Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Department of English Language and Literature

ENG281 Pedagogical Grammar(elective)
1st term, 2009-2010

Instructor: Dr. Edward WEN (zswen@hksyu.edu)

Office: LG126 (Ext. 277)
Class Contact Time: Monday, 2:45-5:25pm (Room 103)
Office hours: Wednesday 2:300-5:30 pm (or by appointment)
Number of Credits: 3
Pre-requisite: ENG160 Introduction to Linguistics
Course Website: https://iln.hksyu.edu.hk/
Required Textbook: Anita K. Barry. (2002). English Grammar: Language as
Human Behavior. (2nd Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
(Note: Already ordered, please buy it at the book fair)

 COURSE SUMMARY
The objective of this course is twofold: first and foremost, to introduce to students the
essential grammatical structures of the English language; second, to help students get
acquainted with research studies investigating how English Grammar is taught or
learned in an English as a Second Language (ESL) context, with particular emphasis
on those grammatical structures that are considered to be tricky/difficult/problematic
by ESL learners. It is anticipated that, by the end of the term, course members should
not only have developed a thorough understanding of the key grammatical structures
of the English language, but also have acquired the ability to relate grammar
instruction to specific classroom situations or specific syllabus frameworks.

 COURSE OUTCOMES:
On completion of the course students should be able to:
 Reflect upon their own experience of grammar learning and teaching;
 Have a comprehensive understanding of the English Grammar system;
 Explain technical (grammatical) terms with clarity and examples;
 Demonstrate some knowledge of how to teach/learn a certain grammatical structure in a
certain context (such as L2).

 TEACHING /LEARNING APPROACH:

Every week, course members are expected to finish some PRE-CLASS reading work
(normally the chapters of the required textbook) assigned by the lecturer. Then
IN-CLASS, there will be input on the topic concerned, which will be a mix of lecture
and discussion activities. Group discussion and comments are strongly encouraged.

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 ASSESSMENT:

The assessment scheme of the course is outcomes-based. More specifically, the

personal narrative aims to push the course members to reflect upon their own
experience in grammar learning and teaching; the assignments and quiz serve to
assess course members’ understanding of the major theories and key concepts of the
grammatical structures of English covered in the course. On the other hand, the
group-based presentation/project aims to assess the course member’s ability to plan a
grammar lesson. The final examination aims to assess course member’s higher-level
ability to analyze the English grammatical structures critically.

Continuous Assessment 60%

Class discussion and participation 10%
Personal Narrative 10%
Assignments/Quiz 20%
Group Presentation/Project 20%
Examination 40%

100%

Principal Readings
 Barry Anita. (2002). English Grammar: Language as Human Behavior. (2nd Edition). New Jersey:
Prentice Hall. (Textbook/Key Reference of Grammatical Structures)
 Ellis Rod. (2006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL
Quarterly, 40, 1: 83-107. (Required Reading on Grammar Instruction)
 Larsen-Freeman, Diane. (2009). Teaching and testing grammar. In M. Long & C. Doughty, (eds.),
Handbook of language teaching (518-542). (Required Reading on Grammar Teaching & Testing)

Supplementary Readings on Grammar Teaching/Instruction

 Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Diane Larsen-Freeman. (1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL
Teacher's Course. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle Publishing Company.
 Larsen-Freeman, Diane. (2003). Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring. Boston,
MA: Heinle and Heinle Publishing Company.
 Celce-Murcia, M. (2001), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, MA:
Newbury House.
 Doughty C. & J. Williams. (1998) Focus on Form in classroom second language acquisition.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
 Hinkel Eli & F. Sandra. (2002). New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language
classrooms. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
 VanPatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction: Theory and research. Norwood,
NJ: Ablex.
 Nunan David. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
 Nunan David. (2005). Practical English language teaching: Grammar. New York: McGraw-Hill.
 Dilin Liu and Peter Master. (2003). Grammar teaching in teacher education. Edited by
Alexandria, VA : Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

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 ENG281 Pedagogical Grammar: Schedule of Lecture Topics
[Subject to minor modification(s)]

Lecture 1 Introduction to the course (Course outline; Survey)

What is ‘grammar’? What do I know about grammar?

Lecture 2 Grammar Instruction/Teaching: A Historical Overview

How do we study grammar? How do we teach grammar?
How do we test grammar?

Lecture 3 Grammatical Structure: Basic Concepts

Introduction II: The English sentence & its parts, the notion of
‘syntactic constituent’. ‘Forms’ and ‘Functions’ in grammatical
analysis.

Lecture The English noun phrase (NP) and its teaching

4&5 (including: adjectives, ‘determiners’ and pronouns)

Lecture The English verb phrase (VP) and its teaching (including: adverbs,
6&7 ‘tense’ and ‘aspect’, ‘mood’ and ‘modality’)

Lecture 8 Mid-term Review: Quiz

Lecture 9 Prepositions & ‘particles’ and their teaching

Lecture Sentence & Clauses and their teaching

10 & 11 (including: structure of coordination, structure of subordination)

Lecture 12 Clause structure & information structure

Lecture 13 From sentence to text: cohesion & coherence

Lecture 14 Course Review