TERMS AND CONCEPTS IN THE STUDY OF

GRAMMAR b. Error Correction vs. Feedback

Errors are mistakes which students cannot correct
a. Grammar and Grammaring themselves and therefore need an explanation. When
Grammar is what one knows about a language – the teachers respond to errors, it should be viewed as
phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics while teachers giving feedback, helping students to reshape
language skills are what we do with language including their knowledge rather than telling them outrightly, they
speaking, listening, writing and reading. What we know are wrong.
about a language and what we do with a language had Examples: Positive feedback
sparked controversies about their blurry boundaries 1. Confirmation: I like how you pronounce X. Can
(Benhima, 2015). The outburst of modern linguistics you try it once more so that it sounds more like it
described grammar as a system of structures besides is pronounced in (target language)?”
vocabulary and pronunciation. Larsen-Freeman (2001) 2. Praise: “amazing”, “bravo”, “excellent”
gave a convincing argument on how grammar should be 3. Teacher’s request to repeat: Teacher applauds
treated. She shared that grammar should be seen as a students in front of the class.
skill rather than purely competence. She postulated
Negative feedback
grammaring to be the fifth skill (together with listening,
Indirect/Implicit Strategies
speaking, reading and writing) and referred to
1. Recast:
grammaring as the ability to accurately, meaningfully
Student: Yesterday I go shopping.
and appropriately use grammar structures.
Teacher: Oh yesterday I also went shopping.
Grammar is much more than knowing rules, though it is
2. Clarification request: “Excuse me?”
part of the construct. Grammaring involves sensitivity to
usage because grammar is more flexible than we think. Direct/Explicit Strategies
Every time we speak or write, we always consciously or 1. Correct answer feedback: “Oh you mean…” “you
unconsciously involved ourselves in doing grammar. should say”, “the correct verb form is…”
Grammar teachers should strip themselves of the idea 2. Guided Feedback: elicitation techniques
that grammar is simply a set of rules for memorization. ● Metalinguistic feedback. The teacher asks a
Rather, the goal of learners should be in the question and/or provides a comment or
development of a skill and conceive grammar in its information related to the utterance of the
active and progressive sense. student without giving the correct form.
a. Grammaticalizing/ Grammaticalization (For example, “Is it masculine?” “Is that how you say it in
French linguist Antoine Meillet introduced the concept English” and “Do you say it that way?”)
of grammaticalization in his 1912 study “L’evolution
● Teachers request to repeat (with correct
des forms grammaticales”. In its broadest sense, intent)
grammaticalization is described as the process by which
grammar is created (Croft, 2006) or the study of this c. Spoken vs. Written Grammar
process. It is the language process change by which The difference between spoken and written grammar is
words presenting objects and actions (i.e. nouns and like an argument formal and informal grammar although
verbs) become grammatical markers (affixes, there are disputes that prove that spoken grammar
prepositions, etc.) which results in the creation of doesn’t really seem to exist technically because it is
function words through a process other than deriving essentially the same as the written grammar. The
them from existing bound and inflectional constructions, spoken grammar has a distinct approach from the one
but instead derive them from content words. used in written grammar. The distinction is practically
Grammaticalization involves reduction and increased due to the fact that we don’t speak the way we write and
dependency. Reduction also known as phonetic erosion we certainly don’t write the way we speak. In spoken
or phonological reduction is an expression in linguistics grammar, contractions such as I’ll, don’t, etc. are allowed
that loses phonetic substance if it undergoes but are strictly not appropriate for written grammar, while
grammaticalization. the inclusion of slang words or colloquialism can be
For example: allowed in spoken grammar. Breaking of strict grammar
1. going to (verb) - gonna (auxiliary) rules such as excluding prepositions in beginning a
2. because → coz sentence is included in spoken grammar. It is more
3. that (demonstrative) – that (complementizer) as dynamic and immediate; therefore, the speaker may
in:
commit many grammatical errors that can never be
Demonstrative: I saw that. He went there.
possible and acceptable in written grammar.
Complementizer: I saw (that he went there)
4. I will see you later → I am gonna see you later.
a. Grammatical Assessment
5. My friends will be there this evening. → My
Assessing grammar is a fundamental aspect of teaching
friends’ll be there this evening.
that helps determine student proficiency in language. It
can be used to help identify the strengths and 5. Keep adjectives and articles with the noun
weaknesses of learners. Assessment has to be used they modify and place them on separate
constantly to determine how well students are diagonal lines touching the words they
comprehending the materials that have been covered. modify.
Assessment of grammatical ability is characterizing
proficiency in different levels and contexts. 2. Learning through Writing
What does writing to learn mean? Writing can provide a
METHODS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR unique opportunity to develop critical thinking skills.
Writing promotes both critical thinking and learning.
1. Diagramming Sentences Writing to communicate or transactional writing means
Diagramming sentences is visualizing how to fit writing to accomplish something such as to inform,
together the different parts of a sentence. The subject of instruct, or persuade but writing to learn is different. We
a clause goes in one slot, the verb in another, and so on. write to ourselves and talk to others at the same time,
Words that modify another word are attached to the and this expressive language does not function to
word they modify. Sentence diagramming is valuable for communicate but to order and represent experience to
both English grammar students and teachers. To put in a our understanding. In this sense, language provides us
diagram, words in sentences force the learners to with a unique way of knowing and becomes a tool for
identify the logical connections between different parts of discovering, for shaping meaning and for teaching
the sentence. It is a form of sentence analysis which understanding. Students explore language through
requires one to take the sentence apart and show creative writing, picking up grammar usage along the
relationship of each word to the rest of the sentence. It way and if there are specific problems with certain
helps students understand how a sentence works by grammatical rules, it will be covered in a more structured
breaking it down to the component pieces. It is like a lesson.
puzzle which is not solved until all the parts are in the Example: The Reading Journal
right place, and none are left over. However, there has Students use the first half of the page of an
been a shift in the practice of diagramming. It loses its opened notebook for recording what the reading is about
popularity in the modern times and teachers no longer to practice noting key details, identifying main ideas,
use diagram instead focus on teaching the rules of summarizing among others and other crucial reading
grammar. skills while on the other half of the page, students jot
down any questions they have or any connections they
can make between readings. They have to apply
grammatical rules in their own writing.
