The student was offended. To her, the restroom is a place of waste, an unclean place—not a proper place for prayer. I understood her revulsion. At the same time, however, I understood the employee who made the suggestion. There are few quiet places on campus. To a non-Muslim, and secularized American, the restroom does not have unclean or degrading connotations. The employee was trying to problem-solve—propose a compromise.
The employee's suggestion was not the most tactful reply to the student's need, but it illustrates an important aspect of communication. Our backgrounds and cultures influence our comprehension. "Quiet" to one person includes a sacred nuance. To another person, it implies literal silence. What we hear is not necessarily what the other person means.
Not only does culture influence our understanding of language, the very structure of our "mother tongue" influences how we approach a new language. We cannot help but view the new language through pre-established expectations. We apply our expectations throughout the learning (acquisition) process as we hunt for similarities between the mother tongue (language 1) and the new language (language 2). This is called language transfer.
Language transfer is natural—although the field itself is filled with controversy. In my grammar classes, I encounter a growing number of ELL students whose "mother tongues" influence their understanding of English grammar. Many of these students are Sudanese; their first language is Arabic. As their teacher, I can assist the acquisition process by appreciating the role of language transfer, learning the structures and expectations of Arabic, and preparing tasks that take those expectations into account.
Language transfer is a complicated discipline. It seems self-evident that one's native language influences one's perception of Latin, French, English or Arabic. Controversies over language transfer cluster around the process of that influence. Some theorists argue that language transfer is largely behavioral and cultural (as illustrated by the above anecdote). More recently, language transfer theorists have applied statistical methodology to cases of language learning.
My primary interest is how the teacher should take language transfer into account, specifically in the study of grammar. S. Pit Corder's article "A Role for the Mother Tongue" can help the teacher recognize language transfer in the classroom as natural and even necessary. Corder (1992) argues with the original model of language transfer whereby the "mother tongue" interferes/inhibits the learner from grasping rules of the new language. Learning a language, Corder contends, is not like memorizing a list of structures. "[This notion]," he writes, "is . . . reinforced by the nature of the structural syllabus upon which our teaching programs have been for so long based" (pp. 21-22). Corder's article is more than ten years old, but his comments are still applicable today.
The process of learning a language is more complex than accumulating drills. Grammar rules in language 1 cannot be transferred directly to the grammar of language 2; people do not always learn languages progressively. Consider the difference between a second language learner who learns from a textbook (linearly) and the second language learner who lives amongst speakers of the second language. As common knowledge (and language students) testify, the latter group learns the language more rapidly and more idiomatically.
Corder, however, is concerned primarily with the process of language transfer (rather than the milieu). He argues that the "mother tongue" facilitates acquisition. He refers specifically to what he calls "performance phenomenon"—"borrowing." When a second language learner is under pressure, the learner will "borrow" or substitute words from the mother tongue (p. 26). Borrowing occurs because communication is the learner's primary goal, rather than obedience to grammar rules. This was true when I took French literature in college. After four years of high school French, I could read French fairly well but could not (and still cannot) speak it without serious embarrassment. During class, the professor wanted us to use French to discuss the day's assigned reading. Inevitably, I would start out, "Je connais . . . " but within moments, I would fall back into English. I was reverting, not borrowing. Borrowers retrieve words and structures from the mother tongue to help their developing sense of the second language (Corder, 26). In both cases, however, being understood is the primary goal.
Corder's article is helpful to any teacher of ELL students. Since grammar courses are designed to be "cumulative"—to borrow Corder's term—such courses contain strong expectations that students will learn a concept and then move on. It is always disconcerting when students, both native and non-native speakers, continue to make errors covered in earlier lessons. An individual's internal understanding of a language is not nearly as systematic as grammar workbooks would have teachers believe.
Corder also makes clear that language transfer is not an equation. Many times, language 1 does not contain forms or concepts that can be transferred to language 2. It is hopeless to search for feminine and masculine articles (le/la) in English. English capital letters find no equivalent in Arabic. Learning a language does not mean forcing the mother tongue to conform to a new set of rules. A new language is its own entity.
