1 formation of skills prior to the acquisition of 2 · 1 formation of skills prior to the...
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FORMATION OF SKILLS PRIOR TO THE ACQUISITION OF 1
BASIC GRAMMAR CATEGORIES 2
3
Abstract 4
Acquisition of grammar is a topic of discussion within educational system. Pupils at 5
school show strong difficulties in independent writing production, which depends, 6
among other aspects, on general knowledge of basis of grammar. No original 7
strategies neither innovation methods are proposed in traditional education. Our 8
study represents an effort to show new pedagogical approach for teaching of initial 9
grammar categories. The aim of the study was to obtain qualitative pedagogical 10
data during the work with basic grammatical categories through prior acquisition of 11
certain skills of orientation and reflective comprehension of differences between 12
essential characteristics of each type of word (basic grammar category). The study 13
was carried out with Mexican regular pupils of second grade of primary school. We 14
discuss effectiveness of positive results, which were obtained by application of new 15
pedagogical experience. Our proposal is based on strategies of guided orientation 16
according to cultural historical psychology and activity theory. 17
18
Key words: grammar categories, teaching methods, grammar teaching, primary 19
education, educational innovation. 20
21
22
23
Introduction 24
In Mexico, as in many other Latin American countries, acquisition of 25
grammar categories is a problem in primary school (Secretary of Education, 2010). 26
Children frequently have strong difficulties and show poor motivation during this 27
process. Such situation is reflected in low level of reading and writing abilities at 28
the end of primary school. According to official statistics of Secretariat of Education 29
en Mexico, among other difficulties, the level of comprehension of texts is 30
extremely low (OECD, 2000, 2003), as well as level of independent production of 31
written texts. There are no concrete pedagogical proposals for solutions of these 32
problems from official educational institutions. The motivation of Mexican school 33
children for theoretical acquisition of written language and for reading in general is 34
poor. 35
Psychological theory of historic and cultural development of human psyche 36
(Vygotski, 1996) may be used as methodological background for alternative 37
consideration of leaning process. Such methodology differs from traditional 38
teaching based on memorization of knowledge, repetition and reproductive 39
activities. Psychological activity theory understands the learning as active process. 40
This process includes directed and joint activity between teacher and pupils. The 41
direction of the learning process may be achieved by using specific orientation. 42
Such orientation includes introduction of general concepts for each area of 43
knowledge. That means that the whole process of knowledge acquisition is taken 44
into account as organized activity in opposition to empiric way of introduction of 45
knowledge just according to established official program (Talizina, 2000). 46
Strategies and ways for guided formation of concepts in primary school were 47
shown in activity theory applied to teaching process (Davidov, 1996; Galperin, 48
1979, 1987; Leontiev, 1978; Talizina, 2009). According to activity theory applied to 49
organization of learning process introduction of each type of concepts has to be 50
fulfilled on the basis of previous orientation of school children. Such orientation 51
requires special organization of learning activity divided between teacher and 52
pupils (Galperin, 2009a, 2009b; Talizina, 1988, 2009). 53
Considering the difficulties observed in primary school in Mexico related to 54
traditional teaching of grammar, it is possible to propose new kind of guided 55
programs adapted to features of grammar, lexical and morphological structure of 56
Spanish language. In our research, which is founded on activity theory applied to 57
teaching, we propose an alternative way for teaching grammar. Our program is 58
