Teaching the Grammar of Informational Communication

Charlotte Currie
Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia

About the Students

This module is designed for a group of high intermediate/advanced level EAP students. The class contains students from heterogenous cultural and linguistic backgrounds. All of the students have lived in the United States for at least one year and are nearing the end of their EAP program.

About the Program

This module is planned for the EAP program at Georgia State University. The class meets three times per week for 1.5 hours each class period.

The goal of this program is to prepare students to be successful at the tasks that will be required of them in their university classes. Because the program is focused upon preparing students for the university, the content and the tasks that students complete in their EAP classes closely mirror the tasks of regular university students. College students prove that they have mastered some information by producing speech or writing. Therefore, even in grammar classes, the ultimate goal is to improve the writing and speaking skills of students so that they more closely resemble the writing and speech of the academic community.

This means that the grammar of EAP courses needs to come from a subject area that students will likely encounter in their college classes. By immersing students in the subject matter that they will encounter in their college classes, students are forced to deal with more authentic tasks. For example, most universities require college students to take an introductory psychology course. Therefore, EAP grammar teachers might use the discourse of the psychology course to drive the grammar instruction within the course. Also, most college students must be able to write definitions, answer short-answer questions, and write essays. Thus, students will focus on the grammatical features that are necessary to do this type of writing.

The Needs of the Students

At the more advanced levels of study, many EAP students have become familiar with the forms of the grammar, but they are unable to them accurately in their writing. This model will contain some explicit teaching of difficult grammatical items (for review purposes); however, the primary focus will be on helping students to make better choices about when to use certain grammatical features in their writing.

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For the Teacher

This module is intended to provide other ESL teachers with possible ways of teaching the grammar of informational communication in an integrated manner. More specifically, it provides the teacher with ways of presenting the grammar of informational writing within the context of an introductory psychology text. The tasks for the course are based on the types of tasks that students will be asked to complete in their college courses. Although the content for this module is psychology, hopefully the activities will also be useful and easily adaptable to teachers who are teaching other subjects.

Although the focus of the module is on teaching the grammar of informational writing, an overall conceptual model of the course presents the ways in which other types of discourse could be taught. These other discourse types include narrative, involved, and persuasive communication. Within this conceptual model, there is an outline of the ways in which students could spiral back to the same grammatical features at different times in the course. For example, students can learn about relative clauses and their use in informational writing. Then, when they study narrative writing, they could cover relative clauses again. This could help students to understand the ways that different styles of writing use grammatical features for different purposes.

The idea for this module came from Biber's work (1988), Variation Across Speech and Writing and Byrd's (In Press) adaptations of this research for ESL grammar teachers. In his studies, Biber found that the following features have the highest frequency of co-occurrence in informational writing: nouns, long sentences, attributive adjectives, prepositional phrases, relative pronoun deletions with past participial, agentless passives, and place adverbials. In this module, I have clustered these into a noun cluster and a verb cluster. They have been clustered according to the tasks that students will complete. One of the primary tasks of college students is to write definitions. Some of the main features of definition writing involve understanding the ways that noun phrases expand in order to fit a lot of information into relatively little space. At this level, students generally have problems with the following areas in definition writing: using a limited number of attributive adjectives, using articles incorrectly, and using the incorrect preposition in prepositional phrases. These features are taught clustered together. The goal is for students to be able to show that they have integrated this cluster by writing accurate definitions for the vocabulary items taken from their psychology text.

The activities in this module are presented so as to build upon one another, with each step moving the student toward a more complicated writing task. However, within this module there is enough flexibility that most of the activities can be used independently of the others. In this way, teachers can use and adapt them according to their needs.

Learner Styles

As ESL teachers we are aware of the different expectations and styles that our students bring to the task of learning. In order to maximally benefit from our instruction, students need to be exposed to a variety of activities which call for different learning styles. Reid's taxonomy (in press) presents an interesting way of thinking about this issue. She proposes that there are four opposing sets of learners:

• group vs. individual
• auditory vs. visual
• concrete vs. abstract
• reflective vs. active

Group learners tend to learn best by interacting with others; individual learners prefer to work alone. Auditory learners respond best with their ears, but visual learners learn through their eyes. Concrete learners prefer working with other on hands-on activities while abstract learners think in terms of theories and planning. Reflective learners prefer to think systematically about opinions and solutions before sharing them; active learners learn by taking risks and through trial-and-error.

