The Impact of Classroom Practices on Young Learners' Acquisition of Subject-Verb Agreement in Vietnam : a Pilot Study

• Researchers have long emphasized the importance of classroominteraction for enhancing foreign language learning (Carroll 1967; Chihara& Oller, 1987; Krashen, Butler, Birkbaum, & Robertson 1978; Krashen &Seliger, 1976). This pilot study attempts to see how English teaching and learning methods in Vietnamese classrooms affect young learners’acquisition of English subject-verb agreement in their speech production.To do this, classroom observation using the communicative orientation oflanguage teaching (COLT) and recordings of four Vietnamese childrenwere made after a lesson were conducted. Using COLT for classroomobservations helps to see clearly if the classroom activities follow teachercenteredor learner-centered approaches which support the development ofcommunicative skills in second language learning and highlight the roles of the teacher and the pupils in the classroom. The analysis of the children’s speech was based on the Processability Theory (PT)(Pienemann, 1998). The results showed that, to some extent, there isevidence for the prediction of PT of the developmental stages of theacquisition of English as a second language. It also showed learnervariation and pointed out that rote-repeat instruction of subject-verbagreement is not effective for long term understanding, but only for temporary learning. The study recommends that there should be a more interactive method for learning grammar in the classroom in whichconversational purposes are targeted.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

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