To what extend teachers use corrective feedback to improve students grammar

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND

Grammar has always been a problem among students in the secondary school and literary texts has been introduced in English language teaching in secondary schools since the year 2001. According to Ur, P. (2009) grammar has been important in language teaching literature research. The teaching of grammar began with Greek tradition. In the 20th century, structural linguistics and transformational grammar emerged. In the late 20th century, the rise of the communicative approach would imply a lowering of the emphasis on grammar, but in fact it continues to arouse interest in research and to have a major role in the classroom worldwide. According to Long (1991) and Long & Robinson (1998) have described focus on form as a middle path that avoids the problems associated with adopting either a linguistic unit of analysis, that is, focus on forms, or a purely meaning-based approach, that is, focus on meaning. According to Ellis, R. (2006:84) grammar teaching involves any instructional technique that draws learners attention to some specific grammatical form in such a way that it helps them in either to understand it metalinguistically and/or process it in comprehension and/or production so that they can internalize it. Content based learning is the panacea for secondary learners to learn grammar especially if the content is a familiar or related
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literary text. Petrovitz, W. (1997: 201) echoes this idea as he mentions that no materials used in ESL instruction have evidence as much conservatism as those used in the teaching of grammar. The model of the traditional textbook, in which every rule is presented by means of a general explanation followed by an exercise consisting of a series of non-contextualized sentences, is still found to a greater or lesser degree in most grammar materials. Some recent approaches have attempted to supplement or replace the traditional approach with models of correct usage and exercises which provide a greater degree of contextualization.

1.2

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In this paper, how content based learning with literary text as its content can help in secondary school students grammatical uptake will be discussed. This paper looks at how effectively teachers use corrective feedback to enhance students grammatical uptake. This study also investigates how teachers oral corrective feedback influences students of different proficiency level.

1.3

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

This study aims to :

1.3.1 Analyze the use of corrective feedbacks used by

teachers in a language classroom.

1.3.2 Determine whether the use corrective feedbacks on

form were effective for students.

1.3.3 Discover whether there is a significant impact of the

corrective feedback among students with different proficiency levels.

1.4

RESEARCH QUESTION
1.4.1 Do teachers use corrective feedback on forms to

enhance students grammatical uptake? 1.4.2 Are the corrective feedbacks on forms effective for students? 1.4.3 Is there a significant difference in grammatical uptake among students of different levels of proficiency?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This study should pave way for teachers to determine whether using literary texts for language learning helps students grammatical uptake.

2.0

Literature review

2.1 Content based teaching Content based teaching has been widespread in Malaysia with the usage of literary text in the English language classroom to improve students English language proficiency. According to D. Raphan & Mosae, J. (1994) students simultaneously acquire subject matter expertise and greater proficiency in English, the medium of instruction. Additionally, they learn to master skills necessary for academic success. The use of literature as a content to teach English will be discussed in this essay based on the principles highlighted by Brinton et al (1989) 1. research shows that for successful language learning to occur, the language syllabus must take into account the uses the learner will make of the target language, which means systematic focusing on those language forms and functions which will best serve the learner in his/her future language use. 2. The use of informational content which is perceived as relevant by the learner enhances motivation in language learning and thus promotes learning effectiveness. 3. Content-based approaches are built upon the previous experience of the learner, as they take into account the learners existing
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knowledge of the subject matter and use pedagogical methods which aim at overall development of cognitive and academic skills, as well as linguistic skills.
4. Content-based approaches provide a larger framework and context

