Here is my simple presentation on how to teach grammar. I believe that the content is so useful and informative especially for those who are interested in the field of ELT.
1. Prepared by:
Mr. Ahmed Chanchaf
How to teach grammar
CRMEF Inezgane
English department 2020
Morocco
Trainer: Ayad Chraa
Module: Teaching grammar
2. What is grammar?
Basic principles in grammar teaching
How to teach grammar?
Through rules
Through examples
Through texts
Merits & demerits of deductive approach
Merits & demerits of inductive approach
Merits & demerits of text-based approach
How to integrate grammar?
Discussion
3. Set of structural rules governing the composition
of clauses, phrases and words in a natural language.
4. Basic principles for grammar teaching
ECONOMY: When presenting grammar, the shorter the better.
EASE: The easier an activity is to set up the better it is.
EFFICACY: Meaning that it works. There are 4 factors to evaluate the
efficacy of an activity.
Attention - To what degree will this activity catch their attention?
Understanding- Attention without understanding is a waste of time.
Memory- Understanding without memory is also ineffective.
Motivation- None of the other factors matter if there is a lack of motivation.
The E-Factor: Efficiency
5. The A-Factor: Appropriacy
Age of the learners.
Their level.
The size of the group.
What their needs are (i.e. to pass a public examination).
The learners´ interests.
The available materials and resources.
6. Some more…………….
The learners´ previous learning experience and their present
expectations.
Cultural factors that might affect attitudes (i.e. their perception
of the role and status of the teacher).
The educational context (private school, public school, home
school, or school abroad).
7. This means introducing some rules as a prior step by teachers, and
then setting up a complete clarification to these rules in a way that
learners comprehend and pick them up.
As a subsequent step, teachers conclude their explanation by
practical tasks to check the learners' understanding to these
grammatical constructions.
The deductive
approach: rule-driven
learning
8. The Merits
It time-saving approach because it goes directly to the point.
The rules are simple and clear which help learners to perceive
the patterns from simple examples.
A great proportion of practices is used to supplement the target
rule.
It respects the intelligence and the maturity of many students.
9. The demerits
oIt may not represent the best choice especially for
young learners.
oLearners' chance of interaction or involvement is
reduced.
oIt stresses the role of grammar rule rather than the
language itself.
oExplanation is seldom as memorable as other forms
of presentation, such as demonstration.
10. This approach implies manipulating a number of
examples prior to knowing the target rule.
From this exposure, learners will find out some rules
by themselves.
11. The advantages
Students are more likely to remember what they learn because
they discover it themselves.
Students are actively in involved in the learning process,
rather than being simply passive recipients.
learners exploit their cognitive capacities autonomously.
12. The disadvantages
*The time of the energy spent in working out rules may mislead
students into believing that the rules are the objective rather than a
means.
*Students may hypothesize the wrong rule.
*It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a lesson.
*It frustrates those students who simply prefer to be told the rule.
13. Text-based approach
If learners are going to be able to make sense of grammar, they will need to
be exposed to it in its context of use.
If learners are to achieve a functional command of a second language, they
will need to be able to understand and produce not just isolated sentences,
but whole texts in that language.
Sources of texts: coursebooks; authentic sources; the teacher; and the
students themselves.
14. The advantages
They provide co-textual information, allowing learners to
deduce the meaning of unfamiliar grammatical items from the
co-text.
If the texts are authentic they can show how the item is used in
real communication.
If the texts come from the students themselves, they may be
more engaging and their language features therefore more
memorable.
15. Disadvantages
The difficulty of the text, especially an authentic one, may
mean that some of the above advantages are lost.
The alternative-to use simplified texts- may give a misleading
impression as to how the language item is naturally used, again
defeating the purpose of using texts.
Not all texts will be of equal interest to students.
17. *What did you learn from this presentation?
*What is the best approach you like most? And why?
*Evaluate the approaches and models in terms of E-Factor
and A-Factor.
18. Thornbury, S. (1999). How to Teach Grammar.
https://sites.google.com/site/torreonteachertraining/summaries/h
ow-to-teach-grammar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar
Further reading
Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers.
Penny Ur, Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers 1988
Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers. Peter Watcyn
Jones, Penguin Books 1995
How to Teach English. Jeremy Harmer, Longman 1998