Teachittggrammar as skill

9.! Product,process,and the critical gap

Through a combination of product and process teaching, teachers can
give their learnersboth a focus on specificgrammatical forms and oppor-
tunities to deploy these forms in languageuse. The two approacheshave
complementary functions. In product teachingr w€ focus the learner's
attention on forms. But, aware that much of this knowledge can remain
delicate and transitory unlessthe learner can put it to use in a meaning-
focused context, we turn to process teaching. However' as we have just
seen,processteachingrequiresa delicatetouch, and many of these-forms
may never emerge at all, or not at all adequatelY.So, we can easily find
ouiselvesfacing ki"d of critical gap betweenprocessteaching and prod-
"
uct teachitrg.M.ny featuresof the grammar will be lost-focused on and
practisedin product teaching,yet never emergingadequatelyin process
work.

9.2 A learner focus on grammar

To deal with this, we will need an approach which allows a focus on
grammatical forms, but which at the same time retains a measureof
ielf-expressionand meaning-focus.If we can achieve such a balance,
then we can help guide the learner to appreciate and use grammar as a
communicative device, encouraging a richer deployment of grammar in
more subtly regulated processtasks. But this focus on form will have to
be by, rather ihan for, the learner, and the attention to meaning and
self-expression will have to involve the learner quite directly. This
approach, then, means guiding the learner'Sown attention to- grammar'
and designingtasks which help us to teach learnersthe skill of using and
attending to grammar in language use. It is for this reason that the
'teaching grammar as skill'. Its objectives are comple-
appro".h is called
mentary to those of product and processteaching, as was outlined in 6.
\7e will look at three different ways of teaching grammar as skill. First,
we considerho$'listening and reading activitiescan combine a focus on
meaning with attention to grammar (9.3). Second, we consider how
learnerscan be guided to make their own decisionsabout how to deploy
grammar in taskswhere they are provided only with words (9.4). Finally,
we consider how learners can be guided to reflect more explicitly on the
1 0 0 Demonstration- Teachinggrammar

quality of their own grammar, and to consider ways in which it might

be improved (9.5).

9.3 Noticing as skill

In 7.1we examinednoticingactivitieswhich focusvery tightly on gram-
mar in isolationfrom the ongoingflow of languageuse.But if we were
to leaveit at that, therewould alwaysbe the dangerthat in actualcon-
texts of use,the learnerwill consistentlyfail to notice-or re-notice-
grammar,engaginginsteada top-down mode of processing in which
gt"--"t can be largelydisregarded.Given the importanceof noticing
is the gatewayto subsequent learning,this would be a serioushandicap.
ln 9.3 we consideranother way of exploiting noticing, with learners
requiredto noticegrammarin orderto makesenseof languagein context,
presentedthroughlisteningand readingtasks.
Listeningand readingtasks furnish rich opportunitiesfor learnersto
noricegi"--.t in context,as part of the wider skill of makingsenseof
written and spokendiscourse.Let us say,for example,that we want the
classto think about tenseand time, and the way in which differenttenses
signaldifferent time references.Ifle could use a tape of a dialoguesuch
as the following:
Bill: Hi Jane.How's life?
Jane: Teriible,sinceyou ask.I didn't get that iob I appliedfor-the one
I told you about-and *y cat has startedeatingthe carpetagain.
Oh, and my sisterDenisearrivedrecentlyand decidedto staywith
me without evenaskingif it was OK or not. I don't reallylike her
very much, but at leastwe havethe sametastein music,so we're
both goingout to a lot of concerts.I don't talk to her, though.. .
Of course,this text is a speciallyconstructedone, but for a-good reason.
It includei a lot of timJ referenceswhich are signalled almost entirely
'I job' (past),'. . .and my cat has
through the grammar: didn't get that
sturtu| eatin{.. .' (recent,includingand up to the present),and so on' In
fact, the t.*ih"r beenspecificallydesignedto ensurethat it is grammar,
and not lexis, which does this signalling.In other words, lexical clues
'I (where 'yesterday'rein-
suchas went for that job interviewyesterday'
forcesthe past meaning)have beendeliberatelyavoided.This makesit
difficult foi the learnei to processthe languagetop-down. If we want
learnersto attend to the gi"--"t, and to demonstratethat they have
really noticedit, then *. [au. to constructtaskswhich requirethem to
notiie and to processgrammarin order to completethe task successfully.
This is the aim of the following task (whichis basedon the abovedialogue
aboutJaneand her sister).
 Teachinggrammaras skill 101

1 As you listen to the dialogue, decide whether each of the events

in ihe list: (a) happenedin the the past; (b) began in the past
but is still going on; (c) is planned for the future. Put a tick in
the right column.

