DISCOVERING GRAMMAR

At this point foreign language teachers have received the message that presenting grammar in the deductive way associated with Grammar-Translation is outdated and ineffective. Rather than renouncing grammar instruction altogether, however, we can focus on developing learners’ “intuitive heuristics” (Kumaravadivelu, 2003) by guiding them to discover lexical and grammatical patterns inductively. Corpus analysis readily enables this kind of exploratory approach (Friginal, 2018). In this workshop, participants will use well-established, free technology to research lexical and grammatical features in many languages and, in turn, explore ways to guide learners into greater autonomy as they take up these tools themselves.

Workshop Description

In the midst of still-raging debates about the value of explicit grammar teaching and input-based versus output-based approaches, foreign language teachers can struggle to find a reliable path to effective instruction. As Ellis (2006) points out, we have a range of choices for grammar instruction: planned or incidental, intensive or extensive, deductive or inductive, and so on. Whereas much-vilified traditional approaches involve deductive presentation of grammar that learners must then apply in decontextualized exercises, teachers now have a range of possibilities for presenting grammar inductively. Corpus analysis, using the abundance of well-established and freely-available technology that both teachers and learners can now access, readily supports a discovery-based pedagogy of lexical and grammatical patterns. Activating “intuitive heuristics” in these ways, as Kumaravadivelu (2003) explains, allows students to become not only more proficient language users but also more effective language learners. As my references to fifteen-year-old sources may suggest, the goal here is not to help teachers balance on the bleeding edge of innovation. The goal is to demonstrate strategies and skills that can draw teachers and learners into explorations of lexicogrammatical patterns (Hunston, 2002) rather than rule-based presentation and practice. Using large reference corpora, web-based tools and software for analyzing texts, and online frequency dictionaries, participants will identify grammar points that are important for communication in a given text or genre, access authentic examples of that grammar in use, and design frequency-based activities. In turn, we will explore ways to develop autonomy in learners so that they can use corpus tools more independently (Friginal, 2018). Examples will include activities created by experienced foreign language teachers of English, French, Spanish, Czech, Chinese, and others.

Presenter Bio

Amanda Lanier is an applied linguist and language teacher educator. She is now Director of the MA in Foreign Language Teaching program at Michigan State University. Since joining the program in 2013, she has built and taught online courses in pedagogical methods, second language acquisition, culture and intercultural competence, language concepts, sociolinguistics, foreign language literacy, and reflective teaching. The MAFLT is a rigorous fully-online program that enhances theoretical knowledge and practical skills among teachers of over a dozen languages.

Her research, writing, and presentations have focused on social and cultural aspects of language learning and use, particularly in regard to less-commonly taught languages (LCTLs), heritage language learners, and online learning. Her dissertation focused on language, literacy, and identity in young learners of Arabic as a foreign language. She has also published on intercultural communication in a distance learning environment, and she presents regularly on intercultural competence and corpus-based pedagogy.

Amanda has been a language instructor since 2002, when she moved to the Czech Republic to teach English as a foreign language (EFL). She has since taught overseas and in the U.S. in private language schools, intensive English programs, and undergraduate and graduate programs. She is also trained as an actor, director, musician, and dancer and has worked with emerging bilinguals on improvisation techniques and full productions.