Aprendizagem de vocabulário de inglês como língua estrangeira em ambiente hipermídia: efeitos da retenção lexical a curto e longo prazo em uma abordagem de ensino e aprendizagem lexical implícita

Abstract

This dissertation aimed at investigating the contributions of a digital reading environment for lexical learning and for lexical retention in memory, in short and long term, under an indirect lexical teaching and learning approach. For this, two digital reading environments were prepared, both built according to elearning design principles (Istrate 2009), one with hypermedia resources and another one without hypermedia resources. This experimental study was made to test the digital reading environments as teaching and learning objects for English as Foreign Language. In the theoretical field, this work try to retrieve the importance of lexical teaching and learning processes within Foreign Language (henceforth FL) learning contexts, specially, considering the role that hypermedia may enact in lexical learning through reading (Souza 2004, Braga and Souza 2007). On the theoretical grounds yet, the advantages for adopting a conexionist language approach are discussed in order to explain FL learning phenomena in digital contexts (Waring 1996, Nelson 2013). Hypermedia Information Processing models are presented (Mayer 2001, Hede 2002), as well as memory models (Baddeley 2003, McClelland et al. 1995). Methodologically, this is a quasi experimental research, that tried to control the presence and absence of hypermedia resources in FL computer mediated reading environments. The experiment was applied in a federal university from Juiz de Fora (Minas Gerais State – Brazil) to 60 voluntary participants, 30 in the experimental group, and 30 in the control group. For analysis effects, the most important data was those collected using vocabulary knowledge tests. The data were submitted to simple quantitative methods. The data analysis point out that on the short term, both reading environments turned out similar results, promoting lexical learning and lexical retention. However, the long-term results showed that the lexical retention in the experimental group was qualitatively better than the control group, this point out that hypermedia may have played some positive effects for lexical learning and lexical retention in memory.