Issues of Grammar

Teaching and Assessment.

 Why should we teach grammar?

“Why do we have to learn this? When am I ever going to need this in life? This is so B-O-R-I-N-G!”
 Why should we teach grammar?

• If you’ve ever taught grammar, you may be familiar with complaints like
these. 
• It’s not only students who often dislike grammar lessons, though. Some
teachers question it, and some parents and administrators think it’s an
outdated practice.
• If you’ve encountered resistance in your English teaching experience, you
may feel like teaching grammar is fighting an uphill battle.
 Why should we teach grammar?

• English Language Arts teachers need to have a firm understanding

of why they are teaching grammar because – let’s face it – opposition will
come. It’s natural for skeptics to question why we are teaching certain
concepts, but when we don’t have an answer, things get, well….a little
awkward.

• So, why bother? Because it matters.

What are some of the primary reasons grammar
is not taught?
• It’s boring.
• Students don’t like it.
• Kids don’t remember it.
• The skills don’t transfer to real life.
• Teachers don’t understand it.
• It’s an outdated practice.
• There’s not enough time.
Professionals need to help students understand
grammar, but in order to do so, we need to understand:

• Grammar lessons and units need to be structured effectively.

• The overall grammar sequence impacts students’ understanding.
• Grammar needs to be taught both directly and in context.
• Teachers have to take time to study grammar and understand how language
works.
The teacher is not the only pedagogue

• “Cooperation works better than competition in the large class: cross-ability

grouping allows the more able learners to improve their language skills by
honoring their ability to explain, to state clearly, and to give effective
examples, while it provides the less able with considerable support” (Hess,
2001, p.3)
How to Sequence Grammar

• I always begin with a pre-test. It features questions that cover all grammatical concepts I plan to teach
throughout the year. Based on the results of the pre-test, I know what I can go through quickly and what needs
more focused instruction. First semester is all about the building blocks – establishing a firm foundation that
can be built upon second semester.

• The 8 parts of speech are the basics of our language, so if students need a refresher, I begin there.

• The 8 Parts of Speech

• Simple & Complete Subjects & Predicates
• D.O. / I.O. / P.N. / P.A. (Subject Complements)
Why?

• Students have to understand nouns, verbs, and modifiers to be able to identify the subject
and verb of a sentence as well as to divide a sentence in two: complete subject and
complete predicate. I cover direct objects, indirect objects, and subject complements
next because infinitives and gerunds can function as some of these elements.

• At this point, I only cover coordinating conjunctions with the 8 parts of speech because
the other conjunctions rely upon an understanding of more complex grammar concepts.
Two main issues in teaching grammar.

• Teaching large multi-level classes

• catering to different learning styles.

Teaching large multi-level classes

• Unfortunately, we often deal with many classes that do not conform the
pedagogical norm of 20-25 students per classroom. In many parts of the
world teachers may have a class size range from 30 students to over 130.
• This, of course brings benefits and challenges. 
The benefits

• There are always enough students for interaction.

• We tend to think small classes are ideal. However, when there are very few students in a
class, they quickly get to know one another. Opportunities for personalization become
rare as students have fewer new ideas to offer, and the classes themselves can become
quite dull.
The benefits

• We get a rich variety of human resources.

• Depending on the age of our students, but normally we always have students from
different backgrounds, that can contribute their experiences to the whole class and make
the learning experience more significant and interesting.
The benefits

• In mixed-ability classes, we can deploy the more able students to play

tutoring roles for their less linguistically able students and take some of the
load of teachers. This can create a positive, collaborative climate. The biggest
challenge in making students “tutors” is that they will feel that they are not
learning anything. But with enough support and guidance from the instructor,
peer-to-peer tutoring can be very beneficial for all involved.
The benefits

• We are never bored.

• This point reflects the richness and diversity of the large class. There are always multiple
things going on, issues to attend and challenges to meet.