Arabic and English, for example, have many differences. The differences are ingrained, not superficial. Arabic has no modal verbs (can, could, may, might, will, would) and also no form of "to be" in the present tense (am, is, are) (Swan & Smith, 2001, pp. 201, 203-204). I encounter errors in these areas when I correct essays by my Sudanese students. One student wrote, "[T]he demon didn't like my mother because she Christian." The same student combined a modal verb with a noun: "getting marriage" and "could get marriage" Another student produced a similar error, writing, "[I]t had never been snow."
Other transfer issues surround prepositions. Arabic contains prepositions, but not all Arabic prepositions can be "transferred" directly into English, either in terms of usage or purpose (Swan & Smith, 2001, pp. 206-207). Unnecessary prepositions occur in my students' essays: "[F]or the first day I got here, I did not like [the cold]." "After 25 years later, my great-grandfather die." "[I]t gives more opportunity to the people to be able to work." In all instances, the extra preposition or prepositional phrase is added for the sake of emphasis.
Understanding these types of errors, and why they occur, can help the grammar teacher appreciate what challenges Arabic-speaking students face. When I look over my students' essays, I am impressed by how many times they experimented, unconsciously or consciously, with grammar structures; they were creating what language transfer theorists call an "interlanguage," or developmental language.
Keeping ELL students in mind, the grammar teacher should prepare lessons which teach the existence of the grammar rule, not simply the application. Sandra Fotos stresses this approach in her chapter "Structure-Based Interactive Tasks for the EFL Grammar Learner" in New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Fotos (2002) compares implicit instruction with explicit instruction. In implicit instruction, such as the communicative approach, students are exposed to examples of writing that use certain grammar rules (p. 136). The communicative approach rests on the idea that grammar structures occur in context, not in the "ordered lists" criticized by Corder. Certainly, the communicative approach has a place in grammar curriculums. Yet Fotos cites research where "learners benefit from formal instruction prior to meaning-focused activities because such instruction promotes their attention to the forms they will encounter" (p. 137). Learners need explicit instruction to help them focus.
Corder and promoters of the communicative approach are not wrong when they argue that acquiring a language is not a systematic act. However, the need for explicit instructions in the classroom is clear. Just as explaining the rules and then moving on to the next chapter is not enough, presenting material and leaving students to their own devices is not fruitful. Fotos' solution is "structure-based interactive tasks" that combine implicit and explicit instruction. She focuses mainly on EFL classrooms—where English is taught not for daily use (as a second language) but in order to pass a test or move on to another level (much as I learned French in high school)—but her task types can be used in ESL or regular grammar courses. In the first task type, students use a targeted grammar principle to complete an activity (p. 144). In the second task type, students must complete a meaning-based problem using correct grammar (p. 145).
Fotos' standard for these tasks comes from Peter Skehan. According to Skehan, a task should (1) communicate primarily through meaning; (2) present a problem to be solved; (3) have real world application; (4) resolve with (5) a measurable performance (Fotos, p. 140). Using both Fotos and Skehan's recommendations, I created two tasks for the lesson, "Helping Verbs." I chose this lesson because of its possible pitfalls for Arabic speakers. The tasks will be aimed at that group.
Introduction to Tasks:Analysis of Tasks
There are three types of verbs in English: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. Helping verbs include the following: be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were, do, does, did, have, had, has, shall, should, can, could, will, would, may, might, must.
Shall, should, can, could, will, would, may, might, must are also called "modals."
Not all languages have helping verbs or modals. In English, helping verbs are used to say whether something took place in the past or will take place in the future:We have seen the movie already. (We saw the movie in the past.)Modals are used to suggest a possibility or a necessity:
I will go to the ballgame tomorrow. (I go in the future)I may walk the dog.HELPING VERBS ARE ALWAYS USED WITH BASE VERBS. The base verb is usually an action verb. Find the action verbs in the above sentences (go, see, walk, feed).
I should feed the cat.
Task I: Combining helping verbs and base or action verbs
Using helping verbs, students must complete the phrases on the board:I _____ going to the mall this afternoon.
