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Grammaring : Language Detectives at Work in the EFL Classroom

Grammaring : Language Detectives at Work in the EFL Classroom. Teaching the grammar and usage of English to teacher trainees and pupils in the light of LU13. Ulla Bryanne, Academic coordinator & associate professor, University College North.

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Grammaring : Language Detectives at Work in the EFL Classroom

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  1. Grammaring: Language Detectives at Work in the EFL Classroom Teaching the grammar and usage of English to teacher trainees and pupils in the light of LU13 Ulla Bryanne, Academic coordinator& associate professor, University College North Karen Lassen Bruntt, Associate professor, VIA University College

  2. Whatyou’llhear Brief theoreticaloutline of the Handbook Examples of different types of exercises and approaches How Karen teachesgrammar by using the Handbook

  3. The three dimensions Based on Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman: The Grammar Book, p. 4 FORM How is it formed? (Accuracy) MORPHOSYNTAX MEANING Whatdoes it mean? (Meaningfulness) SEMANTICS USE When/Why is it used? (Appropriateness) PRAGMATICS

  4. For each of these grammatical structures, which of the three dimensions do you think Danish learners will have most problems with: • How it is formed? • What it means? • When and why to use it? • 1. Phrasal verbs (e.g. My boyfriend ran up a huge phone bill) • 2. The simple or continuous perspective (e.g. She painted/was painting • the house) • 3. The –ly of adverbs (e.g. She took it very seriously) • 4. Irregular plural (e.g. mouse – mice) The three dimensions Bruntt & Bryanne, p. 34

  5. The three dimensions – how are they learnt? • FORM-dimension: • Lots of repetitions • Task-Based Learning • MEANING-dimension: • Dictogloss • Running dictation • USE-dimension: • Role playing

  6. Various dilemmas when teaching grammar • Why work with grammar? • Prescriptive or descriptive grammar? • Oral or written language? • What to focus on? • Proactively or reactively/integrated ? • Inductive (guided noticing) or deductive approach? • Declarative and/or procedural knowledge? • Terminology for teachers and for pupils • In Danish or English? • Teaching grammar or teaching learners?

  7. Traditional assessment:Interlanguageanalysis: - Focus on the target language - Focus on the learner language - Compares learner language to - Sees learner language as a the target language language in progress - Focus on product - Focus on process - Points out mistakes - Points out progress - Focus on the things the learner - Focus on the things the cannot do learner can do - Summative assessment - Formative assessment Fig. 2-2. Differences between the traditional way of assessing learner language and the interlanguage analysis Bruntt & Bryanne, p. 22

  8. Examples of different types of exercises and approaches

  9. EXAMPLE 1 Elicitation of prior knowledge Exercise 1 • What do you already know about adjectives? What do they do to a text? What forms can they take? Which grammatical words do you connect with adjectives? • How were you taught adjectives at school? What was good/bad and why? • How do you best learn adjectives? • Can you think of some good ways of teaching adjectives? Bruntt & Bryanne, p. 303

  10. EXAMPLE 2 Inductive, guided noticing approachenables working in study groups (MEANING & USE) B. When Mr and MrsDursley woke up on the Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the sky outside to suggest that things would soon be happening all over the country. MrDursley hummed as he picked out his tie for work and MrsDursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled Dudley into his chair. None of them noticed an owl flutter past the window. A When Mr and MrsDursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. MrDursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and MrsDursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. Rowling, J. K.: Harry Potter and the Philosopher´s Stone, Bloomsbury, 1997, pp.7-8. Bruntt & Bryanne, p. 303

  11. EXAMPLE 3 Adjectives and genres (MEANING & USE) Beloware excerpts from a variety of texts • In eachtext find someadjectives and discusstheireffect on the mood, atmosphere etc. • Remove all adjectives from a text: How does it change? Replacesome of the adjectives, e.g. the negative ones from text C, with others and discuss the effects and whatthistellsyouabout the importance of adjectives. • What genres do the textsbelong to? In whichones do youexpect to find many/fewadjectives? Why? • Find yourowntext. Removethe adjectives and ask a partner to insertsome new ones. Compare with the original text. Bruntt and Bryanne p. 320

