INTRODUCTION TO THE

TEACHING OF GRAMMAR
1. Introduction to the Teaching of
Grammar

• Grammar and its role in English language

teaching

• The current perspective of Teaching Grammar

in English Language Education and in the
Malaysian context
What is Grammar?
• Can be defined as a set of rules that govern the
way in which words are put together to convey
meaning in different contexts.
• These rules tell the speakers
▫ how to pronounce syllables (phonology),
▫ how to form words (morphology),
▫ how to structure sentences (syntax) and
▫ what style of language to use in a given context
(pragmatics).
Meanings and Definition of Grammar
• Thornbury (2008) defined grammar as;
• A description of the rules for forming sentences,
including an account of the meanings that these
forms convey and said that:
• Grammar adds meanings that are not easily
inferable from the immediate context.
Meanings and Definition of Grammar
Hartwell’s Five definitions of Grammar:
• The set of rules of a language known intuitively by its
speakers-native speaker grammatical competence
• The scientific and systematic attempt to describe
Grammar in the field of linguistics
• The rules of the language taught in schools – in the
case of English, these rules tend to be drawn from
masterfully written literary texts, so they tend to
reflect the formal, written, standard version of
English
Meanings and Definition of Grammar
• An emphasis on discrete rules, usually elements
about which the rules of Standard English and
vernacular dialects disagree- often called usage
by teachers; the general public usually sees the
standard version as “correct” or “proper” while
the vernacular is seen as “wrong”, “vulgar” or
“uneducated”; often derided by linguists as
“linguistic etiquette”.
Meanings and Definition of Grammar
• Terms used to identify sentence structures, often
used to create a common vocabulary for talking
about writing and its aesthetic and persuasive
effects on the reader – often called style.
Fluency versus Accuracy
• The aim of the communicative approach is to get
students to use language to communicate
efficiently and to seek information, give
information, solve a problem etc.

• ISSUE: do you teach accuracy or fluency first???

Accuracy vs. Fluency
Form-focused Meaning-focused
Grammar translation Direct method
Features of patterns Interactive/group work
and grammar points (comprehension input)
Cognitive-code Communicative
approach approach
Develop explicit Develop implicit
knowledge (know what) knowledge (know how)
accuracy fluency
Accuracy vs. Fluency

• The accuracy first model:

• Advantage: produce students who can
reproduce accurately sentences learnt
• Disadvantage: May not be effective in
communicating the language in real life
situations.
Accuracy vs. Fluency
• The fluency first model:
• Advantage: Produce students who are confident and
fluent in communication
• Disadvantage: There may be a tendency to produce
errors that can become fossilized and difficult to change.

• Aims of teaching language is to develop in our students

both accuracy and fluency.
• There should be a balance of both types of activities to
help students improve communication skills.
How to Strike a Balance
• Fluency requires practice in which students
use the target language point meaningfully
while keeping the declarative knowledge in
working memory.
• Meaningful practice of form:
▫ Students have to receive feedback on the accuracy.
▫ Concentrate on one or two new forms at a time.
Grammar for Young Learners
• The age of our students is a major factor in our
decisions about how and what to teach. People
of different ages have different needs,
competences and cognitive skills (Harmer,
2005).
Young learners learn differently from older children, adolescents
and adults in the following ways:

• They respond to meaning even if they do not

understand individual words.
• They often learn indirectly rather than directly –
taking every information around them rather
than focusing on the precise topic being taught
Young learners learn differently from older children, adolescents
and adults in the following ways:

• Their understanding comes from explanation as

well as from what they see and hear and interact
with.
• They find abstract concepts such as grammar
rules difficult to grasp
• They have a limited attention span; unless
activities are extremely engaging, they can get
easily bored, losing interest after ten minutes or
so.
Young learners learn differently from older children, adolescents
and adults in the following ways:

• Explicit grammar teaching is more effective at the

intermediate to advanced levels than beginning
levels (Brown, 2007).
• This is because incidental focus on form is
valuable as it treats errors that occur while
learners are engaged in meaningful
communication.
• This corrective feedback can facilitate acquisition
if it involves a mixture of implicit and explicit
feedback.
The place of grammar in the primary ESL
classroom
• KBSR syllabus recommend that grammar be
taught in integration with the language skills.
Objectives of the KSSR English syllabus

By the end of Year 6, pupils should be able to:

i. communicate with peers and adults confidently and appropriately in formal
and informal situations;

ii. read and comprehend a range of English texts for information and enjoyment;

iii. write a range of texts using appropriate language, style and form through a
variety of media;

iv. appreciate and demonstrate understanding of English language literary or

creative works for enjoyment; and

v. use correct and appropriate rules of grammar in speech and

writing.
• Primary education is divided into two stages:
 Stage One refers to Years 1, 2 and 3
 Stage Two, Years 4, 5 and 6.
• In Years 1 and 2, the English language curriculum emphasises
the development of basic language skills so that pupils will
have a strong foundation to build their proficiency in the
language. In this initial stage, there will only be four modules;
namely:
• Module One : Listening and Speaking
• Module Two : Reading
• Module Three : Writing
• Module Four : Language Arts
• In Years 3 - 6, where pupils build on the skills they
have acquired in Year 1 and 2, a fifth module,
Grammar is added to the above four modules.
Therefore, the modules are:

• Module One : Listening and Speaking

• Module Two : Reading
• Module Three : Writing
• Module Four : Language Arts
• Module Five : Grammar
5.0 GRAMMAR
• The learning of grammar is deferred to Year 3.
In Year 1 and 2, the emphasis is for pupils to
develop an understanding of grammar in their
first language and this understanding may then
be exploited in Year 3 onwards when English
grammar is learnt.
• The Standard-Based English Language
Curriculum for Malaysian National Primary
Schools (SK) is designed to provide pupils with a
strong foundation in the English language.
Teachers should use Standard British English as
a reference and model for spelling, grammar and
pronunciation.
• As English is the second language for pupils in
schools, it is believed to be prudent and pedagogically
sound to defer the learning of grammar to a later
stage.
• Pupils need to first develop an awareness of grammar
in their first language and this is later exploited in
Year 3 when English grammar is introduced.
• By doing so, the load and stress of learning in the
early years will be reduced as the emphasis is on
learning through fun and play.
TUTORIAL TASK

• Discuss the following topics.

• Present the findings using the technique of
clustering

 “Grammar for Young Learners”

 “The Place of Grammar in the Primary
ESL Classroom”
THANK YOU
Thank you