Grammar and variation in the classroom

Grammar is the structural foundation of successful communication, language use, and literacy development. Grammar is therefore sometimes viewed as the heart of language with an important place in language teaching. In a classroom setting, regulation of grammar knowledge through teachers is strongly influenced by teachers’ linguistic competence and beliefs. In this paper, we will first show the diversity in this knowledge by means of teacher interviews and speeded grammatical-acceptability data from pupils and students. We will then sketch a socio- and psycholinguistic perspective on several selected morphosyntactic variables in German. These will be discussed with reference to social forces that determine what is standard in a language (language norm authorities, language experts, model texts, and codifiers). Finally, we will draw a roadmap for teachers, language practitioners and editors looking for a qualified solution to grammatical cases of doubt in contemporary German and provide practical examples by drawing upon the German reference corpus.

Teaching linguistics through language construction

This article details how introductory linguistics courses can increase student engagement and learning through a project-based approach, whereby the students first study the subfields of linguistics with a view to complete the main project of the course, namely to construct a novel language. I provide information from a semester-long course with specific project-based activities teachers could utilize in their classes. I also thoroughly examine the constructed language projects based on 33 student submissions in an introductory linguistics course in the US. The analysis indicates a high level of engagement and creativity by the students in creating a distinct orthography, phonetic, morphological, and syntactic rules and semantic properties for their constructed languages. The results from a 20-item questionnaire and student exit interviews indicate that the project-based approach adopted in the completion of their constructed languages proved effective in (a) improving student motivation and engagement; (b) helping students apply the knowledge of the material to carry out linguistic analysis; (c) enhancing students’ language learning skills; (d) encouraging them to study additional foreign languages; and finally (e) promoting linguistic diversity. Hence, as an innovative and effective method still in its infancy, project-based learning should be more widely implemented in linguistics instruction.

Children’s text comprehension

This paper first considers what is meant by good reading comprehension and makes a distinction between the product of reading comprehension and the processes that are required to attain that product. It goes on to consider how less-skilled comprehenders can be identified and provides a summary of the research into how less-skilled and skilled comprehenders differ in terms of the skills and processes that they apply during text comprehension. Finally, the implications of these research findings for instruction are considered, and generalizable research-based recommendations for teaching reading comprehension strategies are considered.

Is ‘more’ really more?

Starting from general problems of teaching grammar in the subject of German language as well as from basic assumptions of so-called ‘more-is-more’ didactics, we discuss demands to continue teaching grammar after the eighth grade (in Germany, that is the eighth year of school). We then present a quasi-experimental study which was carried out in grades 8 to 12 with the same participants for the purpose of finding out whether providing additional and repeated grammar teaching in the subject of German language even after the eighth grade results in improved and explicit long-term German grammar knowledge. At least at one measurement time point during the study, N = 821 students from six different schools were participating. As a crucial result it turned out that additional and repeated grammar teaching resulted in an improvement in explicit grammar knowledge both during individual grades and across grades. These study results support the demands of ‘more-is-more’ didactics, they however require long-term assessment concerning a number of problems, which are discussed.

Concept-based instruction for applied L2 acquisition

This study’s objective is to present an overview of experimental applications of Concept-Based Instruction (CBI) for Second Language Acquisition. CBI aims to describe complex grammatical notions in a thorough manner in order to facilitate their acquisition. Even though CBI is still considered as a recent domain in language teaching, the growing body of research makes it timely to present a systematic review, which is currently lacking. In the present paper, we will first describe the theoretical background upon which CBI is grounded. Then, we will carry out an analysis of 29 CBI studies in which a classroom experiment was performed, with the objective of considering the strengths and limits of this teaching method.

Students’ errors in L1 Spanish grammar from the perspective of formal linguistics

This paper studies the role that knowledge about formal linguistics can play in teacher education. In order to do so, this contribution focuses on specific secondary students’ errors and misconceptions when confronted with L1 explicit grammar instruction. Errors are measured with respect to a formal theory of grammar. The rationale for developing this research is that certain aspects of formal theories, such as constituency, recursion, dependency and compositionality function, not only are the building blocks of the utterances, but are also needed for speech processing. If this is the case, acquiring them correctly might be helpful for enhancing literacy, since the very same notions are at the core of both the construction and the understanding of any text. As a second issue, the present paper addresses the question of how the absence of such knowledge models the perspective from which students’ errors are evaluated by the teachers. Errors are described following the theories for analyzing errors in mathematics. A side effect of this approach is that the parallelism between errors made in learning mathematics and in learning the grammatical concepts just mentioned allows broadening the perspective from which the latter is approached.