Happened
and Still
Event finished going on Future

Jane applies for fob

Jane gets result of her
application

Jane'scat causes
problems for Jane

Jane'ssisterarrives
Jane and sister go to
concerts

2 How might you adapt the activiry to make the target gram-
mar more explicit,i.e. to vary the rypeof consciousness-
raising?In what circumstances might you follow this up with
further work on the tensesinvolved?

Increasingly, learnersaregivenlisteningand readingtaskswhich encour-

agethem to listen and read in a top-down way, formulatingpredictions
what the text might be about, taking bearingsfrom the lexis,
"6out
and gliding over much of the grammar:seethe discussionof top-down
processingin pedagogyin Cook: Discourse,pages79-86.In one sense
ihir ir all to the good, becauseit is exactly what competentlanguage
usersdo: they processtop-down,only givingdirect attentionto the gram-
mar when all ilse fails.But they can only do this because much of their
systemicknowledge,includingknowledgeabout the grammar,has been
automatedand proceduralized. They rarelynoticethe grammarbecause
they can follow its signpostingmore or less automatically.Learners'
though, are in a differentposition altogether.They needto xotice gram-
-r.,l..ruse if they do not, they will neverlearn it very effectively.The
questionis: how muchdo we makenoticinggrammara necessary condi-
tion for completingthe task?We can,as with the task aboutJane,make
it verv necessarY indeed.
 102 Demonstration - Teaching grammar

Both the listening and the reading activities below have certain
grammatical forms which are prominent in the text: linking words
(with the listening task) and the past and perfect tenses (with the
reading task). How much does each activiry require the learner to
notice these forms as a necessarycondition for completing it?
Activiw 1

Instructionsto students Instructionsto teachers

Beloware someprcturesto show you how Input. Focus on the rnstructions.Parr
to make sherry trifle. The pictures are in the right work. The studentscould try to match the
order but the instructionsare iumbled.Listento instructionsto the correct picture before they
the recordlngr,work with a partner and match the hear the tape; however, the tape focuseson the
prctureswith the method. use of hnk words to make lnstructronsmore
cohesrve.and thrs shouid be emphasrzed.

Tapescript
Method
And the method rs, frrstshce the cake thrckly

@ffiffiffi
Next spread the .1amon the shces and put them
rn the bottom of the bowl. Then put the
raspberries,or another soft frurt rf you prefer,
on top and pour the sherry over. Now prepare
the custard and Ieave rt to cool before pourrng rt
on top of the raspberrres.Leave rt untrl cold and
the custard has set After that whrsk the cream

@Wffi@
and put lt on top of the custard Ftnally decorate
your tnfle wlth the almonds and cherrtes and
put lt rn the frtdge unttl you are ready to serve.
For more practlce of cooktng' verbs and
u t e n s r l ss, e e R e s o u r c eB o o k C l , f o r p r a c t r c et n
qlvlng lnstructlonsln non-foodcontextssee
Resource Book C2, C3, C4, C5

! Pour on top. tr Slicethe cat'ethickly.

! whisk cream. ! Preparecustard.

! Spreadjamon the slices.. ! Leavecustardto cool.

f] Poursherry on. ! Put slicesin bottomof bowl.

I Leaveuntil cold and custardhas set. D Put on top of custard.

! Decoratewith almondsand cherries. tr Put raspberrieson top.

(Black,McNorton, Malderez,and Parker 1985:55-7)

 Teacbinggrammaras skill 103

Activiry 2

3.1 THE PAST PERFECTTENSb,

Presentation

Read the passagebelow, which is the beginningof a novel, and answerthe

questions.

