Misinterpretation 1

Lack of Understanding & Misinterpretation

In

Second language acquisition

A Second Language Research Proposal

Laura Viviana Cardona Riaza

ID Number EC-003-0055

Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí

 Misinterpretation 2

Table of Content

Introduction

I. Preliminary Information

A. Statement of the Problem

B. Purpose

C. Significance of the study

D. Research questions and/or hypotheses

E. Delimitations and Limitations

II. Literature Review

A. Text Citations

B. Direct Quotations

C. Inside the literature review

III. Methodology

A. Type of design

B. Data Collection Techniques

C. Data Collection Procedure

References
 Misinterpretation 3

Introduction

The base of getting an accurate communication is to understand what others say,

the issues become when a listener misinterpreted the speaker's message and it is due to

different phenomena such as intercultural communication, reference identification,

misconception, supposition, different phonological levels, a lack of vocabulary, different

dialects, misinterpreted gestures, and linguistic misunderstanding. This problem does

not only affect daily conversations, but also interfere the in the economy, jobs,

companies, families, and cultures, inasmuch as a lack of understanding a message can

make a controversy between two or more people which can separate important

relationships.
 Misinterpretation 4

I. Preliminary Information

A. Statement of the Problem

Lack of appropriate terminology in communication has made students from

communication and audiovisual technology I year afternoon session

misunderstood some idiomatic expressions in English.

B. Purpose

Understand the causes or effects of some of the problems of misunderstanding

communication among cultures.

C. Significance of the Study

This study is important because “Misinterpretation” covers a range of ways of

communication and the researcher identifies three of them (a) Idiomatic

expressions (b) Lack of formal words (c) Lack of L2 vocabulary. On the other

hand, this study is important to everybody, whether native, foreign, student,

worker or a member of a family and culture. So if this study is done the research

will identify the area of communication that a person has a lack of accuracy.

D. Research Questions
1. Does misunderstanding of messages occur because of somebody’s
pronunciation?

2. Does the misunderstanding of words occur because of somebody’s culture?

3. Can idiomatic expressions cause misinterpretation in a conversation?

4. Can the lack of a word meaning make you misunderstand a text?

5. Can gestures be misinterpreted?

 Misinterpretation 5

6. A person who is using informal words can be misinterpreted?

7. Keeping a standard vocabulary can decrease vocabulary among different cultures?

8. Using a sophisticated vocabulary can decrease misinterpretation?

9. Does the lack of vocabulary generate misunderstanding in a second language

classroom?

Definition of Terms

Yus (1999a, p. 10; 1999b, p. 218) defines misunderstanding as: (a) the addressee's

inability to select one interpretation, among all the possible interpretations that a

stimulus can have in a context C, which is precisely the interpretation that the

address or intends to communicate; and (b) the addressee's inability to process

optimally the contextual information that the socio-cultural environment exudes, as

it were, without any prior intentionality in its communication. Weigand (1999) tries

to define the standard case of misunderstanding. Following a model of Dialogic

action games, she proposes five constitutive features of misunderstanding:

Misunderstanding is a form of understanding which is partially or totally deviate

from what the speaker intended to communicate. As a form of understanding, it

refers to the reverse side of meaning or to the reverse side of the utterance, and

represents a cognitive phenomenon belonging to the interlocutor.

 Misinterpretation 6

E. Delimitations and Limitations

Limitation

The research can identify potential weaknesses of the study in the variety of

utterance, pronunciation, different intercultural communication.

It provides that always will be a misunderstanding because it is difficult to cover

a whole culture.

Delimitation

The research will be focused on

(a) Idiomatic expressions

(b) Lack of formal words

(c) Lack of L2 vocabulary.

II. Literature Review

Most of misunderstanding studies concentrated on the causes of misunderstanding.

Milroy (1984), for instance, tackles dialectical misunderstandings, i.e.

misunderstandings which arise between people using different dialects, aiming at

highlighting the sources of misunderstanding in cross-dialectal communication.

Examining material of miscommunication data from Hiberno-English dialect, Milroy

 Misinterpretation 7

III. Methodology

Participants

Initially, 15 learners aged from 18 to 23 made students from communication and

audiovisual technology I year afternoon session, including both males and females went

to the research voluntarily. Then, the research went to their classroom to give them the

questionnaire they ticked the answer that they believed was according to the cause of

misunderstanding.

A. Type of design

Exploratory Research: Ask students W/Questions with how and what and why?

The goals of exploratory research are intended to produce the following possible

insights:

(a) Idiomatic expressions

(b) Lack of formal words

(c) Lack of L2 vocabulary.

