Transcript Teaching grammar in a communicative , motivating way

Caleb Prichard
准教授、共立女子大学、文芸学部
[email protected]
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 speaking
role in listening
role in writing
role in reading
 More
important in productive skills.
 More important in written language (more
complex, more accuracy).
1. writing
2. speaking
3. reading
4. 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
Possessive 's
Be verb
Plural -s
Irregular past tense
3rd person singular -s
Progressive -ing
The Natural Order Hypothesis
Which is acquired first? last?
Early: Possessive 's
Middle: Plural -s
Late: Articles
Be verb Progressive -ing
3rd person singular -s
Irregular past tense
Tono (2002), Ikeda (2004)
 Frequency
of use
Which is used more?
present perfect (have/has -en/-ed)
past perfect (had -en/-ed)?
-OR-
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
Learn language naturally by reading/listening
 Explicit

A
(Krashen, 1982)
Instruction
Teach grammar rules, explanation, drills, tests
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 others
challenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase
motivation
relevant: related to students’ interests and/or needs
personal: use the language to share experiences,
feelings, or opinions
authentic: should include real examples, if possible
 Introduce
the structure naturally through
communication or a task
 Present
the grammar with student
involvement
 Include
 Input
 End
structured drills & games
(reading & listening)
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 others
challenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase
motivation
relevant: related to students’ interests and/or
needs
personal: use the language to share experiences,
feelings, or opinions
authentic: 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 others
challenging: a game, task, or puzzle to increase
motivation
relevant: related to students’ interests and/or
needs
personal: use the language to share experiences,
feelings, or opinions
authentic: 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?
Caleb Prichard
准教授、共立女子大学、文芸学部
[email protected]