How to teach grammar through texts

Linda Ken

Texts and Contexts

• What does this word mean?• Can I have a word with you?• I give you my word.• Word has it that they are getting married.• If you want help, just say the word.• How should I word this letter?

Language is context-sensitive

• The following sentences are almost meaningless out of context:

• 1.The ones that don’t, seem to think so.

• 2.It’s a drink.

Texts divorced from their context

• 1.Port does not exist.

• 2.Only in Berkshire. Ken Stark, Leeds,

• Yorks.

• To Wee Pig from Big Pig. Grunt！ Grunt！

Co-text

• 1.The rest of the text

• 2.Surrounds and provides meaning to the individual language items

Context of situation

• 1.Interpreting the meaning of a language item

• 2.The roles and relationships

Context of culture

• Require some understanding of the culture

Text

• 1.Take many forms –postcards, novels,

• street signs and so on.

• A feature of classroom.

• Detached from both its co-text and its context of situation

Problem

• Example: He’s playing tennis • 1.Where’s Tony? He’s playing tennis.• 2.He never wears his glasses when he’s playing tennis.• 3.Tomorrow morning he’ll be in the office but in the

afternoon he’s playing tennis.• 4.He’s playing tennis a lot these days. Do you think he’s

lost his job?• 5.There’s this friend of mine, Tony. He’s playing tennis

one day. Suddenly he gets this shooting pain in his chest…

Decontextualising of Grammar

• Doubtful value

• The absence of context

• A text-based approach

Sources of texts

• 1.The coursebook

• 2.Authentic sources

• 3.The teacher

• The students

Coursebook

• 1.Ease of understanding

• 2.Display specific features of grammar

Authentic sources

• Simplify authentic texts

• Classroom texts

Teacher’s text

• Teachers’ story

• Teachers’ travel plan

• Teachers’ New Year resolutions

Students’ texts

• The topics that learners raise

• Easy to remember

Simple Lesson

• Lesson 1:Using a scripted dialogue to teach the present simple (Beginners)

• 1.Chose a recorded dialogue from a coursebook for introducing the present simple with verbs of frequency (e.g. usually, always) to a group of beginners

Step 1

• 1.Students close their book• 2.listen to a conversation between two

friends and to answer this question: What are they talking about?

• 3.Teacher plays the tape down to ‘…and meet my friends.’

Step 2

• 1.Teacher says that the conversation is about every weekend.

• 2.Students listen to whole conversation and to put these words, movies, drive, soccer, go out, study, lunch, park, walk, in order they heard.

• 3.Teacher writes the nouns in the list and the appropriate verb

The list

study

have lunch

go to the park

go out

go to the movies

drive

Step 3

• Students tell these activities in the list David does.

• 2.Teacher asks one or two other questions about the gist of the conversation.

Step 4

• 1.Teacher asks students to listen to the following words, usually, always, sometimes, and to match the words on the board.

• 2.Students check with their neighbor• 3.Teacher writes the appropriate adverb

For example

• usually study

• always have lunch

• sometimes go to the park

Step 5

• 1.Students focus two or three of these sentences and to tell what the speaker says.

• 2.Teacher replays the relevant sections of tape, until students are able to provide the full sentence

For example

Step 6

• 1.Students focus on the form of the structure.

• 2.Underline the verbs and explain that the present simple is used for routine activities.

• Step 7• Students write two or three more sentences

about David, using the above sentence pattern.• Step 8• Check the answers• Step 9• Students write four or five sentences about

themselves.

Lesson 2

Using an authentic text to teach the passive (intermediate)

1.Teacher has chosen the following authentic text for introducing the passive:

Step 1(Before handing out the text)

• 1.Teacher tells the class the name of the article (Dog attack)

• 2.Guess the words

• 3.Teacher feeds in words from the text, e.g. stitches, wounds, infected, bloodstains.

Step 2

• 1.Students read the text silently with a view to answering these question

• 2.Students check their answer in pairs• 3.Teacher asks further questions about

the text.

Step 3

• Teacher writes two sentence on the board:

• 1.An unsupervised Alsatian dog attacked her.

• 2.She was attacked by an unsupervised Alsatian dog.

Step 4

• 1.Find out other examples of passive construction in the text.

• 2.The passive is typically used:• A. to move the theme to the beginning of the

sentence• B. when the agent is unimportant, or not know• By + agent is used

• Step 5

• Compare their version with the original

• Step 6

• Students describe their stories in English and to write their story

Sample lesson 3: Using student language to review ways of talking about the future

For this lesson the teacher uses a cassette recorder with a microphone on an

extendable lead

a hand-held personal stereo

She asks the small class of about six learners to sit in a closed circle .

