LESSON 3
TEACHING GRAMMAR
CONTENT
Techniques For Showing
What is Grammar? Meanings & Forms of Structures
Techniques For Practicing
Approaches Structures
to Teaching Grammar
Procedure for Teaching
a New Structure
Principles
For Teaching Grammar Practice & Evaluation
PART A PART B
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Definition of Grammar
What language feature of the following sentence do you
want to show your students ?
“How many students are there in the classroom?”
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. Approaches to Presenting Grammar
2.1. The deductive approach – rule driven learning
A rule is presented first, then examples are given
Learners engage with the grammar rules through the study and
manipulation of examples.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. Approaches to Presenting Grammar
2.1. The deductive approach – rule driven learning
Advantages:
Getting straight to the point, time-saving. Many rules — especially
rules of form — can be more simply and quickly explained than
elicited from examples => to allow more time for practice and
application.
Respecting the intelligence and maturity of many - especially adult
-students, and acknowledging the role of cognitive processes in
language acquisition.
Confirming many students' expectations about classroom learning,
particularly for those learners who have an analytical learning style.
Allowing the teacher to deal with language points as they come up,
rather than having to anticipate them and prepare for them in
advance.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. Approaches to Presenting Grammar
2.1. The deductive approach – rule driven learning
Disadvantages:
Starting the lesson with a grammar presentation may be off-putting for
some students, especially younger ones. They may not have sufficient
meta-language (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.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. Approaches to Presenting Grammar
2.1. The deductive approach – rule driven learning
A lot depends on the teacher’s presentation of the rule. An
effective rule presentation will include the following features:
it will be illustrated by an example
It will be short
Students’ understanding will be checked
Students will have an opportunity to personalize the rule.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. 2. The inductive approach – the rule-discovery path
Advantages of encouraging learners to work rules out for themselves
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.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2. 2. The inductive approach – the rule-discovery pathThe
disadvantages of an inductive approach include:
The time-consuming and energy-consuming may mislead students into
believing that rules are the objective of language learning, rather than a
means.
Students’ hypothesis may be wrong, or either too broad or too narrow
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.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
Task: Have a look at the items listed in the box below. Can you
sort them into separate lists of notions and functions?
location offer request
obligation promise spatial relations
advise the future food
threat crime instruction
apology the body remind
expressions of
probability opinion
PART A: INTRODUCTION
2.3. Functional-Notional Approach
A notion is a concept, or idea: it may be quite specific, in which case it is
virtually the same as vocabulary (dog, house, for example); or it may be
very general – time, size, emotion, movement – in which case it often
overlaps with the concept of “topics”.
A notion may be “time past”; this may include past tenses, phrases like a
month ago, in 1990, last week, and utterances using temporal clauses
beginning with when….., before…., after…. and so on;
A function is some kind of communicative act: it is the use of language to
achieve a purpose, usually involving interaction at least between two
people. Examples would be suggesting, promising, apologizing, greeting,
inviting.
EX: “Inviting” may include phrases like "Would you like to….? I suggest….,
How about…? Please…
PPP in Teaching Grammar
PART A: INTRODUCTION
3. Principles for Teaching Grammar
3.1.
3.2.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Presentation Stage: introducing the meaning, form and use of a new
piece of language through language context by using different
techniques.
a) Techniques for showing meaning
Showing meaning visually
Showing meaning situationally
Showing meaning verbally
Showing meaning by combining different techniques
b) Showing form
Focusing on form
Contrasting structure
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Presentation Stage:
c) Procedure for presenting a grammatical point or a Structure
Step 1: Build up a situational context, or a lead-in. This can be done
through the use of the graphs, pictures, a dialogue, a question –
answer activity.
Step 2: Elicit the new language from the students or tell it to them.
