Noticing, restructuring and grammar in speaking

Overview

The best way to teach grammar is a controversial topic ranging from views that a focus on grammar is detrimental to developing learners' communicative competence to concerns that without an overt focus on form the target language can never be learnt effectively. Indeed some of the language involved in talking about grammar seems to be dominated by opposites: product v process; grammar translation v communicative methodology; inductive v deductive; accuracy v fluency and so on. So how can teachers decide which approach to follow - particularly, as is often the case, they may be constrained by the approach in their textbook or the expectations of their schools, learners and learners' parents. In this workshop we will explore how grammar teaching can be effective in all teaching contexts by developing learners’ ‘noticing’ skills and integrating ‘noticing’ tasks with existing resources and approaches. We will define two types of noticing: Paying attention – helping learners to notice how grammar is used in different contexts and Noticing the gap - exploring how to help learners notice the gap between their own output and that of the target language through re-structuring activities.

Learning outcomes

Participants will be able to –

Discuss teachers’ approaches to teaching grammar

Define what is involved in ‘noticing’

Distinguish between tasks which practice grammar and tasks which encourage noticing

Modify typical textbook grammar exercises to provide practice in developing noticing skills

Present ideas for modifying tasks to peers

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of re-structuring grammar

Design re-structuring activities and deliver to peers

Discuss and provide feedback on effectiveness

Part 1 - Tasks for Noticing Grammar

Part 2 – Restructuring Activities