Methodological aspects of studying future forms

Methodological aspects of studying future forms

Over the centuries, second/ foreign language educators have alternated between favoring teaching approaches which focus on having students analyze language in order to learn it and those which encourage students’ using language in order to acquire it. In order to guide the teachers in constructing an approach to teaching grammar, it would be helpful to have a frame of reference. The framework takes the form of “a pie chart”. Its shape helps the teachers to make salient the fact that in dealing with the complexity of grammar there are three dimensions of language that must be dealt with: the form of structures themselves; their semantics or meanings and the pragmatic conditions governing their use.

NOTE: This representation is taken from Grigoroiu, G., An English Language Teaching Reader, Vol I .

The dimensions are not hierarchically arranged as many traditional characterizations of linguistic strata depict. The arrows connecting one wedge of the pie with another illustrate the interconnectedness of the three dimensions, thus a change in any one wedge will have repercussions for the others two.

A teacher is not interested in filling his/ her student with grammatical paradigms and syntactic rules. What he/she hopes to do is to cultivate linguistic performance in the student which is consisted with the fact. In other words, grammar teaching is not so much knowledge transmission as it is skill development. Grammar lessons are usually composed of these phases: presentation, practice and communication.

Grammar and its teaching

Challenging the Myths

Grammar is often misunderstood in the language teaching field. The misconception lies in the view that grammar is a collection of arbitrary rules about static structures in the language. Further, questionable claims are that the structures do not have to be taught, learners will acquire them on their own, or if the structures are taught, the lessons that ensue will be boring.

Consequently, communicative and proficiency based teaching approaches sometimes unduly limit grammar instruction. Of the many claims about grammar that deserve to be called “myths”, ten of them will be challenged here. (quoted from “Diane Larsen- Freeman , School for International Training, DATA BASE)

1. Grammar is acquired naturally, it need not be taught

It is true that some learners acquire second language grammar naturally, without instruction. For example, there are immigrants to the United States who acquire proficiency in English on their own. This is especially true of young immigrants. However, this is not true for all learners. Among the same immigrant groups are learners who may achieve a degree of proficiency but whose English is far from accurate.

It is also true that learning particular grammatical distinctions requires a great deal of time even for the most skilled learners. Carol Chomsky (1969) showed that native English speakers were still in the process of acquiring certain grammatical structures in English well into adolescence. An important question is whether it is possible to accelerate students’ natural learning of grammar through instruction. Research findings (Larsen- Freeman & Long, 1951; Pienemann, 1984, cited from www) demonstrated that subjects who received grammar instruction progressed to the next stage after a two-week period, a passage normally taking several months in untutored development.

1. Grammar is a collection of meaningless forms

This myth may have arisen because many people associate the term “grammar” with the verb paradigms and rules about linguistic form. However, grammar is not one-dimensional and not meaningless; it embodies the three dimensions of morphosyntax (form), semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (use). These directions are interdependent. Despite their interdependence, however, they each offer a unique perspective on grammar.

Consider the “passive voice” in English. It clearly has form. It is composed minimally of a form of the verb BE and the past participle. Sometimes it has the preposition BY before the agent in the predicate:

(1)   “The bank was robbed by the same gang that hijacked the armored car.”

That the passive can occur only when the main verb is transitive is also part of its formal description. The passive has a grammatical meaning. It is a focus construction, which confers a different status on the receiver or recipient of an action than it would receive in the active voice.

For example: the bank in sentence (1) is differently focused than it would be in the active sentence:

(2)   “The same gang robbed the bank.”

To use the English passive voice accurately, meaningfully and appropriately, English as a second language students must master all three dimensions. This is true for any grammatical structure.

3. Grammar consists of arbitrary rules

While there is some synchronic arbitrariness to grammar, not all of what is deemed arbitrary is so. If one adopts a broad enough perspective, it is possible to see why things are the way they are. Consider the following sentences:

(1)   “There is the book missing.”

(2)   “There is a book missing”

Grammar books will say that sentence (1) is ungrammatical because sentences with existential “there” almost always take an indefinite noun phrase in the predicate. Why? “There” is used to introduce new information, and the preferred position for new information is toward the end of a sentence. A noun phrase that contains new information is marked by the use of the indefinite article A or AN, if it is a singular common noun, as in sentence (2).

