I have found an inductive approach to be the most effective with Gen 1.5 students since, for many of them, that is how they "learned" English. Most of them are "ear-learners" and have formulated their own rules after hearing input. Unfortunately, their rules are often incorrect. One student wrote in an essay, "He didn't found his money yesterday." When I asked her why she wrote "found," she said that she wasn't actually sure that it was correct, but she decided that since it happened in the past, she should use "found," but she also was wondering if she should have used "finds" since the subject is "He." Then I asked her which of these sentences seemed correct to her:
-He didn't went to the store.
-He didn't go to the store.
-She didn't take the bus.
-She didn't took the bus.
She was able to identify the correct sentences. Then, looking back at her sentence and using the sample sentences as a guideline, she was able to correct the verb.
Unfortunately, because they are ear-learners, what they have learned incorrectly has often become fossilized. A student once wrote, "He avoided drive at night" and couldn't believe that "drive" should be "driving." (When he heard sentences with avoid, he probably hadn't heard the -ing clearly enough so that he could catch it and then use it correctly on his own.) He asked me if I was sure because to him, it sounded strange.
At our college, instructors tried to teach these Gen 1.5 students using a deductive approach whereby a rule is given and the students are asked to apply the rule in exercises. This approach was found to be ineffective. As a result, a few years ago, two colleagues and I received a grant from Washington state to see if we could improve the grammar in essays of these types of students by using their strengths to help them "learn" grammar. We developed materials that used an inductive approach, and we included some listening activities and some group activities as reinforcement. After working with a grammar point, they applied it in a writing assignment. At the end of the quarter, we found a significant improvement in the grammar in their essays.
I'm not trying to do a self-promotion here, but these materials are available in my book, The Grammar Review Book.
David Kehe
Bellingham, WA
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Teresa Lintner
Sent: Mon 8/16/2010 2:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: recommendation sought
Hi Dan,
I would be very interested in ideas for this population too. I teach an
Intermediate-level ESL Grammar and Academic Writing class at a community
college, and invariably I get three or so Gen 1.5ers who "wow" the rest of
the class with their fluent spoken language (all 200 words - they'll admit
it!), and then lag behind many of them in their written English. I've
found books by Dana Ferris helpful (Treatment of Error in Second Language
Writing) in addressing their written work, but I would love more support on
how to work with them. What I like about Ferris is the focus on ideas and
making students aware of their most frequent errors so that they learn to
self-correct. Students become aware of "their list" of errors and look out
for them. Meanwhile, the focus of feedback is on ideas and maintaining the
integrity of students' work. There is a lot more to the book, so I may not
be doing it justice.
I would love to share ideas with others.
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: Dan Roth <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: 08/16/2010 04:56 PM
Subject: recommendation sought
Sent by: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
<[log in to unmask]>
Collective Wisdom:
I would like your recommendations on possible texts or materials for
my class. I teach Developmental (Expository) Writing at a California
community college. The vast majority of my students are "generation
1.5", speak English as a second language, or were under-prepared by
their high school.
Many of my students produce writing with very idiosyncratic issues
which many grammar texts don't address, such as speech-based,
under-punctuated prose, mixed constructions ("In the book convinces us
it is a good idea"), predication issues ("The victims are an example
of tolerance"). Other students have issues that more traditionally
show up in ESL guides, such as sentence-boundary issues, agreement,
unidiomatic constructions, preposition selection, etc.
Does anyone have a recommendation on a good text or other materials to
help my students become more self-sufficient at identifying and
correcting errors and anomalies in their writing? Specifically, I am
looking for something that doesn't present grammar in a
de-contextualized way (lots of drills) but that addresses it in the
context of meaning-making and writing-as-process. I know this is a lot
to ask, but I'd appreciate your insight. It would be helpful if you
could explain how your recommendation addresses my specific needs.
Thanks in advance,
Dan Roth
Contra Costa College
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