Consciousness Raising Grammar Tasks in an Advanced Learner Class.
George Livermore
Teaching a high-level class through consciousness-raising activities.
On the 26th of October Gary introduced the grammar seminar. He introduced Thornbury’s views on grammar and we discussed what grammar is according to Thornbury. Thornbury made a point that I found quite interesting; he stated that students needed to ‘notice grammar’ (2005: 35). This started me thinking about how best to teach grammar, and how I could get the learner to ‘notice’ grammar. I mentioned that I currently have a proficiency level class. As with most other proficiency classes the students have been learning English for a long time and most are sick and tired of learning or being taught grammar. Not only have they been taught the same thing over and over again but also I believe they have reached a language plateau, and become complacent. Of course their English isn’t perfect and there are still a few mistakes being made in class, which might become fossilized if nothing is done. Having said that, when the students participate in discussions, not only can they convey their message but also can expand upon any idea they put forward, they can discuss philosophical, political and religious matters with little or no help from me, apart from vocabulary. Therefore when the learner is fully capable of standing on their own two feet and, even with mistakes, are more than fully capable of making themselves understood, how can I expect my students to want to learn or even to be taught grammar? After discussing this point for a short while, Gary introduced the idea of consciousness-raising. Consciousness-raising, Gary stated, is an approach to grammar teaching that tries to get the learner to theorise the rules concerning the particular grammar and allow them to ‘notice’ grammar so that they can use it correctly outside the classroom. This really peaked my interest and I thought that this could be the answer to teaching grammar to a high level class. I started researching as
Teaching a high-level class through consciousness-raising activities.
On the 26th of October Gary introduced the grammar seminar. He introduced Thornbury’s views on grammar and we discussed what grammar is according to Thornbury. Thornbury made a point that I found quite interesting; he stated that students needed to ‘notice grammar’ (2005: 35). This started me thinking about how best to teach grammar, and how I could get the learner to ‘notice’ grammar. I mentioned that I currently have a proficiency level class. As with most other proficiency classes the students have been learning English for a long time and most are sick and tired of learning or being taught grammar. Not only have they been taught the same thing over and over again but also I believe they have reached a language plateau, and become complacent. Of course their English isn’t perfect and there are still a few mistakes being made in class, which might become fossilized if nothing is done. Having said that, when the students participate in discussions, not only can they convey their message but also can expand upon any idea they put forward, they can discuss philosophical, political and religious matters with little or no help from me, apart from vocabulary. Therefore when the learner is fully capable of standing on their own two feet and, even with mistakes, are more than fully capable of making themselves understood, how can I expect my students to want to learn or even to be taught grammar? After discussing this point for a short while, Gary introduced the idea of consciousness-raising. Consciousness-raising, Gary stated, is an approach to grammar teaching that tries to get the learner to theorise the rules concerning the particular grammar and allow them to ‘notice’ grammar so that they can use it correctly outside the classroom. This really peaked my interest and I thought that this could be the answer to teaching grammar to a high level class. I started researching as