FORMATION OF SKILLS PRIOR TO THE ACQUISITION OF 1

BASIC GRAMMAR CATEGORIES 2

3

Abstract 4

Acquisition of grammar is a topic of discussion within educational system. Pupils at 5

school show strong difficulties in independent writing production, which depends, 6

among other aspects, on general knowledge of basis of grammar. No original 7

strategies neither innovation methods are proposed in traditional education. Our 8

study represents an effort to show new pedagogical approach for teaching of initial 9

grammar categories. The aim of the study was to obtain qualitative pedagogical 10

data during the work with basic grammatical categories through prior acquisition of 11

certain skills of orientation and reflective comprehension of differences between 12

essential characteristics of each type of word (basic grammar category). The study 13

was carried out with Mexican regular pupils of second grade of primary school. We 14

discuss effectiveness of positive results, which were obtained by application of new 15

pedagogical experience. Our proposal is based on strategies of guided orientation 16

according to cultural historical psychology and activity theory. 17

18

Key words: grammar categories, teaching methods, grammar teaching, primary 19

education, educational innovation. 20

21

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23

Introduction 24

In Mexico, as in many other Latin American countries, acquisition of 25

grammar categories is a problem in primary school (Secretary of Education, 2010). 26

Children frequently have strong difficulties and show poor motivation during this 27

process. Such situation is reflected in low level of reading and writing abilities at 28

the end of primary school. According to official statistics of Secretariat of Education 29

en Mexico, among other difficulties, the level of comprehension of texts is 30

extremely low (OECD, 2000, 2003), as well as level of independent production of 31

written texts. There are no concrete pedagogical proposals for solutions of these 32

problems from official educational institutions. The motivation of Mexican school 33

children for theoretical acquisition of written language and for reading in general is 34

poor. 35

Psychological theory of historic and cultural development of human psyche 36

(Vygotski, 1996) may be used as methodological background for alternative 37

consideration of leaning process. Such methodology differs from traditional 38

teaching based on memorization of knowledge, repetition and reproductive 39

activities. Psychological activity theory understands the learning as active process. 40

This process includes directed and joint activity between teacher and pupils. The 41

direction of the learning process may be achieved by using specific orientation. 42

Such orientation includes introduction of general concepts for each area of 43

knowledge. That means that the whole process of knowledge acquisition is taken 44

into account as organized activity in opposition to empiric way of introduction of 45

knowledge just according to established official program (Talizina, 2000). 46

Strategies and ways for guided formation of concepts in primary school were 47

shown in activity theory applied to teaching process (Davidov, 1996; Galperin, 48

1979, 1987; Leontiev, 1978; Talizina, 2009). According to activity theory applied to 49

organization of learning process introduction of each type of concepts has to be 50

fulfilled on the basis of previous orientation of school children. Such orientation 51

requires special organization of learning activity divided between teacher and 52

pupils (Galperin, 2009a, 2009b; Talizina, 1988, 2009). 53

Considering the difficulties observed in primary school in Mexico related to 54

traditional teaching of grammar, it is possible to propose new kind of guided 55

programs adapted to features of grammar, lexical and morphological structure of 56

Spanish language. In our research, which is founded on activity theory applied to 57

teaching, we propose an alternative way for teaching grammar. Our program is 58

aimed to training and assimilation of general grammar categories at initial steps of 59

education in primary school. 60

The aim of our study was to obtain qualitative pedagogical data during the 61

work with basic grammatical categories through prior acquisition of certain skills of 62

orientation and reflective comprehension of differences between essential features 63

of each type of word (each grammar category). Methodology of experiment of 64

formation of concepts and actions, firstly proposed by Vygotski (1995) and 65

developed by Galperin (1998, 2000) was applied in the study. The way of formation 66

was based on the theory of interiorization starting from external level of orientation 67

and gradually passing to most independent execution of intellectual actions 68

(Galperin, 1979, 2000; Talizina, 2009; Talizina, Solovieva & Quintanar, 2010). The 69

