary text integration is effective in improving the academic writing performance of the university student-participants as indicated by the statistical test, wherein the experimental group (m = 3.35) had a higher level of improvement than the control group (m = 2.93) in terms of their overall writing performance after the intervention. The student-respondents had a positive attitude towards the integration of literary text in their regular writing course. Writing difficulties included the process of writing the introduction, body, conclusions of their academic writing tasks, use of relevant vocabulary communicative achievement, organization, and language use. It was recommended that language teachers should incorporate literary texts that are related to the writing lessons. Educational administrators and leaders may revisit the curriculum and use the empirical results in developing a more relevant language curriculum especially in the area of writing instruction where literary texts could be integrated.

scholarly journals Teaching electronic literature in Russia: the NSTU initiative project

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-265
Author(s):  
Svetlana Anatolevna Kuchina
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Electronic Literature ◽  
Reading Experience ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
Research Goal

This paper seeks to summarize the experience of carrying out the NSTU initiative project in Russia aimed at integrating electronic literature into the educational process in higher education. The project involved multipurpose research which included different curriculum subjects (English as a second language, literature and pedagogy). Its educational goal was to present a digital narrative to different categories of Russian students. Firstly, to Russian students who study literature in order to train their skills in literary text analysis. Secondly, the Inanimate Alice episodes were presented to those who study English as a second language in order to train their traditional language skills (reading and listening comprehension, speaking and writing) in English through a digitally created reading experience. The research goal was to analyze both types of experiences and present a strategy for digital literary text integration in the educational process in Russia.

scholarly journals Stylistic device of the epithet of literary text as a means of teaching students a second foreign language

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Alexandra Viktorovna Guzova ◽  
Natal'ya Vasil'evna Savitskaya ◽  
Tat'yana Viktorovna Ivolina ◽  
Ol'ga Vital'evna Dedova
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Scientific Concepts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Stylistic Device

The goal of this article lies in determination of instances of application of epithets in learning a foreign language. The object of this research is teaching students a second foreign language, while the subject is the stylistic devices of epithets of literary texts. The author provides an overview of scientific literature on the topic, and outlines the fundamental scientific concepts of modern researchers. Analysis is conducted on the peculiarities and typological characteristics of epithets in the English and Russian languages. The author offers practical exercises for teaching foreign language based on literary texts containing epithets. The scientific novelty consist in revelation of the factors of application of epithets of literary texts that play an important role in learning a second language. Usage of epithets in teaching foreign language gives more profound understanding of culture and specifics of another language, which promotes better acquisition of the language. Special attention is given to the specifics of translation of various epithets from English to Russian and from Russian to English. The conclusion is made that usage of the stylistic features of epithets significantly affects the formation of linguocultural competences of the students learning a second foreign language.

Explanatory Annotation of Literary Texts and the Reader: Seven Types of Problems

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Bauer ◽  
Angelika Zirker
Keyword(s):  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Structured Information ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Common Problems

While most literary scholars wish to help readers understand literary texts by providing them with explanatory annotations, we want to go a step further and enable them, on the basis of structured information, to arrive at interpretations of their own. We therefore seek to establish a concept of explanatory annotation that is reader-oriented and combines hermeneutics with the opportunities provided by digital methods. In a first step, we are going to present a few examples of existing annotations that apparently do not take into account readerly needs. To us, they represent seven types of common problems in explanatory annotation. We then introduce a possible model of best practice which is based on categories and structured along the lines of the following questions: What kind(s) of annotations do improve text comprehension? Which contexts must be considered when annotating? Is it possible to develop a concept of the reader on the basis of annotations—and can, in turn, annotations address a particular kind of readership, i.e.: in how far can annotations be(come) individualised?

