Mind Over Matter

How To Teach Grammar

Grammar is one of the core components of language, and it plays a crucial role in communication, comprehension, and expression. However, there is an ongoing debate among language teachers and researchers about how grammar should be taught in the classroom. Should grammar be taught explicitly, with clear rules and explanations, or implicitly, through exposure and practise? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each approach? How can teachers balance the need for accuracy and fluency in their students’ language use?

In our academic context, explicit grammar teaching is practised in English language classes from grade one to undergraduate education. I can safely claim that despite repetitive teaching of the same language forms and rules, many students fail to master English language skills. I will explore these questions and discuss the importance of grammar teaching in the current English language teaching pedagogy. I will also provide some practical tips and examples of implementing grammar teaching in our teaching context.

Explicit Grammar Teaching

Explicit grammar teaching is the direct instruction of grammatical rules and structures, often accompanied by metalinguistic explanations and feedback. Explicit grammar teaching can take various forms, such as deductive or inductive lessons, drills, exercises, error correction, or explicit focus on form during communicative activities. Explicit grammar teaching aims to raise students’ awareness of how language works and to help them develop explicit knowledge of grammar rules.

Explicit grammar teaching has several advantages in English language teaching practice:

1. Explicit grammar teaching can help students learn grammar more efficiently and effectively, especially for complex or irregular structures that are difficult to acquire through exposure alone. Explicit grammar teaching can also help students notice gaps in their interlanguage and fill them with correct forms (Ellis, 2006).
2. Explicit grammar teaching can enhance students’ confidence and motivation in learning grammar, as they can understand the logic and rationale behind grammatical choices and avoid confusion or frustration. Explicit grammar teaching can also help students monitor their language use and self-correct their errors (Dörnyei, 2001).
3. Explicit grammar teaching can foster students’ metacognitive and metalinguistic skills, essential for autonomous and lifelong learning.
4. Explicit grammar teaching can help students develop strategies for learning, analyzing, and applying grammar rules in different contexts and situations (Wenden, 1998).

However, explicit grammar teaching also has some limitations and challenges in modern English language teaching practice:

1. Explicit grammar teaching can be tedious for some students, especially if it is done in isolation or overemphasis. Explicit grammar teaching can also interfere with students’ natural acquisition process and hinder their fluency or creativity in language use (Krashen, 1982).
2. Explicit grammar teaching can be difficult or impractical for some teachers, especially if they need more grammatical knowledge or pedagogical skills. Explicit grammar teaching can also pose challenges for teachers who have to deal with large or heterogeneous classes, limited time or resources, or different curricula or assessment requirements (Borg & Burns, 2008).
3. Explicit grammar teaching can be ineffective or counterproductive for some learners, especially if it does not match their learning styles, preferences, or needs.
4. Explicit grammar teaching can also create negative affective factors for learners with low aptitude, anxiety, or resistance to learning grammar (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998).

Implicit Grammar Teaching

Therefore, explicit grammar teaching is one of many ways to teach grammar in modern English language pedagogy. Instead, explicit grammar teaching should be balanced with implicit grammar teaching, which involves exposing students to authentic and meaningful input and output opportunities without overt focus on form. Implicit grammar teaching can help students acquire grammar implicitly through subconscious processes and natural communication. Implicit grammar teaching can also promote students’ fluency, creativity, and communicative competence in language use (Long & Robinson, 1998).

Therefore, the best way to teach grammar is to combine both approaches, depending on the needs and preferences of individual learners. Explicit grammar teaching can introduce new grammatical structures or clarify doubts, while implicit grammar teaching can be used to practise and consolidate them. Explicit grammar teaching can also be integrated with implicit grammar teaching using techniques such as recasting, noticing, or consciousness-raising tasks.

You can read about ELT Methods in the following post:

ELT Methods

Grammar Teaching for Communicative Competence 

However, to develop communicative competence, or the capacity to use language appropriately and effectively in various situations, more is required than merely teaching grammar. Communicative competence involves not only linguistic competence (knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and discourse) but also pragmatic competence (knowledge of how to use language for different functions and purposes), sociolinguistic competence (knowledge of how to use language according to social norms and expectations), and strategic competence (knowledge of how to cope with communication problems). Therefore, grammar teaching should be linked with other aspects of language teaching, such as vocabulary, pronunciation, discourse, culture, skills, tasks, etc.

A task-based approach is one way to integrate grammar teaching with communicative competence development. A task is an activity that requires learners to use language for a specific outcome or goal. For example, a task may involve ordering food at a restaurant, giving directions to a place, or writing an email to a friend. A task-based approach involves three stages: pre-task (introducing the topic and preparing learners for the task), task (performing the task), and post-task (reflecting on the task). In each stage, explicit or implicit grammar teaching can be incorporated. For example:

In the pre-task stage, explicit grammar teaching can present or review a relevant grammatical structure. For example, if the task is to order food at a restaurant, the teacher may explain how to use modal verbs (can/could/would) to make requests or suggestions.

In the task stage, implicit grammar teaching can provide learners with input or feedback while performing the task. For example, if the task is to give directions to a place, the teacher may recast or reformulate learners’ utterances using prepositions of place (in/on/at/near/between/etc.).

In the post-task stage, explicit or implicit grammar teaching can focus on form or accuracy after completing the task. For example, if the task is to write an email to a friend, the teacher may ask learners to notice or correct some grammatical errors in their emails. Teachers can use a task-based approach to help learners develop their grammatical and communicative competence in English.

In conclusion, explicit grammar teaching is essential to modern English language teaching but should not be considered the only source for language learning. Teachers should consider the advantages and disadvantages of explicit grammar teaching for their context and learners and use it appropriately and flexibly according to their goals and objectives. Teachers should also combine explicit grammar teaching with implicit grammar teaching to provide a comprehensive and balanced approach to grammar instruction that caters to their student’s diverse needs and interests.