BACKGROUND
THEORY
THE TEACHING PROGRAM
BACKGROUND
I was brainstorming with my students recently. We were talking about "good ways to learn English," and I was writing their ideas on the board as they called them out. We came up with take an English class, watch TV, and read the newspaper, among other things. After several seconds of silence, one student added, rather shyly, talking to American friends. All of her classmates looked at her doubtfully. I quickly agreed that talking to American friends was indeed a great way to learn English. I asked the student if she had many opportunities to do this. "No," she said, "but I want to." I inquired if anyone in the class had American friends with whom they could practice English. Unanimous no. Then one student reconsidered and said, "Only you, Teacher!" I assured all of my students that I was certainly their friend, but my heart sank with this information! How could I be the only American friend my students had? Some of them had lived in this country for several years.
In a subsequent class we inadvertently came back to the same subject. We were discussing where to go on a field trip. Just before the class was prepared to vote on either the zoo, a bookstore, or the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, one student announced that he would like to visit an American family. He was very interested in how Americans live. The whole class agreed that this was a great idea; they were all curious. "What?" I asked in disbelief. "Haven't any of you ever been inside an American home?" "Not even one of you?" Sadly, the answer was once again no. I suggested that for our field trip we have a pot-luck lunch at a real if not typical American's home: mine.
These conversations with my students caused me to do a great deal of introspection about my role in their lives. I teach adult ed ESL to a wonderful group of immigrants and refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Mexico. The ESL that is taught in classes similar to mine is often referred to as "survival" English, but this term doesn't seem to fit what my students need, and what I feel they want from me. They're surviving fine. They've been in America for anywhere from two to fifteen years. Most of them work and express to me that they are content with their jobs, at least as content as the average person. They know where to buy the food they like, where to shop for bargains, and how to get around in the city. Several have driver's licenses and own cars. What my students seem to 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.
I know I don't control the destinies of my students. I know I'm not a magician who can take away all the obstacles they might face because of prejudice which exists towards immigrants. I know I can't give my students everything they need to lead a fuller life in America. Still, I take pride in my work and carry a responsibility to help them however I can. So, what can I do? I can teach them English for acculturation purposes. I can expose them to the language they will need in order to talk to Americans. I can teach them skills and strategies for initiating and maintaining conversations. I can do my best to prepare them for real-life interactions they may encounter. I can help them learn to communicate with native speakers. I can open windows for them to see into the American culture. And I can be their friend.
This is a resource module which proposes ways to help ESL students adapt to life in a new culture by developing language skills and communicative competence. The theoretical framework for the teaching program comes from two main sources: (1) Douglas Biber's (1988) research and taxonomy of discourse types, specifically his explanation of involved discourse; and (2) the perspective on grammar instruction presented in Grammar in the Composition Class (P. Byrd and J. Reid, [Eds.], in press). The teaching program begins with some organizational and pedagogical suggestions, and includes a set of activities which can be used in the classroom. The activities attempt to encompass the various components of communicative competence: grammar, discourse, pragmatics, strategies, and pronunciation. The module is written for myself and for other ESL instructors, and aims to be adaptable enough to fit into a variety of contexts. However, I am writing it with my students and class in mind: a heterogeneous group of adult immigrants and refugees who want to learn ESL for acculturation purposes; it is an intermediate-level integrated-skills English course. The class meets twice a week, two hours each session, for twelve weeks.
THEORY
This section will enable us to see what involved discourse looks like and to determine what kind of grammar students need in order to carry on a conversation. In Variation Across Speech and Writing Biber (1988) analyzes several types of discourse, the major ones being involved, informational, narrative and non-narrative. Within each discourse type one can find both spoken and written genres. (A genre is a text type, i.e. conversation, public speech, academic prose, poetry, fiction, etc.) Biber characterizes involved discourse as: verbal - using alot of verbs; interactive - indicating an addresser and addressee; affective - displaying emotions, feelings, and attitudes; fragmented - using incomplete sentences; reduced in form - e.g. contractions and deletions; and generalized in content. Basically, involved discourse is what we think of as conversational or oral. While the purest example of this may be a face-to-face conversation, this type of discourse may be found in many other places. For example, consider the following text, which is from an insert I received in my telephone bill:
This limited-time offer is your perfect, no-risk opportunity to see which two of these BellSouth features will make your life even better. So don't miss out, call today. After all, there's no connection charge or hidden fees. And, if you decide you'd rather not keep the features after 30 days, all it takes is a simple phone call to have them disconnected at no charge.
