Teaching grammar to young

learners

Nelly Zafeiriadou
ELT School Advisor, Thrace
nelzafeir@sch.gr
What is grammar?’ is the kind of question that
seems easy to answer until somebody asks it.

Michael Swan
What is grammar?
A -a system of rules and tools
B -a process that lets you communicate with
other people
C -an important professional skill for teachers
Grammar is emotion…
 Grammar is such a  Grammar is very,
waste of time, let’s very important for
get rid of it. the children.

   
What is grammar for?
A to learn about the system of English
B to communicate in English
C to give me status as a teacher / to
tell my students how English works
With the rise of communicative methodology in
the late 1970s, the role of grammar
instruction in second language leaning was
downplayed, and it was even suggested that
teaching grammar was not only unhelpful but
might actually be detrimental. However,
recent research has demonstrated the need
for formal instruction for learners to attain
high levels of accuracy.
Is there any grammar in this?
A Coffee? Would you like some coffee?
B Please. B Yes, I would like some of
A Milk? Sugar? that coffee, please.
B No milk. One sugar. Thanks. A Do you take milk?
A Toast? B I don’t take milk. But I will
B No thanks. take one sugar, please.
Thanks.
A Juice?
A Would you like some of this
B Mmm. toast?
 Scott Thornbury,
2001 B I’d prefer not to have any of
that toast, thanks. (…)
Grammatical complexity
 Do you think you could  I wonder if you would
open the door? be so kind as to open
 Open the door. the door?
 Would you mind  Would you mind
opening the door? opening the door?
 I wonder if you would  Do you think you could
be so kind as to open open the door?
the door?  Can you open the door?
 Can you open the door?  Open the door.
 The door!  The door!
So …

 Is grammar less important for children

than it is for adults?
 Is grammar only important for speaking
and writing?
 Is grammar a thing or is it something that
happens?
 Scott Thornbury
Form and function: process and product

practice – strategy - skill

Krashen’s viewpoint
to abandon grammar teaching

… teaching grammar results in “learned”

knowledge, only available for monitoring
utterances that learners produce using their
“acquired” knowledge (limited value)

… teachers should concentrate on providing lots

of comprehensible input so that learners can
acquire a second language naturally like
children acquiring their mother language.
Ellis’ viewpoint
To adapt grammar instruction to
learners

… students are often convinced that “learning”

grammar is of value to them and, therefore, expect
the teachers to teach grammar
… Krashen’s claim that learners “acquire” grammar
naturally is not entirely correct for second or foreign
language learners.

… we should find a way of teaching grammar that is

 Some research shows…
Learners do not seem to master the
grammar of a second language even when
they get plenty of comprehensible input.
Studies of learners in immersion classroom
have shown that even after ample
exposure to the target language learners
continue to make a lot of grammatical
errors.
With young learners…
 Tom Scovel
 We must prioritize and not attempt to teach all
of the grammar
 E.g. past perfect tense infrequent in
speaking or writing or science writing
(except fiction)
 What is easy to hear, and easy to see, is easy
to remember, is easy to learn. Listen for
grammar
Aims of grammar with young learners

 strengthen grammatical accuracy in a

fun and purposeful way
 teach learners to express themselves as
clearly as possible with confidence
 increase grammar awareness among
young learners
 meet learning styles wherever possible
 (Gordon Lewis, Hans Mol, 2009)
Ideally…
we should find a way of teaching
grammar that is compatible with how
learners learn grammar.
Grammar presentation
methods

 The deductive method

 The inductive method

 The guided discovery method

The deductive method

Reasoning
Analysing
Comparing
How is it done?
The teacher…
 Draws attention to an example on the board or in the textbook.
 Explains the underlying rules regarding the forms and positions of
certain structural words
 explanations often in student’s native language using grammatical terms.
 comparisons can be made between the native language and the target language
or between the newly presented structure and previously learned structures.

The students…
 Practise applying the rule to produce sentences with given prompts
Pros and cons of the deductive method
 It often teaches grammar in an
isolated way
 Little attention is paid to
meaning
 Practice is often mechanical

 It can save time if the students

have the reasoning ability

 It can be useful if the aim is

exam preparation

 It can make students have a

sense of achievement
The inductive method

 Observing
 Reasoning
 Learning
 How does it work?
The teacher

… provides learners with authentic language in meaningful context

… ensures learners can realise what the rules are without explicit
explanation
… believes that the rules will become evident if the students are given
enough appropriate examples

The students
… study examples of language in use and draw their own conclusions about
what is happening
The guided discovery method
 Observing
 Reasoning

 Analysing
How does it work?
The students
… are stimulated to discover rules by themselves

The teacher
… carefully guides the process of discovery and assists
… elicits the rules
… teaches the rules explicitly
How do you teach grammar?
 Work in groups of four. Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of the
three methods of teaching grammar
Meaningful input – meaningful practise

Requirements
 Pre-learning (noticed + short term
memory)
 Volume and repetition
 Success orientation
 Heterogeneity
 Teacher assistance
 Interest
Grammar practice

 Mechanical practice
 Meaningful practice
Substitution drills
__________________

Substitute the underlined part with the

proper forms of the given words

green lawn/clean house/pretty garden/nice

flowers

Mrs. Green has the largest house in town.

Mechanical practice
Transformation drills

Change the following sentences into the

past tense. Use the adverbs given in the
brackets.:

 Now he lives in London. (last year, Paris)

 We have English and math today. ( yesterday,
music and P.E.)
 He usually gets up at seven. ( this morning,
eight)
Meaningful practice
Using prompts for practice

 Using pictures prompts

 Using gesture prompts
 Using information sheets prompts
 Using key phrases or word prompts
 Using chained phrases for story telling
 Using created situations
Meaningful
practice
Task types
 Input tasks: seeing or  Listening or reading to
hearing examples comprehend
 Noticing tasks: focusing  Listen or reading to notice
 Awareness tasks: analysing  Understanding
examples or looking for
differences
 Check-up tasks: questions or  Checking
mini-tasks
 Game tasks: playing with
grammar  Trying
 Experimentation tasks:
trying it out
 Rod Ellis, 2002
Input tasks
 Input task
Practise, Noticing, Volume
Repetition, Success, Heterogeneity, Interest
Noticing tasks: frequency, with variation
Awareness task
A song

A video clip A worksheet

Check-up tasks
Game tasks
Game tasks
Experimentation tasks
Experimentation tasks
Conclusion…
 The understanding of how to teach
grammar is just as controversial as
what people feel about the value of
grammar in language teaching.

 We believe that teaching grammar

is necessary for foreign language
learners and the three ways of
teaching we introduced all have
their merits and drawbacks.

 The best way is to vary methods

according to our specific teaching
objectives, teaching contents,
students’ ages and needs, and our
teaching and learning context
With young learners…
 We shouldn't lose
sight of the one
thing children do
best: have fun.
 Think about:
1. Our students may not understand the rules only by
organizing them doing activities. What can we do?

2. My class is large, about 30pupils. How can I know each

students' learning >style and how can I organize
activities?
3. We don't have enough time in class. If doing the
activities, we can never finish >our textbook. What can
we do?
4. If I organize too many activities, they will be very noisy.
How can I control >them?
5. Where can I find grammar activities appropriate for
their age?