3. Inductive Teaching
Step 1. Present several examples that illustrate a
particular concept.
Step 2. Students must observe how the concept works
from these examples.
Step 3. Concept must not be explained beforehand.
Step 4. Students are expected to recognize the rule of
grammar in a more natural way.
The main goal of the inductive teaching method is the
retention of grammar concepts, with teachers using
Example: The farmers gave their kids fresh vegetables.
techniques that are known to work cognitively and make
 Pedagogical Issues
an impression on students’ contextual memory.
Pedagogical issues refer to issues in teaching
4. Deductive Teaching
grammar and one of these issues is if grammar should
The deductive method of teaching grammar focuses on
be taught and if so what grammar, when and how. This
instruction before practice.
serves as the valuable purpose of problematizing this
Step 1. A teacher gives an in-depth explanation of a
aspect of language pedagogy.
grammatical concept before students could encounter
How do you diagram sentences?
the same grammatical concept in their own writing.
Here are basic rules in diagramming sentences:
Step 2. After the lesson, students practice what they
1. Identify the sentence elements.
have just been shown through worksheets and exercises.
2. Place the subject, verb and direct object
together and underline them.
3. Separate the subject from the verb with a This type of teaching has many people rethink such
vertical line that crosses the underline. methods, as more post – secondary level students are
4. Separate the direct object from the verb with revealing sub-par literacy skills in adulthood. Deductive
a vertical line that does not cross the teaching methods drive many students away from writing
underline.
because of the tediousness of rote learning and teacher- transition from “earners” to becoming “users” of the
centered approaches. language. This stage involves creating situations using
5. Interactive Teaching the language that was introduced in the presentation to
This method allows teachers to tailor their lessons to the help students communicate meaning using the new
different learning styles of students. For instance, each language.
student can be given a large flashcard with a word on it
and the students themselves must physically arrange MODES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR
these into a proper sentence. Other games can include 1. Linguistic Mode
word puzzles or fun online quizzes. Students must be familiar about the use of structures so
6. Functional-notional Approach that they will understand. Larsen-Freeman (2002, 2014)
When designing a lesson, teachers often choose a real- maintained that students must know about the use of
world situation as their “notion,” and choose structure so that they will understand the consequences
corresponding functions to teach to prepare students to of their choices because the grammatical system offers
communicate in that situation in the lesson. For example, its users choices in how they wish to realize meanings
a lesson might be about how to buy something at a shop, and position themselves ideologically and socially.
in which case its notion is shopping and one of its Therefore, grammar teaching should not only be for
functions might be asking prices. understanding rules but also for inducing the reasons of
7. Situational Contexts different sentence formations in different contexts.
Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2011) said context can 2. Story-telling Mode
be linguistic and situational. Linguistic context is A grammar lesson is not complete without an application
about the information that was formally written or spoken stage. Ur (1988) shared that application is believed to
and situational context is the general knowledge that a require “volume” and repetition”; that is, learners need to
person has of the world. be given adequate opportunities to use the items to be
8. Using texts, stories, songs and rhymes learnt as much as possible. Teachers should help
There are different ways of using songs in the classroom. learners make the leap from form-focused accuracy to
The level of the students, the interests and the age of meaning-focused fluency after explicit instructions by
the learners, the grammar point to be studies and the providing a variety of practice activities that will
song itself have determinant roles on the procedure. familiarize the learners with structure in contexts, giving
Apart from them, it mainly depends on the creativity of practice both in form and communicative meaning
the teacher. At the primary level of singing the song, the (Ur,1996). Story telling mode is an effective way to apply
prosodic features of the language is emphasized. At the what the students learn to real communication.
higher levels, where the practice of grammar points is at
the foreground, songs can be used with several FIVE ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE
techniques. Some examples of these are the following:  Phonemes (phonology)- sound
 Gaps fills or close texts  Morphemes (morphology)- smallest grammatical
 Focus questions unit of speech, smallest meaning
 True-false statements  Syntactic aspect (syntax)- arrangement of words
 Put these lines into the correct sequence in a sentence
 Dictation  Semantic aspect (semantics)- meaning of words
 Add a final verse
 Pragmatic aspect (pragmatics)- functional
 Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given
language
words
 Discuss
Graphemes- letters and symbols
9. PPP Inductive teaching- start with examples
A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure Deductive teaching- start from the rules
known as PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production). Demonstrative pronouns- this, that, these, those
The teacher presents the target language and then
gives students the opportunity to practice it through very Verbals: Look like verb but they don’t function as verb,
controlled activities. Presentation involves building a they function as:
situation that requires a natural and logical use of a new (Verb-ing) Noun – Gerund
language. It is in the presentation stage that students (Verb-ing, Verb-d/ed) Adjective – Participle
know what they will learn and why. Practice involves (to+base form of the verb) N, Adj/Adv. – Infinitive
testing the procedure so students can be familiar with If it is a gerund, it function as a noun
the language. It is in this stage that students will be If it is a participle, it function as a modifier either adj or
provided with activities that can make them use the new adv
language. The Production stage, being the most Basta may has, have (present tense na sya)
important stage, students here shall have made the
Aspects of the verb: simple (indefinite), perfect
(completed), progressive (continuing), perfect
progressive