How to Teach Grammar

1. What is grammar?

- We have different definitions:

- Language user’s subconscious internal system.

- Linguists’ attempt to codify or describe that system

- Sounds of language: phonology

- Structure and forms of words: morphology

- Arrangement of words into larger units: syntax

- Meanings of language: semantics

- Functions of language and its use in context: pragmatics

Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the

"rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules. If we use the word "rules", we
suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new
game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds
which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is
fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a
language at a particular time.
2. Why teaching grammar?

1) The sentence-machine argument

Part of the process of language learning must be what is sometimes called item-learning
— that is the memorisation of individual items such as words and phrases. However,
there is a limit to the number of items a person can both retain and retrieve. Even
travellers' phrase books have limited usefulness — good for a three-week holiday, but
there comes a point where we need to learn some patterns or rules to enable us to
generate new sentences. That is to say, grammar. Grammar, after all, is a description of
the regularities in a language, and knowledge of these regularities provides the learner
with the means to generate a potentially enormous number of original sentences. The
number of possible new sentences is constrained only by the vocabulary at the learner's
command and his or her creativity. Grammar is a kind of 'sentence-making machine'.
It follows that the teaching of grammar offers the learner the means for potentially
limitless linguistic creativity.
2) The fine-tuning argument

The purpose of grammar seems to be to allow for greater subtlety of meaning than a
merely lexical system can cater for. While it is possible to get a lot of communicative
mileage out of simply stringing words and phrases together, there comes a point where
'Me Tarzan, you Jane'-type language fails to deliver, both in terms of intelligibility and in
terms of appropriacy. This is particularly the case for written language, which generally
needs to be more explicit than spoken language. For example, the following errors are
likely to confuse the reader: 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 teaching of grammar, it is
argued, serves as a corrective against the kind of ambiguity represented in these
examples.

3) The fossilisation argument

It is possible for highly motivated learners with a particular aptitude for languages to
achieve amazing levels of proficiency without any formal study. But more often 'pick it up
as you go along' learners reach a language plateau beyond which it is very difficult to
progress. To put it technically, their linguistic competence fossilises. Research suggests
that learners who receive no instruction seem to be at risk of fossilising sooner than those
who do receive instruction.

4) The advance-organiser argument

Grammar instruction might also have a delayed effect. The researcher Richard Schmidt
kept a diary of his experience learning Portuguese in Brazil. Initially he had enrolled in
formal language classes where there was a heavy emphasis on grammar. When he
subsequently left these classes to travel in Brazil his Portuguese made good progress, a
fact he attributed to the use he was making of it. However, as he interacted naturally with
Brazilians he was aware that certain features of the talk — certain grammatical items —
seemed to catch his attention. He noticed them. It so happened that these items were
also items he had studied in his classes. What's more, being more noticeable, these items
seemed to stick. Schmidt concluded that noticing is a prerequisite for acquisition. The
grammar teaching he had received previously, while insufficient in itself to turn him into a
fluent Portuguese speaker, had primed him to notice what might otherwise have gone
unnoticed, and hence had indirectly influenced his learning. It had acted as a kind of
advance organiser for his later acquisition of the language.

Francois Gouin learning German:

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id=HiOj4TV_3DoC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=gouin+study+german&source=bl&ots=348H
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5) The discrete item argument

Language seen from 'outside', can seem to be a gigantic, shapeless mass, presenting an
insuperable challenge for the learner. Because grammar consists of an apparently finite
set of rules, it can help to reduce the apparent enormity of the language learning task for
both teachers and students. By tidying language up and organising it into neat categories
(sometimes called discrete items), grammarians make language digestible. (A discrete
item is any unit of the grammar system that is sufficiently narrowly defined to form the
focus of a lesson or an exercise: e.g. the present continuous, the definite article,
possessive pronouns).

