Teaching Grammar

By Julio Vangel Prez

Grammar and Function

Savignon (1983) describes a language function as the use to which language is put, the purpose of an utterance rather than the particular grammatical form an utterance takes.

Language functions refer to the purposes in which we use language to communicate.

Language functions can be defined as the goals the language learner needs to achieve in order to communicate.

Savignon, S. J. Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice (1983)

Examples of Language functions

Expressing needs and likes. Describing people, places, and things. Describing actions. Retelling past events. Making Predictions.

Language Functions and Grammar

Language Functions
Expressing needs and likes. Describing people, places, and things. Describing actions. Retelling past events.

Language Forms/ Grammar Items

Making Predictions.

Language Functions and Grammar

Language Functions
Expressing needs and likes. Describing people, places, and things. Describing actions. Retelling past events.

Language Forms/ Grammar Items

Indirect/ direct object, subject/verb agreement, pronouns. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives. Present Continuous, adverbs. Past tense, perfect tenses (present and past).

Making Predictions.

Future tenses (going to, will), conditional mode

Language Functions and Grammar

Language Functions
Expressing needs and likes. Describing people, places, and things.

Language Forms/ Grammar Items

Indirect/ direct object, subject/verb agreement, pronouns. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives.

Describing actions.
Retelling past events. Making Predictions.

Present Continuous, adverbs.

Past tense, perfect tenses (present and past). Future tenses (going to, will), conditional mode Adverbs, conjunctions, superlatives, comparatives. Comparative adjectives. Nouns, abstract nouns, pronouns and adjectives. Adverbs of time, relative clauses, subordinate conjunctions. Modals (would, could, might).

Language Functions and Grammar

Language Functions
Expressing needs and likes. Describing people, places, and things.

Language Forms/ Grammar Items

Indirect/ direct object, subject/verb agreement, pronouns. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives.

Describing actions.
Retelling past events. Making Predictions. Comparing Contrasting Defining Sequencing Hypothesizing, speculating and Summarizing

Present Continuous, adverbs.

Past tense, perfect tenses (present and past). Future tenses (going to, will), conditional mode Adverbs, conjunctions, superlatives, comparatives. Comparative adjectives. Nouns, abstract nouns, pronouns and adjectives. Adverbs of time, relative clauses, subordinate conjunctions. Modals (would, could, might).

1.8 Teaching Grammar

New grammar items can be taught through two basic ways: Deductively Inductively In a deductive approach, the teacher presents the grammar rule and then gives students exercises in which they apply the rule. In an inductive approach, the teacher presents samples of language, and the students have to come to an intuitive understanding of the rule.

1.8 Teaching Grammar

Thornbury (2000) defines these two approaches as:
A deductive approach (rule-driven) starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied. An Inductive approach (rule-discovery) starts with some examples from which a rule is inferred.

Pair work

With a partner, make a list of 4 advantages and disadvantages of inductive and deductive learning. Share your list with the class. (10-15 minutes)

Advantages & Disadvantages

Approach Deductive Approach Advantages
It gets straight to the point and can therefore be time-saving. Many rules can be more quickly explained than elicited, thereby allowing more time for practice and application.

Disadvantages
Starting the lesson with a grammar explanation may be frustrating for some students, especially younger ones. They may not have sufficient metalanguage or may not be able to understand the concepts involved. Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission style classroom. Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as demonstration.

It respects the intelligence and maturity of many students and acknowledges the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition. It confirms many students expectations about classroom learning, particularly for those with an analytical learning style.

It allows for teachers to deal with language points as they come up rather than having to anticipate them and prepare for them in advance.

Such an approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simple a case of knowing the rules.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Approach Inductive Approach Advantages
Rules learner discover for themselves are more likely to fit their existing mental structures, making them more meaningful, memorable and serviceable. The mental effort involved ensures greater cognitive depth, again ensuring greater memorability. Students are more actively involved in the learning process and are therefore likely to be more attentive and motivated. Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self reliance and autonomy.

Disadvantages
Time and energy spent working out rules may mislead students into believing that rules are the objective of language learning.

Students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their version of the rule may be either too broad or to narrow. It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a lesson.

An inductive approach frustrates students who, because of personal learning style or past learning experience, would prefer simply to be told the rule.
Thornbury, S. How to Teach Grammar (2000)

Advantages & Disadvantages

Thornbury points out, yet another major disadvantage of inductive learning is that it takes longer for the students to arrive at an understanding of a rule that has been explained to them by the teacher, this could lead to them having a wrong conclusion about a particular grammar principle. Despite this, inductive learning is still preferred by students because it requires the learners to process the language more deeply than when they are simply told a rule.

Deductive teaching
Deductive teaching involves drawing the learners attention specifically to one or more features of the linguistic system. This can be achieved by describing rules or principles and the getting students to apply this in practice in the form of grammar.

Deductive Teaching Exercise

Teaching Exercise

Teaching Exercise
Activity: Study the exercise given. How would you set this up for your students? How would you follow it up? Using the exercise as model, design a similar exercise to introduce one of the following grammatical items: The verb be am, is, are. Placement of adverbs of frequency in sentences. Count and noncount nouns.

Activity
Using the exercise as model, design a similar exercise to introducing one of the following grammatical items:
The verb be am, is, are. Placement of adverbs of frequency in sentences. Count and noncount nouns.

Repetition: a key to success

Students benefit more when the teacher focuses devising practice opportunities where learners are actually using the language rather than taking about the language itself. This is know as learning by doing. One way to apply this principle is to use a technique called, Distributed practice. Distributed practice involves spacing out the practice of an item. Research has shown that an item will be more successfully mastered by practicing 15 minutes over four days than by an hours practice on a single day.

Deductive and Inductive teaching

Harmer (1991) provides with a repetitive practice through audiolingual type drills using 2 question forms Is x [Nationality]? And Where is she/he from?

Deductive and Inductive teaching

However, these drills can quickly become boring, with some thought and context we can provide more opportunities for practice. Like in this example designed to drill yes/no questions with do you have...

Ur, P. Grammar Practice Activities: A practical guide. (1998, pp.123-124)

Deductive and Inductive teaching

One more way of increasing interest and involvement in students is through personalization . This involves creating activities in which learners provide responses that are true for them.

Nunan, D. Listen In 2. (1998, pp. 60)