References on Involved English Grammar for Teachers of English as a Second Language
Carina J. Rock
TSLP
846 English Grammar
Dr. Patricia
Byrd
Department
of AL/ESL
Georgia
State University
Contents:
Reference 1
| Reference 2 | Reference 3 | Reference
4 | Reference 5
Source:
Montgomery, Carol and Eisentein, Miriam (1985) Real reality revisited:
An experimental communicative course in ESL. TESOL Quarterly, v.19(2),
317-334.
Summary:
This article shares the results of an experimental oral communications course conducted with adult ESL learners at a community college. Very few of these students used English outside their class. The experiment drew its participants from the roll of students who were concurrently enrolled in a grammar intensive course. Approximately half of the grammar class participated in the oral communication course.
The experimental course was planned around a series of weekly field trips to locations where the students would be expected to use English. One goal of this experiment was to draw the content of the course from the students themselves. The class was given the opportunity to decide what activities would be most useful to them.
Following the movement toward fostering a sense of community in the ESL classroom the experimental program creators wanted to give the instructor a more cooperative role. The teachers would not be judges, but helpers. Therefore, there was minimal error correction (used only in cases of severe communication breakdown). The classmates were expected to take an active role in assisting each other.
In evaluating the results of the course the students who participated
in the oral communications course were tested against those who were solely
enrolled in the grammar course. It was expected that the students would
surpass the "grammar only" students in the areas of listening
and speaking. It was also expected that they would have some increased
improvement over the "grammar only" students in other areas in
consideration of the fact that they had been granted more English exposure.
The surprise of the study was that the oral communication course participants
not only outdid their counterparts in every area of the testing, but that
the area that they had "the strongest improvement [was in] grammatical
accuracy." (p. 329) Remember the teacher in the oral communications
course did not provide any formal teaching of grammar and only rarely corrected
the students.
Quotation of Particular Value:
Students want and need real conversation. Even if a curriculum designer
decides
that correct grammar is the primary goal the results of this preliminary
research
suggest that language use will enhance progress in this area and that the
teaching
of grammar does not need to be restricted to formal rules or pattern practice.
( p.331)
This gets to the heart of the article. Teachers of ESL should remember
that grammar comes from the real world and that the formal rules are written
down after studying real world models. Students should be given the opportunity
to see those real world models in practice.
Notes:
At the time of the printing of this article Carol Montgomery was an Instructor in the Humanities Department at LaGuardia Community College teacher oral communications courses to non-native speakers.
Miriam Eisenstien was an Assistant Professor of TESOL and Applied Linguistics
as New York University, where she does ESL teacher training.
I was especially interested in the following references that were included
in this article:
Richards, Jack C. (1980). Conversation. TESOL Quarterly. v14(4): 413-432.
Stevick, Earl W. (1980). Teaching languages: a way and ways. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Taylor, Barry P. 1982. In search of real reality. TESOL Quarterly
v16(1): 29-42.
Source:
Rogozina, Irina (1995). Applying grammar-translation approaches
to oral award communicative courses: A Russian approach. TESOL Matters.
V5(2). p. 9.
Summary:
This article details the changing focus of Russian ESL students
from learning English as a form of written communication to learning oral
communication in English. In the past it was assumed that the Russian student
of English would need to use English only in research. Changes in the Russian
market are allowing Economic development with U.S. businesses. This has
resulted in two new intensive programs "Everyday English" and
"Business English." Essentially the program is a crash course
method intended for adults who have had previous experience with English
in the written forms. The first goal of the program is rid the students
of their stereotype of "English as a written medium of communication."
To accomplish this the students are introduced to taped versions of a dialogue
and are not allowed to refer to a written version. The course text contains
grammar "commentaries" and exercises for each taped episode.
The class structure is "based on the principle that speech models
are better learned through correlation with structures." English Grammar
is taught through both a method of textbook explanation and oral and aural
practice.
Quotation of Particular Value:
Role playing allows students to be involved in speech interaction during
almost all of their time in class. This technique is based on the belief
that grammar is acquired more effectively when explanation follows intensive
speech practice. All grammar drills are disguised in role plays, team work,
case studies, games, and songs. These techniques help created an atmosphere
where psychological barriers to speaking are overcome and the process of
listening becomes more enjoyable.
Notes:
Irina Rogozina is an instructor at Altai State Technological University,
Baranaul, Russia. The teaching method she describes was developed by a
Bulgarian scientist, Losonov in the 1960s and adapted by G.A. Kitaigorodskaya
from Moscow State University.
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Pauncz, Elizabeth and Elam, Keir (1981). The dialoguing jigsaw game.
English language teaching journal, v3 249-252.
Summary:
This article discusses the trend in ESL classrooms away from teaching grammatical structure and toward an emphasis on functional language use. The authors suggest that though this trend is positive they have found it necessary to work on a lesson plan that relies on both methods.
