Chapter 1: A Scientifical Analysis On The English Passive Voice … 5 [304237]

UNIVERSITATEA DIN PITEȘTI

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC

TEACHING GRAMMAR TO

INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS:

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Coordonator științific:

Conf. dr. Valentina STÂNGĂ

Candidat: [anonimizat]. Elena Cristina GEICĂ

2017

CONTENTS

pag.

Argument……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

Chapter 1: A Scientifical Analysis On The English Passive Voice ……………………… 5

1.1. Passive Voice from a Theoretical Point of View………………………………. 5

1.2. The Use of the Passive Voice in English…………………………………………. 25

Chapter 2: Approaches To Teaching The Passive Voice……………………………………. 31

2.1. The Importance of Teaching grammar……………………………………………. 31

2.2. Grammar Teaching Approaches…………………………………………………. 38

2.3. The Principles of Teaching Grammar……………………………………………… 71

2.4. Teaching Grammar………………………………………………………………………. 74

2.5. Grammar Games…………………………………………………………………………. 77

2.7. Grammar testing………………………………………………………………………….. 80

2.8. Supplementary materials………………………………………………………………. 82

Chapter 3: Teaching The Passive Voice To Secondary Students……………………….. 87

3.1. Introducing the passive construction……………………………………………… 87

3.2. Teaching materials………………………………………………………………………. 100

3.2.1. Activities for practising the passive voice……………………………………. 100

3.2.2. Grammar games………………………………………………………………………. 105

3.2.3. Grammar exercises…………………………………………………………………… 107

3.3. Evaluation………………………………………………………………………………….. 110

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 112

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………… 114

Appendixes…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 117

[anonimizat], that can pose problems both in teaching and in the students' acquisition process. [anonimizat] a challenge for a teacher , especially for those who do not possess much experience in actual teaching in a classroom full of students.

Thus, the present paper is conceived to serve as a useful instrument for those interested in enriching their knowledge of English language or in improving their teaching skills and also for the students who wish to practice their language skills. The paper wants to achieve its purpose on three levels: to offer a theoretical perspective on the analysis of the passive structure and its teaching in class; to give suggestions on the teaching methods of this grammatical category; to apply the knowledge of teaching the passive voice to the secondary school students, elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate levels.

Secondary school students always tend to compare the English grammar to the Romanian grammar. When the grammar structures are the same we are safe and sure that they understand quickly and better, but when they are not there comes the ambiguity. The passive voice is one of these structures, and the choice of presenting it in this paper is meant to clarify the use of the English passive constructions in a correct way.

The errors made by the students in using the passive voice in English have two principal causes: on the one hand the differences between the passive systems of the two languages and the inadequate teaching methods on the other. The two aspects must not be separated when we have in mind the building of a teaching strategy of the passive voice. We must pay attention both to preventing and correcting errors, but this can be done only by attentively selecting the material in the first stages of teaching the language, then in the medium and advanced level a greater variety of practice must be provided.

The research paper is structured in three main chapters: the first chapter is an analysis of the language structure from a scientifically point of view based on the study of the experts' research papers in the domain.

The second chapter aims to the methods of teaching grammar in class insisting on the different teaching approaches, on the types of activities and games that could prove efficient in practising a language structure or on the evaluation principles and the items used.

The third chapter represents the personal contribution by a collection of supplementary materials that can be used to complete the activities found in the textbooks; the utility of these materials is then demonstrated by a comparing study applied to two of the classes where these materials were used.

Chapter 1

A SCIENTIFICAL ANALYSIS ON THE ENGLISH PASSIVE VOICE

1.1. Passive Voice from a Theoretical Point of View

The study of language is a part of general knowledge. We study the complex working of the human body to understand each other, the same reason should attract us to studying the complexity of human language.

Everybody has attitudes towards the English language and its varieties, and has opinions on specific features. These attitudes and opinions affect relationships with other people. If we understand the nature of language, we will realize the grounds for our linguistic prejudices and perhaps moderate them; we will also assess more clearly linguistic issues of public domain, such as worries about the state of the language. Studying the English language has a more clear practical application: it can help us to use the language more effectively.

In the study of language, grammar occupies a central position. But there is also a practical reason to emphasize the study of grammar. It is easy to learn to use dictionaries by yourself to find the pronunciation, spelling, or meanings of words, but it is difficult to consult grammar books without a considerable knowledge of grammar.

Voice (or diathesis) is not only a typical syntactic structure or periphrasis, but it also represents a specific semantic relationship determining a specific type of diathesis. Most often mentioned connection concerns basic arguments of a clause, subject and object. Determining the passive is impossible without defining the active.

Quirk (p. 801, 802) writes that “Voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways, without change in the facts reported: (a) The butler murdered the detective (b) The detective was murdered by the butler”. “But although the structure of a sentence changes under voice transformation, its meaning remains the same.”

Greenbaum (p. 52) states that “Verbs have two voices: active and passive. (…) The active and passive have different verb phrases in that the passive has an additional auxiliary: a form of the auxiliary be followed by an –ed participle.”

These definitions are predominantly formal and not exhaustive. Formal definition must stem from semantic one. Active and passive are both (but not all) sides of an agent ↔ patient relationship; the stronger agent’s (subject’s) responsibility for the activity, its process management and patient’s (object’s) involvement in process, the stronger active meaning and passivization opportunities are. In active diathesis case semantic agent (doer, subject) coincides with grammatical one; on the contrary, passive diathesis is characterized by swapping grammar functions – a subject-patient is attributed activity results by means of an object-doer. (Huddleston, p. 438) more appropriately reveals voice essence by affirming that: “Voice as a general linguistic term, is applied to systems yielding … variation in the semantic role associated with the subject, normally where there is … concomitant variation in the form of the VP…”.

Voice refers to the form of a verb that indicates when a grammatical subject performs the action or is the receiver of the action. When a sentence is written in the active voice, the subject performs the action; in the passive voice, the subject receives the action. In academic writing, it is generally preferred to choose an active verb and pair it with a subject that names the person or thing doing or performing the action. Active verbs are stronger and usually more emphatic than forms of the verb “be” or verbs in the passive voice.

The forms of the passive voice in Contemporary English are composed in an analytical mode from the corresponding tenses of the auxiliary verb "to be" and the past participle of the main verb.

I. Indicative Mood

A. Simple Aspect

1. The Present, Past and Future Tenses, simple or common aspect of the Indicative Mood are formed from the Present, Past and Future Tenses, simple aspect of the verb "to be" and the past participle of the main verb.

Present Tense Past Tense

I am requested I was requested

you are requested you were requested

he , she, it is requested he , she, it was requested

we are requested we were requested

you are requested you were requested

they are requested they were requested

Future Tense

I shall/will be requested

you will be requested

he , she, it will be requested

we shall/will be requested

you will be requested

they will be requested

2. The Present Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Tense and Future in the past, common aspect of the Indicative Mood are formed from the Present Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Tense and Future in the past of the verb "to be" and the past participle of the main verb.

Present Perfect Tense Past Perfect Tense

I have been requested I had been requested

you have been requested you had been requested

he , she, it has been requested he , she, it had been requested

we have been requested we had been requested

you have been requested you had been requested

they have been requested they had been requested

Future in the past Tense

I shall/will have been requested

you will have been requested

he , she, it will have been requested

we shall/will have been requested

you will have been requested

they will have been requested

B. Continuous Aspect

In the passive voice the only tenses to be used in the continuous aspect, Indicative mood, are the Present and Past tenses. They are formed from the Present and Past tenses, continuous aspect of the verb "to be" and the past participle of the main verb.

Present Tense Past Tense

I am being requested I was being requested

you are being requested you were being requested

he , she, it is being requested he , she, it was being requested

we are being requested we were being requested

you are being requested you were being requested

they are being requested they were being requested

!!! Note

When the perfect and the future in the past tenses are to be used, one can use instead the simple aspect forms corresponding to them.

II. Conditional Mood

The Present and Past Conditional, simple aspect, are formed from the present and past conditional forms of the verb "to be" and the past participle of the main verb.

Present Conditional Past Conditional

I should/would be requested I should/would have been requested

you would be requested you would have been requested

he , she, it would be requested he , she, it would have been requested

we should/would requested we would have been requested

you would be requested you would have been requested

they would be requested they were being requested

The contrasted forms of the auxiliary verbs in the passive voice are the same as in the active voice.

The use of the tenses in the passive voice follow the same rules as in the active voice.

1. The Usage of the Passive Voice

The passive voice plays an important role in the English Language. It is not just a simple alternative to the active voice, but a system widely used for communication, whose special development, in correlation with other languages, is determined by rules and trends typical to the English language. In their majority, the English passive constructions are the equivalent of some active constructions with indefinite pronoun or of some reflexive constructions typical to languages like Russian, German, French or Romanian. Unlike these languages, which use transitive verbs only in the passive, and the subject of a passive sentence can only be the direct object of the corresponding active sentence, in English an important group of intransitive verbs – phrasal verbs – can be used in the passive, and both the indirect and the prepositional object can be the subject of a passive sentence.

The Passive Voice in contemporary English can be used:

a) When the person or object that suffer the action is more important for the speaker than the person or object that undergoes it; in this case the logical subject of the passive sentence is expressed by the object of agency.

He was regretted by all who had known him.

"… I hope your plans in favour of the shire will not be affected by his being in the neighbourhood." ( J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice )

The noun or pronoun which has the function of agent is used with the preposition "by".

b) When the active subject is obvious or lacks importance:

"Aware that he was being mocked, and mixed in his feelings, Francis Wilmot made for the door." (J. Galsworthy, The Silver Spoon)

" The gangway was lowered. (K. Mansfield, The Voyage)

In contemporary English there is a patent tendency in preferring the passive constructions to the active constructions with a very vague, generic or impersonal subject. This is the case of the subject expressed by the general noun people, an indefinite pronoun like somebody or a generic personal pronoun like they. Therefore, a sentence like People say that this is one of their best teams is, as a rule, replaced by the most expressive construction This is said to be one of their best teams, which also has the advantage of a greater concision. Whenever this is possible, it is recommended to use the passive voice with a personal grammatical subject, instead of the active voice with a generic or impersonal subject.

c) When the active subject is unknown:

" Oh! Michael, you'll be bored to death." (J. Galsworthy, The Silver Spoon)

"You couldn't help feeling he'd be caught one day, and then what an almighty cropper he'd come." (K. Mansfield, At the Bay)

d) When the speaker does not wish to mention the active subject, on various reasons ( modesty, delicacy etc.):

He is said to have disgraced himself on that occasion.

e) At times, the passive voice is used for stylistic reasons like:

the rhythm of the text, when the active subject is more developed than the direct object of the verb:

" He made his observations from a screen of birch sapplings and he was held up high by the wonderful grey mist of snow, by the blanket on the hills and corners, by the low heavy sky, the short line of distance." (J. Aldridge, The Hunter)

emphasizing a part of the sentence, as an alternative to the active sentences introduced by the emphatic pronoun "it":

"The silence was only broken now by the supping of Jane's soup. (J. Galsworthy, The Man of Property)

keeping the syntactic parallelism, not to change the grammatical subject of a sentence tightly and logically connected to the one before it:

" Roy collected the remaining fur from his bedroom and tried to avoid the cynical eye of his sister-in-law as he left. He was caught on the stairs." (J. Aldridge, The Hunter)

The active sentence She caught him on the stairs would have interrupted the harmonious connection between the sentences, as the anaphoric pronoun with the syntactic function of subject refers the action to the subject of the previous sentence and not to a noun of a secondary part.

e) In formal, usually written statements, containing requests, directions, instructions or prohibitions for greater effect:

Students are forbidden to smoke in the classroom.

This room must be tidied up.

Boys are required to come to school in proper uniform

2. Types of Passive Constructions in Contemporary English

The particularities of the usage of passive voice in contemporary English come from the characteristics of the predication of different verb categories.

Depending on this, there are the following types of passive constructions:

a) Passive constructions having as subject the direct object of the transitive verb from the corresponding active construction

These are the most numerous, as the majority of the transitive verbs in English are followed by only one direct object:

"Alice was welcomed so warmly that she found it quite difficult to keep up her manners." (K. Mansfield, At the Bay)

"Mary said she had been affected much in the same way." (M. Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)

"In the afternoon she was overtaken by a desperate fit of sobbing." (J. Galsworthy, The Man of Property)

The greatest number of transitive verbs in English explains the abundance of the passive constructions.

Note!!!

Yet, not all transitive verbs can be used in the passive. Amongst them, we have to become, to fit (= a-i veni), to face (= a da spre), to resemble, to sham, to want (= a avea nevoie de), to wonder (= a se întreba).

At the same time, they are not generally conjugated in the passive voice, the verbs which are used transitively only in combination with an internal object.

b) Passive constructions of the transitive verbs followed by two direct objects

In the transitive verbs category, there are a series of verbs which are characterized by a double completion, that is followed by two direct objects – of the person and of the object – so that the sentence, in which they are predicates, should have a full meaning: to answer, to ask, to call (smb. names), to envy, to excuse, to forgive, to strike (smb. a blow), to teach.

In the passive, the direct object expressed by the person in the active voice becomes the grammatical subject of the passive construction and the direct object expressed by the object remains the same ( Retained Direct Object). Rarely, though it is possible a second passive construction, having as a subject the direct object expressed by the object in the active sentence.

Active Passive

They asked him a lot of questions. He was asked a lot of questions.

People envied him his beautiful garden. He was envied his beautiful garden.

They did not forgive him his He was not forgiven his slanderous

slanderous talk. talk.

or

His slanderous talk was not forgiven him.

The action expressed by the passive verb refers to both the subject and the direct object.

c) Passive constructions of transitive verbs followed by a complex direct object

The verbs followed by a complex direct object form the following constructions in the passive:

1. Nominative with Infinitive or Nominative with Indefinite Participle, in the case of the verbs followed by an Accusative with Infinitive or an Accusative with Indefinite Participle. The noun or the pronoun in the Accusative in the active construction becomes the subject of the passive construction, and the Infinitive (or Participle) remains the same forming a tight unity with it ( the subject of this construction is called Complex Subject).

Amongst the verbs used as such, there are the following: to hear, to see, to think, to consider, to know, to believe, to suppose, to advise, to allow, to permit, to ask, to request, to challenge, to entreat, to urge, to expect, to force, to make to help, to instruct, to persuade, to remind, to tempt etc.

"… The last time I heard of him he was seen opening oysters – professionally, I mean – in a bar in Sydney." (J.B. Priestley, The Good Companion)

"Elizabeth made no objection; – the door was then allowed to be shut and the carriage drove off." (J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

"He was believed to have a bedroom at the back." (J. Galsworthy, The Man of Property)

"The party were expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon, in time for dinner at six." (Ch. Bronte, Jane Eyre)

2. Passive construction with an objective predicative name

In this category we refer to the transitive verbs which are followed by a double objective completion represented by a direct object and its predicative name. In the passive the direct object of the transitive verb in the active construction becomes the subject, and the predicative remains the same (Retained Objective Predicative)

As an example of these verbs we mention: to bake, to beat, to boil, to colour, to cut, to drive, to keep, to lay, to paint, to set, to wash, to wipe, to elect, to designate, to nominate etc.

Active Passive

They boiled the eggs hard. The eggs were boiled hard.

They cut him short. He was cut short.

They nominated him candidate. He was nominated candidate.

d) Passive constructions having as subject the indirect object of the transitive verb in the corresponding active construction

In the case of the transitive verbs followed by a direct and indirect completion, the passive construction usually has as subject the indirect object of the active sentence, the direct object remaining the same (Retained Direct Object).

Amongst these verbs we have: to advise, to accord, to allot, to award, to give, to grant, to hand, to leave, to show, to tell etc.

Active Passive

They gave me no opportunity to I was given no opportunity to speak.

speak.

They saved him the trouble of doing it. He was saved the trouble of doing it.

Someone showed them the way to the They were shown the way to the

theatre. theatre.

Thus, the action expressed by the passive verb refers to both the subject and the direct object.

At the same time, a second synonymous construction is used, the subject of the passive construction being the direct object of the corresponding active sentence. In this case the indirect object remains the same (Retained Indirect Object). The direct object is strongly emphasized.

"A message was brought her about ten o'clock that a man with a dog was waiting to see her." (J. Galsworthy, Flowering Wilderness)

e) Passive constructions having as subject the prepositional object of the intransitive verbs of the corresponding active construction

In contemporary English, the category called the passive voice is not totally restricted to the group of transitive verbs and it can also be used with a group of objective verbs the so-called prepositional verbs: to account for, to agree upon, to attend to, to look after, at, to laugh at, to refer to, to speak of, to, to talk about, to, to send for, to wail upon etc.

In their case, the prepositional object of the active construction becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the preposition remains the same transforming into an adverbial phrase.

"The note was immediately dispatched, and its contents as quickly complied with." (J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

"The doctor was sent for – the apothecary arrived." (W.W. Thackeray, Vanity Fair)

Some of the complex verbs like: to do away with, to look down on, to look up to, to forward to etc., can be used in the passive:

Under socialism exploitation of man by man is done away forever.

The following verbs accept a passive construction only when they are used with a figurative meaning: 'go into', 'arrive at', look into':

The problem was carefully gone/looked into by the farmers.

This conclusion was arrived at after long talks.

The verbs to live and to sleep are currently used in passive constructions:

The house is not lived in.

The sheets have not been slept on.

Like the prepositional verbs, a series of prepositional verbal expressions, which form phrasal predicates, are also used in the passive voice: to catch hold of (=a pune mâna pe), to lose sight of (=a pierde, a scăpa din vedere), to find fault with (= a gîsi cusururi), to make fun of (=a face haz de), to make use of (=a se servi de), to pay attention of (=a acorda atenție), to put an end to (=a pune capăt, a curma), to set fire to (= a da foc), to take care (charge) of (=a se îngriji de), to take notice of (a băga de seama, a lua în seamă), to take possession of (=a lua în stăpânire).

The shore was lost sight of soon.

"She will be taken good care of." (J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

Other prepositional verbs will accept a passive construction only in special cases. Here are some examples.

Other possibilities are talked of.

His approach on the subject is to be thought of as very bold.

A lot of things will have to be dealt with before we leave.

Note!!!

The past participle of the prepositional verbs is used with the respective preposition as an attribute of a noun.

the person spoken to;

children properly looked after;

a person much talked about.

At times the past participle becomes a simple adjective derived with the prefix "un-":

an unheard-of author;

an unhoped-for help;

an unaccounted-for phenomenon;

an uncalled-for remark;

an uncared-for child;

an undreamt-of meeting;

an unlooked-for event.

f) Passive constructions with an impersonal subject

The impersonal passive with "It" is relatively rarely used in English, which generally prefers a definite, concrete subject.

The impersonal passive is associated with declarative verbs and verbs which express an intellectual activity, "it" introducing a Subject Clause. It is used when the active subject is unknown and when the action having a future character cannot be used as a Nominative with Infinitive construction.

It is believed that….

It is expected that…

It has been (is) said that…

It is reported that…

It is understood that…

It is used to be thought that…

Compare:

It is reported that the delegation will be here tomorrow.

The delegation is reported to have left Bucharest. (It is reported that the delegation has left Bucharest.)

The sentences of the type 'subject + verb of saying (thinking, feeling) + noun clause object': They say he is an honest, hard-working man. have three possible passive counterparts:

The sentence is introduced by the impersonal 'it' + passive + that -clause:

It is said (that) he is an honest, hard-working man.

The sentence is introduced by 'there' + passive + to be:

There is said to be plenty of room at that motel.

The subject of the noun clause becomes the subject of the whole passive sentence and the verb takes the infinitive verb:

He is said to be an honest, hard-working man.

An infinitive after a passive verb is normally a to-infinitive:

We saw him come.

becomes

He was seen to come.

The infinitive construction, being neater, is often preferred to the impersonal one.

When the verb 'suppose' is used, there is a slight difference in meaning between the two constructions.

Suppose + present infinitive conveys a sense of duty:

He is supposed to finish his work in time (= it is his duty to finish his work in time).

Suppose + that-clause alters the meaning:

It is supposed that he finishes his work in time (= people believe that he finishes his work in time).

g) To be + past participle construction

To be + past participle construction can have a double function:

1. Verb in the passive voice forming a simple verbal predicate

"Tea was laid on the parlour table." (K. Mansfield, At the Bay)

2. Copulative verb + a predicative name forming a nominal predicate

"The abbreviated version was painted on the glass pannel of the door."

(J. Aldridge, The Hunter)

" Tom was aggravated." (M. Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)

Sometimes it is difficult to make a distinction between the two forms:

"It was advanced some three paces from the wall and was described in his catalogue as 'Jupiter'". (J. Galsworthy, To Let)

was advanced = nominal predicate

was described = simple verbal predicate

To be + past participle construction represents a passive form when it expresses an action and when it has verbal markers like:

the agent

The lake is surrounded by an old forest.

(But in "The town is surrounded", the predicate is a nominal one)

Adverbials of time, place and frequency

The paper was printed in Edinburgh.

(But in "The article was printed in bold type", the predicate is a nominal one)

It is also passive when it is used:

in the continuous aspect

The road is being repaired.

The ships were being unloaded.

in perfect forms

The monument has been restored.

h) The verb To Get as a passive auxiliary

At times, in current speaking, the verb "to get" is used as an auxiliary of the passive voice instead of "to be", to show an action, not a state.

The children got lost.

Everything gets known.

They got killed in the war.

The intransitive verb get, which is not an auxiliary, has developed a special grammaticized use in marking an additional type of passive. The active in example (1) has two different corresponding passives, (2) and (3).

(1) A journalist photographed John.

(2) John was photographed by a journalist.

(3) John got photographed by a journalist.

There are two minor semantic or pragmatic differences between (2) and (3). The first is that the get passive is somewhat more informal in style than the be passive. The second is that the get passive carries a weak tendency toward implying that the event described was either some kind of misfortune or some kind of benefit for John, and that she may to some extent have brought the situation upon herself or arranged it. These get passives from the Wall Street Journal illustrate:

(1)". . . . more hardcore bears than the ones who got spooked in January and February . . ."

(2) A man got clobbered with a steel chair during a secret meeting of local contractors last October.

(3) " . . . he got hooked on skeet shooting . . . "

(4) He even got appointed to a coveted civic post

The writer of (1) is implying that the pessimistic investors let themselves succumb to spooking; the man in (2) was certainly unlucky to get clobbered and may perhaps have brought it upon himself; the man in (3) permitted himself to get hooked or was unfortunate enough to get drawn in; and we can assume that the man in (4) eagerly sought his coveted civic post. Thus, the get passive sounds natural in each case.

By contrast, it would be distinctly odd to write anything like this:

(5) The Nobel Prize in Physics got awarded to Peter Higgs in 2013.

The prize does not bring the awarding upon itself, or receive either benefit or misfortune by having the Nobel committee award it, so a get passive sounds strikingly inappropriate here. Notice that although (5), has the verb get, it is not a get passive.

