L2 writing instructors in Intensive English Programs (IEPs) often work with students who are preparing to enter colleges or universities. These students need to explore and practice a variety of academic genres across disciplines in their reading and writing tasks. In developing writing proficiency, they will need to build their knowledge of the grammar of academic registers. Such grammatical constructions often interact with academic vocabulary. For example, to create cohesion across sentences, writers often use prepositional phrase connectors such as a result of and in addition to followed by classifier noun phrases with reference words such as this procedure, these accomplishments (e.g., as a result of this procedure; in addition to these accomplishments).Another example might be phrases that are used to introduce source materials, such as according to, or as summarized in followed by a noun phrase. These compound prepositional phrases reflect not only grammatical patterns but categories of lexical items; thus, we may describe structures in which grammar and vocabulary interact as lexico-grammatical constructions. This article offers guidelines and examples of activities to help writers become more aware of academic language features as well as to use them effectively and appropriately in their own writing.

The role of grammar in the teaching of writing has long been the subject of much debate (Ferris, 2004). There is, however, research evidence that both implicit and explicit grammar teaching can, under certain conditions, contribute to language acquisition (Ellis, 2006). And many composition teachers find it useful to offer text-based activities designed to raise awareness of the patterns and functions of grammar structures common in academic writing, followed by opportunities for productive practice.

Assuming that implicit and explicit forms of grammar teaching may help learners improve language proficiency, we may ask: What are effective ways to develop language resources for academic writing? Certainly, it makes sense to use a reading-to-writing approach for several reasons. One, of course, is that most college-level assignments are based to some extent on source materials, whether assigned in the classroom or attained through students’ research. Another is that by using texts for learning about grammar (and related vocabulary), student writers will also develop their academic reading proficiency. And offering interesting and challenging readings can better engage student writers in their learning processes, building content knowledge as well as language awareness. At the same time, it is sometimes helpful for teachers to create brief text samples, perhaps related to thematic units and/or based on authentic texts, which focus students’ attention on a particular grammatical feature.

“Noticing” as a form of grammar teaching is described by Ellis (2006) as an activity in which learners’ attention is drawn to language features in a text through various techniques. Instructors can “enhance” a text in some way, such as underlining, boldfacing, bracketing, or highlighting structures, without reference to rules or explanations. (See Nassaji & Fotos, 2010, for further discussion.) For example, verb tenses or verb-plus-preposition collocations (adapt to, struggle with) could be made more salient by such techniques. Alternatively, instructors could explicitly introduce a grammar structure, such as adjective clauses or subordinating conjunctions, and ask students to bracket, highlight, or otherwise mark examples in a selected text.

As for guidelines for choosing structures, consider the following:

• Structures determined to be difficult for a group of learners (e.g., understanding how the present perfect tense is used)
• Structures that occur frequently in input (i.e., in a particular text or set of texts, whether you are using a content-based, genre-based, or thematic approach)
• Structures that are important for writing tasks (e.g., relative clauses for defining, reporting verbs in a summary, conditional clauses in discussing a hypothetical situation)
• Structures that develop grammar/vocabulary for important academic functions (e.g., expressing causal relationships or changes of state such as increases and decreases)

The following are three examples of noticing activities for grammar with suggestions for follow-up writing tasks.

1. Parallel Structures

Noticing parallel structures can help learners become more aware of the different word forms of lexical items and the need to use parallel formsin phrases and clauses. Often, grammar textbook examples of parallel structures (e.g., I like hiking and swimming) are not academically oriented; readings used for writing assignments can offer more appropriate examples.

Noticing Task
Students work in groups, bracketing the different kinds of parallel grammar structures in a text (nouns, adjectives clauses, verb phrases, etc.) and underline the connecting conjunctions such as and or but, or correlative conjunctions both…and, either…or, and so on).

The instructor would then help them identify the different grammatical structures, such as noun phrases, that are connected.

The following example, with the parallel structures marked, is excerpted from an article by Czikszenmithalyi (1996) on the paradoxical traits of creative people.

[Creative people have a great deal of physical energy], but [they’re also often (quiet) and (at rest)]. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of [freshness] and [enthusiasm].

