اتصل بنا ENGLISH مجلة الجندو

BY

ISSAM SERHAN DHIAB

Definition of Basic terms

Dr. SAMI ABDUL-AZIZ AL-MA'MURI

Procedures

A

SUBMITTED TO AMERICAN WORLD UNIVERSITY OF HIGHER STUDIES TO FULFIL THE REQUIRMENTS FOR MASTER DEGREE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS

ISSAM SERHAN DHIAB

Dr. SAMI ABDUL-AZIZ AL-MA'MURI

“ Language is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts. Language is used for communication. It is proved to be the best means of communication. It allows people to say things to each other and express their communicative ideas.” (Braughton, p.9)

Knowing a foreign language may present so many interesting facets for it is the best medium for introducing the student to the history, civilization and cultural achievements of foreign people. Through foreign languages we learn about other people, their customs, aspirations and problems. People are best understood through the medium of their language in addition to having the ability to communicate with the people of the learnt language.

One of the most common languages in the world is English. It is widely used nearly all over the world as a second or a foreign language. It is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business, medicine, literature, communication, and scientific research.

Learning words and what they mean does not mean knowing a language, because knowing words is not the only thing to know a language nor even the most important. One must also know how to assemble words in sentences and how to pronounce the words accurately. Grammar is the particular knowledge that enables us to do this. ( Robert, P.1 )

Grammar has been called a system of linguistic traffic rules. It helps us understand the speech and writings of others and also to speak and write correctly and consequently convey the intended meaning.

Teaching grammar is used to help speakers learn another language, or even a second dialect. Teaching grammar states explicitly the rules of the language, list the words and their pronunciations and thus is help in learning a new language or dialect. (Fromkin & Rodman, P.15)

Many of the Iraqi secondary schools students commit errors and face difficulties in grammar such as structural difficulties for instance the structural syntax one of these difficulties which attempts to describe the ways words can be put together in well-formed constructions up to the level of the sentence. Also, the linguistic interference according to this study represents the second problem that face the Iraqi students. We believe that the linguistic interference from the native (mother) language to the second or foreign language represents the source of errors. So, the Iraqi students face many difficulties to learn English and that is because of the syntactic structure. The difference in the grammatical and syntactical structure between Arabic and English language that will be a source of difficulty for the Iraqi learners. The plural process in Arabic for instance will be putting the plural marks for the noun and the verb, but in English we put the (plural-s) for the noun only. So the Iraqi students will put the (Plural-s) for the verb if it is preceded by a plural noun.

e.g. The pupils plays instead of saying the pupils play. Also say the pupil play instead of saying the pupil plays.

This study is an attempt to identify the basic difficulties faced by Diyala preparatory schools students in English grammar.

The importance of this study stems from the belief that identifying the basic difficulties faced by the students in English grammar will make it easy to overcome such difficulties by improving the English textbooks in the subsequent revisions of these textbooks or when writing new ones and suggesting the suitable methods of teaching and subsequently improving the achievement of the students in English.

The study aims at identifying the basic difficulties faced by Diyala preparatory schools students in English grammar.

The present study is limited to students of the 6^th class at the secondary schools in Diyala province in the academic year 2004\2005 .

The present study will deal with the morphological and syntactical topics found in the English textbook for the academic preparatory stage. Phonological topics are excluded.

To achieve the aim of the present study; the researcher built a scale to evaluate the grammatical topics found in the preparatory English textbook (8). The scale was shown to a jury consisted of specialists in liquistics; curriculum and psychology to judge whether or not the criteria of the scale are valid and sufficient to adopt in the evaluation of the grammatical topics found in the preparatory English textbook(8).

To be sure of the results given by the scale (the main instument) ; the researcher used two suplementary instruments ; objective tests and an open questionnaire.

Definition of Basic terms

[14th century. From Latin difficultas , from difficilis , literally “not easy,” from facilis “easy” ]

Grammar, branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words (morphology), and their interrelation in sentences (syntax).

Morphology:- Date "morphology" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550.

Etymology: Morphology \Mor*phol"o*gy\, noun. [Greek expression form -logy: compare to the French expression morphology.]. (Webster’s 1913)

Morphology as a sub discipline of linguistics studies word structure. Words are at the interface between phonology, syntax and semantics (Spencer / Zwicky).

