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STUDENTS READING EXPERIENCES IN A

FOREIGN AND MATERIAL LANGUAGE
Nominalize research questions

Elia Isabel Mendoza Camargo

Universidad del Atlántico- Facultad de ciencias de la educación

English level II

Grandfield hta

Group 15

5 November 2021
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TITLE: STUDENTS READING EXPERIENCES IN FOREIGN

AND MATERNAL LENGUAGES

ABSTRACT

This research, aimed at the experience of students using and applying the 4 skills of a

foreign language, consisting of listening, writing, speaking, and reading. The purpose of

this analysis is to interpret and examine each of the strategies, methods and procedures used

at the time of putting into practice each of the skills mentioned before. Likewise, this

research aims to study each of the methods involved, when trying to learn and develop

these skills, related to languages not belonging to their mother language, such as English,

German, and French. In the same way, through the questions asked throughout this project,

answer these questions, which will allow me to find each of the factors related to reading or

writing in another language, outside of Spanish.

In order to carry out this process, it was necessary to have people to talk about these

processes, carried out individually in this study, therefore, the population of this analysis

has two women, over 18 years old and under 26, who, through each of their answers, I

could compare and acquire a vision at the time of studying two or more languages.

Therefore, each one of these points that make up my research was carried out by me, Elia

Isabel Mendoza Camargo, in the city of Barranquilla, belonging to the program of

educational sciences, with a degree in foreign languages, with emphasis on English and

French at the Universidad del Atlántico.

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Keys word: Language, surveys, analysis, skills, knowledge, abilities, reading, writing,

speaking, listening, interview, internationality, languages, speech, processes, education,

pedagogical models, foreign language.

INTRODUCTION

Our calendar in the world is almost marking the end of a year with so many difficulties,

obstacles and variants, which we have had to face and adapt, as hard as it may be, to each

of them in order to survive and pass such calamities. Putting a little in context and being

more specific, we have faced a lethal virus, such as covid-19, which has modified every

aspect of what we used to call "daily life".

Considering these changes, the mode of education, in turn, took a 180° turn, thus taking the

teaching from the virtuality. Bringing as a consequence, new ways of learning, and in this

case, new strategies when starting with a new language. That is why the objective of this

project is to take the answers to my questions related to the strategies used by my

population, in order to make a complete analysis and compare ways of learning, since theirs

was a different process from mine.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

In this space of literature review, it is necessary to talk about the key concepts of this

research project, which will guide you throughout this project, which in turn will serve as a

basis in the creation of each of the topics, which in turn will serve as a basis in the creation

of each of the topics, which in the same way, are derived to finally complete the final
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questions, essential in this project. For the same reason, it is important to know about the

definitions of the methodologies and strategies to be used by each of the interviewees.

First of all, I will begin by defining what a research project is, how it is developed and what

its purpose is. So, we have that a research project is the plan that is developed prior to the

realization of a research work. Its objective is to present, in a methodical and organized

way, a set of data and information about a problem in order to formulate a hypothesis

aimed at its resolution.

In this sense, the research project is a previous evaluation of the problem, its scope and

importance, as well as the resources that will be necessary for the development of the

research work.

Research projects are carried out based on a scientific methodology, which gives them rigor

and validity. They can be developed not only in the area of science, but also in the

humanities, technology, the arts, political and legal sciences, social sciences, etc.

Research Project means a discrete scientific endeavor to answer a research question or a set

of research questions. A Research Project must include a description of a defined protocol,

clearly articulated goal(s), defined methods and outputs, and a defined start and end date.

Continuing with the definition of these terms, we have what are the 4 skills, which will

allow us, the students who are just starting in this new facet or as a new student of foreign

languages, to explore each of the particularities that contain each language as they are, in

this case, being more specific, English, French and German. That is why, as I said before, it

is necessary to have complete clarity in the development of each activity. But, before we

define them, it’s important to know what they are. So, we must ask, what are language

skills?
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Language skills are related to different aspects of language use. In other words, they are

those that allow us to communicate effectively with other people.

Language training involves developing analytical skills to understand how language works

and how it is used to communicate our message. Having language skills means that you are

well versed in the grammar, structure, phonology, semantics, etc. of one or more languages.

What are language skills?

The four language skills (also known as the keys of language skills) are a set of four

abilities that enable an individual to understand and produce spoken language for

appropriate and effective interpersonal communication.

So, let’s going to look, what they are, these skills are listening (listening comprehension),

speaking (oral expression), reading (reading comprehension) and writing (written

expression). In the context of first language acquisition, the four skills are most often

acquired in the order of listening first, then speaking, then possibly reading and writing.

