Running head: FRE 612 PROJECT 1

FRE 612 Project

Rebekah Diser

University of Southern Mississippi

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Running head: FRE 612 PROJECT

FRE 612 Project

FRE 612 Grammar Rationale

Rebekah Diser

University of Southern Mississippi

Running head: FRE 612 PROJECT 3

FRE 612 Grammar Rationale

The writers position on grammar has changed considerably over the course of this class.

Her original position was largely that if enough correct input is provided, students will acquire

correct speech. If students made errors, the solution was to analyze those errors and provide

correct comprehensible input. While the input that the teacher provides for the students should

be correct and comprehensible, it is not always enough to provide correct comprehensible input.

Some forms can be acquired through comprehensible input; others require more. Some grammar

instruction must eventually occur.

The writers original position was based largely on the work of Dr. Steven Krashen. His

research on comprehensible input revolutionized foreign language pedagogy. Before Dr.

Krashens research foreign language was considered a disciplined study of the grammar of the

language. Once the grammar was completely learned, the students would be able to produce the

language accurately and fluently. While the students were able to accurately produce what they

could produce, they could not produce much. The students were hesitant as they chose the right

form of the verb for the noun and made sure that all the agreements were made correctly. Dr.

Krashens research spawned a pendulum shift. Instead of an exclusive focus on grammar, there

came to be an exclusive focus on communication. These communicative methods did not allow

for any grammar instruction. Students acquired the language instead of learning the language.

There was more than one method under this umbrella of communicative language teaching. The

problem with this approach is that the students acquire some language and begin to

overgeneralize what they have acquired. Any grammar point that was produced correctly was

labeled as late acquired. (Ray & Seely, 2015) With this approach there is not grammar

instruction to correct this issue, and the students do not move past this stage of communication.
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Running head: FRE 612 PROJECT

While their production is more fluid, their utterances also contain numerous errors to the point

where it sometimes interferes with communication. (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011)

The solution to the issue is same as many other issues. Instead of being at one extreme or

the other, the solution is in the middle. Students need to be able to communicate in the language

they are learning, but they also need some degree of accuracy. Perfection is not required. In

fact, if their speech is too perfect, it will be obvious to any native speaker that they are foreign.

The writer of this position paper has been accused of not being a native speaker of her native

language because her grammar was too correct. This is not to say that a teacher should teach

incorrectly. While a teacher should always provide correct comprehensible input to his or her

students, a teacher must also go beyond correct comprehensible input. The best practices of the

two extremes should provide the students with the benefits of both ideologies as well as serve to

address and minimize each ideologies shortcomings.

Since some language can be acquired through comprehensible input, the writer will start

her own classes with correct comprehensible input in order to give the students a base from

which to work. Staring with correct comprehensible input will allow students to acquire the

portion of the language that can be acquired without grammar instruction. This saves time by

not explaining grammar that can be acquired without grammar instruction. The one thing that

every educator can agree on with every other educator regardless of subject matter is that there is

never enough time to present everything that the educator would like to present to his or her

students. Because of this decisions must be made about how to best allocate this most precious

resource. This is where the disagreements start. Either the educator must save time somewhere

by more efficiently presenting material or some things will be presented and not others.

Deciding what to present and what not to present can be a daunting challenge for any educator.
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Also, early language students are interested in being able to express themselves from the

onset of their language studies. (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011) Starting with comprehensible input

allows students to experience success in their early communication attempts. The confidence

this success builds will assist them as they continue with more difficult grammar concepts. The

students will also develop more advanced language skills and cognitive abilities. These skills

and abilities will better prepare the students to learn and acquire more advanced structures. Their

positive experience in the language may also make them more likely to continue studying the

language.

By starting with comprehensible input, the teacher can allocate the time saved to another

area where students do need grammar instruction in order to acquire the targeted structure. The

type of grammar is important as well. Direct explicit grammar instruction is similar to what was

common before Dr. Krashens ground-breaking research. While not everything that Dr. Krashen

advocated shows the desired results, his research does have merit. One can teach grammar in

context for example. His research challenged the grammar only model. One can combine the

two models to use discourse grammar. (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011) The writer of this position paper

will be integrating discourse grammar into her curriculum as she adds grammar instruction to her

proficiency focused classroom.

