School of Education, Culture and Communication

 

Figure 2: Test scores (in percent) after the PPP approach, girls (N=9) 

 

 

Figure 3: Test scores (in percent) after the PPP approach, others (N=4) 

 

Three of the informants taught according to the PPP approach did not specify any gender 

affiliation whatsoever, and were therefore placed in the other/unsure category. The fourth 

informant included in this category actually checked the box for other/unsure. As can be seen 

in Figure 3, these informants scored 75% correct on the singular -s’s form, which was the 

form with the highest score. The form with the lowest score was the plural -’s form with 0% 

100 

100 

56 

56 

72 

67 

0 

0 

44 

44 

28 

33 

0 

10 

20 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

Singular -'s  Singular -s's 

Plural -s' 

Plural -'s 

Of-phrase 

Individual 

answers 

Correct 

Incorrect 

63 

75 

13 

0 

38 

13 

27 

25 

87 

100 

62 

87 

0 

10 

20 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

Singular -'s  Singular -s's 

Plural -s' 

Plural 's 

Of-phrase 

Individual 

answers 

Correct 

Incorrect 

---

18 

 

correct. When it comes to the individual answers, these informants scored only 13% correct, 

with correct answers such as The floor of the house and incorrect answers such as The swing 

swings slowly (even though this is grammatically correct, the answers does not incorporate 

any example of the genitive case) and His fingers was cold. (Although this last answer shows 

understanding of the genitive/possessive determiner, the answer was not deemed correct as 

these determiners were not discussed at all during the teaching session.) 

 

In the groups taught with the PPP approach, the female informants had the overall highest 

scores with 74% correct answers, while the male informants scored 55% correct answers. The 

other/unsure category scored 33% correct answers overall. The girls scored higher on all 

categories, compared to the boys and the others.  

 

4.2 The GCR Approach 

 

Figure 4: Test scores (in percent) after the GCR approach, boys (N=6) 

 

Both G1 and G3 (taught with the GCR approach) were fairly similar. Although G1 seemed 

more interested in the task at hand, there were plenty of informants in G3 who seemed 

interested as well. The teaching session with G3 was a bit delayed as half the group showed 

up late to the scheduled lesson and the session had to start over after ten minutes. However, in 

83 

100 

42 

33 

42 

50 

17 

0 

58 

67 

58 

50 

0 

10 

20 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

Singular -'s  Singular -s's 

Plural -s' 

Plural 's 

Of-phrase 

Individual 

answers 

Correct 

Incorrect 

---

19 

 

the opinion of G3’s regular teacher (who was present at the time of the teaching session), this 

did not affect the experiment or results negatively.