Introduction to the Grammar Awareness course

Agneta M-L Svalberg

What I expect
A range of prior knowledge and interest from none to considerable A need to develop your grammar awareness for professional purposes
A willingness to engage critically with the course Learning with you through discussion

What you can expect

Each session has: A topic Pre-session activities on BB A work sheet In session activities Format: 50 min lecture 50 min workshop

Readings
Set text: Greenbaum & Nelson (see handout) Further independent study: PPTs and HOs on BB for revision Short-loan collection Pre-session activities & keys on BB Extra material on BB

Assessment
Same format and weighting as for Phonology: Grammar Test (1.5 hrs) 37.5% Grammar* Presentation (10 min)

(either Grammar or Phonology)

25%

In the written test you will be asked to identify, classify, and (to a lesser extent)

How can I benefit from taking a grammar course? Explicit grammar knowledge can help the teacher with a number of tasks:

to assess the difficulty and clarity of grammar explanations and activities in course and exercise books

to accurately assess the difficulty of texts and examples you might want to use in class

to spot and analyze your learners grammar errors

to provide useful feedback on grammar errors, or remedial activities

to put together examples and activities for grammar learning which are clear and helpful

to explain grammar use more clearly to students if they ask

Different views of grammar

M. A. K. Halliday Rodney Huddleston Randolph Quirk Structuralist/ Mainstream Noam Chomsky Andrew Radford TG/ GB/ UG

Systemic-Functional

Language as a resource; speakers choice

Language as structure

Language as cognitive ability

Word Grammar Richard Hudson

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/wg.htm

Grammar as restrictions on how words can be used Pedagogical approach Michael Lewiss Lexical Approach. (e.g. Lewis 1997)

Purposes Descriptive grammars - to describe what users of the language do Pedagogic grammars - to assist language learners/teachers Theoretical grammars - to model and to investigate for example language acquisition or human language in general Pedagogic grammars in particular are often prescriptive, i.e. they tell the reader what is 'good' grammar.

Grammar Rules describe patterns in language use. take different forms depending on the type of grammar. A formal rule: PP > P + NP NP > (Det) + (Adj) + N

A network of choices Number on nouns

Possessive -
Plural -s Not Possessive -0

Count
Possessive Noun Singular -0 Not Possessive -0 s

Mass -0

A pedagogic grammar rule

Most countable nouns have a plural form that ends in s. (Parrott 2000:10) We add s to nouns or noun phrases () to show that what follows belongs to them, e.g. the teachers car. (Parrott 2000:13)

A Rule of Thumb

"There is a tendency for abstract nouns to be non-count." (Greenbaum, S. 1991:72)

Nearly all grammar rules should be treated as rules of thumb!

Outline
1. The Sentence; its parts and their functions 2. Noun Phrases & Prepositional Phrases 3. Adjective Phrases, Adverb Phrases and Adverbials 4. Verb Groups, Verb Phrases, Multi-Verbs 5. Tense & Aspect 6. Modality; Conditionals 7. Complex Sentence Structures; Information Focus and Weight. Evaluation