Teaching Grammar

Http;//teachinggrammar.com

            Grammar is one determining points of mastering English. It refers to a set the structural rules of language which concerns with the grammar  in any given natural language. Since grammar is an important aspect in learning English, the teacher’s teaching will  determine the learners’ success in learning the language. In this case, the approaches of  teaching grammar should be the main focus in teaching and learning process. The teacher’s way in delivering and guiding the learners also support the learners’ effort in learner the language.

          

TEACHING GRAMMAR

A.    What is Grammar

Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules. If we use the word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time. “Grammar is the business of taking a language to pieces, to see how it works.”  (David Crystal)

B.     Why should we teach grammar?

1.      Grammar is a kind of 'sentence-making machine'. It follows that the teaching of grammar offers the learner the means for potentially limitless linguistic creativity.

2.      The teaching of grammar, it is argued, serves as a corrective against the kind of ambiguity

3.      By tidying language up and organising it, grammar makes language digestible. 

4.      since grammar is a system of learnable rules, it lends itself to a view of teaching and learning known as transmission. grammar offers the teacher a structured system that can be taught and tested in methodical steps.

C.    Presenting Grammar

1.      Approaches

There are two main approaches to teaching grammar:

a.      Deductive approach: A deductive approach starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied. The language is produced based on rule. (the teacher gives the rule)

b.      Inductive approach: an inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some form of guided discovery. (the teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves)

D.    How to teach grammar

1.      Teaching Grammar in Situational Contexts (Using a generative situation)

The generative Situation is a situation which the teacher sets up in the lesson in order to “generate” several example sentences of a structure.

Situation or Context	Points of Grammar
Follow a recipe or instructions from a boxed cake mix to bake a cake.	Imperative verb form Present continuous tense
Give directions to another person to get to a store, the post office, or a bank using a map.	Present tense Non-referential it
Discuss plans for a class field trip to the zoo.	Future tense If-clauses Conditional tense
Describe a past vacation, weekend, etc.	Simple past tense  Question formation Forms of verb to do Word order in negation
Role play a shopping trip to buy a gift for a family member or friend.	May, might Collective nouns and quantifiers (any, some, several, etc.)
Answer information questions: Name, address, phone number, etc.	Present tense of verb to be Possessive adjectives
Tell someone how to find an object in your kitchen.	Locative prepositions Modal verbs (can, may, should)
Fill out a medical history form. Then role play a medical interview on a visit with a new doctor.	present perfect tense Present perfect progressive.
Report daily schedules of people (in the class, buses in the city, airline schedules, trains, etc.)	Habitual present Personal pronouns  Demonstrative adjectives
Extend an invitation over the telephone to someone to come to a party	Would like…Object-Verb word order Interrogative pronouns
Explain rules and regulations to someone, i.e. rules for the school cafeteria; doctor’s instructions to a sick patient	Modal verbs: Can, must, should, ought to Adverbs of time & frequency
Report a historical or actual past event and discuss conditions under which a different outcome might have resulted	Past conditional and past perfect tenses If clauses
React to the burglary of your house or apartment in the presence of another person upon discovery (active voice) and in making a police report (passive voice).	Present perfect tense Contrast between active and passive voice Direct and indirect object.

2.      Teaching grammar through texts

If learners are to achieve a functional command of a second language, they will need to be able to understand and produce not just isolated sentences, but whole texts in that language. Language is context-sentitive; which is to say that an utterance becomes fully intelligible only when it is placed in its context. Coursebook texts tend to be specially tailored for ease of understanding and so as to display specific features of grammar.

3.      Teaching Grammar through stories

Stories can be used for both eliciting and illustrating grammar points. Grammar points can be contexualized in stories that are absorbing and just plain fun if they are selected with the interest of the class in mind, are told with a high degree of energy, and involve the students. Students can help create stories and impersonate characters in them. Stories should last from one to five minutes, and the more exaggerated and bizarre they are, the more likely students will remember the teaching points they illustrate.

4.      Teaching grammar through songs and rhymes

a.      Songs

Songs are one of the most enchanting and culturally rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms. Songs offer a change from routine classroom activities. They are precious resources to develop students abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They can also be used to teach a variety of language items such as sentence patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs. Learning English through songs also provides a non-threatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense when speaking English in a formal classroom setting.

b.      Poems

Poems, like songs, contextualize a grammar lesson effectively. Since poetry is often spoken, repeated, dealt with, and considered, it acts as an effective tool for practicing a specific grammatical structure. Through repeating and considering the poem, the grammatical structures become more deeply internalized. Thus, poetry not only provides a rewarding resource for structured practice of grammar, but also a proper basis for review. If a poem that exemplifies a particular structure is also a good poem, it engages the eye, the ear and the tongue simultaneously while also stimulating and moving us; this polymorphic effect makes poetry easier to memorize than other things for many students.

E.     Some rules for teaching grammar

1.      The Rule of Context: Teach grammar in context. If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw attention to it, ensure that it is re-contextualized as soon as possible. Similarly, teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings. The choice of one grammatical form over another is always determined by the meaning the speaker or writer wishes to convey.

2.      The Rule of Use: Teach grammar in order to facilitate the learners' comprehension and production of real language, rather than as an end in itself. Always provide opportunities for learners to put the grammar to some communicative use.

3.      The Rule of Economy: To fulfill the rule of use, be economical. This means economising on presentation time in order to provide maximum practice time. With grammar, a little can go a long way.

4.      The Rule of Relevance: Teach only the grammar that students have problems with. This means, start off by finding out what they already know. And don't assume that the grammar of English is a wholly different system from the learner's mother tongue. Exploit the common ground.

5.      The Rule of Nurture: Teaching doesn't necessarily cause learning - not in any direct way. Instead of teaching grammar, therefore, try to provide the right conditions for grammar learning. Some conditions:

a.      The input learners get: will it be presented in such a way that the learners are likely to engage with it, thus ensuring a reasonable chance of it becoming intake?

b.      Their output: will it be of sufficient quantity and/or quality to ensure that they have opportunities to develop both accuracy and fluency?

c.       The feedback they get: will it be of the type and quantity to ensure that some of their attention is directed at form?  

d.      Their motivation: will the content and design of the lesson be such that learners are motivated to attend to the input, produce optimal output, and take account of the feedback?

6.      The Rule of Appropriacy: Interpret all the above rules according to the level, needs, interests, expectations and learning styles of the students. This may mean giving a lot of prominence to grammar, or it may mean never actually teaching grammar at all - in any up-front way. But either way, it is your responsibility as a teacher to know your grammar inside out.