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Catedra de Limba si Literatura engleza EFL Methodology

LINGUISTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE MEANING, AND THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR

As with other aspects of language teaching, the importance given to the teaching of

grammar depends on the teaching / learning circumstances and the purpose of the course. Over the years, the importance of teaching grammar has also depended on the changing approaches and methods teachers used.

Krashen (1982) argues that formal instruction in grammar does not contribute to the development of ‘acquired’ knowledge (knowledge needed to participate in authentic communication). Prabhu (1987) shows that classroom learners can acquire grammar naturalistically by participating in meaning focused-tasks. Ellis (2002) argues that grammar teaching does aid foreign language acquisition, and that formal grammar teaching has a delayed rather than instant effect.

After a period in which the explicit teaching of grammar was avoided, the current view appears to be that some grammar is necessary. Although the emphasis is still on language as communication, it is recognised that a certain amount of grammatical knowledge helps many learners to build a basis for further progress. Grammar allows them to find patterns in language which act as guidelines. Therefore, the issue now centres on questions such as ‘Which grammar items do learners need most?’ ‘How do we go about teaching grammar items in the most effective way?’ ‘Are they best taught inductively or deductively?’

In this unit we will explore communicative and linguistic meaning, and the teaching of grammar. By the end of the unit you will be able to:

• explain why an utterance means what it means • say how meaning can be categorized • explain how you can make the learning of grammar manageable for your

learners • set up, apply and monitor a variety of interactive classroom tasks for

developing grammar • offer a theoretical justification for each of these tasks • assess the learning outcomes of classroom grammar activities. Key concepts: intelligibility, factors that interfere with communication,

communicative meaning, linguistic meaning, communicative competence, conventionalised functional exponent, inductive and deductive strategies, consciousness-raising, concept questions, horizontal extensions, correction techniques

Communication, meaning and interference

We use language to mean something with it. When a speaker says something, s/he intends the hearer to understand her/him. When the hearer hears the utterance, s/he sets about interpreting it, and the continuation of the process constitutes a conversation / a communication event / a speech event.

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intended meaning is it expressed adequately? interpreted meaning is it interpreted correctly?

When the intended meaning is not interpreted correctly or when it is not expressed adequately we say that there is interference. If two speakers misunderstand each other, they tend to rectify the situation by a so-called ‘repair’ sequence, e.g.:

A: No, hang on a minute. I’m talking about this week, not next week. B: Oh, I see. That'll be fine then.

If, however, the communication interference occurs between speakers of different languages, the reasons for this interference may be diverse, and of a different nature.

English native speakers can usually tolerate a high degree of inaccuracy of sounds and grammar. This is because many inaccurate sounds or structures, when surrounded by accurate sounds or structures, are intelligible, as they can be inferred from context. The crucial criterion of successful communication in English is then intelligibility. Intelligibility in communication depends on a few criteria:

• the subtlety or complexity of the message that the speaker wants to put across • the extent to which the listener understands the speaker’s language difficulties

– both in production and in reception • the tolerance of the listener to the speaker and/or the speaker’s culture and

language.

Interference can affect both native speakers and foreigners, both their production and their interpretation of the message. This is not to say, however, that every such conversation is loaded with miscommunication. The criteria outlined above apply only to specific instances. These aspects of (mis)communication raise a number of theoretical questions, of which the most important is “What does effective communication depend on?”

This question has practical implications for us: we need to think of what level of subtlety or sophistication our pupils need to achieve in their mastery of English. Depending on our answer to this, we need to make decisions concerning our teaching. On the one hand, we need to provide our pupils with a range of language which is wide enough to enable them to express what they want to say, with a degree of accuracy appropriate to their needs. Also, we need to prepare them to listen with understanding to native English speech in a range of topics and registers appropriate to their needs. Bear in mind, however, that the level of accuracy a pupil needs to achieve will be different from that of another. Similarly, the levels of receptive skill and awareness of socio-cultural conventions will also differ from one pupil to another.

Linguistic and communicative meaning

Compare these two fragments:

1. He’d be a fool if he refused. 2. A: I look like being offered a front-desk job at the bank. B: Yes, and you’d be a fool if you refused.

Which grammatical structure is common to 1 and 2? What variations of meaning can you detect in each of its uses?

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The grammatical structure common to 1 and 2 is the second conditional. Its meaning can be analysed in the following ways:

(1) is a sentence without context. The use of the second conditional here denotes a hypothetical and improbable refusal which is related to an unavoidable consequence, that of being considered a fool.

In (2), the second conditional is contextualised in a communicative exchange. The utterance in which it appears has two layers of meaning: one literal and one actual. The literal meaning is that, given the improbable refusal, the inevitable consequence is to be a fool. In other words, the literal meaning is as for (1). The actual meaning depends on the context, and takes on another dimension of meaning – communicative meaning. The communicative meaning of B’s utterance in (2) is “I advise you strongly to take the job”.

Contextualised utterances, then, have two types of meaning: linguistic / intrinsic meaning and communicative / contextual meaning. Linguistic/intrinsic meaning relates to the essential meaning of each of the structures and lexis which make up the utterance, as if that utterance were decontextualised. Communicative contextual / meaning relates to the message intended by the speaker and understood by the hearer. This meaning is sometimes called function.

Why does an utterance mean what it means? Because when it is produced, the speaker combines a series of linguistic meanings (i.e. structure and lexis) with factors in the context. The final outcome is the communicative meaning of the utterance, in other words, its function. Here are two examples of this process of combination:

Example 1 Forms: Yes, but you’re leaving in May!

Linguistic meanings: Yes: filler but: conjunction, indicating contradiction or contrast you: pronoun, referring to addressee ‘re leaving: present continuous, showing future arranged action in May: preposition + N (specific month)

Note: Stress and intonation indicate referring back to known information.

Context: Setting: at home, a couple is discussing Addressee: partner Previous conversation: the couple has been discussing a visit to one partner’s

parents Previous utterance: Well, how about May?

Communicative meaning/function: Reminding in a slightly exasperated way. Implication: “Stop pretending you’ve forgotten you’re going away.”

Example 2 Forms: Yes, but you’re leaving in May!

Linguistic meanings: same as above. Note: Stress and intonation indicate introduction of new information.

Context: Setting: landlord talking to tenant Addressee: tenant Previous conversation: the landlord has been trying to effect the departure of a

badly behaved tenant Previous utterance: You said I could have a few more days to sort out my affairs.

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In one short sentence, explain what is the communicative meaning/function of the statement “Yes, but you’re leaving in May!” in example (2) above.

The implications of such examples and the description of the way language and context come together to make communication possible are sometimes complex. For us, one very basic implication is that grammatical structures (e.g. tenses, modals, comparatives, etc.) have a central role to play in the communicative process.