(6) David Swan, a geneticist, got himself transferred within the CDC.

The get clause here is an active clause with a transitive verb that has a direct object and a passive clause without a subject as complement. Get has causative force: (6) it does not just vaguely imply that Swan might have done something resulting in his being transferred; it entails that Swan took some active part in obtaining his transfer.

Central GET-passives are propositionally equivalent to active clauses and that, from a purely structural point of view, they can be replaced by BE-passives.

Compare (1) and (2):

(1) It’s probably because I was getting looked at by erm … a ginger haired boy.

(2) I’d better go and get some work done Joyce!

In (1), both the active version a boy was looking at me and the BE-passive version I was being looked at by … would be acceptable as well as equivalent in propositional terms. (1) thus exemplifies a central GET-passive. In (2), by contrast, it is possible to transform get some work done into an active clause (I’d better go and do some work); but it is hard to see how get could be substituted for by a form of BE (*I’d better go and am some work done). (2) would hence have to be rejected from the class of central GET-passives. I propose to term these and related forms of the GET-passive ‘peripheral’ GET-passives.

Although the ability to alternate with the BE-passive is part of the definition of central GET-passives, we will see below that the GET-passive is by no means just a structural variant of the BE-passive but that it carries something extra, that is significant in terms of relation management: the speaker’s attitude towards the proposition.

Various studies have shown GET-passives to be considerably more common in informal conversation than in written registers. Biber et al. (p. 476) note that the GET-passive “occurs only in conversation, except for an occasional example in colloquial fiction.” This finding is supported by Mindt (2000), quoted by Rühlemann, who notes that “Get-passives are most frequent in spoken conversation (c. 0.28 cases per 1,000 words)” (2000, 208). Similar to Biber et al., Mindt observes that the GET-passive is “less frequent in fictional texts (c. 0,24 cases per 1,000 words) and least frequent in expository prose (c. 0,09 cases per 1,000 words)” (ibid.). (See Collins 1996, 54 for a similar distribution across registers.)

Both Biber et al. (1999) and Mindt (2000) provide lists of the verbs most frequently co-selected with the GET-passive. These lists only partially map on to each other. Biber et al.’s list is headed by married with over 20 occurrences per million words and continued, with over five occurrences per million words, by hit, left, stuck, and involved (Biber et al. 1999, 481). Mindt’s list, on the other hand, includes GET + rid (of), involved, married, started, dressed, stuck, lost, caught, paid, done, killed, and mixed (2000, 283). Thus, only married, stuck, and involved are included in both lists. Quirk et al. (1985, 161) reject the construction with dressed from the class of GET-passives on the grounds that in GET + dressed the participle is stative, that is, it expresses a state of wearing clothes. A similar line of reasoning might suggest an exclusion of GET + married, where the participle is used to convey a state of marriage. Thus, we are left with stuck and involved as included both in Biber et al.’s and Mindt’s list.

Another issue to talk about is the frequency of the GET-passives in the BNC British National Corpus.

By far the most frequent GET-passive is GET + done (341 occurrences as a peripheral, and 24 occurrences as a central GET-passive). It is followed at some distance by the central GET-passive involving paid (138 occurrences). Clearly less frequent is stuck (76 occurrences), followed by a group of participles including caught, killed, involved, and lost (42–53 occurrences). While the peripheral GET-passives with mixed up and started reach minor frequencies (23 and 24 occurrences respectively), the central formations with left and hit display marginal frequencies (7 and 11 occurrences respectively).

There are also some special cases that we should pay attention to:

1. Transformation with a total change in meaning:

In some cases the corresponding active and passive forms of a sentence do not carry the same meaning:

There is nothing to see here (= there is nothing worth seeing here)

There is nothing to be seen here (= nothing is seen here)

Your statement interests me (= the statement has already been given)

I am interested in your statement (= the statement is being sought)

He can't teach John (= he is unable to teach John)

John can't be taught (= he is unable to learn)

2. Sentences that can't have an active counterpart:

Many passive voice sentences do not have an active voice counterpart:

Shakespeare was born at Stratford.

This notion is based on a misconception.

It is alleged that the thief entered the house through the window.

He was reputed to be a good teacher.

'Repute' can be used in the active with 'be' and 'have':

They reputed him to have the means to do it.

They reputed him to be the one who did it.

3. Sentences that can't have a passive counterpart:

The following sentence-types cannot be passivized. These are sentences where the object is:

A reflexive pronoun:

John has been washing himself for hours.

A reciprocal pronoun:

We could hardly see each other in the dark room.

A possessive pronoun:

The teacher shook his head and sighed.

4. Sentences that use either the active or the passive with a passive meaning:

There is oscillation between the active and passive form for passive content in some phrases:

There is only one thing to do/to be done;

There is nothing to fear/to be feared;

There is a lot to do yet/to be done yet.

There is often a slight difference in content between these two possibilities: The active form implies duty, necessity, and the like:

The corrections show how much remains to do.

The passive form implies possibility as in:

There is nothing to be done about it.

The active form of the infinitive and active content, passive form and passive content, generally go together in modern English:

I like to teach and I like to be taught.

After the verbs 'be', 'leave' and 'remain' we find a number of cases of the active form of the infinitive with passive content. In many cases one form is now idiomatic, either the active or the passive form being used for the passive content:

The key was nowhere to be found;

The causes were not far to seek;

You are to blame (= the fault lies with you).

By slight alterations in the last mentioned phrase, the passive form can be made to express almost the same content:

You are to be blamed for your negligence.

5. Bare passive clauses

It is possible for a passive clause to contain just a subject and the past participle of a verb. Such clauses are called bare passive clauses. Having no tensed verb, they cannot generally occur as full sentences, but they do occur as adjuncts, as seen in the underlined parts of the Wall Street Journal corpus examples

That said, however, China is China, not the Philippines.

One of its ads shows a washed-out manager, arms folded, sitting in a corner.

One context in which bare passive clauses occur on their own is newspaper headlines:

"France accused of running vast data surveillance scheme to keep tabs on population" (The Independent, 5 July 2013)

"28 injured in accidental detonation" (Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2013)

"Chinese swimmers driven away by smelly green algae" (BBC News website, 5 July 2013)

And just occasionally we find bare passives used as independent clauses:

An expert like him duped by an email scam! Amazing.

6. Embedded passives

Passive clauses also occur embedded in active clauses. Various transitive verbs with causative, inchoative, or perception meanings take bare passive complements without a subject (that is, in effect, past-participial VPs). In the first example we see an active complement clause (investigate the case) but the roughly synonymous in the second example has a passive counterpart (underlined).

1) The government had the police investigate the case.

2) The government had the case investigated by the police.

These are roughly synonymous in the sense that if one is true, so is the other, though they differ in focus or viewpoint: (1) strikes us as a statement about the instructions that the government gave to the police, while (2) seems more like a statement about the government’s action on the case.

Further examples of this sort, slightly adapted from attested ones, are given next, with the passive VP complements underlined.

(10) a. Western Canada has found itself treated by Ottawa as a colony.

b. I had the suit made by my tailor in Rome.

c. David Swan, a geneticist, got himself transferred within the CDC.

d. Manufacturers saw themselves pushed to the brink of going out of business.

This kind of passives with be can also occur as complements in active clauses. Under the now widely accepted assumption that the auxiliaries of English are complement-taking verbs, sentences like the following illustrate this possibility.

Marie has been photographed by a journalist.

Marie will be photographed by a journalist.

Marie could have been photographed by a journalist.

7. Adjectival passives

The term ‘adjectival passive’ is often applied (perhaps not very felicitously) to active clauses with predicative adjective phrases in which adjective derives from the past participle of a verb and has a passive-like meaning. There is frequently an ambiguity between be passives and adjectival ones. For example, " The door was locked is ambiguous": as a be passive it says that at a particular time someone took the action of locking the door, and as an adjectival passive it says that during some past time period the door was in its locked state. Since the complement in this kind of clause is an adjective phrase, verbs other than be can be used (The door seemed locked, as far as I could tell), and so can adjectives derived with the negative prefix un- (The island was uninhabited by humans).

8. Concealed passives

Finally, there are also certain passive clauses, referred to as concealed passives, that have a gerund participle rather than a past participle as head:

This rug badly needs washing.

The situation needs looking into by experts.

In some dialects, need also takes a past-participial bare passive complement, so that This needs washed is grammatical.

9. The Causative

FORMATION: the required tense of the verb 'to have' + OBJECT+ past participle:

I'm having the heating repaired.

'Get' may be used instead of 'have' to express urgency about a matter:

I'm getting the heating repaired.

USAGE:

THE CAUSATIVE IS USED:

To stress the fact that we are 'causing' someone to do a job for us:

I had a house built. (I arranged for it to be done.)

With verbs that have to do with services: 'build', 'clean', 'decorate', 'develop (a film)', 'mend', 'photocopy', 'print', 'repair':

I am having my watch repaired.

THE CAUSATIVE vs. THE ACTIVE and THE PASSIVE

The active form is used to describe actions we do ourselves or when we know who is doing the action:

I'm decorating the room. (= I am doing it myself)

The passive form is used to indicate that an action is done for us, but the focus is on the logical object:

The room is being decorated. (= someone else is doing the job but that person is of no interest to the communication, what interest us is the 'room'.)

The causative form is used to indicate that we are causing someone else to do an action for us:

I am having the room decorated. (= I requested this, but someone else is doing it.)

1.2. The Use of the Passive Voice in English

From a theoretical approach, passive voice is rather clear. What is controversial in contemporary English the extent to which one should use it in writing or speaking. Since the early 20th century the English passive has been condemned especially by the writing specialists. "If we provide an informal but comprehensive syntactic description of passive clauses in English, and then exhibit numerous published examples of incompetent criticism in which critics reveal that they cannot tell passives from actives. Some seem to confuse the grammatical concept with a rhetorical one involving inadequate attribution of agency or responsibility, but not all examples are thus explained." The specific stylistic charges leveled against the passive are entirely without any base. What is going on is that people are simply tossing the term "passive" around when they want to set criticism on pieces of writing that, for some reason, they do not care for. They see a turn of phrase that strikes them as weak in some way, or lacks some sort of invigorating style or brightness that they cannot support, and they call it ‘passive’ without further thought. And such is the state of knowledge about grammar among the reading public that they get away with it.

There is a source where this vague notion of passivity is nicely exemplified in a passage found by Arnold Zwicky in a handbook of style published nearly 80 years ago (Jensen et al. 1935) stacks on top of the familiar negatively prejudiced view of the passive voice a whole new set of charges about something called "the passive style":

"Another kind of wordiness, the most pernicious kind of all, comes partly from laziness, partly from fear. This we may call the ‘passive style’ as distinguished from the ‘active.’ It is full of cumbrous qualifications: ‘in general it may be said that,’ ‘under ordinary circumstances it will be found,’ ‘it is probably safe to say that.’ It has long and unnecessary transitions: ‘Now that we have seen how the machine functions, let us take a view of its advantages to social progress.’ Worst of all, the writer of the passive style converts his verbs into abstract nouns and uses passive verbs and verbs of being. He thus robs his writing of its greatest strength: action. He takes good honest verbs like separate, develop, bewilder, make, and steals their life away by turning them into the abstract nouns separation, development, bewilderment, manufacture, or, much worse, the making of. With his verbal ideas thus abstracted, the writer of the passive style must cast about for other verbs to fill his sentences. First he looks for verbs of being. To say that a thing is or seems or becomes is almost never as good as to say it does something. He who robs his thoughts of action robs them of half their life, for life is action and readers like to think in terms of action. Especially is this evident in another characteristic of the passive style, the use of verbs in the passive voice. A passive verb shows action in reverse. It represents a subject not as doing something but as being done to. Hence it too makes meaning static. That is the great defect of the passive style. It pictures for a reader life in the abstract, life without action: still-life."

Here the notion of passive voice in the grammatical sense, which gets a brief mention, has been combined in a confused way with all sorts of other factors: verbosity, laziness, cowardice, circumlocution, weakness, abstractness, inactivity, and lifelessness. But of course one could imagine prose being written in this style without containing any passives at all. The style might better have been described as laborious.

The educated English speakers are presented with a variety of different affirmations about the passive voice (or the "passive style"—the two are not clearly distinguished) and what is so bad about it. Yet, those accusations are hardly ever seriously supported. It is surely not too much to ask that those who claim that the passive is bad should have some definition of the notion "passive" in mind, and that their examples of passives should be passives according to that definition. We have seen that it is very common for critics who complain about the passive to be entirely unable to meet these conditions. But we could also reasonably ask that they should justify their claims about what is wrong with the examples. "If using a passive construction is an indication of bad writing style, we need to know what is supposed to be bad about it—what justifies the affirmation of the bad style. But in fact that condition is not met either. The claims about the alleged faults of passive clauses are never justified. Passives are variously alleged to be dull and static rather than lively and dynamic, sneaky or evasive concerning agency or responsibility, feeble and weak rather than bold and strong, avoided by good writers. "

Each of these affirmations will be exemplified so that we can see they are eaither unsupported or false.

Passive Voice which is dull and static vs Active voice which is lively and dynamic

In Wikipedia we can find an article on President John F. Kennedy where a section headed ‘Assassination’ beginslike this:

"President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm Central Standard Time on November 22, 1963. . ."

Introducing that shocking event should be vivid and attractive to readers and there is no other way of doing that but by using this stylistic device. And with Kennedy as the topic of the entire article, having his name as the subject like this is obviously the best stylistic option.

Passive Voice which is sneaky or evasive vs Active voice which is responsible

Sherry Roberts, one of the critics, allows a strangely ill-chosen metaphor to run away with her completely:

"A sentence written in passive voice is the shifty desperado who tries to win the gunfight by shooting the sheriff in the back, stealing his horse, and sneaking out of town." (Sherry Roberts, 11 Ways to Improve Your Writing and Your Business )

A sentence written in the active voice is the straight-shooting sheriff who faces the gunslinger proudly and fearlessly. It is honest, straightforward, you know where you stand. . . A sentence written in passive voice is the shifty desperado who tries to win the gunfight by shooting the sheriff in the back, stealing his horse, and sneaking out of town.

Active: The committee will review all applications in early April.

Passive: In early April, all applications will be reviewed by the committee.

"Notice that she uses a passive without thinking of it (the bare passive adjunct written in passive voice) while making the above statements and note also that it would be truly eccentric to suggest that the account of the second example of what will happen to the applications in April is sneaky. The administrative detail of who will undertake the examination of the applications (the committee) has been made fully explicit." The prejudice expressed in Roberts’ metaphorical characterization is not supported by her exemplification. She unthinkingly repeats and embroiders the stock criticism of the short passive (that it leaves the agent unexpressed), but exemplifies with a long passive to which the stock criticism is inapplicable, failing to notice the inconsistency.

Certainly, one of the objections to other people’s prose that the objectors often seem to have in mind is some kind of avoidance of attribution of agency, or vagueness about responsibility. But the belief that the passive necessarily embodies such qualities is false. Omission of the passive complement allows agents to be left unspecified, but there are plenty of other ways, nominalization being just one of those. And long passives not only give details of the agent, they are ideal for laying special emphasis on the agent.

But the stock criticism is of course nonsense even as applied to short passives. They are not the slightest bit sneaky or evasive when the identity of the agent is either thoroughly irrelevant or entirely unknowable. None of these examples (in which the verbs of the passive clauses are underlined) would be improved by struggling to rephrase them in the active:

(1) When the patient was first diagnosed with cancer her symptoms were minor.

(2) Perhaps the mysterious mound was constructed as a memorial.

(3) Since metallic sodium reacts violently with water it is usually shipped in oil-filled canisters.

(4) The strange object found in the crater was apparently made from a material unknown to terrestrial science.

In these and many other such examples, specifying an agent is neither necessary nor even advisable.

Passive Voice which is feeble and weak vs Active voice which is bold and strong

"Stating that passives as feeble, ineffective, and weak rather than bold, muscular, and strong seems to presuppose two things that need a defense. The first is that there is something weak about, say, "The World Trade Center has been attacked by terrorists" as compared to "Terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center". The second is that the right style for every kind of writing is bold, muscular, and strong (rather than, say, subtle, delicate, and restrained). These two claims are quite independent, but neither gets any vestige of support in most of the usage literature." To address the first point we might ask whether the passive avoided in tough, muscular prose. Taking a classic example of tough-guy writing style:

Lee Child’s first Jack Reacher novel Killing Floor, which won the prestigious Anthony Award. It is narrated in the first person by Jack Reacher, a tough and ruthless former military policeman who frequently deals with bad guys by breaking knees or necks. Brutally short sentences are the norm in Lee Child’s prose. Yet, the book opens with this sentence:

" I was arrested in Eno’s diner…"

Nobody senses that this is more feeble than an active would have been. Indeed, filling in an agent as the arresting authority would actually have spoiled the exposition: in the first scene of the novel Reacher is taken into custody suddenly and without warning, and has no idea what is going on, who has ordered his arrest, or what the motive might be. Moreover, one should think better if it is always appropriate to adhere to a bold, muscular, tough writing rather than a subtle, delicate, restrained, evocative, or descriptive writing. "The writing advisers seem to have no doubt in their minds that every sentence is supposed to come at you like a punch in the gut from Jack Reacher’s fist, on top of assuming unjustifiably that passive clauses cannot deliver a gut punch. Both assumptions seem completely indefensible."

Passive Voice which is avoided in the best writing vs Active voice which is not

It is not very important whom we may decide to regard as an author exemplifying fine writing. Although there has apparently been a long decline in the frequency of use of be passives in the USA, we cannot find seven authors who avoid the use of the passive voice entirely. "It would certainly be ridiculous to suggest that the passive is absent from the work of admired authors in the early 20th century. Take H. G. Wells, the inventor of modern science fiction. He opens his classic book The War of the Worlds thus (and I underline the verbs of the passive clauses):

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water."

There are 6 occurrences of potentially transitive verbs: believe, watch, busy, scrutinize (twice), and study. 50% of them are in passive clauses. One could do something similar with almost any literary work, as the reader may verify. And it makes little difference if you decide to look at prose written by the advisers on usage themselves. Consider the beginning of E. B. White’s introduction to his revision of The Elements of Style (Strunk & White 2000). I underline the passive VPs:

"AT THE close of the first World War, when I was a student at Cornell, I took a course called English 8. My professor was William Strunk Jr. A textbook required for the course was a slim volume called The Elements of Style, whose author was the professor himself. The year was 1919. The book was known on the campus in those days as ‘the little book,’ with the stress on the word ‘little.’ It had been privately printed by the author."

There are 5 transitive verbs here (take, require, call, know, and print), and 80% of them are in the passive.

"Or take George Orwell, the man who said ‘Never use the passive where you can use the active’. His celebrated essay ‘A Hanging’ begins thus:

"It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot of drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two. One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes."

The verbs that are capable of being used transitively here are drape, condemn, hang, and bring. 100% of the occurrences of these transitive verbs are in the passive voice.

It appears that both White and Orwell simply had no idea of how often the passive occurred in their own writing, and never thought to run a check on themselves, or even on the paragraph in which they denigrated the passive. The conclusion has to be that they would not dream of taking their own assertions about the passive seriously. Nor should we.

Chapter 2

APPROACHES TO TEACHING THE PASSIVE VOICE

2.1. The Importance of Teaching grammar

The word Grammar means different things to different people. To the ordinary citizen, it connotes to correctness or incorrectness of the language that he or she speaks. To a school student, it means an analytical and terminological study of sentences. Knowledge of grammar helps the student in the correction of mistakes and improvement of written work. A person cannot learn a foreign language accurately only through a process of unconscious assimilation. Grammar is a sure ground of reference when linguistic habits fail us. So grammar is indispensable for the student.

Grammar is the study of words and the ways words work together, an invisible force that guides us as to put words together into sentences. Any person who communicates using a particular language, consciously or unconsciously becomes aware of the grammar of that language. But in this context I would like to t guides us as wek together; rammar
cite a wonderful example as described “A writer has given a beautiful analogy to illustrate the use of knowledge of Grammar. Imagine two car drivers. The first driver knows only driving and nothing about the working of the engine. He feels helpless whenever there is some trouble with the machinery. The second driver knows driving and also understands the working of the machinery. The person who knows grammar is like this second driver. In case he doubtful about the correctness of a particular thing, his knowledge of grammar comes to his rescue". (p. 116). Therefore, in a clearer and more effective manner we have to study grammar. For the person who has unconscious knowledge of grammar, it may be sufficient for simple language use. But the persons, who wish to communicate in the artistic manner with well-defined structures must go for the greater depth of understanding and proficiency what the study of grammar offers.

The importance of teaching grammar in English language is an ongoing debate. Where on one hand theorists and practitioners have felt that its significance in language learning cannot be mitigated, on the other hand it is seen as nothing but a set of arbitrary rules and merely an exercise in naming parts of a sentence, something that can easily be done away with. An analysis of this continuous debate has nevertheless brought to the fore the necessity of grammar teaching and its significance in language learning and enhancement.

That grammar has a positive and real effect on all the four skills of language learning is being gradually recognized. Although the benefits of grammar on teaching and improving writing skills have been better accepted, its impact on reading, listening and speaking is also now being seen to be prominent.

Enhanced communication skills call for a high degree of grammatical competence. Communicative proficiency involves knowledge and application of grammar and use of appropriate vocabulary of the language to convey meanings in a socially acceptable way. This is also the reason why grammar teaching is considered imperative and has found its way into language teaching labs.

Grammar is the base of English language. English especially as a second or a foreign language is not acquired naturally; instruction and structured learning are important. Through grammar, an ESL learner learns how to operate at the sentence level and studies the governance of the syntax or word orders that are the rule of the game in the language. While, it is argued that some learners "notice" grammar rules and logic naturally, yet it cannot be denied that if one hopes to acquire and use English language accurately and fluently, grammar learning is necessary.

Teaching formal grammar helps in making such learners aware about the structures and patterns in the target language. This awareness enables them to pay attention to the form and structure of the target language and notice their own speech patterns that have been internalized in the said language. This exposure to "formal grammar" teaching – it is hoped will help them rectify such errors.

Not only is grammar teaching helpful to language learners learning through the above mentioned natural method, but it also has a positive impact on learners learning a language formally. The do’s and don’ts of the language become apparent to the learner and he/she is able to apply them in real life communication.

Non-supporters of grammar teaching argue that grammar adds to the register of the learner of the language, which may inhibit the learning and acquisition of the language. But, this is a challenge only for the initial years. This risk of a heightened register (grammar jargon and rules) for the new learner diminishes over time, with the learner adapting the new learning into his day-to-day expression.

Teaching of grammar to learners is surely helpful, whether it works as functional grammar or as traditional grammar. Yet, it cannot be denied that making grammar teaching interesting helps both the learners and the teacher. The traditional manner of teaching grammar if assisted with an audio-visual tool helps meet grammar rules more effectively. The attitude associate with grammar learning also changes positively, making this aspect of language learning fun and informative.

