jagomart
digital resources
picture1_Language Pdf 100028 | Ijl15 Item Download 2022-09-21 23-12-03


 121x       Filetype PDF       File size 0.09 MB       Source: article.sciencepublishinggroup.com


File: Language Pdf 100028 | Ijl15 Item Download 2022-09-21 23-12-03
international journal of language and linguistics 2014 2 6 1 28 34 published online november 18 2014 http www sciencepublishinggroup com j ijll doi 10 11648 j ijll s 2014020601 ...

icon picture PDF Filetype PDF | Posted on 21 Sep 2022 | 3 years ago
Partial capture of text on file.
            International Journal of Language and Linguistics                                                                                           
            2014; 2(6-1): 28-34 
            Published online November 18, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijll) 
            doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.s.2014020601.15                                                                                                        
            ISSN: 2330-0205 (Print); ISSN: 2330-0221 (Online) 
                                                                                                                                                        
            The relationship between the grammar of Persian / Turkish 
            as the first language and the grammar of English for 
            Iranian female high school students 
            Maryam Dorosti, Fatemeh Behjat, Seyed Jamal Abdolrahim Zadeh 
            English Department, Abadeh branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran 
            Email address: 
            maryam.dorosti56@gmail.com (M. Dorosti), fb_304@yahoo.com (F. Behjat) 
            To cite this article: 
            Maryam Dorosti, Fatemeh Behjat, Seyed Jamal Abdolrahim Zadeh. The Relationship between the Grammar of Persian / Turkish as the First 
            Language and the Grammar of English for Iranian Female High School Students. International Journal of Language and Linguistics. Special 
            Issue: Innovations in Foreign Language Teaching. Vol. 2, No. 6-1, 2014, pp. 28-34. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.s.2014020601.15 
                                                                                                                                                        
            Abstract: Relationship between first and second language effects the learning of the second language. The more the target 
            language is similar to the first language, the better language achievement can be observed. The present study was an attempt to 
            investigate the relationship between the grammar of Persian/Turkish as the first language and the grammar of English for 
            Iranian female high school students. To this end, in the present study 6o high school female students from Marvdasht were 
            selected as the participants. Out of 60, 30 students had Persian as their first language (Group A) and 30 students had Turkish as 
            their first language (Group B). Regarding the aims of the study, Persian students took part in Persian grammar test, the Turkish 
            students took part in Turkish grammar test, and both groups participated in an English grammar test which was a standard 
            achievement test based on students’ high school English text book. In this study, statistical techniques as mean, standard 
            deviation, Pearson correlation were used. The result of the correlational analysis indicated that the grammar of Turkish and 
            Persian are related to the grammar of English, but there is positively more relationship between the grammar of Turkish and 
            English. 
            Keywords: Bilingualism, English as a Second Language (EFL), First Language, Teaching Grammar 
                                                                                                                                                        
            1. Introduction 
               Whatever language we speak, English, Chinese, Hindi, or                The  medium  by  which  speakers  of  a  language 
            Spanish,  it  will  help  us  define  ourselves  personally  and        communicate their thoughts and feeling to others, the tool 
            identify the community we belong to. But the fact is that we            with which they conduct their business or the government of 
            have a language is inextricably bound up with our humanity.             millions of people, the vehicle by which has been transmitted 
            To be human is to use a language, and to talk is to be a                the  science,  the  philosophy,  the  poetry  of  the  culture  is 
            person (Maghsoudi, 2010).                                               language.  It  is  reasonable  that  an  educated  person  should 
               It  allows  people  opportunities  to  express  their  point  of     know something of the structure of his or her language, its 
            view,  solve  disagreements,  and  persuade  peers  to  work            position in the world and its relation to other tongues, the 
            together. Language is a major means of influencing thinking             wealth  of  its  vocabulary  together  with  the  sources  from 
            and behavior of another person or one’s own. For language to            which that vocabulary has been and is being enriched, and 
            expand,  children  need  to  be  given  many  opportunities  to         the complex relationships among the many different varieties 
            interact. Children learn from speaking. Children need to feel           of  speech  that  are  gathered  under  the  single  name  of  the 
            socially  competent  and  accepted  to  become  competent               language.  The  history  of  a  language  is  bound  up  with  the 
            language users. Language is the way children are socialized             history of the people who speak it (Baugh & Cable, 2002). 
            by adults and the way we communicate with other people and                Iran,  a  multilingual  society,  is  home  to  a  number  of 
            with ourselves (Berk&Winsler, 1995; Lindford, 1991; Tabors,             language  communities  speaking  Turkish,  Kurdish,  Arabic 
            1997).                                                                  language among others. So, many children learn and speak 
                                                International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2014; 2(6-1): 28-34                                 29 
                                                                                    
