position paper - laidemitt (revised)

7/31/2019 Position Paper - Laidemitt (Revised)

1/42

Heidi Marie LaidemittMATESOL

Component 4 Position Paper

1

My attraction to linguistics stems from my attraction to all works of nature. Nature

is spellbindingly wild yet pleasantly predictable, seemingly repetitive yet subtly evolving.

To study language is to study nature, which must be done in the wild in order to bring it to

the classroom. I did not learn how to study language in the wild until I moved to Mexico for

a year. Unfortunately, most of my Spanish learning in high school and college was devoid of

authentic content, scaffolded lessons, task-based instruction, and communicative activities.

While sitting on my Mexicana Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City in 2009, I

quickly realized that I barely had the words to order un jugo de naranja (an orange juice).

After wandering in confusion for several weeks in Mexico and attending Spanish

classes for the next nine months at the Fenix Language Institute in Zacatecas and Quertaro

Language School, Spanish somehowbecame mine. Upon reflection, neither living in Mexico

nor simply taking classes was the magical recipe for becoming fluent, but rather an

appropriate mixture of the two was necessary. Truly, what I learned as a student still

continues to inform my teaching and understanding of language acquisition.


2/42



2

linguistic basis of the target language and equip them with the skills to transfer that

knowledge to the real world.

I am passionate about helping English language learners navigate through their

language learning processes, because indeed, language learning is a lifelong process. As a

teacher, I face the never-ending commitment to understanding what language is and how it

is learned. My position paper first aims to define language as a whole greater than its parts

due to the importance of context, and that it requires social construction and probabilistic

cognition to describe its dynamic nature. Additionally, I highlight the importance of

subjectivity to show that learners go through continual identity construction. With a

foundation in my understanding of language, I then present a snapshot of my

communicative classroom through a lesson plan (Appendix A). The lesson incorporates an

authentic humorous text and presents exercises that are scaffolded to complete a final task.

The activities in the plan incorporate a focus on forms and explicit grammatical instruction

that aim to help learners notice their linguistic gaps, and ultimately, equip them with tools


3/42



3

their native languages, including varieties of non-standard English. Like English, the

Bengal tigress also comes in other varieties (subspecies in biological terms) and if not

restricted by geographic separation, may interbreed with them. As such, educators should

embrace the reality that English is a global language and the intersection of linguistic

behaviors among speakers of different varieties is inevitable. Canagarajah (2007) writes:

English is not an object or system that gets used in different places but rather

something that emerges from local practices lingua franca English is not a product

located in the mind of the speaker; it is a social process constantly reconstructed in

sensitivity to environmental factors (p. 94).

Language

The crux ofwhat is language for me is how language is used to create and interpret

meaning. In order to describe meaning, I first consider the individual units of language and

their impact on types of competence; next I discuss the interaction of individuals and the

social use of language; and finally, I use these concepts to show how they contribute to the


4/42



4

the pyramid accounts forgrammatical competence, which is the mastery of the grammatical

code of a language, and discourse competence, which addresses how to combine forms in

spoken or written text (Canale & Swain, 1980).

Figure 1: Introducing Language Awareness (p. 15)

Yet, while the pyramid portrays language as having categorical components,


5/42



5

understand the meaning, imagine that the author finally found what he was looking for as a

result of using Google search history; in such a context, one could interpret the meaning of

Thanks, search history as an expression of appreciation. However, the author is being

sarcastic, as he continues with If I were hoping for an unsubtle reference to how little Ive

developed as an adult, that would do nicely. The use ofthanks or thank you to chide

someone or express I am not thankfulis a common use of the phrase with just the right

intonation and stress. Thus, utterances are inherently ambiguous without careful

consideration of the context. As Ellis (2007) explains, A major characteristic of the

environments that are relevant to human cognition is that they are fundamentally

probabilistic: every stimulus is ambiguous, as is any utterance or piece of language (p. 78).

