Grammar Explanation Research Articles

An Investigation on the Influence of Middle School Students' Grammar Learning Self-efficacy on Their Learning Performance

In middle school English teaching, grammar instruction has always been an important and challenging aspect. Due to the strong influence of grammar explanation in Chinese, learning English grammar may be affected by negative transfer from their native language, which could pose certain obstacles to English acquisition. Self-efficacy, as a major emotional factor influencing learners' internal regulation strategies, has attracted wide attention from researchers both domestically and internationally for its impact on learning performance. High self-efficacy helps learners develop a more positive mindset towards learning, thereby contributing to improved learning performance. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating the relationship between grammatical self-efficacy and learning performance of English grammar among middle school students. This research contributes to a complementary understanding of grammatical self-efficacy among educators, enhancing their teaching skills, and effectively guiding students to learn English grammar with a more positive and healthy mindset, presenting a future grammar instruction in middle school English teaching.

Investigating the effectiveness of input-based techniques on the acquisition of English passive: A comparative study of explicit instruction and input-based techniques

This study investigates the efficacy of various grammar instruction techniques, namely focus-on-form (FonF) and focus-on-forms (FonFs), on the acquisition and production of the English passive voice. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design was employed across four treatment groups without a control group, involving 62 Turkish learners of English, enrolled in preparatory classes at a public university in Turkey, with a B1 (intermediate) proficiency level. The study assessed the effectiveness of input flood (IF), input flood coupled with textual enhancement (IF + TE), input flood with explicit grammar teaching (IF + EGT), and rule-based instruction (RBI). Authentic texts on global warming and climate change were used as materials, with passive sentences underlined for the IF + TE group and explicit grammar explanations provided to the IF + EGT group. Findings point to a clear superiority of RBI in the learners’ grammatical acquisition and production, supporting the idea that explicit instruction, followed by controlled practice, significantly enhances learning outcomes. Contrary to RBI's success, the IF only approach did not yield a substantial impact, questioning the effectiveness of implicit teaching methods for complex grammatical structures. The study also examined the relationship between explicit knowledge and communicative practice, finding that explicit instruction is critical even within communicative frameworks. These outcomes align with the Noticing Hypothesis, emphasizing that conscious recognition of grammatical forms is necessary for effective language acquisition. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the efficacy of explicit grammar instruction versus implicit learning, suggesting that a combination of instruction focusing on form within a communicative context can be beneficial for EFL learners.

Teaching Chinese grammar through International Chinese Language Education micro-lectures: negotiating mass and presence through multimodal pedagogic discourse

Abstract Micro-lectures have become a prevailing resource for teaching Chinese grammar in International Chinese Language Education (ICLE). One crucial feature of these lectures is that they are inherently multimodal and the design of multimodal pedagogic discourse in these lectures is vital for the teaching of Chinese grammar. Based on this background, this paper investigates teaching Chinese grammar through multimodal pedagogic discourse in ICLE micro-lectures, focusing on the organization of complexity and abstraction of meaning for knowledge-building. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics’ genre theory and ideational mass and presence, this paper views the organization as a dynamic negotiation of mass and presence across generic stages. Analyzing a representative ICLE micro-lecture on grammar, it scrutinizes the distribution of mass and presence across stages, along with multimodal pedagogic discourse features. The findings show that Presenting Scenarios, Example Extraction, and Grammar Explanation are pivotal stages for grammar instruction, each characterized by distinct mass and presence. Presenting Scenarios, featuring relatively weak mass and strong presence, employs non-technical and concrete multimodal texts to depict everyday scenarios, while Example Extraction with similar mass but weaker presence recontextualizes these scenarios into linguistic phenomena through non-technical linguistic text. Grammar Explanation characterized by relatively strong mass and weak presence distills grammatical knowledge from example sentences through technical and abstract linguistic text. Overall, the weakening of presence across the stages allows for recontextualizing scenario-based sentences as linguistic phenomena and generalizing these sentences into abstract grammatical concepts, while the strengthening of mass enables distilling meaning from example sentences and builds the complexity of grammatical concepts. The findings hold potential implications for the design of ICLE micro-lectures on Chinese grammar, which aims to facilitate the teaching of Chinese grammar through multimodal pedagogical discourse.

