Letting Go of Grammar

Allison Moore, Associate Dean of Teaching and LearningBentley School

CAIS Southern Regional ConferenceMarch 3, 2014

A language teacher’s dilemma…

Overview for today:

1. What is proficiency-based instruction? What does the research say?

2. If we know proficiency-based instruction is so great, why aren’t we all doing it all the time? What are the obstacles to a proficiency-based curriculum?

3. How can we tackle some of those obstacles?

1. What is proficiency-based instruction? What does the research say?

Some sources of this research:

Lee and VanPatten Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. McGraw Hill, New York 1995. Omaggio Hadley, A. Teaching Language in Context. Heinle & Heinle. 2001“Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World” MLA Ad Hoc Committee of Foreign Languages. 2007

Daily routines and reflexive verbs

Daily Routines and Reflexive Verbs

Lee and Van Patten asked university students to describe their daily routines and what they found was something like this: “I get up in the morning around 9:00. I sometimes eat breakfast but usually I just go to my first class. In the afternoon, I have classes and often go to the library to study. I eat a quick snack when I can. In the evening I work until 11:00 at night. I study a little when I get home, but sometimes I just watch “Nick at Night,” then go to bed. “

From Lee and Van Patten again, “The point, then, is that topicalized or contextualized grammar is not equivalent to a communicative or proficiency orientation. True communicative and proficiency-oriented instruction cannot be grammar driven. Moreover, in many cases a communicative goal cannot be equated with (or reduced to) a particular grammatical item. In those textbooks in which communicative goals are apparently equated with grammar, the linguistic tools provided might not be what is needed to realize the stated communicative goals. What is evident from the preceding examples on daily routines is that the stated communicative goal is actually a window dressing for a predetermined grammatical point; communication is actually at the service of grammar rather than the other way around”( p. 76).

Are you sold on proficiency-based teaching?

Totally Mostly

A little Not at all

How closely aligned are your philosophy and what’s happening

in your classroom?

Totally Mostly

A little Not at all

2. What are the obstacles to a proficiency-based curriculum?

Let’s look at a case study*

“Finding 1: There was more of a focus on linguistic competence rather than communicative competence. Finding 2: Some communicative activities were implemented, but English dominated those activities, thus not aligning to the National Standards on Communication. Finding 3: There were conflicts between what instructors said their goals were for their students’ language acquisition and what was actually possible with the language department.” * Bryan Waite “Exploring the Development of Communicative Competence” Connections October 2010 v. 4 pp. 5-24

angry students

How would you address the concerns of this student while still maintaining a communicative approach to teaching? Write for 2 minutes. Then, discuss with a colleague.

Grammar-based objectives

Students will know how to use • Preterite tense • Double object pronouns • Verbs like gustar • Present subjuntive

Proficiency-based objectives:

Student will be able to • Order food in a restaurant • Comfort a friend • Give directions to her house• Describe the plot of his favorite movie

Take a few minutes to write 4-5 proficiency goals for an upcoming unit

in one of your classes.

What is a communicative activity?

• It’s authentic • It’s task-based • It requires negotiation of meaning • It’s contextualized

Your best communicative activity

Write for 5 minutes individually. Describe one of your best

communicative activties that you’ve designed.

Textbooks

What textbook do you currently use (if any)? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? Are the textbook’s units organized around vocabulary and grammar? Does it have grammar-based activties? Communicative activities? Or a combination?

What about assessment?

If your class activities and homework assignments are communicative, but then students take a grammar-based unit test or final exam or placement test for the next level, your students will feel like you didn’t prepare them. If you’re using a communicative approach, assessments and grading ought to be communicative too.

Assessment Some questions to discuss about assessment: • What has been your most successful communicative assessment? • Have you ever given a communicative assessment, but then graded it for grammar accuracy? How might you grade differently? • Are there any assessments at your school that are not in your control to design, e.g. placement tests? How can you reconcile your approach and the larger school context? At these ever at odds?

Connecting with families

What opportunities are there in your school to connect with parents and families? Is there a Back to School Night? A Newsletter? Brainstorm at least 3 ways you can communicate with parents about your teaching methods. How will you respond to a parent who asks why you don’t teach grammar?

Recommended:

Omaggio Hadley has in her book, Teaching Language in Context, a chapter devoted to how to implement this approach. It’s called “Plannng Instruction for the Proficiency-Oriented Classroom: Some Practical Guidelines.” I recommend it.

Conclusion

• Some obstacles to teaching a proficiency-based language class

• Some strategies for dealing with those obstacles