TEACHING GRAMMAR

I. INTRODUCTION:

1. What is Grammar?

When thinking about teaching the grammar of a foreign language, which of these definitions of grammar
seems most appropriate?

1. Rules about sentence formation, tenses, verb patterns

2. The moment-by-moment structuring of what we say as it is being spoken
3. Exercises (fill in the gap, multiple choice) about tenses
4. Our internal “database” as to what are possible or impossible sentences.

→ The way we put words together to make correct sentences that are meaningful.

2. The importance of teaching grammar:

Grammar does not only affect how units of language are combined into phrases, clauses or sentences, it
also affects their meaning. The meaning of a grammatical structure may be quite difficult to teach. It is
rather simple to analyze the form of a structure (e.g. “have + past participle” to form the present perfect),
but it is not easy to explain its use.

As a reaction again the traditional methods, many linguists and teachers suppose students do not need to
learn grammar in order to learn a language. It is the same as when we learn our mother tongue -
grammar is learned implicitly and intuitively. This belief is, in some way, a little misleading. Second
language learning is not completely the same as first language acquisition. In addition, the important
question is not whether teaching and learning grammar is necessary for language learning, but whether it
helps or not. In fact, it does help as a means of improving mastery of the language, not as an end in itself.

3. Presenting and explaining grammar:

One of the problems of grammar presentation is to find the appropriate balance between making a
grammar point simple enough to facilitate learners’ comprehension and providing accurate information.
Below are some guidelines on presenting and explaining a grammatical structure.

a. A good presentation should include both for (structure) and meaning (language function).
b. A lot of contextualized examples of the structures are provided. Visual materials can also be used
to contribute to understanding.
c. Whether to use terminology (e.g. “gerund” or “V-ing form) or the mother tongue while explaining
a grammatical structure depends on the situation and students’ level.
d. The explanation should cover the most general instances first. Exceptions and other special uses
can be dealt with later, one at a time. Too much detail may only confuse students.
e. Whether to use the inductive or deductive method when explaining a rule depends on the
students’ capability and the nature of the grammar item itself. If the students can perceive and
define the rule themselves easily, then the inductive method is more effective, as what students
discover by themselves are likely to be grasped and retained better. On the other hand, presenting a
 difficult grammar item inductively can be confusing and wasting a lot of valuable class time. In such
cases, it is better to provide the information deductively.

4. DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE APPROACH:

A deductive approach is a more teacher-centered approach which starts with the presentation of a rule
and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied. This means that the teacher gives the students a
new concept, explains it, and then has the students practice using the concept.

Advantages:
- It gets straight to the point, so it can be time-saving. This will allow more time for practice and
application.
- It respects the intelligence and maturity of many students, and acknowledges the role of cognitive
processes in language acquisition.
- It confirms many students’ expectations about classroom learning, particularly for those learners
who have an analytical learning style.
- It allows the teacher to deal with the language points as they come up, rather than have to
anticipate them and prepare for them in advance.

Disadvantages:
- Starting the lesson with a grammatical presentation mey be off-putting for some students,
especially for younger ones. They may not be able to understand the concept involved.
- Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission-style classroom; teacher
explanation is often at the expense of student involvement and interaction.
- Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as demonstration.
- Such an approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simply a case of knowing the
rules.

The deductive method is often criticized because: a) it teaches grammar in an isolated way; b) little
attention is paid to meaning; c) practice is often mechanical. This method can, however, be a viable option
in certain situations; for example, when dealing with highly motivated students, teaching a particularly
difficult concept, or for preparing students to write exams.

An inductive approach, which is less teacher-directed than the deductive approach, starts with some
examples from which a rule is inferred. In contrast with the deductive method, inductive instruction
makes use of student “noticing”. Instead of explaining a given concept and following this explanation with
examples, the teacher presents students with many examples showing how the concept is used. The
intent is for students to “notice”, by way of the examples, how the concept works.

Advantages:
- Rules learners discover for themselves are more likely to fit their existing mental structures that
rule they have been presented with. This in turn will make the rules more meaningful, memorable
and serviceable.
- The mental effort involved ensures a greater degree of cognitive depth, which again ensures
greater memorability.
- Students are more actively involved in the learning process, rather than being simply passive
recipients; they are, therefore, likely to be more attentive and more motivated.
 - It is an approach which favors pattern-recognition and problem-solving abilities which suggests
that it is particularly suitable for learners who like this kind of challenge.
- If the problem-solving is done collaboratively, and in the target language, learners get the
opportunity for extra language practice.
- Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self-reliance and is, therefore,
conductive to learner autonomy.
Disadvantages:

- The time and energy spent in working out rules may mislead students into believing that rules are
the objective of language teaching, rather than a means.
- The time taken to work out a rule may be at the expense of time spent in putting the rule to some
sort of productive practice.
- Students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their version of the rule may be either too broad or
too narrow in its application, which is especially a danger where there is no overt testing of their
hypotheses, either through practice examples, or by eliciting an explicit statement of the rule.
- It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a lesson. They need to select and organize the
data carefully so as to guide learners to an accurate formulation of the rule, while also ensuring the
data is intelligible.
- However carefully organized the data is, many language areas such as aspect and modality resist
easy rule formation.
- As inductive approach frustrates students who, by dint of their personal learning style of their past
learning experience (or both), would prefer simply to be told the rule.

