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A Study of The Causes For EFL Students ' Difficulty To Produce The Final - S For The Simple Present Tense

This document outlines a study exploring why intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) students have difficulty producing the final -s for the simple present tense when speaking spontaneously. The study will analyze data collected from 6 Spanish-speaking EFL students aged 15-16 through background questionnaires, naturalistic observation, and recordings. The researchers anticipate that students regularly omit the final -s due to factors such as first language interference, affective issues, fossilization, imperfect knowledge of grammar rules, and psycholinguistic difficulty. The study aims to help understand the various sources of difficulty with this grammatical feature.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
44 views10 pages

A Study of The Causes For EFL Students ' Difficulty To Produce The Final - S For The Simple Present Tense

This document outlines a study exploring why intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) students have difficulty producing the final -s for the simple present tense when speaking spontaneously. The study will analyze data collected from 6 Spanish-speaking EFL students aged 15-16 through background questionnaires, naturalistic observation, and recordings. The researchers anticipate that students regularly omit the final -s due to factors such as first language interference, affective issues, fossilization, imperfect knowledge of grammar rules, and psycholinguistic difficulty. The study aims to help understand the various sources of difficulty with this grammatical feature.

Uploaded by

sangendo
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ESCUELA SUPERIOR DE IDIOMAS

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL COMAHUE

SEMINARIO ROTATIVO DE INVESTIGACIÓN


RESEARCH DESIGN

A study of the causes for


EFL students’ difficulty to
produce the final –s for
the simple present tense

Malena Alejandra Cocci – Carla Verónica Valls

2007
Purpose
To explore the causes that lead students of English as a
foreign language to drop the final ~s for the simple present
tense when speaking spontaneously (in the classroom) if there
has been previous instruction on the rule.

Type of research
Analytic – Inductive.

Data collection procedures


Background questionnaire,
Naturalistic Observation,
Recordings.
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 difficulty


and grammatical difficulty.

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


acquisition.
Research questions

 Do intermediate students of
English as a foreign language
systematically produce the
final –s for the simple present
tense when speaking
spontaneously in class?

 If not, what are the causes


that lead them to drop the
final ~s for the simple present
subjects
 Six Spanish speaking
learners of English as a
foreign language.
 Age: 15 – 16.
Level: Intermediate.
They have been studying
English together since
Data collection procedures

BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE
- Background knowledge of the learners;
- Attitudes towards the language;
- Perceptions of difficulty in learning
English.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVETION AND


RECORDINGS

- Check whether the students produce this


inaccuracy orally.
Data analysis
 Background questionnaires
- Analysis and comparison to find recurrent
patterns in the students’ answers;
- Individual analysis, and subsequent comparison to
each student’s performance.

 Naturalistic observation and recordings


- Transcriptions;
- Isolation of instances of the simple present
tense;
- Classification of these instances into grammatical
and ill-formed.
Anticipated outcomes
The subjects regularly omit the final –s for
the simple present tense due to a combination
of 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 this
morpheme is taught (at the beginning of the
courses) and the moment in which it is
actually learned/acquired during the process
of foreign language learning.
conclusion

 This project might help us explore the manifold


sources of difficulty in the production of the
final –s for the simple present tense.
 It may constitute a helpful tool, which might aid
us in discovering other possible ignored sources
of the problem.
 As Jeremy Harmer explains, whatever the reason
for “getting it wrong” it is vital for teachers to
realise that all students make mistakes as a
natural and useful way of learning. By working out
when and why things have gone wrong, they learn
more about the language they are studying.
“Teachers and
mothers who have
waged long and
patient battles
against their
students’ and
children’s language
errors have come to

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