Editorial
This article first appeared in IATEFL Voices November 2009, issue 211

Grammatical Mnemonics

Simon Mumford, Turkey

Simon Mumford teaches EAP at Izmir University of Economics, Turkey. He has written on using stories, visuals, drilling, reading aloud, and is especially interested in the creative teaching of grammar. E-mail: simon.mumford@ieu.edu.tr

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Introduction
Acrostics
Rhymes
Words resemble other words
Symbols
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Medical students have a great deal of information to learn about the body and how it works. However, they also have a great deal of help. The website medicalmnemonics.com, for example, is one of many such sites and contains literally hundreds of mnemonics, which users can search, download and even contribute to. As an example, the site includes following mnemonic for the different types of depression, where the initial letters of the types spell a related word, UNHAPPINESS: Understandable, Neurotic, Hypochondriasis, Agitation, Pseudodementia, Pain, Importuning, Nihilistic, Endogenous, Secondary, Syndromal.

An internet search for mnemonics for English Grammar, however, will yield almost nothing. At first this lack may seem puzzling, but an important insight is given by Hulstijn (1997: 210) who notes that despite considerable potential benefits, most teachers regard the key-word mnemonic technique for learning vocabulary as ‘odd’, ‘unnatural’ and ‘not serious enough’. Presumably the same applies to grammar as well. However, in view of the apparent popularity of medical mnemonics, can the technique really be described as ‘frivolous’ and ‘strange’?

One difference between medical students and language learners is age. Medical students are self-selecting, in tertiary education and over 18, therefore more likely to be self-motivated and autonomous, and may thus better able to see the value of mnemonics. Also, it is likely that they use mnemonics informally, as self-study aids. Thus, personalisation and self-motivation are important factors.

In contrast, the majority of language learners are in secondary education. As there is no mention of mnemonics in ELT textbooks, and these younger students will probably have limited experience of using these devices for learning language, they will need help from teachers to benefit from them. Given these techniques’ lowly status in the language teaching world, however, this is unlikely to happen in most cases.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider the role of mnemonics, not just for vocabulary, but for the multitude of grammar rules that students are expected to remember as well. If they are so popular with medical students learning anatomy, why shouldn’t they be used by language students learning grammar rules, which can be considered the anatomy of a language?

Different types of menomics include acrostics (the first letters of words in a list or sentence are made into words themselves), rhymes, modification of words to make them resemble other words, and the representation of information as symbols. Here are a few ideas to start with.

Acrostics

For the three uses of Present Perfect: What do you do to a plant that has outgrown its pot? RE-POT-IT
Repeated Event (eg I have been to London three times.)
(In an indefinite) Period Of Time (eg I written a book.)
(At an) Indefinite Time (in the past) (eg I have met the president.)
WWW(W), ISP. = While we were waiting, I saw Peter. An acrostic to remember past continuous / simple. Simple interrupts continous at a certain point; an ISP connects to the WWW at a certain point.

Rhymes

It’s a for only one,
But for more, use some.
In the negative it’s not any,
For two or three, not many.

I used to do, but now never!
I am used to doing, more than ever!
Used to (usually) means something discontinued, so now never! Be used to doing means doing something or being in a particular condition more than previously, thus more than ever!

Words resemble other words

M(i)ke has got the letters s,d,s.
Causatives: Make-have-get-let s,d,s = someone do something

Stop 2 do something vs stop doing something
To is written as 2, since it involves two actions, the one we stop, and the one we start, as in I stopped working to chat to a friend.

Symbols

Ps = 2B+V3 (Passive = to be plus verb three)
PC = 2B(p)+V1+ing (Past Continuous = to be (past) +verb 1+ing)
PP b4 P = DD b4 D (Past Perfect before Past=eg I had watched a lot of tennis before I started playing. )

Conclusion

Bearing in mind that what makes mnemonics memorable is quite personal, teachers could construct their own according to their students’ particular interests. It may be worth language teachers looking at examples in fields such as medicine, science, music, and history to see exactly what constitutes a good mnemonic. These mnemonics are intended to support rather than to replace other types of grammar teaching, to give students an extra tool to remember the considerable amount of linguistic information they need.

References

Hulstijn, J. 1997. Mnemonic methods in foreign language vocabulary learning. in J. Coady and T. Huckin (eds.). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.