The Distance Delta

Language
Systems:
Grammar

The Distance Delta

©International House London and the British Council

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Language Systems: Grammar

Summary

In this section we will be looking at language and language systems in general and grammar
in particular. We will be doing some very practical work on analysing language and on
anticipating learners’ problems. You will also examine and evaluate a number of resource
books for language research. You will then look at some classroom approaches and ideas
and have the opportunity to share your own ideas for focussing on different language areas.

Contents

1. Views of Language

2. Language Systems

3. A Historical Overview: The Role of Grammar in Language Learning

4. Researching Language

5. Analysing, Clarifying and Checking Meaning

6. Approaches and Practical Ideas

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1. Views of Language

As ELT professionals, language is our business. Uniquely amongst the teaching profession,
we have the English language as the content and the medium of our teaching. It might be
interesting to pause for a moment and consider this ‘commodity’ of ours. What is language
and how did it originate?

Commentary

Here are some views about language.

The system of human communication which consists of the structured arrangement of

sounds (or their written representation) into larger units, e.g. morphemes, words, sentences,
utterances. In common usage it can also refer to non-human systems of communication such
as the “language” of bees, the “language” of dolphins” (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992).

Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary-makers, but is

something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of
humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground (Walt Whitman).

The ability to make and use audible, articulate and meaningful sound by the action of the
vocal chords. A systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of
conventionalised sounds, signs and gestures that have understood meaning. The words, their
pronunciation, and the methods of combining them that are used and understood by a
particular community (Allen, 2000).

You and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in each other’s
brains with exquisite precision… Simply by making noises with our mouth, we can reliably
cause precise new combinations of ideas to arise in each other’s minds (Pinker, 1994).

It is interesting to note that some of these extracts view language as a system of identifiable
components: what language is, whilst others focus on language more in terms of a code of
communication, laying primary focus on its purpose: what language does. We would,
however, probably all agree that the study of human language is the study of an attribute,
skill, or instinct which comes close to defining a central core of what it is to be human. As
Chomsky says:

When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the ‘human
essence,’ the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man
(Chomsky, 1968).

If you are interested in reading further about the nature and origins of language, the
following are highly recommended: The Language Instinct (Pinker, 1994) and The
Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language (Crystal, 1987) Chapter 49.

Language in the Delta Programme

Language plays a key role in the Delta syllabus. This is as one might expect, given its primacy
in terms of the content of our teaching. If you look through the specific content and
objectives you will see how this breaks down into specific content and performance
objectives in the programme.

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In practical terms, language permeates every aspect of the course: perhaps most obviously
in the Language Systems / Skills Assignments and associated lessons. However, you need to
be ‘language aware’ in every single lesson you give, when, for example, you adjust your own
language to the learners’ level or when you answer a learner’s question or when you help
someone to improve their language competence by reformulating what they have just said.

We will now move on to look at what is meant by the ‘systems’ of a language.

2. Language Systems
In the Delta syllabus ‘Systems’ refers to the four categories of lexis, grammar, discourse and
phonology. However, trying to categorise a language item into one of these four is not
always easy. The following task highlights the difficulty.

Task: Categorising Language

The teacher has decided to focus on the items of language in bold. In each case decide
which aspect of language is being focussed on or seems most significant: Lexis,
grammar, discourse or phonology?

1. How would you like to pay? In cash.

2. Chandler asks for Phoebe’s help to find the perfect engagement ring for Monica –
but then a rival customer buys it from under his nose.

3. o0o oo0o 0oo 0o 0o

Determined well-adjusted confident awkward stubborn

4. An 8 year-old boy was arrested last night for trespassing on railway property. The
boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found walking along the line
near Victoria station.

5. Finding a place to park is a complete nightmare.

6. Why don’t you come over on Saturday? Okay.

We could watch a film. Sounds good.

7. Does anyone know where I can buy an Italian newspaper?

8. I live in the south.

9. Anyway; right; so; well; you see; actually

10. /dɪʤə/ have a good weekend?

