GRAMMAR TEACHING

•Dawit Dibekulu Alem

•Mekdela Amba University,
•College of Social Sciences and Humanities,
•Department of English Language and Literature
•Tulu Awlia, Ethiopia
BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING
GRAMMAR
• Teachers refer to their own experience with grammar as learners and
the teacher's expectations are different to language learners what may
influence the understanding of teachers' instructions. (Borg, 2003);
• a. It is not necessary to teach grammar.
• b. Grammar describes the rule of a language.
• c. Academics‘, teachers‘, and learners‘ grammars‘ are the same.
• d. Bilingual exercises have no place in teaching grammar.
• e. In teaching grammar the rules should come first and the example
should come follow.
• f. Drill is the way to mastering Grammar.
• g. Grammar is acquired unconsciously during the performance on those
communicative situations
 Leech et al (1982) view grammar as
The an important component that relates
phonology and semantics, or sound
Developm and meaning.
Huddleston (1988) sees grammar as
ent of consisting of morphology and
syntax. Morphology deals with forms
Learning of words while syntax deals with the
ordering of the words to form
and sentences.
Hudson (1992) is in the
Teaching opinion
embraces
that
any
grammar
kind of
Grammar information about words since
there are no boundaries
around grammar.
• The 18th century the Prescriptive of grammar
teaching was developed. Its aim was to prescribe
what is judged as correct rather than to describe
the actual usage and grammar teaching in school
was mainly to avoid ̳errors in English;
• In the 19th century A new, modern understanding
of grammar appeared which is scientific
(descriptive) grammar. Which mainly focus on
actual usage without emphasis too much on
correctness.
APPROACHES TO GRAMMAR TEACHING:
Traditional grammar teaching, Communicative language
teaching (CLT)and Post-communicative language teaching.
• Behavioristic Approach stated that Traditional grammar
teaching is based on a formal notion of competence and
theoretical foundations of this approach are based both
on: Set of practices associate to this approach is
presentation-practice- production and teacher will give
an explanation on grammar rules and meaning. Later
intense practices (drill) were done which lead to
production Structuralism. (Richard and Rodgers, 1986)
• Communicative language teaching is influenced by linguists with a
national-functional view of language. In this context Grammar was
both semantic and functional. It focuses on the use of language
rather than on the form itself. Grammatical knowledge was
performance rather than competence. (Richard and Rodgers, 1986)
• Post-communicative language teaching states communicative
competence has given way to a broader view in which socio-
cultural, pragmatic and discourse issues are combined with a
notion of language based on computational analysis. It includes a
more real language corpus-based approach in which socio-cultural
matters are subsequently taken into account. Consider that
knowledge is not learned but constructed in collaboration (social
learning: Vigotsky, 1962; scaffolding: Brunner, 1983).
• Grammar translation method (19th – mid 20th C). Explicit teaching
of grammar rules; attention paid to language forms. Absence of
communicative practice, which is an immediate need for new
immigrants. Reliance on translation, which is impractical in classes
having students with many different first languages. Focus on
reading and translating texts; some adult students can‘t read in
their first language. (Richard and Rodgers, 1986)
• Direct Method (first part of 20th C) Grammar is taught. Lesson
begins with dialog or story in the target language. Use of visuals
(actions,pictures,objects) to convey meaning. Inductive
presentation is unsuitable for some adult students, who may benefit
from overt explanations of rules. Minimal reading and writing, which
is needed by immigrant students with work or academic goals.
• Audio-lingual Method (ALM) (1950s- 1970s) emphasis on oral
production and teacher models pronunciation. Use of drills to reinforce
grammatical patterns and rote exercises reduce cognitive
engagement so, activities are designed to prevent errors; teacher
models pronunciation. Use of drills to reinforce grammatical patterns
and rote exercises reduce cognitive engagement so, activities are
designed to prevent learners errors, which reduce the need for
students to negotiate meaning.(Richard and Rodgers, 1986)
• Natural Approach (1980s) stated that language is presented in a
̳natural sequence: listening, speaking, reading, writing and the use of
a communicative syllabus. Grammar is not overtly taught, yet many
adult learners need and want grammar instruction. It Focuses on input
(listening) can delay output (speaking) that adults need immediately.
Richard and Rodgers (1986)
• Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) (1970s-today)-
communication is the goal of instruction and Emphasis
on meaningful interaction. Course syllabus includes
language functions. There is Use of authentic texts and
contexts. Focus on communication can result in ignoring
grammar. Emphasis on fluency at the expense of
accuracy can result in many students never attaining
correct grammar
• Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is the acronym for
computer assisted language learning and it is related to the use of
computers for language teaching and learning. Significant use of
CALL began in the 1960s.
• Many proponents of CALL have advocated the development of
communicative computer programs that provide opportunities for
meaningful communication (Garrett, 1991). Teachers use computer
for tutorials and drills to free up more classroom time for real
communication. By using the computer for the presentation,
explanation, and application of grammatical structures, more
classroom time could be dedicated to real communication that
focuses on expressing meaning and using appropriate grammatical
structures to express that meaning.
TYPES OF GRAMMAR-prescriptive and descriptive grammar,
traditional grammar, phrase structure grammar, transformational-
generative grammar and functional-systemic grammar.

