Issues in teaching grammar
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- 1. Issues in teaching grammar
- 2. 1.10 Some issues in teaching grammar
- In this final topic of unit 1 we will look at two main issues
in teaching grammar. Teaching large multi-level classes and
catering to different learning styles.
- 3. Teaching large multi-level classes
- Unfortunately, we often deal with many classes that do not
conform the pedagogical norm of 20-25 students per classroom. In
many parts of the world teachers may have a class size range from
30 students to over 130.
- This, of course brings benefits and challenges.
- 4. Activity
- List what you anticipate might be three benefits and three
challenges of teaching large multi-level classes. Share your list
with a classmate.
- 5. The benefits
- There are always enough students for interaction.
- We tend to think small classes are ideal. However, when there
are very few students in a class, they quickly get to know one
another. Opportunities for personalization become rare as students
have fewer new ideas to offer, and the classes themselves can
become quite dull.
- 6. The benefits
- 2. We get a rich variety of human resources.
- Depending on the age of our students, but normally we always
have students from different backgrounds, that can contribute their
experiences to the whole class and make the learning experience
more significant and interesting.
- 7. The benefits
- 3. The teacher is not the only pedagogue.
- Cooperation works better than competition in the large class:
cross-ability grouping allows the more able learners to improve
their language skills by honoring their ability to explain, to
state clearly, and to give effective examples, while it provides
the less able with considerable support (Hess, 2001, p.3).
- 8. The benefits
- In mixed-ability classes, we can deploy the more able students
to play tutoring roles for their less linguistically able students
and take some of the load of teachers. This can create a positive,
collaborative climate. The biggest challenge in making students
tutors is that they will feel that they are not learning anything.
But with enough support and guidance from the instructor,
peer-to-peer tutoring can be very beneficial for all involved.
- 9. The benefits
- This point reflects the richness and diversity of the large
class. There are always multiple things going on, issues to attend
and challenges to meet.
- 5. Professional development occurs naturally.
- Although we prefer small classes, the techniques we have taught
will have to be reinvented and refined with larger groups.
- 10. The challenges
- 11. The challenges
- We often feel out of control.
- Even the most experienced teacher can have trouble managing a
large class. If we opt for pair or group work, simply getting
students in and out of groups can pose a formidable challenge even
before any teaching takes place. A chaotic environment can happen
when all students talk at the same time, this will generate so much
noise. It is often difficult to hear individual students or to make
oneself heard.
- 12. The challenges
- Hess (2001) suggests that a solution to a chaotic environment
is organization.
- Good organization, among other things, helps students to know
what is expected of them and to get on task quickly and
efficiently. Having a special place on the board where homework
assignments are always placed or where directions for the first
activity of the day are written, and a place where all the
scheduled activities for the lesson are listed, help in
establishing good control (Hess, 2001, p.4).
- 13. The challenges
- 2. In the larger class we may feel trapped in problems of
management.
- We are confronted with multiple tasks, some of which are
performed simultaneously with numerous practical managerial
decisions including taking attendance, collecting homework, and so
on.
- 14. The challenges
- In terms of grammar, we have to deal with the following
questions:
- How and when do we deal with errors when they occur in the
course of a communicative activity?
- How about if the error occurs during a form-focused drill or
exercise?
- How do we give feedback to students who are at different stages
of grammar development, and for whom some explanations will either
be irrelevant or incomprehensible?
- 15. The challenges
- 3. We are frustrated by the huge amount of written work.
- Correcting the grammar errors in students written work is, for
many teachers, the most time-consuming thing they do. Collaboration
is key, getting students to act as peer reviewers of each others
work can be helpful for the teacher when this is done in the
classroom.
- 16. The challenges
- 4. It is difficult to provide for individual learning
styles.
- When we teach grammar, we need to use a range of different
techniques that cater to those who favor the deductive learning of
grammar as well as those who prefer to learn inductively.
- 17. The challenges
- 5. Activating the quiet student is difficult.
- Even though some students can learn just as effectively by not
participating as they can by participating. Giving them adequate
time to prepare what they have to say, possibly by providing them
with grammatical cues to improve accuracy, not requiring them to
speak up in front of the whole class can actually improve
participation rates.
- 18. Catering to different learning styles
- A learning style refers to the learners preferred way of
learning. It is an individuals natural, habitual, and preferred
ways of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and
skills (Kinsella, 1995, p. 171). Some individuals are visual
learners while other prefer to learn by listening to the target
language.
- 19. Catering to different learning styles
- Willing (1987) identified 4 different language learning
styles.
Learning Style Definition Type 1: Concrete learners These learners
tend to like games, pictures, films, video, using cassettes,
talking in pairs, and practicing English outside class. Type 2:
Analytical learners These learners like studying grammar, studying
English books, reading newspapers, studying alone, finding their
own mistakes, and working on problems set by the teacher. Type 3:
Communicative learners These students like to learn by watching,
listening to native speakers, talking to friends in English,
watching television in English using English out of class in shops,
learning new words by hearing them, and learning by conversation.
Type 4: Authority-oriented learners These learners prefer the
teacher to explain everything, like to have their own textbook, to
write everything in a notebook, to study grammar, learn by reading,
and learn new words by seeing them.
- 20. How do you imagine that the four different types of
learners might prefer to study grammar?
- Concrete learners like to encounter grammar in context. They
are likely to respond well to tasks in which a grammar point is
supported and explained by some kind of visual. Analytical
learners, on the other hand, prefer to identify grammar rules and
principles through the inductive study of language. Communicative
learners also prefer learning inductively, and encountering grammar
in context, where the relationship between form and function is
clear. Authority-oriented learners favor a deductive approach in
which the teacher provides a rule and then gives them opportunities
to apply the rule.
- 21. What type of learner are you?
- To relate to what type of learner our students are, it is
important to know what type of learners we are ourselves.
- Answer the survey and add up the subtotals. (No subtotal should
exceed 24).
- 22. Type of learner survey
- 23. Catering to different learning styles
- If the majority of your students are authority-oriented, they
will probably be more satisfied with the fairly traditional
exercises and tasks such as cloze, matching, fill-in-the-blank, and
multiple choice. Analytical learners will probably be happy if you
provide them with self-study resources, time in the self-access
center or to practice grammar through internet. Communicative and
concrete learners are more likely to prefer learning grammar
through games, simulations, role-plays, information gaps, and
projects.
- 24. Catering to different learning styles
- Often teachers will subconsciously design lessons that favor
their dominant learning style. Therefore it is important to
remember to cater to an assortment of learning styles.