We realise that the complexity of the matter is even greater when we remember that there is no one-to-one relationship between form and communicative function. Any grammatical structure or form can be used to express almost any function, given a particular context and appropriate accompanying vocabulary and intonation. Remember, however, that there is a fairly sound and reliable relationship between a form and its linguistic meaning, though there may be several possible linguistic meanings for one form (e.g. the present simple tense, the modal verb may, the word head, etc.). Because this relationship is more-or-less invariable or systematic, the speakers can assume that they share linguistic meanings, and can therefore use these forms in combination with external factors, to create specified messages.

Linguistic meaning Linguistic meaning falls into categories or ‘notions’. Notions include grammatical

categories such as: • pastness • mass and unit • presentness • purpose • futurity • result • duration • number • time relations • motion • possibility • direction, etc.

and lexical categories such as:

• descriptive adjectives and nouns • activity verbs • nouns of place • state verbs • qualitative adjectives and verbs • verbs of process • adverbs of manner • verbs of motion, etc.

As such lists are actually endless, it is important to realise that they are only attempts to categorise a language notionally. They are arbitrary and have been compiled through a combination of intuition, common sense and rational discussion. Such attempts cannot present the final answer to the question “How should the meanings of English be categorised?”

Although notions are one way of categorizing language, they have not become widely used in ELT in the way that functions have. Very few textbooks have been produced based purely on notional categories, many textbooks are functional-notional.

Linguists are in (some) more agreement on the concepts (i.e. linguistic meanings) of the lexical items and the grammatical structures of English. These are of central importance because they are what the learners use to generalise from. For instance, the past tense has the following generalisable form and concept/meaning:

Form: verb + -ed (regular) Meaning: activity/process/state at point of time or over period of time in the past.

Note: The -ed form also has other separate concepts, each of which is

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generalisable in its own way, e.g. its use with I wish... Communicative meaning

Look at the following utterances, all of which are possible responses to the statement by A:

B1: I couldn’t agree more. B2: Yeah. B3: Bloody weather. A: Looks like we’ve had it. B4: Have you got an umbrella? B5: What time’s the next bus back? B6: Hmmm. B7: Oh, you are such a pessimist!

What can we conclude? The meaning of an utterance in context depends on that context.

Communicative meaning is arrived at by adding the linguistic meaning of the components to the contextual factors, a process which native speakers can do in an instant. Native speakers would immediately know that the responses of B (1 – 6) are carrying the message “I agree”, even though each one is different. They would also know that:

• the style/register is appropriate in each context • the attitude is appropriate • the speaker is referring to something in the physical situation that both

interlocutors know about (i.e. grey clouds on the horizon).

In other words, native speakers have communicative competence. By communicative competence, we mean here, a cultural familiarity with all the aspects above. This competence enables the speakers to understand and produce utterances which will be understood across a wide variety of communicative situations.

Conventionalised functional exponents It is said that there are over 10,000 functions in Standard English. However, it is still

not clear what exactly a communicative function includes: does one utterance constitute a function, or can several utterances together constitute a function? Here are eight ways of expressing apology:

Please accept my humble apologies, sir. Sorry. Oh, I am sorry – are you alright? I do apologise. Oh dear, what an idiot I am. My apologies. My fault entirely. Pardon me.

Now it’s your turn to think of several ways of expressing a function. Think of as many ways as you can of expressing surprise, and write them in the space below:

Most functions can be expressed in a variety of ways, depending on the context, the personality of the speaker, the mood of the speaker, etc. The syllabus and the textbooks, which aim to furnish the learner with some immediate functional ability, have to

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select from among this variety. They select those functions that are the most useful to pupils, together with certain ways of expressing those functions. Such ways of expressing functions need to be commonly used and commonly recognised. They are termed “conventionalised functional exponents” or “conventional exponents” because they are considered to be the most generalisable exponents for their particular function.

Conventional exponents are a language teaching device and they provide the basis of most functional textbooks. They can equip pupils with structural patterns which have communicative meaning and which can therefore be used immediately.

Certain functions appear to be related to certain linguistic patterns, not rigidly but commonly enough to be regular. For instance:

Would you like a + NOUN = offer Would you like to + VERB PHRASE = invitation D’you fancy + VERB + -ING = invitation (informal) Excuse me ... please = polite attention getting formula

Conventional exponents represent a shortcut for both the learner and the teacher. We can teach them as conventions, together with their communicative meaning (not their linguistic meaning!), and with information as to their contextual/social appropriacy and the attitude expressed. Some of these conventional exponents often bear little relationship to the original linguistic meaning of the components. For instance, would you like a... is not really a second conditional improbable future.

Teaching meaning

Grammatical structures and lexical items have notional meaning, and functional exponents have functional meaning. The former provide the learners with immediate communicative tools.

What other aspects of language have meanings? What else, besides language, can contribute to the meaning of a message?

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The teaching of an item of language – grammatical structure or lexical item – needs focussing on it in a variety of contexts. If we offer our pupils the opportunity of experiencing language items only in isolated contexts, the danger is that they only see language as a series of separate components. So we need to be aware of what is called the global dimension of meaning, meanings in combination –- in other words, spoken and written discourse.

What is the meaning of discourse made up of? What elements can you mention? Your answer should not exceed 50 words.

The comprehension and expression of meaning in discourse are skills which have to be practised above and beyond the learning of discrete items of language.

Traditionally, EFL teachers insisted on ‘grammatical structures’. Now we also deal with ‘functional structures’, that is, conventional exponents. On the whole, we need to emphasise grammatical meaning for the former type (e.g. tenses, modal verbs, prepositions, comparative and superlative forms, etc.), and communicative meaning for the latter type, e.g.:

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I’m awfully sorry… = apology but + statement = explanation you could always + inf. = suggestion, after initial suggestion is rejected The problem, however, arises when a particular grammatical structure lends itself

to several distinct functions. For instance:

Example Form: The First Conditional: if + clause, subject + will + verb

Linguistic meaning/concept: the condition is assumed as neither likely nor unlikely to happen – 50/50 possibility: If you do that again…, If she gets in early…

Function (i.e. communicative meaning): • threat: If you touch that again I’ll kill you. • warning: If you touch that you’ll burn your hand. • conditional promise: I'll come if I can get the time off work. • bargain: I'll do the washing up if you do the lawn, etc.

The question is if in cases like this we should think of linguistic or communicative meaning (i.e. concept or function) first. The common answer to this question is that we should give our pupils an idea of the concept relatively early, and then teach the functional uses. An alternative strategy is to use the functional contexts as a basis for revision and practice of the structure as the pupils rise through the levels.