Each of the activities in this module is coded according to this taxonomy. Within many of these activities students have been offered a choice. For example, students are given a choice to do an activity alone or with a partner. The first activity in this module is a learning styles self-assessment. This activity will also be beneficial to teachers. Once teachers know about their studentsí learning styles, they can adapt the activities to enhance learning.

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Discourse and Grammar

Teaching Grammar--Where We Were

As part of the testing at a school where I once worked, teachers were required to administer tests which measured studentsí oral/aural ability. The testing involved asking students a series of decontextualized questions that highlighted the grammar they had covered in that level. One day, a fellow teacher was administering this test to a newly emigrated Russian student. She asked him, ìWhy did Bob leave the party?î The students had been studying embedded sentences, and she was expecting to receive an answer like ìBob left the party because he was tired.î Instead, her Russian student looked bewildered. After a long pause he asked, ì Which party did he leave... the Communist party or the Socialist party?

For decades, second language reading research has supported the idea that students understand and recall information best when it is presented in a way that connects it to their background knowledge (Johnson, 1981; Johnson, 1982; Floyd & Carrell, 1987). However, as we can see from the above example, grammar instruction has not incorporated this principle into its pedagogy. Traditionally, grammar in the ESL classroom has been presented as a series of disparate units which build upon each other. (Byrd,in press). More recently, grammar teachers have begun to move away from a focus on the forms of grammar -- such as the mechanical aspects of spelling and pronunciation-- and more toward an emphasis on meaning (Larsen-Freeman, 1991).

Meaning refers to the various meanings that a grammatical feature can have in different contexts (Larsen-Freeman, 1991). From this study of meanings came an emphasis on grammar in context (Byrd, in press). In an attempt to make language learning more authentic, pragmatics began to play a role in grammar teaching.

Pragmatics refers to the various contexts in which grammatical features occur (Larsen-Freeman, 1991) Pragmatics seems to play an important part in learning grammar. Pica (1983) found that grammar changes subtly depending upon the setting. Imagine yourself at a fast food restaurant. Most likely you would use the indefinite article when ordering. ìIíll have a hamburger and an apple pieî. However, at a more upscale establishment you would probably use the definite article, ìIíll have the roast beef and the apple pie.î Thus, studying grammar features in contexts allows students to learn not only the grammar but also its variation across different situations.

Teaching Grammar--Where We Are

This type of contextualized learning led to a greater emphasis on studying language within different discourse types. Current work in discourse analysis has gone beyond studying the situational and functional aspects of texts and into an analysis of discourse types in terms of their linguistic features. In Variation Across Speech and Writing, Biber (1988) analyzed hundreds of samples taken from spoken and written texts. He found that there are several patterns of linguistic features which show the underlying functions of the language. That is, Biber found that grammatical features tend to cluster to express certain text types.

For example, when I want to tell a story, certain grammatical features tend to co-occur frequently. I use a lot of past tense verbs, proper nouns, and personal pronouns. Thus, when past tense verbs, proper nouns, and personal pronouns co-occur at a high frequency, they are considered part of the function of telling a story. Biber carried out an extensive study of this type by analyzing many types of texts and large numbers of grammatical features. Biber revealed that the most frequently used clusters of grammar that represent functional dimensions can be thought of as existing on two continuums (Byrd, In Press). On the first continuum, the polar ends are involved communication and informational communication. On the other continuum, polarization occurs between narrative and nonnarrative communication.

Because this module focuses on informational writing, we will focus primarily on the first continuum, from involved to informational communication. Involved communication refers to a type of informal, interactive communication. This type of communication might seem to be more oral. On the other end, informational communication refers to a formal, detached form of communication. In contrast, it is considered more literate (Byrd, In Press). However, it is important to remember that involved communication can also be written, and conversely that informational communication can be used in speech.

These functions and styles of communication can also be understood in terms of the linguistic and grammatical features that cluster together to express them.

