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English 537: A Survey of Modern English Grammar
Accelerated Career Enhancement Program (ACE TESOL Degree 2006)
USDE Grant: T195N02014
Salisbury University
Saturdays: March 19, April 2, 9, 16 and 23
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon and 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Course Designer/Instructor: Dr. Wavie Gibson, Jr.
Office Hours: Appointments
Course Description/Objectives
This course is designed to achieve two primary objectives: (1) to help practicing and prospective teachers of ESL/EFL students develop a comprehensive knowledge about English grammar and (2) to provide such teachers with the most promising strategies for helping students develop necessary proficiency in English grammar. The two primary objectives translate into several subordinate objectives:
- to help teachers recognize and analyze the structures and rules represented in English phrases and sentences
- to provide teachers with the language and processes used to discuss grammar problems and their related solutions
- to help teachers prioritize the attention to be given to the various grammar‑related problems that challenge ESL/EFL students
- to help teachers identify the most promising pedagogies for helping students develop acceptable levels of proficiency in English grammar
Course Materials
Byrd, Patricia and Joy Reed. Grammar in the Composition Classroom: Essays on
Teaching ESL for College Bound Students. New York: Heinle and Heinle, 1998.
Celce‑Murcia, Marianne and Diane Larsen‑Freeman. The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL
Teacher Course. New York: Heinle and Heinle, 1999.
Ferris, Dana. The Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan, 2002.
Liu, Dilin and Peter Master. Grammar Teaching in Teacher Education. Arlington:
TESOL, 2003.
Course Requirements
To complete this course, students must submit all of the assignments and projects listed below.
1. Four Exams (40% of Course Grade)
At the beginning of each weekly institute or class session, students will be required to take a one‑hour exam on the content covered or assigned for the day before. The exam may include a variety of formats—e.g., short essays, objective items, grammar exercises, text analyses.
2. Field Observation (30% of Course Grade)
To ensure that students develop a serious appreciation for the problems and challenges that English grammar presents for ESL students and their teachers, each student will be required to do a field observation of a K-12 educational setting. For the observation, students will spend at least three hours observing an ESL class or a mixed class that includes ESL students. During the observation, students should identify grammar/language problems that ESL students are experiencing and the instructional strategies used to address such problems. The typed observation should include the following:
- the time, date, school and school district
- a brief description of the students
- a brief description of the lesson being taught
- a description/discussion of any grammar/language‑related problems observed
- a brief description of the instructional strategies used
- a critical evaluation of the instructional strategies used
- suggestions for improving the observed instruction or classroom situation.
Students who do not have access to ESOL classes may observe any K-12 language arts, foreign language or English class, preferably one that includes ESOL students. For such non-ESOL classes, the students should include the following two discussions in the critical evaluation of the report:
1. Existing aspects of the class that could accommodate ESOL students, were such students present.
2. ESOL modifications necessary to accommodate ESOL students, were such students present.
3. Mini‑Research Paper (30% of Course Grade)
Each student will be required to submit a twelve-to-fifteen‑page, typed research paper that discusses promising strategies for helping ESL/EFL students reduce their problems with English grammar. Essentially, the paper will satisfy the criteria below:
- identify some grammatical structures or concepts likely to present significant problems for ESL/EFL students
- offer theoretical and research evidence that the identified structures or concepts are problematic for certain groups of ESL/EFL students
- share some promising instructional strategies for helping students reduce the identified problems.
- satisfy the general criteria of an academic research paper and use either the APA or MLA style guide.
To satisfy special interests and professional needs, students may be allowed to substitute an instructor‑approved project for the research paper. Such project must require students to invest time and effort comparable to the time and effort required by the mini-research paper. Moreover, the project must be directly related to the objectives for this course. Students who wish to do substitute projects must share a concrete plan of action with the instructor and meet the same deadline set for the research papers.
Weekly workshops will be hald to address problems and concerns students may have with field observations and research papers. The instructor will also discuss rubrics for his evaluation of these projects.
Grading Scheme
90 – 100% = A
85 – 89% = B+
80 – 84% = B
75 – 79% = C+
70 – 74% = C
65 – 69% = D
0 – 64% = F
NCATE Standards
Students seeking certification in TESOL must satisfy a variety of standards required by NCATE and the TESOL program at Salisbury University. While this course may address several of such standards indirectly, it is designed to address standards related to Domain I: Describing Language and Language Acquisition and Development. The instructor will discuss the details of the requirements as needs suggest. Please refer to pages 18‑30 of the document below:
TESOL/NCATE Standards for the Accreditation of Initial Programs in P‑12 ESL Teacher Education (2002) at http://www.ncate.org/standard/new%20program%20standards/tesol.pdf
MSDE/NCATE Technology Requirements
Students counting this course toward TESOL certification must place in an electronic portfolio one piece of work done for this class. When selecting the paper or class project for the portfolio, students should be reminded that the item will become part of their professional images.
