How to teach grammar

1. What is grammar?

n Grammar is not…
– a discrete set of meaningless
decontextualized or static structure
– prescriptive rules about linguistic form
What is Grammar?
n Language user’ s subconscious internal system
n Linguists’ attempt to codify or describe that system
– Sounds of language
– Structure and form of words
– Arrangement of words into larger units
– Meanings of language
– Functions of language & its use in context
n • Phonology • Morphology • Syntax
• Semantics • Pragmatics
What is Grammar?

n “Grammar is the business of taking a

language to pieces, to see how it
works.” (David Crystal)
n Grammar is the mental system of rules
and categories that allows humans to
form and interpret the words and
sentences of their language.
What is Grammar?

n grammar adds meanings that are not easily

inferable from the immediate context.
n The kinds of meanings realised by grammar
are principally:
n • representational - that is, grammar enables
us to use language to describe the world in
terms of how, when and where things happen
e.g. The sun sets at 7:30.
n The children are playing in the garden.
What is Grammar?
n Interpersonal- that is, grammar facilitates the way we
interact with other people when, for example, we
need to get things done using language.
n E.g.There is a difference between:
n Tickets!
n Tickets, please.
n Can you show me your tickets?
n May I see your tickets?
n Would you mind if I had a look at your tickets.
n Grammar is used to fine- tune the meanings we wish
to express.
Why teaching grammar?
n Sentence- machine argument
n Item learning
n Memorization of individual phrases
n Limit to number of items a person can retain
n Grammar enables us to generate new
sentences
n It offers the learners the means for limitless
linguistic creativity.
The Fine- tuning argument

n Grammar allows for greater subtlety of

meaning
n Grammar serves as corrective against
ambiguities.
n Ex. Last Monday night I was boring in my house.
After speaking a lot time with him I thought that him attracted
me.
We took a wrong plane and when I saw it was very later
because the plane took up.
Five years ago I would want to go to India but in that time
anybody of my friends didn't want to go.
The fossilization argument

n Without grammar learners fossilize

earlier
n Grammar helps you to achieve a high
level.
The advance- organizer argument

n Noticingis a pre-requisite for acquisition

n Grammar acts as a kind of advance
organizer for later acquisition
The learner expectations
argument
n Learners need grammar:
n Mathematical
n Visual
n Kinesthetic
n Musical linguistic
n Inter- personal
n Intra- personalnal
n Naturalistic
The rule of- law argument

n Grammar offers the teacher a structured

system
n It can be taught and tested
n There are methodical steps
The discrete item argument

n Categories= discrete items

n Language= gigantic, shapeless mass
n Categories make language digestible

n Curriculum
n It is a must.
Approaches in Teaching
Grammar
n A deductiveapproach starts with the
presentation of a rule and is followed by
examples in which the rule is applied.
The grammar rule is presented and the
learner engages with it through the
study and manipulation of examples.
Advantages of Deductive
Approac
n It gets straight to the point, and can therefore
be time-saving. Many rules — especially
rules of form — can be more simply and
quickly explained than elicited from
examples. This will allow more time for
practice and application.
n • It respects the intelligence and maturity of
many - especially adult -students, and
acknowledges the role of cognitive processes
in language acquisition.
Advantages of Deductive
Approac
n It confirms many students' expectations
about classroom learning, particularly
for those learners who have an
analytical learning style.
n It allows the teacher to deal with
language points as they come up, rather
than having to anticipate them and
prepare for them in advance.
Disadvantages of Deductive
n Starting the lesson with a grammar presentation may
be off-putting for some students, especially younger
ones. They may not have sufficient metalanguage
(i.e. language used to talk about language such as
grammar terminology). Or they may not be able to
understand the concepts involved.
n Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted,
transmission-style classroom; teacher explanation is
often at the expense of student involvement and
interaction.
n Explanation is seldom as memorable as
other forms of presentation, such as
demonstration.
n Such an approach encourages the
belief that learning a language is simply
a case of knowing the rules.
What is a rule?