The components of a word form are called morphemes. Word formation rules describe how to select morphemes from the lexicon and to combine them.

Date "syntax" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258.

Etymology: Syntax \Syn"tax\, noun. [Latin expression syntax is, Greek, from to put together in order; sy`n with to put in order; compare to French syntaxes. See Syn-, and Tactics.]. (Websters 1913) and the syntax in talking about writing, or in analyzing written texts, it is useful to have a vocabulary to describe syntax, or the grammatical structure of sentences. So, syntax is :

The study of grammar began with the ancient Greeks, who engaged in philosophical speculation about language and described language structure. This grammatical tradition was passed on to the Romans, who translated the Greek names for the parts of speech and grammatical endings in to Latin, many of these terms (normative, accusative, dative) are still found in modern grammars. But the Greeks and Romans were unable to determine how language are related. This problem spurred the development of comparative grammar which became the dominant approach to linguistic science in the 19^th century.

By the mid-20^th century , Chomsky, who had studied structural linguistics, was seeking a way to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This effort led him to see grammar as a theory of language structure rather then a description of actual sentences. His idea of grammar is that it is a device for producing the structure, not of gangue ( that is, not of a particular language). But of competence-the ability to produce and understand sentences in any and all languages. His universalistic theories are related to the ideas of those 18^th-and early 19^th-century grammarians who urged that grammar be considered a part of logic – the key to analyzing thought.

In describing syntactical patterns in English structural linguists have contributed less than they have in describing the patterns of sounds and words and word change ( a level of analysis called “Morphophonemic” which deals with such changes in words as the voicing of the final sound because of the change from the singular to the plural as in wife-wives). The structural grammarians do not however propose a new system in analyzing verbal types and structure (transitive plus object, plus complements) not for describing indirect objects or the complements . however, structural grammar helped in the construction of textbooks for teaching English in different parts of the world and also provided a variety of new techniques and approaches.(Al-Bettar,p.104)

The specialists called transformational – generative grammarians, such as the American linguistics scholar Noam Chomsky; approach grammar quite differently as a theory of language. By language these scholars mean the knowledge human beings have that allows them to acquire any language. Such a grammar is a kind of universal grammar, an analysis of the principles underlying all the various human grammar.

Generative grammar illustrates that language because it is based on a system of rules “makes infinite use of infinite means” the purpose of grammar is to select the theory or system that best explains the rules.

In formulating such a grammar, Chomsky and others have used the term generate to refer to a rule that exemplifies or provides a “rule of substitution” for all possible instances of sentences with a particular structure pattern. A complete generative grammar would give one or more structural description of all the well – formed, or grammatical, sentences possible in a given language.(Chomsky, 1965,p.28)

1. a comparison of the responses to three techniques of teaching literature. These techniques are: Silent reading, readers theatre and vedio -type readers theatre.

The experimental group for this study consists of four junior and four senior regular English classes from the suburban high school and one class of freshmen from one four-year state university. Three hundred and two subjects have been included in the study.

Complete data have been obtained for 139 of the subjects for the three techniques, and complete data have been obtained for forty-eight subjects for the color video-type technique.

The study concludes that silent reading produced significantly higher scores on comprehension of literature, thus it is the most effective technique for achieving comprehension. However, it is also concluded that Readers theatre are of importance in the domain of attitude and effective. This study isolate readers theatre as the most effective teaching technique for attitude response toward literature.

The study aims at evaluating the professional competency of English teachers in the preparatory schools in Baghdad and at knowing the effect of college preparation, sex and years of experience on professional competency.

The tool of this study is a ready-made check list taken from Ball state teacher college called ( classroom supervisors evaluation of performance in student teaching).

The checklist is divided into four categories: the first measures teacher-pupil relationship; the second measures the personal characteristics; and the third category measures general consideration. The last category is excluded and replaced by another category which measures subject matter. This consists of several techniques in teaching English.

The final form of the checklist is a scale of thirty five items. The checklist has been exposed to a jury to determine its face validity and 90% of the jury agree that the tool is applicable. Reliability is tested through two ways:

By using Pearson coefficient, the reliability correlation coefficient of the retest is 95 and the reliability correlation between the rater and the first observer is 95 while between the rater and the second observer is 95. Discrimination of the items is made by the researcher.