4. Grammar is boring

This myth is derived from the impression that grammar can only be taught through repetition and other role drills. Teaching grammar does not mean asking students to repeat models in a mindless way, and it does not mean memorizing rules. Such activities can be boring and do not necessarily teach grammar. This does not mean there is no place for drills, but drills should be used in a meaningful and purposeful way.

For example, in the classroom, students are asked to work in pairs (or even in groups), trying to resolve an exercise regarding the use of WILL and BE GOING TO as forms of expressing futurity. This kind of activity can be fun and, more importantly, engages students in a way that requires them to think and not just provide mechanical responses. Teaching grammar in a way that engages students may require creativity, but the teaching need not and should not be boring.

5. Students have different learning styles. Not all students can learn grammar

Research shows that some people have a more analytical learning style than others. According to Hatch (1974), some learners approach the language learning task as “rule formers”. Such learners are accurate but halting users of the target language. Others are what Hatch calls “data gatherers”, fluent but inaccurate producers of the target language. This observation by itself does not address whether or not all students can learn grammar. While it may be true that learners approach language learning differently, there has been no research to show that some students are incapable of learning grammar.

Students have different strengths and weaknesses. It is clear that all students can learn grammar as is evident from their mastery of their first language. As grammar is no different from anything else, it is likely that students will learn at different rates.

6. Grammar structures are learned one at a time

This myth is demonstrably untrue. Teachers may teach one grammar structure at a time, and students may focus on one at a time, but students do not master one at a time before going on to learn another. There is a constant interaction between new interlanguage forms and old.

Students may give the appearance of having learned the Future Simple tense, for example, but when the Future Progressive is introduced, often their mastery vanishes and their performance declines. This backsliding continues until the grammar they have internalized is restructured to reflect the distinct uses of the two tenses.

We know that the learning curve for grammatical structures is not a smoothly ascending linear one, but rather is characterized by peaks and valleys, backslides and restructurings.

7. Grammar has to do only with sentence- level and subsentence- level phenomena

Grammar does operate at the sentence level and governs the syntax of word orders that are permissible in the language. It also works at the subsentence level to govern such things as number and person agreement between subject and verb in a sentence. However, grammar rules also apply at the suprasentencial or discourse level

For example, not every choice between the use of the past and the present perfect tense can be explained at the sentence level. Often, the speaker’s choice to use one or the other can only be understood by examining the discourse context. It would be a mistake to teach students grammar only at the sentence and subsentence levels. Much of the apparent arbitrariness of grammar disappears when it is viewed from a discourse level perspective.

8. Grammar and vocabulary are areas of knowledge. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are the four skills

While grammar can be taught of a static knowledge, it can be also considered a process. Language teachers would not be content if their students could recite all the rules of grammar but not be able to apply them. The goal is for students to be able to use grammar in an unselfconscious fashion to achieve their communicative ends. As with any skill, achieving this goal takes practice.

Ellis (1993) postulates that structural syllabi work better to facilitate intake than to teach learners to produce grammatical items correctly. He suggests that grammar teaching should focus on consciousness raising than on the practice of accurate production.

In support of this assertion is Van Pathen and Cardierno’s (1993, cited from www) finding that students’ experience with processing input data is more effective than giving students a grammatical explanation followed by output practice.

9. Grammars provide the rules /explanations for all the structures in a language

Explaining why things are the way they are is an ongoing quest. Because languages involve, linguistics’ descriptions can never be complete for all time; they have to accommodate the changing nature of language.

For example, most grammar books make clear the fact that progressive aspect is not used with stative verbs; therefore, the following example would be ungrammatical:

“I am wanting a new car.”

For some English speakers, the sentence is not ungrammatical, and even those who find it so would be more inclined to accept progressive aspect when it co-occurs with perfective aspect, as in:

“I have been wanting a new car.” (for some time now)

The point is, languages change, and any textbook rule should be seen as subject to change and non- categorical. Just as grammar learning is a process-witness the persistent instability of interlanguages -so is grammar itself. There is a little static about either.

