New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms hinkel eli, fotos sandra

cover next page > Cover title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject: New Perspectives On Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms ESL and Applied Linguistics Professional Series Hinkel, Eli.; Fotos, Sandra Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 0805839550 9780805839555 9780585385693 English Language and languages Study and teaching, Grammar, Comparative and general Study and teaching 2002 P53.412.N48 2002eb 418/.0071 Language and languages Study and teaching, Grammar, Comparative and general Study and teaching cover next page > < previous page page_i next page > Page i NEW PERSPECTIVES ON GRAMMAR TEACHING IN SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS < previous page page_i next page > < previous page page_ii next page > Page ii ESL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS PROFESSIONAL SERIES Eli Hinkel, Series Editor Hinkel/Fotos, Eds • New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms Hinkel • Second Language Writers’ Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features Birch • English L2 Reading: [subtitle to come] < previous page page_ii next page > < previous page page_iii next page > page_iii next page > Page iii NEW PERSPECTIVES ON GRAMMAR TEACHING IN SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS Edited by Eli Hinkel Seattle University and Sandra Fotos Senshu University < previous page < previous page Page iv President/CEO: Executive Vice-President, Marketing: Senior Vice-President, Book Production: Director, Editorial: Director, Sales and Marketing Director, Customer Relations: Senior Acquisitions Editor: Textbook Marketing Manager: Assistant Editor: Cover Design: Textbook Production Manager: Full-Service & Composition: page_iv next page > Lawrence Erlbaum Joseph Petrowski Art Lizza Lane Akers Robert Sidor Nancy Seitz Naomi Silverman Marisol Kozlovski Lori Hawver Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Paul Smolenski Black Dot Group/An AGT Company Text and Cover Printer: Hamilton Printing Company This book was typeset in 10/12 pt Baskerville, Bold, and Italic The heads were typeset in Baskerville, Baskerville Bold, and Baskerville Bold Italic Copyright © 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc All rights reserved No part of the book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms / Eli Hinkel and Sandra Fotos (eds.) p cm (ESL and applied linguistics professional series) Includes bibliographical references and index Contents: Introduction From theory to practice : a teacher s view The place of grammar instruction in the second/foreign language curriculum / Rod Ellis Accuracy and fluency revisited / Jack C Richards Ten criteria for a spoken grammar / Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter Grammar and communication : new directions in theory and practice / Martha Pennington The grammar of choice / Diane Larsen- Freeman Why it makes sense to teach grammar in context and through discourse / Marianne Celce-Murcia Structure-based interactive tasks for the EFL grammar learner / Sandra Fotos Methodological options in grammar teaching materials / Rod Ellis Teaching grammar in writing classes : tenses and cohesion / Eli Hinkel Relative clause reduction in technical research articles / Peter Master Why English passive is difficult to teach (and learn) / Eli Hinkel ISBN 0-8058-3955-0 (alk paper) Language and languages Study and teaching Grammar, Comparative and general Study and teaching I Hinkel, Eli II Fotos, Sandra III Series P53.412.N48 2001 418′.0071 dc21 2001023175 Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability Printed in the United States of America 10 < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v Contents Preface From Theory to Practice: A Teacher’s View Eli Hinkel, Seattle University, Washington Sandra Fotos, Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan PART I GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE TEACHING The Place of Grammar Instruction in the Second/Foreign Language Curriculum Rod Ellis, University of Auckland, New Zealand Accuracy and Fluency Revisited Jack C Richards, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore Ten Criteria for a Spoken Grammar Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter, University of Nottingham, UK Grammar and Communication: New Directions in Theory and Practice Martha C Pennington, University of Luton, UK < previous page page_v vii 13 17 35 51 77 next page > < previous page page_vi next page > Page vi PART II CLASSROOM APPROACHES TO GRAMMAR TEACHING The Grammar of Choice Diane Larsen-Freeman, School for International Training, Brattleboro, Vermont Why It Makes Sense to Teach Grammar in Context and Through Discourse Marianne Celce-Murcia, University of California, Los Angeles Structure-Based Interactive Tasks for the EFL Grammar Learner Sandra Fotos, Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan Methodological Options in Grammar Teaching Materials Rod Ellis, University of Auckland, New Zealand 10 Grammar Teaching in Writing Classes: Tenses and Cohesion Eli Hinkel, Seattle University, Washington PART III RESEARCH ON GRAMMAR STRUCTURES 11 Relative Clause Reduction in Technical Research Articles Peter Master, San Jose State University, California 12 Why English Passive Is Difficult to Teach (and Learn) Eli Hinkel, Seattle University, Washington Author Index Subject Index < previous page page_vi 99 103 119 135 155 181 199 201 233 261 267 next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Preface The chapters in this collection present a variety of approaches to teaching grammar within different curricular and methodological frameworks Recognizing that second/foreign language instruction runs the gamut from the purely communicative methods often found in the English as a second language (ESL) situation to the teacher-led grammar instruction and translation activities that often characterize the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom, this volume emphasizes flexibility and adaptability in selection of an approach determined by the teaching situation, the type of learners, and their particular language requirements THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK The book is divided into three sections, and an introduction is included with each Grammar instruction can take many forms and be carried out with various pedagogical goals in mind It can benefit diverse types of learners by increasing their overall proficiency and improving their language skills Keeping in mind the extraordinarily diverse and numerous settings in which ESL and EFL are taught, the collection of chapters in this volume presents the why’s and the how-to’s of grammar teaching Part I focuses on the ways to include grammar in second and foreign language curricula and points out the reasons that make grammar teaching necessary in ESL/EFL < previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii pedagogy Ellis reviews the arguments for grammar teaching aimed at producing awareness of structures, followed by Richards’ discussion of the strengths of a communicative, task-based approach McCarthy and Carter treat spoken grammar from the perspective of corpus-based language research, and the section concludes with Pennington’s discussion of four theoretical approaches to grammar pedagogy and their applications Part II gives a variety of research-driven approaches to grammar teaching pedagogy, leading off with Larsen-Freeman’s flexible approach to teaching grammar, emphasizing that communication always involves a choice of forms to represent meaning and sociopragmatic functions of language In the following chapter, Celce-Murcia advocates discourse-based grammar instruction that offers accessible and practical methodology for grammar teaching The section moves to Fotos’ description of structure-based communicative tasks providing instruction on grammar points within a meaning-focused context and continues with Ellis’ methodological analysis of instructional options used in current grammar textbooks Hinkel’s chapter describes an approach to developing classroom teaching materials through discovery tasks and authentic language use, based on examples for teaching verb tenses in context Part III presents the teaching of particular grammatical structures, based on empirical research, and shows how applied linguistics research can inform grammar teaching Master’s