Presenation at CAMTESOL 2015. Teaching grammar through communication skills

1. Skills and grammar: how do they go
together? How can we teach them?
How can we assess them?
Michael Carroll, Momoyama Gakuin University, Osaka
carroll@andrew.ac.jp
slides at http://www.slideshare.net/tokutaisei/Skills-and-Grammar

2. What this workshop is about
• When we learn a language should we begin by
teaching grammar rules and then practice using
those rules, or should we begin by
communicating in the language, and then teach
the grammar rules as the students need them?
• In this workshop we will try out the second way:
practical techniques for teaching form (grammar)
through communication skills.

3. Language = sound (words) +
grammar
• Of course, when we learn a language we need to
learn these sounds (words) and how to put the
words together (grammar).
• Sometimes we need to teach words and grammar
explicitly. (by explaining)
• We can also do it implicitly (indirectly, by
doing).

4. Can we teach beginners
indirectly?
• Some people think that for beginners, explicit
teaching of grammar rules is the only kind of
teaching we can do.
• However, even at the beginning stage, implicit
learning (doing) is as effective as explicit
learning (explaining). (Both are necessary, of
course.)

5. Speaking a language is a
practical skill
• Think of learning to ride a bicycle.
• Is it better to listen to a lecture about bicycle
riding, or is it better to get on the bicycle and try?

6. A lecture
• Mother: First sit on the bike, and to start off, push
the pedals with your feet. Keep pushing the
pedals round and the bike will go forward. When
you want to stop, stop pedaling, pull the brake
lever slowly and the bicycle will slow down and
stop.

7. Get on and try!
• Child: Mummy, why did I fall off?
• Mother: You put the brake on too quickly, and you
forgot to put your foot down. Next time, try and
brake more slowly, and put your foot down, like
this.

8. Learning a language is like
learning to ride a bicycle:
• it’s a practical skill and we learn most through
practice and experience. Riding a bicycle is about
moving your body; speaking a language is about
moving your mouth (and your body).

9. Speaking is something we do
for a reason: to communicate.
• We ride bicycles for a reason: to get from A to B.
We speak for a reason: to communicate our
ideas.
• If students speak in class in order to
communicate things they want to say, they will
want to speak, and will learn grammar and
vocabulary naturally, without thinking.

10. Dictogloss
• Choose a short text (3-5 sentences). Tell the
students the topic. Explain, and write on the
board, any difficult words, or names, in the text.
Read the text two or three times at natural
speaking speed. Give the students these
instructions:

11. Listen and write keywords
• The first time, students should just listen and try
to understand the meaning. After listening they
can write down any words they remember.
• The second time the students should write down
key words, as they listen.
• The third time they should check the words they
have written down, and correct them if necessary.

12. Reconstruct
• Then , in groups of 3-4 people, they should ‘re-
construct’ the text, using the keywords they wrote
down, and using the grammar in their own heads
to make good English sentences.
• The texts that the students re-construct should be
in correct English, but they do not have to be
exactly the same as the original text: the meaning
should be the same, but the grammar can be
different.

13. Here’s an example of a text that
you could use for Dictogloss.
• The text can be anything at all, but it must be at
the right level for it’s audience: not too difficult,
but challenging. This one’s for teachers teaching
a language that’s not their first. For students, of
course, you’d need to make an text that’s at their
level.

14. like this one, for elementary
students:
• Today we’re going to read pages twenty-seven
and twenty-eight of the textbook. First, please
look at the questions at the top of the page.

15. How do students learn
grammar from this?
Consider this sentence from the first text:
This one’s for teachers teaching a language that’s not
their first
• This one/that one
• NOUN + ~ing (teachers teaching/teachers who teach)
• NOUN that is (not) its/his/her/my/your/their +
SUPERLATIVE (a language that’s not their own)

16. or this one, from the elementary text:
Today we’re going to read pages twenty-seven and
twenty-eight of the textbook.
• ‘going to’ vs ‘will’ for future
• the ’s’ after ‘page’
• pages 28/29 vs 28/29 pages

17. Theatre journals
Excerpt from one student’s journal:
How the Boy Caught Ten Fish
(1) I went to the park yesterday. (2) It was very fun. (3)
I got 10 fish. (4) 5 was little big (5) 5 of them was big.
(6) I keep 5 of the little fish. (7) When I pell the fish up I
amost fell into the water but my dad gabblet my shert.
(11-12-98)
(From Ellen Lipp, 2001, “Building a Cross-Cultural Community of Learners and Writers
through Pen Pal Journals”, in Burton J and Carroll M (eds) Journal Writing TESOL
Publications. )

18. • Who did the boy go with?
• What was the weather like?
• What were the boy and his
father going to do at the park?
• What happened next?
• (1) I went to the park yesterday. (2)
It was very fun. (3) I got 10 fish. (4)
5 was little big (5) 5 of them was
big. (6) I keep 5 of the little fish. (7)
When I pell the fish up I amost fell
into the water but my dad gabblet
my shert. (11-12-98)

19. Expanded narrative:
(1) I went to the park yesterday
with my dad. It was a sunny
day. We were going to go
fishing. (2) It was very fun. (3) I
got 10 fish. (4) 5 was quite big
(5) 5 of them was very big. (6) I
kept 5 of the little fish. (7) When I
pulled the fish up I almost fell
into the water but my dad
grabbed my shirt. I didn’t fall
in. We went home.
(1) I went to the park yesterday. (2) It
was very fun. (3) I got 10 fish. (4) 5
was little big (5) 5 of them was big. (6)
I keep 5 of the little fish. (7) When I
pell the fish up I amost fell into the
water but my dad gabblet my shert.
(11-12-98)

20. How do students learn
grammar from this?
First, they learn, from the questions, that
communicating the meaning is more important
Second, they learn that some errors are more
important than others:
• pell ——> pulled
• gabblet ——-> grabbed
• little big ——-> quite big (vs very big)