Grammar teaching

TEACHING GRAMMAR

Outline

What is grammar?Why to teach grammar?Why not to teach grammar?Approaches to teaching grammar

What is Grammar?

“Grammar is the business of taking a language to pieces, to see how it works.”

(David Crystal)

What is Grammar?

◦Language user’s subconscious internal system◦Linguists’ attempt to describe that system through phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics◦The system of a language◦Representational and interpersonal meanings

Why to teach grammar?◦The sentence-machine argumentItem learning sentence making machine◦The fine-tuning argument“Me Tarzan, you Jane” delivers intelligibility, appropriacy, corrective against ambiguity◦The fossilization argumentWithout instruction, learners are at risk of fossilizing sooner.◦The advance-organizer argumentDelayed effect, enhances noticing

Why to teach grammar?◦The discrete item argumentTidying language up, organizing making it digestible◦The rule-of-law argumentA structured system to be taught and tested motivate learners◦The learner expectations argumentMeets the expectations of learners

Why not to teach grammar?◦Krashen’s distinction between conscious learning and unconscious acquisition of language

Language should be acquired through natural exposure, not learned through formal instruction.◦Universal Grammar (UG)

UG is accessible to L2 learners, then L2 learning, like L1 learning, occurs mainly through the interaction of UG principles with input (Cook, 1991; Dulay, Burt, & Krashen, 1982; Schwartz, 1993; also see Goldschneider & DeKeyser, 2001)

Formal instruction was seen to be unnecessary.

Approaches◦The deductive approach – rule-driven learningPresentation of a rule followed by examples

Advantages of a deductive approachTime-saving – quick and simple explanations – more time for practice & applicationAcknowledges the role of cognitive processes (especially adult learners)Confirms many students’ expectations about classroom learning Teacher deals with language points as they come up.

Approaches

Disadvantages of a deductive approachOff-putting and frustrating for especially young learners (not enough metalanguage knowledge)Teacher centered & transmission style classroom – less student involvement & interactionExplanation is seldom memorable.Learning a language is simply knowing the rules.

What makes a good rule?◦Truth ◦Limitation◦Clarity◦Simplicity◦Familiarity◦Relevance

Example: (from Walker and Elsworth Grammar practice for Intermediate Students, Longman, 1986)

Approaches◦The inductive approach –rule discovery path

Advantages of an inductive approachDiscovering of rules fits better existing mental structures.Mental effort ensures more cognitive depth more memorabilityActively involved students rather than passive recipients, more attentive & motivatedFavors pattern-recognition and problem-solving abilitiesCollaborative work enhances extra practice.Self-reliance and learner autonomy

Approaches Disadvantages of an inductive approach

Time and energy consuming (sometimes at the expense of productive practice)Misunderstanding of the rules or producing wrong rules because of elicitationToo much work for teacherSome areas of language are not easy to formulate rules.Frustrates students who are used to traditional learning.

Example: (from New Wave 1, Longman 1998)

Discussion

Which approach do you prefer in your classes more? Why?

Current approachesFocus on Forms & Focus on Form◦ Focus on FormsPre-selection of specific features based on a linguistic syllabus Intensive and systematic treatment of those features Primary focus is on the form that is being targeted PPP.

◦ Focus on FormPrimary focus is on meaning Attention to form arises out of meaning-centered activity derived from the performance of a communicative task Information gap task

Focus on Form◦ Planned focus on forminvolves the use of focused tasks that have been designed to elicit the use of a specific linguistic form in the context of meaning-centered language use Pre-determinedSimilar to focus on forms?Primary focus on meaninglearners are not made aware that a specific form is being targeted

◦ Incidental focus on formUnfocused taskselicit general samples of the language rather than specific forms many different forms are likely to be treated briefly rather than a single form addressed many times

Rationale for focus on form Effectiveness of focus on forms reduced due to learners’ inability to use the targeted structure spontaneously.

The opportunity to engage in meaning-focused language use.

The need to attend to form while engaged in meaning-focused language use (Swain, 1995).

Once having difficulty in simultaneously attending to meaning and form, learners prioritize meaning over form.

Teacher’s Role: to draw learners’ attention to form.

Current Approaches◦Processing Instruction (Communicative Approach)

Initial exposure to explicit construction Input Proccessing Activities (Task)More on understanding the target structure than productionExplicit focus on forms Focus on Forms To assist the learner in making form-meaning connections during Input Processing (IP) Focus on Form Theory: Help learners to create form meaning connections in input and hence process grammar for meaning (Lee & VanPatten, 1995).

Current Approaches◦Interactional Feedback Negotiation and Modification Strategies (Repetitions, Clarification Requests, Confirmation Checks) Types of Negotiation Meaning and FormAims to facilitate understandingImplicitly or explicitly draw attention to grammatical forms.

Theory: Interactional strategies highlight linguistic or pragmatic problems, pushing learners to modify their output. Interaction Hypothesis

(Ellis, 1997, 2003 & Gass et al., 1998)

Current Approaches◦Textual Enhancement

The least explicit and intrusive method of focus on form. Highlightining certain features by boldfacing, italicizing, CAPITALIZING.Enhances perceptual saliencyInput Flood: Provision of numerous instances of linguistic forms in the inputPromotes noticing of grammatical forms not suffcient for acquisition

Current Approaches◦Discourse-Based Approaches

Instruction is supported by extensive authentic, simplified discourse. Corpus Analysis Abundant examples of contextualized usageEnd of the sentence-based approach Top-down bottom-up approach Macrostructures of the text as a whole (Discourse-analytic approach)Function of the target structure (Micro-analytic Approach)

Current Approaches◦May or may not include explicit demonstration.◦Repeated meaning-focused exposure to input◦Present numerous forms of communicative context. ◦Opportunities for output and practice◦Desingned to promote learner awareness of meaning form relationships.◦Permit processing of the form to occur over time.