  12. EXAMPLE 3 – cont. Dickens, Great Expectations(Fiction, description of place) I crossed the staircase landing, and entered the room she indicated. From that room, too, the daylight was completely excluded, and it had an airless smell that was oppressive. A fire had been lately kindled in the damp old-fashioned grate, and it was more disposed to go out than to burn up, and the reluctant smoke which hung in the room seemed colder than the clearer air – like our own marsh mist. Certain wintry branches of candles on the high chimneypiece faintly lighted the chamber…

  13. EXAMPLE 3 – cont. Tolkien, The Hobbit(Fiction: description of persons) All the unsuspectingBilbosawthat morning was an old man with a staff. He had a tallpointed hat, a long greycloak, a silverscarf over which his long whitebeardhungdownbelow his waist, and immenseblackboots […]. Gandalf looked at him from under long bushyeyebrowsthatstuck out furtherthan the brim of his shady hat.

  14. EXAMPLE 3 – cont. K. Donovan, Blind Colours(excerpt)(Poem: to describefeelings and things) But turquoise is mysterious And langourous, My mouthlets the word go Regretfully, and I think Of strangeplaces, ExoticfragrancesthatI’ll never know.

  15. EXAMPLE 4 Overview for teachers Adjectives give usprecise and vividdescriptions of people, feelings, situations, things etc. regardingtheircolour, size, looks, age, and other properties. In the dull, grey Tuesday the twoadjectivesdulland grey give usprecisedetailsabout the nounTuesday and enableus to easilypicture the day. Not only do theytellusaboutnouns, theycanalsotellusaboutpronouns: Shewashappy.Happydescribes the pronounshe.

  16. EXAMPLE 4 – cont. Overview for teachers(cont.) Adjectivesareimportant for creatingatmosphere, or for makinguslike or dislike a certaincharacter in a story, or for appealing to oursenses in poetry. Obviously, theyare more common (and appropriate) in narration, lyricpoetry, advertisements and reviewsthan in genres withoutdescriptions, such as scientificreports in whichwewant to appearobjective. Bruntt & Bryanne, p. 304

  17. EXAMPLE 5 Comparative approach: focus on what is difficult for Danish learners (FORM) The functions of the adjectivesareintroduced by guided noticing and summed up in an overviewafterwards PrM in NG (attributive function) SC (and OC) (predicativefunction) PoM in NG H in NG

  18. EXAMPLE 5 – cont. Comparative approach: (FORM) Exercise 10 A boy in Year 9 wasill in yourlessontoday and you sent himhome. • Write a letter to his parents in whichyouexplain the matter. Youshouldinclude the adjectiveslistedbelow. Examinewhetheryou have usedeachadjectiveattributively or predicatively and whether it wouldbepossible to use it bothways by writingothersentences: sick, able, elder, afraid, alone, content, keen, sorry, glad, ill, andwell. Check the adjectives in your English-English dictionary to seewhathelp it offers concerningthisissue.

  19. EXAMPLE 5 – cont. Comparative approach (FORM) • Find the equivalentadjectives in Danish: cantheybeusedbothattributively and predicatively? • What do you do ifyouwant to use an adjective in front of a noun, but thisadjectivecanonlybeusedpredicatively? Or ifyouwant to use an adjectivepredicatively, but thisadjectivecanonlybeusedattributively? E.g., youwant to express the following in English: Han er en meget bange dreng og siger ikke så meget i timerne (afraid is not possible) (This is thensummed up afterwards)

  20. EXAMPLE 6 Automatisation and integration in communicativeactivities and communication • Go to the web activities: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives • ChooseChapter10 • ChooseWeb activities 2-4

  21. EXAMPLE 7 Discussion of didactics: how to teach adjectives • Enter: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives • Choose ”Chapter 10” • Choose ”Web activity 5” (Examples of activities at differentlevels and in differenttopics)

  22. EXAMPLE 8 Summingup: didactics and the student’sownknowledge of adjectives(evaluation) • Enter: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives • Choose ”Chapter 10” • Choose ”Web activity 8”

  23. EXAMPLE 9 Automatisationof terminology • Enter: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives • Choose ”Chapter 11” • Choose ”Web activity 6” (Vocabularytraining)

