There are times when an ESL instructor can sense that there are simply too many demands being placed on learners who are attempting to communicate their meaning while trying to be grammatically accurate. There may be times when isolated grammar instruction might be most effective (Lightbown & Spada, 2008). Both stand-alone grammar instruction and integrated grammar instruction have a place in the ESL classroom. Lightbown and Spada (2008) identified specific situations when either an isolated or integrated approach to grammar teaching might be most beneficial:
Isolated approach to grammar teaching may be indicated when
Integrated approach to grammar teaching may be indicated when
learners who share an L1 are experiencing interference from their L1 and perhaps reinforcing one another’s errors during communicative activities.
target language items are complex to explain, especially in isolation from their use in communication.
target language items are simple to explain but not salient or noticeable in English.
the target form is an important carrier of meaning and misuse of it is more likely to lead to a
breakdown of communication.
Incorporating Grammar in a CLB-Based Program
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A
Even in a situation where the instructor has elected to teach a stand-alone grammar lesson, the learners’ needs remain central to the decision about what grammar to teach. Rather than simply selecting items based on a “grammar structure of the day” approach, the instructor is still guided by the communicative needs of the learners; in other words, the decision remains a learner-centred one.
Consider the example below describing how an instructor developed a stand-alone lesson on grammar that addressed the learners’ grammatical needs within a meaning-focused activity.
An instructor has a group of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners preparing to enter post- secondary studies. Part of their program involves writing a paper with the CLB 9 competency outcome: Write a coherent text to relate a sequence of events from the past. The instructor has become aware that the learners are continuing to make frequent errors in their use of articles despite extensive feedback. She/he recognizes that articles are not “stressed” sounds in English and that their incorrect use is unlikely to lead to a breakdown in communication. For these reasons, she/he opts for a stand-alone lesson on definite and indefinite articles as follows:
CLB SUPPORT KIT
Procedures Comments
1. Introduction
Instructor discusses dangers in the natural world. Brainstorm activity – elicits tornadoes and severe thunderstorms among other ideas. Instructor pre-teaches six low frequency vocabulary items from upcoming text.
The instructor activates the learners’ previous knowledge and vocabulary.
2. In pairs, learners read a short newspaper article about a tornado in Alberta.
Pairs present a short summary of the main idea and three supporting details on chart paper. Class debriefing about the text and the main idea summaries.
The meaning of the text is attended to first. Learners perform the short and relatively
straightforward communicative task of identifying the main idea as well as supporting details.
3. In groups of three, learners work through the news item once more and decide what article is missing and where the one zero article rule occurs.
In this news item, all of the definite and indefinite articles have been deleted and replaced with ____. Nouns with zero article are also displayed this way. No explicit review of the rules takes place because the instructor knows that the learners have well- formed explicit knowledge of the rules about article usage.
4. Learners use chart paper to list each missing article and write which rule of article usage helped them to determine this.
Learners are analyzing grammar, and the goal is to get them to compare their explicit knowledge to the language in use.
5. Learners post their chart paper responses and review the responses of other groups.
Incorporating Grammar in a CLB-Based Program
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In the stand-alone approach described above, the communicative demands of the task have been substantially lessened (i.e., scaffolded) in order to allow for attention to the target grammar item.
Conclusion
“Instruction needs to ensure that learners are able to connect grammatical forms to the meanings they realize in communication” (Ellis, 2006, p. 101). The role of the instructor is to structure ESL lessons to provide grammar instruction within a meaning-based context that takes into account what learners need to know in order to complete communicative activities. Instructors must be able to identify the
grammatical structures to help in this language development. The CLB-based classroom provides the communicative context for lesson planning and, with attention to the variety of options for teaching grammar, an instructor can effectively support learners’ language development.
Procedures Comments
6. The instructor distributes the original
newspaper article so that learners can compare their responses with the actual text. The instructor then clarifies any confusion or nuanced aspects of the rules.
The instructor has the role of resource person, providing language samples and grammar explanations.
7. Learners spend a few minutes in their groups reflecting on how this activity may support their language learning.
The extension goal here is for learners to become more reflective and to make their own connections between the explicit knowledge they are studying and the language they will use for their own communicative goals.