The subjects of the study are 49 preparatory teachers from both sexes drawn according to stratified random sampling. Each teacher has been observed for a whole lesson and the data has been collected.

The statistical means used in this study are Pearson coefficient t-test, chi-square and analysis of variance.

The conclusions reveal that: the teachers professional competency is within average: there are no significant differences between the variables mentioned above: there is high correction between personal characteristics and performance, there is high correlation between performance and subject matter, there is high correlation between teacher- student relationship and personal characteristics, there is high correlation between teacher-student relationship and subject Matter and there is good correlation between personal characteristics and subject Matter.

1. Identifying the technique used in teaching “Notions and Functions” in the sixth year preparatory grade.

Here the researcher describes the sample, the instruments of the study and its application and the classification of teachers into three groups: those who use the favorable techniques, those who use the unfavorable techniques, and those who use a mixture of both techniques. Also, the researcher presented in his study the statistics used for analysis the data collected.

1. Diverse types of techniques belonging to different methods are employed by teachers. This points out that the communicative method is not the unique method used. Techniques that develop the pupils’ communicative competence are less frequently used. This may be due to the fact that teachers seldom have the drive or the desire to develop themselves and expand their knowledge or try to be aware of other modern methods which can prove to be effective and interesting.

2. The standard of the pupils is low in general, therefore, most of the teachers resort to Arabic in explaining the meaning of the “Notions & Functions”.

3. Although the tape-recorder is very important in the classroom, it is almost absent.

4. Some pupils suffer from the techniques of the communicative method because they are accustomed to the techniques of the other methods by which they were taught when they were in the primary and secondary schools.

5. There is no opportunity for learners to express their own individuality in discussion, therefore, most pupils are hesitant when they speak English.

The researcher recommended that teachers should be trained in the different techniques of teaching “Notions & Function” and how they are taught should be of the major topics.

The population of the present study comprises the 6^th grade students of the academic preparatory stage (male & female) for the year of 2004-2005.

The sample was chosen purposely from Diala province. To achieve the aim of this study the researcher purposely chose the population of Baquba (the center of Diyla province), because it may represent the whole population of the province socially and economically. Thus two preparatory schools for boys and two preparatory schools for girls were randomly selected to carry out the aim of the present study. The total number of the population is about 280 (male & female).

Procedures

After constructing the scale and being sure of its validity, it was given with the grammatical topics found in the English textbook (8) of the preparatory stage as they presented in the book (8), to specialists who were asked to give weights for the content items under each one of the scale’s standards.

The researcher gave the specialists two scales of the same standards. The first one for the main titles of the grammatical topics found in the textbook (8), i.e.:

Tenses, negation and interrogation.. etc, and the second one for the sub-titles of the grammatical topics, as it is shown in the following two tables:

Table (1) the final shape of the first scale for the main titles of the grammatical topics in textbook.

The carried out two pilot studies on 20 to 28 February 2005.Each test was for the preparatory school students and was given to 120 students of both sexes chosen randomly from two preparatory schools which were selected from the city of Baquba. They were:

Al-Markazia secondary school for boys and Al-Huria secondary school for girls, as it is shown in table (5) below:

Schools	The 6^th class students
Al-Markazia secondary school for boys	60
Al-Huria secondary school for girls	60
Total	120

Making sure that the test had gained its validity, reliability characteristics and clear discriminative, the researcher administered it to the whole subjects of the study. Therefore two classrooms at Al-Markazia preparatory school for boys and two classrooms at Um-Salama preparatory school for girls, were prepared to be the places for each test administration. On 20^th February 2005 the subjects of the 6^th grade which consisted of 140 students were submitted to the test at those classrooms at the same conditions, (70) female students were submitted to the test at Um-Salama preparatory school for girls, while the other (70) male students were submitted to the test at Al-Markazia preparatory school for boys.

After the test papers of each test were handed out to the testiest, the researcher explained the instructions that accompanied each question, showing them how to answer some items and telling them that the purpose of the test is something related to the academic researcher and nothing else. In the word of Carroll, a good test is expected to “provide as much information as is required with the minimum expenditure of time, effort and resources”.(Carrol,1980 P:16).

Moreover, the pupils were asked to write their responses on the test papers so as not to waste time effort, Al-Hamash remarked that “A good test should be economic both in time and stationary.” (Al-Hamash, 1985 P:205)

The subjects were allowed enough time to answer each test completely. The maximum time allowed was (120) minutes.

