Prospective English Language
Teachers' Grammatical Awareness Development: A case study
El
desarrollo de la conciencia gramatical de los futuros docentes de inglés: Un estudio
de caso
Jennifer
Jaramillo-Delgado
jennifer.jaramillode@amigo.edu.co
Licenciada en Inglés
Egresada (Integrante del semillero Evaluación y
Adquisición de Lenguas)
Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, Medellín, Colombia
Erika Marcela Restrepo-Bolívar
Magister en Enseñanza y Aprendizaje de Lenguas
Extranjeras
Docente
Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, Medellín, Colombia
Recibido: 01 de junio de 2018
Aprobado: 23 de enero de 2019
Abstract
This
study examines prospective English language teachers' grammatical awareness development
in an English teaching undergraduate program at a private university in
Colombia. Data were collected through semi-structured individual and focus
group interviews, as well as participants' academic written production. Results
reveal the internal and external factors which affect pre-service teachers'
grammatical awareness development in this context and recurrent grammatical
errors in their work. This research informs language teacher education and
calls for action in order to enable future English teachers to develop
grammatical awareness as part of their training in these programs to
successfully attain academic writing.
Keywords: grammar,
grammatical awareness, academic writing, prospective teachers, L2 teaching
Resumen
Este estudio explora el desarrollo de la conciencia
gramatical de los futuros licenciados en Inglés de una universidad privada en
Colombia. Se obtuvo información a partir de grupos focales, entrevistas
individuales semiestructuradas y producción escrita de los participantes. Los
resultados revelan los factores internos y externos que afectan el desarrollo
de la conciencia gramatical de los futuros docentes en este contexto, así como
los errores gramaticales recurrentes en textos académicos de su autoría. Esta
investigación destaca la importancia de establecer estrategias útiles para el
desarrollo de la conciencia gramatical en los futuros docentes, como parte de
la formación que reciben en los programas, para asumir con éxito la escritura
de textos académicos.
Palabras clave: gramática, conciencia gramatical, escritura
académica, formación docente, enseñanza
de lenguas extranjeras
Cómo citar
este artículo:
APA Jaramillo
Delgado, J., & Restrepo Bolívar, E. (2018). El Desarrollo de la Conciencia Gramatical
de los Futuros Docentes de Inglés para la Producción de Textos
Académicos. Matices en Lenguas
Extranjeras, 0(12).
MLA Jaramillo
Delgado, Jennifer, & Erika Marcela Restrepo Bolívar. "El Desarrollo de
la Conciencia Gramatical de los Futuros Docentes de Inglés para la Producción
de Textos Académicos." Matices
en Lenguas Extranjeras [En línea], 0.12 (2018): s. p. Web. 16 ene.
2020
CBE Jaramillo
Delgado, J., & Restrepo Bolívar, E. 2018 ene 1. El Desarrollo de la
Conciencia Gramatical de los Futuros Docentes de Inglés para la Producción de
Textos Académicos. Matices en
Lenguas Extranjeras. [En línea] 0:12
There is wide agreement that giving special attention to academic
writing skills, as part of future language teachers' training, is fundamental
in a context where educators are expected to perform beyond teaching-learning
scenarios to be actively involved in scientific production. Actually,
pre-service teachers are often demanded by their educators to produce a
substantial volume of academic texts in diverse courses. Nonetheless, with the
advent of communicative approaches for language teaching and learning, a debate
on the suitability of explicit grammar teaching to develop such skills has been
raised. Regarding the way prospective teachers are being taught the language,
Howatt (as cited in Andrews, 1999b) states that there is a "switch of attention
from teaching the language system to teaching the language as communication"
(p. 161). In this attempt, many language teachers tend to disregard grammar,
forgetting that it contributes to meaning making (Shen, 2012).
Having a good command of English grammar would help
prospective teachers to write effectively by constructing clear, interesting
and precise sentences and paragraphs (ibid). Andrews (1994) claims that,
besides possessing knowledge on the language system, teachers should develop
awareness that involves abilities, sensitivity, understanding, and consciousness
regarding how they use this knowledge. Therefore, the extent to which
prospective language teachers develop grammatical awareness affects their
efficiency in the production of academic texts.
Even if future teachers succeed in fully completing their
writing tasks, this may not necessarily result in fluent academic performance.
For instance, numerous demonstrations of incorrect use of English grammar have
been found in academic texts produced by prospective language teachers who are
enrolled in advanced courses in an English teaching undergraduate program at a
private university in Colombia. Consequently, this phenomenon led the authors
of this study to explore pre-service teachers' grammatical awareness
development as part of their training in the program.
