Pedagogic grammar and discourse in ESL instruction

Pedagogic Grammar, Written and Spoken Discourse for English Language

ESL English Language Learning

The objective of this work is to give an analytical account of the key concepts and issues in Pedagogic Grammar and Written and Spoken Discourse for the English Language by writing a detailed analysis of selected texts written for learner of English based on the concepts and issues within this two subject areas.

Many factors and elements exist that are the determinants of the success of the English language learner. Biological factors that affect the learner in term of development or of ability are difficult to deny however there do exist elements that can be addressed toward provisioning quality education to learners within educational institutions.

Psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics

Two primary comprehension factors for the ESL teacher to attain are the modules of psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics which are theoretical framework upon which the psycholinguistic theorist and the sociolinguistic theorist based their belief upon as being 'key' in the English language attainment. The knowledge that the ESL teacher must be provisioned with encompasses interdisciplinary training thereby encircling the whole student with a chance for learning that is quality and in which the student finds attainment. Many differences exist in students in that multi-intelligences are acknowledged at long last. Existing as well are the differentiations that are inherent from one culture to another. Societal factors exist as well influencing the linguistic and psycholinguistic effects, challenges and outcomes that the teacher's practice and curricular must acknowledge with a certain boldness and a certain determination in teaching the ESL student.

Descriptive - Prescriptive Grammar

According to Abdulmoneim M. Mohammed (1997) the setting of a language learning classroom teaching grammar has the capacity to make provision of a "short-cut" to learning the "forms and structures which language, due to limitations may not cover. Through focus in the linguistic patterns and providing them with the underlying rules and principles" has the ability to "enhance the learning process since learner usually tries to discover rules from the language data."

It is reported in the work of Erwin, Tschimer (1998) in the work entitled "From Lexicon to Grammar" that in the years most recent it is known that the "study and teaching of grammar has experienced a renaissance

" (Tschimer, 1998) Furthermore Tschimer (1998) relates that the common view and understanding that several meanings are vested in the word known as "grammar." Examples of this are illustrated in the differentiations assigned to the meaning of those grammars termed as "descriptive" grammar, or that which is stated to be "represented in the work of linguists'," pedagogical" grammar, or that which is stated to be represented in foreign language textbooks; and "psycholinguistic" grammar or that which is stated to be represented in the head of the user of language. (Tschimer, 1998)

The pioneers of psycholinguistics are listed as R. Jackobson, K. Buhler who made the statement of: "If the frequent demand for mutual scientific assistance between psychology and linguistics is to bear fruit, then the experts on both sides have to take the courage to criticize each other's concepts. No one can escape the law of limited human mental capacity." Others are C. & W. Stern who stated that, "And still the study of child language can be more than the analysis of individual instances of language development, because it is possible to define laws of formation that are operative in every language." (1907) E. Sapir was also a noted pioneer stating that "Linguistics has neither the sweep nor the instrumental power of mathematics, nor has it the universal aesthetic appeal of music.

There are six main subject matters which are researched within the realm of psycholinguistics which are:

Production,

Comprehension,

Acquisition,

Disorders,

Language and Thought, and Neurocognitional.

However, under its "crabbed technical appearance there lies hidden the same classical spirit, the same freedom in restraint which animates mathematics and music at their purest." (1924) Listed also as a pioneer of linguistics was E. Sapir. (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, [Referenced from Website located Online at http://www.mpi.nl/world/projects / DLV.html.}

Information published at the University of Hong Kong, by a member of the Faculty of Education, specifically, R.K. Johnson, writes that Rosch et al. offer a theory of the ways in which human being and other organism deal cognitively with their perceptions of the world out there." Rosch et al. has held that "The world consists of a virtually infinite number of discriminably different stimuli. One of the most basic functions of all organisms in the cutting up of the environment into classifications by which non-identical stimuli can be treated as equivalent." (Rosch et al...1976:383)

W. Labov as related in the work of R.K. Johnson conducted experimental studies over a period of ten years in the study of boundary phenomena and concluded (1973:143): "Instead of taking as problematical the existence of the categories, we can turn to the nature of the boundaries between time. As linguistics then becomes a form of boundary theory rather than a category theory, we discover that not all linguistic material fits the categorical view: there is greater or lesser success in imposing categories upon the continuous substratus of reality." (R.K. Johnson, date unknown) the problems in making a determination of the child's meaning in first language acquisition studies is an element that is often ignored by the studies but this is most likely because "addressing specific aspects of the language system can be unsatisfactory, if not downright embarrassing for the teacher who values clarity and consistency in explanation and/or exemplification." (Johnson, date unknown)

