Methodology Unit 6 Teaching Grammar

Unit 6 Teaching Grammar Objectives to understand the role of grammar in ELT; to learn the methods for grammar presentation. Prerequisites Students should preview the unit for the main idea before they come to the class. Students should prepare TASK 1, read the assumptions about grammar in English learning and try to give reasons for their decisions .

Part I. The role of Grammar Task 1 Read the following statements about grammar in English learning again and decide if you agree with them or not. 1.Students need to be given detailed grammar rules if they want to learn a foreign language successfully. 2.Children do not learn grammar rules when they acquire their first langu­age, so they do not need them either when learning a foreign language. 3.If students get enough chance to practise using a foreign language, they do not need to learn grammar.

Part I. The role of Grammar 4.Making students aware of grammatical information is one of the teach­ing objectives, allowing students opportunities for using the language is just as important. 5.Grammar should be taught to help students to analyze difficult structures in texts. 6.Teaching and learning grammar should focus on practice rather than the study of grammar itself. 7.Grammar should be taught and practiced in context.

Part I. The role of Grammar 8. Knowing grammar is not enough for real communication. 9. An inadequate knowledge of grammar would severely constrain the ca­pacity for communication. 10.Grammar will always be “the boring bit” of language learning.

Part I. The role of Grammar Sum up： A. The role of grammar in English learning: 1. English grammar is one of the four key elements of English language, that is， pronunciation, words, grammar and context. Without grammar English language cannot be well constructed.

Part I. The role of Grammar 2.There is naturally Chinese grammar in the minds of Chinese students, and it's not easy to take in the grammar of a foreign language. But this difficulty must be overcome. If you cannot solve this difficulty, the English you write, though it may be understandable, will be Chinglish (Chinese type foreign language).

Part I. The role of Grammar 3.Grammar can help you to understand what you read and hear. 3.Grammar can help you to understand what you read and hear. 4.Grammar can help you to express yourself clearly and correctly.

Part I. The role of Grammar B. How grammar is currently taught: In China, grammar is taught in a traditionally teacher-centred way. Obviously there is too much teacher dominance and too little student involvement in such a class. Often preparing such a grammar lesson means collecting all the concerned rules or ideas on a topic form various books together with copied examples, and teaching grammar simply means reading aloud to the class what has been prepared beforehand.

Part I. The role of Grammar Students are supposed to take notes for the final assessment. For many years Chinese teachers of English have followed the traditional way of teaching grammar as the following three steps: --to learn about the grammar rules, --to study a few examples, --and to do some written grammar exercises.

Part II. Grammar presentation methods Generally speaking, there are two grammar presentation methods: Deductive Method and Inductive Method which are commonly used in grammar class. These two methods are very useful in teaching and can be used in other classes. Today you will learn the first one---the Deductive method. The following sample:

Grammar presentation methods The Present Progressive (or Continuous) As we have already learned that aspect concerns the manner in which the verbal action is experienced or regarded, that is, an action is completed or in progress.

Grammar presentation methods 1. Form: The Present Progressive is formed by the present form of BE (am, is, are) + the present participle. E. g. He is cleaning the blackboard. She is closing the window. We are having a class.

Grammar presentation methods Past Future Present

Grammar presentation methods This is quite different from Chinese in which all the tenses and aspects are expressed by words. E. g. 他正在关窗子。 我们正在上课。 English ‘aspect’ is expressed by the forms of verbs but the Chinese ‘aspect’ by the words, such as ‘正在’、‘正’或‘在’and so on.

Grammar presentation methods 2. The PPA and the different kinds of verbs 1. In general，the Present Progressive is used for a single temporary event that has a beginning and an end. This form suggests that an event began and is continuing, but it does not necessarily include the end of the action.

Grammar presentation methods The Present Progressive occurs mostly with verbs that denote limited duration such as work, study, attend. However, it can also occur with verbs that express some stage in a progression, either the beginning, end or continuation of an action. E.g. The class is beginning (or ending) now. The weather is getting (or becoming) warmmer and warmer.

