Teaching Grammar and Writing - Week 5 - Grammar Instruction at the Discourse Level

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 5 of the course Teaching Grammar and Writing for the Master's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IC 2023. In this class we will question traditional grammar instruction approaches that focus exclusively on sentence-level analysis by considering the unique linguistic insights that can gained by considering language use at the discourse level. We'll also look at your grammar focused task design and consider the value of using discourse frames and narrative frames in grammar and writing instruction.

Today's Goals:

• Demonstrate the features of your original grammar focused task.
• Explore unique linguistic insights that can only be appreciated at the discourse level.
• Analyze several discourse and narrative frame activities  for grammar and writing instruction to identify their key features. 

Guiding Questions:

• How can I balance meaning-focused communication and grammar awareness in the design of tasks?
• What is the importance of analyzing language beyond the sentence level?
• How can I provide effective scaffolding to help students express their ideas?

Task 1: Activity Type Demo - Grammar Focused Task

In this course you will be asked to create sample grammar activities in order to compile a portfolio of grammar activitiy types that describes their basic features, strengths, and challenges. 

• Characteristics: What are the features of a communicative task?
• Example: What activity did you create?
• Strengths: In what ways are tasks input potentially beneficial in grammar instruction?
• Challenges: What potential limitations or challenges are associated with tasks?

• Additional Considerations: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Reading Response - Importance of Discourse Level in Grammar Teaching

Let's take a moment to discuss these questions related to your assigned reading for this week.

• Defining Discourse: What does discourse mean in its common, non-linguistic definition? What does discourse mean in applied linguistics?

• Syntax vs Discourse: The grammar examples presented in most coursebooks and grammar lessons in classrooms around the world tend to focus on grammar at the sentence level. Why do you think this is? What are some of the limitations of sentence level analysis?

• Discourse and Communicative Ability: The author's primary claim in the chapter was that an understanding of grammar at a discourse level is key to the development of communicative ability and that this level of analysis is not only possible at beginning levels, but highly beneficial. 

• Describe what you remember about the examples she gave using discourse frames.

• In your own experience as a language learner and teacher, do you think using an approach like this when introducing new language would be more appealing to students than the typical sequence of grammar explanation (often in the form of a grammar box with rules and examples) followed by controlled practice drills? Why or why not?

• Text Analysis: In the next section the author describes two examples from the Frame-Elaboration Hypothesis that help explain the uses of "used to" and "would" for habitual past as well as "going to" and "will" for future plans. 

• What do you remember about these examples? 

• How do you think a cycle like the following would be for your learners?

• Guided Analysis of Text
• Students Elaborate Hypotheses
• Teacher Confirms, Clarifies, and Exemplifies the Patterns
• Students Produce their own Texts 

• Coherence and Cohesion: A final topic explored in the chapter was regarding the use of cohesive devices in writing (and formal speaking). What do the following terms mean? How, acording ot the author does improved cohesion add to coherence?

• Coherence
• Cohesion

Task 3: Discourse and Narrative Frames for Grammar and Writing Instruction

Last week we considered output focused activities using tasks for grammar instruction. This week we will look at two teaching techniques that help structure student output to make use of grammar structures at the discourse level.

• Sample Discourse Frames Activities: CLICK HERE
• Sample Narrative Frames for Writing: CLICK HERE

References:

Celce-Murcia, M. (2016). The Importance of the Discourse Level in Understanding and Teaching English Grammar. In E. Hinkel (Ed.) Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages. Routledge.

Nassaji, H. & Fotos, S. (2011). Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms. Routledge.