Crystal (2016) asserts that grammar is "the study of how
sentences mean, and how the bits of sentences mean" (p. 29). According to the
author, grammar acts as the structural basis that one has for understanding meaning,
expressing it and responding to it within sentences. This knowledge allows for
accuracy, identification of ambiguity, and use of a variety of expressions
among language users. Likewise, the Common European Framework of Reference
(CEFR), issued by the council of Europe in 2001, defines grammar as the set of
principles that govern phrase and sentence construction to convey meaning in a
language. The CEFR presents syntax and morphology as the main levels of
grammar, where the former refers to the organization of words into sentences to
convey meaning, and the latter to the internal organization of words as roots,
prefixes, suffixes, and infixes (Council of Europe, 2001). More specific
constituents of grammar within these two levels, according to this framework,
are listed below:
According to Shuib (2009), for an efficient use of these
resources, language users should develop grammatical awareness conducive to (1)
the recognition of different grammatical categories and functions, (2) the
description of a word or phrase in grammatical terms (metalanguage), (3) the
correction of incorrect phrases or fragments, and (4) the explanation of
infringed grammatical rules.
Researchers in the field advocate for a deliberate
grammatical awareness development among learners, prospective and in-service teachers
of English as a Foreign or Second Language. As a case in point, Sert (2006)
found that, when exposed to native speakers' discourse, learners achieve a
better understanding of language and develop capacities to analyze and judge
grammatical and ungrammatical structures. Moreover, Zhang and Hung (2014) explored the
effectiveness of integrating awareness in a grammar course for second-year
students at one English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university in China. They
concluded that this strategy encouraged participants' positive feelings towards
grammar and their motivation to use cognitive strategies such as analyzing the
target language, which improved their writing and reading skills. On the other
hand, Andrew's (1994) study to characterize English grammar knowledge and
awareness among 141 English-as-a-Second-Language teachers and teacher trainees
in Hong Kong revealed that although participants exhibited different levels of
confidence, abilities and knowledge toward the grammar system and terminology,
which varied according to their previous learning and teaching experiences, all
of them agreed on the importance of knowing grammar rules and grammar
terminology as part of their training.
Although research on grammatical awareness is not new, it is
remarkably important in the field of language teaching education. In fact,
Svalberg and Askham's (2014) study on how a student in a master's-level teacher
education course in England builds her grammar knowledge ratifies that
awareness helps to create analytical mindsets which promote better pedagogical
practices. Similarly, Shuib's (2009) analysis of the level of grammatical
awareness among in-service primary English teachers in Malaysia highlights the
role of teachers' understanding and consciousness toward grammar rules and
terms in correcting errors made by students in the classroom. Since the study
evidenced participants' lack of grammar knowledge, which may affect their
teaching practices, it advocates for giving more emphasis to grammar exposure
in teacher language training. In addition, the author calls for more studies
that consider English language teachers' needs regarding their grammatical
awareness. Altogether, by developing grammatical awareness, prospective English
teachers would be better positioned to guide their future learners towards an
appropriate use of the foreign language grammar system and to efficiently
engage in academic writing.
Sultan (2013) defines academic writing as "a distinct style
of writing used by those in academia and research communities that is noted for
its detached objectivity, its use of critical analysis and its presentation of
well-structured, clear arguments based on evidence and reason" (p. 141).
According to Sowton (2012), academic writing is characterized by its objectivity
as the writer is expected to provide enough evidence to support ideas.
Moreover, academic writing is complex since it requires the use of formal
language, particular grammatical structures, and a wide range of content words.
Finally, according to the author, formality of structures, as well as the
number of references used, makes academic writing different from other types of
writing.
Regarding performance in academic writing, Singh, Singh,
Razak, and Ravinthar (2017) analyzed the most common mistakes in essays written
by Malaysian tertiary education students who had taken English courses.
Findings reveal inadequate grammatical knowledge of several parts of the
English language system, especially of tenses and subject-verb agreement.
Consequently, researchers remark the need for integrating grammar explicit
instruction in language teaching and learning. Likewise, Fengje, Jia, and
Hongyi (2016) examined the written production from college students in a
Chinese context to identify grammatical mistakes, causes and solutions to
improve participants' writing skills. Findings suggest that the most common
mistakes were related to the use of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. According to the researchers, these mistakes
can be explained by mother tongue interference, differences in cultural
backgrounds, and incomplete English knowledge. Finally, they advocate for 1)
encouraging development of students' writing habits, 2) comparing and analyzing
mother tongue and target language, 3) putting grammar knowledge in context, and
4) analyzing grammatical phenomena.
