researchdesign-valls-cocci

8/14/2019 ResearchDesign-Valls-Cocci

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ESCUELA SUPERIOR DE IDIOMASUNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL COMAHUE

SEMINARIO ROTATIVO DE INVESTIGACIN

RESEARCH DESIGN

A study of the causes forA study of the causes for

EFL studentsEFL students difficulty todifficulty to

produce the finalproduce the final s fors for

the simple present tensethe simple present tense

Malena Alejandra Cocci Carla Vernica Valls

2007


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Purpose

To explore the causes that lead students of English as a

foreign language to drop the final ~s for the simple presenttense when speaking spontaneously (in the classroom) if therehas been previous instruction on the rule.

Type of research

Analytic Inductive.

Data collection procedures

Background questionnaire,

Naturalistic Observation,

Recordings.


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Theoretical background

Jeremy Harmer (1998): First language interference and

developmental errors.

Pit Corder (1985): Classification of inacquracies: Mistakes,and errors.

H. D. Brown (1994): Affective domain.

Douglas Brown (2000): Fossilization.

Pienemann and Johnston (1987): Psycholinguistic difficultyand grammatical difficulty.

H. Dulay and M. Burt (1973): Stages of foreign language

acquisition.


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Research questions

Do intermediate students ofEnglish as a foreign languagesystematically produce the

final s for the simple presenttense when speakingspontaneously in class?

If not, what are the causesthat lead them to drop the

final ~s for the simple present


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subjects

Six Spanish speakinglearners of English as a

foreign language. Age: 15 16.

Level: Intermediate.

They have been studying

English together since


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Data collection procedures

- Background knowledge of the learners;

- Attitudes towards the language;

- Perceptions of difficulty in learning

English.

BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE

NATURALISTIC OBSERVETION AND

RECORDINGS

- Check whether the students produce thisinaccuracy orally.


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Data analysis

Background questionnaires- Analysis and comparison to find recurrentpatterns in the students answers;

- Individual analysis, and subsequent comparison toeach students performance.

Naturalistic observation and recordings- Transcriptions;- Isolation of instances of the simple present

tense;- Classification of these instances into grammatical

and ill-formed.


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Anticipated outcomes

T e su jects regu ar y omit t e ina s orthe simple present tense due to a combinationof a number of different factors, namely:

Interference from their first language;

Affective factors;Fossilization; Imperfect knowledge of the rule; Psycholinguistic difficulty;

Mismatch between the stage in which thismorpheme is taught (at the beginning of thecourses) and the moment in which it isactually learned/acquired during the processof foreign language learning.


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conclusion

This project might help us explore the manifoldsources of difficulty in the production of thefinal s for the simple present tense.

It may constitute a helpful tool, which might aidus in discovering other possible ignored sourcesof the problem.

As Jeremy Harmer explains, whatever the reasonfor getting it wrong it is vital for teachers to

realise that all students make mistakes as anatural and useful way of learning. By working outwhen and why things have gone wrong, they learnmore about the language they are studying.


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Teachers andmothers who havewaged long andpatient battlesagainst their

students andchildrens language

errors have come to

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