chapter analyzes the use of reduced relative clauses in academic and technical writing, with specific teaching suggestions based on the research results In the final chapter, Hinkel presents her research findings dealing with the lexical and syntactic considerations of the English passive voice and provides activities and recommendations for teaching This collection of chapters tries to balance theory with pedagogy, recognizing that teachers need to formulate what is suitable for them within their particular teaching situations This book can be a starting point for readers, allowing them to develop their own blend of theory, pedagogy, explicit instruction, and meaning-focused use of grammar structures < previous page page_viii next page > Pérez, F., 201, 229 Pfaff, C., 235, 259 Pica, T., 6, 11, 20, 33, 36, 50, 139, 140, 148, 149, 154 Pienemann, M., 5, 11, 19, 33, 163, 178 Plum, G., 56, 73 Poel, C., 144, 153 Posner, R., 246, 250, 259 Prabhu, N., 24, 33, 138, 140, 154 Prince, E., 128, 133 Putzel, R., 113, 118 Q Quirk, R., 204, 205, 229, 235, 259 R Radford, A., 79, 80, 98 Raimes, A., 182, 197 Ranta, L., 137, 152 Rappaport Hovav, M., 235, 238, 244, 257, 258 Reber, A., 162, 178 Reid, J., 121, 133, 182, 197 < previous page page_264 next page > < previous page page_265 next page > Page 265 Reiss, M., 21, 33 Reppen, R., 94, 97, 123, 132 Richards, J., 10, 11, 45, 46, 47, 50, 78, 98 Riddle, E., 108, 118 Rivero, M., 62, 73 Robinson, P., 94, 98, 136, 138, 141, 151, 154, 156, 168, 178 Roen, D., 182, 197 Rogers, T., 78, 98 Ruetten, M., 182, 185, 197, 226, 229 Rulon, K., 139, 154 Rutherford, W., 1, 11, 78, 96, 98, 163,171, 172, 178 S Salaberry, M., 156, 171, 178 Sanz, C., 171, 178 Sargent, M., 112, 118 Schegloff, E., 85, 98 Schiffrin, D., 58, 73, 122, 133 Schils, E., 223, 228 Schmidt, R., 6, 7, 11, 26, 33, 42, 44, 50, 150, 153, 162, 166, 178, 193, 196, 197 Schoenberg, I., 157, 160, 161, 163, 166, 178 Schumann, J., 19, 20, 22, 33 Searle, J., 85, 98 Sharwood Smith, M., 6, 7, 12, 166, 178 Shayne, J., 125, 133 Shibatani, M., 245, 250, 259 Shortall, T., 42, 50 Siewierska, A., 243, 259 Silva-Coryvalán, C., 58, 73 Silverstein, M., 235, 238, 254, 259 Skehan, P., 3, 5, 12, 19, 33, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 151, 154, 166, 178 Smith, S., 235, 258 Soga, M., 58, 73 Sokalski, K., 171, 176, 177 Spada, N., 20, 33, 137, 153 Sperber, D., 79, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 98 Spolsky, B., 8, 12 Stalker, J., 115, 118 Stauffer, S., 167, 177 Steer, J., 233, 259 Stenhouse, L., 176, 178 Stern, H., 165, 178 Straus, A., 237, 259 Svartvik, J., 60, 74, 94, 97, 187, 197, 204, 205, 229, 235, 259 Swain, M., 7, 12, 17, 18, 33, 34, 37, 43, 44, 47, 50, 137, 138, 148, 149, 150, 152, 166, 178 Swales, J., 183, 189, 191, 197, 206, 229 Swan, M., 187, 197 Syder, F., 116, 118 T Tadros, A., 187, 197 Talmy, L., 237, 255, 259 Tanaka, Y., 171, 178 Tao, H., 63, 74 Tarone, E., 36, 43, 50 Terrell, T., 5, 11, 17, 33 Thewlis, S., 183, 198, 226, 229 Thompson, S., 122, 133, 210, 228, 237, 239, 245, 250, 251, 258 Thornbury, S., 37, 50 Tickoo, M., 167, 178 Todesco, A., 165, 178 Tomlin, R., 3, 11 Tomlinson, B., 164, 177 Trahey, M., 136, 154, 167, 178 U Ur, P., 144, 154 < previous page page_265 next page > < previous page page_266 next page > Page 266 V Vande Kopple, W., 206, 210, 225, 229 VanPatten, B., 40, 41, 43, 44, 50, 96, 98, 156, 169, 170, 171, 178, 179 Vaughn, C., 182, 198 Vygotsky, L., 148, 154 W Wallace, R., 20, 34 Wardhaugh, R., 235, 259 Waugh, L., 57, 74 Whalley, E., 182, 197 White, L., 18, 34, 136, 137, 154, 167, 178 Whitley, M., 251, 259 Widdowson, H., 113, 118, 176, 179 Widdowson, H., 78, 98 Wilkins, D., 78, 98, 135, 154 Williams, J., 6, 10, 17, 20, 32, 35, 49 Willis, D., 94, 98 Wilson, D., 79, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 98 Wolfson, N., 58, 74 Woods, E., 138, 152 Y Yalden, J., 25, 34 Yngve, V., 95, 98 Yule, G., 108, 110, 118 Z Zemblidge, J., 4, 11 Zobl, H., 20, 34 Zydattiss, W., 66, 74 < previous page page_266 next page > < previous page page_267 Page 267 Subject Index Two indexes are provided: an author index and a subject index All page numbers appearing in italic type refer to page references in the bibliographic references of each chapter A Academic writing, 181–196, 226, 233 