EDCI 5543 Course Description (Fall semester)

This course is about teaching English grammar and methods of teaching grammar for graduates, prospective and current teachers of English to speakers of other languages. It includes analysis of the major grammatical structures of American English, discussion of the role of teaching grammar, effective classroom methods and techniques for the English as a second/foreign language classroom.

Student assignment samples:

Jessica Flinkman

EDCI 5543

Dr. Wei

Class wrap-up

November 5th, 2019

Chapter 9: Relative Clauses

Basic Forms

●       Relative clause - typically found after a noun phrase and provide some information about the person or thing indicated by that noun phrase. They are sometimes called adjective clauses.

○       Examples:

■       For the grammar clause, we need a new book.

■       I’m talking about a book that doesn’t make me fall asleep.

●       Noun Phrase + relative clause (acts as an adjective and modifies noun phrase)

●       A clause is a sentence imbedded within a sentence

●       In some languages adjectives are put in front of a clause or a noun contrary to some other languages (Arabic, Thai, Spanish, etc.)

○       Examples:

■       For the grammar class, we need a new book. (Underlined is adjective)

■       I’m talking about a book that doesn’t make me fall asleep. (Underlined is adjective/relative clause)

●       Relative pronouns are different than he or she

●       Five relative pronouns: who, that, which, whom, whose (that is the most popular)

○       Examples: used in talking

■       I’m the kind of person who is always losing things. 

●       Ask, “Who is always losing things?” = I am. It is a relative clause explaining who is always losing things.

■       Right now, I can’t find a book that I need for school.

●       Subject relatives - relative pronoun is the subject in that clause

○       Examples

■       Did you see the man? The man was here.

■       Did you see the man who was here? (we call this subject relatives) 

■       Did you take the book which was on the desk? (subject clause because which is the subject)

●       If you took out “which was on the desk” would the subject be ‘you’? No, “which was on the desk” is still the subject. It is an Object and Subject relation - O-S relation. It is a bit confusing, but it has to do with what we will discuss later. Which is the subject of the clause.

●       In contemporary spoken (in America) English, ‘that’ is found much more often than ‘which’ in these constructions:

○       Examples:

■       I didn’t see the man that was here.

■       And I didn’t take the book that was on the desk.

●       Object relatives (relative pronoun is the object in that relative clause)

○       Examples:

■       Did you like the woman? You met the woman.

■       Did you like the woman whom you met? (woman is object and whom is object, too = O-O relation)

■       Did you enjoy the film? You saw the film.

■       Did you enjoy the film which you saw? (O-O relation)

○       Side note: these are colloquial terms

●       Some learners produce: *Did you enjoy the film which you saw it? This is incorrect because it is repetitive. ‘It’ is not used at this position in English, but in some other languages. It is called a resumptive pronoun.

●       A resumptive pronoun is a personal pronoun appearing in a relative clause, which restates the antecedent after pause or interruption.

○       Example: 

■       This is the girl, that whenever it rains she cries. (You can only use ‘it’ when there is a pause. In this sentence the comma acts as a pause. This is also a colloquial saying).

●       ‘That’ is frequently used as an object relative pronoun: I didn’t like the woman that I met.

●       Or zero relative pronoun: I don’t want to talk about the woman (zero article here) I met.

●       In object relative position, the forms whom and which are associated with more formal language than the that and zero article forms. The zero relative occurs most often in short object relatives with pronoun subjects.

○       Example: 

■       I’m tired of talking about the film I saw. (This is colloquial, and you do not need to use relative pronouns)

○       African American Vernacular English often don’t use relative pronouns.

○       Usually professors use relative pronouns as a register.

●       After-preposition relatives (this is what we learn in a professional setting to avoid using prepositions at the end; Dr. Wei doesn’t think it is necessary because it is not forbidden in APA format):

○       Examples:

■       Where is the person? You talked to the person.

■       Where is the person to whom you talked? (This is written because ‘whom’ is very formal)

■       Where is the hotel? You stayed in the hotel.

■       Where is the hotel in which you stayed? (very formal)

●       Informal: Where is the hotel you stayed in? Or Where is the hotel you stayed? 

●       Awkward phrasing: Where is the hotel where you stayed?

●       In these structures, the preposition ‘to’ and ‘in’ have been FRONTED along with the relative pronouns.

○       This is on position where the form ‘that’ cannot be used instead of ‘whom’ or ‘which’. 

■       *I can’t remember the hotel in that I stayed.

○       But it could be fine if the preposition ‘to’ and ‘in’ have been stranded at the end of the clause. They are called stranded preposition (These are usually used in British English and Dr. Wei’s class).

■       Examples:

●       Can I meet the person that you talked to?

●       Can we find the hotel that you stayed in?

●       When a preposition is stranded, it is even more common to find clauses with zero relative.

○       Examples:

■       Mary knows the person (zero article here) I talked to.

■       She’ll remember the hotel (zero article here) we stayed in.

●       Some grammar books or dictionaries still warn students not to end a sentence with a preposition. This is not forbidden in APA format.

●       Possessive relative - whose (Can be used for inanimate objects - usually in British English)

○       Examples:

■       Did you talk to the girl? Her bag was stolen.

■       Did you talk to the girl whose bag was stolen?

■       Have you ever lived in a house? Its roof was leaking.

■       Have you ever lived in a house whose roof was leaking? 

●       These examples sound awkward to Americans.

■       Have you ever lived in a house? The roof of the house was leaking.

■       Have you ever lived in a house the roof of which was leaking? (Still sounds awkward to Americans)

■       He had stomach pains the cause of which was unknown. (In American English, you can write: “He had stomach pains, the cause of which was unknown.”)

○       Side note: the possessive relative pronoun (whose) is different than possessive pronouns (its, his, hers)

Basic Structures - We will talk about two positions: medial and final

●       Medial and final position

○       Examples:

■       The man has a cat.

■       The man lives next door.

■       The man who lives next door has a cat. (subject relative because the subject pronoun is in the middle).

■       The woman has a large dog.

■       The man wants to marry the woman.

■       The woman that the man wants to marry has a large dog. (Object relative clause modifying the woman; that is the object and the woman is the subject = O-S relation).

○       Conclusion of the examples above: Relative clauses tend to occur in the medial position when there is a subject-subject (S-S) and a subject-object (S-O) relationship between the antecedent noun and the relative pronoun.

○       Examples:

■       The man has a cat.

■       The cat likes the large dog.

■       The man has a cat that likes the large dog. (cat = subject; that = object O-S relation)

○       Conclusion of the examples above: When a relative clause occurs in final position, the relationship tends to be object-subject (O-S) or object-object (O-O) between the antecedent noun and the relative noun.

○       Note: we always look at the relation between the noun we are modifying. Most of the time they are together, but sometimes, rarely, they are separate.

○       Examples:

■       The woman has a large do.

■       The cat likes the large dog.

■       The woman has a large dog that the cat likes.

○       Conclusion of the examples above: Object-object relation (O-O)

●       Two relative clauses in the same sentence:

○       Example:

■       The cat has started to sleep with the dog that belongs to the woman that the man wants to marry.

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive 

●       What we talked about until now are all restrictive clause.

●       They are also called ‘defining’ relative clause because they define or restrict the reference of antecedent noun.

●       There is another kind of relative clause called ‘non-restrictive’ clause (which means you are going to separate the np from the relative clause). They give extra information about antecedent. 

○       Examples:

■       My neighbor, who is an English speaker, plays very loud music.

■       The man — whose name is Johnny Jensen — also like to have weekend parties.

■       These parties (which are very rowdy) seem to go on all night.

○       All commas, dashes, brackets, and pauses here are generally called separation markers.

○       These are okay to use in APA formatting.

○       Examples:

■       My friend, who’s a Japenese, is coming. (non-restrictive because of the commas; it is considered not necessary information to the reader)

■       My friend who’s a Japanese is coming. (restrictive)

■       Mrs. Smith, who is the librarian, reported that some books were missing.

■       Someone said that I took the books, which was not true. (the relative pronoun must modify the whole phrase before; if it is used to modify the word ‘books’ then you cannot use the comma unless it is the middle of the sentence and you use two commas).

●       What is the antecedent of this sentence? This is an interesting sentence that is an exception to the rule: NP + relative pronoun. This one is actually modifying the whole main clause.

●       An antecedent can only be an NP (noun phrase).

●       A question asked was, “Is ‘which was not true’ modifying ‘someone said’ or ‘that I took the books’?”

○       The answer is that the context depends. It could be talking about the fact that the whole thing is not true and that someone didn’t even said anything about it. The most important part is the verb (we will learn more about this in Pragmatics EDCI 5545?)

■       I had never touched the books, most of which were in German.

●       The relative pronoun ‘that’ and the zero relative are typical features of restrictive relative clauses.

●       With antecedents such as anyone, any person, everyone, and everything, a restrictive relative clause is typically used to identify more specifically who and what is being talked about.

●       It would be unusual to find a non-restrictive relative clause after any of those general antecedents.

○       Examples:

■       Is there anything you can’t do? (no relative pronoun)

■       Well, I can’t help every person who needs help. (‘who needs help’ modifies ‘every person’ = more general)

■       But those that you help are usually satisfied. (S-O relation)

■       I’m sure there are some people who are never happy. (no relation)

●       See box 9.3 Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses on p. 249

Linguistic Distance

●       As we have noted elsewhere, more linguistic distance conveys a much looser connection. The restrictive comes first, closest to the antecedent noun.

○       Example:

■       The person who left this bag, who must be very careless, will probably come back for it. (extremely abnormal because two relative clauses are used; this is a S-S-S relation).

Basic Meanings

●       The forms who, whom, and whose are strongly associated with human or humanlike entities (e.g. pet).

●       Which tends to be reserved for non-human entities.

●       That is used with both human and non-human antecedents. (If you don’t know which one to use, use ‘that.’)

○       Example:

■       She has a crazy dog who makers her laugh. (This can change based on the culture: is your dog part of the family? If so, you use a human entity).

Who, which, that

●       Who: the most common subject relative

○       Example:

■       The man who knocked me down just ran away. (S-S relation: the man is subject)

●       It isn’t necessary that the agents should be specifically identified.

○       Example:

■       I get tired of people who are always complaining.

●       Sometimes ‘who’ is not used for human reference when collective nouns are used as antecedents.

○       Examples:

■       I was part of the crowd which was waiting for the bus. (use can use that, and who can replace which)

■       There was a small group which kept pushing to the front.

■       I think they were part of a teenage gang which just wanted to cause trouble.

●       Similar antecedents: audience, class, club, committee, government.

●       They can have that instead of which.

●       ‘Who’ is preferred when we want to emphasize the human or human-like aspect of a referent.

○       Example:

■       My sister has a baby that cries all night.

●       Speakers use that in relative clauses when there is no need to mark the referent as having special properties.

●       That neutralizes the normal distinction between who and which.

●       The forms that and zero relative are sued when no crucial meaning content has to be indicated by the relative pronoun.

