Experiments

 Artificial situation: what happens when one variable is

changed?

 Testing a new teaching method (experimental and

control groups)

 Experimental hypothesis (research literature)

1
 Talamas, Kroll & Dufour (1999)
 Observation: high school learners of Spanish at early
stages of acquisition often make errors of lexical form
(e.g. mujer – mejor)
 At what point do learners become able to access
meaning for L2 words?
 Talamas et al. (1999) compared the performance of less
and more proficient English-Spanish learners on a
translation recognition task
 Hypothesis: Less proficient learners would be tricked by
the similarity of the form distractors.
2
 Translation recognition task:
Is the 2nd word the correct translation of the 1st word?

Condition Example Correct response

Correct translation man-hombre Yes

Incorrect translations:

Form-related man-hambre No

Semantically related man-mujer No

Unrelated control man-casa No

3
 Research findings
Condition Example Less More
(correct proficient proficient
response)
Form-related man-hambre 972 ms (58%) 903 ms (82%)
(No)

Semantically man-mujer (No) 898 ms (72%) 967 ms (85%)

related

Unrelated man-casa (No) 868 ms (88%) 852 ms (99%)

control

4
 The Social Stratification of (r) in New York City
Department Stores - Labov (1972)
 3 department stores (location, advertising and price
policies)
1. Saks Fifth Avenue 2. Macy’s 3. S. Klein

 Interviewer: Excuse me, where are the women’s shoes?

 Informant: Fourth floor.
 Interviewer: Excuse me?
 Informant: Fourth floor.

 Dependent variable: the use of (r) in 4 occurrences

5
 Research findings
 Saks employees: 62% all or some (r-1)*
 Macy’s: 51%
 Kleins: 20%

*Constricted /r/ - higher prestige

 Macy’s: the casual rate of /r/ constriction in floor

- 44, emphatic pronunciation- 61
6
 The work of Hofstede (1980, 2001)
 Power Distance (PD)- refers to ‘the extent to which the less
powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country
expect and accept that the power is distributed unequally’ (Hofstede,
2001, p. 98).
 Uncertainty Avoidance (UA)- it is ‘the extent to which people
feel threatened by ambiguous situations, and have created beliefs and
institutions that try hard to avoid these’ (Hofstede & Bond, 1984, p.
419).
 Individualism / Collectivism (IND / COLL)- refers to the value
a society places upon the ‘I’ versus ‘we’ or the degree of inter-
dependence among individuals within a particular society (Hofstede &
Hofstede, 2005).
 Masculinity / Femininity (MAS / FEM)- the extent to which a
society values traditionally male values (assertiveness, toughness, focus
on material success) or female values (modesty, tenderness and
concern with the quality of life (Hofstede, 2001).
Value dimension indexes for Serbia and
Great Britain
SERBIA GREAT BRITAIN

Index Rank Index Rank

Power Distance 86 8 / 74 35 63-65 / 74

Uncertainty 92 11-13 / 74 35 66-67 / 74

Avoidance
Individualism 25 53-54 / 74 89 3 /74

Masculinity 43 47-50 / 74 66 11-13 / 47

Individualism & Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance & Masculinity
APPENDIX 2: Value Questionnaire
In the Family
Parents should treat Parents should teach
1. children as equals -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 children unquestioning
obedience

Children should treat Children should treat

2. parents a nd older -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 parents and older
relatives as equals relatives with due respect

Parents should Parents should express

3. c ontrol emotions -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 emotions openly

Children should be Children should be

4. exposed to unknown -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 protected from
situations the unknown

W eak family ties and rare Weak family ties and

5. contacts among family -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 rare contacts among
members are acceptable family members
are unacceptable

Children are supposed to Family should provide

6. take care of themselves -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 protection in exchange
as soon as possible for lifelong loyalty

Fathers should deal with Both fathers and mothers

7. facts, mothers -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 should deal with
with feelings facts and feelings

Gir ls can cry. Boys Both boys and girls

8. should not cry. Boys -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 can cry, but neither
should fight back should fight
 Survey Results
British vs. Serbian values

1.5
1
high

0.5
0 Serbian
PD UA COLL FEM British
-0.5
low

-1

-1.5
-2
value dimensions
 Value Discrepancies
 GREAT BRITAIN  SERBIA
Small power distance Large power distance
Low uncertainty High uncertainty
avoidance avoidance
High individualism High collectivism
High masculinity High femininity
Universalist Particularist
Neutral Affective
Low context High context
Achievement Ascription
Group leadership Individual leadership
Task orientation Networking
 Social sphere
 Serbs
 The British
honest, reasonable & proud, generous, strong-
considerate willed & brave

modesty pride

reserve intensity of feeling

compromise ‘inat’ (defiance, spite,

obstinacy)
 Acculturation

 phenomena which result when groups of

individuals having different cultures come
into continuous first-hand contact with
subsequent changes in the original culture
patterns of either or both groups
Models of Acculturation (Berry, 1990)
 Research aims (1)

Value discrepancies Acculturation

 Individual level:
B.values personal values S.values
distance distance

B. immersion S. immersion
 Research aims (2)
 Group level:

value shifts length of residence

PD, UA, COLL-IND, MAS-FEM

(Hofstede, 1980, 2001)

life domains (family, school, workplace)

 Value Discrepancies & Serbian Acculturation
Serbian Value Distance vs. Acculturation

120.00%

100.00%

80.00%
percentage

S.accult.
S.value dist.
60.00%
Linear (S.value dist.)
Linear (S.accult.)

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%
3 14 15 2 29 19 4 7 9 30 31 10 32 5 8 20 17 16 18 26 27 6 12 23 21 28 22 25 11 13 24 1
subjects
 Value Discrepancies & British Acculturation
British Value Distance vs. Acculturation

120.00%

100.00%

80.00%

B.acc.
percentage

B.value dist.
60.00% Linear (B.acc.)
Linear (B.value dist.)

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%
8 4 25 11 24 22 26 17 29 31 1 12 28 30 18 21 13 19 23 3 15 20 9 14 16 5 32 10 27 7 2 6
subjects
 British and Serbian Acculturation
British vs. Serbian acculturation

120.00%

100.00% 3 15 14
29 19 2
4 31 30 9 7
32 10
8 20 5
26 17 18 16 27
6
80.00% 12 23
25 22 28 21
11 13
24
B. acc.
S.acc
60.00% 1
Linear (B. acc.)
Linear (S.acc)

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%
8 4 25 11 24 22 26 17 29 31 1 12 28 30 18 21 13 19 23 3 15 20 9 14 16 5 32 10 27 7 2 6
subjects
 British Acculturation & Length of Residence
British Acculturation vs. Length of Stay

7+years

B.acc.

<7years

42.5 43 43.5 44 44.5 45 45.5 46 46.5

mean scores
 Changes across Life Domains
Values: British vs. Personal vs. Serbian

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
Serbian
0.4
personal
0.2
British
0
-0.2 family school work general

-0.4
-0.6