The content and methods of teaching grammar in a secondary school

The content and methods of teaching grammar in a secondary school.

Teaching grammar should be based upon the following principles:
1. Conscious approach to the teaching of grammar. This means teaching points are determined so that pupils can concentrate their attention on some elements to be able to use them while speaking or writing. The teaching point may be presented in the form of the rule, a very short one. For example: Use the auxiliary verb with not in negative sentences (does not, did not). The rule helps the learner to understand ant to assimilate the structural meanings of the elements. It ensures a conscious approach of learning. However it doesn’t mean that the teacher should ask pupils to say this or that rule. Rules do not ensure the mastery of the language. They only help the attain the practical goal.Conscious learning is ensured when a grammar is contrasted then a native grammar item. For example:

I like soup (more than any other food)
I like the soup (you have cooked) The zero article is contrasted with the definite article.
Here I follow the rule: think of the shortest and simplest way for presentation of the new grammar item. The more of explain the less the less time is left for practice (and the less pupils understand what I’m trying to explain).
2. Practical approach to assimilation of grammar. It means that pupils learn those grammar items which they need for immediate use. For example, pupils need Sequence of Tenses mainly for reading to be able understand such sentences as “He said he had written the letter”. Pupils master grammar through performing various exercises is using this grammar item. Here I follow the rule: teach pupils correct grammar usage and not grammar knowledge.
3. Structural approach to the teaching of grammar, i. e. grammar items are introduce and drilled in structures or sentence patterns. Pupils are taught to understand E. when spoken to and to speak it from the very beginning.
4. Situational approach to the teaching of grammar. Pupils learn a grammar item used in situations. For example, Complex Object “I want somebody to do something” may be presented in classroom situations:
Pete, I want you to give me your book.
Lena, I want you to translate this text.
The situation should be selected for particular grammar item.

5. Different approach to the teaching grammar of active grammar for conversation and passive grammar for reading there, grammar items pupils need for conversation are taught by oral and written approach: Pupils and them, write perform oral exercises, see them written and finally write sentence.
Types of exercises are various. I use the following exercises.
1. Recognition exercises – the easiest type for pupils. – Auditory and visual memory is at work.
2. Drill exercises are more complicated as they require reproduction on the part of the pupils. The pupils cannot assimilate the material if they only hear and see it. They must reproduce it both in outer and inner speech. The more often they say it the better they assimilate the material. These exercises should be a) repetitive drill (after a teacher or a tape-recorder) b) substitution (Dogs are playing in the yard (in the park, in the garden…) c) completion (complete the sentence) d) answering the teachers questions.
3. Creative exercises (speech exercises). They may be a) making statements (on pictures, on the objects). b) asking questions with a given grammar item. c) speaking about the situation offered by the teacher. d) speaking on a suggested topic e)making dialogues using the grammar item covered. f) dramatizing the text read g)commenting on a film h) telling the story i) translating into English j) participating in free conversation in which pupils are not to use the grammar item they have learned.
4. Grammar tests of different kinds: a) auditing b) speaking c) reading d) tests. Tests allow the teacher to evaluate pupils’ achievements in grammar. Tests in grammar may involve: filling in the blanks; opening the brackets; transformation (make it negative, put questions); extension; completion; making statements on the pictures given; translation.
In conclusion I should say that in teaching grammar the teacher organizes pupils’ learning and pupils are involved in the process of learning, i.e. in 1) the acquisition of information about grammar items (a lecture); 2) drill and transformation to form grammar habits and 3) the making use of the habits acquired in language skills (hearing, speaking, reading, writing).

How to Teach Grammar: What Methods Are Quickest and Easiest?

Teaching grammar is an essential part of school education or adult learning. Without good grammar, spoken or written words lose much of their meaning and most of their value. Grammar is a very important thing to get right, and teachers should take extra care to impart proper grammar to all their students. Sadly, grammar is often seen as a difficult and boring subject and one popular method of teaching is to just repeat the correct grammar for a certain situation over and over until it is memorized and able to be repeated, like a parrot. This is dull for both teachers and students, and often only results in the students being able to repeat what they have learned, rather than resulting in a complete understanding that can be applied to all situations.

English grammar is very complex, and all its intricacies cannot truly be learned by rote, they must be really understood – and understanding is most easily achieved when students are engaged, interested and having fun during a lesson. To make sure you’re covering all the necessary topics with your students, you could check out the Grammar Boost lesson plans here.

Word puzzles are a useful and interactive method whereby students can learn all sorts of important parts of English grammar. They can be used to encourage students to identify and understand various parts of a sentence; grammatical concepts like synonyms, tenses and conjugations; or incorrectly used grammar. Word puzzles such as crosswords are easily modified to suit all age and skill levels and introduce an element of fun competition into the learning process, so they can be invaluable in forging a full and lasting understanding of English grammar.