Here ís an example of involved writing taken from an introductory psychology textbook. We can see many examples of the cluster that Biber discussed. The personal pronouns, questions,and private verbs have been italicized to show the dominance that these features have in this type of communication.

Have you ever found yourself reacting to something just as one of your parents would- perhaps in a way you vowed you never would - and then wondered how much of your personality you inherited? To what degree are you really like your mother or your father? To what extent is your parentsí influence transmitted through their genes? To what extent through the environment they gave you? (Myers, 1996, p. 1).

Now, contrast the tone and the grammatical clusters of the involved dimension with the informational dimension. Many of the features of what I am considering the noun cluster of informational writing have been underlined. These features include: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and attributive adjectives(those that come in front of the nouns).

During the Korean War, many captured American soldiers were imprisoned in war camps run by Chinese communists. Without using brutality, the captors secured their prisonersí collaboration in activities ranging from running errands and accepting favors to making radio appeals and false confessions to informing on fellow prisoners and divulging military information. When the war ended 21 prisoners chose to stay with the communists. Many others returned home ìbrainwashedî convinced that communism was a good thing for Asia. A key ingredient in the Chinese ìthought-controlî program was its effective use of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon- a tendency for people who agree to a small request to comply later with a larger one. (Myers, 1996, p. 482)

In comparison to the involved communication, we can see that the informational dimension makes greater use of nouns. The high frequency of nouns, prepositional phrases, and attributive adjectives is associated with an informational focus and an integration of text materials. ìNouns are the primary bearers of referential meaning in a text, and a high frequency of nouns indicates great density of information. Prepositional phrases also serve to integrate high amounts of information into a text (Biber, 1988, p.104). There are other linguistic features that mark this type of discourse as well. Word length and the use of many different vocabulary words mark the need for precise lexical choice that is necessary for an exact presentation of information.

The other main cluster of features in informational writing is the verb cluster. Although the noun and the verb clusters are not separate, they are analyzed independently here because the tasks for my module require that the grammar be presented in this manner. We can see how the features of agentless passives (passives without by), and participles with relative pronoun deletions ( Ex: the boy taken from his mother at birth) co-occur in this excerpt taken from an encyclopedia article:

Psychotherapy may be used alone or with other types of medical treatment. The illnesses that are best treated by psychotherapy are those with mental causes such as neuroses. Psychotherapy may be used with a single patient, or a small group of patients (group therapy). The particular method of psychotherapy developed by Sigmund Freud is called psychoanalysis (World Book,1976).

From Biber's study, we can see that certain grammatical features cluster in order to express different discourse types. This is important for grammar teachers because now we can begin to shift the curriculum so that discourse drives the teaching of grammar (Byrd, In Press). Not only does this completely contextualize studentsí learning, it also relates the grammar to real-world tasks (Long & Crookes,1992). We know that students are going to encounter all of the discourse types in their studies, and we know what the grammar features of these discourse types are. Therefore, teachers can develop their courses based on authentic texts and simultaneously focus on the grammar clusters (Byrd, In Press).

Now that we have authentic discourse types to guide grammar instruction, teachers can begin to focus on understanding the authentic tasks that students need to perform in order to reach their goals. This module is designed for EAP students; therefore, the authentic tasks are those tasks that students will be expected to do. The main tasks of college students are to read textbooks, understand the lectures which are based on the textbooks, and to respond to them in writing using the language of those textbooks (Byrd, In Press).

This module attempts to deal with all of these elements in an integrated way. Because students need to become familiar with the formats and information of college textbooks, an introductory college psychology text was chosen. Also, the tasks for the module were decided by considering the primary skills that students need to have in order to pass exams. The include writing definitions, writing short essays, and writing longer reports.

New Challenges Ahead

The research on discourse types and authentic tasks will greatly improve grammar instruction for ESL students; however,these discoveries pose new challenges for teacher. Teachers must begin to closely analyze the subprocesses that are part of teaching grammar clusters and authentic tasks. In terms of grammar clusters, grammar teachers must decide what other things need to be taught in order for students to be able to use these clusters (Byrd, In Press). For example, Biber found the following dominant characteristics in the informational dimension : noun phrases, prepositions, attributive adjectives. As teachers, we need to think about what additional grammatical features need to be taught in order for students to handle this cluster. Thus, additional features that might need to be covered are: articles, prepositions, and attributive adjectives. In terms of assigning authentic tasks, teachers need to break down the tasks into discrete parts. For example, it is not enough to assign students the task of writing a short essay. Writing a short essay involves several components such as writing introductory paragraphs, writing conclusions, and making connections between paragraphs.

