Task# 2

Teaching grammar

Objective
This task raises student teachers awareness of approaches and
strategies to teaching grammar in prep and secondary schools.

Reflection
There is no doubt that grammar is an instrumental tool that highlights a vital
part in language structure. It can be defined as a set of structural rules that
govern language (Crawford, 2013). Teaching grammar plays a substantial
role in language learning as it helps pupils to manipulate sentences through
putting words in a specific order to convey meaning. Because grammar is a
prerequisite factor for language learning, it helps language students to
develop and promote their writing, speaking and reading skills (Cameron,
2001). In this paper, I will reflect on a grammar lesson that I observed during
teaching practice. The lesson focuses on teaching articles to grade ten
students in a detailed way through explaining the uses and forms of articles
explicitly.
I observed several teaching strategies that were very beneficial to extend my
knowledge about teaching grammar lessons. Firstly, the teacher started the
lesson by showing flashcards to the students. The flashcards contained a
picture of a book and it included two different sentences I want book and I
want a book. The teacher asked the students about the differences between
both sentences. The pupils were able to recognize the difference which was a
good start for the new lesson. This strategy was very helpful because it
enabled the learners to be aware of the right structure of writing a
meaningful sentence. In addition, the strategy has some aspect of the

inductive approach because the teacher started by providing examples to

the students from which a rule is inferred (Crystal, 2005).

Moreover, this

strategy was effective because it was student-centered learning. According

to Harmer (2001),

student-centered learning enables students to become

enthusiastic about learning and it make the new knowledge builds on

effectively on the current skills thus it will create an authentic learning
environment. Secondly, the teacher introduced the new grammar lesson to
the pupils.
She followed the three dimensional grammar framework. In other words, she
explained the grammatical structure, meaning and the appropriate use of
articles.

The teachers used a standard teaching method which is the

deductive approach. In this lesson the rules were driven and explained and
then followed by examples about the uses. In addition, this top down
approach has many advantages such as saving time by giving the teacher
enough time to provide the students with enough activities to practice
(Crystal, 2005). Thirdly, to aid understanding, the teacher gave the students
an accuracy-oriented activity in which they were asked to fill in the gabs with
the appropriate article. This strategy was effective because it gave the
teacher the opportunity to assist her students performance. Fourthly, a
recognition exercise was given to the students through asking them to listen
to the sentences and raise their hand whenever they hear an article. This
grammar in context type of activity was helpful because it promoted
students understanding about how articles can be used thereby it will
develop their communication skills (Emmit & Komesaroff & Pollock, 2006).
Finally, after the students had plenty of controlled practice activities, she
decided to ask the students to work in groups and write a dialogue about any
topic they want, and then they start a role play. This communicative
grammar activity was effective because it developed students fluency and
accuracy and it involved the students personal ideas and experiences which
are effective as it will help learners to create meaningful sentences using the

form

they

have

just

learnerd

(Emmit

&

Komesaroff&Pollock,2006)..

Because students mistakes are inevitable, teachers must take an immediate

action to help students to deepen their understanding. During the lesson,
some students faced some difficulties to distinguish between the uses for
both the definite and indefinite articles. The teacher immediately drew a
diagram that contained simple rules for each article. This strategy was very
helpful because it organized the students thoughts and it made everything
clear for them. According to Harmer (2001) , the usage of diagrams, tables
and mind maps is crucial to aid the students understanding as it will contain
only the important and main grammar rules to avoid any confusion. In the
other hand, the learners faced some difficulties changing the articles
depending on the pronunciation not the spelling of the letters, so the teacher
used some repetition drills in order to help students memorize the vowel
letters.
She asked them to listen and repeat after her. According to Bolitho &
Tomlinson (2012), mechanical practice can be useful as pupils will pay
attention to the structure rule and develop students listening and speaking
skills. Moreover, They highlighted that this audio-lingual method is beneficial
in order to learn vocabulary and focuses on communicative interaction. In
the other hand, a large group of the students had previous knowledge about
articles, so they were bored because the activities were not enough
challenging. The teachers reaction was a little bit confused and she told me
later that it would be better if she knew each students level is. The teacher
gave them a task in which she asked them to write a paragraph of any topic
they choose using articles.

According to Kyriacou (2007), understanding

students learning processes is highly necessary in order to be able to create

the appropriate activities and to make better decisions for teaching
strategies. In my opinion, this type of activity was not the best because it did
not motivate the students and they felt much more bored. If I had the chance

to do an activity for that particular situation, I would divide the class into
groups of four and give each group specific activity based on their levels.
According to Kyriacou (2007) , addressing students need and providing them
with tasks that suit their level play a vital role in broadening their
understanding.

To sum up, grammar tackles different methods and approaches. I believe

that focusing on one approach is non-professional attitude because students
need to be exposed to different approaches in order to develop all the skills
as well as learn accurate grammatical rules. Teachers should be aware about
the students level in order to take the right decision while planning the
lesson and creating the activities. From my own point of view, teaching
grammar based on the communicative approach would reduce the stress of
learning rules and this can be achieved through creating fun and informative
grammar games.

Reference list

Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.
Cowan, R. (2008). The teacher's grammar of English: A course book and reference guide.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crawford, W. J. (2013). Teaching grammar. Alexandria, VA: TESOL International Association.
Crystal, D. (2005). How language works. London: Penguin.

Emmit, M., Komesaroff, L. & Pollock, J. (2006).

Oxford

Language & learning. (4th ed.). Victoria:

University Press.

Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching. Harlow: Longman.

Hashemi, L., & Thomas, B. (2006). Grammar for PET: With answers: Self-study grammar
reference and practice (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Kyriacou, C. (2007). Essential teaching skills. Cheltenham, U.K.: Nelson Thornes.
Parrott, M. (2010). Grammar for English Language Teachers. Cambridge University