基于产出性任务的初中英语语法教学研究 65页

学校代码：10270分类号：G63学号：132502217上善冲说夫營硕士专业学位论文基于产出性任务的初中英语语法教学研究：以一般过去时为例专业学位类别：教盲硕士专业领域：cm^)作者姓名：陈丹嬉指导教师：李四清答辩曰期-2015年5月 论文独创性声明本论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。论文中除了特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，不包含其他人或机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。其他同志对本研究的启发和所做的贡献均已在论文中做了明确的声明并表示了谢意。作者签名日期：>/上.r论文使用授权声明本人完全了解上海师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，g卩：学校有权保留送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查阅和借阅；学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采用影印、缩印或其它手段保存论文。保密的论文在解密后遵守此规定。 本论文经答辩委员会全体委员审查，确认符合上海师范大学硕（博）士学位论文质量要求。答辩委员会签名:主席（工作单位、职称）： AStudyofEnglishGrammarTeachingontheBasisofProductiveTasksinJuniorHighSchool:ACaseofSimplePastTenseChenDantingSupervisor:LiSiqingAThesisSubmittedtoForeignLanguagesCollegeShanghaiNormalUniversityInPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsforTheDegreeofMasterofEducationMay2015 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAbstractAbstractGrammarteachingplaysanimportantroleinEnglishteaching.Althoughgrammaticalknowledgeisemphasizedintraditionalgrammarteaching,andEnglishlearnershavemasteredgrammaticalknowledge,theystillmakelotsofmistakesintheirlanguageproduction,whichdeserveareflection.AccordingtoLarsen-Freeman,grammarisbetterconsideredasaskilloradynamicprocessratherthanasastaticofknowledge.Swainalsostatesthatoutputisacognitiveprocessandlearners’production(i.e.output)isakeyfactorthataffectslanguageacquisition.Therefore,itismeaningfultoconsidergrammarlearningasadynamicprocessandpaymoreattentiontolanguageproductionintheprocessofgrammarlearning.OnthebasisofDynamicGrammarTheoryandComprehensiveOutputHypothesis,thepresentstudyaimstoexploretheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskonenhancinglearners’grammaticalcompetenceandimprovingtheefficiencyofgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschoolinthecaseofEnglishsimplepasttense,andseekstoanswerthefollowingresearchquestions:(1)Doesproductivetaskhaveeffectsonimprovingstudents’grammaticalcompetenceinpasttenselearning?(2)Isproductivetaskeffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput?(3)Whatstrategiescanbeusedforspecificerrorsinpasttenselearning?Thestudyadoptedanempiricalmethodandconductedanexperiment.Theexperimentlastedfor5weeksandconsistedproceduresofteachingtreatments,pretestandposttest.Subjectschosenfortheexperimentare30studentsfromClass5Grade6inTianlinNo.3MiddleSchool.Inthetreatment,guidedwriting,astheproductivetask,includesthreepassagesmainlyconcerningEnglishsimplepasttense.Theguidedwritingproductivetaskconsistsofthreesteps,includingunderliningkeywordsandtakingnotes,orallyretellingthepassagebasedonnotesandgettingfeedbackfromothers,andfinishingguidedwriting.AllthedatacollectedfrompretestandposttestareenteredintoSPSS16.0todofurtheranalysis.Theresultsofthestudyindicatethattheperformanceoflearnersissignificantlyimprovedafterthetreatmentoftheproductivetask;theproductivetasksignificantlyimprovesthelearners’accuracyofpasttenseoutput.Inshort,tosomeextent,theI AbstractShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationproductivetaskimprovesthelearners’grammaticalcompetenceandtheirproficiencyofpasttense,whichshedslightuponEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschool.Keywords:productivetask;grammarteaching;simplepasttenseII 上海师范大学硕士学位论文摘要摘要在英语教学中，语法教学起着非常重要的作用。但是，传统的语法教学重视语法知识，学习效果并不理想。许多英语学习者掌握了语法知识，但在语言输出中仍然错误百出。传统的语法教学应该进行反思。在Larsen-Freeman看来，语法更是一种技能，是一个动态的过程，而不是静态知识。Swain也认为，输出是一种认知过程，学习者的输出是影响语言习得的关键因素。因此，把语法学习作为一个动态过程，重视语法学习中的语言输出具有重要意义。本研究旨在以输出假设和动态语法理论为基础，以一般过去时为例，探索产出性任务能否有效提高学习者的语法能力从而提高初中语法教学效率。研究问题主要包括：1）产出性任务对提高学习者的语法能力是否有效？2）产出性任务能否有效提高学习者过去时输出的准确度？3)对于过去时学习中出现的错误有何对策？本文采用实验研究方法。实验历时5周，包括施教、前测和后测。以田林三中六年级一个班级30名学生为实验对象。实验过程中以指导性写作为产出性任务，分别用三篇以一般过去时为主的文章进行实验。任务包括划出关键词并做笔记、以说促写并反馈、最后完成指导性写作。使用SPSS16.0统计软件对前测和后测成绩进行数据的处理，并对相关结果进行了分析。研究结果表明：学习者在经过一段时间的产出性任务实验后，成绩有显著提高。产出性任务可以提高学习者过去时输出的准确度。总体而言，产出性任务在一定程度上提高了学习者的语法能力和对一般过去时的掌握程度，为初中英语语法教学提供了新的方向。关键词：产出性任务;语法教学;一般过去时III ContentsShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationContentsAbstract...........................................................................................................................I摘要..............................................................................................................................IIIContents.......................................................................................................................IVChapterOneIntroduction...............................................................................................11.1ResearchBackground.......................................................................................11.2ResearchSignificance......................................................................................21.3StructureoftheThesis......................................................................................3ChapterTwoLiteratureReview.....................................................................................42.1PreviousStudiesofEnglishGrammarTeaching..............................................42.1.1GrammarTeaching:ItsGeneralSituation.............................................42.1.2StudiesofEnglishGrammarTeachinginJuniorHighSchool.............62.1.3MethodsofGrammarTeachingUsedinJuniorHighSchool...............72.2TheoreticalBasesofEnglishGrammarTeaching............................................82.2.1DynamicGrammarTheory...................................................................82.2.2ProductiveTasks..................................................................................142.2.3ComprehensibleOutputHypothesis....................................................15ChapterThreeResearchMethodology.........................................................................203.1ResearchQuestions........................................................................................203.2ResearchSubjects...........................................................................................203.3ResearchInstruments.....................................................................................213.3.1Pre/Post-PastTenseGrammarTests.................................................213.3.2ProductiveTask:GuidedWriting........................................................223.4ProcedureoftheExperiment..........................................................................23ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussion................................................................254.1ResultsandAnalysis......................................................................................254.1.1ReliabilityoftheTwoTestPapers.......................................................254.1.2ResultsandAnalysisfromthePre/Post-PastTenseTests................274.1.3ResultsandAnalysisfromtheWrittenProduction.............................314.1.4ResultsandAnalysisofSpecificErrorsofPastTense........................344.2Discussion......................................................................................................354.2.1TheEffectoftheProductiveTaskonGrammaticalCompetence.......35IV ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationContents4.2.2TheEffectoftheProductiveTaskonImprovingtheAccuracyofPastTenseWrittenProduction.............................................................................374.2.3StrategiesforSpecificErrorsinPastTenseLearning.........................37ChapterFiveConclusion..............................................................................................405.1MajorFindingsofthePresentStudy..............................................................405.2PedagogicalImplications...............................................................................415.3LimitationsoftheStudy.................................................................................435.4SuggestionsforFutureStudy.........................................................................44Bibliography.................................................................................................................46AppendixⅠGuidedWritingMaterials:ThreePassages..............................................49AppendixⅡGuidedWritingTasks(takePassage1forexample)................................51AppendixⅢPretest.....................................................................................................52AppendixⅣPosttest....................................................................................................54Acknowledgements......................................................................................................56V ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterOneIntroductionChapterOneIntroductionThischapterisanintroductiontotheresearch,whichmainlyintroducesthebackgroundoftheresearch,thesignificanceoftheresearchandthestructureoftheresearch.1.1ResearchBackgroundGrammarplaysanimportantroleinEnglishlanguageteachingandlearning.IntheprocessofEnglishgrammarteaching,manyteachersjustfocusontherulesorformsofgrammarsothattheyneglectthecommunicativefunctionoflanguage.Althoughstudentshavemasteredagreatdealofgrammaticalknowledge,mostofthemstillhaveproblemsinoralproductionandwrittenproductioninviewsoflanguageaccuracy.Takesimplepasttenseasanexample,studentslearnedthegrammarinjuniorhighschoolbutstillmakemistakesintheiroutput.Krashen’sComprehensibleInputHypothesisisoneofthemostinfluentialtheoriesinsecondlanguageacquisition.Manyresearchershaveappliedittosecondorforeignlanguageteaching.Krashenclaimsthathumanacquireslanguageonlybyreceiving‘comprehensibleinput’andalsoheinsiststhatspeakingandwritingarejusttheresultsoflearninginsteadofcauses(Krashen1985).InKrashen’sview,thestudyofthestructureofthelanguageisneededtoshowclearlytolearnerssothatitcanhaveeducationaladvantagesandvalues.Accordingtothistheory,teachersuseavarietyofteachingmethodsandapproaches,inwhichtheypaymoreattentiontotheinputoflanguagerulesthanthestudents’outputandproductionoflanguage.However,Swain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesiswasproposedin1985.Itclaimsthatlearnerscannotformanative-likelanguageonlybycomprehensibleinput.Besides,itclaimstheactofproducinglanguage,likespeakingorwriting,constitutesundercertaincircumstances,partoftheprocessofsecondlanguagelearning.Swainpointsoutthatopportunitiesarealsonecessarytoproducecomprehensibleoutputfornon-nativespeakersandoutputisakeyfactorwhichaffectslanguageacquisition.Therefore,productivetasksareconsideredhelpfulforstudentstoimprovetheirproficiencyofpasttenselearningandenhancetheirgrammaticalcompetenceinlearningthepasttense.Andforteachers,productivetaskscanbeusedasakindof1 ChapterOneIntroductionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationteachingmethodsinclasstogetbetterteachingqualityandefficiency.1.2ResearchSignificanceGrammarisalwaysconsideredasaruleorastaticareaofknowledge,soitisrigidandhardtochange.FromLarsen-Freeman’spointofview,grammarisaskilloradynamicprocess,whichshehascalledgrammaring.Besides,therearethreedimensionsinlanguage,namely,form,meaning,anduse,butthemethodsoflanguageteachingcommonlyemphasizeoneortwoofthethreedimensions.Forexample,formisemphasized,butuseisoftenneglectedingrammarteaching.Whenteachingsimplepasttense,teachersoftenfocusontheformofthetense,regularandirregularverbs,sostudentsjustmemorizetheformsandirregularverbs.Eventhoughstudentshavemasteredthegrammaticalknowledgeofpasttense,itisstillaproblemthattheymakelotsofmistakesintheirproduction.Accordingtotheresearchesofgrammarteachingathome,LiuZhongzheng&LiXi(2010)studiedonmethodsandcontentsofgrammarteachingresearch.Thestudyshows75%ofresearchesarenon-empirical,whichmeansresearchesaboutgrammarteachinglackempiricalstudiesinChina.Asforresearchsubjects,mostofstudiesarefornon-Englishmajorcollegestudentsandonly6%ofresearchesareformiddleschoolstudents.MaFukang(1998)isoneoftherarecasesinChinatostudygrammarteachinginmiddleschool.Heexplainedwithexampleshowtoteachgrammarthroughsituationalteachingandgroupdiscussion.DaiWeidong&ChenLiping(2005)revealedtheenlightenmentofimplicitcognitivestudytoEnglishgrammarteachingfromtheperspectiveofmicrocosmiccognitivepsychologyandinteractivegrammarteaching,andputforwardthemethodofexplicitinteractivetasks.Inshort,researchesaboutgrammarteachingathomearemainlylaidonthescopeofcollegestudents.StudiesaboutEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschoolarerare.Besides,manyofthestudiesaboutEnglishgrammarteachingarefromthesimilarperspectivesandthecontentsofstudiesarereduplicate.MoreempiricalstudiesareneededtoexploreandimprovethequalityofEnglishgrammarteaching.ThepresentstudyfocusesonproductivetaskswhichcanbeappliedtoEnglishsimplepasttenseteachinginjuniorhighschool.Theauthorchoosessimplepasttense2 