a course in english language teaching unit 6 teaching grammar aims of the unit: 1.the role of...

A COURSE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Unit 6 Teaching Grammar

Aims of the unit:1. The role of grammar in ELT2. Grammar presentation methods3. Grammar practice


7.1 The role of grammar in ELT

• The value of grammar in foreign language teaching has been a focus of debate for decades, and no conclusion is in sight.

• The answer to whether grammar should be taught and to what extent grammar should be taught depends on some variables in the language teaching /learning context, such as learner variables and instructional variables.


It is generally believed that • Grammar teaching is less important for children

than for adults;• Grammar teaching is less important in listening

and reading than in writing.• Grammar teaching can be seen in most formal clas

sroom language teaching.


7.2 Grammar presentation

• The deductive method• The inductive method• The guided discovery method• Teaching grammar using listening as input• The synthesis approach


The deductive method relies on reasoning, analyzing and comparing.

The teaching process is:

1. The teacher writes an example on the board or draws a1. The teacher writes an example on the board or draws attention to an example in the textbook. ttention to an example in the textbook.

Rules Examples Practice

Deductive method 演绎法


In the inductive method, the teacher induces the learners to realize grammar rules without any form of explicit (clear) explanation. Students will become evident to the grammar rules if they are given enough appropriate examples.

Examples Rules Practice

Inductive method 归纳法


2. Then teacher explains the underlying rules regarding the forms and positions of certain structural words. The explanations are often done in the student’s native language and using grammatical terms. Sometimes, comparisons are made between the native language and the target language or between the newly presented structure and previously learned structures.

3. Finally the students practice applying the rule to produce sentences with given prompts.


as…as…

Smart powerful

kind

loyalfunny lovely


It is similar to the inductive method in that the ss are induced to discover the rules by themselves but different in that the process of the discovery is carefully guided and assisted by the teacher and the rules are then elicited and are taught explicitly.

context

rules practice

Guided Discovery Method 诱导发现法


Direct speech & indirect speech

An old lady said , “my rooster laid an egg yesterday.”

An old lady said rooster an eggher had laid

the day

before.

Mr finger’s secret


Teaching grammar using listening as input

• Ellis(2002b) suggests the following procedures for teaching grammar using listening as input. (p.106)


Grammar teaching procedures

Inductive activity 归纳式教学活动

Deductive activity 演绎式教学活动

Practice to consolidate 运用练习巩固

writing practice

Listening practice

Oral practice

Reading practicePragmatic production 语用层面的活动

learn grammar in the context语篇中感知语法

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Synthesis approach

• Pennington(2002) (p.107) proposes a synthesis approach to grammar pedagogy .

• Grammar teaching should be “collocational, constructive, contextual and contrastive”, which can serve as useful guidelines for teaching grammar. (PP.107-108)


• In practice, the distinction between the deductive method and the inductive method is

not always apparent.


My happiest days were those that I laid in the arm of a woman ...,

My happiest days were those that I laid in the arm of a woman…

who is my dear mother.

who I can’t remember.


I will wear no clothes, which will distinguish me from my fellowmen.

I will wear no clothes which will distinguish me from my fellowmen.


7.3 Grammar practice

• According to Ur, “practice may be defined as any kind of engaging with the language on the part of the learner, usually under the teacher supervision, whose primary objective is to consolidate learning” .(Ur, 1988:11) (p.108)


Pre-learning. Learners benefit from clear perception and short-term memory of the new language.

Volume and repetition. The more exposure to or production of language the learners have, the more likely they are to learn.

Success-orientation. Practice is most effective when based on successful practice.

7.3.1 Ur predicts that the following 6 factors contribute to successful practice:


Heterogeneity. Practice should be able to elicit different sentences and generate different levels of answers from different learners.

Teacher assistance. The teacher should provide suggestions, hints and prompts.

Interest : an essential feature that is closely

related to concentration


Grammar practice

Mechanical practice

Meaningful /communicative practice

Mechanical practice involves activities that are aimed at form accuracy. By doing mechanical practice, the students pay repeated attention to a key element in a structure.

Substitution drills

Transformation drills

In meaningful practice the focus is on the production, comprehension or exchange of meaning though the students “keep an eye on” the way newly learned structures are used in the process. It usually comes after mechanical practice.

Prompts: pictures, mimes, table, charts or chain words.

7.3.2 Two categories of practice

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Substitute the underlined part with the proper forms of the

given words:

• MRs Green has the largest house in town.green lawnclean house pretty gardennice flowers

It is believed the substitution drills that involve changes in forms are more effective than those in which ss simply replace the target part with another word.


Change the following sentences into the past tense using the adverbs in the brackets:

We have English and math today. (yesterday, music and P.E)

Yesterday we had music and P.E.


Look at the table below, rank the items on the left column according to the criteria listed on the top.

cheap healthy tasty fattening important

Beer

water

fruit

cigarettes

alcohol

milk


using created situations:1) past continuouswhat were they doing last night?

2) （ have/has+been+Ved ）who is the best detective?

3) “should+have+Ved”

4) there must be/ can’t be “touch and guess”.


Summary of Unit 7

• Perhaps there will never be a solution to the debate on the value of teaching grammar, because language teaching and learning contexts vary so greatly.

• It should be noted that learning grammar itself is not the ultimate goal of learning English.

• The understanding of how to teach grammar is as controversial 有争议的 as that of the value of teaching grammar.

• We believe that both mechanical practice and meaningful practice are necessary.


Some suggestions about teaching grammar

1. Teach only those rules that are simple and typical.

2. Teach useful and important grammar points.3. Teach grammar in context.4. Use visible instruments such as charts,

tables, diagrams, maps, drawings, and realia (pl. of realis) to aid understanding;

5. Avoid difficult grammatical terminologies as much as possible.

6. Allow enough opportunities for practice.7. Live with the students’ mistakes and errors.


Homework

• What are the major types of grammar presentation methods?

• What are the major types of grammar practice activities?


观看教学片断，回答下面问题：

1. 教师在导入部分采用了几个步骤？这几个步骤的教学目的是什么？

2.录像中的语法教学方式与传统的语法教学方式有什么不同？

3.教师是如何引导学生发现语法规则的？4.教师在总结语法规则后，采用了几个层次的活动帮助学生练习和运用所学语法？

5.从这些活动的结果看，教师使用的语法学习方式是否有效？


Thank You !Thank You !

a course in english language teaching unit 6 teaching grammar aims of the unit: 1.the role of...

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