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Suggested Answers
There are no ‘correct’ answers here. The examples are all taken from real lessons, and these
are the actual angle the teachers were focussing on:

1. Lexis: The teacher decided to focus on this as a fixed lexical phrase. She integrated
phonology work when helping the learners to say it confidently.

2. Discourse: At first sight it might look like grammar, the present simple - but think about
the level of English in the text; it would not be appropriate for a low level. In this case
the teacher was working at an upper intermediate level and was helping learners to
notice the use of this tense in a particular genre: a programme description in an
entertainment guide.

3. Lexis and phonology: A double aim here of students learning a set of adjectives and
focussing on word stress using dictionaries.

4. Grammar: A non-defining relative clause. However, the teacher went on to work on

phonology, the foregrounding and backgrounding use of intonation with this type of
clause. Note that ‘The boy’ is being used for anaphoric (backward referring) reference.

5. Grammar: The use of a gerund as part of a noun phrase in subject position.

6. Discourse: The teacher was focussing on ellipsis in spoken English. The speaker leaves
out ‘that,’ assuming that the listener will understand what she is referring to.
Alternatively the teacher could have taught ‘sounds good’ as a fixed expression.

7. Grammar: Embedded / indirect questions. The focus here was on syntax, the word order
of the subject and modal ‘can’.

8. Lexis: The teacher decided to focus on the collocation ‘the south’ as a lexical item, as she
believes in teaching ‘the’ wherever possible as part of lexis (the right, the city centre, the
UK etc.).

9. Discourse: Discourse markers to manage conversations.

10. Phonology: The teacher was focussing on reduced forms in speaking, although actually
in this lesson her focus was not primarily on language systems work but on the skill of
listening and understanding these forms.

As you can see from this task, it is up to you as a teacher to decide what kind of focus you
will have in any one lesson. We hope this gives you some idea of the flexibility you can
exercise. You will need to choose and justify your main focus and show an awareness of how
systems and skills work relate in any one lesson.

Terminology

Using appropriate terminology is essential in all Delta modules and it is important to start
noting new terms you encounter and in some cases doing further research on their meaning.

We recommend the following reference books to help you with this.

▪ The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (3rd edition), Richards, J. Platt, J. &
Weber, H. 2002 (Longman).

▪ An A - Z of ELT Thornbury, S. 2006 (Macmillan)

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3. A Historical Overview: The Role of Grammar in Language Learning

Anti-grammar

The history of English language teaching has been characterised by a periodic swing
backwards and forwards between two opposing theoretical points of view about the role of
grammar in the classroom. The first point of view holds that explicit formulation of rules for
language learners actually interferes with the natural learning process. This view has led to
several different types of teaching approach, such as the Direct Method, the first widely
used method in which English was the medium of instruction, and Audio-Lingualism, another
method in which English was the medium of instruction, and in which grammar was taught
implicitly, as patterns, without recourse to explanations.

Pro-grammar

The second point of view holds that explicit formulation of rules is useful for language
learners. The most well-known expression of this view was the Grammar Translation method
which pervaded language teaching in secondary schools for over eighty years and which is
still used today in many parts of the world. This method originally evolved because the
status-conscious grammar schools of the late 19th Century were keen that modern language
learning should be regarded as an intellectual exercise equal to the learning of Latin and
Greek.

Chomsky’s Influence

Other versions of rule-based teaching grew out of the antipathy to Audio-Lingualism which
was provoked by Chomsky’s assertion, in the early sixties, that language was undeniably
rule-based and ‘generative’. This is to say that from a finite number of rules an infinite
number of possible sentences can be generated. For Chomsky, however, rules are something
very different from what language teachers have interpreted them to be. Chomsky’s rules
are rules of transformation from the ‘deep structure’ of the language to the ‘surface
structure’ of that language. Language teachers’ rules are rules of surface structure
formation, such as the rule of form for the present perfect continuous (have + been +
present participle). However, accepting the liberty that language teachers have taken with
Chomsky’s ideas, many people feel that rule-based creativity, i.e. the creation, or
‘generation’, of a large number of possible sentences from one rule, should be a central
feature of language teaching.

