Experiential Skills for Future Grammar Teachers: Feedback from the ESL Classroom
4. Future Grammar Teachers need tools to work with the complex problems of ESL students such as fossilization, randomization and learning disabilities.
My first years in the grammar and writing classroom involved getting a handle on the basics: how to present information accurately; how to organize classrooms, students, and activities; how to grade writing papers giving the appropriate advice, that not only reflected the problem, but also demonstrated an understanding of what the student wanted to say and how the student could work toward better expression in these situations. It was not until years later that I began to focus on the students who were outside of the pattern; in what way were some students not fitting into the usual patterns? In some ways I feel that we classroom veterans have a lot of experience to share that can really make a difference in understanding patterns of acquisition. I would like to draw the attention of Ped. Gram. teachers to the following problems that I have experienced, so that future teachers can have the benefit of that experience, or at least be partially forewarned.
A. Fossilization
Recent graduates of MATESOL programs may have heard of such terms as fossilization but may not know how to deal with it when they come across it in their new jobs. Recently a graduate who I mentored wrote to me with this problem. She said that students seemed to understand grammar points when she explained them, but made the same errors repeatedly in their writing. What was she to do?
From experience in the classroom we know that for some structures there is a natural sequence of learning. A student encounters a structure, makes judgements about its use and meaning, begins to use it, may be corrected in matters of its form or use, may overuse it or use it improperly, and eventually, after using it enough, acquires it, or takes it in as part of his/her system. The teacher can speed up the process to some degree, but ultimately, acquisition is up to the student and will occur when the student is ready. Also, we know that the grammar quiz may or may not show the stage at which the learner is relating to the structure; in other words, it is possible for students to beat the quiz without having acquired the structure, only to face the problem again further up the road.
However, the natural process is disrupted when the learner has fossilized, or developed and internalized nonstandard grammar as a habit. This is most common with learners who have spent large amounts of time speaking English in places where nonstandard grammar is spoken, for whatever reason. But habits must be fought with habits, and the teacher must be prepared to confront the student with the fact that until the student makes habitual effort to produce a certain form, the old habits will rule.
Sometimes the teacher can call the student's attention to the stages of learning, and to the students' own habits, whereupon the best students will take it upon themselves to influence their own habits. The teacher can have students memorize lines as part of a drama production. The teacher can be aware of computer programs that lead students step by step through various exercises. Over the years I have found a number of ways to approach this problem, and can't say that my collection is complete. But I can say that new teachers should be aware of the problems that could confront them, and they should, if possible, have tools to deal with them when they encounter them.
B. Randomization
Most teachers would agree that most grammatical errors have as their source 'interference' from the native language. In other words, if we could study the student's native language long enough, we should find the source of most of the persistent language problems of any given student. And, for that reason, if we have taught enough students from one language background, we should see common errors among them as they struggle with English while still using some of the rules and forms of their native language.
If that were the case then the variations between speakers of a language would depend only on order of acquisition of forms; basically, all native speakers of a certain language would have the same problems, but might perhaps deal with them or overcome them at different times. But that is not the case. Some learners have unique problems. Teachers encounter students whose errors are not traceable to any source in the native language, students who are, furthermore, not being influenced by a third language or any other apparent source. These people have been called 'randomizers' by their frustrated teachers, who may have been literally at a loss to explain the source of the grammar that the students produced.(1)
The source of the problem is most likely, in my opinion, that the student's perception of English is a unique variable that influences the student's grammar, or interlanguage, and that that perception in fact makes each student unique, since students make up rules according to what they feel they know. They set up their own system, and we don't always know the source of their rules. This observation, apparent as it may be, has profound implications for the teacher who tries to unravel some of the grammatical forms he/she encounters. As a teacher I have changed, over the years, from seeing myself as trying to change students' awareness of forms and structure, to seeing myself as trying to change the students' awareness and mastery of their own systems, of which knowledge and awareness of forms and structures are key components.
I feel that the new language teacher could benefit from the careful analysis of the learning patterns of different learners. In what way should comments on papers, for example, reflect the teacher's provocation of the student to take responsibility for his/her system? In what way can the teacher draw out the perceptions of the student, getting to the source of some of these problems?
(1) Fantastic as this claim may seem, I take my information from a thread on the TESL-L computer network for ESL teachers, in late 1997, in which one of these problem students was called 'random man' and several similar names; several teachers reported similar problems; and in the general community of ESL teachers it was agreed that these learners, though rare in their extreme form, represented recurring problems for veteran teachers.
C. Learning Disabilities
I got through my entire MA program, many years ago, without hearing these two words together in a sentence. Times have changed, though, and I think that most MA TESOL students today would at least know what they are. This is still a tough issue, though, for what can we tell a new teacher about how to spot them, how to separate skill disparities from learning disabilities, and how to deal with them once we've determined that that's what we are dealing with?
Unusual students in the classroom include those whose listening is way below the level at which they would be able to function in that class, for whatever reason; students for whom reading is a backbreaking task because of some form of dyslexia; students who can't sit still or control their attention, due to ADD (not technically a learning disability, but nevertheless a problem often encountered in the classroom), or students with a variety of other disorders, many of which have been observed and described. All teachers should be aware of and prepared for the possibility of encountering a learning-disabled student. Education programs devote whole courses to the subject, yet programs that train people to teach adults have been slow to teach teachers how to handle this situation. I'd like to ask PG teachers: What is your program teaching your students about this? How are you handling this in your program? (-TL)
********************************************************************************
5. FGTs need skills to teach at various levels of grammar ability, and to balance deductive and inductive styles of learners.
Recent MA grads know English grammar, but they are not taught how to explain how to use it to ESL students. This is the biggest deficiency I see in MA programs nationwide. In our program, 99% of our students have studied English in their countries for years--even those students who place in our beginner levels. But they don't know how to use the language. They know "I have gone, you have gone, he has gone..." ad nauseum, but they don't know the difference between "I have gone" and "I went." If MA grads are studying TESL to become teachers, then their MA program has to do a better job of preparing them to actually teach.(...ESL employer*)********************************************************************************
I have (both taught a grammar class for the TESOL Certificate and) had to interview prospective teachers (for an IEP program)...and was amazed at the lack of knowledge of recent grads of whatever program. It seemed that the length of teaching rather than the content of course work made for a more knowledgeable 'grammar' explainer. Those coming right out of a TESL program seemed to give a memorized spiel taken from the one book that they had read rather than being able to conjure up examples extemporaneously. I have informally polled new teachers whom I have had to mentor and found that most were not comfortable teaching grammar and writing skills and dreaded having to teach advanced. I had to make a dictum that no fruits, colors, shapes and sizes could be used in any grammar explanations to adult learners. I had my students develop lesson plans for 3 levels of proficiency using a similar topic for content and similar grammar points to present to each level. The students gained far more insight into the need to think about levels and how to present or review structures to different audiences...(and the fact that) grammar doesn't change but context and situations do... (-MM)
********************************************************************************
Teachers also need to be aware of inductive and deductive methods of presenting grammar, and the pros and cons of both--and how both can be used in one lesson; a lesson which is largely inductive, for example, can often benefit from the well-placed generalization by the teacher. Also, even though it is most engaging for students to work from examples to generalizations, sometimes they want to know the rule; they ask the teacher for it; before they leave the classroom, they want to be sure. (-LD)
********************************************************************************
I'm a firm believer that a good teacher is one who (1) knows English grammar well, (2), knows ESL grammar well (NOT the same thing as #1), and (3) has ideas for how to implement #2 into his/her classes.
#1 -- you HAVE to be able to look at a word and know what part of speech it is. You have to know when to use who/whom in a formal letter/speech. You have to know the difference between a sentence a clause, a fragment, etc.
#2 -- You have just been given a group of 10 ESL students for 5 weeks. They all have high beginning skills. They represent a variety of L1s. What are 5 or 6 grammar points (aka structures) you will teach them?
#2 -- What's the scoop on much/many/a few/a little? What are some (kinds of) words that have to have THE (as opposed to no article)? A student said, 'I came here for learn English.' What's the problem and what word would you contrast FOR with? Another student said, 'I cannot to speak English well.' Why did he do this? What are other words in this group? What are some words in the same slot that DO use 'to?'
