SECTION 7 TEACHING GRAMMAR INTRODUCTION ‘The role of grammar is perhaps one of the most controversial issues in language teaching. In the early parts of the twentieth century, grammar teaching formed an essential part of Janguage instruction, so much so that other aspects of language learning were either ignored ‘or downplayed. The argument was that if you knew the grammatical rules of the language, ‘you would be able to use it for communication, This concept was strongly challenged in the early 1970s. Knowledge of the grammatical system of the language, it was argued, was ‘but one of the many components which underlay the notion of communicative competence. ‘To be considered a competent user of a language, one needs to know not only the rules of grammar, but also how the rules are used in real communication. During this period, ‘grammar teaching became less prominent, and in some cases, was abandoned. In recent years, grammar teaching has regained its rightful place in the language cur- riculum, People now agree that grammar is too important to be ignored, and that without a ‘200d knowledge of grammar, learners’ language development will be severely constrained, ‘There is now a general consensus that the issue is not whether or not we should teach gram- mar. The issue now centers on questions such as, Which grammar items do learners need most? How do we go about teaching grammar items in the most effective way’ Are they best taught inductively or deduetively? In this section, we consider classroom approaches, to the teaching of grammar. Although there is no one best method of teaching grammar ~ and we have to do more research to investigate the effectiveness of the many different tech- niques advocated by methodologists ~ we do know what constitutes sound approaches to the teaching of grammar. Th the first article, Swan invites us to reflect on what grammar we teach and why we teach it. He identifies a number of reasons for grammar teaching which do not conform to[a6 Teaching Grammar sound pedagogical principles. For example, teachers often teach grammar simply because it is “easy” to teach and to test. Some attempt to teach the whole grammatical system, thinking that itis both feasible and desirable. As a consequence, we have students who may know a lot of grammar but who are unable to use their knowledge for any practical communicative purposes. Swan suggests that the teaching of grammar should be determined by the needs of the students. Thus, the selection of grammar items to be taught must depend on learners” aims in learning English. Furthermore, the teaching of grammar should be based on the principles of comprehensibility and acceptability. ‘The second article by Richards examines the assumptions underlying a task-based approach to teaching and identifies some of the practical difficulties that can arise. The ‘most serious of these is the potential for students to perform a task with a poor level of ‘grammatical accuracy, since they can often use communication strategies to bypass some of the language difficulties task performance involves. The result may be that task work develops fluency at the expense of accuracy and leads to the development of fossilized errors that may be difficult to eradicate. In order to address this issue, Richards draws on the work of Skehan and others to examine how a focus on grammatical accuracy can be built into the use of tasks. This involves adding a language-awareness dimension to tasks prior to, during, or after task performance. The last article, by Ellis, explores the role of practice and consciousness-raising in ‘grammar teaching. Although practice has a role to play in language learning, Ellis maintains that its value is rather limited, He argues that the available evidence seems to suggest that practice, be it controlled, contextualized, or communicative, may not be as effective as people claim itis. Consciousness-raising, on the other hand, offers an attractive altemative to traditional grammar practice. Through carefully designed consciousness-raising activi- ties, learners will develop an explicit knowledge of the grammar of the language which facilitates their ability to communicate. Ellis admits, however, that this approach to grammar instruction has its limitations. It may not be appropriate for young learners or beginners. Discussion QuEsTIONS Before Reading 1. How much grammar does one need in order to be able to communicate comfortably ina second or foreign language? 2. Some people claim that grammar is not very important as long as you can get your ‘message across in the language you are studying. Do you agree with this statement? 3. What has been your experience in learning the grammar of a second language? 4. How do you go about teaching grammar? How do you decide which grammar points to present first, second, and so on? 5. Ts grammar best taught 6. Does one have to conscio 7. How important are grammar drills in second language learning? What are the assumptions of diserete grammar practice? 8. How do you correct your students’ grammar mistakes? Give at least three different techniques you usually employ in your teaching. isolation or in context? Explain your answer. know the rules of grammar? Why or why not? After Reading 1, Swan lists seven bad reasons for teaching grammar, Do you agree with him? Add a few more bad reasons to his listIntroduction ‘What does Swan mean by comprehensibility and acceptability? Design an activity that incorporates these two principles of grammar teaching. Observe leamers carrying out a task. To what extent does their performance illustrate the features of tasks listed by Richards? Choose an example of a task and plan how it will be used in the classroom, Suggest how an accuracy component can be incorporated into the task either before, during, or after task completion, as discussed by Richards. ‘What are the goals of grammar-focused instruction according to task-based language teaching? 6. Design an activity that promotes conscious noticing of certain grammatical features, . What do you think is the role of grammar practice? Do you agree with Ellis that practice has a limited value in grammar learning? ‘What are some of the strengths and limitations of the approach advocated by Ellis? Examine an ESL textbook series and see how grammar is dealt with. What grammar items are included? How are they presented? On what basis are they selected? What are the principles used to sequence these grammar items? To what extent do the exercises link grammar to communicative interaction? ‘Some applied linguists suggest that grammar is best learned incidentally through, for example, extensive reading. Do you agree? Should grammar be taught separately o integrated into the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing?