A philosophical discussion on grammar pedagogy

It is imperative to understand the meaning of grammar and its relationship with the language before discussing grammar pedagogy. Although several grammarians have defined and described grammar in diverse ways, I think my understanding of grammar is best conveyed by Thornbury (2004). He defines grammar as ‘a description of the rules for forming sentences, including an account of the meanings that these forms convey’. He says that grammar enables us to use language in terms of how, where and when things happen, and it also facilitates the way we interact with each other. However, not only grammar but contextual information also plays an important role in the interpretation and understanding of various forms of communication. He discusses strong arguments both in favour of and against teaching grammar.

It is well known that native speakers of English learn to use English (internal grammar) naturally and unconsciously. Even those whose mother tongue is not English, if get immersed in English language for a long time tend to use English effectively without formal knowledge of the English grammar. I consider myself a good example of this observation. I learned English as one of several subjects in Hindi medium schools in India. I believe my English language education was inadequate for my ability to communicate in this language. I did not learn any grammar in my school. Since late 1960s, during my university education followed by my professional life as a geologist in India, U.K., USA, and Canada, I have been immersed in English and most of my reading, writing, listening, and speaking has been predominantly in English. English has dominated my thought process. During the past five decades I wrote and published large numbers of research papers and books, edited several scientific papers for various journals without any formal education in English grammar. I still do not know how I communicate effectively in writing and speaking in English without having any formal knowledge of English grammar. This must be unconscious acquisition of English grammar because of my immersion in English environment. This suggests that language acquisition and thus internal grammar is an unconscious interconnected system. It is also well known that non-native speakers of English may know all the grammar rules yet are unable to write or speak effectively. We learn to use a language thus develop internal grammar unconsciously only up to a certain early age in our life. This fact is demonstrated by children who learn a new language quicker than adults. As we grow older, our innate capacity for language acquisition diminishes and whatever language we learn is due mainly to our conscious efforts of learning. Thus, acquisition of a language is a subconscious process which refers to the ability to reproduce meaningful sounds and structures. Whereas learning a language is a conscious process that requires instruction either from a teacher or from books, mostly both. Language learning involves vocabulary, proper syntax to form sentences and grammar rules.

In the context of grammar pedagogy it is extremely difficult if not impossible to teach ‘teaching’. Considering the fact that conceptualizing diverse and at times contradictory nature of grammar is very complex, teaching it is even more complex. Grammar pedagogy entirely depends on individual teacher’s beliefs, assumptions and knowledge (BAK). How teachers transfer knowledge to their learners mainly depend on their BAK, their capability to negotiate with learners, and their knowledge and understanding of learners’ BAK. Teaching grammar is always a negotiation of BAK between the teacher and the learners. As teachers all of us have our own BAK.

Individual choices of grammar pedagogy can be demonstrated on a scale from zero to one hundred. On the zero end there is no teaching focus on form and absolutely no correction of any assignments, and on the one hundred end there is teaching of traditional grammar that uses text books and teaches rules of grammar and corrects assignments. Grammar pedagogy moves along this scale depending on the cognitive level of learners. Different techniques of teaching also move along this scale.

There are mainly two ways to teach English grammar, indirect approach or communicative method and direct approach or teaching by rules. Communicative teaching emphasizes only formal elements of grammar in general (form) that conveys rough ideas of grammar rules. Teaching by rules on the other hand focuses on formal elements of the language (forms) and strictly follows grammar rules. The forms of language include the organizational components of language and the systematic rules that govern their structure. This later method provides learners grammar rules of thumb which may be applicable in most cases but are not applicable everywhere. There is a third approach to grammar teaching is through the use of texts. Scripted or authentic texts are used as a source for lesson plans for various grammar points (Thornbury, 2004).

Learning grammar can also be demonstrated on the scale of zero to one hundred. Explicit or experiential learning at the zero end and implicit learning on the one hundred. Explicit learning is unconscious where only learner is involved, who takes all the decisions about learning, whereas implicit learning is conscious where a teacher is involved who dictates several decisions on learners. The focus on form increases from explicit to implicit learning but focus on meaning increases from implicit to explicit learning. Implicit learning is possible and could be beneficial at the beginner’s level, but there has to be some explicit learning required at a later stage of learning.

Odlin (1994) defines pedagogical grammar as ‘the types of grammatical analysis and instruction designed for the needs of second language students’ and elaborates on its relationship with other concepts of grammar. He discusses four contrasting views of pedagogical grammar, viz. grammar as prescription, grammar as description, grammar as an internalized system, and grammar as an axiomatic system. All these views have implications for language teaching, but none of them alone cover the concerns of grammar teachers. Fromkin et al. (2001) discuss these concepts of pedagogical grammar in their historical perspective.