Their technique is a "game designed to convert written material into idiomatic and structured speech patterns in the form of situation based exchanges" (p.250). The plan is to encourage the class to have spoken interaction without intervention from the instructor. Students are given a written narrative and asked to find events in the story where a dialogue might occur. The students are then asked to create a dialogue that was in line with the story. They are encouraged to "employ a range of grammatical structures" that had been reviewed before the activity began. Thus, the relationship between learning the structures and actually applying them into contextual situations is formulated.
The results for these students showed an increased level of motivation and interest. Inspired by the creative aspect of the lesson they tried out many more complicated methods of discourse. This technique allows an opportunity for the instructor to focus the grammatical framework of the lesson while at the same time allowing for creative application of the language.
Quotation of Particular Value:
There has been a marked shift in the philosophy of language teaching
from a structural- grammatical basis to a functional-notional emphasis.
This has undoubtedly been a fruitful development. The present authors,
however, have found it necessary to marry the teaching
of functions with a solid grammatical grounding (249-250).
Notes:
The authors of this study teach ESL in England. The course textbook
that provided the chosen narrative and the grammatical instruction was
Starting Out by Michael Coles and Basil Lord.
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Source:
Harris-Bosselmann, Tonna (1996). Teaching the grammar of involved discourse
in an adult ED ESL class: A resource module. [WWW document] http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/issue1/tonna.htm
Summary:
This resource is a program of teaching involved discourse to adult ESL students in America. The goal of the module is to share with teachers the need for students of ESL to have real interaction with English speakers. The paper first determines the definition of involved discourse as any type of communication that inspires an interactive tone-including advertisements, E-mail, and songs. The grammatical structure of both spoken and written versions of interactive speech are discussed and the result is a number of shared features including "private verbs, THAT deletion, contractions, present tense verbs, 2cnd person pronouns [etc.]" In order to meet the students needs it is important to introduce the student to authentic examples of the language. In teaching grammar through the use of authentic examples the students must view the rules of grammar in cooperation with each other.
The author also suggests that it is important to find opportunities
for the students to use their English outside the classroom in field trips
and in correspondence with an American volunteer. What follows is a series
of in class activities that is detailed in a chart demonstrating the function,
grammar and skills that are being worked on in each exercise.
Quotation of Particular Value:
What [the] students really want is this: to meet Americans, to get to
know American customs, to make American friends, and to feel like they
fit into this melting pot of a country they now call home…[therefore
to meet the students needs, the ESL teachers role is to] teach English
for acculturation purposes.
Notes:
Tonna Harris-Bosselmann is an instructor of ESL in the Atlanta area.
She is currently working on a Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language
at Georgia State University.
She used two sources that were of particular importance to her work
and would be valuable reading:
Biber, Douglas (1988). Variations Across Speech and Writing.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrd, Patricia and Reid, Joy (in press) It's All the Same Grammar. Grammar
in Composition Class. Boston: Hienle & Hienle.
Source:
Offner, Mark D. (1997). Teaching English conversation in Japan: Teaching
how to learn. The Internet TESL Journal. v. III, No.3. [WWW document]
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~offner/
Summary:
This article focuses on the problems that needs to be addressed in teaching
students conversation. Language teaching that has as its focus passing
an exam is destined to be ineffectual. Even if the students can pass the
exam it only means the student has mastered how to learn "about the
language" not how to "use it for verbal conversation" (p.1).
If successful communication is the goal the focus should be on the student's
ability to get an idea across and should not require complete grammatical
accuracy. Students who desire the ability to speak like a native speaker
should be exposed to the rules of grammar, but this goal must play a secondary
role to first learning to use the language.
Communication is a creative process. In focusing on rules students do
not have the chance to see how flexible a living language is. If the student
is learning how to express themselves they may easily be hampered by a
concentration on the rules. It is important to encourage students to "play
with the fluid language" (p.2). The students should be encouraged
to guess at meanings rather than relying on a pattern of continual translation
into their native language. Often the guess will be no less accurate in
meaning than the too literal translation. It is important for the students
to take an active role with the language. This includes using it often
in an interactive fashion. Speaking and listening should both be practiced
often. Teachers should remember to use the "real world" in their
class rooms. The more the students are exposed to the language as something
useful, the more they will be interested in learning it.
Quotation of Particular Value:
Using the target language, then, is to create something new and unique and is not simply a copy of redundant patterns. This is not to say that patterns should not be taught, but it is important to understand that they are not "set in stone." Patterns serve as a fundamental starting point from which the student should move on. Students should be encouraged to play with the "fluid" language (p.2).
Notes:
Mark D. Offner teaches at the Aichi Institute of Technology in Toyota, Japan.
He used several sources that I might find valuable including:
Farber, Barry. How to learn any language. Citadel Press, 1994.
Wright, Tony. Roles of teachers and learners. Oxford University
press, 1987.
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