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2. Which comes first --grammar or the outcome? Presented by: K. Lynn Savage Ventures Series Editor

4. Agenda • Grammar within the four skills • Learners’ needs • Context and language • Criteria for selecting grammar • Implications for teachers

5. How is grammar reflected in listening? Teacher: “Please bring me the books.” Student brings one book. Why did the student bring only one book? The student didn’t hear the ‘s’.

6. How is grammar reflectedin speaking? Job interviewer: “How long have you been working at your current job?” Applicant: “I worked there for two years.” What is the difference between the applicant’s answer and the interviewer’s question? Present perfect vs. past tense

7. How is grammar reflectedin reading? Student reads: “He has lived there for two years.” Student focuses on lived, not have lived. What incorrect assumption does the reader make? The reader assumes that the person no longer lives there.

8. How is grammar reflectedin writing? Automotive tech student writing what he did to a customer's car: I check the brakes. The supervisor wonders . . . • Is the student checking the brakes now? • Has the student already checked the brakes? • Is the student going to check the brakes? • Is the student writing about his everyday tasks: I check the brakes everyday.

9. Determining learners’ needs Four areas to consider: • The home: parent / family member • The community: citizen / community member • The workplace: worker • Social situations

10. The home:English or L1?

11. The community

12. The workplace

13. Social situations

14. Conclusion: context, context, context, context + form! • Adult learners need immediate application. • Grammar needs to be meaningful, relevant, • Lessons need to address language form (grammar). and practical.

15. The importance of context: the adult education perspective “Skills and knowledge are best acquired in context.” Pelavin study “Adults . . . . are said to place particular importance as learners on realistic rapid application of new knowledge to practical contexts and problems in their real lives.” Malcolm Knowles

16. The importance of context: the language researchers’ perspective Researchers believe that teaching grammar (focusing on form) is effective, but they advocate that it should be done in meaningful, relevant contexts where students are given plenty of opportunities to practice it. Rodriguez 2009 “Teaching grammar to adult English language learners: focus on form.” CAELA Network Brief www.cal.org/caelanetwork

17. Matching context with language Key considerations: • Distinguish between grammar and outcome • Select grammar for its function

18. Outcomes and grammar

19. Language functions Function = the purpose for communicating

20. Relationship between function and structure One function: several structures Function: giving advice • You should study harder. • You had better study harder. • You ought to study harder • How about studying harder? • If I were you, I would study harder.

21. Relationship betweenstructure and function One structure: several functions

22. Frequency of use One function, several structures Example: future intention • be going to + verb • will + verb • present continuous (be +verb + -ing) Ask: Which is more frequent? be going to + verb

23. Other criteria for selecting grammar • Necessity for conveying meaning • Actual use • Occurrence in both spoken and written language

24. Necessity for conveying meaning Example: -s on third person singular • John lives • She studies • It costs The -s is redundant because the subject tells us we are talking about only one person.

25. Actual use With whom do your students need to speak English? Who do your students need to speak English with?

26. Actual use Distinction between subject case who and object case whom. We rarely hear whom in conversation any more.

27. Actual use But look at the following: We are coming to a school zone. Drive slow.

28. Actual use Distinction between adjectives and adverbs. At one time, slow was used only as an adjective. Now it often occurs in daily speech as an adverb.

30. Actual use The “Unreal” Conditional: • Used for unreal or improbable situations • Formed by the simple past in the if clause and would + base form of verb in the result clause. Example: If I were rich, I would . . . If I had the money, I would . . .

31. Actual use • Weatherman on TV: “What if this was snow?” • Grammar for unreal conditional (If this were snow . . . ) • Question: Is grammar for expressing unreal conditional in the process of changing?

32. Some implications of actual use • Observe how language is changing. • Confirm that the grammar in the textbook reflects actual use. 3. Avoid “correcting” grammar “errors” that don’t reflect common use today.

33. Is the structure common in spoken and written language? Past perfect verb tense Example: I had eaten before I went to the movie. Do you hear this tense in common daily speech? Rule: Use the past perfect to show that an event happened before another event in the past. The past perfect shows the earlier event.

34. Is the structure common in spoken and written language? Spoken Language: I ate before I went to the movie. The past perfect tense is seldom used in spoken English. Lane and Lange, Writing Clearly

35. Common in spoken and written language:implications for teachers • Adult ESL courses typically emphasize conversational situations. • Grammatical structures that are not common in spoken English do not lend themselves to adult ESL courses.

36. Is the structure common in spoken and written language? Grammar structures that appear mainly in written English are better taught in higher-level classes that prepare students for higher education. Grammar Matters, p. 15

37. Implications for teachers Present grammar in the sequence in which we “acquire” our first language. • Listening before speaking • Speaking before reading • Reading before writing

38. Which comes first – grammar or the outcome? Start by . . . . clearly defining what one wants learners to be able to do (the end) before the beginning, teaching them how to accomplish that end, and then assessing and documenting the end they were to achieve in the first place. Education (the means) is based on the outcome (the end), not the other way around. Answers.com entry on Outcomes-based education

39. Which comes first – grammar or the outcome? In teaching, which comes first? The grammar In curriculum development, which comes first? The outcome

40. Considerations • Context • Grammar • Learning Activities

41. Considerations in selecting contexts • In which contexts does the grammar naturally occur? • Does the grammar communicate a purpose (the language function) that our learners need? • Does the grammar occur in environments in which our students use English?

42. Considerations in selecting grammar • Is the grammar appropriate for the environment in which learners will be using English? • Is the grammar critical to conveying meaning?

43. Considerations in selecting grammar • Does the grammar convey a language function that learners will use in their daily lives? 4. Is there a clear relationship between structure and function?

44. Considerations in selecting grammar 5. Does the grammar reflect actual use? 6. Does the grammar commonly occur in both spoken and written language?

45. Considerations in sequencing learning activities Do the exercises – the teaching sequence – mirror the language acquisition process? Hear it before you say it. Say it before you read it. Read it before you write it.

46. Due to his grammar mistake, Wilbur found a position. It just wasn’t the one he wanted. Image source: www.stolaf.edu

47. Questions • To ask a question, go to the “chat” section on the right-hand side of your screen. • Next to the “Send To” pick list, select “Cambridge” • Type your question in the box below “Send To” • Hit send (to the right)

48. www.cambridge.org/ventures Scroll down and select “Research & Methodology on the bottom left.”

49. Grammar Matters: 6 Chapters The Role of Grammar in Adult ESL An Eclectic Approach to Teaching Grammar Choosing Grammar to Teach The Grammar Lesson: Presentation The Grammar Lesson: Guided Practice The Grammar Lesson: Communicative Practice

50. Professional Development DVD www.cambridge.org/ventures Teacher training DVD including a module on teaching grammar communicatively.