APPLIED LINGUISTICS
GRAMMAR
Instructor: Duong My Tham, PhD
Presenters: Nguyen Vu Duy
Pham Tran Hong Hoanh
II. ISSUES WHEN
DESCRIBING GRAMMAR
III.LIMITATIONS OF
GRAMMATICAL
DESCRIPTIONS
IV. LEARNING GRAMMAR
V. TEACHING GRAMMAR
VI. CONCLUSION
a list of do’s and the rules of
don’ts, rules -> tell grammar found
us what we should mainly in written
say/ shouldn’t say language
an objective description of
the structures of languages
e.g
Prescriptive Grammars
.
It is I.
He ain’t home.
X
Grammars with rules that make distinctions between
correct and incorrect forms which tells us how we ought
to speak and how we ought not to speak.
=> This approach codifies certain distinctions between
standard and non-standard varieties + often makes
overt value judgements
e.g Descriptive Grammars
. Is the programme that is on television any good?
* Is the programme that on television is good?
Grammars do not make distinctions between correct and
incorrect forms & aim to describe language as it is
actually used. => a blueprint for building well-formed
structures, and they represent speakers’ unconscious
knowledge, or ‘mental grammar’ of the language.
This approach
“
+ focuses on describing how native speakers actually do
speak
+ does not prescribe how they ought to speak. No
value judgements are made
=> A descriptive grammar includes not only syntax and
morphology but also phonetics, phonology, semantics
and lexis.
Pedagogical Grammars
- the type of grammar designed for the needs of second-
language students and teachers which resembles a
descriptive grammar much more than a prescriptive one.
- are typically more eclectic,
drawing on insights from formal and functional
grammars, working on corpus linguistics, discourse
analysis and pragmatics.
II. ISSUES WHEN DESCRIBING
GRAMMAR
Which Type Spoken
Form and Discourse and
rules to versus
Function Grammar Written
describe Token
Grammar
1. Which rules to describe
E. g. would have tried - *have would tried
might be trying - *be might trying
He leaves. vs. I insist that he leave now.
Angela’s Ashes is a novel about growing up
in an impoverished Irish family.
=> grammar must include both rules that are invariant
and rules that admit variations.
E.g: How do you do?, I would like to enquire about X
Hi there, What’s up?
=> issues of what to include can often be decided on the
basis of the intended audience. There are other issues that
depend on a particular view of what grammar is and on
what type of description accords with that particular view.
2. Form and Function
- Models of grammar differ greatly, depending on whether
they are formal grammars or functional grammars.
- Formal grammar is concerned with the forms themselves
and with how they operate within the overall system of
grammar. (Traditional grammar)
Generative (transformational) theory
- The focus is primarily syntax and morphology.
- is based on a rationalist approach, the central
assumption being that language is represented as a
speaker’s mental grammar, a set of abstract rules for
generating grammatical sentences.
The rules generate the syntactic structure and lexical
items from appropriate grammatical categories (noun,
verb, adjective, etc.) are selected to fill in the
corresponding grammatical slots in the syntactic frame
of the sentence. The interests of generative linguists
focus mainly on rule-governed behaviour and on the
grammatical structure of sentences and do not include
concerns for the appropriate use of language in
context.
Hymes’ functional model
- focuses more on appropriate use of language
- the concept of ‘communicative competence’
is defined as ‘the capabilities of a person’, a competence
which is ‘dependent upon both [tacit] knowledge and
[ability for] use’ (Hymes, 1972: 282).
emphasizes language as meaningful communication,
including the appropriate use of language in particular
social contexts.
- The influence of these theoretical models is evident in
various areas in applied linguistics.
- Influence of different models of grammar can also be
seen in syllabus design.
+ ESL or EFL grammar texts
+ notional syllabuses
- Various teaching approaches also draw on insights
from these differing approaches to grammar.
+ Approaches influenced by formal theories such as
generative grammar tend to view language learning
as rule acquisition => focus on formalized rules of
grammar.
+ Those that evolved from functional considerations
view language as communication and tend to promote
fluency over accuracy, consequently shifting the focus
from sentence-level forms to communicative functions.
“
- There is an attempt to combine form and meaning which
are known as cognitive grammar (Langacker, 1987) and
construction grammar (Fillmore, Kay and O’Connor,
1988).
=> in language teaching, a formal or functional
approach should not be taken to the exclusion of the
other.
learners achieve a
our office
certain degree of formal
accuracy + use the
structures meaningfully
and appropriately
3. Type versus Token
“Rose is a rose is a rose is a
rose.”
10 tokens 3 types
C. S. Peirce (1931-58, sec. 4.537) called words in the first
sense “types” and words in the second sense “tokens”.
=> Types are generally said to be abstract and unique;
tokens are concrete particulars.
4. Discourse Grammar
-‘discourse grammar’- analyses of the functional roles of
grammatical structures in discourse.
- discourse is used to mean the organization of language at
a level above the sentence
0 or individual conversational
turn – that which connects language at the suprasentential
level.
Britisher:
5. SpokenQuite surprising!
and WrittenNot a single politician in India
Grammar
has tested positive for the Coronavirus whereas in other
countries a number of politicians, including the British Prime
Minister and some top-ranking ministers, have tested positive.
