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    How textbooks (and learners) get it wrong : a corpus study of modal auxiliary verbs

    Khojasteh, Laleh; Reinders, Hayo

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    Date
    2013-02
    Citation:
    Khojasteh, L. & Reinders, H. (2013). How textbooks (and learners) get it wrong : a corpus study of modal auxiliary verbs. Applied Research on English Language, 2(1), 33-44 NOTE: This is research undertaken for King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand prior to the author being affiliated with the Unitec Institute of Technology.
    Permanent link to Research Bank record:
    https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2388
    Abstract
    Many elements contribute to the relative difficulty in acquiring specific aspects of English as a foreign language (Goldschneider & DeKeyser, 2001). Modal auxiliary verbs (e.g. could, might), are examples of a structure that is difficult for many learners. Not only are they particularly complex semantically, but especially in the Malaysian context reported on in this paper, there is no direct equivalent in the students’ L1. In other words, they are a good example of a structure for which successful acquisition depends very much on the quality of the input and instruction students receive. This paper reports on analysis of a 230,000 word corpus of Malaysian English textbooks, in which it was found that the relative frequency of the modals did not match that found in native speaker corpora such as the BNC. We compared the textbook corpus with a learner corpus of Malaysian form 4 learners and found no direct relationship between frequency of presentation of target forms in the textbooks and their use by students in their writing. We also found a very large percentage of errors in students’ writing. We suggest a number of possible reasons for these findings and discuss the implications for materials developers and teachers.
    Keywords:
    modal auxiliary verbs, Malaysia, corpus, textbooks, material development
    ANZSRC Field of Research:
    130207 LOTE, ESL and TESOL Curriculum and Pedagogy (excl. Māori)
    Copyright Holder:
    Applied Research on English Language
    Rights:
    This digital work is protected by copyright. It may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. You will recognise the author's and publishers rights and give due acknowledgement where appropriate.
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