Teaching language contruction

- students study the construcution of a specific feature of the language: they want to understand
and use it or to to revise it and use it without making errors.
-goal of this kind of language study: to increase knowledge of the language system; to improve
productive and receptive skills.
- students do not only study language in classrooms under the direction of a teacher, but can also
be involved in researching language on their own and this can represent another goal of
language study: training of autonomous learners.
Studying structure and use of language forms in the following areas:
o The morphology forms
o The syntax of phrases, clauses and sentences
o Vocabulary ( including the meaning of the words, their lexical grammar and collocation
rules)
o The meaning and function that phrases and sentences can convey
o Pronunciation
o Spelling

LANGUAGE STUDY IN LESSON SEQUENCES:

- language study depends on why and when it occurs: it may be the main focus of the lesson or
not (it may be only one element in a grander design)
APPROACHES TO STUDY LANGUAGE:
1. Explore a topic and then use what they have learnt to perform a task.
2. The study of language forms may happen during a task-based sequence; example: focus on 2
past tense forms in the middle of an extended narrative-writing task.
3. Study language forms after the students have performed the task – this happens as a form of
language repair when the task has shown up language problems.
Opportunistic teaching
o studying language which suddenly ‘comes up’ – exposes the tension between planning
lessons in advance and responding to what actually happens.
o focus on language items which we had not anticipated including (for example, the
students want to know how an element of language is constructed or the teacher become
aware of the chance to offer students some language if they are now exposed to it).
- many study activities have tended to follow the PPP model and this is the one recommended,
but ‘explain and practise’ sequences may be innapropriate. We may ask students to research
language as part of ongoing lesson sequence.
CHOOSING STUDY ACTIVITIES :
1. Following planning principles:
- teachers think about activities which the students do before and after this study session of
language form; offer them a variety of exercises when studying language constructions because
of their differnet learning styles.
2. Assessing a language study activity for use in class:
- we assess study activities by judging their efficiency ( economy, ease, efficacy of the activity)
and their appropriacy (if the activity is suitable taking into account students’ educational
background, their level etc.)
3. Evaluating a study activity after use in class:
-by doing this, we understand whether or not the exercise helped students to learn the new
language (efficacy), whether it was clear, whether it took more or less time than anticipated
(economy), whether students were engaged by it (appropriacy) .

HOW DO WE KNOW IF THE LANGUAGE WE ARE ABOUT TO TEACH IS KNOWN OR

UNKNOWN?
-there are differences in level between students (‘mixed ability classes’) so there will be
impossible to know if such forms really are new or not for individual students in a class. But we
need to find out this information so there are some techniques: how to avoid teaching already-
known language?
 To have students perform tasks and see how they use language forms in question
 To attempt to elicit the new language forms; if we find that the students can pronounce them,
we will not want to demonstrate or explain them again.

EXPLAIN AND PRACTISE:

 -is a deductive approach of teaching languages; is like PPP sequence

-elicit the language for them: if they perform well on this, the teacher can go to an ‘immediate
creativity’ stage where the students try to make their own sentences using the language item. If
the students don’t manage to produce the sentence then the teacher will explain the new
language and the students will repeat the sentences in chorus. (teacher explains and corrects
where necessary). The students are involved in repetition and cue-response drilling and may do
some practice in pair. All of this stage of the lesson (repetition, drilling and controlled practice)
is designed to foster accurate reproduction of what the teacher is introducing .
-at the end of the lesson, the teacher may ask for immediate creativity where students use the
new language. If the stage goes badly, the teacher returns to the explanation stage or
reproduction stage to reinforce what was previously introduced.

EXPLANATION STAGE:
-the teachers need to demonstrate both meaning and language construction. There are many ways
to do it:
 Explaining meaning: show the object, mime the action or use the gesture, use pictures to
explain situations and concepts, use diagrams, timelines etc. Describe the meaning of the
word if we can’t show smth. List vocabulary items to explain concept, use check question
to make sure that they understood. You can translate words and phrases
 Explaining language construction: through modelling sentences and phrases

Isolation = isolating certain parts of the model

Distortion = explain a contracted form
- use hand/fingers to show this distortion. Use beating with arms to demonstrate word/sentence
stress. Some students want graphic gestures, others like to see written explanations, diagrams on
boards.
DEMONSTRATION OF A GRAMMATICAL SEQUENCE: write words on individual cards
which can be moved around (to show the difference between affirmative sentence order and the
syntax of question)
- sometimes it is appropriate to explain language constructions with words

