Self-study grammar practice: learners views and preferences

Alan Fortune

This is a report of a piece of action research which sought students views on different types of self-study grammar practice exercises. Firstly, a set of defining characteristics of grammar exercises were identified and a battery containing a range of such exercises compiled. The exercises exhibited different clusters of characteristics, and were of both a deductive and inductive nature. Learners attempted the battery and then evaluated the different exercises. Their views were elicited by questionnaire and group interview. The experience of doing the exercises caused a significant number of learners to change their opinions about inductive and deductive practice. The investigation also tried to discover which exercise characteristics the learners found motivating and demotivating, thus providing potentially useful information for teachers and materials writers. Possibly fruitful areas for further investigation were identified.

grammar

Self-study practice

A large number of grammar workbooks have been published in recent years. Although many of them are claimed to be suitable for both classroom use and self-study, it is for self-study purposes that they appear to be most frequently used. Books which combine concise pedagogic grammar with systematic practice of that grammar have fulfilled a need perceived by many learners. When reviewing several of these publications in ELT Journal 42/3, it struck me that two features are common to nearly all of them. Firstly, a deductive approach to learning is employed. Secondly, the range of exercise types is very narrow. Most include isolated, uncontextualized sentences and involve the learners in either gap-filling, or putting a verb in brackets in the correct tense, or sometimes both. I suspected that this lack of variety must make self-study grammar practice rather dull for learners and set out to investigate how learners themselves evaluated the types of practice they undertook. Before describing the investigation, however, I will first distinguish between two types of grammar practice, and subsequently isolate some of the defining characteristics of self-study exercises.

Two types of

practice

The approach to the study of grammar favoured in the vast majority of published workbooks is deductive. Learners study grammar rules before applying these rules in doing exercises. In other words, they work from the general to the particular. I shall refer to exercises of this type as TYPE1 exercises. Very few grammar workbooks present specific language data to be used as a basis for the discovery of rules by the learners themselves. An
ELT Journal Volume 46/2 April 1992 Oxford University Press 1992

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exception is Shepherd et al. (1984), in which students are invited to discover rules and patterns themselves before applying their conclusions in subsequent mechanical exercises. Examples of this rarer inductive approach will be called TYPE2exercises. It is a little surprising that TYPE 2 practice is not more widespread in published self-study materials. Recent classroom materials have placed a greater emphasis on inductive learning. There is no apparent reason why it should not be used more often for self-study purposes. I have long suspected that TYPE 2 activities engage the brain rather more than many familiar, mechanical, TYPE 1 exercises, and that the extra challenge motivates many learners. This contention is supported by others. Harmer (1987: 39) asserts that encouraging students to discover grammar for themselves is one valuable way of helping them to get to grips with the language and that the use of discovery techniques can be highly motivating and extremely beneficial for the students understanding of English grammar. Furthermore, Lewis (1986: 165) claims that All learning theory suggests that those things we discover for ourselves are more firmly fixed in our minds than those which we are told . . . In place of blind learning, the emphasis is moved to the process of exploration which leads to genuine understanding. Defining
characteristics of grammar exercises

Some of the primary features which distinguish types of grammar practice are listed and described below, along with accompanying abbreviations. They are later applied to a specific battery of exercises.
TYPE 1/2 TYPE

(Ded/Ind)

1 (deductive) - the grammar rule is given first, followed by the practice exercise(s).
TYPE 2 (inductive) - learners look at some language data in order to discover a rule themselves.