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterOneIntroductionasthetargetforminthisstudybecauseofitsimportancetojuniorhighschoolstudents.Thoughthesimplepasttenseiseasy,studentsoftenmakemistakesintheiroralandwrittenproduction.Theydonothavetheconsciousnessofthepasttensewhenusingitintheiroutput.Thestudy,ontheonehand,triestoconfirmproductivetaskscanbehelpfulnotonlyforstudentstoimprovetheaccuracyoftheirpasttenseoutputandtheproficiencyoftheirpasttenselearning,butforteachers,productivetaskscanbeusedasakindofteachingmethodstogetabetterteachingqualityandefficiency.Ontheotherhand,resultsareexpectedtohighlightandaccentuatetheimportanceandsignificanceofproductiveuseofgrammartofosterandimprovetheirgrammaticalcompetence.Therefore,thestudyisbothessentialandsignificant.1.3StructureoftheThesisThepresentstudymainlyconsistsoffivechapters:Introduction,LiteratureReview,ResearchMethodology,DataAnalysisandDiscussion,andConclusion.Chapteroneisanintroductiontothestudy.Thefirstpartisaboutthebackgroundoftheresearch.Thesignificanceoftheresearchisintroducedinthesecondpart.Itprovidesthearrangementoftheresearchintheend.ChaptertwointroducestheliteraturereviewofthepresentstudybyreviewingLarsen-Freeman’sDynamicGrammarTheory,Swain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesis,andstudiesofgrammarteaching.Chapterthreeintroducesthedesignandimplementationofthepresentstudy.Theresearchquestionsarepresentedfirstly,followedbysubjects,instruments,andprocedure.Chapterfourmainlyconcernsdatacollectionandanalysisoftheresults.TestscoresandotherresultsarereportedandanalyzedwiththestatisticalanalysissoftwareSPSS(Version16.0),dataanalysiswillbediscussedindetail.Chapterfiveistheconclusionpart.Itsummarizesthemajorfindings,implications,andlimitationsofthestudy.SuggestionsforfuturestudyarealsopointedoutinthischapterbasedonthelimitationsandpedagogicalimplicationstowellapplyproductivetaskstoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschools.3 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewThischapteraimstosketchoutatheoreticalframeworkforthepresentstudy.Theauthorwillreviewstudiesongrammarteaching,Larsen-Freeman’sDynamicGrammarTheory(Grammaring),andSwain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesis.2.1PreviousStudiesofEnglishGrammarTeachingTheroleofgrammarteachinginforeignlanguageteachingandlearninghaslongbeenofinteresttolanguageteachersandresearchers.Thegeneralsituationofgrammarteaching,especiallytheresearchsituationabroadwillbereviewedinthefollowingpart.DomesticstudiesonEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschoolandthemethodsofgrammarteachingwhichareusedinjuniorhighschoolwillbediscussedaswell.2.1.1GrammarTeaching:ItsGeneralSituationResearchesaboutgrammarteachingathomearemainlylaidonthescopeofcollegestudents.MoreempiricalstudiesareneededtoexploreandimprovethequalityofEnglishgrammarteaching.Scholarsabroad,likeRutherford(1987),statesthat,“grammarisanecessarycomponentofanylanguageteachingprogram,that’swhyitplaysanimportantroleinlanguageteaching”.However,withtheemergenceofdifferentlearningtheories,grammarteachingischallengedwithmanyteachingmethods.InKrashen’sMonitorHypothesis(1981),hebelievestherearedifferencesbetweenconsciouslanguagelearningandunconsciouslanguageacquisition.Languageisacquiredthroughcomprehensibleinputinsteadofformallearning.Therefore,grammarteachingisconsideredastheprocessofdevelopingdeclarativeknowledgeofgrammaticalstructure.Itcannotimprovetheaccuracyofproceduralknowledgeuse.Asthedevelopmentofcommunicativelanguageteachingapproach,traditionalgrammarteachinghasbecomeoverlooked.Somescholarsevenpointedoutgrammarteachingwouldhavenegativeinsteadofpositiveeffectsonlanguagelearning(Hossein&Fotos2004).4 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewHowever,moreandmorestudiesshowgrammarteachingplaysanimportantroleinlanguagelearning,whichishelpfulforlearnerstoimprovetheirlanguageaccuracy.NoticingHypothesisputforwardbySchmidtbecamethetheoreticalbasisofgrammarteaching.Hepointsoutthatconsciouslearningisnecessaryinlanguagelearning.PienemannputforwardTeachabilityHypothesis.Hearguesthatsomesequencesinlanguagelearningarefixed,butsomestructurescouldbeadjustedfromgrammarteaching.Long(1991)isthefirstpersontousethetermofFocusonFormwhichnotonlyreferstoformbutalsothemeaningincommunication.Inmanyrelevantresearches,thethreedimensionsofEnglishgrammarteaching,putforwardbyLarsen-Freeman(2003),challengetraditionalgrammarteaching.Forthepurposeofteachingandlearningalanguage,shesuggeststhatitwouldbebettertothinkofgrammarasaskillordynamicprocesscalledgrammaring,ratherthanasastaticareaofknowledge.Shepointsoutthatgrammarteachingshouldcontainform,meaninganduse,whichcanenrichourunderstandingoflanguageincommunication.Therefore,grammaticalknowledgeshouldbetaughtinaninteractiveandmeaningfulway.Besides,intheFrenchimmersionprograms,Swain(1985)foundthattheimmersionlearnersstillmadegrammaticalerrorsintheiroralandwrittenproductioneventhoughtheyhadenoughcomprehensibleinput,whichprovesthenecessityofgrammarteaching.Inrecentyears,manyscholarsstudieddifferentapproachestoassociatelanguagecommunicationwithgrammarteaching.Amongallthescholars,VanPatten(1993,2002),Mackey&Oliver(2002),Doughty(1991),Fotos(1994),Batstone(1994),Nunan(1989),Ellis(2003),Swain(2001),Hughes&McCarthy(1998)etc.,contributealottogrammarteachingapproaches.Theyputforwardprocessinginstruction,interactionalfeedback,textualenhancement,task-basedinstruction,collaborativeoutputtasks,anddiscourse-basedapproaches(Hossein&Fotos2004).Inshort,scholarsabroadhavedonelotsoftheoreticalresearchesandempiricalstudiestoprovethenecessityofgrammarteachinginimprovingtheaccuracyoflanguagelearners’targetformoutput.Thetendencyisthatnewgrammarteachingapproachesshouldhelplearnerscombinelanguageformwithitsmeaningincommunicativetasks.Grammarconsistsofform,meaninganduse,grammaticalknowledgeinputisneeded,butproductivetasksarealsobadlyneededtoletlearnersnoticethetargetformandlearntouseitinreallife,anditwillhelplearnersimprovetheaccuracyoftheirlanguageproduction.Gradually,theycancompletelymasterthe5 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationgrammarnotonlyitsformbutalsoitsmeaninganduse.2.1.2StudiesofEnglishGrammarTeachinginJuniorHighSchoolEnglishgrammarteachingplaysanimportantroleinEnglishlanguageteaching.ItisconsideredasadifficultpartthrougheachstageofEnglishlanguagelearning.Grammarlearningisthebasisforstudentstoimprovetheirlanguageskillswhichincludeslistening,reading,speaking,andwriting.AccordingtotheNewCurriculumStandard,thetendencyofmoreattentiononsinglegrammarteachingissupposedtobechangedintothemulti-methodinlanguageteachingandlearningtoimprovestudents’communicativecompetenceinjuniorhighschool.ZhangZhengdong(2004:14)proposesthat“EnglishteachersshouldtrytoemploythemostefficientteachingmethodaccordingtotheirownclasswiththeNewCurriculumStandardandalsostrengthentheirknowledgeofinputtheorybasedontheirexperience.”However,therearesomedeviationsinsometeachers’mindstogrammarteaching.Restrictedbytheexaminationsystemandthegreatpressuresofwork,someteachersstillconductL2teachingintraditionalmethodsbecausetheyhavebeenusedtotraditionalgrammarteachingandgotlostwhenusingthequitenewmaterials.SometeachershavenotchangedtheirteachingconceptaccordingtothereformofeducationandsomeEnglishteachersjustinstructgrammarknowledgeinanytypeofclassessuchaslistening,speakingandwritingandevenstudentsjustlistentotheteachersandtakenotes.Extremely,withpartialunderstandingoftheNewCurriculumStandard,someEnglishteachersbelievethatgrammarisoflittleimportanceasthenewmaterialstheyusearenotcompiledtofocusonthegrammar.AnEnglishclassisbasedonstudent-orientedmethodwithconversationsandroleplayinthewholeclass.Inthatcase,teachersguideandstimulatestudents,buttheyalmosthavenoexplanationstogrammaritems.StudentscanaccomplishtaskssuccessfullyandtheirinterestinEnglishhasbeenimprovedaswell.Althoughstudentscanpossessterrificoralability,theymakelotsofmistakesintheirwrittenoutput.ShenYing(2004:20)believesthat“ChinesestudentshavetomasterasystematicsetofEnglishgrammarandthebasicstructuressoastoimprovetheaccuracyincommunicationandtheefficiencyinEnglishlearning.”TheconsensusgraduallyreachedhaschangedthesituationthatgrammarwasgreatlyfocusedoninorderthatstudentscouldgethighmarksonEnglish6 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewexaminationsortotheotherextremegrammarwastotallyneglectedwiththeaimofdevelopingstudents’communicativecompetenceinjuniorhighschool.Grammarteachingisnecessaryandsignificant.Itmustbeinfilteredintolanguageteachingandlearningbasedoncommunicativemethod.Grammarisneededtopaymoreattentioninlanguageteachinginjuniorhighschoolandatthesametime,themethodsofgrammarteachingshouldbeeffectiveandimprovethegrammaticalcompetenceofstudents,whichisneededinexactunderstandingandaccurateexpressingofcommunicativemeaning.2.1.3MethodsofGrammarTeachingUsedinJuniorHighSchoolTherearetwomainmethodsofEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschool:theinductivemethodanddeductivemethod.Thedeductivemethodisusedwidelyintraditionalgrammarteachingbysometeachers.Theprocessofdeductiveteachingmethodisfromtheorytopractice,whichmeanstheteacherstaughtgrammaticalrulesdirectlythenaskstudentstorememberthemwithoutanycontextandmakesentencesaccordingly.However,itseemsboringanddull,whichwilldiscouragestudents’motivationandleadtomistakesorerrorsofgrammaruse.Theinductivemethodisaprocesswhichisfrompracticetotheory.Teachersletstudentsapproachtotheconcreteinterestinggrammarmaterialsfirstandthroughanalyzinglotsofsentencesthatcontainthesamegrammarrulesorpointsthemselves,studentscanconcludetheperceptualknowledgeaboutthebasicgrammarrules.Besides,ifthesentencesarerelatedtoreallife,thestudentswillbemotivatedandhighlyinspired.Forexample,iftheteacherswanttoteachthesimplepasttense,theycanlistsomesentenceswhicharerelatedtoreallifesuchas:a)AllofyouvisitedShanghaiMuseumlastSaturday.b)Farmersplantedtreeslastspring.c)IwatchedTVwithmyparentsyesterday.Throughanalyzingtheabovethreesentencesespeciallythehighlightedwordsandphrases,studentscanfindthechangeofverbsandtemporaladverbialswhicharethefeaturesofsimplepasttense.Thenthestudentswiththeperceptualconclusioncanmakesentencessuchas“Ifinishedhomeworklastnight.”Inaddition,theSituationalApproachandTask-basedLanguageTeaching7 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationapproachareprevailinginjuniorhighschool.Situationalapproachmeanslanguagelearninginreallife.Newlanguagepointsareintroducedandpracticedsituationally.TheobjectivesoftheSituationalApproacharetohelpstudentsgainapracticalcommandofthefourbasicskills(listening,speaking,readingandwriting)oflanguageandobtainaccuracyinpronunciationandgrammar.WhenusingtheSituationalApproach,teachersandstudentsshouldonlyusethetargetlanguageintheclassroom.Translationshouldbeavoided.Languagematerialistaughtorallybeforeitispresentedinthewrittenform.Commoncorewordsarecovered.Readingandwritingareintroducedonlyafteranoralbaseinlexicalandgrammaticalformshasbeenestablished(RichardandRodgers2001:43).TheseareallcharacteristicsofSituationalApproach.However,Task-basedLanguageTeachingisanapproachbasedontheuseoftasksasthecoreunitofplanningandinstructioninlanguageteaching.Themethodologycentersonstudentsperformingaseriesoftasks.Skehan(1998:95)pointsoutthatinstructioninwhichlearnersaregiventaskstocompleteintheclassroommakestheassumptionthattransactingtasksinthiswaywillengagenaturalisticacquisitionmechanisms,causetheunderlyinginter-languagesystemtobestretched,drivedevelopmentforward.Nunan(1991:279)suggestsfivecharacteristicsofthisapproach:(1)Anemphasisonlearningtocommunicatethroughinteractioninthetargetlanguage;(2)Theintroductionofauthentictextsintothelearningsituation;(3)Provisionofopportunitiesforlearnerstofocus,notonlyonlanguage,butalsoonthelearningprocessitself;(4)Anenhancementofthelearners’ownpersonalexperiencesasimportantcontributingelementstoclassroomlearning;(5)Anattempttolinkclassroomlanguagelearningwithlanguageactivationoutsidetheclassroom.2.2TheoreticalBasesofEnglishGrammarTeachingThispartmainlyreviewsLarsen-Freeman’sDynamicGrammarTheoryandSwain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesis,whichestablishesthetheoreticalbasesofthisthesis.Also,productivetaskswillbedefinedinthispart.2.2.1DynamicGrammarTheoryLarsen-Freemanchallengedthetraditionalconceptsofgrammarandproposedhertheoryofdynamicgrammarwithuniquedefinitionofgrammar.Thispart8 