Another challenge that teachers face is deciding upon which features to focus on in various proficiency levels. Biberís research suggests that most grammar features cluster together regardless of the difficulty of the text. This means that even our beginning students are being exposed to grammatical features which were previously thought to exist only in the domain of advanced texts (Byrd, In Press). Thus, beginning students will likely encounter passives before they are able to use them. However, teachers can still make them aware of passives. Perhaps at the lower levels, students should be expected to have an ability to recognize passives; however, as the students become more advanced, they will be expected to incorporate this feature into their speech and writing (Byrd, In Press).

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Teaching the Grammar of Informational Communication
Conceptual Model

Activity # 1

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to help students to become better learners by making them aware of their learning styles. Also, when teachers understand their students' ways of learning, they can adjust their activities to meet the needs of their students.
Learner styles : all
S o u r c e: taken from Byrd and Benson (1992) Applied English Grammar
Students will read the following poem and memorize it for homework. Students will write down what they did in order to memorize the poem. For example, did they write it down? picture it in their head? say it aloud? When they come to class, they will share their ways of learning with their classmates. Students should be encouraged to give as much detail as possible.

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Activity # 2

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to act as a self monitoring project for students. At the beginning of the course, the students will make a journal that includes many of the pieces of writing that they have done recently in other ESL courses. Students will continue to add to this journal with the writing that they do in this class. As the quarter progresses, students will be instructed to check their grammar journals and monitor the improvements that they have with certain grammatical features. Periodically, the teacher will take up these journals and comment on areas of strengths and weaknesses for individual students.
Learner styles: visual, individual, reflective
Source: taken from Byrd and Benson (I 992) Applied English Grammar

Activity # 3

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to raise students' consciousness about the functions and high level features of informational writing. It seems that the overall function of informational writing is to condense as much information into as small amount of page space as possible. Thus, students might benefit from this sort of activity in which they are asked to condense the information themselves. This brings to light some of the grammatical forms that are used for condensing information. Also, some of the features of informational writing such as sentence and word length, cannot be taught as grammatical items . However, I think that it is important to make students cognizant of this aspect of informational writing as well.

Learner styles: group, visual, concrete, reflective and active learners

Source: passage taken from Myers (1 996). Exploring Psychology.
The Biology of Aggression
Neural Influences
Animal and human brains have neural systems. These systems produce aggressive behavior when they are stimulated. Consider: *The domineering leader of a monkey colony that is caged has a radio controlled electrode implanted in a brain area that when that brain area is stimulated, it produces aggression. When researchers place the button in the colony's cage. one small monkey learns to push it every time that the boss becomes threatening. The button activates the electrode in the colony's cage.

After reading the passage, work with a partner. Try to take fifteen words out of the passage and still leave all the main ideas. After you have finished, look in your textbook on page 501. How was your way of shortening the passage different from the author's way? How can you describe this type of writing in terms of : the length of sentences? the length of words? the amount of information? the number and length of the noun phrases? ( It might be helpful to go through the passage again and underline all the nouns including the articles and the adjectives that come before them.)

Activity # 4

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to make students more aware of the types of noun phrases that are used in informational writing. As part of teaching students about the "nouniness" of informational writing, it is important to cover article use. Like most of the other activities in this module, there is an assumption that advanced students are already aware of many of the rules of article use, but this is a difficult area for all levels of ESL students. Therefore, this activity spirals students back to things they have already studied about articles.
Learner styles: group, individual, visual, inductive, concrete learners
Source: adapted from an exercise used by Sharon Cavusgil and an exercise in Byrd and Benson (1 992) Applied English Grammar

Look at pages 479-489 and find all of the definitions. Write the definitions down and circle all of the noun phrases and articles. Then fill out the charts below with a partner.

Now look at the results from your chart.

Which types of nouns can be used with alan?
Which types of nouns can be used with the?
Which types of nouns don't use an article?