The study
The major objective of this research was to explore
prospective English language teachers' grammatical awareness development
through a case study embedded in an interpretive paradigm. According to
Creswell (2014), a case study can be defined as
A qualitative design in which the
researcher explores in depth a program, event, activity, process, or one or
more individuals. The case(s) are bounded by time and activity, and researchers
collect detailed information using a variety of data collection procedures over
a sustained period of time. (p. 290)
The strategy used to select participants was a homogeneous
sampling. According to Savin-Baden and Major (2013) a homogeneous sampling is
encompassed by individuals who share defining and similar characteristics
within a certain community. Participants in this study were a group of 19
prospective English language teachers (7 female and 12 male, aged 21 to 32 years),
whose native language is Spanish, enrolled in advanced courses in an English
language teaching program.
Data were collected through semi-structured individual and
focus group interviews, and selected pieces from prospective teachers' academic
written production. Individual and focus groups interviews were recorded and
transcribed for further analysis. In order to analyze and interpret data, the
researchers used the steps suggested by Creswell (2014): organizing data,
reading and rereading raw data as well as field notes, coding, generating
categories or themes for analysis, and making an interpretation of the
findings.
Quality of the study was ensured by peer examination and
member checking. Peer examination involved having peers review the different
phases of the research to confirm appropriateness of analysis and data
interpretation. Member checking required asking participants for verification
of findings retrieved from collected data (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013).
Results and Discussion
Findings from this study revealed internal and external
factors that influence prospective teachers' grammatical awareness development
in this particular context. It was found that participants had developed a low
level of grammatical awareness which can explain the considerable quantity and
the nature of grammatical errors remaining in their academic texts. Factors
associated to participants' grammatical awareness development evidenced in this
research are explained in subsequent lines.
Prospective English teachers'
enrollment in grammar courses
Grammar courses in the English teaching program are
optional. Nevertheless, data analysis revealed that a vast majority of
participants have taken at least one of them. The most common reasons for which
they feel motivated to enroll themselves in such courses include 1) to improve
their writing skills, 2) to be able to correct their own grammar mistakes, and
3) to be prepared to teach.
"My expectations would be improving my writing... to know more
about structures of the language because perhaps I get them wrong sometimes, so
it would be more like learning how to write." [Participant 18] [1]
"My
expectations when taking a grammar course are to learn the grammar rules, so I
can teach, express myself well, and to know how to make it easier for students
to learn the topic." [Participant 3]
"To
learn how to write, and not to have mistakes in my writing... to have a basis when
I am going to teach my students." [Participant 16]
"...to improve my current knowledge, because I
was feeling I was making a lot of mistakes in grammar... so to correct those
mistakes and to learn about grammar." [Participant 11]
These personal aims and interests can be considered factors
which positively contribute to prospective English language teachers'
grammatical awareness development. However, although participants have clear
and meaningful purposes for taking grammar courses, they often cannot take all
of them because of external factors. These include inconvenient schedules, the
availability of more appealing elective courses, uninspiring methodologies
proposed by some teacher educators, and previous experiences in courses where
the importance of grammar was undermined by a strong emphasis on other aspects
of the communicative competence.
"I
know that there are some courses that are about grammar, but I have not taken
those... it was because the schedule, it was not good for me and I wanted to take
other course that was about music... the other course in that time... calls call my
attention more than the other." [Participant 1]
"Grammar has been punished here and teachers
show us that grammar is something that it is not useful for our Colombian students
because it is very difficult, not necessary." [Participant 10]
"If you know that the teacher just fills the
board, he/she is boring and what he is going to say you can find it on a text
book, it is better not to take the course. So, I think that the methodology and
the pedagogical aspect influence." [Participant 13; translated from Spanish]
External factors mentioned above discourage future English
language teachers from engaging in explicit and formal grammar instruction
through specialized courses. Therefore, it could be inferred that their
grammatical awareness development will be affected and their chances to succeed
in writing academic texts will be less since, according to Andrews (1999b),
having a greater dominance in the grammar system of the language is one
fundamental ability to develop grammatical awareness.
