Sunday, June 12, 2011
Your approach to teaching grammar in the Turkish context as a prospective English teacher
What is your approach to teaching grammar in the Turkish EFL context? Please explain your position on teaching grammar to EFL learners with different learning profiles and learning styles at different levels of proficiency. You need to mention the techniques and some sample activities that you prefer to teach grammar as well.
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Grammar is seen as an end in Turkish educational system. This is one of the major problems of teaching English as a foreign language in Turkey. However, I believe that educators in Turkey must gain consciousness about teaching grammar and they should understand that grammar is only a mean of communication. In this viewpoint of grammar, I can say about myself that I will certainly give importance that should be given to grammar; however, I am aware of the problem in Turkish education system and I will try to repair it in my lessons. Teaching grammar shows variety according to different student profiles. For example, young learners have difficulties in learning rules explicitly, because their cognitive level is not enough to comprehend abstract concept. But in our public school, teaching of English starts at 4th grade and in that grade teachers give rules explicitly. Students memorize these rules but they never truly learn them. If I become a teacher in a primary school I will pay attention to such kind of important points. We can overcome such challenges by using communicative language teaching approach in primary schools or we can use Bruner’s scaffolding theory. PPP models can also be applied but we must be careful not to give rules explicitly. I think PPP model is candidate to be a standard way of teaching grammar seperately from language skills. I also believe that teachers shouldnt stick to either only explicit way or only implicit way. They should create a balance between the use of these two ways. For example in our micro-teaching, we implemented both implicit and explicit ways of teaching grammar. We gave the new structure via a song and then we wrote the rule on the board. If we had just given the rules by the song, some of the student would have had problems about understanding the rule. Or if we had just given the rules explicitly, our students wouldnt have made a mental process of the new structure. So it is important to use both ways. These are my main views on teching grammar.
ReplyDeleteAmont of the importance that should be given to grammar changes according to student level, cultural background, learning conditions,etc. However, most English Language teachers in Turkey are not aware of that fact; they think that everything is finished with teaching grammar, but grammar is not enough to learn a language as a whole on its own. They write the formula of the structure on the board, they form a few model sentences and make practices on the structure with several exercises, and unfortunately they believe that is enough and students learn what they should learn. I do not agree with them because I believe that every student learns a language in different ways regarding their age, gender, family background, interest, etc. Therefore, activities used in the lessons should be organized considering these issues. For instance, it is quite difficult to teach young learners grammar because grammar includes lots of rules and they are very abstract for young learners. To not bombard them rules we can teach them explicitly, but teaching explicitly is difficult as well. Because of this reason, we can use songs, games, short stories while teaching English to young learners. On the other hand, I think that other level students can make use of songs, games, or stories as these are materials which attract students' attention.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, grammar is not everthing in a language, but it is an important step to learn a language. Therefore, we cannot disregard it, but alo we shouldn't overemphasize it; we should build a balance as English Language teachers. We shouldn't forget that first step to teach a student something is to communicate with her/him, so we can use communicative language teaching techniques while teaching learners English. And for that, grammar is a need, not a must.
In turkey, grammar is seen as the most important skill for language learning, and almost all syllabuses are based on grammer teaching in language learning. Because of this, English teachers should be careful about grammer teaching because teachers shouldteach the course consistent with the syllabus, and they should teach the course according to students' interest, age level and language level. Teachers should use interesting activities for students to make them active in the lessons. For example; teachers may use interesting drills appropriate for learners to make the lesson interesting for them. Also, teachers should include speaking and writing activities in grammer lesrning because their syllabus is based on grammer and they should include other skills in grammer teaching. Also, teachers should teach the grammer explicitly, and teach the rules in other contexts.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion teaching and learning grammar should be the last thing if the aim of language learning is communication. However, I know that in Turkey most of the curriculum is based on teaching& learning&testing grammar. The measurement of English language knowledge leans on how good you are at grammar aspect. Especially we can see this grammar based learning in public selection and placement tests regarding language. This causes harmful backwash and the students tell that I will study grammar not listening because grammar will appear in the exam. Thus I believe that grammar should depend on communication and we have to give contextual grammar to our students. I would be asking from my students to support their grammar through reading after I explained the usage of a grammar point. I think after they perceive the meaning by reinforcing through listening, speaking and writing in other words through productive skills we may transmit the message that we learn grammar in order to make our communication clear enough for the addressee.
