Teaching Grammar
without
Teaching Grammar
Input-Oriented Grammar Instruction
Using Listening and Reading to Provide Structured Input
Ken Herbert—Nomen Global Language Centers
Jessica Hercules—Granite Peaks Adult Education
Intermountain TESOL Conference
October 16, 2014
Credits
 Material
for this presentation adapted from:

Lee, J., & Van Patten, B. (2003). Making Communicative Language
Teaching Happen. New York: McGraw Hill.

Farley, A. (2007). PPT Presentation, Texas Tech University.

Benati, A. (2011). Generalizability of Processing Instruction Research.
Presentation at International Seminar on Instructed Second
Language Learning.Vitoria-Gastiez, May 13, 2011
Do you teach a specific grammar section?
Do you have a textbook you are required to use?
What does grammar instruction look like in your
classroom?
What are some specific approaches
to teaching grammar you have heard
of?
Do you follow any of these
approaches in your classroom
currently?
Have you seen or used activities like these?
Change the following into negative statements:
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.
I am happy.
_______________________.
We are sad.
_______________________.
They are tired.
_______________________.
You are funny.
_______________________.
She is hungry.
_______________________.
Conjugate the be verb in each sentence.
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.
I (be) happy.
_______________________.
We (be) sad.
_______________________.
They (be) tired.
_______________________.
You (be) funny.
_______________________.
She (be) hungry.
_______________________.
http://katstein-ross.escuelacampoalegre.wikispaces.net/file/view/WarmUpsGrammar_PDF_Book.pdf
Objectives for this session
 Demonstrate
understanding of
 the issues involved in learning and teaching grammar
 the nature of input, intake, and input processing
 Processing Instruction (PI), Structured Input (SI) and the
role of the form-meaning connection
by participating in the development of SI activities.
What we will explore in this session
A
brief look at traditional approaches to
teaching/learning grammar
 Processing
Instruction (PI) and Structured Input (SI)
Your Take-away

Undergo a paradigm shift in terms of how you teach grammar in
relation to the process going on in a student’s head as the brain
attempts to construct a version of the target language (implicit,
developing linguistic system)

Realize where in the process you are introducing skill getting
activities and where you are introducing skill using activities

Catch the vision of what Structured Input activities can mean to
your students and to your approach to introducing grammar
concepts
If this stuff is so good, why isn’t everybody doing it?
 10-15 years for published research to work its way
through an extremely convoluted system
 This particular research is within the context of SLA
 Foreign languages (other than English) are often the first
to apply the “new” model.
 For wider acceptance, there are some closely-held beliefs
within “traditional” approaches to teaching grammar that
must be overcome.
Traditional Approaches to Teaching Grammar
Some research into the (in)effectiveness of traditional approaches
to teaching grammar:
Barcroft & Wong (2013); Benati (2003); Bybee (1991); Doughty & Williams (1998);
Ellis (1983; Ellis (1989); Farley (2003); Gass (1997); Gass & Selinker (1992); Kaplan
(1987); Krashen (1982); Larsen-Freeman & Long (1991); Lee & VanPatten (2003);
Lightbown (1983); LoCoco (1976); Muscemi (1997); Pica (1983); Sanz & MorganShort (2003); VanPatten & Mandell (1999); Terrell, Baycroft, & Perrone (1987);
VanPatten & Oikennon (1996); White (1977); Wong (2003); …….
Lee & VanPatten (2003), pp 117-129
Traditional Approaches to Teaching Grammar
1.
That’s the way I learned, so…
2.
3.
Drills are effective tools for learning grammar
• Mechanical Meaningful  Communicative
Explicit explanation is necessary
4.
The first language is the source of all errors
5.
Acquisition involves the learning of paradigms
Lee & VanPatten (2003), pp 117-129
Traditional Approaches to Teaching Grammar
Mechanical approaches
• behavioral in nature
• focus on form through
• detailed explicit instruction
• paradigms/diagrams
• mechanical drills
• repetition
• rote memory
• do not allow for communication or self-expression
• usually lead to “planned parrot-hood.”
Lee & VanPatten (2003), pp 117-129
Traditional Approaches to Teaching Grammar
Communicative approaches
• focus on exchange of information
• deem explicit grammar instruction unnecessary
• place focus on form on back burner
• reward communication at expense of accuracy
• lead to “false” advanced and intermediate learners
Lee & VanPatten (2003), pp 117-129
Traditional Approaches to Teaching Grammar
Some research into the (in)effectiveness of traditional
approaches to teaching grammar:
Benati (2003); Bybee (1991); Doughty & Williams (1998); Ellis (1983; Ellis
(1989); Farley (2003); Gass (1997); Gass & Selinker (1992); Kaplan (1987);
Krashen (1982); Larsen-Freeman & Long (1991); Lee & VanPatten (2003);
Lightbown (1983); LoCoco (1976); Muscemi (1997); Pica (1983); Sanz &
Morgan-Short (2003); VanPatten & Mandell (1999); Terrell, Baycroft, & Perrone
(1987); VanPatten & Oikennon (1996); White (1977); Wong (2003); …….
Lee & VanPatten (2003), pp 117-129
Some working assumptions
Input
“. . . acquisition involves the creation of an implicit linguistic system,
one that exists outside of awareness.”
(Lee and VanPatten, 2003, p. 132).

