Rediscovering Discovery Techniques
JoAnn Miller, Editorial Macmillan,
(from
The ancient Aztecs spoke what we now call Classical Náhuatl. Analyze these Náhuatl words and discover:
(1) How did they express: I, you, you (plural), he, they
(2) How did they say the words: cry, sleep, sing in the simple present (sleep), present progressive (am/is/are sleeping), past progressive (was/were sleeping) and the future (will sleep).
Sometimes there is more than one translation because there are phonological variants: like English a/an.
Náhuatl / English Translation1. nicho:ka / I cry
2. nicho:kani / I am crying
3. ankochinih / You (pl) are sleeping
4. tikochih / We sleep
5. kochiya / He was sleeping
6. kwi:kas / He will sing
7. ankochiyah / You (pl) were sleeping
8. nicho:kas / I will cry
9. cho:kayah / They were crying
10. tikochi / You sleep
11. ancho:kah / You (pl) cry
12. tikochis / You will sleep
13. ticho:kayah / We were crying
14. cho:ka / He cries
15. kochini / He is sleeping
16. ancho:kayah / You (pl) were crying
17. ticho:kanih / We are crying
18. kwi:kah / They sing
Which two verbs are the same? What two persons appear to be the same?
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Rediscovering Discovery Techniques
JoAnn Miller, Editorial Macmillan,
Basic Hungarian vocabulary:
the – a / is – van / here – itt / there – ottno, not – nem / yes - igen / bag – táska / lamp – lámpa
telephone – telefon / hol - where
Complete the table:
A / táska / itt?Igen, / a / itt / van.
itt.
lámpa / van / ott?
Nem, / lámpa / nem
ott
Nem, / nem
Now, translate the following sentences to English:
A telefon van itt? Nem, itt. Ott van. ______
Now, look at the pictures and answer these questions in Hungarian.
Hol van a tásca? ______
A telefon van ott?______
?
x
Deductive vs. Inductive: Grammar may be approached in two main ways:
* Deductively - students given rule which they then practice
* Inductively - they work out rules for themselves.
(After Andrew Littlejohn)
Research
* Ellis (1984) Deductive teaching of question forms had little effect on learning of question forms.
* Zhou (1991) Deductive teaching helped with some forms (passive) but not others (tense and aspect)
* Fotos (1994) Grammar consciousness raising activities in small groups successfully promoted proficiency gains.
What can you do in class?
* Let the students play with the grammar
* Have students make rules
* Relate structure to Spanish
* Use charts for sentence patterns
* Directed questions and mini-tasks
Have students make rules
“In groups of 3 or 4, study the following conversational extract. Focus in particular on the parts of the conversation in italics. What is the difference between what Person A says and what Person B says? When would you use one form, and when would you use the other?”
*David Nunan, 1999. Pp. 111-113)
A: I've seen Romeo and Juliet twice.
B: Me too. I saw it last Tuesday, and again on the weekend.
Relate structure to Spanish
* Save time—try explaining there is without translating
* Similar structures on a basic level: present progressive: I am reading / estoy leyendo
* As a contrast: I’ve lived here for 2 years / Vivo aquí desde hace dos años.
Bibliography
Ellis, Rod. “Can syntax be taught?” Ap. Ling., 5, 2. 1984.
--. “Interpretation tasks for grammar teaching.” TQ, 29, 1. 1995.
Fotos, Sandra S. “Integrating grammar instruction and communicative language use through grammar consciousness-raising tasks. TQ, 28, 2, 1994.
Littlejohn, Andrew. An A to Z of methodology.
Nunan, David. Second Language Teaching and Learning. Newbury House, 1999.
Zhou, Yan-Ping. “The effect of explicit instruction on the acquisition of English grammatical structures by Chinese learners.” in C. James and P. Garrett, eds. Language awareness in the classroom. Longman. 1991.
EFL tasks-original communicative activities:
E-mail:
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