Reflections on Grammar and Functions as Presented in

Insights into English

By Aziz Lahrim & Elhassan RouijelPart I1.1 Preliminaries

Teaching grammar and functions communicatively in an EFL setting is no easy matter. Teaching them is, in fact,tricky and challenging. EFL practitioners know quite well that knowledge of grammatical structures and communicativefunctions is one thing, and that using them successfully, effortlessly, and creatively in specific contexts is quite anotherthing. They are also aware that successful teaching of language points does not mean successful and effective learningof them.The present paper is an attempt to evaluate how some grammatical structures and communicative functions(social as well as rhetorical ones) are presented and practiced in the textbook, Insights into English. We will then try togive our own evaluation of the methodological techniques, practice exercises, communicative tasks and specificprocedures employed in this textbook to meet the standards related to grammar and functions. As a matter of fact,and in order to be constructively critical, we will suggest some changes when a major deficiency is found. Before givingour evaluation, we would like to provide a word on textbooks.

1.2 Some advantages and drawbacks of textbooks.

For a number of practical, pedagogical, and ideological reasons, textbooks play a crucial role in any EFLinstitutionalized formal setting. Indeed, they reflect assumptions and tenets about the nature of language teaching andlearnin

g, and mirror aims and standards that are to be attained in the classroom. They also provide a sense of “security”and “accountability”

for all the stakeholders involved in the educational process. According to Hutchinson and Torres

(1994:327), “education

is a complex and messy matter. What the textbook does is to create a certain degree of orderwithin potential chaos. It is a visible and workable framework around which the many forces and demands of theteaching-learning process can cohere to provide the basis of security and accountability that is necessary for purposeful

action in the classroom”. Nevertheless, teachers shouldn’t rely exclusively on the textbook and follow the specific

procedures steadily and blindly. It is incumbent upon them to make some methodological choices and design somelearning activities that are relevant to their

Ss’ specific needs and interests. Hutchinson and Torres warned against the

hazards of the total depen

dence on “ready

made” textbooks:

“

The danger with ready-made textbooks is that they can seem to absolve teachers of responsibility.Instead of participating in the day-to-day decisions that have to be made about what to teach and how to teach it, it is easy to sit back and operate the system, secure in the belief that the wise and virtuous people who produced the textbook knew what was good for us. Unfortunately, this is rarely

the case.” (op. cited: 46)

Part II2.1 Introduction

Insights into English

is an attempt to apply a “standards

based” approach of the type suggested

in the officialdocuments. So, a number of specific content, performance, and proficiency standards should be met. This textbookincludes all the grammatical structures and functions that are cited in the English Language Teaching Guidelines forSecond Year Baccalaureate (See appendix F, English Language Teaching Guidelines for Second Year Baccalaureate [LevelFour], October, 2006). We will provide first an evaluation of some grammatical structures. Only then shall we focus onsome functions. We hope that our evaluation can give some insights into this textbook as a whole and show some of itsadvantages as well as some of its shortcomings. Broadly speaking, the book adopts mainly an inductive learning topresent new structures and functions. Correspondingly

, there is a wide use of “noticing” tasks to help Ss to attend to theform, meaning and use of the target language items. There are five “Review & evaluation” sections and a grammar

reference at the end of the book.

2.2 An evaluation of the grammatical component

The grammatical section devoted to grammar is called “Brush up your grammar”. The latter appellation implies

that the learners have already had some knowledge of the grammatical points and that all they need is just to be

2brushed up as if the audience is first year university students. The focus of the grammatical component of the first unitis the presentation and practice of the past perfect contrasted with the past perfect continuous. The order of presentation and practice is shown in Table 1 below.1.

Noticing of the eight sentences containing the two perfect tenses.2.

Noticing the use the past perfect in two short exchanges (A & B as speakers)3.

Questions about the form and use of the tenses.4.

Sentence completion exercise.5.

Description of two pictures to use the tenses.

