Grammar Questions Research Articles

Field-Testing Multiple-Choice Questions With AI Examinees: English Grammar Items

Field-testing is an essential yet often resource-intensive step in the development of high-quality educational assessments. I introduce an innovative method for field-testing newly written exam items by substituting human examinees with artificially intelligent (AI) examinees. The proposed approach is demonstrated using 466 four-option multiple-choice English grammar questions. Pre-trained transformer language models are fine-tuned based on the 2-parameter logistic (2PL) item response model to respond like human test-takers. Each AI examinee is associated with a latent ability θ, and the item text is used to predict response selection probabilities for each of the four response options. For the best modeling approach identified, the overall correlation between the true and predicted 2PL correct response probabilities was .82 (bias = 0.00, root mean squared error = 0.18). The study results were promising, showing that item response data generated from AI can be used to calculate item proportion correct, item discrimination, conduct item calibration with anchors, distractor analysis, dimensionality analysis, and latent trait scoring. However, the proposed approach did not achieve the level of accuracy obtainable with human examinee response data. If further refined, potential resource savings in transitioning from human to AI field-testing could be enormous. AI could shorten the field-testing timeline, prevent examinees from seeing low-quality field-test items in real exams, shorten test lengths, eliminate test security, item exposure, and sample size concerns, reduce overall cost, and help expand the item bank. Example Python code from this study is available on Github: https://github.com/hotakamaeda/ai_field_testing1

Peningkatan Kemampuan Penggunaan Tata Bahasa Baku Pada Remaja Tingkat SMP/MTs Di Gampong Keude Lueng Putu Pidie Jaya

Introducing language to the public, especially teenagers, certainly requires a long process. This is done for the sake of creating the nation's children who understand their language, namely Indonesian. This Community service activity aims to encourage teenagers to understand standard Indonesian grammar and also to improve teenagers' ability to use standard Indonesian. There are three stages used in this community service method, namely the first stage is observation, the second stage is the core activity, namely providing training, and the third stage is the final activity, namely entering the activity evaluation stage. The level of use of varieties of Indonesian by teenagers in the school environment is still relatively low, the level of use of standard Indonesian by teenagers in the family environment is also still low, while the results of diagnostic tests on standard Indonesian grammar skills of teenagers in Keude Lueng Putu gampong are also still low. However, even though teenagers' abilities are still relatively low, this activity can show that teenagers have high enthusiasm for participating in activities and increased competence in answering Indonesian grammar questions that were previously not understood and misused. Therefore, training on standard grammar really needs to be given to teenagers in Gampong Keude Lueng Putu.

The Correlation Between Students’ Grammar Ability and Students’ Speaking Ability in SMP Panca Budi Medan

The Correlation Between Students’ Grammar Ability and Students’ Speaking Ability in SMP Panca Budi Medan

Research on Retrieval Method of Online English Grammar Questions Based on Natural Language Processing

The rapid development of information technology is driving the advancement of natural language processing. The retrieval of grammatical problems in natural language processing is one of its specific tasks, particularly in the context of online learning. Therefore, a retrieval method based on fuzzy tree matching is proposed to tackle the issue of grammatical multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in online English, and its effectiveness is validated through experiments. The experimental results indicate that for incomplete queries, the MRR value STPK of the grammatical MCQ questions STP is increased by 7.9% compared to the proposed method. Compared to the traditional POS sorting algorithm, this algorithm demonstrates a 2.1% improvement. When the recall rate is 0.1, the accuracy rate of other methods is below 0.4, while the method proposed in the study surpasses 0.4. In the case of a comprehensive query, STPK the MRR value for t is STP increases by 29.6%. The proposed method in the research generally maintains an accuracy rate between 0.2 and 1.0. However, when other methods achieve an accuracy rate of 0.2, the proposed method’s accuracy rate drops below 0.2. Overall, the proposed method effectively enhances the retrieval accuracy of online English grammar MCQs compared to existing statistical and grammatical analysis methods. This improvement holds great significance for the actual retrieval of online English grammar multiple-choice questions.