            their first language at home and study all of the courses in             used regularly outside the classroom, using the instructional 
            Persian and English through their education.                             techniques and the intensity of instruction required to achieve 
               Turkish grammar is not looked on by the Turks themselves              success.  The term English for speakers of other languages 
            as  a  Classical  Structured  Language.  They  have  their  own          (ESOL) is meant to encompass both ESL and EFL. Given the 
            grammar rules which are not based on a classical system as               importance of English in the modern, globalized economy, 
            those in Latin or Greek.Most Turkish grammar for foreigners              ESL is a large field of practice  supported  by  considerable 
            are written by linguists and grammarians, and they tend to               bodies of research and many curricular resources. English is 
            use  a  classical  language  framework;  consequently,  most             an international means of communication, used by 1.5 billion 
            grammars, are peppered with such classic terms as accusative,            people around the world for both instrumental and integrative 
            dative, and  locative, together with such tenses and moods as            purposes (Alptekin, 2002;Griffler-Brutt, 2002; Crystal, 2003). 
            subjunctive , etc. There is also a reflexive genitive in Turkish           In an increasing number of universities around the world 
            where  both  the  owner  and  owned  are  suffixed.  This                there  are  seminar  recordings  on  the  uses  of  English  in 
            construction does not occur in classical grammar. So many                international contexts, or on how effective methodologies can 
            teachers  have  resorted  to  using  a  Persian  name  /izafet/.         be  developed  for  teaching  an  international  language  i.e. 
            Adjectives  precede  their  noun  and  donot  have  to  agree  in        English and what can be done to train future users of such a 
            number or case. (Akalin&Zengin, 2007).                                   global  language.  According  to  Nayar,  (1997)  there  are  
                                                                                     clarifications  of  the  terminology  on  English  language 
            2. Literature Review                                                     teaching in different geographical regions of the world such 
                                                                                     as  English as second language (ESL) as opposed to English 
               Language  is  a  source  of  communication.  Whether  this            as foreign language (EFL) as well as English as an additional 
            language  is  Russian,  English  or  even  sign  language,  the          language (EAL). 
            importance is that we have some sort of source for human                   In Iran Many children learn and speak their first language 
            interaction.  Knowing  many different  languages supplies  us            at home and study all of the courses in Persian through their 
            with     enormous      possibilities   in    our    contacts    and      education (Khadivi&Kalantari, 2011). 
            understanding  of  other  people  living  in  other  parts  of  the        Learning grammar has been important in the process of 
            world, that is, to say bilingualism (Nordlund, 2005).                    English  language  learning  as  a  criteria,  particularly  for 
               The concept of bilingual encompasses individuals who are              English knowledge. Through English, individuals can attain 
            sophisticated  speakers,  readers,  writers  of  two  or  more           their goals such as getting a job or passing an examination. 
            languages. Bilingualism has been treated both as societal and            To  this  end,  the  ability  to  reach  at  the  high  level  of 
            individual  phenomenon  (Romaine,  1995).  In  the  world,               proficiency  in  learning  grammar  has  become  the  first  and 
            among the reasons cause bilingualism are various kinds of                most  important  requirement  for  students  throughout  the 
            migration,     inter-marriage,      and    educational/vocational        world (Carrvell, 1989; Grabe,1991;  Lynch & Hutson,1991). 
            opportunities  (Crystal,  2003).  Around  70  percent  of  the             Every body’s first language influences the way one learn 
            earth’s population is thought to be bilingual or monolingual             his/her second language (Liszka, 2004). Many linguists from 
            (Trask,  1999).Thus,  there  is  a  good  reason  to  believe  that      diverse contexts are in fact, in favor of having an acceptable 
            bilingualism is a norm for the majority of people in the world.          amount of first language before second language acquisition, 
            Bilingualism  is  common  in  some  parts  of  the  world,               arguing that it can work as an important pedagogical tool to 