aimed to training and assimilation of general grammar categories at initial steps of 59
education in primary school. 60
The aim of our study was to obtain qualitative pedagogical data during the 61
work with basic grammatical categories through prior acquisition of certain skills of 62
orientation and reflective comprehension of differences between essential features 63
of each type of word (each grammar category). Methodology of experiment of 64
formation of concepts and actions, firstly proposed by Vygotski (1995) and 65
developed by Galperin (1998, 2000) was applied in the study. The way of formation 66
was based on the theory of interiorization starting from external level of orientation 67
and gradually passing to most independent execution of intellectual actions 68
(Galperin, 1979, 2000; Talizina, 2009; Talizina, Solovieva & Quintanar, 2010). The 69
stages for formation of intellectual actions by steps used in our study were 70
symbolic materialized level, level of perceptual actions and verbal oral and written 71
speech (Solovieva, 2004). All kinds of pedagogical activities applied in the study 72
were based on proposal of cooperation between adult and child according to the 73
conception of the zone of proximate development (Vygotski, 1991). 74
According to proposal of this author, new intellectual actions are more 75
significant for conceptual and intellectual development in comparison with old 76
traditional and easy actions and concepts (Vygotski, 1991). Working inside the 77
zone of proximate development means to introduce gradually always new actions 78
and concepts (Solovieva, 2014). Such conception contradicts completely to 79
traditional way of teaching based on constant repetition of rules and formal 80
concepts and its memorization. 81
The main purpose of our study is to offer specific kinds of new intellectual 82
actions, which may guarantee formation of initial general grammar concepts. Our 83
central interest was focused on the possibility of showing new way of reflective and 84
guided teaching and learning as parts of the unique process. The general concepts 85
used during formation were introduced as shared collective actions within 86
situations of dialogues. Discussions in groups and common solution of the 87
problems proposed in school sessions were essencial part of pur programm. 88
Specific guided orientation provided by teacher was the main methodological 89
instrument of our study. The significance of our study is related to creation of new 90
pedagogical programms, which may help to improve the level of current education 91
of grammar in primary school. Our research is new and unique of it’s kind in 92
Mexico. 93
94
METHOD 95
The study is qualitative, descriptive and exploratory and includes proposal of 96
innovative teaching program, which could facilitate the acquisition of basic Spanish 97
grammar categories. Children from the second grade of primary school (the city of 98
Puebla, central Mexico) were included in the study. The children were pupils of a 99
small private school were new innovative programs for teaching and learning are 100
being created according to main proposals of historical and cultural psychology 101
and activity theories. Such type of organization of educational works at this school 102
has permitted to carry out our study. The psychological age of the children who 103
participated in this research is school age. The sample was composed of 4 104
pupils of 7.25 years of chronological age on average, three boys and one girl 105
(Figure 1). 106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
Figure 1. Children who took part in the research 115
The criteria considered for inclusion of children in the study are presented 116
in Table 1. 117
118
Table 1. Criteria for inclussion of the children in the study. 119
Criteria for inclusion
N = 4
Criteria for exclusion of
analysis of data N = 0
Criteria for exclusion
N = 0
Children who were in
the second grade of the
selected school, and
living in the city of
Puebla.
Children who had a
history of neurological
and/or psychiatric
disorders, and children
who attended
regularization classes.
Children who missed at
least 5 sessions during
the course.
