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Tema 12:
Concepto de
Gramática: Reflexión
sobre la lengua y su
aprendizaje. De la
gramática normativa a
la gramática en función
del uso de la lengua y la
comunicación.
Topic 12:
Concepto de Gram
mática: Reflexión sobre la lengua y su aprendizaje. De
D la gramática no
ormativa a la gram
mática en función del uso.
2
Topic 12:
Co
oncepto de Gramática: Reflexiónn sobre la le
engua y su aprendizaje
a e. De la gra
amática
normativva a la gram
mática en fu
unción del uso
u de la le
engua y la comunicació
c ón.
Ta
able of contents
1. Concept off Grammar.. _________
____________________
_________________________ 3
1.1. Six typees of gramm
mar. ____________________________
___________________________ 4
2. The place of
o grammarr in Lg teacching. ______________
_________________________ 5
2.1. Is Gram
mmar Oppressive? _________________________
___________________________ 5
2.2. Should We Teach Grammar
G In
n School? ___________
_ ___________________________ 6
2.2.1. The Criticism andd Defence of Grammar
G ________________
______________________________ 6
wards a More Communicativ
2.2.2. Tow C ve Approach ____________
_ ______________________________ 8
2.2.3. Connclusion _____
__________________________________________________________________ 9
2.3. From leearning gram
mmar to thee mastery off English __
__________________________ 10
2.3.1. The organization of grammar teeaching _________________ _____________________________ 10
2.3.1.1.. Presentation.. __________________________________ _____________________________ 10
2.3.1.2.. Isolation & explanation.
e _
____________ ____________ _____________________________ 10
2.3.1.3.. Practice. ____
____________________________________ _____________________________ 10
2.3.11.3.1. Practicee of structures whose formaal rules are difff to understannd. ______________ 11
2.3.11.3.2. Producttion or percepttion of correctt forms. _____
_____________________________ 11
2.3.11.3.3. Producttion or compreehension of meaning
m for somme non-linguiistic purpose ______ 12
2.3.1.4.. Test _______ ____________________________________ _____________________________ 12
2.4. Didactiic applicatioon of gramm
mar (Gramm
mar activitiess) ________________________ 12
2.4.1. The task________ ____________________________________ _____________________________ 13
2.4.2. Learrners’ interestts & motivatioon. _____________________
_____________________________ 14
2.4.3. Techhniques of leaarner activatioon ______________________
_____________________________ 15
3. From Norm
mative gram
mmar to moodern ones more
m relateed with the use of Lg &
communication. _________________
____________________ ________________________ 17
3.1. Taxonoomic (Ameriican Structu
uralism- Blooomfield-) __
__________________________ 17
3.1.1. Taxoonomic Syntaax. The constittuent structuree of sentencess ___________________________ 19
3.1.2. The Chomskyan Revolution
R __________________________ _____________________________ 20
3.2. Transfoormational-Generative grammar ___________
_ __________________________ 21
3.2.1. The nature and fuunction of synttactic rules ______________
_____________________________ 21
3.2.2. Conntext-free phraase structure ruules ____________________
_____________________________ 21
3.2.3. Conntext-sensitivee rules ______________________________ _____________________________ 23
3.2.4. The inadequacy of o PS-grammaars and the nottion of transfo
ormations ____________________ 23
3.2.5. Deep and surface structure ___________________________ _____________________________ 24
3.2.6. Whaat T-rules do __________________________________ _____________________________ 24
3.3. Tagmem
mics. ______________________________________
__________________________ 25
3.3.1. Undderstanding Hoow Language Work __________________
_____________________________ 25
3.3.2. Etic and Emic ___
____________________________________
_____________________________ 25
3.4. Systemic functionaal grammar (or Neo-Firrthian) _____
__________________________ 26
3.4.1. Systtem networks.. __________________________________
_____________________________ 27
Brrief Summaary __________________
____________________
________________________ 30
Biibliography __________
_ __________
____________________
________________________ 31
Ivan Matella
anes’ notes
Topic 12:
Concepto de Gramática: Reflexión sobre la lengua y su aprendizaje. De la gramática normativa a la gramática en función del uso.
