Participating in a change process

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Participating in a change process

• Problems and solutions for implementing corpus
  linguistics data methods into ESL/EFL writing
  courses and programs

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Problems that will slow or prevent the changes we
seek

• The approach to linguistics in U.S. MA programs
• The approach to language in SLA publications and
  MA courses
• Classroom teacher background and job
  characteristics
• Teacher suspicion about "the latest theory
• All those files of handouts
• Our un-tempered enthusiasm for corpus linguistics

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Problem 1 The approach to linguistics in U.S.
MA programs

• Drawing trees
• Made up sentences
• Little connection to discourse
• Little connection to learner language development
• The concept of linguistic creativity
• The missing concept of the routine

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Problem 2 SLA Language Data

• Language data and description dont really matter
• Because you wont be teaching grammar anyway
• So, just draw those trees and finish up with that
  requirement and forget about it

See the results in Doughty, C., Varela, E.
(1998). Communicative focus on form. In C.
Doughty J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in
classroom second language acquisition (pp.
114-138). Cambridge Cambridge University
Press. Where a researcher has to work hard to
convince a skeptical classroom teacher that
direct teaching of grammar will not be harmful.
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Problem 3 Classroom teacher background and job
characteristics

• Lots of part-time teachers who might not have
  degrees in TESOL or who might have studied quite
  a long time ago
• Programs that do not encourage professional
  development so many teachers find it hard to make
  connections to changes in the field
• Teaching courses with not-very-clearly
  articulated purposes
• Curriculum-free programs

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Problem 4 All those files of handouts

• Lots of classes
• Lots of students
• Materials that have been developed over time and
  that are familiar and comfortable
• Making a change in a textbook in that context is
  an emotional as well as intellectual decision
  about use of time and energy

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Problem 5 Our sometimes Un-tempered enthusiasm
for corpus linguistics

• Language data is only part of the total package
  of an ESL writing course
• Teacher suspicion about "the latest theory

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Solutions Ways to encourage change

• Solution 1 Work for Knowledge Base Changes
• Solution 2 Be Practical Savvy About the
  Change Process
• Process Solution 3 Develop Share Tools for
  Change

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Solution 1Work for Knowledge Base Changes

• Make the powerful connection of corpus
  linguistics to sociolinguistics and "language in
  use
• Emphasize the empirical nature of the data
  discovered through corpus linguistics methods and
  resources
• Discuss and come to an understanding of the
  various meanings of creativity and the role of
  the routine
• Clarify the various meanings of intuition and
  native speaker intuition and the relationship
  between making educated guesses based on
  experience and making educated guesses based on
  empirical data

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Solution 2 Be Practical Savvy About the
Change Process

• Local as well as national and international
  presentations and workshops and training courses
• Identify classroom teachers who are experimenting
  with corpus linguistics content and/or methods
  and work with them to create teaching materials
  and to demonstrate those materials at local as
  well as national meetings and perhaps in
  publications
• Be cool. Include caveats in discussions.
• Deal with suspicions about first adopters and
  our willingness to undergo all kinds of pain and
  problems to make a new technology or tool or idea
  work

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Solution 3 Develop Share Tools for Change

• Publications
• Websites
• Software

Some of these are listed on my handout. If you
did not get a copy, please email me at
patbyrd_at_gsu.edu And Ill send you a set.
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In sum

• A Practical Plan Implemented with
• Persistence
• Patience
• Guile