Date of Award:
5-1996
Document Type:
Dissertation
Degree Name:
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department:
Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences
Department name when degree awarded
Education/Instructional Technology
Committee Chair(s)
J. Nicholls Eastmond
Committee
J. Nicholls Eastmond
Committee
R. Kent Wood
Committee
Andrew Gibbons
Committee
Richard S. Knight
Committee
Alfred N. Smith
Abstract
Can simple written prefatory comments focusing learner attention on nonverbal aspects of foreign language communication improve comprehension? Cadets in advanced basic courses in French (n = 76) and German (n = 45) at the US Air Force Academy were assigned at random to two experimental groups and one control group. In one group, the experimental comments focused learner attention on the nonverbal aspects of communication acts contained in videotaped dialogs. In the other treatment group, the comments focused attention on verbal aspects of the same dialogs. The control group received a placebo treatment focusing on test security. Results from performance on three different tasks were processed using MANOVA and ANOVA procedures that included covariates from a pool of twenty-three variables relating to the subjects, the experiment, and previous language study.
Results indicate that prefatory comments focusing attention on nonverbal aspects of communication may improve overall comprehension. However, measuring overall comprehension was a complex endeavor with outcome influenced differentially by various covariates and varying considerably across the two languages. It was concluded that more effective interventions for focusing learner attention on nonverbal communication are needed. Also needed are new approaches to measuring the effect of these interventions on comprehension. The results of this research should be useful to such future efforts.
Recommended Citation
Rowe, A. Allen, "Written Prefatory Comments, Nonverbal Communication, and Comprehension in Foreign Language Study" (1996). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 9145.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/9145
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