Interaction: Activity 4
Co-constructing comparative statements
Watch Sebastian and Maximus as they interact in the Comparison Task. The learners are asked to find differences between two pictures of houses and make inferences about who lives in each house, their social class, and what the differences in houses say about American culture. The task requires that they make comparisons. Japanese has many structures that can be used for comparison including:
| Adjective | この家はその家よりも大きいですね。 |
|---|---|
| Adverb | この家に住んでいる人達はその家に住んでいる人達よりももっと一 生懸命働かなければならないかもしれませんね。 |
| Noun | この家にはその家よりももっと大きな木があります。 |
| Verb | この２つの家は大きさが全然違います。 |
| Conjunction | この家は大きいですが、その家は大きくないです。 |
| Connector | この家は大きいです。でも、その家は小さいです。 |
- Using the list above, categorize the words and structures that Sebastian and Maximus use to express similarities and differences. How do they scaffold each other’s efforts to express similarities and differences?
- If Sebastian and Maximus were completing this task in your classroom, given the words and structures they are currently using, what structures could you scaffold for them and how could you provide that scaffolding at the moment that they need it in a way that accelerates their movement toward self-regulation with the language?
Comparison Task
Transcript (PDF)
Please type your answers to the questions in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
- Using the list above, categorize the words and structures that Sebastian and Maximus used to express similarities and differences. How do they scaffold each other’s efforts to express similarities and differences?
Sebastian uses the adjective きれい‘clean, pretty’ with negation. He also tries to use the comparative form 〜の方が ‘…(is) more.’ Maximus uses the adjectives 古い ‘old’ and 汚い ‘dirty’ and contrasts with きれい ‘pretty, clean.’ Both use the conjunctionでも ‘but’ to contrast the differences between the houses.
Interestingly, the learners collaboratively construct these comparisons. For instance, Maximus describes one house as “old” and “dirty” and in the next turn, Sebastian describes the other house as “new.” When Sebastian tries to use the comparative particle 〜の方が ‘…(is) more,’ Maximus provides an adjective “rich” to finish the sentence. Although Sebastian might have been able to finish the sentence himself, Maximus attempts to provide scaffolding by adding the adjective.
Overall, Maximus uses more adjectives but hardly uses any other structures for comparison; he makes contrasts lexically. Sebastian uses fewer adjectives, but uses more complex structures such as negation and the comparative structure 〜の方が .
Sebastian Maximus Adjectives:
新しい ‘new’
金持ち ‘rich’
Negation with Adjectives:
きれいじゃない ‘not clean/pretty’
Comparative:
〜の方が ‘…(is) more’
Connector:
でも ‘but’
Adjectives:
古い ‘old’
同じ年 ‘the same age’
きれい ‘pretty, clean’
汚い ‘dirty’
Verb:
こわれている ‘(is) broken’
Noun:
金持ち ‘rich’
Connector:
でも ‘but’
- If Sebastian and Maximus were completing this task in your classroom, given the words and structures they are currently using, what structures would you scaffold for them and how would you provide that scaffolding in a way that accelerates their movement toward self-regulation with the language?
After having them complete the task and identifying the comparative structures they seem ready to learn (the ones in their ZPDs that they can produce with scaffolding), the teacher may be able to provide that scaffolding more effectively by reviewing the task together with the students. For instance, the teacher may encourage Sebastian to use more adjectives to describe the house and introduce some more if needed. The teacher may also encourage Maximus to use more different kinds of structures to make comparisons. The teacher may also give the learners a writing assignment using the same task with different but similar pictures. In doing so, the learners will have another chance to review the new vocabulary and structures and the teacher can check their explicit knowledge on what they learned in the class.
