Grammar

What and why?

An understanding of the grammar of English is crucial to the development of the students' language learning. By the time students reach secondary school age, they are able to handle and understand grammatical rules and descriptions. With the limited amount of time which the classroom provides for language learning, grammar can be a vital tool in speeding up the students' ability to produce 'correct', meaningful English. In order to see how the language 'jigsaw' fits together, it is also important that students learn to use words such as 'noun', 'verb', 'adjective', etc. This will enable them to work things out for themselves (see INDUCTIVE GRAMMAR) and you, the teacher, to explain things to them.

Practical ideas

• The Language Record pages ask students to make notes about the grammar they have learned. The Language Records thus help to develop a self-created reference for revision.
• Students can write their own TESTS as a creative practice to check their own understanding.
• To make sure that students understand the metalanguage, they can write the main words - 'noun', 'verb', 'adjective', 'personal pronoun', etc. - on a POSTER on the wall with examples underneath, to act as a reminder.
• As they discover the main grammatical rules and structures, students can construct a poster for the wall with example sentences underneath each main rule.
• The main rules can be written on a sheet by some of the students and placed, for reference, in a class EXERCISE BOX.
• Grammar games are often a useful way of practising language. These can be combined with PHYSICAL MOVEMENT. For example, to practise the comparative forms, you can ask one of the students to come towards you saying 'Peter, please come here because you are smaller/bigger/prettier/younger/older (etc.) than I am.' One of the other students then invites you to walk to them and gives a reason using the comparative form. That student is then invited by another student, and so on. Similar games can be played which ask students to perform particular actions when they hear a noun, a verb or an adjective.

Researching the classroom

• How effective is explicit teaching of grammar? Some writers argue that grammar teaching has very little impact on the language that students produce spontaneously. Look carefully at the work that your students have written or record part of a lesson or some small group work. Can you trace the language structures that the students use directly to things that they have been taught? Are there some grammatical forms that they are using that they have not been taught?
• Choose an area of grammar from one of the Language focus Units, for example some Past simple irregular verbs or the use of 'enough'. Don't teach that area explicitly or ask the students to do any language focus exercises on that area, but otherwise carry on teaching as usual. After a couple of weeks, give the students a short test and include items on the area you chose to see if the students learned it 'naturally' anyway.
• Some areas of grammar seem to be acquired much later than other areas. Talk to teachers of students who have a higher level of English language ability or think about other classes you have. What 'typical errors' do higher level students make? Are they different from the 'typical errors' of lower level students? What areas are in common? When are those areas taught to the students? Can you experiment with changing the order in which language areas are taught?