for language development, in which focus is not only on fragmented examples of correct language forms, but also on interaction and discourse patterns. 5. SLA (second language acquisition) research suggests that a necessary condition for successful language learning is comprehensible input which requires focusing on the meaning rather than the form. The development of good receptive communicative skills is the foundation on which productive skills are based. As highlighted by the principles above, the usage of literary texts to the enhancement of students English proficiency level seems to fit in well. For instance, as in principle 1, in Malaysia as stated in the National Curriculum Syllabus, the objective of learning the English language is the develop students communicative competency as in students should be able to interact using the English language for daily life purposes. Thus, principle 1 seem to be in line with the usage of Literary text as a content as in usage as literary text seems like a spring board for activities and task related to issues of real life context. Schneider, J. (2005) seems to echo this idea as he mentioned that in order to make language focus effective in a community-oriented lesson, it is necessary to go beyond the decontextualized, sentence-level presentations of grammar that dominate many pedagogical materials, because if students are going to understand the place of language in real discourse situations, for example local situations they have to begin seeing how speakers and writers grammatical choices reflect and construct those situations. According to Davis, A.J. (2011 : 67) Krashens work (1982) on SLA and bits support of communicative language teaching. Among his 5 key
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hypothesis on SLA that are pertinent to my research, Krashen (1982) included the input hypothesis, which explains how a language acquirer develops competency via comprehensible input, that is, when a learner understands the messages given, which itself depends upon the learners current competence level in the target language, language begins to be acquired. Such comprehensible input should include suitable vocabulary, shorter sentences, and is not necessarily grammatically sequenced. Krashen also argued that the best methods to bring about language acquisition are those that supply comprehensible input in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear (1982:6). Furthermore, Krashens work strongly suggests that language acquisition occurs as a by-product of a learners focus and enjoyment of some form of interaction, whether with a person or a text. According to Nunan, D. (2011: 102) in textbooks, grammar is very often presented out of context. Learners are given isolated sentences, which they are expected to internalize through exercises involving repetition, manipulation, and grammatical transformation. These exercises are designed to provide learners with formal, declarative mastery, but unless they provide oppurtunities for learners to explore grammatical structures in context, they make the task of developing procedural skill being able to use the language for communication more difficult than it used to be, because learners are denied the opportunity of seeing the systematic relationships that exist between form, meaning and use. According to Carter and Long (1991) the rationale for the use of literature has three main approach which are The Cultural model, the Language Model and the Personal Growth Model. The Cultural Model represents the traditional approach to teaching literature. Such a model requires learners to explore and interpret the social, political, literary and historical context of a specific text. By using such a model to teach literature we not only reveal the universality of such thoughts and ideas

but encourage learners to understand different cultures and ideologies in relation to their own. The language model on the other hand is the most common approach to literature in the EFL classroom. According to Carter and Long (1991), this approach which is also known as the language based approach enables learners to access a text in a systematic and methodical way in order to exemplify specific linguistic features for example direct and indirect speech, tenses and proverbs. This approach lends itself well to the repertoire of strategies used in language used in language used in language teaching cloze procedure, prediction exercises, jumbled sentences, summary writing, creative writing a role play. Carter and Mcrae (1996) describe this model as taking a reductive approach to literature. These activities are disconnected from the literary goals of the specific text in that they can be applied to any text. There is little engagement of the learner with the text other than for purely linguistic practice; literature is used in a rather purposeless and mechanistic way on order to provide for a series of language activities designed by the teacher. Thirdly, the Personal Growth Model attempts the bridge the cultural model and the language model by focusing on the particular use of language in a text, as well as placing it in a specific cultural context. Learners are encouraged to express their opinions, feelings and make connections between their own personal and cultural experiences and those expressed in the text. For example, in Malaysia, form four English syllabus, contains a poem titled Si Tenggangs Homecoming written by a local poet, Muhammad Haji Salleh. This poem requires students background knowledge and experience on the Malay culture where Si Tenggang is a famous tale of an ungrateful son. Students who understand the issue behind this ungrateful son will understand the themes of this poem better. As Cadorath and Harris point out (1998:188) text itself has no meaning, it only provides direction for the reader to construct meaning from the readers own experience. Thus, learning is said to take place
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when readers are able to interpret text and construct meaning on the basis of their experience. Therefore, as it has been established the reasons for using literary texts to teach grammar, in this study, how effectively teachers use corrective feedback to enhance students grammatical uptake will be analysed. One of the theoretical conditions claimed to be necessary for SLA is referred to as negative input or Corrective feedback. The terms negative data, negative input and corrective feedback have been used interchangeably. The term error correction, has also been used interchangeably with these terms with respect to classroom settings. According to Schachter (1986), corrective feedback is important for language learning because it provides metalinguistic information which shows the learner that her utterance was in some way insufficient, deviant, unacceptable, or not understandable to the native speaker. Examples of metalinguistic information are explicit corrections, confirmation checks and clarification requests. Corrective feedback is considered theoretically relevant for SLA as it is considered essential to hypothesis testing (Schachter, 1986). Language learning is viewed as a process of hypothesis testing, where language learners are constantly formulating amd testing new hypothesis and rejecting old ones based on new data. In this perspective, errors are considered crucial to the language learning process as they inform us about some of the hypotheses that learners are formulating. Empirical support for corrective feedback has come from a number of studies (e.g. Herron and Tomasello(1988); Lightbown and Spada( 1990). Studies by Herron and Tomasello (1988) suggest some

