Think about yourself as a student and as a teacher. What is the importance of teaching grammar? How would you define grammar? How do/would you teach grammar?
According to Penny Ur, “Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combine words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning”. In her book Grammar Practice Activities: A practical guide for teachers (Oxford, 1991) she presents some ideas of classroom practice. Ur also consider grammar as a temporary basis for classroom, in other words, the learning of structures is necessary to manipulate the language as a whole, but it can’t be the only point of knowledge. The author also divides the learning/teaching of grammar in four stages: presentation, isolation and explanation, practice, test) and considers some classroom requisites to grammar acquirement, as well as teacher assistance and backgrounds and interest of the students. Eventually, she describes some practices at class that can activate students learning and lead teacher postures and choices of methodologies. Agreeing with Penny Ur, I believe grammar is not – or should not be – the main point to teach/study English, although it is too much important. Learning/teaching grammar must build a systematic model of the language not only focused in a book exercise, but also in all kinds of uses of the language. In order to this, as language is alive, cannot be attached to the idea that English ends in grammar and they just need to know this. For me, grammar is a basis for learning a language. It is a helpful tool to start the systematic knowledge of the language that thence the speaker – or the speaker to be - will develop the abilities “producing” the language. Without grammar, the learner has no good domain of the language, but only with grammar, the learner just domain it. There must be a balance for it works. I use to teach grammar after students have used the structures with the knowledge or when they still no realize regularities on the language point being used. When I started teaching, I predicted all the grammar points and I used to give them clues and it was mechanic. I changed this when, in a language school methodology based on it, made me experiment this inversion of posture. It was very successful and now, I adopt it using grammar to clarify what students already know how to use.
I believe that grammar is a very important tool in English lessons. It doesn't have to be the main point of a lesson, as it is considered boring by most students, but we have to take into consideration that without knowing grammar, communication, reading and writing become very difficult tasks. Grammar connects what the Ss are already able to do with the language to what they haven't come across yet. Penny Ur mentions in her book "Grammar Practice activities" that it is essential that the teacher think of the best way to teach grammar, having clear in his mind that the Ss expect different strategies while learning grammar in order to avoid boredom. I haven't had the opportunity to work with more than one ss at a time, but when I become a "real" teacher I'll try (and I hope to succeed) to vary the activities related to grammar. Ju.
According to Graham Lock, the relationship between grammar and communication should be closely related; due to the fact that communication is only possible by the usage of grammatical system (Littlewood 1985). He also argues that grammar teaching has to be integrated in the listening, speaking, and writing skills, and not separated as a "grammar lesson". It can be done if we, teachers to be, engage learners in motivated activities and make use of different methodologies that do not consider association of grammar teaching with the rule plus drilling ; 'grammar as a surface skill'(Graham, 1996). Talking about methodology, it is impossible to create a perfect method for grammar teaching, but I think we have a range variety of methods and it is possible to integrate them and make the teaching of grammar an effective tool in our classes. I also believe that grammar is essential for a second language Ss communicate effectively in the L2. It is a little complicated to talk about the way I teach grammar; due to the fact I follow rules. It is possible to say that the way I teach is closely related to the grammar teaching plus drilling. Although I am concerned that it is not the best way, I consider the fact that when I become a “real teacher” as Ju said, I hope to succeed in the in the development of different strategies in order to provide my Ss a real english lesson based not only in one skill, but taking all into consideration, and also grammar.
One of the advantanges of teach grammar is show to the student how is the real use of the language. It is important for the development of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Know grammar is not just lay out forms and structures, but you need understand what they are for and how they are used. Graham Lock in his book "Functional English Grammar" describe grammar in two approaches: in the first one a distinction is made between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, based on rules for differents contexts. In the other one the focus is in communication, is necessary analyze grammar to allow speakers and writers make and exchange meanings. I haven´t yet teach for a regular class, so I don´t have experience to share about this, but as a studente I believe that the better way is to induce the inference. After work in practice for a while, is more easy comprehend the rules.