Teaching bare plurals in Spanish language classrooms

Language instruction has shifted towards communication, often neglecting detailed grammar explanations based on linguistic research. This article examines the interpretation of bare plurals in Spanish, arguing for the integration of theoretical linguistics into classroom practices to enhance grammar instruction. The discussion highlights the differences between Spanish and English bare plurals and underscores the necessity of teaching these distinctions to prevent negative transfer and improve language acquisition. By analyzing recent linguistic findings, the article proposes practical approaches for incorporating these insights into teaching strategies, ultimately aiming to improve learners' comprehension and usage of Spanish bare plurals.

Personalized Recommendation of English Online Teaching Content Based on Logistic Regression Algorithm

English online teaching content encompasses a wide range of materials designed to facilitate language learning in digital environments. These resources include interactive lessons, video tutorials, audio recordings, quizzes, vocabulary exercises, grammar explanations, and authentic texts such as articles, short stories, and dialogues. The content aims to cover various language skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing, catering to learners of different proficiency levels and learning styles. This paper introduces a Cross-Domain Personalized Recommendation System (CDPRS) designed to enhance the delivery of English language teaching content. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and data analytics techniques, the CDPRS tailors recommendations to individual user preferences, learning objectives, and proficiency levels across diverse content domains. Through a series of analyses and evaluations, including regression analysis and simulation studies, the effectiveness and utility of the CDPRS are demonstrated. Through a series of analyses and evaluations, including regression analysis and simulation studies, the effectiveness and utility of the CDPRS are demonstrated. Results indicate that the system achieves high levels of accuracy (mean accuracy = 0.85), diversity (mean diversity = 0.72), novelty (mean novelty = 0.78), and user satisfaction (mean satisfaction = 0.82) in providing personalized recommendations.

TikTok as a learning strategy for English language proficiency in higher education

TikTok is used as an innovative language learning tool to improve fluency in English, favoring communication and grammar skills among university students. The study shows the analysis of video creation with seven specific tasks, namely: cultural investigations, personalized vocabulary speeches, grammar-focused discussions, role-play conversations, oral reading reports, listening comprehension and grammar explanations. The students created the TikTok videos and interacted with their peers; and these were used as part of the assessment of their subject. For data collection, a questionnaire was designed and included, in addition to conducting focus groups to collect information about the experience of its implementation. The results indicate that TikTok videos, as short lessons, integrate seamlessly into students' academic routines, allowing for error correction, grammar and vocabulary practice, improved pronunciation, increased confidence in speaking English, and quick class review. It is suggested that optimal recording conditions and creative effects be taken into account, respecting the privacy of those who create it. In conclusion, TikTok is considered to be a valuable tool to improve English language proficiency, promotes creativity, critical thinking and understanding of concepts. It is suggested that research be continued to explore long-term impacts.

THE POTRAYAL OF ENGLISH TEACHING AT SMA HANG TUAH 4 SURABAYA

Teaching activities are the main part of the process of teaching and learning. Therefore, the researcher was interested in finding out what activities were employed in the classroom. To find the answer, there was an English teacher as a participant in this study who taught more than three classes. This study used a qualitative method with a questionnaire, an interview, and observation as the research instruments. The questionnaire was derived from theories of English teaching methods and was used to gather data on the teaching activities applied in her classroom. Then, the observations were done to see the actual teaching and learning process in the classroom. At last, the interview was conducted to enrich the data and clarify what was found in the questionnaire and observations. The findings showed that the teacher stated in the questionnaire and interview that she used various teaching techniques. However, it was found that translation, reading aloud, grammar explanation, and exercises were mainly done. It implied that traditional teaching methods like the Grammar Translation Method are still implemented in our classroom. This kind of method focuses on what to teach; as its characters and principles show, it does not teach students how to use the language.

On the Appropriateness of CLT And TBLT in The Chinese Foreign Language Teaching Environment

With the comprehensive promotion of the new round of basic education curriculum reform in China, the new curriculum standard advocates to change the tendency of the English curriculum to pay too much attention to the explanation and teaching of grammar and vocabulary knowledge, and neglect the cultivation of students' practical language usability, to achieve this goal, the Communicative Learning Teaching Method (CLT) and the TBLT method (TBLT) were popular at one time. The paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the two teaching methods according to their definitions and points out that teachers should choose the appropriate English teaching method according to comprehensive factors such as students' needs, social environment, and learning objectives.