○       Examples:

■       That’s near the town where I was born.

■       I grew up in an atmosphere where everything was easy.

■       The problems started during the period when I was a teenager.

■       That’s probably the major reason why I left that place.

Where, when, why

●       Where, when, and why are sometimes described as relative adverbs because they appear to take the place of adverbial expressions.

●       Perhaps because they convey their meaning content so explicitly, they can in fact be used without antecedents.

●       Are these S-O relations? They don’t have antecedents so they will have no relation.

○       Examples:

■       That’s near where I grew up. (No NP, so no relation)

■       I can remember when I was a small child. (‘the time’ is deleted and that is the NP, so no relation)

Meanings of relative pronouns

●       See Box 9.4 on p. 253 - explains when to use who, which, that/zero, where, when, why

●       There is an interesting preference in English for who and which, rather than that (and zero), when other linguistic material comes between the antecedent and the start of the relative clause.

○       Examples:

■       I met a student yesterday over the cafeteria who said he knew you. (this is bad for talking and writing: it sounds awkward).

■       I wanted to talk about problems in my class and in the office generally which really bother me. (Again, this is awkward and confusing)

■       Note: Tree diagrams will help with this issue, specifically sorting out the meaning of sentences.

Meanings in context

●       The basic organization of English sentences containing relative clauses can be best explained in terms of information structure. In final position, the relative clause is typically used to introduce new information. In medial position, the relative clause is used to make a connection with already established or given information.

Introducing new information

●       See p. 255 for examples where the new information is always at the end

Connecting with given information

●       In terms of information structure, relative clauses in medial position are used to identify what is already assumed to be known or given.

○       Examples:

■       The computer which I have is a Macintosh.

■       The person who did this will be punished.

■       That book you were looking for is in the library.

●       That book is in the library.

●       What are you looking for? The book.

●       The process in the example shown is called “grounding”: the relative clause provides a way of connecting the referent to information already established. It is treated as part of the ‘common ground’ shared by speaker and listener.

○       In some countries, people say, “My husband, David,....” and then they continue to use ‘David’ instead of ‘my husband’ in the rest of the stories.

End-weight 

●       There is a strong tendency in English to put longer chunks of information at the end of a sentence.

●       Longer relative clauses in final position are more often introduced by which or who than by that or zero relative.

Jenilee Green

EDCI 5543

Dr. Wei

September 14, 2009     

Wrap Up: Articles

Basic Forms of Articles:

·        Articles are in about 10% of most texts

·        Indefinite (a, an) and Definite Articles (the)

 Articles Proceed Sounds:

1.      Indefinite article “a” is used when the beginning of the next word begins with a consonant sound

2.      Indefinite article “an” is used when the beginning of the next word begins with a vowel sound

 For example:

·        an MBA, “M” has a vowel sound, therefore, “an” is used

·        a UFO, “U” is a consonant sound: /ju:/

·        an N, “N” is a vowel sound: /en/

 Explain the Basic Forms (p. 24)

·        You'll probably need Ø boots as well.  (No article because the noun is not singular)

·        The boots will probably be more useful than the umbrella.  (unique referents: boots and umbrella)

·        Ø Santa Claus stays in Ø Greenland until Ø Christmas.  (proper nouns don't use articles)

 Dr. Wei recommends that we study the Summary Box 2.1 on page 25-- this will be very helpful to you.

 Meanings of articles:  Articles can be described as countable, singular or plural, and individuation

 Countable/Uncountable Nouns

 Countable nouns can be changed into uncountable nouns:

·        She fed the baby a teaspoon of apple. (apple changes into a substance)

·        The noun must change from a countable noun into a substance.

 Uncountable nouns can be changed into countable nouns:

·        There are several new butters being produced without milk.

·        Can I have two sugars, please?

·        The uncountable nouns must become a countable noun, if you start counting it then no articles are added.

 Looks plural but is singular:

·        The plural noun becomes a single unit and is then described as the unit with a singular verb.

 For example, Collective nouns:

class

enemy

gang

staff

team

club

committee

government

group

crowd

 Some nouns are singular and plural in the same sentence:

 ·        The audience was cheering and clapping their hands.

 Avoidance strategies of students may be to use circumlocution, such as, “The people who are watching the show...”

 Elementary students will ask again and again, “Why?” 

 ·        Her family has decided that they can't afford a big wedding.

 Avoidance strategy: “Her family members have...”

 Countable and Non-countable nouns in other languages:

 ·        Some nouns are countable in other language and are uncountable in English.

 For example:

advice

education

homework

furniture

information

leisure

violence

Individuation:  Is a single unit-- use a, an

Non-individuation: use Ø (no article)

 Explanation: An individual unit has clear boundaries and that no part of the unit equals the whole. 

·        For example:  A chair-- If you take it apart, none of the parts can be called a chair

 An exception:

One small part of water can be considered water, even though the whole thing is also water.  

 This will be on the test:

 Classifying and Identifying:

 A (an) is closely related to the number 1.

The is closely connected to the demonstrative that.

The basic meaning of a (an) X is ' single instance of the X type of the thing'

The basic meaning is of X is the particular X.

 Classifying:

·        Marks the kind of things I am talking about

·        It's probably a dog outside. (It could be any dog)

 Identifying:

·        Marks the specific thing that I am talking about

·        It's probably the dog next door. (It must be this particular dog)

 Indefinite articles (a/an) imply that the thing being classified has not yet been identified.  An X implies 'classified but not yet identified.'  (see 14a, page 34)

 It seems that we must classify before we identify.

Identifying can be used without classifying.

 Classifying (an/a) in Professions:

·        ESL students often have trouble understanding why “a/an” is used before a profession.

·        *I am student.  (I am a student)

·        *She wants to become doctor.  (She wants to become a doctor)

·        (TESOL and linguistics departments use (*) to signify that the sentence is ungrammatical)

 Already Identified (the), page 36

 1.      The glass on the table in the corner must be yours.

2.      The mail came while you were at the bank.

3.      She always takes the bus to the store.

4.      He likes to read the newspaper in the morning.

 These are examples of exact/specific objects that are being discussed and therefore identified by using “the.”

 2nd mention rule:  If the noun has been mentioned once and then is mentioned again, everyone knows the specific noun that is being discussed.  Therefore the speakers can use “the” to refer to the exact noun.

 Post-Modifying:  A phrase  or clause that comes after a noun and makes its reference more specific, as in 'the person who made this mess.'

Pre-Modifying: A word or phrase that comes before a noun and makes its reference more specific, as in 'the most amazing woman.'

 No differentiation required:

·        Sometimes it not relevant for the entity to be classified as a unit

 Anaphoric/Cataphoric are potential test questions!

 Anaphoric:  (the)  The definite article is used to refer back to information already established.

 Cataphoric: (the)  The definite article is used to point forward.  It is an invitation to read on.

 Chapter 2 Articles: Group Discussion hosted by Dr. Wei

 Explain the ungrammaticality of the following sentences:

1.      She has a coffee on her dress.

2.      They served us plenty of drinking waters.

3.      I have examination in French today.

 Why?  Student explanations:

 1.      Mistake:  Coffee is uncountable, it's a substance.  Correction:  She has coffee on her dress.

2.      Mistake:  Water is uncountable-- a substance.  Waters refers to an area of water.  Correction: They served us plenty of drinking water.

3.      Mistake: There is only one exam, therefore, it is countable.  Correction:  I have examination in French today.

 Articles are a very big problem for many students and it is unavoidable.  German, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are a few languages that do not use articles with professions.

 If your students produce the following sentences, what errors have they made?  How will you make them aware of these errors, and what exercises will you prepare to correct the errors? 

1.      My brother is student.

2.      He is an European.

3.      I enjoy writing the poetry.  It is my hobby.

 Why?  Student explanations:

 1.      Mistake:  “Student” is an occupation.  All occupations need indefinite articles.  Correction:  My brother is a student.

2.      Mistake:  European begins with the /ju:/ sound.  This sound is a consonant.  We care about the sound, not the spelling/form.  Correction:  He is a European.  

3.      Mistake: Poetry is uncountable, therefore it does not need an article.  Correction:  I enjoy writing poetry.  It's my hobby.

 An error:  You made it and you don't know

A mistake:  You made it and you know

 We always say “error correction” and not “mistake correction.”

 Article Presentation

Jing Zou

 Sheeen, Y. (2007). The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language aptitude on ESL       learners' acquisition of articles.  TESOL Quarterly, 41(2), 225-283.

 Research Purpose:

To examine the role of corrective feedback (CF) in L2 acquisition by addressing written CF, and the role of one individual difference factor: language analytic ability.

 Research Questions:

1.      Does focused written corrective feedback have an effect on intermediate ESL learners' acquisition of English articles?

2.      Is there any difference in the effect of direct correction with and without metalinguistic feedback on ESL learners' acquisition of English articles?

3.      To what extent does the learners' language analytic ability mediate the effectiveness of CF?

 Direct correction was superior to indirect correction in producing better writing (Chandler, 2003, p.259).

 Method:

Design: Quasi-experimental, pretest/post test/delayed post test

Participants: 5 NES American teachers & 91 intermediate-level students (Ages 21-56)

1.      Direct only correction group (n=31)

2.      Direct metalinguistic group (n=32)

3.      Control group (n=28)

◦       Metalinguistic Corrections:  The teacher provides not only corrections but also a more developed explanation revealing the whys and hows to the students.

◦       Direct correction: Show the student their exact error and how to correct it.

◦       Indirect correction:  Let the students know that there is an error and ask the student to search for the error themselves

Procedure:  The former two groups received narrative correction treatment and written CF while the control group did not.  All groups took the language analytic ability test and three tests focused on article usage.

Results:  

1.      Written Corrected Feedback (CF), had a positive effect on the learning of English articles.

2.      Direct Correction group: The corrections with metalinguistic comments performed superior to the direct correction group.

3.      CF treatments are more likely to increase awareness when learners have higher aptitude.  This advantage was found to be more evident when the CF included metalinguistic information.

Classroom implication:

1.      Teachers can focus on different aspects of a students' writing at different times.  For example, sometimes content, organization, and linguistic correctness.

2.      When the focus is on linguistic correctness, teachers may do better if they choose to focus on a specific grammatical problem instead of providing feedback for a variety of errors.

3.      Provide metalinguistic CF

4.      Improve student language analytic ability

Demonstration: Articles

Wendy

 Pair Activity:

Come up with 5 or 6 items on your grocery list.

Examples:

·        a tub of butter

·        whole wheat bread

·        coconut milk

·        potato

·        a dozen of eggs

·        a pound of potatoes

 Class Activity:

Each person receives a list of words.  People who are in group A will stand in line waiting for group B members to walk through and be quizzed on the words.  The person must answer with either a/an/Ø.  Then the groups will switch and ask the others who have not had a chance to answer yet.

Examples:

Ø Brittany Spears

a/the wrestler

a/the banana

a/the flash drive

Ø April

 Dr. Wei suggests that list the objectives on the board to make it as real as possible.  These can be found with the TESOL standards online.  Also, try to stick to your lesson plan as much as possible.  If it changes, sometimes you are expected to give an explanation.

