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Teaching Grammar Communicatively

TEFL Workshop, Fall 2012

Presented by Marla Yoshida

http://teachesl.pbworks.com à Teaching Grammar

What does Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) mean?

• We teach lessons that are student-centered.

• We create opportunities for students to use English actively to communicate and express their own ideas.

• We create context for language use.

• We help students reach beyond their comfort zone—to stretch their abilities and sometimes make mistakes.

• We speak English as much as possible. Doesn’t CLT mean that we shouldn’t teach grammar? No! Grammar and CLT can go hand-in-hand. We can teach grammar effectively using a common-sense communicative framework.

How do students learn grammar? They need:

1. Input: Students must receive good input that they will pay attention to and work with: explanations, demonstrations, examples. They need to notice the grammar.

2. Output: Students must do enough practice to ensure that they have a chance to develop both accuracy and fluency in using the grammar. Two things are important:

• Quantity of practice: The more practice students get, the better.

• Quality of practice: It has to be really good, effective, productive practice.

Input

Output

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Teaching grammar is like teaching someone to play tennis.

• The coach can explain the rules of the game, but the students still can’t play tennis.

• The coach can show videos of other people playing the game, but the students still can’t play tennis.

• The coach can have the students practice swinging their racquets and hitting a ball against a wall, but they still can’t really play tennis.

• BUT when the coach lets the students play many real tennis games with a partner, making lots of mistakes at first, when he shows them what they’re doing wrong and helps them improve, when he makes them keep practicing until they’re finally pretty good at it, then they can play tennis.

How does this analogy apply to teaching grammar?

This is one effective sequence for teaching grammar:

1. Introduce the new grammar:

• Form

• Meaning and use

• Keep explanations simple, clear, and brief. 2. Practice the new grammar:

a. Group guided practice as a class

b. Guided practice activities, individually or in pairs, (lots of these!) leading from more controlled to more independent activities

c. Independent practice activities

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Warning: Don’t explain too much at one time! Students simply can’t remember so much all at once. Then they get discouraged, stop listening, and forget everything.

A. Explain

ò Practice

Explain

ò Practice

Explain

ò Practice

produces more effective

learning than…

Explain

Explain

Explain

Explain

Explain

Explain

Explain

ò Practice

B.

1. Introducing a new grammar point: You can do it in English!

When you explain grammar in English, it can’t be just a translation of what you would have said if you were explaining in your native language. It works better to do it in a different, simpler way with less metalanguage. (Metalanguage means the technical terms that we use to describe and explain language: words like noun, verb, clause, subject, object, past perfect progressive, etc.) Simplify what you present, and remember the old saying, “Show, don’t just tell.”

There are many ways to introduce new grammar.

• Inductive or deductive? o Inductive: Students see or hear many examples using the grammar. They study them

and figure out the rule for themselves. (Inductive = moving into the rule.)

o Deductive: Students learn a rule, then practice using it to make sentences. (Deductive = moving from the rule.)

• Create context.

• Listen and do, act it out, or mime. Use pictures or real objects to show the meaning of the form.

• Use a dialog, tell a story, or talk about an imaginary situation to show how to use the grammar.

• Explain the rule simply, clearly, and briefly. Some teachers like to use charts or diagrams to show how the rule works. Keep it simple. You don’t have to give every detail at once.

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Cognitive overload! L

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How much context do you see here? Do you see any metalanguage?

From Understanding and Using English Grammar, Fourth Edition, by Betty S. Azar and Stacy A. Hagen, Pearson Longman, 2009

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Imagine that your students are about to study the passive voice for the first time. (Oranges are grown in California. The light bulb was invented by Edison.) Brainstorm about how you could create an effective context to introduce the use of this form to your students without speaking their native language.

2. Practicing the new grammar:

• Use plenty of guided practice! It takes many practice activities to be able to use new language well. Just doing a few fill-in-the-blank exercises is not enough.

• Create context: “Set the stage” for an activity by describing a situation when students might really use this language. Make it come alive.

• Emphasize challenging, productive practice. As you plan, ask yourself: “In my lesson, will the students produce the language that they’re learning?” A large part of the practice should be productive (rather than only receptive or mechanical). Good practice requires thought, choices, and struggle on the students’ part.

• It takes time! Don’t expect students to be able to use the new grammar accurately right away. There’s always a time lag between understanding grammar structures and being able to produce them accurately and consistently.

What’s wrong with this lesson plan?

1. Introduce the new grammar (“X is ---er than Y”) by talking about real objects. (“The book is bigger than the pencil.” “A kitten is cuter than a spider.”)

2. Give students this handout and have them fill in the blanks: • Mary is _______-er _______ John.

• John is ________ ______ Bill. • Bill _____________________________.

