Many people, including language
teachers, hear the word “grammar” and think of a fixed set of word forms and
rules of usage. They associate what they usually call “good” grammar with the
prestige forms of the language such as those used in writing and even in formal
oral presentations and “bad” or “no” grammar with the language used by people in
everyday conversation or used by speakers of non-prestige forms.
Language teachers who adopt this
definition focus mainly on grammar as a set of forms and rules. Thus, they teach
grammar by explaining the forms and rules and after that drilling students on
them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms
on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the
language in context.
Other language teachers, influenced
by recent theoretical work on the difference between language learning and
language acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. Believing that children
acquire their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect
students to learn their second language the same way. They assume that students
will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and in the same time they use the
language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to
use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of
what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know.
The communicative competence model
balances these extremes and it recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps
students acquire the language more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar
teaching and learning into the larger context of teaching students to use the
language. Instructors using this model teach students the grammar that they need
to know to accomplish defined communication tasks.
The goal of grammar instruction is in
fact that to enable students to carry out their communication purposes. This
goal has three implications:
·
Students need overt instruction that connects grammar
points with larger and larger communication contexts.
·
Students do not need to master every aspect of
each grammar point, only those that are relevant to the immediate communication
task.
·
Error correction is not always the instructor's
first responsibility.
Adult students appreciate and benefit
from direct instruction that allows them to apply critical thinking skills to
language learning. Instructors can take advantage of this by providing
explanations that give students a descriptive understanding (usually called declarative
knowledge) of each point of grammar.
·
Teach the grammar point in the target language
or the students' first language or both. The goal is to facilitate
understanding.
·
Limit the time you devote to grammar
explanations to 10 minutes, especially for lower level students whose ability
to sustain attention can be limited.
·
Present grammar points in written and oral ways
to address the needs of students with different learning styles.
An important part of grammar instruction
is providing examples. Teachers need to plan their examples carefully around
two basic principles:
·
Be sure the examples are accurate and
appropriate. They must present the language appropriately, be culturally
appropriate for the setting in which they are used, and be to the point of the
lesson.
·
Use the examples as teaching tools. Focus
examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with
specific information and vocabulary.
In the communicative competence
model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn the language of which the
grammar is a part. Besides, it is important to state that instructors therefore
teach grammar forms and structures in relation to meaning and use for the
specific communication tasks that students need to complete.
Compare the traditional model and the
communicative competence model for teaching the English past tense:
Traditional:
grammar for grammar's sake
·
Teach the regular -ed form with its two
pronunciation variants
·
Teach the doubling rule for verbs that end in d
(for example, wed-wedded)
·
Hand out a list of irregular verbs that students
must memorize
·
Do pattern practice drills for –ed
·
Do substitution drills for irregular verbs
Communicative
competence: grammar for communication's sake
·
Distribute two short narratives about recent
experiences or events, each one to half of the class
·
Teach the regular -ed form, using verbs that
occur in the texts as examples. Teach the pronunciation and doubling rules if
those forms occur in the texts.
·
Teach the irregular verbs that occur in the
texts.
·
Students read the narratives, ask questions
about points they don't understand.
·
Students work in pairs in which one member has
read Story A and the other Story B. Students interview one another; using the
information from the interview, they then write up or orally repeat the story
they have not read.
At all proficiency levels, learners
produce language that is not exactly the language used by native speakers. Some
of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary selection
and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts.
In responding to student
communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction to
the detriment of communication and confidence building. First, teachers need to
let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on
improving. Teachers need in the same time to build students’ confidence in
their ability to use the language by focusing mainly on the content of their
communication rather than the grammatical form.
Teachers can use error correction to
support language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine
students' desire to communicate in the language, by taking cues from context.
·
When students are doing structured output
activities that focus on development of new language skills, use error
correction to guide them.
Example:
Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday.
Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday.
Remember, the past tense of buy is
bought.
·
When students are engaged in communicative
activities, correct errors only if they interfere with comprehensibility; respond
using correct forms, but without stressing them.
Example:
Student (greeting teacher): I buy a new car
yesterday!
Teacher: You bought a new car? That's
exciting! What kind?
Language teachers and language
learners are often frustrated by the disconnect between knowing the rules of
grammar and being able to apply those rules automatically in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. This disconnect reflects a separation between
declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge.
·
Declarative knowledge is knowledge about
something. Besides, knowledge enables a student to describe a rule of grammar
and apply it in pattern practice drills.
·
Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do
something and enables a student to apply a rule of grammar in communication.
For instance, declarative knowledge
is also what you have when you usually read and understand the instructions for
programming the DVD player. Procedural knowledge is what you demonstrate when
you program the DVD player.
Procedural knowledge does not
translate automatically into declarative knowledge; many native speakers can
use their language clearly and correctly without being able to state its grammar
rules. Likewise, declarative knowledge does not translate automatically into
procedural knowledge; students may be able to state a grammar rule, but
consistently fail to apply the rule when speaking or writing.
To address the declarative
knowledge/procedural knowledge dichotomy, teachers and students can apply
several strategies.
Try to identify the relationship of
declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge to student goals for learning
the language. Students, who often plan to use the language exclusively for
reading journal articles need to focus more on the declarative knowledge of
grammar and discourse structures that will help them understand those texts.
Students who plan to live in-country need to focus more on the procedural
knowledge that will help them manage day to day oral and written interactions.
Recognize that development of
declarative knowledge can accelerate development of procedural knowledge.
Teaching students how the language works and giving them opportunities to
compare it with other languages, so they know well how to allow them to draw on
critical thinking and even on analytical skills. These processes can support
the development of the innate understanding that characterizes procedural
knowledge.
Understand that students develop both
procedural and declarative knowledge on the basis of the input they receive.
This input includes of course both finely tuned input that requires students to
pay attention to the relationships among form, meaning, and use for a specific
grammar rule, and roughly tuned input that allows students to encounter the
grammar rule in a variety of contexts. Mechanical drills in which students
substitute pronouns for nouns or alternate the person, number, or tense of
verbs can help students memorize irregular forms and challenging structures.
However, students do not develop the ability to use grammar correctly in oral
and written interactions by doing mechanical drills, because these drills
separate form from meaning and use.
No comments:
Post a Comment