Teaching English Using Digital Flashcards to Improve Grammar Skills of Junior High School Students

Although digital flashcards are popular among English teachers, initiatives to actually measure the differences before and after using digital flashcards for teaching were relatively scarce. The study aims to investigate the statistical differences between two groups taught using digital flashcards. The design of this study is quantitative, and the method is experimental, involving 52 students at a junior high school. The students were grouped into experimental (N=26) and control (N=26) groups. The data were collected by conducting a pre-test and post-test, giving both groups 25 grammar questions on each test. The experimental group was taught English grammar using digital and printed flashcards, while the other was not. The test scores of the respondents from the two groups were analyzed using a statistical program and Microsoft Excel. The results of this study show that there is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control groups. The data also show that the mean of the experimental group was 68.31, and the control group’s mean was 52.46. A t-test was conducted to answer the research question. The computation results showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups. It means that the alternative hypothesis is accepted. Compared to the control group, using flashcards in teaching grammar is more effective. It is recommended that English teachers could utilize flashcards, both digital and printed, to improve students’ grammar skills.

국어과 중등교사 임용시험 문법 문항 분석 및 개선 방향

Objectives This study critically analyzes questions in the grammar area of the appointment examination from 2014 to 2023 and proposes directions for improvement. Methods Marzano (2007)'s new taxonomy of educational objectives was used to establish a framework for what characteristics grammar questions should have. And using it, grammar questions were analyzed according to the level of thinking and knowledge type. Results The questions corresponding to the subject education were just questions about the content of the sub-ject, most of the information knowledge were about understanding and analysis, and no procedural knowledge was asked. Conclusions The system of subject content and subject education in grammar questions should be restructured, and grammar questions should include questions that evaluate procedural knowledge as well as information knowledge on understanding, analysis, utilization, and metacognition.

CORRECTING STUDENTS CORRECTLY: AVOIDING GRAMMAR MISCONCEPTIONS IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Grammatical accuracy is a justifiable goal in language teaching classrooms. But misconceptions about grammar can hinder this goal. The main misconception is that native speakers make grammar errors when using their own native language. They do not. The idea that native speakers can make grammar mistakes in their own languages is detrimental to foreign language classrooms because when language teachers attempt to find answers to grammar questions, they encounter conflicting information and are sometimes not able to give their students useful answers. The main cause of the misconception that native speakers can make grammar errors in their own language is the conflation of formal and informal style, a conflation of grammar and style, which leads to informal usage being incorrectly stigmatized as incorrect grammar. This paper will outline three major misconceptions arising from this fundamental confusion of style and grammar: 1) the idea that native speakers use words incorrectly; 2) native speakers using words that are said not to be real words; and 3) conflation of emphasis and redundancy. This issue will be addressed in the context of the English language. But the principles apply across languages. Knowledge of these misconceptions will allow language teachers to answer and advise students.

30 Trends in ELT

Kerr’s 30 Trends in ELT is part of the Cambridge Pocket Guides for Language Teachers, a series which is edited by Scott Thornbury and includes such titles as 101 Grammar Questions and 50 Creative Activities. Physically, like the other books in the series, this is a small, notebook-sized book which can be read fairly quickly. It is organized as thirty short chapters or entries, which are divided loosely into four sections. The sections are ‘Rethinking English’, which deals with English as a lingua france, English medium instruction, CLIL, and content-based instruction; ‘Rethinking Learning’, which deals largely with currently fashionable teaching approaches such as twenty-first-century skills and grit; ‘Rethinking Teaching’, which mainly focuses on technology in teaching; and ‘Rethinking Evidence’, which contains one standalone entry on research. Each of the thirty entries is around four pages long, and starts with a short summary blurb outlining the topic. This is followed by a ‘What and Why’ section, an ‘In Practice’ section, and a ‘Takeaways’ section.