stages for formation of intellectual actions by steps used in our study were 70

symbolic materialized level, level of perceptual actions and verbal oral and written 71

speech (Solovieva, 2004). All kinds of pedagogical activities applied in the study 72

were based on proposal of cooperation between adult and child according to the 73

conception of the zone of proximate development (Vygotski, 1991). 74

According to proposal of this author, new intellectual actions are more 75

significant for conceptual and intellectual development in comparison with old 76

traditional and easy actions and concepts (Vygotski, 1991). Working inside the 77

zone of proximate development means to introduce gradually always new actions 78

and concepts (Solovieva, 2014). Such conception contradicts completely to 79

traditional way of teaching based on constant repetition of rules and formal 80

concepts and its memorization. 81

The main purpose of our study is to offer specific kinds of new intellectual 82

actions, which may guarantee formation of initial general grammar concepts. Our 83

central interest was focused on the possibility of showing new way of reflective and 84

guided teaching and learning as parts of the unique process. The general concepts 85

used during formation were introduced as shared collective actions within 86

situations of dialogues. Discussions in groups and common solution of the 87

problems proposed in school sessions were essencial part of pur programm. 88

Specific guided orientation provided by teacher was the main methodological 89

instrument of our study. The significance of our study is related to creation of new 90

pedagogical programms, which may help to improve the level of current education 91

of grammar in primary school. Our research is new and unique of it’s kind in 92

Mexico. 93

94

METHOD 95

The study is qualitative, descriptive and exploratory and includes proposal of 96

innovative teaching program, which could facilitate the acquisition of basic Spanish 97

grammar categories. Children from the second grade of primary school (the city of 98

Puebla, central Mexico) were included in the study. The children were pupils of a 99

small private school were new innovative programs for teaching and learning are 100

being created according to main proposals of historical and cultural psychology 101

and activity theories. Such type of organization of educational works at this school 102

has permitted to carry out our study. The psychological age of the children who 103

participated in this research is school age. The sample was composed of 4 104

pupils of 7.25 years of chronological age on average, three boys and one girl 105

(Figure 1). 106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

Figure 1. Children who took part in the research 115

The criteria considered for inclusion of children in the study are presented 116

in Table 1. 117

118

Table 1. Criteria for inclussion of the children in the study. 119

Criteria for inclusion

N = 4

Criteria for exclusion of

analysis of data N = 0

Criteria for exclusion

N = 0

Children who were in

the second grade of the

selected school, and

living in the city of

Puebla.

Children who had a

history of neurological

and/or psychiatric

disorders, and children

who attended

regularization classes.

Children who missed at

least 5 sessions during

the course.

120

The research was conducted in a classroom within the Kepler College, 121

which has all the necessary structure and infrastructure and is located in the 122

center of the city of Puebla (Figure 2). 123

The College were our program was applied was completely new at the 124

time of the study, the reasons why the group of pupils was small. On the other 125

hand, the College was organized on the basis of research work of Master 126

Program of Neuropsychology at Psychology Faculty of Puebla Autonomous 127

University. The work was organized as a project for post graduated student. 128

The educational programm was designed and guided by researchers in the field 129

of educational neuropsychology and historical and cultural psychology 130

(Solovieva 2014; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2008). 131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

Figure 2. Kepler College 139

Special method for discrimination and differentiation of essential features 140

(semantic, grammatical and morphological) of Spanish categories and for gradual 141

acquisition of grammatical categories by stages was created (Solovieva, 2014). 142

The program is based on historic and cultural paradigm of psychological 143

development (Vygotski, 1995) and on the theory of gradual formation of mental 144

actions proposed by Galperin (2009a). The introduction of the new actions and 145

concepts takes place through joint activities applied Talizina (1988). Such kind of 146

approach permites to organize the assimilation of scientific concepts from general 147

category to particular manifestation of each level (Davidov, 1996). In case of 148

acquisition of grammar, we divided the program in two essential parts: 1) 149

introduction of prior general skill which could be called as meta-linguistic skills and 150