Let's make another chart which shows the rules for which types of
articles can be used with different types of nouns.

Activity # 5

Goals of this Activity: This activity draws upon the activity on the forms of articles and nouns. Here, the students will move on to an understanding of the meanings of the noun phrases. Definite, indefinite, and generic meaning will be covered.
Learner styles: individual, deductive, abstract, active Source: explanations taken from Byrd and Benson (1992) Applied English Grammar.

Definite, Indefinite and Generic nouns
Definite: The definite article "the" is used when the writer thinks that the reader understands what is being talked about.
Indefinite : The indefinite article a/an is used when the writer does not think that the reader understands what is being talked about.
Generic: Generic nouns are used when the speaker is talking about a whole class of people of things.
Nouns that are definite are used when the speaker thinks that the listener has the same information and when the meaning is about something specific instead of something general. The following list describes some situations in which the definite noun is used.
Unique: The noun refers to something that is universal for everyone. Examples: the sun, the planet, the stars Setting: Nouns are made specific by their settings. Examples: the teacher, the students, the chalkboard.
Second Mention: Usually when a speaker talks about something that is unfamiliar to the listener the first time, the indefinite article is used. however, after mentioning the noun for the second time, the speaker uses the definite article because the listener now knows the information. Examples: Yesterday, I bought a candy bar at the store. By the time I got home the candy bar had melted in the hot sun.
Phrases/Clauses
Nouns can become definite by adding a phrase or clause to define it.
Examples: the election of the president, the teacher who gave me a B..
Superlatives/Numbers
The parts of sets are considered definite. Superlative noun phrases are also definite. Examples: the fastest runner, the second contestant.

Generic Nouns
Generic I :A singular noun with alan is used to express generic meaning.
Example: A doctor must study for many years.
Generic 2 A singular noun with the is used to express a category.
Example: The doctor is the most needed member of a society.
Generic 3 A plural noun with no article is used to express a category.
Example: Doctors rarely have free time.
Generic 4: Non count nouns form the generic meaning without articles. Example: Medicine is one of the most profitable industries in the U.S. *** The is used with non count nouns only when a phrase or clause is added to make the meaning definite.
Example: The medicine that I took made me feel sick.
Read page 484 in your course packet again. Write a short paragraph about cognitive dissonance theory. After you have finished, circle all the definite noun phrases and the articles that you used. Using the rules above, can you state a reason for the use of the definite noun? Then circle all the generic nouns that you used. After you have finished, change papers with a classmate and edit each other's work.

Activity # 6

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to help students develop a wider range of use of attributive adjectives.
Learner styles: visual, reflective, individual, abstract
Source: taken from Byrd and Benson (1 992) Appiied English Grammar
Look back at several pieces of writing that you have done in your ESL classes lately. What kind of noun phrases do you use most commonly? Which adjectives do you generally use? Do the adjectives that you use usually come before or after the noun that they describe? If you find yourself using the same adjectives over and over, begin by making a list. Keep track of all the new adjectives that you use throughout the quarter in your grammar journal.

Activity # 7

Goals of this Activity: This activity is designed to give students an opportunity to use prepositional phrases as a way of further describing the noun in informational writing. |
Learner styles: concrete, visual, individual, reflective
Source: definitions taken from Myers (1 996) Exploring Psychology
Look at the following definitions. Supply the missing prepositions in each. What role does the prepositional phrase play? What are the most common prepositions used in definitions in this text?
Social Psychology: The scientific study --- how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Attitude: A belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond ---a particular way ---objects, people, and events.
Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency --- observers, when analyzing others behavior, to underestimate the impact --- the situation and to overestimate the impact ---personal disposition.

Look at your grammar journal and check the your use of prepositional phrases. Make a list of the prepositions and the situations in which they are difficult for you.
One of the reasons that prepositions are so difficult for most students is because of phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are verb phrases that require a preposition . For example, hang up, put away, and turn off. Keep a list of new phrasal verbs and their meanings that you find in the readings.

