The effects of dictogloss, a collaborative learning procedure

Abstract

In spite of the fact that learning English tenses is considered essential in the process of learning English, they have been found difficult to learners of various backgrounds, including Arab learners. More strikingly, they have been proved to pose a serious problem of acquisition even to learners with advanced level. The current thesis aims at investigating the effectiveness of dictogloss, done for reinforcement and practice purposes, on Second Year students’ performance while using English tenses. It is also concerned with finding out about students’ motivation and attitudes towards dictogloss. we hypothesize that adopting dictogloss to teach English tenses is likely to be effective to improve the students’ accuracy of the use of verb tenses. We also hypothesize that the students would have positive attitudes towards dictogloss when it is used in grammar classes. To check our hypotheses, we have relied on two research means commonly used in Second Language Acquisition studies: an experimental design and a questionnaire given to Second Year Grammar teachers and to the students with the purpose of knowing how they felt towards the dictogloss procedure. A pre-test and posttest which contain two parts, a close procedure and composition, were administered to 118 students who were randomly divided into two Experimental Groups (n: 61) and two Control Groups (n: 57). After having done the pre-test, the Experimental Groups received the instructional content concerning the English tenses coupled with five dictogloss tasks, and the Control Groups were taught the same content without being exposed to the new technique. A post-test was given to all the groups. After the experimentation, The results of the tests showed that the Experimental Groups performed better than the Control Groups in the first part of the test: the close procedure; however, there was no difference between their results in the second part: the composition. Additionally, the analysis of teachers’ and students’ questionnaires revealed that the students expressed positive attitudes towards dictogloss. Based on the conclusions drawn from the results, we propose some guidelines for grammar teachers to help their students understand better and use correctly the complex temporal system of English through dictogloss. Some pedagogical suggestions for future research are also recommended.