Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter

The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s)
he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter
meaningful for students.

Artifact II for Standard One: Knowledge of Subject Matter

Name of Artifact: Final Paper TSL612

Date: Spring 2009

Course: TSL612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar

Rationale

In Artifact I for the this standard, I discussed my belief that the most critical knowledge

for my future career relates to second language acquisition/teaching and my students, and I

presented a rationale for Artifact I that demonstrates my knowledge about my future student

population. In this artifact; however, I would like to present evidence of my knowledge of

second language teaching, specifically with regards to teaching English as a second language.

In support of Standard 1, Knowledge of Subject Matter, I offer the artifact “Final Paper

TSL612,” that I created for TSL612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar. TSL612 is one of the

required courses for the MATL program. I would count this course as one of the most important

in the program because it focuses on engendering a better understanding of the process of

acquiring grammar, and discusses the various aspects of English grammar that can cause

problems for the ESL/EFL learner. This course helped me in so many ways; it took away the

irrational grade school ‘fear’ of grammar that I still had, it also expanded my knowledge of

grammar and I began to see it as fun topic and brainstorm ways in which I could make it fun for

my future students. Artifact II is the final paper I wrote for TSL612. It is a combination of an end

of seminar perspective and an ESL textbook enhancement activity. I feel this artifact strongly

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

supports Standard 1- knowledge of subject matter, because with this knowledge I can now create

meaningful (and hopefully fun) language learning experiences focused on English grammar for

my future students.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Artifact II: Final Paper TSL612

Running Head: TEACHING GRAMMAR

TSL 612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar:

End of Seminar Perspective & ESL Textbook Enhancement

Joely C. Rogers

University of Southern Mississippi

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Abstract

This paper presents the an end of seminar perspective on grammar in the teaching of second/

foreign languages, and includes eight enhancements to the grammar exercises in an English as a

Second Language (ESL) textbook called Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners by

Robin Torres-Gouzerh. The end of seminar perspective is a discussion about grammar and

grammar teaching practices, and the eight enhancements focus on a topic from English grammar

called the passive voice.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

TSL 612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar:

End of Seminar Perspective & ESL Textbook Enhancement

Introduction

This paper is divided into 2 sections. The 1st section of the paper presents an end of

seminar perspective on grammar in the teaching of second/ foreign languages following her

completion of TSL 612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar. Since I am not officially teaching

yet, the paper is written from the perspective of a ‘learner’ who is gathering information about

grammar and grammar teaching practices. The questions/topics discussed in the first section are:

1) What is Grammar? 2) Should grammar be taught the adult second language (SL) classroom?

3) Focus-on-Form - FonF and 4) Teaching Grammar in Adult ESL Classes.

Each discussion is fortified with references from current researchers and classroom

instructors working in the fields of linguistics, 2nd language acquisition, and teaching

second/foreign languages. In addition, I interject my perspective on each question/topic based on

my personal experience as a 2nd language learner of French, and my experiences with the ESL

students I tutored during my stints as a volunteer English writing tutor, and ESL conversation

partner at Richland Community College of Dallas these past two semesters.

The 2nd section of the paper features eight enhancements to the grammar exercises in an

English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook called Intermediate English Grammar for ESL

Learners by Robin Torres-Gouzerh. Each enhancement exercise focuses on a topic from English

grammar called ‘the passive voice’. A brief discussion paragraph describing each enhancement is

included in this section. The actual enhancements are found at the end of the paper labeled as

Appendices A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, respectively.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Section One: End of Seminar Perspective

The seminar course TSL 612 Options in the Teaching of Grammar provided a thorough

overview of current theories and research on grammar in the teaching of second/ foreign

languages. Since I am not officially teaching yet, the paper is written from the perspective of a

‘learner’ who is gathering information about grammar and grammar teaching practices. The

questions/topics discussed in the first section are: 1) What is Grammar? 2) Should grammar be

taught in the adult second language (SL) classroom? 3) Focus-on-Form FonF and 4) Teaching

Grammar in Adult ESL Classes. Each discussion is fortified with references from current

researchers and classroom instructors working in the fields of linguistics, 2nd language

acquisition, and teaching second/foreign languages.

What is Grammar?