Some language constructions are more useful if they are taught from the basis of linguistic meaning (e.g. tenses, countables/ uncountables, etc.), because their meanings are not easily affected or determined by context: even when used in context, they retain their grammatical meaning. Other constructions are better taught as fixed expressions from the basis of communicative meaning, e.g. functional expressions such as: how about + -ing (suggestion/ advice); would you mind if + past tense (asking permission). This is because they can then act as immediately usable tools of communication.

What kind of meaning (linguistic or communicative) would you teach for each of the following items? Circle “L” for linguistic meaning or “C” for communicative meaning:

a) past perfect b) let’s + infinitive c) too + adj. + to d) you don’t happen to, … do you? e) if I were you I’d... f) if I had more spare time, I’d... g) will versus going to h) I’ll give you a lift i) I want versus I’d like j) hardly + inverted past perfect (e.g. hardly had

he got up when…

L C L C L C L C L C L C L C L C L C L C

A whole range of techniques for teaching meaning can be used. The choice of techniques used will depend on factors like the nature of the language item, the level of the pupils, their age and interests, the amount of time available, and so on. Your choice of classroom techniques will depend on the assessment of your priorities.

1. Start by asking yourself what kind of item you are teaching: is it structural or lexical? If you are dealing with a structure, then what kind of meaning do you need to teach – linguistic or communicative (concept or function)? What style does the structure belong to – formal, informal, or neutral?

2. Once you have decided what to say, guide your pupils to a focus on meaning; do

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not just leave them to work everything out on their own. 3. When possible, teach your pupils to make guesses about the meanings of

structure, using the context of a listening or reading text as an aid. 4. Do not expect immediate assimilation. Organise revision, recycling, variety of

context, practice in making choices, etc. 5. Remember that the way English divides up and classifies reality (i.e. actions,

things, ideas, relationships between things, etc.) is not the same as in Romanian. Your pupils may have conceptual difficulties to capture the English semantics.

Teaching grammar

Attitudes to grammar vary considerably. Michael Swan states (2002: 149) that there are seven bad reasons for teaching grammar and two good ones:

1. Grammar looks tidy and relatively teachable. It can be presented as a limited series of tidy things which students can learn, apply in exercises, and tick off one by one. Learning grammar is a lot simpler than learning a language.

2. Grammar is testable. Grammar tests are relatively simple, so grammar is often used as a testing short cut. So we can easily end up teaching what can be tested (mostly grammar), and testing what we have taught (mostly grammar).

3. Grammar is a security blanket. Grammar rules give students the illusory feeling that they can understand and control what is going on, as structural competence is only a portion of communicative competence, this can lead teachers and learners concentrate on grammar to the detriment of other aspects of language.

4. Grammar made me who I am. Many teachers spent a good deal of time when younger learning grammar and they feel these things matter a good deal and must be incorporated in their own teaching. The tendency of an earlier generation to overvalue grammar can be perpetuated.

5. You have to teach the whole system. People often regard grammar as a single interconnected system (like a car engine!). It is more realistic to regard grammar as an accumulation of different elements/subsystems. Depending on their native language, the students may already know something about the various subsystems.

6. Power. Some teachers enjoy the power of knowing more than the students. Grammar is the area where this mechanism operates most successfully, as grammar involves rules, and rules determine ‘correct’ behaviour.

7. The results. Where grammar is given too much priority the result is that the learners know the main rules, can pass tests, and may have the illusion that they know the language well. However, when it comes to language in practice. They discover that they lack vocabulary and fluency. Moreover, such an approach is psychologically counterproductive in that it tends to make students nervous of making mistakes, undermining their confidence and destroying their motivation.

The two good reasons are that:

8. Comprehensibility. Knowing how to build and use certain structures makes it possible to communicate common types of meaning successfully. Without these structures it is impossible to make comprehensible sentences. Although it is difficult to measure the functional load of a given linguistic item independent of context, such structures will obviously include basic verb forms, interrogative and negative structures, the use of the main tenses, modal auxiliaries, a.s.o.

9. Acceptability. In some contexts, deviance from native-speaker norms can hinder integration and excite prejudice (a person who speaks badly may not be taken seriously or may be considered uneducated or stupid). That is why students may

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need or want a higher level of grammatical correctness than is required for comprehensibility. Potential employers and examiners may also require a high level of grammatical correctness.

The question then is, when a pupil is learning to communicate in a foreign language, to what extent should grammar be made explicit? As a teacher, you may have to work with a textbook that your school uses, and you will need to assess:

• whether the textbook explicitly refers to grammar or not • whether you agree with this or not • the extent to which you need to supplement it with your own grammar

presentations and practice.

Modern linguistics most often addresses the largest unit of language – discourse or text. However, there are smaller units than discourse: the sentence, the clause, the phrase, the word and the morpheme. We may also want to analyse the component parts of the sentence: the subject, verb, object, complement, and adverbial. Different parts of the sentence may be realized by various kinds of words or phrases, called parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners and prepositions.

A specific instance of grammar is usually called a ‘grammar structure’. Such structures are the present simple of verbs, the genitive of nouns, the comparison of adjectives or adverbs, etc. Such structures can cause problems to our learners as they may look different in Romanian, or they may be absent altogether (e.g. the present perfect, the progressive aspect, etc.). The meanings of the structures that do not exist in Romanian are notoriously difficult to teach.

The terms ‘grammatical’ and ‘ungrammatical’ can be applied to either sentences or clauses, or smaller units, such as phrases or morphemes. Thus a sentence like *“The pupil readed well” is ungrammatical, and a phrase like *“the boy tall” is also ungrammatical. Even morphemes can contribute to the grammaticality or ungrammaticality of a certain form, such as the suffix –ed attached to the verb go. However, for classroom use, the most convenient unit of analysis is the sentence. (Notice that a sentence may have two or more clauses; however, by a sentence we usually mean a set of words that include a verb, stand on their own as a sense unit, and conclude by a full stop or an equivalent – question mark or exclamation mark).

How much grammar?

Before reading this section, note down a few essentials of grammar that you think your pupils need.

What is the grammar that we need to teach? The answer to this question will depend on our circumstances and our learners’ aims and level. Helped by the syllabuses and the textbooks, you will need to decide how much grammar your particular pupils require. Quite often the question of how much grammar to teach is determined by the syllabus and the textbook, which specify clearly which grammatical structures the pupils are expected to learn. Normally, the structures to be dealt with are listed at the beginning of the textbook.

Although pupils need to be more concerned with how language works than with learning about grammar, it is nevertheless useful for them to be familiar with the names of the parts of speech. Some knowledge of terminology will help them with dictionary work, save explanation time, and facilitate discussion in the classroom.

