- Does the textbook offer some form of grammatical analysis? If so, does the textbook advocate a deductive or inductive approach to grammar explanation?
- When is the teacher supposed to focus the learners' attention on form or on grammatical structures - at the beginning of the chapter, the middle, the end, or not at all?
- Analyze the role assigned to the learner regarding grammar explanations. Is the learner a passive listener during the explanation? Is the learner supposed to be an active hypothesizer? Is the learner supposed to hypothesize alone or in collaboration with others?
- Examine a chapter to see if the learners are exposed to meaningful, integrated discourse. If so, how - through stories, poems, songs, videotapes, or drama? And when - at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the chapter?
2. Examine the following CASE STUDY and answer the following questions:
Mr. West, a French teacher, has learned about a new way to incorporate grammar teaching into a story-based language lesson. He is anxious to try out this new approach since the textbook he uses, which serves as the basis of his district’s curriculum, is grammar driven. He has not yet succeeded in doing more than presenting the “grammar rule of the day” and completing the textbook exercises with his classes.
Mr. West previews the chapter and sees that he will need to teach reflexive verbs. He picks a context for this new structure: the morning routine. For his presentation, Mr. West writes the French equivalent of the following sentences on the board:
I wash my son’s face. I wash myself.
I get my son up. I get up.
I look at my son. I look at myself in the mirror.
I brush my son’s hair. I brush my hair.
Mr. West reads the sentences aloud, hoping that the class will perceive the non-reflexive/reflexive contrast in the two columns. The learners seem bored, uninterested, and unchallenged. He then asks a question: “What do you see here?” The learners are bewildered and silent until Mr. West calls on Mike, who says, “French sentences beginning with Je.”
“These learners are clueless about these sentences and completely confused,” Mr. West thinks to himself. He decides to abandon the questioning and delivers a lesson in English on the formation and use of French reflexive verbs. Because of this experience, he thinks that learners are unable to think about the target language and that all that can be done to ensure “learning” is to lecture learners on the rules they need to know.
Answer these questions:
A. Why are the learners bored and uninterested?
B. How would you evaluate Mr. West’s presentation? Does it satisfy the requirements of a presentation in
the PACE model? Why or why not?
C. What would you have done when Mike responded with “French sentences beginning with Je”?
D. How do you think the learners feel about Mr. West’s lesson?
