7 1 0 2 h c r a M 6 1 7 4 : 3 0 t a ] y t i s r e v i n U l a n o i t a n r e t n I a d i r o l F [ y b d e d a o l n w o D DESCRIBING AND EXPLAINING GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY 7 1 IN ELT 0 2 h c r a M 6 1 7 4 : 3 0 t a ] y t si Language description plays an important role in language learning/teaching r ve because it often determines what specific language forms, features, and usages i n are taught and how. A good understanding of language description is vital for U l language teachers and material writers and should constitute an important part a n of their knowledge. This book provides a balanced treatment of both theory and o i practice. It focuses on some of the most important and challenging grammar t a n and vocabulary usage questions. Using these questions as examples, it shows how r te theory can inform practice and how grammar and vocabulary description and n I explanation can be made more effective and engaging. a d Part I describes and evaluates the key linguistic theories on language descrip- i r o tion and teaching. Chapters in this section conclude with questions for con- l F sideration and discussion. Part II discusses and gives specific examples of how [ y challenging grammar and vocabulary issues can be more effectively described b d and explained; each chapter focuses on one or more specific grammar and e d vocabulary issue. These chapters conclude with suggested teaching activities. The a o book also contains an annotated list of useful free online resources (online cor- l n w pora and websites) for grammar and vocabulary learning/teaching and a glossary o of important terms in language description and teaching. D Dilin Liu is Professor of Applied Linguistics/TESOL, Department of English, The University of Alabama, USA. ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series Eli Hinkel, Series Editor Birch E nglish Grammar Pedagogy: Global Perspectives Liu D escribing and Explaining Grammar and Vocabulary in ELT: Key Theories and Effective Practices deOliviera/Silva, Eds. L 2 Writing in Secondary Classrooms: Student Experiences, Academic Issues, and Teacher Education Andrade/Evans P rinciples and Practices for Response in Second Language Writing: Developing Self-Regulated Learners Sayer A mbiguities and Tensions in English Language Teaching: Portraits of EFL Teachers as Legitimate 7 Speakers 1 Alsagoff/McKay/ Principles and Practices of Teaching English as an International Language 0 2 Hu/Renandya, Eds. h Kumaravadivelu L anguage Teacher Education for A Global Society: A Modular Model for Knowing, Analyzing, c Recognizing, Doing, and Seeing r a Vandergrift /Goh T eaching and Learning Second Language Listening: Metacognition in Action M LoCastro P ragmatics for Language Educators: A Sociolinguistic Perspective 6 Nelson I ntelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Practice 1 7 Nation/Macalister, Eds. C ase Studies in Language Curriculum Design : Concepts and Approaches in Action Around the World 4 Johnson/Golumbek, Eds. R esearch on Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective on Professional 3: Development 0 Hinkel, Ed. H andbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, Volume II at Nassaji /Fotos T eaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating Form-Focused Instruction in ] Communicative Context y Murray/Christison W hat English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume I: Understanding Learning t si Murray/Christison W hat English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume II: Facilitating Learning r e Wong/Waring C onversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy: A Guide for ESL/EFL Teachers v i Nunan/Choi, Eds. L anguage and Culture: Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity n Braine N onnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth U l Burns D oing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners a Nation/Macalister L anguage Curriculum Design n o Birch T he English Language Teacher and Global Civil Society ti Johnson S econd Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective na Nation T eaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing r Nation/Newton T eaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking e t Kachru/Smith C ultures, Contexts, and World Englishes n I McKay/Bokhosrt-Heng I nternational English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy a Christison/Murray, Eds. L