An awareness of word order should also be a priority. Our pupils should know that

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English is a Subject – Verb – Object (SVO) language. That is, in the normal, unmarked sentences, the subject is at or near the beginning of the sentence, with the verb and any objects following. Secondary school pupils should be able to recognise the subject, verb, and object(s) of a sentence when they see them, as well as any adverbials a sentence contains, and to know what their functions are. Also, they should know something about verb forms; this means knowledge of the various patterns of regular and some of the more common irregular verbs, the –s third person singular and different tense forms. At a higher level, pupils should be able to explore the more subtle distinctions expressed by the modal verbs, etc.

Grammar teaching: between practice and consciousness-raising Rod Ellis (2002) pleads that consciousness-raising activities are even more

important than practice activities. The former involve an attempt to equip the learner with an understanding of a specific grammatical feature – to develop declarative rather than procedural knowledge. The characteristics of consciousness-raising activities are the following:

• There is an attempt to isolate a specific linguistic feature for focused attention. • The learners are provided with data which illustrate the targeted feature and

they may also be supplied with an explicit rule describing the feature. • The learners are expected to utilise intellectual effort to understand the

targeted feature. • Misunderstanding or incomplete understanding of the grammatical structure by

the learners leads to clarification in the form of further data and description or explanation.

• Learners may be required (although this is not obligatory) to articulate the rule describing the grammatical structure.

In other words, the main purpose of consciousness-raising activities is to develop explicit knowledge of grammar. This does not necessarily involve metalingual knowledge as grammar can be explained and understood in everyday language. It may be, however, that access to some metalanguage will facilitate the development of explicit knowledge. The main difference between consciousness-raising and practice activities is that the former do not involve the learner in repeated production. They are considered as a potential facilitator for the acquisition of linguistic competence and has nothing directly to do with the use of that competence. Whereas practice is primarily behavioural, consciousness-raising is essentially concept-forming in orientation. The two types of grammar work are not mutually exclusive, however. Grammar teaching can involve a combination of practice and consciousness-raising. Many methodologists recommend that practice be preceded by a presentation stage, to ensure that learners have a clear idea about what the targeted structure consists of. This presentation stage may involve an inductive or deductive treatment of the structure. Even if the practice work is directed at the implicit learning of the structure and no formal explanation is provided, learners (particularly, adults) are likely to try to construct some kind of explicit representation of the rule.

Whereas practice work cannot take place without some degree of consciousness-raising, the obverse is not the case; consciousness-raising can occur without practice. It is possible to teach grammar in the sense of helping learners to understand and explain grammatical phenomena without having them engage in activities that require repeated production of the structured concerned.

What teachers do when they teach grammar is to help learners internalise the structures taught is such a way that they can be used in everyday communication. To this end, the learners are provided with opportunities to practise the structures, first under

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controlled conditions, and then under more normal communicative conditions. (Ur (1988: 7) describes the practice stage of a grammar lesson in these terms: ‘The practice stage consists of a series of exercises ... whose aim is to cause the learners to absorb the structure thoroughly, or to put it another way, to transfer what they know from short-term to long-term memory.’

It is common to distinguish a number of different types of practice activities – mechanical practice, contextualised practice, and communicative practice. Mechanical practice consists of various types of rigidly controlled activities, such as substitution exercises. Contextualised practice is still controlled, but involves an attempt to encourage learners to relate form to meaning by showing how structures are used in real-life situations. Communicative practice entails various kinds of ‘gap’ activities which require the learners to engage in authentic communication while at the same time ‘keeping an eye, as it were, on the structures that are being manipulated in the process0 (Ur, 1988: 9).

Irrespective of whether the practice is controlled, contextualised, or communicative, it will have the following characteristics;

• There is some attempt to isolate a specific grammatical feature for focused attention.

• The learners are required to produce sentences containing the targeted feature. • The learners will be provided with opportunities for repetition of the targeted

feature. • There is an expectancy that the learners will perform the grammatical feature

correctly (accuracy-oriented practice). • The learners receive feedback on whether their performance of the grammatical

structure is correct or not. This feedback may be immediate or delayed. Presenting grammar

The advent of communicative teaching saw the demise of grammar-based instruction. Grammatical syllabuses were superseded by communicative ones based on functions or tasks. Grammar-based methodologies such as the Presentation – Practice – Production (P-P-P) lesson format gave way to function – and skill-based teaching. Accuracy activities such as drills and grammar practice were replaced by fluency activities based on interactive small-group work. This led to a ‘fluency-first’ pedagogy (Brumfit, 1979) in which students’ grammar needs are determined on the basis of their performance on fluency tasks rather than predetermined by a grammatical syllabus. This puts the onus of presenting grammar almost exclusively on the teacher’s shoulders. This means that it is important for you to be able not only to know how English works but also to be capable of passing this knowledge on to the pupils. Moreover, you should be able to explain to a class how grammatical structures work in actual communication. It is less important for your pupils to know the name of a particular structure than it is to know how and when the structure is used.

It is not easy to present and explain grammar structures. First, you need to understand yourself what is involved in the knowledge of the respective structure (form and meaning), and what kind of difficulties it may create for your pupils. Then, you need to select examples and explanations that will make it clear and accessible to the pupils. The proper balance must be found between simplicity of presentation and accuracy, as what is simplified may lose in accuracy.

There are basically two ways of dealing with grammar. The traditional way is deductive: the pupils are given rules to study and then they try to apply them. This view is to be found in the structural syllabuses and textbooks. Here the structures are sequenced according to their complexity.

The other way is inductive: you select the functions your pupils may need to

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express in English and then ask them to look for their grammatical exponents. However, it is very difficult to select and sequence functions, as the needs of the learners cannot be predicted with accuracy. And yet, the learning goals expressed in functional terms are more motivating for learners as they can see immediately the usefulness of such language as that use in asking for directions or accepting invitations.

Do the English textbooks in use teach grammar inductively or deductively?

Frequent short periods of formal grammar teaching are probably more successful than infrequent long periods. Five or six minutes dealing with a single point is enough, as long as you recycle the same point over a number of times until your pupils are comfortable with it.

Ways of presenting grammar in the classroom range from formal explanation to grammar games. None of these techniques should be despised until you have tried them and found suitable or unsuitable for your classes. You will choose techniques which suit your own teaching style and your pupils’ learning styles. However, there are voices (Celce-Murcia and Hills, 1988: 27-28) that claim that any grammar lesson should consist of four parts: presentation, focused practice, communicative practice and teacher feedback and correction.

• Presentation In the presentation stage you introduce the new grammatical structure. You should

decide whether this is o be done deductively (by formal presentation and study of a rule), or inductively (by offering examples of use from which the rule can be worked out).

• Focused practice In this stage, you give the pupils practice in manipulating the specific structure with

no other distractions, such as the need to communicate.

• Communicative practice In this stage, the pupils put a new structure to use in a variety of communicative

activities. The tasks that you select for this stage should incorporate information gaps, in which one participant has information that the other does not. The speaker must have a choice of what to say and how to say it. Finally, there should be feedback from the partner or listener. This will affect what the speaker says, and thus prevent a rehearsed conversation.

