Unit 9 Grammar: Topic 2

3.    Create a visual timeline to help ELLs understand the tense in a few sentences from the Fisherman story. Choose 2-3 sentences. Use a visual time line to SHOW where and how the tense occurs in time. The attached Verb Tense Chart will help you understand the 12 Verb Tenses of English. Post the sentence and timelines to the blog.  (see the attached Summary Verb Tense Chart)

4.    Watch the video of TESOL Grammar experts Betty Azar, Keith Folse, and Michael Swan. Consider whether you think grammar can be acquired through immersion or if you think it must be taught?

I was impressed by the video http://www.azargrammar.com/authorsCorner/2008Panel_Intro.html.  It reinforced what I believe, which stems from my experiences learning a second language, that Grammar must not be ignored.  It cannot be totally learned by adult L2 students who are receiving comprehensible input alone.  When I studied Korean, we had a new lesson every day and a half.  Each lesson had about 15-20 vocabulary words and one to three grammar patterns that we learned.  I think that if a student does not get a moderate amount of explicit grammar instruction, you get problems such as those shown in the video by Betty Azar of the student with fossilized grammar and syntax problems.  As she stated, the goal is not to “know a lot” but to create an interlanguage which is increasingly fluent and accurate.

Some other things from the video that I will remember:

From Betty Azar:  We need to use a hybrid of grammar teaching and communicative teaching.  Ultimately they have the same goal.

From Keith Folse:  “The purpose of teaching languages (grammar teaching) is to be able to do something with the language, it’s not to be able to recite the rules back.”

Learn something about the L1 of your students to see if the error is a random occurrence or something that is common to native speakers of that language.

From Michael Swan:  We need to prioritize the teaching of grammar.  Not everything can be taught explicitly.  We should teach what students need most.   Be realistic.

Unit 9 Grammar: Topic 1

Topic 1:

The original Fisherman story:

John is a fisherman. He hasn’t had much luck catching fish in the past few weeks. He is hoping to catch more fish tomorrow, but he doesn’t know if it will be any better. He has never been a very successful fisherman, even though it is the only job he’s ever had. If he is able to catch two nets full of fish, he will be able to pay off his debt; however, this hasn’t happened in the past four years.

John would have become a farmer if he could have, but he has never had the money to buy land.

His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.”

If John had had more energy, he might have argued with his brother, but instead, he began making more nets, with the hopes of increasing his catch the next day.

1. The Fisherman story in Topic 1 had too many mixed verb tenses. The first part was re-written to use simple present and past. Rewrite the second part using only simple present and simple past and post it on the blog.

My edit:
His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy became bad. John loves fishing, but wishes to be more successful. When he felt sad, he painted his boat. The boat is named “Troubled Waters,” and John polished it. John asked his brother what he thought of the boat’s new appearance, but his brother just laughed and said, “You always seek compliments.”

John almost argued with his brother but he did not have enough energy. Instead he made more nets, because he hoped to increase the amount of fish caught the next day.


2. Comment on what other parts of the story might be confusing to the students and might you address this?

There are many possibly confusing parts to this story, especially for those at the introductory and beginning levels of English study. It appears the most confusing is the use of advanced verb tenses. There were also a number of idioms and a play on words which would be lost on many ESL students.

In rewriting the story, I found it difficult to only use simple present and simple past without slightly changing the meaning. To make it easier to read, I also tried to remove idioms and other non-standard forms. For example, I changed “fishing for compliments” to the simple “seek,” although the play on words is lost. I would explain the idiom and the humor involved by saying that to a fisherman.

Conversation Analysis Assignment

Your homework: (Mr. Smith is Mohammed's Teacher)
Mr. Smith: Do you know what to do for homework?
Mohammed: Yes, I think so.
Mr. Smith: So you understand how to do it?
Mohammed: Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith: Ok, great, I look forward to seeing your answers tomorrow.
Mohammed: Yes, thank you.

1. Choose one dialog. Identify where the miscommunication occurs. Explain what each speaker might be thinking.
2. Explain what cultural factors may contribute to the miscommunication in the conversation. Post your answers on the blog; be sure to identify which conversation you are referring to.

