Teaching Grammar

What is grammar?

’An abstract system of rules whereby a person’s mastery of their native language can be explained’ (dictionary definition)

Different dictionaries define ’grammar’ in different ways, but they all effectively talk about the ’rules of the language’.
Grammar does not equal only ’tenses’ or verb forms. Grammar is language and how we use it.

What is more important than a definition of the word ’grammar’ is knowing what students need to know when they are learning grammar. And we also need to know different ways to teach grammar.

There are many different methods to teach grammar, but the three that might be the most effective in retaining student interest are the following:

1. Situational Presentations

2. Text and Recordings

3. Test Teach Test

1. Teaching grammar via Situational Presentation
I. What do students need to know?
When presenting new language, the teacher must show following things very clearly:
MPF:
There are several aspects of a new item: that you need to know and learners need to learn. 1. What it means. They need to understand meaning within the given context.
2. What it sounds like. They need to know the natural pronunciation and spelling of the language.
3. What it looks like. They need to know how to form the language (how it is constructed).
4. How and when it is used. They need to know the function of the language.
(This is often referred to as, MPF.) As well as knowing the MPF, students need to use the language - practice.

Presentation is a rather controversial word!
Experienced teachers know how best to develop a student’s awareness of the language without falling into the ’today we are going to do conditional sentences’ approach.
Language needs context because context provides meaning. One way to illustrate meaning is via a situation. This can be done in a number of ways, including pictures.