3
1. Concept of Grammar.
The term grammar has its origins in the Latin word grammatical, a
translation of Greek grammatiké tékhné, the art of writing 1 , ultimately from
Diffs notions of
grámma, a letter. Nowadays, the term Grammar has different notions which are Grammar:
1
Compared to rhetoric, rhetoric, the art of speaking.
language, and language creates reality, then it can be understood that these
rules assume one perfect reality. Standardized, unchanging grammar rules
assume that there is only one accurate form of a language, and those who use
are in control of the language are in control of society. These conceptual
theories of the oppressive nature of grammar can be seen everywhere. Those
who speak "perfect English" are at the top of our economic chain, i.e. politicians,
business owners, and professors. Those who use slang, common English,
Ebonics, are not in powerful positions in this society. Therefore proper,
grammatical English is a hierarchical divider. Those who control language and
the formation of language shape reality. Language is ever changing. New
dialects emerge all the time. We are a country of many different origins,
perhaps it is time to have a language rules that incorporate all of these origins.
That is why teachers should not teach prescriptive grammar. Standard
grammar needs to be taught in order for the students to have a general idea of
the rules of a Lg. However, non-standard English is what students are going to
meet when using a Lg (Black English, Scottish …), so that they must also be
taught these peculiarities (may be in higher levels). Therefore, the teaching of
grammar may help many students in improve in their usage of the TL. Teachers
must not be obsessed with the idea of teaching grammar, because students will
ask for it (either consciously or unconsciously) when they need it.
2.2.3. Conclusion
It seems that the question of whether students should be taught
formal grammar in the classroom has neither a generally agreed upon
nor a very simple answer. One point that most of the researchers or
linguists concur on is that explicit grammatical knowledge does have to
be either acquired or learned by foreign or second language learners.
The changes in the last 20 years or so should be taken as an invitation to
reorder our priorities, but not necessarily to discard all that came before.
Teachers of grammar should demonstrate their willingness to learn from a
variety of different viewpoints with regard to the content of grammar
instruction as well as the pedagogy of grammar. Grammar should not be
taught as if it were the language per se. When taught, it must be taught in a
manner that is consistent with grammar's new role. The remaining
controversial question is the "how." The challenge now lies in discovering
effective ways to do this.
2.3.1.3.1. Practice of structures whose formal rules are diff to understand. Practice difficult rules
A learner who has worked through a series of these exercises may find easier,
eventually, to express himself correctly in the TL. However, as these exercises
give no practice in making meanings with the structure, they have limited
uses. So we will move on the meaning base practice.
4) Matching.
Ex.: He an animal
I is lawyers
She are a woman
The man am a teacher
The cat a doctor
The third, and probably most productive type of exercise is that in which
the stress in on the production or comprehension of meaning for some
non-linguistic purpose. Such practice may be obtained through:
1) Information/opinion gap techniques
2) Activities based on the production of entertaining ideas.
Ex.: Students might discuss or write about the possibilities arising out of a dilemma
situation using the modals may, might, could, should, etc or make up stories to practice
the past tense.
e) Personalization:
By personalization we mean the use of interaction based on the
students’ personal experiences, opinions, ideas & feelings.
Ex.: In a non-personalized exercise, learners can be asked to practice present perfect
forms by discussing how long smthing in a picture has been done or has been doing.
This can be an useful exercise, but a much higher level of interest is likely to result if
we ask students to talk about things they themselves have done or have been doing.
f) Pleasurable tension:
The reason why most grammar games are interesting is that they
provide their participants with a feeling of pleasurable tension.
Such tension is enjoyable because it is rooted in the way to achieve
some simulating objective.
