What's Grammar Anyway - Hans Mol and Ma Xin NAFLE October 2009

7/30/2019 What's Grammar Anyway - Hans Mol and Ma Xin NAFLE October 2009

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Teaching grammar to young learnersHans Mol and Ma Xin

and


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Your trainersHans Mol Ma Xin

MA

Teacher, trainer, writer, producer IATEFLs YL SIG committee

Young learner materials Real English & Early Start (Holland), Take

Shape (Mexico, Macmillan, 2010), Tricks(Eastern Europe), Rokus Klett, 2010;Onestopenglish; Next Stop (Mexico and LatinAmerica, Macmillan); English Campus;

Grammar for Young Learners (OUP);Supasongs (FracasEnglish)

Materials for teenagers, young adults andadults Link-up (Klett); Tourism and Hospitality

English (Garnet), Attitude (Macmillan), Newoutlook

MA, PhD Candidate

English teacher and teacher trainer atSchool of Foreign Languages andLiteratures, Beijing Normal University

research interests include

in-service and pre-service teachertraining

teacher change

ELT methodology materials development.

In recent years, she has participated in anumber of projects related to teacherdevelopment and textbook writing.

Hans Mol and Ma Xin,

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What is grammar? is the kind of

question that seems easy to

answer until somebody asks it.

Michael Swan


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What is grammar?

A a system of rules and tools

B a process that lets youcommunicate with other people

C an important professional skill for

teachers


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What is grammar for?

A the learn about the system of

EnglishB to communicate in English

C to give me status as a teacher / to

tell my students how English works


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Whats the right grammar?Would you mind turning that

down?

A Sure

B No

C Yes


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Grammar is emotion

Grammar is such a waste of

time, lets get rid of it.

Grammar is very, very

important for the children.


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With the rise of communicative methodology inthe late 1970s, the role of grammar instruction insecond language leaning was downplayed, and itwas even suggested that teaching grammar was

not only unhelpful but might actually bedetrimental. However, recent research hasdemonstrated the need for formal instruction forlearners to attain high levels of accuracy.


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Is there any grammar in this?

A Coffee?

B Please.A Milk? Sugar?

B No milk. One sugar. Thanks.

A Toast?

B No thanks.

A Juice?B Mmm.

Scott Thornbury, 2001

A Would you like some coffee?

B Yes, I would like some of thatcoffee, please.

A Do you take milk?

B I dont take milk. But I willtake one sugar, please. Thanks.

A Would you like some of thistoast?

B Id prefer not to have any ofthat toast, thanks. ()


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Grammatical complexity Do you think you could open

the door?

Open the door. Would you mind opening thedoor?

I wonder if you would be sokind as to open the door?

Can you open the door? The door!

I wonder if you would be sokind as to open the door?

Would you mind opening thedoor?

Do you think you could openthe door?

Can you open the door?

Open the door. The door!


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So

Is grammar less importantfor children than it is for

adults? Is grammar only important

for speaking and writing?

Is grammar a thing or is it

something that happens? Scott Thornbury


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Form and function: process and product

practice strategy - skill


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Krashens viewpointto abandon grammar teaching

teaching grammar results in learned knowledge, onlyavailable for monitoring utterances that learners produce usingtheir acquired knowledge (limited value)

teachers should concentrate on providing lots ofcomprehensible input so that learners can acquire a secondlanguage naturally like children acquiring their mother language.


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Ellis viewpointTo adapt grammar instruction to learners

students are often convinced that learning grammar is of value

to them and, therefore, expect the teachers to teach grammar

Krashens claim that learners acquire grammar naturally is not

entirely correct for second or foreign language learners.

we should find a way of teaching grammar that is compatible

with how learners learn grammar.


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Some research shows

Learners do not seem to master the grammar of

a second language even when they get plenty of

comprehensible input. Studies of learners in

immersion classroom have shown that even

after ample exposure to the target languagelearners continue to make a lot of grammatical

errors.


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What was said this morning Richard Johnstone

Explicit transfer of language concepts from L1 to T a

supportive factor attention to form in ways that go beyondrecasts (Richard Johnstone)

Tom Scovel We must prioritize and not attempt to teach all of the grammarE.g. past perfect tense infrequent in speaking or writing or science

writing (except fiction) What is easy to hear, and easy to see, is easy to remember, is

easy to learn. Listen for grammar.


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Aims of grammar in EFL

strengthen grammatical accuracy in a fun andpurposeful way

teach learners to express themselves as clearly aspossible with confidence

increase grammar awareness among young

learners meet learning styleswherever possible(Gordon Lewis, Hans Mol, 2009)


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Ideally

we should find a way of

teaching grammar that is

compatible with how learners

learn grammar.


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Grammar presentation methods

The deductive method

The inductive method

The guided discovery method


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The deductive method

ReasoningAnalysing

Comparing


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How is it done?The teacher

Draws attention to an example on the board or in the textbook.

Explains the underlying rules regarding the forms and positions of certain structural

words

explanations often in students native language using grammatical terms.

comparisons can be made between the native language and the target language or between

the newly presented structure and previously learned structures.

