Published: 2023-08-30

The Ability of Primary School Fourth Graders to Create Definitions (on the Example of the Term “Superhero”)

Magdalena Trysińska Logo ORCID

Abstract

The ability to define is necessary for each language user and should be developed during school education. However, it should also be noted that this skill is not explicitly mentioned in the current core curriculum for Polish. Instead, the core curriculum refers to the ability to read definitions and to distinguish between their types. This article aims to present the results of the study of language skills represented by 4th grade students in a primary school. The pupils created definitions of the word “superhero” indicated in the instruction. The collected material was used to reconstruct the pupils’ understanding of the genre pattern of a definition. The analysis given in the article is limi­ted to the structural aspect of the genre pattern. Definition patterns and their types are presented. The survey shows that the pupils are aware of the studied genre. The vast majority of them can produce structurally correct definitions. They can indicate a definiendum, definiens and sometimes a linking part (copula). In general, students make real definitions. Only a few examples represent another type of a definition, e.g. an ostensive or synonymous one.

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Citation rules

Trysińska, M. (2023). The Ability of Primary School Fourth Graders to Create Definitions (on the Example of the Term “Superhero”). Z Teorii I Praktyki Dydaktycznej Języka Polskiego, 32, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.31261/TPDJP.2023.32.05

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Vol. 32 (2023)
Published: 2023-12-31


ISSN: 0208-5011
eISSN: 2353-9577
Ikona DOI 10.31261/TPDJP

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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