The tapestry of language learning Robin C. Scarcella and Rebeca L. Oxford The Tapestry approach is the model the every teacher should follow, because it does not attempt to teach all the grammar properties of the English language. First because not all teachers know about grammar and time it is not enough, so they focus on those grammatical features that are useful to the students, teachable and learnable, determining students needs and goals, teaching the basic rules, most common exceptions, only the necessary for them mastering the language. The teachers recycle grammatical features periodically according to student’s needs and present features through a variety of activity types preventing boredom. The grammar is explained in a clearly way. The teachers gradually release the responsibility to students to work in pairs or groups. Errors are not correct at the beginning of student’s learning, because at this moment they need more encouragement, the teacher does not interrupt when the student is speaking, only at the end corrections can be made, because when it occurs the student can lose his confidence, spoiling his capacity of improving his output. The teacher observes why the student is making the mistake and tries to show the student where the error is occurring. While there is little research that suggest that deductive or inductive learning is inherently better it is best to provide learners with both types of grammar activities. Even most people study English by the deductive model, researchers should be done to help students develop their abilities in a foreign language. So simple and easy to follow, I don’t know why most teachers complicate trying to reach the whole world, and do not teach us only the core, do not mind in giving a good grammar well explained, go to subject to subject the faster they can, and simply teach the spinal column for us walk with our feet, and have the base to survive. The main preoccupation of the teacher should be if the student is learning, but not, they don’t care, they are preoccupied whether the content was follow, even when the students already know about the subject, but the syllabus was prepared and followed, even though it wasn’t necessary to follow thoroughly, nothing was modified to fill the students necessities, even a comma. As a piece of music used to say They don’t really care about us.
As a student I can say that according my own experience grammar is essential. I have lots of debbilities today because my lack of grammar knowledge. My writing and my listening are too limited because in the moment of the construction of sentences I don't know how to and when to use words. It happens because I had no enough teaching of grammar points during my student career. As Graham Lock said, one of the points of grammar is to focus on communication to allow us to make and exchange meanings. I agree with him that is necessary to teach grammar this way beacuse when the student isn't abble to make and exchange meanings, he (or she) isn't able to continue his (her) idea with no breaks. Of course i don't agree with that system which just teaches grammar and nothing else, but i totally agree with the teaching of grammar points in a detailed way. I had lots of stuff of Portuguese grammar, and my writing and speaking today is very good thank to this. I think that if i learn English on the same way, my speaking, writing and reading will be as good as my Portuguese is today. I would define grammar as the main point for the right understanding of the meanings of the ways of using words in the four abillities. Knowing it correctly allow us to know which tenses to use, when, why and how. I don't know how i'll teach grammar because I think it's a practical issue and has to be analysed according to the class you'll have, as Penny Ur said. I'll try to teach helping the students to understand grammar in a way that they'll not forget it.
Grammar is very important, mainly when you have to express complex ideas which demand a good knowledge of the language. I really think that the knowledge of grammar is developed through the use of the language not through rules which many times make the learners confused. Even when these complex grammatical rules are memorized by the learners, they are not stored in their mental lexicon, and they have to make an enormous effort to remember of them; that makes them to give up trying to remember those rules and they end up using peaces of phrases they already know. Instead of teaching rules the learning and teaching of English should be focused on big peaces of language which really shows how the grammar works; copying peaces of prefabricated phrases does not mean copying ideas but using them to express your ideas properly. I think my thought is similar to the author of Perspective on pedagogical Grammar, the language is a social thing therefore everybody speaks in the same way and express different ideas.
As Terence Odlin quotes Spada (1986) in her article: "...learners need practice in both formal analysis and functional (communicative) activities... learning will suffer if either type of practice is neglected". I agree with that, because I think if the student just keep making formal analysis of the language, and doesn't practice this in the real way it happens, (s)he wont be able to learn it. As a student, I can say that my experience with grammar wasn't succesful in the regular school, because the functional practice was neglected, and it was given importance just to the formal analysis. I think grammar is a very important part of the learning, but it cannot be considered as the most important part, since the language has many other aspects which cannot be forgotten. The author says in the article, “students who receive formal instruction will outperform those who do not”. Unfortunately I agree with that, but I don’t think grammar must be the main part of all the learning process, I believe that there is a right time to learn it in a more depth way. Sometimes I think to focus too much on grammar can make students to distance so much of the language, especially when they are young or when they are in the initial phase of the learning.
In the hard process of learning English, teachers play a very important role. Knowing how to link the four skills of the language (speaking, writing, listening and reading) is a challenge that teachers must achieve in order to teach effectively. According to Lock, grammar is closely related to the communication and one can not be successful without another. I totally agree with him, because grammar is the basis of the language. If we cut the root of a tree, in the beginning of the growing process, the tree will become useless. So in my opinion, fluency in English depends on the whole process that the language requires, including the grammatical system. Nowadays, we have a myriad of resources to help us to teach dynamic and funny grammar activities.
I really enjoyed reading your comments. But take care of your texts before posting it!!! Review them!!! In my opinion, as a teacher of teachers, "ordinary users of english" should learn grammar in a contextualized way, learning by practicing. However, we, teachers must learn metalanguage to understand better how English works as a system, so that we can deal with the problems of our Ss practice.