Another consideration with grammar teaching is error correction. The writer originally

did not error correct in her classroom. This was in line with her comprehensible input

methodology. While she plans to continue with comprehensible input, error correction is

necessary in certain situations. Error correction is necessary when the error interferes with the

intended message. This interference could be as simple as using a word that correlates to what

one would say in the first language, but it means something different in the target language.
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Students often say je suis peur, when they mean I am scared. When in French, they are

saying that they are the physical embodiment of fear. To say that one is scared, one would say

jai peur. While the original is a literal translation of the intended meaning, it does not have

the same meaning in the target language. The teacher can use several strategies to fix this error.

The writer of this position paper prefers to teach these items as if they were lexical items to be

memorized by the students. Even after being given these items as lexical items, some students

still make transference errors. The writer of this position paper prefers to correct these with

recasting.

The error could also completely change the intended message to make the actual message

something inappropriate. Students often say, je suis plein instead of jai bien mang. The

student intends to say that he or she is full. What he or she has actually said is that he or she is

pregnant. What may confuse the person to whom the student says this even more is that this

pregnant is only used when animals are pregnant. This situation may cause a great deal of

embarrassment for the student and confusion on the part of the other speaker. When these errors

occur in the classroom, the teacher must correct them quickly. (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011) The

writer of this position paper will explain what the student said really means and explain how to

convey the intended message. Since students focus first on meaning, explaining the meaning

should make the grammar explanation more salient to the student who made the error as well as

help the class not make the same mistake. This will make the students communication more

effective.

Since more advanced students are better prepared for grammar instruction, (Nassaji &

Fotos, 2011) the writer of this position paper will save most grammar instruction for the upper

levels. More advanced students who have had experience with correct comprehensible input will
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have acquired grammar that is responsive to comprehensible input instruction. They will have

had success earlier in their language studies. This success will ensure that the students are not

hesitant as they continue to learn new grammar points. The grammar will still be presented

using discourse grammar, and the students will be led to construct the grammar rules through the

questions asked by the teacher.

Lower level foreign language students are ecstatic to be able to express themselves while

more advanced students express frustration about what they know they cannot say. They often

want to express sentiments they do not possess the knowledge to express. This is one reason

they are better suited to grammar instruction. The grammar instruction expands their cognitive

abilities even further. This phenomenon makes the grammar more salient to more advanced

language learners. This makes long term retention of the grammar concepts more likely.

Grammar pedagogy research has made great strides. The writer of this position paper has

changed her position regarding grammar because of the grammar pedagogy research presented in

her Options in Teaching Grammar class. She was unaware of the research. Instead of avoiding

grammar instruction completely, she will delay grammar instruction in order to allow students an

opportunity to develop a base of language that is able to be acquired through correct

comprehensible input. Then, she will analyze what mistakes her students are making and correct

those through recasts and discourse grammar. (Katz & Blyth, 2007) Whenever possible she will

lead the students to construct a grammar rule being presented through examples and questions.

This should make the grammar more salient; therefore, the students should remember the

grammar more easily, and the learning should have a longer duration.
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The writer of this project collaborated with Jessica Smith and Nikki Fikes. The writer

and her collaborators emailed copies of their projects. We proofread and suggested changes that

would make the paper more clear.

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References

Katz, S. L., & Blyth, C. S. (2007). Teaching French grammar in context. New Haven, CT: Yale

University Press.

Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2011). Teaching grammar in second language classrooms. New York,

NY: Routledge.

Ray, B., & Seely, C. (2015). Fluency through tpr storytelling Achieving real language

acquisition in school (7th ed.). Berkeley,CA: Command Performance Language Institute.