Functions

In the early 1970s it was clear that explicit teaching of grammar was making a come-back, if
it ever actually went away in real classrooms. At the same time, a further new influence was
expanding the issue, the functional view of language. According to its proponents, the
formal structure of the language - i.e. its grammar - was a less useful principle for deciding
which ‘bits’ of language to teach students than the principle of ‘functional description’. Since
language is ultimately functional, it was claimed, language teaching syllabuses should be
organised not according to a list of complexity of its grammatical structures but to a list of
useful functions. The functional view of language did, in fact, gain ascendancy and this
resulted in a confused state of affairs in which some teachers may have been led to
understand that grammar was not particularly relevant to functional teaching, which is not
at all what the proponents of a functional view were saying.

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A Balance

By the early 1980s it was increasingly apparent that the rules of grammar were
indispensable to many language learners, but that, at the same time, learners also needed
specific extra language items to operate communicatively with certain common situations
and functions. These extra items, called exponents, were not language rules as such, but
language patterns couched in terms very similar to those of Audio-Lingual teaching e.g. I
wonder if you could + verb for polite requests. Thus by the mid-1980s, there was often a
combination of grammatical structures, e.g. verb forms, modals, articles and noun phrases,
and functional exponents, e.g. Would you like + infinitive for invitations.

Language Acquisition Theories

In the late 1970s and 1980s research into second language acquisition was focusing on the
psychological and mental processes involved. A strong body of opinion developed that
second language acquisition can be achieved, and in fact is best achieved, in circumstances
which are very similar to those in which a child acquires her first language. This is to say that
‘natural’ acquisition happens with ‘natural exposure’ to the language. This again was not a
new thing but something picked up on again from the past, in the Direct Method, for
example. It again shows the pendulum swing often apparent when looking at the history of
theories of language and language learning. The issue was hotly debated. For many people,
the very clear differences in circumstances between children acquiring their mother tongue
and adults acquiring a second language made it difficult to accept that the processes are
identical.

Explicit Rules

On the question of explicit focus on grammar rules, one of the central issues of those who
supported the ‘acquisition’ theory is that language rules in reality i.e. not those in the minds
of descriptive linguists or of language teachers but the real language rules that human
beings operate with entirely unconsciously all their lives, are firstly infinitely numerous,
subtle and multi-dimensional and secondly simply indescribable. In this case, it is pointless
to try and either enumerate them or describe them to students. Norrington-Davies in From
Rules to Reasons (Norrington-Davies, D. 2016) argues that the rules we use in class describe
language use rather than how language is used. It is therefore more beneficial for students
to look at why certain language is being used based more on the context of use and the
decisions the writer or speaker made in deciding what to say and write.

Example:

The Rule The Reason

The writer is using

State verbs are
present progressive
used in the simple
I’m loving my job because he sees the
form. We don’t use
situation as
them with a
unusual. It isn’t
progressive form
normally like this.

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Sustained, meaningful and genuine exposure to the language will provide all the subtle
tonalities of information about language use that the unconscious processing capacity of the
learner’s brain needs to become attuned to, and ultimately to acquire, that language.
According to Terrell and Krashen, this exposure needs to be ‘roughly tuned’ to the learner’s
level so that it is comprehensible. The belief is that if students are exposed to enough of this
‘comprehensible input’, acquisition will naturally follow.

Task-based Learning

Working in India in the 1980s, Prabhu in the Bangalore Project suggested that language
learning only really takes place when students are given opportunities to communicate in L2.
His syllabus based around the completion of a series of communication tasks, with a ‘real-
world’ application saw the emergence of what became Task-based Learning or Task-based
Language Teaching. TBL no longer prioritised the successful use of specific grammatical
structures but successful completion of the task using all of a student’s language resources.

The ‘acquisition’ school is sincere in its belief about the explicit teaching of rules. However,
in the majority of the world’s classrooms the reality of adult language learning is that many
people want to learn rules. This is a reality we cannot ignore and we need to take our
learners’ views into account in making decisions about rule-based input in our classes.