CALLER ID. Now you can decide whether to answer a call or call back later. Because with Caller ID, when the phone rings, a special display unit can show you the name and number of the caller. During this special offer, the unit will be shipped free and we'll waive the display unit rental fee for the first month. Or if you choose to purchase the unit, you'll receive a discount on your first installment when you charge your purchase to your phone bill.
Notice the conversational, interactive, oral tone of this text. It feels like someone is talking directly to you, responding to your silent comments and questions. It would be very easy to interject at several different points while reading it. In the same way, advertisements, personal letters, E-mail, and songs are often very involved.
For me, Biber's research is important because it challenges my traditional opinion that spoken and written language are dramatically different. If any broad generalizations can indeed be made about such a difference, they could be attributed to the phonological processes and time constraints of speaking , but not the underlying grammatical structure.
To support this, Biber did a statistical analysis of numerous linguistic features (grammar items such as present tense, infinitives, passives, etc.) to see how they show up in different text genres. In the texts he examined, he found that certain features consistently co-occurred, or clustered, together. He theorizes that "these co-occurrence patterns indicate an underlying communicative function shared by the features; that is, it is assumed that linguistic features co-occur frequently in texts because they are used for a shared set of communicative functions in those texts" (p.101).
Biber's study found that several features co-occur in involved discourse. The most prominent ones are listed here, beginning with most frequently occurring and following in descending order: private verbs; THAT deletion; contractions; present tense verbs; 2nd person pronouns; DO as pro-verb; analytic negation; demonstrative pronouns; general emphatics; 1st person pronouns; pronoun IT; BE as main verb; causative subordination; discourse particles; indefinite pronouns; general hedges; amplifiers; sentence relatives; questions (specifically WH questions); possibility modals; non-phrasal coordination; WH clauses; final prepositions. (LINK TO GLOSSARY )
Let's look at our sample involved text - the telephone bill insert - to see if these features do in fact occur together. (In order to view the text more easily each sentence is listed separately and numbered.)
1. This limited-time offer is your perfect, no-risk opportunity to see which two of these BellSouth features will make your life even better.
private verb - see; BE as main verb - is; 2nd person pronoun - you, your
2. So don't miss out, call today.
contractions - don't; analytic negation - don't
3. After all, there's no connection charge or hidden fees.
contractions - there's; present tense verbs - 's; BE as main verb - 's; discourse particles - after all
4. And, if you decide you'd rather not keep the features after 30 days, all it takes is a simple phone call to have them disconnected at no charge.
private verbs - decide; THAT deletion - ...you decide [that] you'd...; present tense verbs - is; 2nd person pronouns - you, you'd; analytic negation - not; BE as main verb - is; non-phrasal coordination - and
5. Now you can decide whether to answer a call or call back later.
private verbs - decide; 2nd person pronouns - you; possibility modals - can
6. Because with Caller ID, when the phone rings, a special display unit can show you the name and number of the caller.
causative subordination - because; possibility modals - can
7. During this special offer, the unit will be shipped free and we'll waive the display unit rental fee for the first month.
contractions - we'll; 1st person pronouns - we'll
8. Or if you choose to purchase the unit, you'll receive a discount on your first installment when you charge your purchase to your phone bill.
private verbs - choose; contractions - you'll; 2nd person pronouns - you, you'll, your, you, your, your; non-phrasal coordination - or
Even from one small sample text such as this it is easy to see that Biber is on to something. So why do these features co-occur? It appears that they work together to accomplish the goals of involved discourse. 1st and 2nd person pronouns create interaction, because they point directly to the addressor and addressee. Questions are used to maintain the interaction. Discourse is loosely held together by non-phrasal coordination and discourse particles. Attitudes and feelings are expressed with private verbs, general emphatics, amplifiers and sentence relatives. Contractions, both phonological and orthographic, THAT deletion and pro-verb DO result in a reduced surface form, necessary due to productions constraints of interactive circumstances.
This section will present a perspective on grammar instruction which I found helpful in designing the teaching program. In It's All the Same Grammar (in press) Patricia Byrd illustrates how we have traditionally thought of grammar as something which could be divided according to proficiency levels. Students learn the "easier" grammar at the lower levels, and build up to the "difficult" items. This approach to grammar teaching can be seen in textbooks and ESL programs everywhere. However, there is no research which supports that some grammatical items are more difficult than others. What Byrd endorses is the presentation of grammar items not according to a student's level, but according to a student's needs.
