Perhaps this blog is partially an admission of guilt. It is also something I hope to share with future trainees, because it is a question I get very often from trainees after our teacher training courses. The time on a CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL is often so little that, at times, things feel rushed. We go over many different parts of grammar and lexis, lots of new terminology, features of pronunciation, and how to teach them. And with us, we quickly venture into materials development, comprehensible input driven methodologies, and task-based teaching, predominantly for two reasons. One, we deal with teachers with some experience already, and two, there is fair evidence that comprehensible input and task-based learning produce better outcomes.
Unfortunately, we also deal with an industry and a local context where some of the teachers then end up in a school, or already work in a school, where there is often a lack of awareness of methodology and things are often done the way they have always been done. We offer ongoing support and are asked questions quite frequently by previous course participants. This blog aims to address one of the common themes. How do I approach meaning, form, and pronunciation of complex sentences, or noun phrases?
Naming structures vs teaching structures
The simplest answer is you can’t. Noun phrase or complex sentence is a name given to a specific structure. It is not possible to ‘teach noun phrases’ in a lesson where your focus is ‘to teach the meaning, form, and pronunciation of noun phrases in the context of … (insert whatever context here).’ It is possible to have a lesson where upper intermediate or advanced students look at and analyse noun phrases, perhaps as a way to get them to be more aware of subject verb agreement in longer noun phrases, or for them to check the formation of noun phrases in writing. But, these are basically never the questions we get.
Quite recently, I had a discussion with a teacher about the teaching of complex sentences. I looked at what they had, and while it may appear humorous to some, complex sentence was analysed as a lexical item. Meaning: A sentence containing an independent clause which is often a complete thought, and a dependent clause, which is an incomplete thought.
So, two problems with that. One, while that is the definition of the lexical item ‘complex sentence,’ it misses the point. Two, the often-appearing idea of a complete and incomplete thought is not just confusing, it is plain wrong.
Teaching complex sentences
Let’s first address the teaching of complex sentences. Complex sentences contain subordinating conjunctions. So, when you teach complex sentences, you need to analyse the meaning, form and pronunciation of the conjunction or conjunctions (I would limit these to similar functions) that you are going to teach. In my discussion with the teacher, we opted for the conjunctions ‘so’ and ‘because.’ Both give the reason for a feeling or event, but one is coordinating conjunction and the other a subordinating conjunction. We chose these two because the learners in this case were CEFR A2.
Once you have the conjunctions, then do what you were told to do in your course. Put them in a sentence, and then analyse the meaning, form and pronunciation. We opted for:
I was sad, so I cried.
I cried, because I was sad.
It was then very easy to highlight the two parts, which is the reason, and that in both sentence sad and cry are linked through the action and reason, so they are both stressed. We then discussed how you might do the same with although, while, and despite, perhaps in an IELTS essay where you need to state two points, but place one above the other in terms of your view or importance. And that brings me to my last point.
There is no incomplete thought
If you remove the conjunctions, the two clauses are identical in each sentence. I was sad. I cried. However, when we use so, these two clauses are given equal importance in the speaker’s mind. When you use because, the fact I cried is given more focus. And that is what subordination is. It is extremely confusing to students if teachers use words like ‘incomplete thought’ and they then say ‘Because I am hungry’ is a complete thought, so complex sentences are difficult.
Similarly, if we are using although, while, or despite to write a thesis statement or conclusion in an IELTS essay, we don’t have to say which position we agree with, because the use of subordination makes it very clear.
Although teaching qualifications are important, experience and a desire to learn more as you teach are the defining characteristics of a successful teacher.
OR
Despite the importance of teaching qualifications, experience and a desire to learn more as you teach are the defining characteristics of a successful teacher.
And when I teach that, we look carefully at the form of noun phrases, and how they fit after the word despite, as opposed to the form of structures with although.
Looking forward
As with complex sentences, noun phrases can be as simple as adjective plus noun, or somewhat more complex when you use prepositional clauses or relative clauses. But the focus should never be on the overarching term we use to describe a structure. That is purely for the teacher so they can research the structure if needed.
For students, focus on the words in the structure. The conjunction, the relative pronoun, the adjectives. And a final conclusion, start using comprehensible input methodology or task-based learning as soon as you can then you will never have to worry about ‘teaching complex sentences’ in the way coursebooks suggest. If it isn’t something they will use, ideally in some very close to real-life task, ask yourself, why am I teaching this? Am I being led here by my newfound knowledge, or by what they need. And the reality, they probably don’t ever need to know that it is called a complex sentence.