10. “I don’t know enough to teach grammar”

Teachers often say this when they have opted to teach one of the other language skills, or when they choose to teach a low-proficiency class. While it is true that teachers can only teach what they know, teachers who articulate the above often know more than they think they do.

The pie chart introduced above can be a useful tool for teachers to collect what they know about form, meaning and use of a particular grammar structure. What they don’t know will become apparent from the gaps on the chart and the gaps will nominate themselves as items for the teacher’s agenda for further study. After all, what better way to learn something than to teach it?

Conclusion

If the goals of language instruction include teaching students to use grammar accurately, meaningfully and appropriately, then a compelling case can be made for teaching grammar. Instead of viewing grammar as a static system of arbitrary rules, it should be seen as a rational, dynamic system that is comprised of structures characterized by the three dimensions of form, meaning and use.

● Methodological aspects of teaching future forms

How are the teachers supposed to teach students to use the forms of expressing futurity accurately and fluently? These forms of expressing futurity cause students many problems of form and concept.

There are two main reasons why foreign students have difficulties in selecting appropriate future forms. Firstly, English has many possible forms to express future time, and secondly, the choice of form depends on “aspect”, that is how the speaker sees the event, and not on time or certainty. It has often been said that there is no future tense as such in English. This is because there is no inflected form of the verb used to refer to the future, unlike for example French, Italian or Spanish. English has three major forms (WILL, GOING TO and THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS), and several minor forms (including PRESENT SIMPLE, FUTURE CONTINUOUS and FUTURE PERFECT).

Students encounter the following problems:

■ they over-use WILL, seeing it as a standard “future tense”, when the pre-arranged nature of verb action requires GOING TO or the PRESENT CONTINUOUS.

■ they resort to a Present Simple / verb stem “tense” , and use it all the time:

Examples:

“What you do this weekend?”

“When you go back to your country?”

“Where you go on holiday?”

■ they under-use the PRESENT CONTINUOUS to refer to the future, not appreciating its limited but frequent application; it is used a lot to talk about future arrangements, particularly for the near future, but it is also used for actions that cannot be, or usually are not, arranged.

Examples:

“It’s raining tomorrow.” (this is wrong because the weather cannot be arranged)

“I’m picking some flowers tonight.” (this is wrong because such an event does not require great planning and organization).

These forms of expressing futurity are really complicated and the solution in using them properly lies in the contexts they are all used.

For example: (a narrative passage)

“I think what is going to happen on the civil case is that the judge is going to dismiss the complaint that is down there right now. They will then file a new complaint which will come back to Richie again. That will probably happen the 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd. Then 20 days will run before any answers have to be filed and the depositions will be commenced. So we are eating up an awful lot of time.”

So, for future time narratives, BE GOING TO is used to frame the narrative, and the details are given by WILL. The teacher needs to find the contexts where future time is used and to work from those contexts to provide the students with materials that show them how the future time verbs are used and then give them opportunities to learn to make such use in their own communication.

Skills development

Speaking . Role play

Aims: - fluency

free speaking to lunch the theme of the future

to compare and contrast different forms used to refer to the future

to provide controlled practice of WILL, GOING TO and THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS to refer to the future

Activity 1

In pairs, prepare a conversation according to these instructions:

Student A phones Student B

B- answers the phone

A- say who you are

- ask who B is

B- reply

A- ask what B is doing tonight

- invite him/her to go out for a meal

B- you can’t tonight

- say what you’re going to do

A- suggest tomorrow night

B- you can’t

- say why

- suggest some time next week

A – you can’t. you’re going away for business

- suggest Saturday night

B –agree

A+B – arrange a time and a place to meet

A+B- say goodbye.

Activity 2.

In pairs, ask students to take a look at the example given in the book and then let them do the rest of the exercise (orally):

Shopping list:

sugar                                               cornflakes milk

tea                                                   wine vegetables

coffee      fruits newspaper

cheese                                              yogurt

biscuits          tin of beans

Peter: I’m just going to the shops. Do you want anything?

Anne: No, I don’t think so. Oh, hang on.

