Topic chosen: improper use of verbs in writing/speaking (elementary students)
Ex: “I throwed my garbage out after I was done with snack”.
“I goed to the store with my mom after school yesterday”.
“‘I drawed a picture for my sister in art today”.
Each student will be required to identify a ‘grammar issue.’ A ‘grammar issue’ refers to structural ‘problems’ that are produced by learners of English or exist in varieties of English. The important thing for this project is that you identify a REAL grammar issue produced by a REAL learner of English. One way to think about this is to identify a type of ‘error’ that you find produced in the speech or writing of an English learner. For example, if someone says to you “I going to try” this would be an example of a grammar issue related to verb formation / morphology. It is very important for the project that this is a real example, taken from a real person, produced in speaking or writing, and not something that you imagine.
In the first stage of the project, you can collect an assortment of issues and then we can narrow down your topic or figure out if they are all a similar type. You don’t have to be limited to ‘errors’ — you can think of other types of patterns or behaviors that are interesting if you like.
All of your examples need to come from ONE person that you can identify their age and other languages they know. You will have to make a note on WHO produced the error. The person who produced it needs to be a learner of English at any proficiency level.
A 5 page research paper. For this paper, each student must provide at least 3 specific explanations for what may be causing the ‘grammar issue.’ You should also relate the issue to a theory (or theories) of language acquisition. The paper should also include a summary of at least 3 scholarly articles that contribute to the understanding of this issue.
(Behaviorist theory is one of the theories of language acquisition).