(Gap) (Brack)

Practice which involves filling in gaps or the completion of unfinished sentences. The production of particular linguistic forms through the manipulation of a stem form given in brackets. A common instruction would be put the verb in brackets into the correct tense. A linguistic context is provided, e.g. a short text or dialogue. No isolated, uncontextualized sentences. A non-linguistic context is provided as an essential prompt for the production of the desired form(s). Such prompts may take the form of charts, pictures, etc. The practice focuses on more than one grammatical form. Sorting language data into categories according to either form or meaning, or both (see exercies H and I, below). Classifying language items using a grid. This is discussed below. Ranking: placing language items in order.
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(L Cxt) (NL Cxt)

(Form +) (Sort) (Class) (Rank)

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The nature and aims of the investigation The informants

The study involved 50 learners of English for General Purposes studying part-time at Ealing College, London. Of the informants, 41 were female, 39 were aged between 20 and 30, and 33 came from Europe. Most of the non-Europeans were from Japan. Their language proficiency ranged from intermediate to advanced (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency) level. The main aims were to discover the preferences of the learners for either TYPE 1 or TYPE 2 practice, and to collect and interpret their views of different exercise types. The informants were first asked to fill in Questionnaire A (see Appendix A), designed to elicit basic information about their attitudes and approaches to the learning of grammar. Item 4 was crucial in that it sought to discover learners views of TYPE1 and TYPE 2 practice before they were actually required to do both types of exercise. The students were given three weeks in which to do a battery of 14 grammar exercises (A to K), some written by myself and others extracted from published materials. To help maintain student interest, each exercise dealt with a different area of the language system. The exercises varied in type and were carefully selected so that each displayed a different constellation of the nine defining characteristics listed above. Seven (A to G) were TYPE 1 and the other seven TYPE 2, thus facilitating comparison. Figure 1 displays the defining characteristics of the entire battery. The final stage required students to complete Questionnaire B (see Appendix B), and then to discuss the battery in groups of four or five. Although most parts of the questionnaire gave rise to useful information, numbers 1 to 3 were the key items. They yielded quantifiable data on

Principal

aims

The elicitation procedure

The exercises

Figure 1

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student preferences (items 1,2), and the students post-battery views on deductive and inductive practice (item 3). It was anticipated that utilizing both a formal questionnaire and an informal discussion would yield more information than either technique alone. Indeed, the relaxed conduct of the discussions created an opportunity to probe more deeply into issues raised by the students questionnaire responses.
Some examples from the battery

For the sake of brevity, I will not provide some illustrative examples E differed only in the provision of very hackneyed one where students and continuous tenses to fill in sentences. Exercise B

give details of the whole battery, but from it. Of the TYPE I exercises, B and a linguistic context. Exercise B was a had to choose between the past simple gaps in unrelated, uncontextualized

Complete these sentences by putting continuous or the past simple: 1 I.... Iwas When She When We.... Why...

the verbs into the past

television when the phone rang. (watch) watching television when the phone rang. 2 the ambulance came we . . . him into it. (carry) 3 her car when she suddenly felt ill. (drive) 4 he saw me he. . off the wall. (fall) 5 to the radio when it suddenly stopped working. (listen) 6 cards when he walked into the office? (you play) 7 ... youwhen you gave them the money? (they thank) a ... when you turned on the gas? (you smoke) 9 When I arrived, they . . . hello but continued working. (say) 10 When I got to the hospital, she. .. in the waiting room. (sit)

from Walker, E. and S. Elsworth. (1986: 37) Exercise E also involved the manipulation of the stem form of a verb, but used a story as linguistic context. Exercise E

Mixed past and perfect forms

Complete this newspaper report by making correct verb forms from the words in brackets. Sometimes there is more than one possibility.

LOCAL COUPLE WIN LOTTERY PRIZE Ron and Emma Wilson of Paisley (1have) a wonderful surprise last week. They (2 discover) they (3 win) 200.000 in the Scottish National Lottery. Emma (4 buy) tickets for the lottery for years, but until last week she (5 never win) anything. She told our reporter: I (6 just talk) to Ron about our money problems when the postman (7 bring) the letter that (a tell) us about our win. Of course, were very happy! Until recently, Ron (9 work) at Oldfield Steelworks. But then an injury at work (10force) him to retire. Indeed, the Wilsons (11 think) of moving to a smaller house because their present house (12 become) too expensive for them. Emma said, All my life I (13wonder) what it would be like to have enough money, and not have to count Self-study grammar practice: learners views

