Metalinguistic Awareness and the Accuracy of Postgraduate TEFL Students’ Writing: Teacher’s Focus vs. Learners’ Focus
محورهای موضوعی : language teaching
Zohreh Seifoori
1
(
Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
)
کلید واژه: Writing, Focus on Form, Grammatical Accuracy, Metalinguistic Awareness,
چکیده مقاله :
The sway of the pendulum in language pedagogy towards conscious learning processes marks the paramount role of metalinguistic awareness. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the impact of teacher-oriented vs. learner-generated metalinguistic awareness activities on Iranian TEFL students’ writing accuracy. Sixty participants in three intact classes were randomly assigned as one control, and two experimental groups. All the participants received the same process-oriented instruction based on identical teaching materials. In the first experimental group, the teacher-focus metalinguistic awareness (TFMA) group, however, a collection of various form-focused activities, compiled by the teacher, was assigned and reviewed in the class weekly. In the learner-focused metalinguistic awareness (LFMA) group, the same assignments were assigned as supplementary self-study activities. The control group did not receive any structural assignments. The treatment perpetuated for six sessions and the analyses of the data obtained from the writing post-test revealed that both TFMA and LFMA groups outperformed the control group by producing more accurate writing and that the TF group surpassed the LF group. The findings lend credence to the significance of language awareness in EFL contexts and offer a number of pedagogical implications.
حرکت آونگ آموزش زبان به سوی فرآیندهای آگاهانه آموزشی نقش مهم آگاهی فرازبانی را مورد تاکید قرار می دهد. پژوهش شبه تجربی حاضربا هدف مقایسه میزان تاثیر آگاهی فرازبانی فعالیتهای جهت داده شده توسط معلم و فعالیتهای انجام شده توسط زبان آموزان بر صحت دستوری نوشتار دانشجویان کارشناسی ارشد آموزش زبان انگلیسی طراحی گردید. شصت آزمودنی در سه کلاس نگارش پیشرفته به صورت تصادفی به یک گروه شاهد و دو گروه تحقیق نامگذاری شدند و در کلیه کلاسها آموزش فرآیند-محور بر اساس مطالب آموزشی یکسان به اجرا در آمد. در گروه تحقیق اول که گروه آگاهی فرازبانی معلم کانونبود مجموعه ایی از تمرینات صورت-محور گردآوری شده توسط معلم به عنوان تکلیف تعیین و بصورت هفتگی توسط دانشجویان انجام و در کلاس بررسی می شد. در گروه تحقیق دوم، گروه فراگیرکانون، این تمرینات تنها به عنوان تکالیف جانبی خودآموزی به دانشجویان ارائه گردید درحالی که گروه کنترل هیچگونه تمرین دستوری اضافی انجام ندادند. تحلیل آماری نتایج پس آزمون نوشتاری در پایان دوره آموزشی شش هفته ایی نشانگر میزان بالاتر صحت دستوری در نوشتار گروههای تحقیق در مقایسه با گروه کنترل و برتری گروه معلم کانون نسبت به گروه فراگیر کانون بود. نتایج این پژوهش اهمیت آگاهی فرازبانی در بافتهای زبان دوم را از یکسو و نقش اساسی معلم در جهت دادن به این آگاهی از سوی دیگر مورد تاکید قرار می دهد و کاربردهای آموزشی آن مورد بحث قرار خواهد گرفت.
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