            especially  those  places  where  there  are  many  ethnic               learn the grammar of another language (Anton &Dicamilla, 
            minorities within a culture (Reich, 1986).                               1999; Celik, 2008; Cook, 2001; De la Calina& Mayo, 2009). 
               Because of modernization, some degrees of bilingualism                  Some people may feel comfortable using both languages in 
            are  typical  of  most  people  in  the  world.  Bilingualism  is  a     the same setting, and many switch from one to other easily. 
            feature not just of individuals but also of societies. Societies         There is now a world-wide recognition of the social, personal 
            in which two languages are used regularly, or in which more              and  cognitive  advantages  of  bilingualism.  A  sound 
            than one language has official status or a recurrent functions,          foundation is the language of home which increases people’s 
            can be called bilingual.                                                 self-esteem    and  confidence,  enhances  motivation  for 
               Bilingualism  is  often  the  product  of  second  language           learning,  increases  cognition,  strengthens  family  relations 
            learning  after  the  first  language  has  been  acquired,  either      supplies as a strong basis for learning the second language. 
            through  non-tutored  exposure  or  through  instruction.                  When  people  expand  their  abilities  in  two  or  more 
            Individuals can become bilingual at any age, depending on                languages,  they  catch  a  deeper  understanding  of  language 
            when  they  need  to  learn  a  second  language  or  when               and use it effectively. They put more practice in processing 
            instruction  becomes  characteristic  of  a  child’s  earliest           the language, especially when they gain literacy in both, and 
            language  system.  Children  growing  up  with  parents  who             they are able to compare and contrast the ways in which their 
            speak a minority language may also be bilinguals. English as             two languages organize reality. Research has indicated that 
            a  second  language  refers  to  the  process  of  producing             bilingual children may also develop more flexibility in their 
            bilinguals by teaching English as a second language (ESL) to             thinking  as  an  outcome  of  processing  information  through 
            learners in an English- speaking context. By ESL, one means              two different languages (Commins, 2001). 
            the instruction is delivered in a context where English is not             De la Compa and Nassaji (2009) conducted a study with 
            30           Maryam Dorosti et al.:  The Relationship between the Grammar of Persian / Turkish as the First Language and the  
                                                  Grammar of English for Iranian Female High School Students 
            two  indicators  teaching  German  at  a  university  located  in     4. Method 
            western Canada, with their classes for pedagogical and social         4.1. Participants 
            reasons,  including  translation,  comparing  and  contrasting 
            both  languages,  paraphrasing  students’  ideas,  and  making          The participants in this study were 60 students of Iranian 
            jokes.  Both  the  experienced  and  novice  instructors  have        female  high  school  students  who  were  selected  based  on 
            positive attitudes toward the exploration of first language in        availability sampling. Out of 60, for 30 students Persian was 
            that it enhances learning.                                            their first language (group A) and for the rest, Turkish was 
              Another study, the focal concern of which is the function           their first language (group B). All these students were at pre-
            of teachers’ code- switching belongs to Gulzar (2010), who            university level in high school in Marvdasht. The age range 
            conducted  a  survey  with  406  teachers  in  Pakistan  EFL          of these students was between 17-19 years old. 
            classrooms. The findings of the study indicated that teachers 
            employ  code-switching  to  their  first  language  for  eleven       4.2. Instruments 
            functions including clarification, ease of expression, giving           To fulfill the purpose of this study which was to determine 
            effective instruction, creating a sense of belonging, checking        whether  there  is  any  significant  relationship  between  the 
            understanding, translation, socializing, emphasis, repetitive,        grammar knowledge of Persian and Turkish as first languages 
            function, topic shift, and linguistic competence in the same          and English as a foreign language for Iranian  high school 
            vein of thought.                                                      students, there were three kinds of tests employed to answer 
              Another study was conducted with four English teachers at           the present research questions. 