at
Julia Strenonwas late.The Tartan Army had planted a bomb
Heathrow, and Julia, who had gone the long way round past the
airport to avoid the usual congestionon the approachroads to
the M3, had been delayedfor two hours by police and army
checkpoints.'When shefinally ioinedthe motorway further down,
she put thoughts of Paul Mason out of her mind, and concen-
trated on her driving. She drove quickly for an hour, breaking
the speedlimit all the way, and not particularlyconcernedabout
being sponedby one of the police helicopters.
She left the motorway near Basingstoke,and drove steadily
down the main road towards Salisbury.The plain was grey and
misty. It had beena cool, wet summerin Britain, and, although
it was still only July, there had been rePortsof snow along the
Yorkshire coast,and flooding in parts of Cornwall.
A few milesbeyondSalisbury, on the roadto BlandfordForum,
she
Julia stoppedat a roadsidecafe for a cup of coffee,and as
sat at the plastic-toppedtable shehad time at last for reflection.
It had beenthe surpriseof seeingPaulMason that had prob-
ably upsether more than anythingelse;that, and the way it had
happened, and theplace.. .
(Adaptedfrom A Dream of Wessex)

L ln what order do you think rhe five eventsbelow happened?

Julia was stoppedat army checkpoints.
Julia stoppedfor coffee.
Julia saw PaulMason.
Julia joinedthe motorwaY.
The Tartan ArmY Planteda bomb.
2 At which point in time doesthe writer chooseto beginhis story?

(Doff, Jones,and Mitchell L984:21)

104 Demonstration - Teaching grammar

9.4 Teachittg grammar as gramm aticization

In9.4 we consideran approach to grammar teachingwhere learnersare
given words which they combine and grammaticize in their own ways.
This approach has been motivated in large part by the work of Ruther-
ford (L987) and Widdowson (1990279-98).
'We
saw in 5 that learners do not learn grammar overnight, nor do they
learn it in isolation. Instead, they appear to shift gradually from words
to grammar. In the early stages,learners use words with minimal gram-
mar, as with 'aeroplanefly sky', or they deploy fixed chunks of language
as if they were single words. It is only gradually that the grammar
emerges,so that learners progressively learn to grammaticize, i.e. apply
grammar to their language.This generaltrend-from lexis to grammar-
seemsto work its way out with both first and secondlanguagelearning,
and may even help to explain the way in which all human languages
have evolvedover time (Givon"l,979a,1,979b).
And yet, while languagelearning may well follow this route, language
teaching certainly does not. On the contrary, we seem to spend a great
deal of our time pressingour learnersto move off in the opposite direc-
tion-from grammar to lexis. In other words, we start out with a target
grammatical structure and we require our learners to manipulate this
structure by changing the lexical items in some way. Sometimes this is
done quite explicitly, as with a formal drill, and sometimeslessexplicitly,
but it is certainly a very marked trend in product teaching.

TASK 53
Look back over some of the Tasks in 7. \flhere do you recognize
'from grammar to lexis'?
the underlying pattern

So languagelearningand product teachingsometimesappearto be pro-

gressingin quite different directions:the learner gradually reachesout
for grammarfrom a securebasisin words, while the materialswriter
startsfrom a basisin targetgrammarand encourages the learnerto reach
lexical
out for different items asshe manipulates the grammar. Of course,
it would be unreasonable to say that all target languagetasksare like
this,but thegeneralpatternis clearenough.IThy not, then,simplyreverse
the pattern?Insteadof giving learnersfully formed grammaticalitems,
give them words instead,and get them to do the grammaticizingfor
themselves. This soundsstraightforwardenough,so as a first attempt
considerthe following:
Here are four words. Order them, and add the grammar:
arriue Jane leaue John
 Teachinggrammaras skill 105

\7hat might the learner make of this exercise?She could come up with
'Janearrive. 'John arrive.
somethinglike John leave',or, just as plausibly,
Jane leave',and decideto leaveit at that. After all, it is clear what's going
on here: one does the arriving, and the other does the leaving. \(lhy
bother with any further grammatical elaboration at all? In this exercise
learnersare given no reasonto use grammar, and no indication of what
kind of grammar they might use if they wished to.
But we know that many learners use grammar only to the extent that it
helps to make their meaning clear, and some learnerswill remain with a
fossilizedsystemif that appearsto be communicativelyadequate.In the
exerciseabove,we are asking learnersto pluck grammar out of a contex-
tual void, with no obvious purposein mind. Irc- n-.gd-qg-Siy-g
thgm ?
purpos_e, a c-ommuli_cllfYS
m'ott-v-qling -CepJgymentof grammarto clarify
meaning-This is thg gl1 of the followi1S e1e1ci9e:
H;.. arefour words.Chooseone of the situationsbelowand thendecide
how you will put thesewords togetherusinggrammar:
arriue Jane leaue John
Situation1: You know that John doesn'tlike Jane.
Situation2: John and Janeare good friends,but Janeis feelingill.
This is a quite differentkind of exercise.The learneris given a choice
berweenrwo contexts,and has to grammaticizeaccordingto the context
she chooses.Her grammaticization will vary dependingon her choice.
'Janearrivedand so
Shewill produceeithersomethinglike John left' (for
'John arrived but Janehad to leave' (for Situation2).
Situation1) or
'W'hat
we havehereis the skeletonof a grammaticizationtask which keys
in with the learningprocessin nvo important respects.Firstly, the direc-
tion of processingis from lexis to grammar: gl1g4lel_gllglggqSlthe
produ_ct choices,rgthq$g! _b_elng_
of tlr*e*lgarner's r_1ject_e4
!!!o th-gclass-
;oom-;alft p;gqqf _qf_-t!r.tytlabusTesigneaiseleciio=n-q-f-leqgetlan
guage. Secondlt;ihe learner is grammaticizing in the very act of making
hlimeanin$=elear,in a wly_yhlch resem_bfes the processof languageuse.
Yet the learner is not given a completelyfree hand in the choicesshe can
make. We will want to direct her down certain paths, creating a need to
signal particular forms and meanings.To do this effectively we will have
to choose our words and our contexts with some care. In the exercise
above, it ii the linking of clausesto signal ciuse and effect which we are
after: 'Janearrivedand so. ..'.
1,06 Demonstration- Teachinggrammar

\flhat kinds of situationscould you give learnersin the following

exercise,in order to encouragethe use of grammarto signal(1)
contrast(but, howeuer,etc.)and (2) cause/effect?
[Jane liue countryside] [she work city]
SituationL:
Situation2:

Now we are in a position to expandon theseprinciples,fashioninga

grammaticizationtask with choicesbeingmadeacrossa whole text. This
is the purposeof the following task.

Look at thesethree pictures.They are part of a story about

Tom, and they could be the beginning,the middle,or the end
of the story. Use the picturesand the words below to make up
your own versionof Tom's story. Use all the words and parts
of wordsprovided(but in any orderyou like), and add grammar
and any other words you want to make your story as clearas
possible.

(Picturesfrom Ur 1988:216)
Tom [liue - languageteacher- London]
it flook fo, - binoculars- boat]
he [be - uery miserable]
[stop - pick up]
-ed [liue - desertisland]
was [distance-boat-see]
usedto
1 In pairs, write down the outline of your story.
'!7hen
2 Tell your story to the rest of the class. you arelistening
to other people'sstories,make noteson how they differ from
vour own version.
 Teachinggrammaras skill 107

In this w4y, learnerswork with a kind of unfocusedcontext,with the

picturesand the words sketchingout the briefestoutline of a plot. How
ih. plot developsis up to them.They will determineexactlywhat happens
and when, ,nd how ihe discoursewill resolveitself: whetherthingsturn
out well or tragicallyfor Tom. Herearefwo (equallyplausible)grammat-
icizedversionsof Tom's story:
Version1.
Tom used to work in London as a languageteacher.Now he's living
unhappilyon a desertisland.Everyday he looks out for boatsthrough
his binoculars.Last week he actuallysaw a boat far off in the distance,
but unfortunatelyit didn't stop to pick him up. Tom is a very miserable
man.
Version2
Tom usedto live on a desertisland,and he was very miserable.Every
day he usedto look through his binocularsfor boats.Lastweekhe finally
saw a boat in the distance,and it stoppedand pickedhim up. Now Tom
works in London as a languageteacher.Lucky Tom'

1 Imagine that you have given the above task to one of your
classes.Which of the following grammar points are they most-
and least-likely to use?
- prepositionsof place
- tense to distinguish different time references
- conditionals
- grammar words used to refer to people and objects
- .l",rt.t to signal contrast or cause and effect
2 The original and full set of pictures is reproduced in Figure 9
(8.1). \fhy were only three pictures used in the version above?