A written discussion satisfying the criteria below must accompany the piece of work placed in the portfolio:
- a brief explanation of why and how the ideas or content of the selected assignment should become part of the classroom pedagogy
- a discussion of how the assignment helps to satisfy the objectives for this course
- an evaluative statement indicating the extent to which the selected assignment satisfies the NCATE/TESOL standards addressed by this course. (See the NCATE Standard above.)
For additional details on portfolio criteria, see the Web page at http://trc.salisbury.edu/portfolio/portfolio.htm.
Special Needs
Students with disabilities requiring special needs or accommodations should feel free to call such concerns to the instructor’s attention.
Attendance/Make‑Up Work
Students will be required to attend every class session of this course. Moreover, stidemts must submit all assignments on the dates specified in the schedule of assignments. Any waiver of these requirements will only be considered under three conditions:
- the absence, late work or make‑up work has resulted from a documented emergency
- the waiver of requirement will not violate any policy requirement set by the ACE TESOL Degree
- the instructor is convinced that a given student has made every effort to prevent the absence, late/missed work.
Structure of the Course
This course will reflect the fact that all of the students are practicing teachers, skilled in making presentations and facilitating discussions. Accordingly, in addition to lectures, demonstrations and other activities by the instructor, the course will involve all students in individual presentations, group projects/presentations and general discussion.
Writing Across the Curriculum Commitment (WAC)
The required assignments and projects for this course are designed to help the instructor assess students’ course‑related achievements and to satisfy the WAC requirements of the university.
Collectively, these items will require students to submit several pieces of writing that respond to a variety of rhetorical situations.
Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism Policy
The English Department takes plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of other people’s ideas, very seriously. As outlined in the Student Handbook under the "Policy on Student Academic Integrity," plagiarism may receive such penalties as failure on a paper or failure in the course. The English Department recognizes that plagiarism is a very serious academic offense and professors make their decisions regarding sanctions accordingly. Since the research paper is a very important component of this class, please familiarize yourself with the details below.
Each of the following constitutes plagiarism:
1. Turning in as your own work a paper or part of a paper that anyone other than you wrote. This would include but is not limited to work taken from another student, from a published author, or from an Internet contributor.
2. Turning in a paper that includes unquoted and/or undocumented passages someone else wrote.
3. Including in a paper someone else’s original ideas, opinions or research results without attribution.
4. Paraphrasing without attribution.
A few changes in wording do not make a passage your property. As a precaution, if you are in doubt, cite the source. Moreover, if you have gone to the trouble to investigate secondary sources, you should give yourself credit for having done so by citing those sources in your essay and by providing a list of Works Cited or Works Consulted at the conclusion of the essay. In any case, failure to provide proper attribution could result in a severe penalty and is never worth the risk.
Schedule of Assignments
The assignments and activities below are generically phrased to allow for special needs and interests as they may arise. The instructor reserves the right to change or modify the schedule or the assignments to address such needs and interests and will give due and timely notice of any such changes.
Institute I: March 19
- Introduction to the Course
- Diagnostic Surveys of Students’ Backgrounds in Grammar
- Sentences According to Structure (Lecture)
- Sentences According to Style (Lecture)
- Sentences According to Function (Lecture)
- Language and Processes for Describing Problems/Errors in English Grammar (Lecture)
Institute II: April 2
Chapters 1 and 2 in The Grammar Book
- Approaches to Teaching Language
- Definitions of Grammar
- Pedagogical vs. Linguistic Grammar
- Parts of Speech
- Sentential Terminology
- Suprasentential Terminology
- Supporting Reading from Treatment of Error
- Exam I
Institute III: April 9
Chapters 3‑5 in The Grammar Book
- The Meanings of Words
- The Forms of Words
- The Meanings of Lexical Items
- The Use of Lexical Items
- The Copula and Subject/Verb Agreement
- Readings for Interest and Support from Treatment of Error and Grammar Teaching
- Exam II
Institute IV: April 16
Chapters 7, 8 and 10 in The Grammar Book
- Tenses and Aspects
- Modal Auxiilaries and Related Forms
- Negation
- Reading for Interest and Support from Treatment of Error, Grammar Teaching and Grammar in the Composition Classroom
- Exam III
- Field Observation Due
Institute V: April 23
Chapters 11, 12, 13 and 15 from The Grammar Book
- Yes/No Questions
- Imperatives
- Wh‑ Questions
- Articles
- Related Reading from Treatment of Error and Grammar in the Composition Classroom
- Exam IV
- Research Papers Due
Special Note: Friday, April 8, will be available for field observations and research the ACE TESOL Degree will pay a substitute up to $100. For any student whose school district allows the ACE student to work on ACE-related projects. Class does not meet on this day.