Shannon Dunn

EDCI 5543

9/24/2019

Paper 1: Role of Grammar in TESOL

            Grammar is a crucial factor in teaching and learning a new language. This paper will focus on the two sides of grammar in TESOL: the importance for teachers and the importance for learners. For teachers, a complete understanding of grammar is expected because of the professional nature of the language learning field. Grammar is a specialized set of knowledge needed by professionals to function and contribute to the professionalism of teaching English as a second language. On the learners’ side, explicit grammar instruction is very important, especially for adults who have passed the critical period for grammar acquisition. While complete grammar acquisition may not be feasible for all adult learners, explicit knowledge of grammar can help them overcome communicative barriers due to grammar mistakes. Moreover, native Arabic adult English language learners will be the central population for this paper as they are the population I have the most exposure to. 

On the side of teaching, grammar is extremely important for those who teach English as a second language. Mainly, teaching English is a professional field and part of being an active professional is having explicit knowledge of the content, of which grammar is crucial. A particular sub-set of in-depth, specialized knowledge is what creates a basis for a professional group. Professionals must have this similar base of knowledge to communicate and create discourse within the field. As in medicine and other professional fields, this specialized knowledge is collectively agreed upon by the members of the field and systematically questioned in the form of research. Therefore, an explicit understanding of grammar rules and exceptions is necessary to participate in the discourse of grammar instruction as a teaching professional in the field of English language education. 

            For example, during my undergraduate student teaching, I was placed in an advanced 9th grade English classroom. While none of my students were labeled as English language learners, my mentor teacher was still implementing explicit grammar instruction at that grade level. At the time, I had not learned all the grammar rules explicitly, so even though I could implement the rules, I could not explain them very well. While I was helping the students, I felt at a loss because I was struggling to give clear answers to their questions because I could not form an answer using the rules. This experience showed me how important it was to learn the rules explicitly. Not only is it expected as a teacher, but also explicit grammar knowledge is needed to navigate and answer students’ questions. I felt lost explaining grammar to native English speakers, but English language learners would have more questions that would require a deep functional understanding of grammar structures to be able to answer clearly and concisely. I am glad that the experience that made me understand the critical role of grammar as a teacher was very low stakes. Since that time, I have taken the time to go back and explicitly study the rules of grammar and how they function and what the exceptions are. I feel this practice provided me with the skills I needed to be not only a better teacher but also a better professional. Specifically, I felt a lot more confident in my grammar instruction and explanations when I was working with an ESL class for my practicum observations. Not only could I better identify the students’ grammar mistakes, but I also had a depth of understanding that helped me form clear and concise answers that helped the students better understand the grammar concepts we were learning. Therefore, understanding grammar as a teacher of English as a second or foreign language is critical effective teaching and professionalism. 

            On the learning side, grammar is important to support the language learning process. Specifically for adults, explicit, deductive grammar instruction is a clear and efficient way to teach. When I was learning Spanish, the instruction was systematic. With each set of vocabulary, a grammar form was focused on. For example, a unit of household objects was accompanied by the grammar rules for prepositions in Spanish. While this type of learning helped me with reading and writing in Spanish, I felt that the kind of thinking I had to do to formulate speech took a very long time. It was easy for me to follow the rules and form a written sentence (I would usually write these sentences non-sequentially by starting with the base sentence and adding phrases in appropriate areas), but I hesitated when I had to implement the rules mentally and formulate speech because I was used to formulating sentences out of grammatical order. I am not sure if this was just a personal difference in writing and speaking competencies or if the type of instruction better-developed writing abilities over speaking abilities. Personally, I think it was a combination of both. First, my teacher preferred to use written work over speaking activities because of the configuration of the class (distance learning) and I also excelled at written work while I was shy about speaking up in class. In other words, I feel I have a propensity to advance in writing faster than speaking when learning a second language. 

            Moreover, I think that explicit, deductive grammar instruction is the most efficient way of learning, specifically after the critical period. After the critical period, I feel that it is hard to set aside one’s own understanding of language, so a new language is learned within the contexts of universal grammar. In other words, one would learn a language in reference to and based on their understanding of language patterns. This is in contrast to how children acquire a first language where grammar is learned implicitly through examples. I feel that in my experience and through the experiences that others have shared with me, most people like to be taught the grammar rules instead of trying to figure out the rules based on examples. For examples, while learning Arabic, I would frequently overgeneralize when I could use certain grammar forms because I am mostly learning through listening and speaking. In other words, I am learning more implicitly through conversation than explicitly through rules and formulation. I find this type of learning extremely difficult because I thrive best when learning explicitly and systematically, as I learned Spanish. Because of the implicit nature of my Arabic instruction, I have struggled to learn it very well. I hope that being immersed in an Arabic-speaking environment will help accelerate my improvement, which is a driving factor for exposure of various grammar structures to learn from.

            Through my experience with teaching English as a private tutor, I can tell there are certain grammar structures that a majority of English learners struggle to internalize in their own speech. For example, when I tutored people, my goal was to make sure they could apply what they learned into a natural conversation. Therefore, I would manipulate our informal conversations to encourage certain types of sentence formation. I knew they had understood and internalized a lesson when they could use those forms easily in their conversation. The hardest grammar form that I found most people struggled with was switching the subject and verb to form a sentence and inserting “do” in question formations. Specifically, I hear most native Arabic speakers say, “You want one?” or “Why I have to…?”. The extreme change to the base sentence structure to form questions is understandably difficult. All other sentences are uniformly formed as subject-verb-object, where only questions are structured with the verb first. This switch of a structure is very difficult to internalize, especially when incorrectly forming questions is not necessarily a communicative barrier. While questions are a big part of using a language, I have noticed that it is easy for English learners to avoid forming questions with the traditional verb-first format. For example, I hear “I need to do what?” as a way to avoid the traditional grammar rules for questioning. While the example is communicably understandable, it is not a formal way of questioning; therefore, many English learners never internalize proper questioning grammar because they can function in English without it, at least to a high degree. Specifically, when I am editing, I notice that many people struggle to write concise research questions because they are not used to properly formatting questions. This is one of my main focuses when editing research because I know that most advanced English learners struggle with this aspect of grammar specifically. 

            However, there is another aspect of grammar instruction that may indicate the futileness of grammar instruction, especially when it comes to applying questioning grammar for adult English learners. A recent study conducted by Hartshorne, Tenenbaum, and Pinker (2018) revealed that the critical period for acquiring English grammar ends at age 17.4 years old. Therefore, there is an understanding that English learners who are first exposed to English after that time will not be able to fully acquire perfect English grammar. In other words, these learners will be able to communicate effectively, but not as efficiently because they will most likely not gain control of all grammar forms. In my experience with native Arabic speakers, I found the grammar format for questioning to be an issue for all people who learned English as an adult without exception. Since Hartshorne et al. (2018) further explained that specific grammar errors could indicate an English speaker’s first language, I expect that question formation may be a specific indicator for native Arabic speakers; however, I am not as familiar with how well speakers of other native languages internalize the grammar structure for questions. 

            However, just because research indicates that the degree of grammar acquisition is linked to the age of first exposure does not mean that any part of grammar should not be taught explicitly and in-depth. In my experience, native Arabic speakers know how to form question sentences. They know the rules, hence they can follow them to correctly form question sentences; however, in casual conversations, it is not an internalized form they can use automatically. If a communicative barrier arises because of how they form a question, many people can recast their question correctly, but it takes them longer to formulate a formally structured question sentence because they have to think of the grammar rules and apply them. Knowing correct grammar and being able to automatically apply it during a casual conversation are two different things. The key part of this is that the knowledge of English grammar is important to know as an English learner, even if they cannot internalize it completely in their everyday conversations. Therefore, as a teacher of English, explicitly mastering the grammar rules and being able to explain them clearly is a crucial requirement. Moreover, when teaching students with different L1 backgrounds, different languages affect grammar acquisition in different ways as Hartshorne et al. (2018) concluded. Therefore, it is not known which grammar forms will be affected by which language. Furthermore, just because an English learner does not apply correct grammar in causal speech does not mean they do not know it, it only means it is not internalized, Therefore, teaching all grammar forms explicitly is even more crucial so those individuals have the information to recast their speech correctly. 

Reference

Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263-277.

Jason Carter

EDCI 5543 Paper 1

The Role of Grammar in TESOL

            I believe grammar instruction has an integral role in the success of non-native speakers who are being educated at the graduate level in the United States.  I will frame my argument using my experience in working with native Korean speakers and the struggles they have experienced with typical usage of articles in academic writing.  Although college students from Korea who are studying in the United States have had experience learning about the basic grammatical usage of articles, they still struggle with the typical application of articles in academic writing.  Not only do I believe that students at the collegiate level should learn about English grammar, it is necessary for these students go beyond the basic grammatical forms.  After students have a solid understanding of the basic usage of articles, I believe it would be advantageous for these students to learn about the articles in a more contextual manner including the information structure in order to enhance their American-English academic writing ability.

            Since articles consist of a noticeable amount of most texts, I believe that if students are able to conceptualize the usage of articles it will increase the chances of correct usage.  The most common error I have witnessed by writers whose native language is Korean is the omission of articles.  This omission of articles seems to be the result of an overgeneralization from the native language and seems to be compounded with the undervaluing of articles by native English speakers.  Articles seem to be equated with simplicity, seen as the first step into a larger world of more important vocabulary, and native speakers themselves are unaware of the information that articles contain and no doubt interpret unconsciously.  I believe this overgeneralization is a result of neglect of the contextual structure of articles by native speakers.

            To reconcile this issue between the lack of contextual emphasis and overgeneralization, I believe teachers should put more focus on the informational structure of articles.  In addition teachers should also make students aware of the types of errors they are likely to make with article usage.  I believe this emphasis should be focused within academic writing since article usage has more value in writing than in speaking and a student’s academic success is more dependent on writing well than speaking well.

            As has been stated within our class discussions, it is important to teach grammar to adult students deductively.  I believe adults desire to know the rules in order to better understand the pattern of language.  Many times I have been asked why a particular form or phrasing was preferred over another and after being able to provide an adequate answer I then also desired to know why.  With adult learners, it is important for them to have a thorough understanding of English grammar so that they may be able to move beyond the basic forms and then learn English within a more contextual structure to see that many apparent exceptions to the typical usage are actually more complex forms of the same usage.

Articles have become a grammatical curiosity to me.  They initially seemed to be filler, like the uninspired songs tucked around the one or two chart-topping hits of a pop musician.  I had little regard for these elementary words until I began to proofread the papers of a non-native student.  I remember when I took Spanish in high school; I could not understand why every noun always came attached with an article.  I would be introduced to some new and interesting noun and inevitably attached was “el” or “la” like some younger sibling that the parents would allow to tag along.  I felt that if something like this small word was always present it would be equally reasonable if it was never present and just understood.

