Speaker: Toshihiko Kubota @tk2022
Affiliation: Meiji University
Title: Teaching grammar with literature: re-evaluating the two things that have been left behind in modern language teaching
Abstract (long version below): In modern language teaching, which has long adopted communicative syllabuses, it is common to discourage the teaching of grammar as an end in itself and the use of quotations from literary works as models, which have been a departure from the former prescriptive and aesthetic language teaching models. With advanced-level language teaching in mind, this paper reassesses these methods using parsed corpora (ICE-GB, DCPSE) and general corpora of modern English literature and presents a concrete plan, which should fit in language education today in L1 and L2 alike.
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Long abstract
In modern language teaching, which has long adopted communicative syllabuses, it is common to discourage the teaching of grammar as an end in itself and the use of quotations from literary works as models, which has been a departure from the former prescriptive and aesthetic language teaching models.
With advanced-level language teaching in mind, this paper reassesses these methods using parsed corpora (ICE-GB, DCPSE) and general corpora of modern English literature and presents some concrete plans, which should fit in language education today in L1 and L2 alike.
In former language teaching, adopting quotations from literary works were based on the classical aesthetic point of view (best samples in the language). However, it also anticipated the subsequent change in language education, which was to teach with natural, real examples rather than made-up, isolated examples for learners (which was the style used by most dictionaries in the past). In this sense, it is highly consistent with modern corpus-based English language teaching and lexicography.
One of the emphases in L1 and L2 language teaching is the introduction of grammatical topics only in specific context. Context can be rephrased as purpose and effect of language use, and this is where corpora and literature come in; language corpora, collections of text blocks, and literary works do not consist of independent, isolated sentences, where we can try to identify its function or purpose.
While linguistic corpora should be better at dealing with generalised contexts or registers, literary works can also deal with examples that extend their linguistic function sometimes to “exceptional” uses.
For example, “coordination” can be the most tedious theme in the classroom, especially when using overly simple made-up examples such as “young and famous” or “cats and dogs” to introduce a rule “use the same kind of words on both sides of “and”.
By using real examples in corpora (which can easily be done by using a syntactically parsed corpora such as ICE-GB, DCPSE), this boredom can be eliminated to some extent by showing real phrases in real contexts, but it is the examples in literary works that are truly interesting. They may belong to the distributional majority that the corpus shows, or it may be exceptional and conspicuous such as APs and NPs. Considering why this exception is possible or effective is the BEST way to consider unmarked common use cases. The presentation will show that grammar and literature, two ‘unpopular’ subjects in modern language teaching, can also play an active role in 2023. At the same time, the presentation will also refer to practical caveats in introducing them.