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Article published In: Pedagogical Linguistics
Vol. 5:1 (2024) ► pp.56–75

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What is in the learner’s mind when trying to verbalize grammatical rules?

English third-person singular -s in two settings, Sweden and Vietnam

ORCiD logo with link | University of Gothenburg
 | Lund University | Linnaeus University
Published online: 20 September 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pl.22002.son
Abstract
The present study examines the outcome of teaching second language English (L2 English) third-person singular present tense -s for declarative knowledge in two different settings, namely Sweden and Vietnam. Third person -s is one of the most studied grammatical structures in second language acquisition research. Data are collected in two classroom contexts with different teaching traditions. Participants are 76 young learners, 11–12 years old, 32 with Swedish as L1 and 44 with L1 Vietnamese. The results demonstrate differences in learner outcomes in these two groups. The Vietnamese learners outperformed the Swedish learners on the tests of declarative knowledge. The analyses of learner explanations of third-person singular present tense -s reveal that learners tend to decompose this complex rule into several features, which sometimes lead them into misconceptions. This has pedagogical implications about EFL teaching and learning for young learners.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1English language teaching traditions in Vietnam
    • 2.2English language teaching traditions in Sweden
    • 2.3A brief note on explicit/declarative knowledge and explicit learning, explicit teaching
    • 2.4Previous studies: What is in the learner’s mind?
    • 2.5The target structure
  • 3.Material and method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Procedure
    • 3.3Scoring
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Declarative knowledge in Sweden and in Vietnam
    • 4.2In the minds of the learners
      • Person
      • Number
      • Tense
      • Aspect
      • Summarizing the learners’ representations
      • Individual learners
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Reference
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