            a two after-  school private language institutes in Cyprus by           1) A  Persian  grammar  test  (test1)  which  was  developed 
            Copland  and  Neokleous(2011).Their  transcriptions  of  the               and piloted for reliability and validity, and the content 
            observed class showed that teachers made use of L1 for a                   of which was a synthesis of all grammar points Iranian 
            total  of  eleven  functions,  including  organizing  the  course,         students learn on Persian at school. 
            giving    explanations,    most  notably  grammar,  giving              2) A  Turkish  grammar test  (test2)  which  was  developed 
            instructions,  asking  and  answering  questions,  reprimanding            and  piloted  for  reliability  and  validity.  This  had  the 
            (Macaro, 2001), making jokes, praising, translating, using it              same contents as the first test adapted to the grammar of 
            as  markers,  giving  hints  and  opinions  to  the  students.             Turkish. 
            However, the qualitative analysis of the interviews with the            3) An English grammar test (test3) which was a standard 
            teachers indicated that all were critical of the use of Greek in           achievement test based on students’ English high school 
            language  classes,  even  though  they  did  not  overuse  it.             text book. 
            Therefore,  Copland  and  Neokleous  (2011)  concluded  that            As  for  the  validity  of  the  first  two  tests  (Persian  and 
            there  are  contradictions  between  the  actions  and  beliefs  of   Turkish grammar tests), the content was consulted with two 
            teachers  because  bilingual  teachers  have  a  sense  of  guilt     teachers  who  were  familiar  with  high  school  Persian 
            when they teach L2 with L2.They also stated that the more             grammar  text  books.  The  Turkish  grammar  test  was  also 
            the target language is similar to the first language, the better      approved as being valid.  With  respect  to  the  reliability  of 
            language achievement can be observed.                                 these  two  tests,  they  were  administered  prior  to  the  actual 
              Considering the effects of first language on learning the           administration  of  the  test  for  research  purposes  to  groups 
            second  language  and  regarding  the  importance  of  the            similar  to  the  participants  of  the  study.  An  item  analysis 
            relationship between two languages causes some researchers            revealed an acceptable reliability level through  Cronback’s 
            question  whether  this  relationship  can  affect  the  students’    Alphas as .67 and .82 respectively. The English grammar test 
            learning. The present study is an attempt to investigate the          was a standard achievement test based on students’ English 
            relationship between knowing Persian as a first and Turkish           high school text book. This test was taken from a preparatory 
            as  a  second  language  and  the  knowledge  of  English  as  a      test book for the applicants of the University Exam, the items 
            foreign language grammar.                                             of which has been previously used in Konkoor Examination, 
            3. Research Questions                                                 and therefore considered both as valid and reliable. The items 
                                                                                  of each test were 25, and students were took part in Persian 
              The study is an attempt to answer the following questions:          and Turkish grammar tests (Persian grammar test for Group 
               1  Is  there  any  relationship  between  the  knowledge  of       A and Turkish grammar test for Group B) for 30 minutes, and 
                  Persian and English grammar for Iranian female high             then, both groups took the 25- item English grammar test, 
                  school students?                                                which has done 30 minutes. 
               2  Is  there  any  relationship  between  the  knowledge  of       4.3. Procedures 
                  Turkish and English grammar for Iranian female high 
                  school students?                                                  Before the administration of the tests, all participants were 
              Which first language grammar, Persian or Turkish, is more           given an oral description on the objectives and procedures of 
            related to English grammar?                                           the  study  in  order  to  follow  the  research  procedures 
                                                                                  thoroughly. The three tests were administered in on session. 
                                                                                  First, the first group whose mother tongue was Persian were 
                                                     International Journal of Language and Linguistics 2014; 2(6-1): 28-34                                               31 
                                                                                              