Access to grammatical structures, 43–44 Accommodation / correction, 43 Accuracy, 14, 35–48, 106, 122, 152, 182 Acquisition theory, 18–19, 32 Action grammar, 85–88, 96 Active verbs, 234–250 Active / passive voice, 57–60, 121, 234–250 Adjective clause, 204–205 modifier, 247–248 predicate, 206 Adjective-noun order, 104 Advanced learners, 184 Adverbial markers, 185–191, 193 Adverb frequency, 188–189 Affirmative / negative form, 121 American English, 123–124 Animacy, 200, 234–258 Anomalies in spoken grammar, 64–66 Approaches to grammar instruction, 1, cognitive, communicative, 136–138, 143 discourse-based, 8–9, 119–132, 170–171, 184, 185–195 fluency-first, 35–36 functional, 3, 78 naturalistic, 4–5, 17, 31–33, 35, 78–79, 136–136 Article usage, 121 Aspect, 58 perfect, 57, 127–128 progressive forms, 58 Assertiveness, 112 Authentic materials, 167–174, 180–196 Authentic writing, 185–193 Auxiliary system, 22 Awareness, 29, 168–169 B British English, 57–66, 70, 124 C Clarification requests, 149 Clause complexes, 63–64 next page > Clause elements, 60–63 Cleft constructions, 121, 128–130, 225–226 Cloze exercises, 183 Code-focused instruction, 24–29 < previous page page_267 next page > < previous page page_268 Page 268 Cognitive approach to grammar instruction, Cohesion, 101 Collocation, 92–96 Communicative activities, 163–164 Communicative approach, 136–138, 143 Communicative language teaching, 4–5, 17, 35–40 Communicative tasks, 24–31, 35–44, 135–150 Composition textbooks, 182–183 Conditional clause, 65–66 Conditional forms, 146 Confirmation checks, 22, 149 Conjunctions, 67–68 Consciousness raising, 6–7 Constructive grammar, 92–96 Context in grammar teaching, 94–95 Context-free knowledge, 120 Contextual analysis, 122–123 Contextual effects, 90 Contextual knowledge, 120 Contextualized discourse frame, 186–195 Contextualized discourse, 119–122, 182 Contextualized grammar, 92–96, 181 Contrastive analysis, 2–3 Contrastive grammar, 92–96 Controlled production, 160 Conventionalized tense usage, 184–186 Conversational discourse, 86–90 Conviction, 113 Corpus-based grammar, 9, 51–73, 123–124, 129, 187, 201–228 Correct / ungrammatical sentences, 159–160 Corrective feedback, 18, 24–25, 32, 149 Counterfactuals, 126–127 Curriculum graded, 27–28 for grammar, 1–9, 17–34, 137–138, 195 D Decontextualized meaning, 119 Deference, 110–111 Determiners, 109, 121, 214–215 Developmental errors, 27 Developmental instruction, 19–20 Direct object, 121, 240–257 Discourse, 119–132, 170–171 communities, 115–116 conventions, 189–191 definition, 122 Discourse and grammar, 8–9, 119–132, 184, 185–195 Discourse-based approach to grammar instruction, 8–9 next page > Discovering grammar rules, 28, 42, 157–166 E Emphatic adverbials, 61 Entrance examinations, 142 Experimentation, 43 Explicit description, 157, 158–161 Explicit grammar instruction, 10, 136–137, 145–147, 163–169, 234 Explicit knowledge, 26–28, 162–164, 165 Explicit production, 160, 165, 183 Explicit rules, 20–21, 196 Exposure, 40–44, 128 meaning-focused, 137 < previous page page_268 next page > < previous page page_269 Page 269 F Feedback from writers, 218–221 Fixed lexicalized items, 116–117 Fluency, 17–29, 35–49, 182–183 Fluency-first instruction, 35–36 Focus on form, 5–6, 17–34, 35, 41, 44, 49, 137–139 Formal complexity, 28–29 Formal instruction, 19–20, 195–196 Form-function relationship, 56–57 Formulaic chunks, 23 Fossilization, 22–23 Functional approach to grammar instruction, 3, 78 Functional complexity, 28 Functional grammar, 78–79, 122–123 Functional perspective, 122 Future time marker, 192 G Gap filling, 156, 159 German learners, 164 Get-passive, 59–60 Grammar and communication, 77–97 Grammar and meaning, 103–117, 120–122, 137–138 Grammar gap, 35–49 Grammar in curriculum, 13–14 Grammar instruction age, 18 intensity, 23–24 structural, 2–3, 31 timing, 22–23 traditional, 1–2, 77, 96, 140–143, 161 Grammar practice, 156, 162–163 Grammar reference books, 158 Grammatical units, 54–56 Grammaticality judgments, 236–254 I Implicit grammar instruction, 136, 144–145 Implicit knowledge, 163–164 Incremental grammar, 81–85, 96 Indirect object, 121 Information focus, 128 Input, 27–30, 40–41, 151–152, 166–171 Input-processing instruction, 169–171 Instructional / methodological options, 155–176 