In order to understand the interplay of form, meaning, and use, language users operate on

their lifetime analysis of the distributional characteristics of the language input using a

statistical ensemble of language experiences that changes slightly every time a new

utterance is processed (Ellis, 2003, p. 64). In other words, speakers must apply their life


6/42



6

utterance, the social relationships of the people involved, and their ethnic, gendered, and

sexual identities, as well as cultural, historical, and institutional factors (p. 57). How

ambiguity becomes meaning is the work of interpreting language in context. Departing

from Larsen-Freemans model (2003), meaning can also be described as use in other

frameworks, such as Grice (1957). His work states that [expression] x means

(timeless[ly]) that so-and-so might as a first shot be equated with some statement or

disjunction of statements about what people (vague) intendto effect by x (p. 385). As an

example, I recently had the following exchange with a security guard at the Monterey

Institute of International Studies on the phone:

Me: Hi, Im calling from the Writing Center. Im a tutor and just got here but noticed

the door is not unlocked.

Security Guard: Ah. Ill be right there.

I thought about our quick exchange afterwards in terms ofGrices Maxims (Grice,

1975). From an outsiders perspective, implicatures, or the act of implying something


7/42



7

knowledge of our job duties. In essence, we were being cooperative interlocutors who

adhered to the maxims.

The Maxim of Quantityrequires speakers to be informative, and I gave the security

guard enough information to remind him of his duties by implicating that I needed to enter

the Center. The Maxim of Qualitystates that users must be honest, and I was honest;

however, I would like to add that my form was slightly hedged. I could have told the

security guard, You forgot to unlock the door; instead, I told him, I noticed the door is not

unlocked. Ultimately, I wanted to shift the focus to the door rather than his

responsibilities, even though we both knew that he did not perform one of his duties for the

day. The Maxim of Relation states that speakers make relevant contributions. From an

outsiders perspective, the situation appears as though I simply called the security hut

without a real intention because I never asked him to perform a job duty. However, I know

his job responsibilities and he knows mine, because usually by 4:00pm every day the

Writing Center is unlocked for tutoring purposes because tutors do not have their own


8/42



8

successful conversational transaction. Elliss (2007) assertion that every utterance is

ambiguous holds; the key in recovering the intended meanings through implicature was

the context.

Individual and Social Use

Identity and society add an additional layer to language, as Williams (1977) writes:

A definition of language is always, implicitly or explicitly, a definition of human beings in

the world (p. 21), which I will now consider at the level of the individual. A part of the

portfolio assessment is voice: In its parts and as a whole, the Portfolio must be such that,

whether the writing is introspective or academic in register, it could only have been

written by the particular author (Program-Level Assessment in the MATESOL/MATFL

Curriculum, 2012, p. 9). This expectation nicely reflects my view that individuals have

idiolects, defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2012) as language

exhaustively in terms of intrinsic properties of some single person in which the main

force of intrinsic is to exclude essential reference to features of the person's wider


9/42



9

meaning, but also express and create my identity through language I have a voice.

Drawing from Weedons (1997) poststructural feminist theory, I agree that identity

is both constructed in and by interaction and that subjectivity is precarious, contradictory

and in process, constantly being reconstituted in discourse each time we think or speak

(1997, p. 32). Applying this treatment of subjectivity to language learners, Norton (2000)

explains that When language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information

with target language speakers, but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense

of who they are and how they relate to the social world (p. 11). Important, then, is not only

the individual use of language, but also the interaction with others in order to create

identity. From my perspective, the individual learner is not acting in isolation; she is

affecting and being affected by the environment. I believe that an important aspect of

language use includes the participation metaphor, explained as a process that involves

developing the ability to communicate through the language and behavior that are deemed

acceptable by the community (Swain & Deters, 2007, p. 821). As Wenger (1998) explains,


10/42



10

According to Schmitt and Marsden (2006), like is an example of a word that is

changing. The following example illustrates the authors description oflike as a common

verb, a preposition that means similar to, a conjunction, and a marker of direct speech,

which is a relatively new feature of the word: Well, you were like, I care about you a lot.

But tell me like you mean it. Do you like me like me? Or like, just feel for me like a friend? I

include reduplication of like me to illustrate a separate point: Contrastive Reduplication

(CR), which has the semantic effect of focusing on the denotation of the reduplicated

element on a more sharply delimited, more specialized, range (Ghomeshi, Jackendoff,

Rosen, and Russell, 2004, p. 308). Interestingly, reduplication in other languages is used for

a variety of syntactic functions, and in English, uses include: baby talk (goo-goo ga-ga);

song lyrics (And, Im a ma ma material girl); depreciation of items (TESOL SCHMESOL);

rhyming (Sexy Mexi); ablaut combinations: (hip-hop); and intensive reduplication (This

position paper is mine mine mine!). Thus, CR is a cross-linguistic phenomenon, but through

social use it has changed its functions across languages and within one language, like


