ELA100: English, Language and Literacy in Education 1

Weeks 8 and 9: Grammar and

Vocabulary
A: Word Groups
B: Sentence structure
C: Vocabulary and Homonyms (homophones and homographs)
Key Vocab: ensure you have both a DECLARATIVE and a PROCEDURAL knowledge of these
terms
Ie what it is and how to do it: see Emmitt pp 117-121
Adjective/adjectival phrase
Noun
Adverb/adverbial phrase
Participle
Auxiliary verb
Phrase
Clause
Preposition Principal/main/independent clause
Conjunction
Pronoun
Cohesion
Sentence
Determiner/article
Subject and predicate
Finite verb
Subordinate/dependent clause
Inflection
Tense: present, past, future
Theme and rheme
Verb
Modal/subjunctive verb
Voice: active, passive

Can you group these words in a more meaningful way (than the alphabetic order
above) to help you make sense and remember them and their meanings?

A: Grammar and Word Groups

What does grammar mean to you????
Why is knowing grammar important for us (teachers/people)???

Summary of Chapter 4 of the set text: M. Emmitt, M. Zbaracki, L. Komesaroff, & J.

Pollock. Language and Learning: An introduction to teaching. Melbourne: Oxford.
Teachers need to know about grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of language so that they can assist
students to use language effectively.
Some definitions to have an awareness of:

Syntax - the way words are ordered in sentences, or the grammar of the sentence
Morphemes - the combination of letters and sounds to make meaningful units
Phonology - individual sounds
Discourse analysis - the study of how texts are organised and structured - text types (genre), text
organisation and cohesion
Traditional grammar - the sets of rules for the structure of sentences. Traditionally taught through
rote learning, and through potentially mind-numbing activities for example identifying individual
1

words as parts of speech (noun, proper noun, verb, pronoun, conjunction, connective, adjective,
adverb, preposition, article and so on). See p 115 for a useful comparison chart
Functional grammar is an alternative to traditional grammar. Function grammar looks at the
functional approach of the language and how language enables us to do things in our daily lives.

Implications of TWO GRAMMAR SYSTEMS: Different words for the same things . . . see pp.
117-121
Well stick mainly with the language of traditional grammar, but will use a functional approach
when teaching it (ie how we can use the categories to help students make sense of language
and create language thats effective and interesting)

Reading 1:

Robinson-Kooi, S. (2013). Essential knowledge and practical activities for

teaching grammar in the

Australian Curriculum: English. Practically Primary 18(3), 12-16.

Grammar teaching when reading a story in class . . .

What are the 7 key elements of essential knowledge for teachers that Robinson-Kooi
identified?
What are the main activities involved in the 4 lessons Robinson-Kooi describes? Where is
the grammar use or learning in these activities?

Word Class or Parts of Speech

See Winch and Blaxell

Create an A3 table that you can fill in to give you an overview of the most important
things about each word class
How would you use these word classes when teaching either reading or writing?

Sentence Structure (revision)

Phrases and Clauses:

Learn to identify clauses - Intro to clauses - clause vs

phrase hyperlink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvMAO3vB4A
See Winch and Blaxell

Create some . . .

Subject and Verb Agreement:

The subject and verb in a sentence need to be in agreement. Are these correct? Why/why
not?
The boy looks at his book.
The boys look at their book.
The group of boys is swimming.
The group of boys are swimming.
Sasha and Tim was reading the newspaper.

Types of Sentences: Simple, Compound, Complex

See Winch and Blaxell

Create examples of each relating to today or Sunday.

Swop and identify sentence type

C: Vocabulary and Homonyms

Over a number of years I kept running into the word 'epistemology'. Each time I would look it up and take
note of the definition, but the word only really became meaningful to me when I started teaching research
methodology.

Do you have a story to tell about a particular work or a situation that helped you learn a
word?
What are the implications of this for teaching vocabularly in your classes?

Homonyms
Homograph: graph= writing: can you think of any examples?
Homophone: phone=sounds: can you think of any examples?
Why do homonyms make written language learning tricky??
could it be made fun instead???

How

See Winch and Blaxell: Devise an engaging, hands on activity that could get students
becoming familiar with common homographs and/or homonyms

Optional: classroom related materials: See Readings 3, 4 and 5:

3 Cameron, S. & Dempsey, L. (2013). Focusing on word choice in writing. Practically Primary,
18(3), 37-38.
4 Cochrane, V. (2013). Vocabulary: Extending children's vocabulary and comprehension
through oral and visual literacy. Practically Primary, 18(3), 39-42.
5 Topfer, C. (2014). Setting up for spelling success - Ten tips for thoughtful learning. Practically
Primary, 19(3), 16-18.

Tasks due Week 10

1: New Learning: Complete study sheet (this!)
2: Assig 2: Add new knowledge to your analysis of the video of Berns lesson

3: Assig 1: Test 1: review errors in test. Write 2 paragraphs explaining and giving egs of a)
verbal/nonverbal language b) the 3 elements of register and the difference between register
and dialect
Test 2: complete
Test 3: before completing test 3, work through many of the examples in the practice test.
Then complete test.