It's just a word : CALL, French verbs and mixed-ability pupils
This thesis follows the trail of a perennial problem in the written work of pupils studying GCSE French, and suggests a CALL solution. The motivation for the research lies in the decline of grammatical accuracy, particularly in verb use, in the French produced by mixed-ability pupils and university students alike. Theories of language acquisition are assessed and a limited amount of guidance emerges. French GCSE Examiners' Reports then provide a firm foundation for research with their suggestion that the rise in oral work has affected written standards. A review of the literature reveals a wide range of barriers to verb learning. These can be classified as linguistic, psycholinguistic and pedagogic. One of the most impenetrable barriers is the redundancy of many verb endings. Empirical evidence from written and interview data is presented to show the startling kinds of misconceptions held by many pupils about verbs,and the complex of systems learners devise to solve problems. The thesis then proposes an explicit grammar-teaching approach based on principles of pedagogical grammar. Current Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) approaches to verb teaching offer admirable formal practice for able pupils
Metcalfe, Peter Anthony
Computer assisted learning
It's just a word : CALL, French verbs and mixed-ability pupils. This thesis follows the trail of a perennial problem in the written work of pupils studying GCSE French, and suggests a CALL solution. The motivation for the research lies in the decline of grammatical accuracy, particularly in verb use, in the French produced by mixed-ability pupils and university students alike. Theories of language acquisition are assessed and a limited amount of guidance emerges. French GCSE Examiners' Reports then provide a firm foundation for research with their suggestion that the rise in oral work has affected written standards. A review of the literature reveals a wide range of barriers to verb learning. These can be classified as linguistic, psycholinguistic and pedagogic. One of the most impenetrable barriers is the redundancy of many verb endings. Empirical evidence from written and interview data is presented to show the startling kinds of misconceptions held by many pupils about verbs,and the complex of systems learners devise to solve problems. The thesis then proposes an explicit grammar-teaching approach based on principles of pedagogical grammar. Current Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) approaches to verb teaching offer admirable formal practice for able pupils
word call french verbs mixed ability pupil follow trail perennial problem write work pupil study french suggest call solution motivation lie decline grammatical accuracy particularly verb use french produce mixed ability pupil university_student alike theories language_acquisition assess limited amount guidance emerges french reports provide firm foundation suggestion rise oral work affect write standard review_literature reveals wide_range barrier verb learn classify linguistic psycholinguistic pedagogic barrier redundancy many verb empirical_evidence write interview_data present show kind misconception hold many pupil verb complex_system learner devise solve_problem proposes explicit grammar teaching base principle pedagogical grammar current computer_assisted language_learning call approach verb teach offer formal practice able pupil