11/42



11

Lesson Planning and Learning Outcomes

The lesson plan is designed for high intermediate to advanced students in an

intensive English reading and writing course at the Monterey Institute of International

Studies (MIIS), or a program similar to it. Many classes in small intensive English programs

have about six to ten students of nationalities from all around the world who come to the

United States to study English in the target culture. Many of these students are young

adults who aspire to continue their studies in higher education or use English

professionally in their home countries. The lesson includes seven activities to engage

learners in a humorous text by Leffingwell (2011). The learning process is scaffolded using,

in part, Blooms Taxonomy (1956) by including seven exercises that culminate with the

final task of students creating their own humorous text. Scaffolding was originally coined

by Bruner (1978) and describes the frameworks given to learners in order for learning to

take place. I selected each activity to build upon each other in order to achieve scaffolding

by means of interaction with others and utilizing the lesson plan and text materials. I will


12/42



12

two levels of Blooms activity that trigger retrieving relevant knowledge and having

learners construct their own meaning, respectively. Activity 3 focuses students attention on

new vocabulary, while Activities 4 and 5 ask them to predict preposition use and

conceptualize prepositions based on thematic roles. These activities fall under the fourth

level in Blooms Taxonomy analyzing- because learners are breaking a part linguistic units

that contribute to the overall meaning of the text. While the grammatical focus of

prepositions may seem to be an aside, it aims to exemplifyfocus on form (FonF) rather than

forms (FonFs)(Doughty & Williams, 1998; Long & Robinson, 1998), in order to give

learners a usage-based view of language, while also highlighting prepositional use in

idioms. As Long and Robinson (1998) explain, focus on form overtly draws students

attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus

is on meaning or communication (p. 45-46). I used Cowan (2008) for ideas to create

activities that focus on grammar, I assumed that high intermediate to advanced learners

were already capable of identifying the prototypical meanings of prepositions, e.g., in


13/42



13

of Blooms Taxonomy that has learners make their own judgments of a text. In this

particular lesson, I am assuming that learners already have studied the literary devices and

are now applying their knowledge. The final task in Activity 8 directs learners to create

their own humorous text with peers on something they find annoying, which exemplifies

the final level of creating in Blooms Taxonomy. This final level of producing an original

piece is the synthesis of previous skills developed throughout the lesson.

While a paper-based lesson plan is inherently linear, I actually envision a bottom-up

and top-down interaction happening by using humor as the foundation of the content. At

the cognitive level, Gervais and Wilson (2005) define humor as nonserious social

incongruity (p. 399). In order for these incongruous meanings to actually be humorous,

they must be found to be amusing (Martin 2007), which may pose as an extra challenge for

non-native speakers who are navigating through incongruous content constantly. It is even

more cognitively and affectively taxing to navigate through messages purposefully meant

to be incongruous. Giving students a better understanding ofhowto interpret humor and


14/42



14

abilities to those of a target language audience. My intent is to create a rich linguistic

environment for the intuitive heuristics that normal human beings automatically process

(Chomsky, 1968, p. 687), or what Kumaravadivelu (2003) calls activating intuitive

heuristics. However, such a rich environment necessitates proper pedagogical tools for

learning to take place.

The Communicative Classroom and Zone of Proximal Development

A learner uses a more knowledgeable other(MKO) to navigate through theirzone of

proximal development(Vygotsky, 1978), defined as the distance between the actual

development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of

potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in

collaboration with more capable peers (p. 86). Specific to my lesson plan, I guide learners

through activities (1, 2, 3, and 4), before they encounter the actual text in Activity 5 in order

to assist their comprehension of the text. Thus, the activities, which promote classroom

interaction and sharing of ideas, allow the learners to successfully comprehend the text.


15/42



15

interactions between people. During a lesson plan, learners will interact with each other

and the teacher in order to navigate through the learning process. Donato (1994) asserts

that co-knowledge and co-construction result in linguistic change among and within

individuals during joint activity (p. 39).

