Luke Pearce
Luke is an Associate Lecturer at UCL, working on the Englicious project, and has worked as an English teacher for over 10 years, mainly in post-16 and adult education.
Location South London, UK
Activity
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Luke Pearce replied to Irene Sotoca
Thank you for taking part in the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Lara Jurado Aguilar
Yes, you're right! Verbs of being or 'state verbs' are another category. For example: be, seem, appear etc. For the sake of simplicity, we didn't focus on this category but it could certainly be included in other activities.
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Luke Pearce replied to Irene Sotoca
Sorry about that. I'm sure that the IT team will have this resolved as soon as possible! The materials on Englicious are extra content, but you don't need to access it to complete this course.
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Luke Pearce replied to Diana Bautista
We offer the same courses either on FutureLearn or as a half-day online session. They cover mostly the same content, but the half-day course is more intensive whereas the FutureLearn course can be covered at your own speed.
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Luke Pearce replied to Winnie Leung
Yes, that's one we often hear from learners! 'No response' is a response of sorts and hopefully they can still analyse the text and explain why they got so little from it.
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Luke Pearce replied to Cristina Avram
The activity you've suggested is a great example of teaching grammar in context! The learners first connect with the poem and the topic of aging, but also can put to use grammatical concepts like subordinated clauses and Fronted Adverbials.
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Luke Pearce replied to Ana Esteban
This raises a very important issue! For anyone reading a text, even if they understand the grammatical content on the page, their wider understanding will depend on knowing the wider context.
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Luke Pearce replied to Hannah Ellis
Using flashback and flash-forward could be a great way to start talking about tense! It's putting the effect first, and then learners could look at the verb to identify how the changes in time are created through tense (e.g. -ed ending verbs in the past). Even if as teachers we are more familiar with literacy concepts, I think that learning about tenses and...
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Welcome to the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Susan Willis
Good question! We could talk about 'state' or 'stative' verbs which include the verb 'be' and many others such as 'feel'. Verbs of perception are also state verbs which is a broader category. The labels I used were simply the ones that fit best for the activity and the two characters.
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Luke Pearce replied to Hannah Ellis
I am from Sheffield so have had some very similar experiences! One thing to bear in mind is that any dialectal non-standard usages are still grammatical, but not what we want learners to use in formal writing where Standard English is required.
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Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Susan Willis
It takes some getting used to! This way we can integrate grammar as part of our day-to-day English teaching.
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Luke Pearce replied to Silvia Loera
Here are the links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/engliciousgrammar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englicious_ucl/ -
Luke Pearce replied to Deirdre P
I'd say in the ESOL classroom, you will probably always need some explicit grammar teaching! As you said, it's about finding the right balance for your learners. When they are out in the 'real world', they will need to rely on their meaning-making skills more than knowing the grammar terms!
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Luke Pearce replied to Yumiko Imanishi
Hi Yumiko. Are you still having a problem? If so, please contact me: l.a.pearce@ucl.ac.uk
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Luke Pearce replied to Kirsty Oliver
Knowledge of grammar can help the learners understand the difference between standard and non-standard form.
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Luke Pearce replied to Lucie Urbančíková
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Richard Vincent
Great to hear!
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Very similar to the approach we advocate on this course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Richard Vincent
I will speak to our IT department and take a look at this.
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Luke Pearce replied to Deirdre P
Welcome to the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Richard Vincent
Great question! This course follows the grammar used by the English National Curriculum - other grammars will see things differently! We would class words like 'my' or 'her' as determiners for exactly the reason you state. However, words like 'mine' or 'hers' can be used on their own and therefore can also be pronouns. We also would not use the term...
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Luke Pearce replied to Richard Vincent
It's a bit ambiguous when it comes to the passive voice! Yes technically it is a Subject since it comes before the verb, but it is like an Object since it is the 'patient' which is 'acted on'.
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Luke Pearce replied to Amy MCC
Great example!
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Luke Pearce replied to Richard Vincent
Hi Richard. 'Feature-spotting' is when a teacher asks learners to identify features of the text without any reference to meaning i.e. simply finding the nouns or metaphors or whatever it may be. A punitive approach would be focussing on grammar as purely a matter of correctness and admonishing learners based on the language they use.
