Emergence and affordance in language learning: Using Grammaticalization to teach grammar to Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

The teaching of grammar plays a central role in every EFL classroom. This paper attempts to study the learning of grammar implicitly through exposing the language learners to as much authentic language as possible in interaction and practices of socialization in order to make grammar a byproduct of communication. It is believed that just by being exposed to lots of explicit grammar rules, the learners may not be able to learn and use correct grammar in everyday communication. In other words, language is not ready-made or ready-given. Language learners should benefit from opportunities for interaction with both the physical and social world, a combination of perception, interpretation, and action, i.e. an active relationship or engagement with the environment, the teacher and their peers through mediation. There are three core elements in the treatment: consciousness-raising (helping to raise students’ awareness about grammatical features), practice, and feedback. Thirty four EFL students participated in the study, seventeen of whom were randomly assigned to the control group and the other seventeen to the experimental group. Both groups also completed a questionnaire on a five-point scale of agreement. The participants of the experimental group who received treatment showed a better result on their posttest. Moreover, the main findings of the study showed a positive attitude of the learners towards implicit grammar instruction in general. This study is hoped to have tangible and practical implications for language teachers and language learners in Iran as well as in other countries.

Keywords

• Grammaticalization
• grammaring
• emergence
• affordance
• semiotic processes
• implicit learning