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewintroducesDynamicGrammarTheoryincludinganintroduction,three-dimensionmodelandthewaytoteachgrammarandgrammaring.2.2.1.1DynamicGrammarTheoryandGrammaringGrammarmayberoughlydefinedasthewaylanguagemanipulatesandcombineswords(orbitsofwords)inordertoformlongerunitsofmeaning(Ur1988).Grammaristhewayinwhichwordschangethemselvesandgrouptogethertomakesentences.Thegrammarofalanguageiswhathappenstowordswhentheybecomepluralornegative,orwhatorderisusedwhenwemakequestionsorjointwoclausestomakeonesentence(Harmer1987).Accordingtothesedefinitions,itseemsthatgrammariscommonlydefinedasasystemofrulesgoverningtheconventionalarrangementandrelationshipsofwordsinasentence.However,Larsen-Freeman(1991)putforthDynamicGrammarTheory(i.e.Grammaring),bywhichsheclaimsthatitwouldbebettertothinkofgrammarasaskillordynamicprocessratherthanasastaticareaofknowledge.Thatistosay,eventuallygrammarshouldbeavailableforlearnerstouseratherthanremainsasinertknowledge,soforthepurposeofteachingandlearningalanguage,itisbettertotreatgrammarasaskillordynamicprocess.Whengrammaristaughtsolelyasabodyofknowledge–acollectionofrules,norms,partsofspeech,andverbparadigms–itisnotsurprisingthatthementionofgrammarinvokesanegativeresponseonthepartofmanystudents.Lotsofstudentsfindithardtobeenthusiasticabouthavingtolearnwhatappeartobearbitraryfactsaboutalanguage,letalonesometimesbeingaskedtolearnthembyrote(Larsen-Freeman2003:24).Larsen-Freemanconflatesgrammarandlanguageandappliesdynamicsalsogrammaringtoboth.Shestatesthewaysthatgrammarandlanguagearedynamic.Thefirstwayisover-timedynamismwhichillustratesthechangeofanyaspectsoflanguageovertime.Thesecondwell-knownwaythatlanguagescanbesaidtobedynamiccanbereferredtoasreal-timedynamism.Real-timedynamismreferstotheproductsgeneratedfromprocessofconsideringinterlocutorsandthedecision.Languageusersmustconstantlymakedecisionsabouthowtorespondinaccurate,meaningful,andappropriatewaysandthencarryoutthedecisionsinrealtime.Theapplicationofdynamismtogrammarandlanguagereflectstheideatodiminishthedistinctionbetweenlanguageandgrammar.Andthedynamicstateoflanguageillustratestheinstabilityofgrammar,whichisalsoanaspectofgrammaring.Theterm“grammar”failstocapturetheprocessnatureoflanguagethatisits9 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationdynamism.Grammaringshowsthedynamicprocessanditisbettertobeconsideredasaskillnotknowledge.Grammaringemphasizestheimportanceoflearners’developinganabilitytodosomething,notsimplystoringknowledgeaboutthelanguageoritsuse.2.2.1.2Three-DimensionModelAsforgrammaticalcompetence,Larsen-Freeman(1991)holdsdifferentopinions.Sheproposedtheconceptofgrammaring(grammaticalcompetence),whichisthefifthskillsbeyondlistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Larsen-Freemanbelievesthatgrammaticalcompetence(grammaring)referstotheabilitytousegrammaticalstructuresappropriately,meaningfullyandaccurately.Inaccordwiththeconceptofgrammaring,Larsen-Freeman(2003)said,“Itisnothelpfultothinkofgrammarasdiscretesetofmeaningless,decontextualized,staticstructures.Norisithelpfultothinkofgrammarsolelyasprescriptiverulesaboutlinguisticform,suchasinjunctionsagainstsplittinginfinitivesorendingsentenceswithpreposition.Grammaticalstructuresnotonlyhave(morphosyntactic)form,theyarealsousedtoexpressmeaning(semantics)incontext-appropriateuse(pragmatics).”Sheputforwardthethree-dimensionmodel–form,meaninganduse.Thefirstdimensionofgrammaticalcompetenceistheformsthatconsistofthesounds,writtensymbols,inflectionalmorphemes,functionwordsandsyntacticstructures.Theseconddimensionismeaningorsemantics.Itistheessentialdenotationofadecontextualizedform.Thethirddimensionispragmaticsorusewhichisnotthemeaningencodedinlanguage,butwhatpeoplemeanbythelanguagetheyuse.Theunitsofthisdimensionaresocialfunctions(suchaspromising,inviting,agreeing,disagreeingandapologizing)anddiscoursepatterns(suchasthosethatcontributetothecohesionoftexts)(Larsen-Freeman2009:34-35).Forexample,herframeworkbelowinfigure1isusedtoillustratetheform,meaning,anduseoftheexistentialthereinEnglish.10 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewFormMeaningHowisitformed?Whatdoesitmean?ThereinsubjectpositionExistenceUsuallyfollowedbybeverbLocationThelogicalsubjectfollowstheverbandgovernsitsnumber.Aprepositionalphraseoftenfollowsthelogicalsubject.UseWhen/Whyisitused?Tointroducenewinformationinend-focuspositionFigure2-1Form,Meaning,andUseofEnglishExistentialThereUsinganexamplewillhelpgroundthefollowinganalysislike“Therearepencilsonthetable.”Thereisaninvariantform,occupyingthesubjectpositioninthesentence.Itisusuallyfollowedbybeverb.Thelogicalsubjectfollowstheverbbeandgovernsitsnumber.Thelogicalsubjectisalsotypicallyindefinite.Here,forinstance,itispencils,notthepencils.Aprepositionalphrase,herereferstoonthetable,oftenfollowsthelogicalsubject.Thenameofthestructure,theexistentialthere,givesusaclueaboutitsmeaning.Itmeanstheexistenceofsomethingorthelocationofsomething.Itisusedtointroducenewinformation.Thepreferredpositionfornewinformationisinend-focuspositiontowardtheendoftheclause,andbyusingtheretofillthesubjectposition,thenewinformation,pencilsandtheirlocationinthisexample,canbepostponeduntilfurtherinthesentence,inthepreferredend-focusposition.Larsen-Freemanputforwardthree-dimensiongrammarteaching,butmethodsoflanguageteachingcommonlyemphasizeoneortwoofthesethreedimensions.Itisalsoimportanttomakeclearthatanalyzinglanguageaccordingtothethreedimensionsbynomeansobligatesteacherstopresentallthisinformationtostudents,letalonetrytodosoinasinglelesson(Larsen-Freeman2003:44).Teacherscannot11 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationandshouldnotteacheverythingthattheyknowaboutthelanguagetheyareteaching.Tobeselectiveisimportant,butitdoesnotmeanignoringtheentiredimension.Therefore,thepiechartcanbeavaluabletoolforteacherstohaveasenseofthewholeofwhattheyaregoingtoteachanditcanvisualizethewhole.Takethepiechartofthreedimensionsinmind,anditalsoremindslearnersthatbeingabletousegrammarstructuresdoesnotonlymeanusingtheformsaccuratelybutalsomeanusingthemmeaningfullyandappropriately.2.2.1.3TeachingGrammarandGrammaringGrammarisdefinedasastaticproductthatconsistsofformsthatarerule-governed,sentence-level,absolute,andconstituteaclosedsystemsothattheimportantqualitiesofgrammarhavebeenoverlooked,suchasthatitisadynamicprocessinwhichformshavemeaningsandusesinarational,discursive,flexible,interconnected,andopensystem.Grammarismuchmoreaboutourhumannessthansomestaticlistsofrulesandexceptionssuggest.Grammarallowsustochoosehowwepresentourselvestotheworld,sometimesconformingtosocialnormsyetallthewhileestablishingourindividualidentities(Larsen-Freeman2003:142).Abetterwaytothinkofgrammarwhichmayhelplearnersovercometheinertknowledgeproblemistothinkofgrammarassomethingwedo,ratherthanonlysomethingweknow(Larsen-Freeman2003:145).Sohowtohelplearnersparticipateintheongoingprocessisbygrammaring.Grammaringistheabilitytousegrammarstructuresaccurately,meaningfully,andappropriately.Itrequiresacknowledgingthatgrammarcanbeproductivelyregardedasafifthskill,notonlyasanareaofknowledge.Teacherscannotteacheverythingatonce,butwhatteacherscandoistousethenaturallearningprocessasaguideastowhentoteachcertainaspectsofgrammar.Soduringthecourseofnormalclassroomactivity,teachersneedtobealertto“teachablemoments”whentheycanfocuslearners’attentiononemergentformsinlearners’interlanguage,theformsaroundwhichlearnersarebeginningtocreatenew,albeitnon-targetlike,patterns(LongandRobinson1998).Itisstudents’learningthatguidestheteachingratherthanviceversa.Besides,whenaparticulargrammaticalsyllabusoraparticulargrammartexthasbeenadopted,itistheteacher’sresponsibilityto“cover”certaingrammaticalstructures.Insuchcommoncircumstancesitmaybehelpfultothinkoftransformingthesyllabusintoachecklistratherthanasequence,whichmeansteachersdonotneedtoteachthegrammarstructuresinastrictlinearorder.Willis(1996)statestheimportanceofthereportingphaseafterataskhasbeen12 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewcompletedforgivingstudentsthenecessaryopportunitytoworkonthegrammarthatthetasknaturallyelicits.Inthisway,somegrammarstructuresandpatternscanbetaughtastheyariseinthecontextofskill-based,task-based,orcontent-basedwork,aslongastheirimmediatemasteryisnotexpected.Inmostcases,studentsdonotneedtoknowaboutthelanguage–theyneedtobeabletousethelanguage.Larsen-Freeman(2000d)believesthatanimportantfunctionofteachingliesinhelpingstudents“learntolook”.Ateachercanslowthelanguageactiondown,perhapsevenfreezeit.Inthiswaytheteachercancallstudents’attentiontoaparticularstructureorpatternanditsmeaningordiscoursefunction.TakeanexamplewhichhasbeenmentionedbyLarsen-Freeman.Thornbury(2001:25)wroteaboutcomputer-mediatedcommunicationasofferinga“richsiteforgrammaring.”Livechats“allowpeopletocommunicateacrossdistancesbysendingandreceivingshortwrittenmessagestoeachotherinrealtime.Becausethecommunicationisbothinformalandimmediate,butslightlydelayedbythedemandsofwriting,ithasbeencalleda‘conversationinslowmotion.’”Thereisanoutputproductioncounterpart.Teacherscanaskstudentstohaveawrittenlivechatwithanotherpersonintheclasseitheron-linethatnightforhomework,orrightthereinatriadintheclassroomsothateveryoneisalwaysrespondingtosomeone.Theinteractioncanbeslowdown,whichenablesstudentstofocusabitmoreontheproblematictargetstructures.Inaddition,studentengagementisessentialtogrammaringteaching.AsMcIntyreandClement(2002)putit,languagelearners’willingnesstocommunicateshouldbeafundamentalgoaloflanguageinstruction.Engagementdoesnotmerelyincreasethequantityoflanguageorthetimespentontask,itincreasesthequalityoftheproductionaswell(Dörnyei2002).Engagingactivitiesoftentaketheformoftasks.Onepotentialadvantageofcreatingtasksthatrequirestheuseofcertainstructuresisthattask-essentialusecanprovidepracticeofstructuresthatarerarelyfoundinothercommunicativeactivities.AsLoschkyandBley-Vroman(1993)acknowledge,creatingtaskswherecertainstructuresmustbeusedarenotforcomprehension,butforproduction.Goodteachingdependsonateacher’sabilitytocreateapositive,trustingrelationshipwithhisorherstudents.Teachersshouldknowwhatthestudentsneedandalwaystakethemintoconsideration.Soforstudents,learningthetargetlanguageisnottoknowaboutitbuttouseit.Teachersneedtoguidethemtousethethree-dimensionmodeltohelpthemlearntousequestionstoanalyzetargetstructures.13 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationWhat’smore,teacherscanalsodesignproductivetaskstoenhancestudents’motivationstopracticetheoutputoftargetlanguagestructuressothatthestudentscanimprovetheirabilitytousethegrammarstructureaccurately,meaningfullyandappropriately.2.2.2ProductiveTasksInanEnglishtextbook,differenttasksfordifferentpurposescanbefoundineachunit.Forexample,thereadingtaskrequireslearnerstoreadthepassageandgetthemainideaofit;thelanguagetaskprovidesthemwithsomeexplicitinformationaboutthegrammaticalformsthattheyshouldlearnfromthegivenmaterialorcheckswhethertheyhavelearnedit.Thereisnodoubtthatthesetasksaredesignedtohelplearnersimprovetheirabilityinreadingorexplicitknowledgeofgrammar.Eventhoughlearnershavegraspedthegrammaticalknowledge,theystillfailtoachievehighlevelsofgrammaticalcompetenceintheiroralandwrittenoutput.IndeedthequestionofhowtoteachgrammarhaslongbeenoneofthemostinterestingandcontroversialissuesinSLA(Ellis2006).InLongmanDictionaryofLanguageTeachingandAppliedLinguistics,outputisdefinedasacounterpartofinput.Thedefinitionofinputis“thelanguagealearnerhearsorreceivesandfromwhichheorshecanlearn”.Inlightofthis,outputisdefinedasthelanguagealearnerproduces,thatistosay,outputsimplymeansthelanguagewhichalearnerproducesandcomparedwithwhatthelearnerreceives.However,inSLA,Swain’sexplanationofoutputismoreorlessdynamic,hedefinedoutputas“producinglanguage”,(Swain,1995:125),“languageperformance”,“usingthelanguage”,“speakingorwriting”(Swain,1995:127),and“productionoruse”(Swain&Lapkin,1995).Inotherwords,productivetasksrefertooutputtasksasoutputhereisdefinedas“production”.Productivetasksconsistoforalproductivetasksandwrittenproductivetasks.Inoralproduction,learnersneedtomakequickreaction,whichisdifficultforthemtonoticethegrammaticalaccuracyoftheiroralproduction.What’sworse,face-to-facecommunicationwillmakethemanxious.Theresultsoforalproductionarelessstablethanwrittenoneastherearemanyfactorsthatcanaffectlearners’oralproduction.Besides,inwrittenproduction,learnershavetimetorethinkaboutstructureofthelanguageandtheyhavetopaymoreattentiontolanguageformsthantheydoinoralproduction,whichhelpsthemimprovetheirnoticingofgrammaticalmistakessuchas14 