120
The research was conducted in a classroom within the Kepler College, 121
which has all the necessary structure and infrastructure and is located in the 122
center of the city of Puebla (Figure 2). 123
The College were our program was applied was completely new at the 124
time of the study, the reasons why the group of pupils was small. On the other 125
hand, the College was organized on the basis of research work of Master 126
Program of Neuropsychology at Psychology Faculty of Puebla Autonomous 127
University. The work was organized as a project for post graduated student. 128
The educational programm was designed and guided by researchers in the field 129
of educational neuropsychology and historical and cultural psychology 130
(Solovieva 2014; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2008). 131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
Figure 2. Kepler College 139
Special method for discrimination and differentiation of essential features 140
(semantic, grammatical and morphological) of Spanish categories and for gradual 141
acquisition of grammatical categories by stages was created (Solovieva, 2014). 142
The program is based on historic and cultural paradigm of psychological 143
development (Vygotski, 1995) and on the theory of gradual formation of mental 144
actions proposed by Galperin (2009a). The introduction of the new actions and 145
concepts takes place through joint activities applied Talizina (1988). Such kind of 146
approach permites to organize the assimilation of scientific concepts from general 147
category to particular manifestation of each level (Davidov, 1996). In case of 148
acquisition of grammar, we divided the program in two essential parts: 1) 149
introduction of prior general skill which could be called as meta-linguistic skills and 150
2) gradual teaching of grammar categories relevant to Spanish language 151
(Solovieva, 2014). 152
According to our proposal, the first part of the program included following 153
goals and activities: 154
1) formation of reflected sensibility for identification of words as independent 155
units within the sentence; 156
2) identification of meaning of each word within the sentence (concrete object, 157
abstract object or process; actions; characteristic of object; characteristic of 158
action or absence of any kind of specific meaning); 159
3) classification of the words in 2 groups: words with independent meaning and 160
words with auxiliary meaning; 161
4) elaboration of sentences with different types of words according to their 162
semantic meaning; 163
5) comparison of sentences from the poin of view of semantic meaning. 164
6) introduction of general concept of “sentence” as oral expression which 165
includes 2 aspects: about what we say (subject) and what we say 166
(predicate); 167
7) introduction and assimilation of general characteristics of a concept 168
“grammar category” or a “class of a word” (semantic, grammar and 169
morphological levels). 170
The second part of the program included elaborated orientation for all types 171
of grammar categories (classes of the words) used in Spanish language. Such 172
classes of the words are: noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb and article. At this 173
level of learning program, specification and particularization of concrete types 174
within each class of the word were not among the aims. Other kinds of grammar 175
categories or classes of words (preposition, conjunction, gerund number) were not 176
included at this level. 177
All activities were guided and organized as common divided tasks in 178
classroom according to the concept of the zone of proximate development within 179
historical and cultural paradigm of learning (Vygotski, 2007). The qualitative 180
pedagogical assessment of skills for the usage of grammar categories was applied 181
before and after our program according to activity theory methodology (Davidov, 182
2000; Talizina, 2009). 183
The educational program was applied during a school year period, with 184
three one-hour sessions per week. Therefore, we applied two assessments, at the 185
beginning and at the end of the program application. The goal of such assessment 186
was to evaluate the level of formation of grammatical categories before and after 187
working with our teaching program. Methodology of our research was employed 188
as qualitative exploratory study with comparison according to the following 189
design: 190
191
192
where GE = experimental group O (1-2) with the test measurements (pre and 193
post), and X = the program of training. 194
The instrument used for initial test and post-test was designed according to 195
proposals for psychological and neuropsychological assessment of school 196
success with additional tasks for assessing the acquisition of grammatical 197
concepts (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2012). 198
199
Pedagogical Procedure 200
GE: R O1 X O2
The content of all items of the program was introduced and worked with the 201
help of orientation provided by an adult. The whole process of teaching was 202
organized as process of constant mutual cooperation based on common actions 203
and dialogues between pupils and teacher. The orientation was elaborated with the 204
