Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Oral Language Development and Grammar Awareness: Integration of

Literature and Skills

This module will help you to:

1. Understand the components of Oral Language;

2. Differentiate the strategies in developing oral language skills
3. Use effective strategies in teaching grammar lessons

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Almost all children learn the rules of their language at an early age through use, and
over time, without formal instruction. Thus, one source for learning must be genetic. Human
beings are born to speak; they have an innate gift for figuring out the rules of the language
used in their environment.
The environment itself is also a significant factor. Children learn the specific variety of
language (dialect) that the important people around them speak.
Children do not, however, learn only by imitating those around them. We know that
children work through linguistic rules on their own because they use forms that adults never
use, such as "I goed there before" or "I see your feets." Children eventually learn the
conventional forms, went and feet, as they sort out for themselves the exceptions to the rules
of English syntax.
As with learning to walk, learning to talk requires time for development and practice in
everyday situations. Constant correction of a child's speech is usually unproductive.
Children seem born not just to speak, but also to interact socially. Even before they use
words, they use cries and gestures to convey meaning; they often understand the meanings
that others convey. The point of learning language and interacting socially, then, is not to
master rules, but to make connections with other people and to make sense of experiences
(Wells, 1986).

ORAL LANGUAGE COMPONENTS

Phonology
Phonology covers the organization or system of sounds within a language. Once the
phonological system has been acquired for basic listening and speaking, children begin to
develop phonological awareness—the awareness of words in sentences or syllables in words.
Other aspects of phonological awareness include rhyme, alliteration, onset rime (word
families), blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds. At the most complex level is
phonemic awareness (blending, segmenting, and manipulating words at the individual sound—
or phoneme—level).
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Vocabulary/Meaning (Semantics)
The development of vocabulary focuses both on expressive and receptive vocabulary.
Expressive vocabulary represents the words a student actively uses when talking, writing, or
otherwise communicating. Receptive vocabulary represents the words that a student
understands—based on context and background experiences—but may not necessarily use
when speaking or writing. A common misconception is the idea that vocabulary can be
measured simply by the sheer number of words an individual can understand and use, although
this actually pertains only to the breadth of vocabulary knowledge. To measure the depth of
vocabulary knowledge, a broader definition also includes a focus on such areas as: multiple
meanings of words (homonyms), shades of meaning, figurative language, and relationships
between words (synonym, antonyms, analogies).

Morphology
Sometimes considered to be a subset of syntax and sometimes considered as part of
vocabulary (semantics), morphology is focused on the smallest units of meaning within a word,
as well as the rules about how those words are formed. For example, if we were to examine
the word “cats,” a basic analysis would show there are four phonemes: /k/, /a/, /t/, and /s/.
However, the word only has two morphemes (meaningful word parts): “Cat” is a feline animal,
and “s” tells us that there is more than one cat. Morphology can also include the study of
structural analysis— how words are joined together and build vocabulary by analyzing the
morphological structure of the word (prefix, root, and suffix)—which then helps build upon the
child’s foundation in vocabulary.

Grammar (Syntax)
As children develop their oral language skills, they also develop an understanding of
grammar—the set of structural rules that govern the combination of words and phrases into
sentences, as well as how sentences are combined into paragraphs. Knowledge of these rules
helps children understand the relationship among words and apply vocabulary and abstract
thinking to their comprehension of oral language.

Pragmatics
Considered by some reading experts as the “hidden curriculum” in a classroom,
pragmatics requires the understanding of the social use of language. This includes social norms
regarding conversational turn-taking, personal space, and appropriate behavior with peers and
authority figures in a variety of common social situations. In some classroom settings, students
lacking background experience—which can be attributable to cultural differences in some
instances—don’t understand group dynamics and expectations regarding behavior.
Understanding a variety of situations prepares students for more successful comprehension at
later stages, including both listening and reading.
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Discourse
Oral and written communication, also known as discourse, is a critical skill. For
example, narrative storytelling follows a very specific format: Stories typically have a beginning,
middle, and end. They describe the main characters and the setting in which they live, the
conflict, and the resolution. An understanding of story structure is essential in order to read,
understand, and write narrative. In contrast, consider the structure of expository, or
informational text. These forms of writing also follow certain structures, such as: persuasive,
cause and effect, compare and contrast, and procedural. It is critically important that students
understand these structures through listening comprehension before they even begin to focus
on reading comprehension. Before they can begin to write these kinds of stories, they first need
to be able to understand and tell stories in those formats.