Though grammar teaching generally would involve the intervention of a teacher in the classroom, some language teaching labs have also introduced this feature in their teaching content.  There are digital language labs like Words Worth English language lab. It has an audio visual teaching content for grammar for schools.

To add a biff to their contention of grammar being important for English language learning, grammarians talk about researches which prove that learners who received grammar instructions made marked progress within two weeks of tutored sessions as compared to those who tried to pick up the language naturally. The three dimensions of grammar: form, meaning and use that tutored grammar learning brings to the learner’s attention enable him/her to progress in their language competencies. Their risk of hitting a learning plateau is largely reduced thus, in comparison to those who went through an untutored language learning process.

One of the biggest challenges that an English language teacher faces is the lack of interest of some students in learning English. Though this is seemingly a non-urban problem, its prevalence can nevertheless not be denied. The ever so enthusiastic teacher is thus left high and dry, with all her zeal to impart learning rendered useless.

The only solution to this problem is that the learners begin to like English as a language. This is most likely to happen when they see it not as another challenge to meet at school, but as a useful skill that they will be able to use to enhance their immediate needs and their future life.

Learners, when able to realize that the use of English in everyday use impacts their social standing will be motivated to learn the language. Yet, it has to be understood that, only when the learner is able to actually converse in English in his day to day encounters, will he see the importance of learning this language.

It is thus important that the learner be exposed to scenario based communicative skill programmes, where they get ample exposure and opportunity to use the language in a controlled environment. This exposure will in turn revive their confidence in themselves towards the language, making English as their language of communication a goal to be attained. They will no longer perceive English as a threat and an impossible challenge to surpass.

This accessibility of English as a skill will thus remove their negative association with the said language, thus tickling their zeal to learn or acquire it further. The teacher will realize that when this stage is reached, teaching and learning of English becomes a smooth sail for both the learners and for themselves. A proactive attitude in the learners towards learning the language will become evident; a far cry from the days when the teacher would have to influence them into using the language at least in the school premises.

A good English language lab, catering to the communicative needs of learners can speed up this process of "loving English". The learners when taken through standardized and audio-visual based teaching-learning content are able to learn the language faster than they would in their given environment.

Further on we will discuss about the different opinions among the language critics.

In Ur's vision: "Grammar is sometimes defined as 'the way words are put together to make correct sentences'. This is, as we shall see presently, an over-simplification, but it is a good starting-point (and an easy way to explain the term to young learners). Thus in English I am a teacher is grammatical, La teacher, and * I are a teacher are not." (p. 75)

She also talks about the fact that we can apply the term "grammatical" to units smaller than sentences. A brief phrase said or written on its own can be grammatically acceptable or unacceptable in its own right: "a handsome man" sounds right; "a man handsome" does not. The same may be true of single words: compare "had" with "haved".

"The minimal components to be combined may not be whole words; for example, the -ed suffix indicating the past tense of a regular verb in English, or the -s plural of nouns. And sometimes it is not even a question of putting 'bits' before or after other 'bits'; words may actually change their spelling and pronunciation in certain grammatical contexts: irregular forms of the past tense, for example, in English, and many common plural forms in Arabic." (p. 76)

A specific instance of grammar is usually called a "structure". Examples of structures would be the passive voice, noun plurals, the comparison of adverbs, and so on. Not all languages, of course, have the same structures: the English verb has "aspects" (such as the continuous: he is sleeping for example) which many other languages do not; Romanian ascribes masculine, feminine or neuter gender to its nouns, which English does not. It is largely known that such differences can cause problems to the foreign language learner; though quite how difficult these problems will be it is often hard to predict, even if you are familiar with the learner's mother tongue. Occasionally foreign structures that look odd may be surprisingly easy to master, and the other way around.

Grammar does not only affect how units of language are combined in order to 'look right'; it also affects their meaning. The teaching of grammatical meaning tends, unfortunately, to be neglected in many textbooks in favour of an emphasis on accuracy of form; but it is no good knowing how to perceive or build a new tense of a verb if you do not know exactly what difference it makes to meaning when it is used. It is very often the meanings of the structures which create the difficulties for foreign learners mentioned above.

The meaning of a grammatical structure may be quite difficult to teach. It is fairly simple to explain that the addition of a plural -s to the noun in English and French indicates that you are talking about more than one item, and there are parallels in other languages. But how would you explain to the foreigner when to use the present perfect (I have gone, for example) in English, and when the past simple (I went)? If you are a grammarian or an experienced English language teacher, you may have the answer at your fingertips, but most English speakers who have not previously studied this question will have to stop and think, and may find it difficult to answer.

She also believes that "the place of grammar in the teaching of foreign languages is controversial. Most people agree that knowledge of a language means, among other things, knowing its grammar; but this knowledge may be intuitive (as it is in our native language), and it is not necessarily true that grammatical structures need to be taught as such, or that formal rules need to be learned. Or is it?" (p. 79)

Greenbaum and Nelson in their study "An Introduction of English Grammar" have the same opinion about the role of teaching grammar in the foreign language learning process: " I will be using the word grammar in this book to refer to the set of rules that allow us to combine words in our language into larger units. Another term for grammar in this sense is syntax." (p. 1)

They also speak about the difference of learning grammar as a native learner opposed to a foreign language learner.

A native acquires a working knowledge of his/her native language simply through being exposed to it from early childhood: nobody taught him/her , for example, where to position certain words. He/She studies grammar, however, if he/she wants to be able to analyse his/her language. The analytic grammar makes explicit the knowledge of the rules with which one operates when uses the language. There is a clear difference between the operational grammar and the analytic grammar. After all, many languages have never been analyzed and some have been analyzed only relatively recently. People were speaking and writing English long before the first English grammars appeared at the end of the sixteenth century.

Natives will always know that some combinations of words are possible in English and others are not. As a speaker of English, one can judge when an English sentence is possible whereas others are not, because one knows when a word is wrongly positioned in the sentence. A native's ability to recognize such distinctions is evidence that in some sense he/she knows the rules of grammar even if he/she has never studied any grammar. Similarly, one operates the rules whenever he/she speaks or writes (putting words in the right order) and whenever one interprets what others say (he/she knows that "Mary likes John" means something quite different from "John likes Mary"). But knowing the rules in evaluative and operational senses does not mean that one can say what the rules are.

English is the first language of over 300 million people. Most of them live in the United States of America, which has about 230 million native speakers of English and the United Kingdom, with about 54 million. Other countries with large numbers of English native speakers that also constitute the majority of the population are Australia (about 19 million), Canada (about 16 million), New Zealand (about 3.9 million), and the Irish Republic (about 3.8 million). Some countries have concentrations of English native speakers, though they do not constitute the majority of the population; for example, South Africa has about 1.6 million native English speakers apart from about 8.5 million bilingual speakers of English. While recognizing that these people all speak English, we can distinguish the national varieties they use as American-English, British-English, Canadian-English, and so on.

English is a second language for over 300 million people who speak another language as their native tongue but also use English in communicating with their compatriots. For example, the first language for about 30 per cent of Canadians is French and for millions of Americans it is Spanish. English is also the second language in countries where only a small minority speak it as their tongue but where it is the official language or joint official language for government business. Among these countries is India, where it is estimated that about 21 million people speak English fluently as their second language (though these constitute only about 3 per cent of India’s vast population). Other countries where English is the official or joint official language include Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, the Philippines, Puerto Rico (where about 1.3 million inhabitants are bilingual in Spanish and English), Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Since the English in each of these countries has certain distinctive features, it is reasonable to refer to such national varieties as, for example, Indian English or Nigerian English.

Finally, English is studied as the primary foreign language in most other countries. One estimate is that over 150 million children are currently studying English as a foreign language in primary or secondary schools. Its popularity lies in its value as an international language. A knowledge of English is perceived in most parts of the world as essential for international communication in commerce and tourism, in economic and military aid, and in scientific and technological literature.

As a central component of language, grammar is the link between the system of sounds, the distinctive sound units and the ways which they may be combined, or of written symbols, the distinctive written symbols and their possible combinations on the one hand, and the system of meaning the meanings of words and the combinatory meanings of larger units, on the other.

It is convenient to deal with the components of language separately, but because of the central place of grammar in the language system, it is sometimes necessary to refer to the other components when we discuss the grammar.

For example, if a group of learners need English mainly in order to write English they will need to attend to features of written grammar such as passives, subordination, and reported speech etc. If, on the other hand, they mainly need to be able to speak, those features will be less useful. Nevertheless, it is fair to hypothesize a complete grammar that will be useful to all learners, whatever their needs.

Thornbury believes that "Grammar is partly the study of what forms (or structures) are possible in a language Traditionally, grammar has been concerned almost exclusively with analysis at the level of the sentence. Thus a grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language's sentences are formed."( p. 1)

Grammar is conventionally seen as the study of the syntax and morphology of sentences. Put another way, it is the study of linguistic "chains" and "slots". That is, it is the study both of the way words are chained together in a particular order, and also of what kinds of words can slot into any one link in the chain.

From a learner's perspective, the ability both to recognize and to produce well-formed sentences is an essential part of learning a second language. But there are a number of problems. First, there is a great deal of debate as to how this ability is best developed. Second, it is not entirely clear what 'well-formed' really means, when a lot of naturally occurring speech seems to violate strict grammatical rules. Third, an exclusive focus on sentences, rather than on texts or on words, risks under-equipping the learner for real language use. There is more to language learning than the ability to produce well-formed sentences. Texts and words also have grammar, in the sense that there are rules governing how both texts and words are organized, but it is not always clear where, sentence grammar ends and either word grammar or text grammar begins. But, since most language teaching course books and grammars are still firmly grounded in the sentence grammar tradition, the purposes of other books are to assume grammar to mean grammar at the level or the sentence.

2.2. Grammar Teaching Approaches

In this chapter approaches and methods in language teaching are discussed, especially with respect to the role of grammar in the different approaches and methods. Many authors have written books or texts on the topic, however, most authors have approached it quite differently. For bringing the approaches and methods to language teaching in a sequence a number of books have been considered:

Scott Thornbury’s briefly describes in his book "How to Teach Grammar" (2000) the main approaches and methods relevant for the development of grammar teaching: these are the Grammar-Translation Method, the Direct Method, Audiolingualism, the Natural Approach and Communicative Language Teaching including Task-Based Learning. Thornbury basically arranges the approaches and methods chronologically and particularly discusses the role of grammar in each approach or method (Thornbury p. 23).

Bessie Dendrinos adopts in her book The EFL Textbook and Ideology (1992) a quite different way of arranging the approaches and methods to language teaching. At first Dendrinos deals with the role of the textbook in education and then examines the educational value systems in respect to foreign language teaching: these value systems are Classical Humanism, Reconstructionism and Progressivism. Under Classical Humanism Dendrinos describes the Grammar-Translation Method and the Cognitive Approach. In Reconstructionism she describes the Audio-Lingual and the Communicative Approaches. In the educational value system of Progressivism the Task-Based Approach, the Process Syllabus and the Procedural Syllabus are discussed. In examining the different approaches and methods to language teaching Dendrinos always describes a typical syllabus adhering to the discussed approach. She further critically comments especially on contemporary approaches to language teaching. Hence, certain aspects of her book are considered as well in this research paper. However, arranging approaches and methods to language teaching according to educational value systems might be rather confusing for most readers on the one hand and it does not allow a chronological perspective, which, in my opinion, shows most clearly how the different methods and approaches came into being. A chronological perspective further shows which movements motivated different innovations in language teaching and especially in grammar teaching.

Such a chronological sequencing has been adopted by Richards and Rodgers in their book "Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching". They divide their book into three main parts, namely: Major trends in twentieth-century language teaching, Alternative approaches and methods and Current communicative approaches. In the first part of their book Richards and Rodgers briefly report on the beginnings of language teaching and on first approaches and methods to language teaching. Further they distinguish between the concepts of approach and method and outline how these two concepts are related. Then they discuss the Grammar-Translation Method, the Oral and Situational Approaches to language teaching as well as the Audiolingual Method. In the second part alternative approaches and methods to language teaching are examined. However, as the authors point out, "the great majority of them did not influence mainstream language teaching" (p. 72). This is also true for contemporary teaching materials, such as the four ELT textbooks analyzed in this paper and therefore most of these alternative methods and approaches are not discussed in this research paper. In the third part current communicative approaches to language teaching are described, namely Communicative Language Teaching, the Natural Approach, Cooperative Language Learning, Content-Based Instruction and Task-Based Language Teaching. Richards and Rodgers make the chronological sequence of the development of the approaches and methods very explicit and thus their way of sequencing approaches and methods has been adopted in this chapter.

Further Richards and Rodgers arrange every method or approach in basically the same way: after a general introduction to the method or approach they divide it into three main parts, namely Approach, Design and Procedure. In the Approach-part theories of language and learning underlying the approach or method are described. In the second part, Design, the objectives of the approach or method as well as a typical syllabus are described. Further, types of learning and teaching activities, learner and teacher roles and the role of instructional materials are discussed. In "Procedure" Richards and Rodgers describe classroom procedures typical for the described approach or method. The other books described above do not make explicit how they have arranged the approaches and methods described. Richards and Rodgers’ arrangement of the approaches and methods is quite logical and makes it easier for the reader to follow the main arguments and to understand that approaches and methods consist of theories of language and learning which form the theoretical base and of adequate teaching material and procedures. Therefore, in this paper basically Richards and Rodgers’ way of arranging the approaches and methods has been adopted, although a number of other books and articles have also been considered in describing them, of course. Diane Larsen-Freeman adopted in her book "Techniques and principles in language teaching (2000)" a quite similar approach as Richards and Rodgers. Insights of her book have been included in this chapter as well.

Finally, it has to be said that not all of the existing approaches and methods to language teaching are described in this paper. Only those, which influenced mainstream language teaching and teaching materials, are discussed in detail. These mainstream approaches and methods are covered by most of the books considered in this chapter. Based on the view of Richards and Rodgers, these are:

• the Grammar-Translation Method

• the Direct Method

• the Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching

• Audiolingualism

• Communicative Langue Teaching

• the Natural Approach

• Content-Based Instruction

• Task-Based Language Teaching

The 20th century was characterized by many changes and innovations in the field of language teaching ideologies. "In the history of language teaching approaches and methods, there was a move away from methods that focus on writing and reading to methods that stronger concentrate on the skills speaking and listening. Even the actual questions concerning language teaching that are debated have already been discussed throughout the history of language teaching" (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 1-3).

Actually the first teaching methodology for acquiring a foreign language was the one applied for learning Latin. Due to the fact that Latin was the language of education 500 years ago its study was immensely important for educated learners. The detailed study of grammar, as for example studying conjugations and declensions, doing translations and writing sample sentences was seen as central in the teaching methodology at the time. The teaching methodology used for learning Latin was, after its decline from a spoken language to a school subject, adopted for learning foreign languages in general. This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the Grammar-Translation Method (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 3-4).

The Grammar-Translation Method

This method was mainly advocated by the German scholars Johann Seidenstücker, Karl Plötz, H. S. Ollendorf and Johann Meidinger and became known in the USA as Prussian Method first (Richards & Rodgers, 5). As the name already suggests, grammar was seen as starting point for instruction (Thornbury, 21). One of the main components of the Grammar-Translation Method was its "focus on the detailed study of grammar rules, followed by the application of the learned rules in translation-exercises first into and then out of the target language" (Richards & Rodgers, 5; Dendrinos, 106). In terms of the four language skills, the main focus was on writing and reading, whereas little attention was paid to speaking or listening (Richards & Rodgers, 6). Accuracy was an important feature of this method as well, since students were expected to achieve high standards in translating sentences, which was tested in written exams (Richards & Rodgers, 6).

Learning in a classroom in which principles of the Grammar-Translation Approach were taught meant learning to understand the rules underlying the sentence constructions, to memorize paradigms, to analyze sentences in their constituent parts, to classify these in terms of grammatical categories and to be able to produce new sentences on the basis of the grammar and vocabulary taught (Dendrinos, 106).

In the Grammar-Translation approach grammar was taught deductively (Richards & Rodgers, 6): in a typical lesson the grammar rule was at first explicitly stated and followed by translation exercises (Thornbury, 21). Grammar was also taught in a systematic and organized way, which was reflected in the syllabus where grammar items were sequenced from easy to more complex (Richards & Rodgers, 6). For the explanation of grammar rules and for instructions the language used in class was the native language of the students (Richards & Rodgers, 6). In grammar exercises pupils had to apply the learned rule by completing already constructed sentences and then by formulating new ones, showing that they had understood how the rule had to be used (Dendrinos, 107).

The Grammar-Translation Method was very popular and dominant in Europe from the 1840s to the 1940s and is, according to various authors (Richards & Rodgers, 6; Dendrinos, 106), still used in modified form in certain foreign language classrooms even today. The method may be frustrating for students but on the other hand expects little qualifications of teachers, since the teacher basically just has to know the rules of grammar (Richards & Rodgers, 6). There is no language theory available on which the method is based and on which it is justified. This is due to the fact that the method was adopted from a time when Latin was the most important language, 500 years ago and at this time no language teaching theory seems to have existed. It is no wonder that in the mid- and late 19th century the Grammar-Translation approach was questioned and a reform movement in Europe laid the basis for other, at the time new ways of language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 6-7).

After having presented the cornerstones of the Grammar-Translation Approach we are in a position to derive an analysis of grammar exercises. The relevant criteria of the Grammar-Translation Approach in respect to analyzing grammar exercises are:

translation exercises

deductive grammar teaching

L1 is used for explaining grammar rule

focus on writing and reading skills

typical grammar exercises: completing already constructed sentences, then formulating new ones, filling-in exercises, matching exercises, etc.

The Direct Method:

This method was developed at the end of the nineteenth century and challenged the views on grammar teaching held by the Grammar-Translation method (Thornbury, 21). The language teaching expert F. Gouin and other reformers tried to create a method based on the insights drawn from the observation of child language learning (Richards & Rodgers, 11). However, the attempt to teach a foreign language somehow like a first one is not particularly new. Already in the 16th century, for example, Montaigne explained that he was just spoken to in Latin the first years of his life, since his father wanted him to speak Latin well. L. Sauveur (1826-1907) who used intensive oral interaction as main means of instruction. In his language school in Boston in the late 1860s his method became known as the Natural Method (Richards & Rodgers, 11).

Sauver and other advocates of this method maintained that language could be taught without translation or the use of the learner’s mother tongue if demonstration and action was used to convey meaning. F. Franke (1884), a German academic, wrote about the psychological principles of direct association between forms and meaning in the target language and provided a theoretical justification for monolingual language teaching in this work. He argued that a language could be best taught to students when using it actively in class and he was against techniques that focused on the explanation of grammar rules (Richards & Rodgers, 11). The learner was supposed to pick grammar up like children in their L1, simply by being exposed to the language, that is inductively (Thornbury, 21). Further, no textbook was used in the first years of learning and the teacher was the main medium of instruction (Richards & Rodgers, 11). Consequently a textbook used in the first years of learning focused mainly on oral skills, in contrast to the Grammar-Translation method, which focused mainly on writing (Thornbury, 21). These language learning principles were the basis of the Direct Method, the most popular of the natural methods (Richards & Rodgers, 11).

In practice, the main principles of the Direct Method were:

• Classroom instruction was only given in the target language. Thus, the native language of the students was not used at all.

• Only what was considered everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.

• Oral communication skills were shaped in a carefully graded process in form of question-and-answer exchanges between teacher and pupil.

• Grammar was taught inductively.

• New teaching items were introduced orally first.

• If possible, vocabulary was taught through demonstration, actual objects or pictures. Abstract vocabulary was taught via association of ideas.

• Speech and listening comprehension were taught.

• Correct pronunciation and grammar were regarded as crucial.

(Richards & Rodgers, 12)

However, the Direct Method was also strongly criticized. Richards and Rodgers (12-13) point out that the method failed to consider the practical classroom realities: for example, the Direct Method required teachers who were native speakers or spoke with a native-like fluency. Thus, the success of the method depended on the teachers’ skills. It was further criticized that the method lacked a basis in applied linguistics and was “the product of enlightened amateurism” (Richards & Rodgers, 13). It was also criticized that the exclusive use of the target language was sometimes counterproductive since it was often easier to translate a word or phrase instead of “performing verbal gymnastics”, as the Harvard psychologist Roger Brown (Brown 1973: 5 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 13) has pointed out.

"For mainly these reasons the Direct Method declined by the 1920s in Europe. According to the British applied linguist Henry Sweet, the method gave innovations at the level of teaching procedures but lacked a clearly defined methodological basis. Sweet and other applied linguists advocated for the integration of sound methodological principles as basis for language teaching techniques. These developments led to Audiolingualism in the United States and Situational Language Teaching in Europe." According to Richards and Rodgers the Direct Method can be seen as first teaching method to be recognized by teachers and language teaching experts and its proposed methodology moved language teaching into a new era, which they call ‘the methods era’. Nevertheless the Direct Method will not be considered in the analysis of the four ELT textbooks since the method can be seen as forerunner of Situational Language Teaching and Audiolingualism, in which major principles of the Direct Method are reflected. Audiolingualism and Situational Language Teaching had a greater impact on language teaching. (Richards & Rodgers, 13-14).

The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching

Two of the major approaches and methods of the twentieth century, namely the Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching will be described (Richards & Rodgers, 1). The Oral Approach was developed by British applied linguists from the 1930s to the 1960s. Two of the most prominent leaders of the movement were the British linguists Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby (Richards & Rodgers, 36). Their aim was to develop a more scientific oral approach to language teaching than the Direct Method with the result of a systematic study of the principles and procedures that could be used for the selection and organization of the language content (Palmer 1917, 1921 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 36).

The role of grammar and vocabulary were very important in the Oral Approach. Vocabulary was seen as central component of reading proficiency and grammar was seen as crucial as well since it caused the foreign language learner problems, according to Palmer. He assumed that there was a universal grammar common to all languages. The aim of the teacher was to express this universal grammar in the foreign language. The grammatical structures were classified into sentence patterns which should help students to internalize the rules of the sentence structure of the target language (Richards & Rodgers, 36-38).

Concerning teaching methodology the Oral Approach consisted of principles of selection, gradation and presentation. Selection means the principles on which the grammatical and lexical content is chosen. Gradation specifies the sequencing and the organization of the content. Finally, presentation means the techniques used for the presentation and practice of the items learned in class. Richards and Rodgers draw attention to the fact that the Oral Approach must not be confused with the Direct Method: although both lay emphasis on the teaching of oral skills the Direct Method “lacked a systematic basis in applied linguistic theory and practice”, Richards and Rodgers (p. 38) point out.

The principles of the approach developed over a 20-year period and one of the main principles was that new language items or points should be introduced in situations. Thus, the name Situational Approach was increasingly used instead of the term Oral Approach. Further additions were made and the term Situational Language Teaching came into usage and has been extended to a method. In this research paper the term Situational Language Teaching is used as well and includes also the Oral Approach (Richards & Rodgers, 39).