Similarly, Zhang and Hung (2014) state that L2/FL language
learners cannot perform entirely well without explicit grammar teaching. As
"learning grammar through formal instruction can facilitate language
acquisition" (Ellis as cited in Zhang & Hung, 2014, p. 107), it is
necessary to teach it by formal classroom instruction (Shen, 2012).
Pre-service teachers' perceptions
towards grammar
Varied participants' views of grammar appeared as an
internal factor that can also affect their grammatical awareness development.
Those perspectives involve 1) prospective teachers' consideration of grammar as
being relevant to effective teaching, 2) their view of L1 grammar as both a
facilitator and a constraint in learning the target language grammar, 3) their
positive and negative feelings towards grammar teaching and learning, and 4)
their perception of the role of grammar in written discourse.
Importance of grammar for an English
language teacher.
Participants perceive grammar to be significant in their process of becoming
English language teachers; therefore, they strongly believe that excluding it
from their training could be a mistake.
They remark that beyond using the language, as language teachers they
must master it. Consequently, participants prefer grammar to be taught
explicitly in order to explore the language deeply by knowing how it works.
"We
are going to become English language teachers; we are not just going to be
language users but language teachers. If we are supposed to be language
teachers, we need to know explicit grammar." [Participant 7]
"Grammar
should be mandatory because we as teachers must have the knowledge to be able
to explain our students, if they make a mistake, where things come from, we
must know how to explain it from a linguistic view." [Participant 8; translated
from Spanish]
It is evident that for most
participants English language teachers should not be hindered from receiving
explicit grammar teaching. Regarding this idea, Thornbury (as cited in Andrews,
2007) asserts that "the knowledge that teachers have of the underlying systems
of the language enables them to teach effectively" (p. 945). Additionally,
Andrews (1999a) claims that prospective language teachers' explicit knowledge
of grammar might lead to effective professional teaching practices.
Consequently, it can be assumed that this grammar knowledge learned through
explicit methodologies becomes the basis for pre-service English language
teachers to be able to explain the grammar system appropriately which,
according to Njika (2015), is one of the conditions to develop grammatical
awareness.
L1 grammar as a facilitator or
constraint to learn foreign language grammar. Some participants believe that Spanish (L1) and English
(Foreign Language) share some similarities in their grammar systems. Therefore,
they use their knowledge of L1 grammar to help themselves interpret and apply rules
when performing in the target language.
"Spanish
grammar has helped me because I normally tend to translate English sentences to
Spanish ones, so knowing the Spanish structure, I realize how structures have
to be in English... for example, present perfect in English is very similar to
the present perfect in Spanish; it is almost the same. So, I relate both and
likewise I have an idea and it helps me." [Participant 8; translated from
Spanish]
"...
Spanish has some kind of structures and rules English has, so I can compare
those structures and rules with Spanish ones, so in that way I can find the
differences and make adjustments in order to produce a good speech."
[Participant 11]
In
contrast, other participants think of Spanish as being totally different from
English. Consequently, they consider that L1 grammar is far from helping them
understand and produce rules and structures that govern the target language.
"... in terms on grammar, they are very
different... if I am going to use my mother tongue as a base for constructing a
sentence in English, it is not going to be useful because those little details
Spanish has. I consider is an obstacle." [Participant 10]
According to Arshad, Abdolrahimpour and Najafi (2015),
through L1, learners of foreign languages could develop self-regulation and
faster thinking which may help transfer their cognitive and metacognitive
skills to ease L2 learning. It implies that participants who compare both
languages to understand grammar better use cognitive and metacognitive skills
that contribute to grammatical awareness development which involves sensitivity
to how the language works (Andrews, 1994).
Positive and negative feelings
towards grammar. For some participants,
grammar has always evoked positive feelings. They associate the term to words
such as enjoyment, love, organization, excellence, happiness, and success.
"I've
always loved grammar, I read a lot of books of grammar actually and maybe that
is why... people say that grammar is not enough to be competent, to have a
proficient level in English, but grammar for me is very different, I love it
and for me it is a feeling of happiness." [Participant 15]
Conversely, other participants expressed having neutral or
negative feelings towards grammar which changed into positive ones after being
immersed in the experience of becoming English language teachers.
"Grammar
was kind of difficult and demanding at the beginning, but then I developed a
feeling of pleasure when using it in my academic discourse essays or whatever I
have to write for the 8th semester... At the beginning, I felt not very
comfortable using it, but now I enjoy it, I, I enjoy learning grammar. Right
now, is pleasure." [Participant 7]
"Grammar
used to make me feel bored and kind of frustrated, but later when being in this
English language teaching program, when I understood everything, I saw grammar
differently. I like grammar a lot because it gives me a feeling of order."
