An EFL Grammar
Curriculum
Cu
cu u Alignment
g e
Process
Campus Monterrey
• Historyy of our English
g
Program
g
– 1990 English became curricular again
• Departmental placement exam, based on textbook series
– 1995 TOEFL workbook exams used for placement
– 2003 Language Lab opened for English and other
language students
– 1995
1995-2003
2003 TOEFL exams taken for statistical
purposes at end of some English courses and at
graduation
– 2003: Graduate requirement of a score of 550 on the
Institutional TOEFL
• Facing
F i th
the challenge…
h ll
Success on Institutional TOEFL according to where students start in our English Program
70.00%
60.00%
50 00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
ADVANCED
ACADEMIC
ENGLISH
Remedial 1
Remedial 2
Remedial 3
Remedial 4
Remedial 5
Academic
English IA/IAA
Spring 05
4.88%
5.26%
3.28%
9.20%
15.53%
41.99%
Fall 05
0.00%
0.00%
6.67%
8.16%
7.23%
40.37%
Spring 06
0.00%
8.89%
7.04%
11.84%
27.04%
53.01%
Fall 06
0.00%
5.56%
2.08%
0.00%
13.39%
35.16%
37.61%
Spring 07
0.00%
0.00%
2.80%
9.20%
12.40%
51.10%
56.00%
Fall 07
3.70%
6.06%
6.00%
9.86%
17.98%
44.62%
68.00%
Quantitative Analysis on the TOEFL PBT
contents for Section 2:
Structure and Written Expression
• TOEFL Preparation
P
ti Books
B k
• ETS TOEFL practice tests (nine)
Summary S=subject; O = object ; V= verb;Adv. C. = adverb clause; Adj. C. = adjective clause; N.C. =Noun clause; PPP
=Present perfect progressive; Con. = Conjunction; Prep. = Preposition . An item in bold letters implies that it is testing 2
diff
different
t items.
it
ETS TESTS
Independent
or main
clauses
47
Practice
Test A
Volume 1
(1999)
Practice
Test B
Volume 1
(1999)
Practice
Test A
Volume
2
(1998 )
Practice
Test B
Volume 2
(1998 )
Practice
Test C
Volume 2
(1998 )
Practice
Test D
Volume
2
(1998 )
TOEFL
Test
Exercise
book
1995
TOEFL Test
Preparation
Kit (1995)
pp. 46-50
TOEFL Test
Preparation
Kit (1995)
pp. 92-98
1(O),
4(S V )
4(S.V.),
6 (V),
7(V),
8(S there
1(s)
3 (v)
13 (S+V)
1(S.
present
particip
le)
6.
1. (prep
Phr )
Phr.)
5. (V+O)
8. (Subject
2. all
(missing)
5. (S+V)
12. (s+v)
necessary
connector
3.( appo.)
4
4.
5.(main
clause)
13. (app.)
15.(it)
21. main c.
32.
33.
2.
4
4.
6.
15.
are ),
4(V),
6(Adj s
6(Adj.s
for O),
14 (S.
present
participl
e),
12(O),
31(O),
40 (S is
repeated in a
pronoun)
Compound
sentences
23. un
28 (verb)
( b)
31 un
necessary
connector
2(V.
O.)
3(O)
4(S:V)
5(O)
8(O)
11(prep
. phr.)
( p
(Expletive
it)
9. adj. for
linking verb
is missing
15.
(Subject
present
participle)
present
participle)
10.(incompl
ete object)
20. (rep of
subj)
Section 2: Structure and Written Expression Topics
(9 ETS Practice Exams, 360 items)
Conjunctions
2
Irregular Nouns
2
Present vs. Past participle
3
Noun Clauses
3
Quantifiers
4
Gerunds
5
Negative Words
5
Superlatives
5
Modal Auxiliaries
5
Reduced Adverb Clauses
5
Verb form/tense
6
I fi iti
Infinitives
7
Subject-Verb Agreement
9
Modifying Phrases
9
Adverb Clauses
9
Reduced Adjective Clauses
11
C
Comparatives
ti
12
Passive Voice
12
Word Choice
14
Pronouns
17
Word Order
17
A i l
Articles
20
Singular or Plural Nouns
20
Parallelism
24
Prepositions
28
Adjective Clauses
29
Independent Clauses
47
Word Form or Function
60
0
10
20
30
40
Frequency of Grammar Topics
50
60
70
Definition of Backloading
Ali
Alignment
t
• Curriculum strategy:
gy Backloading
g alignment
g
process
• According to Rappaport, Cheryl (1997)
backloading involves “the
the alignment of written
curriculum learning goals with the tested
curriculum’s content”. English, Fenwick (2000)
describes backloading as “the
the use of the tested
curriculum as the written curriculum, because
the content of the test becomes the content of
the written curriculum; that is
is, decisions
regarding objectives of the written curriculum are
made on the basis of test objectives.”
Curriculum Content Framework
• The Curriculum Content Framework (CCF) will be our
reference on what to teach and how to teach for each of the
28 grammar topics. The purpose of the CCF is to guide
teachers through the different ways in which these topics
are tested.
tested
• Each framework provides:
– sample items from the ETS TOEFL practice tests of the
28 grammar topics
– target contents to include in our programs
programs.
