Engaging with grammar - noticing
Engaging with grammar
What is noticing?
Focus on grammar in English language lessons often follows a presentation and practice routine. Both teachers and learners can benefit from trying different approaches.
One way to do that is by encouraging noticing among learners, and another is by using grammar restructuring activities. In this module, you'll find explanations of these two options and ways you can use them in your own teaching.
Noticing
You've probably had learners who are good at noticing in the classes you teach.
For example, a learner might make an error in the use of a preposition, but 'notice' its correct use by another learner or in an authentic text.
This might help them to begin to use it correctly. They learn well because they pay attention to the way language is used and what it means.
Noticing is an intentional act and will only happen when the learner is ready to take on the new language. As a teacher, you can teach the skill of noticing, so that learners begin to develop this habit themselves.
You can draw learners' attention to grammar features and patterns in the language they listen to and read or produce themselves.
This is about grammar in action, in real language, and not about presenting grammatical structures in isolation.
Read two examples of noticing. Compare them with the notes you made.
Noticing – example 1
You're travelling in a foreign country and notice that when people order coffee or food in a café, they add a short phrase afterwards.
You realise that this is a polite phrase for ordering and ask someone to teach it to you, so that you sound respectful when you order.
Noticing – example 2
You're reading the quotation above and notice the word 'pre-requisite' used.
You notice the way it's used – 'a pre-requisite for [gerund]' – and mentally make a note of this use and jot it down in your notebook.
Language learners can use many different strategies to notice and remember language use. These are some suggestions from teachers for you to compare with your ideas.
Learners tend to notice phrases that are used frequently or that sound distinctive or funny, such as gonna or wanna.
- They may remember something that sounds the same in their L1, or perhaps translates into something amusing. (Teacher 1)
- Learners might compare correct language use to their L1 forms. Highlighting these differences and similarities can help them. (Teacher 2)
- Learners may make associations between words or particular aspects of language that help them remember the correct form. (Teacher 3)