Grammar at the Point of Need

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Grammar at the Point of Need TexTESOL 2013 Colin S. Ward Lone Star College – North Harris

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Grammar at the Point of Need. TexTESOL 2013 Colin S. Ward Lone Star College – North Harris. Imagine you want to teach the passive voice in your writing class…. When would you teach it? How would you teach it?. Key Questions:. What grammar do you tackle in a writing class? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Grammar at the Point of Need

Grammar at the Point of NeedTexTESOL 2013Colin S. WardLone Star College – North Harris

Imagine you want to teach the passive voice in your writing class…

When would you teach it?

How would you teach it?

Key Questions:What grammar do you tackle in a writing class?How do you tackle grammar in a writing class? When do you tackle grammar in a writing class?

Pre 1st Draft

Prefabs

Construct

ionGrammar

Prefabs at Level Zero

from grammar charts to flow charts

Tourists People They

can

cross eat at see shop stay in visit walk to

a an

famous restaurant history museum hotel interesting bridge

a lot of many

colorful lights interesting stores old neighborhoods parks restaurants

I

am am not

social quiet adventurous busy sad happy

Choose Prefabs based on need

Process: …so that I can….I want to get a degree so that I can earn more money.

Problem-Solution : By + gerund….By offering more public transportation, fewer people in Ho Chi Minh will drive to work.

Cause-Effect: Because of greater....Because of greater job opportunities, more immigrants are choosing to stay in Houston.

A couple examples….

Interlanguage in real time

got it…

…but not quite

Prefabs don’t always work…

I am going to open my own beauty salon so that I want to have a lot of customers.By providing more education to children will help reduce illiteracy.Learning a new language, it will open up new doors for my life.

…so they need more practice!

What the research says…

Construction grammar (Hinkel)

Use language chunks/prefabsAllow students to create new “units”vocab and grammar on a continuum

What other research says…

Analyzing is less helpful than sentence generating, combining & manipulating (Weaver)Teaching formal grammar systematically & through isolated lessons & drill doesn’t work (Weaver)Reduce overload (Myles)

Control contentModels for grammar

What prefabs would you teach?

OpinionNarrativeClassificationDefinitionCause-effectProblem-Solution

2nd-3rd Draft

Grammar Throwdowns

Student-

generated!

Grammar Throwdown

Mini-lesson

What the research says…

Grammar chosen should reflect what students need most (DCF)Use the students’ own writing (Weaver)Teachable moments & mini-lessons (Weaver)

Post 2nd Draft

Parallel Structure

Student-

generated!

Parallel Structure

Parallel Structure

What I did not expect…

Post 3rd Draft

Wordiness

Student-

generated!

What the research says…

Little research regarding wordiness in ESOL writingNo systematic way of tackling wordinessSkill often glossed over

What native speakers are told…

despite the fact that despitedue to the fact that because in the event that ifin the vicinity of nearfor all intents and purposes X

…does not necessarily work for ESOL

students.

Another common approach

Reduce the wordy expressions in the essay on a separate sheet of paper. Be sure to keep the meaning of the original even if you make grammar changes:

The bad effects of garbage are not limited to the personal lives of individuals and families. In fact, the effects have spread out immensely to become a social and global phenomenon affecting the whole earth and the whole universe. Garbage has invaded and threatened our lives. Pollution and toxic chemicals and substances, some of which are the result of garbage, are threatening our existence. The ESL Writer’s Handbook, Michigan ELT, 2010

Why are ESOL students wordy?

1) Direct translation2) Insufficient vocabulary3) Lack of word form knowledge4) Lack of grammar knowledge5) Unaware of redundancy6) Attempt to fill the page

Wordiness

Wordiness

Correcting Wordiness

in Action

Correcting Wordiness

in Action

Correcting Wordiness

in Action

Correcting Wordiness

in Action

Perhaps my biggest points are..

Timing is everything

Use student-generated grammar.

Be a grammar detective.

Questions or Comments?

Email: [email protected] to PowerPoint/Handout: http://www.lonestar.edu/colin-ward.htm