Hello...
I'm understanding that the "grammar in context" model means finding
grammatical functions and processes that just happen to happen in a given
piece of prose, academic or otherwise. But then what? We take out a
sentence, a clause, a phrase, whatever and analyze it for its grammar (what
other choice would we have, anyway, since we're bound to a few words at a
time when reading that way?). If "context" simply means the plot, focus,
theme, purpose, or audience of a text, then analyzing how grammar works
specifically to that context is really more about analyzing rhetorical
strategies (looking at bits of language for what they do to the larger
whole and thus to the reader/listener). Looking sentence level for things
like adjectives etc is looking at grammar isolated - and I'm not saying
that's a bad thing. We study prepositional phrases first and then read
Hemingway - and it clicks. Maybe I haven't seen a successful "context"
model for the High School level... and to get back to the SAT and other
high stakes tests, the grammar error identification questions look at
single sentences without larger rhetorical/narrative context. We'd like to
be able to approach many goals; carrying sound reading comprehension
strategies that consider both grammar and rhetoric and also being able to
pass a very cold state, board, or agency test is often a funky marriage for
the average student.
Teresa - we use Prentice Hall Literature anthologies for which Kate
Kinsella happens to be a contributing author. I was fascinated by the
"Academic English Second Language" assertion, as we've had this
conversation among faculty dozens of times. Yet teachers simply go ahead
and assign x number of pages to read and still wonder why students (who
actually do pass their eyes over letters and words) come back and fail
reading check quizzes. I'd like to know more about her comments and
suggestions, especially since she writes for textbooks...
Thank you...
John
On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Dixon, Jack <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Terre and Herb,
>
> Herb raises some excellent questions for us to consider as we think
> through how we teach grammar -- all the language arts, actually. I think
> his idea about "a much more thorough-going grammar in context model" is
> very important. I certainly agree with the idea of teaching grammar in
> context, but I have also observed that often "grammar in context" means not
> teaching much grammar (or language development) at all. Herb's idea of a
> more carefully thought through scope and sequence would be very helpful --
> though I recognize all the problems confronting anyone willing to take on
> this onerous task. We've discussed this issue numerous times in one way or
> another on this site.
>
> Terre's integrated approach to teaching reading, vocabulary, writing, and
> grammar makes much sense. Finding those readings that students find
> relevant can certainly be a problem. (I've found one on car buying that my
> college students enjoy; the author, a former car salesman, discusses how
> customers are manipulated because of their ignorance.)
>
> Jack
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teresa Lintner
> Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 11:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
>
> Hi Herb,
>
> Textbooks for teaching grammar to English Language Learners in secondary
> and higher education are going in the direction of teaching grammar in
> context, especially in more academic contexts. It's much easier to get
> students to use adjectives, say, if you start off with an article on
> worker's rights and then discuss the article as well as students'
> experiences afterwards. Students care about the topic and want to talk
> about it. Along the way, they learn the correct placement of adjectives as
> well as great vocabulary and other grammar that happens to crop up within
> the context. ...this just happens to be the approach taken on the
> textbooks series I'm working on. I'm not endorsing it, for the record.
>
>
> Best,
>
> Terre
>
> Teresa Lintner
> Senior Development Editor
> Cambridge University Press
> 32 Avenue of the Americas
> New York, New York 10013-2473
> Telephone: 212 337-5070
> Fax: 212 645-5960
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> From: "STAHLKE, HERBERT F" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: 12/26/2011 02:32 PM
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
> Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Jack,
>
> You raise important questions or pedagogy and of content, questions we have
> discussed at length on this forum without reaching consensus. Should
> grammar be taught as content? Should it be taught as an adjunct to the
> teaching of writing? What you suggest is that a significant amount of
> grammar, grammar that is useful to writers, can be taught in the process of
> meeting the needs of developing writers. And this leads me to wonder
> whether a grammar in context approach might not be a way to introduce
> grammatical knowledge that we all think is useful and presenting it in a
> way that makes its relevance obvious. This suggests a much more
> thorough-going grammar in context model than we usually see in writing
> classrooms, rather, an approach that starts in early grades and
> incorporates grammar into language arts activities across the board.
>
> Not being a K12 teacher, I may be describing what some teachers are already
> doing.
>
> Herb
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [
> mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dixon, Jack
> Sent: Sunday, December 25, 2011 6:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
>
> Terre:
>
> Thank you for your detailed response. I do want to check out Kate
> Kinsella's work in using academic vocabulary and sentence frames. (Any
> titles in particular where I should start?) I am familiar with "They Say,
> I Say" and agree that it can be useful for helping students understand
> those deeper cognitive structures that academic writers use - actually used
> by more than just academics.
