This talk
What's the Future
1.Grammar approaches and methodologies in
for Grammar in the the past
2.More recent approaches and methodologies
Classroom? 3.Conclusions and hopes for the future
4. P.S. A practical tip
Penny Ur
Grammar-translation
1. Grammar approaches and Language is a framework of grammar, with
methodologies in the past words inserted to make meanings
If we teach the grammatical structures and the
words, our students will learn the language.
An emphasis on the written language; use of
translation.
My own experience in school: learning French Audio-lingualism
French through
grammar-translation ‘Language is a set of habits’
Based on behaviorism: stimulus leading to
What happened when I went automatic response
to France? So lots of: mimicry, learning by heart, drills,
At first: couldn’t understand repetition
Later …
Drills Audio-lingualism
Teacher : I go to school. He? Emphasis on the spoken language
Students : He goes to school. But still: the basis is grammar (grammatical
Teacher : They?
‘patterns’)
Students : They go to school.
An emphasis on getting it right
My own experience as a novice teacher The communicative approach
All textbooks based on drills,
‘Language is (for) communication’
dialogues etc. Widdowson (1978) Teaching language as
A bit boring? communication
Little attention to vocabulary So: teach learners to understand and make
No L1
meanings
Grammar much less important
My own experience as a mature teacher, My own experience as a writer
teacher trainer
1981 Discussions that work:
task-centred fluency practice
Excitement, the classroom became much more fun.
1984 Teaching listening
But implementation sometimes difficult for teachers, learners comprehension
and materials writers.
1988 Grammar practice
Testing? activities
Task-based language teaching
2. More recent approaches and (TBLT)
methodologies Syllabus based on communicative tasks (Ellis et al., 2020)
No grammatical syllabus
A lot of collaborative work
Learning from exposure and interaction, rather than explicit teaching.
Emphasis on student autonomy, the teacher as facilitator.
So where does grammar come in? The research: negative evidence
Just ‘picked up’ through plenty of comprehensible input? Those who learned English as a second language
Krashen: Yes. without instruction tend to retain grammatical errors.
Recent research indicates this may not always work so well. e.g. ‘Wes’ study (Schmidt, 1983); Canadian immersion
studies (Swain, 2000)
The research: positive evidence Focus on Form
Learners who have some explicit grammar teaching Integrating some explicit grammar work into a
tend to learn the grammar better. (Norris & Ortega, predominantly communicative process
2001; Akakura (2012) Reactive ‘Focus on Form’ contrasted with pro-active
‘Focus on Forms’ (Long & Robinson, 1998)
Focus on form means… Focus on FormS
... temporarily focusing on a grammatical feature that Pro-active teaching of grammatical features
has come up during the communicative task Based on a grammatical syllabus systematically covered
e.g. Often identified with traditional ‘PPP’
• a learner error (presentation-practice-production
• a learner question
• a salient, or repeated, grammatical feature in a text
Which is better? Practice
Research gives no clear answer: (Valeo & Spada, 2016; Should we be doing grammar practice exercises/drills?
Spada et al., 2014) Some say they don’t help very much (Krashen, 1982, Ellis, 2001)
Probably a place for both. Some say they help substantially (Suzuki et al., 2019)
Trends Criado, 2013
Last decade of last century, first decade of this: ‘… what seems to be an eclectic and fair approach
Against PPP, in favor of task-based + focus on form. towards PPP is to regard it as one out of the many
Some evidence that there’s a swing back (Criado, R., 2013, pedagogical techniques that teachers can draw on
Anderson, 2017). in their teaching kits to teach language.’ (p.112)
3. Conclusions and hopes for the
future ‘Mix and match’: but principled
Principles Application 1: TBLT
Effective learning, based on • The research literature: on the whole in favor
• My experience: EAP ✔✔; School teaching ??
• Research insights (inform, but do not determine,
• Context: local culture of learning
methodology) +
• Pedagogical factors: group work?
• My/your own classroom experience +
• Modifications to fit a specific context A task-based component, but not TBLT alone
Application 2: Focus on form/Focus on Application 3: Practice exercises
FormS
• Research: Allows for both • Research: Practice exercises contribute to learning
• Experience: Mostly traditional focus on formS • Experience: Practice helps. But problem of
• Materials: A pro-active grammatical syllabus in most transference.
textbooks • Pedagogical factors: Interest and motivation
Good grammar teaching requires both. • So need for interesting, meaningful grammar
practice activities.