Portraying EFL teacher's questioning strategies and practices: the case of a vocational school in Indonesia

Although many studies have explored teacher questioning strategies (TQS) in EFL classrooms, only some studies have been conducted in EFL online classes in a vocational high school context. This study aims to shed the EFL online classroom practices regarding using first language and teacher's questioning strategy. To this end, a qualitative case study was conducted at one public vocational school in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia. Data were collected through Zoom recordings for four sessions and classroom observation. Additionally, follow-up interviews were conducted after the classes. The data were analysed with thematic analysis. The findings revealed bilingual classrooms with teachers adopting the first language to build rapport, ice-breaking, and grammar explanation. The teachers also adopted various TQS: rephrasing, repetition, simplification, and decomposition. The findings confirm the roles of teachers' questioning strategies to improve students' engagement. This engagement contributes to students' understanding, resulting in enhanced learning effectiveness. Therefore, teachers need to strengthen their awareness of their questioning abilities to optimise the teaching and learning experience in the classroom.

Online Grammar Learning: How the Learners Perceive its Effectiveness

The pandemic forced all learning to be done online using technologies that can connect students and teachers in different locations. This online teaching and learning also needs to be applied to the teaching and learning of English grammar which is usually much more comfortable to be done offline. This study was conducted to find out university students' perception about the effectiveness of their online grammar learning and their reasons to say that their online grammar learning is effective or ineffective. The data were collected by using a questionnaire to 35 university students of batch 2017, 2018, and 2019. The findings revealed that the most of the students (68.57%) perceived that the online grammar learning is not effective. The reasons are that they could not understand the materials easily when they learnt it online (65.71%), they could not interact with other friends to learn together (54.29%), they could not get grammar corrections from the teachers directly in online learning (37.14%), and they could not follow teachers' grammar explanation easily (37.14%). Besides that, the requirements that they needed to fulfill to use the applications for their online learning also becomes another problem in their grammar learning such as the applications used needed strong internet connections (65.71%), the applications required the students to have a large storage capacity in the device that they used for grammar learning (31.43%), and the applications required the students to have more than 1 gigabyte of internet quota (25.71%).

Exploring English-Spanish contrastive grammar explanations in English for Academic Purposes reading comprehension materials at university level

A topic of debate in English for Academic Purposes reading comprehension courses in Spanish speaking universities is the roleof grammar in in-house materials. This study explored and analysed the way in which these materials deal with contrastive grammar, in order to promote reflection and discussion on the subject of English-Spanish contrastive grammar explanations. Results showed that there are inaccuracies in the metalanguage used, in the Spanish-English contrastive analysis of some morphosyntactic structures and in the choices of instances of direct translation from English into Spanish. It is concluded that Spanish teachers of English academic reading comprehension should be provided with reference materials that allow them to describe in a well-founded manner the differences and similarities between the linguistic resources used in these two languages. Un tema de debate en los cursos de comprensión lectora de Inglés con Fines Académicos en las universidades de habla hispana es el papel de la gramática en los materiales internos. En este estudio se explora y analiza la forma en que estos materiales abordan la gramática contrastiva, con el fin de promover la reflexión y el debate sobre el tema de las explicaciones gramaticales contrastivas inglés-español. Los resultados mostraron que existen imprecisiones en el metalenguaje utilizado, en el análisis contrastivo español-inglés de algunas estructuras morfosintácticas y en la elección de instancias de traducción directa del inglés al español. Se concluye que los profesores españoles de comprensión lectora de Inglés con Fines Académicos deben contar con materiales de referencia que les permitan describir de manera fundamentada las diferencias y similitudes entre los recursos lingüísticos utilizados en estas dos lenguas.