&

The microphone is placed in the centre of the circle.

&

The teacher stands outside the circle and operates the cassette recorder herself.

Step 2

The teacher set the topic waits while the students (who are familiar with this activity) construct and record a conversation

The teacher’s role is to provide the language that students need and to indicate when she thinks they are ready to record their turn.

Step 1

The tape is rewound and replayed in it entirely.

The taped conversation is then transcribed on to the board.

Step 4

She asks the learners to identify the different forms and to offer an explanation of their use in the context.

Step 3

Students listen to recorded text one more time.

The teacher then rubs the texts off the board and the students re-form in their original circle and improvise the conversation again from memory.

Discussion – Community (Counseling) Language Learning (CLL)

1970’s

Aims at centering the language learning experience

The teacher’s role is essentially that of a consultant

Step 1:has preselected the theme

notice that the learners are not directed to use specific forms, by saying for example I want you to use ‘going to ‘

Step 2

& :

Step 3

the teacher takes a more directive role, transcribing the text and draw the students’ attention to features of text

-

Step 4: returning the text to the students-

Evaluation

In terms of time, it may not be the most economical way of giving grammar instruction, but the opportunity that the conversation stage provides for creative and personalized language use can have only positives side effects.

The technique is most appropriate for a group of about six students.

Sample lesson 4: Using a dictogloss to teach would for past habit (Upper intermediate)

Dictogloss - A dictogloss is a form of dictation, but one in which the students hear and reconstruct the whole text, rather than doing so line by line.

The teacher has decided to use a spoken text as a context.

The technique he uses involves the students collaboratively reconstructing the text from memory and then comparing it with the original.

口述的文字

Step 1

The teacher sets the theme by introducing the topic of summer holiday. After chatting about this for a few minutes, he then says ‘I am going to tell you about how I spent my summer holidays as a child in Australia. I want you to listen and, as soon as I have finished, I want you to write down any words, phrases or sentences that you can remember.’

Step 2

The teacher then tells the class, working in groups of three, that he wants them to compare with each other what they have noted down, and to try and reconstruct the text.

Step 3The teacher choose a students to act as the class scribe and to write their reconstructed version of the text on one half of the board, incorporating the suggestions of all the students in the class.

Step 4The teacher then projects an overhead transparency of his original text, and asks them to identify any differences between the two texts.

The teacher challenges them to explain what these represent and individual students hazard a guess that they are examples of the past perfect, or of the second conditional.

Step 5 The students write their own texts, of a similar length and style, about their own childhood holiday, which they then exchange and discuss.

Discussion

Dictogloss, dictomap, or grammar diction

Unlike traditional dictation

It may be necessary to re-tell the text once or twice: the teacher will need to monitor his students carefully in order to asses their comprehension.

Evaluation

The role of noticing as a prerequisite for learning has been emphasized in the literature on second language acquisition

The dictogloss technique provides a useful means for guiding learns towards noticing the gap between their present language competence and their target competence.

Sample lesson 5: Using genre analysis to teach reporting language (intermediate)

The study of the ways in which social contexts impact upon language choices is called genre analysis

In this lesson, the teacher is using a relatively recent genre – the Internet news bulletin – to teach ways in which news is reported

Step 1

The teacher dictates the following words to the class, and explains that they are the key words in a news story.

The students are encouraged to ask about the meaning of any unfamiliar words and then, in pairs, to try to imagine what the story is.

Step 2The teacher presents the following authentic texts.

She asks the students to try to put the three texts in the probably chronological order in which they appeared.

Step 3The teacher checks this task, drawing attention to clues in the text.

Step 4The teacher then asks the students to use the evidence of all three texts to generalize the function of each paragraph.

Step 5The teacher asks learners to use the evidence of all three texts to identify the language features of each paragraph.

Step 6The teacher asks learners to imagine the outcome of the story, and to write the fourth and final news bulletin.

Step 7 - The teacher supplies students with the final story as actually reported.

Discussion

A genre analysis approach not only respects the integrity of the whole text but regards the features of a text as being directly influenced by its communicative function and its context of use.

• They provide co-textual information, allowing learners to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar grammatical items from the co-text.

• As well as grammar input, text provide vocabulary input, skills practice, and exposure to features of text organization.

• Their use in the classroom is good preparation for independent study.

• If the texts come from the students themselves, they may be more engaging and their language features therefore more memorable.

Some advantages of using texts are the following :Conclusions