Cambridge English Teacher Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment 2014

Identifying Preferences for Grammar Teaching

Aims:
to help teachers compare and contrast students grammar learning to their own teaching
preferences

Materials required:
none

Appropriate for:
teachers with any level of experience

Teachers usually teach grammar in the same way they were taught. The approach they were
exposed to as learners often reflects a traditional understanding where teachers teach
deductively, also known as rule-driven teaching. In a deductive approach, the teacher begins
with presenting a rule which is followed by examples that are formed with the newly taught rule.
This is followed by students forming sentences with the newly learnt rules, with teachers
assuming that students can relatively easily use this abstract knowledge immediately after the
direct teaching. A more modern approach to teaching grammar favoured by some teachers is
inductive teaching, termed also discovery learning, whereby students are expected to notice
the grammatical structures and rules in sample sentences that include the target structures
through an analysis task. Learner-centred teaching imposes more responsibility on students,
and so this process can be difficult for some students; a solution to this challenge is to uncover
students expectations and their preferences about learning grammar. Gaining critical insight
into what learners think and want may help teachers to select, prepare and use appropriate
materials when teaching grammar. Both approaches are popular today although they both
come with their advantages and drawbacks; see the table below.

Pros Cons
D
e
d
u
c
t
i
v
e

A
p
p
r
o
a
c
h

Meets traditional beliefs about
classroom learning.
Provides teachers with
opportunities to handle language
points during instruction.
Is a straightforward and
organised way of describing rules,
allowing scope for controlled
practice.
Lack of language knowledge
can create difficulty for students.
Grammar presentations by
teachers reduce student
involvement and interaction.
Leads learners to think that
learning a language simply
requires memorising the rules.







Cambridge English Teacher Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment 2014








I
n
d
u
c
t
i
v
e


A
p
p
r
o
a
c
h

Discovering rules promotes
thinking skills and can make
learning more meaningful.
Active engagement promotes
motivation and learner-autonomy.
Student-centred learning develops
problem-solving skills and can
lead to greater language practice.
Active thinking can be time
consuming and may create fatigue
in students.
It can be challenging for teacher
to plan appropriate lessons.
Students may arrive at wrong
formulations if teacher support is
insufficient.

Task
1. Before you can begin to identify your students preferences for grammar learning, you and your
class must first be familiar with both approaches. In your next grammar lesson, try out the activities
below.

Activity 1: example activity for deductive grammar teaching
- Present the structure and rules that you want to teach on the board.
- Allow your learners to work with the rules by studying them through examples.
- Ask them to apply the rules in an exercise such as sentence transformations.
Activity 2: A sample activity for inductive grammar teaching
- Give students five example sentences which are clearly formed with the rule or
structure you want to teach.
- Allow your learners to analyse the examples and work out the structure and rules
before checking this formally with the class (ask the comprehension questions: Do
you know the name of this structure? Do you know when we use it? Do you know the
rules of using it?)
- Ask them to apply the rules in an activity exercise.
2. Making sure that students have understood both approaches from these activities, you can now
ask them to answer the following questions to understand which approach they prefer.
A) Choose option a or b
a. Would you like me to give grammar rules first and then you practise them?
b. Would you like me to give examples first and then you discover the grammar rules?



Cambridge English Teacher Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment 2014






B) Choose option a or b
a. Would you like me to give you rules + example sentences at the same time when teaching
grammar?
b. Would you like me to give you dialogues and paragraphs which contain examples of grammar for
you to study, and then give you the rules after?


C) Choose a or b
a. Would you like me to give you sentence transformation exercises such as changing positive
sentences into question forms for you to practise grammar rules?
b. Would you like me to give you activities for you to practise grammar rules? For example,
information gap: where students ask questions to each other to discover information they need to
complete the task.
pair-work: where students work in pairs to discuss and practise.
role-plays: playing different social roles to practise language.










Cambridge English Teacher Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment 2014





Analysis of the responses from students
Using the following table, you will be able to identify your and your students preference for
grammar teaching. 1 refers to the distinction between inductive and deductive teaching; 2 refers to
sentence-based and text-based grammar teaching, whereas 3 refers to form-based or meaning-
based activities.
Stage 1: Simply count the preferences of your learners and complete the following table.
Description Approaches to
teaching
grammar
Number
of
students
Your
preference
Percentage
of responses
1
a. Would you like me to give
grammar rules first and then
you practice them?
a. Deductive


b. Would you like me to give
examples and you discover
the target grammar rules?
b. Inductive


2
a. Would you like me to give
you rules + example
sentences at the same time
when teaching grammar?
a. Sentence-
based


b. Would you like me to give
you dialogues and paragraphs
which contain examples of
grammar for you to study, and
then give you the rules after?
b. Text-based


3
a. Would you like me to give
you sentence transformation
exercises?
a. Form-based



b. Would you like me to give
you activities for you to
practise grammar rules?
b. Meaning-
based







Cambridge English Teacher Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment 2014






Stage 2:
1. Try to see if there is a pattern emerging from the responses. To do that, rank the approach
from the most preferred to the least one.
2. Count the A responses and the B responses. What do responses as As and Bs reflect?
Which one is preferred?
3. Is there a difference between the instruction you employ and what your students expect?
4. If there is discrepancy, how do you think you can manage this issue?
5. If there is similarity, what does this suggest?
6. Now, in what ways can you improve your grammar teaching?

Further reading

Ellis, R. (2006) Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective, TESOL Quarterly,
40(1), 83-107.
Hinkel, E., Fotos, S. (Eds.) (2001). New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language
classrooms, London: Psychology Press.
Lock, G. (1996) Functional English Grammar: An introduction for second language teachers,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. (1999) How to Teach Grammar, England: Longman.