Page 218 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

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CHAPTER 8
(complete) decrease remove (move)
Restate ideas
(elaborate) conclude
(distinguish) conclude (identify) (note)
view propose (observe) notice (expand) mention
organize precede follow (move)
Function
Study in depth
4
I am grateful to Bruce Rogers, Ohio State University, for this exercise.
perform analyze operate investigate (schedule) (elaborate) run (observe) serve (expand)
fulfill (coordinate) work
(complete)
Unless the teacher is working with beginners, including simple action verbs (e.g., giggle, laugh, cackle, chuckle) in the starting set is less advanta- geous for learners because such verbs are rarely employed in academic prose and because they are concrete.
(b) When students have completed their clusters, they need to be given five minutes to review and assess their verb lists for each semantic group (time tohuddle). Then twopairs (or groups) compare their verb listsin each cluster and defend their choices, which invariably differ from those made by another pair of students. Much productive direct and incidental learn- ing takes place when students need to explain meanings of verbs to other students and the reasons for their choices. In fact the greatest benefit of the exercise lies in the follow-up discussion of verb meanings and the stu- dents' reasons for placing them in a particular cluster. Furthermore, stu- dents who are familiar with secondary and nonliteral meanings of abstract verbs have an opportunity to teach other students and verbalize their knowledge explicitly.
Usually the preparation for this exercise in terms of homework, classwork, and the final discussion of the verb meanings combined lead to almost immediate and noticeable productive uses of these verbs in students' academic text.
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