Questões de Concurso

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In practical terms, focusing on a grammar topic may be a challenge for the teacher and the student. Using the Passive Voice as mere example, Larsen-Freeman (2003, p.47) states that “the ultimate challenge of the passive voice is not form” because “although it is a grammatical form, it is not the form that presents the learning challenge”. In her example, focusing on form, teachers may mistakenly choose to introduce the passive as a transformed version of the active, implying they are interchangeable or that all passive sentences include the agent, which is definitely not the case. A good alternative to teaching through form could be to:

(a)

have students copy a few sentences from the board and sort out their similarities and differences so as to measure students’ awareness and only then start a possible sentence transformation exercise.

(b)

bring realia to class so students can get involved with the class, which in this case could mean buying students gifts and then making them create sentences starting with “a gift” e.g. A gift was given to João.

(c)

do a three dimensional analysis of the language item and think about where the long term learning challenge lies, which in many cases may be in when / why one should choose this or that language structure.

(d)

take a grammar book to class and have students memorize the rules until they know them by heart and then have them orally transform sentences back and forth, according to the language item.

(e)

do a three dimensional analysis of the language item and think about ways to contrast it with other similar ones so students can focus on how they may put the parts of the sentences together.