Friday, April 13, 2012

Chapter 11- Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary Reflection

"Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power."
- Joan Didion

Grammar and Vocabulary are the key components of communication. The quote above relates to the chapter that was read for the class this week. I believe that the quote explains how students learn grammar is how they are taught at home and at school. ESL students have their own main language and learning a whole new language is like a piano where they would have to concentrate and listen to the right notes, in this case the proper way of speaking. The most meaningful part of the quote is the part about grammar being power. Again, grammar and vocabulary are the main components to communication. If one does not know how to put sentences in complete order or use the right words, there will be a lost of communication between two parties.

This week we learned about assessing grammar and vocabulary and how it could be assessed like the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Grammar is the center of language use. The chapter basically discusses about the different methods of assessing grammar and vocabulary as individual tasks. One part of the chapter I learned the most about is the assessment of vocabulary. I learned that when designing vocabulary assessments we as teachers need to clarify our purpose, define the ability we are going to measure, selection of target words, and determining the mode of performance such as vocabulary recognition and comprehension or vocabulary recall.
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2 comments:

  1. Heidi ThedwallApril 15, 2012 at 7:46 AM

    I also appreciate the comparison of grammar to power. Structure and vocabulary are not the driving force of language by any means, but they are the skeleton and the muscle of language. Being tall and strong does not necessarily make one a good fighter, but it certainly helps. The same is true of grammar and vocabulary in language: it isn't everything, but it certainly helps.

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  2. Daniele GualtieriApril 15, 2012 at 2:26 PM

    Knowing grammar and vocabulary is very important. It is just amazing how grammar is so different depending on what language is being learned. I think that students will most often have minimal trouble learning the basic every day words but they often have trouble with the academic ones. As teachers we need to make sure that the students are learning both the basic and academic words especially at the higher grade levels.

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