Effectiveness of English Preposition Learning through Data-Driven Learning (DDL)

Punyapa Boontam, Supakorn Phoocharoensil

Abstract


This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of paper-based data-driven learning (DDL) method in developing young Thai students in learning three English prepositions, which are ‘during’, ‘among’ and ‘between’, and to examine the attitudes of the participants towards learning through the DDL activities. The convenience-sampled participants were 30 Thai grade 4 students who have A2 CEFR level, studying in a private school in Nakhonsawan province, Thailand. They were taught the target preposition using DDL for 6 weeks. In order to analyse the data, the mean scores of pre-test and post-test were compared by using paired-samples t-test. The tests consist of gap-filling, grammaticality judgement test and sentence building. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in their mean scores (p < 0.001), which increased from the pre-test to the post-test after DDL activities were introduced to the students. According to the test results, it was found that the participants could develop their grammatical consciousness and produce more meaningful and grammatical sentences with a variety of complexity. Moreover, the questionnaire and interview responses revealed the positive attitudes of the participants towards learning through the DDL method as they found it fun, interesting and challenging, and they considered this method as a helpful resource for learning new grammatical knowledge. Thus, this study yields an instructive result that DDL can be applied with young EFL learners and could be an encouraging teaching method for EFL/ESL teachers.

 

Keywords: data-driven learning (DDL); English preposition teaching; young Thai EFL students; Corpus linguistics; paper-based


Full Text:

PDF

References


Aşık, A., Vural, S. A. & Akpınar, D. K. (2016). Lexical awareness and development through data driven learning: attitudes and beliefs of EFL learners. Journal of education and training studies, 4(3), 87-96. doi:10.11114/jets.v4i3.1223

Anyan, J. (2006, April). Different families, not distant cousins: Comparing Thai and English. MED Magazine, 37. Retrieved from http://www.macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/April2006/37-Thai-English-false-friends.htm

Boulton, A. (2010). Data-driven learning: Taking the computer out of the equation. language learning, 60(3), 534-572. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00566.x

Braun, S. (2007). Integrating corpus work into secondary education: From data-driven learning to needs-driven corpora. ReCALL, 19(3), 307-28.

Brown, D. (1987). Principles of language learning and teaching (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Chambers, A. (2010). What is data-driven learning?. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 345-358). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Cheng, W. (2010). What can a corpus tell us about language teaching?. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 319-332). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Chingchit, O. (2008). Basic English grammar materials for EFL advanced beginners in Thailand (Terminal project). Retrieved from http://linguistics.uoregon.edu/wp- content/uploads/2015/08/Chingchit-

Ornuma-Aug-08.pdf

Chiwpreecha, K. (2012). Grammatical collocation problems among Thai students in the medical science field : A study on the use of prepositions. Bangkok, Thailand : Language Institute, Thammasat University.

Choomthong, D. (2014). Preparing Thai students’ English for the ASEAN economic community: Some pedagogical implications and trends. Language Education and Acquisition Research Network (LEARN) Journal,

(1), 45-57.

Cobb, T. Range for texts v.3 [computer program]. Accessed 15 Sept 2015 at http://www.lextutor.ca/cgi-bin/range/texts/index.pl.

Cowan, R. (2008). The teacher's grammar of English: A course book and reference guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Delija, S., & Koruti, O. (2013). Challenges in teaching prepositions in a language classroom. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(13), 124-130.

Ellis, R. (1991). Grammaticality judgements and second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(2), 161-186.

Evison, J. (2010). What are the basics of analysing a corpus?. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 122-135). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Flowerdew, L. (2012). Corpora and language education. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilquin, G., & Granger, S. (2010). How can data-driven learning be used in language teaching?. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 359-70). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Hashim, F., Soopar, A. A., & Hamid A. B. (2017). Linguistic Features of Malaysian Students’ Online Communicative Language in an Academic Setting: The Case of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 87(1), 231-242.

Huang, Z. (2014). The effects of paper-based DDL on the acquisition of lexico-grammatical patterns in L2 writing. ReCALL, 26(02), 163-183. doi:10.1017/s0958344014000020

Hughes, R. (2010). What a corpus tell us about grammar teaching materials. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 401-412). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Inezan, F. Z., & Najim, T. Z. (2010). Problems and common mistakes on prepositions of place at, in, and on. Journal of College of Basic Education, 64, 78-92.