n In the Longman Activity Dictionary “rule” is

defined as:
n • a principle or order which guides behaviour,
says how things are to be done etc,
(prescriptive rule)
n • the usual way that something happens (
descriptive rule). Descriptive rules are
primarily concerned with generalisations
about what speakers of the language actually
do say than what they should do.
n Pedagogic rules – they make sense to
learners and provide them with the
means and confidence to generate
language with a reasonable chance of
success.
n Pedagogic rules can be spit up into:
n rules of form and rules of use.
n Examples of prescriptive rules:
Do not use different to and never use
different than. Always use different from.
Never use the passive when you can
use the active.
Use shall for the first person and will for
second and third persons.
n Examples of descriptive rules:
You do not normally use the with proper
nouns referring to people.
We use used to with the infinitive (used
to do, used to smoke etc.) to say that
something regularly happened in the
past but no longer happens.
n Example for rule of form:
To form the past simple of regular verbs,
add –ed to the infinitive.
n Example of a rule of use:
The simple past tense is used to
indicate past actions or states.
What makes a rule a good rule?

n• Truth: Rules should be true. While

truthfulness may need to be
compromised in the interests of clarity
and simplicity, the rule must bear some
resemblance to the reality it is
describing.
n Itis surprising how many incorrect
explanations you find in TEFL books. A
good example is the distinction usually
made between some and any, which
goes something like:
Use some+plural
countable/uncountable noun in
affirmative sentences.
Use any+plural countable/uncountable
noun in negative sentences and
questions.
n Itstill fails to explain:
Take any one you want.
I didn't like some of his books.
n An explanation based on the difference
in meaning between some and any
might eliminate many of these
problems.
n Limitation: Rules should show clearly
what the limits are on the use of a given
form.
For example, to say simply that we use
will to talk about the future is of little use
to the learner since it doesn't show how
will is different from other ways of
talking about the future (e.g. going to).
n• Clarity: Rules should be clear. Lack of
clarity is often caused by ambiguity or
obscure terminology. For example: 'Use
will for spontaneous decisions; use
going to for premeditated decisions.' To
which a student responded, 'All my
decisions are premeditated'.
n Simplicity: Rules should be simple.
Lack of simplicity is caused by
overburdening the rule with sub-
categories and sub-sub-categories in
order to cover all possible instances and
account for all possible exceptions.
There is a limit to the amount of
exceptions a learner can remember.
n Relevance: A rule should answer only those
questions that the student needs answered.
These questions may vary according to the
mother tongue of the learner. For example,
Arabic speakers, who do not have an
equivalent to the present perfect, may need a
different treatment of this form than, say,
French speakers, who have a similar
structure to the English present perfect, but
who use it slightly differently.
Inductive Approach

n Advantages
n Rules learners discover for themselves are
more likely to fit their existing mental
structures than rules they have been
presented with. This in turn will make the
rules more meaningful, memorable, and
serviceable.
n The mental effort involved ensures a greater
degree of cognitive depth which, again,
ensures greater memorability.
n 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.
n It is an approach which favours pattern-
recognition and problem-solving abilities
which suggests that it is particularly suitable
for learners who like this kind of challenge.
n Ifthe problem-solving is done
collaboratively, and in the target
language, learners get the opportunity
for extra language practice.
n • Working things out for themselves
prepares students for greater self-
reliance and is therefore conducive to
learner autonomy.
Disadvantages