These four skills are also referred to as macro linguistic or language skills, since they are a

set of complex abilities that allow a person to act effectively and efficiently. These macro

skills refer to good "know-how" and integrate conceptual content such as "knowing",

procedural content such as "doing" and attitudinal content such as "being".

Next, we will see what each one of them consists of separately and 3 necessary

characteristics or 3 elements to consider in each one of them.

 Listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is understanding what is heard. Listening and is the first linguistic

skill we acquire in our mother tongue. It is what is known as a receptive skill, or a passive

skill, as it requires us to use our ears and our brains to understand language as it is spoken
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to us. It is the first of two natural language skills, which are required by all natural spoken

languages.

 Hearing and understanding what is said

 Serves to understand the ideas of others

 Necessary to understand what is being said

Oral expression

Speaking is expressing oneself correctly. Speaking is the second language we acquire in our

mother tongue. It is what is known as a productive skill, or an active skill, as it requires us

to use our vocal tract and our brain to correctly produce language through sound. It is the

second of two natural language skills.

 Emitting articulate sounds or words

 Serves to express our ideas and feelings

 It is the main form of communication

Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is understanding what one reads. Reading is the third linguistic

skill we can acquire in our native language. As with listening, it is a receptive or passive

skill, as it requires us to use our eyes and our brain to understand the written equivalent of

spoken language. It is one of two artificial language skills, as not all natural spoken

languages have a writing system.

 Decoding a written message

 It is used to understand everything from instructions to information

 The reader must know the written symbols

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Written expression

Written expression is knowing how to write correctly. Writing is the fourth linguistic skill

that we can acquire in our mother tongue. As with speaking, it is a productive or active

skill, as it requires us to use our hands and our brain to produce the written symbols that

represent our spoken language. Along with reading, it is one of the two artificial language

skills, since not all natural spoken languages have a writing system.

 Expressing ideas through symbols

 Serves to express and communicate

 Symbols change according to culture

Having the concepts of the skills with complete clarity, it is worth highlighting a key issue,

which is the development of linguistic competencies.

To become a complete communicator as a learner, it is necessary to master each of the four

language skills. These four skills give us learners the opportunity to create contexts in

which to use language to exchange real information, communicate with others outside,

demonstrate one's own ability (proof of learning) and, most importantly, gain confidence.

However, listening and reading are receptive skills because we do not need to produce the

language, but receive and understand it, for example, when listening to music or watching

movies in the foreign language. These skills can sometimes be called passive. Moving on,

we continue with the so-called productive skills, such as speaking and writing, because we

apply these skills with the need to produce the language. They are also known as active

skills.

Another essential point in these definitions is that why is it important to master language

skills?
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Being a foreign language learner is not only about learning each of the specifics of a

foreign language, but also, by maintaining the correct use of language, it allows us to

connect with people, not only through what we say, but how we understand each other and

relate to each other. Communication goes beyond the spoken and written word, it is about

appreciating other cultures and understanding different ways of doing business.

The importance of having a good command of language is such that, depending on certain

nuances and subtleties, we can establish strong connections or not, it can be the difference

between establishing real and lasting personal relationships or not.

Having finished the concepts and importance of language skills, which are key to be able to

develop in a new language (not our mother tongue), many times we, as learners, have asked

ourselves, which are the most appropriate or easiest learning methods, so that we, as the

receiver, can absorb all the information in the best way. The answer is that, if we insist on

using the same methodology as every student or other people, what we will achieve is, in

the best case, to acquire the language easily or, on the other hand, not to achieve it so easily

or, simply, to say, "German is not for me" and thus abandon the studies.

Given the responses of my population, in this research, I can say that on several occasions,

we have found teachers where the methodology was imposed by themselves, without

showing an improvement in learning on the part of the students; or on the contrary, teachers

who use a single strategy when transmitting their knowledge and teaching the given

language. This is not a bad thing. Sometimes, it is better to have a single well-acquired

method, than to know a lot of methodologies that will result in us not really knowing much

about any of them and therefore not being able to apply them efficiently.
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However, it is necessary to know each of the methods used at the time of making the

teaching/learning relationship between teachers and students. There are several methods

used historically to teach languages. Each one has had its time and can be better or worse

for each type of student. In the following, we will look at the most commonly used methods

around the world:

 Grammar and translation method. This has traditionally been the method used to

learn classical languages (Latin and Greek). It basically consists of learning the

grammatical rules of the language and translating texts. Nowadays it is not normally

used to teach a modern language. However, in part, it is similar to the method

chosen, unknowingly, by some people who learn a language only by listening to

songs, translating their lyrics, watching movies or series, with the audio in the

language to be learned and the subtitles in the person's mother tongue.

