Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hyeon Een]

There is a myth, perpetuated by Koreans and gullible foreigners, that Korean students are good at grammar and bad at speaking. They are NOT good with grammar. They ARE good at multiple choice grammar tests but they are horrific at producing anything written or spoken. (Obviously a gross generalization with many many exceptions, such as DoggyJJ on this board)

Anyway, in my 'advanced writing' class the biggest problems are with:
(1) Subject-verb agreement (particularly in long sentences with several clauses and especially with count/non-count nouns

and

(2) Use of articles.

Using articles correctly if you don't come from a European background is tough. It's difficult. Some 'teachers' go with "just because" when asked why one article is correct whilst another is not. That answer is, obviously, useless. There are rules regarding articles, however they are COMPLICATED. They are seriously freakin complicated. I know the rules, and I know how to use articles, but if you get me to write an essay and then ask me to explain each usage I am going to have to do some serious thinking time before I can answer correctly. I have 'the rules' inbuilt, I didn't learn them. I can parse a sentence I've written, and, after a little thought, explain why I used each article but it's an effort because it comes naturally, rather than through thought. 99.8% (maybe ) of native speakers CAN NOT explain why they use a certain article in a certain position; I can, just about, but I have to think because I only learned the rules recently.

A couple of weeks ago I 'taught' my students how to use articles, but some of them still aren't getting it. My students are hardcore students. They try, and they care. They learned the rules. However, applying them in every single sentence (often multiple times) is difficult for them. They try hard, and they have improved greatly, but they still make a huge number of mistakes regarding articles.

What can I do to help them more?
- I've taught them the rules. They know them in theory.
- We've done a lot of practice.
- They have improved A LOT but they still make quite a few mistakes.

What else can I do? It's a writing class, not a grammar class, so I don't want to spend hours on a grammar point when there is so much more they need to learn, BUT using articles correctly is VERY important in writing coherently.

I probably want the impossible: I want them to 'get the hang of' using articles without spending hours on grammar.

Any advice?

[jlb]

Not advice, but just a sympathetic note to say that I feel your pain. I also teach a university writing class and have had some major frustrations with it. I am not a grammar expert but it seems that this is what they need. But they take grammar classes with Korean teachers so I wonder why they're not better at it. I try to strike a balance of time spent with creative stuff, like trying to make writing interesting and basic, simple grammar that they're still making mistakes with.

Good luck!

[SuperHero]

Order of Acquisition (not the best source, but you can find more on your own) - Articles are one of the last things to be acquired by English learners. You can teach it until you are blue in the face, but unless the student has reached the point where they are ready, they will not get article use naturally. This does not mean, you shouldn't teach it. Students do benefit from having knowledge of it - i.e. if they slow down and actively think about articles they will be more correct.

I'm not sure where subject-verb agreement fits in with order of acquisition, but that may be part of your problem there especially if your students are not truly advanced. As we all know an "advanced" class is just a title many times. And when I referred to article use being one of the last acquired I meant that near natives will still have trouble with articles.

[Drew345]

Sounds like you did a good job with articles. Call it a success, congratulate yourself and the class and move on.
The problem with articles is that for every rule, there are sub-rules. Then the sub-rules, have exceptions. You've got it right when you mention "lots of practice". Just leave it and realize that it is something that will continue to improve over the years as they get more and more practice.
Try to have sympathy; the worst part of my Korean language is the "이, 가, 은, 는, 을, 를". (Korean articles).
One book with a lot of exercises for University students is "Academic Writing for Graduate Students" by Swales and Feak. There is a appendix in the back with good exercises (and there is a separate teacher edition with lots of good ideas).

[Thiuda]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Articles are awful. I teach beginners currently, and tell them not to worry about them yet. When I was teaching more advanced levels, I also taught the rules. One activity that I did was collect sentences from student writing and put them in categories for different rules. Once a week or so I put up a sentence, have pairs work out the corrections and race to the board to put them in. It only took 5 minutes and was good to fill out a class period and worked as quick review of the various article rules.

Not particularly creative, but it did help keep the rules in their active memory.

[bassexpander]

Fullproof way to get students to learn the proper use of articles:

http://blog.naver.com/bjb8828?Redirect=Log&logNo=60043753750

[BS.Dos.]

Fluency over accuracy. Always.

As already noted, successful article acquisition is pretty low on the priorities of language items learners need to master. The use of articles is fraught with ambiguities that most native speakers would struggle to identify, let alone someone who's trying to come to grips with English.

[Privateer]

Articles are hard for people who don't have them in their own language to learn, but certainly not impossible or why do we encounter fluent English-speaking Koreans? It takes time and practice but they can get there.

If you don't understand articles and how they work you'll both miss the point and fail to get your own point across in English a lot of the time.

[Hawkeye2]

Tom Cole
The Article Book
The University of Michigan Press
ISBN 0-472-08639-1

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[PRagic]

Look on the bright side. You did your job, you care, and your students are trying, too. Great.

One advantage to having taught articles is that you can now put this section into your mid-term and final exams...

...guarenteed to have a decent grade distribution!