The Lexical Approach

In the 1980s and 1990s, research began to focus more and more on the role of lexis within
the language and the extent to which language is stored in the brain as pre-formulated
collocations, fixed and semi-fixed phrases e.g. launch a campaign, he couldn’t make it, I’ll get
you a drink. This view was popularised in a series of books by Michael Lewis, and grammar
suddenly seemed like a poor relation to lexis, everything apparently being covered by these
‘lexical chunks’. Interestingly what were previously labelled as functional exponents sit
happily here as semi-fixed expressions e.g. Would you like a ….? or sometimes fixed
expressions e.g. Can I help you?

Grammaring

Since the mid-1990s up to the present there has been a growing interest in grammar as a
process rather than a product, based on the thinking of Diane Larsen-Freeman. In other
words, instead of seeing grammar as a set of rules to be mastered, or a thing to be learned,
it is viewed as a process that emerges. Thornbury in Uncovering Grammar (Thornbury, S.
2001) goes as far as to say there should be a verb ‘to grammar’ to represent this gradual
process of noticing and ‘uncovering’ grammar, with corresponding terms ‘grammaring’ or
‘grammaticisation’ and ‘grammar up’.

The Grammar of Patterns

Although we tend to view grammar and lexis as distinct systems, Dave Willis in Rules,
Patterns and Words (Willis, D. 2003) points to recent research which has shown that the
relationship between grammar and lexis is much closer than previously realised. For
example, certain verbs have predictable patterns that follow them, for example ‘want’ is
followed by a full infinitive e.g. ‘I want to leave’ whereas ‘prevent’ is followed by preposition
+ noun + noun/–ing form e.g. ‘prevent fire from starting’. In addition to this, verbs which
have a similar meaning often have the same pattern e.g. we can change ‘want’ for ‘need’
and ‘stop’ for ‘prevent’. Likewise, nouns such as ‘relationship’ have predictable patterns, for
example, ‘relationship between’ + Noun and Noun e.g. ‘The relationship between MacBeth

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and Lady Macbeth’. If we change ‘relationship’ for ‘association’, ‘friendship’, ‘connection’

etc. the pattern is still the same although the meaning may change slightly. It is therefore
possible to say that there are broad grammatical frameworks in which words and phrases
operate and the shape of a grammatical sentence is determined by the words and phrases it
contains. Therefore, as language teachers perhaps we need to question the rigid separation
between these two systems between grammar and lexis and look more at how they
interface.

4. Researching Language
When you analyse language yourself, how do you go about it? Perhaps you start with your
own ideas or ask colleagues. No doubt you will also consult references, dictionaries,
grammar books, coursebooks and teacher’s books. In the following section we will be
investigating some reference books and attempting an initial evaluation of their strengths.

Before looking at these, you need to be aware of some different types of grammars:

▪ Prescriptive grammar: states rules for what is considered the best or most correct
usage. Prescriptive grammars are often based not on descriptions of actual usage but
rather on the grammarian’s views of what is best.

▪ Descriptive grammar: describes how a language is actually spoken and/or written and
does not state or prescribe how it ought to be spoken or written.

▪ Pedagogic grammar: is intended for pedagogic purposes, such as language teaching,

syllabus design, or preparation of teaching materials.

Often in our day-to-day teaching we rely on pedagogic ‘rules of thumb,’ which are
simplifications for teaching purposes. The grammar notes in the back of most coursebooks
are of this nature. We recommend that you read The English Verb chapters 1 and 2 (Lewis,
1986) for an interesting discussion about the value of analysing language at a much deeper
level than this.

5. Analysing, Clarifying and Checking Meaning

In this section our focus will be primarily semantic; we will be looking at different ‘levels’ of
meaning and then turning our attention to practical ways of helping learners in the
classroom.

Clarifying and Checking Meaning

You can ask concept questions to check the meaning of an item. Look at the extract below
taken from a children’s story. For each of the following items in bold, write two or three
check questions and the answers you would expect from learners. Consider the level, in this
case upper intermediate / advanced, and check that the language in your questions is not
more complex than the language being clarified. Also, in the case of the grammatical
structure, check that you have not used the target language in your questions.