            Now that I have aged a bit, I have come to appreciate the profundity in simplicity.  As Wing Chun is a complete Kung Fu system in only three short forms, articles are a full grammatical structure in three letters or less. I could not fully grasp the important function of articles without having proofread those papers.

            While I was in college, a classmate had asked me to help proofread her papers and to help her with grammar.  Honestly I had no experience doing such things but felt I was an able writer and felt that it was my obligation to help a pretty girl that had requested it from me.  Needless to say, my initial interest in grammar and second language acquisition was strictly academic.

            It was while I was reading these papers that I noticed myself consistently plugging in “a,” “an,” and “the.”  Why was I doing this? I had already condemned articles to the purgatory of archaic language.  There was something I intuitively knew about articles that I wasn’t realizing.  I was instinctively classifying and identifying objects.  I was signifying with articles what was old and new information.  I still did not fully realize what was happening until the beginning of this semester when we were assigned to read the chapter about article usage.

            It was during this time when I first began to proofread papers written by a non-native speaker that I started to value grammar instruction and realized its importance regarding the success of non-native speakers in academic English writing.  I wanted to know more so that I could help not only non-native speakers who approached me for help but to also enhance my own understanding of my native language.  It is frustrating, as an adult, to merely have an inductive understanding of language, particularly when others are approaching you as an authority on the subject.  It made me feel very inadequate to not be able to properly help these students.  I might be able to succeed about writing in literature at the college level, but why could I not help others attain the same level?  The simple answer is grammar instruction.  I could not provide what I had not received.

            I believe ELL students are taught the basic forms of articles.  So then my question is why do native Korean speakers, even after being promoted out of the ELL program, overgeneralize and omit articles as is typical in the Korean language?  I believe students are not taught the contextual structure of articles in English and this is due to the lack of importance for articles felt by native English speakers.  Again, from my own experience, as a native English speaker, I felt articles were extraneous.  It wasn’t until I had read a paper by a non-native speaker that I began to understand their significance.

            It is not only important for ESL teachers and students to further develop student understanding of articles in English but also, for Korean learners specifically, to understand the use of articles in the Korean language.  I asked my classmate why she continually omitted articles.  I discovered through our conversation that the definite article is basically implied through context and is thought of as unnecessary.  Also the indefinite article essentially does not exist and in its place is the use of “one.”  Rather than “I want a pear” it would be phrased in Korean as “I want one pear.”  My classmate was unaware of this comparison until our recent conversation and I have already noticed a difference in her writing while I proofread her lesson plans.

            In this light it is important for ESL teachers to teach how articles help us indicate the different levels of information.  Students should learn that the use of the indefinite article not only classifies but also indicates new information is being introduced and that the use of the definite article that the item being referenced has already been introduced and is being identified as a specific item.  If ELL students are able to reconcile that the omission of an article in English indicates that no differentiation is required and that in Korean omission indicates that information is already understood from the context, they will not only become more proficient in English but also help define two different world views in which they interact.

            It is not only important for adult ELL learners to learn English grammar but it is also advantageous for both, the students and teachers to, at the very least, have an awareness of the grammatical structure of the student’s native language so as to be able to contrast the two languages.  I believe this contrast can benefit both the native language and the second language of the student in the same way that I have had the opportunity to train in multiple kung fu styles and in my experience I have seen the “universal grammar” pertaining to martial movement but have also seen the unique philosophy that is inherent in each style.

I understand it is not feasible for ELL teachers to have adequate knowledge of the various languages that come into the classroom, but teaching ELL at the graduate level perhaps we can move towards specialization within two or three languages because I believe in order for our graduate students to truly become proficient at the level necessary to succeed in graduate coursework we have to progress from the idea that we as teachers are facilitating the acquisition of another language but rather that we are helping build a second world view within our students.  

            It is to the advantage of us all if our graduate students are able to write at the appropriate academic level and I believe this can be achieved through a thorough grammatical understanding of both English and the student’s native language.  When a person reaches the graduate level of education, I believe it is paramount to have an appropriate command of the written language.  At this level of education every word counts, every word has been meticulously pondered and chosen.  The goal of graduate education should be to send out into the world independent and creative thinkers who have truly mastered a subject of study and are able to confidently articulate that information, particularly in writing and be on the verge of conducting academic research.

            I also believe at the collegiate level of ELL education, more emphasis should be put upon academic writing.  The students seem to put too much emphasis upon trying to acquire a native accent. Although certainly a noble endeavor, it is not necessarily possible.  What I do believe is possible, is for the non-native speaker to write as proficiently as a native at the same academic level.  A large portion of assessments at the collegiate level are written and beyond college what is written certainly is longer lasting than what is spoken.  I see no competition regarding where the focus should be for college students regarding speaking and writing.  It is easier to convey meaning while making mistakes in conversation but writing has a more lasting impression and can used as an equalizer between native and non-native speakers in that with diligent practice a non-native speaker has the capability to be as eloquent as any native speaker.

In order for ELL students to become successful, teaching grammar becomes a crucial process.  In the case of articles we, teachers and students, must surpass a basic understanding.  To understand articles, or any piece of grammar, at the contextual level will help facilitate meaningful learning and aid in the crystallization of two world views for the students.  Through grammar we can create a confident and articulate member of the global community.

Phillip Johnson

Paper 1

Dr. Wei

EDCI 5543

Sept. 28, 2009

My conception of the teaching of grammar and the role of grammar in TESOL is highly dependent on the age of the learner. For younger learners, I believe that communicative techniques/methodologies that focus on comprehensible input are better, as children may not have developed competent usage or understanding of grammatical features of their first language (L1). Gao (2001) states, teaching children grammar is futile. For the most part, I agree with this statement and feel it may be pointless to explicitly teach grammar until the child has a better-developed grammar schema in their first language. Adults, or even adolescents, whose L1 grammar schema is more mature or fully developed can draw upon this schema as a resource foundation upon which to more rapidly build grammar skills and fluency in a second language (L2). While children are able to learn more rapidly in some ways, when compared with older (adult) students, adults are often better equipped to learn grammar because they reference their native language in the acquisition process.  Adults can be conflicted, however, because of preexisting inhibitions and the fear of making errors and losing face (Gao, 2001). This monograph will focus on adult learners and the utilization of explicit grammar teaching and its impact on fluency and accuracy in the acquisition of L2.

            There are and have been many diverse methods of teaching foreign language or English as a second language (or as a foreign language) (ESL) as well as grammar instruction. Batstone and Ellis (2009) suggest that there are two types of basic grammar instruction, one that treats grammar as the subject matter in and of itself and one that uses grammar as a tool to more rapidly build communicative skills. In my experience as a student of foreign language (Spanish, French and German), I found that learning grammar rules out of context with little or no communicative purpose in mind, is a largely ineffective means for me (and others) to quickly move toward anything other than basic knowledge of the language structure itself. I feel that if grammar is taught in and of itself, no real fluency can ever be achieved because grammar is a passive subject matter and not an active means to facilitate proficient and fluid communication in L2. As Gao (2001) points out, “Meaning, social function and discourse are the purpose of grammar teaching. Grammar teaching for the sake of it will definitely lead us to the old path of ‘teaching about the language’” (p. 333). I cannot emphasize enough how strongly I agree with this statement. It has been my experience in speaking with friends and acquaintances in social situations that there are often widely-held negative connotations associated with the teaching of grammar because certain past methodologies never led to communicative competence on any great level for most of them. Unfortunately, the teaching of grammar left a bad taste with them because their instruction fell short of their desire of being able to actually use the language in communicative situations.  

            As teachers of English as a second language (ESL) or foreign language (FL), we must focus on the motivations bringing the students to our classes; the reasons for studying ESL/FL are ultimately those of language used for interaction and communication with native speakers, not merely to learn about the language structure. It has been my experience that many students have left language classes, after perhaps years of instruction, with no solid ability to utilize the language in fluent conversation and interaction. They may have been left with the ability to read a menu, but not the ability to actively engage with native speakers. While grammar instruction is definitely a necessary component of teaching language, Hinkel and Fotos (2002) beautifully sum up the question of adult grammar instruction by saying, “...For adults, the question is not so much whether to teach or not to teach grammar, but rather what are the optimal conditions for overt teaching of grammar” (p. 10).

            When I was in high school, I studied the only foreign language offered in my school, Spanish.  I distinctly recall the over-abundant use of audio-lingual methodology. Much of the class time was spent listening to audiotapes of native speakers producing correct grammatical language structures, followed by repetition by the class, word-for-word, of the material presented. I cannot begin to remember how many times I heard the phrase, “...repetir por favor...”, (please repeat). There was no attempt to create authentic situations in which to practice grammatical structures in context, perhaps make mistakes, and receive feedback from the teacher. There was no conversation elicited between the teacher and students. We simply listened to the tapes and repeated endlessly, perhaps memorizing the structure presented. This in no way led to any great deal of communicative competence for me or for most of my fellow classmates.

            In college, I studied in Germany for a year after having had five semesters of German language instruction.  I found out quickly upon my arrival that those five semesters of instruction were woefully inadequate for me to be able to communicate effectively with native speakers, let alone to be prepared to take classes, such as literature, in German. The manner in which I had been taught German here in the States did not prepare me to be conversationally functional; I had been taught more about the language than how to actually use the language communicatively. 

            I remember explicitly, an incident that occurred on my first day in Bonn, Germany. I met the director of the program in which I was participating. He was helping the students get to their respective residences and he asked me if I needed help getting to my residence. I had rented a car at the airport, of which I still had possession, and I promptly answered, “ *Nein danke, ich habe mit dem Auto gefahren.” (“No thank you, I came by car”, indicating I did not need his assistance.) The form I used was grammatically incorrect. Transitive verbs in the present-perfect tense in German require the auxiliary-verb, ‘to be’, not ‘to-have’. It is a grammatical structure that is taught and stressed in German language instruction. We do not use ‘to be’ in present-perfect tense in English, we always use ‘to have’. The correct response would have been, “Nein, danke, ich bin mit dem Auto gefahren.” The director immediately corrected my mistake and I was incredibly embarrassed. However, I have never made that error again and the use of ‘to be’ with transitive verbs is now a permanent part of my implicit knowledge of grammatical structures in German. Perhaps if I had been provided with more opportunities in the classroom to practice this structure, I would have been spared such an embarrassing episode.  

            Another experience in Germany involved Korean students. In many countries, and Asian countries in particular, I believe grammar translation methodology is still widely used. There were several Korean students enrolled in the program with me. They were able to read and write German quite well, but were nearly incapable of speaking the language. I believe this was due primarily to the lack of the use of communicative instructional methods in their native land. While grammar translation and audio-lingual methods employ the use of adult schema of grammatical structures, it is my observation, that these methodologies do not engender proficient use of the spoken language.