The learners' task, then, is to formulate their own interpretation of the

story, and in so doing to make this interpretation clear to everyoneelse.
Grammaticization t"tkt exploit the notion of context-gap which was
discussedin 8.5. The learneis have to attend both to meaning and form.
This kind of guided languageuse is what we want to encouragewhen
we teach g.urri-^t as skill. If we wanted to increasethe degreeof choice,
widening"the context-BaP,then we could give fewer cueing words.than
in the t"ik Alteinatively, we could provide an unsequencedlist of
"boue.
words, so that there is no obvious indication of how they might be com-
bined. To increase the pressure, we could make the whole activify an
oral one, and reducethe availableplanning time.
108 Demonstration- Teachinggrammar

L How would you usethe picturesbelowto constructa grammat-

icization task? Think about the meaningswhich the story is
likely to involve. For example,there ^re a number of actions
which have a clearpurposeleading,perhaps,to the signalling
of causation.Similarly,someeventsseemto occur in sequence
(andlthen)while othersmay haveoccurredat the sametime as
eachother (whilela.s).What other featuresof the plot strikeyou
as significant?

(Soarsand Soars L988:L4)

2 l7hat changeswould you make with the words and pictures to

vary the degreeof guidance?

Grammaticizationtasks can also be used to stimulate and guide interac-

tion in conversation,though here we cannot give learnersthe same clear
lexical framework becausethis might constrain their flexibiliry and spon-
taneiry. Nevertheless,there are caseswhere, particularly at lower levels,
such tasks can have a liberating effect, particularly in comparison with
more controlled, product-oriented activities. For example, we saw in 7.2
how learners are sometimes given fixed expressionsand dialogues to
practise and rehearse,with little scope for making their own decisions
about how the languagecan be formulated.

To what extent doesthe following task encouragelearnersto make

their own choices?How would you increase(or decrease)the scope
for choice?
 Teachinggrammaras skill 1,09

Set 3 Places:location(2) fillsttop

I I r
recordshop
bank
video shop
travel agent's
shoeshop
rvinebar
flower shop
Odeoncinema
book shop
trsnop
I
ilI
E
newsagent's
chemist's
post office
pizza bar
cafe
EN @ fsh*l |
",'t* I
I tn"o I I B * I I I

l. Talk about the places on the plan, like this: lP."l tPt"'l |rr"illlod'*l
lom*ll llBar I l s n o e l l c i n e m|a l |
There'sa recordshoP.
There'sa.... I B""k1
I tn"oI E
2. Is there a bank near here?
Yes.There's one next to the newsagent's.

Ask for these places in the shopping centfe. Answer with next to.
T n
a record shop a video shoP a cinema
a wine bar a newsagent's a cafe
a book shop a shoeshoP

Is therea chemist'snear here?

Yes.There's one oppositethe post office.

Ask for these places. Answer with opposite'

a record shop a flower shop a travel agent's a wine bar
a cinema a book shop a post office a pizzabar

4. Where can I buy a film?

At the chemist's.
Turn left at the pizza bar and it's on your
right.

following'
You are outside the cinema. Ask where you can buy the
Answer giving directions.
a newspaper a book about lnndon
a cassette a cup of tea and a sandwich

pairs. one of
5. Look at the dialogue and the plan agein. workjn
you is a stratrSer and 6ne of you,lives in the town' You are outside
ihe cinema. You want a record shop and you want to get some
stamps. Write out the conversations afterwards'

