Teaching Language Construction

Studying structure and use. The language study comprises a focus on the structure
and use of language forms, particularly in the following areas:

 The morphology of forms

 The syntax of phrases, clauses and sentences
 Vocabulary, including the meanings of words, their lexical grammar, and collocation
rules
 The meaning and functions that phrases and sentences can convey
 Pronunciation
 Spelling.

Language study in lesson sequences. One approach is for students to study language
in a variety of ways, explore a topic and then use what they have learnt to perform a task.
Alternatively, the study of language forms may happen during a task-based sequence. We
might focus on one or two past tense forms in the middle of an extended narrative-writing
task; we might have our students study or research vocabulary to describe the weather in
the middle of a sequence on holiday planning.

Another option is to study forms after the students have performed the task. This usually
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happens when the task has shown up language problems.

Opportunistic teaching is studying language which suddenly “comes up”, that is when a
student wants to know how some element of language is constructed or why it is
constructed as it is, but we have not planned to include this language study in a particular
lesson sequence.

Choosing study activities. We will frequently decide how and when to have study
language form and use on the basis of the syllabus or the coursebook. Some of these
sequences may not suit the particular styles and progress of our learners, and may need
adjusting or replacing in some way. We may want to try out new activities, or may wish
to avoid using the same kind of activity every day.

 Following planning principles: we have to think about activities which the

students do before and after the study session. We need to offer various exercises
because our students have different learning styles and also because we want to
sustain their motivation.

 Assessing a language study activity for use in class: when we design an activity
for the study of language form, we need to decide how effective it will be when
we take it into class. It should justify the time we will need to spend on it before
and during the lesson. We need to believe that the activity demonstrates the
 meaning and use clearly. We have to be confident that it will engage our learners
successfully.

We might also want to assess economy, ease and efficacy [‘efikəsi]. If an activity takes 3
min. to explain but only gives 45 sec. of practice, it is uneconomical. An easy activity is a
simple activity for the teacher to use and organize. An efficacious activity is one that
works. In terms of appropriacy, we need to judge whether the activity is suitable for the
time of the day, classroom conditions and for a particular group of students, taking into
account their level, their educational background and their cultural sensibilities.

Nevertheless, we should remember that all groups are different, and what is appropriate
for one class may not work in the other.

 Evaluating a study activity after use in class: when the lesson is over, we need
to evaluate the success of the activity or activities done: whether it was clear,
whether it took more or less time than needed, etc.

Known or unknown language? Each individual student has some degree of linguistic
knowledge and ability in English and learns at different speeds and in different ways. These
facts explain why many classes can be described as “mixed ability”.

The fact of mixed ability throws up a problem for the study of new language forms 2
since it will frequently be impossible to know whether such forms really are new or not for
individual students in class. And even if most of our students have come across the language
before, it is not necessarily the case that they can all use it.

If we are not sure whether or not our students know the language we are about to ask
them to study, we will need to find this information out. If we do not, we risk teaching
students things they already know or assuming knowledge they do not have. One way of
avoiding teaching already-known language is to have students perform tasks and see how
well they use the language forms in questions before deciding whether we need to introduce
those forms as if they were new.

Explain and practice. “Explain and practice” approach to teaching language

construction is described as a deductive approach. In a deductive approach students are given
explanations or grammar rules and then based on these explanations or rules they make
phrases and sentences using the new language. Explain and practice sequencing are usually
PPP-like, or what we have called ‘straight arrows’.

For teaching the present continuous, the sequence starts when the teacher engages the
students by showing them pictures of people doing various actions (painting a house, fixing
the roof, etc.). The teacher tries to elicit the sentences he or she is thinking of teaching. So
the teacher might hold up a picture of someone painting a house and ask Can anyone tell me
what she’s doing? Anyone? She’s …? Does anyone know? If the students can produce the
correct sentence, the teacher might indicate other pictures and elicit the language for them,
too. If the students also perform well on this, the teacher can go straight to an activate stage,
where the students try to make their own present continuous sentences. If, however, the
students don’t manage to produce the sentences, the teacher will explain the new language.

