Teaching Grammar CommunicativelyTEFL Workshop, Winter 2012Presented by Marla Yoshida

http://teachesl.pbworks.com Teaching Grammar

Review: What does Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) mean? We teach lessons that are student-centered. We create opportunities for students to use English actively to express their own ideas. We create context for language use. We use scaffolding techniques to help students understand. We help students reach beyond their comfort zone—to stretch their abilities and sometimes make

mistakes. We speak English as much as possible.

Doesn’t CLT mean that we shouldn’t teach grammar?No! Grammar and CLT can go hand-in-hand. We can teach grammar effectively using a common-sense communicative framework.

How do students learn grammar? They need:1. Input: Students must receive good input that they will pay attention to and work with:

explanations, demonstrations, examples.

2. Output: Students must do enough practice to ensure that they have a chance to develop both accuracy and fluency in using the grammar. Two things are important:

Quantity: The more practice students get, the better.

Quality: It has to be really good, effective, productive practice.

OutputInput

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Teaching grammar is like teaching someone to play tennis. The coach can explain the rules of the game, but the students still can’t play tennis.

The coach can show videos of other people playing the game, but the students still can’t play tennis.

The coach can have the students practice swinging their racquets and hitting a ball against a wall, but they still can’t really play tennis.

BUT when the coach lets the students play many real tennis games with a partner, making lots of mistakes at first, when he shows them what they’re doing wrong and helps them improve, when he makes them keep practicing until they’re finally pretty good at it, then they can play tennis.

How does this analogy apply to teaching grammar?

To teach grammar well, we have to: Get students to notice the new grammar and how it works. (Input)

Give students lots of high-quality practice until they can use the grammar well. (Output)

A good grammar lesson is like a good meal. We need to keep the parts of the meal in good proportion.

Introduction of the new grammar(not too much!)

Practice activities (lots of them!)

Games (not too many)

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This is an effective sequence for teaching grammar:

1. Introduce the new grammar: Show the meaning and use of the form. Keep explanations simple, clear, and brief.

2. Practice the new grammar:a. Group guided practice as a classb. Guided practice activities (lots of these!) leading from

more controlled to more independent activitiesc. Independent practice activitiesd. (Games)

1. Introducing a new grammar point: You can do it in English!When you explain grammar in English, it shouldn’t be just a translation of what you would have said if you were explaining in the your native language. It works better to do it in a different, simpler way with less metalanguage. (Metalanguage means the technical terms that we use to describe and explain language: words like noun, verb, clause, subject, object, past perfect progressive, etc.) Simplify what you present, and remember the old saying, “Show, don’t just tell.”

Don’t explain too much at one time. This causes cognitive overload. Students simply can’t remember so much all at once. Then they get discouraged, stop listening, and forget everything.

A. Explain

Practice

Explain

Practice

Explain

Practice

producesmore

effective learningthan…

ExplainExplainExplainExplainExplainExplainExplain

Practice

B.

Cognitive overload!

?

? ??

?? ??

?

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There are many ways to introduce a new grammar point: Listen and do, act it out, mime, show the meaning in some way

Use pictures or real objects to demonstrate the meaning

Use dialogs, tell a story, or talk about an imaginary situation to show how to use the grammar.

Explain the rule simply, clearly, and briefly. Don’t get carried away!

I hear and I forget. I see and I understand. I do and I remember. ~ Confucius

Imagine that your students are about to study comparative adjectives for the first time. (“Bill is older than Tom. Kittens are cuter than spiders.”) Brainstorm about how you could introduce and illustrate the use of these forms without speaking the students’ native language.

2. Practicing the new grammar: Use plenty of guided practice! It takes many practice activities to be able to use new

language well. Just doing a few fill-in-the-blank exercises is not enough.

Emphasize productive practice. As you plan, ask yourself: “In my lesson, will the students produce the language that they’re learning?” A large part of the practice should be productive (rather than only receptive or mechanical). Good practice requires thought, choices, and struggle on the students’ part.

