Research agenda: Researching grammar teaching and learning in the second language classroom

Abstract

We propose five research tasks targeting grammar teaching and learning, focusing on extending previous research and exploring under-studied features and contexts. The first two tasks outline replications and extensions of seminal studies on pedagogical grammar, Toth (2008) and Samuda (2001), designed to advance our understanding of the teacher role in providing rich practice opportunities. Another task examines how features of peer interaction during oral communication might encourage attention to grammar among young second language (L2) classroom learners in school-based foreign language programs, a common yet under-studied context. A fourth task investigates the unique properties of spoken grammar across languages and effective approaches for its teaching and learning, and the fifth explores the (re)design and use of corpus-based tools to enhance accessibility and learner autonomy in data-driven grammar learning. Each task is designed to be feasible across a variety of classroom contexts and target languages. We highlight concrete implications for language pedagogy and include suggestions for capturing both learning outcomes and participants’ perspectives on their learning and teaching, using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. We end with some thoughts on repetitive practice for learning certain features of grammar, and recommendations for collaborative research that would encourage greater replication of future studies.

Identifying Key Grammatical Errors of Japanese English as a Foreign Language Learners in a Learner Corpus: Toward Focused Grammar Instruction with Data-Driven Learning

“…Since contrasting error and correct usage examples, as in Moon and Oh's study (2018), is conducive to discovery-learning, using DDL to compare errors with their corrected words or phrases can also be effective. Specifically, we could make use of error-tagged corpora, such as the CLC FCE Dataset, accessible for pedagogical purposes as suggested by Collins and Ruivivar (2021) by creating an online tool that allows the simultaneous retrieval of both correct and error forms. Such a tool would make it easier for teachers to prepare tasks comparing errors and correct expressions and facilitate the use of DDL for grammar learning and teaching.…”

“…In studies where DDL is employed to rectify grammatical writing errors, the choice of grammar items typically hinges on the judgment of the researchers, meaning that items are often pre-selected. According to Collins and Ruivivar (2021), an optimal approach would involve tailoring the selection of target items to match learners' specific context. This personalization can potentially maximize the effectiveness of DDL in grammar instruction.…”

Pedagogical Shift in ELT through Post-method Pedagogy

“…Such criticisms regarding the inadequacies of methods and approaches opened the door for the rise of the post-method PPP pedagogy as three parameters of pedagogy put forward by Kumaravadivelu (2003) that can address those inadequacies of method and approaches and lead the ELT practitioners to teach a language being free from the limited prescriptions prescribed by a different method and approaches over some time. Richards and Rodgers (2001) are not only the people who pointed out the inadequacies of methods and approaches but also other scholars like Ellis (1989) and Prabhu (1990) claim that no single method can address the need of everyone that varies from one specific context to many other particular contexts where different teachers and students having different psychological, sociocultural, educational, political beliefs and background participate in language teaching and learning activities. Kumaravadivelu (2003) attempts to address such inadequacies by putting the concept of post-method pedagogy as an alternative to traditional methods and approaches that "overcomes the limitations of the method-based pedagogy" (p.34).…”