PRACTICE STAGE (ACCURATE REPRODUCTION) OF AN EXPLAIN AND PRACTICE

SEQUENCE – first, get the students repeating the new language before then moving on the
practice of it.
- Repetition – choral or individual
- Drills – after repetition, the teacher organizes a cue-response session to encourage controlled
practice of the new language (use cards of these actions as a cue which will elicit the appropriate
response)
DISCOVER (AND PRACTICE)
-inductive approach, different from the explain and practise sequences
-instead of having meaning and construction explained to them (as in explain and practice),
students see examples of language and try to identify the pattern (Boomerang type of lesson –
appropriate where language study arises out of skills work on reading and listening texts.)
-get them to listen speakers and give them the transcript. Give them the task to identify /find
language used for buying time in informal conversation
-give them a narrative text, put them underline simple past verbs and put them discuss why each
is used – then go to a practice stage an immediate creative one.
-students make some cognitive effort as they uncovered its patterns; so it is a more powerfully
learnt than if they were told some grammatical rules and put them apply.
-easier for advanced students to analyse language using discovery procedures than it is for
beginners
-Boomerang sequence – appropriate with students who have a certain amount of language
available to them
-useful when students are looking at the constructions of specific language for the 2nd or 3rd time.
- the detective work they are doing is intended to expand their knowledge and revise things they
are already familiar with
-when students have discovered the language construction features they have been looking for,
we get them to use them either as accurate reproduction (if it is a 2nd or 3rd visit to a particular
area oflanguage) or immediate creativity.
RESEARCH (AND PRACTISE)
- an alternative to explain and practice and discover activities (but which is a combination of the
two)
-get students do language research on their own
-give them a number of collocations and tell them to use them in sentences or to talk about what
the action mean. Or ask them to consult a dictionary or to encourage hem to use a search engine
as google to see if collocations work
-when they research language, they are more likely to remember what they find out than if they
sit passively and are given words
-language research is more likely to be effective at higher levels (much depends on the
personality of the students)
-as with discover activities (when students have researched language), we may ask them to use
the language they have discovered. If they find it impossible, we may have to return to
explanations and accurate reproductions.
- use repetition and drilling.

Teaching grammar

1. Introducing
2. Discover grammar
3. Practice

1. Introducing grammar
Example: The postman Language: present simple
Age: any
Level: beginner
-students have to learn how to use present simple in the 3rd person singular
-teacher holds us a number of flashcards and elicit the words on them. Students guess and say
them chorally and then individually.
-then they do a quick cue-response drill using different pictures as prompts. Now, the students
see pictures of a man and they have to guess what does he do (teacher doesn’t confirm or deny
their suggestions)
-the teacher explains a number of characteristics of that man in order to help students to guess
-the teacher tries to elicit the sentences about each card. Then , they repeat before moving on (in
the accurate reproduction stage)
-teacher conduct a cue-response drill by holding up a card.
- immediate creativity stage: teacher ask students to think of a real person or invent their own. To
guess his job, each students has to come up with 3 affirmative and negative sentences about what
that person do or doesn’t do. – Teacher goes and monitors their work (offering help and
correcting)
-the pairs read out their sentences and the others have to guess the profession described.
2. Discovering grammar
-student are encouraged to work out for themselves how language form are constructed and used
-they do exercises using the language they have discovered/uncovered
Example: Rules and freedom
Language: functions – expressing obligation (can’t/have to/must/allowed)
Level:intermediate
-the teaching sequence (warm up&engage with the topic) starts with students discussing about
rules we can find in public spaces (airports, bars). They have to indentify where we can find
rules and what they mean
-the students are asked to look at a picture and identify which sign sentence are correct
-as a result of the preparation work they have to put the underlined words in the correct category
-teacher check if they have been able to complete the analysis chart and then put them to do a
fill-in exercise – here, they have to discriminate between can’t/have to/must/allowed etc.
-The studnets make their own sentences about what rules are in places from the first exercise
(airport, bar) and read to their colleague in order to guess the place they are talking about
3. Practicing grammar
Example: Find someone who…and other surveys
Language: elementary
Age: young adult plus
Level: any
- Find someone who is a name for a mini-survey activity
-students get a chart which asks them to find the names of various people by going around the
class and asking questions about different activities or passions
Example: Where am I? Language: present continuous (past simple)
Age: younger learners
Level: elementary
-get students make sentences using the present continuous
-there is a slight game element because the other students have to guess what the speaker is
talking about
-they are asking to think about a place but without mentioning it. They have to describe it and to
tell 3 things they can see using present continuous. Teacher monitors the their progress and
suggest alternatives or prompts students who can’t think what to write
-students have time to think about their present continuous sentences rather then to produce them
spontaneously
GRAMMAR GAMES
-especially for learners
Example: Putting sentence back together again
Language: comparatives and superlatives
Age: young learners
Level: intermediate
-common way of practicing and testing syntax: give students sentences with the words in wrong
order. But such ordering-activities can be used in more game-like way, too
-Teacher provides 2 sets of envelopes. In each one, there are words that make up a sentence
-students select and envelope and rearranged the sentence and write it down on a piece of paper
-1st team which finish gets bonus points. The teacher points each correct sentence

GRAMMAR BOOKS
-they are on levels: for beginners, teachers, advanced students
-there are descriptive and pedagogic grammars
-Descriptive grammars – describe everything: the whole of the language and its working
-Pedagogic grammars – designed to be of help to teachers and students of the language
-the way in which grammar rules are offered depends on the level of grammar is designed for
-good grammar rules for a pedagogic grammar should exhibit simplicity, truth, clarity, relevance
USING GRAMMAR BOOKS
-both students and teacher may consult it to check that they are using some aspect of grammar
correctly when drafting or re-drafting a piece of written work.
-use it when the students have problems with a particular area of language
-when a student is re-writing a hmwork, he can consult a pedagogic grammar
-teacher uses it to check grammar concepts, especially when students ask difficult questions
-grammar books are vital for the preparation of materials
Example: Say and tell Language: verb complementation
Age: any
Level: intermediate and above
-A student has got a corrected piece of homework from the teacher and there was an underlined
sentence with the mention that there was smth wrong about the verb used.
-the student is asked to check it in a grammar book and to re-write the sentence
-here, research has offered a powerful alternative to teacher explanation.