The exercises on the Exercises pages and the Discovery page have the same 'method of operation' and 'material design' and there are other similarities. For the classification we will investigate two Discovery exercises (Figure 15 and 16) in combination.
The 'objective' of the Discovery exercise (Figure 15) is the correct choice of a sentence that represents the same meaning (of the present perfect) as previous example sentences. This exercise has two activities. The first activity is the identification of the grammatical meaning in the ticked example sentences (Figure 15) and apply this understanding in the selection of sentences with the same meaning in the second activity (Figure 15 bottom). In Figure 16 the objective is the correct choice of correct statements on the rule of the past perfect. First, the learner has to reflect on the use and meaning of the past perfect with a set of authentic language examples. Based on this reflection the decision of the correct grammar rule is to be made. Both exercises (Figure 15 and 16) have the identification of grammatical meaning as objective.
The learner has to select the correct sentences (Figure 15) or correct rule formulation (Figure 16) as 'activity'. As support, the pages provide extensive instruction which also includes reflection (see Figure 15) and large sets of language examples (Figure 16) for the user to reflect on. The activity for both exercises is reflective and receptive in nature, as the learner has to understand the sentence and grammar structure meaning to select the correct answer. The selection itself is not a production of the grammar structure, but a result of reflection on the use of grammar structures in authentic language.
The 'material design' of the exercises (Figure 15 and 16) is a list of individual example sentences and a selection task with a set of answers to chose from. These answers are example sentences that need to be selected for meaning (Figure 15) and rule formulations on the past perfect (Figure 16). Similar to the material on the Exercises pages, each language example on the Discovery page has an individual context of meaning that the learner can use to reflect and make correct choice. The presentation of the language examples of the exercise is cumulative and unordered (in a list). The learner has to find order through reflecting on the meaning of the grammar structure.
The 'control' in the exercises, similar to the Exercises pages, is performed by the instructions (e.g., We have marked some of the sentences, where the choice of present perfect has a particular effect on the meaning. Look at them carefully and see if you can identify the
special meaning., see Figure 15) in combination with the modified language examples (the sentence with the meaning in question is ticked). The instruction advises the learner to reflect on the meaning of the modified language examples (first activity). Based on this reflection the second activity, selection of sentences with the same meaning from a list of language examples has to be concluded. Figure 16 shows a set of grammar rule formulations on the past perfect that need to be selected for correctness, based on former reflection on language examples. Every discovery page has the introduction part with reflection activities and
Figure 13: Multiple-choice (drop-down) exercise (Exercises page)
finishes with a selection task on rules. This selection task offers the learner confirmation on his or her own hypotheses on grammar rules.
Figure 14: Multiple-choice (simple) exercise (Exercise page)
Figure 16: Multiple-choice exercise: rule of the present perfect (Discovery)
Finally, the aspect of gradation of exercises needs to be investigated with the content pages. Within the content pages gradation takes place via introduction / instruction and the sequence of exercises and language examples. Within the exercises, that are designed very restricted, gradation does not place. This form of gradation in the CING can be considered a cognitivization that prepares learners for material or activities and eases the learning process.
This classification of exercises revealed that all CING exercises involve the identification of grammatical meaning or correctness of use as an 'objective' they are all receptive and not productive in 'activity' and lack auditive and visual presentation forms. The Exercises and Discovery exercises differ considerably in the instructional information. While the Discovery exercises always begin with extensive instruction on reflective activities to aid the final rule selection (confirmation). the Exercises instruction is simply an instruction for the activity. This unique combination of authentic language examples, instructions on reflective grammar activities and multiple-choice activities turns the Discovery exercises into
development of an intuition for language, the learners' Sprachgefühl. In contrast, the Exercise exercises are mere drill exercises if used out of another teaching related context only in the way the CING presents them.
2.4 Summary and conclusion
This chapter started by discussing the linguistic theories of Functionalism, Generative- Transformationalism and Cognitivism. In combination with applied linguistic approaches to grammar learning a basis was formed for the informed conceptualization of the CING. The main finding of this discussion is that the CING does not directly reflect theories of grammar but adapted individual aspects of each theory and ideas on grammar learning that are integral parts of its own unique concept.