positive effects of certain techniques of negative feedback. Observational studies by Lightbown and Spada (1990), also show positive effects of corrective feedback, and form-focused instruction.
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According

to

Brown

(1988),

feedback

has

to

be

genuinely

responsive, so that learners are allowed to experience the effect of what they utter as a guide in their subsequent output. Brown (1988:16) also believes that feedback must be more than encouragement, as empty and automatic encouragement is often pointless. A genuine response from the teacher provides some indication to learners of the effectiveness of their utterances. However, a genuine response from a teacher could be on content or form in a literature classroom. Thus, to what extent teachers use corrective feedback for students grammatical uptake will be discussed in this essay based on the recordings from two literature lessons. Teachers oral corrective feedback on students has various effects depending on students. According to Lightbown, P.M. and Spada, N. (1990) explicit corrective feedback in an intensive communicative classroom having English as an L2 contributed positively to learners linguistic accuracy. Thus, in this study how students of different levels of proficiency benefit from their teachers oral corrective feedback will be discussed. In a nutshell, to address students problem in learning grammar, literature as a content for content based learning is used widely. However, to what extent teachers use corrective feedback to enhance students grammatical uptake will be looked into in this study via a qualitative study based on classroom recording and interviews. How students of different levels of proficiency in English will also be analysed based on the recording and interviews.

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References : Brown, R. (1988) Classroom pedagogies A syllabus for the interactive stage The Teacher Trainer Volume 2:13 Carter, R. And Long, M. (1991) Teaching Literature. Harlow : Longman Collie, J. and Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the Language Classroom Cambridge : Cambridge University Press Ellis, R. (2006) Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar : An SLA Perspective TESOL QUARTERLY Volume 40 : 1 Erkaya, O. R. (2006) Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context ASIAN EFL JOURNAL Volume 51:3 Retrieved from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ Ghosn, I.K. (2002) Four good reasons to use literature in primary school ELT ELT Journal Volume 56:2 Retrieved from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ Herron, C. & Tomasello, M. (1988) Learning grammatical structures in a foreign language: Modelling versus Feedback. The French Review Volume 61:910 922 Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (1990) Focus of Form and Corrective Feedback in Communicative Language Teaching : Effects on Second Language Learning. Studies on Second Language Acquisition Volume 12 : 429 Long, M. H. (1991) Focus On form : a design feature in language teaching methodology. In de Bot, K., D. Coste, R. Ginsberg, and C. Kramsch (Eds). Foreign Language Research in Cross-Cultural perspectives. Amsterdam:John Benjamins Long, M., & Robinson, P. (1998) Focus on form : Theory, research and practice. In C. Doughty and J. Williams (Eds) Focus on Form in Classroom SLA. New York : Cambridge University Press Nunan, D. (1998) Teaching Grammar in Context ELT Journal Volume http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ 52:2 Retrieved from

Petrovitz, W. (1997) The role of contexts in the presentation of Grammar

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ELT http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/

Journal

Volume

51:3

Retrieved

from

Poole, A. (2005) Focus on Form Instruction : Foundations and Criticisms The Reading Matrix Volume 5 : 1 Schachter, J. (1986) Three approaches to the study of input. Language Learning Volume 36 : 211 Schneider, J. (2005) Teaching grammar through community issues ELT Journal Volume 59:4 Retrieved http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/ from

Snow, M.A. & Brinton, D. M. (1997) The Content-Based Classroom : Perspectives on Integrating Language and Content Harlow : Longman Tsai, Y. (2010) The Impact of Content-Based Language Instruction On EFL Students reading performance Asian Social Science Volume6 : 3 Retrieved from www.ccse.org./ass Ur, P. (2009) Teaching Grammar : Research, Theory and Practice University of Vienna

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