Cybernetic Tthinking: Serealist and Wholist style as an English Grammar Pproblem Ssolving Learning Pperspective during a pandemic

This study aims to describe the way of thinking of cybernetics students with Serialist and wholist thinking styles to solve English grammar problems. The study used a qualitative approach, so the data collection techniques used questionnaires and instruments in the form of tests of English grammar questions and interviews. Implementation of research at the Faculty of English Tarbiyah in the second semester of Fatmawati Sukarno State Islamic University Bengkulu in the 2020/202 academic year. The research sample used a purposive sampling technique, namely two students with a serialist thinking style and two students with a holistic thinking style. The results showed that the question information received by Serialist and wholist thinking style students entered the five senses directly through the senses of sight and hearing. The process of attention occurs after the questions are read and understood so that perceptions arise as concepts that are needed from long-term memory to solve problems. At the time of reunion, serialist thinking style students are very risky to improvise. While students with a wholist thinking style, the concepts needed in short-term memory are not stored properly by long-term memory, so these students often experience mistakes and forget when doing retrieval; as a result, these students are more likely to generalize excessively. These two thinking styles are expected to be able to become perspectives on the development of thinking styles in the teaching and learning process during the current pandemic.

Teachers' Opinions on the Necessity of LGS Grammar Questions

Teachers' Opinions on the Necessity of LGS Grammar Questions

Design and Application of English Grammar Intelligent Question Bank System

The English grammar question bank can reserve a large number of special knowledge points and special categories of questions, which is helpful for English learners. Therefore, we design and verify the application effect of an intelligent question bank system. We construct an English grammar knowledge map, which is used to design the system architecture, including basic layer, data layer, service layer, business layer, and user layer. On the basis of the system structure, the index system of the item bank is established, and the functional modules of the system are designed comprehensively. Finally, we design a system database based on MySQL and give the table of knowledge points of English grammar. In order to verify the performance of the designed English grammar intelligent test bank system, a verification experiment is carried out. The experiment selects the accuracy rate of English grammatical feature extraction, recall rate, convergence, and system configuration accuracy. The experimental results show that the proposed system can extract English grammatical features with higher accuracy, and the recall rate is more satisfactory. Compared with the reference systems, the designed system configuration accuracy is higher.

Investigating the impact of flipped classroom on dual language learners' perceptions and grammatical performance

Flipped classroom model has received massive attention from many researchers due to its innovative instructional strategy that offers a new perspective to the traditional classroom. However, not many studies have focused on dual language learners (DLL) who face challenges in grasping second language skills and knowledge, due to the multiple linguistic systems that they have to manage. By marrying communicative language teaching (CLT) approach with flipped technique, the present study, therefore, aims to explore dual language learners’ perception towards flipped classroom model in learning English tenses as well as their learning progress using the method. The lessons were conducted using set of culturalised interactive materials. A number of 133 intermediate learners (age 18 to 25) from a vocational college in Malaysia were selected as the research participants and data were collected using one-group pre-test–post-test design, questionnaire and interview. Pre-test and post-test grammar questions were given before and after a six-week intervention program to identify the effectiveness of the materials and instruction. The findings indicated significant differences between the mean scores of the pre-test and post-test. The results also revealed learners’ positive responses and improvement in English grammar through flipped classroom and culturalised interactive materials. This research has suggested some significant impacts of flipped classroom practices using familiar objects and culturalised learning materials. Apart from acknowledging the advantages of flipped classroom model in learning English grammar, the present study also proposes some additional strategies to achieve an effective flipped classroom lesson for dual language learners in Malaysia.

Medical Spanish Musculoskeletal and Dermatologic Educational Module.

