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Today's plan
Theories about grammar instruction
Lesson planning
Grammar activities
Who “invented” the “rules”?
“Grammar” is a number of unconscious patterns developed over centuries by millions of speakers of a language to organize words in communication
Who “invented” the “rules”?
“Grammar” is group of unconscious patterns developed over centuries by millions of speakers of a language to organize words in communication
More important in productive skills (writing/speaking) or receptive skills (reading/listening)?
role in speakingrole in listeningrole in writingrole in reading
More important in productive skills. More important in written language
(more complex, more accuracy).
1. writing2. speaking3. reading4. listening
In Japanese JHs and HSs….Enough? Too much?
Effective?What are problems with grammar instruction:
in traditional language instruction (grammar
translation)? In communicative teaching?
“We yesterday go Tokyo. Boyfriend me…together. Movie see. Fun time!”
“Hit Jim, John.”
L1 Transfer
What are differences between Japanese & English grammar?
Error analysis
Find the most frequent errors…in student work.a corpus.
The Natural Order Hypothesis
Which is acquired first? last?
Articles Plural -s Irregular past tense
Possessive 's 3rd person singular -s
Be verb Progressive -ing
The Natural Order Hypothesis
Which is acquired first? last?
Early: Possessive 's Be verb Progressive -ing
Middle: Plural -s 3rd person singular -s
Late: Articles Irregular past tense
Tono (2002), Ikeda (2004)
Frequency of use
Which is used more?present perfect (have/has -en/-ed) -OR- past perfect (had -en/-ed)?
In passive sentences, do we more often use “…by ______.” ?
15-20% of the time
Teach common rules that the students are ready for and have had trouble with
The Natural Approach (Krashen, 1982)
Learn language naturally by reading/listening
Explicit InstructionTeach grammar rules, explanation, drills,
tests
A combination
Each activity should match at least one of the following to be effective & to increase/maintain students’ motivation:
cooperative: students share or work with otherschallenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase motivationrelevant: related to students’ interests and/or needspersonal: use the language to share experiences, feelings, or opinionsauthentic: should include real examples, if possible
Introduce the structure naturally through communication or a task
Present the grammar with student involvement
Include structured drills & games
Input (reading & listening)
End with freer communication activities
Ask the class (or have them ask each other) questions trying to elicit the target structure
(past tense) – “Ask people in your group about their weekend. See who had the best weekend.”
(comparatives) – if the students like sports: “Who will win the Tokyo Giants game tonight?” …. “Why?”
-OR-
“Which singers should be on Kohaku this year?”
Try to elicit the forms / have the students guess the rule from examples
+ involve the students+ make them active, lifelong learners+ see what they know
(comparatives) - (On the board or in an interesting reading passage) more interesting, bigger, more intelligent, smarter…. “Can you figure out when to use –er and when to use more ____?”
Introduce the form of the structure, the meaning, and when it is used
Activities in which there is a short answer (a word or a sentence) to practice the grammar repetitively before freer, more communicative activities. Aim for competitive, personal, or challenging activities.
Tennis (present perfect) – Say a verb, and your partner changes it to the participle form (-en/-ed)
Tic-tac-toe (past tense) – Change the verb into the past tense & use it in a sentence about you
Cheat Fall Asleep Argue
Fight Steal Break Up
Gossip Break Snore
Charades (acting) / pictionary (drawing)
(adverbs) - A verb card says “running” and the adverb card says “quickly!” You have to act it out to try to make your partners guess “You are running quickly!”
(comparatives) - The card says “bigger”
and you have to draw a picture to have your group guess the correct comparative.
Trivia questions
(past tense or passive) –
“Who created fireworks?” “Fireworks were created by the….”
(future) –
Where / be / 2014 World Cup?
