Most challenging types of offline inferences for Chinese migrants when reading public notices in Spanish

Authors

  • Susana Martín Leralta Universidad Nebrija
  • Irene Capa García Universidad Nebrija

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/LYM.1.16.2024.2186

Keywords:

offline inferences, reading comprehension, Sino-speaking learners, public notices, Spanish L2

Abstract

Written discourse comprehension implies a complex inferential function. In this study, we analyse those inferences taking place after reading (so-called offline), known to be elaborative and complementary.

Following a non-probabilistic convenience sampling, we carried out a qualitative, descriptive study with 30 Sino-speaking adult migrants living in Madrid. The POEM test (Ureña, Flores & Martín Leralta, under review) divided them in 3 equitative groups of initial, intermediate and advanced level. The objective was to identify the type of offline inferences most challenging for the participants when reading public notices in Spanish L2. The frequency of appearance in daily life of those notices and the level of proficiency were also analysed. Experts in inferences and in Spanish as a migration language validated the reading test. Results showed some relevant features of this reading profile and its didactic consequences to train the inferential skill.

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Author Biographies

Susana Martín Leralta, Universidad Nebrija

Susana Martín Leralta, PhD from the University of Bielefeld (Germany), is currently Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Education at Nebrija University, and a professor at this University. Her research interests focus on the learning of Spanish as an additional language for migrants, the expression of emotions and the acquisition of communicative skills. She is a member of the INMIGRA network of the Community of Madrid and coordinates the Migrations and Internationalization of Spanish line of the Nebrija Spanish Language Observatory. She heads the R&D project EMILIA2 [PID2022-138973OB-C22].

Irene Capa García, Universidad Nebrija

Irene Capa García is doing her doctoral research in Linguistics applied to foreign language teaching at Nebrija University. Her doctoral thesis, on inferential competence in the reading comprehension of Sino-speaking immigrants, is part of the I R&D project EMILIA2 [PID2022-138973OB-C22], funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Its partial results are already being presented at international conferences. She works as a teacher of English, French and Spanish at the ESO-Bachillerato stage.

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Published

2024-06-26

How to Cite

Martín Leralta, S., & Capa García, I. (2024). Most challenging types of offline inferences for Chinese migrants when reading public notices in Spanish. Language & Migration, 1(16), 103–125. https://doi.org/10.37536/LYM.1.16.2024.2186

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