Odlin (1994) further observes that pedagogical grammar is a ‘practically oriented hybrid discipline’ that draws on works in several fields. He elaborates on this idea and states ‘without question, teaching grammar in second language setting involves prescription, yet the range of structures important to consider resembles a descriptive grammar much more than a prescriptive grammar for native speakers.’ This being a hybrid discipline, both teachers and researchers require interdisciplinary work to practice it. Four interrelated factors viz. instructional time, learner independence, fossilization of knowledge and expert guidance motivate pedagogical grammar.

A Brief Review of Grammar Teaching Methodology

The following discussion relates primarily to students of English as a second language (ESL). An understanding of methods used to teach grammar is essential. There are several methods for teaching grammar, ranging from absolutely no grammar teaching at one end to very heavy teaching of grammar at the other. The ‘Grammar-Translation’ method follows a grammar syllabus where lessons begin with a statement of the rule, followed by exercises involving translation into and out of the mother tongue (L1). It focuses exclusively on the written language. On the contrary ‘Direct Method’ is supposedly more ‘natural’ and oral skills are its priority. Learners are supposed to pick up grammar in the same way as children pick up the grammar of their mother tongue, simply by being immersed in the language.

The ‘Audiolingual’ method derives its theoretical basis from behaviorist psychology, which considers language as simply a form of behavior to be learned through the formation of correct behavior. Such a syllabus consists of sentence patterns of grammatical origin and forms the basis of pattern-practice drill (Thornbury, 2004).

Chomsky’s idea of innate human capacity prompted a reassessment of the drill-and-repeat type teaching and led to the ‘natural approach’ that discarded both a grammar syllabus and rule-giving. Instead, learners are given large inputs of comprehensible input. In due course of time this input converts into output. Research in sociolinguistics led to the development of ‘Communicative Language Teaching’ (CLT). This method believes that communicative competence consists of more than simply the knowledge of the rules of grammar (Thornbury, 2004).

Processes of Teaching Grammar

The teaching methods discussed above can be classified into two main approaches to teach grammar, deductive or rule-driven learning versus inductive or discovery learning. A deductive approach starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples, whereas inductive approach starts with some examples from which a rule is inferred (Thornbury, 2004).

Advantages and disadvantages of deductive and inductive teaching processes

The advantage of the deductive process is that it gets straight to the point, saves time, and many rules can simply be explained than elicited from examples. It respects intelligence and maturity of learners, especially ESL adult learners, and acknowledges the role of cognitive processes of language acquisition. The disadvantages of this process lie in starting a lesson with a grammar point that may discourage a learner with limited metalanguage capability, thus their inability to understand the concept. The teacher’s explanation is often at the expense of learner involvement and interaction.

Grammar rules learned through the inductive process are more meaningful, memorable and serviceable because of greater cognitive depth involved in the learning process. Learners are more actively involved, thus more motivated in the learning process rather than just passive recipients. This approach enhances learners’ pattern-recognition and problem-solving abilities. It also provides greater self-reliance and is therefore conducive to learner autonomy. The disadvantages of the inductive approach is that it is a very time and energy consuming process and might mislead learners into believing that rules are the objective of language rather than a means. Sometimes learners may hypothesize an incorrect rule. It can place a heavy demand on teachers in planning a lesson.

Context of My Teaching Environment

Canada is a country of immigrants. Every year thousands of people from all over the world immigrate here to make Canada their home. A great majority of them come from non-English speaking countries thus have little or no knowledge of English. Most of them fail to communicate well and become practically nonfunctional in Canada. Even those with good educational backgrounds usually lack effective communication skills in English to become productive members of the Canadian society. Governments in Canada at the provincial and city levels have extensive programs for teaching English as a second language (ESL) to immigrants. ESL courses at various levels are offered throughout Canada mainly by various educational boards, privately run language schools and various volunteer organizations. Language Instructions for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) is a very popular nationwide adult ESL program funded by the federal government of Canada. Many uneducated or semi-educated adults are sent to literacy programs that too teach English in many schools and community centers and are supported by various levels of governments.

Teaching English grammar to adult ESL teachers

I have already discussed some of the philosophical ideas of grammar learning, teaching and acquisition. What kind of grammar knowledge students need to develop to use language effectively is important for an effective teacher. An effective teacher is one who can teach a course successfully. Successful teaching begins with designing a suitable syllabus for a course. In case the syllabus for a course is already available, a teacher has to plan lessons in a manner to complete the designed course work within the prescribed time. If the syllabus is not available, a teacher has to decide what to teach in the course. Then a teacher has to consider the students’ academic background, level of knowledge in the subject, scope of the course and then design it accordingly. Sometimes government sponsored language benchmarks are available as a guide that can help design a syllabus and make lesson plans for different levels of ESL teaching. The Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000; English as a second language – for adults (Pawlikowska-Smith, 2002) and Canadian Language Benchmarks; A guide to implementation (Holmes et al., 2001) are good examples of government sponsored guides. An effective grammar teacher develops a syllabus, uses various teaching methods, plans lessons, manages the classroom, uses various technologies, evaluates learners, and finally uses his/her personality for effective teaching.