            While these older methodologies are useful, (they certainly have value), if employed as sole educational devices they will probably not lead to the level of oral competency desired by most adult learners. Newer methodologies, when coupled with elements of older, structural methodologies are capable of eliciting much more positive results in the language learner.  Batstone and Ellis (2009) state that “...effective grammar instruction must complement the processes of L2 acquisition”, and they emphasize the “Given-to-New” principle, which bases new grammatical connections upon information that is already known to the learner (p.195). In my opinion, this Given-to-New principle can exploit the way adults learn. Unlike children, adults tend to learn language through their use of existing schema and teachers need to utilize this learning mechanism to its fullest advantage. The Given-to-New principle might also be equated with Hinkel and Fotos’ (2002) description of explicit and implicit knowledge.

            According to Hinkel and Fotos (2002), explicit (declarative) knowledge and implicit (procedural) knowledge were treated as separate entities until recently. Development of awareness of specific grammatical features through formal instruction leads learners to consciously notice the features in subsequent exposure to the features. Learners frequently make comparisons between their existing linguistic knowledge and the new information which leads to adaptation and implementation or testing of new knowledge through output and in turn, to implicit or unconscious awareness (Hinkel and Fotos, 2002). The development of comprehensible output (by this I mean not only being understood, but also being grammatically correct), in my opinion, is best developed through frequent and extensive exposure to grammatically accurate comprehensible input with multiple opportunities for output and corrective feedback. Newer methodologies sometimes fail to incorporate aspects of older structured methodologies in that they omit explicit instruction of grammar in their format. They fail to address common aspects of the learning styles of adult learners, who, unlike children, often cannot attain fluency in an additional language in a natural setting (Gao, 2001). “...Grammar, as a means of improving speech or written communication, can be utilized to compensate for this loss” (Gao, 2001, p. 334). Although the adult learner may have had many communicative opportunities and frequent exposure to the target language, there is evidence that suggests explicit instruction needs to be utilized in order to achieve desired accuracy results (Hinkel and Fotos, 2009). In my opinion, balanced instruction is extremely necessary to successfully teach a language and maximize the student’s abilities to retain and utilize the language in a communicative manner.

            Communicative methodologies and structural methodologies both have various strengths and weaknesses. I understand the rationale behind the recent trend toward communicative methodology, but it seems to me the baby has been thrown out with the bath water, so to speak, by excluding explicit grammar instruction. I do believe that communicative methodologies such as Total Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) are extremely effective for younger learners because they do not focus too intensely on structured grammar instruction. This or similar methodology, without the inclusion of explicit grammar instruction, is probably not as effective for adults, for we are not utilizing their previous linguistic knowledge and we are not addressing the way adults tend to learn. I believe there should be some sort of meshing or combining of communicative and structural formats for adult learners. Formal instruction of target grammatical features/structures leads adult learners to a greater awareness of the structure itself and situations need to be created for the more authentic use of the structures by the students to test them and perhaps allow opportunities for mistakes and corrective feedback. In this way, incorrect usage does not become fossilized. Every student or group of students will have varying language acquisition goals, for social, business or other purposes. In my future classroom endeavors, it will be my goal, whenever possible, to customize instruction based on students’ specific communicative needs. 

References

 Batstone, R., and Ellis, R. (2009). Principled grammar teaching. System, 37 (2), 194-204.

Hinkel, E., & Fotos, S. (Eds.). (2002). New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms. Mawah, NJ, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gao, Z. C. (2001). Second language learning and the teaching of grammar. Education, 122 (2), 326-336.

Paper 2: My Belief in Teaching Grammar

Jessica Flinkman

University of Missouri - Kansas City

Compare and/or Describe Your Concept Change in Grammar throughout the Course of this Semester

            Before EDCI 5543, I had little respect for the importance of grammar in teaching/learning English. Growing up, I did not enjoy grammar. My teachers in elementary, middle, and high school didn’t portray a huge exuberance towards grammar when they taught, so I had a negative view of it when I started teaching and didn’t think of it as important. Because I understood it from an early age and used it every day successfully, I took advantage of all the information I already knew and never actually learned the concepts in-depth or to the point where I could teach them. Through EDCI 5543, I’ve learned the importance of understanding grammar in order to explain it better. I also learned that grammar is not a topic to teach on the side, but rather a foundational element of English learning.

When I applied for a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in TESOL in May, I had been teaching English in China for nine months. During those nine months, I spent a lot of my time researching grammar in order to teach my students the best that I could. However, when I say, ‘researching,’ I mean finding websites with helpful definitions of grammatical structures that I wanted to teach. The websites were not research articles or periodic journals. Therefore, my confidence level in teaching grammar was low because I wasn’t confident I was teaching each concept wholly. In my one-year teaching grammar to Chinese students, I learned a lot about what I didn’t know about grammar. For example, on my first day teaching uncountable nouns, I had an activity ready for my students to have a fun time and learn what is countable and uncountable. I tied in articles and zero articles by recycling the rules of when to use an article versus a zero article. We already discussed this the week before and learned one of the rules for zero article was that it applies to uncountable nouns. So, I decided to use this rule to apply to my uncountable nouns. For my activity, I collected a list of countable and uncountable nouns from various websites and cut them out as little pieces of paper. I formatted the students’ notes to have a T-chart labelled, ‘countable’ and ‘uncountable.’ I explained the purpose of the activity was to help them to understand which nouns to use a definite, indefinite, or zero article in front of (based on the rules we already learned). We discussed the rules one more time and then the fun part of the activity: I took the nouns that I cut out and flung them across the room. The students had to collect five nouns (or confetti, as I called it) and categorize them into the correct category. I thought I included every element necessary to teach well: I had recycled information we learned before; I applied the learning topic to what we had already learned and what we needed to learn (based on their journal entries); I made it fun and interactive to engage the students; I made it just difficult enough that I could assist them, etc. I understood that “if you understand that what you are trying to do is to get students to use grammatical structures accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately, then you realize that you need to provide students with an opportunity to use grammar structures in meaningful and engaging activities” (Pérez-Llantada, 2007, p.158). My goal was to make them enjoy learning about the grammatical structure. However, when I did the activity, I was met with so many questions about the correct use of the nouns. I didn’t take into account the context of the nouns and that there are multiple examples of how the structure of a sentence can influence the noun. I became overwhelmed with the questions my students were asking me about the exceptions in countable and uncountable nouns. The shallow research I did wasn’t enough to help the students’ questions.

It was at that point that I realized that just knowing how to use grammar correctly wasn’t good enough - I needed to know how to explain it and anticipate common mistakes. Some part of me already knew that when I was in China, but I didn’t know where to start with my research. So, coming into a class for teaching grammar to ESOL was daunting, but also welcome in my life. 

Another concept change that occurred when I started EDCI 5543 was my misconception that grammar instruction was not that important. As I stated before, I learned a lot of grammar rules that I didn’t know before I taught in China by researching articles that weren’t reviewed and websites. As a result of all this scattered research, I found a lot of conflicting rules on different websites. I admit that I got so overwhelmed that I just chose the website that made the most sense and used that as my resource for teaching. The problem with this was that I was so confused with the rules that whenever it came to actually learning the grammatical structures in a way that is helpful or meaningful (through a peer-reviewed article or research article, for example), I gave up because I felt overwhelmed and marked grammar as less important in my mind. During my instruction for writing, I recognized the importance of grammar, but I stayed within my bounds of knowledge when it came to teaching my students the rules. They improved, but with less knowledge than what I could have given them if I had researched the grammatical forms, concepts, and exceptions. Thus, when Dr. Wei started discussing the meanings behind rules so effortlessly in class, my overwhelmed feeling came back. It wasn’t until I started reading the book and seeing that every structure has exceptions that the rules of grammar started to make more sense and the task of explaining a grammatical structure to an entire class became less daunting.  

Identify What Is Missing in Current ESL/EFL Classroom Practice

When I was teaching in China, I realized how easy it is to get discouraged while learning grammar and teaching grammar because of all the information involved in all the grammatical concepts. As stated before, I also experienced difficulties with learning grammatical structures through website resources. Therefore, I suggest that two elements are missing in the current ESL/EFL classroom practice: the posture of humility and grace when teaching and learning grammar and also more resources available to teachers and students for learning grammar.

One difficulty that I faced in China was not knowing all the answers to the grammatical questions my students were asking. A teacher should have grace for his/her students when it comes to learning the content, but a teacher should also have grace for himself/herself when it comes to knowing the content. Therefore, one thing that must be changed is the stigma that if you don’t know all the grammar rules and structures off the top of your head, then you can’t be an effective grammar teacher. A lacking phrase in grammar instruction is the humility necessary to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out together”. I understand that teaching in an EFL setting would change how the students perceive a teacher saying, “I don’t know”. However, it is necessary to create a culture in the classroom of exploring and learning through mistakes. Before teaching in China, we were trained to never say, “I don’t know,” but rather, “We are not talking about that right now, I will tell you next week,” because the students in China generally do not appreciate the instructor telling them they don’t know everything. Respecting the social expectations of the culture you are immersed in, specifically for EFL, is essential to building the rapport necessary for students to feel comfortable for you to change the said culture. For example, I listened to my trainees at first when it came to saying an indirect “I don’t know” by avoiding the topic when I didn’t know it, but then I realized that these students trusted me. I started telling them that not knowing everything is okay and that’s why we’re here: to learn. By proving to them in the first couple of months that I was dedicated to their learning and their improvement, especially with grammar, I had grounds to show them a little bit of the grace culture that American teachers are starting to dabble in in modern classrooms, as far as the tabooed words, “I don’t know.”  By creating this culture in my classroom last year, the first time I told my students that the grammatical structure we were learning was hard for me to understand, I saw their faces shift in discomfort. But they eventually opened up to my saying, “Let’s look this up together and see if we can figure it out.” Slowly, I showed them the idea of looking up concepts and thinking for themselves as far as discovering techniques to self-teach and understand difficult structures. It took me a while to decide on this culture of humility with my students, but once I did, I found it very successful. 

While mercy and humility in a classroom are important, it is still crucial for educators and learners to have access to valuable resources. In my experience I had in China, I didn’t have a book to base my curriculum on, so my experience is different than most EFL teachers. However, the books and resources that I found online while researching grammatical structures did not cover all the concepts of the grammar I was teaching (i.e. examples of exceptions). Dr. Wei explained in EDCI 5547 that the problems that an ELL will have in a certain language cannot be predicted or generalized until the assessment has occurred. This applies to my teaching grammar in China: it is not possible to see all the problems that my Chinese students will most definitely have with English grammar. However, if I had a book that pointed out all the exceptions of grammar and the rules I was teaching, it would have made my job a whole lot easier. While I’m sure different books exist that provide multiple resources, I’m looking for a book specifically targeted for all the grammatical structures that an ESOL teacher would teach and what exceptions are involved. In an ideal world, there would be activities included to enhance the students’ understanding. Even an informational part of the book on the structure to refresh teachers’ knowledge on the various structures would be ideal. As I said before, there are a lot of books on the in-depth reasons behind structures – like our book for EDCI 5543 – but these books do not cover all the concepts necessary to teach a second or foreign language. Even if George Yule had to write different volumes on English grammar to cover all the topics, at least teachers would have access to more grammatical structures than just ten concepts.