[Participant 2; translated from Spanish]
Negative feelings towards grammar
such as boredom, fear, frustration, stress, difficulty, anxiety, and confusion
were found among participants. According to them, these feelings could have
originated from bad connotations of grammar, usually encouraged by teachers or
peers in the classroom, or because of their lack of grammar knowledge.
"Stress,
confusion, frustration... for example I feel frustrated due to complex tenses.
I do everything I can, but I do not understand, I did not internalize grammar...
then, I feel frustration." [Participant 13; translated from Spanish]
"Grammar
is the boring part of English language, it makes me feel discomfort. Now, I
know it is necessary; however, it continues on making me feel a kind of
discomfort. It is very difficult, but I need it... I relate it to mathematics."
[Participant 19; translated Spanish]
Although studies about the impact of feelings toward grammar
learning on grammatical awareness development are scarce, Hos & Kekec´s
(2015) research shows that the effectiveness of language learning could be
negatively affected by the beliefs and attitudes students have. In the same
manner, Ahmadi & Shaffie (2015) affirm that "learners' beliefs not only
influence their approaches to language learning but also affect the way they
respond to teaching activities" (p. 247). Consequently, it can be assumed that
a similar effect could emerge when prospective teachers experience negative
feelings toward grammar learning. This situation could lead them to develop low
levels of grammatical awareness since such negative feelings would cause lack
of interest to use grammar correctly even in the creation of academic texts.
On the other hand, it can be inferred that prospective
teachers' positive feelings towards grammar would favor their development of
grammatical awareness. Schuman (as cited in Méndez Lopez, 2011) states that
when learning a foreign language, feelings are vital to understand and perform
successfully in the new language since emotions also shape students' cognition.
Hence, participants who possess positive feelings would be better positioned to
learn a new language and to develop grammatical awareness compared to
participants who hold negative feelings towards grammar.
The role of grammar in written production. For prospective English language
teachers, grammar is closely related to written discourse. According to them,
unlike spoken language, in written communication grammar plays a central role
in order to provide clarity. Consequently, participants' attention towards
accuracy in the selection of grammar structures is mainly activated when
attaining writing tasks.
"The
intention of writing is proving performance of the language, because for example
when I am speaking I make mistakes, but I can correct them immediately. But in
writing the intention is that everything is completely clear and explicit. So,
that is why I think grammar is associated with writing." [Participant 10]
"...when
a person is talking you are paying attention to the meaning. There are some
things that are impossible to notice throughout speech, but there are others
that you can only perceive when you are writing, when you have a written
composition. Through an oral speech for me is impossible, so that's why people
tend to do that connection between grammar and writing, because grammar can be
only be perceived through writing." [Participant 9]
Participants' acknowledgment of the
relevant role that grammar plays in written discourse is supported by
Baleghizadeh & Gordani (2012) who state that clear and accurate conventions
of grammar ensure clarity and avoid ambiguity when writing. Nonetheless, the
fact that participants recognize this is not enough to claim that they have
developed grammatical awareness. According to Andrews (1994), one of the
characteristics of such awareness is paying attention to the meaning we convey
and the language we use in communication. Oshima & Hogue (1998) claim that
grammar structures help defining the writing tone and style. This is remarkably
important if we consider that prospective teachers are expected to write for
academic purposes. Therefore, beyond recognizing its importance, in order for
future teachers to show grammatical awareness they should be able to identify
and explain faulty or unclear sentences in order to correct them. According to
data analysis, few participants acknowledged having these types of skills.
Prospective English language
teachers' ability for correcting grammar in written texts
After asking participants during one of the focus group
interviews to evaluate a set of sentences which were grammatically incorrect,
it was found that they can perceive grammar mistakes in written texts through
either unconscious or conscious ways. In the first case, around half of the
prospective teachers admitted that they can recognize acceptable or
unacceptable grammar usage because the text simply does not make sense to them,
without being able to justify their opinions based on grammar rules. According
to Smith (2008), "we might be faced with learners who are able to "feel" that a
given utterance was ungrammatical without being able to analyze why this should
be so" (p. 182). For this author, these types of learners can correct their errors
although they do not understand where their errors come from.