• Teacher feedback and correction You should give feedback throughout the lesson, to ensure that the new structure is

being used properly. However, during communicative practice, it is important that the flow of communication should not be interrupted, as at this stage the pupils should concentrate on meaning. Errors should be noted and dealt with later.

These four stages of a grammar lesson are compatible with most teaching styles. No matter how you conduct a lesson, and whatever your beliefs about language learning and teaching are, you need to present the new material to the class in some form or another, the pupils must have opportunities to get control of the structure and use it, and you need to monitor the whole process, if it is to be effective.

All these activities have the purpose of increasing the pupils’ grammatical awareness, and your task is to find ways of stimulating this.

Formal presentations on the board are sometimes the most simple and effective. For example, to check your pupils’ awareness of the functions of sentence components,

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write a short sentence on the board, such as “We watched a film last night”, and ask simple questions to check understanding, such as “Who did what? When?” Your pupils need to know enough to slot vocabulary items into the appropriate places in the sentence. Coloured chalk, boxed or circled words, small capitals and other graphic markers are useful for showing the word order changes on the board. For example, to show how the statement “She has done her job” is turned into a question form, you can highlight the word has, which draw attention to it when it moves to the front of the sentence:

She has done her job. Has she done her job?

Penny Ur (1996: 82) advises that after preparing a grammar presentation, you need to go through it again, asking yourself questions like:

• Do I present the structure in both speech and writing? • Do I present both form ad meaning? • Do I provide enough examples? • Do the examples have enough meaningful context? • Do I use the name of the structure? What other terminology do I use?

Could you add any question to those suggested above? •

•

From grammar-focused to task-focused instruction The belief that a precise focus on a particular form leads to learning and

automatization no longer carries credibility, and the underlying theory for P-P-P has been discredited. Nunan (1989: 10) offers the definition of the fluency-based pedagogy involved in task work:

The communicative task [is] a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right.

The belief that successful language learning depends on immersing students in tasks that require them to negotiate meaning and engage in naturalistic and meaningful communication is at the heart of much current thinking about language teaching and has lead to a proliferation of teaching materials built around this concept, such as discussion-based materials, communication games, simulations, role-plays and other group and pair-work activities. The differences between traditional grammar-focused activities and communicative task work can be summarised as follows (Richards, 154, f.)

Grammar-focused activities • reflect typical classroom use of language • focus on the formation of correct examples of language • produce language for display (as evidence of learning) • call on explicit knowledge • elicit a careful (monitored) speech style • reflect controlled performance • practise language out of context

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• practise small samples of language • do not require authentic communication

Task-focused activities

• reflect natural language use • call on implicit knowledge • elicit vernacular speech style • reflect automatic performance • require the use of improvising paraphrasing, repair and reorganisation • produce language that is not always predictable • allows students to select the language they use • require real communication

Task work is not intended to promote development of a non-standard form of

English but is seen as part of a process by which linguistic and communicative competence is developed. Tasks are necessary, but may be preceded and/or followed by focused instruction which is contingent on task performance (Skehan, 1996).

Tips for reinforcing grammar understanding during pre-task activities Pre-task activities have two goals: (1) to provide language support that can be

used in completing a task; (2) to clarify the nature of the task so that students can give less attention to procedural aspects of the task and hence monitor the linguistic accuracy of their performance while carrying out the task. In other words, pre-task activities aim to teach, or mobilise, or make salient language which will be relevant to task performance. This can be accomplished in the following ways:

(1) Pre-teaching certain linguistic forms that can be used while completing a task (2) Reducing the cognitive complexity of the task (e.g. watching a video, listening

to a cassette of learners doing a similar task, doing a simplified task, dialogue work prior to carrying out the task, etc).

(3) Giving time to plan the task.

Here are a few practical examples: a. Concept questions

Example 1: past perfect

I realised I’d lost my money.

Linguistic meaning: the perfect aspect is very similar in past, present or future timescales. The style is neutral. Here the past perfect means “evident then”, but it can also show unfinished past beyond past, as in She had studied for 3 years before entering the architecture school, or an indefinite time beyond past, e.g. When I got in the film had started.

Situation: Careless Mrs. B going on holiday. Elicited examples: (of “evident then” concept): When she arrived she… discovered (that) she had forgotten his camera realised … had broken her wine bottle found … had left her passport at the airport saw … had brought the wrong suitcase

Concept questions (and expected answers):

Did she discover these things before she arrived? No.

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Did she discover these things after she arrived? Yes. When? Just after. In time, which came first – ‘discover’ or ‘forget’? Forget. If I say, “When she arrived she discovered she broke her wine bottle”, is that right?

Why not? Because ‘discovered’ and ‘broke’ happened at different times. Do we know when she broke her wine bottle? Does it matter? No. Time line

?

(time not important) X NOW broke wine bottle discovered

realised found saw

Note that these questions refer to the particular situation devised for presentation,

and that they are generalised questions which get to the essence of the linguistic meaning of the structure.

Example 2: Would you mind if I… + past simple

Would you mind if I opened the window?

Functional meaning: asking permission. Style: formal.

Situation: Man in a train compartment, sitting opposite to a stranger lady. Elicited examples:

Man: Would you mind if I… opened the window? smoked? put my feet on the seat?, etc. Lady: No, not at all. Be my guest, etc.

Concept questions (and expected answers):

Do they know each other? No. Do we often use this kind of language between friends? Not really. Is the lady going to open the window? No, the man is... So what’s he doing? He’s asking for… ? Permission.

Note that these questions refer to the social relationship as well as to the intended meaning of the utterances.

Concept questions need to account for function, style and register, as well as grammatical meaning.

Now try your hand at devising concept questions for “Jane used to eat meat”. Analyse and state the meaning first. Try to make your definitions simple and clear enough for your pupils to understand. Then write your concept questions and the answers you would expect from the pupils.

b. Horizontal extensions You can introduce conjunctions such as but or because to elicit an extension of a

sentence. The extension should reinforce the meaning, i.e. discontinued past habit in this case:

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He used to live in a big house… but now he doesn’t.

Teachers often use such extensions as a way of checking understanding. Having illustrated the meaning of an item (or asked the pupils to look it up) you can begin a sentence and then provide an appropriate linker/conjunction to prompt learners into finishing the sentence meaningfully, e.g.:

T: He needn’t have watered the garden because... S: … because it rained this morning.

One point to consider here is the level of language. You have to make sure that the conjunction selected is not more difficult than the target item (e.g. but versus even though).