Grammar in the Composition Syllabus (Byrd, in press) lists six principles for guiding how to organize grammar in a language course. While these principles are designed specifically for a composition course in an English for Academic Preparation (EAP) context, I find them to be applicable to the my adult ed integrated-skills course too:
Principle #1. At all levels, students work with authentic texts and take on authentic writing tasks.
Principle #2. These authentic materials require that students learn about grammatical features characteristic of academic discourse - even at the lowest proficiency levels.
Principle #3. Grammar is selected based on the features of the discourse that students need to handle.
Principle #4. Grammar is presented in clusters of features.
Principle #5. The proficiency levels are distinguished not be the individual items of grammar assigned to each, but by the complexity of the reading and writing to be done by the students.
Principle #6. The plan gives students multiple opportunities to encounter the language of academic reading and writing.
While it is generally accepted that students possess a variety of learning styles, it still remains challenging for instructors to cater to these differences. In Learning Styles and Grammar Teaching in the Composition Classroom (in press) Joy Reid presents some specific ways in which teachers can modify their lesson plans to match different styles. First of all, students should be allowed to do both group work (collaborative learners) and some individual work ( independent learners). Second, assignments should be written (visual learners) and spoken (auditory learners). Activities should involve note-taking and reading-writing as well as discussion. Third, concrete learners will probably benefit from hands on activities such as role-play, while abstract learners may prefer individual problem-solving tasks. And finally, instructors should allow reflective learners to do activities which require time for examining options, and present active learners opportunities for spontaneous learning experiences. The activities which will be presented in this module incorporate these recommendations.
THE TEACHING PROGRAM
Organizational and Pedagogical Suggestions
You will probably want to use these activities as a supplement to your classroom lessons. While I have listed them in order to build upon each other, any can be used independently, or the order can certainly be changed to suit your needs. If you are working with a textbook, you might try matching the activities to themes or language function goals presented in the book. I will be using the activities in conjunction with the Collaborations series (Heinle & Heinle Publishers), because I find this text to be extremely effective and meaningful to adult learners. It uses alot of interactive language, and my students can relate to its content: real people, real pictures, real stories, real issues. You may also want to use other authentic texts which use involved discourse such as personal or professional letters, advertisements, songs, and comic strips.
The activities provide students with the opportunity to put the grammar of involved discourse into use. The lingustic features are recycled or spiraled throughout the activities. At the intermediate level students will have already been exposed
to some or all of the various linguistic features, so it's up to you as teacher to determine how much explicit instruction they need. You will certainly know best. When this instruction is necessary, I recommend giving students opportunities for both deductive and inductive learning in order to cater to different learning styles. For example, at times you may explain the grammar before an activity, and other times afterwards.
The activities enable students to simulate real-life communication through group work and to develop proficiency in various language functions. Each activity requires an integration of language skills while placing an emphasis on speaking, and most can be extended into class discussions. Students learn to communicate by communicating! Use the activities to find out what is important and interesting to your students and provide plenty of opportunity for open communication. Free-flowing conversation may be the most authentic language component of the ESL classroom, and therefore the most beneficial.
If at all possible, find other outside opportunities for students to use their English. Correspondence journals can be a wonderful way to develop interactive skills through writing. Students can write to each other, to you, or to some of your English-speaking friends/colleagues who wouldn't mind devoting a little of their time to a worthy project. In the latter case, students may be especially intrigued and inspired by the task of corresponding with a mystery writer. Field trips are also valuable learning experiences. Not only will students appreciate the view into the American culture, they will also be able to practice their language with Americans besides you.
