One of the most prevalent issues in the language learning community, especially among ESL students, is subject-verb agreement, a problem where students sometimes choose an incorrect verb and pair it with a mismatched subject. For example, “the apples is big” instead of “the apples are big” illustrates incorrect subject-verb agreement. Baxter and Holland (2007) agree with this statement indicating that there is an obvious a problem regarding the mismatching the subjects with verbs. Generally speaking, there are two theories that explain why inflectional morphemes like plural and tense markers in English are difficult for L2 learners: the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Byrd, n.d.) and the Representational Deficit Hypothesis (Farrell, 2009). According to Shibuya and Wakabayashi (2008), both hypotheses argue that while L2 learners might not have a difficult time learning the basics of subject-verb agreement, or any syntactic feature for that matter, they do have trouble putting these concepts into practice or becoming fluent with them if these features are not first present in their native language (p. 252).
Both L2 learners and native speakers have difficulty with subject-verb agreement, and because of this, subject-verb agreement is useful in a variety of lesson forms. In the case of subject-verb agreement, teachers can facilitate easier learning by teaching the class with techniques that raise awareness of subject-verb agreement, thereby helping the learner recognize subject-verb agreement (Ellis, 2002; Fotos, 2002; Richards, 2009).
Upon observing a class of pre-intermediate level ESL students, it has been perceived that students could not master the agreement between the subjects and verbs and were reluctant to decide wh...
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...ctor goes over the answers to make sure each group found the errors (see Appendix D). The instructor’s goal of this activity is to summarize the overall rules and observe the students’ comprehension.
Subject-verb agreement is one of the most confusing grammatical concepts that second language learners face. The most important aspect in teaching grammar is the teaching technique in which the instructor accurately chooses the suitable approach and activity. In turn, the students benefit from the lesson and will have no difficulty in acquiring the grammatical rule and applying it in their daily communication. For further practice, replacing the subject pronouns with nouns could be an expansion activity since the students need to know that the subject pronouns can be replaced with nouns. The instructor then can also begin to introduce compound subjects.
During the first day of ESL academy, I realized the inadequacy of my knowledge concerning the needs of ELL students and how woefully lacking my instruction had been for former students whose first language was not English. Partici...
Walking around I can observe that student’s population is Hispanic who are ESL. This student’s first language is Spanish and has little bit knowledge of English. They are able to take conversation with their peer with the Basic English they know, but struggle to talk in complete sentences. For example the
The 'Secondary'. The dynamic systems approach in the study of L1 and L2 acquisition: An introduction. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 179-199.
Ankle sprains are one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries and are especially relevant at all level of sport.1 Of all sports, the incidence of ankle sprain is higher in volleyball considering its non-contact nature.2 The most common ankle sprain occurs on the lateral or outside part of the ankle.3 Reports estimate that ankle sprains account for approximately 24% to 54% of all sport-related injuries and 23,000 persons get them per day in the United States.4
Mary Wollstonecraft, a women’s rights advocate in the year 1792 summed it up perfectly when she said, “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” She is describing the fight within every woman in the Feminist Movement that began in the 1700’s and extended throughout the late 20th century. This powerful motion was a drive to address the debated issues of reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. As time has passed, feminists have pushed extremely hard to gain equal rights and respect from their male counterparts. Unfortunately in today’s world, society still puts an emphasis on a women’s exterior beauty. They emphasize it in magazines, television commercials, and even the infamous beauty pageant. The industry of beauty pageants is growing rapidly, jeopardizing the continuous work of many women’s rights advocates, throwing away the continuing efforts for equal rights (Miss America, 2011).
Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives.
[The focus learner has a habit of submitting incomplete work assessments, less than 50% completed. He can quickly lose focus and resort to doodling. The baseline data indicated that the focus learner had no knowledge of the verb gustar. By the end of lesson 1 learning segment, the focus learner was able to match the proper pronouns used for specific identification with the appropriate indirect object pronoun, both in verbal and written format. The focus learner satisfied the lesson objectives from lesson 1, mastering the use of the singular gusta evident from the final written assessment. The focus learner when given written assessment was able to demonstrate learning with at above 80% accuracy using scaffold supports. In lesson 2 the learning objectives were similar, but applied to the plural form of the verb gustar. The focus learner was able to, measured by the daily assessment record, satisfy learning objectives with 90% accuracy achievement.]