Ex.: If the class is shown a picture & invited to make up sentences about it using the
present progressive, the objective is not particularly challenging. However, if students
are grouped and they are asked to do 20 sentences to see who is first (an element of
competition) the degree of challenging is increasing a lot.
g) Play-acting:
Learners often enjoy “being” someone else. A temporary departure
from reality is a means of motivation and a way of widening
(=ensanchar) the range of Lg available to use.
g) Fluid pairs:
The basic idea for a transaction-based exchange btw 2 students is
provided by the teacher, often in a form of a dialogue. If the information
provided in the exchange is based on the individual tastes or opinions,
then the same Qs will produce diff answers with different people. An
activity like a survey, where the student moves all along the classroom
asking some Qs, is a good example of Fluid pairs.
This technique is really useful to repetition (w/ a
communicative purpose, of course) of a set of Qs.
h) Semi-controlled small group transaction:
The teacher provides a skeleton dialogue which the learners
perform in pairs or in small groups. The Lg produced is semi-
controlled: they are told to make use of certain patterns but the exact
content is left to them.
This is a very effective type of activation for students who are
well on the way to mastering the structure.
i) Free group discussion:
This is the least controlled form of interaction. The teacher give a
task, whose performance is likely to involve use of grammatical structure
being practiced and simply lets the students get on it.
This is perhaps the most advanced type of communicative
grammar practice: If students succeed in using the structure correctly,
it can be said that they have mastered it.
There are eleven nodes in the tree. Each of these immediately dominates
two constituents, and these two constituents are immediate constituents of a
construction represented by the immediately dominating node. The tree shows
a hierarchical layering of structures. In other words, syntactic structure is
not solely a matter of linearity, but also a matter of depth.
So far the analysis has been purely procedural: no grammatical
categories have been invoked. But we need some kind of label to designate the
classes of constituents and constructions and, perhaps, the different functions.
A tree diagram with labelled nodes is called a phrase-marker (P-marker). The
following are possible functions: subject, predicate, nominal head,
postmodifier, premodifier, adverbial modifier, premodifier, … and these
are possible classes: noun phrase, predication, relative clause, prepositional
phrase, etc.
Many structural linguists reject such functional notions as
‘subject’, ‘object’, ‘indirect object’ or ‘modifier’ altogether. The reason
is that such concepts are too ‘semantic’. Other linguists, who do make use
of functional concepts, are always very careful to insist that they should be
defined in purely formal terms without any appeal to meaning.
Consider now the following ‘sentence’: zip + zap + zup + zip + zup + zap. This
sentence is generated by the grammar following the rules just mentioned.
These rules are called phrase structure rules or PS-rules.
Characteristics of PS-Rules:
a) PS-rules are a formalization of immediate constituent analysis.
b) The two sets of rules are unordered
c) The rules are context-free. This means that the symbols occurring to
the right of the arrow are not restricted by any contexts
Meaning ‘rewrite A as B after X and before Y’. Rules of this kind are known as
context-sensitive.
3.3. Tagmemics.
Tagmemic theory is concerned primarily with grammatical structuralisyic
analysis. At other levels, it remains fairly closed to taxonomic linguistics.
Thus, in this example, “aid” and “assist” are etically diff but emically the same.
condition ('clause').
Fig. 1: A system
g. 2: A frag
Fig gment of a system ne
etwork dia
agram
More
e than one system
m may sha
are the same
s entrry condition. In
this case, the systems are entered in para
allel from
m the entrry condition. In
e system network diagram
the d a left curly bracket { is drawn
n from the
e entry
co
ondition, spanning all
a the sim
multaneoussly entered
d systems. An exam
mple is
shown in Figure 3.
3
A system may have
e more
than one entry condition.
c If two
or mo
ore entry condition
ns are
ntly necesssary for entry to
conjoin
the sysstem, theyy are linke
ed to it
by a right curly bracket }. If any
one of
o two o
or more entry
ons is dissjointly su
conditio ufficient
for enttry to the system, th
hey are
linked to it by a right square
Figure
e 1.5: Simu
ultaneous systems brackett ].
Ivan Matella
anes’ notes
Topic 12: Brief Summary
30
Brief Summary
- Concept of grammar. Six different types of grammar:
- DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR describes the grammatical constructions that are used in a Lg w/out making evaluative judgments.
- PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR creates rules governing the correct use of a Lg. Differentiates btw grammatical & ungrammatical.
- A PEDAGOGICAL GRAMMAR is designed for teaching a foreign Lg, or for developing an awareness of the MT (MURPHY’s)
- A REFERENCE GRAMMAR is a description as comprehensible as possible, so that it can act as a reference book for those
interested in establishing grammatical facts (QUIRK’s et al)
- A THEORETICAL GRAMMAR goes beyond the study of individual Lgs, and develops theoretical insights into the nature of
all Lgs.
- The TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR is an attempt to summarise the attitudes & methods found in the history of grammatical study.
_Standard grammar needs to be taught in order for the students to have a general idea of the rules
of a Lg. However, non-standard English is what students are going to meet when using a Lg.
- SHOULD BE TEACH _ Prior to the Seventies, no one challenged the necessity of formal grammar teaching.
GRAMMAR IN SCHOOL? However, many different views have developed during the latter half of the 20th C.
_In the 1960s, some people began to wonder why grammar was so important when teaching a MT:
1. Because it has always been done so (actually, this is not really an answer).
2. Because with grammar one becomes a better user (Is a mechanic a better driver?). Not really three
3. To help you when learning a FL ( If it will help me, I will do it in my foreign Lg lessons) convincing answers.
Without grammar, you have NO MEANING. Example: A 2 y.o. boy looks - Push me !
at you and says “push”. - Someone has pushed me!
- I have just learnt a new word: “push”
- TOWARDS A MORE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH: The change is that now, teachers do not only teach grammatical
structures, but they try to explain why a specific grammatical rule is applied in a det context. For instance, why is
the passive used instead of active mode? Because the speaker is not really interested in saying who the agent of the
sentence is. Therefore, grammar is taught in a much more practical way.
USAGE OF PARTICULAR GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES SHOULD BE PRESENTED IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTHENTIC TASKS.
Audio-Lingual Method: Based on behaviourist theories & structuralism linguistic hypothesis. From the Army
STRUCTURALISM
BEHAVIOURISM
- Functional
F g
grammars:
Commu
unity Lg Learrning & Suggestopidia: ba
ased mostly in low anxiety & warm person
nal conditions for effective le
earning.
Natural Approach:
A reje
ects the idea that Lgs must be taught in class
c to be learnt.
C
Characteristiccs:
a. recception preced de production (silent period))
b. Naatural order Accq.
c. Coomprehensible e input. Based on Krashen’s
s theory of grrammar.
d. Afffective filter.
e. Disstingish learnin ng from Acq.
f. Monitor theory.
Bibliogra
aphy
1. The notion of o grammar:
CENN apuntes; DAVID
A CRYSTAL Sp
peech at the APAC
A convencction (2004)
http://www.slav.uni-sofia.bg/p pages/ruspage es/niki/grammmaires/GRAM1//crystal.html
http://www.lingu uistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive
e-most-recentt/msg03433.httml
2. Learning gra ammar:
CEDDE apuntes; DAVID CRYSTAL Speech
S at the
e APAC conven nction (2004)
http://wrt-interte
ext.syr.edu/VIII/ayoob.html
http://www.geoccities.com/CollegePark/Classsroom/1930/JJournal/May99 9/Chen-Formal.html
3. History of grrammar:
http://fing.cica.e
es/~gaby/Doce encia/Morfo30 01/Morfo301.h htm
http://itotd.com//index.alt?ArticleID=71
http://minerva.ling.mq.edu.au u/resource/VirttuallLibrary/Pu
ublications/sf_
_theory.html
http
p://minerva.ling
g.mq.edu.au/ressource/VirtuallLiibrary/Publicatio
ons/sfg_firststep
p/SFG%20intro%
%20New.html
http://www.wagsoft.com/syste emics/Definitio
on/definition.h
html
http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~gw
wilcock/Tartu//GW-MScThessis/node14.htm
ml
Ivan Matella
anes’ notes