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433 Pages·2015·8.39 MB·English

People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Sétif 2 University
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of English Language and Literature

Thesis
Submitted in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctorat En-Sciences
in Psychopedagogy and Foreign Languages Teaching

HOW DOES LEARNERS’ GRAMMATICAL
ACCURACY COME ABOUT WHEN LEARNING
OCCURS COOPERATIVELY?
The Case of First Year Students at the Department of English at
M’sila University

By: BAGHDADI Assia
Board of Examiners:
Chairman: Prof. SAADI Hacène Professor Constantine 1 University
Supervisor: Prof. KESKES Said Professor Setif 2 University
Examiner: Prof. NEMOUCHI Abdelhak Professor Constantine 1 University
Examiner: Prof. LARABA Samir Professor Constantine 1 University
Examiner: Dr. ABDELATIF Naouel MCA Setif 2 University

2015
Abstract

With the growing interest in classroom communicative language learning and
teaching techniques, a much greater interest has been attributed to the interactive
group activities. In an attempt to investigate the impact of small group interaction on
EFL learners’ grammatical accuracy achievement, methodological field experiments
had been carried out with a sample of 30 students in the Department of English
Language and Literature at M’sila University. And for the purpose of extending the
research scope into the social and cognitive dimensions, we went further through
firstly analysing the learners’ interactive contexts using the Interaction Analysis
method to investigate the existence and the frequency of the speech functions that
might account for this effectiveness; and secondly through exploring the effect of that
interactive context on the involvement extent of some of the cognitive processes
underlying grammar learning. The obtained results indicated that learners’ cooperative
work had a positive effect on EFL learners’ grammar achievement, and that factors
such as the group size, the nature of the interaction, the role of the learner, and the
type of the task-based grammatical structure had an influential effect on EFL learners’
grammar performance. The extent of the cognitive abilities involvement depended on
many factors such as the nature of the interactional context, the time factor which
indicated the long-term effect of the interactional context upon the learners’ internal
processes, the impact of task design on learners’ learning, and the type of the target
structure itself which may intervene to make one specific cognitive process more or
less demanding.
Dedication

This work is dedicated
To my parents,
To my wonderful husband Mahmoud, and to my children:
Manaf , Ilef, and Ayham
To my brothers and sisters
Acknowledgements

All my gratitude goes to my supervisor Professor Said Keskes
whose sound advice and intellectual guidance contributed to the
elaboration and completion of this work.
I am awfully grateful to my husband Dr. Ibrahimi Mahmoud
without his unwavering support at different levels bringing this thesis to
its end would have never been possible.
Thanks are due to my students at the Department of English at
M’sila University who participated in the practical aspects of the
research.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all members of the jury
for agreeing to read the manuscript and to participate in the defense of
this thesis.
List of Abbreviations
BIAS: Brown Interaction Analysis System
CIRC: Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition.
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language
GI: Group Investigation.
IA: Interaction Analysis
IH : Interaction Hypothesis
IQ: Intelligence Quotient
LAD: Language Acquisition Device
L2 : Second Language
LT: Learning Together
PG: Pedagogical Grammar
SCT: Sociocultural Theory
SD: Syllabus Design
SLA: Second Language Acquisition
STAD: Student Teams Achievement Divisions
TAI: Team Assisted Individualization
TGT: Teams-Games-Tournament
ZPD: Zone of Proximal Development

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List of Tables
Table 1. The Revised Cognitive Domain ....................................................................... 24
Table 2. Left –and Right-Brain Characteristics. ........................................................... 46
Table 3. Communication Strategies .............................................................................. 58
Table 4. Differences Between Cooperative Learning and Collaborative Learning ...... 85
Table 5. Effects of Self-Efficacy. .................................................................................. 89
Table 6. Summary of Expectancy-Value Theories ....................................................... 91
Table 7. Factors Influencing Goal Setting and Goal Commitment ............................... 92
Table 8. Motivated Behaviors by the Degree of Internalization. .................................. 95
Table 9. Some Definitions of the Word Group. ......................................................... 101
Table 10. Roles in Groups. ........................................................................................... 114
Table 11. A Summarizing Table of Grammar Definitions Following Chronological
Order ..................................................................................................................... 173
Table 12. Conceptual Levels Underlying Grammar Teaching .................................... 193
Table 13. The Results Obtained by the Experimental and the Control Groups During
the Whole Empirical Work. .................................................................................. 218
Table 14. The Frequency of the Speech Functions Found in the Tape of Five Learners
Group Interaction. ................................................................................................. 226
Table 15. The Frequency of the Speech Functions Found in the Tape of Ten Learners
Group Interaction .................................................................................................. 227
Table 16. The Frequency of the Speech Functions Found in the Tape of Fifteen
Learners Group Interaction. .................................................................................. 229
Table 17. Descriptive Statistics for the First Pre-Test and Post-Test Outcomes ......... 239
Table18. Correlation Between the Student’s Grammar Performance and Some Selected
Cognitive Processes (Linking Verbs) ................................................................... 240
Table 19. Descriptive Statistics for the Second Pre-Test and Post-Test Outcomes ..... 250
Table 20. Correlation Between the Student’s Grammar Performance and Some Selected
Cognitive Processes (Passive Sentence) ............................................................... 250
Table 21. Descriptive Statistics for the Third Pre-Test and Post-Test Outcomes ........ 260