"The underlying theory of language of SLT is called British structuralism. Speech was viewed as the main component of language and the basic grammatical structures were regarded as central to speaking ability. In the British view of structuralism the link between a grammatical structure and an appropriate situation, in which the structure could be practiced was its distinctive feature and mirrored the functional trend in British linguistics since the 1930s. Thus, and in contrast to American views (see Audiolingualism) language was seen as purposeful and related to aims and situations in the real world (Richards & Rodgers, 40)."

The theory of learning to which SLT adheres is Behaviorism: language learning is the learning of correct speech habits and this can be achieved, according to this view on language learning, through drilling exercises. Grammar teaching was carried out, like in the Direct Method, inductively. This means that generally no grammar rules are explained and the learner picks up the grammar by the way the structures are used in different situations. Explanation of grammar points or vocabulary are thus discouraged. The learner then should be able to apply the language learned in real life situations outside the classroom. Basically this is the same process as children learning their native language (Richards & Rodgers, 40-41).

"The main objective of SLT is the teaching of the four language skills, a goal shared with most methods and approaches to language teaching. However, in SLT the four skills are approached via structure. Further, accuracy is seen as important for grammar and pronunciation teaching and errors should be avoided whenever possible. Automatization of basic structures and sentence patterns is seen as the basis for the teaching of reading and writing skills, which are tackled through speech work. In SLT a structural syllabus is the basis for teaching. The syllabus lists the basic structures and sentence patterns of English. Moreover, structures are always taught within sentences and vocabulary is chosen according to how well it is compatible with the sentence patterns to be taught (Richards & Rodgers, 41-42)."

Typical types of learning and teaching activities are sentence pattern drills. The situations in which the drills are placed are carefully guided so that the learner can certainly infer the correct meaning of what he hears. By situation the use of concrete objects, pictures and realia together with actions and gestures by the teacher are meant. The function of the situation is to demonstrate the meaning of new language items. The teaching techniques usually include guided repetition and substitution activities, chorus repetition, dictation, drills and controlled oral-based reading and writing exercises. Sometimes, group and pair work is incorporated into the exercises as well (Richards & Rodgers, 42-43).

Learners have no control over what is learnt and their main duties are to listen to and repeat what the teacher says. The teacher, on the other hand, serves as a model and sets up situations in which the target structure can be practiced. The teacher is regarded as “skillful manipulator” who uses questions, commands, etc. to elicit correct sentences from the pupils (Richards & Rogers, 43). The teacher is central to the success of the method, since the textbook only describes exercises for the teacher to carry out in class (Richards & Rodgers, 44).

Concerning the procedure of SLT, there is a move from controlled practice to freer practice of structures and from oral use of sentence pattern to their automatization and their use in speech, reading and writing. As already said, drills are likewise embedded in situations. To illustrate this, the pattern “There’s a NOUN + of (noun) in the box” shall briefly be considered: the teacher takes things out of a box that he has placed on a table in the class and the class repeats: “There’s a bottle of ink in the box. There’s a pencil in the box.” etc. (p. 44-45).

SLT is a method that is an extension and further development to the earlier Oral Approach. The central component of SLT is the P-P-P lesson model: in this model a lesson has three phases: presentation of a new language item, controlled practice of the item and finally a freer production phase. Textbooks written on the basis of SLT are still widely used today, especially when materials are based on a grammatical curriculum. However, SLT was later called into question and finally led to Communicative Language Teaching, which will be discussed a little later in this chapter. The main principles of SLT, namely the strong emphasis on oral practice, grammar and sentence patterns offer a practical methodology to counties in which the national curriculum is grammar based (Richards & Rodgers, 47).

Audiolingual Method

One of the reasons for the development of the Audiolingual Method was the entry of the United States in World War II. Personnel were needed who spoke foreign languages like French or German fluently. Thus, the government appointed American universities to develop foreign language programs for military personnel (Richards & Rodgers, 50). One main aspect of this “Army Method” was intensive oral drilling (Richards & Rodgers, 51). Moreover, as the United States emerged as international power, there was a growing demand for teaching English to immigrants and foreign students. In the Audiolingual method most emphasis was put on the “mastery of the formal properties of language”, which means good grammatical habits (Dendrinos, 113). Grammar or ‘structure’ was the starting point of teaching and language was manifested by its basic sentence patterns and grammatical structures (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 52). Language was mainly taught through intensive oral drilling and by paying attention to pronunciation. As can be observed, the Audiolingual Method is quite similar to SLT. However, the two methods and their underlying approaches developed independently. The major difference between the two approaches is that the American one was closely connected to American structural linguistics and its applied linguistic applications.

The Audiolingual Approach consisted of remarkable linguistic analysis but contained very little pedagogy. The Aural-Oral Approach, which was proposed by linguists at Michigan and other universities, emphasized the priority of aural training in language teaching. Through the inclusion of the Aural-Oral Approach, insights taken form behaviorist psychology and contrastive analysis the Audiolingual Method was developed (Richards & Rodgers, 53).

The theory of language underlying Audiolingualism is structural linguistics. The theory was proposed by American linguists in the 1950s and was a reaction to traditional grammar teaching. In structural linguistics language was seen as system of related elements for the encoding of meaning (Richards & Rodgers, 54-55). The elements were of a phonemic, morphological and syntactic nature and were structurally interrelated. Therefore language learning meant the learning of the elements of the language and the rules by which the elements could be combined. Another very important aspect of structural linguistics is the primacy of speech: “speech is language” (Richards & Rodgers, 55). Similarly to SLT, it was argued that children learn to speak before to write and hence speech should have a priority in foreign language teaching as well (Dendrinos 1992: 115; Richards & Rodgers, 55).

In the period in which the Audiolingual Method was developed the school of American psychology, termed behavioral psychology, was said to explain all the processes of human learning (Richards & Rodgers, 56). It considered language simply as form of behavior to be learned through the formation of correct speech habits (Thornbury, 21). This learning theory was the basis of Audiolingualism and had the goal to duplicate native language habits in learners through a stimulus-response-reinforcement teaching methodology (Dendrinos, 114). These three central elements, stimulus, response and reinforcement, fulfilled different functions: the stimulus serves to elicit a behavior of a student, the student’s response is caused by a stimulus and reinforcement serves to grade the response as being appropriate or inappropriate (Richards & Rodgers, 56). Thus, reinforcement encourages or discourages repetition of the given answer by the student. Reinforcement maybe is the most important of the three components since it increases the possibility that the desired behavior of the student will occur again and finally become a habit. It is the approval of the teacher or fellow students that tells the pupil if his behavior was appropriate or inappropriate (Richards & Rodgers, 56). The stimulus-response-reinforcement scheme is visually well-described by Richards and Rodgers below:

Figure 2

(Richards & Rodgers, 57)

The Audiolingual method required a complete reorganization of the foreign language teaching curriculum. A return to speech-based instruction was proposed with the main goal of oral proficiency and the dismissal of the study of grammar or literature as main goals of foreign language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 58). According to Thornbury (21), although explicit grammar teaching was rejected, the sentence patterns to be learned were nevertheless grammatical in origin. The objectives of the Audiolingualism were a focus on oral skills in the early stages of learning with the gradual inclusion of other skills as learning develops (Richards & Rodgers, 58). Oral proficiency was understood in terms of accurate pronunciation and grammar and the ability to answer quickly and accurately in speech situations such as conversations (Richards & Rodgers, 58).

Audiolingualism is linguistic, or structure-based. Hence its syllabus is a linguistic one (Richards & Rodgers, 59). According to Dendrinos (113) it contains items of grammar and syntax, phonology and lexicon of the target language. Thornbury (21) writes that the Audiolingual syllabus consists of sentence patterns, which need to be practiced in class through pattern-practice drills. The four language skills are taught in the order of listening, speaking, reading and writing (Richards & Rodgers, 59). Listening shall help the student to identify basic sound patterns. In early stages language is usually presented exclusively orally (59). After the student has recognized and differentiated between the heard sound patterns, he or she has to imitate, repeat and memorize them. Only after the student has mastered these patterns his or her vocabulary will be enlarged as well. Further, accuracy should be achieved before fluency. When reading and writing is introduced, students learn to read and write only what they have already mastered orally. Generally, in speaking and writing, the risk of making mistakes should be kept to an absolute minimum (Richards & Rodgers, 59).

Basic learning and teaching exercises of the Audiolingual Method are dialogues and drills. Through dialogues structures are contextualized and cultural aspects of the target language can be included as well. Moreover, dialogues are used for repetition and memorization of sentence structures. Correct pronunciation, stress, speech rhythm and intonation are seen as crucial. After the students have memorized the dialogue, specific grammatical patterns are selected and practiced in pattern-practice drills (Richards & Rodgers, 59). Richards and Rodgers point out that “the use of drills and pattern practice is a distinctive feature of the Audiolingual Method” (Richards & Rodgers, 60). Further, Richards and Rodgers as well as Dendrinos mention various kinds of drills, such as repetition drills, completion drills, substitution drills, etc. (Richards & Rodgers, 60-62; Dendrinos, 114-115). The drills of the four ELT textbooks analyzed are mainly repetition drills in which students repeat utterances aloud as soon as he or she has heard it (Richards & Rodgers, 60). However, in a certain number of drills of the textbook analysis students hear a conversation, a song or a couple of sentences before they have to repeat them. Hence, there is no one-to-one match between the drills of the ELT textbooks analyzed and the category of repetition drills as mentioned by Richards and Rodgers. The other types of drills mentioned by them clearly do not correspond to the drills in the textbooks. Hence, in the textbook analysis the category of drills will not be differentiated and analyzed in general and not according to these types just mentioned. The role of the learner in Audiolingualism was a reactive one. He has to respond to stimuli and thus has little control over the content, pace or style of learning. In behaviorist learning theory the learner is seen as organism that produces correct responses through the teaching techniques proposed by the method. Hence Audiolingualism, as SLT, is a teacher-dominated method. The teacher plays the more active part, as he is central in the learning and teaching process (Richards & Rodgers, 62). According to Richards and Rodgers “the teacher models the target language, controls the direction and pace of learning, and monitors and corrects the learners’ performance” (Richards & Rodgers, 62). Language learning is viewed as the outcome of verbal interaction between the teacher and the students (Richards & Rodgers, 63).

The instructional material used in the Audiolingual Method was therefore teacher-oriented as well. Textbooks for students were often introduced after the elementary learning stages of the pupils, in which pupils’ tasks were mainly to listen, repeat and respond. When textbooks are introduced to students, they usually contain dialogues and drilling exercises. Moreover, tape or CD recordings and audiovisual material are crucial in an Audiolingual course (Richards & Rodgers, 63).

The process of teaching mainly focuses on intensive oral instruction. Students are supposed to produce immediate and accurate speech. Only little time is spent for the explanation of grammatical structures or talking about the target language. Usually the target language is the medium of instruction and translation exercises as well as other uses of the learners’ native language are dismissed (Richards & Rodgers, 64). According to Richards and Rodgers (64) in "typical lessons students first hear a model dialogue, which they have to repeat and to memorize. Then, the dialogue may be acted out by the students" (p. 65). After that, key structures of the dialogue are selected and practiced in the form of pattern drills. After that, different follow-up activities may follow, including other language skills as well (Richards and Rodgers, 65).

Dendrinos writes that in a "typical lesson language patterns, which are related to specific themes, may be first presented as well. Students have to learn these by heart and only after they have done so does the teacher provide the literal meaning of the learned patterns, avoiding the mother tongue at all costs. Then follow drills in which the language structures are further practiced. After that a reading passage may follow, which is accompanied by comprehension questions. Moreover, a conversation is also presented in a typical unit, which has to be memorized and then acted out by students" (p. 115). Finally, more drills follow which are less controlled as well as a series of completion, fill-in and reconstruction exercises providing students with further practice. She further distinguishes between the Audiolingual Approach and the Audiovisual Approach. She points out that in the Audiovisual Approach many illustrations complement the new language so that pupils are always aware of the meaning of the language and hence “parrot-learning” is tried to be avoided more deliberately. In this research paper the term Audiolingualism or Audiolingual Method will be used including both of these forms.

Alternative and Contemporary Approaches and Methods to Language Teaching

Although Chomsky’s theory was quite influential no methodological guidelines emerged for it and the lack of an alternative method to the Audiolingual Method led to a period of experimentation and also some confusion in language teaching in the 1970s and 1980s (Richards & Rodgers, 66-67). Several alternative methods and approaches were proposed but none of them influenced mainstream language teaching and foreign language teaching with a lasting effect. These alternative methods include Total Physical Response, the Silent Way and Counseling-Learning. According to Richards & Rodgers, these proposals attracted some attention, but never reached a significant level of acceptance. Other proposals have mirrored developments in general education and other fields of study outside language teaching. These proposals are Whole Language, Multiple Intelligences, Neurolinguistic Programming, Competency-Based Language Teaching and Cooperative Language Learning. Richards and Rodgers point out that:

"Mainstream language teaching since the 1980s, however, has generally drawn on contemporary theories of language and second language acquisition as a basis for teaching proposals. The Lexical Approach, Communicative Language Teaching, the Natural Approach, Content-Based Teaching, and Task-Based Teaching are representative of this last group" (p. 67).

These contemporary methods and approaches to language teaching will be discussed in this research paper in detail, since they are relevant for the textbook analysis in chapter four. The methods and approaches that Richards and Rodgers have labeled alternative, will not be described in this paper norincluded in the textbook analysis, since they have not had much impact on mainstream language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 67).

Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), as discussed on the following pages, stands for a concept of language teaching that focuses on the functional and communicative potential of language (Richards & Rodgers, 153). CLT is an approach that can be interpreted and adapted in many different ways. According to Richards & Rodgers, this is due to the fact that teachers and language teaching experts from “different educational traditions can identify with it, and consequently interpret it in different ways” (Richards & Rodgers 157). Nevertheless, the key characteristic of Communicative Language Teaching is communication: “Language learning is learning to communicate” (Finocchiaro & Brumfit, 1983: 91).

The Natural Approach is another current approach to language teaching, although not as widely established as CLT. Krashen’s theories of language learning, which underlie this approach, have had a great effect on the debate about language learning theories, particularly in the United States. The issues addressed by the Natural Approach are still in the centre of debates about learning methods today (Richards & Rodgers, 151). Cooperative Language Learning, Richards & Rodgers point out, has its origins outside of language teaching, however is compatible with the principles of CLT and thus a straightforward way of foreign language teaching and learning. Content-Based Teaching, on the other hand, is “a logical development of some of the core principles of Communicative Language Teaching, particularly those that relate to the role of meaning in language learning” (p. 151). Task-Based Teaching can be seen as development of a communicative methodology, in which communicative methodology and recent theories of second language acquisition are combined (Richards & Rodgers, 151).

On the following pages, CLT, the Natural Approach, the Lexical Approach, Content-Based Teaching and Task-Based Teaching will be described more closely, since these are the current approaches that have had a more lasting effect on foreign language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 67).

The origins of CLT can be found in changes in the British language teaching tradition (Richards & Rodgers, 153). The Situational Approach (see SLT) had run its course and “predicting language on the basis of situational events” was called into question (Howatt 1984: 280). According to Dendrinos it was mainly criticized that predicting which language students would need to use in specific situations was extremely difficult. Further it is also very hard to say which specific situations students will be likely to encounter in their later life or which will be important in their later profession. Moreover, Noam Chomsky stressed in his book Syntactic Structures the importance of the creative and unique potential of language (Richards & Rodgers, 153). At the time, British linguists further viewed the communicative and functional potential of language as central in foreign language teaching and language teaching in general. They saw it more useful to focus primarily on communicative proficiency and not, as proposed in SLT and Audiolingualism, on the mastery of grammatical structures (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 153).

According to Richards & Rodgers, today European and American language teaching experts view CLT as an approach, and not a method which has communicative competence as its goal of language teaching and which seeks to include all of the four language skills into communicative exercises.

CLT is considered as an approach and not a method since it is compatible with many teaching methods. There is no specific teaching methodology available for CLT. The availability of a teaching methodology would be typical for a method (Richards & Rodgers, 172).

The great coverage of the Communicative Approach and the great range of teaching and learning procedures and exercises compatible with it, however, make it hard to compare CLT to other approaches and methods: for some CLT simply means the teaching of grammar and functions, for others it means using classroom procedures such as pair or group work, in which a problem has to be solved or an information-gap between the two parties has to be mastered (Richards & Rodgers, 155).

Some scholars, such as Thornbury or Howatt distinguish between a “weak” or “shallow-end” version of CLT and a “strong” or “deep-end” version of CLT (Howatt 1984: 279; Thornbury 2000: 22). In weak or shallow-end CLT, which is according to the authors today’s standard, grammar is still the main aspect of the syllabus, although it is often “dressed up in functional labels: asking the way, talking about yourself, making future plans etc.” (Thornbury, 22). Some of these functions just cited are also found in some of the ELT textbooks analyzed, as shall be seen later in the analysis part of this paper. In the strong version, which Thornbury referred to as deep-end CLT, explicit grammar instruction is rejected and instead a syllabus of tasks is proposed. It is no wonder that this was the predecessor of the Task-Based Approach to language teaching, Thornbury points out. The Task-Based Approach to language teaching will be discussed later in this chapter. In this text rather the shallow-end or weak version of CLT will be described. After having introduced many different views on CLT, what can definitely be stated is that CLT involves some form of communication, which is manifested in communicative exercises and moreover the functional potential of language is viewed as crucial (c.f. Richards & Rodgers, 153).

The underlying theory of language of CLT logically views language as communication. The goal of teaching is to develop communicative competence (Richards & Rodgers, 159). There are rules and regularities governing the relationship between the linguistic form of a message and other constituent parts of the speech event. Hymes points out that “there are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless” (Hymes 1971). For him rules of use are rules of appropriacy linking forms of language to contextual features. These rules depend on the roles and relationships of the participants, the physical setting, the psychological scene, the topic, the purpose, the attitudinal key, the channel of communication, the code of language variety, the norms of interaction, the physical distance, the norms of interpretation and the genre. The aim clearly is to develop learners’ communicative competence (Dendrinos, 118). Referring to the role of grammar Thornbury states that "Communicative competence involves knowing how to use the grammar and vocabulary of the language to achieve communicative goals, and knowing how to do this in a socially appropriate way " (Thornbury, 18).

In contrast to the various works that have been written on the theory of language very little has been written on the theory of learning in CLT (Richards & Rodgers, 161). However, some CLT practices can be defined as theories of learning: according to Richards and Rodgers (2007: 161), these are the communication principle (exercises that emphasize real communication promote learning), the task principle (exercises in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks encourage learning) and the meaningfulness principle (meaningful language supports the learning process) (c.f. Johnson 1983). Others have tried rather to describe theories of the language learning process, which are compatible with CLT. For example Steven Krashen’s theory of language learning and acquisition, which is not directly associated with CLT, stresses that language learning takes place by using language communicatively (Richards & Rodgers, 161-162).

The objectives of CLT, as represented in the curriculum, incorporate aspects of communicative competence in accordance with learners’ proficiency level and their communicative needs. Learners’ needs are defined in terms of four language skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking, and each skill is approached from a communicative perspective (Richards & Rodgers, 163). Wilkins divided the syllabus into two main parts, namely semantic-grammatical categories and categories of communicative functions. His work was adopted by the Council of Europe and expanded in terms of the situations in which adult learners might typically be involved (travel, business, etc.), the topics of interest (education, shopping, etc.), the language functions learners might have to perform (requesting information, describing things, agreeing and disagreeing, etc.) the notions used in communication (time, frequency, etc.) and finally the needed vocabulary and grammar for performing these speech acts (Richards & Rodgers, 163). The outcome was published in Threshold Level English by Van Ek (1980). According to Richards & Rodgers the Threshold Level should “specify what was needed in order to be able to achieve a reasonable degree of communicative proficiency in a foreign language, including the language items needed” (p. 163). However, this type of syllabus was also criticized. For example, Widdowson expressed the opinion that the Functional-Notional Approach does not deal with language in context but only with concepts and functions in idealized isolation. He states that notional syllabuses “are notional rather than structural isolations, but they are isolates all the same (p. 48). Such teaching materials do not take into account that communication does not take place through the linguistic exponence of concepts or functions as self-contained units of meaning, but as discourse whereby meanings are negotiated through interaction".

The learners are seen as individuals with unique interests, styles of learning, needs and goals, which should be considered in instructional materials and by the teacher (Richards & Rodgers, 158). According to Breen and Candlin the CLT learner is a “negotiator – between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning” (p. 110). Further, within the group the learner is joint negotiator, as for example in classroom procedures and group work. Not surprisingly it is also argued that some of these CLT principles may cause confusion among learners. This is especially the case, when the preconceptions of learners of what teaching and learning should be like are not met (Richards & Rodgers, 166). Therefore learning procedures have to be introduced consciously and carefully. For Richards and Rodgers in CLT the teacher takes over the roles of needs analyst, counselor and group process manager: the teacher is responsible for finding out about learners’ language needs. This can be done via one-to-one discussions with students, via a needs assessment test or any other procedure that might help the teacher to find out about students’ needs. As counselor the teacher is supposed to exemplify an effective communicator seeking to maximize the meshing of speaker intention and hearer interpretation, through the use of paraphrase, confirmation, and feedback (Richards & Rodgers, 168).

As group process manager the teacher has to organize the classroom as setting in which communication and communicative activities can take place. Further the teacher monitors group processes, encourages students to speak and helps students in mastering gaps in vocabulary, grammar and communication strategies (Richards & Rodgers, 168).

The role of instructional materials in CLT is quite clear: they have to promote communicative language use. Richards and Rodgers have defined three kinds of materials in CLT: text-based materials, task-based materials and realia. Text-based materials are for example textbooks that are written around a mainly structural syllabus, but have adapted their exercises to be regarded as communicative. Task-based materials are role plays, games and communication exercises in which students have to perform certain tasks (Richards & Rodgers, 169). Realia are authentic, real life materials. They contain language like it is actually used in real life. Examples of realia are signs, magazines, advertisements, newspapers, etc. (Richards & Rodgers, 170). The difference between text-based and task-based materials according to Richards and Rodgers is quite fuzzy and ambiguous, since it is not clear if, for example, pair work is regarded as text-based or task-based material or as both. Hence in this paper exercises will be regarded as communicative if at least two parties are involved, which is usually the case in group or pair work.

According to Richards and Rodgers a number of procedures can be brought in connection with CLT as for example group work, language games or role plays. However, none of these exercises are used in CLT classes exclusively. In a typical lesson teaching points such as for example the function “making a suggestion” are introduced via dialogues. Then the grammatical items are practiced in isolation. After the controlled practice freer activities are provided such as group or pair work. In group and pair work the practice of the language functions and forms is encouraged. Further the context and situation in which the dialogues and exercises take place are described as well: people, roles, setting, topic and degree of formality or informality of the language used (Richards & Rodgers, 170-171). They observe that such teaching procedures have much in common with those adhering to Audiolingualism or SLT. According to them “traditional procedures are not rejected but are reinterpreted and extended” in CLT (p. 171).