help of specific cards, which were created together with the children in educational 205
sessions (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2006, 2008; Talizina, 2000, 2009). All essencial 206
features of introduced new grammar concepts were presented on the cards. The 207
cards were called “orientation cards” according to Talizina’s previous works. In 208
these previous works such cards were used not for grammar but other school 209
matters (Salmina, 1981; Talizina, 1988). The children were able to use orientation 210
cards during all of activities in the classroom and at home. The teacher was 211
showing and explaining how to use each card for all tasks in the classroom. 212
The activities were divided into two stages. Each stage consisted of four 213
months work within the classroom 3 times per week during common school 214
session for learning of Spanish language. 215
Part 1. Prior skills for acquisition of grammar categories 216
Firstly, the work was aimed to acquisition of prior skills to assimilation of 217
most general grammar categories. Specific tasks were proposed in order to work 218
with identifying the quantity and sense of words as separate units in sentences. All 219
words were divided in two general groups: 1) words with independent meaning and 220
auxiliary words (e.g. “boy”, “red”, “walk”, “beautiful” and son on) and 2) words 221
without any independent meaning (e.g. “it”, “a”, “and”; “on” and so on). The children 222
had to compare words by their meaning and to determin the group for each word 223
(group 1 or group 2). The words were presented also within different sentences. 224
The sentences were constructed initially by teacher and/or by pupils according to 225
pictures, illustrations, common situations and activities (Figure 3). Gradually, 226
children became more independent and were able to construct their own 227
sentences. The teaching tasks were fulfilled within divided activities organized by 228
teacher with the participation of the whole classroom. 229
230
231
Example of sentences constructed by teacher 232
and pupils according to picture. 233
234
235
236
237
238
239
A tree reflecting in water. (Child A) 240
The water reflects the tree. (Child B) 241
The tree is reflected in the lake. (Child C) 242
The sun reflects and drops the shadow in the water. (Child D) 243
244
Figure 3. Children had to mark with green color the words with independent meaning and with red 245
color the word without any independent meaning within different sentences. 246
During fulfillment of the tasks, the children had to comment about semantic 247
meaning of all the words within created sentences, identifying all elements of the 248
sentence. Such elements included objects, characteristics of objects, features of 249
actions, actions, and numbers for the first grammar category of words (words with 250
independent meaning). The words of the second category (auxiliary words or 251
functional words) were presented also as necessary elements of the sentence. The 252
children observed that such words help to connect (relate) different kinds of words 253
in the sentence. 254
Next, general characteristics of the concept “sentence” was introduced 255
(Figure 4). The concept of sentence was explained as an oral or written 256
expression, which included 2 essential parts: 1) what we say (predicate) and about 257
what we say this (subject). In order to facilitate symbolic representation and 258
comprehension of this concept, the symbol of “tree” was used with 2 elements: 1) 259
“trunk of the tree” as symbolic representation of “what we say” (predicate) and 260
“foliage of the tree” as symbolic representation of “about what we say” (subject). 261
The formal terms of “predicate” and “subject” were not used at this initial stage. Our 262
objective was only to guarantee the general logic comprehension of the concept of 263
sentence in our pupils. 264
265
Sentence: 266
1) what do we say? 267
2) about what we say? 268
269
Figure 4. Orientation card for concept “sentence”. 270
Afterwards, general characteristics of the concept “grammar category” were 271
introduced with all conceptual essencial features and reflected in orientation card 272
after explanation and presentation to the children (Figure 5). As essential features 273
of grammar categories three aspects were established: semantic, grammar and 274
morphological feature (Davidov, 2000). Semantic feature means that the word 275
always refers to something and two options are possible: independent meaning in 276
case of noun, verb, adjective and so on, and absence of independent meaning in 277
case of articles, prepositions and son on (functional categories). Grammar feature 278
means that the word may have specific way of “behavior”. For example, the words 279
may be changed by number, person, time, aspect and so on. Such changes may 280
vary from language to language, but their presence is general in all languages. For 281
example, the usage of flexion “s” for plural number is general both in Spanish and 282
English and so on. In the case of Spanish, large variety of morphological changes 283
may be observed in different grammar categories. We believe that it is impossible 284
Class of speech (type of word)
1) semantic features;
2) grammar features;
3) morphological characteristics.