Create context: “Set the stage” for an activity by describing a situation when students might really use this language. Make it come alive.

Practice makes perfect.(Lectures just make you sleepy.)

Some ways to practice grammar

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Sequence: Examples:

1. Group guided practice as a class

Questions and answers …between teacher and students …between students and students Instructions using the grammar point Descriptions using the grammar point Chain questions

2. Guided practice

(Very simple at first.)

Fill-in-the-blank exercises Change sentences from one form to another Other very simple exercises—spoken or written

3. Guided practice

(Several activities, becoming gradually more challenging. Make the students think!)

Questions and answers about objects in the room Writing sentences about carefully chosen pictures Changing a model dialog to fit the students’ chosen meaning Information gaps and jigsaws Other activities requiring more thoughtful use of the language

4. Independent practice

(Now students can use the grammar pretty well on their own. They’re ready to be creative.)

Role plays Telling about pictures or other visual prompts Writing stories, dialogs, poems, etc. Discussions Problem solving Sequencing, ranking, classifying Creating games and puzzles for classmates to try Other activities requiring creative, independent language use Games that provide good, solid language practice

Imagine that you’ve just introduced the present continuous tense to your students. (I’m studying English. We’re not eating cake.) Think of three different ways you could have your students practice this form:

1.

2.

3.

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Resources for Teaching Grammar How to Teach Grammar by Scott Thornbury. Pearson Longman, 1999. Teaching Grammar Creatively by Günter Gerngross, Herbert Puchta, and Scott Thornbury.

Cambridge University Press, 2006. Fun with Grammar by Suzanne Woodward. Prentice Hall, 1996. You can also download the whole

book for free: http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/download/funwithgrammar/home.html. Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Sharon Hilles.

Oxford University Press, 1988. Grammar by Scott Thornbury. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Basics: Presenting New Language by Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford University

Press, 1999. Oxford Basics: Teaching Grammar by Jim Scrivener. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Also look at the links on my website: http://teachesl.pbworks.com Teaching Grammar

An example of a sequence of activities

Type of practice Example sentence: “We use a marker for drawing pictures.” Suggested Time

Review of previous material

Review previous class material with questions and answers about real objects or pictures.

Day 1:5 min.

Explanation of new material (Short!)

Use objects (a pencil, a fork, an eraser) to show how to use sentences like “We use a fork for eating.” Write the pattern and examples on the board.

5 min.

Group guided practice as a class

Show students more objects. Elicit sentences about their purpose. Have students answer as a group. Then ask individuals to answer. Encourage many answers. Have students repeat sentences and write them down.

10 min.

Guided practice with new material

Use some simple fill-in-the-blank sentences to make sure students are getting the idea. Check their answers as they work.

10 min.

Guided, productive practice with new material

Show a common object. Ask students to think of many uses for it. Elicit sentences; write on board. Put students in pairs. Give each pair an object. Have them write sentences about many possible uses for it. Debrief: Pairs show their object and read their sentences or write them on the board.

15 min.

Summary of the day’s learning

Ask students to tell you (or a partner) what they learned today. Practice with an example or two. Remind them of main points and point out the grammar pattern.Assign homework.

5 min.

Review of previous material

Review with questions and answers about real objects or pictures. Students make sentences using “We use a --- for ---ing.”

Day 2:10 min.

More guided practice

Give students a paragraph about an invention, a change in technology, etc. Have them read it and underline the examples of the target structure. Then ask pairs to write their own paragraph about a similar invention or innovation. (For example, “People used to use an abacus for adding numbers, but now they use a calculator.”

15 min.

Independent, productive practice with new material

Show “mystery objects”—unfamiliar, unusual tools. Students will guess what we use the things for. Put students in small groups. Give each group a mystery object. Ask them to brainstorm possible uses and write sentences. Debrief: Groups read sentences. Finally, tell what the objects really are.

20 min.

Summary of the day’s learning

Ask students to tell you (or a partner) what they learned today. Practice with an example or two. Remind them of main points and point out the grammar patterns.Assign homework.

5 min.

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