Others such as Savignon (1983) reject that learners should first practice items in a controlled way before striving for freer production. She suggests that communicative practice should be given from the beginning (Richards & Rodgers, 172). Dendrinos critically comments that textbooks claiming to be communicative frequently include exercises which drill in language patterns as realizations of particular language functions. However, such exercises are in fact not in any significant way different from those of a structurally based textbook concerned exclusively with learners’ ability to produce grammatically correct sentences. In order to make an activity really communicative, she emphasizes that learners need to be provided with the sociolinguistic parameters of the communicative event, such as setting, scene, topic, purpose, roles and relationships of the participants. Then learners could develop the knowledge necessary in order to use language appropriately. An example of such an exercise is the following:

Figure 3 (Dendrinos, 61)

CLT is an approach, which emphasizes the communicative potential of language and which is compatible with a great variety of classroom procedures and which according to Richards and Rodgers can be best described by the following principles:

• Learners learn a language through using it to communicate.

• Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.

• Fluency is an important dimension of communication.

• Communication involves the integration of different language skills

• Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error (Richards & Rodgers, 172).

Further, CLT includes procedures which identify learners’ needs and classroom exercises which promote communication such as group work, task-work, information-gap activities etc. (Richards & Rodgers: 173). They state that these principles today are largely accepted in foreign language teaching, also because they are very general. According to them, a large number of textbooks and other teaching materials have been based on principles of CLT, although to different degrees. Dendrinos, however, supports the view that communication is an unpredictable process and therefore attempts to predict learners’ communicative needs do not make much sense: the Communicative Approach claims to consider learner’s individual needs since it is related to what learners wish and are able to do. However, Dendrinos argues, this is not the case because curricula and syllabuses are designed for large groups of pupils who are presumed to have common needs because of their similar characteristics like their age. She points out that textbooks in which such predictions of communicative needs of students are taken into account provide only samples of stereotypical exchanges among people in dialogues and will never allow learners to develop the verbal strategies, which go along with being a person in a new language (Di Pietro 1976: 53 quoted in Dendrinos, 124).

Nevertheless CLT has influenced many other approaches and methods to language teaching as will be seen on the following pages (Richards & Rodgers, 174). After having described and discussed different views on Communicative Language Teaching in great detail a number of generally accepted criteria will be derived from this approach for the textbook analysis in this paper:

• group or pair exercises (debates, discussions, role plays, tasks, etc.)

• inductive grammar teaching

• language functions (grammar presented in the form of language functions)

• contextualized grammar exercises (forms of language linked to contextual features)

• learner-oriented exercises

The Natural Approach

The Natural Approach was developed by Tracy Terrell, a Spanish teacher in California and by the well-known applied linguist Steven Krashen (Richards & Rodgers, 178). Terrell introduced, in her opinion, a new philosophy on language teaching, which she called the Natural Approach (Terrell 1982: 121). Krashen provided with his influential theory of second language acquisition the theoretical base for the Natural Approach. He believed that people are naturally equipped for language acquisition (Thornbury, 21). Together they published their book "The Natural Approach" (1984). Main principles of the approach were that language was used in communicative situations without any help of the mother tongue and grammar teaching was rejected. Although quite similar at first glance, the Natural Approach has to be distinguished from the Direct Method (Richards & Rodgers, 178). What they have in common is that both try to replicate the conditions of first language acquisition (Thornbury, 21).

However, in the Natural Approach less attention is given to "teacher monologues, direct repetition, and formal questions and answers, and less focus on accurate production of the target-language sentences" (p.179).

In the Natural Approach input rather than practice is in the main focus of teaching and learning (Richards & Rodgers, 179). Innate processes would then convert this input into output (Thornbury, 21).The central role of comprehension in the Natural Approach links it to comprehension-based approaches, such as the Total Physical Response Method (Richards &Rodgers, 179).

Regarding the theory of language underlying the Natural Approach Krashen and Terrell view communication as main function of language. Thus they call their approach a communicative approach to language teaching (Richards &Rodgers, 179). Further, they emphasize the importance of meaning, since according to them the lexicon mainly defines language and grammar only “inconsequently” regulates how the lexicon has to be used to produce messages (Richards& Rodgers, 180). Nevertheless lexical items in messages or texts are grammatically structured and more complex messages or texts entail more complex grammar. Krashen and Terrell note that there are grammatical structures involved, however in their view it is not necessary to explicitly teach grammar, since it is picked up like children pick up the grammar of their native language (Richards& Rodgers, 180).

Krashen’s theory of language acquisition provides the theory of learning of the Natural Approach. He lists five main hypothesis in his theory which will be briefly described: in his Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis he states that acquisition is an unconscious process and the natural way of learning a language, like in children learning their first language. It involves processes that develop language proficiency through understanding language and meaningful communication. Learning, on the other hand, is a process in which language rules are consciously developed. Formal teaching as for example correcting errors helps learners to develop “learned” rules. However, learning cannot lead to acquisition. In his Monitor Hypothesis Krashen states that conscious learning can only function as a monitor or editor that controls and repairs the output of the acquired linguistic system. He claims that conscious learning has only this monitor function (Richards & Rodgers, 181).

In the Natural Order Hypothesis Krashen describes that grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable and hence natural order. He backs up this statement by research findings in first language acquisition. He further points out that a similar natural order is found in second language acquisition. In the Input Hypothesis Krashen discusses the relationship between input and acquisition. According to him, acquisition best takes place when learners are exposed to input that is “slightly beyond their current level of competence” (Richards & Rodgers, 182). Krashen calls this input in combination with the situation, context and the students’ knowledge of the world comprehensible input. Krashen’s 5th hypothesis is the Affective Filter Hypothesis. It states that the learner’s emotional state or attitude strongly affects learning. Successful learning also depends considerably on the motivation, self-confidence and anxiety of learners. Thus a relaxed and secure atmosphere should exist in class (Richards & Rodgers, 182-183).

Concerning the syllabus, typical aims for language classes primarily emphasize oral communication skills, such as requesting information, obtaining lodging in a hotel, etc. Communication goals are described in terms of situations, functions and topics, which are most likely to be useful and interesting for beginners. Therefore the aims of a class are “based on an assessment of student needs” (p. 71).

The learning and teaching activities of the Natural Approach focus mainly on the presentation of comprehensible input in the target language. To minimize anxiety among learners they do not have to say anything until they feel ready to do so. Until then they have to respond to teacher commands or questions in other ways, for example physically (Richards & Rodgers, 185). Charts, pictures, advertisements or other realia serve as form of comprehensible input and can be used by the teacher to ask questions which students at the beginning respond with yes or no or with single words (Richards & Rodgers, 186). Pair and group work may also be carried out in class in which meaningful communication takes place. Command-techniques, borrowed from Total Physical Response, are implemented in classrooms as well. Further, Direct Method exercises such as mime, gesture and context are also used to receive answers form learners. Richards and Rodgers point out that in the end there is nothing new in the Natural Approach concerning teaching procedures and techniques. Hence the approach is characterized by "the use of familiar techniques within the framework of a method that focuses on providing comprehensible input and a classroom environment that cues comprehension of input, minimizes learner anxiety, and maximizes learner self-confidence" (p. 186).

The learner role in the Natural Approach is quite active since the learner decides on when he feels ready to speak, what to speak about and which linguistic expressions to use (Richards & Rodgers, 186). The teacher on the other hand has the function to provide the comprehensible input for the learners. Moreover, the teacher has to create a friendly and interesting class atmosphere (Richards & Rodgers, 187). He or she also has to decide on group sizes, content and context of the exercises carried out (Richards & Rodgers, 188). The instructional materials have the main function of making classroom activities meaningful by supplying situations and contexts, which help the learners to understand and hence acquire (Krashen & Terrell 1983: 55). Pictures and other visuals are often used in classrooms based on the Natural Approach as well as games, which are regarded as useful activities, since students then concentrate on what they are doing more deliberately and are using the language as tool to play the game (Richards & Rodgers, 188). However, the Natural Approach is quite demanding for the teacher since he or she has to collect and select materials, which provide learners with comprehensible input (Richards & Rodgers, 188).

The activities suggested in the Natural Approach are all essential components in other approaches and methods such as SLT, CLT, Total Physical Response and other methods (Richards & Rodgers, 189). This can be seen by looking at a typical lesson: first of all Total Physical Response commands are given to which students have to respond physically such as “first touch your nose, then stand up” (p. 76). Then students have to answer questions as for example “What is your name?” with single words. Visuals such as magazine pictures are used to introduce new vocabulary items. Then the new vocabulary is combined with commands of the Total Physical Response Method such as “Jim, find the picture of the little girl with her dog and give it to the woman with the pink blouse” (Krashen & Terrell p. 77). All these activities have in common that they should provide learners with a flow of comprehensible input and provide the necessary vocabulary, appropriate gestures, context, repetition and paraphrase to make sure that students understand the input (Richards & Rodgers, 190).

To sum up, the Natural Approach does not introduce any new teaching procedures and techniques. It rejects explicit grammar instruction and the organization of the syllabus around grammatical categories. The Natural Approach can be viewed as a method that “emphasizes comprehensible and meaningful practice activities, rather than production of grammatically perfect utterances and sentences” (Richards & Rodgers, 190). Since the method does not introduce any innovations in terms of language teaching materials or grammar teaching materials, the method will not be considered in the analysis part of this paper (Richards & Rodgers, 190).

Content-Based Instruction

Developed in the 1980s Content Based Instruction (CBI) draws on principles of CLT and is a further development of it (Richards & Rodgers, 204). The difference between CBI and CLT, however, lies in their focus (Larsen-Freeman, 137). In CLT a lesson is typically centered on giving students opportunities to practice the learned communicative functions. CBI on the other hand does not mainly focus on functions or on any other language item but it gives “priority to process over predetermined linguistic content“ (p. 137). In the words of Howatt, rather than „learning to use English“ pupils „use English to learn it“ (p. 279). A CBI course is typically organized around the content, the subject matter to be taught and not a linguistic, grammatical or other syllabus type (Richards & Rodgers, 204). As the main focus of the CBI approach lies on the teaching of content it is easy to conclude that the teaching aim is to convey meaningful content to students (Richards & Rodgers, 204). Language is used to teach the subject matter and the language itself is acquired “as a by-product of learning about real-world content"(p. 205).

Figure 4

(Larsen-Freeman, 138)

Henry Widdowson (1978) advocates the implication of CBI in language classes and states that in schools topics from other subjects should be taught in English. According to him

"simple experiments in physics and chemistry, biological processes in plants and animals, map-drawing, descriptions of historical events and so on (…) should be taught in English . The reason for adopting such a teaching methodology is according to Widdowson that (…) if such a procedure were adopted, the difficulties associated with the presentation of language use in the classroom would, to a considerable degree, disappear." (p.36)

In other words, the teacher would not have to think about how to place the language learned in class in a meaningful context. However, as shall be seen later, the CBI teacher has to carry out a number of other quite demanding tasks. CBI is a common teaching practice in many different areas of language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 205). Nevertheless, as Larsen-Freeman points out, “Using content from other disciplines in language courses is not a new idea” (p. 137). For years there have been specialized language courses for particular professions or academic disciplines, which have included content relevant for them. For example, the content of a language course for an airline pilot is different from the one for a computer scientist.

CBI is based on two basic principles:

• People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself.

• Content-Based Instruction better reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language (Richards & Rodgers, 207).

In school the needs of the learners are the teaching content of other subjects (Richards & Rodgers, 210). Concerning the underlying theory of language Richards and Rodgers propose three basic principles:

• language is text- and discourse based

• language use draws on integrated skills

• language is purposeful

The first assumption holds that in discourse or in texts as they occur in the real word, language normally consists of more than single and isolated sentences, as practiced in some traditional language teaching exercises. Cohesion and coherence are important concepts within text and discourse. Thus, it makes sense to teach texts such as letters, reports, essays etc. or speech events such as meetings, lectures or discussions (Richards & Rodgers, 208). The second assumption, that language draws on integrated skills, states that like in real communication outside the classroom more than one language skill at a time has to be carried out. Grammar is for example not an individual component in real communication but part of language and a component of other skills. Thus activities in CBI usually incorporate more than one skill to be practiced, since this best reflects language use in the real world. What concerns the teaching of grammar, in CBI grammar can be presented, however it is the teacher’s task to “identify relevant grammatical and other linguistic focuses to complement the topic or theme of the activities” (p. 208). Hence, explicit grammar teaching is compatible with CBI. The third assumption states that language is purposeful: this means that language is used for specific purposes such as academic or social ones. The purpose gives direction, shape and meaning to discourse and text. According to Richards and Rodgers learners can benefit far more when the purpose is in tune with the learners’ own interests. However, they point out, to make the learning content comprehensible for students teachers need to make adjustments and simplifications, like native speakers do when talking to foreigners. Similarly Larsen-Freeman states that when students study subjects in a nonnative language they will need a great amount of assistance in understanding subject matter texts.

Regarding the theory of learning CBI is based on the already cited two core principles: students learn a foreign language more successfully when the focus is on acquiring information and not on the language itself (Richards & Rodgers, 209). This statement is supported by a number of studies such as the one by Scott (1974 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 209). The second principle, that CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a foreign language is supported by the view that students learn a second language most successfully:

"when the information they are acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful, and leading to a desired goal." (p. 209)

This claim is as well backed by studies that justify the increase of motivation among learners when the learning content and goal of learning are perceived as relevant and interesting (Richards & Rodgers, 209). Another principle in learning theory is that “some content areas are more useful as a basis for language learning than others” (Richards & Rodgers, 211). For example, geography is often one of the first topics of a CBI course, since the subject is “highly visual, spatial and contextual; it lends itself to the use of maps, charts, and realia, and the language tends to be descriptive in nature with use of the ‘to be,’ cognates and proper names” (Corin quoted in Stryker and Leaver, 288). This example of teaching content clearly shows that grammar has its place in the selection of topics, since at the beginning of a language course a teacher would rather choose language containing simpler grammatical structures than at an advanced level.

When instruction reflects learners’ needs, as the second principle introduced at the beginning suggests, students learn best. This assumption emphasizes the CBI concept and if a CBI approach is chosen in school for example, the needs of the students are those of the curriculum content of the different subjects (Richards & Rodgers, 210). A last principle of the learning theory of CBI is that teaching should build on the previous experiences of the learners (Richards & Rodgers, 211). The teacher has to start a lesson from the point where the students are “standing”, in other words from what they already know about the content (Richards & Rodgers, 211). This learning principle is quite common, not only in language teaching but also in other subjects in school.

As already stated, the objectives of a CBI course are described in terms of the content to be taught. Language learning on the other hand takes place more or less incidentally (Richards & Rodgers, 211). The syllabus in CBI is usually derived from the content areas to be covered and is thus a theme-based one. As the name already suggests the syllabus is built around specific topics and subtopics (Richards & Rodgers, 212). According to Larsen-Freeman, the selection and sequencing of language items depends on the communicative needs of the learners and is not predetermined by the syllabus. She further states that there must be clear language objectives as well, besides the content learning objectives since students need a great amount of assistance in understanding the non-native language content. The topics or units of the syllabus are designed and sequenced so that they “relate to one another so as to create a cohesive transition of certain skills, vocabulary, structures, and concepts” (Brinton et al. 1989: 35). Typically, the first units are themes of generally high interest that are easily accessible. Later units deal with more complex themes that require the mastery of certain skills, vocabulary, grammatical structures and concepts. This shows that grammar has its place in the CBI syllabus. As already stated, topics, which require more complex grammatical structures are typically introduced in later units.

To conclude, CBI is an approach to second language teaching which is, according to Richards and Rodgers one of the “leading curricular approaches in language teaching” today (Richards & Rodgers 220). "CBI is a development of the Communicative Approach and, as the name suggests, focuses on the content to be taught, rather than on the language itself. Hence, instructional exercises that focus on language itself are generally rejected. Further, teaching and learning materials need to be authentic, in other words taken from the real world, such as articles of magazines, newspapers, etc. Textbooks are contrary to the principles of CBI and therefore principles of this approach are hardly found in textbooks. Nevertheless, in most ELT textbooks the teaching of content and not just language itself is today standard. Further, CBI also permits explicit grammar instruction, however the teacher is responsible for deciding when to do so. Grammar exercises, as analyzed in the four ELT textbooks, are not part of CBI and consequently the approach will not be considered in the textbook analysis of this paper. However, the principle of integrating of more than one skill into an exercise will be considered in the textbook analysis (Richards & Rodgers, 220)."

Task-Based Language Teaching

The Task-Based Approach to language teaching was introduced in the 1980s and is a logical development of CLT, since it draws on a number of CLT principles such as:

• Activities that involve real communication are essential for language learning

• Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning (Richards & Rodgers, 223)

In the Task-Based Approach (TBA) it is assumed that these principles can be best implemented in class through tasks (Richards & Rodgers, 223). Advocates of the TBA argue that:

"engaging learners in task work provides a better context for the activation of learning processes than form-focused activities, and hence ultimately provides better opportunities for language learning to take place. In the TBA language tasks are the core unit of organization and instruction in language teaching." (p. 223).

The definition of a task varies from author to author, however, a generally accepted definition is that a task is an activity or goal that is carried out using language, such as finding a solution to a puzzle, reading a map and giving directions, making a telephone call, writing a letter, or reading a set of instructions and assembling a toy (Richards & Rodgers, 224).

According to Skehan tasks:

"are activities which have meaning as their primary focus. Success in tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks generally bear some resemblance to real-life language use” (Skehan, 20).

Feez differentiates between tasks which learners might need in real life and those that have a pedagogical purpose specific to the classroom (1998: 17 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 224).

Figure 5

(Larsen-Freeman, 145)

The TBA primarily draws on theories of learning, however several assumptions about the theory of language underlie Task-Based Language Teaching: firstly, it is viewed, that the main function of language is making meaning, as is expressed in other forms of CLT as well (Richards & Rodgers, 226). Skehan argues that in carrying out tasks meaning is primary, since it is the outcome in terms of content of the task that is being assessed (Skehan, 98). Another principle of the TBA is that it incorporates structural, functional and interactional models of language (Richards & Rodgers, 226). For example, in determining the linguistic complexity of tasks, structural criteria are often employed for doing so, which is a very traditional way of sequencing language teaching material (Richards & Rodgers, 227). Other researchers have proposed to focus on the interactional dimension of tasks: Pica, for example, distinguishes between interactional activity and communicative goal (1994 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 227). Another principle of Task-Based Language Teaching is that conversation is seen as key element in acquiring a second language (Richards & Rodgers, 228). Thus, the majority of tasks within the TBA involve conversation.

Concerning the theory of learning the TBA shares the general assumptions about the nature of language learning, that underlie CLT. Nevertheless, some additional learning principles are incorporated in the task-based theory of learning: many language teaching experts assume that both input and output processing are necessary for successful second language acquisition. They emphasize that comprehensible input alone, as proposed by Krashen (see Natural Approach) is not enough. Another learning principle of the TBA is that tasks are said to heighten the motivation among learners and hence improve learning (Richards & Rodgers, 229). The reason for this is that "they require the learners to use authentic language, they have well-defined dimensions and closure, they are varied in format and operation, they typically include physical activity, they involve partnership and collaboration, they may call on the learner’s past experience, and they tolerate and encourage a variety of communication styles" (p. 229)

Another claim for the implementation of tasks in language teaching is that they can be designed to focus on particular aspects of language or uses of language (Richards & Rodgers, 229). For example, tasks can be designed to focus on a specific language structure, thus on form or accuracy. However, as Skehan points out, task designers have to make a compromise between accuracy and fluency or meaning. Skehan views both aspects, accuracy and fluency, as important features of tasks (1998: 97).

A task-based syllabus then consists of tasks to be carried out by learners (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 231). Nunan (1989:) proposes a syllabus that specifies two types of tasks:

• Real-world tasks, which are based on a needs analysis of learners and reflect tasks that learners are likely to encounter later in the real world

• Pedagogical tasks, which have a psycholinguistic base in second language acquisition research and theory but do not necessarily reflect tasks which might occur in the real world (Nunan 1989: 40-41).

Using the telephone would be an example of a real-world task. An information-gap task, as defined on the following pages, would be an example of a pedagogical task (Richards & Rodgers, 231). Norris, Brown, Hudson and Yoshioka (1998 quoted in Richards & Rodgers, 232) give examples of representative real-world tasks grouped according to themes. An example would be the theme “planning a vacation” and the adequate tasks would be

• decide where you can go based on the ‘advantage miles’,

• booking a flight

• choosing a hotel

• booking a room

In contrast to a task-based syllabus, Richards and Rodgers also describe a conventional syllabus in order to mark the differences between the two syllabus types (Richards & Rodgers, 230). A conventional syllabus specifies the content of a language course in respect to the following categories:

• language structures

• functions

• topics and themes

• macro-skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking)

• competencies

• text types

• vocabulary targets

This syllabus type reflects the table of contents of many contemporary ELT textbooks. The conventional syllabus type describes learning content and outcomes and can be used as basis for classroom teaching. In contrast to that, the task-based syllabus focuses more on processes of learning than on specific content and skills that should be acquired through these processes (Richards & Rodgers, 231).

As already explained at the beginning of this section there are various views on the definition of a task. Hence, there are quite a number of different descriptions of learning and teaching activities in a TBA (Richards & Rodgers, 233). Prabhu states that a task is “an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome form given information through some process of thought” (p. 24). Pica, Kanagy and Falodun (1993) proposed a classifying scheme of tasks according to the type of interaction which is involved in the fulfillment of the task:

• Jigsaw tasks: These involve learners combining different pieces of information to a whole (e.g., three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together).”

• Information-gap tasks: One student or group of students has one set of information and another student or group has a complementary set of information. They must negotiate and find out what the other party’s information is in order to complete an activity.

• Problem-solving tasks: Students are given a problem and a set of information. They must arrive at a solution to the problem. There is generally a single resolution of the outcome.

• Decision-making tasks: Students are given a problem for which there are a number of possible outcomes and they must choose one through negotiation and discussion.

• Opinion-exchange tasks: Learners engage in discussion and exchange of ideas. They do not need to reach agreement.

The grammar exercises in the analysis part of this paper will not be analyzed in respect to these task types, since the definitions of these task types are not applicable for all the tasks analyzed. However, it can be stated that most of the tasks analyzed belong to the category information-gap tasks, which generally seems to be the most frequent task type.

In the TBA a number of roles are assumed for the learner, some of which overlap with those of CLT. Richards and Rodgers view the learners as group participant, monitor and risk-taker and innovator (Richards & Rodgers, 235). "In carrying out tasks learners mostly work in groups, thus group work is more frequent than in other approaches or methods. What concerns the role of monitor, tasks have to be designed in a way so that learners can notice how language is used in communication” (p. 235). There has to be an example or model of how to use the language appropriately. Finally, the learner is also a risk-taker and innovator, since many tasks require learners to understand and produce messages for which they lack full linguistic resources. However, exactly this is the point of such tasks because paraphrasing, restating, etc. will be needed in order to carry out the tasks (Richards & Rodgers, 235).

