Effects of Using Blocks on Learning Participial Construction

Abstract

This study investigates whether using wooden blocks can promote the learning and long-term retention of English participial constructions. In the case of learning grammar, learners are required to memorize several rules at once. Consequently, this creates burden and difficulty for learners to retain the rules for a long period. In this study, the participial construction was introduced to 48 Japanese university students. The all-female student-participants came from two levels of proficiency: Pre-intermediate and Intermediate. Following the Silent Way, they used small wooden blocks to learn how to construct sentences with participial construction. Both levels showed higher scores in the posttest compared with those in the pretest. In addition, the test analysis revealed that the Pre-intermediate class demonstrated a greater capacity to retain data than did the Intermediate class, and that using blocks is effective for learning participial constructions.