According to Penny Ur, “Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combine words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning”. In her book Grammar Practice Activities: A practical guide for teachers (Oxford, 1991) she presents some ideas of classroom practice. Ur also consider grammar as a temporary basis for classroom, in other words, the learning of structures is necessary to manipulate the language as a whole, but it can’t be the only point of knowledge. The author also divides the learning/teaching of grammar in four stages: presentation, isolation and explanation, practice, test) and considers some classroom requisites to grammar acquirement, as well as teacher assistance and backgrounds and interest of the students. Eventually, she describes some practices at class that can activate students learning and lead teacher postures and choices of methodologies. Agreeing with Penny Ur, I believe grammar is not – or should not be – the main point to teach/study English, although it is too much important. Learning/teaching grammar must build a systematic model of the language not only focused in a book exercise, but also in all kinds of uses of the language. In order to this, as language is alive, cannot be attached to the idea that English ends in grammar and they just need to know this. For me, grammar is a basis for learning a language. It is a helpful tool to start the systematic knowledge of the language that thence the speaker – or the speaker to be - will develop the abilities “producing” the language. Without grammar, the learner has no good domain of the language, but only with grammar, the learner just domain it. There must be a balance for it works. I use to teach grammar after students have used the structures with the knowledge or when they still no realize regularities on the language point being used. When I started teaching, I predicted all the grammar points and I used to give them clues and it was mechanic. I changed this when, in a language school methodology based on it, made me experiment this inversion of posture. It was very successful and now, I adopt it using grammar to clarify what students already know how to use.
ResponderExcluirI believe that grammar is a very important tool in English lessons. It doesn't have to be the main point of a lesson, as it is considered boring by most students, but we have to take into consideration that without knowing grammar, communication, reading and writing become very difficult tasks. Grammar connects what the Ss are already able to do with the language to what they haven't come across yet.
ResponderExcluirPenny Ur mentions in her book "Grammar Practice activities" that it is essential that the teacher think of the best way to teach grammar, having clear in his mind that the Ss expect different strategies while learning grammar in order to avoid boredom.
I haven't had the opportunity to work with more than one ss at a time, but when I become a "real" teacher I'll try (and I hope to succeed) to vary the activities related to grammar.
Ju.
According to Graham Lock, the relationship between grammar and communication should be closely related; due to the fact that communication is only possible by the usage of grammatical system (Littlewood 1985).
ResponderExcluirHe also argues that grammar teaching has to be integrated in the listening, speaking, and writing skills, and not separated as a "grammar lesson". It can be done if we, teachers to be, engage learners in motivated activities and make use of different methodologies that do not consider association of grammar teaching with the rule plus drilling ; 'grammar as a surface skill'(Graham, 1996).
Talking about methodology, it is impossible to create a perfect method for grammar teaching, but I think we have a range variety of methods and it is possible to integrate them and make the teaching of grammar an effective tool in our classes. I also believe that grammar is essential for a second language Ss communicate effectively in the L2.
It is a little complicated to talk about the way I teach grammar; due to the fact I follow rules. It is possible to say that the way I teach is closely related to the grammar teaching plus drilling. Although I am concerned that it is not the best way, I consider the fact that when I become a “real teacher” as Ju said, I hope to succeed in the in the development of different strategies in order to provide my Ss a real english lesson based not only in one skill, but taking all into consideration, and also grammar.
One of the advantanges of teach grammar is show to the student how is the real use of the language. It is important for the development of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Know grammar is not just lay out forms and structures, but you need understand what they are for and how they are used. Graham Lock in his book "Functional English Grammar" describe grammar in two approaches: in the first one a distinction is made between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, based on rules for differents contexts. In the other one the focus is in communication, is necessary analyze grammar to allow speakers and writers make and exchange meanings. I haven´t yet teach for a regular class, so I don´t have experience to share about this, but as a studente I believe that the better way is to induce the inference. After work in practice for a while, is more easy comprehend the rules.
ResponderExcluirThe tapestry of language learning
ResponderExcluirRobin C. Scarcella and Rebeca L. Oxford
The Tapestry approach is the model the every teacher should follow, because it does not attempt to teach all the grammar properties of the English language. First because not all teachers know about grammar and time it is not enough, so they focus on those grammatical features that are useful to the students, teachable and learnable, determining students needs and goals, teaching the basic rules, most common exceptions, only the necessary for them mastering the language.
The teachers recycle grammatical features periodically according to student’s needs and present features through a variety of activity types preventing boredom. The grammar is explained in a clearly way.
The teachers gradually release the responsibility to students to work in pairs or groups. Errors are not correct at the beginning of student’s learning, because at this moment they need more encouragement, the teacher does not interrupt when the student is speaking, only at the end corrections can be made, because when it occurs the student can lose his confidence, spoiling his capacity of improving his output. The teacher observes why the student is making the mistake and tries to show the student where the error is occurring.
