Artificial Grammar Learning in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate implicit learning in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) by employing a visual artificial grammar learning task. Method: Thirteen children with DLD and 24 children with typical language development between the ages of 8 and 12 years completed a visual artificial grammar learning task. During the training phase of the task, participants were presented with strings of shapes that followed the underlying structure of a finite grammar. During the testing phase, participants were asked to judge whether new strings were grammatical or nongrammatical. Grammatical judgment of new strings served to measure generalization of the underlying grammatical structure. Endorsement based on chunk strength, or similarity to training exemplars, served to evaluate the extent to which children relied on surface features to guide their task performance. Results: As a group, children with typical development performed better on the artificial grammar learning task, compared with children with DLD, and accepted more grammatical strings regardless of their similarity to training exemplars. Task performance in both groups was not affected by surface features. Performance of children with DLD whose test accuracy exceeded the learning threshold of 0.5 was consistent with a generalization of the underlying grammatical structure that was unaffected by surface features. Conclusions: The study found group differences in learning outcomes between children with and without DLD. Consistent with previous reports, children with typical development correctly endorsed more grammatical strings than children with DLD, suggesting a better acquisition of the grammatical structure. However, there was no evidence to suggest that children in the DLD group (learners and nonlearners) relied on surface features (i.e., familiarity to training exemplars) in their grammatical judgment. These results refute our hypothesis that children in the DLD group would show judgment based on familiarity.

Social Networking Sites and Grammar Learning: The Views of Learners and Practitioners

This study examines the impact of online English Teachers' Stroking Behaviors on L2 grammar learning through online learning of L2 grammar for EFL learners. Sixty intermediate EFL learners were chosen for this reason and split randomly into three telegram groups. A researcher-made grammar test was administered as a pre-test prior to beginning the online course. For all three groups during one month, the determined grammar points were instructed in the same manner by one teacher. The instructor also used some pre-planned terms and phrases in the first category that suggested a positive conditional stimulation in her input during the teaching process. The researcher often used some per-planned terms and phrases with negative conditional stimulation for the next group, and the instructor provided the students with the input for the last group as the control group, suggesting no emotional themes. Another researcher-made grammar test was given as the post test for three groups at the final session. The findings showed that the positive verbal conditional stimulation of the teacher was substantially more efficient than the negative conditional stimulations; however, the negative ones were more efficient than no stimulation. Interview results revealed that, compared to receiving no stimulations, the participants prefer to receive stimulations from the instructor, including harmful ones.

Facilitating English Grammar Learning by a Personalized Mobile-Assisted System With a Self-Regulated Learning Mechanism

This study developed a personalized mobile-assisted system with a self-regulated learning (SRL) mechanism to facilitate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ learning of grammar. A quasi-experimental design, involving an experimental group (n = 278) and a control group (n = 320), was adopted to examine its effectiveness on students’ grammar learning. The experimental group, who had full access to the functions of the system (i.e., recommendations, feedback and an e-portfolio package), used the system to learn grammar, complete grammar exercise, and engage in for a semester, while the control group only use the system to submit weekly assignments. The results suggest that the experimental group obtained significantly higher scores in English grammar tests than the control group and the system benefited both genders with no significant differences. The findings provide empirical evidence in support of the effectiveness of this system in improving students’ grammar test scores, indicating its value as a supplementary tool to conventional classroom teaching of English grammar via supporting learners’ SRL development in a m-learning context. The pedagogical implications for applying this system in classrooms and beyond were discussed.

The Effects of Using Infographics-based Learning on EFL Learners’ Grammar Retention

In Vietnam, EFL learners have always been concerned about improving their grammar knowledge, and many efforts have been made to do so through various methods. Some studies suggest engaging students in their learning process and focusing their attention on untilizing multimedia and visualizations in form of infographics. However, little research has been conducted on the topic, and the current study is an attempt to find empirical evidence for such a suggestion in Vietnam context. This study was designed to examine the impact of infographics instruction on grammar learning. While the experimental group learned grammar with infographics instruction, the controlled group learned it with routine and traditional techniques. Finding reveals that infographics instruction was an effective instrument to help EFL learners learn English grammar.

A Blended Grammar Learning System Featuring Unsupervised Pattern Discovery

Recent developments in cognitive and psycholinguistic research postulate that language learning is essentially the learning of grammatical construc-tions. An important type of grammatical construction with wide-ranging pedagogical implications is grammar patterns as laid out in Pattern Gram-mar. While grammar patterns have seen increasing adoption in language pedagogy, existing applications typically follow a paper-based, teacher-centered approach to instruction, which is known to be less effective in grammar learning than blended, learner-centered approaches. In this paper, we propose a blended learning model that integrates web-based technology with classroom-based instruction to facilitate efficient, personalized grammar learning. We present the design and implementation of a blended grammar learning system that provides customizable learning materials for individual learners by discovering important grammar patterns from corpora in an unsupervised manner. Preliminary evaluation shows that the proposed system achieves an accuracy in pattern discovery comparable to systems that rely on manually precompiled pattern lists and hard-coded rules. With a flexible architecture and an easy-to-use interface, the system can play a key role in the creation of a blended learning environment that can be integrated into a wide range of language learning curricula.

Chatbot-Based Application Development and Implementation as an Autonomous Language Learning Medium

Autonomous learning has an important role in online learning because teachers cannot directly supervise the student learning process, which makes students themselves responsible for their learning. As an attempt to provide teachers with an alternative autonomous learning medium, this study aimed to use a chatbot-based Japanese grammar learning application namely Gengobot as an autonomous Japanese learning medium. This study applied Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) instructional design model. The data of this research was collected using a pre-experimental method and distributed a Likert scale questionnaire to 50 Japanese language learners with Japanese language levels equivalent to or less than JLPT level N3. The results showed that Gengobot as a chatbot-based Japanese grammar learning medium is an interesting and innovative medium to support Japanese autonomous learning because learners can decide how they learn using this application to improve their Japanese grammar skills. In addition, Gengobot is a chatbot-based learning medium that is more interactive than other Mobile-based media, which makes learners more interested in using Gengobot as a Japanese grammar learning medium. However, Gengobot still needs further development such as adding advanced grammar content (N2 and N1), adding Japanese pronunciation features (audio), etc.