2) gradual teaching of grammar categories relevant to Spanish language 151

(Solovieva, 2014). 152

According to our proposal, the first part of the program included following 153

goals and activities: 154

1) formation of reflected sensibility for identification of words as independent 155

units within the sentence; 156

2) identification of meaning of each word within the sentence (concrete object, 157

abstract object or process; actions; characteristic of object; characteristic of 158

action or absence of any kind of specific meaning); 159

3) classification of the words in 2 groups: words with independent meaning and 160

words with auxiliary meaning; 161

4) elaboration of sentences with different types of words according to their 162

semantic meaning; 163

5) comparison of sentences from the poin of view of semantic meaning. 164

6) introduction of general concept of “sentence” as oral expression which 165

includes 2 aspects: about what we say (subject) and what we say 166

(predicate); 167

7) introduction and assimilation of general characteristics of a concept 168

“grammar category” or a “class of a word” (semantic, grammar and 169

morphological levels). 170

The second part of the program included elaborated orientation for all types 171

of grammar categories (classes of the words) used in Spanish language. Such 172

classes of the words are: noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb and article. At this 173

level of learning program, specification and particularization of concrete types 174

within each class of the word were not among the aims. Other kinds of grammar 175

categories or classes of words (preposition, conjunction, gerund number) were not 176

included at this level. 177

All activities were guided and organized as common divided tasks in 178

classroom according to the concept of the zone of proximate development within 179

historical and cultural paradigm of learning (Vygotski, 2007). The qualitative 180

pedagogical assessment of skills for the usage of grammar categories was applied 181

before and after our program according to activity theory methodology (Davidov, 182

2000; Talizina, 2009). 183

The educational program was applied during a school year period, with 184

three one-hour sessions per week. Therefore, we applied two assessments, at the 185

beginning and at the end of the program application. The goal of such assessment 186

was to evaluate the level of formation of grammatical categories before and after 187

working with our teaching program. Methodology of our research was employed 188

as qualitative exploratory study with comparison according to the following 189

design: 190

191

192

where GE = experimental group O (1-2) with the test measurements (pre and 193

post), and X = the program of training. 194

The instrument used for initial test and post-test was designed according to 195

proposals for psychological and neuropsychological assessment of school 196

success with additional tasks for assessing the acquisition of grammatical 197

concepts (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2012). 198

199

Pedagogical Procedure 200

GE: R O1 X O2

The content of all items of the program was introduced and worked with the 201

help of orientation provided by an adult. The whole process of teaching was 202

organized as process of constant mutual cooperation based on common actions 203

and dialogues between pupils and teacher. The orientation was elaborated with the 204

help of specific cards, which were created together with the children in educational 205

sessions (Solovieva & Quintanar, 2006, 2008; Talizina, 2000, 2009). All essencial 206

features of introduced new grammar concepts were presented on the cards. The 207

cards were called “orientation cards” according to Talizina’s previous works. In 208

these previous works such cards were used not for grammar but other school 209

matters (Salmina, 1981; Talizina, 1988). The children were able to use orientation 210

cards during all of activities in the classroom and at home. The teacher was 211

showing and explaining how to use each card for all tasks in the classroom. 212

The activities were divided into two stages. Each stage consisted of four 213

months work within the classroom 3 times per week during common school 214

session for learning of Spanish language. 215

Part 1. Prior skills for acquisition of grammar categories 216

Firstly, the work was aimed to acquisition of prior skills to assimilation of 217

most general grammar categories. Specific tasks were proposed in order to work 218

with identifying the quantity and sense of words as separate units in sentences. All 219

words were divided in two general groups: 1) words with independent meaning and 220

auxiliary words (e.g. “boy”, “red”, “walk”, “beautiful” and son on) and 2) words 221

without any independent meaning (e.g. “it”, “a”, “and”; “on” and so on). The children 222

had to compare words by their meaning and to determin the group for each word 223