Finally, if it fits your personality and teaching style, be your students' friend. In nearly all cases they genuinely need and desire this. Treat the time you have with them (ten weeks, twelve weeks or whatever) as an opportunity to model how American friendships develop. For example, you can begin the course with the superficial small talk Americans are prone to, gradually letting your conversations become more personal. Try to demonstrate to students the subtleties of culture that are so difficult to express. Your students will be forever grateful to you for what they learn.
| Activity | Language Functions | Grammar | Skills |
| CAN YOU SPELL THAT PLEASE? | -meeting people -asking for clarification |
-BE as a main verb -present tense -questions -1st and 2nd person pronouns -final prepositions |
-speaking -listening -writing -spelling |
| STRESS/ STAND UP |
varies | -speaking -listening -reading -identifying stress -vocabulary building |
|
| FOUR CORNERS | -agreeing and disagreeing -expressing preferences -giving reasons -getting to know each other |
-1st and 2nd person pronouns -private verbs -causative subordination |
-speaking -listening -reading |
| I LIKE YOUR LEARNING STYLE | -asking questions -giving answers -filling out questionnaires |
1st and 2nd person pronouns -contractions -analytic negation |
-speaking -listening -reading |
| ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING | -convincing |
varies | -speaking -listening -reading -using tone to convey feelings -brainstorming |
| SIMILAR AND DIFFERENT | -agreeing and disagreeing -comparing -expressing opinions -making guesses |
-1st and 2nd person pronouns -analytic negation -general hedges -present tense -private verbs |
-speaking -listening -writing |
| WHAT IS BEING ADVERTISED? | -expressing probability -giving reasons -making guesses |
1st and 2nd person pronouns -modals -causative subordination -private verbs -THAT deletion -general hedges -indefinite pronouns |
-speaking -listening -reading -writing -taking notes |
| GETTING THE RHTHYM | varies | -speaking -listening -reading -intonation |
|
| QUESTIONING CLASSMATES | -asking questions -expressing opinions and feelings |
-questions -private verbs -1st and 2nd person pronouns -sentence relatives -THAT deletion |
-speaking -listening |
| AGELESS | -asking questions -expressing opinions and feelings |
-questions -private verbs -1st and 2nd person pronouns -sentence relatives -THAT deletion |
-speaking -listening |
| MAGIC SHOP | -debating -praising something -bartering |
-1st and 2nd person pronouns -private verbs -pronoun IT -general emphatics -indefinite pronouns -demonstrative pronouns -analytic negation -causative subordination |
-speaking -listening -reading |
| SCRAMBLED TEXT | -discussing -comparing |
-1st person pronouns -private verbs -modals |
-reading -speaking -coherence -cohesion |
| JOB INTERVIEW ROLE-PLAY | -asking questions -giving answers -describing one's abilities |
-questions -1st and 2nd person pronouns -non-phrasal coordination -present tense verbs -analytic negation -WH clauses -amplifiers -modals -THAT deletion -discourse particles |
-reading -writing -speaking -listening |
Activity: Can You Spell That Please?
This is a good first-day-of-class activity which allows everyone to get acquainted.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, writing,
reading Language - Asking for clarification, practice spelling one's name and other information Other - Meeting people |
| Organization | Pairs, then whole class |
| Preparation | Before class, write the following question across the top of the board: "Can you spell that please?" Underneath this question write: "What is your name?" "What city do you live in?" "What country are you from?" and "How long have you been in America?" |
| Procedure | Step 1: Model the questions for the students by
reading them aloud and answering them, spelling your own name, city you live in, etc. Step 2: Have students work with partners and ask the sample questions, asking how to spell information, and writing down their answers. Step 3: Afterwards, ask students to introduce their partners to the whole class |
This activity is particularly useful for students whose L1 makes little use of stress within words. "Total Physical Response" is employed, allowing students to engage in full-body learning.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, reading, listening Language - Will vary according to text Other - Identifying stressed syllables in words, vocabulary building |
| Organization | Whole class |
| Preparation | Use of chalk or other board, any text the learners are working with |
| Procedure | Step 1: After the learner have read a text, elicit
from them vocabulary they found new, difficult, or interesting. List the
items on the board, separating monosyllabic words from the others. You
will use the longer words. Step 2: Say each word. Pause for about one second, then cue the students to repeat the word, standing as they say the stressed syllable. For example, if the word is photographer, students stand when they say /ta/ and quickly sit down when they get to the next syllable. |
(Adapted from Day, 1993)