Important to note is the fact that no actual solution exists within the problem of English grammar and subject/verb agreement and in fact this should not be the focus of frittered time or over examination. However the systematic distinction in English grammar in relation to the 'same' and 'identical' in that it is automatically known to those familiar with English grammar that this would not be meant that two different individuals actually wore the same 'one' hat but that the hats the two wore were of the exact same in relation to color, texture, style and so forth. The system or theory that R.K. Johnson holds to be most appropriate is that of the 'meaning-driven" theory in which "Linguistic forms are discrete entities, in order to keep the meanings apart. Linguistic forms are discrete entities, but the meanings these forms express are not discrete in any sense. Their values are determined by the nature of the relationships obtaining with other elements within the system. These relationships are not constant, but may be strongly expressed through opposition of prototypical meaning values, or these values may be weakened in non-arbitrary ways depending upon context." (R.K. Johnson)

Pedagogic Grammar

Pedagogic Grammar is stated to be "grammar that provides useful descriptions of the forms of a language and often how they function in use for the purpose or basis of the pedagogical aspect." (Caldwell, 2004) This type of grammar is as well "organized and sequenced in textbook form to provide systematic teaching and learning as a descriptive and explanatory complement to other language learning activities in the L2 or L1 classroom. Functionally speaking this is a "Standard Language" (Caldwell, 2004) or the normative language taught in classrooms generally allowing very few variations than do the non-standard varieties. The standard within the ESL classroom is even more so thoroughly standardized.

Pedagogical grammar within the English language is based historically on over 400 years of grammar the first of these being in 1580 by William Bullokar followed by the work of John Wallis in 1653 who studied English grammar not on the basis of the models in Latin grammar but within its own frame of reference. Due to the fact that most of the grammar was based on the Latin models there existed a heavy influence in the view of the expert in relation to the English language in the nature of and the terms for the descriptions.

Prescriptive" or "Descriptive."

Grammar may be either "Prescriptive" or "Descriptive." (Caldwell, 2004) Prescriptive is "telling people what tradition, historical evidence and experts" are deemed to be the "correct" (Caldwell, 2004) form of English. Descriptive is the descriptive forms actually used by contemporary people from the evidence of large numbers of samples of authentic language use in context....which are often obtained from research studies" in the establishment of the corpora or literal bodies of "language samples." (Caldwell, 2004) the variation in the spoken form of English grammar is very different from the standard form due to the social influence and affect of family, the community and the psychol-social need to belong. Another factor is pronunciation which is not strongly pressured upon children by educators or the school although correct pronunciation is certainly encouraged. It is stated that good and correct English are different in that "Good"

Communicative Competence in English-Language/Grammar

English is good use of the resources available in that language, or English used "effectively or aesthetically meaning for example using plain or clear English to make sure that it is comprehended or using English in an ethical manner, or refraining from the use of bad language (i.e. cursing, swearing) and not using discriminatory language or language that is "racist, sexist, ageist" (Caldwell, 2004) or so forth. The concept of 'communicative competence" (Caldwell, 2004) is described as grammar that "relates to the nature of language teaching" in an approach." (Caldwell, 2004) that is fairly universally advocated in L2 teaching." (Caldwell, 2004) the mistakes that are made may either be in "form" due to lack of knowledge or through use of irregular past tense forms implying that grammar should be descriptive or mistakes in 'use" or knowing when the present perfect or the simple past tense should be used implying that grammar should be descriptive.

It is suggested by Tomlin (1994, pp. 141-42) that teaching communicative language in inclusive of (1) systematic attention to functional and structural aspects; (2) Situational and contextualized use of language in class; (3) Teaching and Learning being made transparent through representational support; (4) Focus on Information Transfer; and (5) Focus on quantity of input/output plus risk-taking based on multiple personal language hypotheses being formed by the learner.

Written and Spoken Discourse for English Language Teaching/Linguistic Grammars - Pedagogical Grammars: Differentiation

Linguistic grammars may be defined as descriptions of language forms "cast in a coherent, constrained and self-contained meta-language" according to Greenbaum (1996) p. 32. Pedagogical grammars are characterized by being written primarily for teachers and those associated such as prospective teachers, students and teacher educators. It is a type of translation of linguistic descriptions of grammatical structure in a simple way. Tomlin and Greenbaum have made suggested of that which is inclusive of:

1) the necessity of the teacher to makes explanation of structure and function in a clear and accurate manner based on that which is principles instead of the common rule knowledge and most particularly in areas that present problems for the students;

2) the necessity for teachers to understand the relation between form and fiction in structuring activities in learning specifically where problems and mistakes are common;

3) the necessity to verify and clarify theories that are emerging and that are developing via the students;

4) the student's ability in making the adjustment of their languaging to contexts that are characterized by differentiation in understanding standard English expectations especially in writing;

5) the move toward basics and standards in forms and in discipline adherence;

6) an awareness of the general nature of the tool that assists "living, earning and learning."