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ReplyDeleteUnquestionably, learning the grammar is the most essential part of learning a language. However, grammar should be taught inductively to students. I mean that students should be given the context first and then grammar rules should be presented. In this way the students can learn better. If grammar is taught inductively, the students have the chance of gaining communicative competence. This means that through inductive methods the students learn the language in meaningful contexts and they have the knowledge that which structure or grammatical terms are appropriate for which contexts and settings. When the grammar is taught inductively, they will not just stuck on establishing correct sentences or accuracy, at the same time they will consider when, where and to whom to use these grammatically correct sentences. For example; they will know how to begin a conversation, how to address different people in different situations or how to respond to different speech acts involving requests, invitations, compliments and apologies. While learning all these, they also internalize the grammatical rules of the language and have a better communication with people. In Turkey, unfortunately the teachers do not consider this kind of grammar teaching technique. They just give the rule and expect students to memorize them. In such a situation, the students do not have any idea how to use all these rules in meaningful contexts and so they have difficulties in communication or appropriate usage of terms and rules in different situations. That is why we should involve the authentic materials in grammar teaching process such as songs, tv series, stories, newspaper and so on. Grammatical items are not necessarily complete waste of time; however, a sufficient learning ability requires the balance between accuracy and fluency. The goal, in my opinion, must be meaningful communication. Learning a language does not mean learning the grammar of that language. The aim of learning a language is to communicate so Turkish language educators should re-examine the methods they used and should correct themselves in order to provide an effective and efficient language learning environment.
ReplyDeleteThe primary aim of learning a language is to establish communication ties between people and help them to express themselves because language is the most significant means of communication. From this perspective, it seems that learning a language must emphasize fluency rather than accuracy because being fluent while speaking can solve many problems and it is not essential to form perfectly accurate sentences as long as you are being understood in the target language by the other communicator. Despite the fact that I agree with this idea to some extent, I personally think that grammar is much more important than it is thought. Knowing all the grammar rules means nothing unless you do not use them in a communicative way; however, a healthy and effective communication atmosphere can not occur without knowing required grammatical points. Therefore, I support teaching grammar through formal instruction in meaningful contexts. In my opinion, the best way to teach grammar is to teach it inductively and implicitly which is carried out by firstly giving the whole and wanting the students to form the rule on their own. This method makes them active in their learning and prevents them from the bare memorization of the grammar rules. Moreover, it provides the students with an easy way to comprehend abstract rules by making them familiar with these rules indirectly. I think it also helps retention thanks to relevant contexts and the students’ own efforts on the target pattern. Furthermore, I would like to teach grammar in meaningful contexts besides the functions of the rules. Merely teaching the rule in isolation does not serve the students’ totally because they need their function in real language environments. For example, after teaching “How to make suggestions” and its formal structures, I can integrate a role play activity in my grammar class and want my students to use these forms in a short dialogue. In this way, they can make practice on the target patterns and use them effectively in other language contexts as it is in real life. I would like to utilize interactive and communicative language skills activities while I cover grammar rules in order to make them more permanent and beneficial for communication purposes. Authentic materials are also so prominent in this process because language is like it seems in such materials. Therefore, songs, movies, magazines, newspapers, videos should always be integrated into grammar classes as much as possible. In this way, the students can not alien from the use of target language in real contexts while also learning them in an enjoyable and colourful manner. I am also on the side of setting up a relaxing learning environment in which the students feel free to make mistakes because mistakes are the great sources of feedback and they show me the deficits of me teaching and their learning. Finally, in Turkish EFL context, there is a big gap in realizing these ideas so we are not raising proficient students in terms of necessary language skills, accuracy and fluency in the target language. However, the solution is ready to conduct and it only requires more enthusiastic teachers, I think.
