GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK REVIEW 1

Review of Grammar Textbook

Shuting Shen

Colorado State University

GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK REVIEW 2

Introduction: Context for Using this Textbook

Blass, L., Reppen, R., Iannuzzi, S., & Savage, A. (2012). Grammar and Beyond Level 3

Student’s Book (Vol. 3). Cambridge University Press.

Grammar and Beyond is a research-based and content-rich grammar series for beginning-

level to advanced-level students of North American English. This review will focus on Level 3

of the series. The Level 3 book is intended for a high-intermediate learner. In each unit, students

study the grammar in an authentic text, followed by charts and notes which are informed by a

billion-word corpus of North American English. Although this is a grammar textbook, the

exercises provide practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, making this an integrative

study of grammar topics. The context for learning English from this textbook is focused on

academic English for students wishing to apply English to academic study. Students learn to

avoid common mistakes, based on an extensive corpus of learner language. Each unit concludes

with a Grammar for Writing section, in which students apply the grammar in an extended writing

task.

Of the 28 units in this textbook, I will focus on unit 14 as it deals with the grammatical

concept of tag questions, a topic on which I am conducting focused research. The key criteria

from which I will review the text, and the respective units, are summarized as:

- The intended user of this textbook;

- The layout and organization of the textbook;

- The accuracy, completeness, and appropriateness of material covering the forms,

uses, and meanings of negative questions and tag questions.

The Intended User of this Textbook

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Grammar and Beyond 3 uses a chart to clarify the targeted level of students as high-

intermediate level students. Additionally, this level is supported by some benchmark or

standardization level, such as TOEFL IBT (55-57), the Common European Framework of

Reference for Languages (CEFR) Levels (B1-B2). There are four skills emphasized in this text

which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The intended context for this grammar

textbook would be in academic English, English for Specific Purposes or North American

English. This book clearly defines the expected level and goals between learning environments

that can help teachers to consider whether this textbook would be ideal to teach grammar.

Contents and Layout of the Textbook

This textbook is divided into 12 parts and each part contains 2 to 4 thematic units for a

total of 28 units. Each of the 12 parts is focused on a grammatical topic while each unit serves as

a content-rich sub-topic of the broader focus. For example, part 7 is focused on Questions and

Noun Clauses and is comprised of the following units: Unit 14-Negative Questions and Tag

Questions; Unit 15- That Clauses; and Unit 16-Noun Clauses with Wh- Words and If / Whether.

Each unit is supported by a theme and content-based authentic text. Before the author starts Part

1: The Present and Past, the book begins with the Introduction to Grammar and Beyond, About

the Author, Acknowledgements, and Tour of a Unit from page ix to xvi. Also, the text ends with

appendices which are from page A1 to page I9, including a glossary of grammar terms, an index,

art credits, etc. For each unit, the first section is Grammar in the Real World which uses

authentic and corpus-derived text to present the unit's grammar in a realistic context. After the

students have finished reading this text, there are two activities listed below. One is a

comprehension check that is to have students answer questions, and another activity called
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Notice which draws students’ attention to form. However, since the Notice activities attract

students’ attention to the form in context, this section also guides their analysis of meaning and

use.

Next, the Grammar Presentation starts with a brief overview that introduces the grammar

in an easy to understand summary and chart. The charts provide clear guidance for the form,

meaning, and use of the target grammar. In addition, there is a Data from the Real Word section

which teaches students how to use the unit's grammar in real situations, including the differences

between spoken and written registers.

For sections three and four, exercises are provided that relate to the topic which allow

students to apply grammar to a variety of real life situations. Additionally, various exercises

introduce new, but thematically-related content to keep students engaged.

The last two essential sections are Avoid Common Mistakes and Grammar for Writing.

Students learn to avoid common mistakes based on research in student writing. After studying

the “avoidance of common mistakes”, students apply the information in editing tasks. Further,

the writing grammar task associates the unit’s grammar with a specific written application. It

brings all the content together because students apply their knowledge of the unit’s grammar in a

level-appropriate writing task.

In this textbook, learners can get help in understanding the meaning, form, and use

through doing related exercises and self-editing. In order for this textbook to be beneficial,

learners need to use this grammar correctly in real life contexts and know the differences

between grammar in spoken and written registers.

Unique Features of Textbook

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As mentioned, Grammar and Beyond 3 concentrates on the grammar structures most

commonly used in North American English and the application of these grammar structures to

academic writing. Realistic grammar presentations, data from the real world, advice on avoiding

common mistakes, and academic vocabulary are four unique features of the Grammar and

Beyond 3. First, the grammar is presented in a clear and simple diagram. The grammar points in

these charts have been derived from actual data from the Cambridge International Corpus to

ensure that they are accurate representations of North American English. Second, in the

Grammar and Beyond 3, a feature called Data from the Real World demonstrates concrete and

useful points that are found through analysis of corpus data. These points are practiced in the

following exercises. Moreover, a section focused on Avoiding Common Mistakes can foster

students' understanding of the most common mistakes made by English learners, and give them

the opportunity to practice detecting and correcting them in the text. It can help students avoid

these mistakes in their own work. Finally, each unit in the Grammar and Beyond 3 contains

words from the Academic Word List (AWL), which is a list of research-based words and

vocabulary that appear at both high and low frequency in English academic texts. These words

are introduced in the opening text of the unit and are used through the diagrams and exercises to

support the theme of the entire unit. The primary goal, then, of Grammar and Beyond 3, is to

help students understand grammar topics and concepts through authentic language using

integrated skill practice.