(group 1 or group 2). The words were presented also within different sentences. 224

The sentences were constructed initially by teacher and/or by pupils according to 225

pictures, illustrations, common situations and activities (Figure 3). Gradually, 226

children became more independent and were able to construct their own 227

sentences. The teaching tasks were fulfilled within divided activities organized by 228

teacher with the participation of the whole classroom. 229

230

231

Example of sentences constructed by teacher 232

and pupils according to picture. 233

234

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237

238

239

A tree reflecting in water. (Child A) 240

The water reflects the tree. (Child B) 241

The tree is reflected in the lake. (Child C) 242

The sun reflects and drops the shadow in the water. (Child D) 243

244

Figure 3. Children had to mark with green color the words with independent meaning and with red 245

color the word without any independent meaning within different sentences. 246

During fulfillment of the tasks, the children had to comment about semantic 247

meaning of all the words within created sentences, identifying all elements of the 248

sentence. Such elements included objects, characteristics of objects, features of 249

actions, actions, and numbers for the first grammar category of words (words with 250

independent meaning). The words of the second category (auxiliary words or 251

functional words) were presented also as necessary elements of the sentence. The 252

children observed that such words help to connect (relate) different kinds of words 253

in the sentence. 254

Next, general characteristics of the concept “sentence” was introduced 255

(Figure 4). The concept of sentence was explained as an oral or written 256

expression, which included 2 essential parts: 1) what we say (predicate) and about 257

what we say this (subject). In order to facilitate symbolic representation and 258

comprehension of this concept, the symbol of “tree” was used with 2 elements: 1) 259

“trunk of the tree” as symbolic representation of “what we say” (predicate) and 260

“foliage of the tree” as symbolic representation of “about what we say” (subject). 261

The formal terms of “predicate” and “subject” were not used at this initial stage. Our 262

objective was only to guarantee the general logic comprehension of the concept of 263

sentence in our pupils. 264

265

Sentence: 266

1) what do we say? 267

2) about what we say? 268

269

Figure 4. Orientation card for concept “sentence”. 270

Afterwards, general characteristics of the concept “grammar category” were 271

introduced with all conceptual essencial features and reflected in orientation card 272

after explanation and presentation to the children (Figure 5). As essential features 273

of grammar categories three aspects were established: semantic, grammar and 274

morphological feature (Davidov, 2000). Semantic feature means that the word 275

always refers to something and two options are possible: independent meaning in 276

case of noun, verb, adjective and so on, and absence of independent meaning in 277

case of articles, prepositions and son on (functional categories). Grammar feature 278

means that the word may have specific way of “behavior”. For example, the words 279

may be changed by number, person, time, aspect and so on. Such changes may 280

vary from language to language, but their presence is general in all languages. For 281

example, the usage of flexion “s” for plural number is general both in Spanish and 282

English and so on. In the case of Spanish, large variety of morphological changes 283

may be observed in different grammar categories. We believe that it is impossible 284

Class of speech (type of word)

1) semantic features;

2) grammar features;

3) morphological characteristics.

and useless to study and to remember all of them at the stage of grammar 285

introduction. 286

While working with the orientation card, children had to find (propose, elicit 287

or read) any word and then to describe semantic and grammar features and to 288

notice the presence of morphological features in each word. We stress that at this 289

stage this work was of general order without all possible kinds of grammar details. 290