The researcher has used the statistical means so as to fulfil the objectives of the present study.

1.Chi-square : This has been used to determine the degree of agreement among the jury members who have been consulted to decide the face validity of the test.

2. Person product-moment correlation coefficient: This was used to estimate the reliability of each test.

xw : The sum of the mean of each grammatical verb indicating us to sum all the measurements.

4. Percentage of weight: This was used as an additional way for presenting data.

Results are in grammatical not with the hypothesis of the present study. Because Diyala secondary schools Students committed some grammatical errors in English &there are many difficulties faced by Diyala secondary schools students in English grammar.

As a teacher , the researcher states that the differences in learning English grammar can be ascribed to interlingua and intralingua types of mistakes and errors .

the first type of errors is due to the interference between the two languages (English and Arabic ).

The second type which the researcher has observed is due to the irregularities of English spilling and pronunciation rules . this type of errors is called intralingua errors (little wood ,1985 :30 )

the answer any question since they depend on a clear and ready-made rules and it is one of the repeated rules. Also the students may mix between the rule of the invitation articles and the offer one that followed by noun. The students need to learn much vocabulary and to know the meaning of words in order to answer the questions. When the students found an easy question he can answer it quickly for he knows the rule of the question and the shaded the lights on some topics that concern the main problem faced the students during their study that is they do not know the meanings of the most English words. And most of the 6^th class students in Diyala preparatory schools have committed many errors and mistakes in spelling. And they don’t have the ability to distinguish between words that have the same spelling and pronunciation.

The differences between the mother and second language need a lot of time to be learn and understood by the learners.

And such differences found in the study of grammar so, we find the students are committed errors in forming the adjectives because of the mixing between the two languages. The student have to practice more exercises that existed in the (8) textbook and even the exercises that are found in the other stages in order to know how to form the words and sentences.

Most of the preparatory schools students are depending on ready-made rules to answer the questions of the exam and to pass the test are their goal. In Diyala preparatory schools there are many teachers who are not specialized in English language are working as English teachers in some schools, which lead to get bad learning.

According to the results obtained from the study , the following conclusions have been drawn .

1- It has been found that the difficulties faced by the sixth class students in English grammar can be put in the following order :

3- It has been found that the 6^th class students are facing many difficulties in learning English grammar, so, they require special teaching techniques to overcome the difficulties in learning English as a foreign language.

Also the researcher concluded in his final results of the present study the main points, they are:

1- Phrasal Verbs, in general, proved to be largely difficult to the pupils in Iraqi preparatory schools for girls at both levels: Recognition and Production.

3-Phrasal Verbs that have idiomatic meanings seem to be more difficult than those that have literal meanings.

Making use of the findings of the present study concerning the evaluation of the grammatical topics that did not take their real positions in the sequent revisions of the textbook or when writing new one.

This means that there are some groups in the content of the grammatical topics in the textbook. Accordingly, it would be better from the researcher point of view to fill these gaps and distribute the grammatical topics of the academic preparatory stage in all the textbooks of the stage in away, which leads to a vertical integration.

Also, the recommended that special attention should be given to teachers who teach English grammar during the training period.

The stated that it should be refreshing courses to teachers who teach English grammar in order to be in continuous contact with the most suitable modern trends and techniques for teaching English grammar.

All the recommendations of the study emphasize the fact that the teaching of the phrasal verbs should be integrated with the regular teaching of grammar and vocabulary.

Within the limitation of this study and according to its findings, the following are suggested for further studies.

1- A similar study may be conducted to examine the phonological topics found in the preparatory English textbook (8) .

2- The study for English grammar difficulties faced by students at other stages.

3- Investigating techniques used in teaching undergraduate teachers how to teach English grammar for the same stage.

4- Conducting experimental studies using different technique in teaching English grammar.

5- Investigation the correlation between the teaching techniques, the teachers experience, the pupils motivation, and the size of class.

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مجلة علوم انسانية www.uluminsania.net السنة الثالثة: العدد 27: مارس (آذار) 2006 - 3rd Year: Issue 27, Mar:

Grammatical Topics

2. Negation

3. Interrogation

4. Categories of verbs

5. sentences formation