This article deals with setting up situations, making up dialogues for creative grammar teaching and training in context in the English grammar classroom. Grammar is beyond a set of traditional rules or structures and with the help of grammar knowledge learners are motivated to progress their English as a foreign language. Language rules are illuminated with the help communicative tasks in context. Through context, it will be easy to use grammatical patterns better and context help them understand how to use grammar forms and structures.
Keywords: grammar, context, activity, approach, grammar item.
Learning a grammar is essential to understand the language better. It is the source of literacy in speaking community with self-confident. Learning grammar rules speeds the process of learning the language and using it in the real life contexts. Grammar is a living resource that gives us the ability to communicate our ideas and feelings and to understand what other people say or write to us. Grammar can be generally defined as “A knowledge of what words can go where and what from these words should take” [2, 22]. That is correct because the way words are put together to make correct sentences. For many years, there was a debate whether the importance of teaching grammar. Even though teaching grammar is not important for communication, it is considered that grammar still plays an important role in improving the general language system of learners. Possibly, problem is not grammar itself, but the way to teach it. It seems to be complex to comprehend, clarify, and describe what grammar is as well as how it should be taught in English language teaching. [1]. Teaching grammar gives an opportunity understand the nature of language.
Grammar has been studied since the time of the ancient Greeks. One of the early approaches of teaching foreign languages was Grammar translation method. What is Grammar Translation method? The grammar translation method looks upon language learning as an intellectual activity. Untill twenty-thirty years ago, this method was commonly used in Europe to teach Latin in schools. For a long time, it was uncritically assumed that this was the only way languages should be taught. It was transferred to the teaching of modern languages when they were introduced into schools, first as an optional and then as a compulsory subject. In a typical Grammar Translation class the main focus is on reading and writing, with little attention being given to speaking or listening. The method consisted of giving the pupils grammatical rules and paradigms. Paradigms are lists of forms arranged according to a grammatical pattern. [3]. Nevertheless, grammar teaching has often been regarded as a structure based on formal activity. After the integration of several sources and techniques, which are mainly based on communicative activities, the teaching of grammar gained a new insight. In the teaching of grammar, technique-resource combinations are often modified to structure-discourse match and if well developed, they can be used effectively for all phases of a grammar lesson. In order to make a grammar lesson effective, beneficial, and interesting a teacher should use some well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom.
Teaching grammar depends on the aims of the language teaching grammar. Teaching grammar effectively, teachers need to input grammar using different exercises. However, current communicatively teaching grammar approaches recognize that it is important to include grammar in context. It will help to see how a language item works in a conversation. Following examples will show how a context influence the grammar. Imagine that you are teaching to students grammar item “Articles” and you chose vocabulary item travelling. You input the sights, touristic destinations of some countries of the world. First, they give examples at the sentence level: It is a photo of Nisa. It is the Merve Oasis. This is fine, but look what happens with article use in context: A boy took a photo of the ruins of Nisa. The photo of Nisa was picturesque. In the first sentence, the first mention of photo we used the indefinite article “ a”, but in the second mention, we use definite article “the ”. This relationship can be shown only with the help of the context. This is the just one example. Using one example, we could show how an article in context often functions differently from how it works in isolated examples.
There are two approaches to put context in grammar lessons. Some teachers start with explaining the grammar rules and later move to context, while other teachers prefer starting with the context and more toward rules. According to our practice choosing the approaches largely depends on the level of student groups and grammar item. For some grammar items best approach is first to input the context. For other grammar items starting with rules is a better choice.
For example when grammar item tenses are taught it is better to give context first. Then the explanation, structure and use of grammar item is given. As an example, we can refer to Murphy’s grammar books. The examples were given through dialogues at the beginning of each grammar unit. Examples with situations and pictures are given first, for example Present Continuous tense:
Sarah is in her car. She is on her way to work. She is driving to work.
This means: she is driving now, at the time of speaking. The action is not finished. Then the structure is demonstrated:
Am/is/are + -ing is the present continuous:
I am (= I'm) driving
he/she/it is (= he's etc.) working
we/you/they are (= we're etc.) doing etc. [Murphy, 2].
From our own examples, teaching degrees of comparison, introducing it to new learners context is put first. Teacher asks three students to stand up. Let’s call them Ayna, Maya and Selbi. Teacher starts to give examples using degrees of comparison: “Ayna is tall ”, “Maya is taller than Ayna”, “Selbi is the tallest girl in our group”. Thus, students understand that teacher compared girls’ hight using degrees of comparison of adjectives. Another example can be given with the help of map, realia. Teacher show countries on the map making up sentences with degrees of comparison of adjectives: “China is large country. Canada is larger than China. Russia is the largest of all.”
For teaching grammar item for example “Articles” according to teacher’s arrangement it is better to input the rules before examples in context. After explanation students do many other tasks like, reading the text, making up dialogues or discussion in context
Further levels of teaching grammar in context is making up dialogues. As Thornbury stated in his work “The use of dialogues in grammar teaching is useful because the use of dialogues generally matches learners’ expectations how language is used in the real world: people use language primarily to talk to each other [4, 76].
Maya: Hello, Jan! How are you?
Jan: Hello, I’m great! How are you?
Maya: Good. Do you study here?
Jan: Yes, I’m learning Chinese and taking speaking class. What about you?
Maya: I am taking a cooking club. How many times a week do you come here?
Jan: I usually come here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. How often do you come?
Maya: I always come here twice a week. We sometimes cook foreign cuisine.
Jan: Good. Where do you work? I work at the library.
Maya: Good! So you can read many books every day.
Jan: Not really, when I am free.
Through such dialogues after the explanation of grammar item, learners notice details, like key words of tenses: every day, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
You can take a great examples of grammar in context from textbooks. Texts with grammar items should be prepared beforehand. Firstly, teachers hand out texts. Then after reading it students underline examples of grammar item. For example:
“I think I have had a very interesting life. I’m 73 now and I don’t work anymore. I was in the army for 51 years. I retired when I was 69. I live in a small town in Louisiana. I have lived here for the last 20 years. To be precise, I have lived here since 1995.
I have been to so many countries that I can’t remember all of them. I ’ve been to Australia six time or seven times and to south Africa three times. I have never been to Scandinavian countries, but I would like to. …” [5]
After reading and underlining sentences with present perfect, it is easy to understand the grammar item in context. Afterwards text is discussed in the class with the control of the teacher. Students make up questions referring to given text.
Undoubtedly, teaching grammar, especially in context is very challenging; it requires great efforts from teachers. Taking into account knowledge level of students this approach will be meaningless and complex for those learners who are not yet able to contemplate in abstract ways.
References:
- Ellis R. Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 83–107. doi:10.2307/40264512. 2006.
- Harmer J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 5 th ed. Essex, England: Pearson Education. 2015.
- Rogova G. V. Methods of teaching English. Moscow, 1983.
- Thornbury S. How to teach Grammar. Essex, England: Pearson Education. 1999.
- https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/grammar-topic/present-perfect-simple-tense/present-perfect-text/91596
