Abstract

There is ample theoretical and empirical support in the field of second language (L2) acquisition for instructional strategies that direct learners’ attention to grammatical forms during meaning-focused activities. This kind of instruction has been referred to as «focus on form instruction», and has been distinguished from the traditional grammar-based approaches that teach linguistic forms in an isolated and decontextualized manner, or what has been called «focus on forms instruction». In this article, I will begin with a brief overview of the notion of focus on form and its theoretical and empirical underpinnings. I will then discuss a number of instructional options for integrating a focus on grammar into communicative language teaching. I will describe each option, review its theoretical and empirical basis, and provide examples of how they can be used in the classroom.

Abstract

Learning language at school means learning grammar as a conscious and explicit knowledge about language, as a means to reflect on language use aiming at using language more consciously and in accordance with the different situations of discursive interplay, either from the perspective of the agent (speaker or a writer) or from the perspective of the interlocutor (a reader or a conversation partner). This article deals with the term pedagogical grammar (PG) explicitly referring to this goal, but also considering other aspects that a PG should be addressing: as a framework of reference to the social norms concerning language use, rejecting the idea of becoming a bunch of fixed and imposed norms; as a framework of reference to build the syntactic structures that the language system allows; as a tool helping to select among these structures to match the user’s discursive perspective; and as a means to progressively build and systematize reliable knowledge of grammatical concepts. In this respect, procedural and methodological aspects become unavoidable issues to conceive grammatical knowledge as a tool to think reflectively in learning situations at school.

Abstract

In this paper we will deal with non-finite verbs that head sentences. The infinitive, gerund and participle forms have traditionally been associated with the categories of noun, adverb, and adjective, respectively. However, such parallelism does not imply a categorial equivalence: the fact that an infinitive occupies similar contexts to those of a noun phrase does not turn into a noun. We will see that non-finite forms constructions constitute bimembral predicative structures and, therefore, have a subject, although it is conditioned by the absence of verbal inflection. To understand the properties of the subject of non-finite verbs, it is necessary to insist on three basic grammatical notions: argument structure, null subject and locality. Based on this approach, we outline a content sequencing to teach non-personal forms in secondary school and we propose a sample of possible exercises of short sequences and minimal pairs. These exercises are based on a methodology that seeks to get students to reflect on grammar by linking meaning to form.