Why should we teach grammar?

apparent enormity of the language learning

GRAMMAR task for both teachers and students.
Grammar is rules of a language. Grammar is • By tidying language up and organizing it into
a system of meaningful structures and neat categories (sometimes called discrete
patterns that are governed by particular items), grammarians make language
pragmatic constraints. (Larsen-Freeman, digestible.
2001).
The Rule-of-law Argument
In another definition ―grammar is a A transmission view sees the role of education
description of the rules for forming sentences, as the transfer of a body of knowledge
including an (typically in the form of facts and rules) from
account of the meanings that these forms those that have the knowledge to those that
convey (Thornbury, 1999, p.13). do not.

Grammar skills will help learners to organize The Learner Expectations Argument
words and messages and make them • Regardless of the theoretical and ideological
meaningful. arguments for or against grammar teaching,
many learners come to language classes with
To establish an effective communication, fairly fixed expectations as to what they will do
learners need grammar skills. Grammar will there.
give learners the competence how to combine • These expectations may derive from
words to form sentences. previous classroom experience of language
learning. They may also derive from
Issues of Grammar Teaching and experience of classrooms in general where
Assessment (traditionally, at least) teaching is of the
The Sentence-machine Argument transmission kind mentioned above.
• Part of the process of language learning
must be what is sometimes called item- Subject-Verb-Agreement
learning — that is the memorization of Subject-verb agreement is the grammatical
individual items such as words and phrases. rule that the verb or verbs in a sentence must
• However, there is a limit to the number of match the number, person, and gender of the
items a person can both retain and retrieve. subject; in English, the verb needs to match
just the number and sometimes the person.
The Fine-tuning Argument • Subject-verb agreement, also called
• The purpose of grammar seems to be to “subject-verb concord,” refers to matching
allow for greater subtlety of meaning than a the subject and verb of a sentence in tense,
merely lexical system can cater for. aspect, and mood, which translates to
• While it is possible to get a lot of number, person, and gender.
communicative mileage out of simply stringing
words and phrases together, there comes a English doesn’t use grammatical gender, and
point where 'Me Tarzan, you Jane'-type only the verb is changes based on whether it’s
language fails to deliver, both in terms of first, second, or third person. That means
intelligibility and in terms of appropriacy. most English subject-verb agreement is about
quantity: if the subject is singular, the verb
The Fossilization Argument must be singular; if the subject is plural, the
• It is possible for highly motivated learners verb must be plural.
with a particular aptitude for languages to
achieve amazing levels of proficiency without
any formal study.
• But more often 'pick it up as you go along'
learners reach a language plateau beyond
which it is very difficult to progress.
• To put it technically, their linguistic
competence fossilizes.

The Advance-organizer Argument

• Grammar instruction might also have a
delayed effect.
• When grammar is taught to learners, they
will notice it and will be able to use it
themselves.
• The researcher Richard Schmidt concluded
that noticing is a prerequisite for acquisition.

The Discrete Item Argument

•Language seen from “outside”, can seem to
be a gigantic, shapeless mass, presenting an
insuperable challenge for the learner.
• Because grammar consists of an apparently
finite set of rules, it can help to reduce the
Rules of Subject-Verb-Agreement RULE no.8 With fractions, the verb agrees
with the whole.
RULE no.1 A subject made up of nouns
joined by and takes a plural subject, unless • One-fourth of the books are gone.
that subject’s intended sense is singular.

• She and I run every day.

• Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite

sandwich.

RULE no.2 When a subject is made up of

nouns joined by or, the verb agrees with the
last noun.

•She or I run every day.

•Potatoes, pasta, or rice goes well with grilled

RULE no.3 Collective nouns (team, couple,

staff, etc.) take a singular verb.

• The football team is practicing night and day

for the Super Bowl.

• Boston’s school committee disagrees about

what to cut from the school budget.

RULE no.4 Connectives, phrases such as

combined with, coupled with, accompanied
by, added to, along with, together with, and as
well as, do not change the number of the
subject. These phrases are usually set off with
commas.

• Oil, as well as gas, is a popular heating

choice.

• Peanut butter combined with bread and jelly

is a tasty snack.

RULE no.5 Collecting noun phrases (a bunch

of, a group of a set of, etc.) take a singular
verb.

•A set of 12 dishes is all you need for the

dinner party.

•A bunch of stray cats is fed by the volunteers

in the community

RULE NO. 6 “Each” takes a singular verb.

•Each boy is excited about the meet; each is

well prepared.

•Each does a good deal of work around the

office.

RULE no.7 “None” takes a singular verb if

what it refers to is singular and a plural verb if
its referent is plural.

• None of the book is reproducible without

permission.

• None of the peas are left on Sean’s plate.

METHODS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR Functional-notional teaching

Diagramming sentences Teachers often choose a real-world

situation as their “notion” and choose
Diagramming sentence is visualizing how corresponding function to teach to
to fit together the different parts of a prepare students to communicate in that
sentence. situation in the lesson.
Sentence diagramming is valuable for Situational contexts
both English grammar students and
teachers. • Context can be linguistic and
situational.
To put in a diagram words in a sentences
forces the learners to identify the logical • Linguistic context is about the
connections between different parts of the information that was formally written or
sentence. spoken

The farmers gave their kids fresh • Situational context is the general
vegetables. knowledge that a person has of the
world.
Learning through writing
Using texts, stories, songs, and
Writing can provide a unique opportunity rhymes
to develop critical thinking skills.
• Consider the following when using this
Writing to communicate or transactional strategy:
writing means writing to accomplish
something such as to inform, instruct, or • Level of the students
persuade but writing to learn is different.
• Interests and age of the
Language becomes a tool for discovering, learners
for shaping meaning and for teaching
understanding. Best example is A • Grammar point to be studied
Reading Journal.
 Gap fills or close texts
Inductive teaching
 Focus questions
STEP 1: Present several examples that
 True-false statements
illustrate a particular concept.
 Put the lines into the correct sequence
STEP 2: Students must observe how the
concept works from these examples.  Dictation
STEP 3: Concept must not explained
beforehand.  Add a final verse
STEP 4: Students are expected to
 Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the
recognize the rule of grammar in more
given words
natural way.
 Discuss
Deductive teaching
STEP 1: A teacher gives an in-depth PPP
explanation of a grammatical concept
before students could encounter the same P – Presentation involves building a
grammatical concept in their own writing. situation that requires natural and
STEP 2: After the lesson, students logical use of new language.
practice what they have just been shown
P – Practice involves testing the
through worksheets and exercises.
procedure so students can be familiar
with the language.
Interactive teaching
This method allows teachers to tailor their P – Production students here shall
lessons to the different learning styles of have made the transition from learners
students Game-like activities are good to becoming users of the language.
examples of it.
Modes for Teaching Grammar

Linguistic Mode

“Students must be familiar about the use of

structures so that they will understand”

Story-telling Mode

• A grammar lesson without an

application stage.

• “volume and repetition”