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Description
Traditional grammar instruction often relies on focus-on-forms drills (Long, 1991), but such practices may not ensure durable acquisition (Wong & VanPatten, 2003). This study adopts a Community of Practice (CoP) framework to examine a three-stage intervention: individual grammar-integrated writing, exemplar analysis paired with collaborative Google Docs writing and peer scaffolding, and an independent transfer task. Results indicate significant gains in grammatical accuracy and writing quality, particularly regarding cohesion, narrative structure, plot consistency, and overall readability.
References
Long, M. H. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, R. Ginsberg, & C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39–52). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.2.07lon
Wong, W., & VanPatten, B. (2003). The evidence is in: Drills are out. Foreign Language Annals, 36(3), 403–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2003.tb02123.x
Keywords
grammar acquisition
Community of Practice (CoP)
collaborative writing
vocational education
Abstract
Traditional English grammar instruction is often characterized as a focus-on-forms approach, in which discrete structures are pre-selected and practiced through controlled exercises (Long, 1991). However, research questioning mechanical drills suggests they may not contribute to durable acquisition (Wong & VanPatten, 2003). This study shifts the paradigm toward a situated learning and community of practice (CoP) approach, involving 21 second-year junior college students in Taiwan. By framing the classroom as a CoP, this research explores how communal engagement facilitates linguistic growth through a three-stage intervention. In the first stage, students were asked to write an individual short story based on three panels, integrating five target grammar features: the present perfect, the past perfect, modal auxiliaries, linking words, and interrogatives. In the second stage, students analyzed a writing exemplar and engaged in online collaborative writing via Google Docs. Peer leaders, selected based on high performance in the first stage, provided scaffolding by guiding group members through tense revision and logical transitions. The concluding phase was dedicated to evaluating the transfer of individual learning. Without referring to group records, students independently composed a thematically related story to determine whether the intervention improved autonomous grammatical accuracy and writing quality. Findings indicate that students achieved significant improvements in both domains. Granular analysis reveals that these gains were particularly evident in cohesive devices, narrative structure, plot consistency, and overall readability. This suggests that the collaborative nature of the tasks effectively helped students apply their grammar skills to improve their proficiency in subsequent independent narrative tasks.
Short summary
Traditional grammar instruction often relies on focus-on-forms drills (Long, 1991), yet such practices may not ensure durable acquisition (Wong & VanPatten, 2003). This study adopts a Community of Practice (CoP) framework to examine a three-stage intervention: individual grammar-integrated writing, exemplar analysis paired with collaborative Google Docs writing and peer scaffolding, and an independent transfer task. Results indicate significant gains in grammatical accuracy and writing quality, particularly regarding cohesion, narrative structure, plot consistency, and overall readability.
Special scheduling requests
Saturday afternoon would be preferable.
| Scheduling preference | Special request (enter below) |
|---|---|
| Title | Beyond Practice: Community-Based Grammar Learning in Vocational Education |