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewtense.Inaddition,teacherscangivecorrectivefeedbacktolearners’writtenproduction,whichleadsthemtonoticethegapsbetweentheirlinguisticcompetenceandtargetlanguage.Therefore,writtenproductivetaskischosenasthefocuswhichisstudiedinthisthesis.AccordingtoLarsen-Freeman,grammarisbettertobetreatedasadynamicprocess.Also,productivetasksareusedtoletstudentsproducelanguagemoreappropriately,meaningfullyandaccurately,whichcanshowthatgrammarisdynamicandalwayschangingintheproductivetasks.Besides,productivetasksaredesignedonthebasisofthree-dimensionmodelinDynamicGrammarTheoryandthreefunctionsofoutputinComprehensibleOutputHypothesiswhichisreviewedinthefollowingpart.2.2.3ComprehensibleOutputHypothesisTherehasbeenahotdebateaboutwhetherinputoroutputplaysamoreimportantroleinfieldofSLA,whichreflectsontwodifferenthypotheses,Krashen’sInputHypothesisandSwain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesis.Traditionally,theroleofoutputhasbeende-emphasizedinSLA.KrashenpointsoutthatESLstudentscanhaveagoodcommandofthetargetlanguageevenwithnolanguageoutput.ItwouldbeexplainedthatoutputonlymeansasymbolinSLAthatitdoesn’thaveanymeaningfulfunctionsinlanguageacquisition.InordertoprovetheimportanceandnecessityofoutputinSLA,anoutstandinghypothesiscalledtheComprehensibleOutputHypothesiswasraisedbySwainin1985whoelaboratedtheroleofoutputinSLAfromanewangle,whichcanbetreatedasachallengetotheconceptionofKrashen.Thehypothesishadbeenanextraordinarytheoryinsecondlanguageacquisitionandkeptbeingimprovedandappliedintopracticeinthefollowingyears.Swainalsosummarizedthreefunctionsofthishypothesistogetitunderstoodinherfollowingresearches.Inthissection,theauthorchieflyintroducesSwain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesisanditsthreefunctions.2.2.3.1IntroductiontoComprehensibleOutputHypothesisKrashen’sComprehensibleInputHypothesisexcessivelyemphasizesthecontributionofinputtotheimprovementoflanguagelearning,whileitdeniestheroleofoutputinlanguagelearning.However,Swain(1985)holdsthatthecomprehensibleinputisessentialforsecondlanguageacquisition,butsinglecomprehensibleinput15 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationmightnotbesufficientfortheimprovementofsecondlanguagelearning.Shestatesthatopportunitiesfornon-nativespeakerstoproducecomprehensibleoutputarealsoquitenecessaryandtheoutputisakeyfactorthataffectslanguageacquisition.AccordingtoSwain,comprehensibleoutputisthekindofoutputthatextendsthelinguisticrepertoireofthelearnerasheorsheattemptstocreateaccuratelyandappropriatelythemeaningexpected.Besides,shearguesthattheroleoflearner’slanguageproductionisindependentinmanywaysoftheroleofcomprehensibleinput,assertingthatcomprehensibleoutputisalsoanessentialmechanismwhichfacilitatesthelearningoflanguage.ThehypothesisderivedfromSwain’sresearchintheFrenchimmersionprogramsinTorontointhe1980s.Intheimmersionprograms,non-FrenchspeakingchildrenwereeducatedFrenchattheverybeginningofschoolsuchaskindergarten,wheretheyweretaughtnotonlytheFrenchlanguage,butalsoothercourseslikemath,science,historyandgeographyaswellassecondlanguagelearning.TheywereimmersedinthetargetlanguageFrenchandwereputinanalmostidealFrenchlanguagecontext.ItseemedthattheyacquiredabundantlanguageinputwhichhelpsthemmasterallthesubjectsandgethighlinguisticproficiencyinFrench.Tohersurprise,Swainfoundthattheperformanceofimmersionstudents’Frenchwasquitedissatisfactory,eventhoughtheyacquiredrichandcomprehensiblelanguageinput.Thoughtheimmersionstudentsgotthesamegradesasnativespeakersinlisteningandreadingtests,theystillhaveproblemsinotherareasbecausetheyweregivenfewopportunitiestoputthetargetlanguageFrenchintopractice,sotheyperformedworsethannativespeakerswhoarethesamegradeasthemintheaccuracyofoutputtaskssuchasFrenchoraltestandwriting.Theimmersionstudentsmadegrammaticalerrorsintheiroralandwrittenproduction.Throughtheobservation,Swain(1985)pointedoutthatimmersionclassesweregivensomuchteacher-centeredinstruction,whichleftlittletimeforstudentsandtheyhadfewopportunitiestoproducelanguageoutput.Swain(1985)claimedthatthereasonswhyimmersionstudentsshowedpoorperformanceinproductionwerethattheylackedoutputopportunitiesintwoways:First,thestudentswerenotprovidedwithenoughchancestouseFrenchinclassroomteachingprocesses,especiallyinlatergrades.Second,theywerenot‘pushed’toproducelanguageoutputinFrench.Basedontheobservationsandresults,Swainclaimsthatthoughcomprehensible16 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewinputisnecessarytolanguageacquisition,itisnotsufficientforlearnerstohaveagoodcommandoftargetlanguage.Iflearnerswanttoachievehighleveloflanguageproficiency,theymustproducelanguageoutput.Bothcomprehensibleinputandoutputareneededtoimprovelearners’secondlanguageacquisition.Swain’sComprehensibleOutputHypothesisdoesn’tdenytheimportanceandnecessityofcomprehensibleinputinlearningthelanguage.Allinall,thethemeinSwain’sOutputHypothesisislearners’production(i.e.output),whichisregardedasacrucialfactorinlanguageacquisition.2.2.3.2ThreeFunctionsoftheComprehensibleOutputHypothesisAccordingtothecomprehensibleoutput,Swainmadefurthereffortsonherstudiesandconcludedthreefunctionsofoutput,namely,thenoticing/triggeringfunction,thehypothesis-testingfunctionandthemetalinguisticfunction.Furtherelaborationsareasfollows:Thefirstfunctionisthenoticing/triggeringfunction.Itmeansthat“languageproductionmaytriggerlearners’noticingonsomelinguisticproblemsexistingintheirinterlanguagesystem,whichtheninducesthemtosolvetheirlinguisticdeficiencyinwaysthatareappropriateinagivencontext”.Comingupwiththisfunction,Swain(1985)arguesthatproducingthetargetlanguage(TL)mayserveas“thetriggerthatforcesthelearnertopayattentiontothemeansofexpressionneededinordertosuccessfullyconveyhisorherownintendedmeaning”(Swain1985:249).Tohaveabetterunderstandingofthisfunctionofoutput,Swain(1995:125)explainedthisfunctionindetailinherbook.Shestatesthatlearnerswouldnoticeagapbetweenwhattheywanttosayandwhattheycansay,whichleadsthemtorecognizetheirlinguisticproblemsandbringstotheirattentionsomethingtheyneedtodiscoverabouttheirsecondlanguage.Thisawarenesstriggerscognitiveprocessesthathavebeenimplicatedinsecondlanguagelearning—onesinwhichisnewforthem,orwhichconsolidatetheircurrentexistingknowledge(Swain&Lapkin1995).Swain(1993)offeredthreekindsofresponsesthatlearnersmightmakewhentheycameacrossdifficultiesinproducinglanguageoutput,(a)ignoreitabsolutely;(b)makealleffortstorefertotheirownlinguisticknowledgeforinformationwhichmighthelptoclosethegapsbyproducingnewknowledgeorenhancingexistingknowledge;(c)identifythelinguisticproblemsandpayattentiontothefollowinginput.Thefirstresponsemeansthatlearnerscannotsolvetheproblems,sotheyjustneglectthegap,whichcannothelpthemget17 ChapterTwoLiteratureReviewShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationimprovementinsecondlanguageacquisition.Thesecondandthirdresponses,especiallythethirdone,maytriggerlearners’noticingofthegapsandfacilitatelearners’acquisitionoflanguageforms,whichcanbeleadedbyteachers.Swain(1993)pointsoutthatthelanguagewouldbemoreaccurate,appropriateandcomplete,ifthelearnersgetpressurefromoutsidethatforcesthemtoprocessthelanguagetheyaregoingtoproduce.Thenoticingfunctionofoutputpositsthatlearnersmaynoticethegapintheirinterlanguageknowledgeinanattempttoproducethetargetlanguage,whichthenpromptsthemtofindsolutiontotheirlinguisticdeficiencyinwaysthatareappropriateinagivencontext(Izumi,2002).Thesecondisthehypothesis-testingfunction.Swain(1995)claimsthattheprocessofsecondlanguagelearningisaprocesstotesthypothesescontinuously,speakingandwritingthetargetlanguagearethebestwaystotesthypotheses.Ononehand,learnersmaytestthehypothesistheymakeaboutthetargetlanguage.Ontheotherhand,languageoutputcanprovideopportunitiesforlearnerstotesttheirhypothesis.Actually,languageoutputisaprocessoftestinghypothesisitself.Picaetal.(1989)postulatethatL2learnerscanmodifytheiroutputtoadifferentdegreeaccordingtodifferentfeedbackfromlisteners,thus,L2learnersare“pushed”tomaketheiroutputmorecomprehensible.Pica(1989)provesthatlearnerswouldmodifytheirforgoingutteranceswhentheyclarifyandreaffirmtheirpoints.Heobservedthatonethirdoftheanswersweresemanticallyandsyntacticallymodified.NobuyoshiandEllis’sexperimentshowsthatthiskindofmodificationisbeneficialtotheaccuracyoflanguageandtheimprovementoflearners’interlanguage.Thethirdfunctionisthemetalinguisticfunction.Thefunctionisthatusinglanguagetoreflectonlanguageproducedbyothersortheself,mediatessecondlanguagelearning.ThisideaoriginateswithVygotsky’ssocioculturaltheoryofmind.Itenableslearnerstoanalyzeanddescribelanguageintheiroutputand“controlandinternalizelinguisticknowledge”,whichisaprocessoflanguagefeedbackandreflection.Metalanguageiskindofreflectivelanguageuseonthetargetlanguage,whichconducivetofurtherL2learners’comprehensionabouttherelationshipamonglinguisticform,function,andmeaning.Inotherwords,theproductionprocesscanbetterpromoteL2learnerstoshiftthenoticingfromcomprehendingthemeaningtoexpressingthesyntacticstructure.Swain(1993)argueswhenL2learnersexpressthemselveswithEnglish,they18 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterTwoLiteratureReviewhavetoactivelyretrieveEnglishknowledgethattheyhavealreadylearned,considerthegrammaticalrules,vocabularycollocation,andthechoiceofvocabularyaswell.OnlyinthiswaycanEnglishbecontrolledandinternalized,effectivelyachieveSLA.Swain(1995)emphasizesthatwhenlearnersarereflectingontheusageoftheirtargetlanguage,themetalinguisticfunctionofoutputisinaction.Outputspursthemtomasterandinternalizethelanguageknowledge.That’showthemetalinguisticfunctionplaysapartintheprocessofsecondlanguageacquisition.Outputoffersthechancetousetargetlanguageandgainfeedbackforthelearners.Accordingtothethreefunctionsofoutput,outputcanmakelearnersnoticeandcheckthelanguagethattheyhavemasteredandfindouttheproblems.Outputcanstimulatelearnersfrompayingattentiontothemeaningoftheirlanguageproductiontotheformanduseofthelanguage,whichcanimprovetheaccuracyoftheirproductionandthenimprovetheirlanguageproficiency.19 ChapterThreeResearchMethodologyShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterThreeResearchMethodologyInthepreviouschapters,theoreticalfoundationsofthestudyhavebeenset.Thepresentstudyisbasedontheexperimentthatintendstotestifywhetherproductivetaskscanimprovetheaccuracyoflearners’pasttenseoutputandpromotetheirgrammaticalcompetence.Thischapterintroducesthedesignandtheprocedureoftheexperiment.Researchquestions,choiceoftheresearchsubjectsandinstrumentsarealsointroducedinthischapter.Quantitativemethodisadoptedinthisstudy.3.1ResearchQuestionsThegeneralresearchquestionstobeaddressedinthestudyareasfollows:(1)Doesproductivetaskhaveeffectsonpromotingstudents’grammaticalcompetenceinpasttenselearning?(2)Isproductivetaskeffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput?(3)Whatstrategiescanbeusedforspecificerrorsinpasttenselearning?3.2ResearchSubjectsTheparticipantsinthisstudyareGradeSixstudentsinTianlinNo.3MiddleSchoolinShanghai.30studentswhocamefromthesameclasstookpartintheexperiment.Theyhavelearnedbasicknowledgeofsimplepasttenseinprimaryschool,sotheyknowtheformandgrammaticalrulesofsimplepasttense.TheexperimentiscarriedoutinordertoenhancetheirgrammaticalcompetenceofEnglishsimplepasttenseaftertheyenteredjuniorhighschoolfornearlyonemonth.Allthesubjectsparticipatedinthepretestandposttest.Subjectsarerequiredtodothepretestinordertoassesstheirpresentproficiencyofsimplepasttense.Itisfoundthattheparticipantshavelearnedsimplepasttensebefore,buttheyneedalotofimprovementinthefollowinglearning.20 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterThreeResearchMethodology3.3ResearchInstrumentsInthissection,theauthorintroducestheresearchinstrumentsthatusedinthepresentstudy.TheinstrumentsconsistoftwotestsofEnglishsimplepasttensebyusingblank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateforms,grammaticalityjudgmentandwriting,andthetreatmentofguidedwritingproductivetask.3.3.1Pre/Post-PastTenseGrammarTestsApretestisusedtoteststudents’initialknowledgeaboutEnglishsimplepasttensebeforetheexperimentsoastofindoutwhetherstudentscouldusepasttenseformsmoreaccuratelyafterthetreatmentoftheproductivetask.Threedifferenttesttypesareusedinthepretestpaper(seeAppendixⅢ).Blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsandgrammaticalityjudgmenttestareemployedtotesttheparticipants’receptiveability,whilewritingtestisusedtotesttheirproductiveabilityofEnglishsimplepasttense.Thepretestmainlyconcludes11blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateforms,10grammaticalityjudgmentitemsandawritingpart,whicharedesignednottoodifficulttoanswer.Aposttest(seeAppendixⅣ)isusedtotestwhetherthestudentsgetimprovementinthesimplepasttenseoutputbyapplyingtheproductivetasktogrammarteaching.Thecontentofposttestisthesameasthatinpretest.Thefirstpartofthetwotestsisblank-filling.Blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsarecomposedof25blanksinwhichthesentencestructureisclear.Alltheblanksaretobefilledintheappropriateformsofverbswhicharegivenintheirbaseforms.ThepurposeofthesetasksistoexploretheacquisitionoftheEnglishsimplepasttenseandtheeffectsoftheproductivetaskontheEnglishsimplepasttenselearning.Thesecondpartofthetestsisgrammaticalityjudgment.Inthispart,theparticipantsarerequiredtomakeajudgmentofwhetherthesentenceistrueorfalse.Ifthesentenceisjudgedcorrect,theparticipantsshouldchoose“T”;ifthesentenceisjudgedincorrect,theparticipantsshouldchoose“F”,thenunderlinetheincorrectpartandcorrectthispartwiththerightanswer,whichinvolvedtheproductionofthetargetform–simplepasttense.ThistestusedinthestudyisonthebasisofIzumi’s(2003)study.Thegrammaticalityjudgmenttesttypeisusedbothinpretestandposttestcontaining20sentencesintotal,fiveofwhicharerelatedtothesimplepastof“be”,21 ChapterThreeResearchMethodologyShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationelevenofwhicharerelatedtothesimplepastofregularorirregularverbsandtherestfourofwhichcontain“did+verbofbaseform”.ThetesttypeisdesignedtotestwhethertheparticipantscanpromoteattentiontoformsandmeaningsoftheEnglishsimplepasttenseafterthetreatmentoftheproductivetask.Thelastpartofthetestiswriting.AsSkehan(1998)proposes,tosomeextent,writingtaskscanenablelearnerstomarshaltheirresources,thusleadingtosomedegreeofchoiceinhowtheyallocatetheirattention.AsHall(2001)puts,writinginvolvedsystematicattentiontotheformsandfunctionsrequiredintheconstructionofmeaning.Therefore,thewritingpartconformstothethreedimensionswhichputforwardbyLarsen-Freeman.Theyareform,meaning,anduseoflanguage.Thewritingpartisusedtotestthesubjects’proficiencyandgrammaticalcompetenceofEnglishsimplepasttense.Thegreatdifferencebetweenpretestandtheposttestliesonthispart.Thelastpartofpretestshouldbewritteninsimplepasttense,whichhasmentionedintheinstruction.However,thelastpartofposttestdoesnotmentionthetense.Itisanamedcomposition,sothesubjectsneedtothinkaboutwhichtensetheyshouldchoose.Thepurposeofthewritingtestistomeasurethelearners’accuracyofpasttenseoutputandtotesttheircomprehensiveabilityofusingEnglishsimplepasttense,socomparedwiththewritinginpretest,writinginposttestcanbebetterusedtomeasureiftheproductivetaskcanimprovethelearners’proficiencyofEnglishsimplepasttense.Thetotalscoreforthetwotestsare100points.The11blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsarescoredas2pointsforeachblank,sothesubjectsget2pointsforeachcorrectanswer,ortheyget0point.Thereare10grammaticalityjudgmentitemsandallthetenitemsarejudgedonthebasisofthetargetform.Thescoreforeachitemis4points,2pointsforthejudgmentand2pointsforthecorrection.Ifanyitemisnotjudgedorjudgedincorrectbutthereisnocorrection,theitemisconsideredincorrect.Thewritingpartisscored10points.Itwillbemeasuredinthestandardofaccuracy.Inaddition,iftheerrorsmadebysubjectsdonotrelatetotheformationofthetargetform,suchasspelling,articles,caseandsoon,theywillbeignoredinthejudgment.3.3.2ProductiveTask:GuidedWritingProductivetasksconsistoforaltasksandwrittentasks.Guidedwritingasakindofwrittentaskischoseninthisstudy.22 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterThreeResearchMethodologyThetreatmentmaterialsarethreeshortreadingpassages(thereadingmaterialsarecitedintheirreadingexercises),whosewholesentencescover80%simplepasttenseand3%ofnewwords(seeAppendixⅠ).BasedontheexperimentalstudydonebyIzumi(2000),theparticipantsareexposedtoproductivetask(guidedwriting)intheexperimentduringthethreeweeks.AllthethreepassagesfocusontheEnglishsimplepasttensewhichisthekeypointthatparticipantsneedtofindoutintheguidedwritingproductivetask.Beforetheexperiment,alltheparticipantsareinformedofthesequenceoffollowingtreatment.Theparticipantsareaskedtoreadthepassagefirstandunderlinethewordsorphrasesthattheythinkimportantforthesubsequentguidedwritingandatthesametimetakenotesontheblanksheet.Ifnecessary,teacherscangiveparticipantsaguidancethatletthempayattentiontothegrammarnotasingleword.Beforewriting,theyhavethechancetodiscussandreportfirstsothattheycangetothers’feedbacktocorrectthemselves,whichgraduallyhelpslearnersimprovetheirabilityofproduction.3.4ProcedureoftheExperimentAsisshowninTable1,thedesignoftheresearchiscomposedofonepretest,three-weektreatmentandoneposttest.Table3-1TheProcedureoftheExperimentWeekProcedureTimeDate1Pretest30minutesSept.25th2Treatment130minutesSept.30th3Treatment230minutesOct.9th4Treatment330minutesOct.16th5Posttest30minutesOct.23rdThelastingtimeforthetwotestsisequal(30mins)andsoisthetimeforthethreetreatments(30mins).Theproductivetaskforthesubjectsaimstogivethemopportunitiesforproductionimmediatelyfollowingtheexposuretothereadingmaterialswhichcontainabout80%ofthetargetform(simplepasttense).Therearethreestepsforeachtreatmentusingtheproductivetask:Step1,theparticipantsarehandedouttreatmentmaterialsandasheetofblankpaper.Then,theyareaskedtoreadthepassageandunderlinethewordsthatare23 ChapterThreeResearchMethodologyShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationrelatedtothefollowingtasksinthepassage.Atthesametime,theparticipantsarerequiredtotakenotesaboutthewordsorphrasesthattheythinknecessaryandsignificantforthesubsequentproductivetask.Ittakes5minutesaltogether.Step2,fiveminuteslater,thetreatmentmaterialsarehandedinandthesheetsofguidedwritingtask(seeAppendixⅡ)arehandedoutfortheparticipants.Letthemgetthegroupoffour,anddiscussorallyhowtofinishthetaskbasedontheirnotes,understandingormemory.Then,somegroupleadersreporttheiranswersandothersaswellastheteachergivethemfeedback.Ittakes15minutesaltogether.Step3,afterthediscussionandreport,theparticipantsareaskedtodoguidedwritingasaccuratelyaspossiblewithin10minutes.10minuteslater,theguidedwritinganswersheetsarecollected.Beforetheexperiment,allthesubjectsarerequiredtotakepartinthepretest,whichaimstotesttheproficiencyofthesubjects’initialknowledgeofEnglishsimplepasttense.Inthethree-weektreatment,thesubjectsarerequiredtofinishthreeguidedwritingsastheproductivetask.Afterthat,theposttestisconducted.Thedataofthetwotestsarecollectedtoanalyzethefinalresultsofthewholeexperiment,whichareusedtoinvestigatewhethertheproductivetask(guidedwriting)iseffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyoflearners’simplepasttenseoutput.Asmentionedabove,bothofthepretestandtheposttestcontain11blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateforms,10grammaticalityjudgmentitemsandawritingpart.Inthisstudy,theindependentvariablesarethethreetreatments,namely,guidedwritingtaskastheproductivetask.Thedependentvariableisthesubjects’acquisitionofEnglishsimplepasttense.Afterthetreatments,theposttestiscarriedout,butthedateofthetestisnotinformedinadvanceandthepurposeofthetestisneverexplainedtothesubjectsintheexperiment.Thedatacollectedinthetwokindsoftestsareanalyzedtoanswertheresearchquestionsproposedinthestudyandtoprovetheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskonimprovingthelearners’grammaticalcompetenceofEnglishsimplepasttenseinjuniorhighschool.24 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionThischaptershowstheresultsofthedatacollectedfromtheexperimentanddiscussestheresearchquestionsproposedinthestudy.Thedataconsistofthescoresfrompretestandposttest.ThequantitativedataofthestudyareanalyzedseparatelywithstatisticalanalysissoftwareSPSS(Version16.0).Paired-SamplesTTestisusedinanalyzingthedataofthetwoteststocontrastthedifferencesbetweenthetwotests.4.1ResultsandAnalysisInordertofindoutwhethertheproductivetaskcanimprovetheaccuracyofthesubjects’Englishsimplepasttenseoutputandwhetheritiseffectiveinimprovingtheproficiencyofsubjects’pasttenselearning,thedataarecollectedandanalyzedfromthetwotests,includingoverallscores,blank-fillingscores,scoresofgrammaticalityjudgmentandwritingscores.Besides,reliabilityofthetwotestpapersshouldbetestedbeforetheexperiment.Sothissectionisaboutreliabilityofthetwotestpapers,theresultsandanalysisfrompretestandposttestineachpart,theresultsandanalysisfromthewritingpart,anddiscussionoftheresults.4.1.1ReliabilityoftheTwoTestPapersBeforeanalyzingthedatacollectedfrompretestandposttest,reliabilityofthetestpapersshouldbeanalyzedatfirst,whichiscalledequivalent-formsreliability.Thecorrelationcoefficientbetweenthetwosetsofscoresshouldbecalculated,whichindicatestherelationshipbetweenthescoresofthetwotests.TheparticipantstodotheexperimentofreliabilityanalysisareanotherclassofGrade6inTianlinNo.3MiddleSchool,whichistheequivalentclasswiththeexperimentalclass.ThecorrelationanalysisisusedherewiththestatisticalanalysissoftwareSPSS(Version16.0).Theresultsareasfollows:25 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationTable4-1CorrelationsPREPOSTPREPearsonCorrelation1.801**Sig.(2-tailed).000N2121POSTPearsonCorrelation.801**1Sig.(2-tailed).000N2121**.Correlationissignificantatthe0.01level(2-tailed).Figure4-2FromtheTable4-1,itshowsthatthereexisttruecorrelationsbetweenthetwosetsofscoreswhichmarkedbythesameteacherbecausetheindexofPearsonCorrelationbetweenpretestandposttestis0.801withthemark**,whichmeansthecorrelationissignificantatthe0.01level.Besides,intheFigure4-2whichiscalled26 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionscatterplot,theresultcanbeshowedmoreclearly.Fromthescatterplot,itcanbedirectlyfoundthatthereexistscorrelationbetweenthetwosetsofscoresbecausethedatapointsareplottedtomakeanearlystraightline.Thehighercorrelationthetwovariableshave,thestrongerrelationshiptheyhave.Therefore,thecorrelationofthetwosetsofscoresistrueandhigh,thatistosay,thereliabilityofthepretestandposttestpaperishighaswell,sothescoresgotfromthetwotestpapersareeffectiveandreliabletobeusedinthefollowingexperiment.4.1.2ResultsandAnalysisfromthePre/Post-PastTenseTestsThispartismainlytalkedabouttheresultsandanalysisfromthepretestandposttest,containingtheresultsandanalysisoftheoverallscores,blank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsandthegrammaticalityjudgmenttests.4.1.2.1ResultsandAnalysisoftheOverallScoresFirstly,thedataofpretestandposttestareanalyzed.Thedifferencebetweenpretestandposttestisexamined.Table4-3demonstratestheoverallmeansandstandarddeviationsofthetotalscoresthattheparticipantsgotinthepretestandpossttest.Themeanscoreis78.13inthepretestwhilethatoftheposttestis86.27,whichmeanstheparticipantsperformedbetterintheposttestthantheydidinthepretestafterthethree-weektreatmentofguidedwritingproductivetask.Alltheparticipantswererequiredtotakepartinthepretestandposttest.Paired-SamplesTTestisemployedtomakeadistinctionbetweenthetotalscoresthattheyobtainedinthetwotests.TheresultsarepresentedinTable4-4.Table4-3PairedSamplesStatisticsMeanNStd.DeviationStd.ErrorMeanPair1Pretest78.133015.9042.904Posttest86.273013.6732.49627 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationTable4-4PairedSamplesTestPairedDifferences95%ConfidenceIntervaloftheDifferenceStd.Std.ErrorSig.MeanDeviationMeanLowerUppertdf(2-tailed)Pair1PRE--8.1339.2611.691-11.592-4.675-4.81029.000POSTTheposttestinthisstudyisdesignedtotestifthereisanyimprovementinthelearners’learningofEnglishsimplepasttenseaftertheyreceivedthree-weektreatment.Besides,thepurposeofthepretestistotesttheparticipants’initialknowledgeoftheEnglishsimplepasttensebeforethetreatments.Therefore,thecomparativeresultsofthescoresthattheparticipantsgotinthetwotestscananswertheresearchquestionsinthisstudy.AsTable4-4shows,themeanscoreintheposttestis8.133higherthanthecorrespondingoneinthepretest.Inaddition,TheSig.is0.000,whichismuchlessthanthesignificantlevelof0.05setinadvance.Thatistosay,thereissignificantdifferencebetweentheperformanceofparticipantsinthepretestandposttest(p=0.000<0.05).TheparticipantsshowsignificantdifferenceinthescoreswhichtheygotinthepretestandposttesttomeasurethelearningofEnglishsimplepasttense.Inotherwords,itindicatesthattheparticipantsgainedalotandmadeprogressintheproductivetaskofEnglishsimplepasttenseduringthethree-weektreatment.Theanalysisdiscussedaboveclearlyshowsthattheguidedwritingproductivetaskcanimprovethelearners’grammaticalcompetenceofEnglishsimplepasttenseinjuniorhighschool,whichistheanswertothefirstresearchquestionproposedinthisstudy.4.1.2.2ResultsandAnalysisoftheBlank-FillingTaskswiththeAppropriateFormsBlank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsareusedinbothofthepretestandposttest.Thepurposeofthetaskistoraiselearners’languageawarenessofthetargetform.Thefullmarkofthispartis50points.Eachblankgets2points.Thereare25blanksfortheparticipantstofillinthecorrectformsoftheverbswhicharegiventhebaseforms.Thesentencestructureisclear,sothesubjectsshouldbefamiliarwiththeadverbialsoftimetodecidetheformsoftheverbs.Thetaskisalsousedtoexamine28 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionthesubjects’acquisitionofEnglishsimplepasttenseandtoexplorewhethertheproductivetaskcouldraisethesubjects’awarenessoftheformofEnglishsimplepasttense.Besides,thesubjectsneedtohavetheabilitytotellthedifferencebetweenEnglishsimplepresenttenseandpasttense,asthetwokindsofthetenseexistinthistask.Table4-5PairedSamplesStatisticsMeanNStd.DeviationStd.ErrorMeanPair1PRE41.80307.5811.384POST44.60306.3711.163Table4-6PairedSamplesTestPairedDifferences95%ConfidenceIntervaloftheDifferenceStd.Std.ErrorSig.MeanDeviationMeanLowerUppertdf(2-tailed)Pair1PRE--2.8003.951.721-4.275-1.325-3.88129.001POSTTable4-5demonstratesthemeansandstandarddeviationsontheblank-fillingtestofthepretestandposttest.Themeanscoreincreasesfrom41.8to44.6.Besides,inTable4-6,thep-valueis0.001,whichislessthan0.05.Thatistosay,thereissignificantdifferencebetweentheresultsofthepretestandposttest.Inaddition,themeanscoreoftheposttestishigherthanthatofthepretest.Theresultisidenticalwiththeoverallscorepattern.Itindicatesthatthesubjectsperformedsignificantlybetterintheposttestthantheydidinthepretest.ThatmeansthesubjectsraisedtheirawarenessofEnglishsimplepasttenseaftertheguidedwritingtreatments.29 