MENDOZA, LIZAMHEL B.

ENG – 602: STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH

PROJECT: INSIGHTS ON “TEACHING GRAMMAR AS ABILITY”
Dr. Willy Renandya’s “Teaching Grammar as Ability” discussion was divided into two
parts: Grammar as Knowledge and Ability and Grammar in Writing. Dr. Renandya began his talk
by explaining the relationship between grammar and proficiency. In order to become proficient
in a language, Dr. Renandya stressed that learners need to master different linguistic units, such
as phonetics, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. The first part focused on the differences
between the two approaches to developing proficiency in English grammar. These approaches
are teaching Language as Knowledge and teaching Language as Ability. On one hand, the
Language as Knowledge approach is linear and heavily relies on explicit knowledge. On the
other hand, Language as Ability is a non-linear language instruction that largely depends on
implicit knowledge. Language as Ability or Grammar as Ability pertains to the capacity of a
learner to use the language for different communicative purposes, such as telling a story,
writing an essay, and writing a blog. He further postulated that Grammar as Ability is the more
compatible strategy for language acquisition. The second part emphasized the importance of
Grammar in Writing, and Dr. Renandya introduced two models that can assist teachers in
helping their students become competent in writing in English. These models are the Direct
Model and Indirect Model, which were formulated by Dr. Renandya.

One of the concepts introduced during the discussion that must be highlighted is using
Grammar as Ability as an approach to grammar instruction. Dr. Renandya explained that two
methods can be used to teach Grammar as Ability inside the classroom. The first method is
teaching grammar ability as a whole through educational materials (i.e., short films/videos,
literary texts). The second is a more complex process wherein the teachers will break down the
grammatical rules and structures that can be learned from the educational material and teach
the learners how to put that grammar knowledge into context. According to Dr. Renandya, the
second method is the more ideal strategy. Several studies have researched whether educators
should teach grammar as knowledge or ability. Richards and Reppen (2014) stated that though
it is important to teach grammar as knowledge, it has a minimal role in helping students use the
language for communication, such as in speaking or writing. They proposed that teaching
grammar as a skill emphasizes its use as a tool in constructing spoken and written texts. This
method of grammar instruction involves the teacher not only explaining the correct language
form but, more importantly, demonstrating how that form is applied according to the purpose,
audience, and context of the communicative event. Learning grammar in this manner increases
the likelihood of learners being able to use the language for real-life situations.

Another significant highlight of the discussion is the “extensive reading.” Krashen (1987)
postulated that learners acquire a language and improve their literacy by obtaining
“comprehensible input” from different texts. Reading is one of the methods that can help
learners build up their input. Krashen and Terrell (1983) defined extensive reading (ER) as a
language instruction approach that involves “reading a large number of texts for the learners’
general understanding to find enjoyment from it.” It is important to note that students need to
find these texts interesting and engaging because it is an individualized process that should take
place outside the classroom. As such, learners can choose the text they will read. Several
studies reported that there are linguistic advantages when students engage in extensive reading
(ER), particularly in reading fluency (Huffman, 2014; McLean & Rouault, 2017; Nakanishi, 2015),
vocabulary acquisition (Suk, 2016; Webb & Chang, 2015), and improved writing skills
(Mermelstein, 2015; Park, 2016).

Consequently, it is also essential to highlight the Genre-based Pedagogy discussed in the

second part of Dr. Renandya’s talk, wherein he defined Genre-based Pedagogy as an approach
that connects reading, writing, and noticing. This pedagogy has five elements: modeling,
focused noticing, wiring together, writing alone, and focused feedback. The theoretical
foundation of this teaching method is based on Vygotsky’s (1978) focus on the interactive
cooperation between the teacher and the student. The teacher plays a guiding role to ‘scaffold’
or assist learners as they advance towards their potential performance level. As the learners
progress, this support is strategically reduced, with teachers and learners jointly negotiating and
constructing texts, with the help of peers, until the learner has the knowledge and skills to write
independently. This writing instruction approach places a significant emphasis on both language
and teachers and supports L2 students with an explicit pedagogy.
 Likewise, several implications can be deduced from the discussion. First, second
language learners must gain grammar proficiency as their foundation for language learning.
Grammar proficiency is essential if a learner wants to become skilled in oral and written
communication and for different communicative purposes. Batsone (1994), as cited in Nassaji
(2017), a language without its grammar is “chaotic”. Students must learn the grammar rules
because it is difficult to adequately learn a language without becoming knowledgeable of its
rules and structures. Hence, it is recommended that students must be taught first the basic
grammatical rules and structures via the approach Grammar as Knowledge. Second, teachers
can use a combination of the two approaches inside the classroom, drawing on the approach of
teaching Grammar as Knowledge and Grammar as Ability. After the students become familiar
with a language’s grammar rules, teachers can incorporate the Grammar as Ability approach to
assess whether they can use what they learned for communicative purposes. It is also equally
important that learners can use this grammar knowledge in context, as they must become
capable of communicating. Lastly, teachers have to provide opportunities for their students to
read, even outside the classroom, as it can further help develop their implicit knowledge of
grammatical rules and structures of a language.
References:

Huffman, J. (2014). Reading rate gains during a one-semester extensive reading course. Reading
in a Foreign Language, 26(2), 17-33.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition.
Krashen, S. D., & Terrell, T. D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the
classroom. New York: Pergamon Press.
Mermelstein, A. D. (2015). Improving EFL Learners' Writing through Enhanced Extensive
Reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(2), 182-198.
McLean, S., & Rouault, G. (2017). The effectiveness and efficiency of extensive reading at
developing reading rates. System, 70, 92-106.
Nassaji, H. (2017). Grammar acquisition. In Loewen, S., & Sato, M. (Eds.), The Routledge
handbook of instructed second language acquisition (pp 205-223).
Nakanishi, T. (2015). A meta-analysis of extensive reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 49(1), 6-
37.
Park, J. (2016). Integrating reading and writing through extensive reading. ELT Journal, 70(3),
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Richards, J. C., & Reppen, R. (2014). Towards a pedagogy of grammar instruction. RELC
Journal, 45(1), 5-25.
Suk, N. (2017). The effects of extensive reading on reading comprehension, reading rate, and
vocabulary acquisition. Reading research quarterly, 52(1), 73-89.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Webb, S., & Chang, A. C. (2015). Second language vocabulary learning through extensive
reading with audio support: How do frequency and distribution of occurrence affect
learning?. Language Teaching Research, 19(6), 667-686.