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every penny. Now that this money (14 come along), its like a miracle! The Wilsons (15 already decide) on some of the things they want to do with their prize. In fact, last week they (16 try) to buy a big new house, but the owner (17 already sell) it. Now we (18 start) to look for another one, somewhere near the place we love best, the Scottish Highlands.

from Adamson, D. and D. Cobb. (1987: 62) Exercise D exemplifies the use of a non-linguistic context as a basis for the production of one particular structure, in this case a conditional. Exercise D

if: special tenses, present and future situations

If you hired the following -a 1 2 3 4 5 models, how much would it cost? Vauxhall Astra for 3 days? If you hired a Vauxhall Astra for 3 days it would cost 66.00. a a a a a Ford Sierra for a weekend? BL Metro for 3 days? BMW 316 for 2 weeks? Ford Fiesta for 5 days? BL Montego for a week? 6 7 8 9 10 a a a a a Ford Orion for 2 weeks? Vauxhall Nova for a weekend? Ford Escort for 4 days? BL Maestro for 2 weeks? Vauxhall Cavalier for 3 weeks?

from Seidl, J. and M. Swan. (1986: 49) It was more difficult to isolate those defining characteristics which distinguish between the inductive exercises. Exercises H, I, and J (see Figure 1) exhibit the same cluster of characteristics. However, H and I could be reclassified as open and closed sorting exercises respectively. H is open because the student is expected not only to sort data into groups but also to label the groups by discovering how they differ in meaning. In I, the semantic difference between the groups is given: the student merely sorts the data. Exercise H Sort these sentences into two groups. What is the basic structural difference between them? In what way are the two groups different in meaning? 164 Alan Fortune

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Oh dear, Im going to sneeze. Philips coming to see us on Saturday. Im going to see my grandmother at the weekend. Im taking my exam in June. Hes going to be a ballet dancer. Im afraid its going to rain again. The children are starting school again next week. Dont forget were having dinner early this evening. from Lewis, M. (1986: 168)

Exercise I Study these examples. 1 Goodbye, Ill see you tomorrow. 2 Look at those big black clouds. Its going to rain. 3 We bought our tickets yesterday. Were leaving at four oclock tomorrow afternoon. 4 Beth may come to stay with us next weekend. 5 The weather might be better if we wait until July. 6 Our boat leaves Southampton at 10 a.m. next Monday and arrives in New York next Friday evening. Now write the numbers of the examples above in the appropriate column. The speaker is sure The speaker is not sure from Shepherd et al. (1984: 112) Of the other TYPE 2 exercises, L (+ Rank) involved ranking modal auxiliary verbs for degree of likelihood (John must/should/might be alive, etc.) and also the ranking of intensifiers (quite, extremely, etc.), both contextualized in isolated sentences. M (+ Class) was very demanding. It required students to fill in a grid indicating whether or not specified nouns displayed certain grammatical features, e.g. whether or not they could follow the indefinite article, or function as a lexical verb (e.g. train). Exercise M These are some of the features that nouns can possess. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Can Can Can Can Can Can Can come after the. come after a/an. have a singular and a plural form. have the singular form only. have the plural form only. come between the + noun, e.g. a baby boy. be made into a verb, e.g. to book.

Look at the nouns listed below and place either ticks (-) or crosses (X) in the columns. For example, if a noun possesses feature 6, but not feature 7, then you tick column 6 and put a cross in column 7.
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book baby sheep news cattle Peter scissors music furniture (adapted from an unpublished exercise by Norman Whitney)

Results of the investigation Questionnaire A

Questionnaire A was returned by 49 informants. The main findings were:

l

46 (94 per cent) considered that grammar played a very important role in language learning. By far the two most favoured grammar learning strategies were (see Ellis and Sinclair, 1989: 4654): - asking native speakers questions about grammar; - referring regularly to a grammar book. 32 (65 per cent) preferred to do grammar practice in class; 15 (31 per cent) preferred to do grammar practice on their own. 34 (69 per cent) preferred to be presented with a rule first, and then to do related grammar exercises (TYPE 1); 12 (24 per cent) preferred to study some example language in order to discover a grammar rule themselves (TYPE 2).

