English syntax

Basic Elements of English Syntax

The emphasis of Chapter 9 is on the basic elements of English syntax, which also clarifies fundamental grammatical principles. The authors claim that there are four different interpretations of grammar, including the description of syntactic structure, the usage of words and structures, and the effective use of syntactic structure in rhetoric. Grammar serves as a practical grasp of sentence construction that enables individuals to comprehend and use language (Freeman and Freeman 216). Linguists believe that humans are born with an inherent language acquisition device, hence they view syntax and grammar as being synonymous. Grammar has all descriptions of the elements in language while syntax focuses on relationships existing between words and determining their order in sentences. In short, grammar can be said to be the entire study while syntax is a part of it. In addition human are born with subconscious structures, which help them to develop an internal grammar with syntactic component (Freeman and Freeman 216). According to the authors, some teachers teach prescriptive grammar because they may be finding it quite interesting or they think that grammar, reading, and writing are correlated. They may also feel that grammar can be of help to some students or due to pressure from the community (218). Grammar can refer to the set of rules internalized by human beings to help in producing and comprehending language (Freeman and Freeman 219). Some concepts such as linear order, sentence constituents, and morphological word categories are used by linguists to aid in the description of structure of sentence phrases. For bilingual learners, knowledge of syntax is very important in teaching reading to help readers in predicting morphological categories of upcoming words. The knowledge of syntax has influenced my way of thinking about teaching grammar in a way that will allow learners to produce and comprehend knowledge.

Teaching English as a Second Language

Chapter 10 focuses on teaching English as the second language, which entails approaches of analyzing the language and approaches of using it. The former helps students in learning the elements of language while the latter focuses on assisting students to use language from the start. Teachers that tend to focus on the attention by learners on linguistics especially during communication interaction perform better than those that focus on contextualized grammar lessons. Teaching grammar requires giving the student rules that can enable learners to utilize linguistic forms accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately. Syntactic context cues refer to identification on the way a word is utilized in a grammatical construction and are based on grammar and structure. They can also be patterns of rules, which guide putting of words together to make meaningful phrases and sentences. The strategies may include running record analysis, cloze passages, guided reading, missing morphemes, and contextual word attack instruction sequence. Metacognition, and morphemic analysis help students to monitor whatever they are reading. Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases for creating sentences in the right word order. It consists of language forms and grammatical structures, which should be used appropriately (Freeman and Freeman 229). Syntax consists of grammar conventions, symbols, tables, and graphs used in representation of information. The strategies of teaching academic language include encouraging students to read diverse texts, introducing summary frames, helping them to make translations from academic and social language, and having learner complete scripts of academic routines. The teacher can also dynamically introduce academic vocabulary, have students write with a transition handout, and help learners identify similarities and differences.

Works Cited

Freeman, David E., and Yvonne S. Freeman. Essential Linguistics: What Teachers need to know to Teach ESL, Reading, Spelling, and Grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2014.