6) The rule-of-law argument

It follows from the discrete-item argument that, since grammar is a system of learnable
rules, it lends itself to a view of teaching and learning known as transmission. A
transmission view sees the role of education as the transfer of a body of knowledge
(typically in the form of facts and rules) from those that have the knowledge to those that
do not. Such a view is typically associated with the kind of institutionalised learning where
rules, order, and discipline are highly valued. The need for rules, order and discipline is
particularly acute in large classes of unruly and unmotivated teenagers - a situation that
many teachers of English are confronted with daily. In this sort of situation grammar offers
the teacher a structured system that can be taught and tested in methodical steps.
7) The learner expectations argument

Regardless of the theoretical and ideological arguments for or against grammar teaching,
many learners come to language classes with fairly fixed expectations as to what they will
do there. These expectations may derive from previous classroom experience of language
learning. They may also derive from experience of classrooms in general where
(traditionally, at least) teaching is of the transmission kind mentioned above. On the other
hand, their expectations that teaching will be grammar-focused may stem from
frustration experienced at trying to pick up a second language in a non-classroom
setting, such as through self-study, or through immersion in the target language culture.
Such students may have enrolled in language classes specifically to ensure that the
learning experience is made more efficient and systematic. The teacher who ignores this
expectation by encouraging learners simply to experience language is likely to frustrate
and alienate them.

3. Two Major Trends: Deductive and Inductive Approaches

3.1. The Deductive Approach

A deductive approach 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.

(Here you have some thoughts to justify your approach when presenting the Didactic Unit
to the tribunal)

Advantages of a deductive approach:

- 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.

- It respects the intelligence and maturity of many - especially adult -students, an

acknowledges the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition.

- It confirms many students' expectations about classroom learning, particularly for

those learners who have an analytical learning style.

- 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 a deductive approach:

- 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.

- Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission-style classroom;

teacher explanation is often at the expense of student involvement and interaction.

- Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as

demonstration.

- Such an approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simply a case of
knowing the rules.
3.2. The Inductive Approach

What are the advantages of Inductive Approach?

- 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.

- The mental effort involved ensures a greater degree of cognitive depth which, again,
ensures greater memorability.

- 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.

- 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.

- If the problem-solving is done collaboratively, and in the target language, learners get
the opportunity for extra language practice.

- Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self-reliance and is
therefore conducive to learner autonomy.
The disadvantages of an inductive approach include:

- The time and energy spent in working out rules may mislead students into believing
that rules are the objective of language learning, rather than a means.

- The time taken to work out a rule may be at the expense of time spent in putting the
rule to some sort of productive practice.

- Students may hypothesise 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.

- 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.

- However carefully organised the data is, many language areas such as aspect and
modality resist easy rule formulation.

- 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.

4. Teaching Grammar in Situational Contexts

Advantages:

A situational context permits presentation of a wide range of language items. The

situation serves as a means of contextualising the language and this helps clarify its
meaning. At the same time the generated examples provide the learners with data for
induction of the rules of form. Students can be involved in the development of the
presentation as well as in solving the grammar 'problem': this makes it less dry than a
traditional grammar explanation. Moreover, the situation, if well chosen, is likely to be
more memorable than a simple explanation. All these factors suggest that this approach
rates high in terms of efficacy.

Disadvantages:

If students are in the wrong mind-set they are unlikely to do the kind of cognitive work
involved in the induction of grammar rules. This kind of presentation also takes more time
than an explanation. Time spent on presenting language is inevitably time spent at the
expense of language practice, and it is arguable that what most students need is not the
presentation of rules but opportunities to practise them. Thus, the generative situation
loses points in terms of its economy. And it also requires a resourceful teacher who not
only is able to conjure up situations that generate several structurally identical sentences,
but who has also the means (and the time) to prepare the necessary visual aids.

With the help of this chart you can easily link your activities and tasks to grammatical
contents.

Situation or Context Points of Grammar

Follow a recipe or instructions from a boxed cake Imperative verb form

mix to bake a cake Present Continuous Tense

Give directions to another person to get to a store, Present tense

the post office, or bank using a map Non-referential it

Future tense
Discuss plans for a class trip. If-clauses
Conditional tense

Simple past tense

Question formation
Describe a past vacation, weekend, etc.
Forms of verb to do
Word order in negation

May, might
Role play a shopping trip to buy a gift for a
Collective nouns and quantifiers (any,
family member or friend.
some, several, etc.)