The teacher, on the other hand, takes over the roles of selector and sequencer. He has to choose or create appropriate tasks for students and to bring them into a sequence, considering learners’ needs, interests and language skill level (Richards & Rodgers, 236). Another teacher role is that he has to prepare learners for the tasks. In the TBA it is suggested that before carrying out a task learners should accomplish pre-task activities first (Richards & Rodgers, 236). Such activities may include topic introduction, clarifying task instructions, helping students to learn or recall useful words and phrases and to provide partial demonstration of task procedures. As already stated in the beginning, in current views of the TBA learners should focus on form as well (Richards & Rodgers, 236). This means that learners “need to attend to or notice critical features of the language they use and hear” (Richards & Rodgers, 236). According to advocates of the TBA this does not mean doing a grammar lesson but it means employing a variety of form-focusing techniques, including attention-focusing pre-task activities, text exploration, guided exposure to parallel tasks, and use of highlighted material (Richards & Rodgers, 236).

These focus on form activities which are designed to draw the attention of learners to specific language items are overall referred to as consciousness-raising tasks or discovery learning activities and are a feature of inductive grammar teaching (Thornbury, 24, 29). The instructional material used in the TBA can be best divided, as Nunan suggests, into pedagogical material and realia. Pedagogical materials play a very important role in the TBA because such tasks provide the basis of classroom activities and a sufficient supply of appropriate classroom tasks for the teacher (Richards & Rodgers, 236). However, as Richards and Rodgers point out many contemporary language teaching texts cite a “task focus” or “task-based activities” among their credentials, though most of the tasks that appear in such books are familiar classroom activities for teachers who employ collaborative learning, Communicative Language Teaching, or small-group activities (Richards & Rodgers 2007: 236).

They suggest looking at teacher resource books as for example the one of Willis (1996) in order to get an idea of task-based activities. Realia, on the other hand, are authentic materials (Richards & Rodgers, 237). In the TBA the use of authentic material is recommended wherever possible. Popular media used in the classroom are newspapers, the TV and the Internet. Students are asked, for example, to “prepare a job-wanted ad using examples from the classified section” in a newspaper (Richards & Rodergs, 237). An example of authentic language use with the help of the internet would be that students have to find a cheap hotel in New York via a search engine and then write an e-mail in which they book a room for a number of nights. Further they would have to decide what they wanted to do during their stay in New York, how much money to spend, etc.

The way in which tasks are carried out in class always depends to some extent on the tasks themselves. Not every task requires the same form of preparation or preparation at all for fulfilling the task. Richards and Rodgers propose a three-stage model: pre-task activities, task activity and post-task activities. In pre-task activities usually the topic of the task gets introduced, as well as the situation. Afterwards a role-play task, a problem-solving task might follow. Learners then could read a dialogue on a related topic, which serves as a model for appropriate language use. After that, students carry out the main task, as for example a role-play. A post-task activity would be listening to a recording of native speakers carrying out the same role-play (Richards & Rodgers, 238).

Willis proposes a quite similar sequence of task-activities. In her pre-task phase she mentions in the context of grammar teaching that the teacher “may highlight useful words and phrases, but would not pre-teach new structures” (p. 56). While students afterwards carry out the main task, the teacher walks around and helps students to express themselves but he will not correct errors of form. Only after students have accomplished the task the teacher draws their attention to correct language forms. Concerning a language focus Willis divides between analysis and practice. In the analysis section she suggests that students should perform some language-focused tasks, based on texts or recordings which students have heard before. Instructions could be of the following kind: “Find word and phrases related to the title of the topic or text.”, “Read the transcript, find words ending in s or ‘s, and say what the s means.”, “Find all the verbs in the simple past form. Say which refer to past time and which do not.” (Willis, 57). In the practice section Willis states that exercises could include choral repetition of the identified phrases, in other words drills, sentence completion, matching the past-tense verbs (jumbled) with the subjects or objects they had in the given text, etc.

The description by Willis shows that a TBA favors inductive grammar teaching, in which students have to find out the rules underlying the language themselves. It further shows that even a TBA is compatible with grammar drills, which are commonly regarded as main component of Audiolingualism. Further sentence-completion, matching, etc. often occurs in exercise types associated with the Grammar-Translation Method (see Grammar-Translation Method). It can be followed that the different aspects of the approaches and methods overlap with each other in certain dimensions and are compatible. If this is also true for the ELT textbooks chosen in this research paper, will be seen in the textbook analysis.

According to Richards and Rodgers, the pedagogical value of tasks “for promoting communication and authentic language use in second language classrooms” is widely and generally accepted. For the analysis part of this paper, the main criterion for identifying the TBA are tasks. It will be analyzed if there are any grammar tasks in the four ELT textbooks, or in other words tasks with a language focus, as outlined by Willis above. The role of authentic material will be also considered, if realia are used to mainly teach certain language structures, which is, rather unlikely. Richards and Rodgers finally note that the assumption of Task-Based Language learning to be more effective for teaching a language than other teaching approaches or methods, however “remains in the domain of ideology rather than fact” (Richards & Rodgers, 241). After having discussed Task-Based Language Teaching in detail, the following two criteria for identifying the TBA in respect to grammar teaching can be derived:

• inductive grammar teaching

• tasks (teaching a grammatical feature)

2.3. The Principles of Teaching Grammar

If the practical approaches are to be evaluated they need some criteria to base on. These criteria are actually the rules set to be useful for integrating the grammar teaching into classroom.

Thornbury talks about "The E-Factor": Efficiency and "The A-Factor": Appropriacy. (p.25) The first rule as he explains is the globalization of three categories of principles: economy, ease and efficacy. Everybody involved in the teaching process knows that time in class is always a problem as it is never enough to comprise all a teacher wants to offer the students. Given that dealing with grammar is only a part of a teacher's activities, and given that classroom time is very limited, it would seem necessary that whatever grammar teaching is done, is done as efficiently as possible. If, as has been suggested, the teacher's energies should be at least partly directed at getting learners to communicate, prolonged attention to grammar is difficult to justify. "At the same time, if a grammar activity requires a great deal of time to set up or a lot of materials, is it the most efficient disposal of the teacher's limited time, energy and resources? When considering an activity for the presentation or practice of grammar the first question to ask, is: How efficient is it? Efficiency, in turn, can be transformed into three factors: economy, ease, and efficacy."

When presenting grammar, a sound rule of thumb is "the shorter, the better". It has been shown that economy is a key factor in the training of technical skills: when learning how to drive a car or operate a computer, a little prior teaching seems to be more effective than a lot. The more the instructor piles on instructions, the more confused the trainee is likely to become. The same would seem to apply in language teaching "be economical".

In terms of planning and resources we also have to be economical. The ease factor recognizes the fact that most teachers lead busy lives, have many classes, and simply cannot afford to sacrifice valuable free time preparing elaborate classroom materials. Of course, the investment of time and energy in the preparation of materials is often accompanied by a commitment on the part of the teacher to making them work. But, in real life, preparation is not always going to be possible. Generally speaking, the easier an activity is to set up, the better it is.

The next question we have to ask ourselves is if it will work. This deals with efficacy. The factor is the least easy to evaluate. We have to operate more on hunch than on hard data. Learning, like language, resists measurement. Of course, there are tests, and these can provide feedback to the teacher on the efficacy of the teaching/learning process. Nevertheless, testing is notoriously problematic. Moreover, there is much greater skepticism nowadays as to the extent that teaching causes learning. This need not undermine our faith in the classroom as a good place for language learning. We now know a lot more about what constitute the best conditions for learning. If teachers cannot directly cause learning, they, can at least provide the optimal conditions for it.

A prerequisite for learning is attention. "So the efficacy of a grammar activity can be partly measured by the degree of attention it arouses. This means trying to exclude from the focus of the learner's attention any distracting or' irrelevant details. Attention without understanding, however, is probably a waste of time, so efficacy will in part depend on the amount and quality of contextual information, explanation and checking. Finally, understanding without memory would seem to be equally ineffective, and so the efficacy of a presentation will also depend on how memorable it is." (p.26) Yet, none of these conditions will be sufficient if there is a lack of motivation and, in the absence of some external motivational factor (for example, an exam, or the anticipation of opportunities to use the language), it is the teacher's job to choose tasks and materials that involve the learners and make them interested. Tasks and materials that are involving, that are relevant to their requires, that have an achievable result, and that have an element of challenge while providing the necessary support, are more likely to be motivating than those that do not have these qualities.

"Efficiency, then, can be defined as the optimal setting of three related factors: economy, ease, and efficacy. The time and resources spent on preparing and executing a grammar task must be justified in terms of its probable learning outcome?"(p. 26)

The A-factor! Appropriacy

Each class of learners is different: not only are their needs, interests, level and goals going to vary, but their beliefs, attitudes and values will be different, too. Thus, an activity that works for one group of learners is not necessarily going to work for another. It may simply not be appropriate. Thus, any classroom activity must be evaluated not only according to criteria of efficiency, but also of appropriacy. Factors to consider when determining appropriacy include: "the age of the learners, their level, the size of the group, the constitution of the group (monolingual or multilingual), what their needs are, the learners' interests, the available materials and resources, the learners' previous learning experience and hence present expectations any cultural factors that might affect e.g. their perception of the role and status of the teacher the educational context, (private school or state school, at home or abroad)." (p. 27)

Activities that fail to take the above factors into account are unlikely to work. Why is the age of the learners so important? Research suggests that children are more disposed to language learning activities that are set towards acquisition rather than towards learning. That is, they are better at picking up language inherently, rather than learning it as a system of explicit rules. Adult learners, on the other hand, may do better at activities which involve analysis and memorization. Cultural factors, too, will determine the success of classroom activities. Recently there have been a number of writers who have questioned the appropriacy of indiscriminately and uncritically applying methodologies in contexts for which they were never designed. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been a particular target of these criticisms. CLT values, among other things, learners as the centre of the process, which means, giving the learners more responsibility and involvement in the learning process. This is often achieved through discovery learning activities and through group work as opposed to the traditional teacher in front of the class. CLT also takes a relatively relaxed attitude towards accuracy, in the belief that meaning takes precedence over form. Finally, CLT has inherited the humanist view that language is an expression of personal meaning, rather than an expression of a common culture. Such notions, it is argued, derived from Western beliefs about education and language. Its critics argue that CLT is an inappropriate methodology in those cultural contexts where the teacher is regarded as a source of wisdom, and where accuracy is valued more highly than fluency. "Of course, no learning situation is static, and, with the right combination of consultation, negotiation, and learner training, even the most entrenched attitudes are susceptible to change. The teacher is therefore encouraged to be both adventurous as well as critical, when considering the activities."(p. 27)

2.4. Teaching Grammar

The standard model for the language lesson is in Thornbury's opinion the so-called PPP model, that is: PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION.

Once, the grammar lesson was the language lesson, and so the problem of how grammar fits into the context of a language lesson did not exist. Lessons would follow the pattern: grammar explanation followed by exercise (presentation and practice). The practice stage was aimed at achieving accuracy. "When it was recognised that accuracy alone is not enough to achieve mastery of a second language, a third element was added – production, the aim of which was f1uency." (p. 128)

The PPP organization is typical of many published English language teaching courses. It has a logic that is appealing both to teachers and learners, and it reflects the way that other skills are learned. That is, knowledge becomes skill through successive stages of practice. This model allows the teacher to control the content and pace of the lesson, which, for new teachers in particular, helps them cope with the unpredictability of classroom life. It provides a convenient plan onto which any number of lessons can be mapped.

But this model has also been criticized as it uses some assumptions about the language and the language learning. It assumes that the language is best learned one bit of grammar at a time, and that the teacher, by choosing what bit of grammar to focus on, can influence the process. Research suggests, however, that language acquisition is more complex, less linear, and less amenable to teacher intervention. The PPP model also assumes that accuracy precedes fluency. However, all learners go through a long stage of making mistakes. Meanwhile they may be perfectly capable of conveying their intended meanings fluently. "As in first language learning, accuracy seems to be relatively late-acquired – a kind of fine-tuning of a system which is already up-and-running. Delaying communication until accuracy is achieved maybe counterproductive. Rather than as preparation for communication, it seems that it is by means of communication that the learner's language system establishes itself and develops."(p. 129)

An alternative model adopts a fluency-to-accuracy sequence. Put simply, the learning cycle begins with the meanings that the learners want to convey. They try to express these meaning using their available resources. They are then given guidance as to how to do this better. This guidance may include explicit instruction. Through successive stages of trial, error and feedback, the learner's output is fine-tuned for accuracy.

Michael Lewis suggested that PPP was inadequate because it reflected neither the nature of language, nor the nature of learning (Lewis 1993: 190), and one trainer, Jim Scrivener, even wrote that "'it is fundamentally disabling, not enabling" (Scrivener 1994a: 15). Later however, Scrivener advanced what is perhaps the most worrying aspect of PPP, the fact that it: "only describes one kind of lesson; it is inadequate as a general proposal concerning approaches to language in the classroom. It entirely fails to describe the many ways in which teachers can work when, for example. using course books, or when adopting a task-based approach". From J Scrivener (1996: 79, quoted in Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching)

In response to these and earlier criticisms many people have offered variations on PPP and alternatives to it. Keith Johnson offered the 'deep-end strategy' as an alternative (Johnson 1982: Chapter 18), where by encouraging the students into immediate production (throwing them in at the deep end) you turn the procedure on its head. The teacher can now see if and where students are having problems during this production phase and return to either presentation or practice as and when necessary after the production phase is over. A few years later Donn Byrne suggested much the same thing (Byrne 1986: 3),joining the three phases in a circle. Teachers and students can decide at which stage to enter the procedure.

ARC: put forward by Jim Scrivener, this stands for Authentic use, Restricted use, and Clarification and focus. The basic premise here is that most language in the classroom can be described as either A, R, or C. Thus a communicative activity will demonstrate 'authentic' use, whereas a drill, jazz chant, elicited dialogue or guided writing, for example, will provoke restricted use of language by students. Finally Clarification language is that which the teacher and students use to explain grammar, give examples, analyse errors, elicit or repeat things.

"By labelling different parts of any lesson in this way Scrivener is able to describe lessons differently from the old PPP procedure. An old PPP-type lesson can now be described as CRA (where the teacher presents a situation, clarifies the language point, institutes restricted (controlled) practice, before getting authentic' use), whereas a different lesson – for example, a task-based lesson – might follow a procedure such as CACACR. By introducing new terminology, Scrivener forces us to look at things differently, and by producing a descriptive rather than a prescriptive tool, he is attempting to offer an insight into what he called 'the many ways in which teachers can work'".

Harmer brings into discussion the ESA model in which three components will usually be present in any teaching sequence, whether of five, fifty, or a hundred minutes.

E stands for Engage. The point here is that unless students are engaged, emotionally, with what is going on, their learning will be less effective.

S stands for Study and describes any teaching and learning element where the focus is on how something is constructed, whether it is relative clauses, specific intonation patterns, the construction of a paragraph or text, the way a lexical phrase is made and used, or the collocation possibilities of a particular word.

A stands for Activate and this means any stage at which students are encouraged to use all and/or any of the language they know. Communicative activities, for example, are designed to activate the students' language knowledge: so too are reading and listening activities when students are doing it for interest and general understanding

ESA allows for three basic lesson procedures. In the first ("straight arrows") the sequence is ESA, much like PPP or CRA. A "boomerang" procedure, on the other hand, follows a more task-based or deep-end approach. Here the order is EAS, so that the teacher gets the students engaged before asking them to do something like a written task, a communication game, or a role-play. Based on what happens there the students will then, after the activity has finished, study some aspect of language which they lacked or which they used incorrectly. "Patchwork" lessons, on the other hand, may follow a variety of sequences such as ones where engaged students are encouraged to activate their knowledge before studying one and then another language element, and then returning to more active tasks, after which the teacher re-engages them before doing some more study, etc.

Proponents of the communicative approach proposed a fluency-first model of instruction that is called task-based: first the learners perform a communicative task that the teacher has set them, the teacher then uses this to identify language features learners could have used in order to communicate their intentions more effectively. These features are taught and practised, before students re-perform the original or a similar task: TASK – TEACH – TASK. In this kind of lesson, the language items that are selected for special attention come exclusively out of an assessment of the learners' communicative difficulties, rather than having been pre-determined by a grammar syllabus. Task-based learning is not without its problems, however. First of all it is hard to establish the criteria for the selection of tasks, the ordering of tasks, and the evaluation of tasks. More difficult than this, are the management problems associated with setting and monitoring tasks. It is partly due to these problems that task-based teaching has had a mixed reception. Many teachers are finding ways of combining elements of a task-based approach with the traditional grammar syllabus.

Penny Ur, on the other hand offers a different teaching model considering that the process of teaching a foreign language is a complex one. She presents three such components: the teaching acts of (1) presenting and explaining new material; (2) providing practice; and (3) testing. The first two concepts are understood here rather differently from the way they are usually used within the conventional 'presentation-practice-production' paradigm.

"In principle, the teaching processes of presenting, practising and testing correspond to strategies used by many good learners trying to acquire a foreign language on their own. They make sure they perceive and understand new language (by paying attention, by constructing meanings, by formulating rules or hypotheses that account for it, and so on); they make conscious efforts to learn it thoroughly (by mental rehearsal of items, for example, or by finding opportunities to practise); and they check themselves (get feedback on performance, ask to be corrected)." (p.10)

In the classroom, it is the teacher's job to promote these three learning processes by the use of appropriate teaching acts. Thus, he or she: presents and explains new material in order to make it clear, comprehensible and available for learning; gives practice to consolidate knowledge; and tests, in order to check what has been mastered and what still needs to be learned or reviewed. These acts may not occur in this order, and may sometimes be combined within one activity; nevertheless good teachers are usually aware which is their main objective at any point in a lesson.

This is not the only way people learn a language in the classroom. "They may absorb new material unconsciously, or semi-consciously, through exposure to comprehensible and personally meaningful speech or writing, and through their own engagement with it, without any purposeful teacher mediation as proposed here. Through such mediation, however, the teacher can provide a framework for organized, conscious learning, while simultaneously being aware of- and providing opportunities for – further, more intuitive acquisition." (p. 10)

Thus, the three topics of presentation, practice and testing are not exclusive sources of student learning, nor represent a rigid linear classroom routine, but rather simplified but comprehensive categories that enable useful study of basic teaching acts.

2.5. Grammar Games

Theories about integrating games in language teaching are various.

Hadfield says about games: " A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun".(p. 8) She classifies the games into two categories: "competitive games", in which players or teams race to be the first to reach the goal, and "cooperative games", in which players or teams work together towards a common goal. The inclusion of games as an integral part of any language syllabus provides an opportunity for intensive language practice, offers a context in which language is used meaningfully and as a means to an end, and acts as a diagnostic tool for the teacher, highlighting areas of difficulty. One of the most important reasons for using games is simply that they are very enjoyable for both students and teachers.

The games follow the rules of the structural or functional syllabus, according to the topic area, function, essential vocabulary and structures that the students will need. The games make use of a variety of techniques. "Variety is important in language teaching, and a succession of games based on the same principles) though exciting and novel at first, would soon become boring. Techniques used include information gap, guessing, search, marching, exchanging, collecting, combining, arranging, and card games, board games, puzzles and role-play."

The simplest activities are based on the information gap principle. In these activities Student A has access to some information which is not held by Student B. Student B must acquire this information to complete a task successfully. This type of game may be one-sided, as in the above example, or reciprocal, where both players have information which they must pool to solve a common problem. The games may be played in pairs or small groups, where all the members of the group have some information.

Guessing games are a familiar variant on this principle. The player with the information deliberately withholds it, while others guess what it might be.

Search games are another variant, involving the whole class. In these games everyone in the class has one piece of information. Players must obtain all or a large amount of the information available to fill in a questionnaire or to solve a problem. Each student is thus simultaneously a giver and a collector of information.

Matching games are based on a different principle, but also involve a transfer of information. These games involve matching corresponding pairs of cards or pictures, and may be played as a whole class activity, where everyone must circulate until they find a partner with a corresponding card or picture; or as a pair work or small group activity, where players must choose pictures or cards from a selection to match those chosen by their partner from the same selection, or as a card game on the 'snap' principle.

Matching-up games are based on a jigsaw or 'fitting together' principle. Each player in a group has a list of opinions, preferences, wants or possibilities. Through discussion and compromise the group must reach an agreement.

Exchanging games are based on the 'barter' principle. Players have certain articles, cards or ideas which they make an exchange which is satisfactory to both sides.

In collecting games, players need to collect cards in order to complete a set. These may be played as a whole class activity, where players circulate freely, exchanging articles or cards at random, or as an ordinary card game.

Combining activities are those in which the players must act on certain information in order to arrange themselves in groups such as families or people spending holidays together.

Arranging games are also sometimes called sequencing or ordering games. These are games where the players must acquire information and act on it in order to arrange items, in a specific order. Items to be arranged can be picture cards, events in a narrative , or even the players themselves.

Mario Rinvolucri talks about games that have the students working cognitively on grammar: "they are asked to think consciously about what is correct and what is incorrect: traditional games like "Noughts and crosses", "Snap", "Monopoly" and "Snakes and ladders", less traditional game frames which include "Auction", "Double or quits" and "The money game".

He considers that the average teacher in Europe today comes up to a score of about 60-70% teacher-talking time in his or her classes. Just 35% or less is left to the students. Thus there must be games that could bring the teacher-talking time down to less than 5 % of the overall exercise time, inspired exercises in which students build sentences and paragraphs in warm cooperation with each other rather than in competition. "The teacher's role is to give silent feedback to individuals and to the class, but only when absolutely necessary. These games will allow he/she to enjoy being productively quiet in the group, while observing the students in full activity."

Another type of exercises moves right away from cognitive work on grammar. In these exercises the students are asked to write and say things about themselves and people who are significant to them within a set of structures prescribed by the teacher. The students' focus is on what they are saying not on the form they are using. They control the content, teachers control the structures. They have the students practise given grammar points while thinking and feeling about human relationships.

The last classification of games is grammar through drama which has the students off their chairs practising grammar through movement, shouting, and writing on each others' backs. Excellent for boring classes or for groups with lots of unspent energy that needs to be channelled.

The advantages of the use of games in grammar teaching are to be taken into consideration as the students have to take individual responsibility for what they think the grammar is about, the teacher is free to find out what the students actually know, without being the focus of their attention, serious work is taking place in the context of a game as it enlivens the classroom atmosphere in a way most people do not associate with the grammar part of a course and everybody is working at once.