In the dialog above, on the surface there is nothing wrong with the conversation. However, I am led to believe that Mr. Smith was seeking assurance that Mohammed did, in fact, understand his homework. Although he did not receive it, it may be that in his culture, Mohammed is being respectful of his teacher’s time by not drawing out the conversation. He also truly may not understand, but feels like it may be shameful to admit so, and that it is his fault he does not understand. He may plan to meet his classmates later to ask them to explain everything to him.

The pithiness of Mohammed’s answers seems to violate Grice’s Conversation Maxim of Quantity. Had Mohammed been aware of this maxim, he may have given more information to his teacher so that his teacher would be reassured that he in fact had understood the assignment.

Mohammed also may have violated Grice’s Conversation Maxim of Quality if he in fact did not tell the truth and did not understand the homework.

Grice's Conversational Maxims

Grice’s Conversational Maxims act as guidelines to ensure that conversational interactions satisfy the Cooperative Principle, which states that contributions to conversations are appropriate to the conversation. The four maxims are that of:

1. Relevance

2. Quality

3. Quantity

4. Manner

I will provide examples of times when someone may intentionally violate each of the maxims and why they might do so.

The maxim of relevance states that you stay relevant to the topic. One may intentionally violate this when one is asked a question that one does not wish to answer. It may serve as a somewhat polite way of sidestepping the question without explicitly saying “I do not wish to answer that question.” The one violating the maxim would hope that the other party would get the picture. An example might be if someone asked, “How do you like my painting?” and the answer would be, “I like turtles!”

The maxim of quality states that one makes their contribution to the conversation the truth. If one wishes to answer the question, “How do you like my painting?” without hurting the other’s feelings by saying it is not good, one might reply, “I really like it!” even if they believe it is horrid.

The maxim of quantity states that one makes their contribution not more or less informative than required. Some people may violate this by speaking excessively in one-word answers. On the other hand, we all seem to know someone who, when asked, “How do you like my painting?” answer beginning with the history of art from the ancient world to the present. To intentionally violate this maxim, one might want to avoid conversation or drive the other person away with excessive information.

The maxim of manner states that one would only use brief and less obscure descriptions, and should avoid ambiguous statements. If one wanted to be evasive in revealing their true feelings (especially if they are negative), they may intentionally make an ambiguous statement that can be taken either as a negative or a positive.

Reference:

O’Grady, W. & Archibald, J. (Eds.). (2010). Contemporary linguistics. An introduction. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Freeman & Freeman Applications p. 129, # 9

Investigating the Letter G sounds when at the beginning of a word.

These words have a "Hard G" /g/ sound:

gab

gap

gauge

guard

gain

gold

got

gulf

gull

"Soft G" /j/ sound (before e,i,y):

gem

gerbil

geography

giant

ginger

geometry

giraffe

gypsy

gym

Generally the letter G at the beginning of a word uses the /g/ sound (Hard G), except if the vowel following it is e, i, y. This holds for words of Romance origin, but words of non-Romance language origins may be exeptions (see list below).

girl - Germanic origin

geyser - Old Norse

get - Old Norse and Germanic

give - Old Swedish

gecko - Malay

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonetic/hard_g.shtml

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonetic/soft_g.shtml

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Freeman & Freeman Applications p. 128, # 3

1. brazen - O.E. bræsen "of brass," from bræs "brass" + see -en (2). The figurative sense of "hardened in effrontery" is 1570s (in brazen-face), perhaps suggesting a face unable to show shame (see brass). To brazen it out "face impudently" is from 1550s.

Origin of BRAZEN Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen, from bræsbrass

First Known Use: before 12th century

2. furniture

1520s, "act of furnishing," from M.Fr. fourniture, from fournir "furnish" (see furnish). Sense of "chairs, tables, etc.; household stuff" (1570s) is unique to English; most other European languages derive their words for this from L. mobile "movable."