B. Data Collection Techniques

Questionnaire

Observation
 Misinterpretation 8

C. Data Collection Procedures

The present research employed quantitative method and questionnaire. The procedure

consisted of the following questions:

Question YES NO %
1. In relation of misunderstanding can 13 2 86,6%
occur because of somebody’s
pronunciation

2. In relation of misunderstanding can 11 4 73,3%

occur because of somebody’s culture
3. In relation of idiomatic expressions 13 2 86,6%
make misinterpretation in a
conversation
4. In relation with the lack of a word 11 4 73,3%
meaning make misunderstanding in a
text.
5. In relation of gestures might be 13 2 86,6%
misinterpreted
6. In relation with a person who is using 9 6 60%
informal words can be misinterpreted

7. Keeping a standard vocabulary can 9 6 60%

decrease vocabulary among different
cultures
8. In relation of using a sophisticated 7 8 53,3%
vocabulary can decrease
misinterpretation
9 In relation with the lack of 13 2 86,6%
vocabulary generate misunderstanding in
a second language classroom

1. In relation of misunderstanding can occur because of somebody’s pronunciation,

13 students say yes that means 86,6% are unable to understand a text when they

do know the meaning of a word.

2. In relation of misunderstanding can occur because of somebody’s culture 11

students said yes that means 73,3% are unable to understand words that are not
 Misinterpretation 9

common in every culture.

3. In relation of idiomatic expressions make misinterpretation in a conversation 13

students said yes that means 86, 6% are unable to understand a foreign when

she/he uses idiomatic expressions in a conversation.

4. In relation with the lack of a word meaning make misunderstanding in a text 11

students said yes, that means 73,3% are unable to understand a text if they do not

know the meaning of the word.

5. In relation of gestures might be misinterpreted 13 students said yes, that means

73, 3% misinterpreted gestures from foreign people.

6. In relation with a person who is using informal words can be misinterpreted 9

students said yes, that means 60 % are unable to understand when people use

colloquial words.

7. Keeping a standard vocabulary can decrease misinterpretation among different

cultures 9 students said yes, 60% are sure of using vocabulary that the majority

of people know, they can decrease misunderstanding among cultures.

8. In relation to using a sophisticated vocabulary can decrease misinterpretation 8

students said no, 53,3 % disagreed. Sophisticated vocabulary can cause

misunderstanding in a conversation

9. In relation with the lack of vocabulary generate misunderstanding in a second

language classroom 13 students said yes, that means 86, 6% are unable to

understand a second language without vocabulary.

 Misinterpretation 10

MISUNDESTANDING
 Misinterpretation 11

References

Kibriya Abdul-Kadhim Jasim . ( January 2017). Interactive Aspects of

Misunderstanding in Net Chatting . ResearchGate. Anbar University Journal of
Language & Literature Recuperado de
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323187653_Interactive_Aspects_of_Misunder
standing_in_Net_Chatting?enrichId=rgreq-257edb564239e5ccb8d2418ba90ce2aa-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMyMzE4NzY1MztBUzo1OTQyNTczNTgzN
jg3NjhAMTUxODY5MzQwMzQzOQ%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPd
f

Kibriya Abdul-Kadhim Jasim . ( January 2017). Interactive Aspects of

Misunderstanding in Net Chatting . ResearchGate. Anbar University Journal
of Language & Literature Recuperado de
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323187653_Interactive_Aspects_of_
Misunderstanding_in_Net_Chatting?enrichId=rgreq-
257edb564239e5ccb8d2418ba90ce2aa-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMyMzE4NzY1MztBUzo1OTQyN
TczNTgzNjg3NjhAMTUxODY5MzQwMzQzOQ%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc
=publicationCoverPdf

Kibriya Abdul-Kadhim Jasim . ( January 2017). Interactive Aspects of

Misunderstanding in Net Chatting . ResearchGate. Anbar University Journal
of Language & Literature Recuperado de
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323187653_Interactive_Aspects_of_
Misunderstanding_in_Net_Chatting?enrichId=rgreq-
257edb564239e5ccb8d2418ba90ce2aa-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMyMzE4NzY1MztBUzo1OTQyN
TczNTgzNjg3NjhAMTUxODY5MzQwMzQzOQ%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc
=publicationCoverPdf

Kibriya Abdul-Kadhim Jasim . ( January 2017). Interactive Aspects of

Misunderstanding in Net Chatting . ResearchGate. Anbar University Journal
of Language & Literature Recuperado de
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323187653_Interactive_Aspects_of_
Misunderstanding_in_Net_Chatting?enrichId=rgreq-
257edb564239e5ccb8d2418ba90ce2aa-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMyMzE4NzY1MztBUzo1OTQyN
TczNTgzNjg3NjhAMTUxODY5MzQwMzQzOQ%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc
=publicationCoverPdf