2.7. Grammar testing

Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. But the process of evaluation cannot be considered apart from the teaching process and represents a complex process for a responsible teacher. When talking about the assessment we usually talk about tests. A test may be defined as an activity whose main purpose is to convey (usually to the tester) how well the person who takes a test knows or can do something. This is in contrast to practice, whose main purpose is sheer learning. Learning may, of course, result from a test, just as feedback on knowledge may be one of the spin-offs of a practice activity: the distinction is in the main goal. It is often conventionally assumed that tests are mostly used for assessment: the test gives a score which is assumed to define the level of knowledge of the one tested. This may be in order to decide whether he or she is suitable for a certain job or admission to an institution, has passed a course, can enter a certain class. But in fact testing and assessment overlap only partially: there are other ways of assessing students (an overview of assignments over a long period, for example, or the teacher's opinion, or self-evaluation) and there are certainly other reasons for testing

There are four main reasons for testing which give rise to four categories of test:

Placement tests: placing new students in the right class in a school is facilitated with the use of placement tests. Usually based on syllabuses and materials the students will follow and use once their level has been decided on, these test grammar and vocabulary knowledge and assess students' productive and receptive skills.

Some schools ask students to assess themselves as part of the placement process, adding this self-analysis into the final placing decision.

Diagnostic tests: while placement tests are designed to show how good a student's English is in relation to a previously agreed system of levels, diagnostic tests can be used to expose learner difficulties, gaps in their knowledge, and skill deficiencies during a course. Thus, when we know what the problems are, we can do something about them

Progress or achievement tests: these tests are designed to measure learners' language and skill progress in relation to the syllabus they have been following. Achievement tests on1y work if they contain item types which the students are familiar with. This does not mean that in a reading test, for example, we give them texts they have seen before, but it does mean providing them with similar texts and familiar task types. If students are faced with completely new material, the test will not measure the learning that has been taking place, even though it can still measure general language proficiency. Achievement tests at the end of a term (like progress tests at the end of a unit, a fortnight, etc.) should reflect progress, not failure. They should reinforce the learning that has taken place, not go out of their way to expose weaknesses. They can also help us to decide on changes to future teaching programmes where students do significantly worse in (parts of) the test than we might have expected.

Proficiency tests: proficiency rests give a general picture of a student's knowledge and ability (rather than measure progress). They are frequently used as stages people have to reach if they want to be admitted to a foreign university, get a job, or obtain some kind of certificate

Proficiency tests have a profound backwash effect since, where they are external exams, students obviously want to pass them, and teachers' reputations sometimes depend (probably unfairly) upon how many of them succeed.

Harmer reminds us about the characteristics of a good test, in order to judge the effectiveness of any test it is sensible to lay down criteria against which the test can be measured, as follows:

"Validity: a test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test. Thus it is not valid, for example, to test writing ability with an essay question that requires specialist knowledge of history or biology- unless it is known that all students share this knowledge before they do the test. A particular kind of "validity" that concerns most test designers is face validity. This means that the test should look, on the "face" of it, as if it is valid."(p. 322) A test which consisted of only three items of the same type would not convince students of its face validity no matter how reliable or practical teachers thought it to be.

"Reliability: a good test should give consistent results. For example, if the same group of students took the same test twice within two days – without reflecting on the first test before they sat it again – they should get the same results on each occasion. If they took another similar test, the results should be consistent. If two groups who were demonstrably alike took the test, the marking range would be the same." (p. 322)

In practice, "reliability" is obtained if the test instructions are absolutely clear, restricting the scope for variety in the answers, and making sure that test conditions remain the same. Reliability also depends on the people who mark the tests – the so-called scorers. Clearly a test is unreliable if the result depends to any large extent on who is marking it. Much thought has gone into making the scoring of tests as reliable as possible.

2.8. Supplementary materials

Ur is convinced that " Most language-teaching course books probably need supplementing to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer options". (p. 189) The various types of supplementary materials have a contribution to language learning, advantages and disadvantages, and invite teachers to consider which are most useful and important to them.

It is assumed that the institution has a reasonable supply of standard stationery and office equipment, such as paper, pencils, felt-tipped pens, staplers, scissors, etc., and that classrooms are equipped with black- or whiteboards.

The course book is also very important and the degree to which it is necessary depends on the teacher's style, the resources available and on the accepted way of doing things in the institution. "A set framework helps me to regulate and time my programme; and, perhaps paradoxically, provides a firm jumping-off point for the creation of imaginative supplementary teaching ideas. Learners too prefer to have one otherwise they feel a sense of lack of purpose, and, interestingly, they feel that their learning is not taken seriously. It seems that the possession of a course book may carry a certain prestige." (p. 189)

Other materials that can be used in class may be in the order of priority:

Computers are seen by many as an important teaching aid. These days learners need to be 'computer literate', and since computers use language it would seem logical to take advantage of them for language learning. They enable individual work, since learners can progress at their own pace, and many programs include a self-check facility. Also, younger and adolescent learners in particular find the use of computers attractive and motivating. However, it takes time to train both teachers and students in their use; and in practice a lot of time in a computer lesson often goes on setting up programs, getting students into them, and then solving problems with moving from one stage, or one program, to another. For teachers who are familiar with their use, computers can be invaluable for preparing materials such as worksheets or tests.

Books are very user-friendly materials: they are light, easily scanned, easily stacked and do not need hardware or electricity. They are still the most convenient and popular method of packaging large texts, and a library of them is arguably the best way for learners to acquire a wide experience of foreign language reading. "It is very useful to have a collection of reference books, extra textbooks and teachers' handbooks easily available to the teaching staff; and regular reading of a professional journal can inject new ideas and update teachers on current thinking." (p. 190)

Overhead projectors are useful for presenting visual or written material to classes: they are more vivid and attention-catching than the black- or whiteboards. They also save lesson time, since you can prepare the displays in advance. However, this does mean added work in preparation. Another disadvantage is the need to carry the overhead projectors from class to class, unless each classroom has its own – which is true only of the more modern institutions. And of course, like any other electrical equipment, overhead projectors are vulnerable to breakdowns: electricity failure or bulbs burning out.

Video is an excellent source of authentic spoken language material, it is also attractive and motivating. It is flexible: you can start and stop it, run forward or back, freeze frames in order to talk about them, and there are many good programmes on the market. A disadvantage is their lack of mobility: "few video sets are portable, which means that classes need to be specially scheduled for video rooms; and of course there is the problem of occasional breakdowns and technical problems. When planning a video lesson, always have a 'back-up' alternative lesson ready."(p. 190)

Cassette recorders and cassettes are relatively cheap, and easy to use, and they are the main source (other than the teacher) of spoken language texts in most classrooms. They are more mobile and easier to use than video recorders, but lack the visual content. Again there may be problems with electricity; on the other hand, most portable cassette recorders – unlike video and most computers – also work on batteries. When buying cassette recorders, make sure that there is a counter, and then use it to identify the desired entry-point; otherwise, if you want to replay during the lesson, you may waste valuable time running the tape back and forth to find it. Of course, nowadays the cassette record has been replaced by its "big brother" the CD player and the cassettes by the CDs. It is more efficient as the recordings can be replayed easily during the lesson and more and more textbooks record their listening material on CDs.

Posters, pictures, games are invaluable particularly for younger learners, and teachers of children find that they constantly use them. However, if you have time, this type of material can be largely home-made: glossy magazines in particular are an excellent source of pictures.

Even with an excellent course book and a wide variety of other materials available, there comes a point at which many teachers find they have to make their own occasional supplementary work cards or worksheets: because they can find what they need nowhere else, because they want to provide for the needs of a specific class, or simply for the sake of variety. Good teacher-made materials are arguably the best there are: relevant and personalized, answering the needs of the learners in a way no other materials can.

Jocelyn Howard and Jae Major, in their study believe that "There are many reasons why English language teachers may choose to construct their own teaching materials, despite the availability of commercially produced materials". (p. 101) They present some of these reasons by examining advantages and disadvantages of teacher-produced materials. The authors also suggest factors that teachers should take into account when designing or adapting materials for diverse learners, and present a set of guidelines for designing effective materials for teaching and learning English.

They also mention six key factors that teachers need to take into account when embarking on the design of teaching materials for their learners.

The first and most important factor to be considered is the learners. If the point of teacher-created materials is relevance, interest, motivation and meeting specific individual needs, then clearly teachers must ensure they know their learners well. Any consideration of syllabus or

materials design must begin with a needs analysis. This should reveal learning needs with regard to English language skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary knowledge and grammar; as well as individual student’s learning preferences. It is not just learning needs that are relevant to the teacher as materials designer, however. Equally important is knowledge about students’ experiences (life and education), their first language and levels of literacy in it, their aspirations, their interests and their purposes for learning English.

The curriculum and the context are variables that will significantly impact on decisions about teaching materials. Howard and Major say that: "Many teachers are bound by a mandated curriculum defining the content, skills and values to be taught. Whether imposed at school or state level, a curriculum outlines the goals and objectives for the learners and the course of study. Whatever the curriculum, it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that the goals and objectives of the overarching curriculum are kept close at hand when designing materials."(p.101)

As noted earlier, the context in which the teaching and learning occurs will impact on the types of materials that may need to be designed. For example, a primary-level mainstream, English-speaking setting, with a set curriculum and access to native speakers may require materials that facilitate interaction about subject content, and develop cognitive academic language proficiency. However, refugee adults may need teaching materials that focus on meeting immediate survival needs and gaining employment.

The resources and facilities available to the teacher-designer are also mentioned above as an element of context. Clearly teachers must be realistic about what they can achieve in terms of materials design and production within the limitations of available resources and facilities. Access to resources such as computers (with or without Internet access), a video player and TV, radio, cassette recorder, CD player, photocopier, language lab, digital camera, whiteboard, scissors, cardboard, laminator etc will impact on decisions in materials design. Hadfield (2003) offers some useful suggestions for "resourceless" teaching which address the impoverished reality of some teaching contexts.

Personal confidence and competence are factors that will determine an individual teacher’s willingness to embark on materials development. This will be influenced by the teacher’s level of teaching experience and his or her perceived creativity or artistic skills and overall understanding of the principles of materials design and production. In reality, most teachers undertake materials design to modify, adapt or supplement a course book, rather than starting from scratch, and this is probably the most realistic option for most teachers. Decisions available to teachers include the following (adapted from Harmer, 2001 and Lamie, 1999):

Add activities to those already suggested.

Leave out activities that do not meet your learners’ needs.

Replace or adapt activities or materials with:

– supplementary materials from other commercial texts

– authentic materials (newspapers, radio reports, films etc)

– teacher-created supplementary materials.

Change the organisational structure of the activities, for example, pairs, small groups or

whole class.

Modern technology provides teachers with access to tools that enable professional results in materials production. Computers with Clipart, Internet access and digital pictures offer unprecedented means for publishing high quality teaching materials.

A less exciting, but nevertheless important factor to consider in designing materials is copyright compliance. Teachers need to be aware of the restrictions that copyright laws place on the copying of authentic materials, published materials and materials downloaded from the Internet for use in the classroom. This is particularly important when creating course materials that will be used by a large number of classes over time. Copyright law has implications when creating materials that include excerpts from published works. An example of this would be creating a worksheet that uses a picture or exercise from a commercial text, alongside teacher-created activities. While an idea cannot be copyright, the expression of the idea can be and teachers need to be mindful of this.

Time was discussed earlier as a disadvantage for teachers who wish to design their own

materials. It is thus, important to consider ways to make this aspect manageable. Block suggests a number of ways in which teachers can lighten the load, including sharing materials with other teachers, working in a team to take turns to design and produce materials, and organising central storage so materials are available to everyone.

CHAPTER 3

TEACHING THE PASSIVE VOICE TO SECONDARY STUDENTS

3.1.Introducing the passive construction

Generally, teachers introduce the structure using the procedure most often referred to as PPP, which stands for Presentation, Practice, and Production. In this procedure the teacher introduces a situation which contextualizes the language to be taught. The language, too, is then presented. The students now practise the language using accurate reproduction techniques such as choral repetition (where the students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence all together with the teacher 'conducting'), individual repetition (where individual students repeat a word, phrase. or sentence at the teacher's urging), and cue-response drills. In the following lesson plan I will highlight the PPP method:

Homework

Teacher-developed materials

Anticipated problems and solutions

Ss may get excited and noisy during the discussions. T can remind the noise-monitors to control the noise level within each team.

Ss may refuse to use English to discuss. T can also remind students to use English before the activity and disqualify the teams that do not use English. T and Ss can set out some rules during the task instruction (e.g. use English only and be quiet).

Ss may be uncooperative during the teamwork. T can remind them their roles and responsibility. T remind Ss that they need to cooperate in order to win.

The class size may be too big so not every student get a chance to participate in the activity. T can ask students to write their ideas in their notebook or on the worksheet. T can also use pair work or group work to maximize student participation. T can also use chorus reaction.

Ss may come up with lots of ideas in Chinese. T can scaffold students to express their ideas in English. T can also respond to English use only.

Ss may not be ready to share their ideas in front of the whole class. T can ask students to chat with their friends first, to ‘rehearse’ their language, or to write their ideas.

Ss may not have any ideas. For those with little ideas, Ss can exchange ideas with their neighbors first. T can ask them to do read-aloud, or role-play so as to stimulate more ideas.

Some faster learners may finish the activity earlier. T can assign a more difficult activity, a qualitative extension of the original activity, help preparation for the next activity, which is at the end of the materials. These meaningful, short and challenging activities help pleasantly engage the faster learning.

Ss may get excited and noisy during the game. T can remind the noise-monitors to control the noise level within each team.

Ss may be uncooperative during the teamwork. T can remind them their roles and responsibility. T remind Ss that they need to cooperate in order to learn.

The class size may be too big so not every student get a chance to participate in the activity. T can ask students to write their ideas in their notebook or on the worksheet. T can also use pair work or group work to maximize student participation. T can also use chorus reaction.

This lesson will be conducted after the recess. Students may be a bit overexcited at the beginning of the lesson.

Ss may get excited and noisy during the pair work. T need to remind them.

The materials can be found in APPENDIX 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of the PPP method:

Pros:

Easy to prepare

Follows a three step routine

Easy for learners to follow this type of lesson

Easy for learners to remain focused

Contributes to internalizing structures in long term memory

It scaffolds the learning process into smaller chunks – (exposes learners to the target structure, gives them controlled practice and then free practice)

Good for analytical learners (rules explained)

Provides examples as context is beneficial

It provides clear and simple structure of the lesson

Materials are ordered from the simplest to the most difficult

The teacher and the learners can easily see the progress

Disadvantages:

It is a teacher-centred method and teacher talking time might be too long

It is more focused on accuracy than on fluency except in the very last stage

Students may get bored and un willing to participate

Since everything is scaffolded, learners may not remember things

Passive Voice – Lesson Plan

Lesson Duration: 50 minutes

Target Level: Elementary

Lesson Objective(s):

After the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the meanings made by passive voice;

2. Tell when the agent should be included and when it could be omitted in the passive voice;

3. Show heightened awareness of when to use the active and the passive;

4. Write magazine captions using the active/passive voice appropriately

3.2. Teaching materials

Teachers designing their own materials can respond to local and international events with up-to-date, relevant and high interest topics and tasks. The teachable moment can be more readily seized. Personally I am in favour of "home-made" materials as you can add a personal touch to teaching that students appreciate. Tapping into the interests and taking account of the learning styles of students is likely to increase motivation and engagement in learning. Furthermore, there is also greater choice, freedom and scope for spontaneity when teachers develop their own materials.

3.2.1. Activities for practising the passive voice

Type 1: Awareness Activities

Once learners have engaged with a text, achieved a multidimensional representation of it and develop and articulated their personal responses to it, I have found it can be very useful to help them to make discoveries for themselves from a more intensive reading of the text. Language awareness activities and cultural pragmatic awareness activities and cultural awareness activities in which learners eventually work things out for themselves cannot only facilitate language acquisition and mental development, but they can also considerably increase self-esteem and independence.

As an example of this kind of activities is when students receive a fragment from an authentic newspaper and they have to identify the structure

Read the text carefully and underline each passive form you can find

Will & Grace actress arrested

The actress who plays the wise-cracking maid on the television comedy Will & Grace has been arrested on suspicion of felony shoplifting from a Los Angeles department store. Shelley Morrison, 66, was booked under the name Rachel Dominguez earlier this week and released after posting $20,000 bail, according to Los Angeles police Officer Don Cox.

She was ordered to return on 14th May. "She was arrested by loss prevention agents," Cox said. "We are merely facilitating the booking process," he added. Representatives for NBC, the network that airs the Emmy Award-winning show, could not be reached for comment. The alleged theft at Robinsons-May department store on Wednesday qualifies as a felony because the items cost more than $400, police said. Morrison, who was born in the Bronx and is married to writer Walter Dominguez, has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows during her four decades in show business. Her credits include playing a nun opposite Sally Field in the 1960s hit show The Flying Nun as well as roles on the soap opera General Hospital and the 1997 film Fools Rush In.

Another material can be found in APPENDIX 2.

Type 2: Controlled practice

Controlled practice is a stage in a lesson where learners practise new language in a limited form. Controlled practice is an important part of the lesson as students understand what they can do well and what needs to be reinforced. That is also a great tool for the teacher to allow efficient monitoring in the acquisition of language. reinforced. That is also a great tool for the teacher to allow efficient monitoring in the acquisition of language. For that stage it’s important to have your students work collaboratively rather than individually as it will boost their confidence and they will use the language in a real communicative context. Another reason for collaboration in controlled practice is that students will help each other a bit more. This stage often needs to be broken into small activities to avoid boredom especially when we have students with a short attention span. You can use some games, quizzes, multiple choice answers, slapping the board games, guessing games etc. The more you vary the format of your activities the better.  Don’t use endless gap fills. Try instead to have small different types of activities or very short gap fills. Key to efficient controlled practice also relies on the efficiency of feedback and correction. Answers have to be provided for students to check their work and they shouldn’t last very long. Don’t underestimate the importance of internet and websites as some websites can provide great interactive quizzes and games with immediate feedback and these websites can be used directly in lessons. It can be compared to free practice, which involves learners producing language using the target content freely.

Example
The teacher has shown the learners the form and use of the past passive form. They now practise using the structure by completing sentences using cues,

e.g. 
My car (stolen) _________ last week.

In the classroom controlled practice can still be meaningful despite its limitations. For example, we could ask the learners to complete the following based on their experiences:

(What?) was stolen (when?).

This is even more controlled in terms of the target language but allows the learners to personalise the activity.

Another example:

Look at the model:

The teacher was offered flowers but she was not offered candies.

Now, do the same:

a) tell: stories/ the truth

b) write: letters/ postcards

c) bring: presents/ food

Type 3: Free practice activities

The controlled practice will then lead to the free practice where students can decide to use the language differently so that they can say what they want to say. In activities that are controlled, as a teacher you should know the answers, as there will be just one possible answer. For example if you use quizzes or flashcards to drill the language there will be just one solution. Before getting directly to the free practice teachers often use semi-controlled activities to maintain interest. In that case there is more than one solution, but the options should be limited. The advantage of semi-controlled practice is that it gives students the opportunity to somewhat personalize the language to their needs.

Free practice also called production comes at the end of the lessons in the PPP lessons. Here the students should be completely free to use the language the way they want. They have the chance to completely personalize the language, they can experiment; they can try to include more complex structures by reusing previously learnt language.

Look at the model:

Tom has never been invited to a ball.

Julia has been asked to dance before.

Now write down similar sentences using the prompts:

a) offer/ a bunch of roses

b) tell/ a lie

c) read/ a fairytale

Type 4: Guided practice

In the Guided Practice section students will demonstrate that they have grasped the skills, concepts, and modeling that you presented to them in the Direct Instruction portion of the lesson.

While circulating the classroom and providing some assistance for a given activity (worksheet, illustration, experiment, discussion, or another assignment), the students should be able to perform the task and be held accountable for the lesson's information.

The Guided Practice activities can be defined as either individual or cooperative learning. As a teacher, you should observe the students' level of mastery of the material in order to inform your future teaching. Additionally, provide focused support for individuals needing extra help to reach the learning goals. Correct any mistakes that you observe.

Here is a process showing how to can fruits. Study the different stages and related verbs provided and summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Compose a paragraph in about 200 words in using passive voice. You can begin like…

First the fruit is handpicked. Then …

Type 5: Free composition

Write a paragraph describing the scene below. Use the passive voice as appropriate.

Type 6: Essays (given structure)

Write an article about a famous building.

Include in your article:

a) Who designed the building?

b) Name of the building

c) When was it built?

d) Where it is located?

e) Why was it built?

f) Are there any special stories or interesting facts about the building?

Type 7: Free discourse

Informal Letter

Last week you told a lie to your cousin. Write a letter telling your cousin that you are sorry. Explain why you told the lie and how you felt afterwards.

Add these sentences to the text.

I’m writing because terribly guilty I promise that apologize and explain If I were in your shoes

3.2.2. Grammar games

IMPERSONATING MEMBERS OF A SET

GRAMMAR: Present and past simple – active and passive

LEVEL: Elementary to intermediate

TIME: 20 – 30 minutes

MATERIALS: None

In class

1. Ask people to brainstorm all the things they can think of that give off light.

2. Choose one of these yourself and become

the thing- chosen. Describe yourself in around five to six sentences,

e.g.: I am a candle.

I start very big and end up as nothing.

My head is lit and I produce a flame.

I burn down slowly.

In some countries I am put on a Christmas tree.

I am old-fashioned and very fashionable.

3. Ask a couple of other students to choose other light sources and do the same as you have just done. Help them with language. They use the first person, e.g. 'I am a light bulb – I was invented by Edison …'

4. Group the students in sixes. Give them a new category to choose an item from to impersonate, e.g. things you write with. Ask them to work silently, writing five or six first-person sentences in role, such as a biro, quill pen or PC keyboard. Go round and help, especially with vocabulary and the formation of the present simple passive (when this help is

needed).

5. In their groups the students read out their sentences.

6. Ask each group to choose their six most interesting sentences. These are then read out to the whole group.

(After Rinvolucri and Davis "More Grammar Games", p. 72)

I found this game very useful and I often used in class and it is very effective with elementary students. In classes of intermediate students I used the following game, also suggested by the authors mentioned above

Choosing the passive

GRAMMAR: Past simple passive /past simple active

LEVEL: Intermediate

TIME: 40 – 50 minutes

MATERLALS: One copy of the Passive I active list per student (APPENDIX 3)

In class

1. To set the mood, describe a piece of furniture you liked as a child, where it was in the house and why you liked it, what you did with it etc.

2. Ask the students to do the same in twos or threes.

3. Give out the Passive I active list and ask them to work individually. In each pair of sentences they underline the one that fits their personal story best. Ask them to feel free to change any verbs that don't fit, e.g. loved might become ignored. One or two of the sentences may not connect with them at all – tell them to omit these.

4. Group the students in fours to explain their choices.

5. Now ask students to think about the recent past and to bring to mind six to eight things that have happened to them. They work on their own and write a passive and active version of each event, e.g. 'I decided to go to Paris' versus 'I was sent to Paris'. They underline the one that best suits the situation. You go round and help with language.

