Investigation into the Use of Computer-Assisted Instruction to Present BasicEnglish Grammar Concepts

摘要

The purpose of this research was to develop a computer-assisted instruction (CAI)tutorial that would address basic grammatical concepts. The research consisted of four phases. The first phase was a review of applicable CAI literature, including theories, instructional and programming techniques, and previous research findings. The second phase was a survey of communication professors to determine the grammatical errors commonly committed by students. The third phase involved development of the tutorial content and the program software. The resulting tutorial presents basic grammar in terms of the three building elements of language (words, phrases, clauses) and the five functions they perform (naming, showing action/condition/state, modifying, connecting, adding filler) to create sentences. The program software, written in Turbo Pascal, employs a hypertext environment for its computer-user interface. The final phase was a preliminary field test of the program to evaluate its execution and hypertext interface. The project resulted in a functional, stand-alone CAI tutorial that addresses basic grammatical concepts. The hypertext program code can be used to creat and display any hypertext document. The study recommends that further research be conducted to broaden the scope of the tutorial and to evaluate its effectiveness as an instructional tool.