How To Write Grammar Presentations And Practice

By Diane Hall and Graham Burton

Inductive or deductive? Theoretical, descriptive or prescriptive? Comprehensible input or pedagogical grammar? Graham Burton and Diane Hall explain the basic differences between these terms and delve more deeply into the approach favoured by most coursebooks. This practical guide walks you through the most suitable approaches for different learning scenarios and examines what constitutes best practice for writing grammar presentations and practice materials.
This book provides:
•a theoretical overview of grammar and the different positions taken by ‘grammar experts’ on its role in language learning.
•an exploration of the factors you need to consider when deciding what approach to take.
•descriptions of numerous resources that the grammar writer needs to refer to.
•detailed checklists covering the characteristics of good grammar presentations and practice, and different activity types to explain form and use.
•practical tips for writing rules, explanations and rubrics.
•tasks that encourage you to test out what you’ve read and detailed commentaries that provide further hints and insights.
This book forms part of the ELT Teacher 2 Writer training course. The course is designed to help you write better ELT materials, either for publication, or simply to improve the quality of your self-produced classroom materials.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ELT Teacher 2 Writer
• Release date: Jul 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005020651

Book preview

HOW TO

WRITE GRAMMAR PRESENTATIONS AND PRACTICE

Diane Hall and Graham Burton

TRAINING COURSE FOR ELT WRITERS

SMASHWORDS EDITION

License Notes

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How To Write Business English Materials †

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How To Write Corporate Training Materials †

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How To Write EAP Materials †

How To Write ESOL Materials †

How To Write ESP Materials †

How To Write Exam Preparation Materials

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How To Write Graded Readers

How To Write Grammar Presentations And Practice

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How To Plan A Book

How To Write Primary Materials

How To Write Pronunciation Activities

How To Write Reading And Listening Activities ⸕

How To Write Secondary Materials

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How To Write Vocabulary Presentations And Practice ⸕

How To Write Worksheets

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Our paperback compendiums

⸕ How To Write Excellent ELT Materials: The Skills Series

This book contains the six titles marked ⸕ above.

† How To Write Excellent ELT Materials: The ESP Series

This book contains the five titles marked † above.

For further information, see eltteacher2writer.co.uk

How To Write Grammar Presentations And Practice

By Diane Hall and Graham Burton

© 2020 ELT Teacher 2 Writer at Smashwords

www.eltteacher2writer.co.uk

Contents

About The Authors

Aims

1 Introduction

2 Which Grammar?

3 Writing Grammar Presentation Materials

4 Writing Grammar Practice Materials

Conclusion

References

Commentaries On Tasks

Glossary

Appendix 1: Types Of Presentation Exercises

Appendix 2: Types Of Practice Exercises

About The Authors

Diane Hall

My first ‘break’ into writing ELT materials came completely out of the blue. After several years of teaching EFL, I started to apply for jobs in ELT publishing, and was lucky enough to get one in mid-1982, editing supplementary materials for a publishing house called Thomas Nelson, whose ELT department folded many years ago. My manager asked me to comment on a proposal we’d received for a supplementary book on prepositions, and after he’d read my comments he said he liked my ideas and asked if I’d be interested in writing the book myself. Well, of course I was. (I’ve always felt a bit bad about the person who sent in the proposal, though!)

I’d come into ELT in much the same way as many teachers at that time: taking a job in a language school while I decided what I wanted to do with my life. And like many others, after a few weeks I realised I’d actually found what I wanted to do. However, my first degree was in Linguistics and Modern Languages, and I wanted to try to use the Linguistics side more, and thought publishing might be a way of doing it. To a certain extent I was right, but after a few years I took an MA in Applied Linguistics and left publishing at that point to return to teaching.

The experience of writing that first, short supplementary title taught me three valuable things: first, I really loved the intricacies of grammar and trying to discern patterns and exceptions; second, it’s really difficult to write and hold down a full-time day job too; third, no way did I ever want to write a book on my own again! Bearing the last two points in mind, I taught part-time so that I could edit and write as well, and I started a long-term writing partnership with my co-author Mark Foley. We wrote a lot of classroom materials together, from a skill of speaking series to an advanced course (Distinction), to the elementary level of a global adult course (Total/New Total English), to our last project, a grammar reference and practice series called MyGrammarLab (all these titles were Nelson/Pearson).

The last title there reflects my love of grammar, and more recently my work has centred around grammar – writing, editing and consulting – alongside a part-time job as a university tutor in grammar (Linguistics). My path from teaching to writing demonstrates that there isn’t just one way of making the transition. However one gets there, writing educational materials is one of the most fulfilling ways of spending a working life.

Graham Burton

I’ve been involved in ELT since 2000, when, as a linguistics undergraduate, I spotted a noticeboard outside a seminar room with the intriguing title ‘TEFL’. When I found out what it meant, I know it was something I’d like to try, and I ended up taking the Cambridge CELTA during the university vacation that summer. I started teaching at a language school in London straight after graduating, later moving to Greece, back to the UK, and finally to Italy.

Because of my background in linguistics, I’ve always been very interested in the ‘what’ of English language teaching, in other words, which language we choose to teach and the explanations we provide to learners to help them understand it. I can remember thinking, even all the way back to doing the CELTA, that some of the explanations of grammar I found in teaching materials didn’t always ring true to me, and I was sometimes puzzled as to why we were expected to teach certain things at certain levels or avoid things at other levels. I was able to explore these kinds of issues when I went on to do an MA, and, more recently a PhD in Applied Linguistics; the latter explored how the