Papers by Judit Navracsics
The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism, 2022
MLA, 2021
Previous research on metalinguistic awareness has revealed its crucial role in successful additio... more Previous research on metalinguistic awareness has revealed its crucial role in successful additional language learning experience. Scholars (e.g., Alderson et al, 1997) were interested in the possible effects of individual difference variables, chief among which are motivation and proficiency, on learners' metalinguistic awareness level. The present study focuses on motivation and proficiency, exploring their relationships with the metalinguistic awareness of multilingual and bilingual learners of Hungarian as an additional foreign language (Ln). It also aims at examining the difference in the level of language motivation and metalinguistic awareness between multilingual and bilingual learners. Twelve bilingual and multilingual international adult learners of Hungarian as an Ln were administered a linguistic background questionnaire, a motivation/attitude questionnaire, and a metalinguistic awareness test. The results of statistical analyses indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between learners' level of metalinguistic awareness and motivation. However, no relationship was found between learners' metalinguistic awareness and proficiency. The findings also showed that multilingual learners exhibited a higher level of motivation and metalinguistic awareness than their bilingual peers. Furthermore, significant positive correlations were found between the number of languages spoken by the learners and their metalinguistic awareness and motivation.
The case of Jasmin A vegyesházasságban felnövő kétnyelvű gyermekeket mindkét szülő nyelvének elsa... more The case of Jasmin A vegyesházasságban felnövő kétnyelvű gyermekeket mindkét szülő nyelvének elsajátításához hozzá kell segíteni. Ehhez elengedhetetlen, hogy a szülők vagy a saját nyelvükön beszéljenek a gyermekkel, vagy olyan környezetet biztosítsanak, amelyben a gyermek számára mindkét nyelv rendelkezésre áll. A gyermek különböző kontextusokban történő nyelvválasztásában meghatározó szerepet játszik a szülői kommunikációs minta. Jelen tanulmányban egy palesztin (arab)-kanadai (angol), Kanadában élő kétnyelvű család ötéves gyermekével rögzített 25 perces telefonbeszélgetésben megfigyelhető nyelvválasztási mintákat mutatjuk be. E rövid beszélgetésből messzemenő következtetéseket nem tudunk levonni, de az elemzésből jól láthatók a gyermek nyelvválasztási tendenciái.
A kétnyelvűség vizsgálatának szükségességét a napjainkra megváltozott geopolitikai helyzet indoko... more A kétnyelvűség vizsgálatának szükségességét a napjainkra megváltozott geopolitikai helyzet indokolja. Ma már nincs olyan ország a világon, amely területén ne élnének nyelvi kisebbségek, vagy ne lennének olyan egyének, akik valamilyen családi okból vagy munkájukból kifolyólag két nyelvet használnak a mindennapi életükben. Akár kisebbséghez tartozó, akár egyéni kétnyelvű személyekről van szó, azt tudomásul kell venni, hogy más a nyelvi konfigurációjuk, mint az egynyelvűeké. A kétnyelvűek beszédén hamar észrevehető a két nyelv egymásra hatása. Ezért hallhatunk tőlük az egynyelvűek számára furcsa megnyilatkozásokat
Alkalmazott Nyelvtudomány (Hungarian Journal of Applied Linguistics), 2007
The number of schools offering CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programmes is incr... more The number of schools offering CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programmes is increasing in Hungary. They consider language development as a natural and dynamic process in which learners play an active role. These programmes are characterized by the parallel use of both languages with the general aim of supporting conceptual knowledge construction in either language. Programmes like these provide intensive exposure to authentic second language embedded in meaningful practices with the final aim of making learners achieve an officially declared language level. This different L2 teaching approach can cause learners’ qualitatively different levels of knowledge, learning paths and mental sets. For this reason, in this study, we applied Mixed Methods to investigate whether extensive (CLIL) and general second language use among instructed conditions result in different verbal and cognitive outcomes that are detectable via either quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was designed in accordance with Creswell’s Sequential Explanatory Design (2012) in which a quantitative large sample study is followed by a qualitative smallsample study. In the model the qualitative method serves as the main method. The data received this way further refine the results to serve deeper understanding. In the first phase of the research an experimental group (CLIL group, N=69) and a control group (N=73) were compared with the involvement