A prática reading e listening na aquisição léxico-semântica e na proficiência em inglês como língua adicional.

Abstract

Learning an additional language (AL), not only in childhood or adolescence but also in adulthood, is a current need and several studies have investigated how to carry out this learning in the best possible way and in a reasonable time. A strategy that perhaps may contribute to the acquisition of incidental and explicit learning of vocabulary and to the increasing of general linguistic input is Reading-while-listening, which consists of listening and reading simultaneously texts in the target language (BROWN et al., 2008; CHANG, 2011; CHANG; MILLET, 2014; TENG, 2016; NAKASHIMA; STEPHENS; KAMATA, 2018). Through the Reading-while-listening practice, we can acquire lexical, semantic, phonological, syntactic and pragmatic knowledge and, thus, improve our performance in the target language. On the other hand, we can ask whether the simultaneous exposure to oral and visual input in the target language would cause an overload to the working memory, leading the attentional system to choose one source of information, neglecting the other. An issue that emerges in this scenario is the following: Is it better to just listen to the text in the target language or is it better to listen and read the text simultaneously? In this doctoral dissertation, we review studies on the acquisition of English as an Additional Language (EAL) which compared Reading-while listening, Reading-only and Listening-only practices, seeking positive and negative aspects highlighted in each learning situation. Based on this state-of-the-art overview, this research has the general objective of verifying whether the Reading-while-listening practice in English can optimize lexical-semantic acquisition in an additional language and improve reading comprehension and listening comprehension of learners of English. As specific objectives, we sought to: 1 - compare comprehension in English as AL in three experimental conditions: Reading-only, Listening-only and Reading-while-listening; 2 - to find out if (silent) reading in English as AL (Reading-only) provides the learning of the meaning of words; 3 - investigate whether the Listening-only practice provides lexical-semantic learning; 4 - investigate whether the Reading-while-listening practice of books promotes lexical-semantic learning; 5 - Investigate whether exposure to silent reading - Reading-only, Reading-while-listening and Listening-only practice, even if limited to the data production time of this research, leads to an increase in the general score on the Michigan English Test as a general post-test . In order to achieve these goals, we recruited twenty-two students enrolled in a language course in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul, with an average age of 20.3 years. Participants' proficiency has been measured using the Michigan English Test. In this study, participants answered pre tests and read, read and listened, and also only listened to audiobooks. At the end of these stages, participants wrote retellings about each book and responded to post-tests with ten target words present in the audiobooks and took the Michigan English Test again as a general post-test of proficiency to measure whether there was an increase in listening comprehension and reading comprehension scores. The main findings can be summarized as follows: 1 - Reading-while listening was the second most favorable condition for higher scores in post-tests and Reading only, for the retellings; 2 - the Reading-while-listening practice can be an effective pedagogical strategy for lexical-semantic acquisition and development of proficiency in English as an additional language, in addition to contributing to increase motivation and attention to the written and phonological forms of the additional language; 3 - The Listening-only condition was the one that presented the smallest contribution, both in the post-tests and in the retellings, perhaps because, due to the lack of visual input, comprehension was lower. On the other hand, the advanced level participants seem to have an effective understanding even without having the visual input, perhaps because due to their high proficiency, the supramodal linguistic representation is already consolidated. However, depending on the task, as in the case of writing retellings, some advanced participants may still have difficulties in pedagogical interventions without the visual input provided by the written text. By different measures, all three conditions lead to increased scores on the Michigan English Test as a general posttest. With this doctoral dissertation, we seek to advance research on methodologies that can optimize English language learning, expanding exposure to the language and providing more linguistic knowledge.