BASIC ELEMENTS OF COMPARATIVE GRAMMAR

(ENGLISH SPANISH)
6th semester
INTRODUCTION:

This course is based on the purpose of helping the future teacher to develop the
communicative competence in the English language, as well as to provide the tools to
establish the basic elements of language analysis in students teaching practice.
To establish the course aims, it is necessary to define the components of communicative
competence:
Linguistic Competence: The knowledge and correct use of the linguistic system, including
phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic areas of study. The acquisition of this
competence implies the usage of the rules of the language as a system.
Socio-linguistic Competence: The adaptation of discourse to a specific communication
situation, taking into consideration different aspects such as roles (speaker-listener), purpose,
intentions, needs, etc.
Discourse Competence: The ability to use different kind of discourse and organizing the,
taking into consideration the coherence and cohesion.
Strategic Competence: The ability to define, correct, and adjust the message to make
communication both fluent and accurate.
Socio-cultural Competence: the capability to know the most relevant aspects of the culture
of the countries where the target language is spoken, in order to understand the key cultural
elements that influence the language.

METHODOLOGY:

The characteristics of the methodological procedures are established as follows:

A.- Integrative: Through the implementation of better practices, it contributes to the foreign
language learning processes involved in students teaching practices.
B.- Enthusiastic: Based on diagnostic input generated by the students' learning process, the
teaching practice is adapted and modified to provide meaningful learning to each task.
C.- Student-centered: It will be from the specific needs of the students, that the teacher will
prioritize contents and didactic procedures to ensure the achievements of the course.
D.- Autonomous learning: It fosters students autonomous learning, through the access and
analysis of different sources of information, to select and hierarchize per area of interest and
usefulness.
E.- Collaborative learning: It promotes collaborative learning through the respect of working
with others and the appropriate use of time when speaking and listening to peers, encouraging
a better socialization in the classroom.
F.- Self and Peer evaluation: It promotes self-evaluation by creating instances for the student
to reflect on their own strengths and areas of opportunity, all of which will lead to more
autonomous learning. It encourages creativity as a transformation agent and peer-evaluation
as consolidation of the learning process.
G.- Diversity: The teacher will take into consideration the different levels of knowledge of
the students and the different ways of learning. The teacher will work at a metacognitive
level, the foundations of this consideration, to raise awareness of the reality of diversity in
the groups of learners. The discussion in class will be promoted taking into consideration
didactic, linguistic and metalinguistic reflection.

COURSE AIMS:

To develop students competence in the use of the English language structures.

To raise students awareness about the differences and similarities between their
mother tongue and the target language.
To help students apply the language analysis into their daily teaching practice.
To help students anticipate problems and design solutions in terms of interference,
simplification, hypercorrection and overgeneralization in their performance.

SEQUENCE:

UNIT 1 (February 8th to April 5th)

Verbs: classification, tense, mode, voice, structure
Nouns: classification and use
Adjectives: classification and use
Adverbs: classification and use
Pronouns: classification and use
Determiners: identification

UNIT 2 (April 7th to May 31st)

Infinitives and Gerunds: definition, use and function
Participles: identification, comparison
Prepositions: definition, classification, use, place
Conjunctions: definition, function, complexity
Reported Speech: definition and use

UNIT 3 (June 21st to July 12th)

Passive Voice
Error Analysis
Language Analysis
Planning

SKILLS

The development of the 4 macro-skills (Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension,

Speaking and Writing) in the English language, will be divided as follow:
Listening Comprehension: Students will be able to understand different types of spoken texts
such as lectures, seminars, etc., as well as permanent exposure to the English language in the
classroom by both the teacher and students in the group, as well as the use of authentic
materials: songs, films, interviews, documentaries, recorded conversations, live shows, etc.

Reading Comprehension: The development of this skill will be encouraged through the
reading of diverse types of texts from different sources and styles and thematic, textual and
linguistic contents corresponding to the course. Different strategies regarding reading
comprehension will be emphasized: skimming, scanning, inferring, predicting, activating
previous knowledge, vocabulary in context, etc.
Speaking: Students' oral communication will be fostered so that they are able to interact in
dialogues with complete ideas, expanding their production beyond monosyllabic responses.
In addition, it will be sought that their participation considers the natural characteristics of a
conversation: pauses, interruptions, repetitions, expression of agreement and disagreement,
etc.
Writing: The paragraph: characteristics and elements (punctuation, connectors, etc.).
Descriptions of objects, people and places. E-mails, informal and formal messages and
letters). Synthesis or summaries. Organizers of written production.

LEARNING STRATEGIES

Analogy Outline
Problem Based Learning Semantic Map
Synoptic Table Mind Map
Project Forum
Case Study Organizers
Inference

EVALUATION

The assessment will take into consideration the students strengths and areas of improvement,
to achieve an adequate competence of the language in all its aspects.
The different instruments of evaluation will have a double function: to evaluate performance
and processes throughout the course and provide an evaluation model for their own teaching
practice.
The assessment will demonstrate and keep record of the development of students learning
process through the implementation of a learning portfolio. Added to this, self-evaluation
and peer evaluation will be encouraged during the semester to appraise concepts, attitudes
and procedures in each student.
Learning Portfolio:

Report Audio Recording Checklist

Debate Video Recording Podcast
Journal Observation Slideshow
Log Quiz Play
Survey Infographics Posters
Interview Maps Timelines
Essay Exams

REFERENCES:

McCarthy, M. & Carter, R. (1994). Language as Discourse: Perspectives for Language

Teaching. USA: Pearson Educational Ltd.
Brown, G. & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. (2005). Beyond the Sentence: Introducing Discourse Analysis. UK:
Macmillan.
Yule, G. (1998). Explaining English Grammar. UK: Oxford University Press.
Swan, M. (2005). Practical English Usage (Third Edition). UK: Oxford University Press.
Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. UK: Longman.
Whitley, M.S. (2002). Spanish/English Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics (Second
Edition). USA: Georgetown University Press.