The next difficult portion of the lesson that I aimed to scaffold was the creation of

the final humorous text in Task 8. With this mind, I created activities (6 and 7) to draw

learners attention to how humor is achieved by a native language speaker to model how to

be funny in English. Otherwise, expecting learners to generate a sarcastic text with literary

devices would be a very daunting task. As a teacher, then, I help learners navigate through

their ZPDs by keeping their abilities in mind by creating lesson activities and tasks that

create momentum and continual development. Walqui and van Lier (2010) also explain

that scaffolding within the ZPD can happen through assistance from more capable peers or

adults, interaction with equal peers, inner resources (such as knowledge, experience,

memory, strength), and interaction with less capable peers (p. 30). Assistance from more


16/42



16

language itself, I challenge myself to find ways to use the classroom as a site of identity

exploration. For me, this is the essence of a communicative classroom: students engaging

with others to continually build their linguistic repertoire.

Learner Autonomy

As explained, scaffolding may be achieved with others or through self-access and

resourcefulness, and what ultimately remains important is the learners ability to use

resources to work within their ZPDs. When learners directly engage with themselves in the

learning process, I believepromoting learner autonomythat is, helping learners take

responsibility for their learning, and to bring about necessary attitudinal changes in them

(Kumaravadivelu, 2003) can be achieved. One form of becoming a self-access resource

may be technologically based; thus, I make it my teaching goal to afford learners the ability

to access the English language outside of classroom through technology. For example, lets

assume that after the provided lesson, the learner engages with new material and finds an

idiomatic expression that they remember from this particular lesson. At the moment, they


17/42



17

typewith.me make that possible. For me, it is an extension of the lesson that may manifest

useful in other situations. The CCAE is another tool to help learners better understand

idiomatic expressions, collocations, and vocabulary in general by giving website visitors

access to a search engine of the target language in natural use (Activity 6). Additionally, a

corpus may allow for implicit understanding by giving learners samples of the same

word(s) from which they generate their own rules. Through the use of technology, I hope to

guide learners, have learners guide each other, and ultimately, have learners guide

themselves. It is from the zoo, crafted with careful lesson plans, that learners transfer

their knowledge to their own language learning safari.

Making Progress in the Language Learning Journey

No matter the level of the language learner, there may always be a sensation of

there is more to learn. Understandably, this experience happens to me in my own native

language, especially in genres of self-expression and academia, and is something I share

with my students to show commiseration, and perhaps inspire their advancement. As


18/42



18

learning, as described in Sharwood Smith (1991). Ellis (1997) argues that input

enhancement is a facet of explicit learning to help learners notice the gap between their

output and the actual input, thus enhancing their accuracy and fluency through use.

Throughout this process, learners are engaged in a dialectic process, involving the learner

in a conscious tension between the conflicting forces of their current interlanguage

productions and evidence of feedback (Ellis, 2007, p. 84).

Relating noticing and language development to the lesson plan, listeners will often

want to understand whysomething is funny, or howspeaker elicited a smile or laughter

(Activities 3, 6, and 7). Noticing may also be elicited through different techniques. One

option is the importance of focusing onform, not onforms (Doughty & Williams, 1998;

Long & Robinson, 1998), as exemplified in my section on language with Thanks, search

history and the focus on prepositions in Activities 4 and 5 to directlearners awareness to

thematic roles of prepositions for both accuracy and fluency purposes. As Larsen-Freeman

(2003) explains, grammar is a tool of exquisite precision, allowing us to create forms in


19/42



19

elements to my sample lesson plan. As Ellis (2003) describes, assessment should naturally

be built into a task in order to create momentum and allow students to personally witness

their success. First, the homework assignment asked students to interview a native English

speaker about humor (Activity 1), which is necessary for students make predictions about

the text (Activity 2). For me, assessment is achieved in two ways: did learners complete the

assignment?; and, now, are they able to see the importance of it to continue their learning

of American humor? Also, in Activity 4, I ask that students predict preposition use before

comparing answers with a partner. Then, learners are to check the text to again engage

them in predicting linguistic features and possibly notice their linguistic gaps. I do not

directly tell the students the answers; rather, I have them self-assess and utilize the chart in

Activity 5 for me to check their learning progress.

While Activity 7 is not directly involved in assessment, the literary devices that

students consider and describe may be used in the final task (Activity 8) of creating their

own humorous text to illustrate an annoyance in their lives. This task may even have real


20/42



20

competence helps learners in their social lives, because they become versatile speakers

capable of expressing meaning through different linguistic forms.