Designing and implementing classroom lessons requires a lot of thought in terms of teaching techniques, textbooks, technology and lesson plans (Brown, 2001). Once a decision has been made about the scope of the syllabus and the required time to complete it, a teacher is then faced with the challenge of choosing effective teaching techniques. Although there are several teaching techniques available in literature (Brown, 2001), none can be termed the best. Teaching techniques used in class mostly depend on the teacher’s preference, the level of class being taught as well as learners’ needs. As a matter of fact, a combination of several techniques is essential to teaching various aspects of a given course. The choice of textbooks for the course is another important decision to be made by a teacher. Suitability of textbooks depends on various factors such as content, coverage of the syllabus, quality of writing, illustrations, and affordability. Various technologies are now available as teaching tools, for example, electronic overhead projectors, videos and movies, computers and several teaching software, and the Internet. Thus, a teacher must also decide on what type of technological tools can be effectively used in his/her classroom setting.

Characteristics of the Course

In the English as a second language (ESL) context, basic grammar teaching ought to be considered imperative considering the linguistic and cultural diversity of the ESL students. This will certainly facilitate learning of English language and communication skills among them. The efficiency factor (the E-factor) covers economy, ease and efficacy in grammar teaching and the appropriacy factor (the A-factor) of the course is important because no class of learners is the same in terms of their needs, interests, and goals etc. Thus the A-factor should also be considered while teaching grammar especially in the ESL environment. Pedagogic rules of grammar make sense to learners and provide them with the means and confidence to generate language with a good chance of success. A distinction between ‘rules of form’ (e.g. to form the past simple of regular verbs, add –ed to the infinitive) and ‘rules of use’ (e.g. the simple past tense is used to indicate past actions or states) should be made while teaching grammar (Thornbury, 2004).

The three stages of lesson planning discussed by Cross (1999) are the presentation stage, the practice stage and finally the performance or production stage. I believe grammar teachers of ESL classes can benefit greatly from this method of lesson planning because it offers a clear and concise way to plan and execute successfully a grammar lesson especially at the beginning levels of ESL classes.

Toolbox for New Grammar Teachers of ESL

Cross (1999) provides extensive discussions on ideas for various classroom activities for language teaching, which in my opinion are quite valid and useful for grammar teaching to ESL learners also. Several classroom activities like meaningful drills, using pair and group work, elicitation techniques for making students talk, exploiting a variety of texts and dialogues, and making use of simple teaching aids like charts, maps and drawings, flash cards, word cards, letter cards, number cards, pictures, figures and other objects etc. are useful tools for grammar teaching.

Grammar games are both fun and instructive and can be used to teach grammar to ESL adult learners productively. We all like to play games. A teacher has to make games appropriate, entertaining and effective. Any aspect of English grammar can be taught through these games (Wright et al, 1990). While discussing significance of games in grammar teaching and language learning, Wright et al. (1990) state that “The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information”. This indeed is a valid argument in support of using games as an effective teaching tool. Dave Sperling’s ESL Café (see the website) is an amazing source of games and activities for teaching English grammar.

References

Bell, J. and Burnaby, B. (1993). A handbook for ESL literacy. Oise Press.

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles; An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Longman, 2nd Ed.

Cross, D. (2003). A Practical Handbook of Language Teaching. Longman. 5th Ed.

Dave’s ESL café (http://www.eslcafe.com)

Faerch, K. (?). Rules of thumb and other teacher formulated rules in the foreign language classroom.

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., Hultin, N., & Logan, H. (2001). An Introduction to Language. Thomson. Second Canadian Edition.

Holmes, T., Kingwell, G., Pettis, J., & Pidlaski, M. (2001). Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000. A Guide to Implementation. Alberta Learning and Center for Canadian Language Benchmarks, Ministry of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001.

Odlin, T. (1994). Introduction. In. Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar.

Pawlikowska-Smith, G. (2002). Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000. English as a second language – for adults. Center for Canadian Language Benchmarks, Ministry of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002.

Thornbury, S. 2004. How to teach grammar. Longman. P. 182.

Wright, A., Betteridge, D. & Buckby, M, (1990). Games for Language Learning. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers, 9th Edition.