While there is little research that suggest that deductive or inductive learning is inherently better it is best to provide learners with both types of grammar activities. Even most people study English by the deductive model, researchers should be done to help students develop their abilities in a foreign language.
So simple and easy to follow, I don’t know why most teachers complicate trying to reach the whole world, and do not teach us only the core, do not mind in giving a good grammar well explained, go to subject to subject the faster they can, and simply teach the spinal column for us walk with our feet, and have the base to survive.
The main preoccupation of the teacher should be if the student is learning, but not, they don’t care, they are preoccupied whether the content was follow, even when the students already know about the subject, but the syllabus was prepared and followed, even though it wasn’t necessary to follow thoroughly, nothing was modified to fill the students necessities, even a comma. As a piece of music used to say They don’t really care about us.
by- Maria Elisabete
As a student I can say that according my own experience grammar is essential. I have lots of debbilities today because my lack of grammar knowledge. My writing and my listening are too limited because in the moment of the construction of sentences I don't know how to and when to use words. It happens because I had no enough teaching of grammar points during my student career. As Graham Lock said, one of the points of grammar is to focus on communication to allow us to make and exchange meanings. I agree with him that is necessary to teach grammar this way beacuse when the student isn't abble to make and exchange meanings, he (or she) isn't able to continue his (her) idea with no breaks. Of course i don't agree with that system which just teaches grammar and nothing else, but i totally agree with the teaching of grammar points in a detailed way. I had lots of stuff of Portuguese grammar, and my writing and speaking today is very good thank to this. I think that if i learn English on the same way, my speaking, writing and reading will be as good as my Portuguese is today.
ResponderExcluirI would define grammar as the main point for the right understanding of the meanings of the ways of using words in the four abillities. Knowing it correctly allow us to know which tenses to use, when, why and how.
I don't know how i'll teach grammar because I think it's a practical issue and has to be analysed according to the class you'll have, as Penny Ur said. I'll try to teach helping the students to understand grammar in a way that they'll not forget it.
oopsss...correcting a mistake: "My writing and my speaking (not my listening) are too limited..." =D
ResponderExcluirPerspective on pedagogical Grammar chapter 2
ResponderExcluirGrammar is very important, mainly when you have to express complex ideas which demand a good knowledge of the language. I really think that the knowledge of grammar is developed through the use of the language not through rules which many times make the learners confused. Even when these complex grammatical rules are memorized by the learners, they are not stored in their mental lexicon, and they have to make an enormous effort to remember of them; that makes them to give up trying to remember those rules and they end up using peaces of phrases they already know.
Instead of teaching rules the learning and teaching of English should be focused on big peaces of language which really shows how the grammar works; copying peaces of prefabricated phrases does not mean copying ideas but using them to express your ideas properly.
I think my thought is similar to the author of Perspective on pedagogical Grammar, the language is a social thing therefore everybody speaks in the same way and express different ideas.
As Terence Odlin quotes Spada (1986) in her article: "...learners need practice in both formal analysis and functional (communicative) activities... learning will suffer if either type of practice is neglected". I agree with that, because I think if the student just keep making formal analysis of the language, and doesn't practice this in the real way it happens, (s)he wont be able to learn it. As a student, I can say that my experience with grammar wasn't succesful in the regular school, because the functional practice was neglected, and it was given importance just to the formal analysis. I think grammar is a very important part of the learning, but it cannot be considered as the most important part, since the language has many other aspects which cannot be forgotten. The author says in the article, “students who receive formal instruction will outperform those who do not”. Unfortunately I agree with that, but I don’t think grammar must be the main part of all the learning process, I believe that there is a right time to learn it in a more depth way. Sometimes I think to focus too much on grammar can make students to distance so much of the language, especially when they are young or when they are in the initial phase of the learning.
ResponderExcluirIn the hard process of learning English, teachers play a very important role. Knowing how to link the four skills of the language (speaking, writing, listening and reading) is a challenge that teachers must achieve in order to teach effectively. According to Lock, grammar is closely related to the communication and one can not be successful without another. I totally agree with him, because grammar is the basis of the language. If we cut the root of a tree, in the beginning of the growing process, the tree will become useless. So in my opinion, fluency in English depends on the whole process that the language requires, including the grammatical system. Nowadays, we have a myriad of resources to help us to teach dynamic and funny grammar activities.
ResponderExcluirGuys,
ResponderExcluirI really enjoyed reading your comments. But take care of your texts before posting it!!! Review them!!!
In my opinion, as a teacher of teachers, "ordinary users of english" should learn grammar in a contextualized way, learning by practicing. However, we, teachers must learn metalanguage to understand better how English works as a system, so that we can deal with the problems of our Ss practice.