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FRE 612 Lesson One

Rebekah Diser

University of Southern Mississippi

Running head: FL 665 LESSON TWO 11

FRE 612 Lesson One

This lesson is intended for a Novice proficiency level. The lesson occurs within a unit

about likes and dislikes. This is a first year French lesson. The lesson uses interpersonal

communication. The goal of this lesson to raise awareness of the targeted grammatical feature:

articles when used with verbs of preference. The articles behave differently with these verbs

than with other verbs. With other verbs such as manger, one would have to use the partitive, but

if one uses aimer or detester before manger, one uses the definite article. This is because with

verbs of preference one is generally expressing a sentiment that applies every item that falls into

that category. This can be confusing for students. The reading can provide concrete examples

for the students. If a one said, elle aime les chats, one would be saying that she likes all cats.

In this activity, the students will read a reading about a child who has a sibling who does

not like to do anything that she likes to do. This will give the students many repetitions of the

targeted grammar structure in a natural situation. The selected text will use textual enhancement

in order to increase the likelihood that students will notice the targeted grammar structure.

Textual enhancement consists of changing the text or speech of a feature of the text or speech in

order to draw attention to that particular feature. In a text environment, the text would be bolded,

italicized, underlined, or modified in some other fashion. In a speech environment, the speech of

the targeted feature would be emphasized.

The only required material for this lesson is the reading featuring multiple examples of

the targeted grammar structure with the targeted grammar structure enhanced. The teacher will

distribute the readings. Once every student has a copy of the reading, the teacher will ask the

students to skim the reading as a pre-reading activity. The teacher will ask the students to

underline any words the students do not know. Then, the teacher will help the students negotiate
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the meaning of the reading. The teacher will instruct the students to write in the English of any

word that they do not know. At this point the teacher will not explicitly give the grammar rule or

ask the students to construct a grammar rule. The focus will stay on meaning. The point of this

activity is to increase the chance that the students will notice the targeted grammar structure in

order to make the grammar rule more salient when the rule is discovered. The teacher will lead

the students to discover the rule in a later lesson in this unit.

The students will need a writing utensil and the reading provided by the teacher. When

the students receive the reading, they will underline words that they do not know. This will

draw the students attention to these words before reading the reading, so the students may stay

focused on the reading. The students will write the English for any word they do not know

above the word they do not know as the teacher assists them with meaning.

This lesson will be followed by another lesson in which the teacher will lead the students

to discover the rule as part of another activity. The students would complete more activities

including the targeted grammar structure before the students would be expected to produce the

structure with accuracy. In order to assess the student proficiency with this grammar concept,

the students could be asked to write four or five sentences about their preferences. This has

several advantages. First, it has limited vocabulary. This allows students to be able to

successfully complete the activity because most of the vocabulary will be the verbs of preference

and the articles. The teacher could further limit the vocabulary by narrowing the topic to what

the students like to eat or something similar. Second, if a student needs vocabulary that he or she

does not know, he or she is likely to remember to the vocabulary because it is vocabulary that

has a personal connection for them.

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FRE 612 Lesson Two

Rebekah Diser

University of Southern Mississippi

Running head: FRE 612 LESSON THREE 14

FRE 612 Lesson Two

This lesson is intended for novice proficiency language learners. The lesson occurs

within a unit about likes and dislikes. This lesson uses interpretive communication. This lesson

is intended for a first year French class. The goal of this lesson is for the students to discover the

grammar rule about articles when negated with verbs of preference. The students will be

familiar with articles and verbs of preference. The students will already know that while one

must often use the partitive with many verbs, verbs of preference behave differently. The

students will also already know that one must often use de after negation. In this lesson students

will be led to discover how verbs of preference are different regarding negation. Verbs of

preference continue to use the definite article when negated instead of de. Because this may be a

difficult concept for many students, in this activity students are led to the conclusion through

examples from a text and the teachers questions. The grammar here is presented in a discourse

model since the reading will consist of multiple examples of the targeted grammar form used in a

connected discourse. The grammar is also presented implicitly as the students are led to discover

the grammar for themselves. The teacher will use questions to guide students toward the

grammar rule, but he or she will not explicitly present the grammar rule. This may make the

connection more salient and it may also aid in better retention of the grammar concept.

