Transcript Psycho-linguistic Research

Psycholinguistic Research
Topic: “Why do we study
foreign languages?”
group 301
Project Portfolio
• Subject: applied Linguistics, theory of intercultural
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communication, psycholinguistics;
Language level: advanced;
Participants: third year students of the Faculty of
Foreign Languages;
Age: 20-22;
Number of participants: 10;
Way of work: in- and outclass work;
Time of project work: 6 weeks.
Project Group:
 Osintseva T.N.- organization, management;
 Zhyvych O., Ovechkina J.- creating
questionnaires, presentation;
 Kuznestova D., Klimenko A.- investigating
non-linguistic students’ group, Internet
resources;
 Bakina J., Chertovikova D.- investigating
linguistic students’ group;
 Scherbakova I., Choroschych N.investigating engineers’ group;
 Polityko J.- analyzing and comparing the
results, Microsoft Power Point presentation.
Educational Objectives
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Development of project skills, of using a foreign
language for the purpose of getting sociolinguistic
data (concerning the goals of foreign language
learning);
Development of the ability to conduct linguistic
projects using the mother tongue (as well as a
foreign language);
Fostering the ability to think and process data
logically and critically, the ability to be broadminded and unprejudiced;
Broadening of the linguistic (professional)
horizons, awareness in the problem of foreign
language learning in different age and professional
groups;
Developing the capacity for empiric investigations.
Pedagogical Objectives
Developing linguistic competence
(studying specific lexical units when
preparing the project);
 Developing cultural competence
(studying the results of similar
investigations conducted abroad);
 Developing methodological
competence (skills of obtaining and
processing sociolinguistic information).
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Project Goals :
• comparing the goals of a second language
learning concerning different age groups;
• singling out the most “popular” second language
in this country and abroad and the reasons for
its popularity;
• defining the main factors of motivation for
language learning on an international scale.
Project Work
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Organization stage- stating the problem of research,
its objectives, individual activity planning, defining the
stages and the dates of conducting the project;
 Research stage- working upon the contents of the
project, creating questionnaires and conducting a
sociolinguistic research, comparing its results to those of
similar investigations made abroad;
 Testing the project- assessing the results of the
research, presenting the results, selecting material for
the conference;
 Analyzing the Results of the project;
 The “Feedback” Stage- presentation of the project
results at the city teachers’ conference;
Project Objectives:
• creating questionnaires to get the sociolinguistic
information we are interested in;
• conducting the above-mentioned psycholinguistic
research in different groups; criteria: linguistic competence
(generally monolingual or bilingual, professional
identification, age group);
• processing the data (analytical and statistical methods);
• singling out the motivation and objectives of foreign
language learning in Russia;
• comparing the motivation and goals of a second
language learning in this country and abroad (analyzing
similar international research data).
Our Motivation
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“Aspects of English Language Teaching”, credit
work;
Acuteness of the topic nowadays, increased interest in
the problem of foreign language learning in the
modern society;
Presentation of the project at the city teachers’
conference;
Instrumental motivation (unusual investigation form,
getting valuable linguistic information);
Mass media response ( the Internet).
Informational and Technical Sources
Internet recourses;
 The USPU library;
 The British Council Library;
 Scientific archives of the conductors
and participants of the project.
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The Research Instrument:
• Question 1. 3 choices for each item.
-The
-The
-The
-The
-The
-The
most beautiful language
ugliest language
most difficult
easiest language
richest language
poorest language
• Question 2. This language is… (3 associations for each
language).
-English
-German
-Russian
-French
-Italian
-Spanish
The Research Instrument
• Question 3. This language is suitable for…
(3 opportunities for each language).
-English
-Russian
-German
-French
-Italian
-Spanish
Russia’s Favourites
 Group: Students of non-linguistic faculties of universities
 Age: 18-22
Would Actually Like to Study...
Personal Preferences
English
20%
French
French
50%
Italian
English
English
24%
Others
49%
English
French
Japanese
Italian
30%
Japanese
9%
French
18%
Others
NB! 100% of students suppose that the RICHEST language is…
Russian!!!