The students

Practise applying the rule to produce sentences with given prompts


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Pros and cons of the deductivemethod It often teaches grammar in an

isolated way Little attention is paid to

meaning

Practice is often mechanical

It can save time if the students

have the reasoning ability

It can be useful if the aim is

exam preparation

It can make students have a

sense of achievement.


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The inductive method

ObservingReasoning

Learning


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How does it work?

The teacher

provides learners with authentic language in meaningful context

ensures learners can realise what the rules are without explicit explanation

believes that the rules will become evident if the students are given enough

appropriate examples

The students

study examples of language in use and draw their own conclusions about

what is happening


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The guided discovery method

Observing

Reasoning

Analysing


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How does it work?The students

are stimulated to discover rules by themselves

The teacher

carefully guides the process of discovery and assists

elicits the rules

teaches the rules explicitly


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Work in groups of four. Discuss theadvantages and disadvantages of the

three methods of teaching grammar.


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Meaningful input meaningful practise

Requirements Pre-learning (noticed + short term memory)

Volume and repetition Success orientation Heterogeneity Teacher assistance Interest


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Grammar practice

Mechanical practice

Meaningful practice


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Mechanical practice

Substitution drills

Substitute the underlined part with the

proper forms of the given words

green lawn/clean house/pretty garden/nice flowers

Mrs. Green has the largest house in town.


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Change the following sentences into thepast tense. Use the adverbs given in thebrackets.

Now he lives in London. (last year, Paris)

We have English and math today.( yesterday, music and P.E.)

He usually gets up at seven. ( thismorning, eight)

Mechanical practice

Transformation drills


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Work in groups of four and discuss:

(1) What is the purpose of mechanical drills?

(2) What are the advantages and disadvantages?


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Meaningful practice

Using prompts for practice Using pictures prompts Using gesture prompts

Using information sheets prompts Using key phrases or word prompts Using chained phrases for story telling

Using created situations


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Meaningful practice

Using an information sheet as prompt

Cheap Healthy Tasty Fattening Important

Beer

Water

Fruit

Cigarette

Alcohol

Milk

Look at the table below. Rank the items on the leftcolumn according to the criteria listed on the top.


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Meaningful practice

Using transformation drillsHans Mol and Ma Xin,

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Work in groups of four and discuss

(1) What is the purpose of meaningful practice?

(2) What are its advantages and disadvantages?


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Task types Input tasks: seeing or hearing

examples

Noticing tasks: focusing

Awareness tasks: analysingexamples or looking fordifferences

Check-up tasks: questions ormini-tasks

Game tasks: playing withgrammar

Experimentation tasks: trying itout

Listening or reading tocomprehend

Listen or reading to notice

Understanding

Checking

Trying

Rod Ellis, 2002


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Input tasks Grammar Time 1, Sandie Jervis, 2000 Input Practise Noticing Volume Repetition

Success Heterogeneity Interest


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Input task

All Aboard, Paul Davies, 2004

Input Practise Noticing

Volume Repetition Success Heterogeneity Interest


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Noticing tasks

Picture Grammar for Children, David Vale, 1998

frequency, withvariation

Input Practise Noticing Volume Repetition Success

Interest


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Awareness taskA song A worksheet

Whos got a dog?is a song from

Input Practise Noticing

Repetition Success Heterogeneity Assistance Interest


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Check-up tasks Grumpy Grammar, Louis Fidge, 2003 Input Practise Noticing Repetition Success Heterogeneity

Assistance Interest


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Check-up tasks

Grammar Time, Sandie Jervis, 2003

Input Practise Noticing Repetition Success Heterogeneity Assistance

Interest


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Game tasks

Early Start, Hans Mol, 2005

Input Practise Noticing Repetition Success Heterogeneity Assistance Interest


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Game tasks

Grammar for Young Learners, Gordon

Lewis and Hans Mol, 2010

Input Practise Noticing Repetition

Success Heterogeneity Assistance Interest


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Experimentation tasks

All Aboard 6, Paul Davies, Katharine Mendelsohn,

2005


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Experimentation tasks

All Aboard 6, Paul Davies, Katharine Mendelsohn,

2005

Input Practise Noticing Repetition Success Heterogeneity Assistance Interest


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Employers dont attach greatvalue to grammar


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Lets have a break The family questionnaire


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Conclusion

The understanding ofhow to teach grammar is just ascontroversial as what people feel about the value of

grammar in language teaching.

We believe that teaching grammar is necessary forforeign language learners and the three ways of teachingwe introduced all have their merits and drawbacks.

The best way is to vary methods according to our specificteaching objectives, teaching contents, students ages andneeds, and our teaching and learning context.


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We shouldn't

lose sight ofthe one thing

children do

best:

have fun.

Kenna

Bourke


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Session reflections

What is your opinion on the value of teaching and

learning grammar?

What have you learned from this session?


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What's Grammar Anyway - Hans Mol and Ma Xin NAFLE October 2009

Documents

Transcript of What's Grammar Anyway - Hans Mol and Ma Xin NAFLE October 2009