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John Brezinsky
From the Trenches: What Grammar Teachers Are Talking About
John Brezinsky, Higher Education Marketing Manager

Conversations about grammar and grammar teaching never seem to go away. How much grammatical information do students need? Should grammar even be taught at all? This article summarizes discussions on ESL email lists and conversations I’ve had with teachers over the course of the fall of 2008—about the line between talking about grammar and using it. 

Teaching Grammar 

Periodically, on the TESL-L discussion list, someone brings up the topic of teaching grammar. One side argues that there is no point in teaching grammar to students because they simply won't acquire it. Other people say that, on the contrary, students want and need to learn explicit grammatical structures. There is plenty of research to back up the position for teaching grammar, but a knee-jerk reaction against it persists. Interestingly, the arguments against teaching grammar are often a reaction against the old methodology of Grammar Translation. Since we've learned how important communicative fluency is, some teachers are only too happy to say that any explicit focus on form is bad.

Using Grammar

No teacher wants to ignore fluency, but most teachers now accept that we can’t ignore accuracy either. We don’t want to spend all of class talking about grammar, but students need to use grammar in their own speaking and writing. This leads to a more balanced approach to language instruction in which grammar is taught explicitly but as only one component of English. Students become more proficient when they are able to study and practice all aspects of their target language.

Resources

Focus on Grammar and the Azar Grammar Series both offer teachers opportunities to teach grammar explicitly. They also strike a balance between studying grammar and using it. For an active discussion of language teaching methodology including grammar, subscribe to the TESL-L list.



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