of a language experience and proficiency questionnaire (LEAP-Q), a selective attention test (d2-R) and a phonemic fluency test (in the first language (L1=Hungarian) and the second language (L2=English). LEAP-Q questionnaire provided background information about learners’ attitude, exposure and assumed level regarding the L1 and L2 in both groups. D2-R test was chosen to explore whether there is a difference between the two groups in terms of selective attention that is usually cited to be more enhanced in bilinguals as a result of constant shifting between the L1 and L2. The purpose of the application of the phonemic fluency tests was twofold. Firstly, these test types provide information about learners’ executive abilities and second, they might also refer to the size of their mental lexicon. Executive functioning was measured by variables of shifting and clustering while the size of the mental lexicon was defined by the total number of generated words and that of words from different word classes. Since word retrieval is often cited to be slower for bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals in the scientific literature, we expected results accordingly. For this reason, in the first phase a large-scale quantitative data collection and analysis was carried out with the aim of exploring specific verbal and cognitive patterns in the test outcomes. As a result, four different groups have been defined: a CLIL ‘high’ (N=3), a control ‘high’ (N=3), a CLIL ‘low’ (N=3) and a control ‘low’ (N=3) group. Those learners have been selected for the ‘high’ groups who achieved exceptionally high results in all test types compared to their group results. Conversely, ‘low’ group learners achieved the lowest results in all test types. We assumed that superiority in the tests would be reflected in the way learners form their opinions on L2-related questions. To gain insight in learners’ thinking patterns, a structured interview served as a tool in the second phase of the research. The test outcomes revealed no significant difference related to selective attention; however, significant differences have been found for most of the variables related to phonemic fluency in the L2, indicating higher level of executive functioning in case of the experimental (CLIL ‘high’) group. Findings of the qualitative interview analyses are in line with these test outcomes. Our conclusion is that the results might imply the superiority of the CLIL method over traditional L2 teaching methods.
The present article observes the continuous pursuit of experimental software in psycholinguistic ... more The present article observes the continuous pursuit of experimental software in psycholinguistic research and the need to elaborate more on the practical use of isolated software packages. On the example of a lab-based programme MATLAB with its experiment control library PsychToolbox-3, the article offers the results of the systematic review of literature conducted in the Scopus database. The results of the review suggest that there is a lack of information about PsychToolbox-3 in MATLAB in the literature. The article further provides a comprehensive overview of the two psycholinguistic experimental studies of (i) Hungarian-English bilinguals, and (ii) Russian-English bilinguals, undertaken using PsychToolbox-3 in MATLAB. The findings reveal that similar linguistic typology maintains a positive influence on sentence comprehension, and morphosyntactic information available at a word level may alleviate the overall processing load. The authors also conclude that language proficiency plays a significant role in syntactic processing. Overall, the article illustrates that psycholinguistic experiments built on MATLAB can be administered in future studies involving bilingual populations, whereas this instrumental groundwork can emerge as one of the technology-mediated language assessment tools.
ABSTRACT Thesis (doctoral)--University of Veszprém, 1998.
In the territory of Hungary, there are about 40 settlements which are inhabited by Croats, whose ... more In the territory of Hungary, there are about 40 settlements which are inhabited by Croats, whose linguistic competence embraces all the three dialects of Croatian ( kaj, sto and ca). However, their language varieties are a bit different from the Croatian language in Croatia, especially at the lexical level, as a result of being physically distant from the homeland. In this paper, the mental lexicons and speech productions of some representatives of the different Croatian communities living in Hungary will be discussed. The data are gained from examination of their narrative skills which also includes the study of their disfluencies during speech production. The main goal of these experiments is to find empirical data concerning the influences of the two languages on each other.
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Papers by Judit Navracsics