Upon hearing the word ‘grammar’, some of us may experience an involuntary shudder of

disgust, followed by an uncontrollable expulsion of the word “yuck”. Prior to this seminar course

on grammar, my experiences with it were limited to college freshman English Composition I &

II, and my K-12 years at the Stone county school system in Wiggins, Mississippi. My

recollections of grade school grammar are mostly a blur of sentence diagramming and rule

repetition, which I drudged through while struggling to stay awake in a stifling, un-air-

conditioned south Mississippi classroom. The reason for these grammatical rules and why they

were so important was never defined by any of my grade school teachers. In this section, I

attempt to answer the question “What is grammar?” and demonstrate that it has a much more

important purpose than torturing hapless grade school students.

The linguist Noam Chomsky (2006) defines grammar as “a system of rules that generates

an infinite class of potential percepts, each with its phonetic, semantic, and syntactic aspects”

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

(p. 150). More of a layman’s definition of grammar comes from Trask & Mayblin (2005), who

call it “a set of rules for combining words into sentences, for modifying the forms of the words

for particular purposes, and for interpreting the result” (p. 77). The word that each of these

definitions has in common is ‘rule.’ Grammar is about rules and structure, it is, literally, the

skeleton of a language. There are two types of grammar: prescriptive and descriptive, both are

very important, and both will be examined in further detail below.

Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams (2007) define prescriptive grammar as “rules of grammar

brought about by grammarians’ attempt to legislate what speakers’ grammatical rules should be,

rather than what they are” (p. 557). The words ‘should be’ stand out starkly in Fromkin et al’s

definition and are the probably the easiest way to remember the meaning of prescriptive

grammar. Prescriptive grammar was created by grammarians and is what we may be most

familiar with from our grade school language classes. For example, in English we are told that

double negatives are not proper grammar. Prescriptive grammar had a strong influence on

language attitudes in Europe and the United States during 18th – 19th centuries, and its influence

still lives on today (Crystal, 2005).

Descriptive grammar, rather than prescribing what ‘should be,’ attempts to demonstrate

‘what is.’ Fromkin et al (2007) call descriptive grammar “the speaker’s mental grammar”

meaning it is what a language’s speaker inherently knows about the language, including its units,

structures, and rules (p. 543). Pinker (2007) alludes to descriptive grammar when discussing the

way children learn their native language “they have to extract a set of rules that will allow them

to understand and express new thoughts, and do it in a way that is consistent with the speech

patterns used by those around them” (p. 29).

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

During my volunteer stints over the past two semesters as an English writing tutor and

ESL conversation partner I heard much grumbling about grammar. I now understand that most of

this grumbling has to do with prescriptive grammar. Grammar is rules and structure, two things

that people, in general, find tedious and annoying. Rules, however, are critical, because without

them we cannot hope to play game of language. Perhaps if instructors took the time to emphasize

what students already know about grammar, i.e. descriptive, and then pointed out the fact that

language learning is a fun game requiring a basic understanding of some rules, i.e. prescriptive,

students would find it less tedious and more enjoyable.

Should grammar be taught in the adult second language (SL) classroom?

From our general discussion about the definition of grammar we move to the question of

whether or not grammar should be taught in the adult SL classroom. This question has been a

subject of much debate between second language acquisition (SLA) researchers, and L2 teachers.

Hinkel & Fotos (2002) say that some proponents of communicative language teaching feel that

“teaching grammar does not correlate with acquiring grammar” (p. 17). Zhonggang-Gao (2001)

echoes this sentiment by saying that “some 2nd language instructors do not consider grammar a

necessary or important part of the curriculum, subscribing instead to the theory of holistic

learning through context” (p. 331).

From the standpoint of SL learning in adults, this means that instructors subscribing to

limited/zero grammar instruction have the expectation that adults learn a SL with the same ease

as children learn their native language. Researchers, however, believe that childhood language

learning differs from adult learning because childhood learning is supposedly facilitated by a

language acquisition device (LAD). The LAD is theorized as a biologically-based innate system

permitting children to speak in a rule-oriented, i.e. grammatical, fashion as soon as they’ve

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

acquired a sufficient vocabulary (Berk, 2007). Zhonggang-Gao (2001) says that the LAD

becomes inaccessible after childhood, and grammar instruction can function in its place enabling

adults to become more successful SL learners.

