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Grammar & Language Learning
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Grammar and Its Teaching: Challenging the Myths
Diane Larsen-Freeman, School for International Training (VT)
1. Grammar is acquired naturally; it need not be taught.
2. Grammar is a collection of meaningless forms.
3. Grammar consists of arbitrary rules.
4. Grammar is boring.
5. Students have different learning styles. Not all students
can learn grammar.
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6. Grammar structures are learned one at a time.
7. Grammar has to do only with sentence-level andsubsentence-level phenomena.
8. Grammar and vocabulary are areas of knowledge.
Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are the four
skills.
9. Grammars provide the rules/explanations for all thestructures in a language.
10. "I don't know enough to teach grammar."
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The University of ChoiceHistory of methodsof grammar teaching
1. Grammar Translation
2. The Direct Method
3. Audiolingualism
4. Communicative Language
Teaching
FunctionalNotional
5. Task-based Learning
6. Process based (Procedural
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Covert grammar teaching means that grammatical facts are
hidden from the students- even though they are learning the
language. Students may be asked to do any activity where anew grammar is presented or introduced, but their attention
will be drawn to this activity not to the grammar.
Overt grammar teaching means that the teacher actuallyprovides the students grammatical rules and explanations-the
information is openly presented.
With overt teaching grammatical rules are explicitly given to
students, but with covert teaching students are simply asked to
work with new language to absorb grammatical information
which will help them to acquire the language as a whole.
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Discovery Learning is a method of inquiry- based instruction
and is considered a constructivist based approach to
education. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and
psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seyour Papert.
Although this form of instruction has great popularity, there is
some debate in the literature concerning its efficacy (Mayer,
2004).
Discovery Learning takes place in problem solving situations
where the learner draws on his own experience and prior
knowledge and is a method of instruction through whichstudents interact with their environment by exploring and
manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and
controversies, or performing experiments.
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Grammar teaching should be implicit
In the early 20th
century, Jespersen, like Boas, thoughtgrammar should be studied by examining living speech rather
than by analyzing written documents. By providing grammar in
context, in an implicit manner, we can expose students to
substantial doses of grammar study without alienating them tothe learning of English or other foreign language. I also agree
with this implicit approach of teaching grammar. The principal
manner in which I accomplish this is by teaching short
grammar-based sessions immediately followed by additional
function-based lessons in which the new grammar / structure
is applied in context.
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Acquisition vs. Learning:
The hypothesis is that adult language students have two
distinct ways of developing skills and knowledge in a secondlanguage, acquisition and learning. Acquiring a language is
"picking it up" i.e., developing ability in a language by using it
in natural, communicative situations. Learning language differs
in that it is "knowing the rules" and having a conscious
knowledge of grammar / structure. Adults acquire language,
although usually not as easily or as well as children.
Acquisition, however, is the most important means for gaininglinguistic skills. A person's first language (L1) is primarily
learned in this way. This manner of developing language skills
typically employs implicit grammar teaching and learning.
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Grammar teaching should be explicit
This does not exclude explicit grammar-teaching entirely,
however. In cases where features of English grammar arediametrically opposed or in some other way radically different
from the manner of expression in the student's L1, explicit
teaching may be required.
An exclusive approach using either implicit or explicit
methodologies is not as effective as utilizing one or the other
of these approaches as required. There is no one best way to
introduce and provide practice in them. Young learners have
more natural facility in acquisition, while adults may benefitsubstantially from more "formal" language learning. Learning
styles and intelligence strengths are also a significant factor.
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In a CLT classroom, the teacher pays more attention to enabling
students to work with the target language and communicate in it.
The following is the typical procedure of a grammar lesson
according to a CLT author- Adrian Doff (1981).
1.The teacher uses visual aids to present the grammar structure tobe taught.
2.Students deduce the meaning, the form and the use of it.
3.The teacher checks students understanding by asking yes/no
questions focusing on form, meaning and use.4.The teacher gets students to practice the structure through
Repetition and Substitution Drills, Word Prompts, and Picture
Prompts. The teacher provides maximum practice within controlled,
but realistic and contextualised frameworks and to build students
confidence in using the new language. The teacher providesstudents with opportunities to use new language in a freer, more
creative way. The students can integrate new language with the
previously learnt language and apply what they have learnt to talk
about their real life activities.
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Classroom activities used in CLT
Role play
Interviews
Information gap
Games
Language exchange
Surveys
Pair work Learning by teaching
However, not all courses that utilize the communicative
language approach will restrict their activities solely to these.Some courses will have the students take occasional grammar
quizzes, or prepare at home using non-communicative drills,
for instance
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Grammar for Beginning Level:
Regardless of the fact that the recommended text is
functional, communicative or structural, grammar and
grammar sequencing is in issue.
The scheme would be simple to complex. Typically it deals
with very simply verb forms, pronouns, articles, singular and
plural pronouns in a progression.
For EFL learners, if L1 is same, teacher may use L1 for
explanations.
In an ESL classroom, where teacher must rely on English
language only, grammatical explanation of any complexity
will overwhelm the learners.
An inductive approach with suitable examples and patterns
will be more effective.
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Grammar for Intermediate level:
1. Student can benefit from short, simple explanations of points in
English.
2. Overt attention in grammar can be exceedingly helpful at thisstage.
E.g: she can kept her child. A student, when referring to past
He must paid the insurance. tense, used to say things like.
3. A simple explanation from his teacher about modal auxiliaries
cured him.4. Grammar explanation must be minimum. But it should not be
dominant focus of student attention.
Grammar for Advanced level:
1. At this level grammar teaching is linked with functional
forms, sociolinguistic and pragmatic phenomena.
2. Deductive grammar has its place at this level.
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Teaching Grammar to Young Learners
Presenting the grammatical structure in a child's context,
with humour
Practising the grammatical structure
Drawing and writing on the board
Story telling
Songs and chants
Rhymes and poems
Total Physical Response
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Goals and Techniques for Teaching Grammar
The goal of grammar instruction is to enable students to carry
out their communication purposes. This goal has threeimplications:
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.
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Developing Grammar ActivitiesFor curricula that introduce grammatical forms in a specified sequence,
instructors need to develop activities that relate form to meaning and use.