The teacher will need a reading that includes many examples of the targeted grammar

structure. First, the teacher will assist the students as they read the reading. Since language

learners tend to focus primarily on meaning, the teacher will ensure that the students have the

resources to comprehend the reading before attempting to start the grammar instruction. After

the students have the necessary tools for comprehension, the teacher will lead the students to

construct the grammar rules about article usage with negation. The teacher will ask how articles
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behave with negation. After the students tell the teacher that one usually uses the partitive with

negation, the teacher will ask the students what articles are used in the reading. When the

students report that with some verbs the partitive is used, but with others that the definite articles

are used. The teacher will then ask why the students think that that is the case. If the students

have difficulty pointing out that the verbs with which the definite articles are used are verbs of

preference, the teacher will ask the students about how articles behave with verbs of preference

to assist the students in making the connection.

The students will read the reading with the teachers assistance to ensure that they

understand the reading. After reading the reading, the students will answer the teachers

questions about negation. They will tell the teacher that after negation, one usually uses de.

When the teacher asks what is different about article usage, the students will tell the teacher that

the definite article is being used instead of de. When the teacher asks why they think that is, a

student may say that he or she thinks that it is because all the times that the definite article is

used instead of the partitive the verb has been a verb of preference. If a student does not posit

that answer, a student should give that answer when the teacher asks what is different about the

verbs used when the definite article is used instead of the partitive.

Since the targeted grammar is presented within a discourse grammar model, the students

are able to observe how the different grammar points they already know interact with the

targeted grammar point. As the students compare and contrast what they already know with the

new information, it serves to reinforce and tailor previous knowledge to accommodate the

targeted grammar structure.

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FRE 612 Lesson Three

Rebekah Diser

University of Southern Mississippi

FRE 612 PROJECT 17

FRE 612 Lesson Three

This lesson is intended for language learners at the intermediate proficiency level. This

lesson occurring in a lesson about likes and dislikes. This is a second year French lesson. This

lesson uses presentational communication. The goal of this lesson is for students to learn to be

able to use forms they already know in a different function. The students would already be

familiar will the pass compos and limparfait. They would already know how to form both

forms. The students would also already know to use the pass compos for the completed past

and limparfait for background information. In this lesson the teacher will expand that

knowledge to expressing what the students used to do. Since the students already know how to

form the pass compos and limparfait, the teacher will use garden pathing to teach the targeted

grammar point. Garden pathing is when the teacher intentionally has a situation where the

students are likely to overgeneralize an already known grammar concept and make a mistake for

the purpose of correcting the error in order to more effectively teach a grammar construction. In

this case, the students are likely to use the pass compos because the action has already been

completed when they should use limparfait because the action is something the speaker used to

do.

For this activity the teacher will ask a student what a student did when he or she was

little. When the student answers, the teacher will ask the student if he or she still does it. The

teacher will continue to ask questions until one of the students makes the desired mistake. When

the teacher asks a student and answers that he or she no longer does what he or she has answered

and the student has used the pass compos, the teacher will explain that when one expresses that

someone used to do something, one uses limparfait. The teacher will distribute blank Bingo

sheet. The teacher will then ask the students to write what they used to do when they were little
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on a sheet of paper that is divided into Bingo squares. The teacher will then ask the students to

ask each other what they used do when they were little. When they find someone who used to do

something that they used to do, they will write that persons name in the Bingo square. The

teacher will allow between ten and fifteen minutes for the students to circulate the room and ask

other students. After the students have circulated the room and filled in their Bingo cards, the

teacher will discuss the results with the students.

The students will answer the teachers questions until a student uses the pass compos

instead of limparfait for something he or she no longer does. After a student incorrectly uses

the pass compos, the students will listen to the teachers explanation. Then, they will write

what they used to do in the Bingo squares. Next, the students will circulate the room asking

other students what they used to do. When they find someone who used to do what they used to

do, they will write that persons name in the Bingo square. After they have filled in the Bingo

cards, the students and the teacher will discuss the results together.

This activity will allow students to use the targeted grammar structure in real

communication. This activity also has the benefit of being repetitive while still being

meaningful. The fact that the content is personalized may aid in retention. Learning about their

classmates may help build classroom community. Garden pathing may make the grammar more

salient. This may help them retain the grammar more easily.