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Task: Clarifying and Checking Meaning

Extract from a Children’s Story

As a teenager, I’d spend summer holidays with my Grandmother and three cousins in a
small village on the west coast of Ireland. We'd get up very early and the four cousins
would cycle to a beach that lay at the bottom of a long, steep and winding lane. Notorious
practical jokers, on one particular morning my cousins decided it would be hilarious to
disconnect my brakes. Inevitably, at the very first corner and at some considerable speed, I
hurtled into a gate. When I came round, amongst other injuries, I realised I’d broken my
leg.

Expecting some kind of apology and at least mild concern, all my eldest cousin, Pádraig,
could say was, ‘We can’t disturb Dr O’Connor now. He’ll be having breakfast. We’ll just
have to carry you.’ I interpreted this as meaning I would be carried back to the village but
after abandoning the bikes in a hedge we continued our descent to the beach.

Now in considerable pain, I lay on the sand watching my cousins playing in the waves until
such time as presumably Dr O’Connor had finished his breakfast.

Two hours later after an excruciating ascent, I was lying on my back in the good Doctor’s
surgery as he inspected the damage.

‘How’s the pain?’

‘I’m getting used to it,’ I replied.

Example:

We'd get up very early.

1. Are we talking about present, past or future? (Past)
2. Did we get up very early once or regularly? (Regularly)
3. So this means the same as …..? (Used to)

The teacher here has decided not to go into the rule about ‘state and event’ at this point,
but is giving a straight equation to ‘used to’ as a starting point for meaning.

1. Notorious practical jokers…

2. I hurtled into a gate.

3. He'll be having breakfast.

4. …after abandoning the bikes.

5. I’m getting used to it.

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Suggested Answers
1. Notorious practical jokers…

What do the cousins do a lot? Play practical jokes

Are they famous for this? Yes, in the family

Is it for something good or bad? Bad

2. I hurtled into a gate.

Did I travel fast or slow? Fast

Was I in control or out of control? Out of control

3. He'll be having breakfast.

Is Pádraig talking about the future or the present? The present

Does Pádraig know his usual routines/plans? Yes

Does Pádraig think he is having breakfast now? Yes

Tell me about someone in your family now.

4. …after abandoning the bikes.

Do you physically leave something? Yes

Do you stop caring about it? Yes

Is it temporary or permanent? Usually more permanent but in the story probably temporary

What else can you abandon? Children, pets, cars, ideas, hope, schemes etc.

5. I’m getting used to it.

What is ‘it’ referring to? The pain

Did it start recently? Yes

How did I feel about the pain at first? It was bad / strange / difficult

How do I feel about it now? It’s more normal /familiar

In the future, will the pain become normal for me? Maybe

Tell me something that you found unfamiliar at first, but which is less strange now.

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Task: Timelines

Time-lines can help learners to visualise the meaning of verb forms. Look at the extract
below taken from a screenplay. For the following examples of perfect and progressive
forms, think of ways to pictorially illustrate these structures. If necessary, refer to
grammar books and course books for ideas on how they do this.

Extract from a Screenplay

Chad and Marty exit the restaurant and in jovial mood start walking across the parking
lot towards their vehicles.

CHAD: Wow! It’s been snowing.

MARTY: Great! I’ve been waiting three years for this moment.

CHAD: What moment?

MARTY: To use my new snow-chains. Fifty bucks guarantees three snow-free years!

CHAD: I’ve left mine at home. Should pay more attention to the forecast I guess.

MARTY: You’d better. You'll be living in Canada this time next year and they do snow on
a whole different level.

CHAD: True and I’ll have started saying ‘eh’ a lot!

MARTY: You do that already, eh?

Example

It's been snowing.

Past ??? Now ???

1. I’ve been waiting three years for this moment.

2. I’ve left mine at home.

3. You'll be living in Canada this time next year.

4. I’ll have started saying ‘eh’ a lot! (By this time next year)

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Suggested Answers

1. I’ve been waiting three years for this moment.

3 years ago Waiting Now ???

