Hi, Cheryl 
 
I'm sorry it took me awhile to get to the grammar question. I just got
back from D.C. and am off to Austin in the morning, but here it goes. 
 
First of all, it is indeed very difficult to help students write with
expression and help them develop their language skills so that they are
able to write sentences that are grammatical. It is quite a challenge,
especially once students are able to communicate quite well orally and
aren't particularly keen on working on their grammar skills. 
 
Complicating the enterprise is the fact that at this level the
difficulties that students have may differ from learner to learner so
anything you teach to the entire class will probably bore some students
(since it's not their problem) and frustrate others (cause they are not
ready - given where they are in their language development - to absorb
whatever rules you are presenting). So any time there is a presentation
to the entire class on grammar at this level you may only have a few
students who are with you. (Cheryl, correct me if I'm wrong in your
case, since I am speaking in general terms and obviously don't know your
students). 
 
One thing that doesn't work very well, is to have students write their
paragraphs on the board and have everyone else point out the grammar
mistakes. Students generally are not particularly engaged in what other
students have written, particularly if asked to focus on form. And
again, some students may be able to detect errors and correct them (and
what are they learning?) while others are nowhere near ready and the
explanations make no sense to them - again, if some of you have had
great success with this strategy, let us know. 
 
Ok, here then are some strategies that you might try: 
 
1.	There is a hypothesis in second language acquisition that
emphasize the notion of "noticing" and holds that students won't be able
to acquire accurate linguistic forms and structures, unless they first
notice them, that is unless they pay attention to their own language and
the language of others and say to themselves "oh, that's how it's said
(or not said); this is how you write it; this is what people do"  And
once student pay attention to these forms, it becomes easier for them to
use correct forms or edit their own writing. So one suggestion I would
make to build in your students a curiosity about language, an eagerness
(well, may-be not eagerness, but an interest) in seeing how language
works. This notion is also known as "language awareness" and it goes a
long way in helping students pay attention to how the language they use
in expressing their ideas is similar or different from the way other
people say or write things. 
	a.	One way to help students build language awareness and
look at their own language output is to ask students to circle the kinds
of phrases or words that appear in their writing that they are not sure
about. Sometimes students a way to self-correct, but you can also work
with them to find better ways of expressing their ideas (sometimes that
means fixing up the grammar and other times that means rephrasing a
sentence and using a different structure altogether, one that the
student is more familiar and comfortable with).  After you help students
use fix-up strategies, you can then ask them to pay attention in their
reading to see if they can identify the structure in question in other
people's writing.
	b.	Another way is to have students read their writings into
a tape recorder and then listen to it again to see if it sounds right.
I first saw this technique used when I was up in Vancouver at the
Invergarry Learning Centre where Janet Isserlis taught for awhile. It
was amazing to see how students would read their essays and then
self-correct as they noticed that the language they used was awkward or
ungrammatical. The tape recorder acted as a tool for editing and
revision that was fun for students to use (many students I've known just
hate rewriting - in their mind it was hard enough to put pen to paper
and get their thoughts in writing, they don't want to prolong the
agony). So the tape recorder adds a new dimension (students can just
take turns using the machine as they finish their writings). 
 
Of course, building language awareness and helping students self-monitor
their writing is only one strategy to help students gain greater
accuracy in their writing. And self-monitoring is not a great deal of
help if students don't have much experience with the standard ways of
writing. So you may want to see if there are some common areas of
difficulties that your students share (subject-verb agreement; passive
constructions; irregular past verbs) and then teach mini-lessons that
zero in on those areas. While some students respond well to rules
because they are good at deductive thinking, others do much better when
you present patterns of language and then draw their attention to the
commonalities within these patterns - so that you help your students
abstract the grammar rules from the sentences they see - helping them to
get to the aha! moment. This approach is also known as "discovery
grammar".  
 
If particular grammar forms are new to students and they need to know
them because there are no simpler work-arounds, they will need some
guided practice in using these forms in different ways so that they
become internalized.  I would then include these structures in a grammar
editing check-list that students can use when they look over their own
writing - once again, building language awareness in the process. 
 
Another insight that might help you: Just correcting students each time
you see a mistake in their writing and giving them a quick explanation
generally doesn't work unless the student made a careless mistake. This
sort of "drive-by" grammar lesson usually doesn't stick. It is much
better, generally, to set some time aside, either with an individual
student or with the group and ask the student(s) to focus on a
linguistic form when they are not in the middle of writing or reading
their writing to others. 
 
Finally - and you will notice a theme here - a lesson that I learned as
an adult second language learner:  Quite a few of the mistakes that I
made in writing English disappeared when I spent more time thinking
about and discussing what it is I wanted to say and write. 
 
Quite often, at the intermediate levels, the language that learners use
is muddled and the sentences awkward or ungrammatical, because the
thinking is still fuzzy. Once a writer is clear on what it is exactly
(s)he wants to say, it is easier to construct sentences that are clear
and concise. 
 
I used this model of talking things through to discover what it is you
want to write with my students when I taught Developmental Writing and
for many students it did make a quite a difference. 
 
Others did need some structured lessons on the grammar they had missed
along the way. 
 
So no silver bullet here (ha! another cultural reference to mess with
the uninitiated).  
 
Good night all! 
 
Heide
 
________________________________

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of cheryl gentry
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 9:01 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 261] (no subject)
 
I teach GED at CRC...a prison in Norco, Calif. I have many students who
grew up speaking Spanish in the home and have difficulty with English
grammar. Are there any special tricks?
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