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Title AUDITORY AND VISUAL LEARNING OF BILINGUAL INPUT: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND RETENTION IN URDU-ENGLISH SPEAKERS

Author(s) NAGINA KHAN

Abstract The study is motivated by the link between learners’ learning style preference and the modality through which they learn better in the different languages they use. In the previous studies involving bilinguals and learning modalities, Urdu-English bilinguals have not been paid much attention. The study aims to investigate the impact of two different modalities, i.e., auditory and visual, on the performance of Urdu-English bilingual learners on comprehension and retention tasks. It involves two languages, i.e., Urdu and English, in order to find out whether the impact of different modalities on the participants’ learning is similar or different for the two languages. Furthermore, the study is concerned with ascertaining whether the preferred modalities of Urdu-English bilinguals are the same as the ones through which they perform better on comprehension and retention tasks in the two languages. The study is based on two models: the first model is Visual, Auditory, Read/write and Kinesthetic (VARK) model, and working memory model. The study uses Language History Questionnaire, VARK questionnaire and comprehension and retention tests to find out the participants’ language background, learning styles and performance on comprehension and retention tasks, respectively. Findings of the study reveal that the relationship between learning style preferences and the modalities in which the participants perform better are different for retention and comprehension tasks. Moreover, the results obtained for Urdu and English language are similar in the case of retention tests but different in the case of comprehension tests. Furthermore, the findings show that bimodality does not necessarily enhance learning. The present study helps in bringing into view the importance of modalities in learning and their connection to learning styles. Moreover, it uncovers the difference in the effect of modalities on learning when an individual is learning in two different languages.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2022-01-28

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