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Table 22. Correlation Between the Student’s Grammar Performance and Some Selected
Cognitive Processes (Was/Were + Past participle+Ing; Past simple
+Being+Past.Participle) ........................................................................................ 260
Table 23. Descriptive Statistics for the Fourth Pre-Test and Post-Test Outcomes ..... 269
Table 24. Correlation Between the Student’s Grammar Performance and Some Selected
Cognitive Processes (the Passive form: the Verb + To Be +P. Participle) ........... 270
Table 25. Descriptive Statistics for the Fifth Pre-Test and Post-Test Outcomes ......... 280
Table 26. Correlation Between the Student’s Grammar Performance and Some Selected
Cognitive Processes (Tenses in Reported Speech) ............................................... 280

III
List of Figures
Figure 1. Example of propositional networks. ............................................................... 32
Figure 2. The diagram of the systems model. ................................................................ 40
Figure 3. Diagram of the strategy system showing the memory strategies. ................. 52
Figure 4. Diagram of the strategy system showing the cognitive strategies. ................. 53
Figure 5. Diagram of the strategy system showing the compensation strategies. ......... 54
Figure 6. Diagram of the strategy system showing the metacognitive strategies. ......... 55
Figure 7. Diagram of the strategy system showing the affective strategies. .................. 56
Figure 8. Diagram of the strategy system showing the social strategies ....................... 57
Figure 9. A stage model of memory ............................................................................. 63
Figure 10. Tuckman’s theory of group development stages. ....................................... 106
Figure 11. Types of group interdependence. ............................................................... 111
Figure 12. Joseph E. McGrath’s task circumplex eight Bbsic group activities. ... …. 113
Figure 13. The dynamic effects of the approach design-procedure framework .......... 139
Figure 14. A framework for analyzing communicative tasks ...................................... 168
Figure 15. Types of grammar ....................................................................................... 190
Figure 16. Descriptive grammar as a source of other grammars ................................. 191
Figure 17. Conceptual levels underlying grammar teaching. ...................................... 194
Figure 18.The sampling procedure .............................................................................. 215

IV
List of Graphs
Graph 1. The developmental stages of the whole empirical work .............................. 219
Graph 2. The frequency of the speech functions found in the tape of five learners
group. .................................................................................................................... 226
Graph 3. The frequency of the speech functions found in the tape of ten learners group
.......................................................................................................................... .. 228
Graph 4. The frequency of the speech functions found in the tape of fifteen learners
group. .................................................................................................................... 229
Test(1) Graphs: Correlation between learners' cognitive abilities and their grammar
performance. (Linking verbs)……………………………………….….………240
Graph 5. Correlation between analogy and learners’ pre-test outcomes ..................... 240
Graph 6. Correlation between analogy and learners’ post-test outcomes ................... 241
Graph 7. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ pre-test outcomes .. 241
Graph 8. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ post-test outcomes 242
Graph 9. Correlation between memory and learners’ pre-test outcomes .................... 242
Graph 10. Correlation between memory and learners’ post-test outcomes ................. 243
Graph 11. Correlation between attention and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................. 243
Graph 12. Correlation between attention and learners’ post-test outcomes ................ 244
Graph 13. Correlation between classification and learners’ pre-test outcomes .......... 244
Graph 14. Correlation between classification and learners’ post-test outcomes ......... 245
Graph 15. Correlation between analytical thinking and learners’ pre-test outcomes .. 245
Graph 16. Correlation between analytical thinking and learners’ post-test outcomes 246
Graph 17. Correlation between creativity and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................ 246
Graph 18. Correlation between creativity and learners’ post-test outcomes ............... 247

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Test(2) graphs: Correlation between learners' cognitive abilities and their grammar
performance. (The Passive form structure)……………………………...…..……….250
Graph 19. Correlation between analogy and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................... 251
Graph 20. Correlation between analogy and learners’ post-test outcomes ................. 251
Graph 21. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ pre-test outcomes 252
Graph 22. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ post-test outcomes
.............................................................................................................................. 252
Graph 23. Correlation between memory and learners’ pre-test outcomes .................. 253
Graph 24. Correlation between memory and learners’ post-test outcomes ................. 253
Graph 25. Correlation between attention and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................. 254
Graph 26. Correlation between attention and learners’ post-test outcomes ................ 254
Graph 27. Correlation between classification and learners’ pre-test outcomes .......... 255
Graph 28. Correlation between classification and learners’ post-test outcomes ......... 255
Graph 29. Correlation between analytical thinking and learners’ pre-test outcomes .. 256
Graph 30. Correlation between analytical thinking and learners’ post-test outcomes 256
Graph 31. Correlation between creativity and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................ 257
Graph 32. Correlation between creativity and learners’ post-test outcomes ............... 257
Test (3) graphs: Correlation between learners' cognitive abilities and their grammar
performance ( Was/Were + Past Participle + Ing; Past Simple+ Being+ Past Participle)
……………………...……………………………………………..…………………260
Graph 33. Correlation between analogy and learners’ pre-test outcomes ................... 261
Graph 34. Correlation between analogy and learners’ post-test outcomes ................. 261
Graph 35. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ pre-test outcomes 262
Graph 36. Correlation between associative thinking and learners’ post-test outcomes
.............................................................................................................................. 262
Graph 37. Correlation between memory and learners’ pre-test outcomes .................. 263
Graph 38. Correlation between memory and learners’ post-test outcomes ................. 263

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