Answer information questions: Name, Present tense of verb to be

address, phone number, etc. Possessive adjectives

Tell someone how to find an object in your Locative prepositions

kitchen. Modal verbs (can, may, should)

Fill out a medical history form. Then role

Present perfect tense
play a medical interview on a visit with a
Present perfect progressive
new doctor.

Forms of verb to be
Make a daily weather report
Idiomatic expressions

Report daily schedules of people (in the Habitual present

class, buses in the city, airline schedules, Personal pronouns
trains, etc.) Demonstrative adjectives

Extend an invitation over the telephone to Would like…Object-Verb word order

someone to come to a party. Interrogative pronouns

Explain rules and regulations to someone,

Modal verbs: Can, must, should, ought to
i.e. rules for the school cafeteria; doctor’s
Adverbs of time & frequency
instructions to a sick patient
Report a historical or actual past event and
Past conditional and past perfect tenses
discuss conditions under which a different
If clauses
outcome might have resulted

React to the burglary of your house or

Present perfect tense
apartment in the presence of another person
Contrast between active and passive voice
upon discovery (active voice) and in making
Direct and indirect object
a police report (passive voice)

5. Teaching Grammar through Texts

In case you come across a case study asking you to teach grammar using texts, here you
are the answer.

If learners 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.

Advantages of using texts:

- They provide textual information, allowing learners to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar
grammatical items from the text.

- If the texts are authentic they can show how the item is used in real communication.

- As well as grammar input, texts provide vocabulary input, skills practice, and exposure
to features of text organisation.

- Their use in the classroom is good preparation for independent study.

- If the texts come from the students themselves, they may be more engaging and their
language features therefore more memorable.

Disadvantages:

- The difficulty of the text, especially an authentic one, may mean that some of the above
advantages are lost.

- 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.

- Not all texts will be of equal interest to students.

- Students who want quick answers to simple questions may consider the use of texts to
be the 'scenic route' to language awareness, and would prefer a quicker, more direct
route instead.

6. Teaching Grammar through Stories

This section will help you to justify story-telling in your DUs.

Stories can be used for both eliciting and illustrating grammar points. The former
employs inductive reasoning, while the latter requires deductive thought, and it is useful
to include both approaches in lesson planning. In addition, a well-told story is the perfect
context for a structure-discourse match, but the technique can also be used effectively
for a structure-social factor match. Storytelling is one of these extremely versatile
techniques, and once you get the hang of it, it can be a convenient and natural grammar
teaching tool. You may even find that it is the technique that holds students' attention
best, as well as the one they enjoy most.

Grammar points can be contexualized in stories that are absorbing and just plain fun if
they are selected with the interest of the class in mind, are told with a high degree of
energy, and involve the students. Students can help create stories and impersonate
characters in them. Stories should last from one to five minutes, and the more
exaggerated and bizarre they are, the more likely students will remember the teaching
points they illustrate. A story provides a realistic context for presenting grammar points
and holds and focuses students’ attention in a way that no other technique can.

7. Teaching Grammar through Songs

Songs offer a change from routine classroom activities. They are precious resources to
develop students abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They can also be
used to teach a variety of language items such as sentence patterns, vocabulary,
pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs. Learning English through songs also
provides a non-threatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense when
speaking English in a formal classroom setting.

Songs also give new insights into the target culture. They are the means through which
cultural themes are presented effectively. Since they provide authentic texts, they are
motivating. Prosodic features of the language such as stress, rhythm, intonation are
presented through songs, thus through using them the language which is cut up into a
series of structural points becomes a whole again.
There are various ways of using songs in the classroom. At the primary level, the prosodic
features of the language can be emphasised. At the higher levels, songs can be used with
several techniques:

- Gap fills or cloze texts

- Focus questions

- True-false statements

- Ordering words

- Dictation

- Adding information

- Looking for synonyms and antonyms

- Discussion / Debates

A teacher's selection of a technique or a set of techniques should be based on his or her

objectives for the classroom.