Activity # 8

Goals of this Activity: This activity builds on the previous lessons which have concentrated on noun phrases, articles, and attributive adjectives. This activity forces the students to produce these grammatical features which have been practiced receptively in other activities. Also, this activity gives students practice in writing definitions, one of the most common tasks that students will perform when they enter university courses.
Learner styles: group, individual, visual, auditory, concrete Source: definitions taken from Myers (1996) Exploring Psychology Read these definitions.
Fundamental attribution error is the tendency for observers, when analyzing others behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Attitude is a belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
How are these definitions similar or different?
Look at these definitions again and then look at others in your textbook. Can you begin to see a pattern of how definitions are written? Talk to a classmate about this.
Write a definition for these words following that pattern and using your own words.

Role:
Norms:

Activity # 9

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to make students aware of the variety of noun phrases and adjectives that the informational writing style uses.
Learner styles: individual, concrete, deductive, visual
Source: taken from Byrd and Benson (1 992) Applied English Grammar
Noun phrases can consist of:
one noun
article + noun
article + adjective + noun
article + adjective + noun + noun
article + adjective + noun +phrase or clause

Look back at the definitions that you wrote for the vocabulary in the text. Identify which types of noun phrases are most commonly used. Practice using this type of noun phrase in a definition that you write using your own words.

Activity # 10

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to get students to write definitions within the context of an introductory paragraph typical of the kinds that we find in informational writing.
Learner styles: individual, reflective, visual,
Source: paragraph taken from Myers (1996) Exploring Psychology Look at the introductory paragraph taken from your textbook.

After studying how people explain others' behavior, Fritz Heider (1958) proposed an attribution theory. Heider noted that people usually attribute others' behavior either to their internal dispositions or to their external situations. A teacher, for example, may wonder whether a child's hostility reflects an aggressive personality (a dispositional attribution) or whether the child is reacting to stress or abuse (a situational attribution).

What do you think the author's purpose was in this passage?
How did he/she carry out this purpose?
Here are some concepts that we have studied. Write a short paragraph that will explain these concepts to a person who is not familiar with them.
Role: What is a role? Can you give an example? Why is the concept of role important for social psychology?
Foot-in-the -door phenomenon:

Activity # 11

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to point out the differences between using passive voice and either present or past tense. It is taught here in the context which it is often found in informational textbook writing -- reporting research.
Learner styles: visual, auditory, group, individual, active

Divide the class in half . Give each of the students a strip of paper. One group will receive all the strips about the Asch experiment; the other will receive all the strips about the Milgram experiment. First, the students will write in the appropriate form of the verb. The teacher will circulate during this time and check students' work. Then the students will be given one minute to memorize the sentence that is written on their strip of paper. After one minute, take up the piece of paper and tell the students that they should tell each person in their group what their sentence was. The teacher will tell the students to order the sentences so that they tell the story of either the famous Asch or Milgram experiments that they studied in their readings. After several minutes, ask the students to stand in line in the order in which their sentences appeared in the story. While one group is telling about their experiment, the other group will be listening to see if they have told the story correctly. Then the groups will switch places.

After the students have finished, ask the students to write down what happened in their experiment. Then show the students an OHP of the story strip that is written below. Pay attention to the use of the passive. Ask students why they think the passive voice was used. Use this opportunity to talk about the use of passive voice when the subject is not known. Also, point out to students that in informational writing the passive voice is often used in research and science as a way of reporting in an objective manner.

Then ask the students to get back into groups and to make a skit of what happened in their experiment. The students who are not part of the skit will write down what happened. After the students present their skits,the students who were writing will share their writings. Because the students actually saw who performed the experiment, they will probably use simple past tense and proper nouns. Use this as a further illustration of the ways that passive voice is different than simple past tense. Also, you could use this as an opportunity to contrast the differences between informational and narrative writing.

In 1955, Soloman Asch ------- (devise) a simple test.

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The participant -------- (arrive) at the experiment site where four people were already seated.

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Each participant ----------- (to be ask) which of the four lines was the

same length as the standard line.

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All of the participants -------- (answer) the question easily.

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Then the participants -------- (to be ask) which line was the same length.

The test ------ (seem) easy, and the participants became bored. ------------------------------------------------------------------

The third time that the participants ------- (to be ask), three of the participants gave the wrong answer.

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This ------- (make) the fourth participant very nervous even though he knew the right answer.

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From this experiment, Asch found that about 30% of participants are inclined to give the wrong answer.