291

292

293

294

Figure 5. Orientation card for concept “grammar category”. 295

296

Part 2. Classes of words or basic grammar cathegories 297

After such prior training of general grammar skills (possibility of 298

comprehension of semantic and functional categories of words), the gradual 299

teaching and introduction of basic grammar categories (noun, adjective, pronoun, 300

verb, adverb and article) was organized. Semantic, grammar and morphological 301

characteristics were introduced by teacher for each class of word. At this stage 302

children were able to produce their own sentences in an independent way and 303

comment about respective components and sense of sentences. Reading and 304

independent production of sentences and accessible texts was essential part of the 305

program. As home tasks, children had to read texts and stories and to identify 306

studied grammar categories with the help of orientation cards. Difficulties and 307

success at home were always revised and commented in classroom among the 308

group. 309

310

Description of pedagogical process 311

Teaching process carried out according to created program showed positive 312

participation of the children in the program. During all sessions, the children were 313

happy to be able to understand and complete the proposed activities together with 314

their mates. Awareness and critical attitude of the pupils was reflected in possibility 315

of common correction of minor errors in groups. Constant initiative and cooperation 316

took place in each session. The children expressed their positive emotions while 317

working with the teacher according to the program. All pedagogical work according 318

to our program was divided in three basic stages: materialized, perceptive and 319

verbal (Solovieva, 2004; Talizina, 2008, 2009). During materialized stage external 320

symbolic marks were used for specific work with the concepts. On perceptual 321

stage, children drew marks by themselves. The work on verbal stage was used as 322

the final stage, on which only written production and oral analysis of categories 323

were worked out. 324

Concrete examples of activities and fulfilled tasks presented below reflect 325

successful performance of children during implementation of the program. 326

327

Introductory part of word classes (parts of speech or grammar categories) 328

Activity 1: Identification of words in sentences with the help of external mark 329

(plastic circle) as independent units within the sentence (Figure 6). In this task 330

children had to represent with external mark each independent word in different 331

sentences. 332

333

334

CONCRETE MATERIALIZED STAGE 335

Mi mejor amiga se llama Araceli 336

(My best friend is called Araceli) 337

PERCEPTUAL STAGE 338

En el zoológico viven animales de distintas partes del mundo. 339

(In the zoo animals live from around the world). 340

341

342

Figure 6. Identification of each word in a sentence (number of circles corresponds to number of 343

words in written or oral statement in Spanish). 344

345

Activity 2: Identification of meaning of each word within the sentences. Sentences 346

may include different aspects: concrete objects, abstract objects or process; 347

actions; characteristic of object; characteristics of action or absence of any kind of 348

specific meaning for functional words (Figure 7). 349

350

a b

c d

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Figure 7. identification of meaning of words. Objects (a). Characteristics of objects (b). Actions (c). 362

Characteristics of actions (d). 363

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ORIENTATION CARD EXERCISE

Activity 3: Classification of all words in 2 groups: words with independent meaning 367

and words with auxiliary (functional) meaning (Figure 8). 368

369

370

Figure 8. Comparison of the meanings (functions) of words using the corresponding orientation 371

card: auxiliary (symbol “Ο”) and whit semantic meaning (symbol “☺”). 372

373

Activity 4: Elaboration of sentences with different types of words (Figure 9). 374

Noun (a) Adjective (b) Verb (c) Adverb (d) 375

376

377

378

379

380

Figure 9. Development of sentences with support scheme. Things (a). Characteristics of things (b). 381

Actions (c). Characteristics of the actions (d). 382

Tipos de categorías gramaticales: con sentido

semántico y auxiliar.

1) la palabra tiene un significado

semántico ☺

2) la palabra sólo señala relaciones,

ayuda a formar la oración Ο

ORIENTATION CARD EXERCISE

Activity 5: Comparison of sentences by quantity of two categories of words (with 383

and without independent meaning) used for each sentence. 384

Activity 6: Introduction of general concept of “sentence” as oral expression which 385

includes 2 aspects: about what we say (subject) and what we say (predicate) 386

(Figure 10). 387

388

389

Sentence 390

About what we say: 391

392

393

What we say … 394

395

Figure 10. Subject and predicate in the sentence. 396

Activity 7: Introduction and assimilation of general characteristics of a concept 397

