Abstract
The use of corpus-based findings in order to inform L2 teaching materials have been emphasized by many researchers owing to the fact that the studies of authentic texts have revealed some inconsistencies between the use of grammatical structures in corpora, and those found in language textbooks that are based purely on hunch. Therefore, by comparing a textbook corpus with the British National Corpus, this study attempts to shed light on the extent in which modal auxiliary verbs presented in the Malaysian prescribed textbooks are identical with those used by native speakers. The findings showed that there are discrepancies between English language textbooks and real language use. Findings from this study contribute to the improvement of pedagogical practices in the teaching of the modal system and provide a sense of familiarity with textbooks’ content thus assisting educators in identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses in textbooks already in use.
Highlights
Modal auxiliary verbs have always formed an important part of the grammar and semantics of most languages, including English because they are auxiliaries in the prescriptive grammarian sense but they appear to contribute to the semantics of communication (Manaf, 2007)
This study harnesses a analytical approach to investigate whether or not there may be a discrepancy between the English language represented in Malaysian secondary school textbooks and that which is needed and used in real life communication
It is worth mentioning that the methodological base of this corpus-based study does cover the field of corpus linguistics and involves content analysis and discourse analysis in the process of analysing the lexical and grammatical relationships of modal auxiliary verbs in the text
Summary
Modal auxiliary verbs have always formed an important part of the grammar and semantics of most languages, including English because they are auxiliaries in the prescriptive grammarian sense but they appear to contribute to the semantics of communication (Manaf, 2007). Modals are said to be among the most problematic grammatical items (Palmer, 1974) for non-native students, including L2 Malaysian students, even though they share some common characteristics with ‘primary auxiliaries’. Their forms, and their semantic functions make it difficult for teachers when they attempt to impart knowledge on this extremely “messy and untidy” grammar structure to ESL students (Palmer, 1990). English is taught using prescribed textbooks which are selected to be used in Malaysia and they are bought using public funds and provided free to learners
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