n The time and energy spent in working out

rules may mislead students into believing that
n rules are the objective of language learning,
rather than a means.
o The time taken to work out a rule may be at
the expense of time spent in putting the rule
n to some sort of productive practice.
n Students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their
version of the rule may be either too broad or too
narrow in its application: this 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.
n o It can place heavy demands on teachers in
planning a lesson. They need to select and organise
the data carefully so as to guide learners to an
accurate formulation of the rule, while also ensuring
the data is intelligible.
n However carefully organized the data is,
many language areas such as aspect
and modality resist easy rule
formulation.
n An inductive approach frustrates
students who, by dint of their personal
learning style or their past learning
experience (or both), would prefer
simply to be told the rule.
Functional- Notional Approach
n Notions are meaning elements that may be expressed through
nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives
or adverbs.
A notion is a concept, or idea: it may be quite specific, in which
case it is virtually the same as vocabulary (dog, house, for
example); or it may be very general – time, size, emotion,
movement – in which case it often overlaps with the concept of
“topics”.
A notion may be “time past”; this may include past tenses,
phrases like a month ago, in 1990, last week, and utterances
using temporal clauses beginning with when....., before....,
after.... and so on;
Task: Have a look at the items listed in the box below. Can you sort them into separate lists of notions and functions?
Notions and functions
location offer
request
obligation promise
spatial relations
advise the future
food
threat crime
instruction
apology the body
remind
probability expressions of opinion
n A situation may affect variations of language
such as the use of dialects, the formality or
informality of the language and the mode of
expression. Situation includes the following
elements:
A. The persons taking part in the speech act
n B. The place where the conversation occurs
C. The time the speech act is taking place
D. The topic or activity that is being discussed
n Exponents are the language utterances or
statements that stem from the function, the situation
and the topic.
n Code is the shared language of a community of
speakers.
n Code-switching is a change or switch in code during
the speech act, which many theorists believe is
purposeful behaviour to convey bonding, language
prestige or other elements of interpersonal relations
between the speakers.
Functional Categories of
Language

n Mary Finocchiaro:The Functional-

notional Approach: From Theory to
Practice (1983, p. 65- 66) has placed
the functional categories under five
headings as noted below: personal,
interpersonal, directive, referential, and
imaginative.
n Personal
Clarifying or arranging one’s ideas; expressing one’s
thoughts or feelings: love, joy, pleasure, happiness,
surprise, likes, satisfaction, dislikes, disappointment,
distress, pain, anger, anguish, fear, anxiety, sorrow,
frustration, annoyance at missed opportunities,
moral, intellectual and social concerns; and the
everyday feelings of hunger, thirst, fatigue,
sleepiness, cold, or warmth
n Interpersonal
Enabling us to establish and maintain desirable social and
working relationships: greetings and leave takings
introducing people to others
identifying oneself to others
expressing joy at another’s success
expressing concern for other people’s welfare
extending and accepting invitations
refusing invitations politely or making alternative arrangements
making appointments for meetings
breaking appointments politely and arranging another mutually
convenient time apologizing
n excusing oneself and accepting excuses for not
meeting commitments
indicating agreement or disagreement
interrupting another speaker politely
changing an embarrassing subject
receiving visitors and paying visits to others
offering food or drinks and accepting or declining
politely
sharing wishes, hopes, desires, problems
making promises and committing oneself to some
action
complimenting someone
making excuses
expressing and acknowledging gratitude
n Directive
Attempting to influence the actions of others;
accepting or refusing direction: making
suggestions in which the speaker is included
making requests; making suggestions
refusing to accept a suggestion or a request
but offering an alternative persuading
someone to change his point of view
requesting and granting permission
n asking for help and responding to a plea for help
forbidding someone to do something; issuing a
command
giving and responding to instructions
warning someone
discouraging someone from pursuing a course of
action
establishing guidelines and deadlines for the
completion of actions
asking for directions or instructions
n Referential
talking or reporting about things, actions,
events, or people in the environment in the
past or in the future; talking about language
(what is termed the metalinguistic function: =
talking or reporting about things, actions,
events, or people in the environment in the
past or in the future
n identifyingitems or people in the
classroom, the school the home, the
community
asking for a description of someone or
something
defining something or a language item
or asking for a definition
n paraphrasing, summarizing, or translating (L1
to L2 or vice versa) explaining or asking for
explanations of how something works
comparing or contrasting things
discussing possibilities, probabilities, or
capabilities of doing something requesting or
reporting facts about events or actions
n evaluating the results of an action or event
n Imaginative
n Discussions involving elements of creativity and
artistic expression
discussing a poem, a story, a piece of music, a play,
a painting, a film, a TV program, etc. expanding ideas
suggested by other or by a piece of literature or
reading material
creating rhymes, poetry, stories or plays
recombining familiar dialogs or passages creatively
suggesting original beginnings or endings to dialogs
or stories
solving problems or mysteries
Functional Grammar
n People who study and use a language are mainly
interested in how they can do things with language ---
how they can make meanings, get attention to their
problems and interests, influence their friends and
colleagues and create a rich social life for
themselves. They are only interested in the
grammatical structure of the language as a means to
getting things done. A grammar which puts together
the patterns of the language and the things you can
do with them is called a functional grammar.”
n [COBUILD, 1990]
n Objective
n The main objective of a functional grammar is to
explain language in terms of what people do with it,
how they use the language to live. It tries to do that
by adopting more of a semantic
n and pragmatic orientation inside the grammar. It does
not see semantics and pragmatics as extra levels of
organization but sees them as integral to the
organization of the grammar.
Criticism