#3 -- experience, TESOL meetings, and reading the many teacher reference books available will give ideas for implementing/illustrating these structures.
I fully realize that grammar has been looked down upon in this field for the last 15 years or so, but the air has cleared and now we can admit freely once again that we DO teach grammar (sigh). For those who think that grammar is a waste, etc., I offer the story of a colleague who just graduated with an MA in TESL. She applied for a job at an ELI and had a phone interview. In the interview, they asked her 3 or 4 questions similar to the above. For experienced teachers (regardless of their feelings about explicit teaching of grammar), the answers would have come naturally. For new teachers -- a GREAT many of whom have very little information about ESL/L2 grammar points, this kind of interview will prove very difficult.
Personally, I don't think it is the duty of a TESL grammar course at the graduate level to explain the parts of speech. If the person doesn't know the parts of speech and cannot identify the part of speech of a word in a (clear) context/sentence, that person should not be allowed in a TESL grammar class (what happened to prerequisites?).
I'd recommend that students (teachers-to-be) should be tested on their knowledge. Example: (1) What are 3 common patterns for if-clauses? Write a fill-in-the-blank activity with 10 items to practice this. (2) What are modals? List them. What are some likely student errors? Write a multiple choice quiz with 5 questions. (3) Explain the use of another, other, others. Think of 3 real situations to role-play with your students that will use this structure.
All of us learned a lot of our grammar knowledge by teaching, and this will probably continue to be the main way that many (most?) ESL teachers learn ESL grammar. However, if I could have taken an ESL grammar class when I was in school, it would have saved me a lot of embarrassment and frustration and made me a more prepared teacher. (-KF)
********************************************************************************
6. FGTs should have mastered their own grammar anxiety, and should have the skills and resources to find and give appropriate answers to difficult questions.
My preparation would have been better served in this area if I had been given the chance to explain some grammatical points to my colleagues while they hammered me with pre-prepared questions on the discrete point in question. I know that logistically this might be difficult for some programs, but I think ultimately it would be beneficial and would begin to dispel some of the unnecessary fear that many native speakers have of grammar. I know for certain that many in my program feared and loathed grammar upon entering the program and I am sad to say that I am certain that many of them graduated still fearing and still loathing...mainly, I believe, because their experience with grammar was always distant and never firsthand.(...veteran teacher*)
********************************************************************************
The first thing that a new teacher notices in the ESL/EFL classroom is that the students have often studied English grammar for many years, certainly many years more than the new teacher has. Students are also quick to notice when a new teacher has less skill in using grammatical terms and explaining stiuations. Furthermore, it is inevitable that the teacher will have trouble explaining certain difficult questions; it would be impossible to train the teacher to fully understand the whole range of trouble spots in the English language.
One doesn't have to spend much time in a teacher's lounge, or on the TESL-L network, to notice that teachers worldwide have vast differences in the way they understand, interpret and explain their language. But what is even more dismaying is that often they are not even using common terms, and in some cases are contradicting other teachers, or using terms differently. Nonetheless, when presented with a complex problem, a new teacher needs to find the resources to present a reasonable answer, even if it is given the following day. Veteran teachers and a shelf of grammar references beat the off-the-cuff, misinformed response any day. As a young grammar teacher I was once removed from a class for the above infraction; hopefully new teachers can learn from my experience.(-TL)
********************************************************************************
The above page is an ongoing project. Contributions are welcome (click here).
*Comments of graduate students, novice and and veteran teachers, and employers are collected in full on their own page and are anonymous here.
Major contributors to this page:
TL-Thomas Leverett, CESL, SIU-Carbondale, Carbondale IL USA.
LD- Lynne Davis, Grammar Coordinator, SIU-C, Carbondale.
MM- Mike Martin, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles, CA.
KF- Keith Folse, Univ. of South Florida
Last updated 1-10-99
River Li, by Jim Leverett
[ Exp. Skills homepage ] [ Teachers' Pages ] [ CESL ]
Page made and maintained by
Thomas Leverett, CESL, SIUC