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducation4.1.2.3ResultsandAnalysisoftheGrammaticalityJudgmentTestsTable4-7PairedSamplesStatisticsMeanNStd.DeviationStd.ErrorMeanPair1PRE31.53305.5511.013POST34.53304.869.889Table4-8PairedSamplesTestPairedDifferences95%ConfidenceIntervaloftheDifferenceStd.Std.ErrorSig.MeanDeviationMeanLowerUppertdf(2-tailed)Pair1PRE--3.0002.150.392-3.803-2.197-7.64429.000POSTTable4-7showsthestatisticsofgrammaticalityjudgmenttestsinpretestandposttest.Fromthemeanscoreofthetwotests,theaverageaccuratepercentageincreasesfrom31.53to34.53inthegrammaticalityjudgmenttest.ThepurposeofthetestistoexaminewhetherthesubjectshavemasteredthegrammaticalknowledgeofEnglishsimplepasttense,includingthesimplepastof“be”,thesimplepastofregularandirregularverbs,andtheformof“did+verbofbaseform”.Thefullmarkofthispartis40.SubjectsneedtohaveagoodcommandoftheEnglishsimplepasttensesothattheycouldhavecorrectjudgmentsandcorrectthosesentencesintotherightforms.Asthemeanscoresincreaseintheposttest,itmeanstheacquisitionofsubjects’Englishsimplepasttensehasbeenenhancedbythethree-weektreatmentofguidedwritingproductivetask.Subjectsreceivedamuchbetterlearningofthepasttense.Besides,Table4-8showsthep-valueis0.000ofthetwotests,whichismuchlessthan0.05.Thatmeansthereissignificantdifferencebetweentheresultsofthetwotestsingrammaticalityjudgments.Themeanscoreofposttestishigherthanthatofpretest,whichisalsofollowedbytheresultofitsoverallscorepattern.Inotherwords,thesubjectsmaderemarkableprogressintheposttestthantheydidinthepretestontheaccuracyofthepasttenseoutput,whichalsoprovesthesubjects’awarenessofthesimplepasttensehasbeenraised.30 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionTheblank-fillingtaskswiththeappropriateformsandthegrammaticalityjudgmenttestsbelongtothefirsttwopartsofthepretestandposttestpaper,whichfocusontheformandmeaningoftheEnglishsimplepasttenseinaccordwithLarsen-Freeman’sthree-dimensionmodel.Theresultsofthetwopartsarethesame.Inbothofthetwopartsintests,themeanscoresofthetwopartsinposttestarehigherthanthoseofthetwopartsinpretest.Meanwhile,thep-valueislessthan0.05levelinbothofthem,sothedifferencebetweenthescoresofthetestsaresignificant.Thatmeanstheproductivetaskiseffectivetoenhancethesubjects’proficiencyoflearningEnglishsimplepasttense,especiallyonraisingtheirawarenessoftheformofsimplepasttense.What’smore,intheanalysisofoverallscores,themeanscoreoftheposttestismuchhigherthanthecorrespondingoneofthepretest,whichmeansthesubjectsimprovedalotinthelearningofEnglishsimplepasttensebasedontheirinitialknowledgeofthetargetform.Moreover,thedifferencebetweentheperformanceofthesubjectsinthepretestandposttestissignificant(p=0.000<0.05),whichalsoprovesthatthesubjectsgainedalotandmadeprogressintheguidedwritingproductivetaskofEnglishsimplepasttenseduringthethree-weektreatment.Therefore,theresultsandanalysesdiscussedaboveindicatethatthelearners’proficiencyorabilityofEnglishsimplepasttenseinjuniorhighschoolcanbeimprovedorenhancedbytheguidedwritingproductivetask.4.1.3ResultsandAnalysisfromtheWrittenProductionThewritingpartcanclearlyshowthecomprehensiveabilityoflearnerstousethetargetlanguage.Itneedstohaveagoodcommandofallthethreedimensions,containingform,meaninganduseofEnglishsimplepasttensesothatlearnerscanhavegoodwrittenproduction.Thefullmarkofwritingpartinthetestpaperis10points.ThedataarealsoanalyzedwiththeSPSS(Version16.0)inPaired-SamplesTTest.Table4-9PairedSamplesStatisticsMeanNStd.DeviationStd.ErrorMeanPair1PRE5.40303.069.560POST7.73301.552.28331 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationTable4-10PairedSamplesTestPairedDifferences95%ConfidenceIntervaloftheDifferenceStd.Std.ErrorSig.MeanDeviationMeanLowerUppertdf(2-tailed)Pair1PRE--2.3332.354.430-3.212-1.454-5.43029.000POSTInTable4-9,themeanscoresandstandarddeviationsonthewrittenproductionofthepretestandposttestaredemonstrated.Themeanscoreoftheposttest(7.73)isalsomuchhigherthanthatofthepretest(5.40),whichmeanstheparticipantsperformedbetterinposttestthantheydidinpretest.Table4-10proveswhetherthereissignificantdifferencebetweentheresultsofthetwotests.Asthep-valueis0.000,whichismuchlessthanthesignificantlevelof0.05setinadvance,thedifferencebetweenthescoresthattheparticipantsgotinthetwotestsissignificant.Therefore,generallyspeaking,theparticipantslearnedalot,madeprogressandimprovedalotinthethree-weektreatmentsothattheycouldgethigherscoresthantheydidinthepretest.Fromthedataanalysis,itindicatesthatguidedwritingproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingthelearners’comprehensiveabilityofEnglishsimplepasttenseproduction.Asmentionedabove,thatisageneralideaabouttheresultofwritingtest.Inthefollowingsections,thedatacollectedfromthewrittenproductionwillbeanalyzedindetailinordertofindoutwhethertheaccuracyofsubjects’pasttenseoutputareimproved.4.1.3.1MeasuresofAccuracyAccordingtoSkehanandFoster(1997),accuracyrefersto“freedomfromerror”.Inotherwords,accuracyis“theabilitytobefreefromerrorswhileusingL2languagetocommunicateineitherwritingorspeech”(Wolfe-Quinteroetal.,1998).ThebestmeasureforaccuracyofthewrittenproductionisEFT/T(error-freeT-unitsperT-unit)inthisstudy(LiuChunyan2009).ThetermT-unitisusedtomeasuretheaccuracyofwriting,whichisdefinedas“amainclauseplusallsubordinateclausesandnon-clausalstructuresattachedtoorembeddedinit”(Hunt1965).T-unitisconsideredastheminimumunitofasentenceinthatasentencemayhavetwoor32 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionmoreT-unitswhenthemainclausesarejoinedbycoordinateconjunctions,like“and”,“or”,and“but”.Forexample,“Idrankthesweetjuice,andIbroughtithome.”isasentencebutitcontainstwoT-units.Anerror-freeT-unitinthisstudyreferstoaT-unitinwhichthereisnoerrorofEnglishsimplepasttense.ThemethodofEFT/Tscoreisachievedbythetotalnumberoferror-freeT-unitsbeingdividedbythetotalnumberofT-units.Generallyspeaking,thehighertheratiois,themoreaccuratewrittenproductionis.Table4-11PairedSamplesStatisticsMeanNStd.DeviationStd.ErrorMeanPair1PRE.555030.34739.06342POST.816330.26653.04866Table4-12PairedSamplesTestPairedDifferences95%ConfidenceIntervaloftheDifferenceStd.Std.ErrorSig.MeanDeviationMeanLowerUppertdf(2-tailed)Pair1PRE--.26133.30506.05570-.37524-.14742-4.69229.000POSTAccuracyisoneofthemostimportantindicatorsofwrittenproduction.AccordingtoTable4-11andTable4-12,thetwotablesshowtheimprovementinlinguisticaccuracyofthesubjects’Englishsimplepasttenseoutputfrompretesttoposttest.SubjectsreducederrorsineachT-unitconsiderably.Themeanscoreoftheposttest(0.8163)ishigherthanthatofpretest(0.5550).PairedSamplesTTestiscarriedouttotestwhetherthedifferenceissignificant.AsisshowedinTable4-12,thep-valueis0.000,whichismuchlessthan0.05level.Itmeansthatthereexistssignificantdifferencebetweenthescoresofthetwotestsinaccuracyofthepasttenseoutput.Afterthethree-weektreatment,thesubjectsperformedbetterintheposttest.Theproductivetaskincreasedtheopportunitiesthattheformsofpasttensewereexposedtothesubjectsandincorporatedintotheirinterlanguagesystemssothatthesubjectscouldhaveabetterunderstandingofthepasttenseandcorrectthemselvesiftheymisusedthetensebefore.Duringthetreatment,subjectslearnedtofindthe33 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationmistakestheymadeandpointedthemout,whichhelpedothersandalsothemselvesimprovetheaccuracyoftheirpasttenseoutput.Thatistosay,theguidedwritingproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyoflearners’pasttenseoutput.Theresultanswersthesecondquestionoftheresearchwhichisproposedbeforetheexperiment.4.1.4ResultsandAnalysisofSpecificErrorsofPastTenseEventhoughtheparticipantshavelearnedthegrammaticalrulesofEnglishsimplepasttense,theystillmadealotoferrorsintheirpasttenseoutput.Fromtheresultsofpretestandposttest,thedifferentkindsoferrorscanbeclassifiedasfollows:Table4-13ErrorClassificationClassificationErrorCorrectTemporalAdverbials/Whatdoyouseejustnow?Whatdidyouseejustnow?AuxiliaryVerbsOnceIamababy,cryinginmyOnceIwasababy,cryinginmybed.bed.IrregularVerbsIridedabikeyesterday.Irodeabikeyesterday.LiLeireadedsomebookslastLiLeireadsomebookslastyear.year.AuxiliaryVerbs/Ididn’tsawKevinatschoolIdidn’tseeKevinatschoolNotionalVerbsyesterday.yesterday.Hedidn’tfinishedhisHedidn’tfinishhishomeworkhomeworkyesterday.yesterday.InTable4-13,themainerrorsareclassifiedintothreeaspectsincludingtemporaladverbials/auxiliaryverbs,irregularverbsandauxiliaryverbs/notionalverbs.Thefirstclassificationofspecificerrorsisabouttemporaladverbialsandtheauxiliaryverbsthatusedinthesamesentence.TemporaladverbialsareoneofthemostimportantfeaturesinEnglishsimplepasttense.Fromtheresultsofthetwotestpapers,itisfoundthattheparticipantsweremorefamiliarwiththesetemporaladverbialssuchas“ago”,“lastweek”,“yesterday”,“before”.Theyknewtheseadverbialsarethesignofpasttense,buttheydidnotunderstand“justnow”and“once”alsoexpresswhatispastsothattheyused“do”and“am”ratherthan“did”and“was”.Theythoughtitshouldbesimplepresenttenseinsteadofsimplepasttensewhentheycameto“just34 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionnow”or“once”.Besides,verbsinpastformsaretheessentialelementsinEnglishsimplepasttense.Thereareregularverbsandirregularverbsinbothofthepretestandposttest,including“watch”,“help”,“clean”,“finish”,“plant”,“live”,“visit”and“go”,“have”,“see”,“ride”,“sit”,“buy”,“get”,“drink”,“eat”,“lose”,“read”.Theparticipantshadlearnedthepastformofregularverbsinsimplepasttenseis“V+ed”intheirprimaryschool.Forthepastformsofirregularverbs,theyjusttriedtomemorizetheirforms.Theresultsshowthattheparticipantsmisusedtherule“V+ed”toirregularverbssothattheymadelotsoferrorsinthispart.Anothermainerrortheparticipantsmadeconcernsauxiliaryverb“did”andnotionalverbsthatfollowedit.ItisdifficultforthemtounderstandtheauxiliaryverbwhichdoesnotexistinChineselanguage.Theresultspresentthatsomeparticipantsdidnotknowthegrammaticalrule“did(not)+baseformofverb”insimplepasttensesothattheydidnotchangethepastformsofnotionalverbstotheirbaseforms.Theyusedtheauxiliaryverb“did(not)”andnotionalverbsoftheirpastformsatthesametime.4.2DiscussionThepresentstudyaddressestheeffectsofproductivetaskonEnglishsimplepasttenseacquisition.Alltheresultspresentedinthepreviouspartsarediscussedheretoanswertheresearchquestions.Thissectionismainlytalkedaboutthesummaryoftheresultsaboutthestudy,containingtheeffectsoftheproductivetaskongrammaticalcompetence,improvingtheaccuracyofpasttensewrittenproduction,andsolutionstospecificerrorsofsimplepasttense.4.2.1TheEffectoftheProductiveTaskonGrammaticalCompetenceThefirstresearchquestionofthepresentstudyisageneralone,whichneedstobeansweredbyalltheresultsgotfromtheexperimenttoprovewhethertheproductivetaskcanimprovethegrammaticalcompetenceofstudentsinlearningpasttense.Theresultsinthisstudyconfirmthattheproductivetaskcanimprovethegrammaticalcompetenceofstudentsinjuniorhighschool,especiallyintheaccuracyofEnglishsimplepasttenseoutput.Accordingtothecomparisonbetweentheresultsofpretestandposttest,thesignificantincreaseoftotalscoreindicatesthe35 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationimprovementofstudents’proficiencyofpasttenseoutput.Thisisageneralresultwhichshowstheproductivetaskiseffective.Indetail,afterthetreatmentsoftheguidedwritingproductivetask,thestudentsperformedbetterintheposttestthantheydidinthepretestinthatthemeanscoreofeachpartofthetestsissignificantlyincreased.Thefirstandsecondpartofthetestpapers,blank-fillingtaskswithappropriateformsandgrammaticalityjudgmenttests,areusedtotestjuniorhighschoolstudents’proficiencyoftheformandmeaningofEnglishsimplepasttense.Thelastpartofthetestpaperisthewritingpart,whichisusedtoteststudents’comprehensibleabilityofusingEnglishsimplepasttense,containingtheform,meaninganduseofthepasttense.Besides,thereliabilityoftestpapersistested,sotheresultsofpretestandposttestareprovedeffectivetoanswertheresearchquestions.Theresultsprovethattheguidedwritingproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingthestudents’grammaticalcompetenceinthatthemeanscoresaresignificantlyincreasedafterapplyingtheguidedwritingproductivetasktotheclass.Besides,theguidedwritingproductivetaskiseffectivebecauseitfullyembodiesthethreefunctionsofoutputandthethree-dimensionmodel.Guidedwritingproductivetaskhelpsraisestudents’awarenessofthetargetforminthatstudentsareaskedtounderlineandwritedownthosepartsoftargetformduringthethree-weektreatment,whichalsoreflectsthenoticingfunctionofoutputandfocusontheformofthethreedimensionsthatstatedbyLarsen-Freeman.Intheguidedwritingproductivetask,studentshavetheopportunitytodiscusswitheachotheringroupsandthentoreporttheirresults,whichcanpracticetheiroraloutput.Also,otherstudentsandtheteacherwillgivefeedbackaccordingtotheirreport,thus,studentsare“pushed”tomaketheiroutputmorecomprehensibleinthisway,whichreflectsthehypothesis-testingfunctionofoutputthatmentionedinthetheoreticalbasisofthestudyandtheformandmeaningofthethreedimensionsaswell.Afterreporting,theyarerequiredtofinishtheguidedwritingbythemselves.Itistheirturntodescribethetargetlanguagebyusingthetargetform,whichisconductivetofurtherstudents’comprehensionabouttherelationshipamongtheform,meaning,anduseofEnglishsimplepasttense.Itisthewaythatreflectsthemetalinguisticfunctionofoutputandthethreedimensionsoflanguage.Inshort,thegrammaticalcompetenceofthestudentscanbeimprovedbytheproductivetask.36 