(Abbsand FreebairnL982:47)
110 Demonstration- Teachinggrammar

This kind of procedurehasits merits,but a proliferationof theseactivities

could block out any genuinelyactive engagementby the learner.They
are likely to approachthe activiry in Task 57 with a well-developed
schematicknowledgeabout location, shops,and asking for directions.
What they will not know is the preciseways in which thesemeanings
are encodedin the target language.
Ife could reformulatethis activiry so that learnersare requiredto make
full use of what they already know (their schematicknowledge).The
teachercouldbeginby introducingthe broadcontext-a strangerin town
needingto makesomepurchases-andthenpresentjust thosekey words
with which the learnersare not alreadyfamiliar. The rest is left to the
learners' familiariry with the general context involved (their existing
schematicknowledge),as they embark on the following task:
StudentA: You want to find a post office and a bookshop. Find out
from your partnerwhereto go. Usethe following words, and
add any other words you like:
where...?
post
brY
near here
Ietter
StudentB: Give directionsto your partner usingthe map provided.Use
the following words, and add any other words you like:
Itft
rigbt
turn
next to
opposite
Again,the teacherhas considerable flexibiliryin determininghow much
guidanceto give.More or fewercuewords could be given,thoughexactly
which words to provide would dependin part on the learners'existing
vocabulary.Of course,this taskwill not generatethe kind of well-formed
languageprovidedin the original version.Instead,it will revealwhat the
learnersalreadyknow, and what they themselves are capableof. Having
brought them this far, the teacheris now well placedto fashionsomeof
the languagethe learnershave been working with, demonstrating,for
''W'herecan I
instance,how ''WhereI buy book?' can be reshapedinto
buy a book?'.Anotheroral grammaticization task is outlinedin 3 (Task
81).
The greatadvantageof this approachis that the learnersare now reshap-
ing and improving their own language,with a greatersenseof involve-
ment in the whole procedure.In effect,grammaticizationtasks lead to
another kind of activity which is part of the teachingof grammar as
skill-those in which learnersreflecton the qualiryof their own language,
and it is reflectionwhich we now move on to consider.
 grammaras skill
Teaching 111

9.5 Reflection
In teachinggrammar as skill, we are aiming to encouragegreateratten-
tion to g.a-m", in meaning-focused work. The difficulry with pro.cess
tasks, saw, is that theleacherhas of necessityonly-a very indirect
"r-*.on the qualiry of learners'language.It may be that the learners
influence
havebeenmademore-conscious of shortcomingsin their language.But
thenagain,theymay not.'$7eknow that grammarhasbeenan important
obfecti'veof the task, but what haveour learnersmadeof it all? To some
l.ar.rers, it is possiblethat all this flurry of processwork meansvery
little. Wir.n the dusthassettled,they may shrugtheir shouldersin puzzled
''Why did the teachermakeus do that?\7hy didn't sheteach
amazement:
us anythingtoday?'
One solution is to encouragelearnersto reflect on the quality of the
weaknesses for
languagethey are using, appraisingits strenef!19 .andits
th.itr.Tu.r. Th.t. is eviry-chancethat they will be motivatedto do so,
preciselybecauseit is their language,and as.suchit should be more
salientand significantthan languageinjecteddirectly flq+ the syllabus'
Furthermore,"throughreflectionaCtivitieswe are implicitly providing a
rationalefor procesiteaching.Once a processtask is over' teachersand
learners*..i in explicit considerationof the languageused, and the
purposein using it. As has already !9.1 suggested,reflectionactivities
iorritit.rt. a kinJ of post-taskstagewhich fits into a wider frameworkof
task activiry (seeFigure 11 on page97).

The activity below follows on from a task in which learnerstape-

'lfhat
recordeda story of their own choosing. skills and qualities
do learnersneedfor this kind of reflectionto work well?

TenselHesitation deuices
Chooseabout a minute of your recordedstory and listen to it againas
follows.
Firstlistening one of you should listen for the verb tensesand the
other shoulJliste' for vocabularyitems.Write down anythingwhich
you think was an error or could have beendone better.Discussyour
noteswith your partner and decidehow it could have beensaid better'
Ask your teacherto help you if necessary'
Secondlistening As you listen seeif you can notice any of the things
that make continuousspeechsoundmore natural, for example:
hesitationnoisessuch as ertn, mmft4 err
introductory phrasessuchas well,,so then, anyutay,oh
things which involve the listenerin the story such as
so, you see, you knou, do you seeuhat I mean?

(N o l a sco1 9 8 7 :58)
112 Demonstration - Teaching grammar

A reflectionstagewill help us to lead learnersto critically reflecton their

grammar,comparingwhat they actuallysaid with what they might have
said. This, then, is the theory. But there are practical constraints.For
somelearners,all this criticalreflectionmay just add to the pressure. 'It's
bad enoughthat we are askedto expressourselves in sucha public way',
they might reason, 'but then to have our languagesubjectedto critical
scrutinyby all and sundry...' Once again,we encounterthe difficulties
posedby pressure:learnerswill only committhemselves to a task if they
feelmotivated,but they are unlikely to throw themselves into an activiry
if they havereal doubtsor fearsabout their own role in it. Somehow,
then,we needto leadlearnersgentlyinto self-and peer-appraisal, perhaps
through taskswhich encouragethem to look critically at languagewith-
out feeling that their own efforts are being singled out for critical
attention.

