Girne American University(Girne, Cyprus)
bpekoz(at)yahoo.com
Introduction
There has been a lot of progress in English language teaching since theintroduction of Communicative Language Teaching(CLT). This progress has been reflected in the teaching of the fourskills, which has moved from the presentation, practice and production(PPP) to pre-, while- and post-stages. However, teaching grammar haslagged behind the integration of pre, while and post stages. Althoughgrammar instruction has recently been associated with contextualteaching (Clandfield, nd; Mora, 2003; Tennant, nd; Weaver 1996), weneed to go beyond this movement to bring grammar instruction fully tolife and to make it purposeful and communicative.
In the following section, I will note some problems associated withgrammar teaching in general, then I will introduce a framework forimplementing pre-, while- and post-stages to teach grammar.
- Direct grammar instruction is still very common.
- Contextual instructional techniques are not readily accessible topractitioners.
- In most cases grammar instruction is not integrated into the fourskills but given in isolation.
- Mostly it is teachers that formulate the grammar rules. Grammarrules will be clearer and be remembered better when students formulatethem themselves (inductive learning) than when teachers formulate them(deductive learning).
- Learners need repeated input of a grammar item. Just one grammarpresentation is not enough.
- Learners should not be overwhelmed with linguistic terminology(Brown, 2001).
- Grammar should be taught in digestible segments bearing thecognitive process in mind.
Traditional grammar teaching, for instance, tends to cover thefollowing points in the same lesson:
- the passive voice with all the tenses,
- all the uses of indirect speech (i.e. reporting statements,negative statements, question forms, imperatives, requests, timeexpressions, etc.)
- all the forms of a structure (i.e. statements, negativestatements, questions, exceptions, etc).
Following a review of some common problems, the next step is tointroduce a unique approach to teaching grammar. Grammar teaching, liketeaching the four skills, should involve pre-, while- and post-stagesin an attempt to provide integrated learning environments. In thepre-grammar stage, the teacher should bring grammar instruction tolife, stimulate interest in the topic, and raise awareness by providinga reason for learning. The while-grammar stage should facilitatenoticing of the new grammar point, and provide meaningful input throughcontextual examples, pictures, and texts. Finally, the post-grammarstage should provide an opportunity to put grammar to use, and relategrammar instruction to real life situations. The main distinctionbetween the while- and post-stages is that the while-stage involves theclarification of the meaning, whereas the post-stage focuses onthe productive aspects of the new structure.
Steps of an Integrated Grammar Lesson
Traditional grammar teaching starts with the teacher's statement of thegrammatical point on the board. Integrated grammar teaching is a uniqueand an authentic approach because it implements the pre-, while- andpost-stages.
The application of pre-, while- and post-stages into teaching grammarare shown below in two sample grammar lessons.
Sample Grammar Lesson 1: Used to
1. Pre-grammar
a) The teacher discusses thetopic "changes in people over the years"
b) The teacher shows two pictures of a woman. One picture wastaken 20 years ago and the other one is new. The old picture shows herplaying the guitar while the new one displays her painting pictures.The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures.
2. While-grammar
a) This stage provides a contextfor input generation and an opportunity to notice the new grammaticalstructure. The teacher tells them they are going to learn a newstructure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the nameof structure (for motivational purposes).
b) The teacher makes a transition from the context created in 1bto the grammatical point by showing the same pictures and telling thepicture differences with "used to" and "simple present tense" (i.e."She used to play the guitar as a hobby, but now she doesn't, shepaints pictures as a hobby now", etc).
c) The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching ofgrammatical point through some other picture comparisons, discussions,stories, or reading/listening texts.
d) The teacher asks some clarification check questions to ensurethat the meaning is clear. Some examples:
Did she often play the guitar in thepast?/Does she play the guitar now?
Did she often paint pictures in the past?/Does she paint pictures now?
Did she have long hair in the past?/Does shehave long hair now?
e) The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule onthe board for the given sentence providing help if needed.
She usedto play the guitar.