Tomlin (1994, pp. 141-142) makes the suggestion that teaching communicative language is inclusive of:

1) Systematic attention to functional and structural aspects;

2) Situational and contextualized use of language in class (what sort of language forms are used where and when, through communicative engagement);

3)Teaching and learning being made transparent through representational support (pictures, diagrams etc. - again, use in real contexts that all parties understand);

Form-based: The Structuralist Theory

Within functional grammars are basic characteristics which are referred to as form-based or the theory purported by those called 'Structuralist' which is inclusive of the ideas of Tomlin that "Forms serve functions: Successful employment of 'grammar knowledge in pragmatically and socially acceptable ways are the goal of language learning. Competence and performance are constrained by non-linguistic factors which are stated to be:

First the underlying performance is constrained by cognitive capacities and at the same time complementation can be infinite in repetition and the constraints of memory and processing bind restrictions on the use of grammar that would become impossible for the listener and possibly the speaker as well.

Secondly, in relation to active passive use, there is general psychological evidence that a decision on the subject of a sentence is dependent upon the focus of the speaker's attention explaining why the subject becomes the theme or the referent due to the speaker's focus. These constraints of a cognitive nature are determinative of the linguistic forms utilized.

Form Selection

Form selection is stated to be based on Discourse although not at the level of the word or sentence but at the discourse (i.e. whole text, spoken or written) level. There is noted correlation of specific grammatical forms within the text of a contextual nature in the features of the text. In the realm of descriptive levels, the identification of functions and specification of syntactic forms that accompany them are the focus due to the belief that correlations between function and syntactic forms are not merely chance but that the relationships between forms and functions are caused because they make it easier for the production or comprehension of language to occur.

Concepts and Factors for Consideration in Analysis

The major concepts of functional analysis as proposed by Stern are inclusive of the following:

1) Setting

2) Participants

3) Ends, which includes (a) transactional; (b) Interactional; and performative

4) Speech events

5) Norms and Variation

Setting

The setting of the languaging that takes place is made to be or in essence "becomes meaningful in the context or within the experiential setting. An example is that the meaning making between two professionals may take on a different meaning than the same words spoken, yet with vested differentiation of meanings between two laborers or educators or farmers.

Ends: Transnational, Interactional and Performative

The participant's interactions as well as changes in roles or status of the learners in the L2 environment are also affectants of the languaging used and whether that language is formal or informal in nature. Goals are identified with language when viewed as a purposeful activity and may be practical or factual referred to as transactional language.

Language may also be Interactioanl or personal, emotional and social. Finally language may be performative demonstrated by speech that that has intentions toward some action such as persuading, convincing, questioning, warning, etc.

Speech Events: Speech, Discourse or Speech

Speech events are the combination of acts of speech or discourse or speech event belonging to genres such as "conversation, joke, or inquiry. The focusing upon internal structuring of conversational and textual information and in how they are constructed as well as the opening and closing of conversational interaction, topic transition, conflicts settled and qualification of ideas and development of arguments are inclusive. Finally the 'norms and variation' within functional analysis illustrates regional and social variations in the use of language as well as the arbitrary nature of norms or standards in linguistics. The communication of 'meaning' is seen as equally important to the accurateness of the communication.

Learner-Centered Grammar Instruction Facts

Learner-Centered Instruction of Grammar notes an "important difference between many currently used pedagogical grammars and the learner's rule discovery procedure" in that "the former contain relatively elaborate analysis together with grammar terminology. The learner's rule discovery procedure is that the former contain relatively elaborate analysis together with grammar terminology.

Purpose of Analysis

The purpose of analysis of the subject matter in relation to English language learning and the psycholinguistic and linguistic factors that are inextricably that which affect the learning of the student is vital in the discovery of and comprehension of specifically what it is that has the most affect or has culminated in the most success in terms of the learner's grasping and use of the English language specifically that of English Grammar in relation to linguistics and psycholinguistics.

Implications and Conclusion

Implications of this study are in relation to the application of learning in the classroom in the realm of formal instruction as it appears that much success is being realized through use of informal and non-standardized instructional techniques. Implications that are stated to be drawn from learner-centered grammar instruction is that "grammar rules and explanations can be presented in such a manner as to approximate the learner's hypothesis-formative process as far as possible. Teaching that is based on the learning process does appear from conducted study to be much more effective than the teaching that is based on grammarian's descriptions of language." The deformalization of pedagogical grammars may be through the avoidance of the jargon or keeping this jargon to a minimum so as to avoid the elaborate or complicated analyses.