TASK59
How do the following activitiesseekto achievethis aim? What
other ways can you think of to accomplishthe sameobjective?
Activity 1

GRAMMAR: Patternsproposedby the students

LEVEL: and beyond
Post-beginner
TIME: 20 minutes
MATERIALS: None

1 Ask the studentsto work on their own and write down five
sentencesthey knou are wrong but that feel right to them.
they know are correct
2 Now ask them to rewrite five sentences
Englishbut which all the samefeel wrong to them.
3 Ask the studentsto read out someof the sentences from both
categoriesand explain why they feel the way they do. For many
peoplethis is a novel and curiouslinguisticawarenessactiviry.
4 To help studentsdeepentheir awarenessof feelingsof grammatical
rightnessand wrongnessin the target language,have fwo envelopes
pinned up in your classroom,one marked:
Right that feel(s)wrong
and the other marked:
Wrong that feel(s)right
Invite studentsto put new sentences they find that fit either category
into the appropriate envelope.
Every now and then ask the classto look at the sentences so
collectedand discussthem.

(Rinuolucri1984:95)
 I eacbmggrammar as sf-tll I lJ

Activiry 2

Editing a text:
Doing your own corrections
Every writer has to learn to check written work. Using what
you have learnedin this unit (and in any other course),study
the following passageabout horsesand cows, correcting it as
necessary:
Horsesare usefulanimals,but they are not more usefullthan
cow. It is easierto ride horsethan cow, but it is easierto
milk a cow than horse.Cows are generallyregardedas
'bull' to show that
female,and the male get the specialname
he is not female.Horses,however, are generallyregarded
male, the female getting the specialname mare to show that
'Stallion',
sheis not male.'Wecan, however,call male horse
but there is no specialname,in englishlanguageat least,for
femalecow.

(McArthur 1984:28)
Oncehavingintroducedreflectionin a relativelynon-threateningcontext,
we can move on to organizereflectiontaskswhich deal directly with the
learner'sown language.But this doesnot meanthat we need relinquish
'Whereas
all control over the forms which the learnerwill focus on. the
activiryin Task 58 dependsheavilyon the forms the learnershappento
produce,other activitieswill involvemore carefulguidance.For example,
we can designtasks which focus very explicitly on, say, ways in which
the learners'first languageinterfereswith their production in the target
language.As we saw in 5.2, learnersrypicallymake agreat many errors
by ipp[ying featuresof the L1 to their performancein the targetlanguage.
1,t4 Demonstration - TeachingSrammar

The following extract outlines a procedurefor teachersto raise

learnerawarenessof factors encounteredin translatingberween
the first languageand English. !7hat kind of guidanceis to be
providedin the reflectionstageof the procedure(stage3)?

5.6 Variationson a theme:

reversetranslation
PREPARATION 1 Chooserwo passages of ten to fifteen lines,one in English
and one in the mother tongue.The text should preferablybe
self-contained,that is, easyto understandevenout of
context.
2 Preparea task sheetfor eachpassageand make copiesfor
half the class.

IN CLASS 1 Divide the classinto rwo evengroups,A and B. Give

Group A task sheetA, Group B, task sheetB. Out of class,
the studentstranslatetheir respectivetexts. Group A from
Englishinto L1, Group B from L1 into English.
2 Each studentchoosesa partner from the oppositegroup.
They exchangetranslationsbut not original texts.Their task
is to translatethe translation they have beengiven, either
back into English(Group B) or back into L1 (Group A).
The studentsshould do the reversetranslationalone,
without discussionor consultation.It could evenbe done
out of class,but interestwill be greaterif the writing is done
on the spot. A strict time-limitof 20 minutesshouldbe set.
3 Next, ask eachstudentto rejoin his or her partner,and:
a. Discussany difficultiesthey havehad. They shouldrefer
only to the translations,not to the original text.
b. Readthrough eachother'swork.
c. Exchangethe original tcxts and comparcthcm with thc
reversetranslation.

(Duff1989:147)
As well as beingface-threatening, paying carefulattentionto one'sown
languageproductionis a skilled business,particularlyfor learnerswho
are not experiencedin this kind of work, or who are by nature more
interestedin gettingtheir meaningsover than in scrutinizingthelanguage
they use to do so. Learners,therefore,may well require some careful
guidancein the skill of critical languagestudy.
 leachmg Srammar as sqtll llJ

TASK 61
Here is an extrad from a book entitledLearningto Learn English.
'S7hat
particular skills are the authors seekingto develophere?
How explicit are they, i.e. is this a kind of consciousness-raising
e*erciseiWhat additionalkey questionsmight you wish to give
your learners?

