HARMER - Chapter 12 - Teaching Language Construction | Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

12. TEACHING LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTION

A. Studying structure and use

The language study we will discuss comprises a focus on the structure and use of language forms,

particularly in the following areas:

• the morphology of forms (e.g. the fact that is and am are forms of be, but ammn’t is not);

• the syntax of phrases, clauses and sentences (e.g. the rules of question formation or the

construction of if-sentences);

• vocabulary, including the meanings of words, their lexical grammar (e.g. the fact that enjoy

can be followed by an -ing form but not by an infinitive), and collocation rules (e.g. we say

even-handed but not even-footed);

• the meanings and functions that phrases and sentences can convey;

• pronunciation;

• spelling.

A.1. Language study in lesson sequences

The status of language study depends on why and when it occurs. It may form the main focus of a

lesson or it may be only one element in a grander design. One approach is for students to study

language in a variety of ways, explore a topic and then use what they have learnt to perform a task.

Alternatively, the study of language forms may happen during a task-based sequence. We might

focus on one or two past tense forms in the middle of an extended narrative-writing task; we might

have our students study or research vocabulary to describe the weather in the middle of a sequence

on holiday planning. A third option is to study forms after the students have performed the task.

This usually happens as a form of language repair when the task has shown up language problems.

In other words, rather than always using Straight arrow sequences, we will often find that

Boomerang or Patchwork lessons are more suitable.

However, even where we have not planned when and how to include language study in a particular

lesson sequence, we sometimes find opportunities presenting themselves which it is impossible to

ignore. As a result, we get students to focus on language items which we have not anticipated

including. Such opportunistic teaching – studying language which suddenly ‘comes up’ – exposes

the tension between planning lessons in advance and responding to what actually happens. When

used appropriately, the relevance and immediacy of opportunistic language study may make it the

most memorable and effective kind of language study there is.

A.2. Choosing study activities

We will frequently decide how and when to have students study language form and use on the basis

of the syllabus and/or the coursebook since it may offer an explanation and an exercise that we are

happy to use almost unchanged. However, some of these sequences may not suit the style and

progress of our learners and may thus need adjusting or replacing in some way. We may want to try

out new activities or may wish to avoid using the same kind of activity day after day. How then do

we make such decisions?

• Following planning principles: when deciding how to have students study language form,

we need to bear general planning principles in mind. This means that we have to think about

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12. TEACHING LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTION

A. Studying structure and use

The language study we will discuss comprises a focus on the structure and use of language forms, particularly in the following areas:

the morphology of forms (e.g. the fact that is and am are forms of be , but ammn’t is not);
the syntax of phrases, clauses and sentences (e.g. the rules of question formation or the construction of if- sentences);
vocabulary, including the meanings of words, their lexical grammar (e.g. the fact that enjoy can be followed by an - ing form but not by an infinitive), and collocation rules (e.g. we say even-handed but not even-footed );
the meanings and functions that phrases and sentences can convey;
pronunciation;
spelling. A. 1. Language study in lesson sequences The status of language study depends on why and when it occurs. It may form the main focus of a lesson or it may be only one element in a grander design. One approach is for students to study language in a variety of ways, explore a topic and then use what they have learnt to perform a task. Alternatively, the study of language forms may happen during a task-based sequence. We might focus on one or two past tense forms in the middle of an extended narrative-writing task; we might have our students study or research vocabulary to describe the weather in the middle of a sequence on holiday planning. A third option is to study forms after the students have performed the task. This usually happens as a form of language repair when the task has shown up language problems. In other words, rather than always using Straight arrow sequences, we will often find that Boomerang or Patchwork lessons are more suitable. However, even where we have not planned when and how to include language study in a particular lesson sequence, we sometimes find opportunities presenting themselves which it is impossible to ignore. As a result, we get students to focus on language items which we have not anticipated including. Such opportunistic teaching – studying language which suddenly ‘comes up’ – exposes the tension between planning lessons in advance and responding to what actually happens. When used appropriately, the relevance and immediacy of opportunistic language study may make it the most memorable and effective kind of language study there is. A. 2. Choosing study activities We will frequently decide how and when to have students study language form and use on the basis of the syllabus and/or the coursebook since it may offer an explanation and an exercise that we are happy to use almost unchanged. However, some of these sequences may not suit the style and progress of our learners and may thus need adjusting or replacing in some way. We may want to try out new activities or may wish to avoid using the same kind of activity day after day. How then do we make such decisions?
Following planning principles: when deciding how to have students study language form, we need to bear general planning principles in mind. This means that we have to think about

activities which the students do before and after this study session so that we do not simply repeat the same kind of activity again and again. We need to offer a varied diet of exercises when studying language construction both because all our students have different styles, and also because we want help them sustain their motivation.

