Mediation Tasks in an eTwinning project Impact on the available vocabulary in English as a Foreign Language in Primary Education

This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of linguistic mediation tasks and vocabulary teaching and learning in the teaching of English as a foreign language. These tasks have already been integrated and evaluated in the compulsory educational systems of many countries and assessed by several renowned foreign language certification authorities in Europe. Specifically, this thesis provides evidence of the impact of mediation tasks on the vocabulary and mental lexicon of primary school learners. A telecollaborative project serves as the context for these textual, inter- and intra-linguistic mediation tasks. The theoretical framework of this research is grounded in the sociocultural theory, linguistic mediation, telecollaboration, and vocabulary acquisition and teaching. This thesis presents empirical evidence of the impact of mediation tasks on vocabulary of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in primary education. In this study, we address the following research questions: 1.- Is there a statistically significant difference in the number of words retrieved in the Lexical Availability tests after participating in mediation tasks? 2.- Is there a statistically significant difference between environmental mediators and non-environmental mediators in the number of words retrieved in the LA tests of after participation in mediation tasks? 3.- What is the impact of mediation tasks on the mental lexicon of EFL Primary learners? 4.- Are there different impacts of mediation tasks on the mental lexicon of environmental mediators and non-environmental mediators EFL learners? The population selected for this research comprised a sample of 5th grade pupils of Primary Education of a town in Castilla y León, Spain, who participated in an eTwinning project designed for this purpose. Data were collected from two intact groups of 9-10 years old in a quasi-experimental design. Initially, this thesis examined differences in lexical availability in English among the participants; when statistically significant differences were found, a qualitatively analysis of the complete vocabulary data from pre-tests and post-tests was conducted using LexPro. The results lead us to conclude that mediation tasks are effective in improving the lexical availability of this age group. Based on the results and analysis of this thesis, we can identify the most important variables to consider in EFL teaching in primary education mediation, specifically regarding mediation teaching.

Grantor dc:publisher

Universidad de La Rioja (España)

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Anton Crespo, Maria Isabel

Contributors dc:contributor

• Agustín Llach, María del Pilar (Universidad de La Rioja)

Statement dc:rights

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Language dc:language

eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaites?codigo=345986

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dialnet.unirioja.es:TES0000023152