• After each CCF, teachers are given a set of sample
exercises (based on the sentence analysis methodology
and grammar awareness) that are models to follow when
teaching each topic.
CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR INDEPENDENT AND MAIN CLAUSES
SENTENCE COMPLETION (SC) ITEMS
Missing subject and object of
preposition
_____ is helping
p g to break new gground in drugg research. ETS Practice Test A Vol. 2
A.Computers are being used more if
B.The increasing use of the computer
C.If an increase use of the computer
D.Computers are being used more
Missing subject and verb
Testing also Active vs. passive
voice.
______ in 1968 as a non profit agency to finance the growth of noncommercial radio and
television in the United States. ETS Practice Test A Vol. 2
A.The corporation for Public Broadcasting established
B.The corporation for Public Broadcasting was established
C.When the corporation for Public Broadcasting was established
D.Even though the corporation for Public Broadcasting was established
Missing verb from principal
sentence
Although Emily Dickenson is now a well-known American poet, only seven of her poems _____
while she was alive. ETS Practice Test A Vol. 2
A. publishing
B. to published
C. have published
D. were published
Missing objects
Cold temperatures, short growing seasons, and heavy snows prevent _____ at high elevations.
ETS Practice Test A Vol. 2
A. grow tress
B. the growth of trees
C. trees are growing
D. and growth of tress
Missing Verb and object
An elephant _____ vigorously when it is overheated. ETS Practice Test A Vol. 2
A.flapping its ears
B.its ears flap
C.flaps its ears
D.ears flap it
Expletive :it:
Expletive :there:
. _____ that Rachel Carsons 1962 book Silent Spring was one of the chief sources of inspiration for the development
of nontoxic pesticides. Practice Test C Vol. 2
A. There is likely
B. Likely to be
C. It is likely
D. Likely
_____ fish in Great Salt Lake, but its waters still contain small brine shrimp.
Why no
B.No
C.Not only
D.There are no
ETS Practice Test A Vol. 1
A.
Objects of prepositions are
phrases surrounding the subject
and the verb.
1 Flower oils are _____ of the ingredients used in making perfumes.
1.
perfumes ETS Practice Test A
Vol. 2
among expensive
B.among the most expensive
C.being most expensive
D expensive
D.
A.
Present Participles can be
confused as verbs
The companies offering _____ the most customers. Practice Test C Vol. 2
A.prices with
B.the lowest prices
C.the lowest prices will have
D.will have the lowest prices for
Past Participle can be confused as
verbs
The money _____ was not accepted. Practice Test C Vol. 2 1999
A.was offered by
y the client
B.offered by the client
C.to offer the client
D.which offered
Appositives
Oliver Ellsworth, _____ of the United States Supreme Court, was the author of the
bill that established the federal court system. Practice Test B Vol. 1 1998
he was third chief justice
B.the third chief justice
C.who the third chief justice
D.the third chief justice
A.
Target Content
1. Definition and identification of Phrases and Clauses,
2. Identification of: subject, verb, object, and frequency adverbs and
pprepositional
epos o pphrases
ses in a sentence.
se e ce.
3. Identification of multiple clauses in a sentence:
3.1. Compound sentences with conjunctions: and, or, but, so, yet.
3.2. Complex sentences: principal clause and subordinate clause.
3.3. Identification of connectors that unite multiple
p clauses
4. The use of Expletive there is and there are, there was, etc.
5. The use of Expletive it is, it was, etc.
6. Prepositional phrases. Careful with prepositional phrases, don’t
confuse them with subjects
j
or objects
j
of a clause.
7. Present and past participles. Careful with present participles and past
participles, don’t confuse them with the principal verb of a clause.
8. Appositives. Careful don’t confuse an appositive with the subject of a
sentence.
Teaching Methodology:
Sentence Analysis and Grammar awareness
A.
Explicit knowledge and identification of grammar terms
B. Identification of the grammar function of words in a
sentence
C. A written discourse analysis technique, analyzing words,
phrases, clauses, sentences and then analyzing complete
paragraphs
D K
D.
Knowledge
l d off grammar minimal
i i l pairs
i as adjective-adverb;
dj ti
d b
noun person-noun thing, etc.
E. Error Identification and sentence completion
A sample exercise for teaching Independent
Clauses based on Teaching Methodology:
Sentence analysis and grammar awareness
Careful with prepositional phrases: Students must be careful with prepositional phrases that can be
confused as subjects. In the following sentences students must circle the prepositional phrases and
underline the main clause subject and verb and object (if there is one).
Example
The major cause of ocean tides is the pull of the moon on the Earth.
subject
V object
Write under each prepositional phrase it’s meaning
where: p
place
when: time
why : reason or purpose
how: manner
how much/how many: quantity
what: object
who, whom, what, which, what kind, etc.
The major cause of ocean tides is the pull of the moon on the Earth. Longman
Object of prep.