Questionnaire

Questionnaire B was returned by 45 informants. The main findings were:

l

24 (53 per cent) preferred TYPE I (deductive) exercises; 19 (42 per cent) preferred TYPE 2 (inductive) exercises. 40 (89 per cent) preferred exercises which involved a choice of linguistic forms; 5 (11 per cent) preferred exercises which provided practice of one form only. Least interesting exercises Most interesting exercises 1 D (33 points) 1 E (41 points) 2 C (26 points) 2 N (22 points) 3 G (23 points) 3 L (18 points)

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Most 1 K 2 M 3 L

difficult exercises (50 points) (41 points) (25 points)

Easiest exercises 1 G (31 points) 2 D (28 points) 3 C (21 points)

(Note: the points were awarded on the basis of 3 for the most interesting, difficult, etc., down to 1 for the third most interesting, etc.) l When invited to contrast B and E: 8 (17 per cent) of the informants preferred B; 36 (80 per cent) preferred E. l Exercises C, D, F, and G drew negative comments from about 80 per cent of the informants. All four exercises dealt exclusively with one linguistic form and were also based on a non-linguistic feature such as a picture or chart.
Discussion of the results

I shall first deal with the informants opinions of the TYPE 1 and TYPE 2 approaches, and then with their thoughts on specific exercise types from the battery. Comments made during the group interview stage are included. The experience of doing the inductive activities persuaded some students that they provided worthwhile and enjoyable practice. Although a majority (58 per cent) still expressed a preference for TYPE 1practice, the proportion preferring TYPE 2 work jumped from 24 per cent to 42 per cent. Some student comments appear to support Harmers (1987) views on motivation: It makes me work harder and use my common sense. I find it rewarding to find out the rules myself. (Ana, Portugal, on TYPE 2 exercises) A good idea to look at grammar the other way round. You learn about English without having to learn boring rules. (Petra, Germany) Some backed Lewiss claim (1986) that inductive work facilitates the ready commitment of grammar to memory. When you find the rule yourself youll be able to remember it more easily. Its a more active way of learning to use English properly. (Marie-Odile, France) There was some indication that the higher their language level, the more likely the learners were to prefer TYPE 2 exercises. This was possibly because several informants, mostly at the lower levels, felt insecure without the rule first, and were sometimes unsure what was expected of them. For example, the sorting exercises (H to J) drew responses ranging from great enthusiasm to total bewilderment, the latter usually with the linguistically weaker students. The closed sorting exercises (I, J) cause fewer problems than the open one (H). Some exercises, although interesting, were difficult to understand, it wasnt clear what we had to do, or why. (Rifat, Pakistan, on TYPE 2 practice)
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Deductive or inductive?

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The group discussions revealed that the difficulties some students encountered with sorting practice (and TYPE 2 work in general) might well have been obviated by appropriate classroom learner training beforehand. I would suggest that this is an essential prerequisite of much TYPE 2 practice. Very significantly, the group interviews also revealed that many students like TYPE 2 practice to be reinforced by looking at a rule afterwards, and then by further practice. Seeing a rule is an important prop, even for many of those who preferred TYPE 2 practice. I feel more secure with a rule because my intuition does not tell me a lot. (Caroline, France) You cant be 100 per cent sure that youve found the rule. You must have the possibility to get the right rule from the teacher. (Sara, Sweden) These students would appear to concur with Eisenstein (1987: 288) who, in a discussion of classroom grammar teaching, argues that both deductive and inductive presentation can be useful depending on the cognitive style of the learner and the structure to be presented. She puts the case for a compromise methodological position where learners attempt to discover a rule from selected language data, then compare it with pedagogic grammar, and finally do more practice of the structure(s) concerned.