Due to the importance I place on education outside of the classroom, I believe that

the best kind of educational approaches actually reflect external environments. Perhaps

then, my communicative classroom takes the form of a wild animal park where I aim to

create a natural habitat through authentic texts, include activities that involve checking

predictions, and give learners linguistic tools to try outside of the classroom as a type of

authentic assessment. At that point, learners must interact in online or in-person

communities to ultimately gauge their success in the wild. If something goes awry, I

encourage students to use the language classroom to better hone their knowledge.

ConclusionThe lesson plan that I incorporated became the natural way to connect language and

language education. Further, it propelled me to explain why I teach the way that I do. In

fact, this position paper came to fruition through constant editing and restructuring of both


21/42



21

assessment because it helps learners connect their use of language, whether or not in the

classroom, to the language they witness in the wild.

A part of the passion that I have for language teaching resides in the fact that the

TESOL field drastically changes over small periods of time. The changing nature of the field

poses a limitation to my position paper, because that too will have to go through drastic

changes over small periods of time. However, I view the ever-changing field of language

teaching as a challenge that I am dedicated to meet. To enliven my role as a teacher,

perhaps my approach to lesson planning, and teaching in general, best aligns itself with van

Liers (2008) assertion that pedagogical activities should require the involvement of mind,

body, and emotions, and a persistent attitude of social engagement and environmental

exploration (p. 602). In van Lier (1996), he also suggests keeping a balance between

lesson planning and improvisation. In the spirit of humor and creativity in the classroom, I

value the importance of improvisation in lesson planning. While the lesson is framed

around two-hours, I still aim to allow for the environment to trigger new learning and


22/42



22

References

Barber, A. (2010). Idiolects. In The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy online. Retrieved on

February 20, 2012 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/idiolects/

Barron, A. (2003).Acquisition in interlanguage pragmatics: Learning how to do things with

words in a study-abroad context. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and

design. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J. (1978). The role of dialogue in language acquisition. In A. Sinclair, R. Jarvelle, &

W. Levelt (Eds.), The childs concept of language. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.

Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua franca English, multilingual communities, and language

acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 91, 923939.

Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second

language teaching and testing.Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.

Celce-Murica, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teachers


23/42



23

Cowan, R. (2008). The teachers grammar of English: A course book and reference guide. New

York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

DeKeyser, R. M. (1997). Beyond explicit rule learning: Automatizing second language

morphosyntax. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 195-221.

DeKeyser, R. M. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In C. J. Douglas & M. H. Long (Eds.),

The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313-348). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Donato, R. (1994). Collective scaffolding. In J. P. Lantolf & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian

approaches to second language research (pp. 33-56). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishers.

Doughty, C., & Williams, J. (1998). Pedagogical choices in focus on form. In C. Doughty & J.

Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 197

261). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis, N. (2003). Constructions, chunking, and connectionism: The emergence of second

language structure. In C. Douglas & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language

acquisition (pp. 63-103). Malden, MA: Blackwell.


24/42



24

Gee, J. P. (2005).An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method(2nd ed.).

London, UK: Routledge.

Gervais, M., & Wilson, D. (2005). The evolution and functions of laughter and humor: A

synthetic approach. Quarterly Review of Biology, 80, 395-430.

Ghomeshi, J., Jackendoff, R., Rosen, N., & Russell, K. (2004). Contrastive focus reduplication

in English (The salad-salad paper). Natural Language & Linguistics Theory,22, 307-

357.

Grice, P. (1957). Meaning. Philosophical Review, 66, 37788.

Grice, P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Grice (Ed.), Studies in the way of words (pp.

22-40). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gumperz, J. (2006). Sociocultural knowledge in conversational inference. In A. Jaworski &

N. Coupland (Eds.), The discourse reader(2nd ed, pp. 79-85). London: Routledge.

(Reprinted from Sociocultural knowledge in conversational inference by J. Gumperz,

1997,in Muriel Saville-Troike (Ed.) Linguistics and anthropology, Georgetown


25/42



25

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). The emergency of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in the oral

and written production of five Chinese learners of English.Applied Linguistics, 27,

590-619.