  24. EXAMPLE 10 Training students to become English teachers Identify, categorize, correct and explain problems regarding modal verbs in the followingsentences: is the problem due to FORM, MEANING or USE? I must in nowbecauseit’scold. As far as I know the book shallbereallygood. I’dlike to canswim. He should start his new job as a teachertoday. He can German. …

  25. EXAMPLE 11 Summing up: how to helplearnersregardinginterlanguagedevelopment(evaluation) A wholeinterlanguagetext is foundaftermost of the chapters, e.g. in chapter11 on adverbs, whichcomparesadjectives and adverbs: • Enter: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives • Choose ”Chapter 11” • Choose ”Web activity 9”

  26. EXAMPLE 12 Furtheractivities and links at the end of each web section • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuuZEey_bs • http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/adjectives • http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/adjectives_quiz2.htm

  27. Karen’sstructure of the grammarcourse in LU13

  28. Karen’sstructure • Introductionto the module • Examplesof exercises from examafter Year 9 + example of a learner’stext • Introductorygrammarcourse (compendium + Stifinderen)

  29. Karen’sstructure(cont.) • Parts of chapter 4: Word classes, word formation + dictionaries • Chapters5 + 6: Sentenceanalysis • (4 lessons) • Afterwards: • One sentenceanalysiseverylesson • Test in sentenceanalysis

  30. English Latin Danish SxSubject Subjekt Grundled Vo Verbal Verballed Udsagnsled n noun substantiv navneord NG Noun Group Subst. Navneords- gruppe helhed Help for terminology (jacket)

  31. Glossary(p. 439) • Adjective Group: A group of wordsclusteredaround an adjective (hewasveryhappythatshe had come) • Grammarterminology in English, Latin and Danish • English Latin Danish • adjective adjektiv tillægsord Help for terminology (at the back)

  32. Karen’sstructure(cont.) • Learning and TeachingGrammar (3 lessons) • The individualtopics in grammar (eachtopic 3 lessons): • S-V agreement + word order: 5.5-5.7 (Karen) • VG1: VG structure, auxiliary verbs and lexical verbs, main forms, regular and irregular verbs: chapter 7.1 - 7.5.2 • VG 2: focus on modal verbs and modality (chap. 13) • VG 3: time and tenses: remaining chapter 7 • NG1: 8.1 - 8.4: NG structure + nouns, the genitive, articles and reference • NG2: 8.5 - 8.7: pronouns • Adjectives, adverbs and Circumstantials (chap. 10-12) • Punctuation and prepositions (chap. 9 + 15) • Afterwards: Test in grammar(Identify, categorize, correct and • explainproblems underlined in a learner’stext) • Words and idioms (chapter 4) (Karen) • Text grammar (chapter 3) (Karen)

  33. Karen’scourse • Beforeclass in studygroups • (approx 7-8 hours) • All studygroups to study the topic by reading and discussingexercises and web activities. • They sum up by using • web activities at the end • of the chapter.

  34. Karen’scourse (cont.) • In class: (3 lessons/topic) • Discussion of a mind map made by studygroupxx to give an overview with theirownexamples in a Google Docs file. • Interlanguageanalysis: sentences + learner’stext (Karen) • Didactics in relation to • the topic (studygroupxx)

  35. Karen’scourse(cont.) • Chapter 16: Interlanguageanalysis (5 lessons) • The model • Argumentativetext • Narrative text • How to give feedback and assess • Afterwards: Paper written in studygroups • Interlanguageanalysisof a learner’stext (chosenby Karen) • Conclusion and interpretation (help for the learner) • in languageappropriate for colleagues • in languagedirected to the learner

  36. Literature • Bruntt, Karen Lassen & Ulla Bryanne: Handbook for Language Detectives: Learning and Teaching English Grammar, Samfundslitteratur, 2012 • Øvelser hertil: http://samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/handbook-language-detectives#tab2 • Celce-Muria, Marianne & Diane Larsen-Freeman: The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher’sCourse, Heinle& Heinle, 1999 • Larsen-Freeman, Diane: TeachingGrammar: From Grammar to Grammaring, Thomson-Heinle, 2003 • Karen Lund, ”Fokus på sprog” in Michael Byram et al, Sprogfag i forandring, Samfundslitteratur, 2009

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