Student views of specific exercises from the battery

Exercises incorporating a linguistic context, such as a continuous text, generally proved more popular than those involving uncontextualized sentences. The overwhelming preference for E rather than B is a testament to this. However, the provision of a non-linguistic context did not give rise to a positive response. As shown in the results section, three such exercises (C, D, and G) were ranked the three least interesting. The interviews revealed a consensus that the diagrams and pictures upon which these activities were based were considered uninteresting. A table of car hire charges (D) and a flight itinerary (F) were far from stimulating. The value of non-linguistic information as a basis for language work has long been recognized, but if we wish it to motivate, the subject matter must be less mundane. D was boring because you had to repeat the same structure ten times. I was thinking more about maths than about conditional sentences. Anyway, Im not interested in car hire charges. (Veronica, Austria) Veronicas statement displayed another general preference, also reflected in the unpopularity of C, D, F, and G, for practice involving a choice from more than one linguistic form. Only E of the three exercises considered most interesting was of TYPE I. The other two (N and L) both made use of ranking, and drew these comments:

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I profited from it [N]. I had to think about slight differences in meaning. Difficult, but a lot of fun. (Marie-Odile, France)

Some concluding remarks

The investigation produced information that is potentially useful to language teachers and materials writers about the types of exercise that our students, whose views should not be overlooked, find motivating. I will now select the self-study practice I recommend for students with greater care. Clearly, however, conclusions based on such a small sample of both exercises and informants are by necessity tentative. Further, more detailed research is planned to investigate the relationship between initial student beliefs about language learning and preferences for inductive or deductive practice. Skehan (1989: 111-2) discusses the difference between field-independent (analytical) and field-dependent (holistic) learners. The hypothesis that field-independent learners will both prefer and be more successful at TYPE 2 practice than field-dependent learners is also to be investigated. As far as organizing a small-scale piece of action research is concerned, the study highlights the value of not relying entirely on written questionnaire responses. The two questionnaires, particularly the second, were essential and integral parts of the investigation, and yielded valuable qualitative and quantitative information. Nevertheless, the group interview technique allowed the completed questionnaires to be used as a basis for probing more deeply into the students responses. Moreover, the interaction between the informants brought to light views which might not have been elicited in one-to-one interviews. To conclude, it is worth quoting Joan Rubin (198 1): The good language learner is constantly looking for patterns in the language. He attends to the form in a particular way, constantly analyzing, categorizing and synthesizing. He is constantly trying to find schemes for classifying information.
2 practice is designed to facilitate just such mental processes. With this in mind, an investigation is being planned into the relationship between language achievement and preference for inductive or deductive practice. TYPE

Rubin (1981) also says of the good language learner that . . . the more experience he has with doing this [analyzing, categorizing, etc.] sort of exercise the more successful he will be. This implies that TYPE 2 practice engenders better learning. Whether or not this is the case, experience of inductive exercises caused a significant number of my informants to prefer it to the more familiar deductive approach. Students who feel positively about the type of language practice they are undertaking will surely learn more effectively than they otherwise would.
Received October 1991 practice: learners views 169

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References

Adamson, D. and D. Cobb. 1987. Active Grammar Exercises. London: Longman. Eisenstein, M. 1987. Grammatical explanations in ESL: teach the student, not the method, in Long and Richards (eds.) 1987. Ellis, G. and B. Sinclair. 1989. Learning to Learn English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harmer, J. 1987. Teaching and Learning Grammar. London: Longman. Lewis, M. 1986. The English Verb. Hove: Language Teaching Publications. Long, M. and J. Richards (eds.) 1987. Methodology in TESOL: a book of readings. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House. Rubin, J. 1981. What the good language learner can teach us. TESOL Quarterly 9: 41-51. Seidl, J. and M. Swan. 1986. Basic English Usage: Exercises. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shepherd, J., R. Rossner, and J. Taylor. 1984. Ways to Grammar. London: Macmillan. Skehan, P. 1989. Individual Differences in SecondLanguage Learning. London: Edward Arnold. Walker, E. and S. Elsworth. 1986. Grammar Practice for Intermediate Students. London: Longman.

