The Acquisition of English Personal and Possessive Pronouns in Two Classroom Learning Environments Anthony Seow <tcaseownie.edu.sg> National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Grace Tay National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Abstract

This pronoun study examines the effect of two classroom learning environments on the acquisition of English personal and possessive pronouns by Primary Two students in Singapore on the premises that: Students from the formal learning environment will perform better than those from the informal learning environment in the shorter term; Students from the informal learning environment will outperform those from the formal learning environment in the longer run; and Students from both learning environments will find it easier using personal rather than possessive pronouns. The pre- and post-tests in the study reveal that while both groups of students found it easier to use personal pronouns than possessive pronouns, certain learning outcomes also emerged to suggest that the two groups of learners demonstrated different learning behaviors in pronoun use not only in terms of differentiation in pronoun type but also in pronoun function.

Keywords: ESL,EFL,second language acquisition, grammar, syntax, environment