THREE STRATEGIES TO HELP DEVELOP ORAL LANGUAGE SKILLS

Strategy One: Adapt Activities to Include Authentic Talk

Adapting current activities to include more authentic, original, and extended discussions gives
students opportunities to contribute more than one sentence to a conversation. Sometimes, we
miss the opportunity to encourage language development. For example, many teachers use
some form of a jigsaw activity, in which students get into expert groups, read a text, and answer
questions or fill in charts. They then go to mixed home groups to share their information. Yet,
often what happens is this: students just read aloud what another student has copied from a
resource -- and opportunities for oral language development are lost.

To improve this strategy, you can have the experts engage in a discussion of what to put, in
their own words, onto paper. Then, they can rehearse what they’ll say — covering their papers
to avoid reading aloud. Then in home groups, you can have each person glance at their notes,
cover them again, and share with the group members, who listen and take notes. You can even
ask students to try to speak in paragraphs, starting with a general claim or topic sentence, and
then support it with evidence sentences. For example, in this video, notice how the talk evolves
as students prepare their ideas for sharing.

Strategy Two: Use Activities that Develop Strong Language

Use activities that allow students to develop a “stronger and clearer” answer, as they talk to
different partners successively in an activity. Instead of the all-too-common whole class
discussion, with the teacher asking questions and a few students answering, ask a question
and have students talk to three different partners. Or have students talk in different groups (see
this 1-3-6 activity video).

A crucial aspect of this strategy is that students shouldn’t say the same thing each time; rather,
they need to build on the language and ideas of previous partner(s) to improve, expand, clarify,
and support their evolving answer each time they share it.

Example Activities (from Zwiers, O’Hara, Pritchard, 2014):

Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Interview Grid: Students talk with one different partner each time, making their answers
stronger and clearer each time, taking minimal, if any, notes on the chart. Note that this activity
can also work using inner-outer conversation circles, such as the one in this Debrief Circles
video.

Opinion Formation Cards: Students receive a quotation from the text (before it’s read) that
includes evidence for one side or the other of an issue. Students share their quotations and
their evolving opinions, with reasons and evidence for them.

Opinion Continuum: Students share where they fall on the continuum of a two-sided issue and
why. At the end, they share if they shifted at all along the continuum based on their
conversations with partners.

Strategy Three: Use Strong Discussion Prompts

Try to use discussion prompts that foster evaluation in some way. Evaluation is usually needed
for ranking, prioritizing, and choosing. For example, if you ask for evidence of a theme or a
claim, many students just find the first three remotely evidence-y things they can, and stop
there. But if you prompt students to rank the evidence from strongest to weakest, or to find the
most influential cause of some war, you can often get deeper thinking and better conversation.

For instance, I was talking with a teacher who was asking this question, “How did the Civil War
affect the families in the South?” I encouraged her to simply add “most affect” to force students
to evaluate and discuss their opinions. When students evaluate, their ideas often differ. And if
you allow them time to argue and negotiate the ideas, lots of learning can happen

LESSONS ON GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE

Teaching grammar may seem fairly straightforward, but then you get questions like,
“What’s the difference between present perfect and past simple?” or “How can I choose between
2nd conditional and 3rd conditional?”

When you teach similar grammar structures separately, they have nice, clean rules, and
everyone’s happy, but when things start to get confusing, what do you do? These activities for
teaching similar grammar structures might help.

Whether you’re working on verb tenses, types of conjunctions, conditionals, or the grammatical
changes that take place in a sentence simply by replacing “hope” with “wish,” you have to walk
through a basic series of activities. Each activity builds on the previous one, guiding your
students through forms, analysis and choice to a true understanding and ability to produce
correct English.
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

STUDY FORMS

The first step in teaching similar grammar structures is to show the differences in how they
are formed.

Learn the Word Order

You can use charts to show the correct word order for asking yes/no and “wh-” questions
in each tense. These simply serve to show students the correct order of the words when
forming these tenses. Using the charts for reference, students can then practice writing
the forms themselves in controlled exercises:

Sentence Scramble - Mix up the words in simple sentences, and have students
reassemble them correctly.

Fill-in-the-Blanks - Give students sentences that use ONLY ONE of the structures in
question. They are not yet ready to decide which one is correct.
However, they do need to practice writing the forms, and doing it in
the context of a sentence is better than doing it in isolation.

