No Interference, Please!
New Teacher Advocate|Fall 2017, Vol. 25, No. 1

English language learners (ELLs) often struggle with grammar. When working with ELLs, one effective strategy is focusing on first language (L1) interference. Teachers who understand how an L1 can interfere with second language acquisition can target grammar trouble spots with which students struggle. Through pedagogical grammar instruction, teachers also can prioritize which grammar trouble spots to teach based on those most likely to impede comprehension, and depending on the communicative context (Hinkel, 2016). Teachers then can put ELLs on a path to success by helping them gain greater control of sentence structure, subject–verb agreement, prepositions, and articles.

Dion Sanchez
No Interference, Please!

Sentence Structure

English sentences have a subject-verb-object (S-V-O) structure. Many other languages such as Armenian, Bengali, Burmese Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish have the subject-object-verb (S-O-V) structure. Because the L1 verb appears at the end of sentences,teachers can anticipate that beginner level ELLs will have trouble with verb placement (Baker, 2011). In a typical English sentence such as Tom eats apples, an L1 Japanese student might place the verb at the end of the sentence to produce Tom apples eats.

To counter this tendency, have students view a short movie or cartoon clip. Then give students a written copy of the dialogue (some YouTube clips include transcripts, nonreaders might need to view the clip several times to place sentences in their short-term memory). Pair students and have them practice repeating sentences from the video. Ask students to point out the S-V-O pattern.

Subject–Verb Agreement

This story is from the Fall 2017, Vol. 25, No. 1 edition of New Teacher Advocate.

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This story is from the Fall 2017, Vol. 25, No. 1 edition of New Teacher Advocate.

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