Trauma, triage, and treatment in the ESL grammar class

Consequences of the processing limitations of the human mind for grammar instruction at the intermediate level of English as a second language are argued to call for an application of the triage principle used in hospital emergency rooms; in the classroom context, triage involves selective attention...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of applied linguistics 2005-11, Vol.15 (3), p.379-383
Main Author: Scovel, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Consequences of the processing limitations of the human mind for grammar instruction at the intermediate level of English as a second language are argued to call for an application of the triage principle used in hospital emergency rooms; in the classroom context, triage involves selective attention to linguistic structures that are essential to the communicative goal of second-language learning & avoidance of inessential structures that add to students' cognitive burden. For Chinese learners, triage means avoidance of the English past perfect tense & adjective clauses & increased attention to the meanings of English noun compounds. Grammar review classes are exploited to develop specific language-learning strategies, eg, for verb phrase complementation students are encouraged always to use the infinitive. 13 References. J. Hitchcock
ISSN:0802-6106
1473-4192
DOI:10.1111/j.1473-4192.2005.00097.x