2 Please tick the appropriate response. I prefer to do grammar exercises in class on my own Please give a reason for your choice.
3 Please tick the appropriate response.

a. Doing grammar exercises on my own is rather dull dull of some interest, but not a lot interesting very interesting b. Doing grammar exercises in class is rather dull dull of some interest, but not a lot interesting very interesting
Write (a) or (b) in the space alongside:______

To learn English grammar, I prefer a. to read a grammar rule first and then to do an exercise; or b. to look at some examples (e.g. pairs of sentences, a text) in order to try to discover a grammar rule. To learn grammar, which of the following do you do?

Acknowledgements

The author and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce material that falls within their copyright:
Intermediate

Tick only those statements which apply to you. Leave the other statements blank.

Longman for an exercise from Grammar Practice for Students by Walker, E. and S. Elsworth (1987); and for an exercise from Active Grammar Exercises by Adamson, D. and D. Cobb (1987). Language Teaching Publications for an exercise from The English Verb by Lewis, M. (1986). Macmillan for an exercise from Ways to Grammar by Shepherd, J., R. Rossner, and J. Taylor (1984).

a. Refer regularly to a grammar book b. Discuss grammar with your friends or classmates C. Ask native speakers questions about grammar d. Do grammar exercises in your free time e. Ask native speakers to correct you f. Choose a grammar topic to learn every week/month
6 To learn English

grammar, do you think it is necessary to know grammatical terms (e.g. past progressive, passive, countable noun)?
Tick appropriately. Yes No -

Appendix Questionnaire

A A

1 How important do you think it is to do grammar practice exercises to learn English?

Please tick (-) the appropriate response.

Appendix Questionnaire

B B

very important important useful, but not very important unimportant

170 Alan Fortune

1 Choose the three exercises that you found most difficult. List them in order of difficulty. For example, if you found exercise E most difficult, place E next

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to number 1. Then do the same for the three easiest exercises. Easiest Most difficult l______ 2 ______ 2______ _____ 3 3______ Choose the three exercises you found most interesting and enjoyable to do. List them in order of interest. Then do the same for the three least interesting (dullest) exercises. Least interesting Most interesting

Do you prefer exercises which involve only one grammatical form (for example, D or F), or those which involve choosing between two or more forms (for example, E or G)? Please tick. One form only _____ Choice of forms ______ Please comment on the following exercises. Think of such matters as: difficulty, how much you thought you learnt, was it fun to do? etc. Exercise C Exercise F Exercises H, I, and J
General comments

Exercise L Exercise M

In some of the exercises (e.g. A to D) a grammatical rule is given first, and then you do a practice exercise. We shall call these TYPE I. In other exercises (e.g. H to M) you are presented with examples of the language, and you try to find out the rule(s) yourself. We shall call these TYPE 2. Which do you prefer when studying on your own?
Tick appropriately.
TYPE1 _________ TYPE2 _______

Please add any other comments about the exercises.

The author

Please give a reason for your choice, and any further comment you would like to make. Which did you find most useful? Exercise B or Exercise E? ______ Why?

Alan Fortune is a Senior Lecturer in English Language Teaching at the Polytechnic of West London at Ealing. He holds an MSc in Applied Linguistics from Edinburgh University, and has worked in Sweden and Indonesia. His current work includes both the pre- and in-service training of English language teachers on the Polytechnics MA in English Language Teaching and other courses for British and overseas teachers. He also works extensively with undergraduate learners. His current research concerns individual learner differences in approaches to grammar learning. His other interests include cultural studies, syllabus design, and teaching and assessing advanced learners.

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