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussion4.2.2TheEffectoftheProductiveTaskonImprovingtheAccuracyofPastTenseWrittenProductionAsthewritingpartisusedtoteststudents’comprehensibleabilityofEnglishsimplepasttense,theresultsofthewrittenproductioncanalsoanswerthesecondresearchquestionproposedincurrentstudyabouttheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput.BasedontheresultsanddataanalysiswithPaired-SamplesTTestinTable4-11,Table4-12,theaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutputisimprovedbytheproductivetaskwiththesignificantdifference.AlthoughthestudentshaveknowntheformandrulesofEnglishsimplepasttensebeforetheexperiment,theystillmakelotsofmistakesinthepretest.Onthecontrary,theygothighermarksintheposttestafterthethree-weektreatmentofguidedwritingproductivetask.Theaccuracyisobviouslyimprovednotonlyinthelastwritingpartbutalsointhefirsttwoparts.Itshowstheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskinimprovingstudents’accuracyofpasttenseoutput.Thesignificantimprovementofaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutputaswellastheenhancementofstudents’comprehensiveabilityofpasttenseoutputprovethesignificantimprovementofstudents’grammaticalcompetence.Theresultrevealstheimportanceandeffectivenessoftheproductivetasktoenhancelearners’proficiencyofEnglishsimplepasttense.4.2.3StrategiesforSpecificErrorsinPastTenseLearningAfteranalyzingthedatathatgotfromthepretestandposttest,itprovesthatproductivetaskdoeshaveeffectsonpromotingstudents’grammaticalcompetenceintheirpasttenselearning.Also,productivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput.However,someerrorsofpasttensestillexistafterthetreatmentofproductivetask.Asthethreemainerrorshaveanalyzedintheprevioussection,thestrategiesforthespecificerrorsaresupposedtobediscussedhere.ItishardforChineselearnerstouseEnglishsimplepasttenseaccurately.Thedifficultyisnotcausedbythecomplexityofstructure,butcausedbytheinfluenceoflearners’mothertongue.Sincethereisnoinflectionintheformofverbs(e.g.,play-played,go-went)topresenttenseinChinese,Chineselearnerslackofmentalrepresentationofthechangeofverbforms.Besides,learnerswillovergeneralizethegrammaticalrulesofEnglishsimplepasttense.Forexample,therule“V+ed”isused37 ChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationforregularverbs,butitwillbeovergeneralizedtoallverbsbylearners,whichisthereasonfortheexistenceof“readed”,“rided”,“eated”.Firstly,summarizetherules.Asitisdifficultforlearnerstorememberalltheformsofirregularverbs,summarizetherulesandcategorizethoseverbscanhelplearnersmemorizethechangesofirregularverbs.Theirregularverbscanbecategorizedintofourtypes,suchasAAA(put-put-put),ABA(run-ran-run),ABB(sit-sat-sat),ABC(drink-drank-drunk).ItcanbeseenmoreclearlyinthefollowingTable4-14.Themoreirregularverbslearnershavecomeacross,themorecompletethetableis.Table4-14CategoriesofIrregularVerbsAAAput-put-put,cut-cut-cut,read-read-read,...ABArun-ran-run,come-came-come,...ABBhave-had-had,sit-sat-sat,buy-bought-bought,...ABCgo-went-gone,see-saw-seen,drink-drank-drunk,...Secondly,givecorrectivefeedback.Itisnecessarytogivecorrectivefeedbacktolearnerswhentheyproducetargetlanguage.Theycanimmediatelyrealizetheerrorstheymadejustnowandcorrectthemselves,whichalsoreflectsthehypothesis-testingfunctionofoutput.Intheproductivetask,participantsweregivenmoreopportunitiestoexpressthemselvesbyusingEnglishsimplepasttense.Theformofpasttensewasexposedtothemandincorporatedintotheirinterlanguagesystemssothattheparticipantscouldhaveabetterunderstandingofpasttenseandcorrectthemselvesiftheymisusedthetensebefore.Duringthetreatment,participantslearnedtofindouttheerrorstheyorothersmadeandpointedthemout.Theyalsonoticedthegapbetweentheirinterlanguageandtargetlanguagethattheywanttoproducebyothers’correctivefeedback,whichcanhelpthemcorrecttheerrorsoftheirpasttenseoutput.Therefore,correctivefeedbackcanbeoneoftheeffectivewaystosolvetheproblemsofspecificerrorsofpasttense.Thirdly,havespecializedtrainingforpasttense.AccordingtoLarsen-Freeman,grammarisbetterconsideredasaskillratherthanasastaticareaofknowledge,soskillisneededtohavesometraining.Specializedtrainingforpasttenseshouldbeflexibletodifferentkindsoferrors.Tosomeerrors,suchasunfamiliarwiththeadverbialsoftime,grammarexercisesareneededtostrengthenthispartofgrammaticalknowledge.Someerrorsconcerningirregularverbsandauxiliaryverbs38 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFourDataAnalysisandDiscussioncanbecorrectedinpracticaluseofpasttenseoutput.Productivetaskscanbedesignedtopracticelearners’pasttenseoutputinspecificcontextswhicharerelatedtodailylifesothattheycancorrecttheirerrorsincontexts.Learnerscanusethegrammartosolveproblemsinreality,whichcannotonlyarousetheirinterests,butmakelanguagelearningmoremeaningful.Therefore,therearenoabsoluterulesforthespecializedgrammartraining.Thetrainingshouldbeflexibleandfeasiblefordifferentkindsofspecificerrorsofpasttense,soproductivetasksarenottheonlywaytodealwiththeproblem.Theycanbecombinedwithotherstrategiestocorrecterrorsofpasttenseoutputpractically.39 ChapterFiveConclusionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFiveConclusionThepreviouschaptersmainlyintroducetheresearchbackgroundofthethesis,thetheoreticalbasisofthestudy,describetheresearchmethodologyusedintheexperiment,andanalyzetheresultsoftheexperiment.Inthefinalchapter,themajorfindingsfromtheresultsoftheexperiment,theimplicationsandlimitationsofthepresentstudywillbediscussed.Also,thesuggestionsforfutureresearchwillbeputforwardatlast.5.1MajorFindingsofthePresentStudyThethesisaddressestheeffectsoftheproductivetaskwhichcanbeappliedtoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschoolinthecaseofsimplepasttense.Theguidedwriting,asakindofproductivetasks,isusedinpresentstudytofindoutwhethertheproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovinglearners’proficiencyofEnglishsimplepasttenseoutput.Themajorfindingsofpresentstudyaresummarizedbelow:Firstly,theresultsofexperimentalresearchshowthatstudentsmakesomeprogressinthetests.Studentsgothigherscoresineachpartofposttestthantheydidinpretestafterthetreatmentofproductivetask,whichindicatestheircomprehensibleabilityofEnglishsimplepasttenseoutputhasbeenimproved.Theproductivetaskisdesignedtofocusontheform,meaninganduseofpasttense,whichisbeneficialtodevelopgrammaticalcompetenceofstudents.Theresultsconfirmtheproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingstudents’proficiencyofpasttenselearningsothatproductivetaskissuitabletobeappliedinEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschool.Secondly,theresultsofthetestsshowthatstudentsperformedbetterintheaccurateuseofthetargetforminposttest,whichconfirmsthattheproductivetaskiseffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput.Besides,theaccuracyissignificantlyimprovednotonlyintheblank-fillingtestandgrammaticalityjudgmenttestbutalsointhewrittenproduction,whichindicatestheproductivetaskeffectivelyraisesstudents’awarenessofEnglishsimplepasttense.Thirdly,theanalysisofthespecificerrorsofpasttenseshowthatstudentsmadethreemainkindsoferrorsconcerningtemporaladverbials,irregularverbs,and40 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFiveConclusionauxiliaryverbs.Besides,threekindsofstrategiesareproposedtocorrectthoseerrors,includingsummarizetherulesofirregularverbs,givecorrectivefeedbackofstudents’pasttenseoutput,andhavespecializedtrainingforpasttense.5.2PedagogicalImplicationsThecurrentstudyexaminestheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskonpromotingtheacquisitionofthetargetgrammaticalform--Englishsimplepasttense.Duetotheresultsandmajorfindingsinthestudy,thepedagogicalimplicationsfortheapplicationoftheproductivetaskstoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschoolaresummarizedinthefollowingaspects.Firstly,itissignificantandnecessarytoenhancelearners’productionawareness.Althoughtheimportanceofoutputhasbeenconfirmed,thelanguageinputhasbeenstressedfordecades,especiallynowadays,manyEnglishteachersstillpaymoreattentiontotheinputnottheoutputofstudentsingrammarteaching.Teachersplaytheguidingroleinclass.Eventeachersneglecttheimportanceofproduction,letalonestudents.Theproductionawarenessreferstonotonlybeingsensitivetothetargetgrammaticalformorexpression,butalsoputtheformintorealuse.Englishteachersneedtorealizetheroleofproductivetasksinactivatinglearners’initiativeandtohelplearnerscultivatetheirproductionawareness.Productivetaskscannotonlystimulateeffectiveinput,butalsoprovidegoodopportunitiesforlearnerstocorrectandtestthemselves,whichcanfacilitatelearners’productionabilitytocreatebettersentencesandpassages.Therefore,learners’productionawarenessshouldberaisedsothattheycanrealizethegapbetweentheirinterlanguageandtargetlanguage.Englishteachersshouldstressthesignificanceoftheroleofproduction,makethebestuseofproductivetasksinEnglishclass,andletstudentslearnalotfromit.Secondly,itiseffectivetoapplyproductivetaskstoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschool.Generallyspeaking,injuniorhighschool,manyEnglishteachersoftenexplainthestructureandrulesofgrammartostudentsandconsolidatetheirgrammaticalknowledgewithlotsofexercises.Itisprovedinthepresentstudythatlearners’fluentuseofgrammaticalformsaswellasgrammaticalaccuracycanbeenhancedbyappropriateproductivetask.TeacherscanadoptguidedwritingproductivetaskasaneffectiveteachingmethodtouseitinEnglishgrammarteaching.Thiskindofproductivetaskiscombinedwiththethreedimensions,includingform,41 ChapterFiveConclusionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationmeaninganduseofthetargetlanguage,whichalsomanifeststhethreefunctionsofoutputsothatitiseffectivetoimprovelearners’grammaticalcompetence.AstheEnglishgrammarclassisalwaysconsideredboring,applyingtheproductivetasktoEnglishgrammarteachinghelpsmaketheatmosphereofclassmoreactiveandarouseinterestsofstudents.Therefore,productivetaskscanbeappliedtoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschooltoimprovelearners’proficiencyofcertaingrammarandmakegrammarteachingmoreefficient.Thirdly,itisessentialtodesignappropriateproductivetaskswhichcanbeappliedtoEnglishgrammarteaching.Thefollowingtwoaspectsshouldbetakenintoconsiderationwhendesigningproductivetasks.Firstofall,thethreedimensionsneedtobeconsidered,includingform,meaning,anduse.Thepurposeofusingproductivetasksistoimprovethegrammaticalcompetenceoflearners.AccordingtoLarsen-Freeman,thegrammaticalcompetencereferstotheabilityofusinggrammaticalstructuresappropriately,meaningfullyandaccurately.Asisanalyzedinchapterfour,theguidedwritingproductivetaskusedintheexperimentissuitableandappropriate.Therearethreestepsintheprocessoftreatment.Thefirststepistounderlinethekeywordsorstructuresandtakenotes,whichconcernstheformofthegrammaticalstructure.Thesecondistousenotestoreconstructthepassageorallyandreporttoothers,whichreflectsthecombinationofformandmeaningofthegrammaticalstructure.Thelaststepistowritedownwhatyouhavereportedbasedontheguidedpart,whichembodieslearners’comprehensibleabilitytousegrammaticalstructureappropriately,meaningfullyandaccurately.Furthermore,thethreefunctionsofoutputshouldbealsoreflectedintheproductivetasks,whichincludethenoticingfunction,thehypothesis-testingfunctionandthemetalinguisticfunction.Taketheguidedwritingproductivetaskasanexample,eventhoughthelearnersknowthestructureandrulesofgrammar,theycanunderlinecorrectly,theystillmakemistakesintheirproduction,whichreflectsthenoticingfunctionofoutputthatlearnersmaynoticethegapintheirinterlanguageknowledgewhenproducingthetargetlanguage.Afterstudents’report,teachersandotherstudentswillgivetheirfeedbacktothosereporters,sotheycanhaveareflectionandcorrectthemselves,whichreflectsthehypothesis-testingfunctionofoutput.Actually,languageoutputisaprocessoftestinghypothesisitself.AccordingtoPicaetal.