Now add a conjunction which can lead to a horizontal

extension that reinforces the concept of “I managed to...”, and give an example of what you would expect pupils to say to complete such a sentence. Include a brief note on the concept involved, using simple language.

c. Mini-situations These can come from the teacher as a reinforcement of a presentation, or they can

be elicited from pupils as a check of their understanding. They should be carefully worked into it as part of a systematic build-up of meaning and anticipated at the planning stage. You give a situation and elicit an example like this:

have got to + infinitive (obligation)

(i) I’m going to Predeal on holiday tomorrow. My train leaves at seven o’clock in the morning. So?

(ii) My mother’s birthday is next week, so? ...

Or you can elicit an offer in this way:

‘ll + infinitive (offer)

(i) My friend needs to buy a shirt. He’s only got £2. I’ve got some money, so what do I say to him? ...

(ii) Your friend arrives at the local station and telephones you at home. You have a car. What do you say to him? ...

Alternatively, you can elicit situation with questions like:

a. Tell me a situation when you could use used to… b. When can I say I’m going to buy a new car and not ‘I’ll buy a new car’?

d. Contrasts To contrast come and go, for instance, you can write on the blackboard sentences

like:

*Are you going to my party? *When he comes back to his country, he’ll find a new job.

Then you ask your pupils to find mistakes and discuss the meaning of come and go. You then provide more examples of deliberate mistakes for pupils to correct.

Grammar structures can also be contrasted, such as present perfect and past simple. You can make use of a time-line for present perfect and another time-line for past simple. To illustrate the contrast, you can then divide the board, heading at top of each side:

(i) Shakespeare (ii) a Romanian writer who’s still alive

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This will lead to sentences containing wrote/did/was, etc. versus has written/has done/has been, etc.

Types of grammar practice activities

Grammar practice activities are meant to facilitate the pupils’ learning of structures so that they may become able to produce these structures correctly in free speech or writing. If the pupils still make mistakes in free production, it means that the structures are not yet thoroughly mastered, and the pupils still depend on conscious monitoring in order to produce them correctly. Our job is to help them pass from form-focused accuracy activities to fluent intelligible production by providing a variety of practice activities that help them get familiar with the structures in context, by giving them practice both in form and communicative meaning.

Penny Ur (1996: 83) suggests a sequence of grammar practice activities, ranging from more controlled to freer procedures, from form-focused to meaning-focused activities, from accuracy to fluency practice.

a. Awareness-raising activities After the structure has been presented, the pupils are given opportunities to

encounter it in discourse, and do a task that focuses their attention on the structure form and/or meaning.

For simple recognition purposes you may want to ask your pupils to highlight examples of particular structures in handout texts.

b. Controlled drills The pupils are asked to produce examples of a structure, following models given by

the teacher or found in the textbook.

Example Listen to Mick. Then look at the picture. What jobs had Mick done at 12:55 last

Tuesday afternoon? What jobs had he still to do? Ask and answer.

1 A: Had he cleaned the window? B: No, he hadn’t. 2 A: Had he made the bed? B: Yes, he had.

1. clean the window 5. vacuum the carpet 2. make the bed 6. mend the chair

3. wash the dishes 7. pick up the newspaper from the floor 4. tidy the desk 8. put the books onto the shelves

Now make sentences about what Mick had or hadn’t done at 12:55 last Tuesday afternoon.

1 He hadn’t cleaned the window. 2 He hadn’t made the bed. (from Granger C. and Beaumont D., Generation 2000 Student’s Book, Heinemann, p. 81)

c. Meaningful drills Still following a model, the pupils can make a limited choice of vocabulary.

Example Think about a place you know which has a lot of problems. What are the problems?

What improvements would you recommend? Make true sentences. There are some ideas in the box to help you.

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Examples There are too many cars. There should be a pedestrian zone. There is too much pollution. There isn’t enough entertainment. There is only one good disco. There isn’t anywhere to meet friends after school.

bottle bank car car park cinema club cycle lane disco entertainment graffiti litter bin noise park pollution pedestrian crossing rubbish pedestrian zone public transport shop sports centre street lighting swimming pool traffic tree

(from Granger C. and Beaumont D., 1993, Generation 2000: Student’s Book, Heinemann, p. 41)

d. Guided meaningful practice The pupils are asked to form sentences of their own according to a given pattern,

but without being given the vocabulary to use.

Example Talk about: • any coincidences that have happened in your past. • Anything you regret.

If I hadn’t… I’d never have… I wish I had/hadn’t… (from Abbs B. and Freebairn, I., 2001, Snapshot: Intermediate, Students’ Book, Longman, p. 102)

e. (Structure-based) free sentence composition The activity provides a visual or a situational cue, and the pupils are asked to

compose their own responses; they are directed to use a certain structure.

Example Talk about these questions. Do you have a festival or a carnival in your city? If so, what time of year is it? Is it

ever dangerous? What advice would you give to visitors? Always/Never/Don’t…. You should/shouldn’t…. (from Abbs B., Freebairn I., Barker C., 2000, Snapshot: Elementary, Students’ Book, Longman, p.

96)

f. (Structure-based) discourse composition You ask the pupils to hold a discussion or write a passage according to a given

task. They are instructed to use at least some examples of the structure within the discourse.

Example Listen and read. 1. Expressing regrets about the past: I wish we’d taken some warmer clothes. If only I hadn’t lost my scarf. 2. Making helpful suggestions: Why don’t you find somewhere to keep warm? Maybe you could phone them. Perhaps you should sit down.

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In pairs, make conversations in the following situations. 1 you didn’t have any breakfast this morning and now you feel faint. 2 You bought a cheap CD player and now it’s gone wrong. 3 You were lazy when you were young and never learnt to play an instrument. You

regret it now. 4 You have just had an argument with your best friend and now you feel bad about

it. (from Abbs B. and Freebairn, I., 2001, Snapshot: Intermediate, Students’ Book, Longman, p. 99)

g. Free discourse The pupils are given no specific direction to use a certain structure. However, the

task situation demands the use of a certain structure.

Example Discuss. If someone from India came to live in your country, what things might they

find unusual or difficult to get used to? (from Abbs B. and Freebairn, I., 2001, Snapshot: Intermediate, Students’ Book, Longman, p. 89)

However, recent studies have questioned the effectiveness of practice. According to Pienemann, a structure cannot be successfully taught (in the sense that it will be used correctly and spontaneously in communication) unless the learner is developmentally ready to acquire it. In other words, the teaching syllabus has to match the learner’s developmental syllabus. It does not follow that practice is without any value. Practice does help where structure pronunciation is concerned; it may be quite effective in helping learners to remember formulaic chunks (e.g. How do you do? Can I have a …?) It needs to be recognised, however, that practice will often not lead to immediate procedural knowledge of grammatical rules, irrespective of its quantity and quality (Ellis, 170).