| Aims | Skill - Speaking, listening, reading Language - Giving reasons, expressing preferences, agreeing and disagreeing Other - Getting to know each other |
| Organization | Whole class, groups |
| Preparation | Masking tape, 20 big pieces of paper with one word on each (see below). If possible, the classroom should be cleared of tables and chairs. |
| Procedure | Step 1: The teacher fixes a piece of paper to the
wall in each of the four corners of the room. The words on each piece of
paper should belong to the same category, e.g. colors: WHITE, RED, BROWN,
PURPLE. Other possible categories for the signs are: writers, types of
music, articles of clothing, body parts, cities, drinks, numbers, animals,
etc. Step 2: The students are asked to read all four signs and stand in the corner which suits them best. All the students in one corner interview each other about why they chose this one. When the next four signs are hung up everyone chooses a corner again. Step 3: At the end a discussion can follow on which students often chose the same corner, which students never met, etc. |
| Variations | Instead of single words, statements, quotations, proverbs or drawings can be used |
(Adapted from Klippel, 1984)
Activity: I Like Your Learning Style
This activity can provide valuable information for teachers about their students' learning styles.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, reading Language - Asking questions and giving answers, filling out questionnaires Other - Learning about learning styles |
| Organization | Individual, pairs, then whole class |
| Preparation | Questions about learning styles with columns for checking yes, no, or sometimes, one copy per student (see below) |
| Procedure | Step 1: Distribute copies of questionnaire with
the following questions: 1. Do you like to learn alone? 2. Do you like to learn with a partner? 3. Do you like to learn with a group? 4. Do you like to go fast? 5. Do you like to go slowly? 6. Do you like to learn by speaking? 7. Do you like to learn by reading? 8. Do you like to learn by writing? Step 2: Ask students to fill out questionnaire, then ask the same questions to a partner. Step 3: Discuss with the whole class why students answered the way they did. Ask which questions were hard to answer, etc. Teacher can keep questionnaires as a resource for determining students' learning styles. |
(Adapted from Huizenga and Weinstein-Shr, 1996)
Activity: One More Time, With Feeling
Learners reading aloud often show little feeling and affect. This activity can help them develop expression. The feelings they choose may or may not be related to the text.
| Aims | Skills - Reading, speaking, listening Language - Developing oral expressiveness, conveying feeling when speaking Other - Brainstorming, intonation |
| Organization | Pairs, small groups, or whole class |
| Preparation | A chalk or other board, any text the students are working with |
| Procedure | Step 1: With the class, brainstorm a list of emotions
and physical states (e.g., excited, happy, bored, angry, tired, hung over).
Write them on the board. Step 2: Have students select the paragraph or paragraphs they will read. They also choose one of the feelings listed on the board. Ask them to read the selection aloud as if they felt that way. They can have some time to practice reading it to themselves first. Step 3: In the organization which best suits your class, have them read the selection to each other. Other students try to guess the feelings. |
| Option | This can be a fun way to present role plays or dialogs. |
(Adapted from Day, 1993)
Activity: Similar and Different
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, writing Language - Making guesses, expressing opinion, agreeing and disagreeing, comparing Other - Getting to know someone else better |
| Organization | Pairs |
| Preparation | None |
| Procedure | Step 1: The students work together in pairs. Each
student writes down three ways in which s/he thinks that s/he and her/his
partner are similar and three ways in which s/he thinks they aredifferent.
S/he doesn't show her/his partner what s/he has written. Step 2: First, both students tell each other about the similarities and talk about where they were right or wrong, then they talk about the differences. |
| Remarks: | The points mentioned by the students may include obvious things like height or hair color, as well as more personal characteristics like taste in clothes or behavior in class. |
(Adapted from Klippel, 1984)
Activity: What is Being Advertised?
This activity is important because it uses authentic texts. If advertisements are chosen which demonstrate involved discourse, the text can also be used to reinforce the grammatical features to students.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, reading, writing Language - Making guesses, expressing probability, giving reasons Other - Taking notes, discovering advertising techniques |
| Organization | Pairs |
| Preparation: | A number of different advertisements (cut from magazines or newspapers) from which all names and pictures of the products advertised have been removed, half as many advertisements as there are students. (Don't throw away the cut out pieces.) |
| Procedure: | Step 1: Each pair of students receives one advertisement.