Personalize Your Grammar Pedagogy by Integrating Scholarly Work

In my experience teaching grammar, I found that “both teachers and students invariably face serious difficulties with regard to EFL grammar instruction” (Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011, p. 82). So, even though the approach of mercy and humility in the classroom seems counterproductive, I believe that “we, as educators, should try to embrace approaches that work with children even when these approaches don't fit neatly into our ways of thinking” (Sekayi, 2000, p. 397). These ‘ways of thinking’ may also be due to the culture of the students we are teaching, as I mentioned above. However, with any culture anywhere, because English grammar is difficult, both teachers and students are going to make mistakes. Instead of fighting to be right all the time and losing sight of what it looks like to learn, teachers need to reevaluate how they are approaching their students’ mistakes and their own mistakes in order to help create an atmosphere of learning from mistakes, a powerful learning tool in itself.

Because learning and teaching English grammar is difficult for students (Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011), I think it is necessary for “EFL Curriculum and material developers to show an understanding of learners’ and teachers’ difficulties, and provide sufficient guidance and help in the curriculum document and the teachers’ book showing how the potential difficulties could be addressed in planning their classroom activities” (Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011, p. 83). This supports the claim that a resource needs to be provided for teachers to use to anticipate difficult grammatical structures. With a user-friendly book (or volume of books) for all teachers to use, I think grammar would become much more applicable and fun to teach.

Identify the Particular Knowledge You Would Like to Receive in Order to Realize Your Grammar Teaching Beliefs

Overall, my experience in EDCI 5543 has been beneficial and enlightening of the fact that grammar is much more important than I thought when I was teaching in China. If I had a more impactful experience learning grammar in my education, maybe my teaching would have looked differently. Instead of taking every structure and breaking it down, I taught the best I could based on the limited knowledge I had access to in my classroom. For the future, I want to find ways to give the reasons behind grammatical structures, and I want to make the instruction itself meaningful, effective, and fun.

In my time in EDCI 5543, I’ve built an appreciation for the importance of knowing grammatical structures and how to explain them. I would love to learn even more teaching strategies for grammar - specifically how to explain the reasons or history behind grammatical structures. I think teaching reason would help students to have more motivation to learn grammatical structures and hopefully make the class more helpful. “So my idea is to teach reasons so that students understand that language is the way it is. Also, I think reasons tend to be broader-based than rules, and if you understand the reason why speakers make the choices they do, you have some access to the way that people think in that language, the culture of speakers of that language” (Pérez-Llantada, 2007, p.160). While explaining the reasons of grammar is beneficial, I don’t have all the knowledge or experience built up to know the reason behind most grammatical structures. When I taught grammar to my Kindergarteners in 2017, I got the question, “Why is grammar like this, Miss Flinkman?” quite often.  My answer would almost always be, “Sometimes the English language is silly and the words don’t follow the rules.” While that might be the explanation behind certain grammar structures, I would still appreciate knowing more on the subject to feel more confident in my role as teacher, specifically on how to explain why the structure isn’t fitting into its mold.

Based on my experiences teaching in China, my grammar instruction was lacking content, but it was not lacking fun activities to engage the students in learning. I think it is very important to have an understanding of the students’ perspectives on learning grammar and making grammar applicable to the students’ lives. “EFL teachers would do well to understand and address their learners’ concerns in planning their lessons and classroom activities, and use supplementary materials, if necessary, to help learners cope with the difficulties” (Al-Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam, 2011, p. 83). This could look as simple as making a game out of the grammar rules (like I did with my uncountable and countable nouns) or even applying the grammar to the students’ lives. “If students are engaged in psychologically authentic activities, they have an opportunity to practice using language meaningfully for their own purposes. This is the only way to overcome the inert knowledge problem” (Pérez-Llantada, 2007, p.159). However, with my limited experience teaching, I want to learn more games and activities to use in instruction. Also, I want to learn which grammatical structures would be less or more difficult to teach using games so that I don’t have another experience like my noun confetti game. “Students are taught grammar as a set of rules, but even if they can apply the rules to exercises successfully during the lesson, they don’t seem to be able to activate their knowledge of the rules when they are communicating during another part of the lesson or in another context” (Pérez-Llantada, 2007, p.158). Applying the grammar to my students’ lives in a meaningful and fun way would be beneficial for me for my future career.

References

Al-Mekhlafi, A. M., & Nagaratnam, R. P. (2011). Difficulties in teaching and learning 

grammar in an EFL context. Online Submission, 4(2), 69–92. 

Pérez-Llantada, M. C. (2007). New trends in grammar teaching: issues and applications. An 

interview with Prof. Diane Larsen-Freeman. Atlantis: Revista de La Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, 29(1), 157–163. 

Sekayi, D. N. R. (2000). Flexibility, arrogance and humility in the classroom: Rising above the 

focus-obscurity framework. Education, 121(2), 394. 

Shannon Dunn

EDCI 5543

11/5/2019

Paper 2: My Belief in Teaching Grammar

            Teaching grammar is a necessity in any teaching situation, whether it be taught implicitly or explicitly for first or second language acquisition. My experience with grammar instruction in English as my first language and Spanish and Arabic as second languages have influenced the way I thought second languages should be taught; however, second language acquisition research has shifted my concepts of teaching. Since I plan to teach English as a second language to adults, this paper focuses on mainly adult ESL/EFL contexts. This paper outlines my concepts of grammar teaching, what is missing in ESL/ELF classroom practices, pedagogical support for grammar instruction, and what I still need to learn to fulfill my grammar teaching goals. 

Compare and/or Describe Your Concept Change in Grammar Teaching    

My concept of grammar teaching has drastically shifted over time. These concepts started as my own understanding of how I was taught English grammar throughout primary and secondary school and how I learned Spanish as a pre-teen and adult. Through my years of English grammar instruction, I felt that while using correct verbal grammar was barely commented on, written grammar was highly focused on with explicit instruction from elementary through high school. I remember having a grammar workbook every year of school from third to tenth grade. These workbooks always had the same format: grammar rules at the top and practice exercises on the bottom and back. While it was easy at that time to skip over the rules and just go with what sounded right, I wish I had paid closer attention. As I focused on becoming an English teacher, I went back to review those specific rules and am learning them again more in-depth through EDCI 5543 English Grammar for ESOL Teachers. 

            In my first experience with second language learning, I found that the grammar instruction in my Spanish courses was much the same as in my English courses. In middle school and high school Spanish, we learned words, and once we had enough vocabulary, we were given grammar rules and expected to follow them, which manifested mainly in written exercises mirroring exercises found in the elementary grammar workbooks. While speaking was also a significant portion of Spanish class, it only followed the written grammar practice, and it was never the mode of assessment, for which I was thankful. Because of the formulaic nature of how Spanish grammar was taught, I tended to write my sentences out of order. I would think of the sentence in the English order but leave spaces in the Spanish sentence where I would come back and fill in the Spanish word when I got to it in the English structure. With this experience only, I would say explicit, formulaic grammar instruction is the best method for teaching grammar in any language context; however, that experience is too narrow to fully understand the diversity of language learning contexts. While my experience could be used to generalize about language learning for motivated adolescent learners, there are many other language-learning situations that come to different conclusions. For example, younger language learners who are displaced may be extremely resistant to learning a new language (Igoa, 2013). People who see no practical need for a second language may also be hard-pressed to put true effort into language learning.

            As an adult language learner, I picked up Spanish again; however, I was much less motived. Due to affective factors that were not barriers when I was younger, I did not learn as effectively in college as I did in secondary school. While the instruction was mainly the same, more cultural information was focused on as a strategy to increase motivation; however, frustration with the overall situation was a large barrier to language learning, especially when learning and retaining grammar. Therefore, my concept of teaching grammar has shifted to account more for affective factors students struggle with, specifically in regard to motivation, emotion, and mood. 

            These kinds of affective factors have been an impenetrable barrier to my language learning of Arabic. Negative feedback and criticism have destroyed my motivation to learn Arabic. While I still want to learn, I feel I do not know which resources are credible, useful, and practical. Therefore, my grammar teaching will also include explicit practical resources such as grammar videos (such as those shown in the class from Anglo-Link) and practical usage guides. Specifically, coupling meaningful vocabulary with practical, contextual grammar is my main focus for grammar instruction because creating meaningful contexts for both vocabulary and grammar support retention of both. 

Identify What is Missing in Current ESL/EFL Classroom Practice

            While there are many practices that would benefit the ESL/EFL classroom, the larger contexts of language learning programs and their purposes also largely affect students’ language learning success. Within the classroom, especially at the lower levels of proficiency, technology should be more integrated into language learning. While ESL settings provide more opportunities to converse with native speakers, EFL settings have a limited native-speaking audience to converse with. This is where social media could support students’ language learning. While social media focuses more on writing-based language skills, there is also a lot of multi-modal language learning opportunities that result from social media exposure, which is difficult to recreate authentically with traditional teaching methods. Also, creating a platform for students to practice casual language with native speakers authentically provide a path to sustain causal interactions as they improve their language. Moreover, while higher-level language courses focus more on CALPS, sustained social media involvement can further develop BICS outside of the classroom. In the classroom, this could be as simple as following certain twitter accounts and posting comments to main posts, writing reviews on Google or Yelp of local business students go to, and replying when someone comments on their posts. Introducing these kinds of resources to students show them that language learning is not only inside the classroom and that there are communication opportunities everywhere, even if it is not face-to-face. 

            Classroom practices are also extremely influenced by the language learning context. Specifically, I am referencing language programs for adults, as that is my future teaching focus. In regard to adult language learning, program expectations, requirements, and policies affect the students’ language learning process. While there are many types of adult language learning programs, I will focus on those programs aligned with teaching English for academic purposes, such as those attached to universities. These programs prepare speakers of other languages to study in English; however, these students come with different academic goals that should be tailored to in intensive English programs. For example, many programs target language learning to the undergraduate level, meaning that completion of the language program aligns with undergraduate language needs; however, many language students will matriculate into graduate degree fields, which require a higher level of proficiency and include more rigorous course requirements. If language programs target undergraduate-level adequacy, then there is a large gap that graduate students have to compensate for. In regard to grammar in this situation, language students should be exposed to more rigorous reading preferably in their own academic field. From my experience with many international graduate students, they struggle most with reading and writing because their language programs did not prepare them for the grammatic complexity of academic articles and major-specific writing assignments. Major-specific vocabulary and grammar usage are substantial hurdles that speakers of other languages have to overcome. Language programs could better transition these students into their graduate academic programs by connecting them with an academic advisor in their field of study who will support them with major-specific reading resources and writing assignments. Moreover, once students are no longer in a language program, they should still be able to reach out to the language program for help because language learning is never truly complete. 