S + Used to + V 1 …
(Note: The while-stage mayinvolve production of the new structure through some questions aboutthe pictures. In this case, however, the purpose is to confirm whetherthe meaning has been clarified.)
3) Post-grammar (adapted from Fatma Toköz,former student)
Brainstorming
The teacher asks students to think back to when they were a child andasks the following questions: "What are the differences andsimilarities between your life then and now? Think about where youlived, your likes/dislikes, your holidays and your family, and fill inthe following lines with appropriate sentences".
Your life as a child...
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Your present life...
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Role-play
The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to eachstudent. The role playing students are supposed to be old friendsmeeting after a long time. They are supposed to communicate and notethe differences in each using either their imagination or the role playcues.
Writing
The teacher asks students to write a story about the following topicfor the school magazine.
Imagine that you have been asleep from 2007 till 2050. You havejust woken up to be shocked about everything around you. Compareyour old and new lives and write your story using "used to".
Sample Grammar Lesson 2: The present perfect passive voice
Pre-grammar Stage
First, the teacher has a discussion on burglaries. Following thisdiscussion, the teacher shows a picture of a living room and says:"Today, a burglar has broken into this room. What do you think he hastaken?" (The teacher tries to elicit responses such as he hastaken the lap-top computer, he has stolen the jewellery, etc ).
While-grammar Stage
The teacher shows a different picture of the same living room and turnsattention to the missing items and says the following:
"The lap-top computer has been takenfrom the room.
The jewellery has been stolen.
The small TV has been taken as well.
The picture on the wall has been taken, too".
The teacher asks questions to elicit the passive voice structure.Following this, the teacher asks clarification check questions such as:
What is the difference between "theburglar has stolen the jewellery", and "the jewellery has beenstolen"?; when do you think we need the second structure?, etc.
The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board.
Alternatively, or additionally, the context can be created through areading text written in the present perfect passive voice.
Post-grammar Stage
The teacher gives the following hand-out to befilled out and asks students to walk around and ask questions to theclass members.
Find someoneClass members name
who has been blamed for something he/she hasn't done.
who has been disappointed by a close friend.
who has been told some good news today.
who has been told some bad news today.
who has been abandoned by his/her girlfriend/boyfriend.
who has been misunderstood today.
who has been forgiven by an old friend recently.
who has been given a present today.
Role-play
The teacher forms pairs of students and gives arole play to each student. One of the pairs holds the names of thecities and their weather reports, the other holds information aboutsome football matches and the name of the cities where they are beingheld. They will exchange the information and find out which footballmatches have been cancelled.
The teacher assigns an incomplete writing task andasks them to complete it using some cue words and the present perfectpassive tense as in the following:
Your wedding is verysoon, but most of the arrangements have not been made yet. Write acomplaint letter to the wedding specialist using these clues: weddinginvitations, wedding dress, wedding party, wedding cake, weddingphotographer, honeymoon, limousine cars.
Dear wedding specialist,
I visited your office today but you were out. I have seen that most ofthe wedding arrangements have not yet been made.
To begin with, …
Conclusion
During grammar instruction, teachers should providemeaningful input through context and provide an opportunity to putgrammar to use, and relate grammar instruction to real life situations.This is best achieved if grammar instruction is treated in the same wayas the teaching of the four skills which involves smooth and organizedtransitions of pre-, while and post grammar stages.
References
- Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles. An interactiveapproach to language teaching pedagogy. Newyork:Longman
- Clandfield, L. (n.d). Task-based grammar teaching. Retrieved 15thJuly 2007, from http://onestopenglish.com/english_grammar/grammar_task_based.htm
- Mora, J. K. (2003). Major components of the study of grammar andsyntax: Teaching grammar in context. Retrieved 15thJuly 2007, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/grammar.htm
- Tennant, A. (n.d). Using the discovery technique for teachinggrammar. Retrieved 15th July 2007, from http://onestopenglish.com/english_grammar/grammar_discovery_technique.htm
- Weaver, C. (1996). Teaching grammar in context. Portsmouth, NH:Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.
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