2. I’ve left mine at home.

Leave mine at home ??? Now

3. You'll be living in Canada this time next year.

Now ??? This Time Next Year ???

Living in Canada

4. I’ll have started saying ‘eh’ a lot! (By this time next year)

Now ??? This Time Next Year

Started saying ‘eh’

6. Approaches and Practical Ideas

You will already have a battery of ideas for grammar lessons. In addition, you may have
encountered or been reminded of other ideas in your pre-course reading from How to Teach
Grammar (Thornbury, 1999), Uncovering Grammar (Thornbury, 2001), Inside Teaching and
Challenge and Change in Language Teaching (Willis & Willis, 1996). Later on the Distance
Delta, you will think about different approaches to language focus lessons and situate
yourself in the debate between a more holistic or discrete item approach. The following task
aims, therefore, to be an initial sharing of ideas.

What are the potential pitfalls of a lesson that sets out to teach grammar? Borrowing a term
coined by Scott Thornbury and Neil Forrest, one problem is ‘Obsessive Grammar Syndrome’.
In an article in IATEFL Issues 153 they berate the syndrome thus:

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Too many observed lessons, we realised, were being hi-jacked, either by materials
overload, or by Obsessive Grammar Syndrome (OGS). We laid down some rules: if the
language lesson didn’t include real language use, then we questioned its usefulness.
Grammar presentations had to be squeezed into 5 minutes. Real talk, usually
relegated to the bookends of the lesson proper, had to form the lesson core. And the
teacher had to talk – not at the students or even to them – but with them.

Whether you agree with such a view or not, it does seem that some grammar lessons
involve long periods analysing language areas such as ‘the article system’ or ‘the
conditionals’ and ‘raising learners’ awareness’ and very little time actually working with the
language to help learners to develop their language skills. This can result in groups of
learners who can tell you about the rules but are getting less help on using or understanding
the language in real contexts.

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Reading
Although not essential to your Module 1 preparation, if you would like to explore this area
further we suggest the following:

Recommended Reading

Batstone, R. 1994 Grammar Oxford University Press

Thornbury, S. 1997 About Language Cambridge University Press

Additional Reading

Grammar

Aitken, R. 2002 Teaching Tenses ELB

Carter, R. & McCarthy, R. 2006 Cambridge Grammar of English Cambridge

Leech, G., Ivanic, R. & Cruickshank, B. 2001 An A to Z of English Grammar and Usage
Longman

Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. 1975 A Communicative Grammar of English Longman

Leech, G. 2004 (3rd edition) Meaning and the English Verb Routledge

Lewis, M. 1986 The English Verb LTP

Norrington-Davies, D. 2016 From Rules to Reasons Pavilion

Parrott, P. 2010 (second edition) Grammar for English Language Teachers Cambridge
University Press

Quirk, R., & Greenbaum, S. 1979 A University Grammar of English Longman

Swan, M. 2005 Practical English Usage (3rd edition) Oxford University Press

Swan, M. & Walter, C. 1997 How English Works Oxford University Press

Thornbury, S. 2001 Uncovering Grammar Macmillan Heinemann

Willis, D. 2003 Rules, Patterns and Words Cambridge University Press

Yule, G. 1998 Explaining English Grammar Oxford University Press

Pronunciation

Kelly, G. 2000 How to Teach Pronunciation Pearson Longman

Kenworthy, J. 1987 Teaching English Pronunciation Longman

Underhill, A. 2005 (second edition) Sound Foundations Heinemann

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Language, Methodology and Terminology

Richards, J.C, Platt, J, & Platt, H., 2002 Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied
Linguistics (3rd edition) Longman

Swan, M. & Smith, B. (eds) 2001 Learner English Cambridge University Press

Thornbury, S. 2006 An A - Z of ELT Macmillan ELT Biber, D., Johansson, S.,

Willis, D. & Willis, J. (ed) 1996 Challenge and Change In Language Teaching Heinemann

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