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Task Types for Teaching Grammar as a Liberating Force Submitted by emlay su on 2010-09-08
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Type your article into The chrome blue dial is Tag Heuer Carrera Replica Watches(http://www.rep1ica.com/GoodsSeries/Replica-Tag-Heuer-Carrera-Watches-383.html)   in wonderful harmony with the colour of the case in a modern spirit. The Cartier Pasha Replica(http://www.itscopied.com/GoodsSeries/Replica-Pasha-Watches-145.html)  in hands, fitting the large cream-coloured Arabic numerals.\r\n\r\n\r\nAt the outset, I should point out that I do not claim any originality for them, since they all involve classroom activities which have been in use for many years, particularly as exercises to develop writing skills.\r\n\r\n\r\nIndeed some, I would suggest, have partially fallen into disuse. What I am aiming to do here is to show how fairly standard techniques, which have stood the test of time, can be revitalized and adapted to support a more contemporary approach to teaching grammar.\r\n\r\n\r\nTask type 1: Grammaticization tasks\r\nIn these tasks, the learners use their grammatical resources to develop and expand information presented in the form of notes in which grammatical features are reduced or even omitted altogether. The example in Figure i shows a grammaticization task using newspaper headlines, based on an idea in Thornbury 2001.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe three elements are clearly present in this type of task: first, the learners have a free choice over which grammatical features to use to expand the headlines, either individually or in consultation with others; second, they start with lexis and add grammar to it, as well as any additional lexis that may be required to develop and elaborate the story; and third, after doing this, they compare their texts with one another and with the original paragraph in the newspaper, and in this way naturally focus on and discuss some of the differences between their use of grammar and that of the original text, as well as differences in content. \r\n\r\n\r\nThey can also be asked to look for any patterns in the way grammar is used in the opening paragraphs in all four stories, for example in the use of the present perfect tense, relative clauses, clauses in apposition, and the use of the passive. \r\n\r\n\r\n1. Expand each headline so as to summarize the story in one or two sentences to form the first paragraph of the news report. Add any extra details you think are needed in the summary. For example:\r\nBeaches cleared in shark scare MADRID \r\nSeveral popular beaches in the southeastern area of La Manga were closed after the second shark sighting in Spain within a month. Bathing was banned after tourists spotted the shark, which was up to two metres long.\r\n\r\n\r\n2. Compare your paragraphs with one another, and then with the original paragraph in the newspaper. Other grammaticization tasks, suitable for higher-level students—academic writing classes, for example—could include the use of bullet points taken from PowerPoint presentations prepared by the students themselves. These would be used to \'cue\' the writing of short paragraphs and summaries, thereby giving practice in essay writing skills.\r\n\r\n\r\nTask type 2: Synthesis tasks\r\nSynthesis tasks (Graver 1986) are variations on grammaticization tasks and take the form of exercises which start with a short text, consisting of a string of short, non-complex sentences which the learners are required to combine in some way so as to reduce the number of sentences and create a more natural piece of text. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe technique is a traditional sentence combination task done at text rather than sentence level, and requires the use of various grammatical devices needed for the construction of complex sentences, such as relative clauses, purpose clauses and subordination, as well as cohesive devices such as linking words. An example is given in Figure 2.\r\n \r\n\r\nAgain it will be seen that the task combines the three elements noted above: the learners have choice over the grammatical devices they think are needed to reconstruct the text in the most effective way, drawing on their own knowledge of the language. They compare their versions with one another and with the teacher\'s own version and so have the opportunity to expand their own knowledge. \r\n\r\n\r\nFinally, although the task may not, strictly speaking, move from lexis to grammar, it certainly moves from a text where the grammar has been artificially reduced or simplified to one in which it is more elaborated. The task also develops sensitivity to writing style and what makes a coherent, fluent narrative.\r\nhere...

Article No is 5588 Category is Business

Dictogloss and Picture Composition Submitted by emaly su on 2010-09-08
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Type your article into hThese two task types are variations on the same procedure, in that they require the students to reconstruct an original \'text\' by supplying more grammar to it, and then comparing their new versions with those of others. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe manual winding movement of the Chronometre Bleu is done in 18K rose gold, like that of all Cartier Pasha Replica(http://www.rep1ica.com/GoodsSeries/Replica-Cartier-Pasha-Watches-145.html) creations. For the Chronometre Bleu, the exacting motto of  Tag Heuer Carrera Replica Watches(http://www.itscopied.com/GoodsSeries/Replica-Carrera-Watches-383.html) watchmakers holds the truth.\r\n\r\n\r\nIn dictogloss, or grammar dictation (Wajnryb 1990), learners have to listen to and take notes on a short text read aloud to them, before trying to reconstruct the text from their notes. Dictogloss clearly meets all three criteria for designing tasks which emphasize the liberating nature of grammar. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe students move from lexis to grammar as they strive to grammaticize the notes they made while listening to the text; they choose from their own grammatical resources while reconstructing the text; and finally they compare their versions with one another in order to improve and refine them (Thornbury 1997), before comparing them with the original version. \r\n\r\n\r\nA particular advantage of dictogloss is that the texts selected (or specially written, as in Wajnryb\'s 1990 book) can be of any type—descriptive, narrative, argumentative, etc.—depending on the aims of the lesson and needs of the learners.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe example in the Appendix is a paragraph from a Wikipedia entry about the Hubble Telescope, which, if used with an upper-intermediate level academic writing class, perhaps as part of a unit on space exploration, could lead to a focus on various grammatical features such as the use of the present perfect tense in descriptive texts of this kind, structures used with superlative forms of adjectives, and word suffixes (astronomy, astronomer, astronomical).\r\n\r\n\r\nPicture composition is another traditional technique used in teaching writing which lends itself to this approach to teaching grammar. In order to provide for the \'lexis to grammar\' dimension, the sequence of pictures used would need to be accompanied by key words (provided either by the teacher or \'negotiated\' with the whole class). In addition, some language can be built into the picture sequence itself, as is typically found in a cartoon strip. \r\n\r\n\r\nThe procedure shown in Figure 3 begins by following a fairly traditional sequence (Steps i to 3) based on a similar task found in Ur 1988 (see the example in the Appendix), but adopts a more structured procedure for focusing on form at Steps 4 to 7, one which is more consistent with the task-based cycle of teaching described by Willis (op. cit.).\r\n\r\n\r\nI have made the element of comparing texts deliberately less direct in this task, in order to avoid giving the students the impression that the stories which they composed in Step i and edited in Step 4 are less worthy or interesting than the other groups\' stories or the teacher\'s \'version\', presented at Step 6. The teacher\'s version in fact is only a composite of the individual group versions (and it is important that it is presented as such) and is available as a source for comparison at the end of the process when the students correct any errors in their own texts.\r\nere...

Article No is 5589 Category is Business

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