ReplyDeleteIn our language teaching- learning context, grammar is given the most importance because of the aim to make the students gain success to enrol any higher education institution and the tests are given the students which are based on measuring the structural grammatical aspects, namely measuring just accuracy not fluency. In my opinion, in language learning context, much more importance should be given to fluency because language is used for communication in this communication era and we come across English almost every aspect of life. Therefore, just knowing the structure is not enough for us to make contact with the other people because the students in Turkey can perfectly manage to pass the written examination, but when it comes to practice, namely speaking and listening they generally fail to manage those aspects because in schools they do not perform those skills enough for the sake of written exam. When I think myself who is also a student having passed through accuracy learning system in my school, I can say that I had so much difficulty in improving my speaking, communication and listening skills in English language because I did not practice those skills at school. I support that grammar in this aspect of accuracy should be taught and given importance, of course, at least we need to know the grammatical form to be able to speak, but it should not be in the centre, an end, but it should be mean of the communication and speaking, it should be just facilitator, it should not go beyond the aim which is to communicate. For example, it is not recommended that the students expose to overloaded explicit grammar at the very beginning of their language learning, but they are just kids and they can learn much more easily when they are taught implicitly or guided, not bombarded with grammar. Even though teaching grammar in an implicit way giving importance to the fluency is hard to apply in Turkish curriculum and examination system, it should be applied in all aspect of Turkish education system for the sake of improvement in communicative speaking skills.
ReplyDeleteGrammar teaching is one of the important elements of language teaching. Students need to be taught the rules and the structures so that they could form sentences and understand the language. Thus, teaching grammar takes place in the curriculums of Turkish EFL teachers. However; Turkish teachers of English takes grammar so seriously that they end up with teaching heavily grammar rules, but no speaking. In Turkey, this is one of the main problems of English language teaching. I, myself, also experienced that. My English teachers gave much emphasis on forms that we didn’t have time to practice our speaking. I was not trained with the approaches that I have been learning in our department now. There was no Task-Based Teaching, no communicative approach, and no activities related to listening and speaking.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, when I become a teacher, I will not do the same mistake. As a prospective teacher, I know that grammar is very important and students need to learn it. However; I won’t allocate my whole lessons in order to teach grammar. I will probably divide my hours among my language focuses. As for the question of “how I conduct my grammar lessons” is that I will make use of NOT ONLY one approach, but plenty of it. I don’t like bandwagonism, so I believe that there are useful strategies and techniques in every approach and teachers should blend them in their classes. I wouldn’t conduct my grammar lesson only with communicative approach because students need to see the form as well as they need some instruction before they could speak. I also wouldn’t use the general approach (I mean; teacher-centered and deductive teaching) that I told before.
PPP approach is also very useful I think because it is balanced. Both teachers and students play an active role in it and it is very appropriate for grammar teaching lessons. However; it should be noted that teachers shouldn’t conduct their grammar lessons only in explicitly or implicitly as İbrahim also pointed out. It depends. It depends to the context, it depends to the students’ profile and their age, their level.. One should keep these in mind. For instance; I cannot teach grammar explicitly to young learners with low levels because grammar is very abstract for them, so I would make my learners familiar with the context, and give them input in order to get them ready for future grammar lessons. For this context, I would use TBT. However, TBT and Communicative Approach could be demanding with crowded classrooms and if their levels are high, I would choose PPP approach and sometimes communicative approach as well. (It should be balanced). I also believe that grammar and speaking could go hand in hand. With implicit teaching technique, students infer the rule and talk at the same time, the important thin is to be able to organize the lesson accordin to students’ need, expectations and their levels. As I said before, teachers should keep in mind that every learner is different, therefore she/he should make use of many approaches and try to be creative as much as she/he can. Only that way, we can overcome to hear this from students “OMG! The teacher talkin’ about grammar again! How borin!”
Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well. Grammar used to be taught using a language book, learning about parts of speech and doing language exercises. Now grammar is usually taught with writing. It may also be taught in literature circles when teachers discuss with students how an author writes or a character's speech pattern. When you teach grammar with these methods, students are more likely to remember the grammar rules and apply them to their everyday life.
ReplyDeleteIn Turkish educational system, the measurement of proficiency of language is through standardized tests and this leads language teachers to focus on teaching rules and structures of language. However, this does not guarantee the acquisition or internalization of the grammatical points and structures. The grammar should be thought inductively instead of giving explicit rules and strict structures. Especially with young learners, we should avoid using metalanguage. Students will better internalize the grammar with meaningful contexts. With the help of authentic materials, such as newspapers, songs films etc. the process of language learning could be more meaningful and enjoyable.
Another issue while teaching grammar is accuracy and fluency. Teaching grammar through inductive methods in meaningful contexts does not mean that we don't give importance to accuracy. Fluency is important in terms of communication in that language and accuracy is important for being literate in that language. So, as future language teachers, we should give equal importance to accuracy and fluency.