English Language Learners range from Newcomers learning survival English and developing foundational literacy skills to Long-Term English Learners who have had 6 years or more of their education in English yet continue have significant language gaps. These students may speak English with little or no accent and still lack the vocabulary, grammar and grade level literacy to be successful in school. English language learners may remain silent in the classroom as they adjust to a new school, environment, and culture unless he is a native language comrade to interact with. The English language learners are concerned about decoding verbal and non- verbal communication as well as understanding the social culture framework of the school. Most of the time English language learners are observing during instruction, trying to repeat words used by others, memorizing simple phrases and sentences, tired by midday or be frustrated attending long lectures unaccompanied by visual and gestures, relying on first language translation used peer translation or bilingual dictionary, as the students begin to learner they become more involved in the classroom, they can respond non-verbally to commands, statements, and questions in simple form. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to use simple word and phrases and may use English spontaneously. They can understand short conversation on a simple topic when reading students can understand a narrative text and authentic materials, although they will be below
On the other hand, teachers prefer using L1 for a more effective approach to teaching grammar and checking students’ understanding. Macaro (1997) commented that teachers often lack enthusiasm in using the target language for grammar explanation. Many students have difficulty in learning grammar, especially for those whose L1 system is entirely different from the TL. L1 can be more efficient, particularly when a teacher wants to discuss the learning contract with students, or tries to explore the needs of his/her students, especially those in the lower level (Harmer, 2007). Evidence provided by Harmer (2007) also indicates that the classroom environment can be enhanced through the use of L1 to establish a positive social relationship with students, which ultimately leads to a more effective teaching process.
Tomasello, M., & Herron, C. (n.d.). Transfer Errors: The Garden Path Technique., Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1989. ERIC - Feedback for Language Transfer Errors: The Garden Path Technique., Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1989. Retrieved February 8, 2014, from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ400841
Research has shown that in most cases adult learners of a second language find the learning process more difficult than children learners and that unlike children learning their first language, many do not attain a native-like accent or competency. Additionally, it has been proven that many adults acquiring their second language make syntactic and morphological errors that are different to the common errors made by children acquiring their first language, with many of these errors fossilising, meaning that they are unable to adopt correction. Furthermore, dissimilar to first language acquisition, which is universally learned, adult second language learners often do not achieve fluency (Fromkin et al. 2014, pp.333-335). Despite the stages and process of learning a second language being similar to that undergone in first language acquisition in some ways, the fundamental difference between these two processes is the fact that to a large extent second language learners generalise and rely on the knowledge of their first language to learn their second, also known as applying their prerequistite linguistic knowledge, an aspect of learning that does not occur when acquiring one’s first language. It is because of this that the majority of
Curtin, E. M. (2006). Lessons on effective teaching from middle school ESL students. Middle School Journal, 37(3), 38–45.
In the article, “Current Developments in Research on the Teaching of Grammar” by Hossein Nassaji and Sandra Fotos two main issues had been discussed. The first one is whether grammar teaching make any differences to language learning where the questions raised are whether grammar should be taught or not. The second issue is what kinds of grammar teaching have been suggested to facilitate second language learning. If grammar should be taught, how much and should it be implicit or explicit grammar teaching? Lastly, the article discussed on the current approaches to grammar teaching in which formal instruction can be integrated with communicative activities which are processing instruction, interactional feedback, textual enhancement, task-based
After reading the material we have been given about second language learning and learner variables, I’ve come to the conclusion that teaching a foreign language is very complex. It’s clear, however, that some factors and learner differences are more influential than others, and that I, as a teacher, can have an influence on most of them.
For decades, foreign language teachers wandered in a scientific abyss. Until 1983, there had been little real research dealing with the ways in which someone acquires a second language. Teachers mostly used the audiolingual classroom model that had been in place for the past twenty years (or, even worse, the literally ancient grammatical translation model that had been used by civilizations millennia old). Clearly, language teaching methodology was in a poor situation. In 1983, however, Krashen published the results of an unprecedented body of research and paved the way for a revolution in our field. His five-point hypothesis focused on the difference between the acquisition of and the learning of a second language. Krashen has his detractors, of course, not the least of whom are American school districts, which have been reluctant to implement his teachings. Most experts agree, however, that his ideas are the most meritorious of the theories in circulation now, and schools that refuse to incorporate them are doing their students a disservice.