• A. Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar: Prescriptive grammar is

when the correct use of language is prescribed by a set of rules.
These rules are fixed.
• Unlike prescriptive grammars, descriptive grammars recognize
that language is constantly changing (Quirk et al., 1985) This
means that certain utterances that were considered incorrect
grammatically at one time are now accepted as correct. For
example, the use of ̳ a few‘ and ̳ a little‘. In prescriptive
grammar, ̳a few‘ determines count noun (a few students) and ̳a
little‘ is related to non-count noun (a little salt). Thus, we say ̳few
̳students, ̳ fewer ̳ students, ̳ fewest ̳ students and ̳ little ̳ salt, ̳
less ‘ salt, ̳ least‘ salt. But today, the use of ̳ less ‘ with count
noun as in ̳ less ‘ students is also accepted (Woods, 1995).
• B. Traditional Grammar: In traditional grammar, syntax rather than semantics, is
a central component of a language. In teaching the syntactic organization of the
sentences, traditional grammarians have identified and defined eight parts of
speech.
• The eight parts of speech identified are nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. These different parts of
speech make up a sentence. Traditional grammarians focus on the relationships
of words in a sentence such as subject, object, complement, adverbial, etc to
show the different clausetypes like SV (She was screaming), SVO (She eats ice-
cream), SVA (He has been in the room), SVOA (She keeps the books upstairs),
etc.
• Traditional grammar is descriptive in the sense that it attempts to describe
linguistic structures (Quirk et al, 1985). For instance, according to traditional
grammar the basic structure of an English structure is subject + verb + object as
in ― He drinks water. Language teaching based on the philosophy of traditional
grammar will focus on the parts of speech.
• C. Phrase-structure Grammar: Extending and developing the work of
traditional grammar, phrase structure grammar highlights the
relationship of words and phrases in a sentence(Cook, 1991). It helps
to understand how the structural relationships of words and phrases
support the meanings, which we attempt to convey through language.
• This relationship is presented graphically using substitution tables,
which have been widely used in basic grammar lessons. If traditional
grammar emphasizes on the written form, then phrase structure
grammar focuses on spoken form. Thus the practice of drills using
substitution tables is an attempt to help learners master the structure
of the sentence. Although it focuses on structure as it appears in
language, the structure is presented without consideration of meaning
and communicative function (Woods, 1995)
• D. Transformational-generative Grammar: Like traditional and phrase-structure
grammar, transformational-generative grammar also emphasizes on syntax. It
deals with syntax in greater details. If phrase-structure grammar shifts the
perspective from individual word to the sentence, transformational generative
grammarians are interested to explain how our mind generates sentences, that
is, from intent to utterance (Radford, 1981as cited in Weaver, C. & C. Mc Nally &
S. Moerman. (2001).).
• Transformational generative grammarians argue that innumerable syntactic
combinations can be generated by means of a system of formal rules, such as,
transformational rule (ibid). These transformational rules, which are based on
the phrase structure and the tree structure transform phrase structures into
other forms, like active to passive. The processes that transform active voice to
passive voice do not only depict the grammatical relationships between the
various constituents that make up the sentence, but also explain how
individuals can produce numerous sentences, which they have never produced
or heard before.
• D. Functional- systemic Grammar: Functional-systemic
grammar concerns with making clear interaction
between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Halliday‘s
(1985) functional-systemic grammar, which focuses on
the functional aspect attempts to account for How
language is used.
• Utterances are viewed as some meaning whose
expression will vary depending on the situation. Thus
the semantics of the intended utterances as well as the
relationship between the speaker and listener influence
the choice of expressions.
APPROACHES TO TEACH GRAMMAR
A. Grammar based approach
B. Communicative based approach
C. The Recent approach

• A- GRAMMAR BASED APPROACH

• The PPP Approach to Communicative Language
Teaching PPP" (or the "3Ps") stands for Presentation,
Practice and Production - a common approach to
communicative language teaching that works through
the progression of three sequential stages.
B- COMMUNICATIVE BASED APPROACH
 RECENT
APPROACH
• TYPES OF DRILLS
• REPETITION
• SUBSTITUTION
• TRANSGORMATION
• CHAIN
• EXPANSION
• COMMUNICATION
• MEANINGFUL