Minor Changes (Substitution Drills) - Give the students a short, simple paragraph. If you’re
Working on the differences between Present Simple and Present
Continuous verbs, start the paragraph with “Every day,” and write
it in Present Simple. Now change “Every day” to “Right now,” and
have the students change the verbs accordingly. This is a great
lead-in to the next step in the process, analysis.

Analyze Differences

Now that students are comfortable writing the two similar grammar structures, it’s time to
study the differences in usage.

A side-by-side comparison chart for Past Simple and Past Continuous is a good way to
get started. Then, we need some practice activities. Tip: Check out the printable
comparison chart below that has been prepared by Your Dictionary.

Give examples of the grammar structures in question used correctly, and ask specific
questions to highlight the differences. If you’re studying Past Simple vs. Past Continuous,
you might give this sentence: “At 8:00 last night, I was folding laundry.” You would then
ask:

Which verb tense is used?

When (specifically) did this action happen?

If the action was in progress at a specific moment that is stated in the sentence,
you should use Past Continuous. If the action happened in the past, but a specific
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

moment is not stated, or the action did not take more than a moment to complete, you
should use Past Simple.

Another activity to try is fill-in-the-blank sentences with specific questions to walk

students through the process of choosing the correct grammar structure. Using the same
sentence from the previous activity, you would give this sentence: “At 8:00 last night, I
________________ (fold) laundry.” You would then ask:

Did this action happen at a specific time?

Did the action take only a moment to complete, or was it in progress at the moment stated
in the sentence?

These questions will help the students determine which tense to use.

Choose Your Weapon

When students have a handle on the thought process behind choosing the correct
grammatical structure, they are ready to make their own choices. We still need to keep
the exercises controlled, however, and limited to the similar structures in question. Don’t
go throwing in something from the past, and definitely don’t confuse them by adding in
curve balls you haven’t taught yet.

Here are some ideas for activities:

Fill-in-the-Blank Sentences - If you’re working on two different verb tenses, give students
the base form of the verb for each blank, and let them choose the correct tense. For
more of a challenge, give them a word bank full of base verbs, and they must put the
correct verb in the correct blank in the correct tense.

Circle the Correct Answer - Give the students sentences with two choices in parentheses.
Students must circle the correct choice to complete the sentence.

Multiple Choice Sentence Completion - Give students the beginning of a sentence, and
they must choose the correct ending, A, B, C or D.

Edit for Correctness

When students have gotten pretty good at choosing the correct grammar structure for
sentences and paragraphs, it’s time to see how good they really are. Start with numbered
sentences with structure underlined. Students must decide whether the structure used
is correct or incorrect.

If it is correct, they do nothing.

If it is incorrect, they must correct it.

Then move on to paragraphs with both structures used, some correctly, some incorrectly.
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Students must find a specified number of mistakes in the usage of the structures being
practiced.

Editing practice will serve the students well later on when they must edit their own work.

Produce Language

Now your students are ready to start producing their own sentences with the two grammar
structures they’ve learned. To get them started, you can ask them to:

o Answer questions o Finish sentences o Write

questions for given answers o Write short
paragraphs
o Write stories, letters or essays

There are a lot of similar grammar structures in English that cause confusion for
ESL students. When you’re introducing new ones, try to stick to a comparison of only
two at a time. You could easily teach the differences between Present Simple, Present
Perfect, Past Simple and Past Continuous; but, that could get very confusing very
quickly.

A good place to start is comparing Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous, then
Present Perfect and Past Simple, then Past Simple and Past Continuous. When students
have a firmer grasp on each one, then you can mix and match.

Printable Study Forms

In addition to the study form above for Past Simple vs. Past Continuous, Your Dictionary has
prepared two other study forms for you to print and use with your ESL learners

Planning a grammar lesson Without grammar, words hang together without any real
meaning or sense. In order to be able to speak a language to some degree of proficiency and
to be able to say what we really want to say, we need to have some grammatical knowledge.

By teaching grammar, we not only give our students the means to express themselves,
but we also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves. Fortunately,
nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a wealth of stimulating
resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation of verbs or
grammar translation.
- Which approach?
- Presentation, practice and production (PPP)
Presentation
Practice
Production
- Conclusion
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Which approach?

There are two main approaches to teaching grammar. These are the deductive and the
inductive approach.

A deductive approach is when the rule is presented and the language is produced
based on the rule. (The teacher gives the rule.)

An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some form of guided
discovery. (The teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves.) In
other words, the former is more teacher centered and the latter more learner centered.