eadership in English Language Education: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Skills for Changing d i Times r o McCafferty/Stam, Eds. G esture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research l F Liu I dioms: Description, Comprehension, Acquisition, and Pedagogy [ y Chapelle/Enright/Jamison, Eds. B uilding a Validity Argument for the Test of English as a Foreign Language ™ b Kondo-Brown/Brown, Eds. T eaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students Curriculum Needs, Materials, and d Assessments e Youmans C hicano-Anglo Conversations: Truth, Honesty, and Politeness d a Birch E nglish L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom, Second Edition o l Luk/Lin C lassroom Interactions as Cross-cultural Encounters: Native Speakers in EFL Lessons n w Levy/Stockwell C ALL Dimensions: Issues and Options in Computer Assisted Language Learning o Nero , Ed. D ialects, Englishes, Creoles, and Education D Basturkmen I deas and Options in English for Specific Purposes Kumaravadivelu U nderstanding Language Teaching: From Method to Postmethod McKay R esearching Second Language Classrooms Egbert/Petrie, Eds. C ALL Research Perspectives Canagarajah, Ed. R eclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice Adamson L anguage Minority Students in American Schools: An Education in English Fotos/Browne, Eds. N ew Perspectives on CALL for Second Language Classrooms Hinkel T eaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar Hinkel/Fotos, Eds. N ew Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms Hinkel S econd Language Writers’ Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features Visit www.routledge.com/education for additional information on titles in the ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series DESCRIBING AND EXPLAINING 7 1 0 2 h GRAMMAR AND c r a M VOCABULARY IN ELT 6 1 7 4 : 3 0 t Key Theories and Effective Practices a ] y t i s r e v i n U l a n o i Dilin Liu t a n r e t n I a d i r o l F [ y b d e d a o l n w o D 7 1 0 2 h c r a First published 2014 M by Routledge 6 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 1 7 4 Simultaneously published in the UK 3: by Routledge 0 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN t a ] Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business y t si © 2014 Taylor & Francis r e v The right of Dilin Liu to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in i n accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. U al All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form n o or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including i photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission t na in writing from the publishers. r e t Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are n I used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. a d i Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data r o l F Liu, Dilin. y [ Describing and explaining grammar and vocabulary in ELT: key theories and eff ective practices/ b By Dilin Liu. d pages cm.—(ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series) e Includes bibliographical references and index. d a ISBN 978-0-415-63608-7—ISBN 978-0-415-63609-4—ISBN 978-0-203-08560-8 o l 1. English language—Study and teaching—Foreign speakers. 2. English language—Grammar— n Study and teaching. 3. Vocabulary—Study and teaching. I. Title. w o D PE1128.A2L5334 2013 428.0071—dc23 2013004263 ISBN: 978-0-415-63608-7(hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-63609-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-08560-8 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo Std by MPS Limited, Chennai, India www.adi-mps.com 7 1 0 2 h c r a M 6 1 7 4 : 3 0 t a ] y t si To Yun and Jiajia (Julianne) r e v i n U l a n o i t a n r e t n I a d i r o l F [ y b d e d a o l n w o D 7 1 0 2 h c r a M 6 1 7 4 : 3 0 t a ] y t i s r e v i n U l This page intentionally left blank a n o i t a n r e t n I a d i r o l F [ y b d e d a o l n w o D CONTENTS 7 1 0 2 h c r a M 6 List of Figures xiii 1 List of Tables xv 7 4 Preface xvii : 3 Acknowledgments xxi 0 t a y] 1 L anguage Description 1 t si 1.1 Introduction 1 r e 1.2 The purview of language description 2 v ni 1.3 The importance of language description 6 U 1.4 Principles for language description 8 l a Questions for consideration and/or discussion 1 1 n o i t a n r PART I e nt Foundations: Key Theories and Approaches