“grammar category” or a “class of a word” working with semantic meaning (Figure 398

10), grammar (Figure 11) and morphological aspects (Figure 12). 399

400

Semantic features. Noun: Means object or 401

subject.402

403

Figure 11. Semantic features as essential features of grammar classes. Examples show grammar 404

changes in nouns “school” and “work” (red color means subject or object (nouns in Spanish); blue 405

color means that the word is neither the subject or the object (verbs in Spanish). 406

407

Morphological characteristics. Structural parts of noun. 408

Start End 409

Changes of noun. 410

411

Figure 12. Identification of the essential features in word classes. Morphological characteristics. 412

Transformations of words preserving the root morphological words (start) and identification of 413

similar endings in different words of the same grammar (grammar endings). 414

415

Gender Number 416

417

Figure 13. Identification of the essential features in grammar categories. Grammar features. 418

Changes by gender and number of the nouns in Spanish. 419

420

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Results of Pre-test 423

During initial assessment children had difficulties in making sentences. 424

They were not able to identify any type of words, were not aware of the 425

changes of words neither of mistakes and were not abler to write any sentence 426

by themselves (Figure 14). In general, they were not aware of grammar 427

categories of Spanish language. Our examples present mistakes in assessment 428

according to Spanish grammar for production of sentences. 429

430

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432

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436

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438

439

440

441

Figure 14. Examples of initial assessment with mistakes in sentences. 442

443

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Pre-test

Tasks for usage of grammar

Example a: Write the sentence that you want.

Example b: Write a sentence that has one noun, one adjective, one verb and one adverb.

Bathing is important because to not be dirty.

I can not.

Results of Pos-test 447

During the final assessment after conclusion of the work according to our 448

program, in comparison with the initial evaluation, children showed better 449

production of written sentences and greater linguistic creativity. Such results were 450

reflected in the possibility of making sentences with specific types and quantity of 451

grammar categories requested by an adult (Figure 15). 452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

463

464

Figure 15. Examples of final assessment with correct answers. 465

466

Positive skills prior to the assimilation of grammatical categories were 467

reflected in the success of analysis of text (Figure 16). In this task the children 468

were asked to mark with different colors words in the texts. The words belonged to 469

different grammar categories. The surprising fact is that even without any 470

knowledge about each grammar category (type of word), children were able to 471

notice differences in semantic, grammar and morphological features of the words. 472

The small airplane flies slowly.

Pos-test

Tasks for usage of grammar

Example a. Write the sentence that you want.

Example b. Write a sentence that has one noun, one adjective, one verb and one adverb.

In the sea there are animals of different shapes and sizes.

The examles of the tasks shows the children's familiarity with different kinds of 473

words. 474

475

476

477

478

479

480

481

482

483

Figure 16. Reading and explanatory texts. 484

485

Discussion 486

According to dialectical materialistic paradigm (Arias, 2004), our research 487

may be considered experimental and qualitative. From the opint of view of 488

particular psychological methodology, our study is an example of experimental 489

genetic method proposed by Vygotsky (1995) for psychological studies. Later 490

on, such studyes were called as formative experiment (Talizina, 2009). That 491

means that new concepts and new actions can be developed in children as a 492

result of joint activity guided and organized in a specific way (Leontiev, 2003). 493

In our study initial grammar concepts, which were completely new for the 494

participants. The initial evaluation permmited to establish that all formed 495

concepts were new before working with our programm. 496

The results of final assessment have shown the possibility of formation of 497

basic grammar skills in classroom. Our study showed positive effects of proposed 498

program for acquisition of general linguistic skills in school children. All children 499

Noun: Red. Adjective: Green. Verb: Purple.