The partners discuss what product the ad could be for and why they think
so. One of each pair takes some notes. After about five minutes the ads
are exchanged and each pair of students discusses another ad in the same
way. Step 2: Taking turns, each pair of students show their second ad to the rest of the class and report their ideas on the product being advertised. The two students who discussed this particular ad in the first round say where they agree or disagree and give reasons. When all the ads have been discussed the teacher gives the solutions (by presenting the cut-out parts of each advertisement). |
(Adapted from Klippel, 1984)
Learners often have difficulty with the stress timing of English. This activity is a fun way to familiarize them with the rhythm of English and can make reductions easier.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, reading Language - Will vary according to text Other - Identify stress patterns |
| Organization | 2 groups |
| Preparation | A poem or song with a reasonably even rhythm that the students are familiar with, preferably one they have chosen themselves, and one copy per student. |
| Procedure | Step 1: Before class, read the text aloud (or, in
the case of a song, listen to it), marking the stress on your copy by underlining
the stressed words. Step 2: In class, read the text (or play the song) to the students. Ask them to mark the stress on their copies. It may be necessary to do this more than once. Step 3: Compare their answers with yours by (a) having the class read the text aloud together, marking the stress by tapping on their desks; (b) displaying the transparency and having them tell you which words to mark; or (c) distributing copies of your version, stress indicated. Step 4: Divide the class into pairs, A and B. As act as "human metronomes," snapping their fingers or tapping their desks in an even rhythm. Bs read the text aloud, attempting to keep the rhythm by saying the stressed words on the beat and fitting the other words in between the stresses. They then change roles. |
(Adapted from Day, 1993)
Activity: Questioning Classmates
| Aims | Skills - Writing, speaking, listening Language - Questions and answers, confirming |
| Organization | Individual, then whole class |
| Preparation | None |
| Procedure | Step 1: Ask students to think of three things they
believe to be true of each of their classmates. Working individually, have
them write these two things in the form of statements followed by tag questions.
Offer examples such as these: Yen, you're from Saigon, aren't you? Carlos,
you have two children, don't you? Step 2: When everyone is finished have students question and answer each other. |
This exercise provides a good opportunity to discuss the sensitivity of some topics, i.e. age, money, marital status. Students can compare how their native cultures differ from American culture, and when bringing up these subjects is appropriate or inappropriate.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening Language - Questions about age and feelings about age Other - Talking about thinking about oneself |
| Organization | Groups or whole class |
| Preparation | Questions about age, one list of questions for each group (see below) |
| Procedure | Each group/the class talks about age, guided by the following
questions: "What do you like about your present age? What did you like about being younger? What will you like about being 5/10/20 years older? What will you like about being elderly? How does your native culture view the elderly? How do you think Americans view the elderly? What is the ideal age? Why? What could you say to someone who is not happy about her/his age? Do you often think about age/growing old/staying young? Does advertising influence your feelings? |
| Variation | The questions can be distributed to different students, who ask the other members of the class/their groups when it is their turn. |
(Adapted from Klippel, 1984)
This activity creates a nice setting for cross-comparing different cultural values.
| Aims | Skills - Speaking, listening, reading Language - Debating, praising something, bartering Other - Learning about one's own and other's values |
| Organization | Individuals, then whole group |
| Preparation | Slips of paper with positive human qualities written on them (see below), three times as many slips as there are students. |
| Procedure | Step 1: Each student receives three slips of paper,
each with a positive human quality on it, e.g. honesty, intelligence, fairness,
humor, health, beauty, diplomacy, curiosity, cheerfulness, gentleness,
compassion, humility, creativity, optimism, perseverance, politeness, hospitality,
helpfulness, thoughtfulness, wisdom, justice, friendliness, adaptability,
talent, charity, love. Step 2: Each student decides which of her/his three qualities s/he would like to keep and which to exchange for others. Students then barter with different people. Step 3: After 10 minutes of bartering, students report on which qualities they received, which ones they kept and whether they are happy with their ones. |
(Adapted from Klippel, 1984)
| Aims | Skills - Reading, speaking Language - Discussing, comparing Other - Learning properties of coherence and cohesion |
| Organization | Individual, pairs or small groups |
| Preparation | Prepare a handout using any text that students have been working with; re-write it and put the sentences out of order. Try to find a text which uses discourse particles. |
| Procedure | Step 1: Give each student a copy of the hand-out
and ask them to put the sentences in correct order. Give students the option
to work alone or in groups. Ask them not to refer to the original
text. Ask students to underline clues in the text which help them in their
task. Step 2: When students are finished, compare results and disclose the correct order of the sentences. Discuss the processes by which they determined the order. Have the whole class come up with words which indicate order and cohesion. |
Activity: Job Interview Role-Play
Role-play gives learners the opportunity to be creative with language and simulates real life interaction. Since most adult ed textbooks include a unit on employment, this could be used as an extension activity.