Another game-based method of teaching grammar that you could use in teaching your students is Bingo. The game of Bingo is based on people marking off spaces on their card until they fill in a row or column fully. In normal Bingo these are numbers, drawn at random from a pool. In grammar lesson Bingo, they could be pronouns, verbs, nouns, sentence structure, antonyms, and so on – students could use the daily newspaper and attempt to find correct examples of these grammatical concepts faster than each other, thereby “winning” the game – and learning in the process! Short and fun grammar exercises like this can be included on a regular basis during your lessons to keep correct grammar usage fresh your students’ minds and improve their recall of the topics at hand. Advanced English Grammar is an online lesson plan featuring quizzes and lectures to help you teach your students all the elements of good grammar.

In lessons where you are not incorporating some sort of game, it is beneficial to consider inductive teaching. This is a method where you lead the students to the correct conclusion, rather than feeding them the information straight away. Getting the students to think about what the correct answer might be and figure it out for themselves will leave a longer lasting impression in their brain and result in better retention. It is worth getting your students to speak using the grammar that you are attempting to teach, in sentences that relate to themselves. They will have to process the knowledge you have given them in a way that is relevant to them, and in doing so they will forge a clearer understanding of the context and a memory of how to use the grammar you have taught in the future. You should also encourage your students to write down the important sentences and grammatical concepts that you teach them, so that they have something to refer back to if they need to, but also because writing something out improves contextual memory

One particularly useful lesson could be spent on highlighting common mistakes that people make, and incidences of grammar not fitting the expected pattern. By teaching your students what is incorrect in this way, you can help them to avoid making these common mistakes. Turning it into a funny or amusing session of picking out subtle mistakes or ways that poor grammar has led a normal sentence to become ambiguous, funny or wrong can really help make your lesson very memorable, and one lesson of showing students what is wrong can often be more valuable than several lessons of trying to teach what is right.In summation, all education depends on a foundation of good grammar. If students cannot understand grammar, they will struggle to read, write or speak clearly in any other area of education, from maths and science to history or geography. Good language is the base on which all other education has to stand. Teachers can use a variety of ways to make their grammar lessons memorable and enjoyable for students. Students who enjoy their lessons will pay closer attention, and you will then have an easier time while teaching. This is why great lessons are important for everyone involved, and why you should take the time to ensure you are teaching grammar in the best and most engaging way for the skill level and requirements of your individual students

***The Content of Teaching Grammar

Before speaking about the selection of grammar material it is necessary to consider the concept “grammar”, i.e., what it meant by “grammar”.

By grammar one can mean adequate comprehension and correct usage of words in the act of communication, that is, intuitive knowledge of the grammar of the language. It is a set of reflexes enabling a person to communicate with his associates. Such knowledge is acquired by a child in the mother tongue before he goes to schools.

This “grammar” functions without the individual's awareness of technical nomenclature; in other words, he has no idea of the system of the language, and to use all the word-endings for singular and plural, for tense, and all the other grammar rules without special grammar lessons only due to the abundance of auding and speaking. His young mind grasps the facts and “makes simple grammar rules” for arranging the words to express carious thoughts and feelings. This is true because sometimes little children make mistakes by using a common rule for words to which that rule cannot be applied. For example, a little English child might be heard to say Two mans comed instead of Two men come, because the child is using the plural “ s” rule for man to which the rule does not apply, and the past tense ed rule for come which does not obey the ordinary rule for the past tense formation. A little Russian child can say ножов instead of ножей using the case-ending “ов” for ножи to which it does not apply. Such mistakes are corrected as the child grows older and learns more of his language.

By “grammar” we also mean the system of the language, the discovery and description of the nature of language itself. It is not a natural grammar, but a constructed one. There are several constructed grammars: traditional, structural, and transformational grammars. Traditional grammar studies the forms of words (morphology) and how they are put together in sentences (syntax); structural grammar studies structures of various levels of the language (morpheme level) and syntactic level; transformational grammar studies basic structures and transformation rules.

What we need is simplest and shortest grammar that meets the requirements of the school syllabus in foreign languages. This grammar must be simple enough to be grasped and held by any pupil. We cannot say that this problem has been solved.

Since graduates are expected to acquire language proficiency in aural comprehension, speaking and reading grammar material should be selected for the purpose. There exist principles of selecting grammar material both for teaching speaking knowledge (active minimum) and for teaching reading knowledge (passive minimum), the main one is the principle of frequency, i.e., how frequently this or that grammar item occurs. For example, the Present Simple (Indefinite) is frequently used both in conversation and in various texts. Therefore it should be included in the grammar minimum.

For selecting grammar material for reading the principle of polysemia, for instance, is of great importance.

Pupils should be taught to distinguish such grammar items which serve to express different meanings.

For example, -s (es)

The selection of grammar material involves choosing the appropriate kind of linguistic description, i.e., the grammar which constitutes the best base for developing speech habits. Thus the school syllabus reflect a traditional approach to determining grammar material for foreign language teaching, pupils are given sentences patterns or structures, and through these structures they assimilate the English language, acquire grammar mechanisms of speech

The content of grammar teaching is disputable among teachers and methodologists, and there are various approaches to the problem, pupils should, whatever the content of the course, assimilate the ways of fitting words together to form sentences and be able to easily recognize grammar forms and structures while hearing and reading, to reproduce phrases and sentences stored up in their memory and say or write sentences of their own, using grammar items appropriate to the situation.