Grammar presentation methods 2. The progressive form often simply marks the aspect of duration. If emphasis on duration of an event is not desired, the non-progressive aspect is used, for example, “The class begins at 8: 00. ” A single action that is going on at present must be expressed with a progressive verb, for example, “The little girl is singing a song over there. ” In terms of time, the progressive form is the present. It may express relatively short duration, perhaps only momentary, or relatively long duration.

Grammar presentation methods E. g. Short Duration: He is opening the window now. She is reviewing her grammar lesson at the moment. Long Duration: She is studying English this year. He is writing a novel.

Grammar presentation methods 3. A few verbs occur in either the present progressive or the simple present tense, depending on the kind of emphasis desired. For the Present Progressive, the emphasis is on the progression of one event. E.g. He is planning to go abroad. —Where are you living now? —I’m living in California.

Grammar presentation methods For the Simple Present , the emphasis is on the general idea denot­ed by the verb. E.g. He plans to go abroad. Where do you live now? I live in California.

Grammar presentation methods 4. Usually, the Present Progressive is found with action verbs, but, sometimes, the Present Progressive is found with non-action verbs that are ordinarily put in the Simple Present Tense. In such a case, the progressive verb may signal that an event is thought of as temporary.

Grammar presentation methods E.g. I’m remembering how it used to be. He’s seeing things clearer with his new glasses. However, when such verbs are used in the Present Progressive, they have other meanings than those in the Simple Present Tense.

Grammar presentation methods Cf. : He is considering entering the university. He considers this university to be a good one. What are you thinking about? What do you think about him?

Grammar presentation methods 3. The usages of the PPA Because of the ability of the Present Progressive to suggest action in progress, it can be also used for the following:

Grammar presentation methods 1.For an action which is in progress while we are talking. E. g. what is he doing? He is reading a book. What a nuisance it is that you are talking so loudly while we are having a class.

Grammar presentation methods 2. For the present period action which is not necessarily occurring now. E. g. John is studying Chinese while his sister is doing Japanese. I’m teaching Translation and Grammar this semester.

Grammar presentation methods 3. For greater emotion or emphasis than the non-progressive form does. E. g. You are continually finding fault with me. (Emotional comment, “continually” reinforces the emotion which the speaker dislikes.) He’s always acting up at these affairs. (Emotional comment, “al­ways” reinforces the emotion which speaker disapproves. )

Grammar presentation methods 4. For habits or iteration in a series of similar ongoing actions. E.g. Henry is kicking the soccer ball around the backyard. (habits) The trains are arriving late practically every day this winter. (iteration)

Grammar presentation methods 5. For future time if it is accompanied by a future time expres­sion. E. g. The books are going on sale next week. Our teacher is giving us a quiz tomorrow.

Grammar presentation methods The Present Progressive generally indicates that the future action is part of a plan made in the present ,with the past possibility included. it is more frequently used with the verbs that can show the intention of the subject or that can indicate the result of planning by some a­gent. E.g. I’m giving you some examples about the Present Progressive. However, we can not say “It’s raining tomorrow.”

Grammar presentation methods Summary of the Method: The deductive method relies on reasoning, analyzing and comparing. The teaching process is: 1. The teacher writes an example on the board or draws attention to an example in the textbook.

Grammar presentation methods 2. Then teacher explains the underlying rules regarding the forms and positions of certain struc­tural words. The explanations are often done in the student’s native language and using grammatical terms. Sometimes, comparisons are made between the native language and the target language or between the newly presented structure and previously learned structures. 3. Finally the students practice applying the rule to produce sentences with given prompts.

Grammar presentation methods Advantages: --good for selected and motivate students --save time to explain complex rule --increase students’ confidence in examination Disadvantages: --it teaches grammar in an isolated way; --little attention is paid to meaning; --the practice is often mechanical.

Part III. Homework 1. Do Task 2 by yourselves. 2. Preview the rest of the Unit. Reference Book: <英语基础课程的教与学>

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