BACKGROUND TO THE ESL APPROACH
The ESL approach to learning languages derives from the critical realist tradition as developed by Bernard Lonergan on the basis of his work with Aquinas and Aristotle.

In this critical realist tradition language learning focus on now one, now on another, then on another of the three different levels of language used when we put everything together in actually talking or writing at the fourth level.

LEVELS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING
For example, on the first level, an infant learns to recognise the sounds of a language from within the womb, but these sounds already have the minimal paralinguistic meaning of, literally, a mother tongue. Indeed these sounds are already part and parcel of a language and a culture.

The sounds infants learn, then, are a bedrock to their curiosity, their questions and the answers they want. Our curiosity leads us on to the nouns and verbs we produce, use and attempt to use.

Then the meanings and grammar of these nouns and verbs tie words together in common patterns shared within a group, a society, a culture or a sub-culture.

Given these shared verbal patterns, we have a launching pad for setting out our own questions, statements, arguments, talking and writing, in short our social relations with other people as they change over time.  

GRAMMAR

The ESL approach to language learning divides traditional grammar into three separate grammars.

Firstly a latent or critical realist grammar that gives meaning to sound and shapes at level two. The way in which latent or critical realist grammar works is part of the self-correcting process of learning characteristic of all learning, including spirals of ‘noticing’ in language learning. All language users rely on this latent or critical realist grammar.

Collocational or empirical grammar is a second grammar and is specific to a particular language. Collocational or empirical grammar is the grammar of a particular language within a particular culture or sub-culture. Collocational or empirical focuses on how we put syntax and lexis together within the times and space of everyday life in our culture. In English ‘adverbs’ of time, place and manner* are part of English collocational grammar.

Expressive grammar, in turn, focuses on how we use noun-verb patterns to express what we want to say. It identifies the patterns of interjections, conjunctions and the other signposts we regularly use to take part in social situations whether we are talking or writing to other people. Expressive grammar works at the third level of language and gives us the outline patterns of conversation and writing in our culture. In English ‘adverbs’ of  degree, additive, stance and linking* are part of expressive grammar.  Cf Table 7.11 pp561-2 Biber et al (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English Pearson Education

WHY THIS APPROACH?

The following authors have influenced the development of this approach

A corpus-based learning list of irregular verbs in English E Grabowski and D Mindt (1995)
A Teacher’s Grammar RA Close (1992)
An empirical grammar of the English verb D Mindt (1995)
Analysing genre : language use in professional settings VK Bhatia (1993)
Clear Speech from the start JB Gilbert (2001)
Conversation Gambits E Keller ST Warner (1988)
Creative approaches to sentence combining W Strong (1983)
Emotions across languages and cultures A Wierzbicka (1999)
Exploring spoken English R Carter, M McCarthy (1997)
Functional Grammar JR Martin et al (1997)
Genre analysis : English in academic and research settings J Swales (1990)
Insight BJF Lonergan (1992, 1957)
Language networks : the new word grammar R Hudson (2006)
Metaphor & Corpus Linguistics A Deignan (2005)
Metaphor in culture Z Kövecses (2006)
Method in Theology BJF Lonergan (1909, 1973)
Papers on syntax Z Harris (1982)
Pattern Grammar S Hunter G Francis (2000)
Personalizing language learning  G Griffiths  K Keohane (2000)
Rules, patterns and words D Willis (1991)
Teaching Collocation M Lewis (2000)
The ELT Verb RA Buckmaster (2003)
The English Verb M Lewis (1997, 1986)
The Grammar of talk : spoken English and the classroom C Carter (2002)
The transformations of transformation FY Lin (2000)
Translating Lives M Besemeres & A Wierzbicka (2008)
Variation across speech and writing D Biber (1991)
Word power : phrasal verbs and compounds B Rudska-0styn (2003)