I ______ spoken to the lawyer about the will.
He ______ thinking about selling his boat.
We ______ wish to visit the memorial.
They ________ planning a picnic for Friday.
You ________ tell me if the parade cancels.
(Again, the base verbs are "go," "speak," "think," "wish," "plan," "tell.")
Task 2: Teaching the modal
Pass out pictures of people from magazines.
Students should write a paragraph about what their person will do in the future. (Hint: use "will," "shall.")
Students should then write a paragraph about what their person ought to do in the future. (Hint: use "should," "may," "might," "must.")
The first task uses explicit instruction. The students are required to finish incomplete sentences with the correct form of a helping verb. To emphasize that the helping and base verb go together, the teacher and students could use a specific color pen for the verbs.
The task should emphasize the use of helping verbs in both the past and present tense. When reviewing the answers, the teacher should point out the possibility of several right answers ("He is thinking about selling his boat." "He was thinking . . ."). The teacher should not single out students who answer wrongly. Rather, the teacher should show why an answer is wrong. If a student writes, "We have wish," for example, the teacher could talk about tense forms. If a student writes, "I am spoken," the teacher could talk about subject-verb agreement.
The second task uses implicit instruction. There are no modal verbs in Arabic. However, in all cultures, people think about the future, and people give advice. Task 2 parlays that natural human tendency into the correct use of "modals." Like many grammar rules, modals are difficult to explain at a purely definitional level; the words "would," "should" and "must" represent differing degrees of necessity, but the nuances are slight, even to native speakers. Practice is the best guide here. In order to make the second task more relevant, the teacher could substitute a real person for the picture person: "What do you think your sibling should do in the future?"
Conclusion
Learning a new language can be a stressful event. Even the best-prepared teacher will encounter problems unconnected, on the surface, to grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary. In their introduction to Language Transfer in Language Learning, editors Susan Gass and Larry Selinker (1992) list various factors in learning a new language: "age . . . motivation, loyalty to a language, language aptitude, and attitude" (p. 4). Teachers cannot cancel out these factors, but they can, hopefully, lessen the uneasiness or fear felt by most language learning students. Teachers can be alert to "transfers" and "borrowings" that students may make as they acquire the new language.
The teacher can use interactive tasks based on Fotos' model. Both explicit and implicit instructions are necessary in the classroom; explicit and implicit tasks encourage students to focus and to apply their learning. The teacher should emphasize not just the necessity but the usability of correct grammar.
Teachers need to keep ELL students in mind, whether or not they teach ESL classes. Within just the last year, the number of Sudanese and Somalian students in my classes has nearly doubled. Many of these students have not taken ESL classes. Their level of acquisition varies greatly. I have had students with almost no verbal skills, and students who use American-English idioms without effort. I have had students who cannot write complete sentences, and students who write nearly flawless English. In all cases, I have to keep in mind what aspects of English may cause the most confusion for my students. Some problems, like run-on sentences and fragments, apply to all students (all the time!), but other issues, such as the use of helping verbs, the use of prepositions, and the use of capital letters are specific to my Sudanese and Arabic-speaking students. I will not be able to address every issue that my students face but hopefully, I can make English more accessible to them while I encourage them to enjoy the wonderful language they are learning.
References follow. This research paper was written for an education course. An analysis of the course can be found at Votaries of Horror.
References
Corder, S. Pit (1992). A role for the mother tongue. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning. (pp. 18-31). Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Fotos, Sandra (2002). Structure-based interactive tasks for the EFL grammar learner. In E. Hinkle & S. Fotos (Eds.), New Persepctives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. (pp. 135-154). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gass, Susan M. & Selinker, Larry (Eds.). (1992). Language Transfer in Language Learning. Revised Edition. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hinkle, Eli & Fotos, Sandra (Eds.). (2002). Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Student papers (names withheld), Introduction to College Writing, Fall 2006.
Swan, Michael & Smith, Bernard (Eds.). (2001). Arabic speakers. In Learner English. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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