 Direct or natural method. This is the one where learning is done through direct oral

communication. It is, if you think about it, the method we use when we are children

to learn our mother tongue. We speak, we listen, we make mistakes, we repeat, we

do not learn grammar but rather we intuit or deduce it, and in the end, we end up

speaking the language correctly.

 Audio-lingual method. It is based on the repetition of words, phrases or dialogues.

The student learns, in this way, to speak and listen, leaving the skills of reading or

writing for when the knowledge is acquired. Grammar is not studied since it is

assumed that it is learned naturally.

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 Communicative approach. More than a methodology, it is a way of looking at

learning. It is based on the idea that language is basically used for communication

between people and the objective is, therefore, to improve all aspects included in

this communication. Importance is given to all skills and grammar also occupies a

place in the teaching process. It is a method that places special emphasis on

interaction and the use of the language in real situations.

Although the most used method nowadays is the communicative approach, no system can

be discarded, since each one can be good for learning different concepts or even different

languages, emphasizing that each of us are different people, with different intelligences and

learning methods than the rest of the people around us. In the same way, it is possible that

one may feel more comfortable with one or another way of learning. It is not the same, for

example, to teach Spanish vocabulary to an Italian student as to a Chinese one. The former

can learn it simply by listening to the teacher, with almost no need to study, while the latter

needs time to understand the spelling of the word, the correct pronunciation and to repeat a

thousand times what he wants to learn.

METHOD

NATURE OF STUDY:

Since this research belongs to the descriptive research, because I, as the creator of this

analysis, am interested in knowing the methods and strategies used by my population

(women over 18 years old who are studying in higher semesters), as well as how they lived

this process of learning a language different from our mother tongue, experiencing it from

the presentiality, because, on the contrary, I am doing it because of this pandemic from the
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virtuality. It is for this reason that a complete explanation of what this descriptive research

is must be considered.

Therefore, we have that descriptive research is in charge of punctuating the characteristics

of the population that is studying. This methodology focuses more on the "what" rather

than the "why" of the research subject. In other words, its objective is to describe the nature

of a demographic segment, without focusing on the reasons why a given phenomenon

occurs. That is, it "describes" the research subject, without covering "why" it occurs.

For example, if I, as the owner of "Olimpica" superstores want to understand the fashion

buying trends or best-selling products among my population or department in Colombia, a

demographic survey of this region will be conducted, which will collect population data

and then conduct descriptive research on this demographic segment. The research will then

uncover details about "what is the buying pattern of buyers in Colombia or the department”

but will not cover any details about "why" those patterns are obtained, since for the apparel

brand trying to enter this market, understanding the nature of its market is the objective of

the study.

Characteristics of descriptive research

So, descriptive research refers to the research design, question creation and data analysis

that will be conducted on the topic. It is also known as observational research method

because none of the variables that are part of the study are influenced.

Quantitative research: Descriptive research is a method that attempts to collect

quantifiable information to be used in the statistical analysis of the sample population. It is

a popular marketing research tool that allows to collect and describe the nature of the

demographic segment.
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Uncontrolled variables: In descriptive research, none of the variables are influenced in any

way, but use observational methods to conduct the study. Therefore, the nature of the

variables or their behavior is not in the hands of the researcher.

Cross-sectional studies: Descriptive research, generally, is a cross-sectional study of

different sections belonging to the same group.

Basis for further research: Data collected and analyzed from descriptive research can be

further investigated using different techniques. In addition, they help determine the types of

research methods to be used for subsequent research.

Now, where, and when to use descriptive research?

Descriptive research can be used in multiple ways and for multiple reasons. However,

before entering any type of survey, defining its objectives and design is very important.

But, despite following these steps, there is no way to know if the desired result will be

achieved. To understand the goal of the research, here are some ways organizations

currently use descriptive research:

- Define respondent characteristics: The goal of using closed-ended questions is to

draw specific conclusions about respondents. Find patterns, traits and behaviors. It

could also be to understand respondents' attitudes or opinions about the

phenomenon in question.

- Measuring data trends: Data trends can be measured over time through the statistical

power of descriptive research.

PARTICIPANTS: 
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Participants:

My population being, the students of the University of Atlantico, my sample is composed,

by two female, foreign language students of semesters 5 and 7 respectively. The first one,

24 years old
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