General EnglishClass 1

Chapter 1

The teacher’s grammar of English by Ron Cowan

Introduction

• This course is designed for ESL and EFL teachers

• A long tradition of Perspective English grammar books aimed at teaching students how to write in a certain style

• They contain rules, or guidelines for writing "good sentences »

Introduction

• This course doesn’t teach these kinds of perspective guidelines

• It describes: • The different rules that produce grammatical

sentences in English• The kinds of problems nonnative speakers have

learning these rules• The ways teachers can help these students learn

and use these rules in speaking and writing

Introduction• This opening chapter explains why a good understanding

of English grammar is necessary for being an effective ESL/EFL teacher

• It defines the concept of grammar and demonstrates what grammatical rules are

• It discusses sociolinguistic factors and information structuring that affect the use of English grammar

• Explains why teachers need to be aware of these principles• This introduction lays out the organisation of the chapters

to be covered during this course

Why do ESL/EFL teachers have to know grammar

• To enable you to describe or teach the rules of grammar to a language learner, you need to know the rules consciously

• This will establish you an authority having accurate, detailed information about English grammar

• Because you will be asked more questions about grammar by your students and fellow teachers lacking confidence about their knowledge of English grammar, you must have an accurate, comprehensive understanding of english grammar so that you feel more confident as a teacher and gain the respect of your colleagues and students.

Why do ESL/EFL teachers have to know grammar

• To equip you to recognise misleading or incorrect grammar descriptions included in textbooks

• A good knowledge of grammar will also enable you to evaluate a new textbook

• You will be better equiped to judge how well the textbook is organised and how comprehensive the coverage of individual grammatical topics is

• Some textbooks omit important aspects of grammar that need to be covered

• You can then supply this mising information and even prepare lessons that are more effective than those in your textbook

Why do ESL/EFL teachers have to know grammar

• You will find that a clear understanding of English grammar is a valuable aid in designing a syllabus that meets your students’ needs (making them prepared for national and international English proficiency tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, …….

• Because grammar is one aspect of adult lge learning on which instruction can have a lasting effect.

• You can make a difference in your students’ ability to speak and write grammatical English even if they are no longer at the age where they "pick up" English naturally

What is Grammar?

• It is a set of rules that describe how words and groups of words can be arranged to form sentences in a particular language

• Students will demand that a teacher tells them "what the rule is » even if the teacher is trained to encourage students to figure out what the rule is on their own

What is Grammar?

• Phrase structure diagram or phrase structure tree facilitates understanding how grammar rules work and how the elements in a sentence relate to each other

What is Grammar?

• In this course we use a combination of prose descriptions and a simple bracketing system that identifies important words and word groupings within sentences

Grammar rules in English

• Dative movement DO

IO

• Alan sent {a long email message} to {Susan} IO DO

• Alan sent {Susan} {a long e-mail message}• Send, throw, give, lend• Not correct, mention, report• Certain restrictions are often required to insure that

a rule does not produce ungrammatical results.

Factors affecting grammatical choices

• Grammatical competence does not guarantee that a language learner will be able to communicate effectively and appropriately in every context

Sociolinguistic factors• Setting• Relationship between speakers• Medium of communication• Registers• John was very chuffed (excited) to hear that you’d (you

had) picked up on this (noticed)• A contraction, idiomatic three-word verb, a slang

indicates an informal, familiar, and personal context• Changing words to excited …. Indicates a formal

context…

Information-Structuring Principles

• The given-new contract:• Each new sentence that a native speaker of English

says or writes, given (previously mentioned) information should appear before new information (information that has not been mentioned previously)

DO IO

• Give {a CD} to {him} IO DO

• Give {him} a {CD} If IO is mentioned in a previous sentence

Language Change and Usage

• Some changes can be more generally noticed and can have consequences for teachers and these are going to be addressed in this course

• If I would have seen her, I would have said hello• Not correct but is more and more common in

American English even in formal contexts• If I had seen her, I would have said hello• Correct version of it…