Aside from the presumed role of the LAD, research exists that shows “L2 learners,

particularly adults, fail to achieve high levels of grammatical competence even if they have

ample opportunity to learn the language naturally” (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002, p. 18). My belief

about the importance of grammar instruction is based on the aforementioned research, and on my

personal experience as a 2nd language learner of French in a limited/zero grammar,

communicative classroom. I have resorted to external grammar studies of the French language,

because I feel the lack of focus on grammar in my class has limited my competence in the

language.

Focus-on-Form (FonF)

Focus-on-form (FonF) is a pedagogical activity that we studied extensively during this

seminar. FonF can be a little tricky to define, but the main point to remember is that it is used in

context or during a communicative activity. FonF is not discrete-point grammar instruction.

Doughty & Williams (1998) say that FonF “consists of an occasional shift of attention to

linguistic code features – by the teacher and/or one or more students – triggered by perceived

problems with comprehension or production” (p. 3). Shak & Gardner (2008) call FonF “an

instructional treatment that overtly draws students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise

incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication” (p. 387).

I feel that concept of FonF is best understood in the classroom, rather than in theoretical

discussions. As such, we will clarify FonF by discussing a study utilizing FonF in a

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

classroom situation. The study investigates a group of children’s attitudes towards four

focus-on-form (FonF) tasks.

Shak & Gardner (2008) conducted a research study of children’s attitudes towards four

FonF tasks to determine “what specifically in a FonF task would stimulate or attract children’s

attention and learning motivation” (p.389). The four FonF tasks they examined were:

consciousness-raising, dictogloss, grammar interpretation and grammaring. A common feature of

all the tasks is that they hold ‘noticing,’ the central cognitive construct in FonF, as an essential

component of instruction (Shak & Gardner, 2008, p. 389).

The results indicate that the familiarity of a task led to an increase in positive perceptions

of it, indicating to the researchers that task familiarity can enhance enjoyment, performance and

motivation (Shak & Gardner, 2008). Doughty & Williams (1998) say that “meaning and use

must already be evident to the learner at the time that attention is drawn to the linguistic

apparatus needed to get the meaning across” (p.4).

What I perceive from this study and Doughty & Williams’ comment is that FonF is not a

substitute for teaching, and that some additional pre-teaching may be in order before attempting

a FonF task in the classroom. FonF helps notice linguistic features, but does not teach them.

Shak & Gardner (2008) appear in agreement with this statement about FonF “what it strives for

is the heightening of learners’ awareness to facilitate further noticing and analysis of the target

structures in subsequent input” (p. 388).

Teaching Grammar in Adult ESL Classes

This final section is a short commentary on teaching grammar in adult ESL classes;

something I hope to eventually do - if I can make it through the MATL program! In my home

state of Texas a large number of ESL learners are adult immigrants from Mexico, who come to

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

the U.S. with little or no knowledge of English. Additionally, their metalinguistic knowledge

about the their native Spanish may be limited due to interruptions in primary school education.

Even though these learners are in an immersion environment, it may be difficult for them to

acquire language naturally because of marginalization from the dominant culture, i.e. English-

speaking Americans. This marginalization from the native population means that, in a sense,

ESL learners in this part of the country operate more like the general SL learner population.

In this paper we have examined evidence indicating that grammar is a critical part of the

adult SL classroom. I believe that grammar instruction in the adult ESL classroom (in Texas) is

doubly critical because of the type of issues faced by the learners. It should not, however, be

discrete-point grammar instruction, but a combination of communicative teaching with grammar

exercises and FonF actives structured to help them grasp the nuances of culture and

communication, while gaining an ability to notice and intuit language structures.

Conclusion

This concludes the 1st section of the paper, which was written from the perspective of a

‘learner’ who is gathering information about grammar and grammar teaching practices. In

summary, my final beliefs about grammar and grammar teaching include: that grammar is the

skeleton of language, and without mastering its rules we cannot hope to master the language; that

grammar should be taught in the adult SL classroom because it is a critical tool enabling adults to

become more successful SL learners; and that while FonF is an excellent tool for heightening

learner awareness about language structures, it is not a substitute for teaching grammar or

grammar teaching. We now move to the 2nd section of our paper, the ESL textbook enhancement

exercises.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Section Two: ESL Textbook Enhancement

This section features eight enhancements to the grammar exercises in an English

as a Second Language (ESL) textbook called Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners

by Robin Torres-Gouzerh. A soft copy of the original chapter and the textbook cover are

attached in the Blackboard as a separate file. Publisher information for this textbook is located in

the references section of this paper.

