for Professional Purposes

Prof. Reima Al-Jarf

King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia reima.al.jarf@gmail.com Website: http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf

Teaching Grammar

International Language Conferenc e on the Importanc e of Learning Professional Foreign Languages for Communic ation Between Cul tures. Celje, Slovenia. September 24 -25, 2009.

Introduction
English Grammar constitutes a major problem for Saudi college students. Many students confuse tenses, have difficulty with subject verb agreement, with irregular singular and plural forms, with use of definite articles, complex sentences and many others.

Proposed Model
Based on my experience, I am proposing a 5-stage model for teaching grammar for professional purposes effectively.

Stages of Grammar Instruction

Content Selection Presentation of grammatical point Guided Pra ctice & Error Correction Independent P ractice With Extension Activities Assessment
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(1) Content selection

College students learning Enlgish for professional purposes need to learn functions for daily communication with colleagues. They also need to focus on studying English grammatical structures that are common in the written texts of their major. Common structures in scientific texts such as scientific papers, reports, instruction sheets, advertisement, patents are: Nominal phrases, compounds, derivatives, passive forms with no by-phrase to specify the actor, Present Simple. 5

Common structures in journalism (newspaper language): Headlines use nouns not verbs for actions Use of the infinitive instead of the future tense. The article is usually deleted in openings . use of the comma when there is no room for the conjunction "and. Use of passive clauses with no agent. Inversion of normal word order.

Some common structures in legal texts: Long and complex sentences and conditional clauses. Coordinated adverbials that cluster at the beginning of the sentence. Long complicated nominal groups. Modal auxiliary shall + be + past participle. Shall is used to express what is to be the obligatory consequence of a legal decision (not the future). Their French origin of some legal phrases has affected the word-order as in: court martial heir apparent, secretary general. 7

(2) Presentation of Structures

Teach a new structure directly. Compare and contrast cases for same topic (tenses). Teach mnemonic devices (plural). Connect tenses with real-life situations. Use graphic organizers such a chart that shows singular and plural forms, timelines to show differences between tenses.
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Give brief rules, avoid giving exceptions. Cover all cases briefly (articles, plural, negatives, tag questions) Teach a detailed topic in stages (subject-verb agreement). Students practice each installment before moving on to the next. Give a brief summary of details when you finish. Use color, circles, arrows etc to show relationship between parts. Have students verbalize rules orally.

(3) Guided Practice & Error Correction

Students practice the new structure and do exercises in class under the instructor's supervision. The instructor provides communicative feedback. Students practice the new structure in longer discourse (paragraph level, not sentence level), orally, in writing and reading (for communication). They analyze sentence before solving (they circle verbs, break the sentence into its constituents, 10 pay attention to clues).

(4) Extension activities

Free production of the new structure is necessary. Use out of class listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. Students verbalize steps for producing a structure. Supplement classroom instruction with internet websites, class forum, student blogs. Give activities that require students to produce 11 a new structure in a forum or blog.

(5) Assessment
Give weekly quizzes. Quizzes should require students to apply rule not to produce answers mechanically. Give more production than recognition questions. Test structures in a different context and examples from those given in class or textbook. Have students apply structures in context and in long stretches of discourse (paragraph not single sentences). 12

Test several structures using the same paragraph (students change verb tense and form, insert articles) from clues. Change question format for testing the same structure from quiz to quiz. Test small details. Give many items for each structure. Dont give students faulty items and ask students to identify mistakes and correct them. 13 Deduct points for spelling mistakes.

E-mail: reima.al.jarf@gmail.com Website: http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf

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