Investigating the Use of Paratactic and Hypotactic Conjunctions among Iranian Pre-university Students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Dept.of ELT, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran

2 English Department,Isamic Azad Univesity,Ahar Branch,Ahar,Iran

3 Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

In an attempt to dispel the persisting fallacy that an individual’s grammar knowledge is indicative of the way they put this knowledge into practice, this study seeks to highlight the inconsistency which resides between one’s competence and performance in the domain of conjunctions. It aims to shed light on the discrepancy which lies between the knowledge and production of conjunctions. The research context was an Iranian high school in Tabriz and the participants included 40 pre-university students whose knowledge of conjunctions was checked once by analyzing the results of a grammar test of conjunctions and once more through the administration of a sentence-combining test of conjunctions. Eventually, the obtained results were juxtaposed for consistency comparison, the ultimate outcome of which suggest that an individual’s demonstrable knowledge of conjunctions in a grammar test cannot be necessarily generalized to the proportional use of them; hence, a set of correct responses given to the questions of a grammar test of conjunctions is not necessarily a valid indicator of their actual use or production. Overall, it is concluded that the participants tend to choose paratactic extending conjunctions over hypotactic ones and hypotactic enhancing conjunctions over paratactic ones despite their adequate knowledge of both. 

Keywords

References

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Journal of English Language Pedagogy and Practice
Volume 5, Issue 11 - Serial Number 11
Summer and Autumn 2012
Pages 158-170

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