Reasons for Language
Study:
 English: practical reasons travelling,
business, international communication, worldwide popularity;
 Russian (!): developing rhetorical skills;
 German: travelling, Philosophy study;
 French: romance letters, taking part in creative
activities abroad;
 Italian: studying musical terms;
 Spanish: travelling, romance.
Russia’s Favourites-2
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Group: Students of linguistic faculties of universities;
Age: 18-22
Personal Preferences
30
Answers
20
Would Actually Like to Study
16
14
12
21
7
10
15
10
4
8
8
6
6
0
French
Italian
Languages
Russian
4
2
0
2
English
French
German
Spanish
NB! Russian is thought to be the richest language by 88% of
respondents (Arabic, English- 6% of votes).
Reasons for Language Study:
 English: needs of business communication,
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international communication, language of
politics;
Russian: developing literary skills, reading,
communication with native people;
German: scientific research, military matters,
business communication;
French: romance letters, art, everyday life;
Italian: romance, art (music, singing);
Spanish: romance (passion), singing,
quarrels(!).
Russia’s Favourites-3
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Group: Industrial workers and engineers;
Age: 25-30.
Would Actually Like to Study
Personal Preferences
25
24
20
20
Answers
14
15
13
15
11
Answers 10
8
10
5
5
5
0
17
0
French
Russian
Languages
Italian
French
English
Italian
Others
Languages
NB! Russian is again acknowledged as THE RICHEST language
by the absolute majority.
Russia’s Favourites-4
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Group: industrial workers and engineers;
Age: 30-40.
Would Actually Like to Study
Personal Preferences
30
28
20
25
14
15
20
Answers 15
Answers 10
10
6
5
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18
5
4
5
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French
Italian
Languages
Russian
English
French
Italian
Languages
NB! Russian is thought to be the richest language by the
absolute majority of respondents (only 5% voted for Japanese).
Reason for Language Study:
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English: international communication, computer
work, business;
Russian: everyday communication, literary
skills, for EVERYTHING;
German: commands and curses (!), business,
handling technique;
French: romance, travelling, music;
Italian: music (songs and opera), travelling,
curses;
Spanish: carnivals, music, travelling, watching
corrida.
… And Non-Favourites
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The most difficult language is…
Linguistic Students: German and Japanese
(23,5%).
Non-Linguistic Students: Japanese (31%).
Engineers (up to 30): Russian (38%);
Engineers (over 30): Russian (56%).
The UGLIEST Language…
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Linguistic Students: German (23,5%).
Non-Linguistic Students: German (50%).
Engineers (up to 30): German (49%).
Engineers (over 30): German (67,5%).
NB! The less language-oriented people are,
the stronger the traditional prejudices
operate…
Conclusions:
In all professional and language groups the desire
to learn English prevails;
This desire is, however, not always dictated by
personal preferences (e.g., many people declare
French to be the most beautiful and romantic
language);
The popularity of English is accounted for by its
use as a world Lingua Franca;
For younger people professional or practical
interest in language learning prevails;
For older people internal motivation is more
important (language for entertainment).
Europe Favourites
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English is the language most widely spoken in the EU (47% of
people; for only 16% it’s the mother tongue);
Apart from English, the rank order of languages more or less follows the
order of inhabitants:
Language
German
French
Italian
Spanish
The Mother
Tongue for...
24%
16%
16%
11%
A Second
Language
for...
8%
12%
2%
4%
Reasons for Language Study:
• Half of Europe is already multilingual,
intercultural and international communication
have increased;
• Linguistic study is mainly confined to three
languages (English, French and German)- the
three most “useful” languages to know;
• English is the first foreign language in education
in all EU Member States (89% non-anglophone
pupils);
• The most popular language the students
choose is Spanish (it is said to become a
secondary language of the United Sates);
Half of Europe is already Multilingual
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45% of European citizens can take part in a conversation in a
language other than their mother tongue
There are large variations between the Member States...
In Luxembourg, nearly everyone speaks another language well
enough to hold a conversation
This is also true for more than 8 in 10 people living in the
Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.
People in the UK, Ireland and Portugal are least likely to speak
another language, with less than a third of these population saying
they can do this.