Leffingwell, M. (2010, June 23). Stop helping me, Google search history. [Web log

comment]. Retrieved from http://www.madatoms.com/site/blog/stop-helping-me-

google

Larimer, R., & L. Schleicher. (1999). New ways in using authentic materials in the classroom.

Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Long, M. H., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research, and practice. In C.

Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition

(pp. 15-41). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Martin, R. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. Oxford, UK: Elsevier

Academic Press.

Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change.


26/42



26

Schmidt, R. (1993). Awareness and second language acquisition.Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 13, 206-226.

Schmitt, N., & Marsden, R. (2006). Why is English like that? Historical answers to hard ELT

questions. Ann Arbor, MI: University Michigan Press.

Schmitz, J. (2002). Humor as a pedagogical tool in foreign language and translation courses.

Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 15, 89-113.

Sharwood Smith, M. (1991). Speaking to many minds: On the relevance of different types of

language information for the L2 learner. Second Language Research, 7, 118-132.

Skehan, P. (1998). Task-based instruction.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18, 268-

286.

Swain, M., & Deters, P. (2007). New mainstream SLA theory: Expanded and enriched.

Modern Language Journal, 91, 820-836.

van Lier, L. (1995). Introducing language awareness. London, UK: Penguin.

van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy &


27/42



27

Walqui, A., & van Lier, L. (2010). Scaffolding the academic success of adolescent learners: A

pedagogy of promise. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.

Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory(2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA:

Blackwell.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge,

UK: Cambridge University Press.

Widdowson, H. (1998). Skills, abilities, and contexts of reality.Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics, 18, 323-333.

Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.


28/42



28

Appendix A

Stop Helping Me, Google Search History Lesson

Lesson Outline

Target Audience and Context: High intermediate to advanced students in a Reading &

Writing class at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) Intensive English

Language (IESL) program, or a program similar to it. Most classes have about 5-8 students

of nationalities from all around the world who come to Monterey to study English in the

culture (United States). Many of these students aspire to continue their studies at a

graduate program at MIIS or other programs around the country. Most of the students are

young adults with an interest in learning about American culture and socializing with other

young adults.

Lesson Objectives

Cognitive

1) understand the thematic roles for prepositions as explained by The Grammar Book(Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, pp. 418-419)

2) decode humor in text through activities like vocabulary development, stacked-modifier use, and more

3) learn idiomatic expressions and prepositions in the given textMetacognitive


29/42



29

8) use the conceptual chart presented in class to understand the prepositions in thetext and in future encounters

9) use technology to share definitions and find idiomatic expressions in the Corpus ofContemporary American English (COCA)

10)identify linguistic devices in the humorous text (specifically: irony, personification,exaggeration, similes, and audience)

Materials

- Lesson Plan Hand Outs, Answer Keys, Typewith.Me sample- Computer and internet access for each student and teacher- Marker board and markers- Poster paper and markers- Typewith me website (create): http://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumor

Lesson Plan Outline:

60 minutes / 10 minute break/ 50 minutes (2-hour class period)


30/42



30

Lesson Outline

Time Lesson Segments Materials Objectives

3

min

Greet students and have them log-

on to their computers (eitherbrought or use in computer lab).

Teacher logs on as well.

Students will need their

personal computers oraccess to computer lab.

Teacher will need his/her

computer and overhead

Orient students to using technology in the

classroom.Set students up for lesson activity and materials.

2min

Distribute the lesson plan materials

to the students (Appendix A).

Explain that this lesson integrates

technology with language learning

and American culture.

Lesson plan handouts

10

min

Activity #1 Direct students to

complete Activity #1 in groups of 3-4 and record their answers on

typewith me

Activity #1 Share the

typewith.me site:http://typewith.me/p/Am

ericanHumor

Students discuss their homework and compare

American answers based on humor by enteringanswers on live document.

5min

Teacher reviews the answers on

typewith.me with class

Answers on typewith me

site

(Appendix B is a sample of

answers)

Teacher and students compare their answers with

each other and add links to appropriate websites

for more information.

10min

Activity #2 Direct students tocomplete Activity #2 in partners.

Activity #2 Students will discuss things they may find in theirreading and activate their content schemata before

reading the article.

10min

Activity #3 Students do Activity #3individually and then compare

answers with a partner.

Activity #3 Students focus on stacked modifiers, a verycommon grammatical feature in this text. Students

will have a better understanding of cultural

idiomatic phrases the author writes before reading

the article.