As last remarks, the wrong thing is not only with the methods that teachers use to teach grammar, there is also something defected with the education system that depends on memorizing rules and structures. So, if we want to teach skills of language, these skills should also be measured not only with written examinations but also with oral conversations or interviews.
We cannot ignore the necessity of learning grammar if we claim that we know a language! Actually it carries importance according to the purpose of learning language. If someone wants to learn a language just for superficial communication, s/he tends to learn communicative skills in order to become a fluent language user. However, if someone wants to learn a language for academic purposes, how can we say that accuracy is nothing? I care the grammar teaching sufficiently as a prospective language teacher.
ReplyDeleteIn high school my teachers preferred to use deductive ways to teach grammar. As a student who doesn't have a problem in learning a language, I did my best in deductive learning. Teachers used to give the formula and ask us to practice on the rules. Actually I think language learning is a little bit related to talent and interest. As a talented and interested student I didn't have any problems with deductive learning. However, in a class we will encounter many students with different interests and learning abilities. Most of our students may have problems with language learning. Therefore, deductive teaching will be a quite risky way to teach grammar. Other ways such as task-based or communicatibve approaches will appeal to students with different learning profiles.
I would prefer to teach grammar inductively in the Turkish EFL context. I think when the grammar is given inductively it is much easier for the students to keep the rules in their minds because they reach the rules themselves. Thus, I would use inductive way for teaching grammar; however, there can be some exceptions that I would have to teach the grammar deductively because of the learner’s profile, learning styles. For example a grammar subject can be difficult or abstract for them to infer the rules Consequently, my approach to teaching grammar can change according to the students’ learning conditions. However, I am always in favor of teaching grammar inductively because the students are responsible from their own learning and they have to progress in learning themselves. The teacher is only a helper and guide for them, if the students need any clarification the teacher should help them. The teacher should not always give the rules and expect students to memorize them. Instead of this the students should be given a lot of examples and from the examples they are expected to figure out the rules; however if the subject is too difficult the teacher can give the rules in an explicit way. When I teach a grammar lesson, I would first provide students with examples as a lead in to the subject. I present to the subject to the students without giving the grammar rules. After I am sure that the students grasp the logic of the grammar point, I would pass the practice step. In that stage, I would provide students with a lot of examples so that they can master in the grammar rule without any difficulty. As the last point I would want them to produce sentences, examples by using the grammar rule that we have learnt. In that stage students try to form up their own examples relying on their grammars. By looking their performance in this step I could easily understand whether they learn the grammar rule or not. My grammar lesson consists of Presentation, Practice and Production parts . In each stage I would always try to be sure about the students’ learning by giving feedback and helping when they have difficulty. After the presentation part, I would want them to infer the rules themselves; however if the rule is too abstract or difficult for them, I would explain the rule in order not to confuse them. Thus, the difficultness of a subject is a factor in teaching grammar deductively or inductively. Also as I said before my approach can change according to the profile of the students. If they have difficulty in inferring the rules I would try to give the grammar point deductively.
ReplyDeleteI believe, in Turkey language learning is considered only as grammar learning, so grammar is given too much importance and this hinders the students from becoming prificient at different skills of language. Considering this, I think that grammar should be taught, but the way of teaching it should support the learning of other skills and should be backed up by practice. However, the most important one is that teaching of grammar should not dominate the EFL setting. Also, I think that the age and proficiency levels of the learners should be paid attention to, because young learners, for example, are not able to learn grammar rules explicitly. Therefore, such conditions must be considered while deciding on grammar teaching method for a specific group of students. Moreover, the learners' aim ate learning English determines the importance of grammar. If english is learnt for communicative porpuses, grammar should not be more important than other skills. However, if the students are learning English for a specific exam, grammar may be a bit more important and can be taught explicitly. As a prospective English teacher, I believe in the importance of observing the learner profile and aims at learning English. In the frame of this observation, I will decide on my method of teaching grammar. In school contexts, I am for the use of presentation-practice-production method while teaching grammar, because giving the rules is not enough for students withour sufficient practice. Although I am against deductive grammar teaching, I believe students need their teacher to summarize or formulate some rules for them, especially at the lower levels of proficiency. Thus, I may from time to time teach grammar explicitly on conditions that I will support that knowledge with enough practice and use of real language.