Creative people tend to be [smart] yet [naïve] at the same time. Another way of expressing this dialectic is the contrasting poles of [wisdom] and [childishness]. As Howard Gardner remarked in his study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both [emotional] and [mental], can go hand in hand with deepest insights.

(See the rest of the article for many more examples of parallel structures.)

Follow-Up Writing Tasks (based on reading the entire article)

• Consider the contrasting traits of creative persons. Which of the pairs of traits describe you? Explain your choices.
• Write your own definition of a creative person.
• Think of someone you know who is creative. Describe the qualities that make him/her creative.

2. Hedging Vocabulary

In academic English, writers often need to qualify generalizations, making them less certain or narrowing the scope of a claim. To do this, they may use “hedging” words and phrases from a number of grammatical categories, including the following:

Noticing Task
Ask students to underline the hedging words and phrases in a text with a variety of grammar types. Check responses in small groups or pairs. Discuss how these hedges qualify the claims made.

In the following paragraphs, created using an authentic text for source material, the hedging words and phrases are shown in bold-face, emphasis added, with the words accompanying them that form expressions indicated in parentheses.

1. What techniques are effective for individual learning? Recent research reveals that the advice offered in many study skills courses is in fact wrong. For example, these courses sometimes encourage students to find a specific, quiet place to study; however, psychologists have found that students may learn more if their study contexts are varied. (It is) possible (that) this improved learning occurs because the brain has to make multiple associations with the same materials, which slows down forgetting.

2. Another study habit that seems (to) improve learning is varying the kinds of material studied at one time such as vocabulary and speaking in language learning. (It) appears (that) mixing the types of materials learned leaves a deeper impression on the brain. One piece of advice that apparently does hold true is that cramming does not, in most cases, lead to retention of information over time. While cramming might improve one’s test score on a particular exam, most information learned will probably be forgotten soon afterward.

(Carey, 2010)

Follow-Up Writing Task

• Examine a draft you have written to see if any of your statements need to be qualified. Use the reference chart to find appropriate words and phrases to use.

3. Reporting Verbs and Phrases

Students have sometimes learned how to summarize texts without explicitly referencing the source author. Or they may have a limited repertoire of verbs used for reporting what an author said. Many research reports offer a range of reporting verbs and introductory prepositional phrases for identification tasks and discussions of their features such as strength of claims (e.g., suggest vs. confirm) and distinctions between verbs of saying (e.g., state, insist) and verbs of doing (e.g., describe, examine).

Noticing Task
Ask students to highlight or underline the reporting verbs in a text. Select ones that may be unfamiliar to discuss meanings and uses in research reporting.

The following are sentences with reporting verbs and an introductory phrase in bold-face, emphasis added, excerpted from Gabriel (2010).

• Susan D. Blum set out to understand how students view authorship…
• Ms. Blum argued that student writing exhibits much of the same qualities of pastiche that drive other creative behaviors today
• She contends that undergraduates are less interested in cultivating a unique and authentic identity than in trying on many different personas.
• In the view of Ms. Wilesnky, … plagiarism has nothing to do with trendy academic theories.

Follow-Up Writing Tasks

• Summarize an article, using a variety of appropriate reporting verbs and introductory phrases
• Check a draft you have written using sources to see if reporting verbs need to be added or changed for more precise meanings.

For all of these activities, in addition to the follow-up writing activities, students could be asked to find additional texts that have examples of the grammar structures, or they could be asked to exchange drafts for peer response activities rather than looking at their own drafts.

References

Carey, B. (2010, September 30). Forget what you know about good study habits. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Czikszenmithalyi, M. (1996). The creative personality: Ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199607/the-creative-personality

Ellis, R. (2006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA Perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 83–107.

Ferris, D. (2004). The “grammar correction” debate in L2 writing: Where are we, and wheredo we go from here? (and what do we do in the meantime . . .?).Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 49–62.

Gabriel, T. (2010, August 1). Plagiarism lines blur for students in digital age. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=1&ref=plagiarism&pagewanted=print

Nassaji, N. and Fotos, S. (2010). Teaching grammar in second language classrooms: Integrating form-focused instruction in communicative context. Taylor and Francis.