Grammatical terminology and the application Gramte
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Summary, in English
The purpose of the Gramte program is to meet the needs of university students who feel that they are not mastering the grammatical terminology needed for studying linguistics or foreign languages. In all learning contexts it is important to have the adequate background knowledge. This is even more crucial when it concerns the basic concepts and terminology which will be used by the teachers during the course.
A problem which is increasing today is that students differ a lot in their knowledge of grammar when they come to university. This puts great demand on the teachers’ ability to individualize, as well as on the students’ ability to cope with their differences in background knowledge. Often students are ashamed to ask simple questions about concepts and terminology which they had once mastered. For individual repetition of terminology that has been mastered earlier, what could be more suitable than a computer program? The computer makes it possible for the students to work at their own pace, to choose when it is convenient and their shortcomings are not made public. Furthermore, a computer can give immediate feedback. As is true for most learning, the learning of metalinguistic concepts has to be reinforced by active use in order to be acquired at a deeper level (Ramsden 1992, Marton et al. 1977). This implies that the grammatical terminology needs to be actively used as an analytic tool in order to be genuinely learned. By use of a computer, it is easier for students to work with exercises. The possibility to stop at any point of hesitation to find the appropriate grammatical descriptions and concepts in a ‘grammar’ that is connected to the exercises further enhances the learning potential
A problem which is increasing today is that students differ a lot in their knowledge of grammar when they come to university. This puts great demand on the teachers’ ability to individualize, as well as on the students’ ability to cope with their differences in background knowledge. Often students are ashamed to ask simple questions about concepts and terminology which they had once mastered. For individual repetition of terminology that has been mastered earlier, what could be more suitable than a computer program? The computer makes it possible for the students to work at their own pace, to choose when it is convenient and their shortcomings are not made public. Furthermore, a computer can give immediate feedback. As is true for most learning, the learning of metalinguistic concepts has to be reinforced by active use in order to be acquired at a deeper level (Ramsden 1992, Marton et al. 1977). This implies that the grammatical terminology needs to be actively used as an analytic tool in order to be genuinely learned. By use of a computer, it is easier for students to work with exercises. The possibility to stop at any point of hesitation to find the appropriate grammatical descriptions and concepts in a ‘grammar’ that is connected to the exercises further enhances the learning potential
Publishing year
1997
Language
English
Publication/Series
Working Papers, Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics
Volume
46
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Document type
Working paper
Topic
- General Language Studies and Linguistics
Status
Published