15min

Activity #4 and #5 Students doActivity #4 individually and then

compare answers with a partner.

Activity #4 and #5

Answers in Appendix C

Students focus on prepositions in the text and

compare their work with their partner and then the

original text while they read the article.


31/42



31

After reading the actual text,

students will complete the

preposition chart in Activity 5.

Inform students that not all boxes

will be filled.

Students will map prepositions on a chart to see the

different meanings of prepositions.

5min

Students put the answers on a chart

for the class.

Teacher creates chart on a

whiteboard OR computer.

Students check their comprehension of

prepositions with others.

10min

BREAK BREAK BREAK

8min

Direct students to pinpoint boxes in

the chart that they had trouble

understanding.

The teacher uses "errors" or

"misunderstandings" to guide

instruction.

Chart on board + text Students visually see and hear each others answersto activity #4 and 5.

Students will also be able to conceptualize

prepositions based on a chart of the different uses.

12min

Activity #6 Activity 6 is done inpartners. As text indicates, direct

students to use corpus to complete

the activity.

Illustrate #1 for them by searching

Do not get me wrong (corpus doesnot permit contractions)

Activity #6 and overheaddisplay for the website:

http://corpus.byu.edu/co

ca/

Students utilize the internet for comprehension of

idiomatic expressions.

10min

Activity $#7. These answers will bediscussed in small groups of 3-4.

Activity #7 Students will understand audience and literarydevices such as personification, exaggeration,

simile, and commands.

20min

Activity #8 Students write a "letter"about something annoying in their

lives in groups of 3-4 for Activity #8.

This is their last activity.

Students will present letters tmrw.

Activity #8. Large posterpaper and markers.

Students use knowledge based accrued from today

to create their own "letter' or "commentary" on

something annoying. The point is to be humorous

about the complaint or annoying feature.
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/


32/42



32

Lesson Plan Handouts

Stop Helping Me, Google Search History

Activity #1: Understanding Sarcasm and HumorYour homework over the weekend was to interview an American about their perceptions of

humor. Share your answers in small groups of 3-4. Log on to:

http://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumorand record your answers there.

1. What do most Americans think are funny?2. Do you think sarcasm is funny? Why or why not?3. Who are some of the funniest American men and women? They can be alive or

deceased.
http://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumorhttp://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumor


33/42



33

2. What do you think the article is about? Represent the main idea and the clues in thefollowing thought bubbles. You may draw your answers or add more bubbles.

Mainidea:

Clue: notabout

helpingbecause ofquotations


34/42



34

Activity #3: Previewing new vocabulary (Focus: Stacked Modifiers)Identify the noun in each phrase and its modifiers. Then, write a definition of the noun phrase

using your own words. Compare answers with a classmate.1. awesome car crashes (line 6)

o Noun: crasheso Modifiers: awesome, carso Meaning in your own words: Awesome cars that are in car crashes OR

awesome crashes of cars. Which do you think?

2. Amanda Seyfried cleavage (lines 6-7)o Noun: ____________________________________________o Modifier(s): _____________________________________o Meaning in your own words: _________________________________

3. Dirty lyrics to Chipmunks songs (line 10)o Noun: ____________________________________________o Modifier(s): _____________________________________o Meaning in your own words: _________________________________

4. Organic baby food (line 15)o Noun: ____________________________________________o Modifier(s): _____________________________________o Meaning in your own words: _________________________________


35/42



35

o Meaning in your own words: _________________________________

Activity #4: Focus on prepositionsUsing the following prepositions, complete the blanks in the passage as you read the article.

Is Americas No. 1 search engine just trying to embarrass us?

By Mike Leffingwell featured in Readers Digest, April 2011

Dont get me wrong modern technology is amazing. But ___ all the convenience the1

Internet offers, theres onearea where I wish it wouldnt go out of its way to make my life2

easier. I cant begin to type any word _____ Google ______ it helpfully bringing up all the3

things Ive searched ______ in the past that start ______ the same letter.4

Which noun phrases seem the most interesting or funny to you?