"I
do it unconsciously. If I'm just reading something and if I see something... I
ask, "What is this?" doesn't make sense to me. So, I read again, and I see that
it's not well-structured, but I don't give it an explanation... I don't go into
the grammar aspect of it... I see that it's incorrect, but I don't think about
grammar I just know it's incorrect." [Participant 3]
"I
recognize what is missing or... or perhaps I see that is weird, that it doesn't
fit a word in there... there are things that are too weird for me or to complex
that I don't know... I wonder but I don´t know what it is." [Participant 16]
Additionally, it was found that
among these participants there exists the tendency to have peers check and
correct grammar mistakes in their written production as an alternative to
self-correction.
"Most
of the time, I do not trust myself when writing texts. It is like an internal fight
where I look, and I read again. I try to identify if I made a mistake before
handing in my written text. However, I do not frequently do it. I leave my text
as it is because when I start questioning myself, I do not know how to answer
my questions. I do not know if I am making a mistake or not. What I do is to
tell a classmate to revise my text. Then, I see if the correction keeps with
the ideas I wrote in my original written text. In my case, it is better that a
classmate or a teacher tells me if the text is good or not." [Participant 2;
translated from Spanish]
"What
happens is that we do not have a self-assessing culture. It frequently happens
to me that if I write something and I know that I have certain mistakes
somewhere, I won't find the mistake because I do not have the knowledge to do
so. Therefore, I think that one will always ask someone to tell how we are
doing in our texts." [Participant 10; translated from Spanish]
Otherwise, the rest of the participants expressed that they
are able to consciously notice acceptable or unacceptable grammar usage in
written texts based on understandings of the grammar system of the language.
Accordingly, this knowledge helps them recognize mistakes they are familiar
with and therefore correct them.
"It's
easy to recognize those well-formed phrases... taking into account my previous
knowledge about syntax, I could give an explanation about what is wrong or
what's missing or what I should change." [Participant 17]
Prospective teachers who consciously
identify grammar mistakes in their written production usually rely on a set of
strategies to self-monitor and correct such mistakes. These strategies involve
looking closely at accurate samples of structures they had found difficult to
manage within their texts, re-reading, and editing. To do so, participants use
different tools such as internet websites, videos, music, books, or texts
books.
"Talking
about grammar, I would say writing, because when I write, I am like... I look for
words, and structures and that's when I learn." [Participant 18]
"What
I simply do is that I look what I write, then I correct, then I re-write. It's
like a process." [Participant 7]
"I
look for a website. It has grammar sections. It has basic, intermediate, and
advanced lessons. I always use all of them. Basic grammar to review and
advanced to learn". [Participant 10; translated from Spanish]
"I
google it, search on the internet examples or explanations and then I correct."
[Participant 17]
Prospective teachers who engage in processes that involve
noticing, reflection, or conscious analysis of linguistic processes upon
knowledge of subject matter develop metacognition (Wright & Brumfit as
cited in Andrews, 2001), which is an essential feature of grammatical
awareness. Notwithstanding, a significant number of prospective teachers in
this study were unable to analyze and explain mistakes in written texts by
invoking grammatical principles and rules, signaling a gap in their grammatical
awareness development. This lack of metacognition could have a negative effect
on their academic written production and, eventually, could prevent them from
approaching their future learners' grammatical difficulties accurately.
Prospective English language
teachers' ability to produce metalanguage. According to data analysis, a reduced amount of participants
in this study dared to answer when asked to define terms such as grammar,
syntax, and morphology. Moreover, far from offering a complete idea that
expressed their understanding of these concepts, they resorted to very short
statements or isolated words. Furthermore, it was evident that they did not
clearly distinguish among the terms presented or between these and other
concepts used in the language field. For instance, they defined the term
grammar by associating it with words like structures, rules, form, system,
coherence, cohesion, tenses, concepts, regulation, correctness, vocabulary,
semantics, and competence. Syntax was understood as creating meaning from
words, spelling and organizing them. Regarding morphology, participants
affirmed that it concerns the organization, composition and shape of words,
suffixes, prefixes, and punctuation.