Negative Questions and Tag Questions: Accuracy, Appropriateness, and Completeness

In order to more closely investigate the appropriateness and completeness of how this

textbook deals with specific grammatical topics, this section will focus on Unit 14 titled:
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“Negative questions and tag questions”. It begins with section one Grammar in the Real World

which has the theme of geographic mobility across cultures. It presents and highlights negative

questions and tag questions in a realistic content. For example, Professor, you have been

interested in geographic mobility for a long time, haven’t you? It is easy for students to find

negative questions and tag questions in the article by highlighting it. Also, the comprehension

check activity and notice activity follow the article.

Next, the meanings, forms, and uses of asking and answering negative questions are

introduced in section two by using charts. These charts are divided into two columns. The left

column is the explanation, and the right column is an example. The content is very clear and

students can easily deduce the form of the negative question, when to use the negative question,

and how to answer the negative question. Besides the grammar presentation, it has a grammar

application. There are some additional exercises related to the negative questions so students can

practice the grammar knowledge they have learned. Again, all of the exercises include content

related to negative questions and tag questions which gives students the opportunity to engage in

the language in an authentic manner. Content-based learning is a well-researched way to help

learners to implicitly learn language by giving them authentic input and examples.

Section three is similar to section two, which is divided into two parts: grammar

presentation and grammar application. However, the topic of section three is tag questions. The

section introduces the meaning and forms of asking and answering the tag questions. There is no

mention of the use of the tag questions. The next section is Avoid Common Mistakes which

combines negative questions and tag questions. Before the editing task, the textbook gives

examples of how to correct mistakes and provides the definition of the correct form in detail. For
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example, in negative questions, students should use the auxiliary verb + not + subject + base

form verb. She no (Didn’t she) call you?

The last section, grammar for writing, includes a pre-writing task and a writing task, and

it explores how and where the target grammar structures function in writing and offers controlled

practice. Through these tasks, students can better understand and use negative questions and tag

questions. In particular, the second writing task mentions self-editing which provides students an

opportunity to correct their own errors. Also, it exposes them to writing models, and a guided but

open-ended writing task.

The exercises in unit 14 require reading, writing, listening and speaking from students.

This unit first introduces the negative questions and tag questions separately. In the last Avoid

Common Mistakes and Grammar for Writing sections, the contents of the negative questions and

tag questions are mixed together so that the students can apply them to the writing. I think the

content of this unit is appropriate and complete because the unit integrates skills that students can

practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in relation to the grammar knowledge they

gain throughout the unit. However, I feel confused why this unit introduces intonation and

meaning in tag questions in part of the exercises instead of putting this part in the grammar

presentation part.

Approaches to teaching grammar utilized

This textbook uses a communicative approach to teaching grammar through a mixture of

explicit and implicit grammar presentations based on authentic language focused on a real-world

theme. A communicative approach provides the learners with a situation where they can use their

language and understanding of grammatical rules and also where they can make and correct
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errors (Pacheler, 1999). This interactive way of learning results in the meaningful use of

language. In unit 14, this textbook provides some traditional practice type exercises. For

example, “use the words in parentheses with the correct verb forms”: (Mary/retire/Florida), isn’t

she? However, I feel that these exercises do not offer adequate group and pair work which may

lead to an incompleteness of instruction in a communicative classroom. The communicative

approach should be learner-centered, and group/pair work can achieve more engagement in

learning. Group work engages and motivates students. It also helps in building a close, friendly

classroom environment and gives students opportunities to use the target grammar. Furthermore,

I feel this textbook might not be complete enough for students to grasp the form, meaning, and

use of negative questions and tag questions. The textbook could have provided some support

activities such as focused tasks (role plays) to provide opportunities for communicating some

specific grammar structures of negative questions and tag questions.

A communicative approach has the advantage of allowing learners not only to learn and

practice communication skills, but also to learn grammar patterns. This approach helps learners

acquire communicative competence in the target language.

Conclusion

Grammar and Beyond 3 is a grammar textbook which presents level-appropriate

grammar points and essential vocabulary from the Academic Word List to helps students to

understand the content. This textbook is suitable for all students at level 3 because it provides

practice of the grammar around a unit theme. I reviewed Grammar and Beyond 3 in terms of its

role as a primary material from which high-intermediate level students could begin to understand

and practice the dimensions of form, use, and meaning. It is designed for students wishing to
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learn the forms, meanings, uses, and conventions of academic North American English. It could

also serve as a self-study learning tool. This textbook would be one that I would consider for use

as my future primary instructional material for grammar teaching since it is a corpus-based

grammar book that puts authentic language examples in the text. It offers students examples of

how the grammar is used in authentic situations. To this end, I think this textbook helps students

make the transition from understanding grammar structures to applying them in their academic

writing. Also, it identifies and explains the differences between the grammar of written and

spoken English.

References

Pachler, N., & Bond, J. (1999). Teaching and learning grammar. Pachler, Norbert (Edit).

Teaching Modern Foreign Language at Advanced Level.