              asked  to  complete  the  Persian  grammar  test,  and  then  the                   Based  on  the  obtained  results,  a  correlation  was  found 
              participants whose first language was Turkish were asked to                      between  Persian  grammar  and  English  grammar  (r=0.43), 
              answer the Turkish grammar test. They completed them in 25                       and as P<0.05, the relationship between Persian and English 
              minutes. Then, the standardEnglish grammar test was given                        grammar scores was statistically significant. Therefore, the 
              to  both  Groups  A  and  B.  It  took  about  25  minutes,  too.                first  null  hypothesis  stating  that  there  is  no  relationship 
              Finally, the scores were obtained to be matched for further                      between Persian and English grammar is rejected here. 
              data analysis.                                                                   5.3. The Second Research Question  
              4.4. Data Analysis and Design                                                       The second question concerns the relationship between the 
                 For  answering  the  research  questions,  we  used  a                        grammar of Turkish as the first language and the grammar of 
              correlational  analysis.  The  SPSS  software  was  used  in                     English as the second language. 
              analyzing the data through correlation coefficient. As the first                    Is there any relationship between the knowledge of Turkish 
              step  of  data  analysis,  mean  scores  and  standard  deviations               and  English  grammar  for  Iranian  female  high  school 
              were obtained to describe the data. The relationship among                       students? 
              students’  knowledge  of  Turkish,  Persian,  and  English                          To answer the question, the Pearson correlation coefficient 
              grammar were then examined using Pearson correlation.                            was performed. According to the below table, there was a 
                                                                                               positive relationship between the knowledge of the grammar 
              5. Results & Discussion                                                          of  Turkish  and  English  as  it  was  0.57  (P<0.05).  Table  3 
                                                                                               shows the results. 
              5.1. Descriptive Statistics for the Participants’ Performance 
                   in the Three Tests                                                             Table 3. The Correlation between Turkish & English Grammar Scores 
                 Descriptive  statistics  for  Turkish,  grammar,  and  English                 Variables                 correlation coefficient   Sig.
              grammar test scores are presented in Table below. It shows    Turkish                                       0.57                        0.001
              that  the  mean  score  for  participants’  scores  in  Persian    English                                                            
              grammar  is  13.56,  in  Turkish  grammar  is  16.20,  and  in                    Total                     30                        
              English is 15.90. 
                                                                                                  As Table reveals, there is a positive relationship between 
              Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Participants’ Performance in Turkish,     the students’ Turkish and English grammar scores. It can be 
              Persian, and English Grammar Test                                                concluded that the higher the scores of Turkish grammar, the 
               Variable                 N        mean              Standard Deviation          higher the knowledge of English grammar. Thus, the second 
               Persian Grammar          30       13.56             2.78                        null hypothesis is rejected, too. 
               Turkish Grammar          30       16.20             2.92                        5.4. The Third Research Question 
               English Grammar          60       15.90             2.44                           The last question posed in the present study was: 
              5.2. The First Research Question                                                    Which first language, Persian or Turkish, is more related 
                 The  first  research  question  concerns  the  relationship                   to English grammar? 
              between the grammar of Persian as the first language and the                        Considering the results of the above Tables the correlation 
              grammar of English  as  the  second  language.    In  order  to                  coefficient of Turkish grammar was 0.57, and that of Persian 
              answer this  question,  Pearson  correlation  test  was  used  to                grammar was 0.43. Therefore, we can conclude that Turkish 
              identify the relationship between the grammar of Persian as                      grammar is more related to English than Persian grammar. 
              the first language and the grammar of English as the second                         Grammar  is  an  important  aspect  of  second  language 
              language. The research question was:                                             acquisition, and it is the most important language area to be 
                                                                                               mastered by EFL learners to use the language. 
                 Is there any relationship between the knowledge of Persian                       Second language learners appear to accumulate structural 
              and  English  grammar  for  Iranian  female  high  school                        entities of the target language but demonstrate difficulty in 
              students?                                                                        organizing  this  knowledge  into  appropriate,  coherent 
                 Table 2 below reveals the correlation coefficient between                     structures. There appears to be a significant gap between the 
              knowledge of  the  Persian  grammar  and  the  knowledge  of                     accumulation and the organization of the knowledge. When 
              English grammar.                                                                 writing  or  speaking  the  target  language  (L2),  second 
                   Table 2. Correlation between Persian and English Grammar Score              language learners tend to rely on their native language (L1) 
                                                                                               structures to produce a response (Dechert, 1983, Ellis, 1997). 
              Variables                  correlation coefficient   Sig.                           Phipps  and  Brog,  (2009)  examined  tensions  in  the 
              Persian grammar            0.43                        0.016                     grammar teaching beliefs  and  practices  of  three  practicing 
              English grammar                                                                  teachers  of  English  working  in  Turkey.  The  teachers  were 
              Total                      30                                                    observed and interviewed over a period of 18 months. The 
                                                                                               observations provided insights into how they taught grammar 
The words contained in this file might help you see if this file matches what you are looking for:

...International journal of language and linguistics published online november http www sciencepublishinggroup com j ijll doi s issn print the relationship between grammar persian turkish as first english for iranian female high school students maryam dorosti fatemeh behjat seyed jamal abdolrahim zadeh department abadeh branch islamic azad university iran email address gmail m fb yahoo f to cite this article special issue innovations in foreign teaching vol no pp abstract second effects learning more target is similar better achievement can be observed present study was an attempt investigate end o from marvdasht were selected participants out had their group a b regarding aims took part test both groups participated which standard based on text book statistical techniques mean deviation pearson correlation used result correlational analysis indicated that are related but there positively keywords bilingualism efl introduction whatever we speak chinese hindi or medium by speakers spanish ...

no reviews yet
Please Login to review.