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- Volume 4, Issue 1, 2023
Pedagogical Linguistics - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2023
Volume 4, Issue 1, 2023
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Children’s text comprehension
Author(s): Jane Oakhillpp.: 1–25 (25)More LessAbstractThis paper first considers what is meant by good reading comprehension and makes a distinction between the product of reading comprehension and the processes that are required to attain that product. It goes on to consider how less-skilled comprehenders can be identified and provides a summary of the research into how less-skilled and skilled comprehenders differ in terms of the skills and processes that they apply during text comprehension. Finally, the implications of these research findings for instruction are considered, and generalizable research-based recommendations for teaching reading comprehension strategies are considered.
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Grammar and variation in the classroom
Author(s): Vít Dovalil and Adriana Hanulíkovápp.: 26–49 (24)More LessAbstractGrammar is the structural foundation of successful communication, language use, and literacy development. Grammar is therefore sometimes viewed as the heart of language with an important place in language teaching. In a classroom setting, regulation of grammar knowledge through teachers is strongly influenced by teachers’ linguistic competence and beliefs. In this paper, we will first show the diversity in this knowledge by means of teacher interviews and speeded grammatical-acceptability data from pupils and students. We will then sketch a socio- and psycholinguistic perspective on several selected morphosyntactic variables in German. These will be discussed with reference to social forces that determine what is standard in a language (language norm authorities, language experts, model texts, and codifiers). Finally, we will draw a roadmap for teachers, language practitioners and editors looking for a qualified solution to grammatical cases of doubt in contemporary German and provide practical examples by drawing upon the German reference corpus.
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Second language grammar learning in refugee children
Author(s): Konstantina Olioumtsevits, Despina Papadopoulou and Theodoros Marinispp.: 50–76 (27)More LessAbstractThis exploratory study aims to investigate the effectiveness of group dictation in primary school children with a refugee background. More specifically, running dictation was employed in the teaching of two grammatical phenomena in L2 Greek, tense and gender agreement. Two studies were conducted to investigate each grammatical structure separately. Each study consisted of a pre-test that investigated the pupils’ performance on the grammatical structure, the teaching intervention via running dictation, and a post-test that explored its efficiency on pupils’ accuracy. All pupils that participated in the studies were enrolled in formal Greek education and their L1s were Arabic, Farsi or Kurdish. According to the results from both studies, the children’s post-intervention performance did not improve significantly. However, the pupils’ accuracy on some of the grammatical forms tested as well as their error patterns indicated that running dictation helped the pupils notice the target grammatical phenomena and thus become more aware of them. Moreover, some data showed that older pupils benefited more from the target-activity than younger ones. Therefore, the present study provides evidence that running dictation may have a positive qualitative rather than quantitative impact on learners’ grammatical development and is dependent on the pupils’ age.
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Is ‘more’ really more?
Author(s): Björn Rothstein, Katharina Staubach, Saskia Ripp, Julia Waldeyer and Julian Roellepp.: 77–97 (21)More LessAbstractStarting from general problems of teaching grammar in the subject of German language as well as from basic assumptions of so-called ‘more-is-more’ didactics, we discuss demands to continue teaching grammar after the eighth grade (in Germany, that is the eighth year of school). We then present a quasi-experimental study which was carried out in grades 8 to 12 with the same participants for the purpose of finding out whether providing additional and repeated grammar teaching in the subject of German language even after the eighth grade results in improved and explicit long-term German grammar knowledge. At least at one measurement time point during the study, N = 821 students from six different schools were participating. As a crucial result it turned out that additional and repeated grammar teaching resulted in an improvement in explicit grammar knowledge both during individual grades and across grades. These study results support the demands of ‘more-is-more’ didactics, they however require long-term assessment concerning a number of problems, which are discussed.
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Teaching English to Arab learners
Author(s): Ferid Chekilipp.: 98–117 (20)More LessAbstractBoth ‘Educational Linguistics’ and ‘Pedagogical Linguistics’ have demonstrated the importance of linguistic knowledge in teaching/learning second/foreign languages. More recently, there have been concrete proposals that insights from formal linguistics and theoretical acquisition research may also play a role in pedagogy. Indeed, many observed difficulties in L2 can be traced back to lack of knowledge, on the part of teachers, of certain abstract linguistic concepts. In this paper, two English constructions (constructions with Object pronouns and DP-internal concord) claimed to be problematic for the learner/teacher in the absence of any linguistic knowledge will be investigated in terms of their abstract properties. The implication is that such linguistic knowledge will speed up the process of learning. This will be supported by previous findings on aspectual contrasts in English and Arabic where such knowledge clearly obtains, causing the learning process to be relatively rapid. Evidence for the presence of this knowledge in the learners comes from observation of the transitional stages in the learning process which indicate that the learner is on the right track to learning. The research hypothesis will be argued to have significant implications for teaching, and thus, if correct, will corroborate some recent findings.
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