Finally, the teacher may ask for immediate creativity, where the students use the new
language to produce their own sentences. If during this stage students perform badly, the
teacher may return either to the explanation stage or to the accurate stage to reinforce what
was previously introduced.

Explaining things. During the explanation we need to demonstrate both meaning and
language construction. There are many ways to do this.

 Explaining meaning: one of the ways of explaining the meaning of something

is to show it. At other times we can use gestures. For actions we can use
mime. We can also use facial expressions to explain the meaning of “sad”,
“happy”, “frightened”, etc.

We can use pictures to explain situations and concepts. We can use diagrams, too.
Many teachers use time lines to explain time.

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If we can’t show something in one of the ways mentioned above, we can describe the
meaning of the word. For example, a radish is a kind of vegetable or a generous person is
someone who shares their time and their money/possessions with you.

If describing meaning isn’t appropriate, we can list vocabulary items to explain

concepts. For example, if we want the students to understand the idea of “caring
professions”, we can list a number of jobs such as doctor, nurse, social worker and counselor
to explain the phrase.

A way of making meaning absolutely clear, of course, is to translate words and

phrases. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it‘s more complex; many languages do not have an
absolute equivalent for the English phrases.

 Explaining language construction: one of the most common ways of

explaining language construction is through modeling sentences and phrases.
For example: He’s fixing the roof. We may say Listen…he’s fixing the roof…
listen…fixing…fixing…he’s…he is…he is…he’s…he’s fixing the roof.

Many teachers use fingers or hands to show contracted forms.

If we want to show how words are stressed we can use the following markings:
 engagement performance rapport

Practice (accurate reproduction). During the accurate reproduction we get students

repeating the new language before then moving on to practice it.

 Repetition: repetition can be either choral or individual. When we use choral

repetition, we get all the students to say the new word or phrase together.
Choral repetition helps to build confidence. Rather than having to speak on
their own, the students get a chance to say things all together.

 Drills: if we feel that students have done enough repetition of a phrase, we

may organize a quick cue-response (команда-ответ). Suppose, for example,
that we have taught a class of beginner students a series of phrases such as
They are painting the house, He is fixing the roof, etc., and that we have
pictures of these actions on cards. We can use these cards as a cue, which we
hope will then elicit the appropriate response, e.g.

Teacher (indicates a picture of two people painting the outside of a house): Sam?

Student 1 (Sam): They’re painting the house.

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Teacher: Good. (indicates a picture of someone fixing the roof) Kim?

Student 2 (Kim): He’s fixing the roof.

Teacher: Good.

Meet, need and practice. We have to allow our students to bring language to the
classroom – language they may have ‘met’ on the street, or on the TV or internet, or in an
article they have come across. If they want to know what something means, or how some
language item function, for example, then this will be an ideal opportunity for good learning.

Perhaps the most effective learning situations arise when students really want or need
to say something. That need is a powerful driver for memory, and if we can help them to
understand how to say something they really want to say, they will learn the language more
‘deeply’.

Discover (and practice). In a so-called inductive approach students see examples of

language and try to work out how it is put together. Thus, for example, after students have
read a text, we can ask them to find examples of different past tenses and say how and why
they are used.

Research (and practice). Another alternative is to explain and practice is to have

students do language research on their own. For example, if students are working on how we
use our bodies to express meaning (waving, clenching, shrugging), we could give them a
number of collocations (wave my arm, clench my teeth, shrug my shoulders) and tell them to
use them in sentences. We could ask them to consult a dictionary, looking up both the verb
and the various parts of the body to see if they can collocate.

Review and recycle. For language to make the transition from short-term memory to
long-term memory, students have to encounter it repeatedly. The best kind of repetition is
‘spaced-out’ repetition. It means that the students encounter the recently-learnt language
over a period of time and not all at once: there are spaces in-between its appearances.