Date of Graduation

1995

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Although the TESOL Guidelines for the Certification and Preparation of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages in the U.S. recommend that teacher preparation programs in TESOL offer courses in the grammatical system of English, there existed no descriptive study of nationwide curricular practice regarding English grammar instruction in master's programs in TESOL. All master's programs in TESOL listed in the Directory of Professional Preparation Programs in TESOL, 1992-1994 were surveyed in Fall 1993 regarding course offerings, requirements, placement mechanisms, course content and length, instructors, the role of grammar in the program, approval of the TESOL Guidelines, and curricular trends. The survey was completed by 117, or 67%, of the master's programs in TESOL in the U.S. It was found that 53% of the responding master's programs in TESOL offered one English grammar course; 26% offered two English grammar courses; 5% offered three English grammar courses, and one program offered four English grammar courses. Fifteen percent of the responding programs offered no English grammar course. Sixty-three percent absolutely required at least one English grammar course, but 38% did not require an English grammar course. Most programs did not have a direct measure of their incoming students' knowledge of the grammatical system of English. Only six universities had an English grammar placement test. The majority of the courses were pedagogical grammar courses and employed an eclectic approach to English grammar. The Grammar Book by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1983) and the many grammars written by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartik were the most frequently used texts. Recommendations included the following: A placement test should be developed to determine whether incoming students are familiar with the terminology and concepts of traditional grammar, as well as ESL/EFL grammar. All master's programs in TESOL should offer at least one pedagogical grammar course. Research regarding the number of semesters needed for TESOL graduate students to study the grammatical system of English should be conducted. ESL/EFL pedagogical grammar course texts which incorporate communicative functions should be written. Further research should explore in more depth the nature of English grammar courses in master's programs in TESOL.

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