"Being
honest, I don't really know. I have not gone further regarding syntax. I do not
feel confident enough to define the concept, and I would not know how to
explain it. About morphology, I am not very familiarized with it either, I know
that it is like the form of the words; however, I would not be able to defend
myself in that field." [Participant 2; translated from Spanish]
"Syntax Yes. I get really confused; syntax is
the way in which language is organized? Like the way in which you organized
language, right? Sorry my experience is really poor... Morphology? This is so
sad... morphology? I don't know about that." [Participant 5]
Prospective English language teachers' superficial
definitions, often not aligned with what these terms really mean, as well as
their inability to define them, evidenced their limited capacity to produce
appropriate metalanguage, considered by Andrews (1999a) as an essential feature
of grammatical awareness. According to the author (as cited in Shuib, 2009),
metalanguage can be defined as the ability to describe a word or phrase in
grammatical terms. Accordingly, this lack of metalanguage could limit
prospective teachers' ability to look for grammatical explanations when
correcting any mistake in their own academic written production since they
would not label it appropriately.
Teacher educators' remarks on prospective
teachers' academic written production
Many of the pieces of academic writing provided by
participants had already been graded by their teachers. Although the main
purpose for analyzing these texts was to check their current ability to use
syntax and morphology, the fact that teacher educators seemed to ignore
prospective teachers' grammar errors, in most of them, was surprising. Even in those few cases in which the teacher
called the writer's attention towards grammar, this was done just by circling
the fragment considering revision and adding a note such as "check grammar",
without providing a specific remark on what needed correction. This situation
represents a constraint in future language teachers' development of grammatical
awareness. According to Singh et al. (2017), it is teachers' (in this case
teacher educators) adequate feedback provided after reviewing written pieces,
as well as the opportunities they offer learners to rewrite, which contributes
to high quality production. In addition, teacher educators should require
students to hand in corrected versions of their written production where newly
acquired grammar can be applied (Bourke, 2008).
Prospective English language
teachers' use of syntax and morphology in academic texts
Samples of academic written texts produced by participants
were analyzed with the aim of determining appropriateness in the use of syntax
and morphology. Results showed that prospective teachers' most typical errors
were related to verb conjugation and misuse of definite and indefinite
articles, adjectives, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, and conjunctions, which
evidenced preservice teachers' lack of grammatical awareness.
Common mistakes regarding the use of verbs found in
participants' texts were linked to subject-verb agreement for the third person
in the simple present tense, regular and irregular forms of verbs in the past
tense, and treatment of gerunds and infinitives. According to Fengjie, Jia, and
Hongy (2016), although verb conjugation in the third person could be easily
learned in early stages in the English language process, errors related to this
kind of conjugation may be still visible long after. This can happen either by
learners' lack of attention while writing or due to the excessive length of the
attributive after subject which can lead the writer to incorrectly use the verb
(p.24). On the other hand, participants' misuse of regular and irregular verb
past forms can be explained by having to memorize irregular verb forms when
learning the past tense; therefore, "some students are still confused by
whether a word has a regular form or not" (op. cit., p .24).
In like manner, participants' lack of knowledge about the
use of gerunds as nouns after certain verbs and prepositions, as well as
infinitives that must be used after certain verbs or adjectives to show purpose
was evident. Problems related to not knowing when to use infinitives or gerunds
are very common as there are not specific rules for using them (Common
challenges for Spanish-speaking learners of English, n.d). Besides, Spanish speakers would find this
quite confusing since their native language always takes the infinitive form
after a verb (Rizzo & Villafane, 1975).
Additionally, data analysis revealed overuse of the definite
article the as well as use of the
indefinite article a/an for referring
to plural nouns. These determiners were mistakenly used by participants who
added an n before a consonant sound
or did not write it before a vowel sound. In the first case, as expressed in
previous lines, these types of mistakes can be explained by participants' L1
interference. Regarding the second situation, Rizzo & Villafane (1975)
affirm that as this kind of rule has no equivalent in Spanish, it is hard for
students to master it in the foreign language. Another common mistake found in
participants' texts which can be associated to L1 interference is related to
the use of adjectives, either wrongly placed or pluralized by prospective
teachers. Even in attributive position, adjectives in Spanish can come after
the noun and they must agree in number with the latter which can cause English
learners to become easily confused (op. cit).
The most common problem found with the use of prepositions
in participants' texts was related to wrong selection or absence, which
affected clarity in many cases. Shen (2012) agrees on that these mistakes often
result from mother tongue interference. Furthermore, Singh et al. (2017)
revealed that another possible cause associated to prepositions misuse is the
poor knowledge students have towards this grammatical category. Furthermore,
these authors agree that frequent mistakes are made by students who do not see
how prepositions affect meaning in sentences, so they use them carelessly (p.
24).
Another common mistake found in participants' pieces of
writing dealt with the misplacement or omission of nouns and pronouns.
