Page 100 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

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CHAPTER 4
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Identifying and correcting incorrectly used sentence and phrase el- ements (focus unspecified).
Noticing and correcting fragments and run-ons.
Editingentire text passageswrittenbysomeone other than the editor. Editing one's own essay-length texts.
As mentioned in chapter 3, it is very important that practice with identi- fying regular sentence patterns be cumulative.When the workwith particu- lar focus structures is completed, they cannot be simply abandoned on the assumption that students can productively use these structures for writing and editing. All grammar, lexical, and editing practice must be designed to build on the structures that learners are familiar with or from the structur- ally and functionally simple to more complex constructions.
Depending on students' proficiency level, the sentences in this exercise can be extracted from authentic texts of varied degrees of complexity. It is important to select somewhat lengthy sentences, such as those in authentic texts or academic textbooks. The sentences should include prepositional, adjectival, and adverbial phrases that sit between the subject and verb.
Arealisticdegree ofsentence complexity represents an important featureof this type of practice. Useful sentences can be reasonably easily adapted from those found in the science and health sections of newspapers; popular print media such as magazines, Internet news, business reports, and movie reviews; and introductory college-level textbooks. Allexercises exemplified next can be assigned as individual or group tasksor homeworkwith a follow-up in-classdis- cussion. Students can discuss them with one another or the teacher.
(1) Sentence-Level Practice: Parsing Sentence Slots
In the following sentences, please draw a vertical line to separate subjects and predicates in asmanycasesasyou can identify. Alsoplease markvarious parts of the predicate: auxiliary verbs, the main verb, and the object noun or the subject complement.
(a)The experiment proved the point. (b)Laterstudiesandadditionalexperimentsprovideadditionalpositive information.
(c) Researchers at Ohio State University report early evidence that berriesare actually good for one's health.
(d) Various fruit trees and berry shrubs have been selling quite well in Ohio and neighboring states.
(e) Making phone calls is usually difficult for those individuals who do not speak the language very well.
(f) At this time of year, all over the country, celebrities,politicians, and writers have been asked to give graduation speeches in high schools and colleges.
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