Learnability of Grammatical Sequencing: A Processability Perspective of Textbook Evaluation in EFL Settings

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-257
Author(s):  
Xiaofei Tang
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Learning Sequence ◽  
Partial Agreement ◽  
Textbook Evaluation ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Textbook Series ◽  
Developmental Readiness ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Grammatical Structures

Abstract This study conducts an acquisition-based evaluation of four primary-school English textbook series used in China. The evaluation aims to determine whether the sequencing of grammatical structures in the series is compatible with the L2 learning sequence stipulated in Processability Theory (PT). The results show a partial agreement between the sequencing of structures as teaching objectives in the series and the PT-based processability hierarchy. The sequencing of structures in the initial stages is consistent with the learning sequence of L2 English stated in PT. However, several structures in the intermediate or high stages are taught in a deviant way against their sequencing in PT. The deviant grading of those structures is possibly associated with the theme-based guidelines adopted in the textbooks. It appears that concerns with the utility of grammatical structures in a given context take precedence over concerns for L2 development. A number of suggestions are offered to textbook writers in terms of the role of input, the learners’ developmental readiness, and the issue of heterogeneity in L2 classrooms.

Examining the Processability Theory

1996 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Björn Hammarberg
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Relative Role ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Dynamic View ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
Processability Theory ◽  
Grammatical Structures

The Processability Theory (PT), originating from the German ZISA Project and recently revised by Pienemann (1993, in prep.), claims that the order of grammatical development in a second language is determined by a hierarchy of psycholinguistic constraints on the processability of grammatical structures. The present paper discusses some problematic aspects of this theory and argues for a dynamic view of L2 acquisition in which factors which drive acquisition ahead are also taken into account. It is suggested that a Principle of Perceived Communicative Value (PCV) plays a part in conditioning the order of L2 development. The relative role of processability and communicative value factors is investigated here in a case where they compete. The acquisition of adjective agreement in L2 Swedish is chosen as a test case to examine predictions about the order of development derived from PT and PCV. This permits the comparison of a phrasal (NP) and inter-phrasal (subject-predicative) syntactic domain as well as the comparison of different morphological categories (gender and number). Longitudinal data are gathered from a corpus of conversations with six adult learners reflecting successive stages of development for each individual from the beginning stage to an advanced level. The results indicate that the nature of the morphological category is decisive in determining acquisition order, which means that PCV is effective and overrules PT in those cases where the two are in conflict. On the other hand, if the same morpho-logical category is compared in different syntactic domains, PTs prediction that phrasal agreement comes before inter-phrasal agreement is borne out. This suggests that the two principles of processability and communicative relevance interact, and that a theory of processability is neither sufficient nor invalid, but needs to be placed in the context of a wider model of L2 development. It lends support to the dynamic view of L2 acquisition discussed in the paper.

Role of Teachers in Building the Concept of Sustainable Development: Success or Failure

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayaz Muhammad Khan ◽  
Amber Jamshaid ◽  
Tayyibah Roohi ◽  
Amna Ramzan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Primary Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Role Of Teachers ◽  
Major Factors

Sustainable Development (SD) is a rich, challenging and thought-provoking construct in social sciences. The main purpose of this paper was to identify and explore the role played by primary school teachers in building up the idea of sustainable development (SD) among students. This paper was intended to identify that how a teacher can successfully execute the concept of SD by influencing students’ minds at the primary level. Quantitative survey technique were utilized for data collection. All the primary school teachers of Lahore division comprised the population of the study. Through multistage sampling technique, 352 primary school teachers were selected as participants of the study. A self-developed SD questionnaire incorporating four major factors (teachers’ awareness, pedagogy, curricular and co-curricular activities) with Cronbach’s alpha value = .93 was used to measure the role of teachers in building the sustainability concept among students at primary level. The results indicated a significant mean score difference among SD scores of teachers, sector wise (private and public). Furthermore, the results also reconnoitered the significant difference (p=.04) between the mean scores of female and male teachers in building up the SD concept in students’ minds.

The Role of Tahfidzul Quran Learning to Build the Students’ Character at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Istiqomah Sambas Purbalingga

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 235-245
Author(s):  
Ikhwandi Arifin
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
The Future ◽  
Character Building

This paper discusses the importance of the students ‘character building in the level of primary school/Islamic elementary school to face the globalization and information era. Education is the process of determining the nation’s character. Good or bad character of the nation in the future will be determined by the present quality of education. Building the character through Tahfidzul Quran learning approach is expected to be the main foundation to improve the degree and prestige of learners as the asset of the nation. This study aimed to describe the process of Tahfidzul Quran learning which included planning, organizing, doing action and monitoring the important role of learning itself to build the learners’ character, especially in Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Istiqomah Sambas Purbalingga.

