Research question: |
What curricula characteristics impact topic interest? |
Instruments used: |
Focus group Semiestructured interview |
Theme 2: Problems of comprehension attributed to curricular material characteristics |
Features of the curricula that make it difficult to understand. This theme is described through three sub-themes: 1. Linguistic characteristics of curricular texts. 2. Characteristics of the selected text type 3. Thematic characteristics of text |
Subtheme |
Factor |
Definition |
Example |
Frecuency |
1. Linguistic characteristics |
Lexical characteristics |
Difficulties with comprehension caused by the vocabulary used in the text. |
"Obviously now via e-mail, it's simpler, they write to me and tell me that they didn't understand these ten words because they are Chileanisms" (I2. Literature 2.49, Professor). |
44
|
2. Characteristics of the selected text type Inherent characteristics related to the type of text used in the exchange program (narrative/expository). |
Narrative texts open ending |
Difficulties with comprehension of narrative texts associated with contemplating an open ending and/or more than one possible interpretation of the protagonists' actions. |
"The short story doesn't tell what happened at the end, but I think it's interesting that the author doesn't mention it" (P5. Literature 2, professor). |
20
|
Narrative texts /Indirect Message |
Difficulties with comprehension of narrative texts that occur when language is no longer literal but relies on figurative meaning. |
"They have a lot of hidden messages and I need to work more on determining the meaning of the words because it is not necessarily the literal meaning" (FG2, Literature 1.41, Student 9.2). |
19 |
Narrative texts/Lack of contextualization |
Difficulties with the comprehension of literary texts that occur when the text does not contextualize the historical moment it represents. |
"if you are not from a nearby country, you don't know this and you read a story that is talking about this event directly or indirectly it will be very difficult to understand because you don't understand the context and therefore you won't understand the message, you will only understand the words, but not what they are trying to say" (FG2. Literature 2.44, Student 3.2). |
8 |
Expository texts/Lack of contextualization |
Difficulties with the comprehension of expository texts that occur when the text does not contextualize the historical moment it represents. |
"Political, historical, cultural circumstances may cause some difficulty in understanding the text" (FG2. History 2.10, Student 6). |
5
|
3 Thematic characteristics of text Characteristics of the topics addressed in the didactic resources |
Authentic texts |
Difficulties that arise when authentic texts are not adapted to the learners' level but are presented in their original form without any adaptation. |
"I had never thought about choosing texts that are aimed at students of Spanish L2, because I always want to continue with this idea that this class is of an advanced level that they can read the same as any native speaker of the language" (I2. Literature 2.85, Professor). |
22 |
Texts with emphasis on Latin American cultural and historical context |
Comprehension difficulties due to the specialization of the text in the Latin American socio-cultural context. |
"I think it's because all we had read before coming here were texts on Spanish literature or US history, but we had never read anything related to Chile or any Latin American country" (FG2. Literature 1.87, Student 3.2). |
11 |