Both deductive and inductive sequences are valuable for teaching concepts, generalizations, processes,
and skills.

- Students will usually be more involved in the learning experience and tend to participate more
actively when an inductive approach is used. If a deductive approach is chosen, it is important to
structure the learning experience in order to draw on students' prior experiences and learning, and
to provide for their active involvement.
- The deductive approach is more predictable because the teacher selects the information and the
sequence of presentation. The deductive approach is faster and can be an efficient way to teach
large numbers of facts and concrete concepts. However, students tend to understand and remember
more when learning occurs inductively.

II. PRACTICE:

1. STRUCTURES AND EXAMPLES

Task 1: Identify the structure in each of the sentences

1. People who are deprived of sleep lose energy and become quick-tempered.
2. If we don’t stop this destruction, it will be too late.
3. After I had left a small village in the south of France, I drove on to the next town.
4. A pen is not as expensive as a book.
5. She went to the post office in order to send a parcel.
6. You’d better send your friend an email right away.
 7. A new hospital was being built then.
8. Kate insisted on coming with us.
9. This company has been producing wine since 1920.
10. In spite of the heavy traffic, all employees came to the meeting on time.
11. Kate finished writing the report early.
12. Having kids around seems to bring out the best in adult behaviour.

2. HOW TO SHOW THE MEANING OF NEW STRUCTURES

Task 2: A teacher presented the structure “has been V ing for...” to her class. To make the meaning
clear, she drew pictures on the board and gave this imaginary situation. A woman starts waiting for
a bus at four o’clock. At five o’clock, the bus comes. She’s been waiting for an hour. Here are the
teacher’s note for the lesson, but they are not in their correct order. What order should they be in?
Are all the stages necessary?

a. Say ‘she’s been waiting for an hour’ and ask the class to repeat it
b. Explain how the structure is formed
c. Write the sentence on the board: ‘She’s been waiting for an hour’
d. Give other situations and examples

Another person arrives at 4.30. He’s been waiting for half an hour.
e. Ask the class to copy the sentence
f. Ask individual students to repeat the sentence.
g. Draw pictures to show the situation, and give the example ‘She’s been waiting for an hour’.

2.1 SHOW MEANING VISUALLY:

The simplest and clearest way to present a structure is often to show it directly, using things the
students can see: objects, the classroom, yourself, pictures...
Ex: this is how T presents the structure “too....to...”
T: [points to the ceiling] What’s that?
Ss: Ceiling
T: [reach up and try to touch it] Look – I’m trying to touch it. Can I touch it?
Ss: No.
T: No, I can’t. Because it is too high to touch. Too high. The ceiling is too high to touch. (say this
sentence again in L1)

T: Look at this. Is it light or heavy?

Ss: heavy
T: Yes, it’s heavy. How heavy is it?
Ss: a hundred kilos.
T: That’s right. It’s very heavy. Could you lift it?
Ss: No
T: No, of course you can’t. It’s too heavy. It’s too heavy to lift.
2.2. SHOW MEANING THROUGH A SITUATION

It is not always possible to show the meaning of a structure visually, using what is in the class.
Another way of showing meaning is to think of a situation from outside the class, in which the
structure could naturally be used. The situation can be real or imaginary.
a. This is a demonstration of how to use an imaginary situation to present a more advanced
structure: ‘There’s no point in.... –ing’:
T: listen. Imagine you are with a friend. You’re going to visit your uncle, who lives quite near. Your
friend says, ‘let’s go by bus’. What will you say? Yes or no?
Ss: No
T: Why?
Ss: because he lives near.
T: Yes, he lives nearby. So you might say ‘we can walk there in 15 minutes’. There’s no point in
going by bus ‘. There’s no point in doing it. No point (say this again in L1). There’s no point in going
by bus.

Comments:
 By giving several different examples, the teacher helps the class to build up a clear idea of what the
structure means and how it is used.
 After giving a few examples, the teacher can just give the situation and try to get the students to
give the example. This checks how well students have understood, and also helps to involve the
class more.

Task 3: How will you present comparison of short adjectives (adj +er +than) to your students?

3. HOW TO PRESENT THE FORM

As well as making it clear how a structure is used and what it means, it is also important to show clearly
how it is formed. There are two basic ways of doing this:
- By giving a clear model and asking students to listen and repeat two or three times. Quickly
demonstrate this, using this example ‘It’s too heavy to lift’
T: Listen. It’s too heavy to lift. It’s too heavy to lift. (gesture for repetition)
Ss: It’s too heavy to lift.
The aim of doing this is just to give students the ‘feel’ of the structure, and especially to make them
familiar with the way it sounds. It should not be continued for too long – a few repetitions by the
whole class, perhaps followed by one or two repetitions by individual students.
- By writing the structure clearly on the board. Demonstrate this by writing ‘It’s too heavy to lift’ on
the board. Say the word as you write them, and underline the ‘fixed’ part of the structure.