We haven’t got any sugar left

Peter: It’s all right. It’s on my list.

I’m going to buy some.

Anne: What about bread?

Peter: Ok. I’ll go to the baker and buy a loaf.

Anne wants the things from the list. Now the students have to follow the example and do the rest of the exercise by specifying the shops where Peter would go to.

Writing

Activity 1.

Students have to translate some sentences from Romanian into English, keeping in mind the differences between WILL and BE GOING TO and their use in the language:

WILL: - is used to make a future prediction (this can be a personal opinion)

“I think it will rain tomorrow.”

to express a future intention or decision , often one made at the moment of speaking.

“Did you know John is in hospital?”

“No, I didn’t. I’ll go and visit him this afternoon.”

BE GOING TO –is used to express a future intention, plan or decision thought about before the moment of speaking:

“When we go to France, we’re going to stay in a hotel.” (it’s already booked)

1. Vor deschide ei expozitia maine?
2. El vine deseara.
3. O sa joace tennis in dupa-amiaza asta.
4. Cred ca o sa ploua maine, uita-te la nori.
5. Deseara iau cina in oras cu Peter.
6. O sa ma duc s ail vizitez.
7. Copiii tot copii.
8. Are de gand sa se faca pilot cand va creste.

Types of exercises

Exercise 1.

“A future tense is not used in a time clause. The meaning of the clause is future, but the Present Tense is used”. Put the verbs in brackets into the Simple Future or Simple Present as appropriate. The first sentence is the model:

1.     It will stop raining soon. As soon as the rain stops, I’ll walk to the baker’s to get some bread.

2.     Mary will come soon.

I (wait) here until she (come).

3. Grandpa is going to have lunch at 12.30.

After he (have) lunch, he (take) a nap

4. I’m going to watch TV at eight.

Before I (watch) TV, I (write) a letter to my cousins.

5. The children are going to leave in half an hour

. They (finish) their homework before they (leave).

6. I’ll get home around seven.

When I (get) home, I (phone) Angela.

7. The taxi will arrive in five minutes.

As soon as the taxi (arrive), we (be) able to leave for the station.

Exercise 2.

Respond to each of the following remarks. Use JUST GOING TO or BE (JUST) ABOUT TO:

1.     Why are you all sitting at the table?

We are just going to eat.

We are (just) about to eat.

2.     What are you going to do with that glass?

3.     Can’t you switch that radio off?

4.     Why have they got their coats on?

5.     Sir, I don’t know what this sentence means.

6.     Has the concert started yet?

7.     Why won’t you let us go on board ship?

8.     What are you doing with that letter?

Exercise 3.

Fill in the blanks with SHALL/ WILL or GOING TO future as appropriate:

1. I shall/will …call you if I need any help.     

2. If you..are going to faint. .you’d better go outside in the fresh air.

3. “I would like you to come with me”.

“I…….ask if that is possible.”

4. “Why are you carrying a tennis racket?”

“I …..play tennis this afternoon.”

5. If it …..rain, my hair will be absolutely ruined.

6. “Are you sure we….get in?”

“Of course we….”

7. If you ……….smoke, please use an ash-tray.

8. If your train leaves at 1 o’clock, you….get to Sibiu by 6.

9. “I…wash my hair today.”

“What, again?”

10. We….be grateful if you can send us samples of your cloth.

Exercise 4.

Answer the following questions using the Present Tense Continuous to indicate personal plans for the future or the Simple Present tense to indicate definite plans for the future as part of a timetable or programme:

1.     Why are you packing?

I’m going away tomorrow.

2.     What time will your train leave?

It leaves at 8.30 a.m.

3.     How will you get to the station?

4.     What will you do with your cat?

5.     Where will you have lunch?

6.     Where and when will your journey end?

7.     Where will you be staying tonight?

8.     Do you know when you’ll be back?

Exercise 5.

