Dissertation
Impact of Please ASK on ESL student comprehension of the English article system before proper nouns: a phenomenological study
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Sep 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/9fp4-4717
Abstract
As English language grew as a primary means of communication, pedagogical approaches have emerged to meet this need. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has fulfilled this need. English grammar has been universally accepted in the field of pedagogy as essential for communication in the language, albeit, debate still exists regarding the degree to which grammar should be expressly taught. The CLT approach expressly acknowledges the need for grammar to promote fluency in learners; however, a conundrum exists. Some grammar in the language seemingly adheres to a logical framework, and thus can be explained easily. On the other hand, other grammar facets prove difficult or impossible to clearly explain via traditional means. One such facet is mental grammar. A salient illustration of mental grammar in English involves when to use the definite and null (the absence of) articles in front of proper nouns. Current literature in the field yields no viable explanation for learners beyond simple guesswork and memorization. As such, research in the field has explicitly called for a need to clearly explain this grammar convention. To address this problem, the researcher used creative efforts to foster a solution. The result was a researcher-developed heuristic. This heuristic offers an alternative explanation for the use of articles before proper nouns, which appears to abate the difficulties in learner comprehension of this grammar point. The heuristic itself represents a mnemonic device containing letters denoting proper noun categories. These specific categories denote when no articles before proper nouns are used. This phenomenological study sought to capture student participants' lived experiences while engaging with the Please ASK heuristic, as developed by the researcher, as they attempted to make sense of the English language article system before proper nouns. Interviews and focus groups were used to ultimately find emergent themes and the essence that could describe what the participants saw and felt as they employed Please ASK-a buffer between proper noun article grammar and student comprehension of that grammar. In this way, Husserlian Transcendentalism played a key role in this study. The study results supported student participants' perception of Please ASK as a viable means to understanding the obscure proper noun article grammar. Participants noted a change in understanding of the grammar and perceived increases in confidence in using English.
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Details
- Title
- Impact of Please ASK on ESL student comprehension of the English article system before proper nouns
- Creators
- Renaldo A. Scott - DU
- Contributors
- Joy C. Phillips (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xi, 230 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 11316; 991014632344504721