and useless to study and to remember all of them at the stage of grammar 285
introduction. 286
While working with the orientation card, children had to find (propose, elicit 287
or read) any word and then to describe semantic and grammar features and to 288
notice the presence of morphological features in each word. We stress that at this 289
stage this work was of general order without all possible kinds of grammar details. 290
291
292
293
294
Figure 5. Orientation card for concept “grammar category”. 295
296
Part 2. Classes of words or basic grammar cathegories 297
After such prior training of general grammar skills (possibility of 298
comprehension of semantic and functional categories of words), the gradual 299
teaching and introduction of basic grammar categories (noun, adjective, pronoun, 300
verb, adverb and article) was organized. Semantic, grammar and morphological 301
characteristics were introduced by teacher for each class of word. At this stage 302
children were able to produce their own sentences in an independent way and 303
comment about respective components and sense of sentences. Reading and 304
independent production of sentences and accessible texts was essential part of the 305
program. As home tasks, children had to read texts and stories and to identify 306
studied grammar categories with the help of orientation cards. Difficulties and 307
success at home were always revised and commented in classroom among the 308
group. 309
310
Description of pedagogical process 311
Teaching process carried out according to created program showed positive 312
participation of the children in the program. During all sessions, the children were 313
happy to be able to understand and complete the proposed activities together with 314
their mates. Awareness and critical attitude of the pupils was reflected in possibility 315
of common correction of minor errors in groups. Constant initiative and cooperation 316
took place in each session. The children expressed their positive emotions while 317
working with the teacher according to the program. All pedagogical work according 318
to our program was divided in three basic stages: materialized, perceptive and 319
verbal (Solovieva, 2004; Talizina, 2008, 2009). During materialized stage external 320
symbolic marks were used for specific work with the concepts. On perceptual 321
stage, children drew marks by themselves. The work on verbal stage was used as 322
the final stage, on which only written production and oral analysis of categories 323
were worked out. 324
Concrete examples of activities and fulfilled tasks presented below reflect 325
successful performance of children during implementation of the program. 326
327
Introductory part of word classes (parts of speech or grammar categories) 328
Activity 1: Identification of words in sentences with the help of external mark 329
(plastic circle) as independent units within the sentence (Figure 6). In this task 330
children had to represent with external mark each independent word in different 331
sentences. 332
333
334
CONCRETE MATERIALIZED STAGE 335
Mi mejor amiga se llama Araceli 336
(My best friend is called Araceli) 337
PERCEPTUAL STAGE 338
En el zoológico viven animales de distintas partes del mundo. 339
(In the zoo animals live from around the world). 340
341
342
Figure 6. Identification of each word in a sentence (number of circles corresponds to number of 343
words in written or oral statement in Spanish). 344
345
Activity 2: Identification of meaning of each word within the sentences. Sentences 346
may include different aspects: concrete objects, abstract objects or process; 347
actions; characteristic of object; characteristics of action or absence of any kind of 348
specific meaning for functional words (Figure 7). 349
350
a b
c d
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
Figure 7. identification of meaning of words. Objects (a). Characteristics of objects (b). Actions (c). 362
Characteristics of actions (d). 363
364
365
366
ORIENTATION CARD EXERCISE
Activity 3: Classification of all words in 2 groups: words with independent meaning 367
and words with auxiliary (functional) meaning (Figure 8). 368
369
370
Figure 8. Comparison of the meanings (functions) of words using the corresponding orientation 371
card: auxiliary (symbol “Ο”) and whit semantic meaning (symbol “☺”). 372
373
Activity 4: Elaboration of sentences with different types of words (Figure 9). 374
Noun (a) Adjective (b) Verb (c) Adverb (d) 375
376
377
378
379
380
Figure 9. Development of sentences with support scheme. Things (a). Characteristics of things (b). 381
Actions (c). Characteristics of the actions (d). 382
Tipos de categorías gramaticales: con sentido
semántico y auxiliar.