Teaching South African Sign Language as a second language to university students: an integrated pedagogy

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marga Stander ◽  
Annemarie Le Roux
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Specific Method ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Popular Language ◽  
Output Hypothesis

Abstract South African Sign Language (SASL) has become an increasingly popular language that hearing university students want to learn as a second language. This requires more qualified SASL instructors and new curricula at South African universities. This paper considers ways in which challenges associated with the teaching and learning of SASL can be overcome. Krashen’s Comprehension Input Hypothesis and Swain’s Output Hypothesis form the theoretical framework as reference to our own independent experience, praxis, and reflection. This study considered different teaching methods and pedagogies and found the post-method approach suggested by Kumaravadivelu (2003) a viable method for teaching SASL as a second language. This method aligns with the method we had independently identified as the most empowering for teachers to create their own strategies focused on their intuition, experiences and pedagogy. Therefore, we do not favour one specific method above another, but rather adopt an integrated approach. We make a few suggestions regarding sign language curriculum content and further research in sign language as an L2, which need urgent attention.

Bleibende Aufgaben einer phänomenologischen Literaturtheorie

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-273
Author(s):  
Eckhard Lobsien
Keyword(s):  
Literary Theory ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Radical Theory ◽  
Theory Of Reading ◽  
Phenomenological Point

Abstract What sort of object is a literary text? From a phenomenological point of view - phenomenology considered as both a radical theory of reading and a theory of radical reading - a range of answers arise, many of them tinged with deconstructive momentum. This paper aims at pointing out some basic issues in reading literary texts, offering ten theses on the enduring tasks of phenomenological literary theory.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Selected Obituaries In Nigerian Newspapers

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Oluwole Akinbode
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Social Meanings

Since the inception of Pragmatics as an independent approach to meaning has independent linguistic study, the approach to meaning has encountered an enormous change. Meaning has been perceived beyond the sentence level. The aim of this paper was to do a pragmatic analysis of selected obituaries in Nigerian newspapers; Nigerian Tribune, The Nation and The Punch. These papers were purposively selected because obituaries were regularly published and publicized through them in a mournful manner and this called for a critical linguistic study by analyzing the mournful use of language with a view to finding out their effects on the decoders. The study of language has been extended significantly beyond mere description of linguistic properties to the various ways which individual communicators convey meanings in different socio-cultural contexts. The theoretical framework for this study is pragmatics. This is because pragmatics has been able to account for social meanings and give new insights to the understanding of literary texts and thus, helping in formulating strategies for the teaching and learning of language. Three Nigerian newspapers namely Nigerian Tribune, The Nation and the Punch were purposively selected for data collection. Relevant texts on obituaries were extracted from them and were critically analyzed for the purpose of this study. It was found out that relatives and friends of the deceased publicized the death of the deceased as memories and sympathy for the departed souls. It is recommended that obituaries should be used for the teaching and learning of English as a Second Language because funerals and obituaries are a significant aspect of African culture.

scholarly journals Readability formulas: An analysis into reading index of prose forms

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 972-985
Author(s):  
Revathi Gopal ◽  
Mahendran Maniam ◽  
Noor Alhusna Madzlan ◽  
Siti Shuhaida binti Shukor ◽  
Kanmani Neelamegam
Keyword(s):  
Grade Level ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
School Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Reading Material ◽  
Reading Abilities ◽  
Text Selection ◽  
Readability Level ◽  
Readability Formulas

Text comprehension will suffer if the readability level is not accessible to the students. Readability formulas predict text complexity, assisting in appropriate text selection that complements students’ reading abilities to improve their language development. Therefore, the study aims to find out the reading index of the prose forms in the literature component catered to lower secondary school students ages 13 and 14 years old in Form One (seventh grade) and Form Two (eighth grade) classrooms in Malaysia. The reading index is measured by using four readability formulas which are Dale-Chall, Fog, SMOG, and Flesch-Kincaid that focuses on the words, sentences, syllables, and polysyllable words. These formulas are used to predict the level of difficulty of the prose forms. The reading index calculated from these readability formulas reveals the grade level of the prose forms. The grade level indicates the best age for reading and understanding the prose forms. Two prose forms were chosen as samples in the study. A passage is chosen from each prose form to be uploaded using the online tool. The indices obtained from the readability formulas predicted that both of the prose forms were below students’ reading age. The study implicates reading index must be taken into consideration in literary texts selection because it is an indicator of the years of education that an individual requires to comprehend the literary text clearly. Suitable reading material at students’ age level can enhance literature learning and teaching in the ESL classroom.

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