Stanley Milgram (want) to know how much people would comply with social pressures.

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The assistant explained to the participant that the study --------- (be concerned) with the effect of punishment on learning.

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Two participants draw a slip of paper out of a hat. On the papers thewords "teacher" and "learner -- ----------- (be write).

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The learner ----------- (be lead) to the next room and strapped into a chair with electric shocks.

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The teacher --------- (test) the learner on a list of vocabulary words.

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The teacher ---------- (be instructed) to deliver a short shock to the learner when an incorrect answer was given.

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Each time the learner gave an incorrect answer, the teacher ------ (give) a stronger shock to the learner.

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After many incorrect answers --------- (be give) the learner began to feel pain and began to yell , "I refuse to go on!"

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The experimenter asked the teacher to continue anyway.

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Although, the learners did not really feel any pain, this experiment proved that 63% of "teachers" were willing to comply regardless of the pain they thought the learner was receiving.

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Activity # 12

Goal of this Activity: This activity is intended to help students review and use relative clauses in their writing. This writing prompt will also help the teacher gage the types of problems that students have with relative clauses.
Learner styles: group, visual, auditory, active
Look at the following clues below and supply the answers using the information from your textbook.
This is the branch of psychology that deals with how people relate to and influence each other ------ ----
This is the name of the man that proposed the attribution theory -------
Now use the information in your textbook. Write down three clues for your partner. When you are finished, read the clues to you partner and see if he or she can guess without looking back at the textbook.

Activity # 13

Goals of this Activity: This activity is intended to teach students about the use of past participials in informational writing Because past participials come from the passive voice, the students are first presented with the feature they have already studied. After answering the questions, students are asked to induce the rules for relative pronoun deletions.

Learner styles: individual, group, visual, auditory
Recall the experiments that you have read about in your textbook. Write the answer to the following questions.
1. Experiment by Napolitan and Goethals
How did the subjects who were told about the woman's behavior before the experiment respond to the woman?
2. Chinese "thought-control" program After they returned home, what did the Americans who were brainwashed think about communism in Asia?
3. Prison Experiment What does the experiment devised by Philip Zimbardo tell us about role playing?
4. Conformity Study
How do suicides publicized in the news influence others' behaviors?
Compare your answers with a partner. Now talk about the following question with your partner.
How does the use of passive differ from the questions 1/2 and 3/4?
What happens to the relative pronoun?
Can the same thing happen for all verbs? Why or why not?

Activity # 14

Goal of this Activity: This activity is intended to give students an opportunity to incorporate all of the grammar that they have studied along with all of the tasks that they have completed. This writing prompt requires students to use the grammar of writing definitions, writing introductory paragraphs, and reporting on experiments in an informational style.

Explain what the terms conformity and obedience mean in terms of social psychology. Give examples. Explain the important studies done in this area. How has the research done by Asch and Milgram influenced what is known about conformity and obedience?

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References

Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Byrd, P. (In Press). Grammar from context. In Patricia Byrd and Joy Reid (Eds) Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Byrd, P. (In Press). Grammar in the composition syllabus. In Patricia Byrd and Joy Reid (Eds) Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Byrd, P. (In Press). It's all the same grammar. In Patricia Byrd and Joy Reid (Eds) Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Byrd, P. & Benson, B. (1992). Applied English grammar. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Floyd, P. & Carrell, P. (1987). Effects on ESL reading of teaching cultural content schemata. Language Learning, 37, 89-108.

Johnson, P. (1981). Effects on reading comprehension of language complexity and cultural background of a text. TESOL Quarterly 15(2):169-181.

Johnson, P. (1982). Effects on reading comprehension of building background knowledge. TESOL Quarterly 15: 503-516.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1991). Teaching grammar. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp.279-296).

Long, M. & Crookes, G. (1992). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly 26 (1), 27-56.

Myers, D. (1996). Exploring Psychology. Michigan: Worth Publishers.

Pica, T. (1983). The article in American English: What the textbooks donít tell us. In N. Wolfson and E. Judd, (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 222-233).

Reid, J. (In Press). Learning styles and grammar teaching in the composition classroom. In Patricia Byrd and Joy Reid (Eds) Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

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