The Role of Chess in the Intellectual Development of Childrens from Primary School

2019 ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
Vlad Stegariu ◽  
Simona Andreea Popușoi ◽  
Beatrice Abălașei ◽  
Nicolae Lucian Voinea ◽  
Ioan Stelescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Resources Allocation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
One Year ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Chess Playing

Chess playing has a significant role in participants’ resources allocation, both at a psychological level, but mostly concerning the cognitive resources. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of chess playing on the intellectual development of primary-class students. 67 children were tested using the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices and were distributed in three different groups according to their experience with chess, namely: the control group (formed by students with no experience with chess playing), the beginners group (students with less than one year in chess playing training) and the advanced group (children with more than two years experience with chess). Results indicated that chess playing had a significant effect on the SPM performance, indicating that those in the advanced group performed significantly better than those in the control or in the beginners group. Conclusions of this study tap into the benefits of playing chess with a focus on the children’s’ cognitive development.

scholarly journals Foreign Experience in Using Educational Logotherapy in Professional Activities of Primary School Teachers

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Yuliia Stepura
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Therapeutic Concept ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Therapeutic Interaction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Primary Schoolchildren ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

Abstract The article examines the nature and importance of using aesthetic and therapeutic concept and educational logotherapy, in particular, for creating a special emotionally comfortable socioeducational environment for primary education The author has represented inteipretation of foreign scholars' views (J. Bugental, V. Frankl, A. Maslow, R. May, J. Moreno, C. Rogers et al) on such terms as “communication ”, “aesthetotherapy ”, “educational logotherapy” etc. An attempt has been made to analyze the social coTitent of pedagogical activity in the context of using logotherapy in primary school based on an agogical paradigm. In the scope of the article, the specific of using the therapeutic metaphor in the educational environment of primary' school has been represented as well as the basic stages of its implementation have been determined. These stages are the following: description of the storyline, persuasion and binding. The author has defined the role of the “living metaphors” in organization of the therapeutic interaction between the teacher and primary' schoolchildren. Particular attention has been paid to formation of the humanistic competency among primary schoolchildren; this competency is to be based on their understanding of the following philosophical and pedagogical categories: a norm (as a means and a results of pupils' social activity), freedom (as a mean and a result of individual self-expression among primary schoolchildren) and happiness (as an individual self-expression among primaryr schoolchildren). The author has assessed the role of deflection method and paradoxical intention for the social development of the pupil and further formation of the individual. Additional attention has been paid to determination of the socioeducational and psychological and pedagogical potential of such leading method in logotherapy as “The Socratic dialogue” (or “The Socratic circle”): as well have been highlighted the main stages of its implementation: consent (search for what pupil may agree), doubt (an expression of doubts towards weak arguments of interlocutor) and arguments (the teacher must convey' one’s opinion, without any resistance from the child): have been represented different various algorithms of its realization: the method of “aquarium”, “panel method” and “questioning technique”.

scholarly journals Effect of school reopening on SARS-CoV-2 incidence in a low-prevalence region: Prospective SARS-CoV-2 testing in healthcare workers with primary school-attending children versus without children living at home

2021 ◽  
pp. 175717742110124
Author(s):  
Melvin Frie ◽  
Lisa M Havinga ◽  
Janneke Wiersema-Buist ◽  
Charlotte G Veldman ◽  
Marjan JT de Vries ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Regional Strategies ◽  
Low Prevalence ◽  
At Home

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) often presents asymptomatically or milder in children compared to adults. The role of young children in the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains largely unknown. In the Netherlands, the first action of loosening the partial lockdown that had been implemented to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission was the reopening of primary schools on 1 May 2020. We subsequently conducted a prospective cohort study among healthcare workers (HCWs) with primary school-attending children versus HCWs without children living at home. We tested each HCW three times for SARS-CoV-2 from May 20 to June 15 2020 at 1-week intervals. In total, 832 nasopharyngeal swabs were taken from 283 HCWs with primary school-attending children living at home and 864 nasopharyngeal swabs from 285 HCWs without children living at home. All nasopharyngeal swabs tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. In our region with a low population density and low SARS-CoV-2 prevalence, reopening of primary schools did not lead to an increase in infections. The results of this study may serve as an example for the implementation of regional strategies to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in countries with large variations in both population density and SARS-CoV-2 prevalence.

scholarly journals “Les copains *dit au revoir”: On Subject–Verb Agreement in L2 French and Cross-Linguistic Influence

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Malin Ågren ◽  
Marie-Eve Michot ◽  
Cyrille Granget ◽  
Sonia Gerolimich ◽  
Pascale Hadermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Verb Morphology ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Development

This study focuses on the production of subject–verb (SV) agreement in number in L2 French and investigates the role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in this particular morphosyntactic domain. CLI is a well-known phenomenon in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research but it has rarely been investigated systematically in relation to SV agreement in French. The participants of the study are 114 learners with Italian, German, Dutch and Swedish as L1. The source languages are all inflectional languages but they vary in terms of morphological richness in the verb paradigm, ranging from very poor (Swedish) to very rich (Italian). The participants performed an oral narrative task contrasting singular and plural contexts of SV agreement. Results indicate a significant difference between L1 groups in terms of correct SV agreement but they also show that the overall presence of rich verb morphology in the L1 does not, on its own, result in a more correct SV agreement. It is when comparing learners at two different proficiency levels that we observe differences in the rate of L2 development, which may be explained as an effect of CLI. Overall, results indicate a complex interplay of different factors, where the role of CLI must be further investigated in future studies in relation to L2 French.

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