Advereb: Hellow. Auxiliary: Blue.

were able to take part in proposed activities and showed high level of interest and 500

positive motivation during the whole process. Pedagogical work with group of 501

children was organized without any kind of mechanic memorization or repetition of 502

rules. Instead of such traditional way of teaching, constant orientation was used. It 503

is important to stress that the orientation was not only verbal, but symbolic, based 504

on usage of external orientation cards. In our previos studies, same kind of 505

external orientation was applied for teaching of mathematics and solving of 506

problemas (Solovieva, Rosas Rivera, Quintanar & García, 2013). In the case of 507

grammar teaching, such method was applied in Mexico for the first time. Similar 508

way of teaching was used by Russian psychologists during formation of linguistic 509

skills in school children starting with third grade of primary school (Romanovskaya, 510

(1991). In our previous study orientation for teaching of reading was created for 511

initial levels of verbal activity with Mexican children (Solovieva, 2013). 512

The essential role of usage of “orientation card” consisted in two aspects. 513

Firstly, the card helped to guarantee major reflection of all intelectual actions of 514

pupils. Secondly, it was possible to guarantee stable comprehension of grammar 515

aspects without memorization and without simple repetition. Operation of repetition 516

and memorization can not be considered as intelectual actions of children at school 517

age (Davidov, 2000; Ilienkov, 2009). 518

Instead of repetition our main method consisted in elaboration and creation 519

of examples and tasks according to rules marked on orientation card. Such 520

elaboration and creation of examples was always guided by teacher and achived 521

by all children together. Our study proves the important the role of orientation base 522

of action proposed by Galperin (Galperin & Kabilnitskaya, 1974; Galperin, 1979). 523

According to his theory, there is no stable successful action withour previous 524

orientation. 525

Our result confirmed that guided and organized way of teaching at primary 526

school seems to be the most effective educational method. But the usage of 527

guided and organized activities is not enough to guarantee successful school 528

learning of specific school subjects as some authors claim (Cole, 1997). Creation 529

of methods and strategies for materialization and external representation of 530

essential features of concepts and of actions with these concepts is another aspect 531

for positive effects of educational programs (Davidov, 2000). Means of external 532

orientation should be included during the fist steps of teaching process as it’s 533

obligatory part (Salmina, 1981). The content of orientation should include precisely 534

essential features of concepts, which should be selected for classroom activities 535

which include these concepts (Talizina, 1984, 2007). 536

In our study, such specific means of external orientation included several 537

essential aspects, which are frequently absent within traditional teaching of 538

grammar. From this point of view it is important to establish the ways to guarantee 539

the orientation in verbal categories according to general linguistic concepts 540

(Karpova, 1981). Such essential aspects are: 541

1) possibility to identify a word as unique object of intellectual action and as 542

an element of the sentence; 543

2) recognition of 2 general categories of words: with and without 544

independent semantic meaning; 545

3) possibility to assimilate logically general features of the concept of “type 546

of words”, that is semantic, grammar and morphological features of each 547

type of words; 548

4) possibility to operate with these features while reading and writing and 549

giving examples; 550

5) gradual passing to more independent action by pupils. 551

For all such aspects means of external symbolic and perceptual orientation 552

were used, which may be observed in examples included in the article. 553

Our study shows that the children were able to generalize and to learn such 554

essential features of the concept if they use these features all the time according to 555

provided orientation. That means that generalized conceptual features will never 556

be forgotten in future as it usually happens with memorized but no comprehended 557

information (Talizina, 2008). Specific actions used instead of memorization in our 558

formative experiment were as follows: 559

1) comparison of sentences by number of used words; 560

2) comparison of diverse words according to semantic, grammar and 561

morphological changes; 562

3) elaboration of exact examples for each rule; 563

4) elaboration of different sentences with diverse types of words according 564

to mentioned features; 565

5) revision and correction of all tasks in group. 566

It is important to stress that such methods are not common in traditional 567

schools in Mexico or in other Latin American countries (Solovieva & Quintanar, 568

2010). It is even possible to say that they are absent in formal system of education. 569

