Grammar Presentation

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Grammar Presentation Practice

• Dr Desmond Thomas,
• University of Essex

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Issues to consider in teaching grammar (based on
1000s of written articles/books)

1. Presentation (1st time) vs re-presentation
2. Presentation vs practice
3. Types of presentation
4. Types of practice
5. How much grammar to include/exclude
6. How to simplify complex grammar items
7. Grammar in isolation vs grammar in context
8. Teaching grammar vs testing grammar

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Presenting new grammar items

• THE FORM what part of speech/regular or
  irregular/spelling/pronunciation/word order
• THE MEANING the exact meaning you are
  concentrating on (Gower et al. 2005)
• THE USE in what contexts/by which people/ on
  what occasions
• POTENTIAL PROBLEMS different from L1, many
  variants etc.

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3 basic approaches

• DEDUCTIVE
• INDUCTIVE
• A mix of Deductive and Inductive
• Which teaching methods are associated?
• Is one approach better than another?
• It depends on ?
• Advantages and disadvantages of each?

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Contextualizing grammar presentation

• Pictures or video (eliciting or oral presenting)
• Mime or drama (eliciting)
• Texts (oral or written)
• Short dialogues (oral or written)
• The grammar is presented in context students
  learn inductively and work out the rules
• IS THIS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA?

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Teaching the rules

• Recommended when
• The meaning of the item is easy to understand but
  the structure is complex. Example comparatives
  and superlatives (Gower 2005)
• The students have reached a level when they can
  talk about language in this way
• Learners prefer it
• A GOOD or a BAD IDEA?

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Troubleshooting

• Students dont understand the form
• SOLUTIONS ?
• Students dont understand the meaning
• SOLUTIONS?
• Students dont understand use (cf K. essay)
• SOLUTIONS?
• Students understand but motivation is low
• SOLUTIONS?

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Some words of advice

• The aim of each presentation must be clear
• Instructions must be clear (In English? In L1?)
• The amount of new language must right
• The context must be meaningful
• Materials must be user-friendly/stimulating
• The whiteboard, visuals and miming can help
• The classroom atmosphere and the teacher's
  management should encourage participation

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Indicated Reading (books)

• Gower, R. et al. 2005, Teaching Practice a
  Handbook for Teachers in Training, Macmillan
• Hall, N. Shepheard, J. 1991, The Anti-grammar
  Grammar Book, Longman
• Rinvolucri, M. 1984, Grammar Games, CUP
• Seymour, D. Popova, M. 2003, 700 Classroom
  Activities, Macmillan
• Ur, P. 1993, Grammar Practice Activities, CUP
• Ur, P. 1996, A Course in Grammar Teaching, CUP

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Indicated Reading (articles)

• Ellis, R. 2002, Grammar Teaching Practice or
  Consciousness-Raising. In Richards, J. (ed.),
  Methodology in Language Teaching, C.U. P.
• Nitta, R. Gardner, S., 2005, Consciousness-rais
  ing and practice in ELT coursebooks, ELT Journal
  59/1
• Nunan, D. 1998, Teaching Grammar in Context,
  ELT Journal 52/2
• Swan, M. 2002, Seven Bad Reasons for Teaching
  Grammar. In Richards, J. Renandya, W. (eds.) ,
  Methodology in Language Teaching, C.U.P.

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Grammar practice what is it?

• The learner manipulates and tries out the new
  language by producing different examples
• The teacher begins by exercising a lot of control
  which is gradually relaxed
• Learning is consolidated by committing new
  material to the learner's long-term memory(Penny
  Ur 1993)
• By and large these assumptions go unchallenged
  and have become part of the mythology of language
  teaching (Ellis 2005)

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What is Consciousness-raising?

• In CR there is an attempt to isolate grammar
• Learners are supplied with data which illustrates
  the grammar and maybe a rule
• Learners use intellectual effort to understand
  the target language
• The main aim is to develop explicit knowledge of
  grammar but not metalingual knowledge. (Ellis
  2005).

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Principle 1 Volume Opportunities

• The more language learners are exposed to or
  produce, the more they are likely to learn this
  means devoting plenty of time to practice
  sessions and exploiting that time effectively"
  (Penny Ur)
• Priorities in language learning (or any skill
  learning) Practice, practice, practice.

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Principle 2 Drills Repetition

• Important to get learners to perceive or practise
  examples over and over again, whether by drilling
  with the whole group, individuals repeating etc.
• Repetition for pronunciation is important at this
  stage ...... let learners get used to the sounds
  as well

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Principle 3 Dealing with Errors

• This is the stage to monitor for errors and to
  intervene where necessary and correct.
• It is also important to allow learners extra
  practice after they have perceived the errors
• Awareness of a structure does not mean that
  its form, meaning and use have been learnt

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Principle 4 Supporting Learners

• Teachers do not only correct they also support,
  assist and encourage by giving extra time to
  think, paraphrasing or simplifying, suggesting
  hints, giving prompts
• They also motivate. Practice shouldn't be purely
  mechanical. Grammar activities needn't be boring,
  they can be challenging. Examples?

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Principle 5 Teacher Control
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Very controlled controlled activities

• Likes dislikes Do you like fish? Yes, I
  do, No, I dont I love/hate fish Does he
  .?
• Sentence building each student becomes a word in
  a sentence
• Sentence jigsaws students manipulate the
  language of a dialogue in groups
• Grammar intonation He came yesterday, didnt
  he?, She will do the shopping, .

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Guided activities (Seymour Popova)

• Dictation (p.67)
• Dictation of sentence endings (p.79)
• Arriving late pairwork (p.91)
• So and such (p.114)
• Guided or semi-controlled activities provide a
  clear framework for practice with some room for
  creativity

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Communicative practice (Seymour Popova)

• Fishy stories (p.88)
• Newspaper headlines for past continuous past
  simple (p.89)
• Values board game (Keep Talking, F.Klippel)
• Freer activities that focus on communicative aims
  rather than specific language items.