Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-26-2023

Abstract

Meaning construction is a complex concept that encapsulates language and thought as a whole system in which sense and meaning have a unique relationship highly marked by the social and cultural environment of the reader. Hence, Kichwa-Spanish bilinguals’ reading practices in the Southern Andes of Ecuador cannot be discussed as two separate processes but as an integrated structure embedded in a speech community. This perspective of the bilingual mind is founded on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning in which language is a psychological tool that shapes and is shaped by our modes of thinking. This unification is a complex process in which biological, social, cultural and historical foundations contribute to the qualitative transformations of the human mind and shape the way bilingual readers understand, interpret and retell narrative texts after an L2 reading event. To unveil the complexity of the construction of the meaning of an L2 narrative text, this multiple case study incorporated retrospective miscue analysis to collect data and understand what emerges in readers’ consciousness after a reading event. The analysis of miscues, retellings and retrospective reflections suggested that the pedagogical environment, cross-linguistic influence, sociolinguistic factors and intertextuality led Kichwa-Spanish bilinguals to the creation of a new text as they retold the story.

Keywords

Kichwa-Spanish bilinguals, L2 reading, L2 miscues, meaning construction, cross-linguistic influence, intertextuality

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Educational Linguistics

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Carlos López-Leiva

Second Committee Member

Dr. Holbrook Mahn

Third Committee Member

Dr. Richard Meyer

Fourth Committee Member

Dr. Pisarn Chamcharatsri

Fifth Committee Member

Dr. Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis

Comments

Sixth Committee Member

Dr. Prisca Martens

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