1 Points to assess
your useof grammar,you needto be clearabout
Beforeyou can assess
what exactlyyou want to assess.

a) First of all you needto considerwhat kinds of grammatical

mistakesyou think are serious.Someare more seriousthan others
becausetirey make the meaningunclearand can causeconfusion.
Look at the examplesof spokenEnglishbelow. In eachone there is
o)
a sentence(marked with a mistake.Decidehow seriousyou
think eachmistakeis and why. Discuss.
i) A: Vhat doesYour brother do?
B: oHe work in a factory.
ii) oWhereyou go for Your holidaY?
iii) A : What's the matter?
B : ol've beencumingmY finger.
iv) A : Are you going swimming?
B : olt dependsfrom the weather.
'flabbergasted'?
v) o'Whatmeans

b) Do you rhink it is more important to be correct when writing or

when speaking?\7hY?

c) Ifhen you havethought about which mistakesare seriousand

whetheryou are going to assess your speakingor writing, you can
chooseparticularpoints to assess. Here are somesuggestions:
- tenses,e.g.past tenses'presenttenses
- prepositionse.g.of direction,of location
- questiontagse.g.It's a nice day,isn't it?
- word order
- comparativese.g. She'staller than Fred.
- superlativese.g. She'stbe tallest in the class.
etc.
Selectonly rwo or threeof theseat a time.

(EIIisand Sinclair1"989:48-9)
11.5 Demonstration - Teaching grammdr

We may want to lead learners into the art of reflection step by step, with
a gradual shift away from the controlled evaluation of someone else's
language, as with Activity 2 in Task 59, through to the point where
ttrey feil both happy and able to assesstheir own and each others' oral
'We
production. should stop short, though, of requiring them simultan-
iously to both communicate freely and attend carefully to the qualiry of
their output. This would amount to sabotage,and anyway demands a
level of mental gymnasticswhich no languageuser could reasonablybe
expectedto have. Imagine coming to the end of an involving discussion,
'How exactly did you put that point you made about
ottly to be asked
TV being bad for children?'. The more involved you were with your
message,the less likely it is that you will have any recollection at all
about its preciselinguistic packaging.

TASK62
Imaginethat you give your learnersa role-play activiry. Listed
below are four options for languagereflectionwhich could be
attachedto the activity. How would you assessand grade each
option in terms of the degreeof guidanceand control which it
offers?What kind of listeningis requiredwith eachoption?
Option 1
Aiter you have finishedyour dialogue,try to remembersomeof
the things you said. How did you put some of the points you
made?How well do you think you expressed them?
Option 2 'When
Record your dialogue. you have finished,listen again to
what was said and discussthe languageyou used.Which points
are you htppy with, and which do you think you could improve?
you usedto persuadethe
Think particularlyabout the expressions
other personto do something.
Option 3
Beforeyou start your dialogue,work with your partnerand make
brief notesof what eachof you might say. Checkyour plan with
the teacher,then passit over to anotherpair of students,who will
listen carefullyas you act out the scene.Afterwards,discussand
comparewhat you plannedwith what you actuallysaid.
Option 4
the role-playthe
\flork in groups of four. As one pair acts out 'When
other pair listensout for how verbs are used. both pairs
have finished,discusstogetherwhat you did well and what you
would like to improve.Report your summaryto the rest of the
classand the teacher.
 redcnmg gramtnar as s?tll ll/

Motivating and educatinglearnersto operate in this way can have a very

positive impact on the learning process.The learner is able to tune in to
her own language, a skill which she may then carry with her beyond the
confines of the classroom. At the same time, a single reflection task might
require attention to a wide range of language forms, each one occurring
in the learner'sown discourse.This is a far cry from the narrow language
focus rypical of much product teaching.Learnersdo not learn grammar
on a conveyor belt system,systematicallynoticing and instantly structur-
ing each grammatical form as it swings briefly into view. They need to
keep re-noticing. Teaching grammar as skill, we can offer them rich and
recurring opportunities to re-notice and restructure their hypotheses
about language. See O'Malley and Chamot (1990) for a discussionof
the importance of this kind of self-awareness in the learning process.