Learn grammar (use) & reinforce rules naturally by reading or hearing it. Make it authentic, relevant, challenging
An article or listening activity related to students’ interests or needs
Introduce a puzzle or mystery
(comparatives) - Somebody stole the school mascot that is kept in a secret mini-storage room. There was blood and hair on the top of the doorway to the storage room. The doorway was 20 cm wide and 185 cm high. Kenji is 180 cm and he is quite thin. Masami is taller than Kenji but not as tall as Masataka. Masataka is not as fat as Kenji, and Masami is fatter than Kenji. Who probably stole the mascot? Why?
Activities where students speak or write a lot, use the language creatively, and have high motivation.
Aim for cooperative, personal, relevant, or competitive activities.
Brainstorm as many sentences as possible using the structure to win (past modals – “must have”, “might have”)
World Records :
“In 1888, a 15 year old girl yawned continuously for a period of five weeks.”
“Bill Cook and his fiancé exchanged 6,000 love letters in 4.5 years in the 1940s.”
Brainstorm as many sentences (example 2)
(should/could/would) Advice – Use real problems from the web or students, and offer advice.
From student: “My mom makes me come home by 8PM. What can I do to get her to let me stay out longer?”
From web: “My boyfriend wants to break up…. How can I keep him?”
Interesting conversational questions using the target structure
(“would”) Unbelievable chances
“How would your life have been different if you had been born a girl /boy?”
“If you won 1,000,000 yen, what would you do?”
Guess who/ what?
(comparatives)
“He is not as tough as Matsui, but he is faster and more handsome than Matsui. He came to the US earlier than Matsui, but later than Nomo. Who is he?”
Introduce the structure naturally through communication or a task
Present the grammar with student involvement
Include structured drills & games Input (reading & listening) End with freer communication activities
Don’t forget to review & contrast different rules with each other!
Testing? Needed, but can also be communicative
Communicative principles:
cooperative: students share or work with otherschallenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase motivationrelevant: related to students’ interests and/or needspersonal: use the language to share experiences, feelings, or opinionsauthentic: should include real examples, if possible
Introduction (past perfect)
“Good morning. Listen up. Please open to page 15. We will study past perfect.”
Presenting grammar rules (past tense) Lecture
“We usually put –ed at the end of the verbs. Sometimes this makes a /t/ sound. Repeat: finish, finished, crash, crashed, cook, cooked. Sometimes this makes a /-id/ sound. Repeat: bunt, bunted. Sometimes it makes a /-d/ sound. Repeat: cram, crammed…- hey, Takuro, wake up!!!”
Drills (verb agreement) Fill in the blank
Tim ___________ (love) action movies.
Jim and Jenny usually ___________________ (play) tennis on the weekend.
Drills (passive) Translation task
シカゴのスミスタワーはコンクリートで作られた。
タコスはジョンに食べられた。
Drills (past tense)Change these verbs into the past tense: go, drink, fly, drink, eat
Communicative activity (future tense) Writing
Write about your future (10 years from now) in five sentences. Hand it in next Tuesday.
Communicative activity (past tense) Writing
Write about five sentences about 5 crazy or interesting things you have done.
Communicative principles:
cooperative: students share or work with otherschallenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase motivationrelevant: related to students’ interests and/or needspersonal: use the language to share experiences, feelings, or opinionsauthentic: should include real examples, if possible
Is error correction needed?Some early research suggested not
helpful.Current research shows that it can
help.
When is it needed?
CONSIDER: Student Proficiency (Accuracy v. Fluency) / The Learning Style of the Student / The Purpose of the Assignment / The Type of Error / The Context of the Error
Correct errors:
For students who are: fluent, confident
For errors that: have been learned, are learnable, and/or affect communication
In situations that: are not public, do not interrupt communication
How?Explicit correction (fix & explain)Correction (no explanation)Marked, but not corrected (in writing,
circled or underlined)Coded (in writing, “SV”, “error #7”, etc.)Recast (in speaking; e.g. “Oh, you went
there yesterday. How fun!”)Clarification (“What do you mean? You are
going, or you sometimes go?”)Nothing
Which do you do? What are the advantages of each?
