In the article, “Current Developments in Research on the Teaching of Grammar” by Hossein Nassaji and Sandra Fotos two main issues had been discussed. The first one is whether grammar teaching make any differences to language learning where the questions raised are whether grammar should be taught or not. The second issue is what kinds of grammar teaching have been suggested to facilitate second language learning. If grammar should be taught, how much and should it be implicit or explicit grammar teaching? Lastly, the article discussed on the current approaches to grammar teaching in which formal instruction can be integrated with communicative activities which are processing instruction, interactional feedback, textual enhancement, task-based …show more content…
This “focus on FORM” ( FonF) approach is where the grammar is taught in context and different with the “focus on FORMS” (FonFs) where the grammar is taught in isolation. In this part, the reasons why should grammar teaching used FonF approach had been discussed which the first one is because it is learner-centered and tuned to the learner’s internal syllabus. Then, this approach can be achieved in many different ways such as through design, process, reactively and preemptively. This approach also is suggested to be used if the learners of second language aim for communicative purposes since this FonF approach is focusing on communication and meaning. There is a problem had been raised in this part on how to balancing the focus on grammar and meaning and communication. The solution of this problem is discussed in the next part of article where some ways of teaching had been introduced which some grammar instruction and chances for communicative input and output are …show more content…
Sekelj and Rigo (2011) stated that there are three phases of learning the English language. The first phase is the pupils of Year 1 to Year 4, where in this phase, pupils are preferably do a lot of mechanical drilling and practicing some patterns of grammatical features which occur in the context of dialogue that are related to their real-life without any metalinguistic explanation in order to allow them to participate orally and physically as much as possible in dialogues, role playing and dramatizing. It is because, in this stage, it is important to make them conscious of their progress and increasing their motivation to use the language. Teacher should use a variety of activities to teach grammar such as by using songs, riddles, games and stories because it could be very helpful and an efficient ways in teaching grammar as what had suggested by Long (2000) where this FonF approach is effective because it is learner-centered and tune to the learners’ internal syllabus. According to Sekelj and Rigo (2011), Vilke (1977) said that, at the early age, the unconscious acquisition process is superior to the learning one due to the child’s cognitive development. Next, the second phase is Year 5 to Year 6 where in this stage, grammar start to be taught explicitly but with simple and clear explanation and awareness of accuracy of grammar structure should be
The first four units offer students many opportunities to practice as they learn the English language. The table of contents shows the grammar, topics, and functions that are included in each unit. The first page of every single unit presents all the phrases and words that they need to be proficient in that unit and also includes a listing of incorporated essential grammatical areas. In addition, an engaging story that utilizes the language that has been acquired is found at the end of each unit. It is interesting to note that the fifth unit in each group of five presents exercises devised to support and strengthen the language grasped in the first four units.
The secondary strategy for the general level was to include some linguistic terminologies which are suitable to every learning style and also talking with tutors to use this terminology for the visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinetic styles. Level two the students were divided into subgroups based on their learning style. Correspondingly, the intent is to diversify the learning and teaching methodologies and strategies. The proposed techniques are as
We suggest that English language can be improved by making them learn the language from the first class itself with proper grammar rules. The teachers should work hard and should provide with better communicative exercises that would focus on all the four skills, Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing. And it should be made compulsory that students will have try all the communicative activities.
In learning language, there are five important components in learning include a teacher, students, materials, teaching methods and evaluation. A teacher plays role as the sender of knowledge or information, learners play role as a receiver of knowledge from the sender, material is the knowledge will be transferred to the learners, teaching method is teacher’s management strategy in delivering the idea, the general principles or pedagogy teacher applies in teaching while the evaluation is the activity to collect the data then make it getting
After the teacher is reassured that the students are familiar with direct questions, the presentation of a new grammar can start. The teacher tells the student the aim of the lesson.