Table 1: past perfect vs. past perfect continuous (SB p.24)

At the presentation stage, we see that Ss are asked to notice the two target tenses which are contained in some

sentences. One can’t but appreciate the use of the “noticing” tasks

to “raise Ss’ awareness of the form and meaning of certain language structures in input”

(

Teacher’s Book p. 14). However, noticing can be more insightful and effective if

the target structures are used in coherent texts or coherent conversations. The communicative context is so crucially

important that it can “make structures

which are embedded in the natural environment (discourse) potentially

“processible” and “comprehensible” (Teacher Guidelines, op. cited: 40). We suggest

that the same sentences, and withextra information, can be used in a conversation:John: How long had you been studying cultural anthropology before you had graduated?

Coady: I had been studying it for four years before I graduated. I’ m fond of cultural anthropology.

John: What did you do as soon as you had graduated?

Coady: Well … as soon as I had earned my degree, I went on a tour of the world… Travelling helps me to get insights into

other cultures.At the practice level, the students are asked to provide the appropriate verbs and put them in the correct formsimultaneously. (Table 1-

4). We believe it’s far better to focus on one thing at a time and not to give Ss two difficulties at

the same time, especially at this stage. Nonetheless, we find the use of the visual aids (two pictures) to guess what hadhappened very effective and meaningful, (Table 1-5). In this section, one can easily notice that there is no freeproduction stage. We can suggest, for instance, use of personalized role-play whereby each student asks his/her peerabout what s/he had been doing at the junior school before s/he moved onto high school or just about what s/he haddone before s/he went to school yesterday.In unit 2, like the previous unit, the grammatical section is at the end of the unit. It is better to incorporate grammarwithin the unit and to relate it to other skills so as not to downplay its crucial role in language.The order of presentation and practice is displayed in Table 2 below:1.

Noticing of eight sentences with verbs in the future perfect and future perfect continuous.2.

Matching exercises to identify the uses of the future perfect.3.

Gap-filling exercise.4.

Pair work to ask and answer questions.

Table 2: Future perfect vs. future perfect continuous (S.B. P.40)

We see clearly that in this section Ss are also asked to notice eight sentences that are not embedded in a

coherent spoken or written piece of discourse. In fact, Ss should be provided with “data” which includes instances of discourse that look somehow “authentic” and which help

them to know what people can do with these structures tocommunicate intelligently and intelligibly in specific contexts. Furthermore, Ss should be helped to work out the rule forthemselves. The kind of matching exercise (Table 2. 2) used to help Ss to identify the uses of the future perfect and thefuture

perfect continuous can’t be very helpful. We believe that such conceptual formulations of meaning rules are

likely to confuse Ss. Meaning rules about future perfect tenses can be indirectly expressed by, for example, timemarkers, and therefore, we can avoid that metalinguistic terminology about uses, especially at the presentation stage.

3I will have handed itpresent ThursdayWe suggest this email to be used at the presentation stage. Ss are required to read the text and extract all theverbs in the future perfect before to select the time expressions used with this tense. This activity is taken fromGateway to English 2 (S.B p.68)

Table 3 : Gateway to English 2 (S.B p.68)

“ A letter to the student”,

the textbook-designers say that the grammar sections will help Ss to discover for

themselves “How grammar is used and for what purposes” (SB p.2). We’re sorry to say that the “input” provided is not

that helpful to achieve the latter goal.As for the pair-work, we find the second task too controlled (Table 2-4) to fit int

o a “free

production” stage. Thelatter “entails the accurate and appropriate use of the rules both orally and in writing. It further upgrades the learners’

interpersonal, interpretive and presentational modes of

communication” (Teaching guidelines, op. ci

ted: 41). So, Ss canbe asked, for example, to write an e-mail to talk about what they will have been doing before the end of the schoolyear.The grammar section in unit 4 is concerned with reporting of statements. The steps suggested in the textbookare summarized below: