Transcript Document

The grammar gap
Dick Hudson
Liverpool February 2010
1
Plan
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Grammar in a normal world
How we got our grammar gap
Curriculum reform
The problem
The symptoms
The diagnosis
The remedy
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1. A normal world
• Everyone needs some “knowledge about
language” (KAL)
– explicit knowledge
– with established terminology
• Why?
– like biology: for interest and self-understanding
– like literacy: for learning more
• in L1
• in foreign languages
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What is KAL?
• External KAL: own language and others:
– history
– geography
• Internal KAL:
–
–
–
–
varieties, e.g. standard/non-standard
pronunciation, e.g. IPA
vocabulary, e.g. synonymy, hyponymy, cognate
grammar.
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Grammar in a normal world
• ideas
– e.g. compositionality and irregularity
• categories
– e.g. word classes
• skill in analysing examples
• skill in using analyses
• in learning new language
• in using old language
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Grammar in a normal world
• Accepted as part of the curriculum
– like literacy, numeracy, IT.
• Informed by research on grammar.
• Taught by best methods
– systematically
– interestingly
– relevantly
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Where is this normal world?
•
•
•
•
•
Ancient India, Greece and Rome
Mediaeval Arabic civilization
18th and 19th century Britain
France, Spain, Italy, …
Russia, Bulgaria, …
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2. How we got our grammar gap
• At one time, English education was normal.
• ‘Grammar schools’ taught Latin and other
languages, including their grammar
• the ‘trivium’ in mediaeval universities was:
– logic
– rhetoric
– grammar
• Grammar survived till the 1960s
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GCE O-level English 1950
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But between 1900 and 1950 …
• HE: No research on language
– except phonetics
– No teaching of ‘language’
• except OE and philology
• Schools: Traditional grammar taught and tested
– but grammar for English was ‘Latinate’.
– ‘ [it is] impossible at the present juncture to teach
English grammar in the schools for the simple reason
that no-one knows exactly what it is ’ (Board of
Education 1921)
– so grammar was marginal – one optional question
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The turning point: the 1960s
• The end of grammar teaching in schools
– first in English
– then in Foreign languages
• The start of grammar research in
universities
– Quirk
– Halliday
– Chomsky
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3. Curriculum reform
• Since 1990, grammar is back in the
curriculum:
– but not old-fashioned Latinate grammar
– linguists have had a lot of influence
• The National Curriculum
– for English (1990, 1995, 1999)
– for foreign languages (1990, 1999)
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and of course, …
• A-level English language appeared in 1985
entries
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
entries
8000
6000
4000
2000
O
7
O
5
O
3
99
97
95
93
91
O
1
19
85
0
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What Ofqual expects in ALEL:
• 3.5 AS specifications should require candidates to show broad
knowledge and understanding of …
• the characteristic speech sounds and intonation patterns (phonetics
and phonology)
• the vocabulary of English, including the origins, meanings and usage
of words (lexis)
• the forms and structures of words, phrases, clauses, sentences and texts
in speech and writing (morphology, grammar and discourse) …
• 3.6 In addition, A level specifications should require students to show
deeper knowledge and understanding of … the following frameworks
…:
– phonology and phonetics, lexis, morphology, grammar, discourse …
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4. The problem
• Young teachers don’t know grammar
– Schools didn’t need to teach grammar 19601990.
– Most university English and FL depts still
don’t teach about grammar.
– So since 1980 teachers have had to teach
content that they probably didn’t learn either
at school or at university.
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5. The symptoms
• In 1986, educational linguists were worried.
• So Tom Bloor constructed a simple test
– for Aston University French Dept
– and UCL Linguistics Dept
• to be taken by new undergraduates:
– 63 in language subjects (Aston, UCL)
– 175 in other subjects (Aston)
• one part involved grammar KAL:
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The grammar test
• From the sentence below give ONE example
of each of the grammatical items requested
and write it in the space provided. NB You
may select the same word(s} more than once
if appropriate.
– Materials are delivered to the factory by a
supplier, who usually has no technical
knowledge, but who happens to have the right
contacts.
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The items requested
• verb, noun, …
• countable noun, relative pronoun, auxiliary
verb, …
• passive verb, past participle, …
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% of students who ‘gapped’
Linguists (N= 63)
Non-linguists (N = 175)
verb
0
5
noun
0
7
38
43
27
85
2
27
25
66
definite article
21
48
indefinite article
33
67
9
60
relative pronoun
17
68
auxiliary verb
44
54
21
45
11
55
41
56
11
58
countable noun
passive verb
adjective
adverb
44% of linguists
couldn’t find an
auxiliary verb
preposition
past participle
conjunction
finite verb
infinitive
85% of non-linguists
couldn’t find a
passive verb
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A simple index of grammatical KAL
• Average gaps per student (max: 15):
– linguists (inc French): 3.02
– non-linguists: 7.45
• Conclusions:
– linguists had serious gaps
– but they were much better than non-linguists
– they must have learned it from A-level FL
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What happened next?
• NB from 1990 official policy requires grammar to
be taught
– but NOT tested
• Did this reverse the trend?
• 1992, 1994: Charles Alderson at Lancaster
– tested students of French and of Linguistics
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1986, 1992, 1994
6
5
errors
4
3
2
1
0
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
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1996
2009
• Charles Alderson and I invited colleagues in
LAGB and BAAL to repeat the test.
• It was taken by 659 students at 11 HEIs
• Including Aston and UCL
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A typical FL undergraduate in 2009
French and Spanish
at A-level
‘a describing word’?
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How do students feel about it?
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1986 - 2009
Aston French: 11
UCL Lingx: 18
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
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Moreover, other HEIs are worse
12
10
8
6
4
UCL BSc
2
0
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
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Effects of A-level
• Foreign language A-level does teach
grammar
– 1986: it added 5 points to score
– 2009: it only adds 1 or 2 points
• English language makes no difference
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6. The diagnosis
• Students aren’t learning grammar at school
– in spite of the curriculum
• But some grammar is being taught
• So official policy is not working
• Why not? Maybe because teachers
– are anxious
– don’t really understand
– can easily avoid it
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7. The remedy
• Official policy should test grammar.
• Ofsted should ensure it’s taught well.
• Linguistics and Eng Lang graduates
should become school teachers.
• Linguistics depts should teach English
grammar for text analysis.
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