• Professional development occurs naturally.

• Although we prefer small classes, the techniques we have taught will have to be
reinvented and refined with larger groups.
The challenges

• We often feel out of control.

• Even the most experienced teacher can have trouble managing a large class. If we opt for
pair or group work, simply getting students in and out of groups can pose a formidable
challenge even before any teaching takes place. A chaotic environment can happen when
all students talk at the same time, this will generate so much noise. It is often difficult to
hear individual students or to make oneself heard.
The challenges

• Hess (2001) suggests that a solution to a chaotic environment is organization.

• Good organization, among other things, helps students to know what is expected of them
and to get on task quickly and efficiently. Having a special place on the board where
homework assignments are always placed or where directions for the first activity of the
day are written, and a place where all the scheduled activities for the lesson are listed,
help in establishing good control (Hess, 2001, p.4).
The challenges

• In the larger class we may feel trapped in problems of management.

• We are confronted with multiple tasks, some of which are performed simultaneously
with numerous practical managerial decisions including taking attendance, collecting
homework, and so on.
The challenges

• In terms of grammar, we have to deal with the following questions:

• How and when do we deal with errors when they occur in the course of a
communicative activity?
• How about if the error occurs during a form-focused drill or exercise?
• How do we give feedback to students who are at different stages of grammar
development, and for whom some explanations will either be irrelevant or
incomprehensible?
The challenges

•  We are frustrated by the huge amount of written work.

• Correcting the grammar errors in students’ written work is, for many teachers, the most
time-consuming thing they do. Collaboration is key, getting students to act as peer
reviewers of each other’s work can be helpful for the teacher when this is done in the
classroom.
The challenges

• It is difficult to provide for individual learning styles.

• When we teach grammar, we need to use a range of different techniques that cater to
those who favor the deductive learning of grammar as well as those who prefer to learn
inductively.
The challenges

• Activating the quiet student is difficult.

• Even though some students can learn just as effectively by not participating as they can
by participating. Giving them adequate time to prepare what they have to say, possibly
by providing them with grammatical cues to improve accuracy, not requiring them to
speak up in front of the whole class can actually improve participation rates. 
Catering to different learning styles

• A learning style refers to the learners’ preferred way of learning. It is “an

individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing, processing
and retaining new information and skills” (Kinsella, 1995, p. 171). Some
individuals are visual learners while other prefer to learn by listening to the
target language. 
Catering to different learning styles
• Willing (1987) identified 4 different language learning styles.
How do you imagine that the four different types of
learners might prefer to study grammar?

• Concrete learners like to encounter grammar in context. They are likely to

respond well to tasks in which a grammar point is supported and explained by
some kind of visual. Analytical learners, on the other hand, prefer to identify
grammar rules and principles through the inductive study of language.
Communicative learners also prefer learning inductively, and encountering
grammar in context, where the relationship between form and function is
clear. Authority-oriented learners favor a deductive approach in which the
teacher provides a rule and then gives them opportunities to apply the rule.
Catering to different learning styles

• If the majority of your students are authority-oriented, they will probably be

more satisfied with the fairly “traditional” exercises and tasks such as cloze,
matching, fill-in-the-blank, and multiple choice. Analytical learners will
probably be happy if you provide them with self-study resources, time in the
self-access center or to practice grammar through internet. Communicative
and concrete learners are more likely to prefer learning grammar through
games, simulations, role-plays, information gaps, and projects. 
Catering to different learning styles

• Often teachers will subconsciously design lessons that favor their dominant
learning style. Therefore it is important to remember to cater to an assortment
of learning styles. 
Reference

• https://www.readingandwritinghaven.com/the-nerdiest-of-confessions-why-
we-teach-grammar-and-you-should-too/
• https://www.readingandwritinghaven.com/how-to-sequence-grammar-
instruction/
• https://www.slideshare.net/juliovangel/issues-in-teaching-grammar