Critical Response

In the article Teaching Grammar, Larsen-Freeman challenges conventional

views of grammar. Instead of simply analyzing grammatical form, she includes
grammatical meaning and use as well. Then, building on what is known about the
way grammar is learned, she offers ways to teach grammar consistent with
contemporary theory and the need to "focus on form" within a meaning-based or
communicative approach. The writer agreed that teaching grammar in context is
good rather that teaching grammar in isolation. Firstly, teaching grammar in context
is where the teacher integrates grammar in everyday teaching. This type of approach
is applicable while teaching other skills for instance listening, speaking, writing,
reading and also language arts. I agree with her statements about the approach
used. It is usable to pupils to learn grammar every day as second language learners;
we tend to forget about the usage of proper grammar once we learned about it.
On the other hand, teaching grammar in isolation is where the teacher
teaches grammar separately in a lesson. For example grammar is taught as a
separate topic to make sure the pupils recognize the rules and regulations of
grammar. As for me, if teaching grammar in isolation, pupils will become bored
because the teacher is focusing more on memorizing the rules of grammar, parts of
speech, and the ability to locate errors. Pupils will understand the grammar rules but
they may not know how to use in daily life. Nowadays, pupils will remember the
meaningful lesson as it is effective and give impact in their life. For example, when
teacher teaches grammar in context, teacher will create more interesting activities
where it can develop pupils creative and critical thinking. Pupils can adapt what they
have learnt easily in their spoken language in daily life.
According to Charlotte Johnson, One of the best methods of teaching
grammar is to use passages that illustrate grammatical functions within their context.
Teaching your students grammar in context shows them how to apply various
grammatical concepts. This can significantly improve your students' ability to
communicate through written language. For example, as the teacher teaches
grammar through songs, poem or short stories, pupils will remember what they have
learnt because pupils love to learn something new. They will feel more interesting in
learning English. Learners will be motivated as they know that what they learnt is

valuable and memorable. They will feel happy in doing their task because they belief
that they can do it by understanding grammar in context.
Even though such language use approaches as task-based and contentbased are in favor these days, educators agree that speaking and writing accurately
is part of communicative competence, just as is being able to get one's meaning
across in an appropriate manner. Further, it has been observed that although some
learners can "pick up" accurate linguistic form from exposure to the target language,
few learners are capable of doing so efficiently, especially if they are post pubescent
or if their exposure is limited to the
Learners are given opportunities to develop their own understandings of the
grammatical principles of English by progressively structuring and restructuring the
language through inductive learning experiences which encourage them to explore
the functioning of grammar in context (Nunan,1997). Teacher that using this
approach is focuses on form, meaning and the usage of grammar in many skills. So
that pupils should have many opportunities to read, write, and view grammar, its
rules, and the meaning behind the rules in teaching and learning lessons. We can
see that pupils use grammar as a tool to make them better in learning this second
language as this type of approach can enhance pupils interest in reading, speaking
or writing. The writer suggests some ways how to improve teaching strategies by
using grammar in context approach for example social and physical environment in
classroom. In aspect social, teacher should create creative activity in developing
pupils creative thinking and enhance their social skills in classroom. Teacher should
make the pupils interact in the classroom by providing more group work or role play
in the class to make them improve in their communication skills.
In the article Is Teacher Education Making An Impact On Tesl Teacher
Trainees Beliefs And Practices Of Grammar Teaching, similar findings were obtained
by Farrell and Lim (2005) in their qualitative case study of beliefs and actual
classroom practices of two experienced English language teachers in a primary
school in Singapore. These teachers reported that they prefer the deductive
approach because it is less time-consuming and brings about accurate language
use. If the teachers had been exposed to alternative approaches in the teaching of

grammar during their teacher education programme, the new ideas were not
showing up in their classroom practices.
Grammar does not work in isolation, but it should be used to preserve
semantic relationships and to consider the discourse factors. A new departure should
be seen in which pedagogical grammar with consciousness rising will play an active
role in the acquisition of the language. Teaching grammar at primary school begins
with mechanistic drill exercises in the first phase and is gradually transformed into
cognitive in the third phase. The teaching process should proceed in concentric
circles spreading progressively the knowledge of the precedent phases.
Teaching grammar includes not only learning the rules, but learning how to
manipulate the features used by English speakers, to express certain meanings and
relationships. If we want to communicate, we have to be able to produce the
language in the way to be understood. Grammar should not be taught separately
from the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Teaching grammar
communicatively means that the teacher should present the language in situations in
which it is used, and he/she must control the activities that follow, allowing learners
to practice it in a controlled situation, then in more communicative activities, and
finally in fluency activities.
In a nutshell, grammar must be part of any language instruction. But the
approach one adopts in the grammar teaching differs from teacher to teacher. We
believe that a balanced view would consider grammar important as long as it leads
to better language use in context rather than being a set of rules about the language
that do not help much in the communication of meaning.