About
Dobra forma provides a web-based overview of basic Ukrainian grammar with contextualized activities that enable students to internalize correct grammatical forms as they focus on the communication of meaning. This approach recognizes that students need to see, hear, and process a target structure in context multiple times before they can reliably produce it themselves. The modules begin with activities that encourage students to comprehend what is said or written while also focusing on how the target structure encodes that meaning; and only after these crucial, initial steps will the students proceed to activities in which they produce the target structures themselves. Such an approach enables students to gain an implicit knowledge of grammar that will increase their ability to interpret new structures. The web-based modules of Dobra forma utilize the 1,500 most common vocabulary items and include computer-graded activities, making them easy to incorporate into any elementary or intermediate course in Ukrainian or into an independent self-study program.
The project is directed by Dr. Oleksandra Wallo, Associate Professor of Ukrainian and faculty director of the KU Language Institute in Lviv, Ukraine. Her research interests include acquisition of Slavic case systems and the teaching and learning of Ukrainian grammar through processing instruction, and the use of authentic materials with elementary and intermediate learners of Ukrainian. Initial support of the project was provided by Olha Korinets, a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at KU during AY 2017-18 who piloted early drafts of some modules in the first-year language sequence. Tetiana Kidruk, who assumed the Fulbright FLTA position in 2019, provided invaluable proofreading help, including marking stress on the bulk of the early modules. Reagan Kanter, an advanced undergraduate student studying Ukrainian, served as consultant for the project on issues of pedagogical clarity and user experience.
Dr. Oleksandra Wallo
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
Slavic and Eurasian Languages & Literatures
Director of the KU Summer Language Institute in Lviv, Ukraine
owallo@ku.edu
Using Dobra forma
The video below provides an introduction to Dobra forma, including its pedagogical approach and hints for using the site.
Project Scope
The Noun:
- Gender of nouns
- Plural of nouns
- Vocative case of nouns
- Locative case of nouns (with prepositions в/у and на, for location)
- Accusative and genitive (singular) cases of inanimate nouns (for direct objects)
- Genitive case (plural) of nouns with expressions of quantity
- Genitive case of nouns after prepositions (з, до, в/у, біля, після, для, без); to express possession and relationship; and in the attributive function
- Accusative case of animate nouns; accusative after prepositions (в/у and на for direction; про)
- Instrumental case of nouns (after preposition з)
- Instrumental case of nouns after verbs
- Dative case of nouns (to express age, with подо́батися, for indirect objects)
The Pronoun:
- Possessive pronouns (Nominative case)
- Personal pronouns (Nominative, accusative and genitive cases, including after prepositions)
- Personal pronouns (Instrumental case)
- Personal pronouns (Dative case)
The Adjective and the Ordinal Numeral:
- Hard-stem and soft-stem adjectives and ordinal numerals (Gender and number in nominative)
- Accusative and genitive cases of adjectives and ordinal numerals (including time expressions)
- Locative and dative cases of adjectives and ordinal numerals
- Instrumental case of adjectives
- Comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives
The Verb:
- Present tense of verbs (First conjugation)
- Present tense of verbs (Second conjugation)
- Present tense of –ся verbs
- Past tense of verbs
- Future tense of verbs with бути and with –му
- Basic modal expressions (можна, треба, хотів би, могти, хотіти, мусити)
- Introduction to verbal aspect
- Basic verbs of motion (ходити-іти, їздити-їхати, піти-поїхати, прийти-приїхати)
- Imperatives of basic verbs
The Adverb:
- Formation of adverbs from adjectives; place in the sentence
Citing Dobra forma
Suggested citation for website:
Wallo, Oleksandra (2020- ). Dobra forma. Lawrence, KS: Open Language Resource Center. Retrieved from https://dobraforma.ku.edu.
Suggested citation for an individual module:
Wallo, Oleksandra (2020- ). “Nouns 4.5: Locative” in Dobra forma. Lawrence, KS: Open Language Resource Center. Retrieved from https://dobraforma.ku.edu/nouns/ukr-nouns-4-5/.
