Name : Iqbal Alfian Rusydi 201620560211038

Anisa Kurniadhani 201620560211034

Class : 2A
Subject : Advanced Assessment on Language Teaching

ASSESSING GRAMMAR

Grammar teaching has traditionally consisted of giving learners opportunities to

produce specific grammatical structures. Such an approach may prove ineffective
because it does not take account of how learners acquire grammatical structures (e.g.,
Krashen, 1982). "How can we teach grammar in a way that is compatible with how
learners acquire grammar?" Second language acquisition research suggests that
grammar teaching should take into account three key principles:
Learners need to attend to both meaning and form when learning a second language.
New grammatical features are more likely to be acquired when learners notice and
comprehend them in input than when they engage in extensive production practice.
Learners' awareness of grammatical forms helps them to acquire grammatical
features slowly and gradually.
Meanwhile, language teachers and language learners are often frustrated by the
disconnect between knowing the rules of grammar and being able to apply those rules
automatically in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. According to Lock (1996) this
disconnect reflects a separation between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge.
a. Declarative knowledge is knowledge about something. Declarative knowledge enables a
student to describe a rule of grammar and apply it in pattern practice drills.
b. Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do something. Procedural knowledge
enables a student to apply a rule of grammar in communication.
According to Ellis (1993) there are three approaches to teaching grammar.
Attention to form and meaning
Current second language acquisition theories view grammar learning as best
accomplished when learners are primarily focused on meaning rather than form
(Krashen, 1982). The problem is that learners are limited language processors who find
it difficult to attend to both form and meaning at the same time. Thus, when they are
focused on meaning they are unable to attend simultaneously to form and, conversely,
when they are focused on form, their ability to understand or make themselves
understood suffers. For this reason, they need meaning-based tasks that also allow them
the opportunity to process language as form students are first required to process a text
for meaning and then, afterward, to attend to how a particular grammatical form is used
in the text.
Learning grammar through input
Grammar has traditionally been taught via production practice. That is, students have
been required to try to use a grammatical structure in controlled and free exercises.
However, current theories of second language acquisition see production as the result of
acquisition rather than the cause. It follows that grammar can be taught more effectively
through input that through manipulating output. In other words, the input practice helped
learners to process relative clauses in both input and output, but the production practice
only helped output.
What does input practice involve? It involves "structured input tasks." These are
tasks that require students to (1) read or listen to input that has been specially designed
to include plentiful examples of the target structure and (2) consciously attend to the
target structure and understand its meaning. In one kind of structured input task, a text
is gapped by removing words containing the target structure and asking students to fill
in the missing words or we can called it classic gap-fill task.
The role of awareness
Grammar teaching needs to emphasize awareness of how grammatical features
work rather than mastery. Learners who are aware of a grammatical structure are more
likely to notice it when they subsequently encounter it. Thus, awareness can facilitate
and trigger learning; it is a crutch that helps learners walk until they can do so by
themselves. How can teachers develop awareness of a grammatical structure? One way,
of course, is simply to tell the students how it works. This is the traditional way.
According to Ellis (1997) Japanese students have plenty of experience of listening to
teachers lecture about grammar! An alternative way, which I think is more promising,
is to use consciousness-raising tasks. These tasks that provide students with "data" about
 how a particular grammatical structure works and help them to work out the rule for
themselves. In this approach, students discover how grammar works on their own. Such
tasks make the students much less dependent on the teacher.
In an attempt to incorporate these principles into materials for teaching grammar,
Ellis has developed the following sequence of tasks:
Listening task (i.e. students listen to a text that they process for meaning).
"Noticing" task (i.e. students listen to the same text, which is now gapped, and fill
in the missing words).
Consciousness-raising task (i.e. students are helped to discover how the target
grammar structure works by analyzing the "data" provided by the listening text).
Checking task (i.e. students complete an activity to check if they have understood
how the target structure works).
Production task (i.e. students are given the opportunity to try out the target structure
in their own sentences). The aim of the production task is to encourage students to
experiment with the target structure, not its mastery.
The aim of such materials is not so much to "teach grammar," as this is often not
possible, but rather to help students to "become grammatical." This is a lesser goal but
it is a worthwhile one. Furthermore, it is a goal that is more compatible with the current
emphases on communication and student autonomy.
Grammar tests are designed to measure students proficiency in matters ranging
from inflections to syntax. Syntax involve the relationship or words in a sentence, including
matters such as word order, use of negative, question forms, and connectives.

In testing grammar, we do not pretend to measure actual communication, but we can

do a good job of measuring progress in grammar class, and we can diagnose students needs
in this area.