ReplyDeleteIn turkey, grammar is seen as the only point to be taught while teaching foreign languages, especially while teaching English. However, I believe this way of teaching is wrong because we know that there are other skills that composes the language and should be taught apart from grammar points. Of course, grammar should be emphasized but not as an end. To be able to make the learners speak the language you should focus on all parts in a good balance. In our country, grammar is taught a formula of mathematics. Teachers write the formulas on the board and want students to memorize them. This is a very deductive way. But as a prospective teacher, I want to teach grammar to my students in an inductive way because I believe when students discover something on their own, the learning becomes more permanent. Therefore, the PPT approach is not suitable for me. Task-based approach can be used with the help of different activities to make learning inductive. I will want my students to learn grammar points by themselves and then I will teach them grammar points with the suitable types of exercises according to students’ level of proficiency.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, since grammar is the rules that formulate a written language or a speech, it is essential in terms of learning any language. We even need to learn the grammar of our mother tongue to avoid misunderstandings, but this does not make it the most important skill to be taught. I suggest that teacher should teach some rules to the students at the early levels in order to help them in formulating simple sentences. When it comes to the later levels - intermediate and later - they can learn the rules in their own and even subconsciously because most probably they could have developed the other skills as well which will help them better in mastering the language.
ReplyDeleteChildren are more likely to learn and memorize the rules better that adults. In fact, games or songs can be used in order to teach grammar in more fun way, but with elder learners, contextual grammar would be a better option.
This is the case if the language is taught as a foreign language, but if it is a second language, I believe that there is no need for teaching grammar as an isolated skill, because learners are going to learn it anyway.
There are several ways of teaching grammar such as deductively, inductively, implicitly and explicitly. I think that just teaching grammar inductively and explicitly is not enough. I am going to teach grammar explicitly just to young learners because it is too hard for them to learn grammar since it includes abstract rules and young learners’ cognitive skills aren’t developed enough to understand these rules. Therefore, I am going to use visuals, songs, short stories and different games to teach grammar to young learners explicitly. Instead of grammar, they need to learn vocabulary, listening and speaking so learning much grammar is not necessary for young learners. I think grammar that they learn explicitly is enough for them. For older learners, I am going to teach grammar firstly inductively, then I am going to give the rule. I think the teacher should give the rules after the students get the main idea of the grammar rule. Again different songs, games, stories and visuals can be used for older learners. After teaching the grammar rule inductively and then giving the rules, I am going to distribute some exercises and then I am going to do some activities with my learners apart from the pen and pencil exercises.
ReplyDeleteGrammar is seen as the most important part of the language in Turkey. Therefore, the curriculum mostly include the grammar teaching part of the language. However, language is a mixture of some parts such as vocabulary, reading, writing etc. In Turkey, all levels of students from primary school to high school and even university learn grammar most. I also give importance to grammar teaching. However, by giving the grammar most, the other skills cannot be developed. For example, the students cannot speak in foreign language so fluently because they always think the grammatical forms of the sentence I prefer teaching vocabulary and some skills to very young learners instead of grammar because I think skills should be given first and young learners may not be able to understand toe structure because it is an abstract thing and their cognitive development is not probably enough. I may teach grammar a little to young learners and elementary level students because they should get the logic of that language. The more they become better in the foreign language, I prefer to teach grammar more but I don't ignore the skills. I teach the language by teaching every part at the same time.I prefer to use more inductive way to teach grammar.
ReplyDeleteTeaching grammar is one of the most difficult parts of teaching English. As it is something abstract, you should be careful while teaching it. The students’ cognitive development is different at different age levels, so the activities and the teaching methods should be appropriate for certain levels. For upper levels, there is not much concern about it because they can understand most of the things. However, one should need to be careful for young learners. As they deal with concrete things, grammar is difficult for them to understand. In order to make them learn grammar easier, we should select useful activities and relate them to their own lives. For example, while teaching ‘used to’ them, we can bring something from our childhood and show it to the students; this might be a toy, a photo, or a dress. And then we can narrate as I used to... Stories and games are other ways of teaching grammar. As it is seen something boring, we can make it enjoyable with such activities. For other levels, these can also be used. And they can also do fill in the blanks type of activities. We generally do that, but this doesn’t be exaggerated. Most of the teachers state the rule at first and then make a few examples. After that, they distribute handouts, students do the activities and the lesson is over. We experienced such things, didn’t we? We know how boring and useless this type of teaching. Therefore, in order not to make the same thing, we should teach grammar explicitly and include variety of colourful activities to make students enjoy the lesson.