to I a Language Description 13 d i r o l 2 P rescriptive, Structural, and Generative Linguistics 1 5 F y [ 2.1 Prescriptivism 1 5 b 2.1.1 Overview 1 5 d e 2.1.2 Influence of prescriptivism on language teaching 1 7 d a 2.2 Structuralism 1 9 o l 2.2.1 Overview 1 9 n w 2.2.2 Influence of structuralism on language teaching 2 1 o D 2.3 Generativism 2 3 2.3.1 Overview 2 3 2.3.2 Influence of generativism on language teaching 2 6 Questions for consideration and/or discussion 3 0 3 S ociolinguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics 3 3 3.1 Sociolinguistics: an overview of communicative competence and speech act theory 3 3 viii Contents 3.1.1 Communicative competence 3 4 3.1.2 Speech act theory 3 4 3.1.3 Pragmatics across languages 3 6 3.2 Systemic functional linguistics: an overview 3 8 3.2.1 Language as a system of choice 3 8 3.2.2 Semantic functions of language 3 9 3.2.3 Register 4 0 7 1 3.3 The impacts of sociolinguistics and SFL on language teaching 4 1 0 2 3.3.1 From form-focused to meaning/communication-oriented h instruction 4 1 c r a 3.3.2 Teaching pragmatics 4 4 M 3.3.3 Discourse analysis and discourse grammar 4 6 6 1 3.3.4 Register and semantic function analysis 4 7 7 Questions for consideration and/or discussion 4 8 4 : 3 0 t a 4 C ognitive Linguistics 51 ] y 4.1 Theoretical underpinnings and important basic concepts 5 1 t i s 4.1.1 Language is symbolic and conceptual in nature 5 1 r e v 4.1.2 Meaning is fundamental to language 5 3 i n 4.1.3 Language is composed of symbolic units/constructions 5 5 U l 4.1.4 Language knowledge is usage-based 5 9 a n 4.2 Cognitive Linguistics-inspired language description 6 1 o i 4.2.1 Cognitive grammar and construction Grammar 6 1 t a n 4.2.2 Focusing on construal and conceptual motivation 6 3 r e 4.2.3 Focusing on embodied experience and t n I conceptualization: use of visuals 6 3 da 4.2.4 Description of constraints on the generalizability of i r constructions 6 5 o Fl Questions for consideration and/or discussion 6 7 [ y b d 5 C orpus Linguistics 69 e d a 5.1 Overview 6 9 o l 5.1.1 What is corpus linguistics? 6 9 n w 5.1.2 Types of information corpus queries may generate o D and the procedures used 7 0 5.2 Significant contributions of corpus linguistics to the study of language 7 4 5.3 Impact of corpus linguistics on language teaching 7 7 5.3.1 Corpus use in the classroom 7 8 5.3.2 Using corpora for curriculum design and material development 8 1 Questions for consideration and/or discussion 8 2 Contents ix PART II Putting Theory to Practice: Striving for Enhanced Language Description and Explanation 85 6 V ocabulary Description 87 6.1 What information should be covered in teaching a word? 8 7 7 6.2 Describing/teaching spelling, pronunciation, and morphological 1 0 rules 8 8 2 h 6.3 Defining/teaching parts of speech 8 9 c 6.3.1 The concept of parts of speech and categories involved 9 0 r a M 6.3.2 Meaning- and form-based definition methods 9 1 6 6.3.3 Structure (sentence position)-based definition method 9 1 1 6.3.4 Conceptualization/construal-based definition method 9 2 7 4 6.3.5 Using an eclectic method suited to learners’ proficiency : 3 level and needs 9 3 0 t 6.4 Collocation/semantics/register: other key issues to be addressed 9 4 a ] 6.5 Explaining/teaching challenging issues with new insights 9 5 y it 6.5.1 Adverb or noun: the case of home in go home and more 9 5 s er 6.5.2 Count vs. non-count nouns 9 6 v i Suggested teaching activities 9 9 n U al 7 S entence Structure Description 103 n o 7.1 Sentence structural analysis: tasks and processes 1 03 i t a 7.1.1 Sentence structure types: a quick overview 1 03 n r 7.1.2 Tasks and processes involved in sentence e t n structural analysis 1 04 I a 7.2 Established practices for describing/analyzing d i sentence structures 1 07 r o l 7.2.1 How pedagogical structural analysis is generally done 1 08 F [ 7.2.2 The use of technical terms 1 09 y b 7.2.3 The use of diagrams and other visual markings 1 11 d 7.3 Explaining/teaching challenging issues with new insights 1 11 e d a 7.3.1 Describing and explaining different verb structures 1 11 o l 7.3.2 Participles/participle phrases and clause n w structure: form/function 1 13 o D 7.3.3 Describing/explaining the dummy it and related sentence structures 1 14 Suggested teaching activities 1 15 8 T ense and Aspect 119 8.1 English tense and aspect system: an overview 1 19 8.2 Established useful practices for describing/teaching tenses/aspects 1 22