These parts are the authentic language examples, the material arrangement and meaning-focused exercise instructions which represent the ways to learning grammar with its relation to meaning and with a view to its function in real language, extensive exposure to authentic language use via exercises and the experience of discovering rules through analysis and comparison of authentic language. All these are in some way integrated into the investigated theories, while many theoretical principles could not be applied to the CING. From there the discussion become more applied when a detailed description of the CING through concepts of grammar description and reference and pedagogical grammar was conducted and a typological investigation of its exercises completed. As a result, the CING revealed its potential as a reference / pedagogical grammar despite a low count of metalanguage and the lack of pedagogical support measures. It also proved to be an appropriate for the development of Sprachgefühl and grammar rule hypotheses testing, a learning step favored and advocated by many (as cited in Fandrych, 2010; Ellis, 2002; Multhaup, 2002).
In the context of this complex approach to the conceptualization of the CING as a grammar, it became clear that many assumptions and applications in models and theories made about the CING depend largely on its user group and the approach the group takes to learning with the grammar. The next chapter will describe the study’s user group, learning behavior in the CING and other issues related to users and the use of the CING (e.g., hypertextual learning, presentation of the simple past and present perfect in the CING) to give the research study of the CING a focus.
3. Learning with the CING
Previous studies (e.g., Heller, 2004a, 2004b) indicated that the CING can be successful as a learning tool, but can also cause difficulties for learners. These studies could not prove the tool’s success for language learning, making an evaluation of its underlying theory, content presentation, and, finally, its “performance” with learners necessary. In the following, I will contextualize the CING within theories of second language acquisition, hypertext teaching and learning, and autonomous learning in order to evaluate it as a learning tool, self- instruction tool, and hypertext online grammar. In addition, this chapter will include a presentation of my research design that combines quantitative and qualitative research measures and is based on relevant research in the field as well as former studies with the CING.
3.1 Simple Past and Present Perfect
“Tense-aspect morphology occupies a central place in the curricula of many language programmes” (Bardovi-Harlig, 2000, p.1) and it represents an area that learners often do not fully acquire until an advanced language level has been reached. For German native speakers learning English, tense and aspect promise to be particularly challenging as past tense forms in the German language are constructed without the use of aspect. In order to ensure, that the research subjects in the study were presented with a topic they hadn’t yet fully mastered, the grammatical structures Simple Past and Present Perfekt were chosen as learning content for this investigation. Thus a real learning benefit through working with the CING could be achievable.
In her study of French post-intermediate and advanced learners’ English language corpora, Granger (1999) found that even advanced French learners of English did not necessarily completely comprehend the language’s grammatical structures. Her study revealed a “less than 20% improvement rate for the simple past and the present perfect” (Granger, 1999, p. 94) in the advanced learner language corpora compared to post- intermediate levels. A study on the acquisition of tense and aspect by adult learners found that “the present perfect is [without a doubt] a source of error” (Dürich, 2005, p. 98). The English language placement tests taken every semester by Chemnitz University’s first-year students
considerable learner problems in the correct application of the simple past and present perfect (Hewings, 2005).
Why learners fail to master particular grammar structures can be due to various reasons. Structural complexity of the form to be learned can be one, since the more elements a structure has, the more complex it is (Thornbury, 1999, p. 9). The simple past is less complex than the present perfect, because it only requires the simple past form of the infinitive verb (regular verbs +-ed or the irregular verb form) and not the modal verb 'has'.
Transfer from the learners' mother tongue to the foreign language can be another reason. Although there is no common consensus, a growing body of research in second/foreign language acquisition “indicates that transfer is indeed a very important factor in second language acquisition” (this is termed the contrastive hypothesis; see Odlin 1994, p.4, Nunan, 1994, p. 254). I follow Sammon in assuming that one of the reasons for the above problems of learners of English as a second or foreign language could be related to the influence of their native language (Sammon, 2002). Thus French, as well as German, allow for the use of the past and perfect tenses “interchangeably in many contexts, the difference between the two tenses being largely stylistic” (Sammon, 2002, p. 48). English does not allow for this freedom of use, as it distinguishes the past in its semantic function clearly from the (present) perfect (Sammon, 2002, p. 47). Nevertheless, “both can be used to refer to a state of affairs that existed for a period of time” in the past (Biber et al., 1999, p. 467).
I will now look at how the simple past and present perfect are presented in current grammar works and compare it to the CING’s content structure and presentation.