Филологические науки/1.Методика преподавания языка и литературы

Зубарева О.В.-преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков

Международной Бизнес-Академии г. Караганда, Казахстан

Ways of teaching grammar

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the most difficult aspects of language to teach well.

Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of nonprestige forms.

Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context.

Other language teachers, influenced by recent theoretical work on the difference between language learning and language acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. Believing that children acquire their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect students to learn their second language the same way. They assume that students will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know.

The communicative competence model balances these extremes. The model recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the larger context of teaching students to use the language. Instructors using this model teach students the grammar they need to know to accomplish defined communication tasks.

Various simple procedures may be followed in the teaching of grammar. The best known are Deductive method and Inductive method.

Deductive method:

Under this method, the teachers starts with rules and definitions and proceeds to apply them to particular examples and clarify the underlying ideas and implications of the formula and rules.

In this method the following rules are followed:

The teacher gives the rules and definitions. The students are not allowed to arrive at them after examining some examples.

The definitions and the rules have to be memorized by the students. The teacher proceeds from abstract to concrete before they reach the abstract.

Generally formal grammar was taught by the deductive method. Only rules and examples were recited by the teacher and the pupils and there was no practice, no action and no linking of word and its meaning. Everything appeared easy and time saving but the pupils did not anything finally because there was no practical demonstration or practice of the pattern.

Inductive method:

This follows the reverse process. The teacher proceeds from the particular to general. He presents several examples to the students. After the examples he lays down the rules. The advantages of this method are:

This method is psychological rather than logical. The popular psychological maxims like “from known to unknown”, “from simple to complex”, “from concrete to abstract” and “from general to particular” are allowed in this method.

In this method the students become an active partner in the classroom. They become the discoverer of rules and usage of grammar.

The students get an opportunity to apply his brain and intelligence. It instills self-confidence and sense of participation in the students mind.

The traditional method of teaching grammar is still very popular among experienced teachers and teachers that have been in the profession for a while.

There are a few young, fresh, brave souls who enter the teaching field and follow the example set by their teachers in high school- the traditional, grammar book, worksheet, right or wrong example. Regardless of whether they look at the student population and see the wasting away of society or a field of young and potential-filled flowers, these teachers see grammar as something that should be taught in isolation. It should be given its own time, its own unit, and its own space in the curriculum. Not incorrectly, they see their chosen field of study as something so highly important that it cannot be ignored nor tainted with other subjects; the students must learn it because that's what students do: they learn grammar.

There may be one fact these traditionalists are overlooking when it comes to teaching grammar. Why is it that students, when taught grammar the traditional, isolated way, have to be re-taught the same grammatical concepts year after year? It seems to the common observer that they're simply not learning it. They remember the concepts for the worksheet and the test but soon forget and have to learn the next year - for the tenth time - the function of an adverb. There is certainly something awry in this system. Are teachers wasting their time trying to fill young minds with grammatical facts? If they're not, then why do so many adults who have graduated high school and gone through years of repetitive grammar instruction display horrific grammatical skills.

Based on this information, many have decided to abandon the practice of teaching grammar all-together. They have brushed it off as worthless and have instead chosen to cross their fingers in hopes that if students read enough and write enough, they will start to naturally see the patterns of the English language. For some students this may work. In fact, it may work for many students. However, teachers may collide into a problem with this system. In every state, teachers have a curriculum to follow, a list of "to-do's" if you will that they must get covered in a year's time. These curriculum lists usually contain a set of pure grammatical skills that the students must learn, and unless the teacher wants to rebel against the curriculum (and, therefore, the school and state boards) that teacher must teach those things.

For those teachers who are neither traditional nor rebellious, there is a middle road of grammar instruction. This type of instruction combines grammar with reading and writing as an everyday experience in the classroom. The teacher usually introduces a grammatical concept; let's say "adjective series», which the students need to know. He or she gives a short "mini-lesson" on the issue and maybe has the students do a quick activity (not a worksheet, more like a creative exercise like, "Write a paragraph about your ideal career and include two adjective series in the paragraph."

Then, the students may read a story, discuss the story, and then find examples of the grammatical concept in the story. This method is very much dependent on the teacher's creativity and his or her ability to weave grammar into every other area of the English classroom. It is by no means the easiest way to teach grammar, but as research has shown, it may be the most effective. It is definitely the method that takes the most time and creativity on the part of the teacher, but for a dedicated professional, these are both secondary concerns to the level of learning the students achieve.

Post – Modern age connects a big link between language and technology. Technology plays a vital role in teaching all the subjects. Modern teaching methodology of PowerPoint presentation with animation motivates the students to learn grammar with ease. The Paper chart on the wall has given way to the animated LCD screens. There are many Printable documents available on the internet which will also help the students to learn grammar easily and enthusiastically.

Grammar is one of those issues that does not have an easy solution. It is tricky and it is tough, kind of like all important things in life. It is not for the faint of heart or the creatively shallow. There are teachers who make the traditional method work; somehow they have found a way to get bits of information to implant themselves into student minds like tiny eggs of precious information. There are teachers who don't handle grammar at all, but they make their students read enough and write enough that somehow they pass their tests and grow up with a basic knowledge of the concepts; and there are teachers who creatively combine grammar to other classroom activities.