about for in into out

to under with without


36/42



36

Since it saves my wifes search history, Im constantly reminded how infantile my13

searches are compared hers. Case in point: Type in o and two things that come up14

are organic baby food (hers) and origami-shaped superheroes (mine). Thanks, search15

history. If I were hoping an unsubtle reference to how little Ive developed as an adult,16

that would do nicely.17

And its not that Im shamefaced my past searches; sometimes Im just18

perplexed. For the life of me, I cant remember what I was thinking that made me Google19

outlet face or milk mustache Hitler. Clearly, there was a time when I thought these were20

the things I needed to research more deeply. Now they are just riddles no answer. I21

feel like a drunk finding indecipherable notes I left myself my apartment.22

I dont want to feel like that! What does outletface even mean? I dont know, and I23

dont want to know. The man who Googled that is not a guy I want to remember. Let me24

live the present.25

Activity 5: Prepositions continued


37/42



37

Prepositions as Thematic Roles

Adapted from The Grammar Bookby Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999), pp. 418-419

Space Time Degree Other (includes idiomatic uses)

In Enclosure: The man is in theroom. In a period:WWII ended in1945.Future appointment: Come in 10minutes.

Currency:Pay me in dollars.Language:Write/say it inEnglish.

For Goal:Set out for Alaska.Distance: For 7 miles

Duration:For 7 years. Exchange: Buy for $4. Reason: California is famous forits wines.Purpose: Fishing for trout.

To Direction:Go to the movies Until:Work from 9 to 5Before:A quarter to 11:00

Amount:He is smart to suchan extent...

Accompany:Dance to the music

With Alongside/near:Even withthe wall.

Together:He grew wiser withthe years.

Equal Standing or Ability:Runwith the fastest.

In regard to:Pleased with thegift.Manner: Spoke with ease.


38/42



38


39/42



39

Activity #6: Common Idiomatic Expressions

5 groups of partners will each be assigned one idiomatic expression.With your partner use http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/to find 1 or 2 sentences for each

1. Dont get me wrong (line 1):Fox News: Donotgetmewrong, Jim, I am not saying this is not serious. I am being

practical as to what this D.A. is facing when this D.A. finally ends up before a jury

Total Health Magazine: Please donotgetmewrong on this point-I am not against

high-tech medicine. In fact, my earlier laboratory career familiarized me with

research of this type and I know it has an important place.

2. I get reminded (of) (line 10)

3. Just forget I ever asked. (line 12)
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/


40/42



40

Google search history is like the friend you kick under the table because he doesnt realize

he needs to shut up. (7-8) Who is the author addressing? Identify the simile. What is the effect of its use.

That was a one-time thing I was interested in, Google search history! Just forget I ever

asked. (10-11)

Who is the author addressing?

Identify the use ofpersonification and the command. What is the effect of their use?

Thanks, search history. If I were hoping for an unsubtle reference to how little Ivedeveloped as an adult, that would do nicely. (15-17)

Who is the author addressing? Identify the exaggeration (or hyperbole). What is the effect of its use?

I feel like a drunk finding indecipherable notes I left myself in my apartment. (21-22)

Who is the author addressing? Identify the simile. What is the effect of its use?

Let me live in the present. (24-25) Who is the author addressing? How does this command help summarize his point?


41/42



41

Appendix B

Activity # 1 Model Screen Shot from http://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumor
http://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumorhttp://typewith.me/p/AmericanHumor


42/42



42

Appendix C

Activity #5 Answer Key

Space Time Degree Other (includes idiomatic uses)In Enclosure: The man is in theroom.

*in this coffee shop*type in*in my apartment

In a period:WWII ended in1945.Future appointment: Come in 10minutes.

* in the past* in the present

Currency:Pay me in dollars.Language:Write/say it inEnglish.

* I was interested inFor Goal:Set out for Alaksa.

Distance: For 7 miles

* search for* hope for

Duration:For 7 years. Exchange: Buy for $4.

* but for all the conveniencethe Internet offers

Reason: California is famous for

its wines.Purpose: Fishing for trout.

To Direction:Go to the movies Until:Work from 9 to 5Before:A quarter to 11:00

Amount:He is smart to suchan extent...

* reference to how little Ive

developed

Accompany:Dance to the music* dirty lyrics to Chipmunk songs

With Alongside/near:Even withthe wall.

* start with the same letter* compared with hers

Together:He grew wiser withthe years.

* with no answer

Equal Standing or Ability:Runwith the fastest.

In regard to:Pleased with thegift.Manner: Spoke with ease.

position paper - laidemitt (revised)

Documents