Grammar Presentation & Practice

1. Grammar Presentation & Practice Dr Desmond Thomas, University of Essex

2. Issues to consider in teaching grammar (based on 1000s of written articles/books) • Presentation (1st time) vs ‘re-presentation’ • Presentation vs practice • Types of presentation • Types of practice • How much grammar to include/exclude • How to simplify complex grammar items • Grammar in isolation vs grammar in context • Teaching grammar vs testing grammar

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. Troubleshooting • Students don’t understand the form SOLUTIONS ? • Students don’t understand the meaning SOLUTIONS? • Students don’t understand use (cf K. essay) SOLUTIONS? • Students understand but motivation is low SOLUTIONS?

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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-raising 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.

11. 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)

12. 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).

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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?

17. Principle 5: Teacher Control

18. Very controlled & controlled activities • Likes & dislikes: “Do you like fish?” “Yes, I do”, “No, I don’t” “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, didn’t he?”, “She will do the shopping, …….”

19. 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

20. 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.