IntroductionWhile many medical schools provide opportunities in medical Spanish for medical students, schools often struggle with identifying a structured curriculum. The purpose of this module was to provide a flexible, organ system-based approach to teaching and learning musculoskeletal and dermatologic Spanish terminology, patient-centered communication skills, and sociocultural health contexts.MethodsAn 8-hour educational module for medical students was created to teach musculoskeletal and dermatologic medical communication skills in Spanish within the Hispanic/Latinx cultural context. Participants included 47 fourth-year medical students at an urban medical school with a starting minimum Spanish proficiency at the intermediate level. Faculty provided individualized feedback on speaking, listening, and writing performance of medical Spanish skills, and learners completed a written pre- and postassessment testing skills pertaining to communication domains of vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension as well as self-reported confidence levels.ResultsStudents demonstrated improvement in vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and self-confidence of musculoskeletal and dermatologic medical Spanish topics. While students with overall lower starting proficiency levels (intermediate) scored lower on the premodule assessment compared to higher proficiency students (advanced/native), the postmodule assessment did not show significant differences in skills performance among these groups.DiscussionAn intermediate Spanish level prerequisite for this musculoskeletal and dermatologic module can result in skills improvement for all learners despite starting proficiency variability. Future study should evaluate learner clinical performance and integration of this module into other educational settings such as graduate medical education (e.g., orthopedic, rehabilitation, and dermatology residency programs) and other health professions (e.g., physical therapy and nursing).

Assessing EFL Students’ Language Proficiency in Secondary School Classes in Benin

This paper presents a study on assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language proficiency in Benin secondary schools. Assessment and evaluation are indispensable components of English language teaching. Assessing students is crucial to both learners and teachers themselves in the sense that its basic function is to improve learning. However, much awareness has not been raised on the key roles of assessment in Benin secondary schools. This study aims at investigating how effective teachers’ assessment of their learners’ language abilities is in EFL classroom and to explore EFL learners’ attitude towards assessment. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, 56 EFL teachers and 458 lower intermediate and upper EFL learners in the Atlantic region in Benin participated in this study. The field study revealed that many teachers wrongly mistake assessment for test and thus use both terms to mean the same thing. Teachers have not been able to see tests as a way of assessing their teaching methods and upgrading their students’ language skills. Besides, most teachers stated that testing is the only tool they use in assessing their learners’ language proficiency and it is mostly for the purpose of assigning grades at the end of the terms. Students declared that most tests consist of grammar questions. As this study draws attention to the close relationship between assessment and teaching, training workshops have been recommended to guide and train teachers on how to effectively assess their students so that teaching and learning in the EFL classroom meet expected objectives and goals.

Students’ Mastery of Adjective Clause: A Case Study towards the Second Semester Students of English Department

This is a case study that aims at analyzing the students’ ability in answering grammar questions about adjective clauses. The method used to analyze the data is qualitative descriptive method. The result of the study showed how well students’ ability of the second semester student of English Literature department at Universitas Pamulang in dealing with grammar questions about adjective clauses. There were 26 random students from two different classes in the same semester who were included in this study. The study shows that the average of students score resulted them to be classifed to have Fair (got 60 to 69 score) category of adjective clause mastery by reaching 46% of the total percentage.

Effects of gamifying questions on English grammar learning mediated by epistemic curiosity and language anxiety

Different types of gamification can be advantageous to enhancing students’ learning. In contrast to the extant gamification literature focusing on designing reward systems and/or facilitating teachers’ gamification of learning contents, this study focuses on the gamifying of learning content by students. To verify the efficacy of gamification as a learning activity, the effects of students posing and gamifying questions in relation to second language grammar learning are explored. A gamification platform called TipOn was designed to allow students to pose and gamify questions according to different game modes to facilitate their classmates’ practicing English grammar. To examine the emotional regulation effects of posing and gamifying questions on learning performance, this study explored the effectiveness of gamifying content by examining how participants’ two types of epistemic curiosity (i.e., interest-type epistemic curiosity (IEC) and deprivation-type epistemic curiosity (DEC)) related to posing questions affected their attitude towards gamification (ATG) and their learning progress. In this experiment, participants had to pose English grammar questions related to verb tense, and gamify the questions using TipOn. They then played games using other students’ content. Data were collected from 96 ninth-grade students, and the correlations between constructs were evaluated using the path-analytical technique. The research results indicated that, first, English learning anxiety is negatively related to the two aforementioned types of epistemic curiosity. Second, IEC had no significant impact on ATG; however, DEC was positively associated with ATG. Third, ATG could positively predict students’ learning progress. The results imply that teachers could use this gamifying system in a flipped classroom to motivate students to tap into their epistemic curiosity to increase their content learning and enhance the effects of learning.