Elicitation involves trying to encourage students to produce
language they have never been taught. If they produce the
expected language correctly, they will be pleased. If not, they
will realize their need to learn it and then become more
receptive
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Presentation Stage:
c) Procedure for presenting a grammatical point or a Structure
Step 3: Focus students’ attention on the marker sentence. The
marker sentence (Allan Mathews, 1991) is the first example of
the new language that students focus on and use as model for
practicing other similar sentences. Get students to repeat the
new language. This can be done chorally first, then in groups,
and then individually
Step 4: Explain how the structure or grammatical point is
formed. Ask the class to copy the sentence model.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Presentation Stage:
c) Procedure for presenting a grammatical point or a
Structure
Step 5: Check students’ understanding of the concept behind
the new language
Step 6: Give other examples and situations for consolidation.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Presentation Stage:
d) Characteristics of a Good Presentation
Be clear. Ss have no difficulty in understanding the
situation, especially the language of the lead-in used to
introduce the new language.
Be common and realistic. The situation may happen to
other Ss and is acceptable to all Ss for it is realistic in their
daily lives.
Be interesting. The situation should include features to
interest Ss in the presentation. It should have something to
do with them so that they feel involved in the teacher’s
lesson. The teacher’s way of presentation (gesture, eye-
contact, voice, etc., for example) may well be meaningful in
making this stage successful.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
a) Drilling
A mechanical drill focuses on the form of the new
grammar point by getting students to repeat or manipulate
the form of the marker sentence provided by the teacher.
Repetition Drill: This is the easiest practice for the
students as they do nothing creatively but only to repeat
the model in chorus, in groups, in pairs, individually or vice
versa.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
a) Drilling
Meaningful drills, unlike mechanical drills, require students
to understand the cues they hear. They are meaningful
because they give students an element of meaning – based
choice as to what they respond.
o Substitution: Students are given a sentence pattern then
required to substitute different items in a given place in it.
o Conversion or transformation: Students are given a
sentence to transform in some ways e.g. from positive into
negative or question, active into passive.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
a) Drilling
Meaningful Practice: Because of limitations of drilling, it is
obviously more useful to give students practice in which
they have to think, in which they understand what they are
saying. This kind of practice is meaningful. Interactive
activities, (such as question and answer, using charts/tables
to talk about one’s hobby or pair work activities to practice
exchanges with prompts or cues given by the teacher, etc.)
are kinds of controlled practice but in a more meaningful
and enjoyable way. They are controlled because the
teacher can guess the students’ outcomes, basing on the
prompts, cues given by the teacher.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
Other Controlled Written Practice:
Matching: Students are given two columns of halves of
sentence in disorder. They are supposed to select suitable
pairs to make a correct sentence.
Rearrangement/word order: Students are given some
groups of words in disorder to rearrange into correct
sentences. Each group has enough words for one sentence.
Fill-ins: The fill-in is a popular technique for practicing and
testing the knowledge of the new language and writing
skills.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
1.2.2. Guided Practice
a) Meaningful transformation:
For example, to practice transforming the affirmative sentence
“He is a student” into the negative “He is not a student”,
students can work in pairs like this:
Student 1: He is a student.
Student 2: I don’t think so. He is not a student but he is a
teacher already. Look. The students are around him.
b) Completion: Completion can be done in the form of large-
gap filling at sentence, paragraph and short text levels.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
1.2.2. Guided Practice
c) Situational response: Ss are told to respond to given
situations in pairs or groups using their experience and facts.
d) Pictures, object, and person description: Ss can use the
newly-learnt structure or grammatical point and their already
known knowledge to describe a given picture, object or person
in their own way, considering preparation given by the teacher
and discussing a general outline with their classmates in pairs
or groups.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.2.1. Controlled Practice
1.2.2. Guided Practice
e) Making true sentences about yourself: Each student is
asked to say or write some true sentences about himself. In
this exercise, he is given a chance of using the new structure
more freely to express himself. For example,
Giving situations which imply the structure but leave the
students to decide exactly what to say.
