In this course, we will seek to understand the functional relationships that influence and control grammatical choices at all levels of structure, from sentences and larger units of discourse to clauses, phrases, and within words themselves. We will also seek to understand how to present these functional relationships to ESL / EFL students who are studying communicative English. The focus will be on understanding the functional and perceptual relationships to English grammar, and applying that knowledge in an acquisition-based learning environment in the language classroom.

This course explores the cognitive and perceptive processes that control and mediate the natural spontaneous usage of English. We will build on traditional structural grammar approaches by focusing on perceptual recognition and cognitive application of clearly defined patterns of English usage and discourse. Through an understanding of cognitive constraints such as perceptive categoricals and manipulations, the student can expect to develop a functional understanding of complex English usage, including article usage and distribution, agglutinative constructions, topicality and the negotiation of semantic ambiguity.

Through a category-based approach rooted in grammatical themes, we will identify specific techniques, procedures and strategies for teaching context-based grammar through recognition-based activities.