Personalize Your Grammar Pedagogy by Integrating Scholarly Work        

As previously stated, grammar instruction is important at every age and proficiency level; however, this section will focus mainly on adult learners. Adult learning may seem more difficult based on the critical theory hypothesis posed by Lenneburg (1967); however, different language skills indicate different critical period cutoffs. For example, Singleton and Lengyel (1995) provided evidence that vocabulary acquisition had no age limit; therefore, they established that second language learning is a possibility at any age. Furthermore, Hartshorne, Tenenbaum, and Pinker (2018) indicated that native-like grammar acquisition was possible up to 17.4 years of age. There are also multiple studies that investigate phonological acquisition for native-like accents reviewed by Scovel (2000). While many studies indicate there is a critical period for native-like accents, it ranges from 3-7 years of age. These studies indicate that it is easier to learn these specific skills before this specific time; however, that does not mean they cannot be learned. Most likely, the critical period of these skills indicates a cutoff period for these skills to be internalized, which means language users can produce and comprehend them without extra mental processing effort. Even if students do not internalize language skills, it is more important that students know how these skills are used so students can recast their language when it creates communicative barriers. 

            This notion brings me to the point of implicit versus explicit grammar teaching. Multiple studies have shown that adult learners respond better to explicit grammar instruction (Akakura, 2012; DeKeyser, 1995). This instructional preference is most likely due to students understanding of complex language through their first language experiences, which transfers skills based on the principles of universal grammar (Chomsky, 1988). Since adult language users already have complex language skills, teaching grammar explicitly allows them to use their first language as a system of similarities and differences for their new target language. Since children do not have these complex language structures and experiences to use as prior knowledge background, implicit grammar instruction tends to work better for them (Akakura, 2012). 

            Explicit grammar instruction is only one part of grammar learning. Explicit grammar instruction needs to be coupled with practical contexts to help support retention and acquisition (Celce-Murica, 2002). This is very logical because certain grammar structures are found commonly in specific language situations. For example, written recipes consistently utilize you (understood), therefore coupling this grammar form with cooking words provides an authentic language learning context where this grammatical structure and vocabulary naturally occur together. Not only does this reinforce the concept of practicality to students, but it shows them in what context this structure is commonly used. 

            While the previous points focused on teacher-controlled aspects of language learning, there are factors that affect language learning that are harder for teachers to control: affective factors. Emotions and mood play a significant factor in students’ learning process, which is largely influenced by students’ cultural viewpoint and personal opinions of language learning (MacIntyre & Vincze, 2017). The effects of positive emotions on language learning have not been as extensively studied as the effects of negative emotions, but negativity toward language learning is a hot topic in language research, especially when resistance to language learning involves cultural factors such as identity and prejudice. 

            Specifically, in regard to teaching grammar, negative feedback can be detrimental to students’ language learning motivation. MacIntyre and Vincze (2017) indicated that embarrassment and sadness were major negative emotions that hinder language learning, which can easily result from grammar mistakes inside and outside of the classroom. Within the classroom, it is important for the teacher to create a safe environment through example and intolerance for negative comments from other students. Experiences outside of the classroom are much harder to control, specifically when the dominant culture of the area holds demeaning stereotypes or practices prejudice towards certain language-speaking populations. MacIntyre and Vincze (2017) suggest fostering peacefulness and amusement in language learning environments to decrease students’ stress and unease while experimenting with language learning. A supportive language learning environment can turn the tables on past negative language learning experiences and encounters. 

Identify the Particular Knowledge You Would Like to Receive       

While I feel that UMKC’s master’s in TESOL program covers a lot in terms of grammar teaching, there is still a lot I need to learn. Having gone through the entire program, I can say that I feel confident in my ability to teach grammar to speakers of other languages. This confidence has been strengthened in EDCI 5543 specifically because we are currently going through common grammatical concepts that have pointedly specific usage rules that native speakers tend not to know explicitly. Having a better understanding of these rules and seeing my fellow classmates do lesson demonstrations targeting language learners has helped me understand what to expect in language classrooms. 

I feel that what I want to learn now fall more outside of the classroom, but still, affect how grammar is taught. Specifically, I want to learn more about supporting advanced learners’ transition from intensive language-level grammar to the grammar that is used and expected at the graduate level. In alignment with that, I also want to learn more about the administrative influences that affect classroom practices. It is well known that Common Core was created to align with college expectations, but I have not heard about or reviewed for myself how adult language standards are created, structured, or aligned with specific language needs. From my understanding, ESL programs use a set of standards that lead to proficient language use; however, the students’ intended language purposes may be different than the goals aligned to the standards of the program. This is a big issue separating communicative competence, undergraduate-level language usage, and graduate-level language usage. Community-based language or public adult education options usually focus on communicative competence and practical work-related language use (Gonzalves, 2017). These programs align their language content to ESL Model Standards for Adult Education Programs, English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education, and other various standards created at a state-wide level. While these standards are widely used, in adult education, the attainment of these goals does not seem to align with the academic needs of graduate-level students. The Applied Language Institute at UMKC utilizes the ACTFL Standards; however, a detailed description of these standards are not available for public review, which means that I cannot ascertain whether or not they are better than the aforementioned standards for adult learners at the collegiate level.  

Furthermore, many undergraduate courses utilize more multiple-choice tests and less writing-intensive assessments than graduate courses; therefore, graduate students must be prepared for extensive complex reading and writing tasks that are far above what is expected of undergraduate students and in language intensive courses. I would like to learn more about how teachers can facilitate those learning needs in regard to grammar instruction in the classroom to bridge the gap between language learning for academic purposes and practical language use in graduate-level academic settings. 

References

Akakura, M. (2012). Evaluating the effectiveness of explicit instruction on implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. Language Teaching Research, 16(1), 9-37.

Chomsky, N. (1988). Generative grammar. Studies in English Linguistics and Literature.

DeKeyser, R. M. (1995). Learning second language grammar rules: An experiment with a miniature linguistic system. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17(3), 379-410.

Gonzalves, L. (2017). Placement, progress, and promotion: ESL assessment in California's adult schools. CATESOL Journal, 29(2), 163-184.

Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263-277.

Igoa, C. (1995). The inner world of the immigrant child. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The biological foundations of language. Hospital Practice, 2(12), 59-67.

MacIntyre, P. D., & Vincze, L. (2017). Positive and negative emotions underlie motivation for L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 7(1).

Shannon Dunn

EDCI 5543

Paper 3 (Literature Review)

12/3/2019

The Role of Grammar in Adult ELL Settings

            Using the English language is an invaluable skill in today’s global society. While English is the first and official language of many countries, many other countries use English for intermediate uses, such as education, business, and medical services. In today’s society, more people are learning English as a second language (ESL) than those learning it as a native language (Samanta, 2016). In the 2014-2015 academic year, 1,535,139 adults enrolled in publicly funded ESL programs in the United States (US Department of Education, 2016). This number does not include the numerous university-based ESL programs across the United States and EFL programs worldwide. With this amount of people learning English, effective instruction is imperative to language learning, especially among adult learners who have passed the critical period for acquiring specific second language skills. 

            Within the field of adult grammar instruction, there are two main threads of research in grammar instruction: actual grammar instruction and the perception of grammar instruction. While some studies (e.g., Hawkes & Nassaji, 2016; Nassaji, 2013) focused on grammar learning strategies, other research groups (e.g., Ho, 2019; Peterson & Nassaji, 2016; Samanta, 2016; Sinha, 2014) studied the perception of grammar learning. Moreover, several studies (e.g., Koehler, Thompson, & Phye, 2011; Lee, 2013) focused on both instruction and perception to see how these factors correlate with each other. This review, therefore, will focus on: (1) the perception of grammar instruction in adult English language learning setting and (2) a type of grammar instruction that is popular in adult English classrooms. Studies involving both will be discussed to bridge together conclusions and implications of overall grammar instruction in adult English learning environments. 

Perception of Grammar Instruction for Adult ELLs

            Compared to other age demographics, adult grammar instruction is unique in its theoretical logic of grammar. With the theoretical understanding of the critical period, adults firmly sit beyond any established critical period threshold of language acquisition except for vocabulary acquisition, which Singleton and Lengyel (1995) indicated there was no critical period for. The most relevant critical period for this review was established by Hartshorne, Tenenbaum, and Pinker (2018). They indicated that native-like grammar acquisition was possible up to age 17.4. Since adult learners are usually categorized as 18 years old and above, they are passed the age of full grammar acquisition. While there seem to be various ages for acquisition of specific grammar skills, there are many intervening factors, such as age of English exposure and first language transfer, that affect grammar acquisition before fossilization occurs. 

            The age range within this demographic is also unique to adult learners. While young and adolescent learners label English learners from birth to 18 years old, adult learners span from 18 years old and beyond. From the demographics of all studies in this review, the average age range for participants falls in relatively young adulthood (between 20-35), with very low participation from people over the age of 40. However, Ho (2019) exclusively focused on older adult language learners and the factors that affect their language learning. The six participants in Ho’s (2019) study ranged from 65-89 years old in a community-based ESL program. Ho (2019) found that language acquisition was still possible at these ages; however, fossilization happened earlier in the language learning process. This was revealed by the repetition of course level between the six participants. Three participants had repeated the beginner level three times. One participant had only been in the program for one semester at the beginner level, while the other two participants had repeated the beginner level twice and repeated the low-intermediate level for the second time. In regard to grammar, interviews in the participants’ native language showed that all participants cited their own mental decline as a hindrance to remember specific grammar forms. They also indicated that low English exposure outside of class limited their personal use of language. Moreover, the participants felt that many topics covered in their ESL class were not relevant or interesting to them. Therefore, Ho (2019) concluded that while explicit grammar instruction was best for older adults, grammar instruction should be extracted from topics familiar and interesting for them. Due to the generation gap and diverse life experiences, adult learners in this age range may not find information targeted to engage younger adults as interesting. 

            The perception of language ability is closely linked to second language acquisition (SLA); therefore, studies on grammar errors for specific uses rely on SLA theoretical frameworks to create logical reasonings for students’ errors. For example, errors in article usage are common even in advanced language learners (Sinha, 2014). While article acquisition is early on Krashen’s (1982) list of acquired skills, the dynamic uses of the definite article mean that specific uses of ‘the’ are acquired later. Sinha (2014) investigated the specific contexts used for the definite article and whether the acquisition of these contexts was acquired at the same or different times. Sinha (2014) first developed examples using the definite article in four different ways: structural, contextual, situational, and cultural. With these examples, she created a program that allowed students to choose either correct or incorrect while providing the correct answer for the use of ‘the’ in a sentence. A time limit of four seconds was set for each sentence, so participants had to quickly choose an answer based on their acquired English knowledge. If they deemed the sentence incorrect, they had extended time to provide a correct form. The participants of this study were adult Indian EFL students who were equally distributed between beginner, intermediate, and advanced proficiency. Even though all participants were from the same country, three different native languages were represented. Sinha (2014) indicated language transfers as an important variable for measuring the use of the definite article because of the native language’s use of articles. In this situation, one first language represented did not have an equivalent of a definite article while the other two did. The data showed that at the beginner level, students coming from a language without a definite article made the most mistakes by transferring zero-article use from their first language. Beginner level participants from the other two language backgrounds still made mistakes but were most proficient in the definite article use in cultural contexts. As for the intermediate level participants, participants from all language backgrounds consistently were able to indicate the appropriate usage for the definite article in cultural, contextual, and situational contexts; however, even the advanced students were not able to consistently identify the appropriate usage of ‘the’ in structural contexts, which meant that when ‘the’ was used because of the particular structure of a sentence, participants were not able to identify if it was being used correctly. With this evidence, it can be inferred that specific uses of ‘the’ are acquired at different times. Sinha (2014) suggested that teachers’ awareness of this issue is needed to better address errors in article usage in the classroom. She also recommended teachers scaffold article instruction to align with natural acquisition and to use highly contextualized authentic materials as examples since they provide the most natural structural context examples. Overall, the perception of English grammar instruction may need to be reordered to align with the natural order of language acquisition. 