Assessing a language study activity for use in class: when assessing an activity designed for the study of language form, we need to decide how effective it will be when we take it into class. It should justify the time we will need to spend on it both before and during the lesson. We need to believe that the activity demonstrates meaning and use clearly and that it allows opportunities for a focus on the construction of the language form. One way of assessing study activities is to judge their efficiency and their appropriacy. In terms of efficiency, we might want to assess the economy, ease and efficacy of the activity. Economy means that the time we spend setting up the activity is in a satisfactory ratio to the payoff the activity provides. An easy activity is one that is simple for the teacher to use and organise. An efficacious activity is one that works.
Evaluating a study activity after use in class: once a lesson is over, we need to evaluate the success of the activity which focused on language form, whether we do this formally or informally. Evaluation of an activity answers questions such as 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) and whether or not we want to use it again. Part of this evaluation involves us in thinking about how we might modify the activity the next time we use it. A. 3. Known or unknown language? Unless we are teaching real beginners, each individual student has some degree of linguistic knowledge and ability in English. In addition to this, individual students learn at different speeds and in different ways. These two factors explain why so many factors can rightly be described as ‘mixed ability’. The fact of mixed ability throws up a problem for the study of new language forms since it will frequently be impossible to know whether such forms really are new or not for individual students in a class. And even if most of our students have come across the language before, it is not necessarily the case that they can all use it. If we are not sure whether or not our students known the language we are about to ask them to study, we will need to find this information out. If we do not, we risk teaching students things they already know or assuming knowledge they do not have. One way of avoiding teaching already-known language is to have students perform tasks and see how well they use the language forms in question before deciding whether we need to introduce those forms as if they were new. A less elaborate techniques is to attempt to elicit the new language forms we wish them to study. If we find that students can produce them satisfactory, we will not want to demonstrate or explain them all over again. If elicitation is unsuccessful, we have good grounds for treating the language forms as new and proceeding accordingly.

B. Explain and practice

Commentators have described an ‘ explain and practice ’ approach to teaching language construction as a deductive approach, even thought this term seems somewhat unhelpful. In a deductive approach, students are given explanations or grammar rules and the, based on these explanations or rules, they make phrases and sentences using the language. Explain and practice sequences are usually PPP-like, or what we have called ‘Straight arrows’. In the following example for teaching the present continuous, the sequence starts when the teacher engages the students by showing them pictures of people doing various actions. Following this lead-

Many teachers use fingers or hands, too, to show how he is turns into he’s or how fast and er are joined together to make a comparative adjective. We can also demonstrate word and sentence stress by beating time with our arms. We can show intonation patterns by ‘drawing’ the tune in the air. Some students like to see written explanations, diagrams on boards or overhead projectors. For example, if we want to show how words are streed we can use one of the following markings → One way of demonstrating grammatical sequence is to write words on individual cards which can then be moved around. We can also manipulate a set of Cuisenaire rods. They can be used to show parts of speech, stress patterns and sentence constructions. It is somethimes more appropriate to explain language construction with words. For example, if we want students to understand the rule abut the third person singular of the present simple, we can say Listen… we say I play, you play, we play, they play, but with he, she and it we add an s. B. 2. Practice (accurate reproduction) During the practice – or accurate reproduction – phase of an explain and practise sequence we will first get students repeating the new language before then moving on to practise it.

Repetition: repetition can be either choral or individual. When we use choral repetition, we get all the students to say the new word or phrase together. For choral repetition to be effective, it is important to start the chorus clearly and to help the students with the rhythm by ‘conducting’ the chorus, using arms and hands to show where stress occurs, etc. Choral repetition can be invigorating, and it gives all the students a chance to speak together rather than being shown up individually.
Drills: if we feel that students have done enough repetition of a phrase or phrases, we may organise a quick cue-response session to encourage controlled practice of the new language. Suppose that we have taught a group of beginner students a series of phrases such as They’re painting the house, He’s fixing the roof, She’s mowing the grass , etc., and that we have pictures of these actions on cards. We can use the cards as a cue, which we hope will then elicit the appropriate response. Cue-response drills are an efficient way of getting the students to say the new language in a way that can be invigorating and challenging.

C. Discover (and practise)

In an inductive approach, things are organized somewhat differently from the explain and practice sequences we have looked above. Instead of having meaning and construction explained to them, students see examples of language and try to work out how it is put together. Thus, for example, after students have read a text, we can ask them to find examples of different past tenses and say how and why they are used. This Boomerang-type lesson is appropriate where language study arises out of skills work on reading and listening texts. Discovering activities are especially useful with students who already have a certain amount of language available to them for the first activation stage than it is with students who can say very little. Discovery activities are especially useful when students are looking at the construction of specific language for the second or third time. When we ask them to look at the use of different past tenses in a story and to work out on how they are used

and why, we assume that they know the individual tenses. The detective work they are doing now 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 may get them to use them either as accurate reproduction or immediate creativity. If this is a second or third visit to a particular area of language, accurate reproduction may be unnecessary. Instead, we will encourage students to try to use the language for themselves.

D. Research (and practise)

An alternative to explain and practise and discovery activities is to have students do language research on their own. For example, if they are working on how we use ours bodies to express meaning (e.g. waving, clenching, shrugging, wagging ), we could give them a number of collocation (e.g. wave my arm, clench my teeth, shrug my shoulders, wag my finger ) and tell them to use them in sentences, or perhaps ask them to talk about what the actions mean. However, it might be far more memorable for them if we asked them to do the work themselves. Thus we could ask them to consult a dictionary, looking up both the verb and the various parts of the body to see if they appear to collocate. Or they could use a search engine, such as Google, to see if locations work. For example, if they want to know if wave and arm go together, they can type waved his arm between quotation marks, and they will get something the results. When students research language, they are far more likely to remember what they find out than if they sit passively and are given words. The more we encourage them to do this, the better. Language research is more likely to be effective at higher levels, though much will depend on the personality of the students. As with discovering activities, when students have researched language, we may ask them to use the language they have discovered. However, if they find this impossible to do, we may have to return to explanations and accurate reproduction. Indeed, the degree to which teachers use repetition and drilling depends to a large extent on their judgement of when it is appropriate and when it is not. Over-drilling, especially as students mover to higher levels, can have a very demotivating effect, but in its place it can be very effective and enjoyable.

HARMER - Chapter 12 - Teaching Language Construction, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

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12. TEACHING LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTION

A. Studying structure and use

B. Explain and practice

C. Discover (and practise)

D. Research (and practise)