P.S. A practical tip Conventional grammar exercises
Adapting textbook grammar
Insert the correct past form
exercises She ______________ early. (leave)
He ____________ the cake. (make)
I ___________ there for six hours. (sit)
The man __________ the book. (read)
Adding meaning and interest 1
She left ______________
She ______________ early. (leave) He made ____________
He ____________ the cake. (make) I sat there ___________
I ___________ there for six hours. (sit) The man read __________
The man __________ the book. (read)
Gateway to the World B1+
Adding meaning and interest 2
Adverbs of frequency
She ______________ early. (leave) Are these sentences correct? If not, correct them!
He ____________ the cake. (make) 1. I’m not usually going to school by bus
I ___________ there for six hours. (sit) 2. You’re always interrupting me. I don’t like it.
The man __________ the book. (read) 3. My friends and I play sometimes football after school.
4. Adam often is late
5. Mia always does her homework before dinner
6. My friend is a vegetarian. Never he eats meat
Gateway to the World B1+ Gateway to the World B1+
First time: conventionally
1. I’m not usually going don’t usually go to school by bus 1. I don’t usually go to school by bus
2. You’re always interrupting me. I don’t like it. 2. You’re always interrupting me. I don’t like it.
3. My friends and I play sometimes sometimes play football after school. 3. My friends and I sometimes play football after school.
4. Adam often is is often late 4. Adam is often late
5. Mia always does her homework before dinner 5. Mia always does her homework before dinner
6. My friend is a vegetarian. Never he He never eats meat 6. My friend is a vegetarian. He never eats meat
Gateway to the World B1+ Gateway to the World B1+
Adding meaning and interest
1. I don’t usually …
1. I don’t usually go to school by bus 2. You’re always …
2. You’re always interrupting me. I don’t like it. 3. My friends and I sometimes …
3. My friends and I sometimes play football after school. 4. Adam is often …
4. Adam is often late 5. Mia always …
5. Mia always does her homework before dinner 6. My friend is … He never …
6. My friend is a vegetarian. He never eats meat
References
Akakura, M. (2012). Evaluating the effectiveness of explicit instruction on implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. Language Teaching Research, 16(1), 9-37.
Anderson, J. (2017). A potted history of PPP with the help of ELT journal. ELT Journal, 71(2), 218-227.
Criado, R. (2013). A critical review of the presentation-practice-production model (PPP) in foreign language teaching. Homenaje a francisco gutiérrez díez, 97-115.
Ellis, R. (2001). Grammar teaching - Practice or consciousness-raising?. In J. C. Richards & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching (pp.167-174).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R., Skehan, P., Li, S., Shintani, N., & Lambert, C. (2020). Task-based language teaching: Theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
Thank you for your Krashen S.. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon
Long, M. H. & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research and practice. In Doughty, C. & Williams, J. (Eds.), Focus on form in Classroom Second Language
Acquisition (pp.15-41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? substantive findings from a meta‐analytic review. Language Learning, 51(s1), 157-213.
attention! Schmidt, R. (1983). Interaction, acculturation, and the acquisition of communicative competence: A case study of an adult. Sociolinguistics and language
acquisition, 137, 174.
Spada, N., Jessop, L., Tomita, Y., Suzuki, W., & Valeo, A. (2014). Isolated and integrated form-focused instruction: Effects on different types of L2 knowledge. Language
teaching research, 18(4), 453-473.
Suzuki, Y., Nakata, T., & Dekeyser, R. (2019). Optimizing second language practice in the classroom: Perspectives from cognitive psychology. The Modern Language
Swain, M. (2000). French immersion research in Canada: recent contributions to SLA and applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 20, 199-211.
Ur, P. (1981). Discussions that work. Cambridge university Press.
Ur, P. (1984). Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge university Press.
Ur, P. (1988). Grammar practice activities. Cambridge university Press.
Valeo, A., & Spada, N. (2016). Is there a better time to focus on form? Teacher and learner views. Tesol Quarterly, 50(2), 314-339.
Widdowson, H.G. (1978) Teaching language as communication. the lexical approach