This developing system



is dependent upon input
grows as learners receive and process a significant amount of
input
requires input that is both comprehensible and
meaningful
Some working assumptions
 “The
concept of input is perhaps the single most
important concept of second language acquisition.” (Gass,
1997, p. 1)
 “All
cases of successful first and second language
acquisition are characterized by the availability of
comprehensible input.” (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991,
p. 142)
Some working assumptions
 Successful
Language Acquisition Begins with INPUT
 Language Acquisition
INPUT
Cannot Happen Without
Some working assumptions
 Input
defined in the context of this presentation
 Samples
of meaning-bearing language that learners
are exposed to in a communicative setting
 This
meaning-bearing language communicates some
kind of message
Some working assumptions
 Intake
 Intake
= linguistic information in the input that
learners attend to and hold in working memory
during real-time comprehension.
 The
way in which learners process input can have a
huge effect on the intake they derive from it.
Some working assumptions
Input Processing
 Attempts to explain how learners get form while their
primary attention is on meaning.


Humans possess
 a finite, short-term “working memory”
 mechanisms to selectively filter the input coming in

“…during the act of comprehension, learners will
do whatever is necessary to grasp whatever
meaning they can from the input.” (Lee & VanPatten,
2003, p. 138)
Some working assumptions
Structured Input (SI)
 Input that is structured in ways that push learners to
become dependent on grammatical form and structure
to get meaning
 Form-meaning connections (mapping)

SI is more effective than input provided through traditional
means.

SI helps the learners build the their developing linguistic
system.
Some working assumptions

Input = raw, unfiltered, unprocessed linguistic data

Intake = the linguistic info that learners actually attend to

Filtered and stored in working memory for processing

Processing Mechanism = converts intake into formmeaning connections that build the developing linguistic
system

Structured Input = input that has been modified to force
learners to become dependent on grammatical form and
structure to get meaning
Traditional Lesson
Introduce the simple past
 Review present tense
 Introduce simple past tense
 Compare/Contrast structures
 Go over rules
 Explore paradigm charts
 Show how certain words require a past form
 “yesterday” requires “walked”
 Complete practice drills—MechanicalMeaningful
 Perform a “communicative” activity
Traditional Lesson
Listen to each sentence. Does the action take place in the past or
in the present? (Teacher reads each sentence aloud.)
 1. Yesterday, I walked my dog around the block.
 2. Right now, the restaurant across the street is open.
Why traditional approaches to
teaching grammar are ineffective
Input
Intake
Developing
Linguistic
System
Output
Without access to
meaning
Rules
Paradigms
Explicit Instruction
Processing
Mechanisms
Focused
Practice
Tarzan and Joe
J: “Hi, I’m Joe.”
T: “Me Tarzan.”
J: “Awesome outfit. Where are you going?”
T: “Go to dance.”
J: “Really?! Are you part of the entertainment?”
T: “Find Jane. Dance.”
Let’s Take a Break
Brief Recap
Importance of learner’s developing linguistic system
 Reasons for focusing on input/intake
 The role of intake
 The interaction among input, intake, the learner’s developing
system, and output
 How the traditional approach reinforces the learner’s faulty
processing strategies (“yesterday”; “right now”)

