Picture taken from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/kal/why.htm
Teaching Grammar, Overtly?
The
enquiry of whether to teach grammar or not –overtly- in class is one of those questions asked over and over again by
language instructors worldwide. Many language experts have tried to give a
satisfactory answer since grammar has always been on the spotlight; grammar
means the search for a better language performance in the eyes of many language
teachers. For Swan & Walter (2013), “explicit grammar teaching can lead to
sustained improvement in accuracy;” however, accuracy in ELT does not mean “perfection.”
In
the search for accuracy, grammar teaching is not just sentence writing with good subject-verb and tense agreement; it also
deals with vocabulary use (parts of
speech), and it implies being idiomatic
(or the use of the grammar of the language as native speakers utilize it).
Grammar is then central in language learning and teaching, but the question of
what should be taught remains at times being unanswered.
What should be taught?
For
Swan & Walter (2013), depending on who is being taught, the instructor has
to teach basic structures to beginners (or A1 based on the CEFR); and for
higher levels (B2 or C1) some remedial grammar or new syntactical items.
Hulstijn (1995), also quoted by Swan & Walter (2013), focuses on grammar
issues that are: 1) easy to explain, 2) reliable, 3) frequent, and 4) wide
scope-oriented. Understanding that the grammar of the target language is
impossible to cover, Hulstijn’s approach seems to be reasonable. On the other
hand, because many Indo-European languages share many overlapping areas, these
are the grammar units that are easy to explain, reliable, frequent, and cover a
great scope. Let it be borne in mind that learners will not achieve a perfect
grammar, but the grammar they get to learn can improve communication, whether
they are the ones speaking or listening.
How should grammar be
taught? Different
experts suggest different methods, but it must be understood that no single
learner gets to learn in the very same way. Some experts claim that self-discovery,
grammar journeys, or “guided grammar tours” are the panacea for learners. And
what about teachers? Language instructors may also approach grammar teaching
quite differently, so no single teacher will teach grammar in the same way.
Principles for Grammar Teaching
Swan
& Walter (2013) have come up with a simple and quite effective approach to
grammar teaching, which allows instructors to deal with the subject-matter as
they consider appropriate and allows learners to grasp new structures
appropriately. Let us now explain a bit more extensively what the following
steps stand for.
A.
Input and Output: As
suggested by Penny Ur (1996) in her book, A
Course in Language Teaching, language presentations have to be brief and
direct to the point bearing in mind learners’ attention span. But if
presentations are short, language practices must be ample, and these should
include some sort of hands-on grammar in which students can feel free in
“manipulating” the grammar point (for some sort of self-discovery on the
learner’s side). If students have effective input, output can be greatly
accurate.
B.
Explanations: Following
Penny Ur’s rationale on language explanations (1996) and Swan & Walter’s
way of viewing explanations (2013), instructors must keep them short, simple,
and clear. The explanation should give room to the self-discovery of rules so
that students can better grasp the piece of language they are learning. What still
remains quite debatable is the use of students’ mother tongue for shorter and
direct explanations. Swan & Walter (2013) back up the idea of using a bit
of the students’ mother tongue. No doubt that many teachers worldwide second
the idea of the native language to guarantee a quick and direct comprehension
of the language explanation.
C.
Examples: A
very innovative feature outlined by Swan & Walter (2013) in their
principles of grammar teaching is that examples should not only be sentences,
which is the most common practice held by language teachers. These authors
suggest the use of a wider scope of written texts such as public notices,
cartoons, ads, poetry, prose, and drama. And with the use of digital media,
texts can also be infographics and the like. Teachers have a greater scope of
written texts that can be used to illustrate grammar points to students.
D. Exercises: Practice is the core of a language class. For this
reason, as suggested by Ur (1996), language instructors have to devote class time
to learning with lots of types of practice. Teachers can include mechanical
grammar-oriented exercises, communication tasks, and/or all sorts of exercises
aiming at different Bloom’s Taxonomy levels to foster the manipulation and
usage of the new grammar points. In this way, keeping in mind the
self-discovery of grammatical rules, students can fully experiment with the new
structures being studied.
According
to Swan & Walter (2013), grammar is not divorced from other language skills
and sub-skills. Grammar is indeed connected to:
- Vocabulary:
Understanding the grammar behind lexical items, their uses by native speakers
syntaxwise, etc.
- Reading:
Use of realistic samples taken from real texts by native speakers as a means to
potentialize student written expression
- Writing:
The search for accuracy and grammar self-discovery to help develop good writing
skills
- Pronunciation:
Better understanding, perception, and production of sounds in all parts of
speech like in lexical items that change pronunciation depending on how they
are used: record (n) = /’rɛkǝrd/, record (v)
= /riy’kͻrd/.
Additionally
to Swan & Walter’s scope of grammar outline above, it is also necessary to
include the following two:
- Listening:
Better decoding of messages by receivers especially when new words in their
grammatical contexts are very well understood
- Culture: Comprehension
of idiomaticity in how native speakers understand and see the world through the
grammar they use to explain it
To
sum up, grammar could be the door to some good learning of the target language.
Grammar is also the door to some great knowledge of a language’s mechanisms to
encode meaning in messages. Grammar can also guarantee and/or lead to some
great understanding of and communication with native and non-native speakers of
the target language.
E To fully develop and
comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these
areas:
1
|
How
to Teach Grammar
|
2
|
Should
we Use L1 When Teaching Grammar?
|
3
|
Grammar
and Vocabulary
|
4
|
Grammar
and Sub-Skills
|
5
|
Grammar
= Accuracy?
|
Swan, M. & Walter, C.
(2013) Grammar Doesn’t Have to be Grey. IATEFL 2012 Glasgow Conference
Selections. Ed. Tania Pattison. Kent: IATEFL
Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP
Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT
Instructor, Course Designer & Teacher Trainer based in Costa Rica
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in
Central America
For
further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
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blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are:
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Saturday, June 15, 2013
