Superiority of indirect methods in the elicitation of knowledge over direct ones

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this research is to check whether indirect methods for dealing with the elicitation of knowledge are superior to direct ones in the domain of English as a foreign language. In this case subjects were asked about the core term in nine different lexical fields. This task was done with two questionnaires (direct elicitation technique) and with relatedness ratings (indirect elicitation technique) submitted to the Pathfinder algorithm. Results show the superiority of indirect methods over direct ones and the necessity of considering information empirically obtained. This knowledge allows us to reject our erroneous beliefs and also to ascertain which core vocabulary our students should master.