Processing-Oriented Approach to Teaching Grammar
 Lee
and Van Patten propose a different model of
instruction
 Processing
instruction
 focuses on input and
 how learners process input (intake)
 proceeds from input to output
from
decontextualized sentences to
richly contextualized connected discourse
Processing-Oriented Approach to Teaching Grammar
Before producing output, learners
 are
given information about a particular linguistic
structure or form
 are provided with information about helpful strategies for
learning the form or structure
 process the form or structure using structured input
activities to promote form-meaning connections
Only after this phase will learners be required to
produce output.
Input Processing

Two main principles:
1.The Primacy of Meaning Principle. Learners process input for meaning before
they process it for form.

Today, Jill is working at home.
2.The First Noun Principle. Learners tend to process the first noun or pronoun
they encounter in a sentence as the subject or agent.

With John, he has to be extra careful.
(Lee and VanPatten, 2003, p. 139)
Input Processing
 The
Primacy of Meaning Principle. Learners
process input for meaning before they process it for form.

The Lexical Preference Principle. Learners tend to rely on
lexical items as opposed to grammatical form to get meaning
when both encode the same semantic meaning.
Input Processing

The Lexical Preference Principle. Learners tend to rely on
lexical items as opposed to grammatical form to get meaning
when both encode the same semantic meaning.

Listen to each sentence. Does the action take place in the past or in
the present? (Teacher reads each sentence aloud.)
 1. I walked my dog.
 2. The restaurant is open.
Things to Notice
I walked the dog. ___Past
 Highly
___Present
decontextualized
 The form, “walked” encodes meaning (past
time)
 The learner must extract meaning from form
 As the learner connects form with meaning,
intake is occurring
Rethinking Grammar Instruction:
Processing Instruction and Structured Input
Input
Rules
Paradigms
Explicit Instruction
Developing
System
Intake
Output
with access to
meaning
Processing
Mechanisms
Structured
Focused
Output
Input
Practice
(Adapted from Lee and VanPatten, 2003, p. 142)
The Goal of Structured Input
 To

push learners away from faulty processing strategies…
lexical preference
Yesterday, Bill walked home.

first noun strategy
With John, he has to be extra careful.

sentence location
With John, he has to be extra careful.
Adapted from Farley (2007)
The Goal of Structured Input
To push learners toward better processing strategies…
 attending
to the form itself to get meaning and build
form-meaning connections
 identifying
the function of nouns (and other parts of
speech) correctly.
 processing
sentence-medial items
Adapted from Farley (2007)
From Theory to Practice
Change the following into negative statements:
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.
I am happy.
_______________________.
We are sad.
_______________________.
They are tired.
_______________________.
You are funny.
_______________________.
She is hungry.
_______________________.
Conjugate the be verb in each sentence.
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.
I (be) happy.
_______________________.
We (be) sad.
_______________________.
They (be) tired.
_______________________.
You (be) funny.
_______________________.
She (be) hungry.
_______________________.
Alternatives to “make these sentences negative”
●
●
●
●
●
●
ordering and ranking
surveys
matching
selecting alternatives
agree/disagree
true/false
Guidelines for Developing SI Activities
 Present
one thing at a time
 Keep meaning in focus
 Move from sentences to connected discourse
 Use both oral and written input
 Have the learner do something with the input
 Keep the learner’s processing strategies in mind.
Guidelines for Developing SI Activities
 Keep
the learner’s processing strategies in
mind.
 Learners
should focus on
grammatical items
NOT ON
other elements of the sentence
2 Types of SI Activities
Referential
Referential activities are those for
which there is a right or wrong
answer and for which the learner
must rely on the targeted
grammatical form to get meaning.
Affective
Affective structured input activities
are those in which learners
express opinions, beliefs, or have
some other personal response in
processing information about the
real world.
Referential
Teacher assesses
intake
Affective
Follow-up
Follow-up Activities: Output
The culminating task:





Agree or Disagree
Voting “for” or “against” something
Share and compare
Survey
Compare old and new opinions following new
information
Now, it’s your turn!
It’s your turn to create a Structured Input activity.
Here are some optional topics to plan around:
● 3rd person singular
● gerunds
● passive voice
● present progressive
● too vs very
● possessive -’s
You have 15 minutes to develop an activity with your group