1) la palabra tiene un significado
semántico ☺
2) la palabra sólo señala relaciones,
ayuda a formar la oración Ο
ORIENTATION CARD EXERCISE
Activity 5: Comparison of sentences by quantity of two categories of words (with 383
and without independent meaning) used for each sentence. 384
Activity 6: Introduction of general concept of “sentence” as oral expression which 385
includes 2 aspects: about what we say (subject) and what we say (predicate) 386
(Figure 10). 387
388
389
Sentence 390
About what we say: 391
392
393
What we say … 394
395
Figure 10. Subject and predicate in the sentence. 396
Activity 7: Introduction and assimilation of general characteristics of a concept 397
“grammar category” or a “class of a word” working with semantic meaning (Figure 398
10), grammar (Figure 11) and morphological aspects (Figure 12). 399
400
Semantic features. Noun: Means object or 401
subject.402
403
Figure 11. Semantic features as essential features of grammar classes. Examples show grammar 404
changes in nouns “school” and “work” (red color means subject or object (nouns in Spanish); blue 405
color means that the word is neither the subject or the object (verbs in Spanish). 406
407
Morphological characteristics. Structural parts of noun. 408
Start End 409
Changes of noun. 410
411
Figure 12. Identification of the essential features in word classes. Morphological characteristics. 412
Transformations of words preserving the root morphological words (start) and identification of 413
similar endings in different words of the same grammar (grammar endings). 414
415
Gender Number 416
417
Figure 13. Identification of the essential features in grammar categories. Grammar features. 418
Changes by gender and number of the nouns in Spanish. 419
420
421
422
Results of Pre-test 423
During initial assessment children had difficulties in making sentences. 424
They were not able to identify any type of words, were not aware of the 425
changes of words neither of mistakes and were not abler to write any sentence 426
by themselves (Figure 14). In general, they were not aware of grammar 427
categories of Spanish language. Our examples present mistakes in assessment 428
according to Spanish grammar for production of sentences. 429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
Figure 14. Examples of initial assessment with mistakes in sentences. 442
443
444
445
446
Pre-test
Tasks for usage of grammar
Example a: Write the sentence that you want.
Example b: Write a sentence that has one noun, one adjective, one verb and one adverb.
Bathing is important because to not be dirty.
I can not.
Results of Pos-test 447
During the final assessment after conclusion of the work according to our 448
program, in comparison with the initial evaluation, children showed better 449
production of written sentences and greater linguistic creativity. Such results were 450
reflected in the possibility of making sentences with specific types and quantity of 451
grammar categories requested by an adult (Figure 15). 452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
Figure 15. Examples of final assessment with correct answers. 465
466
Positive skills prior to the assimilation of grammatical categories were 467
reflected in the success of analysis of text (Figure 16). In this task the children 468
were asked to mark with different colors words in the texts. The words belonged to 469
different grammar categories. The surprising fact is that even without any 470
knowledge about each grammar category (type of word), children were able to 471
notice differences in semantic, grammar and morphological features of the words. 472
The small airplane flies slowly.
Pos-test
Tasks for usage of grammar
Example a. Write the sentence that you want.
Example b. Write a sentence that has one noun, one adjective, one verb and one adverb.
In the sea there are animals of different shapes and sizes.
The examles of the tasks shows the children's familiarity with different kinds of 473
words. 474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
Figure 16. Reading and explanatory texts. 484
485
Discussion 486
According to dialectical materialistic paradigm (Arias, 2004), our research 487
may be considered experimental and qualitative. From the opint of view of 488
particular psychological methodology, our study is an example of experimental 489
genetic method proposed by Vygotsky (1995) for psychological studies. Later 490
on, such studyes were called as formative experiment (Talizina, 2009). That 491
means that new concepts and new actions can be developed in children as a 492
result of joint activity guided and organized in a specific way (Leontiev, 2003). 493
In our study initial grammar concepts, which were completely new for the 494
participants. The initial evaluation permmited to establish that all formed 495
concepts were new before working with our programm. 496
The results of final assessment have shown the possibility of formation of 497
basic grammar skills in classroom. Our study showed positive effects of proposed 498
program for acquisition of general linguistic skills in school children. All children 499
Noun: Red. Adjective: Green. Verb: Purple.