Origin of FURNITURE Middle French fourniture, from fournir

First Known Use: 1542

3. tobacco

1580s, from Sp. tabaco, in part from an Arawakan (probably Taino) language of the Caribbean, said to mean "a roll of tobacco leaves" (according to Las Casas, 1552) or "a kind of pipe for smoking tobacco" (according to Oviedo, 1535). Scholars of Caribbean languages lean toward Las Casas' explanation. But Sp. tabaco (also It. tabacco) was a name of medicinal herbs from early 15c., from Arabic tabbaq, attested since 9c. as the name of various herbs. So the word may be a European one transferred to an American plant. Cultivation in France began 1556 with an importation of seed by Andre Thevet; introduced in Spain 1558 by Francisco Fernandes.

Origin of TOBACCO Spanish tabaco, probably from Taino, roll of tobacco leaves

First Known Use: circa 1565

4. comfort c.1200, "feeling of relief" (as still in to take comfort in something); also "source of alleviation or relief;" from French (see comfort (v.)). Replaced O.E. frofor. Comforts (as opposed to necessities and luxuries) is from 1650s.

Origin of COMFORT Middle English, from Anglo-French cunforter, comforter,from Late Latin confortare to strengthen greatly, from Latincom- + fortis strong

First Known Use: 13th century

5. pulverize late 15c. (implied in pp. pulverizate), from L.L. pulverizare "reduce to powder or dust," from L. pulvis (gen. pulveris) "dust" (see pollen). Related: Pulverized; pulverizing.

Origin of PULVERIZE

Middle English, from Late Latin pulverizare, from Latinpulver-, pulvis dust, powder

First Known Use: 15th century

6. fashionista by 1996, from fashion + -ista (see -ist). In the same sense were fashionist (1610s, alive as late as 1850); fashion-monger (1590s); fashion-fly (1868).

Origin of FASHIONISTA

1fashion + -ista (as in Sandinista)

First Known Use: 1993

7. widget "gadget, small manufactured item," c.1920, Amer.Eng., probably an alteration of gadget, perhaps based on which it.

Origin of WIDGET

alteration of gadget

First Known Use: 1926

8. sleaze "condition of squalor," by 1967, back formation from sleazy. Meaning "person of low moral standards," and the adjective use, are attested from 1976. Sleazy - 1640s, "hairy, fuzzy," later "flimsy, unsubstantial" (1660s), of unknown origin; one theory traces it somehow to Silesian "of the eastern German province of Silesia" (Ger. Schlesien), where fine linen or cotton fabric was made (Silesia in ref. to cloth is attested in English from 1670s; and sleazy as an abbreviated form is attested from 1670), but OED is against this. Sense of "sordid" is from 1941.

Origin of SLEAZE

back-formation from sleazy

First Known Use: 1954

Origin of SLEAZY

origin unknown

First Known Use: circa 1645

9. perdition mid-14c., "fact of being lost or destroyed," from O.Fr. perdiciun (11c.), from L.L. perditionem (nom. perditio) "ruin, destruction," from L. perditus, pp. of perdere "do away with, destroy, lose, throw away," from per- "through" (here perhaps with intensive or completive force, "to destruction") + -dare "to put" (see date (1)). Special theological sense of "condition of damnation, spiritual ruin, state of souls in Hell" (late 14c.) has gradually extinguished the general use of the word.

Origin of PERDITION

Middle English perdicion, from Anglo-French perdiciun, Late Latin perdition-, perditio, from Latin perdere to destroy, from per- through + dare to give — more at PER-, DATE

First Known Use: 14th century

10. besmirch 1590s, from be- + smirch.

Our Gayness and our Gilt are all besmyrcht. ["Henry V," IV.iii.110]

First Known Use of BESMIRCH

1599

Origin:

1590–1600; be- + smirch

Sources

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

http://www.learn-english-today.com/New-words/new-words-in-english.html

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm

Freeman & Freeman, page 128, Applications, # 4

Cummings three forces that shape the spelling system: Phonetic, Semantic, and Etymological demands.

Phonetic Demand:

hit

put

day

men

fed

Semantic Demand:

sign/signal

design/designate

column/columnist

resign/resignation

soft/soften

Etymological Demand:

mosquito

coyote

pizza

dachshund

tsunami