There are empirical and theoretical grounds which lead us to doubt the efficacy of practice, which is essentially a pedagogical construct. It assumes that the acquisition of grammatical structures involves a gradual automatisation of production, from controlled to automatic, and it ignores the very real constraints that exist on the ability of the teacher to influence what goes on inside the learner’s head.

Less formal grammar practice activities

Less formal, ways of presenting grammar are also possible. Grammatical awareness can be stimulated by games such as the simple “odd one out” tasks, in which four or five items are listed and the pupils are asked to suggest which one is unlike the rest, and why. If this activity is carried out in groups, lots of valuable discussion may take place as the pupils consider a number of options. Here are some examples of increasing levels of difficulty:

kick, go, walk, look go is an irregular verb go, come, should, sell should is a modal verb read, go, come sell read doesn’t change its form in the Past Tense as, while, but, although but is a coordinating conjunction

You may also ask your pupils to design their own tasks based on this or other patterns. This will not only increase motivation but will also cause them to reflect more deeply on the various possibilities. Another group task might be to explore how many words may be removed from a sentence one at a time without making the sentence ungrammatical. Start by creating a sentence with lots of adjectives and adverbs, which can be removed easily, then move to longer verb phrases.

A variation on this activity is to make a competition of it. Start with a short sentence and ask the pupils in two groups to take turns in trying to increase it one word at a time while still producing acceptable utterances. For example, start from Time flies:

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Time flies. Time flies quickly. Time flies quickly usually. Time flies very quickly usually. Spare time flies very quickly usually, etc.

Grammar games help to provide an element of competition and enjoyment, and puzzles can often focus attention on subtle aspects of grammar and usage. One simple idea is to give your pupils a pair of sentences with minimal structural differences and ask them to say what the difference in meaning is. Decisions reached by different groups can later be discussed and grammatical justifications can be offered; all of these develop grammatical awareness. Here is such an example:

I don’t think of her much. (“She’s not in my thoughts”) I don’t think much of her. (“I don’t like her”)

Another source of reflection is ambiguity. Provide your pupils with an ambiguous sentence and ask them to suggest two meanings and a possible explanation for the ambiguity, e.g.:

Can he swim? (“Is he capable?” / “Is he allowed to?”)

Sometimes it is difficult to say whether the problem is one of vocabulary or grammar. For example:

Remember me? (“Do you recognize me?”) Remember me to your wife. (“Give my regards to your wife”) Personalising grammar activities

It is not unusual for teachers to forget that pupils are people before they are pupils. They have interests, knowledge, emotions, opinions, anxieties, joys and sorrows, ambitions, and skills. Some have even jobs, families, problems, etc. All of these may be much more involving than the English classes. When you create a classroom atmosphere in which your pupils are encouraged to use English (and to share!) what they want to say about all these aspects of their own lives, there is a strong likelihood that the language they are learning will have much more relevance for them. Allowing for the expression of ‘personal meaning’ is the main principle behind the idea of ‘teaching for the whole person’ (also known as ‘holistic’ or ‘humanistic’ teaching).

When language items are introduced and practised, when comprehension texts are being exploited, when creative role-play and written work is being set up, and when discussions are being organised, pupils are pleased to be given the chance to talk about themselves, or to display their knowledge and opinions.

The advantages of ‘personalisation’ should not be underestimated. The language that the pupils use is centred on them personally rather than on the activities or tasks that the teacher has set them to perform. This underpins motivation, by demonstrating how language can be relevant to the personal meanings that a pupil wants to express. It also promotes ‘depth’ of assimilation and retention (Stevick, 1976: 33-36) and it can help to develop a positive attitude towards English and the Anglo-Saxon culture.

In terms of classroom activity, the following ideas are just a few examples of how personally meaningful language practice can be introduced into lessons:

a) Presentation of grammatical structures • 3rd conditional: elicit the pupils’ own stories or have them tell about ‘near miss’

accidents. • ‘have got’: elicit descriptions of the pupils’ descriptions family, home, friends, etc. • past perfect: elicit pupils’ recent ‘place/person revisited’ experiences and have

them talk about the changes they noticed.

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• past continuous and past simple: ask the pupils to tell anecdotes of frightening experiences, etc.

b) During preparation for listening or reading texts • ask what the pupils know about the subject in advance and pool information • ask if any pupils have experience of anything related to the topic, etc. c) During freer speaking activities • organise role-plays in which pupils play themselves. • organise discussions in which pupils express their own opinions. • organise simulations of conversations in various places.

Any topic or situation which has personal value to an individual pupil or which allows him/her to express their individuality will provide the sort of language practice that leads to deeper assimilation of that language. And deeper assimilation leads to better retention and easier recall.

Consciousness-raising activities We have seen that the goal of practice activities is to develop automatic control of

grammatical structures that will enable learners to use them productively and spontaneously. This may not be achievable if we assume that we can teach grammar for use in communication. If instead, we aim to develop the learners’ awareness of what is correct but without any expectancy that we can bring them to the point where they can use this knowledge in normal communication, then the main objections raised against grammar practice disappear.

Practice is directed at the acquisition of implicit knowledge of a grammatical structure – tacit knowledge needed to use the structure effortlessly for communication. Consciousness-raising is directed at the formation of explicit knowledge - intellectual knowledge which we are able to gather about any subject. The construction of explicit representation of grammatical structures is of limited use in itself when it comes to communicating. Although consciousness-raising does not contribute directly to the acquisition of implicit knowledge, it does so indirectly. It facilitates the acquisition of the grammatical knowledge needed for communication. Moreover, it is crucial for future teachers of English who will have to explain to themselves and their pupils various structures.

The acquisition of implicit knowledge involves three processes: 1. Noticing: the learner becomes conscious of the presence of a linguistic feature

in the input, whereas previously s/he had ignored it; 2. Comparing: the learner compares the linguistic feature noticed in the input with

his/her mental grammar, registering to what extent there is a ‘gap’ between the input and his/her grammar;

3. Integrating: the learner integrates a representation of the new linguistic feature into his/her mental grammar.

Noticing and comparing involve conscious attention to language; integrating takes place at a very ‘deep’ level, of which the learner is generally not aware. Consciousness-raising contributes to the acquisition of implicit knowledge in two major ways (Ellis, 171):

1. It contributes to the process of noticing and comparing and prepares the grounds for the integration of the new linguistic material. However, it will not bring about integration. This process is controlled by the learner and will take place only when the learner is developmentally ready.

2. It results in explicit knowledge. Thus, even if the learner is unable to integrate the new feature as implicit knowledge, s/he can construct an alternative explicit representation which can be stored separately and subsequently accessed

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when the learner is developmentally ready to handle it. Furthermore, explicit knowledge serves to help the learner to continue to notice the feature in the input, thereby facilitating its subsequent acquisition.