A. Testing grammar using discrete-item tests

Grammar test is typically use discrete-item tests. That is, the individual
components of the leaners knowledge (for example, irregular past tense verb forms
such as went, saw, did and so on) such as using gas-fills as the task:
Or multiple choice tasks:

This test is significant proportion of what passes as grammar testing, whether the
purpose of the test is use for placement test, progress tests, or achievement test. One of
the reason why this is test recommended to use is, they are relatively easy to design and
they meet leaners expectations as to what a test should be like: they have what is called
principles of assessment (reliability, face validity, authenticity, washback,). For progress
testing of grammar learning, discrete-item test of grammar have use full to implemented
in testing grammar. This test will motivate leaners review what they have been studying.
Discrete-item test in grammar could be given immediately after the first
introduction of a new grammar item. There are kinds of discrete-item test in grammar
1) .

This test is only test the students knowledge of the word order constraints on
the three adverbs. It is possible that the students could do the test without
understanding either meaning of the adverbs themselves nor the contexts into which
they have to put the choices in the sentence. However one way to avoid this problem is
not to indicate the possible adverb positions:
2)

This is called classic gap-fill task, in order to fill the gaps successfully
the student has to attend to the meaning of the text. On the other hand, we can also
use cloze test in testing grammar. Cloze test is a text in which every word has been
deleted.
From test 1 and test 2, the problem is the main point of the test just
focused on the form-focused rather than meaning-focused. That is, the students
could do the test simply by knowing where yet, still, and already go in the
sentence, without having much understanding of what they mean.
 3)

This is kind of tests that test the learners understanding of the items, or match
their understanding of the meaning of the teats item against some data and it can be
called grammar interpretation task. This test is quite easy to answer, while you can
change into more challenging grammar; test by changing the instructions:

4)
 The above test types can be used for testing progress on grammar learning. Difference
grammar items will have different kinds of test. Therefore, whatever test type is chosen, it is
important that students are familiar with it.

B. Testing grammar in an oral performance test

The kind of test we have looked at so far have taken the students in to testing bit of
grammar in isolation whether the students has integrated the knowledge into a functioning
system. Consequently, this suggests that discrete-item test are modelled on practice
activities such as roles plays, simulations, discussions.
This the example, the teacher has been working with a lower intermediate class on the
language of description of places using the present perfect.
Step 1:
The students are divided into pairs, then the teacher will call the students one by one
(still in pairs) while the rest of class is working on a writing activity. Each member is
given a copy of either the Students A or the Students B picture. They are allowed time to
read the instructions and to study their pictures.
Step 2:
The students perform the activity, taking turns to describe their own picture, and then
work out what has changed. The teacher listens and scores each student according
following criteria:
 Rukminingsih (2016) propose the written practice activities which typically
involved students in making sentence or writing dialogue or paragraph using the relevant
grammar, as follow:
1. Introduce the concept of grammar form, the grammar lecture explain the rule and the
concept.
2. Have the students submit the students response on adjective clause as their
assignment before having discussion.
3. Have the students perform the presentation, discussion, questions and response on the
material, adjective clause.
4. Have the students write a paragraph with the particular topic involving the material
related to adjective clause (grammar in writing context as task based)
5. Get students to reword the incorrect passages to eliminate the errors. If the students
look the error up again or have him ask questions involving the correct usage in
grammatical situation.
6. Remind the students that if they ever have questions about grammar, consulting a
grammar book can be helpful. Be certain the students understand the rules that they
violated originally. Repeat this process with more than one of the students papers or
written text.
7. Give feedback and positive washback on their writing.
8. Assess their writing by using primary trait score which the lecturer just considers the
usage and application on adjective clause.
The exlample;

Last holiday I moved back to Surabaya, the city where I was born. When I was
six, my father, who had always appreciated the beauty of the farmlands there, moved
us to Magetan, which is famous for its peacefulness and leisurely
pace. Surabaya, which is dirtier and noisier, is also more violent. Its streets are more
dangerous than the city lanes to which I am accustomed. Still, a city that offers many
types of restaurants and entertainment is more exciting than the quiet
city from which we had thought about moving for years. Moving back was
an idea whose time had finally come.
 REFERENCE

Ellis, R (1997) Becoming Grammatical. Pearson Education. Available in

http://www.impactseries.com/grammar/becoming.html
Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford:
Pergamon.
Rukminingsih. 2016. Assessing Grammar by Using Communicative Activities to
Employ Students Skill And Ability To Use English. Prosiding ICTTE FKIP UNS Vol
1, Nomor 1, Januari 2016
Thornbury, Scott. (2002). How to Teach Grammar.