Grammatical competence as an essential element of foreign language teaching

This article considers about the innovative methods of teaching grammar at the educational establishments. We tried to analyze and generalize the scholars’ approaches towards the problem searched in our article. We hope this work can serve as a manual for teaches while teaching grammar.

Key words: teaching grammar, different approaches, implicit teaching, explicit teaching, grammatical structure, chore, pronunciation, communicative method

While teaching grammar there are used two approaches: implicit (without an explanation of the rules) and explicit (with an explanation of the rules). E. N. Solovova notes that at the present stage, these methods are rarely used in isolation. The teacher can vary the use of certain methods in the teaching process. The choice of method depends on many factors: the age, the level of language proficiency of students from the studied grammatical material.

Let’s see the implicit approach in the study of grammar and techniques that are used in this approach. Implicit approach is learning grammar by model. In the implicit approach, there are two methods: structural and communicative method. In the structural approach there are stages of learning grammar material through listening follow speech samples, choral or pronunciation of individual samples, question-answer exercises with the teacher or in pairs using such kinds of structures.

For the first time the structural method was used Paller in 1916. X. Paller created the first substitution table. At the core of the structural method is the use of a system of exercises on the testing of structural models. E. N. Solovova proposes the following sequence of work on the grammatical structure in this method:

1. Listening to the speech patterns of grammatical structure
2. Choral or individual for the pronunciation of the speaker or teacher.
3. The question-answer exercises with the teacher and in pairs, using such kinds of structures. (5, 36)

Advantages of this method: the grammatical structure becomes the object of long-term mining; at the students there is formed a dynamic stereotype, willingness and ability to use the ready grammatical structure in the speech.

Disadvantages of this method are: monotonous exercises, students quickly get tired, exercise don’t have voice mining character.

Stages of grammar in the communicative method:

1. Listening the assimilation of the material in a particular speech situation.
2. Imitation in speech if there are speech problems, eliminating the purely mechanical repetition.
3. Grouping the similar within the meaning of phrases in a single story
4. The diversity of circumstances of automation, the use of a variety of games for the automation of speech samples.
5. Action to ready a cliché in similar situations to communicate.

One of the advantages of this method, as Solovova E. N. thinks that, is the highly motivated students, since the situations are similar to real that allow students to feel like active participants in the process of acquiring knowledge. The main disadvantage of this method is a lot of preparatory work of the teacher to create a database of speech clichés in different communication situations.

Implicit approach can be widely used in the initial phase of training for children and adults. In modern teaching materials for primary schools combine both methods: structural and communicative.

1. The study of grammatical rules using terms.
2. Search of grammatical phenomena or patterns in the text, scoring (naming) of the grammatical form of the phenomenon, explanation, a value which is used in this context.
3. Perform wildcard exercises similar to the sample.
4. The exercises on the transformation, guided by the rule.
5. Transferable exercises with a foreign and mother tongue.

Advantages of this method E. N. Solovova said:

1. Detailed description of consciousness and scientific principle
2. Ensuring phased mining grammatical skills
3. Forming the training skills, giving students greater autonomy.
4. The possibility of using this method at the independent working.

Disadvantages of this method — there are some difficulty in understanding the grammatical terminology, as well as working out grammatical structures on the monotonous sentences outside of a living speech communication. The deductive method can be applied in the study of grammar at the senior stage of training.

The inductive method — a method of explanation from the specific to the general. Students are invited to formulate a rule by laws and its use on the basis of the analysis of a number of examples, or through the context. Let’s see the sequence of the teacher's actions proposed by E. N. Solovova, while using this method. Sequencing:

1. We give a text or set of proposals with examples on the new rule and invited in small groups to study examples, find them in certain grammatical laws and with the help of the teacher to formulate the grammatical rule. For ease of reference there is recommended to highlight or emphasize the important things for understanding the structure and shape, for example, while studying the comparison of the use of adjectives there can be offered a text to students. The teacher formulates the task of speech: «Read this text and try to determine how to form the comparative and superlative degrees of comparison of adjectives.

Formulate a rule. It is appropriate to use various hints in the text, such as underlining or highlighting different features of the shape of the flowers of the grammatical structure. The task should be feasible for students and simple context.

2. Independent formulating of pupils rules by teacher correcting.
3. Running exercises on substitutions.
4. Doing exercises oriented transformation.
5. Exercises of translation.

The knowledge gained through cognitive training, become part of the experience of the students. This contributes to a better memorization and can serve as an excellent tool to motivate students' work. After students find patterns in the sentence given by teacher, they can generalize the findings, paying attention to the grammatical structure. Explanation of the rules performs a very important function. Especially the rules make pupil’s speech grammatically correct and allow further use on their own to combine the study of the structure and in the new communicative situations.

Advantages of this method are the implementation of problem-based learning; promotion of linguistic self-monitoring; development of memorizing the studied material.

The disadvantage of this method is that not all linguistic phenomena are explained by induction, and wrongly deduced rule can lead to persistent errors. Deductive method involves the movement from the rules to the voice samples.

Selection of techniques depends on the nature of grammatical phenomena. N. D. Galskova and N. I. Gez pay attention to the fact that the explanation of complex grammatical phenomena teacher should explain the theory, and the students, based on theoretical knowledge, go to the construction of their own proposals. According to N. D. Galskovoy and N. I. Gez in explaining simple designs theoretical explanations are not necessary, because on the basis of simple sentences may disclose the value of the grammatical form and its use in speech communication. (1, 90)

However, at the initial stage of training, students usually cannot draw conclusions about the formation of grammatical structures through reading exercises of system or simple texts. The mastery of grammar to the junior and middle stages goes through a receptive activity, and older through productive are acceptable.

When teaching grammar it is necessary to use a differentiated approach, i.e. a combination of different approaches and methods allowing for the training. When teaching grammar initially there is widely used implicit approach. Teaching kit of scholars include I. N. Vereshchagin, M. Z. Biboletova and others’ works. (3, 109) The elementary school based on this method. Young children have a very good memory, so they are well prepared reproduce grammatical patterns and, based on these samples, learn to design their own statements.

References:

1. Гальскова Н. Д., Гез Н. И. Теория обучения иностранным языкам. Дидактика и методология. М.: Академкниги 2006. 280с.
2. Махмурян К. С., Лекции по методике преподавания английского языка.
3. Миролюбов А. А., Обучение проблемы грамматики и фонетики иностранных языков, MИОО, Москва, 2006., 323с.
4. Пассов Э. И., Завесова Э. Г., Методы преподавания иностранных языков: «Формирование грамматических навыков» набор руководств, Воронеж № 9. 2002. 156с.
5. Соловова Е. Н., Методика преподавания иностранных языков. Базовый курс лекций. М.: Просвещение, 2005. 267с.
6. Старков А. П., Грамматического строя английского языка. Воронеж 1962. 234с.