Teaching English to Arab learners

Both ‘Educational Linguistics’ and ‘Pedagogical Linguistics’ have demonstrated the importance of linguistic knowledge in teaching/learning second/foreign languages. More recently, there have been concrete proposals that insights from formal linguistics and theoretical acquisition research may also play a role in pedagogy. Indeed, many observed difficulties in L2 can be traced back to lack of knowledge, on the part of teachers, of certain abstract linguistic concepts. In this paper, two English constructions (constructions with Object pronouns and DP-internal concord) claimed to be problematic for the learner/teacher in the absence of any linguistic knowledge will be investigated in terms of their abstract properties. The implication is that such linguistic knowledge will speed up the process of learning. This will be supported by previous findings on aspectual contrasts in English and Arabic where such knowledge clearly obtains, causing the learning process to be relatively rapid. Evidence for the presence of this knowledge in the learners comes from observation of the transitional stages in the learning process which indicate that the learner is on the right track to learning. The research hypothesis will be argued to have significant implications for teaching, and thus, if correct, will corroborate some recent findings.

Spontaneous classroom engagement facilitating development of L2 pragmatic competence

The question of how to teach toward social, cultural and linguistic L2 pragmatic competence has raised serious challenges (Kasper, 1997). This is more the case for spoken rather than written discourse. As can be expected, the underlying pragmatic implications of spontaneous face-to-face communication naturally constrains the interactional scope and its potential pedagogical application. To address this issue, this naturalistic study explores two key potential contributors to the development of oral pragmatic competence: meta-pragmatic classroom conversational discourse and the course framework supporting that kind of relatively spontaneous interaction. An English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course provided fluency practice protocols, instruction in pragmatic categories, analysis of conversational data and “live” in-class intervention, focusing on meaning and alternate expressions and forms. Those interventions were designed to enhance learners’ ability to self-assess, monitor and expand their interactional repertoires. Part of a larger research project examining principles of pragmatics applied in EAP instruction, this study focuses on data from spontaneous classroom interactions situated within the integrated instructional framework of the course. Results present a range of strategies employed by the instructor consistent with current theoretical models of factors or pedagogical interventions that facilitate development of pragmatic competence.

Norwegian teacher students’ conceptions of grammar

This paper explores the conceptions of grammar of first-year teacher students (N = 235) in Norway. A conventional content analysis is used to analyse the answers from the first part of a survey exploring the teacher students’ views of grammar through the following questions: Q1. How would you define the term grammar? Q2. Do you think grammar is an important part of Norwegian as a school subject? Q3. Do you feel confident in grammar? The second part of the survey is a grammar knowledge test. The results show that most students define grammar as writing correctly. Many answers also refer to language structure. Among the less frequent definitions are: theoretical knowledge of language structure, precise communication, text, and constituent analysis. Nearly all students report that they consider grammar important. Moreover, most consider their own grammar competence to be relatively good. However, there is a discrepancy between this self-evaluation and the results from the knowledge test, which are quite poor. Our study contributes to the body of research on teacher students’ conception of grammar, which, in a Norwegian context, has been unexplored. We discuss our findings in the light of national and international literature, and we propose plausible contributing factors. We also reflect upon possible consequences for teacher education.

Reconsidering poetry’s difficulty and value in English as a second language and English as a foreign language education

There is a longstanding stigma attached to the use of poetry in English Language Teaching (ELT). Poetry is considered difficult and peripheral to ELT curricula and L2 teacher education. Until recently, there was little scholarly interest in studying the effectiveness of poetry in second language teaching. This article aims to advance the research on the use of poetry in ELT. Using a systematic literature review approach covering the years 2008–2020, the present study investigates whether poetry remains underused and undervalued. It is structured around the questions: Is poetry a difficult subject to teach to ESL/EFL learners and learn by L2 students? What value is there to teaching poetry in ELT? Of the 199 peer reviewed journal articles retrieved, 43 met the inclusion criteria for this study and were examined in-depth. Two themes emerged from the analysis: the perception of poetry and using poetry as a research tool in ELT. The majority of evidence was qualitative research, which included 19 case studies; whereas, the most used quantitative research designs were Random Control Trials. We attest to the need for more rigorous scholarship on the part of researchers. Results show that poetry is a valuable tool for ESL/EFL students and teachers, and not difficult for L2 learners. This study concludes with a call for including poetry in teaching practices.