>
> I would like a copy of your rubric if you are willing to share. Are the
> two essays you use pieces that you have collected or written yourself, or
> are they published somewhere so that I could access them?
>
> What I like about your strategies for teaching academic vocabulary and
> using sentence frames is that you are teaching students how to communicate
> without putting the focus on error. So many objectives that involve
> developing language proficiency involve error avoidance or correction.
> While correcting errors is important, teaching students how to accomplish
> larger rhetorical goals seems more productive to me. In my classes over
> the last few years (developmental writing and freshman English at an
> open-admissions community college), I have worked with sentence imitation,
> tied with comprehension. I take sentences with some level of structural
> complexity that I can be fairly sure my students will understand when we
> read and discuss them. I then model imitating the structure, not the
> content; we do a few together; then, I have them write a few original
> sentences which we read around the room. At the end of that session, the
> students feel they have done something important.
>
> My underlying goal is to show them that, in fact, they know more grammar
> than they think they do and that we are going to build on what they know.
> As we discuss how any given structure works, I begin to introduce them to
> the concepts of phrases, clauses, punctuation - all tied to the ways the
> meaning gets conveyed.
>
> Jack
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teresa Lintner
> [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 10:55 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
>
> Hi Jack,
>
> Several people have contacted me individually about this exercise. I'm
> happy to share my rubric with you (and anyone else), if you'd like. I'm an
> editor by day, but at night I teach an intermediate level ESL grammar and
> academic writing class at a community college. Every semester I've gotten a
> few Gen 1.5ers and they're usually quite frustrated because they don't see
> themselves as ESL students - and they're not the typical student in my
> class. Because of learning English by 'ear', their level of proficiency is
> hard to pinpoint - they use passive constructions but leave out verb
> inflections and auxiliaries and have lots of SPEWD.The exercise has been a
> way for me to address the issue of spoken vs. written English right from
> the start in a way that makes my Gen 1.5ers feel a sense of accomplishment
> that they've "mastered" a register in English. It also helps them
> understand what they need to focus on in writing. The rest of the class
> understands why they can't understand what English speakers are saying
> around them even though they have some knowledge of the grammatical rules.
>
> The challenge is figuring out ways of teaching that help them learn this
> register in speaking and writing. I've been very influenced by Kate
> Kinsella's work in using academic vocabulary and sentence frames in spoken
> tasks to help students become familiar with this language. If the students
> have learned the language by 'ear' then it seems likely that if they are
> given opportunities to use academic language to express ideas, then this
> language will seep into their writing more naturally. That's my thinking
> and that's what I'm exploring more and more in my teaching. I'm also
> reading "They Say, I Say", which, I think, takes a similar approach in
> terms of sentence frames.
>
> I'm happy to hear from others on this topic.
>
> Terre
>
>
> Teresa Lintner
> Senior Development Editor
> Cambridge University Press
> 32 Avenue of the Americas
> New York, New York 10013-2473
> Telephone: 212 337-5070
> Fax: 212 645-5960
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> From: "Dixon, Jack" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: 12/21/2011 09:26 PM
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
> Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> This strategy sounds excellent.
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teresa Lintner
> [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 10:09 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Spoken vs. formal written English
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English would be a good resource.
> One thing I do with my ESL students at the beginning of the semester is to
> present them with two short essays on the same topic, one written in SPEWD
> (I love that acronym!) and the other in academic English. Then I ask them
> to analyze the two essays using a rubric that helps them recognize the
> differences between the two registers. A revelation for my Gen 1.5ers is
> realizing that "gonna" is actually "going to."
>
> Terre
>
>
> Teresa Lintner
> Senior Development Editor
> Cambridge University Press
> 32 Avenue of the Americas
> New York, New York 10013-2473
> Telephone: 212 337-5070
> Fax: 212 645-5960
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> From: Stephen King <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: 12/20/2011 06:57 PM
> Subject: Spoken vs. formal written English
> Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Can anyone direct me to a text that focuses, at length, on the differences
> between spoken and written versions of language? It seems to me that a
> great many of my community college students, especially those who have been
> out of school for some time, use a version of English that could be
> characterized as "Spoken English Written Down." (A colleague suggested the
> acronym "SPEWD.") I have my own list of those differences, but am looking
> for other resources. Many thanks in advance!
>
> Steve King
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
> list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
> list, please visit the list's web interface at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
--
John Chorazy
English III Honors and Academic
Pequannock Township High School
973.616.6000
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/