It’s too heavy to lift. PROCEDURE

A. PRESENTATION:  Lead-in
1. Lead-in  Presenting meaning & form
- Introducing the structure in contexts (dialogues,  Give other examples
readings): T writes on the board 1 example from  Model the examples and conduct
repetition
 Ask class to copy down the lesson
 the dialogue, ss find occurrences of the same
pattern.
- Using pictures/situations
2. Presenting MEANING
- Show meaning visually
- Show meaning through a situation
- Show form and meaning
3. Presenting FORM: examples (subject/objects,
tenses, etc...) note/exception
B. PRACTICE:
 Purpose
To get students to __________________ accurately and fluently
 Process
Controlled practice (MECHANICAL) → less controlled practice (MEANINGFUL) → FREE practice.

4. CONTRASTING STRUCTURE

Sometimes we need not only to present single structures, but to show the difference between two
structures; this is especially important when there is a contrast between two structures in English which
does not exist in the students’ own language. There are two basic ways of doing this: by giving examples
and by giving simple explanations.
To illustrate this, think about the structures How much? and How many?
- We could give examples to show the difference between them: how much water/flour/money?
How many eggs/books?
- We could give an explanation: ‘how many is used with countable nouns (books/eggs)and how
much is used with uncountable nouns (water/money)

5. TYPES OF PRACTICE

5.1. Mechanic practice:

A drill where there is complete control of response, where there is only one correct way of responding. Ss
produce the correct FORM, not using the structure to express meaning. The main purpose is to help
students to memorise the pattern. The teacher cannot be sure that the students understand what they
say.
a. Repetition
T: Let’s play football
Ss: Let’s play football
T: Let’s go swimming
Ss: Let’s go swimming
b. Substitution
My pen is stolen by John
My TV was repaire my neighbour
My bikes are d a stranger
My phones wer given Jack
 e sold

c. Word cues
T gives word cues, Ss make up complete sentences
 5 houses/burn down/in the fire
 he/wound/in a battle
 opening speech/deliver/soon
d. Single word prompts
T: television
Ss: Let’s watch television
T: radio
Ss: Let’s listen to the radio
e. Picture prompts

5.2. Meaningful practice:

There is still control of response although it may be correctly expresse in more than one way and less
suitable for choral repetition. Students cannot complete these drills without truly understanding
structurally and semantically what is being said. They express meaning. Students are not focusing on
meaning rather on form, on an answer which is true rather than correct.
There are 3 possible ways of making practice more meaningful:

By getting students to say real things about themselves

1a. Anne likes tea but she doesn’t like 1b. Say true sentences about yourself: I like
coffee tea or I don’t like tea
a. Folk music/pop music What about: a. Coffee?
b. Walking/swimming b. Pop music?
c. Cats/dogs c. Cats?

Comment: 1a is completely mechanical – it can be done without thinking or understanding what pop
music is. It is also quite meaningless, and so very uninteresting to do.
By giving situations which imply the structure, but leave the students to decide exactly what to say

2a. You are a stranger. Ask about places 2b. You are a stranger. Ask about places in
in town your town.
Is there a cafe near here? You want to buy some fruit.
a. A grocer’s shop Is there a fruit stall near here?
b. A cinema a. You want to post a letter
c. A fruit stall b. You want to spend the night here
 Comment:
Exercise 2a is completely controlled as there is one way to respond
Exercise 2b is more meaningful as students can give several different responses.

By letting students add something of their own.

3a. ‘Where are you going?’ 3b. ‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m going to the station’ ‘I’m going to the station’
a. Cinema ‘Why?’
b. Zoo ‘Because I want to buy a train ticket
c. River a. Cinema
b. Zoo
c. River
Comment:
Exercise 3a is mechanical, the question is always the same to the answer and the student merely fits
the prompt into the sentence. In 3b, the exercise becomes meaningful because students have to add
a reason, so they must understand what they are saying.

5.3. Free practice:

Free practice give students the chance to use the structure to express their own ideas or to talk about
their own experiences. Two kinds of topics are useful for free oral practice:

3.1. We can get students to talk about real life (themselves, their friends & families, things in the
world)
T: Let’s talk about the loss caused by the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean in 2014.
S1: Many people were killed
S2: Many were injured
S3: A lot of buildings along the beaches were destroyed.
3. 2. We can ask students to imagine a situation which is not real.
T: Please imagine our life in the year 2020. You could think of housework, lectures or diseases or
something else and use the passive structure to express your idea

Possible answers

S1: most of the housework will be done by robots.

S2: All lectures would be delivered online.

S3: Diseases could be treated on computer from a distance.