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Luke Pearce replied to Karen Cullen
@JeffLau I agree. It's an extra investment of time and effort in the short-term but it has long-term benefits!
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Luke Pearce replied to María López Ferreiro
Wow, that is very surprising to hear! I had a similar experience with pupils in the UK not knowing about World War II which was the background of a literature extract.
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Learning standard English as a second language makes a lot of sense. However, it's important to bear in mind that in the real world native speakers don't only make use of the standard variety. I know a lot of overseas students who have struggled with socialising and networking in the UK because they were not familiar with non-standard English.
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Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Shani Cipro
Asking learners to predict the title of a text is a great way to check understanding.
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Luke Pearce replied to Shani Cipro
This goes to show that exams with unseen texts can become tests of cultural knowledge. Not necessarily bad things to know about, but it does undermine the purpose of an English/language assessment.
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Luke Pearce replied to Jeff Lau
Your questions completely sum up the conundrum English learners face! As a teacher, I think the important thing is to know what our learners are expected to produce in the context of their assessments. The example you shared would be considered a mistake in an exam that requires Standard British or American English (for instance), but in other contexts would...
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Luke Pearce replied to Jeff Lau
It shows how much time writers must spend deciding on the best order for their sentences!
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Luke Pearce replied to Jeff Lau
Great examples of reader-response questions!
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Please send me an email to l.a.pearce@ucl.ac.uk and I can help with this
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Luke Pearce replied to Yoonjung Joo
Welcome to the course! Does that mean you teach Korean learners who live in Vietnam?
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Luke Pearce replied to Shani Cipro
Great point. When we see a 'non-standard' grammatical form, it should be an occasion for inquiry, not finger-wagging!
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Luke Pearce replied to Shani Cipro
That's great to hear! Welcome to the course. Hopefully you can make lots of connections between the two.
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Luke Pearce replied to Sorcha Keane
Lots of great ideas!
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Luke Pearce replied to Millicent Edmonds
Hello and welcome to the course!
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Welcome to the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Sorcha Keane
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Oliver Pearn
We have experimented with a forum before but it's hard to maintain especially in the days of social media. If you follow us on X (formerly Twitter), we do have discussions there and would happily share any questions you might have!
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It's true we can get some meaning from just the sentences, but it would be far more meaningful when read in its proper context.
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Welcome to the course!
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I couldn't agree more!
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That's great to hear!
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
Thanks for taking part!
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
I think this is a great text to use since it has such a great impact on the reader - for better or worse. Adverts like this are expertly designed to manipulate our fears as you said.
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Luke Pearce replied to Oliver Pearn
That's a very creative way to elicit reader response!
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
@ClintonHenderson Thank you for illustrating the point so well! Decontextualised examples can often lead to these kinds of confusions since language naturally exists in a wider context.
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
You must hear many interesting examples of translanguaging!
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
Seeing grammar as a set of choices rather than a list of rules is a big part of our approach!
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Luke Pearce replied to Oliver Pearn
Thank you!
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Luke Pearce replied to Oliver Pearn
I think you'll find this course very useful to build on this approach you have already laid out!
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
Beautifully put! Makes me want to learn an instrument!
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Luke Pearce replied to Piantadosi MC
Studying other languages is a great way to gain a better understanding and appreciation of grammar! I probably would not have become an English teacher if I'd never studied Spanish!
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Luke Pearce replied to Alan O'Riordan
I think you have a typo in the first line! :)
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
Good question. This course is designed for mainstream teachers in the UK in which pupils are required to learn about grammar as part of their compulsory primary education. Therefore the activities build on that knowledge. But of course this relies on the learners already having a baseline of grammatical knowledge which would probably be taught through more...
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
For second-language learners, it will always be necessary to do some old-school memorising. Like you say, the end goal should be to connect that knowledge to real, meaningful texts.
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
Thank you!
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
There are many who advocate 'no grammar' approaches to language learning. It's certainly possible, but only if you focus on speech and communication at the expense of writing and deeper analysis.
The terminology we use is that from the English National Curriculum (2014). Of course, there are many other terms out there, so use whatever is best for your...
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Luke Pearce replied to Clinton Henderson
Hopefully this course will give you some more options!
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Luke Pearce replied to Luc Wyn
Welcome! That sounds like an adventure!
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Luke Pearce replied to Ni Jacques
Welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
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Luke Pearce replied to Brigeen Gilroy
Welcome to the course and Happy New Year!
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Luke Pearce replied to Amina Harrison-Fletcher
Thank you! That's great to hear!
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Luke Pearce replied to F. Lucia Kohler
Thank you for taking part!
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That's a great question! You don't need to use the technical terms like deixis or proximal. Maybe try cutting out words like 'here', 'there', 'me', 'you' and asking pupils to place these in appropriate places around the room. Timelines are also a useful way to work with past, present and future.
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Luke Pearce replied to Amina Harrison-Fletcher
Great! These are the connections we want our students to start noticing.
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Luke Pearce replied to Elfi Troi
If you search for 'Englicious' you should find us!
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Luke Pearce replied to F. Lucia Kohler
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Iris Heinrich
Welcome to the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Anita Law
After you submit your assignment, you should be assigned one automatically after you click 'Next' on this page.
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Luke Pearce replied to Nazlıhan Ulusoy
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Jo Blakemore
Great to hear! Many teachers avoid using grammar to analyse texts at GCSE level, but it's always useful to have another angle to use in the exam!
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Luke Pearce replied to María Verónica Spuntone
What is a diamante poem?
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Luke Pearce replied to Jo Blakemore
Greats ideas! Of course, in a real lesson, we could combine the grammar with analysis of other literary and poetic devices.
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Luke Pearce replied to Fátima Pereira
Starting with images is a good idea. Learners could write their own headlines to check their understanding of the genre.
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Luke Pearce replied to María Verónica Spuntone
@MaríaVerónicaSpuntone This is exactly the kind of approach we will be taking later on!
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Luke Pearce replied to Alina Surdan
These are great! :)
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Luke Pearce replied to María Verónica Spuntone
Great definition!
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A mixture of both approaches is often a good way to go!
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Luke Pearce replied to Sian Davies
Great idea to make the writing task about something then learners can relate to. I find pupils love to debate things like DC/Marvel or Xbox/Playstation.
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Luke Pearce replied to Jo Blakemore
I'd agree - stick to whatever terminology is used most consistently in your context. Understanding the grammatical concept is more important than using the 'right' terminology.
Out of curiosity, does French grammar use terms like 'adverbial' or 'determiner'?
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Luke Pearce replied to Sian Davies
That's exactly the issue - a language test becomes a test of general knowledge. For example, the latest SATs tests had complaints because it partly relied on children knowing that Austin is a city and that Texas is a state.
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Luke Pearce replied to Sian Davies
That's a very interesting point! Linguists call this L1 interference. We have to balance correcting our learners with accepting that language evolves - especially in the UK with so many regional and international varieties of English being used! Many people speaking English as a second language make these persistent 'errors', but this doesn't usually hamper...
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Luke Pearce replied to Sneha Tomy
The teacher could show the pupils four different pictures and ask which one fits which headline the best. Like the sentences, the how the images are edited and framed also creates bias!
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Luke Pearce replied to Alina Șerban
What a great way to connect the reader's response to the themes of the advert!
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Luke Pearce replied to Sneha Tomy
Great ideas!
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Luke Pearce replied to Angelica Vega
Welcome Angélica!
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Luke Pearce replied to Marina Pohrib
This is called textual intervention and it's something we will look at often in the coming weeks! :)
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Luke Pearce replied to Sneha Tomy
A 'proxy definition' is a simplified explanation that stands in for the full, detailed definition. Teachers (and everyone else) use them because it's time-consuming to explain everything in detail and they are easier for pupils to remember. For example, 'adjectives are describing words' is a proxy definition. It's simple and easy to remember, but the big...
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Luke Pearce replied to Fátima Pereira
Welcome to the course!
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Luke Pearce replied to Ghadah Aljabri
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Ho Namgung
This is a great response! It certainly takes the reader on a journey! An advert like this could take advantage of the fact that people often use their phones to check the bus times, which connects to the imperative at the end.
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Luke Pearce replied to Marina Pohrib
I experienced that conflict between TEFL and the UK curriculum. EFL resources often talk about the 9 tenses, whereas I think most grammarians would say there are 3 or even just 2.
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Luke Pearce replied to Alina Șerban
Welcome!
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Luke Pearce replied to Angelica Vega
Welcome!