ReplyDeleteTeaching grammar is the most important aspect of teaching a language as well as being the most difficult part to teach. There are ways of teaching grammar like inductive, deductive, explicit or implicit. I as a prospective teacher am on the side of teaching grammar inductively. Students should first see the topic and then be able to identify the rules/ main points. The teachers should not only teach grammar inductively but also teach induction strategies/skills to the students. As most of us experienced in our own learning, the teachers generally prefer to teach grammar deductively. This is a huge problem in teaching grammar. If the students' cognitive development is enough for inductive learning, it should be main strategy to teach grammar, I think. But for young learners, there needs to be some concrete things since they are not able to identify abstract concepts. Also, their concentration span is low and they need repetition when necessary. To conclude, when teaching grammar the first thing we should take into consideration is learners' level, age, and other personality factors that affect our teaching. And we should make our lesson enjoyable and ,interesting for the students in order to gain their attention and participation.
ReplyDeleteDuygu Can
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Firstly we shouldn’t ignore the importance of grammar in teachning.Although it doesn’t cover all the aspects, it must be taught as a first step. Because, at first step without grammar we can’t make even simple sentences or expressions and makes it possible for us to talk about language. People associate grammar with errors and correctness. Also, without grammar we can’t be aware of our mistakes. If it is taught in a simple way every one can learn it. I think grammar is more simple than other aspects.As a teacher firstly I would teach grammar but not in detailed since you may have the lack of knowledge about the subject. If a stundent ask to a teacher a complex question and if a teacher can’t answer it will teacher’s weakness in this subject.Actually it is normal because no one knows everything. So a teacher shouldn’t make such opportunity for students. Moreover, because each students has different cognitive level grammar can be difficult especeially for young learners.They have difficulty learn it explicitly.For older learner it is a bit simple because they can comprehend abstarct concept and can memorize simply. Of course it does not mean that they keep all the rules in their mind.So it a problem in Turkish education system. Maybe by using communicative teaching we can overcome such problems. Personanlly, I think to apply communicative teaching because I believe that it would be more effective. Also in many teacher there is a focusing on problem. Most teacher follow one way and stick to this rule. I think it is wrong because as I mentioned above learners has different cognitive skill so everyone learn differently.What I mean here is rules should not taught just explicitly or implicitly. Both of them should be taught.
ReplyDeleteThe dictionary meaning of language is that language is a tool for communication and sharing a culture. In this definition we can conclude that the main aim of the learning language is communication. I think teachers should give importance to speaking and listening. Students should speak English fluently then while using the language they acquire and learn the grammar rules. Teaching grammar is an important part of language teaching in our country. The level of students is organized according to the grammar exams but accuracy is not important as long as the people are able to understand each other. I think teachers should teach grammar inductively. The natural way of learning a language is inductive and this is the easiest and most permanent way. I will teach English and I will be an English teacher not a grammar teacher so I should help students communicate in this language. Grammar can be learned later while speaking. Inductive teaching of grammar also helps students to understand the grammar better than explicit teaching. First students are able to create sentences and communicate and later by listening learn the rules that they must apply in the creation of the sentences. They learn the usage of grammar rules in context in real life situations not from the writings on the board. I think authentic materials are affective in teaching grammar because students can see the structure and usage in a context. Magazines, newspapers, stories and songs can be used teaching grammar inductively. However, the system in our country is based on grammar and each English teacher tries to teach all grammar rules to his or her students. Students must learn the grammar rules because of the systems of YDS and other language exams. The success of students in language department is organized according to the scores that they get in the exams so I must pay attention to grammar. I am not against explicit way of teaching but I think this kind of ınstruction after the students see and realize the form in a context. Rules should be given in order to strengthen the understanding of the structure of the target form after the inductive teaching.