Advereb: Hellow. Auxiliary: Blue.
were able to take part in proposed activities and showed high level of interest and 500
positive motivation during the whole process. Pedagogical work with group of 501
children was organized without any kind of mechanic memorization or repetition of 502
rules. Instead of such traditional way of teaching, constant orientation was used. It 503
is important to stress that the orientation was not only verbal, but symbolic, based 504
on usage of external orientation cards. In our previos studies, same kind of 505
external orientation was applied for teaching of mathematics and solving of 506
problemas (Solovieva, Rosas Rivera, Quintanar & García, 2013). In the case of 507
grammar teaching, such method was applied in Mexico for the first time. Similar 508
way of teaching was used by Russian psychologists during formation of linguistic 509
skills in school children starting with third grade of primary school (Romanovskaya, 510
(1991). In our previous study orientation for teaching of reading was created for 511
initial levels of verbal activity with Mexican children (Solovieva, 2013). 512
The essential role of usage of “orientation card” consisted in two aspects. 513
Firstly, the card helped to guarantee major reflection of all intelectual actions of 514
pupils. Secondly, it was possible to guarantee stable comprehension of grammar 515
aspects without memorization and without simple repetition. Operation of repetition 516
and memorization can not be considered as intelectual actions of children at school 517
age (Davidov, 2000; Ilienkov, 2009). 518
Instead of repetition our main method consisted in elaboration and creation 519
of examples and tasks according to rules marked on orientation card. Such 520
elaboration and creation of examples was always guided by teacher and achived 521
by all children together. Our study proves the important the role of orientation base 522
of action proposed by Galperin (Galperin & Kabilnitskaya, 1974; Galperin, 1979). 523
According to his theory, there is no stable successful action withour previous 524
orientation. 525
Our result confirmed that guided and organized way of teaching at primary 526
school seems to be the most effective educational method. But the usage of 527
guided and organized activities is not enough to guarantee successful school 528
learning of specific school subjects as some authors claim (Cole, 1997). Creation 529
of methods and strategies for materialization and external representation of 530
essential features of concepts and of actions with these concepts is another aspect 531
for positive effects of educational programs (Davidov, 2000). Means of external 532
orientation should be included during the fist steps of teaching process as it’s 533
obligatory part (Salmina, 1981). The content of orientation should include precisely 534
essential features of concepts, which should be selected for classroom activities 535
which include these concepts (Talizina, 1984, 2007). 536
In our study, such specific means of external orientation included several 537
essential aspects, which are frequently absent within traditional teaching of 538
grammar. From this point of view it is important to establish the ways to guarantee 539
the orientation in verbal categories according to general linguistic concepts 540
(Karpova, 1981). Such essential aspects are: 541
1) possibility to identify a word as unique object of intellectual action and as 542
an element of the sentence; 543
2) recognition of 2 general categories of words: with and without 544
independent semantic meaning; 545
3) possibility to assimilate logically general features of the concept of “type 546
of words”, that is semantic, grammar and morphological features of each 547
type of words; 548
4) possibility to operate with these features while reading and writing and 549
giving examples; 550
5) gradual passing to more independent action by pupils. 551
For all such aspects means of external symbolic and perceptual orientation 552
were used, which may be observed in examples included in the article. 553
Our study shows that the children were able to generalize and to learn such 554
essential features of the concept if they use these features all the time according to 555
provided orientation. That means that generalized conceptual features will never 556
be forgotten in future as it usually happens with memorized but no comprehended 557
information (Talizina, 2008). Specific actions used instead of memorization in our 558
formative experiment were as follows: 559
1) comparison of sentences by number of used words; 560
2) comparison of diverse words according to semantic, grammar and 561
morphological changes; 562
3) elaboration of exact examples for each rule; 563
4) elaboration of different sentences with diverse types of words according 564
to mentioned features; 565
5) revision and correction of all tasks in group. 566
It is important to stress that such methods are not common in traditional 567
schools in Mexico or in other Latin American countries (Solovieva & Quintanar, 568