On the other hand, teachers prefer using L1 for a more effective approach to teaching grammar and checking students’ understanding. Macaro (1997) commented that teachers often lack enthusiasm in using the target language for grammar explanation. Many students have difficulty in learning grammar, especially for those whose L1 system is entirely different from the TL. L1 can be more efficient, particularly when a teacher wants to discuss the learning contract with students, or tries to explore the needs of his/her students, especially those in the lower level (Harmer, 2007). Evidence provided by Harmer (2007) also indicates that the classroom environment can be enhanced through the use of L1 to establish a positive social relationship with students, which ultimately leads to a more effective teaching process.
This essay is going to illustrate the different stages in language acquisition that children pass through and elicit the theories in accordance.
How do children acquire language? What are the processes of language acquisition? How do infants respond to speech? Language acquisition is the process of learning a native or a second language. Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observations that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, (which helps them learn to pronounce words correctly), and grammar is seldom taught to them, but instead that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. Though, not all children learn by imitation alone. Children will produce forms of language that adults never say. For example, “I spilled milk on hisself” or “Debbie wants a cookie”. This demonstrates that children have the desire to speak correctly and have self-motivating traits to communicate. This supports the theory of Noam Chomsky (1972)-that children are able to learn grammar of a particular language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. Adults learning a second language pass through some of the same stages, as do children learning their native language. In the first part of this paper I will describe the process of language acquisition. The second part will review how infants respond to speech.
According to Rogers et al. (1986) Grammar translation method of second language teaching is one of the most traditional method. This method was originally associated with the teaching of Latin and Greek. Basically its significance is on translating language to the opposite, during the practice of this technique learners have no difficulties to grasp the lesson because it is meted out in the mother tongue. Additionally, this method is labor saving because the teacher carries out all the lessons in the native language.
The Audiolingual Approach to language teaching has a lot of similarities with the Direct Method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that speaking and listening competences preceded reading and writing competences. But there are also some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills.
A large part of an English teacher’s job deals with helping students find their own voices amidst the many teachings of their parents and peers. A student’s voice can be their values, their interests, and their perspectives of the world in which they live. Their voice can be their critical questioning of the many situations they face, whether in a text, the school cafeteria, or a park after school. It is the job of an English teacher to aid in finding this voice through their writing. It is by putting words and thoughts down on paper that a student can sometimes feel comfortable enough to take risks and find their true voices. Although traditional grammar instruction has long been thought to improve this skill, this is no longer the case. Instead, by providing a classroom environment in which students are immersed in classic literature from many genres including poetry, short stories, and novels, students will learn how to harness grammar for their own purposes of finding their voice in their writing.
A fundamental aspect of language acquisition is acquiring sufficient vocabulary to understand and convey meaning. As the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach is today´s contemporary method of teaching languages, the Grammar Translation Approach´s Focus on Forms (FonFs) became obsolete. Instead of the intentional teaching of language items, the CLT classroom focuses on incidental learning. Incidental learning is key principle of Focus on Form (FonF) and applied in the SLA classroom to give it a more naturalistic atmosphere.
Next, I will use songs to teach grammar. I will play the song in the class for several times. Then, I will omit certain words from the lyrics and ask the students to fill in the blank. The students will be learning grammar in the way, than the old boring
All methods in language teaching are a pre-designed set of description of how the teacher should teach the learner and how the learner should learn obtain from a specific theory of language and a theory of language learning. These theories are attain from the parts of linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and are the origin of theory and applying in language teaching. Language teaching methods is divided into many methodologies. For example: The Direct Method, Grammar-Translation Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Total Physical Response, Audio-Lingual Method, The structural Method etc. Each method has its own rules, history, and different from one another. For example: The direct method was the reply to the disapproving with the
By studying the results of the collected data, one can see a clear difference in the knowledge of English grammar between teenagers and elders. While the teenagers got a average of 75,2% correct answers and a median of 76,2% correct answers, the elders only got a average of 49,5% correct answers and a median of 52,4% correct answers, which is 25,7% less correct answers on the average and 23,8% less correct answers on the median.