6. Group them in fours to share their sentences and reasons for choice of voice.

Passive Scrabble

Materials: series of 49 cards containing halves of passive sentences

Procedure:

1. The teacher copies and cuts the cards in the APPENDIX 4, making a set for every group.

2. The teacher divides the class into groups of four.

3. Each group is given a series of 49 cards containing halves of passive sentences.

4. Each student in the group receives 12 cards. The last card is put on the table.

5. The students have to take turns in adding the missing parts of the sentences.

6. The first student to finish the cards is the winner.

Other grammar games for the passive voice can be found in APPENDIX 5.

3.2.3. Grammar exercises

Multiple choice items

1. Last year more than a million cars….

a) are stolen b) were stolen c) stolen d) stole

2. The basketball team …. by the captain.

a) chosen b) is chosen c) is chosed d) chooses

3. The next meeting …. on 14th December.

a) will hold b) will be hold c) will be held d) held

Word changing items

1. I have the feeling there's somebody behind us. I think we ______ (follow).

2. We usually call a mystery something that ______ (can't/explain).

3. We didn't play football yesterday. The match _______(cancel) because of the thick fog.

4. Finally, the television ______ (repair). It's working again.

Word order items

Who did what? Write passive sentences using the words given.

1. English Channel / swim / Captain Webb / 1875

2. first car / build / Gottlieb Daimler / 1885

3. song “Yesterday” / compose / John Lennon / 1964

Combination and addition items

Which of the two sentences follows on best? Choose the most suitable variant and combine the two sentences to form one complex sentence:

1. There’s going to be a big art exhibition.

a) A lot of visitors will be attracted to it.

b) It will attract a lot of visitors.

2. Our neighbours have got a cat and a dog.

a) A lot of mice are caught by the cat.

b) The cat catches a lot of mice.

Association items

Combine the verbs with the right subjects and form passive sentences

build found design compose

make locate speak discover

The city of Bogotá, Colombia (1538 – Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada)

The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez – 1971)

The painting The Mona Lisa (Leonardo Da Vinci)

Matching items

Match the two halves to obtain a passive sentence:

1. Dinner isn’t included … a.… but you can cook food in the kitchen.

2. The hostel doors are closed at midnight… b.…the Youth Hostel Association.

3. Postcards and stamps are sold… c. … every morning.

4. Dormitories are cleaned … d.… for your valuables.

5. Lockers are available … e.… but you can get a key from the reception.

6. Breakfast is served … f.… at 7 a.m.

7. Sheets are provided … g.… but you have to bring your own towels.

8. The hostel is run by … h… in reception.

Re-arranging items

Arrange the words to form correct sentences:

1. by, my, birthday, my, cake, was, mother, made

2. on, the, were, lights, by, turned, me

3. she, offered, new, a, been, has, job

Double-choice items

Choose the most suitable variant:

1. Many species of animals have been endangered by/have endangered hunting and fishing.

2. Pollution is being harmed by/is harming trees and buildings in the inner cities.

3. Oil and gas reserves are using up/are being used up because of our dependence on cars.

Error correction items

The following sentences contain errors connected to the passive voice. Find them and rewrite the sentence correctly:

1. The tall man was being read a newspaper.

2. The old lady in the corner was poured the water.

3. The waitress is being carried by a tray.

Transformation items

Rewrite the sentences beginning as shown:

1. Someone broke into our summer house last week.

Our summer house ……………….

2. They ate all the food at the party.

All ………………..

3. Tom’s father has written this book.

This ………………

Word changing items

Answer the questions, using a passive form of the verbs in brackets together with a suitable adverbial particle.

1. What happens if Peter can’t pay his rent? (turn)

2. What shall we do if we can’t discuss this issue now? (deal)

3. What might happen if somebody crosses a busy road without looking? (knock)

I included more items in APPENDIX 6

3.3. Evaluation

The testing of grammar is one of the mainstays of language testing, since it can be argued that a basic knowledge of grammar underlies the ability to use language to express meaning. The most common way of testing grammatical knowledge is the multiple-choice test, and the most common multiple-choice item is one in which the student selects a word to complete the sentence correctly. Students can also be asked to select ale correct response to an utterance or to choose the most equivalent statement. Error correction items are also useful in testing grammar. A traditional way to test knowledge of word order is to present alternative word orders and ask the student to select the best. Understanding of appropriate sentence order can be tested in the same way. Still another type of grammar test item uses transformations in which the test taker constructs new sentences that have the same meaning as the original sentence. Sentence combining exercises also play a part in grammar testing. While the testing of grammar is limited in that it does not guarantee that the test taker can use the grammatical knowledge in real communication, it is sometimes necessary and useful. In constructing a grammar test, the teacher must consider the ease of marking, the degree of control, and the degree of realism.

I applied an initial test to students from two classes of the same level (intermediate) to establish the degree to which they can work with the passive structure. The test is available in APPENDIX 7 and here are the results.

The second test was applied to the same classes after working for a while with the passive structure using the materials presented above. The results were considerably better, so the materials proved their utility.

Conclusion

The passive voice is one of the grammatical categories difficult to be mastered by numerous school students. As a teacher in a secondary school I took it as a challenge to try to offer some views on the passive and some materials which I found useful.

After studying a few research books belonging to titans in the English teaching methodology, I realized that, no matter how different their ideas are at the beginning and how each of them considers the ideas more innovative than others, at some point they come to the same conclusion.

This is the reason why I do not believe that one grammarian presents the passive structure better than others. In my opinion, if a language learner studies more grammar books and takes into consideration what he/she finds the most interesting things about the grammar structure then the purpose of all grammar books will be achieved.

The current paper has set an objective and that is to stimulate the learners' understanding of structures as simple as possible. The examples I chose for identifying different items of the passive are from the English literature. The aim was to show the learners that the passive voice is a category in English which can be used without being detected in a special way. It is frequently used in day-to-day speaking and writing process. Furthermore, I wanted to present the different opinions on the degree of usage of the passive voice. There are writers who advise people to avoid using the passive voice especially in writing as it is considered dull or feeble or just not suited for writing. What is going on is that people are simply tossing the term "passive" around when they want to cast aspersions on pieces of writing that, for some ineffable reason, they do not care for. They see a turn of phrase that strikes them as weak in some way, or lacks some sort of crispness or brightness that they cannot pin down, and they call it ‘passive’ without further thought. And such is the state of knowledge about grammar among the reading public that they get away with it.

In what concerns the teaching methods of the passive construction, I studied a number of books and articles about the best ways of teaching. The most suitable and which attracted me the most was "Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching" by Richards, Jack and Rodgers, Theodore. It is the simplest and comprises other researchers' opinions and presents them as clear as possible.

In the third chapter I tried to offer information about how I personally teach the passive voice in my school. I have presented useful materials and the appendixes are full of them, I applied tests to different classes to evaluate the utility of the materials. While applying the tests to my students I realized that they took the passive voice seriously and moreover they even liked the structure as compared to other grammatical structures.

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APPENDIXES

APPENDIX 1 Form 1 English– Passive voice

Name: _____________ Class: ______ ( ) Date: ________________

After studying these worksheets, you will…

know the form of passive voice construction

convert a sentence from active voice to passive voice and vice versa

write sentences in the passive voice in simple present and simple past tenses

explain the use of the correct voice in the appropriate situations

Verbs “to be”

Fill in the blanks with the correct versions of the verb to ‘be’.

Past participle

Fill in the table with past participles (p.p.)

Active and passive voices

Fill in the words ‘active’ or ‘passive’ in the right place.

The tea is served by the waiter. _________ voice

The waiter serves the tea. _________ voice

Peter broke the window. _________ voice

A window was broken by Peter. _________ voice

Choose a sentence from above to talk about the pictures below.

Form

The form of passive voice construction is verb ‘to be’ + p.p.

Fill in the following table.

Some sentences in this passage are written in the passive voice. Underline the verb to ‘be’ + p.p. construction. Some has been done for you:

2000-year-old kitchens were found

in Sha Tin-Central MTR site

by Raoul Tam, SCMP

During the construction of the new MTR Shatin to Central Link, more old buildings from the past were discovered. Some old houses were found. A plan is developed to find all the houses. The public is asked to be patient. Some experts are asked to help by the MTR Company

The houses were built about 2000 years ago. Later, the houses were extended and kitchens were added. According to historians, bread was baked in the kitchens. Some kitchens were decorated with stones. It is known that many houses were destroyed by fire. The SCMP is told that some more ancient kitchens are underground. More time is needed to determine the exact amount of these underground kitchens.

Changing the voice

Convert these sentences into passive voice.

Convert these sentences into the passive voice.

The waiters brewed the tea.

_______________________________________.

The owner built two new kitchens.

_______________________________________.

In the recent years, the chef prepares some small dishes.

In the recent years, _____________________.

Some singers perform traditional music.

_______________________________________

Convert these sentences into the active voice.

The coffee and tea are freshly brewed. (subject: the waiters)

The waiters brew the coffee and tea fresh.

The cookies were eaten by Ashley.

___________________________________

The dishes are carefully prepared by the chef.

The chef carefully ____________________

We were attacked. (subject: somebody)

___________________________________

(g) His neck was broken (subject: somebody)

___________________________________

Terrible mistakes were made. (subject: the government)

___________________________________

Fork was invented in Germany. (subject: somebody)

_________________________________

Pizzas were eaten by poor people in the 19th century.

_________________________________

Ramen is originally produced in Japan. (subject: somebody)

_________________________________

Choose a dish that you can cook using the following ingredients. Write 3-5 sentences to talk about the ingredient.

Then, read the sentences to your neighbor and ask your neighbor to guess your dish.

Let’s cook!

1. ________________________________is used.

2. _______________________________________.

3. _______________________________________.

4. _______________________________________.

5. _______________________________________.

I made ___________________________!

Your neighbor’s guess: ___________________________

Answer the following questions using complete sentences in passive voice.

Are some dim sum dishes prepared by frying?

____________________________________________

Were pizzas eaten by rich people in the 19th century?

____________________________________________

Where is ramen originally produced?

____________________________________________

Was the fork invented in Germany?

____________________________________________

Create some more questions about food in the passive voice, and ask your neighbor.

Your question: ____________________________________________

Correct answer: ___________________________________________

Your neighbour’s answer: ___________________________________

Your question: ____________________________________________

Correct answer: ___________________________________________

Your neighbour’s answer: ___________________________________

Your question: ____________________________________________

Correct answer: ___________________________________________

Your neighbour’s answer: ___________________________________

Your question: ____________________________________________

Correct answer: ___________________________________________

Your neighbour’s answer: ___________________________________

Your question: ____________________________________________

Correct answer: ___________________________________________

Your neighbour’s answer: ___________________________________

Usage

Watch the video clips from some TV shows and fill in the blanks. Circle the correct choice.

1st clip

Man 2 used this voice…

to sound more formal

(b) because the speaker did not know the doer

2nd clip

Man 2 used this voice because it sounded…

direct

(b) polite

(c) unsure

3rd clip

The female lawyer thinks the question is unfair to Tom because…

it suggests Tom killed Wagner

it suggests Wagner killed Tom

4th clip

By using these voices, Obama…

sounded more negative

avoided saying who made the mistakes

Active and passive voices–which one do you prefer and why?

Explanation: The focus of Question (b) is on the cookies. It is not important to know who ate them.

Draw lines to match the questions on the left with the correct answers on the right. Explain your choice to your neighbour.

Draw lines to match the sentences on the left with the correct intention or effect on the right. Explain your choice to your neighbour.

Draw lines to match the sentences on the left with the correct intention or effect on the right. Explain your choice to your neighbour.

Choose the passage which is more suitable in the situation. Explain your reason. You may use the following words to help you:

direct polite formal focus tone avoid doer optional action

Live commentary of a football match on TV:

Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________ ____________________________________________________________

An article titled The Legislative Council Building written by the Antiques and Monuments Office taken from p. 8, History textbook

Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________ ___________________________________________________________

An article titled Life in Stone Age from p. 36-37, History textbook

Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________ ____________________________________________________________

(4) An article titled The Bunsen Burner from p. 38, IS textbook

Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________ ____________________________________________________________

(5) An article titled How We Study History from p. 17, History textbook

Passage ____ (A/B) is more suitable because _______________________ ___________________________________________________________

This is a draft welcoming speech for the school Food Week. It contains sentences written in the passive voice. You think that using the active voice is more appropriate in speeches.

Rewrite the underlined sentences in active voice.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why is the active voice more appropriate in this passage?

_________________________________________ _________________________________________

_________________________________________ _________________________________________

These sentences are from a tray liner from the KFC fast food restaurant. Convert the sentences from active voice to passive voice, or vice versa

Our chickens are purchased from quality suppliers. (Use subject ‘we’)

_____________________________________________

We use computerized fryers in all KFC restaurants.

_____________________________________________

KFC staff will discard those products which are not up to standard.

_____________________________________________

The Hygiene Manager trains staff to follow food safety procedures.

____________________________________________

Do you think the active and passive voices are used appropriately on the tray liner? Explain.

Fill in the blanks in the newspaper.

Choose one piece of new item from above, write 3-5 sentences about it in the passive voice. Then, discuss the news item with your neighbor.

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Challenging Questions

Fill in the blanks with the correct verbs to complete the proverbs. Search the internet for help if you need. Make sure the tense and voice are correct.

Fill in the blanks.

This restaurant sells many kinds of food.

Many kinds of food are sold _____(in / by) this restaurant.

The waitress gave me some tea.

I _____ _____ some tea.

Some tea __________ _________ to me.

He baked the bread.

The bread was baked by _________.

Which sentence is better, A or B? Why?

Alice grows many vegetables in the garden.

A. Many vegetables are grown by Alice in the garden.

B Many vegetables are grown in the garden by Alice.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the problem with this sentence?

The mealtime was finished at 12 p.m.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Turn these sentence into the active voice. If you cannot, why not?

Dim sum are prepared by either frying or steaming.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She was drawing a picture when I arrived.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hong Kong is a paradise of food.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rewrite these ungrammatical sentences into grammatical sentences in the passive voice.

I was eaten an ice cream. (X)

The hamburger was eat by Calvin. (X)

He was prepared a dish. (X)

I have been managed a restaurant since 2004. (X)

To know more about passive voice, look for the topics ‘voice’, ‘adverbials’, ‘end weight’, ‘end focus’, ‘agency’, ‘transitivity’ and ‘indirect objects’ in an advanced grammar book.

APPENDIX 2

THE TITANIC

APPENDIX 3

PASSIVE / ACTIVE LIST

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX 5

Describing Common Objects using the Passive Voice

Choose one of the objects below and read out the hints one by one until your partner

guesses what you are talking about, starting with the most difficult hint first. Your partner

can only guess once per hint (not shout out lots of different answers). If you finish all the

hints below before your partner guesses correctly, make up more hints (with passive voice

if possible). If they know what you are talking about but can’t think of the name in English,

they can just point at that thing in the classroom, ask the teacher for the word, use a

dictionary, draw the object, etc. When they guess correctly, change roles and do the same

thing. Continue until your teacher stops the game.

Useful language for playing the game

“I’m not sure. Can you give me another hint?”

“That could also be right, but that isn’t the object that it is written here. I’ll give you

another hint.”

“That’s right. Now it’s your turn.”

Passive voice grammar presentation

After playing the game, without looking below, put one word into each gap below.

A poster

It ________________________________________________________ put on the wall.

_______________________________________________________ is used in schools.

It is made ________________________________________________________ paper.

A ball

It is ___________________________________________________________ in sports.

Air conditioning

It is __________________________________________________________ of plastic.

A carpet

Chairs and tables _______________________________________________ put on it.

Check your answers above.

Put the verbs into the correct form

A light bulb

It is _____________________________________________________ (make) of glass.

It is _________________________________________________ (power) by electricity.

It is _______________________________________________________ (use) at night.

It ________________________________________ (be) replaced when it isn’t working.

It is _________________________________ (buy) in a supermarket or household shop.

Check your answers with the other worksheets, then play the same game with objects not

above, first with objects not in this room, then with other objects.

Descriptions of classroom objects with passive voice

Ask about anything above you don’t understand, then do the grammar on the first page.

Play the same game with other objects, using passive voice as much as possible. Start

with other classroom objects such as those below and then continue with things which

aren’t in this room.

Possible classroom objects to describe with passive voice

Passives Guess Who

Ask your partner Yes/ No questions like “Was A killed by B?” until you guess which of the four stories below they chose.

Story 1: A was killed by his brother, B, because B was owed £200 by A’s friends. He was questioned by C and D. He hit C with a chair- and although D held him back he managed to escape.

Story 2: A was killed by his brother, B, because B was owed £200 by A’s friends. He was questioned by C and D. He was held by D and hit by C with a chair. He later managed to escape.

Story 3: B was killed by his brother, A, because A £200 to B’s friends. C was questioned by D about the murder. E also questioned him.

Story 4: B was killed by his brother, A, because A owed £200 to B’s friends. C was questioned by D about the murder. E was also questioned by him.

Story 5: B killed his brother, A, because A owed £200 to B’s friends. C was questioned about the murder by D. He also questioned E

APPENDIX 6

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the present simple

APPENDIX 7

Initial Test

8th grade

1. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the Present Simple.

a. English ____________________ (speak) in many countries.

b. The post ______________________ (deliver) at about 7 o’clock every morning.

c. ______________________________ (the building/use) anymore?

d. How often ______________________________ (the Olympic Games(hold)?

e. How _______________________ (your name/spell)?

f. My salary _____________________ (pay) every month.

g. These cars _________________________ (not make) in Japan.

h. The name of the people who committed the crime _____________________ (not know).

i. His travel expenses ________________________ (not pay) by his company.

2. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the Past Simple.

a. My car ______________________ (repair) last week.

b. This song ________________________ (not write) by John Lennon.

c. ________________________________ (the phone/answer) by a young girl?

d. The film ________________________ (make) ten years ago.

e. When ______________________________ (tennis/invent)?

f. The car ________________________ (not damaged) in the accident.

g. The original building _________________________ (pull) down in 1965.

h. Where ______________________________ (this pot/make)?

i. When _______________________________ (this bridge/build)?

3. Choose the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

FIAT

Fiat 0 was started (started/was started) by a group of Italian businessmen in 1899. In 1903, Fiat, 1_________________ (produced/was produced) 132 cars. Some of these cars 2_____________________ (exported/were exported) by the company to the United States and Britain. In 1920, Fiat 3_________________ (started/was started) making cars at a new factory at Lingotto, near Turin. There was a track on the roof where the cars 4____________________ (tested/were tested) by technicians. In 1936, Fiat launched the Fiat 500. This car 5____________________ (called/was called) the Topolino – the Italian name for Mickey Mouse. The company grew, and in 1963 Fiat 6_____________________ (exported/was exported) more than 300,000 vehicles. Today, Fiat is based in Turin, and its cars 7_________________ (sold/are sold) all over the world.

4. Change the following sentences into passive sentences using the words in brackets.

a. We sell tickets for all shows at the Box Office. (Tickets for all shows/sell/at the Box Office) _________________________________________________________________________________

b. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. (The electric light bulb/invent/by Thomas Edison)

_________________________________________________________________________________

c. Someone painted the office last week. (The office/paint/last week)

_________________________________________________________________________________

d. Several people saw the accident. (The accident/see/by several people)

_________________________________________________________________________________

e. Where do they make these video recorders? (Where/these video recorders/make)

_________________________________________________________________________________

APPENDIX 8

Test paper

8th grade

1. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice.

a. Someone built this house 200 years ago.

_________________________________________________________________________________

b. A thief stole my purse.

_________________________________________________________________________________

c. The police will arrest the robbers.

_________________________________________________________________________________

d. They produce cars in this factory.

_________________________________________________________________________________

e. They serve breakfast at eight o’clock every day.

_________________________________________________________________________________

f. People throw away tones of rubbish every day.

_________________________________________________________________________________

g. They make coffee in Brazil.

_________________________________________________________________________________

h. Someone stole Jim’s bike lat night.

_________________________________________________________________________________

2. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice.

a. They will build a new bridge next year.

_________________________________________________________________________________

b. Brian Brody directed The Ultimate Space Adventure.

_________________________________________________________________________________

c. Pierre Matie will design her costume.

_________________________________________________________________________________

d. Someone found my wallet.

_________________________________________________________________________________

e. One of the students broke the window.

_________________________________________________________________________________

f. They will deliver my computer on Monday.

_________________________________________________________________________________

g. Mary invited Paul to her birthday party.

_________________________________________________________________________________

h. British astronomers discovered a new planet.

_________________________________________________________________________________

3. Form the question.

a. Paper is made from wood. Is paper made from wood ?

b. The telephone was invented by Mr Bell. ___________________________________________?

c. This picture was painted by Peter. ___________________________________________?

d. The thieves will be arrested by the police. ___________________________________________?

e. Champagne is made in France. ___________________________________________?

f. The letters will be sent next week. ___________________________________________?

g. The animals are fed three times a day. ___________________________________________?

h. This article was written by Stanley. ___________________________________________?

i. CDs are made of plastic. ___________________________________________?

j. The party was organised by Paul. ___________________________________________?

4. Read and complete. Use Past Simple.

a. The toothbrush / invent / in the 15th century.

_________________________________________________________________________________

b. The first public basketball game / play / in 1892.

_________________________________________________________________________________

c. The first eyeglasses / wear / in the 1200s.

_________________________________________________________________________________

d. The first bicycle / ride in 1791.

_________________________________________________________________________________

e. The first hot dog / eat / in the 1860s.

_________________________________________________________________________________

f. The first CDs / sell / in the 1980s.

_________________________________________________________________________________

g. The first electric guitar / play / in 1923.

_________________________________________________________________________________

h. The first computer mouse / use / 1964.

_________________________________________________________________________________

5. Complete with the passive. Use Present Simple.

a. This programme _______________________ (watch) by millions of people.

b. Paper __________________________ (make) from wood.

c. Hundreds of people _______________________ (kill) in accidents every year.

d. London __________________________ (visit) by thousands of tourists every year.

e. The biology class _________________________ (teach) by Mr Green.

f. English _____________________ (speak) all over the world.

g. Lunch _____________________ (serve) at twelve o’clock.

h. Books _____________________ (write) by authors.

6. Put the verbs in brackets into Past Simple Passive.

Two men _________________________ (see) breaking into a house in my street last night. The police _____________________ (call) and they arrived very quickly. One man _____________________ (catch) immediately. The other escaped, but he ______________________ (find) very soon. Both men _____________________ (take) to the police station where they _________________________ (question) separately by a police officer. The two men ________________________ (charge) with burglary.

7. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive.

Somebody has stolen a bus from outside the school. Some children saw the thief. The police are searching for the bus now. They will use the children’s descriptions to catch the thief.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Turn from Active to Passive in two ways.

a. He gave me a present. ______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

b. The waiter will bring us the bill. _______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

c. Her mother bought Mary some sweets. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

d. Bob has sold Ted a second-hand car. ___________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

e. Larry is going to send a letter to Tom. __________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________