국내 지방 대학의 영어 읽기 프로그램 평가 및 개선 연구

The current study aims to evaluate and improve a university English reading program in order to enhance students’ English reading skills. A total of 312 students and 16 professors in the program participated in the survey covering seven areas: students’ goals, the program’s strengths, student weaknesses, teaching, materials, assessment, and suggestions for improvement. Findings showed that students expressed various goals for taking reading courses. However, both students and professors agreed that the only notable strength of the program was ‘giving an opportunity to read in English.’ Students perceived that their great weaknesses in reading were lack of vocabulary and grammar, whereas professors thought their motivation to read was quite low. The two most common activities were text translation and grammar explanation. However, students preferred to learn practical expressions and English culture through reading contents. Both students and professors pointed out that current textbooks were boring and difficult. Regarding assessment, students preferred to include attendance, participation, attitude, and assignments, in addition to midterm and finals. Regarding suggestions for improvement, professors suggested teaching based on students’ proficiency levels and regular checking of instructional equipment. Based on these findings, a curriculum was created for the English reading program.

Scott N. Callaham. Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook

Scott N. Callaham. <i>Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook</i>

The acquisition of L2 Hungariangrammar rules and the implicit-explicit debate

Abstract This study contributes to the explicit implicit debate by investigating to which extent adult learners of Hungarian develop knowledge of new grammar rules, and the proficiency to use them, through listening activities complemented with explicit grammar instruction or not. In a quasi-experimental study, we compared the acquisition of three specific rules of Hungarian grammar by 80 Flemish adult students in two conditions. Both methods involved listening activities, but in one condition explicit rule explanation and practice was given and in the other one, meaningful activities were created without grammar explanation. The findings indicate that for teaching simple rules, compared to more complex grammar features, listening activities and exposure to comprehensible input have a significantly positive effect on grammar acquisition at the basic level. The explicit condition did not have an added beneficial effect. Exposure to L2 is the main driver of language development.

The Impact of Teacher Education on English Teachers’ Views about Using Mother Tongues: A Teachers’ Perspective

After decades of persistent dominance of monolingual approaches in language teaching, we are now witnessing a shift to pluralist pedagogical practices that recognize learners’ mother tongues (MTs) as a valuable resource. This paper examines data from 44 questionnaire respondents and 4 interviewees to investigate teacher perspectives on using learners’ MTs in the classroom and the extent to which teacher education shaped their beliefs. The results suggest that while most of the participants stressed the importance of maximizing target language (TL) use, some of them also recognized the value of employing MTs for specific purposes, such as anchoring new learning, providing grammar explanations and task instructions, decreasing student and teacher anxiety, sustaining motivation, and supporting learner identity. Most participants agreed that their teacher education program exerted some influence on their beliefs and practices, but their personal experiences as learners and teachers were also named as influential sources. The most notable change in views related to an increased use of the TL, which contradicts recent findings relative to the value of using learners’ existing resources. The paper concludes by stressing the need to examine the curricula and objectives of teacher education programs in the light of the current research on multilingualism in education.

A cognitive linguistic approach to analysis and correction of orthographic errors

In this paper, we apply usage-based linguistic analysis to systematize the inventory of orthographic errors observed in the writing of non-native users of Russian. The data comes from a longitudinal corpus (560K tokens) of non-native academic writing. Traditional spellcheckers mark errors and suggest corrections, but do not attempt to model why errors are made. Our approach makes it possible to recognize not only the errors themselves, but also the conceptual causes of these errors, which lie in misunderstandings of Russian phonotactics and morphophonology and the way they are represented by orthographic conventions. With this linguistically-based system in place, we can propose targeted grammar explanations that improve users’ command of Russian morphophonology rather than merely correcting errors. Based on errors attested in the non-native academic writing corpus, we introduce a taxonomy of errors, organized by pedagogical domains. Then, on the basis of this taxonomy, we create a set of mal-rules to expand an existing finite-state analyzer of Russian. The resulting morphological analyzer tags wordforms that fit our taxonomy with specific error tags. For each error tag, we also develop an accompanying grammar explanation to help users understand why and how to correct the diagnosed errors. Using our augmented analyzer, we build a webapp to allow users to type or paste a text and receive detailed feedback and correction on common Russian morphophonological and orthographic errors.

