Öğrencilerin yazma çalışmalarında dilbilgisi dersinin rolü- Düzce Üniversitesinde vaka incelemesi

Türkiyede, İngilizce öğretimi ilkokul 2.sınıfta başlayıp yüksek öğrenimde devam etmektedir. Dil öğretimine harcanan  bu fazla zamanın, öğrencilerin yeterlilik düzeyine ve İngilizceyi kullanabilme  becerilerine  yansıması beklenmektedir. Öğrencilerin İngilizce seviyelerini, somut olarak yansıtabilecekleri ürünler; öğrenciler için öğrenme aracı olarak da kullanılabilen kendi kompozisyonlarıdır (Raimes, 1983). Öğrenciler yazarken sadece akıllarındaki fikirleri transfer etmezler, ayrıca dilbilgisi ve kelime bilgilerini de kullanarak doğruluk kazanmaya çalışırlar. İngilizce öğretirken beceri temelli yaklaşım kullanımı uzun zamandır yaygın olan bir uygulamadır. Bu programlarda bazen kelime ve dilbilgisi öğretimi ayrı dersler olarak mevcut olabilir. Bu çalışmanın yapıldığı üniversitede, İngilizce hazırlık sınıfı seçmelidir ve bir akademik yılda haftada on saatlik okuma-yazma, on saatlik dinleme-konuşma ve dört saatlik dilbilgisi dersleri vardır. Beceri-temelli bu programda, dilbilgisi, öğrencilerin daha hatasız bir şekilde üretken becerilerini geliştirmelerine yardımcı olan esas unsur olarak düşünülmektedir. Dolayısıyla, bu çalışmanın temel amacı dilbilgisi derslerinin öğrencilerin yazıları üzerinde nasıl bir rol oynadığını ortaya koymaktır. Bu çalışma vaka incelemesi olarak tasarlandığı için, üzerinde çalışılmak üzere bir sınıf seçilmiştir ve bu sınıftaki öğrencilerin yazma portfolyoları bir araya getirilerek 2017/2018 akademik yılının başından sonuna kadar verilen her bir ödev analiz edilmiştir. Veriler öğrencilerin yazılarındaki dilbilgisi unsurları analiz edilerek toplanmıştır ve işlenen dilbilgisi konuları ve bu konuların yazma çalışmalarındaki kullanımı arasında bir eşleşme olup olmadığını görmek için bir kıyaslama yapılmıştır.

The role of grammar courses in students’ writing products: a case study in Düzce University

In Turkey, English is taught in all state schools beginning in the second grade of the primary schools and continuing in the higher education. This huge amount of time period spent on language teaching is expected to be seen in students’ proficiency levels and in the way they can use English. The products in which they can reflect their levels of English perceptibly are their compositions, which can also be used as learning tools for learners (Raimes, 1983). While writing, learners do not only transfer the ideas in their minds, they also try to gain accuracy by using their vocabulary and grammar knowledge. While teaching English, following a skill-based approach in language programs has been a common practice for a long time. Those programs may sometimes include the teaching of vocabulary and grammar as separate courses. In the university where this research study was conducted, English preparatory year is optional, and there are ten-hour-a-week reading-writing, ten-hour-a-week listening-speaking and four-hour-a-week grammar courses in an academic year. In this skill-based program, grammar is thought to be an essential element to help students improve their productive skills in a more accurate manner. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to reveal what kind of a role grammar courses have on the students’ writings. As this study was designed as a case study, one class was chosen to be studied on, and their writing portfolios were gathered and each assignment from the beginning until the end of the 2017/2018 academic year was analyzed. The data were collected by analyzing the grammar components of students’ writings and a comparison was made in order to see whether there was a match between the order of grammar topics covered and the use of them in the writing products.

___

  • Bateman, D. R. and Zidonis, F. J. (1966). The Effect of a Study of Transformational Grammar on the Writing of ninth and tenth graders. Champagne, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. Beverly, A. H. (2007). The role of grammar in improving student’s writing. Retrieved October 1,2007, from http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/docs/language/paper_chin.cfm. Borg, S., Burns, A. (2008). Integrating grammar in adult TESOL classrooms. Applied Linguistics, 29, 456–482. http://doi.org/cshjr5 Brown, H.D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice Hall. Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (Fourth Edition). Boston: Pearson Education. Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Ellis, R (2011). Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective. TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 40, No. 1, March 2006: n. pag. Web 23 Nov. 2011. Ellis, R. (2015). The Importance of Focus on Form in Communicative Language Teaching. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2). 1–12. Flick, Uwe. (2007). Designing qualitative research. London: Sage Publications. Hillocks, G. Jr. (1986). Research on written composition: New directions for teaching. Urbana,IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communications Skills and the National Conference on Research in English, ED 265552. Howatt, A.P.R. (1984). A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Jessop, L., Spada, N., Suzuki, N., Tomita, Y., Valeo, A. (2014). Isolated and Integrated form focused instruction: Effects of different types of L2 knowledge. Language Teaching Research. 453-473. Jones, S. M., Lines, H., Myhill, D., Watson, A. (2011). Re-thinking grammar: the impact of embedded grammar teaching on students’ writing and students’ metalinguistic understanding. Research Papers in Education, DOI:10.1080/02671522.2011.637640. Lin, L., L. (2008). The Role of Grammar Teaching in Writing in Second Language Acquisition. Los Angeles: Alliant International University. Long, M. (1988). Instructed interlanguage development. In Beebe, L. M. (Ed.), Issues in second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp. 115-141). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Long, M. (1991). 1991: Focus on form: a design feature in language teaching methodology. In de Bot, K., Ginsberg, R. and Kramsch, C., editors, Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 39-52. Mekala, S., Ponmani, M., Shabitha, M.P. (2016).Transfer of Grammatical Knowledge into ESL Writing. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2(2). 47–64. Ministry of National Education Strategy Development Agency (2017). National Education Statistics- Formal Education. A Publication of Official Statistics Programme. Noguchi, R. R. (1991). Grammar and the teaching of writing: Limits and possibilities. National Council of Teachers of English. Urbana, IL. Ormrod, J. E. (1998). Educational psychology: developing learners (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research&evaluation methods (Third Edition). The United States of America: Sage Publications. Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in teaching writing. NewYork: Oxford University Press. Stern, H.(1984). Fundamental Principles of Language Teaching.Oxford : Oxford University Press. Yin, R.K. (1994). Case study research, design and methods (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.