Apart from their mother tongue, around 3 in 4 people in the
Netherlands, Denmark (77%) and Sweden (75%) can speak English
well enough to take part in a conversation
Other countries where many people know German are the
Netherlands (59%) and Denmark (49%).
The place of languages in the educational
systems
Latest figures indicate that the teaching of languages in primary school is
growing in Europe: in Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium-Flanders,
Greece, Spain, Austria, Finland and Sweden, more than 33% of primary
pupils are learning a foreign language.
The teaching of languages in compulsory education in more widespread
than before: In Denmark, Greece, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal,
and the United Kingdom, teaching of a foreign language is obligatory for a
longer period than it was ten years ago.
In Ireland, Italy and Greece, only one foreign language is generally taught;
elsewhere, two or three languages are studied, or can be studied.
Between the ages 12 and 18, the total number of hours devoted to
language learning varies from 6 hours per week in Portugal to 1 - 3 hours
per week in Belgium (Wallonia), in Greece, in Ireland and in Italy.
Proportion speaking a foreign language
well enough to take part in a
conversation
Socio-demographic group
%
Students
Educated 20 +
Managers
Aged 15-24
Employees
Aged 25-39
Self-employed
Men
Average for EU 15
Educated to age 16-19
Aged 40-54
Women
Manual Workers
Unemployed
House persons
Aged 55+
Retired
77%
72%
69%
65%
57%
55%
50%
47%
45%
44%
43%
43%
41%
40%
31%
28%
26%
English Language Polls
Which language is the most
difficult?
Chinese 34.02 % (1576)
It depends 18.26 % (846)
English 17.35 % (804)
Russian 9.76 % (452)
Czech 4.60 % (213)
Urdu 4.12 % (191)
Spanish 2.14 % (99)
No language is harder than another 9.76 % (452)
Total votes: 4633
COMMENTS:
• italianbrother - 26th December 2003 01:49
It depends on the student itself, though Chinese, or Japanese, or
Arabic, would seem to me quite difficult to learn, however, for
another student Latin, or Italian, or French might be as difficult as
the latter languages are to me.
• Xanch - 19th February 2004 05:52
it's supposed that the most difficult languages are the latin ones
cause those has more expressions and are the most "exact"
languages (also German) .
• Mark - 3rd March 2004 00:18
English is one of the easiest most common languages on the planet.
At the time of writing this comment, I've been studying English for
one year and half.
COMMENTS:
• Kamil_Rak - 5th May 2004 02:15
I say the most difficult language is Polish because of its
grammar, pronunciation and so many, many, many, other
things and rules. Barok! I learn Chinese and Japanese,
also. It is very easy.
• tdol - 8th May 2004 01:33
I'm trying to learn Japanese and it is very difficult
coming from English.
COMMENTS:
• queenmaabd - 25th October 2004 23:57
I believe all languages as equally difficult (or easy!). We
all master most grammatical language hurdles by the
age of five, no matter what language we are learning!
• Marek - 25th January 2005 16:47
I presume that for me the most difficult language to
learn would be Chinese, though it has simple grammar
rules, but thinking is quite different than in Indoeuropean tongues.
COMMENTS:
• Tom trig - 28th March 2005 17:41
That all depends on your native language. For a Japanese person,
Mandarin Chinese is a lot easier than English.
• anna - 5th July 2005 20:57
Have you ever heard anything about Armenian language, both
Western and Eastern? It is extremely difficult!!!!!!
• gustoenglish - 27th July 2005 18:14
It depends on the native language of course, but if there are a
myriad of rule exceptions, it makes learning a language very
difficult. Japanese is a bear!.
Final Conclusions:
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In non-linguistic groups the desire to learn a foreign language
is defined by personal preferences (“I like the way the
language sounds…”). In linguistic groups of students the
interest is professional, as well as practical.
People actually learn English in the majority of cases, as it
is the most taught, useful and required foreign language
nowadays. The lack of motivation is sometimes accounted for
by traditional convictions as to the beauty of the Russian
language (esp. in elderly groups).
In Europe motivation for language learning is dictated by
practical needs: travelling, real communication (small
distances).
In Russia motivation for language learning is enhanced by
professional needs (teaching, computer work generally). Older
people are interested in language learning mainly for
entertainment.