ReplyDeleteDuring our lessons in this semester, we have learned various methods to teach grammar. We did a lot of micro-teachings. All of the groups tried to teach different topics with different activities. We became both students and teachers, and we taught grammar with both explicit and implicit ways. In our first presentations, we learned grammar explicitly, such as teacher gave the structure of the topic. However, we learned the topics implicitly in second grammar presentations. As I evaluated both of the ways, I couldn’t say that one is definitely more beneficial for students than the other. Both of them have some advantages and disadvantages in EFL classrooms. As a prospective teacher, I want to combine all of the methods for my EFL classes. I don’t say that I would choose one of them, and don’t use the others, because all of the approaches have some benefits. PPP model is also effective as I can observe. Apart from these, scaffolding theory is also helpful for students to learn the grammar rules.
ReplyDeleteAs we observe our education system, we can say that our teachers give much importance to teaching grammar. In other words, they only focus on grammar rules and structures and don’t consider other skills as important. As I consider my own teacher when I was in high school, I remember that they only taught grammar by giving rules themselves. They didn’t use creative and enjoyable methods. They just wrote down on the board. This is a common problem in our education system I think. Teachers only focus on teaching grammar by saying the rules to the students. When I become a teacher, I will try to use all of the methods as I have mentioned before. In this way, I will have a chance to see what methods affect my students in a good way and what methods affect them in a negative way. In my opinion, EFL teachers shouldn’t stick to one method, they should try to find the best one that suits the students most. As a prospective teacher, I will give importance to grammar, but I also won’t forget to teach other English skills such as listening and speaking.
Grammar is an important aspect of a language because one forms the sentences according to grammar rules and grammar is used everwhere while speaking. Thus, teaching grammar is also gain importance in our schools. Students should learn the grammar rules to be able to speak properly. We learned many ways of teaching grammar this semester. However; I can't say that I will use only one technique while teaching grammar. Because teaching grammar is a hard thing. It depends on students, teachers, their proficiency level etc. For example; young learners couldn't understand the grmammar rules if we show them explicitly because they can't understand abstract things. Their cognitive level isn't enough for this. Thus, I will teach them grammar rules implicitly. I will use some simple chunks, and they don't realize that they are learning a kind of grammar rules. However; older students can understand abstract things, so I can give them rules, but not immediately and directly. It will confuse the students. I will use communicative approach and classic approach together. I think they should be in a balance. I couldn't give all of the grammar rules with communicative approach because in a classroom there are many intelligences. Some students may learn by writing or reading or seeing the rules while other can learn just by listening. Thus, apart from using grammar rules in conversation, I will write the structures on the board and I will also write some examples under these structures. I think it is the best way to teach grammar. To convey the implicit and explicit teaching makes all students better understand the rules. PPP is also a good way of teaching grammar. A teacher shows the rules, then do acitvities about them and then wants students produce something. As a result, I will try to balance the techniques and I won't use only one technique while teaching grammar.
ReplyDeleteI think grammar is one of the most important aspects in language learning. You cannot read, speak or write without learning grammar. However, it is also NOT the only important one in language learning. In our educational system, teachers generally teach grammar in lessons, but not give enough importance to speaking or pronunciation. We know the grammar rules, but we cannot speak or understand a native speaker’s speech properly because of the lack of practice. In my teaching, I will exactly give importance to grammar, but I will combine it with speaking, writing and reading. For example, I can start a lesson with a listening activity, and then want them to guess the topic or tell the structure they don’t know. Then, I can give them some examples about the topic and write the rule on the board. I think both implicit and explicit learning is important in language learning and a teacher should balance them in her/his teaching. If the topic is convenient for students to infer the structure from examples, I will do the lesson in that way. On the other hand, if the topic is too complex for the students to infer the structure, I will give the rules firstly with examples. For the young learners, I would prefer teaching chunks, because it will be hard for them to learn each structure separately. Besides, I would select them the activities in which they can move, run, cut, color, stick, write on the board. The reason of that is they love being kinesthetic at that times, they don’t like just sit and listen their teacher. They love being involved in learning process. I would give importance to speaking activities which are convenient for their level. I would like to play games with them to reinforce what they learn and not to bore them with rules. With the older learners, after teaching the lesson either implicitly or explicitly, I would like to give them activity sheet related the topic or give them a reading passage in which the structure exists. Of course, I would like to do listening activity with them, but it is not easy to find a proper listening activity every time. Thus, I would try to find it or maybe want students to find some listening activities for the class like songs or documentaries related to topic. I think writing is also important aspect of learning a language, so I would like to do writing activities with them as long as possible. All in all, I would like to integrate grammar teaching with other skills. I think it will be very time consuming and hard, but the proper language teaching should be in that way.
