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[OmanTefl]

I've been teaching at various colleges in Muscat for the last three years and much to my frustration it seems that the students enrolled in the colleges have no interest in using the grammar or vocab they have learnt when speaking. For instance, students coming to the end of an Intermediate course will often use the present simple when talking about past events. I've noticed this when interviewing classes other than my own when conducting oral assessments. This suggests that it's not just my teaching!

Have other teachers encountered this problem? If so why does this happen and how can you combat it?

[veiledsentiments]

Typical of fossilized beginners...

Are you a new teacher? I will assume that you don't have a linguistics/ language learning BA or MA. You will find that there is voluminous writing done on the reality that students being able to ace grammar tests does not transfer directly to proper usage in speaking or writing. It can, in fact, take years for it to transfer, and usage will tend to lag far behind their knowledge of the language.

Many would say that grammar isn't all that important if you can understand what they are saying... communicative at least.

VS

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[Geronimo]

OmanTefl wrote:-

[Kebin]

I think this is one of those situations where it helps to have learned a foreign language yourself.

I learned to speak Danish when I was 17. I clearly remember there being things that my host family would correct in my speech time and time again, and if I slowed down to think about what I was saying and compose it carefully, I could get it right.

There was one that always threw me. Let's say we have these two sentences in English:

"I went to school" and "Yesterday I went to school."

In Danish, the proper structure would be:

"I went to school" and "Yesterday went I to school."

The subject/verb reversal took FOREVER to transition from the world of theoretical grammar into practical use, despite my making a concerted effort to get it right. I still slip up every now and then, eight years later. (Mind you, I don't have much opportunity to speak Danish these days so it's perhaps forgivable.)

It's a matter of inertia; you have to overcome months, years, or in some cases, even decades of incorrect usage.

Maybe it's made me too lenient of a teacher, since I can wholeheartedly sympathize with my students. On the other hand, maybe trying too hard is just beating your head against a brick wall, and it's something that really will only come with time.

[MsDooLittle]

L1 doesn't seem to make any difference. I have exactly the same problem with my Slovak students who despite being brilliant in using present perfect / past perfect in grammar exercises after years of teaching, continue to use past simple/continuous in conversation. And using articles correctly? No chance.... even for the most fluent of speakers.

When their communication is excellent it seems a bit mean to be constantly stopping and correcting. Especially when the average standard of spoken/written English by native speakers is well below that of my students. I teach them enough to be competant for their required needs... then focus on communication and fluency. Banging on about complicated grammar rules isn't useful, IMO.

[OmanTefl]

Thanks for all the viewpoints expressed. I can appreciate that some language points take longer to sink in. For instance correct article use can only really be mastered through time. Can anyone really explain why we say "going to the pub" and "going to a restaurant"? Any explanation is likely to touch on semantics and rarely would be interesting to a native speaker let alone a second language learner. But would usage of the past simple fall within this category?

I think many Omani learners will use "yesterday I go to the souq" instead of attempting the past simple and creating an uncommon sentence structure such as "Yesterday the souq went I". Maybe they are hedging their bets and playing it safe. Or perhaps they are not getting enough feedback on their performance in assessments. In the several colleges I have worked in on short term contracts students weren't sat down and told why they had achieved the mark that they had. I'd be interested if other colleges in Oman do feedback to students and if this does have a positive effect.

[PierogiMonster]

Can anyone really explain why we say "going to the pub" and "going to a restaurant"?

From what I've heard about Ibri (where I'm going) there is only one place to get a beer, so gramatically it must be the pub, whereas there is more than one restaurant

[veiledsentiments]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[veiledsentiments]

[Geronimo]

OmanTefl wrote:

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

I jes'did the same thing for "going to (x) chapel" on Google...

"going to a chepel"- jes' over 13 million hits

"going to the chapel"- jes' over 2 million hits


Conclusion: Google hates the Dixie Cups...

NCTBA

[OmanTefl]

A quick question for Kebin who wrote;

I learned to speak Danish when I was 17. I clearly remember there being things that my host family would correct in my speech time and time again,

Did this error correction help you in the long run?