The Interaction of Students' Reported Personal Connections to German and Their Experiences in the German Foreign Language Classroom
出版項
2017
說明
1 online resource (165 pages)
文字
text
無媒介
computer
成冊
online resource
附註
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 78-10(E), Section: A
Advisers: Monika Maria T Chavez; Jeanne Schueller
Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2017
Includes bibliographical references
This study explores a method of examining student motivation and identity in the foreign language classroom that is novel yet also complements current theories, such as those put forth by Norton and Dornyei. It specifically examines learners' personal connections with speakers of German, the German language, and affiliated cultures and compares the number and types of reported connections with learners' perceptions of and affective responses to the classroom community. The different kinds of connections that students reported were sorted into Categories of Connection (CoC). These CoC were examined in conjunction with students' sense of classroom community, classroom anxiety, self-reported behaviors in the classroom, and adjectives that students chose to describe their feelings in the classroom and the classroom atmosphere. Results from the present study showed that all of the 57 students in the present study reported at least one connection to German, most commonly (over 82% of participants) the connection Ancestry/Family. What is more, the number and types of CoC reported by students interacted with how they situated themselves in the classroom community, both in terms of how strong they believed the classroom community to be and the amount of anxiety that they felt in class. Additionally, the sense of classroom community and anxiety level in the classroom were clearly correlated among participants in this study. Participants in this study felt that the classroom community provided a positive environment, but not all of them felt equally positive about their individual roles in it. Not all types of CoC seemed to interact in the same way with the students' experiences in class
Results also suggest that the following areas warrant further investigation: (1) The role that CoCs play in students' initial motivation to choose to study a specific language (here, German); (2) the degree to which students perceived to possess certain connections; and (3) the appearance and disappearance of CoCs across the course of a student's language study. Implications for teaching center around awareness-raising activities and community building, including how teachers can encourage the development of CoCs
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2017