• ______________________________________.

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Some ways to practice grammar

Sequence: Examples:

1. Group guided practice as a class

• Questions and answers …between teacher and students …between students and students • Instructions using the grammar point • Descriptions using the grammar point • Chain questions

2. Guided practice (Several activities—very

simple at first, becoming gradually more challenging.)

• Listen to a sentence and choose the correct picture • Fill-in-the-blank exercises • Change sentences from one form to another • Other very simple exercises—spoken or written • Questions and answers about objects in the room • Writing sentences about carefully chosen pictures • Changing a model dialog to fit the students’ chosen meaning • Information gaps and jigsaws • Other activities requiring more thoughtful use of the language

4. Independent practice (Now students can use the

grammar pretty well on their own. They’re ready to be creative.)

• Talking about pictures or other visual prompts • Role plays • Writing stories, dialogs, poems, etc. • Discussions • Problem solving • Sequencing, ranking, classifying • Creating games and puzzles for classmates to try • Other activities requiring creative, independent language use • Games that provide good, solid language practice

Imagine that you’ve just introduced the present continuous tense to your students. (I’m studying English. We’re not eating cake.) Think of three different ways you could have your students practice this form: 1. 2. 3.

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In summary

To teach grammar well, we need to…

• make students notice the grammar and

• practice it communicatively in many ways.

Resources for Teaching Grammar

• How to Teach Grammar by Scott Thornbury. Pearson Longman, 1999.

• Teaching Grammar Creatively by Günter Gerngross, Herbert Puchta, and Scott Thornbury. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

• Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners by Keith S. Folse. University of Michigan Press, 2009.

• Fun with Grammar by Suzanne Woodward. Prentice Hall, 1996. You can also download the whole book for free: http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/download/funwithgrammar/home.html.

• Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Sharon Hilles. Oxford University Press, 1988.

• Grammar by Scott Thornbury. Oxford University Press, 2005.

• Oxford Basics: Presenting New Language by Jill Hadfield and Charles Hadfield. Oxford University Press, 1999.

• Oxford Basics: Teaching Grammar by Jim Scrivener. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Also look at the links here: http://teachesl.pbworks.com à Teaching Grammar

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An example of a sequence of activities

Type of practice Example sentence: “We use a marker for drawing pictures.” Suggested Time

Review of previous material

Review previous class material with questions and answers about real objects or pictures.

Day 1: 5 min.

Explanation of new material (Short!)

Use objects (a pencil, a fork, an eraser) to show how to use sentences like “We use a fork for eating.” Write the pattern and examples on the board.

5 min.

Group guided practice as a class

Show students more objects. Elicit sentences about their purpose. Have students answer as a group. Then ask individuals to answer. Encourage many answers. Have students repeat sentences and write them down.

10 min.

Guided practice with new material

Use some simple fill-in-the-blank sentences to make sure students are getting the idea. Check their answers as they work.

10 min.

Guided, productive practice with new material

Show a common object. Ask students to think of many uses for it. Elicit sentences; write on board. Put students in pairs. Give each pair an object. Have them write sentences about many possible uses for it. Debrief: Pairs show their object and read their sentences or write them on the board.

15 min.

Summary of the day’s learning

Ask students to tell you (or a partner) what they learned today. Practice with an example or two. Remind them of main points and point out the grammar pattern. Assign homework.

5 min.

Review of previous material

Review with questions and answers about real objects or pictures. Students make sentences using “We use a --- for ---ing.”

Day 2: 10 min.

More guided practice

Give students a paragraph about an invention, a change in technology, etc. Have them read it and underline the examples of the target structure. Then ask pairs to write their own paragraph about a similar invention or innovation. (For example, “People used to use an abacus for adding numbers, but now they use a calculator.”

15 min.

Independent, productive practice with new material

Show “mystery objects”—unfamiliar, unusual tools. Students will guess what we use the things for. Put students in small groups. Give each group a mystery object. Ask them to brainstorm possible uses and write sentences. Debrief: Groups read sentences. Finally, tell what the objects really are.

20 min.

Summary of the day’s learning

Ask students to tell you (or a partner) what they learned today. Practice with an example or two. Remind them of main points and point out the grammar patterns. Assign homework.

5 min.

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perils of teacher-centered classroom video From Teaching Grammar Creatively: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. (You can teach the students the rules, but you can’t make them learn them.) Awareness raising Stevick: Content and emotional depth of experience are also crucial factors in the acquisition of grammar. Grammar interpretation tasks Language is only memorable when it has been “owned” Bring: ball small whiteboards/sheet protectors add a grammar practice activity