Enhancing Students’ Motivation in Learning English Grammar Through A Computer-Supported Learning Classroom Management

This research is to examine the students‘ motivational factors and attitude towards the learning of English grammar in a Computer supported Learning System. Twenty-nine students were taught with a student-centered approach and three grammar learning web sites were used frequently for classroom and individual English grammar practice, whereas another twenty-nine were taught with the traditional teachercentered approach. Both groups were given grammar correction and explanation tests before and after the study. After comparing the results of the pre-test and post-test with those of the control group, it was found that the experimental group excelled over the control group in both grammar correction and grammar explanation. It proved that students‘ implicit and explicit knowledge on English grammar was greatly improved by the computer-supported teaching methods and environment. Further interviews with the students also revealed that the new pedagogical practice had provided many positive motivational factors in supporting students‘ learning process.

“Are There Any Mexicans Listening?” Stancetaking and Language Ideologies in a Spanish L2 Classroom

AbstractThis study investigated classroom interaction through the framework of stancetaking (Du Bois, 2007) to understand how Spanish second language (L2) learners positioned themselves when participating in communicative language learning activities. Data came from transcribed audio and video recordings of three 90‐minute lessons in one intermediate‐level U.S. high school Spanish class. We examined how the students indexed epistemic stances toward their grammar explanations, and affective and evaluative stances toward the Spanish language and native (L1) Spanish speakers during peer interaction. Despite the burgeoning Spanish‐speaking community near where the data were collected, L2 learners’ linguistic practices indexed stances of expertise regarding their knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary rather than their potential to meaningfully interact with the people who lived and worked in their community. In addition, some indexed negative affective and evaluative stances toward L1 Spanish speakers. Findings signal the need to examine how target‐language speakers are positioned in classroom practices.

The Role of Geometrical Representations – Wittgenstein’s Colour Octahedron and Kuki’s Rectangular Prism of Taste

In his writings Philosophical Remarks, the Austrian-British Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1989-1951) draws an octahedron with the words of pure colours such as “white”, “red” and “blue” at the corners and argues: “The colour octahedron is grammar, since it says that you can speak of a reddish blue but not of a reddish green, etc” (Wittgenstein 1980, §39). He uses the word “grammar” in such a specific way that the grammar or grammatical rules describe the meanings of words/expressions, in other words, how we use them in our language. Accordingly, the colour octahedron can also be taken to represent grammatical rules about how we apply words of colour, e.g., that we can call a certain colour “reddish-blue”, but not “reddish-green”. In a different context, the Japanese philosopher Shūzō Kuki (1988-1941) explores in his work The Structure of Iki what the Japanese word “iki” means. This word is often translated as “chic” or “stylistic” in English, but Kuki holds that it is an aesthetic Japanese concept that cannot be translated one-to-one, instead encompassing three aspects: “coquetry”, “pride and honour” and “resignation”. To explain the meanings of the word “iki” and other related words all of which Kuki calls “tastes”, he introduces a rectangular prism as a geometrical representation similar to Wittgenstein’s colour octahedron. In this paper, I argue that the rectangular prism does not solely explain how the modes of Japanese tastes are related to each other, but also has a grammatical character. On this score, I suggest that one can regard this rectangular prism as a description of the grammatical rules of the Japanese language. By appeal to the arguments of both philosophers and in comparison with them, I will not only clarify what they claim by geometrical representations but also examine what role this kind of representation plays as an explanation of grammar in general. Keywords: grammar, colour octahedron, rectangular prism, Shūzō Kuki, Wittgenstein

Online comments as input enhancement

Chapelle (2003) proposed three general types of input enhancement that help L2 learners “acquire features of the linguistic input that they are exposed to during the course reading or listening for meaning” (p. 40): input salience, input modification, and input elaboration. In 2010, Cárdenas-Claros and Gruba argued that Chapelle’s different types of input enhancement “can be and have been operationalized through help options” primarily utilized in the teaching of reading, listening, writing, grammar, and vocabulary such as glossed words, video/audio control features, captions, subtitles, and grammar explanations (p. 79). As understood from Cárdenas-Claros and Gruba’s classification of help options, input enhancement can only be accomplished through one process: salience, modification, or elaboration. In this article, we argue that YouTube comments have the potential to be (1) a help option that facilitate both listening comprehension of the videos and vocabulary learning and that (2) input enhancement accomplished by comments can be achieved by a combination of different types of input enhancement. Put another way, the aural input of a YouTube video can be salient, modified, and elaborated, thanks to the various types of comments YouTube videos often receive.