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On the relationship between grammar knowledge and FCE-TOEFL reading comprehension tests
Sayyed Mohammad ALAVI (PhD)
Assistant Professor
English Department,Cheap custom writing service can write essays on On the relationship between grammar knowledge and FCE-TOEFL reading comprehension tests
University of Tehran.
Abstract
This paper investigated the performances of female and male subjects (N=05) with various educational backgrounds on different sections of a proficiency test, i. e. grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The main purpose of this investigation was to identify the more related variable in the test to reading comprehension tests developed in the First Certificate English (FCE) and in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) formats.
The results of this study revealed that the more related variable to TOEFL was the Written Expression items whereas the more related variable to FCE items were the TOEFL items. The statistical analyses of the data demonstrated that (a)the subjects performed significantly different on various parts of the test, (b)the performances of subjects with different academic backgrounds on the test were significantly different from each other, (c)females and males were in grammar but significantly different in other sections of the test, and (d)multiple choice grammar items were the easiest while the FCE reading comprehension items were the most difficult items for the subjects.
1 INTRODUCTION
An increasing number of educated people apply for a higher degree in universities each year. One requirement for almost all further education studies is a proof of applicants' command in English. The investigation of the instruments used for this type of assessment has attracted the attention of language test developers and those who use the results of language tests for their own purposes. The present paper is a report of a typical research in which the researcher aimed to investigate the subjects' performances on different sections of the test in general and to find a relationship between the performances of subjects with different educational backgrounds on grammar section of a TOEFL test and the reading comprehension test of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and First Certificate in English (FCE) in particular. To shed lights on the issues, the relevant literature of grammar and reading comprehension will be reviewed briefly in the following sections
SOME NOTES ON GRAMMAR
Grammar as characterised by Crystal, (180) is a systematic description of a language, the way words, and their component parts, combine to form sentences, a device for generating a finite specification of the sentences of a language. These characteristics have been highlighted in the works of other scholars who are involved in the study of grammar, theoretically or practically. Grammar has also been generally defined as "a set of rules that allows us to combine words in our language into larger units" (Greenbaum, 111) or as "a set of rules that define how words (or parts of words) are combined or changed to form acceptable units of meaning within a language" (Ur, 16 87).
Grammar, either as a general or a particular term, has long standing perspectives in language studies. Referring to varieties of understanding of grammar by scholars with different purposes, Bowen, et al (185 161-16) list seven perspectives of grammar as "(1) a matter of etiquette, () a massive compendium of sentences and examples, () a study of language that deals with the forms and structures of words (morphology) and with their customary arrangement in phrases and sentences (syntax), (4) slot-and-filler grammar, (5) finite-state grammar, (6) immediate-constitute grammar, and (7) generative grammar".
The investigation of grammar from wider perspectives resulted in assigning various labelling to a more specific grammar of interest such as
1. Perspective Grammar, the grammar that requires how and what people should say;
. Traditional Grammar, the grammar that deals with labelling sentences with parts of speech;
. Structural Grammar, which is based on phrase structure that shows how some words can be used in a sentence and some do not;
4. Descriptive Grammar, that deals with the actual usage of language;
5. Competence Grammar, the grammar knowledge that the native speakers a language possess;
6. Formal Grammar, that focuses on formal study of language;
7. Notional Grammar, in which the contribution of extra-linguistic features are used to define grammatical units;
8. Functional Grammar, which is based on pragmatic view of language as social interaction and analyse language in terms of what it enables people to do and to mean;
. Systemic Grammar, that concentrates on establishing a network of systems of relationship which will account for semantically relevant choices in the language;
10. Pedagogical Grammar, that concentrates on the teaching aspects the grammar of the target language.
The emergence of Communicative Approaches to language instruction in 170s played down the value of grammar teaching. According to these approaches acquiring accurate grammar is not necessary for communicative success. However, Widdowson (10 8) emphasises that "a communicative approach, properly conceived , does not involve the rejection of grammar. On the contrary, it involves a recognition of its central mediating role in the use and learning of language."
Grammar was given a focal role in language teaching curriculum in recent years. An increasing number of new pedagogical grammar, practice books, and methodology guides for teachers appeared in 80s and 0s (Chalker, 184, 10; Murphy, 185, 10, Frank and Rinvolucri, 187; Harmer, 187; Hall and Shepheard, 11; Willis, 11). Moreover, a new look at grammar, especially the one concerning grammar and language teachers, was also emerged in l0s. Having distinguished "academic grammar", "teacher grammar" and "learner grammar", Leech (14) states that "grammar for teachers is a variant either of academic grammar on the one hand or of pedagogic grammar (grammar for learners) on the other" (14 17).
A more specific view on grammar shows its various dimensions and probably its central role in language studies. Looking at grammar as "the most distinctive aspect of language", Cook (11) acknowledges that other components of language, however important they are, "related to each other through grammar". Ur (1676) also states that grammar "does not only affect how units of language are combined in order to 'look right'; it also affects their meaning". Grammar teachers as Larsen-Freeman (11) noted, have also begun to move away from a focus on the forms of grammar--such as the mechanical aspects of spelling and pronunciation--and more toward an emphasis on meaning.
Widdowson (18, 184, 10) refers to "symbolic, indexical, and conceptual meanings". Symbolic meaning inheres in the linguistic sign as a stable semantic property. Indexical meaning which can be achieved only pragmatically in reference to context, is attributed to the linguistic sign by the language users when it occurs in context. Conceptual meaning is the meaning which can be derived by grammar. As Widdowson noted "we cannot count on the context complementing words so closely, occasions when more precision is needed to identify the contextual features which are to be related to the conceptual meaning of words to achieve indexical meaning. And this is where grammar comes in" (Widdowson, 10 8, original emphases).
Widdowson (10) considers grammar as a "liberating force" that "frees us from a dependency on context and the limitations of a purely lexical categorization of reality" (Widdowson, 10 86). Widdowson also believes that grammar and lexical items have complementary relationship. He states, "it is not surprising to find that there are units of meaning which are intermediary between lexical words and grammatical structures, the existence of which again indicates that there is a continuum between these levels of language" (Widdowson, 10 1).
In sum, grammar, however it is defined and characterized, plays a role in conveying a particular meaning in the text, which may not be accessible by focusing merely on contextual features. This is possibly one of the reasons that justifies the focus on grammar instruction in language teaching curricula. The reciprocal relationship of grammar and lexis with each other is mainly due to the point that grammar reduces the range and scope of meaning signalled by words "so as to make them more effective in the identification of context" (Widdowson, 10 ) and words in return can also denote a grammatical meaning.
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