Getting students to say real things about themselves.
Letting them add something of their own.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.3. Production stage
1.3.1. Aims of Activities at the Production Stage
Providing motivation and pleasure in the process of the
practicing and learning new language grammar.
Giving students opportunity to experience on their own and
to allow them to see how much they have understood and
learnt of the language that up to now has been practiced at
the practice stage.
Giving feedback to students’ learning and teacher’s
teaching.
Creating condition for students to integrate the newly-learnt
language into previously-learnt language in an
unpredictable linguistic context.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. PPP in Teaching Grammar
1.2. Practice Stage: Stage for accuracy
1.3. Production stage
1.3.2. Types of Activities:
Role-plays, discourse chains, discussions, information-gap
activities, exchanging personal information, and guessing
games, etc., are generally used at this stage.
The teacher should bear in mind that the activities are
constructed in such a way that they promote
communication and at the same time ensure that the new
language items occur unprompted naturally and frequently
in the context of these activities.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
2. Discovery Techniques for Teaching Grammar
T may have Ss do a certain task, either at the beginning of
the lesson or somewhere in the middle or at the end of the
lesson, using discovery techniques. The idea behind these
techniques, according to Jeremy Harmer (1992) is that Ss
themselves will work together with given examples of
language and told to find out how they work to discover the
grammar rules rather than be told them.
Some Techniques
Preview: asked to preview a text before it is actively learnt
and taught. In other words, students are exposed to the
new language even though they haven’t concentrated on it
at this stage.
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
2. Discovery Techniques for Teaching Grammar
Some Techniques
Preview: asked to preview a text before it is actively learnt and
taught. In other words, students are exposed to the new
language even though they haven’t concentrated on it at this
stage.
Example: Read the following text and underline the sentences
with “if”
If you cut down our forest, a lot of plants and animals will
disappear from the world. In a lot of places the new farm land
will soon look like the old deserts. If we realize this fact, our
environment will be protected from disaster...
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
2. Discovery Techniques for Teaching Grammar
Some Techniques
Text Study
Students may be asked to read a text and decide the new
grammar point to learn.
Example: Read the following passage and:
Decide the grammar point you are going to learn.
Select the verb endings and put them in the right column
/t/, /d/ and /id/ according to their endings.
“Yesterday my father worked at his office. He stopped work at
6 p.m. and phoned home at 6.15, after that he played tennis
with his staff until 7.00. He had dinner at 7.15 then he visited
his friends and talked to them until 9.30...”
Verbs having -ed
form: ............................................................................................
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
2. Discovery Techniques for Teaching Grammar
Some Techniques
Problem-solving:
3. Dealing with Grammatical mistakes
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. Issues in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Definition of Grammar
1.2. Views on Teaching Grammar
PART B: TEACHING GRAMMAR
1. Issues in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Definition of Grammar
1.2. Views on Teaching Grammar
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Issues in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Definition of Grammar
Grammar may be defined as the rules of a language, governing
the way in which words are put together to convey meaning in
different contexts. (Nesamalar Chitravelu; Sararatha
Sithamparam & The Soo Choon, 2005)
Grammar is generally a thought to be set of rules specifying the
correct ordering of words at the sentence level (Nunan, 2003)
Grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a
language’s sentences are formed (Thornbury, 2008)
=> Grammar is defined as the body of rules underlying a language,
which govern the structure of words (suffixes & prefixes) and the
structure of words to form clauses and sentences
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Issues in Teaching Grammar
1.1. Definition of Grammar
Grammar is defined as the body of rules underlying a language,
which govern the structure of words (suffixes & prefixes) and the
structure of words to form clauses and sentences
Grammar may be defined as the rules of a language, governing
the way in which words are put together to convey meaning in
different contexts. (Nesamalar Chitravelu; Sararatha
Sithamparam & The Soo Choon, 2005)
1.2. Views on Teaching Grammar
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