Intake, 29–30, 41–42, 166 Integrated instruction, 29–30 Interaction, 7–8 meaning-focused, 44–45 Interactive tasks, 136, 143–152 next page > Interpersonal meaning, 57–60 Interrogative form, 121 J Japanese learners, 146–147, 234 L L2 development, 21–25 Lexical forms, 108 Linguistic competence, 3–5, 17–32, 46–48 Linguistic performance, 37–38, 40–46, 78–83, 135–149 Linguistic universal, 239 Listening, 30, Listening task, 47–48 M Material development, 193–195, 244–245, 254–256 Materials, authentic, 167–174, 181–196 < previous page page_269 next page > < previous page page_270 next page > Page 270 Meaning in focus, 170 Message-focused instruction, 24–29 Metalanguage, 28, 69 Minimalism, 15, 79–81, 96 Modal auxiliaries, 121, 123–124 emphatic use, 123 N Native / nonnative users, 69–71 Natural method of grammar instruction, 4–5, 17, 31–33, 35, 78–79, 136–136 Naturalistic learning, 119 Negative constructions, 119, 125 Negotiating meaning, 36, 91 New vs old information, 221–222 Newspaper text, 185 Noticing, 6–7, 26, 42–43, 156, 166–169 Notional meaning, 106 Noun clause, 189–194 Noun phrase, 62–63, 211–216, 223–224, 242–250 Noun sentience, 238–256 O Objective time, 189 Output, 18, 40–44, 148–150 pushed, 19, 138 P Parallelism in relative clauses, 219–220 Parts of speech, 1–2 Passive voice, 57–60, 121, 200, 233–258 get-passive, 59–60 Chinese, 245, 250–252 Japanese, 245, 250–252 Korean, 245, 250–252 Spanish, 245–246, 250–252 Past event, 130–131 Past perfect tense, 131 Past tense, 66, 127, 188–190, 195 Past time, 21 Past time frame, 189–194 Pedagogical approach, 131 Pedagogical grammar, 67–68 Phonology and morphology, Phrasal complexity, 55–57 Plural forms, 27–29 Politeness / tact, 109, 110 Practice textbooks, 156–176 Pragmatic knowledge, 119–120 Prepositional phrase, 120–121, 216–217 Present continuous tense, 156–157, 166–174 Present tense, 186–189 Presumptuousness, 112–113 Proclaiming intonation, 83–84 Production practice, 19, 159 Propositional context, 107 Psychological distance, 108–109 Public performance, 48 R Reception practice, 157, 159–160 Referential deixis, 84–85 Referring intonation, 83–84 Reflexive pronoun, 121 Relative clause, 130, 210–226 and altered meaning, 220–221 reduction, 199, 201–228 Relevance theory, 88–92, 96 Repeat performance, 48 Repetitions and requests, 149 Rhetorical conventions, 181 < previous page page_270 next page > < previous page page_271 next page > Page 271 S Second Language Acquisition (SLA), 20, 42–44, 49, 104, 161–162, 176 Semantic features of nouns, 236–237 Sentence completion, 159 Sentence subjects, 234–246 Singular and plural verb, 105–106 Social distance, 108 Social use of grammar structures, 107 age, 114 attitude, 107, 108 group membership, 115–116 identity, 107, 113 origin, 114 personality, 113 power, 107, 111 status, 115 Socialization, 120 Speaking skills, 51, 83–86 Spoken discourse, 123–126 Spoken grammar, 14–15, 79 core units in, 52–55 Stages of L2 development, 21 Stress focus, 128 Structural focus, 136–137 Student-generated materials, 191 Stylistic variety, 130 Syllabus analytic, 135, 136 communicative, 5, 21, 22, 25–26 design, 27, 41, 103, 138, 150, 151–152 functional / notional, 21 structural, 17 synthetic, 135, 136 task-based, 21–22 Syntax, 3, 191 T Target language, 2–9, 150 Target state, 82–83 Target structure, 19–20, 23–28, 31–32, 35–43, 138, 159, 166 Task classification, 139, 140–141 definition, 140 Task design, 151–152 Task features, 139, 141–142, 148 Task-based instruction, 135–152, 171–174 Task-based syllabus, 21–22 Task-focused instruction, 36–49 Teachability hypothesis, 163 Teacher-led instruction, 136–137 Tense and cohesion, 101, 185–196 Tense shift, 184–190 Tense-aspect, 57–60, 106, 121, 181–196, 206 Text sequences, 66–67 Textbooks, Composition, 182–183 Textbooks, Grammar, 155–176 Textual meaning, 57–60 Three Ps approach, 36 Time frames, 185–189 Traditional grammar, 36, 77, 93–97 teaching, 2–6, 21, 25–26, 183 Transformation, 157–159 Transitive / intransitive verb, 121, 234–258 Typological studies, 238 U Uncontextualized sentences, 155 Universal grammar (UG), 3–4, 43, 79–81 < previous page page_271 next page > < previous page page_272 Page 272 V Verb and verb phrase, 121 W Writing, 124, 128 academic, 181–196, 210, 226–228 fluency, 182, 196 instruction, 181–196 Written discourse, 126–131 Written narrative, 58 < previous page page_272 [...]