TESL Ontario Webinar

What does it mean for language to be "correct", "good", "grammatical", etc.? How do I decide what to teach, what to avoid, and what to correct? When we determine that something is ungrammatical, what effects does that have on students, co-workers, and society more generally?

Beginning with participants' intuitive responses to examples (e.g., He very very good; I ain't no quitter), we bring data and grammatical theory to bear to see how our intuitions may be moved towards a reflective equilibrium. Grammaticality as a tool for group signalling is mooted, and, as an upshot, ways to respond to learner-produced language are offered.

Successful participants will be able to:

• take a more empirical approach to determining grammaticality,
• more accurately distinguish among differing factors that make a form inappropriate, and
• respond to forms in ways that are more considered and more effective.

WEBINAR TYPE

Teaching Best Practices

CATEGORIES

Grammar, Social Justice, Philosophical Foundations of Language Learning

TEACHING SECTORS

Elementary, Secondary, College/University (EAP), LINC, Continuing Education/Adult ESL (non-credit), OSLT, Adult ESL Credit, ELT, Self-Employed (tutors etc.), TESL Trainers, Program Administrators

PARTICIPANT LEVEL

No previous knowledge required.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Brett Reynolds has taught English and English-language teachers for longer than some of his students have been alive. He is the past editor of TESL Ontario's Contact magazine, and most recently one of the authors of A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, the second edition of which has just recently been published by Cambridge University Press.

Twitter: @brettrey3

Website (book): https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/a-students-introduction-to-english-grammar/EB0ABC6005935012E5270C8470B2B740#overview