This section attempts to answer the third research question of this study, which addresses the results of context distribution of recycled items in each textbook series, that is, whether recycled structures are mostly recycled in passages and dialogues, or sentences, to see if proper meaningful context is provided for learners in learning grammar.
Table 25 to Table 29 present the context distribution of the recycled structures in each textbook set. Table 25 shows the context distribution of recycled structures in Textbook L.
Table 25. Context Distribution of Recycled Structures in Textbook L
GP Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Present/Past
Participle Total Note. P/D=passage & dialogue; S=sentence
It can be found that 56.06% of recycled structures appear in sentences, while only 43.84% of them occur in passages and dialogues. This shows that Textbook L tends to present the structures in sentences instead of a larger context, like passages and dialogues. Among the five structures, only passive constructions are more frequently recycled in the more meaningful contexts with a proportion of 58.33% of structures presented in passages or dialogues. Next comes present/past participle as adjective (50%) in the sequence. Wh-clause is the structure that is less recycled in passages or dialogues (33.33%), but is more recycled in sentences (66.67%) which
only provide the minimal meaning context.
Table 26. Context Distribution of Recycled Structures in Textbook J
GP Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Present/Past
Participle Total
Table 26 above shows the context distribution of recycled structures in Textbook J. It shows that 51.8% of recycled structures appear mostly in passages and dialogues, and 48.2% of them are in sentences in Textbook J. This therefore indicates that Textbook J tries to provide more contexts for students for learning structures rather than putting the structures in less-contextualized sentences. Among the five structures, both present perfect (66.67%) and relative clause (53.57%) have higher tendencies to be presented in passages and dialogues than the rest of the three structures. Present/past participle as adjective is the structure that is recycled mostly in sentences (63.83%) in which limited context is provided.
Table 27. Context Distribution of Recycled Structures in Textbook K
GP Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Present/Past
Participle Total
Table 27 shows the context distribution of recycled structures in Textbook K.
As shown in the table, in Textbook K, 66.28% of recycled structures mostly appear in sentences, and only 33.72% of them occur in passages and dialogues. And surprisingly, all the target five structures tend to be recycled in sentences instead of in passages or dialogues. Present perfect (70.15%) and wh-clause (75.51%) especially have very high proportions for being presented in sentences. Next comes the present participle as adjective with a proportion of 68.97% structures recycled in single sentences. The results therefore show the shortcoming of Textbook K for not providing suitable or sufficient contexts for learning the structures even though high frequencies of recycled structures are provided in Textbook K. For textbook K, in order to provide more recycling of the structures in the textbooks, presenting the structures in sentences or pattern drills is probably an easy way out to achieve this under the limitation of topics and discourse fluency in the textbooks.
Table 28. Context Distribution of Recycled Structures in Textbook N
GP Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Present/Past
Participle Total
Table 28 shows that 53.75% of recycled structures are shown in passages and dialogues in Textbook N. The highest proportion falls on wh-clause (72.34%), followed by present/past participle as adjective (65.79%). Recycled structures of present perfect are equally distributed in passage/dialogues (50%) and sentences (50%). Passive and relative clause have lower tendencies to be recycled in passages
Textbook N seems to perform better in presenting the structures in sufficient contexts for three out of the five structures have higher proportions being presented in more meaningful contexts, like passages and dialogues.
Table 29. Context Distribution of Recycled Structures in Textbook H
GP Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Total
Context P&D S P&D S P&D S P/&D S P&D S
The results of Textbook H are shown above. It can be found that 54.67% of recycled structures appear mostly in sentences, while the rest (45.33%) occur in passages and dialogues. Among the four structures, only present perfect structures have higher proportion (50.28%) to be presented in passages or dialogues. The rest of the three structures, passive (70.91%), relative clause (55.81%), and wh-clause (52%), all tend to be recycled in sentences which only provide minimal meaningful contexts for learners.