Choose the correct form of the verb in the following sentences:

1. Do/ will you do something for me before you go/ will go/ are going?
2. By the time you will receive/ receive/ will have received this card, I am /will be back home.
3. They do not/will not sell the house unless you ask/ are asking/will ask them to do so.
4. As soon as I hear/ will hear/ will have heard something, I will tell/tell you.
5. Before you go/ will go/ are going, do /will you do something for me?
6. If you don’t want/ won’t want that apple, I eat/ will eat/ will be eating it.
7. Will you/ do you please keep your safety belts on, until the plane is coming/ will have come to a complete standstill.
8. When you are/ will be ready I go/ will go.
9. Please stay in your seats while the plane is still moving/ still moves/ will still move.
10. They send /will send the goods as soon as they have them/ will have them ready.
11. Please stop before you reach/ will reach/ are reaching the bridge.

CONCLUSIONS

Although English does not have a simple verb form for “future tense” that corresponds to the Simple Present tense and the Simple past tense, we have many different ways to talk about future time. Or, better, we can talk about the future in many ways. Like the old example that claims that native peoples in Canada and Alaska have many different words for “snow”-or words for many different types of “snow”- English has many different ways to talk about different aspects of future time.

In this paper, these MEANS OF EXPRESSING FUTURITY IN ENGLISH are dealt with mostly in CHAPTER II. CHAPTER I is a brief introduction to the notion of the English verb, presenting the categories of the verb: aspect, voice, mood and tense.

Many grammarians have discussed upon this problem of futurity in English. Some of them affirm that there is a future tense in English, others do not agree with this statement. But technically, there are NO future tenses in English, only different ways of talking about the future, using special constructions, other tenses or modal verbs. “Is there a future tense in English? .Well, no, it is not. It exists in other languages as Latin, French, Spanish, Romanian where its presence is clearly pointed out by forms of the future tense, but not in English.

There are five chief ways of expressing future time in the English verb phrase. These five means are: SIMPLE PRESENT, SIMPLE FUTURE, FUTURE CONTINUOUS, BE GOING TO and PRESENT CONTINUOUS.

But it is important to realize that all of these ways of talking about the future are not just synonyms for each other. You can not always substitute one for another and maintain the same meaning. It’s all about contexts. In different contexts each of these forms expresses different statements.

WILL- includes a meaning of “future certainty” and “promise”; future predictions; “spontaneous decision when the person has control over the action”.

SHALL- it is mostly used in the U.S for ritualized communication and sayings; or some other polite commands.

BE GOING TO- refers to future action , event or state that grows out of current plans or current causes; future predictions in a less formal style than with WILL; it focuses on the speaker’s plans or intentions; future intentions based on previous plans or decisions; future certainty based on current condition or present evidence.

It is said that WILL and BE GOING TO are sometimes interchangeable when BE GOING TO expresses the speaker’s certainty and WILL is used to make a strong prediction. However, since BE GOING TO is a present-tense form, it is used especially when there is evidence in the present to support the prediction; this is not necessarily the case with WILL. These two forms also differ in that WILL is used for quick, “on – the – spot” decisions, whereas BE GOING TO is used with more premeditated ones.

THE SIMPLE PRESENT is used in two ways:

first, for a scheduled event;

and second, in a subordinate clause, when the main clause has a future meaning and structure.

THE SIMPLE PRESENT and PRESENT CONTINUOUS are very much alike, but the Simple Present is more formal and impersonal-often used for travel arrangements and fixed timetables. The present progressive emphasizes that plans have been made; it is used with action verbs rather than with stative verbs.

There are also other means of expressing immediate futurity:

BE ABOUT TO- immediate future actions whose fulfillment is imminent it can be an equivalent of the form BE GOING TO.

BE FIXING TO- this expression refers to something in the very near future- immediately- at once; it’s not a delaying tactic but an expression of immediate intent.

BE TO+INFINITIVE- often used in newspapers and radio to report an official plan or decision.

FUTURE IN THE PAST- a future action seen from a viewpoint in the past; the idea is that the central time is the past.

These are forms of expressing futurity dealt with in CHAPTER II.

In the third chapter we dealt with “METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TEACHING FUTURE FORMS” from the practical point of view. At the beginning of this chapter we mentioned the main characteristics of grammar: the scope, the purpose and the importance of its correct use. In the second part, we focused our attention upon the development of the grammar skills
(reading, speaking, writing and listening), from the practical point of view by giving some examples of exercises.

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