2009∼2018년 대학수학능력 중국어 시험의 문법 난이도 연구

This research analyzed 51 grammar points in the 46 grammar questions among the ‘Chinese Language Exam of the College Scholastic Ability Test(CSAT)’ from 2009 to 2018.<BR> The theory we used is the Grammar Difficulty level of Park Yong-jin(2019), who modified the Hierarchy of Difficulty of Porter(1967). The analysis results are as follows.<BR> (1) Difficulty level 0: 2 grammar items; (2) Difficulty level 1: 3 grammar items; (3) Difficulty level 3: 25 grammar items; (4) Difficulty level 4: 8 grammar items; (5) Difficulty level 5:13 grammar items<BR> High school Chinese class has 85 hours in total. We should consider whether high school students can learn Chinese grammar level of HSK level 3 in high school Chinese class. And there were 13 grammatical items in Level 5 of grammar difficulty. Our analysis shows that overall Chinese test question of CSAT were difficult for high school students. As for the difficulty level, we have not set up comparisons with other foreign languages. Therefore, there will have to be other analyses as to why the current Chinese test is so difficult.<BR> We hope our analysis will be a good evidence to judge which grammar items are easy for learners and which are difficult objectively. And we also hope that our analysis will be a good source of evidence for textbook editing, and curriculum strategy.

Proficiency exams in teaching Turkish as a foreign language in TÖMER (Turkish and foreign languages research and application centers)

Turkish and Foreign Languages Research and Application Center (TOMER) is one of the important institutions for learning Turkish as a foreign language. In these institutions, proficiency tests are applied at the end of each level. However, test applications in TOMERs vary between each center as there is no shared program in teaching Turkish as a foreign language in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to examine the tests offered in TOMER in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The study engages a qualitative design. As the data sources include documents related to exams offered in TOMERs, a document analysis was completed. The data consist of proficiency tests offered in 13 different TOMERs that agreed to provide sample proficiency tests. In analyzing the data, a deductive approach used to look for themes and then codes. The main finding of the study is that the proficiency tests for each level are not compatible with each other. This incompatibility results from the types of questions on skills, the number of reading texts and the number of words in texts, the limit on word count in writing skills and the diversity of questions, the presence or absence of grammar questions and their placement in the exam, and not meeting the phases of skill development according to CEFR. In order to reduce these incompatibilities, there is a need for a program for teaching Turkish as a foreign language that would be followed by all TOMERs.

Persepsi Mahasiswa tentang Kesulitan yang Dihadapi Saat Menempuh JLPT: Studi Kasus Mahasiswa Program Studi Bahasa Jepang Sekolah Vokasi Universitas Gadjah Mada

Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is the largest-scale Japanese-Language test for non-native speakers in the world. This measurement tool is used by many companies and universities to assess the Japanese language skills of a job/scholarship applicant. The minimum standard expected by a company or university is the JLPT N3 level. Therefore, the majority of educational institutions in Indonesia that organize Japanese language programs set the learning outcome of its graduates to be equivalent to JLPT level N3. However, many students fail to pass the JLPT N3 exam before they graduate from college. In this study, a survey was conducted through a questionnaire to find out students' perceptions of the difficulties they encountered while taking the JLPT N3 exam. This study was conducted at the Japanese Study Program of the Vocational College of Uninversitas Gadjah Mada. Based on the results of the study, 88% of respondents found difficulty in answering Reading (Dokkai) and 62% of respondents found difficulty in answering Grammar (Bunpo) questions. Only 41% of respondents found difficulty in answering Vocabulary (Moji-goi) questions. Meanwhile, 59% of respondents found that the easiest exam questions were Listening (Choukai) questions. Generally, there are several factors that cause the difficulties. According to the students, the factor causing the difficulties in all types of questions (Reading, Grammar, Vocabulary and Listening) is the low mastery in vocabulary.

문법평가문항 개발 방향성에 관한 고찰 - 대학수학능력시험 일본어Ⅰ을 대상으로 -

문법평가문항 개발 방향성에 관한 고찰 - 대학수학능력시험 일본어Ⅰ을 대상으로 -