ReplyDeleteFirstly we shouldn’t ignore the importance of grammar in teaching. Although it doesn’t cover all the aspects, it must be taught as a first step. Because, at first step without grammar we can’t make even simple sentences or expressions which make it possible for us to talk about language. People associate grammar with errors and correctness. Also, without grammar we can’t be aware of our mistakes. If it is taught in a simple way every one can learn it. I think grammar is more simple than other aspects. As a teacher firstly I would teach grammar but not in detailed since you may have the lack of knowledge about the subject. If a student asks to a teacher a complex question and if a teacher can’t answer, it will be teacher’s weakness in this subject. Actually it is normal because no one knows everything. So a teacher shouldn’t make such opportunity for students. Moreover, because each student has different cognitive level grammar can be difficult especially for young learners. They have difficulty learn it explicitly. For older learner it is a bit simple because they can comprehend abstract concept and can memorize simply. Of course it does not mean that they keep all the rules in their mind. So it is a problem in Turkish education system. Maybe by using communicative teaching we can overcome such problems. Personally, I think to apply communicative teaching because I believe that it would be more effective. Also in many teachers there is a focusing on problem. Most teacher follow one way and stick to this rule. I think it is wrong because as I mentioned above learners has different cognitive skill so everyone learn differently. What I mean here is rules should not teach just explicitly or implicitly. Both of them should be taught.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, English language learning should not be confined only to grammar. While we were students in the past, the majority of us were taught grammar by traditional methods. I think the students should have a chance to improve their listening and speaking skills as well. In order to be proficient in English, I think all skills of language should be harmonized in an appropriate way. However, the age and level of the students should be taken into consideration while choosing an approach to teach grammar. If our approach weren’t appropriate for the students, they may have a lot of difficulties in understanding the structures and acquiring the grammar points.
ReplyDeleteAs a supporter of communicative teaching methods, I think teaching grammar integrated with speaking and listening would be helpful for the students to acquire the language effectively. However, we need to consider the situation in which our students are studying. For example; if our students are learning English for exams like YDS, KPDS etc. grammar should be given more importance than other skills. If the purpose was learning English for a better communication, other skills should be given more importance than grammar.
To summarize, I think the method I will use in my teaching will change according to the needs and levels of the students in future.
As a prospective teacher of English I prefer to teach everything including grammar in English context. It is simply because the student shouldf learn the language as a complete. While teaching grammar to any level of English learners the samples should be provided in the target language,meaningly English.
ReplyDeleteIn a classroom enviroment the more English input a student gets , the better it is. In an Enlish course if the teacher tries to teach vocabulary in one course, grammar in other and speaking in other etc., the students may get bored.However if they are thought as a complete unit the students won't probably be bored and on the contrary they will be more entgusiastic about learning a language. As the teacher speaks in English and explains things in English, the students will listen to the teacher more carefully and will be more eager to learn. Moreover, if the grammar structure are given in real samples, it will be more effective in terms of learning a language in complete.
Throughout my foreign language education in high school, I had been taught grammar in a very explicit way. I had been given the rules of tenses, sentence structures, superlatives, passive voice, etc. Everything had a rule; it was not like learning a language but more like putting together the ingredients of a recipe. I don’t like the way I had been taught, because we didn’t learn, we memorized the rules just for the sake of passing the exam. It was again in the same way while I was preparing for YDS, the questions are prepared according to a pattern, and you should memorize the rules in order to succeed in that exam. I don’t say that grammar should not be taught, or I don’t say grammar should not be taught explicitly, it is also necessary sometimes; however, if the aim is to teach a language – to teach a new way to communicate with other people who speak another language – then we should focus on the meaning rather than the form. When it comes to the levels of the students, for beginners it is too hard to start with giving rules, because it would be too abstract for them to get the meaning out of it, so implicit teaching is necessary for the beginners. For example, instead of saying “Okay, today you’ll learn present continuous tense.” I would create an environment in which the students enjoy (I’m estimating the beginners students are at younger age, however, it doesn’t matter, learning should include fun at all ages). For the beginners, grammar should start implicitly, and as I mentioned above, it should change to teaching explicitly as the level increases.
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