            The perception of grammar is not the only factor in effective grammar instruction. Peterson and Nassaji (2016) investigated the perception of project-based learning in ESL classrooms from the teachers’ and the students’ perspectives. After participating in a project-based learning activity, 30 teachers and 88 of their students completed a questionnaire on their perceptions of the learning that took place throughout the project. Ten teachers and 20 students from the initial questionnaire participants were then interviewed to further explain any interesting findings from their questionnaire. The questionnaire’s results revealed that students have highly different perceptions of projects than those of the teachers. The student participants indicated that their perceptions of project-based learning were focused on task-based skills and topical information. The teacher participants perceived project-based learning as a way to introduce students to diverse uses of grammar readily found in authentic texts. The follow-up interviews shed extensive light on these findings. From the students’ perspectives, group projects were not preferred because students felt that sharing the workload meant that they were missing out on learning opportunities that their peers were getting. One student indicated that in group work, it is impossible to split the work evenly and feel everyone in the group knows everything; therefore, someone is always missing something that the others have. The teachers had two main diverging opinions. One stated that group work is an unavoidable part of higher education and in the workforce, so practicing these skills is important for adult language learners. The teachers also believe that the interaction with authentic topic-specific texts also allows for implicit grammar support as students assemble their final projects. One teacher commented that project-based learning was not an effective way for students to learn grammar because unfamiliar grammar forms could be easily avoided throughout the project. Overall, Peterson and Nassaji (2016) concluded that the implementation of project-based learning in adult ESL contexts should depend on language goals and the meaningfulness of the content and tasks.

            In a completely different context, Samanta (2016) posed the perception of grammar teaching in the United States versus India. Through reflecting on her own experience as an undergraduate English teacher in India and an ESL teacher at an American University, Samanta (2016) compared and contrasted the perception of English uses in each context and how that affects grammar instruction. In ESL settings, Samanta (2016) indicated that teachers are on the cutting edge of TESOL research, which creates a dynamic and creative environment for language learning. It also provides an authentic and engaging environment to learn the complexities of English being used in a native English-speaking environment. On the other hand, in EFL setting Samanta (2016) noted that language learning was taught more traditionally not only because EFL teachers were not engaged in TESOL research but also because the education system in India favored that style of teaching; therefore, English learning was neither dynamic nor innovative to better engage learners. Samanta (2016) also noticed that in India, English grammar was taught selectively and aligned with Indian-specific structures. This kind of focused instruction is understandable as Indian English is considered as a world English, which has specifically different yet correct uses of words, grammar, and pragmatics. While Samanta (2016) found major differences in ESL and EFL contexts, she also stated that grammar instruction seemed appropriate for both contexts because students were learning the language in the way they would most likely use it. This perception of grammar instruction is helpful to justify different grammar instruction for specifically different purposes. 

            The aforementioned research groups (Ho, 2019; Peterson & Nassaji, 2016; Sinha, 2014, Samanta, 2016) study on the perception of grammar instruction in adult English learning settings. While they all focus on individual issues, the overarching issue among them is how grammar instruction is perceived in terms of the attitudes of those involved in adult English education. 

Instruction in Adult EL Classrooms

            Research on the actual grammar instruction taking place in English language classes is different than the perceptions of grammar instruction. While perception is investigated through qualitative data, grammar strategies in classrooms are most suitable for quantitative analysis. This part of the review will focus on one strategy that is covered by two different studies (Hawkes & Nassaji, 2016; Nassaji, 2013). While both of these studies focus on corrective feedback, they diverge in methodology. 

            Nassaji (2013) examined the types of corrective feedback given to classes of adult ESL students over the course of a 12-week term. The study included 105 participants from beginner, intermediate, advanced ESL courses. Throughout the course, corrective feedback was spontaneous, and the final measurement was created based on the grammar forms that were addressed in the feedback throughout the term. The study’s results revealed that most feedback was preemptive, meaning that the teacher addressed the assumed grammar issues before mistakes were made. Creative feedback was more effective during one-to-one, didactic, or small group settings. Advanced learners were more likely to repair errors long-term than their beginner level counterparts. This indicates that advanced learners have a better metacognitive understanding of English and can adjust quickly for errors. The biggest pitfall of this study was the validity of the final measurement. Without a timed assessment, it is difficult to predict if participants automatically comprehend the test item or take extra processing time to identify the mistake. This issue was further addressed by Hawkes and Nassaji (2016).

            Hawkes and Nassaji (2016) furthered the inquiry of corrective feedback by investigating the topic with more rigor. The procedures were more organized. For example, this study utilized only small group interaction with the teacher, which was audio recorded. Moreover, only half of the errors prompted corrective feedback, so some errors were left uncorrected. This allowed the researchers to better measure the effectiveness of the corrective feedback. Secondly, Hawkes and Nassaji (2016) administrated a new measurement tool called stimulated correction. Stimulated correction data was gathered by cutting parts of the audio recording into phrases and organized for the students. Audio cuts included students’ speech errors that were either corrected or not along with correct speech segments as distractors. The results showed that students were better able to correct speech errors addressed with corrective feedback; however, many students marker correct speech as erroneous, which indicates that they did not judge their own speech accurately.

            These two studies focus on how grammar instruction is implemented in adult ESL settings. They also contribute to the same line of inquiry, which is needed to support the effectiveness of specific strategies. 

Perception and Instruction

            Two studies focused on the perception of students’ grammar learning while also taking actual grammar instruction into account. Koehler et al. (2011) and Lee (2013) both found that perception of effective learning and actual language gains are not mutually inclusive. Lee (2013) studied students’ and teachers’ perception of a specific grammar strategy. Lee (2013) observed a class of advanced learners who were taking a supplemental speaking class as part of their training to become graduate teaching assistants. In the observations, the types of corrective feedback addressed to students and the subsequent repairs of each grammar structure were tabulated. Once this data was collected, the students and the teacher took a questionnaire about their perceptions of specific kinds of feedback. While students sought immediate, explicit feedback, teachers felt that interruptions in conversation to correct grammar mistakes were not feasible nor helpful. Teachers preferred to give implicit feedback by indicating an error had occurred and allowed the students to take their time to self-correct, if possible, and then provide explicit feedback as extra support. The teachers’ preferences reflected the data collected from the observations showing that recasts (emphasizing the error in the sentence with a questioning tone) were the most common form of feedback while explicit feedback was almost nonexistent. Lee (2013) indicated that these differing opinions between students and teachers may be due to the students’ language learning backgrounds. In this study, the majority of the 60 student participants were from Asian background where English instruction heavily relied on explicit grammar rules, which were mostly drilled through writing. Therefore, the preference for immediate, explicit feedback may have been affected by their previous language learning experiences. Overall, Lee (2013) found that adult students, especially at advanced English proficiency, have individual preferences for learning and teacher-student interactions. These perceptions can influence other affective factors that affect their language learning process. 

             Koehler et al. (2011) also examined students’ perceptions of an online grammar learning program and their actual gains. The researchers chose the passive voice lesson for the study because it is a difficult skill for ESL teachers, which presents a challenge for a digital platform. Twenty participants were asked to complete a digital grammar lesson. Embedded within the lesson was a pre-posttest, which indicated that on average, participants gained three points on a 20-point test. The students were also asked to evaluate their perception of how well they learned the concepts of the lesson. All students expressed positive attitudes towards digital content. While advanced learners made the most gains, even participants with very low knowledge of the content topic were able to get the general idea of how to use passive voice in simple contexts. Koehler et al. (2011) concluded that while familiarity with content contributed to higher grammar gains, the cognitive load of new information did not impede grammar learning significantly. 

Implications and Future Research Suggestions

            All of the aforementioned studies revolve around various topics; however, they tend to suggest similar ideas for adult grammar instruction. All studies unanimously indicate that students prefer and respond to explicit grammar instruction. Others (Ho, 2019; Koehler et al., 2011) suggest relevant and familiar content, and coincidently one study provides an explanation for another. While Ho (2019) suggests relevant information for older adult language learners due to natural mental decline, Keohler et al. (2011) stats that familiar content should be used as a way to decrease the cognitive load of learning grammar concepts. 

            For future research, replication studies on corrective feedback need to follow the methodology utilized in Hawkes and Nassaji (2016) as it more accurately examines the repairs of corrective feedback. In regard to perception, further studies are needed to tandemly investigate perception and grammar strategies to determine if the perception of strategies correlate with actual grammar improvement. Based on the current studies, it seems strategies that students perceive as effective may not be what garners the most grammar development. Therefore, a better understanding of the role of perception in grammar learning can support grammar learning in adult English learning settings. 

References

Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263-277.

Hawkes, L., & Nassaji, H. (2016). The role of extensive recasts in error detection and correction by adult ESL students. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 19-41.

Ho, T. (2019). Age and other factors influencing second language acquisition in English learners in a community ESL program. International Forum of Teaching and Studies 15(1), 16-28. 

Koehler, N. A., Thompson, A. D., & Phye, G. D. (2011). A design study of a multimedia instructional grammar program with embedded tracking. Instructional Science, 39(6), 939-974.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press. 

Lee, E. J. E. (2013). Corrective feedback preferences and learner repair among advanced ESL students. System, 41(2), 217-230.

Nassaji, H. (2013). Participation structure and incidental focus on form in adult ESL classrooms. Language Learning, 63(4), 835-869.

Petersen, C., & Nassaji, H. (2016). Project-based learning through the eyes of teachers and students in adult ESL classrooms. Canadian Modern Language Review, 72(1), 13-39.

Samanta, S. (2016). Teaching of English grammar in India: Are we sailing in the same boat?. Language in India, 16(5), 265-274

Singleton, D. M., & Lengyel, Z. (1995). The age factor in second language acquisition: A critical look at the critical period hypothesis. Multilingual Matters.

Sinha, T. S. (2014). Acquisition of the non-generic uses of English definite article by the adult ESL learners. Language in India, 14(2).

US Department of Education. (2016). English literacy/English language education in the adult basic grant program. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/factsh/english-literacy-education.pdf

Copyright © Dr. Michael Wei