Consciousness-raising is then unlikely to result in immediate acquisition. More likely, it will have a delayed effect. Another reason for teaching grammar as consciousness-raising is that grammar fosters intellectual development; grammar embodies a corpus of knowledge the study of which can be expected to contribute to students’ cognitive skills.

An example of consciousness-raising task Consciousness-raising tasks can be inductive or deductive. The following table

provides an example of an inductive task designed to raise the learners’ awareness about the grammatical differences between for and since. The task involves minimal production on the part of the learners. However, there is an opportunity to apply the rule in the construction of personalised statements. Such tasks can make use of situational information, diagrams, charts, tables, and so on. They can also be used in lockstep teaching.

1. Here is some information about when three people joined the company they now work for and how long they have been working there.

Name Date joined Length of time Ms R 1945 45 years Mr B 1970 20 yrs Ms T 1989 9 mths Mr Ba 1990 (Feb) 10 days

2. Study these sentences about these people. When is for used and when is since used? a. Ms R has been working for her company for most of her life. b. Mr B has been working for his company since 1970. c. Ms T has been working for her company for 9 months. d. Mr Ba has been working for his company since February.

3. Which of the following sentences are ungrammatical? Why? a. Ms R has been working for her company for 1945. b. Mr B has been working for his company for 20 years. c. Ms T has been working for her company since 1989. d. Mr Ba has been working for his company since 10 days.

4. Try and make up a rule to explain when for and since are used. 5. Make up one sentence about when you started to learn English and one

sentence about how long you have been studying English. Use for and since.

Consciousness-raising constitutes an approach to grammar teaching which is compatible with current thinking about how learners acquire L2 grammar. It accords with progressive views about education as a process of discovery through problem-solving tasks. However, consciousness-raising may not be appropriate for young learners and it is definitely not an alternative to communicative activities, but a supplement.

Correction of grammar mistakes

Before you read the next paragraphs, note down a few techniques that you are familiar with used in dealing with grammar mistakes.

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In general, we should handle incorrectness with tact and consideration. Showing incorrectness and correction should be seen as positive acts and a useful part of the learning process. During the grammar practice activities, when we need to insist on the accurate reproduction of structures, there are two basic correction stages: showing incorrectness (when you indicate to the pupil that something is wrong) and using correction techniques.

• Showing incorrectness You indicate to the pupil that s/he has made a mistake. If the pupil understands this

feedback, s/he will be able to correct the mistake. Thus self-correction becomes part of the learning process.

You can use a number of techniques for showing incorrectness:

Repeating You ask the pupil to repeat what s/he has just said by using the word ‘again’,

said with a questioning intonation. This indicates that the answer was unsatisfactory.

Echoing You can repeat what the pupil has just said, with questioning intonation. This

indicates that the accuracy or content of what is being said is questioned. You can either echo the complete student response, stressing the part of the utterance that was incorrect or only part of the response, up to the point where the mistake was made. Echoing is probably the most efficient way of showing incorrectness.

Denying You can tell the pupil that the response was unsatisfactory and ask for it to be

repeated. This technique may be a bit more discouraging for the pupil.

Questioning You can say “Is that correct?” asking any other pupil in the class to answer the

question. The advantage of this technique is that it focuses the pupils’ attention on the problem; the disadvantage is that it may make the pupil who made the mistake feel exposed.

Using facial expression and/or gestures You can indicate that an answer was incorrect by your expression or by some

gestures. This can be economical but the danger is that the pupils may think that the expression is a form of mockery.

Quite often, however, you will find that showing incorrectness is not enough for the correction of a mistake, and you may have to use some correction techniques.

• Using correction techniques If the pupils are unable to correct themselves you can resort to one of the following

techniques:

Pupil corrects pupil: you can ask if anyone else can give the correct response. You can ask if anyone can ‘help’ the pupil who has made the mistake.

Teacher corrects pupil(s): Sometimes you may feel that you should take charge of correction because the majority of the class are too mixed-up. In such cases, you may have to explain again the item of language which is causing the trouble.

The use of correction techniques gives the pupils a chance to know how to get the new language right. It is important, therefore, that after you have used one of the techniques, you ask the pupil who originally made the mistake to give a correct response.

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These two stages of correction and the techniques described above are especially useful for accuracy work, not only in grammar, but for speech in general. Another possibility, however, for the more creative activities is gentle correction. This involves showing the student that something is wrong, but not asking for repetition.

Summary

We could say that there are four stages in the assimilation of the meaning of a grammar item:

1. experiencing the target item in limited context (i.e. isolated from main body of language)

2. discovering its boundaries of meaning 3. practising/recognising it in different contexts 4. using it to express real communicative intentions.

The meaning of some items can be learnt quickly. Other items take longer to learn. Their teaching has to be staged over a period of days or even weeks. The teaching of such items needs to go through several stages too. First, you need to guide your pupils to the meaning of the item by introducing and illustrating the meaning of the item. Second, you need to reinforce their understanding by: (a) checking their understanding, (b) comparing and contrasting the item with potentially interfering items, (c) testing the pupils’ ability to discriminate.

The full meaning of a new word or structure, the stylistic constraints on its use and the diversity of possible separate meanings are impossible to grasp at one and the same time. Just like in our mother tongue, where we constantly discover new nuances, uses and collocations for familiar words, in English our pupils will undergo the same process. They should start with a simplified or generalised account of the meaning of a new item. This meaning does not take account of diversity, nuance, constraints on usage, etc. Such an account is, therefore, to some extent, an approximation. In time, they will move on through further language exposure to a finer and finer appreciation of the exact use of the item.

The reasons for not going into the subtleties of meaning early on are obvious. Firstly, they would confuse the pupils. Secondly, they are often very difficult to explain. So, the solution is the subsequent exposure to a great deal of authentic language. Thus the pupils have the opportunity to recognise structures taught ‘approximately’, and through ‘sensing’ the nuances and complexities, they can come to a more exact appreciation of the uses.

It is important to stress that providing an approximation of a meaning is not the same as providing the bare essentials of a meaning. We need to give our pupils a word or structure and a meaning that they can generalise from. So, in initial presentations, information on meaning will probably include situations, communicative meaning and formality/ informality level for appropriacy for formulae and functional exponents (e.g. would you like to...). For grammatical structures, the initial presentations should include linguistic meaning, without subtleties.

Further Reading

Ellis, Rod. 2002. “Grammar Teaching – Practice or Consciousness-Raising?” in Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A. (eds.) Methodology in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

Nunan, D., 1989. Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: CUP. Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A., 2002. Methodology in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: CUP.

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Swan, M. 2002. “Seven Bad Reasons for Teaching Grammar – and Two Good Ones” in Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy. Methodology in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

Ur, Penny. 1988. Grammar Practice Activities, Cambridge University Press, pp. 4-43 Ur, Penny. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching, CUP, pp. 74-85, 90-98