| Aims | Skills - Reading, writing, speaking, listening Language - Questions and answers, describing one's abilities |
| Organization | Individuals, pairs |
| Preparation | As a homework assignment, ask students to assume the role of job interviewer and generate as many questions as they might ask in an interview. |
| Procedure | Step 1: Have students work in pairs to consolidate
their lists to come up with the best set of interview questions. Step 2: One student will then assume the role of interviewer, and the other the role of job applicant. The pair should decide what kind of company is hiring, what position must be filled, etc. (The teacher may need to make suggestions, or provide a list of companies and positions for the students to choose from). Step 3: Encourage students to rehearse their role-plays and perform in front of the class. |
The most prominent grammatical features of involved discourse (Biber, 1988):
amplifiers - words such as absolutely, altogether, completely, enormously, entirely, extremely, fully, greatly, highly, intensely, perfectly, strongly, thoroughly, totally, utterly, and very which add power and force to a verb. Amplifiers indicate feelings of certainty or conviction of the speaker/writer.
analytic negation - using not and all of its contracted forms.
BE as main verb - be and all its forms as the main verb of a sentence/utterance.
causative subordination - the use of because, since, for and as to subordinate a clause, and to present the idea of cause and effect.
contractions - reduced surface form; can be either phonological or orthographic.
demonstrative pronouns - includes this, that , these, those, and that's; refers to noun either inside or outside of the text.
discourse particles - words such as well, now, anyway, anyhow, and anyways which are used to maintain conversational coherence.
DO as pro-verb - do and all its forms when not
used as an auxiliary; can substitute for an entire clause.
Ex: The child did it.
Ex: Do you like to swim? Yes, I do.
final prepositions - Ex: Who are you waiting for? Ex: She's the one I spoke to.
first person pronouns - includes I, me, us, my, our, myself, ourselves plus contracted forms.
general emphatics - words and expressions which mark the presence of certainty, e.g. for sure, a lot, such a, real (+ adj.), so (+ adj.), just, really, most, and more.
general hedges - informal, less specific markers of uncertainty or lack of commitment to what is said/written; includes at about, something like, more or less, almost, maybe, sort of, kind of.
indefinite pronouns - includes anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, none, nothing, nowhere, somebody, someone, and something.
non-phrasal coordination - and used to loosely string clauses together.
possibility modals - can, may, might and should.
present tense verbs - deal with topics and actions of immediate relevance or may be used to remove focus from any temporal sequencing.
private verbs - express intellectual states or acts, and are used for the overt expression of private attitudes, thoughts, and emotions; includes verbs such as anticipate, assume, believe, conclude, decide, demonstrate, determine, discover, doubt, estimate, fear, feel, find, forget, guess, hear, hope, imagine, imply, indicate, infer, know, learn, mean, notice, prove, realize, recognize, remember, reveal, see, show, suppose, think, and understand.
pronoun IT - it is the most generalized pronoun; can substitute for nouns, phrases or whole clauses.
questions - sentences/utterances which indicate involvement with the listener/reader and which are typically followed by a response.
WH questions- use question words such as what, when, where, why and how.
second person pronouns - e.g. you, your, yourself, yourselves, plus contracted forms; require a specific addressee.
sentence relatives - are used to express the attitude of the speaker/writer; refer to an entire clause. Ex: She never has time for any leisure activities, which I think is a pity.
THAT deletion - is a reduced surface form. Ex: I think [that] I'll go to Europe this year.
WH clauses - serve as complements to verbs. Ex: I believe what you tell me.
Biber, Douglas. (1988). Variations Across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byrd, Patricia. (in press). Grammar in the Composition Syllabus. In P. Byrd and J Reid (Eds.), Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Byrd, Patricia. (in press). It's All the Same Grammar. In P. Byrd and J. Reid (Eds.), Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Day, Richard (Ed.). (1993). New Ways in Teaching Reading. Alexandria: TESOL, Inc.
Huizenga, Jann, and Weinstein-Shr, Gail. (1996). Collaborations: English in Our Lives, Beginning 2 Student Book. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Klippel, Friederike. (1984). Keep Talking: Communicative Fluency Activities for Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reid, Joy. (in press). Learning Styles. In P. Byrd and J. Reid (Eds.), Grammar in the Composition Class. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.