Our report is the first of it’s kind and unique for our countries. Our study is the first 570

attempt in this field, which opens the possibility for creation and implementation of 571

new methods of education in primary school. Among other matters, grammar 572

concepts are practically isolated from pedagogical concern in educational system 573

in Mexico (SEP, 2010). Official programs tend to exclude grammar work and tasks 574

from textbooks. Teachers receive no specific preparation for teaching of grammar 575

at all. The reason is that grammar is understood as “complex” and “abstract” matter 576

and methods usually are limited by constant memorization of something, which 577

pupils cannot understand. Therefore, the formation of prior general skills within 578

guided orientation and cooperation proposed in our study may guarantee positive 579

assimilation of initial grammar categories in second grade of primary school. The 580

only basic ability which will be required while working with our method is very basic 581

ability of reading and writing. We may stress that our method helps even to 582

improve and increase the level of reading and writing in school sessions. All these 583

ideas may lead to urgent changes of traditional teaching of grammar in elementary 584

school. 585

The results of our study show that the conflict in manner of teaching of 586

grammar cannot be solved by exclusion of grammar from the content of primary 587

school programs. Spontaneous development of formal concepts, as claimed in 588

Piaget’s genetic theory (Piaget, 1977), does not occure at school. Only 589

development of concrete methods for teachnig based on solid psychlogical theory 590

may change the situation with success in grammar abilities. Unlike the Secretary of 591

Education in Mexico (SEP, 2010), which attaches the main importance only to the 592

speed of reading as evidence of success in primary school (which does not mean 593

comprehension of what is read), the method presented in our article ensures 594

linguistic awareness in pupils. Such awareness could be achieved through 595

organization of specific school actions appropriate for generation of general 596

linguistic abilities (Leontiev, 2001; Solovieva & Quintanar, 2006, 2009). Awareness 597

might be understood as reflection, which is essential feature of human intellectual 598

activity (Ilienkov, 2009; Leontiev, 1981). 599

Theoretical findings of activity theory applied to pedagogical psychology, 600

expressed in the works of Galperin (1987, 1979, 2009a, 2009b) and Talizina (1988, 601

2000, 2007; Salmina, 1984) are essential for improvement of educational research 602

and practice. Our program for formation of initial grammar skills is an example of 603

usage of historical and cultural psychology and methogology of qualitative genetic 604

experiment proposed by L.S. Vygotski and his followers. Formative experiments 605

allow to create new abilites and new knowledge in children. Such approach of 606

research is opposite to quantitative assessment or methods of observation without 607

any participation of the researcher (Piaget, 1953, 1977). Our results open new 608

perspectives for those interested in strengthen relation between historical cultural 609

theory and practice of education and developmental psychology. 610

One of the evidence of our succes was the fact that children started to read 611

books at home. Their comprehension improved as well as their oral expression. 612

Another evidence was constant positive emotional attitude of children in the college 613

towards learning and reading. We believe that from the point of view of qualitative 614

pedagogical and psychological research these data is very significant, as well as 615

data of comparison of initial and last assessment. 616

We believe that future studies and research of psychologists together with 617

teachers will help point out the right way for transformation of programs for 618

teaching of grammar through development of specific methods suitable for different 619

school grades and levels of education. 620

621

622

Conclusions 623

1. Our results have shown positive effects of the program for acquisition of 624

initial grammar concepts by Mexican pupils. 625

2. Orientation base of actions and usage of external means for orientation 626

(special cards) were main instrument, which allowed to achieve 627

effectiveness in reflective knowledge of pupils and in grammar 628

awareness. 629

3. The main principles of guided and joint activity including teacher and 630

pupils in classroom were applied with succes for formation of general 631

grammar concepts. 632

4. Formative experiment applied to introductive teachng of grammar 633

categories proved to be useful method in educational psychology. 634

5. Orientation used in teaching should take into account types, levels and 635

essential contents feature of concepts (genetal grammar categories). 636

637

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