(1989),learnerscanmodifytheiroutputtoadifferentdegreeonthebasisofdifferentfeedbackfromthelisteners.Thewritingstepintheguidedwriting42 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFiveConclusionproductivetaskistheessentialprocessthatembodieslearners’comprehensibleabilityofusingthegrammaticalstructuresothattheresultofitisusedtoexaminetheeffectivenessoftheproductivetask.ThewrittenproductionofthetaskreflectsthemetalinguisticfunctionofoutputbecausetheproductionprocesscanbetterpromoteL2learnerstoshiftthenoticingfromcomprehendingthemeaningtoexpressingthesyntacticstructure,whichisthemeaningofmetalanguage.Thedesignofproductivetasksneedstoreflectthefunctionsofoutput,whichistheessenceofthetask.Besides,concerningthepurposeofproductivetasks,thedesignneedstocontainandreflectthethreedimensionsofgrammaticalstructures.Therefore,theguidedwriting,onekindofproductivetasks,correspondstothetworequirements.Thedesignofanappropriateproductivetaskisflexibleandfeasible,whichcanhelpEnglishteachershaveabetterteachingefficiencyandquality.Lastbutnotleast,eventhoughproductivetaskhaseffectsonpromotingstudents’grammaticalcompetenceinpasttenselearningandalsoitiseffectiveinimprovingtheaccuracyofstudents’pasttenseoutput,productivetaskcannotsolvealltheproblemsconcerningEnglishsimplepasttense.Strategiesforspecificerrorsinpasttenselearningareproposedtobeakindofsupplement.Teacherscanguidestudentstosummarizetherulesofthoseirregularverbsthattheyhavelearnedandcategorizethoseverbsintotable,whichismoreefficientforstudentstolearnirregularverbsthanjustrecitingthepastformsofthoseverbs.Besides,itisnecessaryforteacherstogivecorrectivefeedbacktostudents’pasttenseoutput.Someincorrectoutputmaybecometheothers’input.Iftheteacherscannotcorrecttheerrorsontime,theerrorsarelikelytoreinforcethemisunderstandingoftargetlanguageandbecomedifficulttocorrectinthefuture,sotheyneedtogivemoreopportunitiesforstudentstoproducelanguagesothatstudentscouldgetothers’aswellasteachers’feedbacktocorrecterrorssuchasmisuseofauxiliaryverbs.Tootherspecificerrors,teacherscanhavespecializedtraining.Theycancombineproductivetaskswithotherstrategiessuchasgrammarexercisestocorrecterrorsinstudents’pasttenselearning.Therearenorulesaboutit,soitismoreflexibleandfeasibletobeusedinpasttenseteaching.5.3LimitationsoftheStudyThethesisprovidestheoreticalbasesandempiricalsupportstotheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskappliedtoEnglishgrammarteachinginjuniorhighschool.The43 ChapterFiveConclusionShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationresultsoftheexperimentprovidestrongevidencethattheproductivetaskcansignificantlyimprovethelearners’accuracyofthepasttenseoutputandthegrammaticalcompetenceoflearnersisenhancedaswell.Althoughgreateffortsandalotofpreparationshavemadeintheprocessoftheexperiment,therearestillsomelimitationsinthepresentstudy.Thepresentationsofthoselimitationsareasfollows.Firstofall,itisadmittedthatthesamplesizeofthepresentstudyisnotlargeenough.Ontheonehand,thesubjectsarefromoneclassandthetotalnumberisonly30.Individualdifferencesandgenderarenottakenintoconsiderationsothattheconclusioncanbefurtherresearched.Ontheotherhand,thesubjectsarejuniorhighschoolstudents,sothefindingsandpedagogicalimplicationscannotbeappliedtoallL2learnerssincethelanguageproficiencyofthelearnersdifferfromeachother.Togetmorecomprehensiveanswers,theperformanceofsubjectsfromdifferentlevelscouldbeinvolvedinfuturestudy.Secondly,thepresentstudyonlyexaminedtheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskonimprovingthelearners’proficiencyofpasttenseoutput.Whethertheproductivetaskcanenhancelearners’proficiencyofothergrammaticalformsisunknown.Inaddition,theexperimentlastsforonlyonemonthbecauseofthelimitedtime.Thatwhetherthepositiveimpactoftheproductivetaskonimprovinglearners’accuracyofpasttenseoutputistemporaryorinthelongtermshouldbefurtherstudied.Lastly,inthepresentstudy,guidedwritingtaskasonlyonekindoftheproductivetaskisusedintheexperiment.However,whetherotherkindsofproductivetaskcanhavethesameeffectremainstobeaquestion.Besides,theproductivetaskisusedtotesttheimprovementoflearners’pasttenseoutput.Theproductivetaskusedhereonlyteststhewrittenoutput,sotheoraloutputisnotexaminedinthisstudy,whichcanbefurtherresearchedinthefuture.5.4SuggestionsforFutureStudyAstherearesomelimitationsinthepresentstudy,someissuesareexpectedtobestudiedinthefutureresearch.Firstly,itisdesirabletochoosemoreparticipantstotakepartintheexperiment.Largerscaleofparticipantsneededtobeincludedinthestudytoverifytheeffectiveness.Besides,itisnecessarytotakeindividualdifferencesandgenderfactors44 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationChapterFiveConclusionoftheparticipantsintoconsiderationtocompletetheconclusion.Furthermore,astheparticipantsinthepresentstudyareonlyjuniorhighschoolstudents,participantsfromdifferentlanguagelevelscanbechosentohaveafurtherstudyinordertofindoutwhetherthepositiveimpactofproductivetasksonEnglishgrammarteachingandlearningisvalidtolearnerswhohavedifferentlanguagelevels.Secondly,inthefuturestudy,theroleofproductivetasksinimprovinglearners’proficiencyofothergrammaticalforms,suchaspassivevoice,pastperfecttenseandsubjunctivemoodcanbeinvestigatedsincethepresentstudyonlytestedtheeffectivenessoftheproductivetaskonenhancinglearners’proficiencyofpasttenseoutput.What’smore,theexperimentshouldlastforenoughlongtimetoinvestigatetheimpactoftheproductivetaskinthelongterminordertomakeconclusionmoremeaningfulandconvincing.Lastly,inthepresentstudy,guidedwritingtask,theonlytypeofproductivetasks,isdesignedtobeusedintheexperiment.Differentkindsofproductivetasksareneededtobedesignedtoexaminewhethertheimpactoftheproductivetaskonenhancinglearners’proficiencyofpasttenseoutputispositive.Inaddition,theproductivetaskincludesoraloutputtaskandwrittenoutputtask.Thetwokindsoftaskscanbecombinedinthefuturestudytohaveadeepermeaning.45 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ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendixAppendixⅠGuidedWritingMaterials:ThreePassagesPassage1Mr.Smithusuallylefthiscaroutsidehishouse.Onenightheputitthereasusualagain,butwhenhecamedownthenextmorningtogotohisoffice,hefoundthathiscarwasn’tthere.Hecalledthepoliceandtoldthemaboutit.Theysaidthattheywouldtrytofindthecar.WhenMr.Smithcamehomefromhisofficethatevening,thecarwasbackagaininitsusualplaceinfrontofhishouse.Hewasveryhappyandfoundtwoconcerttickets(音乐会门票)andaletterinoneoftheseats.Thelettersaid:Weareverysorry.Wetookyourcarbecauseofsomethingimportant.Thankyouforyourcar.Mr.andMrs.Smithwenttotheconcertwithtwoticketsthenextnightandtheyenjoyedthemselvesverymuch.Whentheygothome,theyfoundthatthethievesnearlytookeverythingintheirhouse.Passage2Itwasasunnyday.Migueldecidedtogotothebeach.Hecalledhisfriends,butMariowasatwork,andRosawasathergrandmother’shome.Sohehadtogotothebeachalone.Hetookhisbathingsuit(泳衣),towel(毛巾),beachumbrellaandhisnewradio.Whenhegottothebeach,thereweren’tmanypeople.Therewasafamilywithtwolittlechildren.ThereweresomeAmericantouristsattheshop.Miguelputuphisbeachumbrellaandlaydown.Heturnedonhisradioandbegantoenjoythebeautifulmusic.SoonMiguelwenttosleep.Whilehewasasleep,amancameandsatnearhim.HehadasmallradioanditplayedsamemusicasMiguel’s.Afterafewminutes,themanpickedupMiguel’sboomboxandwalkedaway.WhenMiguelwokeup,hisradiowasgone,andthethief’slittleoldradiowasinitsplace.Passage3Motorracingisaveryexcitingsport,butitisalsoverydangerous.Racingdriversgoat200kilometersperhourorfaster.Sometimesthecarscrushandthedriversdie.ThisisKirstenKolby.Whenshewasalittlegirl,sheandherbrotherlearnedto49 AppendixShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationdrivego-karts.Sheloveddrivinggo-karts(卡丁车),andshebecamegoodatit.Whenshewas12,shewasthebestyoungdriverinhercountry.Nowshedrivesracingcars.Mostracingdriversaremen.IsthisaproblemforKirsten?‘Sometimes,’shesaid,‘somemendon’tlikeawomandriverinfrontofthem.Theygotangry.’Issheafraidofcrashing(撞车)?‘Ihadabadcrashtwoyearsago.Thecarrolledover.IwasunderitandIcouldn’tmove.Therewasafire,andIcouldn’tgetout.Amanfoughtthroughthefireandpulledmeout.Hewasaverybraveman.AfterIcameoutofhospital,Itriedtoraceagain,butIwastooafraid.Iwasn’thappy.Ireallywantedtoraceagain.Iwanteditverymuch.SonowI’mracingagain.I’mstillafraid,butI’mstrongerthanmyfear.’50 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendixAppendixⅡGuidedWritingTasks(takePassage1forexample)Productivetask(guidedwriting):Mr.Smithusuallylefthiscaroutsidehishouse.Onenighthe___________asusualagain,butwhenhe___________thenextmorningtogotohisoffice,he______________________.He______________and______________.Theysaidthat_____________________.WhenMr.Smith_________fromhisofficethatevening,thecar________againinitsusualplaceinfrontofhishouse.He________________and_____twoconcerttickets(音乐会门票)andaletterinoneoftheseats.Thelettersaid:Weareverysorry.We___________becauseofsomethingimportant.Thankyouforyourcar.Mr.andMrs.Smith________theconcertwithtwoticketsthenextnightandthey________________verymuch.Whenthey_____________,they______________________________________.51 AppendixShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendixⅢPretestPretest一、用所给动词的适当形式填空，注意看清时间状语，判断时态。1.YesterdayI____(be)notathome.I_____(go)tomygrandfather’shome.2.Tony____(be)intheschoolbasketballteamlastterm.3.We____(be)allmiddleschoolstudentsnow.4.It_____(be)cloudyandcoldyesterday.Butit_____(be)sunnyandwarmtoday.5.YesterdayeveningI____(be)toobusy.I______(have)to______(do)myhomework.6._____Alan_____(watch)afilmlastnight?No.Buthe_______(watch)afilmlastweek.7._____you_____(help)yourteacher______(clean)theclassroomyesterday?8.What_____you_____(see)justnow?I______(see)adogswimmingintheriver.9.____youalways_____(ride)abikeintheparkatweekends?No.ButI____(ride)abikeyesterday.10.I_______(notsee)Kevinatschoolyesterday.He______(be)sick.11._______Helen________(finish)herhomeworklastFriday?二、判断以下句子，你认为正确的句子选T，错误的选F（用“√”表示）并把不正确的词改在原句上。例：Igotoschoolyesterday.TF√went1.OnceIamababy,cryinginmybed.TF2.KittyandBensitonthesofaandwatchedacartoonlastnight.TF3.Whatdidyouhaveforbreakfastthismorning?TF4.Itwasrainyyesterday.TF5.Hebuyedanewskirtforme.TF6.Itwasspring.Georgeplantedsomerice.TF52 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendix7.ShelivedinBeijingbefore,nowshelivedinShanghai.TF8.Manyyearsago,Shanghaiwasasmallvillage.TF9.Igotupatsixeverymorning.TF10.WhatdidyoudolastSunday?TF三、Writing：Whatdidyoudolastweekends?(写不少于5句话)53 AppendixShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendixⅣPosttestPosttest一、用所给动词的适当形式填空，注意看清时间状语，判断时态。1.I______(watch)acartoonlastnight.______you_______(watch)it?It_____(be)funny.2.We____(go)tothezooyesterday.We______(see)tigersandlions.3.He______(drink)alotlastnightand______(eat)hamburgerforbreakfastthismorning.4.It_____(be)Helen’sbirthdaylastMonday.Today_____(be)Ben’sbirthday.5.Simonalways______(finish)hishomeworkbeforedinner,buthe______(notfinish)thehomeworkyesterday.6.She_____(live)inShanghaibefore,nowshe_______(live)inBeijing.7.Howmanypeople_____(be)thereinyourclasslastterm?8.LastSunday,I_______(visit)JinmaoTowerwithmyfamilymembers.9.A:______you______(see)themovieyesterday?B:No,I______(go)shoppingwithmymotherand______(buy)agiftforyou.10.I_______(have)abigbirthdaypartyyesterdayeveningandI______(get)lotsofpresentsfrommyfriends.11._____FriendsoftheEarth_____(help)keeptheenvironment____(clean)lastyear?二、判断以下句子，你认为正确的句子选T，错误的选F（用“√”表示）并把不正确的词改在原句上。例：Igotoschoolyesterday.TF√went1.Lastweek,Ivisitedmynewschool.TF2.HelivedinShanghainow.TF3.Igototheparklastweek.TF4.Didyouseethatfilmbefore?TF5.Myhairislongbefore.TF54 ShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAppendix6.Whatdidyoubuylastweekend?TF7.Iplantatreelastspring.TF8.Marylostherdogyesterday.TF9.LiLeireadsomebookslastyear.TF10.Whereareyoufiveyearsago?TF三、Writing:MySummerHoliday(不少于5句话)55 AcknowledgementsShanghaiNormalUniversityMasterofEducationAcknowledgementsIwouldliketoexpressmydeepestgratitudetopeoplewhohavegivenmeextensiveandinvaluablesupportwiththeaccomplishmentofthedissertation.Firstandforemost,Iwouldliketoexpressmysinceregratitudetomysupervisor,ProfessorLiSiqing,whohasprovidedmewiththemostpreciousadviceandinstructions.Hispatience,consideration,timelysuggestions,insightfulguidanceandfrequentencouragementhaverenderedthecompletionofthisdissertation,whichalwaysmakesmemoreconfidentintheprocessofwritingthedissertation.Secondly,IamgratefultothestudentsfromClass5Grade6inTianlinNo.3Middleschool,whoarethesubjectsinmyexperimentandprovidemealotofusefulinformation.MygreatgratitudealsogoestoVickieSun,whoistheEnglishteacherofClass5Grade6.Shehasgivenmethoughtfulinstructionsinconductingtheresearch.Withouttheircooperation,thestudycouldnotbecarriedoutsmoothly.Thirdly,IownmythankstoalltheteachersandprofessorsinForeignLanguagesCollegeofShanghaiNormalUniversityforgivinglessonsandlecturesduringmystudyofpostgraduatecoursesandalsothankstomyclassmateswhohavehelpedmetodealwiththepuzzlingproblemsinaccomplishingthedissertation.Lastbutnotleast,Iamdeeplygratefultoallofmyfriendsandmyparentsfortheirconstantencouragementandsupportinallrespectsduringthecompletionofmydissertation.56