Teacher Discussion Forums

[cindy geng]

Grammar is very important in English learning,it is necessary to have a good foundation in grammar,it is conducive to understanding and all the
other skills,but placing too much importance on it will also impede our study.I wonder how much importance do you attach to grammar?Do teach rules or let students find rules by themselves?

[Janisse]

I almost get my degree to be an ESL teacher at the high school level. Your question is pretty interesting and I already had similar interrogations in mind. During my last practicum I asked my associate teacher what does he think about the importance of teaching grammar; “how much should we emphasize on teaching grammar rules in class”. He personally believes that it depends on the level of the group you are teaching to. He also strongly believes that a small part of every period should be reserve to teach some grammar rules or simply to make a review. I remember that he rarely spent a whole period on grammar, but during each period a grammar activity was conducted. I think it is the best strategy to use.

Concerning your questioning about if you should let the students find the rules by themselves or not, according to my observations a big NO comes to my mind. I remember that even at the end of their high school studies, the majority of my ESL groups were not advanced enough to find and to learn grammar rules by themselves. Moreover, the problem was not only that they were not able to make this kind of deductions, but even by teaching them, they had problem to remember the rules and to use them in real context. Therefore, I strongly believe that you should teach grammar rules with every student; even with bilingual groups.

I would like to know your opinion about it and what is the strategies you are presently using?

Thank You

[mgrima]

When teaching grammar at the secondary school level. I usually introduce the rules in a very general way then I move onto an interactive game or activity so that students can see how to use the grammar rules in a real context. I have noticed that students remember the rules better this way because they can practice and apply them right away in a context where they understand its use. For example for the perfect tense I get them to describe a family member to their partner they must think of things this family member started doing in the past but is still doing now. For example "my grandmother has lived in her house for 18 years. I also always demonstrate before starting so that students see me do an example. Hope this helps.

[cathjean]

Grammar was basically the thing I was the most afraid to teach in high school. But I tried with my secondary 5 students. I did it so that it was funny and I included some other teachers they know. The answers were meant to be funny and they had to invent new sentences and turn those passive sentences into interrogative. We did the activity with the active board and I invited the football coach, which they all love so much.
They actually enjoyed the activity and they asked for more. And after that activity teaching a little bit of grammar was no a big deal anymore.

[Sally Olsen]

We carried out an experiment and had a very personable and pretty teacher who the students loved teach a grammar course from a book - one concept a day with examples and homework. We did a pre and post test and informal observation on the student's talking and writing. There was no noticeable improvement and the students hated the lessons by the end of the book. they did, however, say that they had studied grammar during a final survey of that part of the course and had been asking for more "grammar".

Then we used Systemic Functional Grammar where the students discover the patterns in language themselves. They all improved but of course there were still mistakes. The students got quite excited about comparing their language and English and also finding out new things. It was a much nicer atmosphere in class, a sense of collaboration rather than dictation.