n Order
Criticisms of functional approaches include the difficulty in
deciding the order in which different functions should be
presented. Is it more important to be able to complain or to
apologise, for example? Another problem lies in the wide range
of grammatical structures needed to manipulate basic functions
at different levels of formality (for example, ‘Can I .....?’ as
opposed to ‘Would you mind if I .....?"). In addition, although it is
possible to identify hundreds of functions and micro-functions,
there are probably no more than ten fundamental
communicative functions that are expressed by a range of
widely used exponents.
n no structures syllabus
There is also the apparently random nature of the
language used, which may frustrate learners used to
the more analytical and "building-block" approach
that a grammatical syllabus can offer. Another
apparent weakness is the question of what to do at
higher levels. Is it simply a case of learning more
complex exponents for basic functions or is one
required to seek out ever more obscure functions
(complaining sarcastically, for example)?
Advantages

n Communicatively useful expressions

n Focus on communication
n Suitable to beginners
Functions are: offer, request, promise, advise, threat,
instruction, apology, remind, expression of opinion. The rest
are notions.

Coordinating different language categories

Situations Topics Notions and Functions Grammar Vocabulary

Interrogative forms Verb (e.g.

Getting to know someone Tstes, hobbies Inquiring, informing, greeting Swimming, sports, etc.
enjoy + - ing

Reporting an accident Road accidents Time past Narrating Describing Past tense Road, car, drive, etc.

Modals Clothes,
Shopping Clothes Making requests
Would, could, might Adjectives of colour, size, etc.

Future time Predicting Train, plane, etc. Hotel,

Planning a holiday Travel, accommodation Future tense
suggesting camping

Asking about or describing a Professions Activities Requesting information

Yes/no questions Present tense farmer, secretary, etc
profession Equipment Describing activity
Teaching Grammar in Situational
Context
n The generative situation is a situation
which the teacher sets up in the lesson
in order to “generate” several example
sentences of a structure.
Advantages

n Permits presentation of a wide range of

language items.
n Language in context
n Situations explains meaning
n Ideal for inductive approach rule discovery
learning.
n Students are active partners co- creators
n More memorable than simple explanations
n High rate of efficacy
Disadvantages

n Time consuming compared to

presentation
n Requires a resourceful teacher– stories
and pictures
Teaching Grammar Through
Texts
n Iflearners are to achieve a functional
command of a second language, they
will need to be able to understand and
produce not just isolated sentences, but
whole texts in that language. Language
is context-sentitive; which is to say that
an utterance becomes fully intelligible
only when it is placed in its context.
n Coursebook texts tend to be specially
tailored for ease of understanding and
so as to display specific features of
grammar. This often gives them a
slightly unreal air, as in this example:
n Advantages of using texts:
n o They provide co-textual information, allowing learners to
deduce the meaning of unfamiliar grammatical items from the
co-text.
n o If the texts are authentic they can show how the item is used
in real communication.
o As well as grammar input, texts provide vocabulary input, skills
practice, and exposure to features of text organization.
n o Their use in the classroom is good preparation for
independent study.
o If the texts come from the students themselves, they may be
more engaging and their
n language features therefore more memorable.
n Disadvantages
n o The difficulty of the text, especially an authentic one, may
mean that some of the above advantages are lost.
n o The alternative - to use simplified texts - may give a
misleading impression as to how the language item is naturally
used, again defeating the purpose of using texts.
n o Not all texts will be of equal interest to students.
o Students who want quick answers to simple questions may
consider the use of texts to
n be the 'scenic route' to language awareness, and would prefer a
quicker, more direct route instead.