Muchemwa's (2015) study presents a similar case, regarding frequent omission of
relevant words in sentences written by college English learners. According to the
author, this type of mistake can be explained by learners' mother tongue
interference, overgeneralization and oversimplification of rules.
Prospective teachers' inaccurate use of relative pronouns
such as who, that and which was also an
issue in their written production. Even though relative pronouns play an
important role when writing elaborated sentences, they are often mistaken
(Common challenges for Spanish-speaking learners of English, n.d). This can happen because in Spanish the
relative pronoun "que" is often used to refer both to people and objects;
consequently, students usually use who,
that, and which interchangeably
in English. In terms of subject and object pronouns, the most common mistake is
the participants' use of subject instead of object pronouns, causing some parts
of their text to sound odd. Lastly, analysis evidenced prospective teachers'
failures for appropriate selection and use of conjunctions. According to
Fengjie et al. (2016), this can happen due to students' lack of understanding
about the role conjunctions play in meaning-making.
In alignment with previous research, this study has signaled
college students' errors in academic writing related to the use of nouns,
verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. It can be stated that most of
these grammar mistakes occur because of native language transfers to the target
language, not enough attention towards grammar system, or limited knowledge on
some aspects of grammar. Nevertheless, although correction of grammar mistakes
should be approached as a common practice among prospective teachers, there is
the need to implement both cognitive and metacognitive strategies conducive to
the development of grammatical awareness that help them notice, analyze, and
involve themselves in the correction of imprecise phrases or fragments (Andrews
as cited in Shuib, 2009). In that manner, explicit grammar teaching is
fundamental for prospective teachers' grammatical awareness development as it
promotes metalinguistic abilities, knowledge of language system, and
consciousness towards language.
This study provides an opportunity to advance the
understanding of
the existence of some factors which
could negatively affect prospective English language teachers' grammatical
awareness development: 1) grammar courses are not mandatory for pre-service
teachers in this context, 2) their grammatical terminology knowledge is not
fully developed, 3) some of them have negative feelings toward grammar, 4) pre-service
teachers' educators have stigmatized grammar learning, 5) grammar mistakes are
unconsciously recognized or not recognized at all by pre-service teachers, 6)
the prospective teacher lacks self-assessment for grammar correction, and 7)
teacher educators do not make explicit remarks in pre-service teachers' written
production. Consequently, these factors can lead English language teachers to
not entirely develop grammatical awareness to succeed in academic writing.
Nonetheless, positive factors associated to pre-service
teachers' grammatical awareness development were also found. The fact that
participants see grammar as relevant in the process of becoming language
teachers, the presence of some positive feelings towards grammar, their view of
academic writing as closely connected to grammar, a certain degree of
consciousness towards grammar use, and the recognition of some tools to improve
grammar knowledge and use, can be considered favorable conditions for
prospective teachers to develop grammatical awareness to attain academic
writing tasks.
The aforementioned description of negative and positive
factors influencing the development of future English language teachers'
grammatical awareness should serve in setting pertinent strategies through
which teacher educators may address prospective teachers' real needs to help
them succeed in their efforts to produce high quality academic writing. Some of
the strategies aligned with the findings of the study encompass requiring
grammar courses with high levels of explicit instruction that allows for
dominance of the grammar system and development of grammar
terminology/concepts.
In addition, grammar stigmatization should be abolished.
Teacher educators must consider that their students, who are prospective English
language teachers, must not only use the language but also master it to be able
to teach it correctly. In this manner, grammar should be again invited to
classrooms, not leaving it aside due to the advent of communicative approaches.
Moreover, educators who are involved in prospective teacher education should
highlight the importance that grammar has in writing so that prospective
teachers see it as an important component of academic written texts.
Another important strategy that can be used to develop grammatical
awareness is enhancing conscious recognition of the grammar system either in
grammatical or ungrammatical written pieces. Teacher educators could implement
plans in which prospective language teachers apply their grammar knowledge to
notice, reflect, and correct infringed sentences. Likewise, self-assessment
should be also favored, for students to have greater strategies to recognize
quality in their own work, along with recognizing their weaknesses and
strengths in terms of grammar knowledge and use. Finally, special attention
should be paid to the quality of remarks made by teacher educators on
prospective teachers' written production. They should include relevant and
adequate information for prospective language teachers to understand the error
and be able to correct it.
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[1] It is important to remark that quotes directly written in English
by participants may contain ungrammatical statements.