the best of two worlds-negotiating the grammar versus lexis dilemma in the efl classroom

8/15/2019 The best of two worlds-negotiating the grammar versus lexis dilemma in the EFL classroom

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The best of two worlds: negotiating thegrammar versus lexis dilemma

in the EFL classroom

Barbara Nykiel-Herbert

Department of English

Youngstown State UniversityYoungstown, Ohio

[email protected]


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Learning English as a foreign language:

an impossible task?

Demands for proficiency in English higher than for any other

language, and than at any other time in history

EFL learner achievements measured by ESL standards unfair!

ESL methodologies applied in EFL contexts ineffective!

No quick fix for language learning no miracle method of EFLteaching has yet been discovered.


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Challenges of EFL learning in Taiwan:

quality and quantity considerations

significant systemic differences between Chinese and English

language treated as content subject, not skill

ineffective methodologies

cultural attitudes and expectations

heavy reliance on the written mode

large classes

insufficient exposure to English outside the classroom

shortage of instructional time


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Why is English hard to learn for

Chinese speakers?

Grammatical complexity of English compared to Chinese

conceptually new distinctions must be learned (for example,

categories, tenses, etc.)

Lexical dissimilarity no common sources for vocabulary, no

lexical cognates

Writing system visual training to read Chinese is not helpful

for reading English; new visual processing habits must beacquired


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How long does it take to learn

English?

Children learning L1 receive between 10 to 15 thousand hours

of interactive exposure to language before their 5th birthday.

It is estimated that about 6000 hours of exposure/interaction are

necessary for an adult to achieve proficiency in L2.

ESL programs in the US allow 2-3 years for immigrant students

to master English.

Research shows that it takes immigrant students in US schools

5-7 years to acquire academic English proficiency.


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Grammar: what is its place in the EFL

classroom?

Grammar has become the dirty word of language teaching.

Language teachers love grammar; students hate it.

Grammar bashing is unjustified. Grammar is the engine of

language: it generates meaning relationships among lexical

items:- The dog bit the boy.

- The boy bit the dog.

- Who bit the dog?

- Who did the dog bite?

We need to teach grammar for doing, not merely for knowing.


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Evolution of approaches to grammar

instruction in language teaching:

grammar-translation (prescriptive rules, emphasis on accuracy)

audio-lingual method (pattern drills)

functional grammar: focus on discourse function of grammaticalstructures (speech acts)

natural approach (extracting and constructing learners grammar

from comprehensible input)

communicative approach (focus on communicative chunks;

grammar on as needed basis; focus on fluency)


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The grammar-translation (analytical) method was sensible and

worked well for what it was intended - written text translation!

The audio-lingual method produced excellent pattern

memorization results, but was weak on vocabulary andappropriateness (contexts in which the memorized structures

should be used.)

The natural and communicative approaches did not produce

satisfactory results in EFL contexts. Language cannot belearned from mere exposure. Communication fails if the

grammar engine lack power to put words together meaningfully.

Common outcomes of these approaches


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Language is a tool

Language is a tool of communication and thought. Proficient useof language requires its skillful application. Skills are learnedprocedurally. Learning a language is like learning how to drive:routine operations must become automatic so that we can payattention to the road. In the same way, we dont need to befamiliar with complex grammatical rules in order to use

language, but we must know practically how to put wordstogether to produce sentences. Production of grammaticalstructures must become automatic so that a speaker can focuson what he wants to say, and not so much how to say it.

A different memory function (semantic, procedural) is used for

learning and storing vocabulary.

To communicate effectively, a speaker must control both thegrammar and a sufficient amount of vocabulary. Both should betaught simultaneously in an integrated manner.


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Importance of interactive practice

Automatic production of grammatical structures can only be

achieved through sustained practice. Such practice must be

interactive: a learner must be spoken to with an expectation to

respond, not spoken at with an expectation to listen.

Interaction underlies L1 learning and accounts for successful

acquisition of language in an immersion context (such as ESL.)

It is vital to provide multiple opportunities for meaningful

interaction in the target language.


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Improving effectiveness of EFL instruction

The three Rs of effective EFL instruction:

Relevance: making content meaningful to learners

Re-entry (repetition): to foster automatic application

Reinforcement: to maintain high level of student motivation


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How useful are the commonly

used approaches?

Lexical/communicative approaches focus on relevance, but fallshort on re-entry (re-cycling, repetition).

Grammar-oriented approaches (such as the audio-lingualmethod) emphasize repetition, but neglect relevance.

What is needed is a combination of both: controlledpersonalized practice through conversational models of relevantlanguage that can be applied in a variety of contexts.

Such models must be practical, short, and transferable.


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Conversational Model 1

A: Why dont we play badminton sometime? B: Good idea. What days good for you?

A: Saturday morning?

B: Sorry, I cant this Saturday. I have to work on a report with my

classmate. A. How about next week?

B. That sounds great.

This conversation model is easy to memorize and is

applicable in many situations.


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Conversational Model 2 A: Can you help me? Im trying to send a fax.

B: Sure. First put the page into the feeding tray, face down.

A: Like this?

B: Yes, thats right. Then press the fax button and dial thenumber.

A: Do I need to dial nine first?

B: No, you dont. This is a direct line. When you hear it ring,

press the send button.

A: Thank you for your help.


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Model 2 practice frame

A: Can you help me? Im trying to ___________

B: Sure. First ______________

A: Like this?

B: Yes, thats right. Then __________________

A: Do I need to _________ B: No, you dont./(Yes, you do.) ________________

B: A: Thank you for your help.

This dialogue is not practical - can only be applied in a

fax-sending situation. It does not easily transfer to othercontexts.


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What is relevant language?