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. The deductive approach
is undoubtedly time saving and allows more time for practicing the language items thus making
it an effective approach with lower level students. The inductive approach, on the other hand,
is often more beneficial to students who already have a base in the language as it encourages
them to work things out for themselves based on their existing knowledge.

Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP)

A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure known as PPP (Presentation,
Practice, Production). The teacher presents the target language and then gives students the
opportunity to practice it through very controlled activities. The final stage of the lesson gives
the students the opportunity to practice the target language in freer activities which bring in
other language elements.

In a 60-minute lesson each stage would last approximately 20 minutes. This model
works well as it can be used for most isolated grammatical items. It also allows the teacher to
time each stage of the lesson fairly accurately and to anticipate and be prepared for the
problems students may encounter.

It is less workable at higher levels when students need to compare and contrast several
grammatical items at the same time and when their linguistic abilities are far less uniform.

Presentation

In this stage the teacher presents the new language in a meaningful context. I
find that building up stories on the board, using realia or flashcards and miming are fun
ways to present the language.

For example, when presenting the 2nd conditional, draw a picture of yourself with
thought bubbles of lots of money, a sports car, a big house and a world map.

Ask your students what you are thinking about and then introduce the target
language. "If I had a lot of money, I would buy a sports car and a big house." "If I had a
lot of money, I would buy a sports car and a big house."
Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Practice and drill the sentence orally before writing it on the board (positive,
negative, question and short answer).

Then focus on form by asking the students questions. e.g. "What do we use after
'if What do we use after 'if'?" and on meaning by asking the students questions to check
that they have understood the concept. (E.g. “Do I have lots of money? Do I have lots
of money?" No. "What am I doing? What am I doing?" Imagining.)

When satisfied that students understand the form and the meaning, move on to
the practice stage of the lesson. During this stage of the lesson it is important to correct
phonological and grammatical mistakes.

Practice

There are numerous activities which can be used for this stage including gap fill
exercises, substitution drills, sentence transformations, split sentences, picture
dictations, class questionnaires, reordering sentences and matching sentences to
pictures.

It is important that the activities are fairly controlled at this stage as students
have only just met the new language. Many students' books and workbooks have
exercises and activities which can be used at this stage.

When teaching the 2nd conditional, I would use split sentences as a controlled
practice activity. Give students lots of sentence halves and in pairs they try and match
the beginnings and ends ofthe sentences.

Example: "If I won the lottery, If I won the lottery," …. "I'd travel around the world.
I'd travel around the world."

Then do a communicative follow up game like pelmanism or snap using the

same sentence halves.

Production

Again there are numerous activities for this stage and what you choose will
depend on the language you are teaching and on the level of your students. However,
information gaps, role plays, interviews, simulations, find someone who, spot the
differences between two pictures, picture cues, problem solving, personalization
activities and board games are all meaningful activities which give students the
opportunity to practice the language more freely. When teaching the 2nd conditional, I
would try to personalize the lesson at this stage by giving students a list of question
prompts to ask others in the class.

Example: do / if / win the lottery? do / if / win the lottery?

Teaching English in the Elementary Grades – BEEd 2

Although the questions are controlled the students are given the opportunity to
answer more spontaneously using other language items and thus the activity becomes
much less predictable. It is important to monitor and make a note of any errors so that
you can build in class feedback and error analysis at the end of the lesson.

Conclusion

When teaching grammar, there are several factors we need to take into consideration and
the following are some of the questions we should ask ourselves:

How useful and relevant is the language?

What other language do my students need to know in order to learn the new structure
effectively?

What problems might my students face when learning the new language?

How can I make the lesson fun, meaningful and memorable?

When teaching a grammar lesson, I English, it is sometimes beneficial to the students

to make a comparison to L1 in the presentation stage. This is particularly true in the case of
more problematic grammatical structures which students are not able to transfer to their own
language.

It is also important to note that using the PPP model does not necessarily exclude using
a more inductive approach since some form of learner-centered guided discovery could be built
into the presentation stage. When presenting the 2nd conditional, present the language in
context and then give the students a worksheet with a series of analysis questions to do in
pairs. PPP is one model for planning a lesson. Other models include TTT (Test, Teach, Test),
ARC (Authentic use, Restricted use, Clarification and focus) and ESA (Engage, Study,
Activate). All models have their advantages and disadvantages, like many other teachers
should know what to use different models depending on the lesson, class, level and learner
styles.

Reference: Course Module for Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Language Arts)