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Mission Impossible?
Marion Engrand-O’Hara
Centre for Development of Academic Skills (CeDAS)
Outline
• The context
• The old Academic Grammar course
• Some trends in Grammar T. & L.
• Course content selection
• Syllabus design
• Evaluating success
The Context
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Academic English for International Students Courses
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Grammar for Academic Writing (Old Course)
Week Topic
Clause patterns
1 - includes identification of subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial elements
of sentences.
Dependent and independent clauses
2 - includes linking two independent clauses and linking a dependent to an independent
clause.
Relative clauses
3 - making sentences using who, which, that etc.
Nominal clauses
4 - making wh- and that- clauses which function as nouns.
Adverbial clauses
5 - includes identification and punctuation of adverbial clauses.
Review of dependent clauses
6 - using what we’ve learned to improve reading comprehension.
- further practice of punctuation.
Non-finite verbs
7 - how to write phrases with –ing or to+infinitive verb forms.
Online practice
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Grammar for Academic Writing (Old Course)
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Grammar for Academic Writing (Old Course)
•Feedback:
From tutors:
A lot of grammatical terminology to teach first
Not suited to most students
Too narrow
Not easily applicable to students' own writing
From students:
Too narrow (mostly sentence structure)
‘Boring’
Not enough practice
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Some Trends in Grammar Teaching & Learning
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What do students need ?
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Course Content Selection
Benefits: They seem to achieve what research calls for: a discourse-based lexico-
grammatical approach that is clearly based on the needs of the academic writer.
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Designing the Syllabus
Guiding principles:
• Only the most needed content is included
(2 x 4 lessons only)
• Readily usable content / transferrable skills
• Develop learner independence
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Course Content Selection
Activity:
1. Rank the core grammar point and function cards in order of priority
2. Make two piles: independent study vs. classroom activities
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Academic Grammar and Vocabulary Par t A
Course Outline
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Academic Grammar and Vocabulary Par t B
Course Outline
Developing noticing • Compare two texts and identify features of academic style.
skills:
• Observe the following text, can you work out any rules
Learning inductively: about where independent markers appear in a sentence or
how they are punctuated?
Working with authentic • Look at a student’s essay extract below. The point that s/he
is trying to make is quite simple, but it does not come out
materials: clearly here. Can you work out why? (lack of signposting).
Using student- • In small groups, brainstorm reporting verbs you know and
generated materials: sort them into your own meaningful categories.
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The Approach
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Evaluating Success
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Evaluating Success – Student Feedback
Acad. Grammar 15 1.20 1.40 0.80 + Voc (2), + Gram., + Very good material (practical approaches)
& Voc. Part B, and resources provided also for further studies, good teaching
Academic Year atmosphere, + Materials
2014-15 - More examples/practice/exercises would be good (5)
- Better explanations, more vocabulary exercises - in relation
to good scientific resources/papers
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Evaluating Success
Tutors’ comments:
“This was quite popular and generally well attended. I found it easy to adapt
the materials to suit the needs of the group, and I thought there was a good
balance of input and pairwork/groupwork. Most of what was studied in the
lessons was very practical and easy for students to use in their written work.”
“Appropriately pitched and good range of topics, but too much in each lesson
so I’ve had to be quite selective.”
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Implications
So...
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Mission impossible?
The new course is successful to an extent, but there are still some issues to address…
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Bibliography
Bailey, S. (2011) Academic Writing, a Handbook for International Students. 3rd ed. , London: Routledge
Coxheard, A. & Byrd, P. (2007) Preparing writing teachers to teach the vocabulary and grammar of
academic prose, Journal of Second Language Writing, 16, pp. 129-147
Dudley-Evans, T. and St John, M.J. (1998) Developments in ESP: a multidisciplinary approach. Cambridge:
CUP
Swales, J. and Feak, C. (2001) Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Ann Arbor: U. for Michigan Press
Vicary, A. (2014) Grammar for Writing. Reading: Garnet
Wingate, U. (2012), ‘Argument!’ helping students understand what essay writing is about, Journal of
English for Academic Purposes, 11 (2), pp. 145-154
Wingate, U. (2006), Doing away with ‘study skills,’ Teaching in Higher Education, 11 (4), pp. 457-469
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