Related to the content meaningful to the learners

For example, I have no interest in golf and so a lesson on playing golf isa waste of my time. Ill be bored and demotivated)

Current

For example, no young person in the UK or US would say, Its rainingcats and dogs! or Heavens to Betsy!

Socially appropriate

For example, dont greet your boss with Wassup, dog? [Whats up,friend?]and dont invite him to chill in your crib. [come over to yourhouse.]

Properly collocated

For example, impenetrable darkness; top priority; preventive measures;suffer consequences; character assassination; debilitating illness


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Some examples of word usage errors

Natural attractions in the park include rarely seen

coastal plants, the autumn overflight of migratory birds,

and beautiful living coral reefs.

The park embraces land both above and belowwater.

You can lie down on the beach and enjoy suntan. But

dont forget to bring a bottle of suntan lotion in good

quality.

Kenting is home to many unique geological features

including uplifted coral reefs.


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Corpora as sources of relevant language

A corpus is a collection of samples of real language as it is spoken byusers, held on a computer for analysis of words, meanings, grammarand usage. Corpus data are collected from newspapers, magazines,websites, journals, books, TV, radio, and conversations, so all languagestyles are represented. Using corpora as language sources can helplanguage learners eliminate many word usage errors.

Using a special search engine (a concordancer) we can use corpuscollections for the following tasks:

new senses of existing words and terms meanings of unknown words word frequency common collocations overview of the word in its linguistic environment (grammatical,

lexical, stylistic)


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British National Corpus

About the BNC The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100 million word collection of

samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources,designed to represent a wide cross-section of current British English,both spoken and written. [more]

Search the Corpus

Look up: _____________ You can search a for single word or a phrase, restrict searches by part

of speech, search in parts of the corpus only and much more. The search result will show the total frequency in the corpus and up to

50 examples. [more information] News from the BNC

New BNC website BNC goes XML New version of Xaira
http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/index.xmlhttp://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/using/index.xml.ID=simplehttp://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/news.xml.ID=body.1_div.1http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/using/index.xml.ID=simplehttp://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/index.xml


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Results of your search

Your query was: obtain

Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 4549found...

ABE 1015 That is small compared with the number of marriages--; 7.8m in 1984 and 9.3m in 1989 --; but in Mao's day a divorce

was considered an offence against socialism and so was almostimpossible to obtain.

AKY 1032 My staff erected ladders to enable the riggers topatch up the envelope and refill it with gas to obtain lift.

ALC 832 It was important to obtain a view of the potential

uptake of ATB courses. ANH 1493 And in both cases if these conditions obtain some

compromise will be reached, or at least there is a good chancethat it will.


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Results of your search

Your query was: get

Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 96099found...

A7K 773 It's not beyond some people in churches to lift a phoneand get young people up.

ABV 1844 But the husband continues: `; but let us get onething clear --; I haven't done anything wrong!';

AMW 561 Now don't get the impression that the Club is devotedto enlarging the egos of `;would be Wimbledon champions';.

AN2 61 The original engine I have kept as a spare and would

like to convert it to run on unleaded petrol, could you pleaseinform me where to get drawings or information on conversion.


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British National Corpus: Bibliography

A60KBS open learning MBA programme. London: BPPPublishing Ltd, 1989, pp. ??. 1058 s-units, 15554 words.

A61Invasion. Millin, Bill. Lewes, East Sussex: The Book GuildLtd, 1991, pp. ??. 2470 s-units, 44212 words.

A62Media and voters. Miller, William L. Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1991, pp. ??. 1099 s-units, 25350 words. A63National Insurance Statutory Sick Pay. Statutory Maternity

Pay from 6 April 1991 for employers. u.p., n.d., pp. ??. 637 s-units, 7166 words.

A64One step backwards, two steps forward. Pethybridge,

Roger. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990, pp. ??. 1797 s-units,41009 words.


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Lesson sequence example: Shopping for

clothes

Introduce relevant vocabulary: some recycled and some new

Introduce a conversational model and get students to practice

Pair the students up for controlled personalized practice of the

model with new lexical material

Additional social language: what a speaker may hear in aparticular situation, and appropriate ways of responding, for

example:


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continued

For example,

Will this be cash or charge?

Sorry, we do not accept American Express.

Do you have a Macys credit card? Would you like to apply forone today?

Would you like your receipt in the bag?You may exchange it within 30 days with the receipt.

Listening comprehension of real-life conversations.

Free practice: students work in pairs or small groups with a clearcommunication goal (for example, to buy an item of clothing at adepartment store.)

Home assignment: 1 minute speech about a recent purchase.


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continued

Provide multiple opportunities for recycling the newly learned

material in order to integrate it with what the students already

know, and the new material that they are learning.

Activities and material should be: varied in content, form and style

appealing to the students

real to show the students immediate benefits of their

learning


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Time: the most precious resource in the

EFL classroom

Distributed practice

Long- and short-term instructional plans

Most time is wasted at the beginning of each class get an

activity going even before students arrive (i.e., play a song, a

nursery rhyme, a poem, an amusing dialogue, etc. whiledisplaying its text on the board; invite students to join in as they

come)

Time each activity (use kitchen clock!)

Make activities short move briskly

Develop routines cut down on teacher talk Remember: slow learners are produced by slow teachers!


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Maximize the students exposure to English

Create an English only classroom.

Encourage out-of-classroom language encounters.

Assign projects that put students in touch with real language(internet, TV, etc.)

Display meaningful visuals for continuous stimulation and

peripheral learning.


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References

1.The content of frames 12-17 is based on the following resource:

Saslow, Joan and Allen Ascher. 2005. Making English

Unforgettable. Top Notch Professional Development Series,

Issue Pearson Longman.

2.The content of frames 20-24 is based on the following resource:

www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

the best of two worlds-negotiating the grammar versus lexis dilemma in the efl classroom

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