31. Teaching grammar
Grammar is the set of logical and structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rales.
Goals and Techniques for Teaching Grammar
The goal of grammar instruction is to enable students to cany out their communication purposes. This goal has three implications:
Students need overt instruction that connects grammar points with larger communication contexts.
Students do not need to master every aspect of each grammar point, only those that are relevant to the immediate
communication task.
Error correction is not always the instructor's first responsibility.
PRESENTING AND EXPLAINING GRAMMAR
1. PRESENTATION
Good presentation should be clear, simple, accurate and helpfixl.
- Presentation should include :
- a basic overview of topic
- explain the problem or issue clearly
- examples of topic used correctly
- exercises for classmates to do in class
- reference information for further practice
- Each presentation should be approximately 5-8 minutes long
- The presentation may include a brief oral explanation, a brief writing activity, a small-group activity, or any other activity or format that you think would be appropriate. You may use the computer, the slide projector, the World Wide Web, PowerPoint, or any other resource as part of your presentation.
- Using grammar terminology and target language would be useful for older learners
- Explanation of a grammar structure should be at a right level.
As a rule a simple generalization, even if not entirely accurate, is more helpful to learners than a detailed grammar-book definition.
2. PRACTICE
The practice stage consist of a series of exercises done both in the classroom or at home. During practice the materialis absorbed into long - term memory and the learner enabled to understand and produce examples of it with gradualy lessening teacher support. A practice technique may involve reception - 'passive' exposure to spoken or written input - or 'active' production language items.
Students have different intellectual capabilities and learning styles that favor or hinder knowledge accumulation. What kind of learning style does each student have?
This is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching - especially teaching grammar. If you have a class of learners with similar learning styles, you can afford to use a similar approach. However, if you have a class of mixed learning styles then you need to try to provide instruction using as many different methods as possible. Each class is going to have different grammar needs and goals and it is up to the teacher to determine these goals and provide the means with which to meet them.
It is possible to design practice task that can be inteipreted and performed at different levels.
Target language grammar will efficiently practise when exercises are enough interesting, heterogeneous and when
practice stage will be filled with volume and produce as much target language structures as possible .
Even the original items can be made more productive, interesting and heterogeneous simply by omiting the verb in
brackets at the end of the cue sentence, and inviting learners to base their responses on their own ideas. Also teacher
may provoke students to thinking, for example, for the present perfect he may suggest a series of exclamations - 'Thank
you!, Congratulations!, 'etc.Or present pictures of situations and ask what has, or has not happened. Such exercises are
more interesting than the closed-ended examplespP" Mtt, since they invite learners to use their imaginations and
orginality in thinking of answers, as well as allowing for both simpler and more advanced use of language.
Grammar teaching at a different age levels
very young learner are unable to learn grammar through direct instruction.
It is not the matter of when the teacher decides to teach grammatical rules but when the students are developmentally ready to learn and acquire them. What teachers can do to facihtate children's learning of language rules is to expose them to many listening and reading activities and to give them the chance to interact and engage in meaningftd language tasks. In fact, very little is learned through direct instruction of grammatical rules. The best way to teach grammar to young children is make learning fun. We may use : Games, songs, rhythms chants and varied plays.
2. Games songs, rhythms chants are highly motivating.
3. games help children not only gain knowledge but be able to apply and use that learning.
4. games allow the students to "practice and internalize vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively. They can do this through repeated exposure to the target grammar and because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to do desk-work.
5. During the game, the students are focused on the activity and end up absorbing the grammar subconsciously.
6. The use of such activities both increases the cooperation and competition in the classroom.
7. Games allow meaningful use of the language in context.
As with older learner, it is possible that teachers teach formal rules of the language but in context. The best way to do so is the deductive method where the students themselves deduce the grammatical rules. The teacher's role is helping them internalize them and use them correctly. The teacher must give many communicative exercises to bridge the gap between knowing grammar rules and using them.
Inductive and Deductive learning
Inductive is known as a "bottom up' approach. In other words, students discovering grammar rules while working through exercises, (eg working with a text or dialog)
Deductive is known as a 'top down* approach. This is the standard teaching approach that has a teacher explaining rules to the students.
deductive approach: General rule | Specific examples | Practice inductive approach: Specific examples Practice General rule
One of the methods which use deductive learning is Grammar-Translation Method. Students are given the grammar rales and examples, they are told to memorize them and apply to other other examples.
The Direct Method is one of the methods where grammar is taught inductively; that is, the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given.
RobertSosik