THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Course Outline
Programme Title
: Master of Education Programme (Two-year Part-time)
Course Title
: Pedagogical Grammar
Department
: English
Credit Points
: Three
Contact Hours
: 39
Pre-requisite(s)
: Nil
[If applicable.]
Level
:
[If applicable. For example, for Discipline Studies under the BEd Core Curriculum, there are three levels of modules
to reflect the progression of study or the extent of in-depth knowledge.]
Synopsis:
This module helps participants develop their grammatical knowledge of the English language.
Specific attention focuses on word classes, syntactical structures, grammatical functions and
grammatical metaphor. The module analyses grammar from an integrated perspective, drawing
insights from both formalist and functional approaches. The theoretical bases of these approaches
are introduced and participants will apply relevant procedures in their own and their students’
output, and in grammatical analyses of a range of teaching materials and activities.
Objectives :
To enable participants to
a. demonstrate a developed understanding of English grammar; and
b. apply this knowledge in daily and academic communication.
Content
An overview of theoretical approaches to English grammar:
1.



2.
Definition of key concepts
Formal approaches; Functional approaches
Evaluation & implications of various theoretical approaches for teaching purposes, e.g.
design of textbook materials & teaching methodologies.
 Other grammar-related pedagogical issues, e.g teaching grammar in task-based
teaching (identifying/predicting texts’ grammatical features for explicit teaching);
adapting texts to cater for student proficiencies; exploiting corpora for development of
teacher & student language awareness and autonomy.
Words, word groups and simple sentences:
 Open and closed word classes and their associated grammatical features, including
inflectional morphology of nouns, verbs and adjectives
 Grammatical functions at group/phrase and clause level
 Basic sentence/clause patterns
1
3.
4.
5.
Beyond simple/basic sentences/clauses:
 Non-declarative clauses
 Subordination
 Co-ordination
Aspects of grammatical metaphor:
 Interpersonal metaphor: metaphors of mood
 Ideational metaphor: nominalization, information structuring
Grammatical analysis of discourse:
 the role of lexicogrammatical units in textual cohesion relevant to critiquing & adapting
teaching materials, including spoken texts, and to evaluating and developing students’
oral and written output
Assessment
A detailed grammatical analysis of ONE self-selected oral or written text/excerpt from tutora.
b.
selected genres (e.g. academic text, subject or English textbook-derived text, popular
science text or similar etc) demonstrating knowledge of all the above aspects of the English
grammatical system. (50%)
An evaluation of a grammar teaching activity e.g. from the perspective of textbook critique or
as implemented in a classroom. (50%)
Required Text
Nil
Recommended Reading
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of
spoken and written English. Harlow, England [New York]: Longman.
Brazil, D. (1995). A grammar of speech. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Bygate, M., Tonkyn, A., & Williams, E. (1994). Grammar and the language teacher.London:
Prentice Hall.
Carter, R. & McCarthy, M. (1997). Exploring Spoken English. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Collins Publishers. (1990). Collins Cobuild English grammar. London: Collins.
*Collins, P. (1998). English grammar. South Melbourne: Longman.
*Collins, P & Hollo, C. (2000). English grammar: an introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Gerngross, G., & Puchta, H. (1992). Creative grammar practice. Harlow, UK: Longman.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar. (2nd ed). London: Edward Arnold.
Language Awareness: [selections from this e-journal, Publisher: Multilingual Matters]
Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (2002). A communicative grammar of English. Harlow: Longman.
Lock, G. (1996). Functional English grammar: an introduction for second language teachers.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Master, P. A. (1996) Systems in English grammar: an introduction for language teachers.
Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall Regents.
Odlin, T. (Ed). (1994). Perspectives on pedagogical grammar. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge
University Press.
Parrott, M. (2000). Grammar for English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Rutherford, W.E. (1987). Second language grammar: learning and teaching. London: Longman.
Thornbury, S. (1997). About language: tasks for teachers of English. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
* most frequently used in the module
2
Related Websites
Activities for ESL Students By Many Teachers from Around the World:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/s/
Easy concordancer:
http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/concordance/
Grammar clinic and grammar café site:
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/index/html
HKU’s TeleNex Site providing resources, materials and other form-focused teaching information
for primary and secondary teachers in Hong Kong:
http://www.telenex.hku.hk
Selected Grammar Links for ESL Students:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/ESL.html
Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/grammar.html
TESL Journal’s quiz for ESL Learners:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/
The Linguist List:
http://www.linguistlist.org/esl.html
Related Journals
3