The article written by Gaskell addresses the questions whether students could actually learn anything from concordances. The author argues that learning through concordances could occur if the following conditions are fulfilled:
1. The number of examples that second language learners are exposed to is increased.
2. The examples highlight the target structure.
3. Learners attend to the examples.
4. Learners receive feedback on the success of their interpreting.
The students who participated in the study stated that they had learned a lot from the concordances and that their English writing ability has improved. However, not all of the students believed that they would continue using concordancing as a possible language learning tool in the future.
The study described by Gaskell is designed for lower level learners. The results show that concordances appear to be more effective when considering lexical development, and less effective when considering grammar development. Do you think that advanced language learners’ grammar development would benefit from concordances?
Moving forward!
11 years ago
I definitely think advanced level students would benefit from this!! One advantage that I can see is that advanced students would be able to pick out the form that matches their meaning quickly. Because of their exposure to multiple different uses of the same word/phrase, advanced learners are more accustomed to looking things up in dictionaries and understanding how to search for the correct use. I think it would be good for learners with fossilized errors to have to search through multiple different ways of using the grammar point they are having issues with because it may be just the exposure that they need to start to break their habit!! Great question!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point about fossilized errors (as opposed to developmental errors) in advanced learners. When errors are fossilized it is much much harder for a learner to actually see their own error pattern....even if a correct version of their sentence is side by side with the original incorrect version.
ReplyDeleteI know that as an ESL writing tutor I experienced dozens of instances in which the student exhibited the same errors repeatedly. Identifying and highlighting these errors requires a variety of approaches, but in essence it's the most important thing a teacher can do, however it's accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right that concordances could be used when dealing with fossilized errors. I have not taught about this possibility before. Thanks for answering the question.
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