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English Second Language Strategies For Teaching Irregular Plural Noun Morphological Inflection
Abstract
Nouns are one basic component of the syntactic category of the English language because they can be used as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, subject complements, object complements, appositives, or adjectives of sentences. Transforming regular nouns from singular to plural forms is comprehensible since the usual patterning is used. Converting irregular nouns from singular to plural forms causes difficulties to non-native learners of English since conversion does not follow the usual patterning. The study examined English second language strategies for teaching irregular plural noun morphological inflection to Grade 8 learners. The researcher used a quantitative research design because the results could be analysed mathematically and statistically. A probability technique was used to randomly sample 25 participants whose ages ranged from 14 to 16 at Ndaedzo Secondary School in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 was utilised to interpret the findings. Initially, the participants were incompetent in this regard but after utilising the ‘irregular plurals reversi memory game’, and ‘irregular plural nouns in movement game’ strategies, learners’ performance improved remarkably. The research recommends teaching irregular plural noun morphological inflection using the games.
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The alveolar fricative occurs in word-final position in English in different grammatical functions. Nominal suffixes may indicate plurality (e.g. cars ), genitive case (e.g. car’s ) or plurality and genitive case in cumulation (e.g. cars’ ). Further, there are the third person singular verbal suffix (e.g. she fears ) and the cliticized forms of the third person singular forms of have and be (e.g. she’s been lucky ; she’s friendly ). There is also non-affixal s (e.g. freeze (noun)). Against the standard view that all these types are homophonous, several empirical studies have shown that at least some of the fricatives listed can actually be differentiated in their duration. The present article expands this line of research and considers a further case, which has not been included in previous analyses: pluralia-tantum nouns (e.g. goggles ). We report on a carefully controlled reading study in which native speakers of British English produced pluralia-tantum and comparable regular-plural nouns (e.g. toggles ). The duration of the word-final fricative was measured, and it was found that the two do not systematically differ in this acoustic parameter. The new data are interpreted in comparison to relevant previous studies, and against the background of the similarities of pluralia-tantum and regular-plural nouns.
Quantitative and qualitative methods are the engine behind evidence-based outcomes. For decades, one of the popular phenomena that troubled young researchers is that which appropriate research method to employ in their research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been further considered in the research methodology, especially in the field of education. In most pieces of research, these approaches are considered to be two functional and necessary methods. The main aim of this paper is to identify the differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods and to evaluate the bright discrepancies between these two factors. Besides, this paper is expected to help young researchers to realize the precise approach and apply it properly in their research. The researchers recommend young researchers use both qualitative and quantitative simultaneously to promote the quality of their research.
Reliability and validity are the two most important and fundamental features in the evaluation of any measurement instrument or tool for a good research. The purpose of this research is to discuss the validity and reliability of measurement instruments that are used in research. Validity concerns what an instrument measures, and how well it does so. Reliability concerns the faith that one can have in the data obtained from the use of an instrument, that is, the degree to which any measuring tool controls for random error. An attempt has been taken here to review the reliability and validity, and threat to them in some details.
One of the most common claims made about the difference between inflection and derivation in the morphological literature is that derivational affixes change the word-class of their base, while inflectional affixes do not change the word-class. In this paper I argue that this view is wrong, and that important insights about the nature of inflection and derivation are lost if word-class-changing inflection is not recognized. In §2, I present a number of examples of word-class-changing inflection, and in §3–5 I discuss several potential objections to my analysis. I show that the cases in question can be regarded neither as word-class-changing derivation (§3–4) nor as non-word-class-changing inflection (§5), and that a description in terms of feature neutralization is not a general solution (§6). In §7 I argue that to account for the syntactic properties of words, two types of word-class have to be distinguished: lexeme word-class and word-form word-class. §8 discusses some problems that arise in the formal representation of this proposal in constituent-structure trees and observes that Tesnière’s dependency grammar provides an interesting perspective. Finally, §9 discusses the universal correlation between inflection and preservation of internal syntax, and derivation and the non-preservation of internal syntax.
Higher education faculty strive to adopt pedagogical approaches that generate student engagement, motivation, and quality learning experiences. The literature on play has much to offer higher education. However, playful pedagogy remains an uncommon approach in education and is often represented in the literature as a practice utilized for a singular purpose and not as an underlying teaching philosophy. This phenomenological study examines the meaning of students’ experiences of play as a foundation to learning. The themes that emerge are: 1) play is underutilized and devalued in higher education, 2) play cultivates relational safety and a warm classroom environment, 3) play removes barriers to learning, 4) play awakens students’ positive affect and motivation, and 5) play ignites an open and engaged learning stance to enhance learning.
Purpose
– This study aims to build on Gee’s (2003) earlier question exploring specifically the learning processes associated with broadening cultural empathy and exploring personal bias through gameplay in the role-playing game, Oblivion.
Design/methodology/approach
– Methodology for this case study (Stake, 1995) was informed by narrative (Reissman, 2001) methods that focused on collecting descriptions of the unique experiences of participants while being engaged in gameplay and their personal reflections synthesizing game-based engagement and course content. “Narrative research offers the possibility of exploring nuances and interrelationships among aspects of experience that the reader might better understand other related situations” (Josselson, p. 239). Our study focused on using narrative research methods to examine embodiment within the fictional world of the game as an experiential participatory-learning experience.
Findings
– All participants indicated that the most salient learning experiences of the course was playing the game. The process participants underwent the experience of an event in the game and linked this gaming experience to their personal real-life reaction combined with emotions and thoughts. They then self-reflected on those reactions, which cumulatively contributed to self-reported increased self-awareness in the areas of personal bias, stereotypes, attitudes, values, beliefs and privilege. Three themes were identified from the data, namely, increase or variance in levels of self-awareness, navigating unfamiliar cultural systems and increased understanding and cognitive empathy for others. In addition, a fourth additional theme of embodiment and the value of embodiment were identified.
Research limitations/implications
– Lacking in the findings were reports by participants regarding application of skills to different cultural populations. Future research will focus on how integration of application of skills can be facilitated using similar pedagogical practices. Because this study included a small number of participants who were counseling students in a master’s program, the applicability of the findings to other student populations is limited. Further research would need to determine whether or not the findings could be replicated with other types of students.
Practical implications
– Embedding the intervention within the structure of a course appeared to provide a supportive and safe space for experiencing embodied selves, it also provided a mode for performing their future selves for and with colleagues experiencing similar situations. In this way, they were able to venture with and among their colleagues toward a fuller understanding of self, and particularly in conjunction to diverse populations. These features of the intervention appeared to work in concert together holistically affording a space where they could be vulnerable enough, open enough, to begin questioning their central thoughts and beliefs and increase their empathy for others who are different.
Social implications
– Using the game of Oblivion allowed our students to have an embodied experience in a virtual space where they got to experience being in a completely different culture and experience culture shock. They had to make decisions that forced them to review their belief systems, go against their belief systems, or explore options that were against their belief systems in a safe way with no real-life repercussions. This embodied experience allowed our participants to engage in behaviors that none would dare to do in their real world and provided a comfort zone to explore taboo subjects.
Originality/value
– Embedding the game within the curriculum encouraged participants to experience feelings of embodied empathy (Gee, 2010). Oblivion assisted in this process by providing participants the opportunity to gain entry into a unique designed world, a realistic but pseudo-cultural world replete with social and institutional structures both familiar and foreign to their real life. This appeared to provide a realistic manifestation of self, positioning participants toward experiencing embodied empathy for the designed scenarios in the game.
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