Each enhancement exercise focuses on a topic from English grammar called ‘the passive

voice,’ chosen in light of my experiences with ESL learners who frequently complained about

the difficulty of this concept. The first enhancement was adapted from the featured textbook, the

rest are meant to build the student’s knowledge cumulatively from the first. A brief discussion

paragraph describing each enhancement is included in this section. The actual enhancements are

found at the end of the paper labeled as Appendices A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, respectively.

Appendix A: Enhancement Exercise One - This exercise defines passive and active voice. It asks

the student to determine from a list of ten sentences which ones are passive and which ones are

active.

Appendix B: Enhancement Exercise Two - This exercise asks the student to underline the

recipient of the action in the sentence. The purpose of this exercise is to prepare the student to

rewrite sentences into either passive or active voice.

Appendix C: Enhancement Exercise Three - This exercise asks the student to underline the

performer of the action in the sentence. The purpose of this exercise is to prepare the student to

rewrite sentences into either passive or active voice.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix D: Enhancement Exercise Four – This exercise asks the student to rewrite a list of

sentences in the active voice to passive voice.

Appendix E: Enhancement Exercise Five – This exercise asks the student to rewrite a list of

sentences in the passive voice to the active voice.

Appendix F: Enhancement Exercise Six – This exercise asks the student to underline all of the

passive sentences in a paragraph.

Appendix G: Enhancement Exercise Seven - This exercise asks the student to rewrite a group of

passive sentences as active sentences.

Appendix H: Enhancement Exercise Eight - This exercise asks the student to write a one

paragraph short story using at least 3 - 4 passive sentences, and then rewrite the passive

sentences in active form.

Footnotes

A footnotes section has been added for material I felt was useful to the reader, but would

be cumbersome to include in the body of the paper.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

References

Berk, L.E. (2007). Development through the lifespan. (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Chomsky, N. (2006). Language and mind (3rd ed.).Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2005). How language works. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press.

Doughty, C. & Williams, J. (Eds.). (1998). Focus on form in classroom second language

acquisition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Trask, R.L. & Mayblin, B. (2005). Introducing linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Icon Books.

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. & Hyams, N. (2007). An introduction to language (8th ed.). Boston:

Thomson Wadsworth

Hinkel, E. & Fotos, S. (Eds.). (2002). New perspectives on grammar teaching in second

language classrooms. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hodges, J.C., Whitten, M.E. & Webb, S.S. (1986). Hodges’ Harbrace college handbook (10th

ed.). Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Pinker, S. (2007). The stuff of thought. New York: Penguin Group Inc.

Schneider, J. (2005). Teaching grammar through community issues. ELT Journal, 59(4), 298-

304.

Shak, J. & Gardner, S. (2008). Young learner perspectives on four focus-on-form tasks.

Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 387-408.

Torres-Gouzerh, R. (2008). Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners. New York:

McGraw Hill.

Zhonggang-Gao, C. (2001). Second language learning & the teaching of grammar. Education,
122(2), 326-336.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix A

Enhancement Exercise One

_____________________________________________________________________________

Passive voice is defined as the form of the verb which shows that its subject does not act but is

the object or receiver of the action: “The bread was sliced by Angela.” Active voice is defined as

the form of a transitive verb indicating that its subject performs the action the verb denotes:

“Angela sliced the bread.”1

Instructions: Circle P if the sentence is in the passive voice; circle A if the sentence in the active

voice. 2

1. The cake was decorated by Edward. P A

2. John cleaned the house yesterday. P A

3. Linda washed the car today. P A

4. The dishes were washed by Florence. P A

5. Sue wrote the award-winning poem. P A

6. Chris drove the tractor. P A

7. The play was written by Mark. P A

8. Elmo tickled the baby. P A

9. Janice decorated the cupcakes for the party. P A

10. The golf cart was driven by the caddie. P A

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix B

Enhancement Exercise Two

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Underline the recipient of the action in the sentences below. For example, in the

sentence “The cake was decorated by Edward.” The recipient of the action is “the cake”.