Obj. of prep.
place
2003
Aligning the Grammar
Contents to the
English Program
What to teach
Curriculum Content
Framework: 28
grammar topics
g
p
When to teach:
28 grammar topics
according to level
When and How to test
these 28 topics
according to level
How to teach:
Methodology and
Modeling exercises
Teacher Training
on grammar topics and
methodology
• Hands on: the redesigning
process begins…
Wh did we d
Why
decide
id tto R
Redesign?
d i ?
The students
st dents in the Academic English course
co rse with
ith
the lowest scores on the TOEFL PBT were those who
began studying English in our remedial courses
courses.
•
The lower the remedial course in which they began
their English studies, the lower their TOEFL score.
•
Since these less successful students came from our
own Remedial English Program, we decided to take a
closer look at it.
•
Findings
g in our English
g
Program
g
Our program was not aligned with the TOEFL PBT Section
2 contents.
•
All five Remedial English courses had been designed by
y , under different
different teachers,, in different ways,
circumstances.
•
The course programs were mostly based on textbooks
based on a communicative approach.
•
The communicative teaching approach did not target the
grammar students would need for a score of 550 on the
TOEFL.
TOEFL
•
Implementing the alignment
process meant redesigning the
whole program
program.
Redesigning
Process
Administrative
Authorization
of Project
New Placement
Policy
Academic
Teacher
Trainning
Curriculum
Redisign
Alignment of
Grammar
Contents
28 Grammar
contents
of TOEFL PBT
Sentence analysis
and grammar
awareness methodology
Teaching
Evaluation
Redesigning
g g Stages
g of our Program
g
• August
g
2007
All five Remedial English courses were
p
y redesigned
g
based on the
completely
outcomes of the research projects:
• Students’ performance
p
• TOEFL PBT contents
Academic Procedures
Pre-test:
Application of Section 2 “Structure and Written Expression” of an
ETS TOEFL p
practice test at the beginning
g
g of the semester for
Remedial 4 and 5.
Continuous:
Sentence Analysis exercises included in each monthly exam.
Post-test:
P
tt t
Application of Section 2 “Structure and Written Expression” of an
ETS practice exam at the end of the semester.
Creation of TOEFL-like items: These will be written for each
remedial course during January - May 2008.
•
Developing TOEFL Alignment
E
Exercises…
i
Criteria for designing exercises
• For each TOEFL Alignment topic, 3 or more
exercises should be designed
designed.
– Each exercise must:
• be based on the Content Curriculum Framework
included in the TOEFL Alignment manuals
• require sentence analysis
• encourage grammar awareness
• include 10 or more items
•p
provide
o de cclear
ea instructions
s uc o s
• include an example.
Criteria for designing exercises
• Exercises must be written by the academic
coordinator (not copied from any other source).
• Grammar information on each topic
p must be
provided, and if taken from a book or the
Internet, must include bibliographical reference.
• The academic coordinator can design more than
3 exercises for each topic, subsequently
reducing
d i the
h number
b off exercises
i
ffor another
h
topic.
Teacher reactions
• Most of our staff has taught English through the
Communicative Approach, and believe that
grammar should be acquired inductively.
• Asking them to change their whole methodology
and teach explicit grammar has understandably
met with resistance.
• Other teachers are enthusiastically using the
alignment
li
exercises
i
b
because off marked
k d
progress in their students’ grammar abilities.
Student reactions
• With the mandatoryy 550 score on the TOEFL,,
most students have been receptive to this
methodology and the exercises we have
prepared for them
them.
• A few have even complained that their textbook
does not include exercises of the TOEFL
Alignment type and have requested more.
• Some students, however, object because
English class is not fun anymore and would
prefer to watch a movie or play a game.
Future plans
• To verify that teachers are including the TOEFL alignment
topics, using the suggested methodology.
• To have staff meetings for each Remedial level to:
– determine which chapters of the textbook could be
adapted to the new methodology.
– to decide whether the number of TOEFL alignment topics
taught in each level and the number of exercises has
been convenient for each level.
• To offer more training courses for teachers from other
campuses.
Conclusions
• The data from our research alerted us to
an emergency: students were not being
prepared to reach the required TOEFL exit
score for graduation.
• We needed curricular redesign of the
entire English program.
Conclusions
• The Alignment process would require the
use of backloading, so that our English
classes not only taught English based on a
communicative approach, but also specifically
prepared students for the type of evaluation
the Institutional TOEFL required.
• This alignment
g
p
process has taken yyears, it
has included many steps and is still in
p
process...
Undergraduate English Program (*2006)
Course
Level
Placement Exam
Score
Remedial 1
Beginners
Text Book
Remedial 2
Beginners
Te t Book
Text
Remedial 3
Low
Intermediate
e ed a e
Text Book
Remedial 4
Intermediate
Institutional TOEFL
440-470
R
Remedial
di l 5
High
Hi
h
Intermediate
I tit ti
Institutional
l TOEFL
473 507
473-507
Academic English
Low Advanced
Institutional TOEFL
510-527
*Advanced
Academic English
Advanced
Institutional TOEFL
530-547