Johns, T. (1986). Micro-concord: A language learner’s research tool. System, 14(2), 151-162.

Johns, T. (1991). Should you be persuaded: Two examples of data-driven learning. ELR Journal, 4, 1-16.

Johns, T. (1997). Contexts: The background, development and trialling of

a concordance-based CALL program. In A. Wichmann, S. Fligelstone, T.

McEnery & G. Knowles (Eds), Teaching and Language Corpora (pp.100-15). London: Longman.

Jones, C., & Waller, D. (2015). Corpus linguistics for grammar: A guide for research. New York: Routledge.

Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86.

Kittigosin, R. & Phoocharoensil, S. (2015). Investigation into learning strategies and delexical verbs used by Thai EFL learners. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 21(2), 63-72.

Krashen, S. D. (1988). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Prentice- Hall International.

Leech, G. (1986). Automatic grammatical analysis and its educational applications. In G. Leech & C. Candlin (Eds.), Computers in English Language teaching and research (pp.205-14). London: Longman.

Lin, M. H., & Lee, J. (2015). Data-driven learning: Changing the teaching

of grammar in EFL classes. ELT Journal, 69(3), 264-274. doi:10.1093/elt/ccv010

Lindquist, H. (2009). Corpus linguistics and the description of English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Long, M. (1997). Focus on form in task-based language teaching. Fourth Annual McGraw-Hill Satellite Teleconference.

Naderi, S., Keong, Y. C., & Latif, H. (2013). The use of referential cohesion in academic texts by Persian EFL learners. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 13(3), 45-62.

Nugraha, I. S., Miftakh, F., & Wachyudi, K. (2017). Teaching grammar through data-driven learning (DDL) approach. Advances in social science, education and humanities research (ASSEHR), 82, 300-303.

O'Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007). From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Phoocharoensil, S. (2012). Language corpora for EFL teachers: An exploration of English grammar through concordance lines. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science, 64, 507-514.

Promma, J. (2014). Temporal preposition errors: A case study of Thai undergraduate students. Bangkok, Thailand : Language Institute, Thammasat University.

Rahimy, R., Moradkhani N. (2012). The effects of using grammaticality judgement tasks on Iranian EFL learners’ knowledge of grammatical patterns. Asia Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 1(2), 148-160.

Römer, U. (2008). Corpora and language teaching. Corpus linguistics. An international handbook, 1, 112-130.

Rutherford, W. E. (1987). Second language grammar: Learning and teaching. Longman. Schmitdt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129-158.

Smart, J. (2014). The role of guided induction in paper-based data-driven learning. ReCALL, 26(02), 184-201. doi:10.1017/s0958344014000081

Sripicharn, P. (2002). Introducing data-driven learning: Theory, practice, and evaluation. Journal of Liberal Arts, 2(2), 100-111.

Sripicharn, P. (2010). How can we prepare learners for using language corpora?. In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 371-384). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Tan, B. H. & Nor Izzati, M. N. (2015). Grammaticality judgement test: Do item formats affect test performance? Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 23(S), 121-130.

Thonginkam, N. (2003). Failure of the English language education in Thailand. Galaxy: The English Department Journal, Assumption University, 2(1), 6-15.

Ur, P. (2009). Grammar practice activities: A practical guide for teachers (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yepes, G. R. & Krishnamurthy, R. (2010). Corpus linguistics and second language acquisition – the use of ACORN in the teaching of Spanish Grammar. Lebende Sprachen, 55(1). doi:10.1515/les.2010.008

Yunus, K. & Awab, S. (2012). The effects of the use of module-based concordance materials and data-driven learning (DDL) approach in enhancing the knowledge of collocations of prepositions among Malaysian undergraduate law students. The International Journal of Learning, 18(9), 165-181.

Zohairy, S. (2012). Applying DDL approach in teaching grammar interactively. Nile TESOL, 26-42.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/3L-2018-2403-10

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


 

 

 

eISSN : 2550-2247

ISSN : 0128-5157