Great, isn’t it?
Indian: Great? Yes, great, indeed.
Britisher: Must be a great success story. What’s the secret
behind it?
Indian: Success story? Secret? No secret at all. Our
politicians meet voters only once in five years and they strictly
follow social distancing once they get elected.
Britisher: Really? You mean it?
What is the difference between the grammar of writing
and the grammar of speaking?
Spoken grammar (SG) is the grammar of everyday
interaction. It is informal and natural. SG is flexible in its
word order. The 100 most common words in written
grammar are prepositions, pronouns and articles - the small
words which give correct grammatical structure to sentences.
In spoken English, many of the top 100 words are verbs.
The characteristics of spoken grammar are: ellipsis,
heads, tails, fillers, backchannels and phrasal
chunks.
5. Spoken and Written Grammar
Carter and McCarthy (1995) believe that the differences
between spoken and written grammar are especially
important for pedagogical grammars, since
‘descriptions that rest on the written mode or on
restricted genres and registers of spoken language are
likely to omit many common features of everyday
informal grammar and usage’ (Carter and McCarthy,
1995: 154).
3. LIMMITATIONS OF
GRAMMATICAL
DESCRIPTION
A. Grammar and lexis
interdependence
• Difficult to isolate grammar and lexis completely separate
categories
• Interdependent with lexis
• Grammatical regularity and acceptability - Words
Example
• The past morpheme – ed
“Regular” verb: walked, watched, needed
• Irregular verb take various form: spoke , ate, understood
Lexical items choice Lexic
const al ite
rain m s to
Restrict grammatical structures in other ways t
temp his sense
or ar i of
n es s
Example:
(1) Mary is taking a nap ( A temporary activity)
(2) Mary is taking a class (An activity of extended
duration)
B.Lexicogrammar
Problems of defining
boundaries
Prefabricated ‘chunks’
of language
The boundaries between lexis and grammar
BLURRED
According to Pawlet and Syder (2003),
native speakers tend to use many
expressions that are
• formulaic in nature
• fixed or semi-fixed expressions
As a fixed unit: lexical words and grammatical structures
4.LEARNING
GRAMMAR
a. Verbal “habit
formation”
Habits were formed through stimulus-response conditioning leading
to ‘overlearning’ of the grammatical patterns
Teacher:
• Conduct pattern practice drills of various types: repetition, transformation,
question and answer, etc.
• Introduce little new vocabulary until grammatical patterns were firmly
established
Language use: Tightly controlled to prevent Ss make errors leading to the
formation of bad habits which later proves difficult to eradicate
B. Rule formation
The rise of generative grammar and its view of language as a
system of rules brought about when Ss formulated, tested, and
revised hypotheses about grammatical structures
• Ss play a more active role in classroom than before
• Ss’ errors are not to be feared but rather welcomed as evidence
for them test their hypotheses, receive feedback and revise their
hypotheses
• Grammar exercises given and they induce the rules
C. The communicative
approach to language
teaching
Grammar learning take place implicitly and most effectively
without Ss’ attention to grammar
Krashen and Terrell (1993) said grammar best learned
subconsciously
Ss engage in understanding the meaning of the language to which
they were introduced
Norris and Ortega (2000) felt that explicit attention to grammar was
important for older language learners whose ability to acquire language
implicitly was no longer possible or efficient
D. Contributions from
SLA research
Learner’s “interlanguage” reveals that grammar is not acquired in a
linear way, one structure being mastered after another
They use a lot of intermediate forms before comforming to what is
accurate in the target language
Many learner’s utterances are overgeneralizations
Ex: Eated for “ate” ( evidence for the process of rule formation in SLA)
They use forms that do not look like target forms regardless of
learner’s native language
Ex: Not want (Pre-verbal negation)
5. Teaching grammar
A prevailing view today: Ss must notice what it is they are to learn
A more implicit or interactive presentation : favored these days
Input enhancement: it takes some forms of “input
flooding”.
Increasing the number of times Ss encounter the target
language in a particular text
Modifying the text in some ways, like boldfacing the target
language to make Ss notice
Raising awareness via peer interaction using
‘consciousness-raising task’
example
Ss are given a set of grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. Ss
discover the grammatical generalization for themselves.
Example: To figure out the rule about English word order with regard
to direct and indirect objects:
Sandy bought Margaret a gift
Sandy bought a gift for Margaret
Sandy bought it for her
*Sandy bought her it
Grammaring
Since language use is a skill, overt productive practice is also needed.
Larsen-Freeman (1995) has called “Grammaring”
Grammaring is accomplished by getting Ss engaged in a
communicative task where it is necessary to use a certain structures
to complete it
.
Example: Ss read maps, ask and give directions to someone. By doing
do, they naturally would receive meaningful practice in using
prepositions and imperatives
6. CONCLUSION
Due to multifaceted nature of grammar and the learning processes,
teaching grammar is complex and multidimensional .
It requires a variety of teaching approaches
REFEREN
CES
Nobert Schmitt and Michael P.H.Rogers, An Introduction
to Applied Linguistics - 3rd edition
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/types-tokens/
THANK
YOU