Figure 4 and Table 30 show the comparison of context meaningfulness of the recycled structures among textbooks. As indicated, Textbook N has the highest proportion of presenting structures in contexts of passages or dialogues. Textbook J is the second, Textbook H the third, Textbook L the fourth, and Textbook K the fifth and last one.
0.00%
P&D 43.84% 51.80% 33.72% 53.75% 45.33%
S 56.06% 48.20% 66.28% 46.25% 54.67%
Textbook L Textbook J Textbook K Textbook N Textbook H
Figure 4. Comparison for Distribution of Recycled Structures among Textbooks
Table 30. Comparison for Context Distribution of Recycled Structures among Textbooks GP
Textbook
Present Perfect
Relative
Clause Passive Wh-clause Present/Past
Participle Total P&D S P&D S P&D S P&D S P&D S P&D S Textbook L 43.95% 56.05% 41.03% 58.97% 58.33% 41.67% 33.33% 66.67% 50% 50%
43.84% 56.06%
Textbook J 66.67% 33.33% 53.57% 46.43% 45.65% 54.35% 42.86% 57.14% 36.17% 63.83%
51.8% 48.2%
Textbook K 29.85% 70.15% 37.14% 62.86% 44.12% 55.88% 24.49% 75.51% 31.03% 68.97% 33.72% 66.28%
Textbook N 50% 50% 47.83% 52.17% 45.76% 54.24% 72.34% 27.66% 65.79% 34.21% 53.75% 46.25%
Textbook H 50.28% 49.72% 44.19% 55.81% 29.09% 70.91% 29.09% 70.91% * *
45.33% 54.67%
Greater proportions in passages/dialogues mean that when presenting or recycling structures, the textbook tends to embed the structures in more meaningful context instead of in single and less-contextualized sentences where only minimal meaningful context is provided (Hedge, 2000; Nunan, 1998). According to Larsen-Freeman (1991), grammar involves the three dimensional knowledge – form, meaning, and use. When presenting the structures with reference to the different dimensional knowledge, the realistic picture of how English is used in real communication is revealed. Therefore, structures should be taught with reference to
meaning, social, or discourse factors. They should be taught in context rather than in isolated and unconnected sentences (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988).
Overall, Textbook N and Textbook J tend to recycle the structures in passages or dialogues in main contents or exercises. Textbook H, Textbook L, and Textbook K, on the other hand, provide more recycling in single sentences without sufficient meaningful contextual clues. The structures in these textbooks are probably mostly recycled just for practices or drills. Learners do not have a chance to explore the grammar in rich context, and therefore, making it difficult for them to see how and why structures are used.
Nunan (1998), for example, has pointed out that passive voice is one structure that needs more attention when teaching. Although transforming the sentences in the active voice into passive voice is a standard procedure for teaching passive structure, without providing students suitable contexts, it would mislead students to think that passive is just another form for active voice. As shown in Table 30, for passive, only Textbook L provides more than 50% proportion of recycling in passages or dialogues. For the rest of the four textbooks, especially Textbook H, most recycled items are presented in isolated sentences. This shows the inadequacy of textbooks in providing students with sufficient context for learning grammar.
However, as passive is a marked structure, which is in some sense infrequent, unnatural, and deviant from a regular pattern, it would be difficult for textbook writers to present it in a larger context, like passages and dialogues. Presenting the passive in single sentences is probably a way out for textbooks to provide students with more practices and exposures to it.
As Celce-Murcia (1991a) emphasized, “when learned as a decontextualized sentence-level system, grammar is not very useful to learners as they listen, read, speak, and write in their second or foreign language” (p. 466). Teaching grammar in
context, according to Celce-Murcia (2002), is to teach grammar through
“context-embedded discourse rather than through abstract, context-free sentences”
(p. 122). With the context, the grammatical feature in use is shown and the relationship between grammatical items and discoursal contexts is also revealed.
Therefore, more contexts should be included in the presentation and recycling of structures in junior high school English textbooks.