... introduction to second language acquisition research New York: Longman Long, M (1988) Instructed interlanguage development In L Beebe (Ed.), Issues in second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp 115–141) New York: Newbury House Long, M (1991) Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology In K de Bot, D Coste, R Ginsberg, & C Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural... Grammar in Language Teaching The four chapters included in Part I of this book focus on the place of grammar teaching in curricula and classroom methodologies These chapters identify flexible ways in which the teaching of grammar can be incorporated in second and foreign language instruction in practically any English as a second language (ESL)/English as a foreign language (EFL) curricula, including... constraints on the teachability of languages Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 6, 186–214 Richards, J (1994) Reflective teaching in second language classrooms Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Richards, J (1998) Beyond training Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Rutherford, W (1987) Second language grammar learning and teaching New York: Longman Schmidt, R (1990) The role of consciousness... Johnson, K., & Marrow, E (1981) Communication in the classroom Hong Kong: Longman Krashen, S., & Terrell, T (1983) The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom New York: Pergamon Larsen-Freeman, D (1991) Teaching grammar In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (2nd ed., pp 279–295) Boston: Heinle and Heinle Larsen-Freeman, D., & Long, M (1991) An introduction... Auckland, New Zealand The place of grammar instruction in the second/ foreign language curriculum has been strongly debated in the past 30 years In teaching methods reliant on a structural syllabus (e.g., grammar translation, audiolingualism, Total Physical Response, situational language teaching) , grammar held pride of place However, with the advent of communicative language teaching (see, e.g., Allwright,... of grammar teaching is likely to work, there is clear evidence that, providing these constraints are taken into account, teaching grammar can have a beneficial effect on learners’ interlanguage development This conclusion is now widely accepted by Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers (see Doughty and Williams, 1998) The Learner’s Perspective An equally strong reason for including grammar in. .. meaning-focused instruction? The first question concerns the general timing of the grammar instruction The second deals with whether grammar instruction should be intense or spread over a period of time The third concerns the crucial matter of the relationship between the grammar and the communicative components of a syllabus The Timing of Grammar Instruction An assumption of traditional approaches to grammar. .. in the study of grammar can make research findings applicable to language teaching Pennington reviews the Minimalist approach to syntax (Noam Chomsky), Incremental Grammar developed by David Brazil, Action Grammar originated by Herbert H Clark, and Relevance Theory proposed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson In Pennington’s view, these can and should inform second/ foreign language teaching to provide... (1991) Grammar pedagogy in second and foreign language teaching TESOL Quarterly, 25, 459–480 Chomsky, N (1957) Syntactic structures The Hague: Moulton Cook, V (1994) Universal Grammar and the learning and teaching of second languages In T Odlin (Ed.), Perspectives on pedagogical grammar (pp 25–48) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Doughty, C., & Williams, J (1998) Focus on form in classroom second. .. analysis of conversations, fiction, newspapers, and academic prose In addition to the descriptions of grammatical constructions traditionally found in reference grammars, Biber et al’s study also deals with considerations of register, lexis, and discourse variations to show how English grammar functions in real spoken and written texts Many of these analyses can inform L2 grammar teaching and be used in communicative