What is the goal of this research?

 

I am exploring how native English speakers living in Austria and learning German as a second/foreign language interact with language variation, i.e. dialect and standard German, in Austria. This includes exploring which factors influence German as a second language learners' ability to navigate Austria's extensive language variation. By participating in this study, you are contributing extremely valuable information on how second language learners both acquire and use variation across myriad commonplace situations. At the end of the day, I hope the results of my dissertation will be the springboard we need to develop pedagogical material to better aid expats and migrants in dealing with the language variation in Austria. 

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But, to do this, I need YOUR HELP!​

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Who can participate?

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I am looking for participants who meet the following criteria: 

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• Native ENGLISH speakers from the USA or British Isles

• German level AT or ABOVE approximately A2+/B1

• You have been living in Austria (predominately in Salzburg/Upper Austria) for LESS than 10 years

• You currently live in Salzburg or Upper Austria

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Participants who meet these criteria and are willing to participate receive a compensation of 20€ after participation. 

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I am also looking for participants to participate in a longitudinal study, meaning you would partake in the study once a week for 12 weeks (approximately 30 minutes once per week). For participating in this longitudinal study, you receive 100€ compensation (50€ after 6 data collection points and 50€ after 12 data collection points).

You can participate in the longitudinal study if you roughly meet the following criteria: 

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• Native ENGLISH speakers from the USA or British Isles

• German level AT approximately A2+/B1

• You just recently (i.e. within the past few weeks) moved to Austria

• You currently live in Salzburg or Upper Austria

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Why participate?

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• Compensation of 20€ (100€ for the longitudinal study)

• You will contribute valuable information that advances our knowledge of how second language learners deal with language variation in Austria

• At the end of this project, there will also be a drawing: In addition to the compensation mentioned above, one participant will win a 100€ Altstadt Gutschein (Old Town gift certificate) for Salzburg/Linz, one participant will win a 50€ Altstadt Gutschein and two participants will win a 25€ Altstadt Gutschein.

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What does participation entail?

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Participating in this project entails: 

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• Wearing a virtual reality headset, watching some short video clips and answering a few questions in German

• Filling out a few short questionnaires in English

• Total time investment: approximately 1.5 hours

 

Are you interested? Then keep reading and see the details listed below to find out more about how you can participate in this research! 

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Where?

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For participants in SALZBURG: 

University of Salzburg

Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1

5020 Salzburg

Office 2.334 

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For participants in UPPER AUSTRIA: 

Individual arrangements regarding location

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NOTE: I can also make arrangements to travel to you, if that is more convenient for you! Requirement for this arrangement: A distractor-free room must be provided, so as to avoid distorted results.

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