[Answers are in italics.]

1. John cleaned the house yesterday.

2. The dishes were washed by Florence.

3. Elmo tickled the baby.

4. Janice decorated the cupcakes for the party

5. The golf cart was driven by the caddie.

6. Dr. Miles destroyed the final papers.

7. The beer was consumed by the students.

8. The cat bit the dog.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix C

Enhancement Exercise Three

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Underline the performer of the action in the sentences below. For example, in the

sentence “The cake was decorated by Edward.” The performer of the action is “Edward”.

[Answers are in italics.]

1. John cleaned the house yesterday.

2. The dishes were washed by Florence.

3. Elmo tickled the baby.

4. Janice decorated the cupcakes for the party

5. The golf cart was driven by the caddie.

6. Dr. Miles destroyed the final papers.

7. The beer was consumed by the students.

8. The cat bit the dog.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix D

Enhancement Exercise Four

_____________________________________________________________________________

When a sentence is changed from active to passive, the tense of the active sentence is retained in

the passive sentence (Torres-Gouzerh, 2008).

Instructions: All of the sentences below are written in the active voice. Rewrite each sentence in

the passive voice while keeping the same tense. [Answers are in italics.]

1. Caroline washed the dog. [The dog was washed by Caroline.]

2. Pedro fixed the computer. [The computer was fixed by Pedro.]

3. Dr. Miles graded the paper. [The paper was graded by Dr. Miles.]

4. The horse jumped the fence. [The fence was jumped by the horse.]

5. Jamie sold the last box of cookies. [The last box of cookies was sold by Jamie.]

6. Elvira read the book. [The book was read by Elvira.]

7. Mark boiled the eggs. [The eggs were boiled.]

8. Linda walked the dog. [The dog was walked by Linda.]

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix E

Enhancement Exercise Five

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: All of the sentences below are written in the passive voice. Rewrite each sentence

in the active voice while keeping the same tense. [Answers are in italics.]

1. The porch was painted by Josephine. [Josephine painted the porch.]

2. The big package was delivered by UPS. [UPS delivered the big package.]

3. Marital discord is caused by housework. [Housework is the cause of marital discord.]

4. Warts are caused by a virus. [A virus causes warts.]

5. The last beer was stolen by Andrew. [Andrew stole the last beer.]

6. The groceries were bagged by the stock boy. [The stock boy bagged the groceries.]

7. Allergies are caused by pollution. [Pollution causes allergies.]

8. Dehydration is caused by not drinking enough water. [Not drinking enough water causes

dehydration.]

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix F

Enhancement Exercise Six

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Underline each of the passive sentences in the paragraph below. 3

[Answers are in italics.]

Ten students from the University of Southern Mississippi spent the week after final

exams partying on a beach in Mexico. Swine flu was contracted by the students. When the

students tried to cross the U.S. border, they were detained by the border patrol. The border

patrol put the infected students in quarantine. There was nothing to do in quarantine but watch

TV and write letters. Many letters were written by the bored students.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix G

Enhancement Exercise Seven

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Rewrite the passive sentences (underlined) as active sentences. 4

Ten students from the University of Southern Mississippi spent the week after final

exams partying on a beach in Mexico. Swine flu was contracted by the students. When the

students tried to cross the U.S. border, they were detained by the border patrol. The border patrol

put the infected students in quarantine. There was nothing to do in quarantine but watch TV and

write letters. Many letters were written by the bored students.

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Appendix H

Enhancement Exercise Eight

_____________________________________________________________________________

Instructions: Write a one paragraph short story using at least 3 - 4 passive sentences. Beneath

this paragraph rewrite the passive sentences in active form. The story can be on anything you

chose – summer vacation, exams, homework, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc…

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 Standard 1 – Knowledge of Subject Matter Artifact 2 Joely Rogers

Footnotes
1
The definitions of passive and active voice were taken from the Harbrace College

Handbook, 10th edition, edited by Hodges, Whitten, & Webb. Additional publisher information

can be found in the reference section.

2
Adapted from the Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners textbook by Robin

Torres-Gouzerh. Additional publisher information can be found in the reference section.

3, 4
These enhancements were inspired by the journal article “Teaching grammar through

community issues” by Jason Schneider. Additional publisher information can be found in the

reference section.

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