2010). It is even possible to say that they are absent in formal system of education. 569
Our report is the first of it’s kind and unique for our countries. Our study is the first 570
attempt in this field, which opens the possibility for creation and implementation of 571
new methods of education in primary school. Among other matters, grammar 572
concepts are practically isolated from pedagogical concern in educational system 573
in Mexico (SEP, 2010). Official programs tend to exclude grammar work and tasks 574
from textbooks. Teachers receive no specific preparation for teaching of grammar 575
at all. The reason is that grammar is understood as “complex” and “abstract” matter 576
and methods usually are limited by constant memorization of something, which 577
pupils cannot understand. Therefore, the formation of prior general skills within 578
guided orientation and cooperation proposed in our study may guarantee positive 579
assimilation of initial grammar categories in second grade of primary school. The 580
only basic ability which will be required while working with our method is very basic 581
ability of reading and writing. We may stress that our method helps even to 582
improve and increase the level of reading and writing in school sessions. All these 583
ideas may lead to urgent changes of traditional teaching of grammar in elementary 584
school. 585
The results of our study show that the conflict in manner of teaching of 586
grammar cannot be solved by exclusion of grammar from the content of primary 587
school programs. Spontaneous development of formal concepts, as claimed in 588
Piaget’s genetic theory (Piaget, 1977), does not occure at school. Only 589
development of concrete methods for teachnig based on solid psychlogical theory 590
may change the situation with success in grammar abilities. Unlike the Secretary of 591
Education in Mexico (SEP, 2010), which attaches the main importance only to the 592
speed of reading as evidence of success in primary school (which does not mean 593
comprehension of what is read), the method presented in our article ensures 594
linguistic awareness in pupils. Such awareness could be achieved through 595
organization of specific school actions appropriate for generation of general 596
linguistic abilities (Leontiev, 2001; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2006, 2009). Awareness 597
might be understood as reflection, which is essential feature of human intellectual 598
activity (Ilienkov, 2009; Leontiev, 1981). 599
Theoretical findings of activity theory applied to pedagogical psychology, 600
expressed in the works of Galperin (1987, 1979, 2009a, 2009b) and Talizina (1988, 601
2000, 2007; Salmina, 1984) are essential for improvement of educational research 602
and practice. Our program for formation of initial grammar skills is an example of 603
usage of historical and cultural psychology and methogology of qualitative genetic 604
experiment proposed by L.S. Vygotski and his followers. Formative experiments 605
allow to create new abilites and new knowledge in children. Such approach of 606
research is opposite to quantitative assessment or methods of observation without 607
any participation of the researcher (Piaget, 1953, 1977). Our results open new 608
perspectives for those interested in strengthen relation between historical cultural 609
theory and practice of education and developmental psychology. 610
One of the evidence of our succes was the fact that children started to read 611
books at home. Their comprehension improved as well as their oral expression. 612
Another evidence was constant positive emotional attitude of children in the college 613
towards learning and reading. We believe that from the point of view of qualitative 614
pedagogical and psychological research these data is very significant, as well as 615
data of comparison of initial and last assessment. 616
We believe that future studies and research of psychologists together with 617
teachers will help point out the right way for transformation of programs for 618
teaching of grammar through development of specific methods suitable for different 619
school grades and levels of education. 620
621
622
Conclusions 623
1. Our results have shown positive effects of the program for acquisition of 624
initial grammar concepts by Mexican pupils. 625
2. Orientation base of actions and usage of external means for orientation 626
(special cards) were main instrument, which allowed to achieve 627
effectiveness in reflective knowledge of pupils and in grammar 628
awareness. 629
3. The main principles of guided and joint activity including teacher and 630
pupils in classroom were applied with succes for formation of general 631
grammar concepts. 632
4. Formative experiment applied to introductive teachng of grammar 633
categories proved to be useful method in educational psychology. 634
5. Orientation used in teaching should take into account types, levels and 635
essential contents feature of concepts (genetal grammar categories). 636
637
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