Grammar Teaching Methods Comparison in ESL Teaching

望麗

【Abstract】Grammar involves a lot of rules and forms. It is a complicated task for ESL teachers to perform grammar teaching.

【Key words】grammar teaching； explicit； implicit

English grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the English language. This includes the structure of words， phrases， clauses， and sentences. Lindley Murray （1795） defined grammar as “the art of speaking and writing the English language with propriety.” More generally， grammar is the structure of a language or rules which determines how words fit together in meaningful constructions. When we think of grammar， we think of a set of word forms and rules of usage that govern how we speak and write. In learning a foreign language， if students don't know the internal rules of language， it will affect them to use correctly the language in communication.

To ESL teachers who know correct grammar rules， it is simple to know them but complicated to effectively teach and transmit them to students to understand the rules and apply them correctly. And the students are usually having the feeling that English grammar is boring and complex. So， as ESL teachers， we should attempt how to teach students efficiently and give them what we need instead of boring them to death with “the rules”.

In grammar teaching， foreign education experts put forward two kinds of methods： “explicit grammar teaching” and “implicit grammar teaching”. The former focuses on teaching grammar rules directly； the latter avoids teaching the grammar rules directly. Teaching English as a second language， it is very important for teachers to build language environment. Break class time down into manageable sections， and make sure that they are introducing and explaining the grammar lesson， demonstrate how it is used in contextual situations， put it to practical use in the classroom， and play an engaging game that reinforces their lesson. Only in certain situations can it make students to learn grammar well. In the certain situation students experience language， and grasp language rules in communication.

In the traditional grammar teaching， teachers prefer to explicit grammar instruction. For example， learning the future tense， teachers will let the students do a lot of similar exercises. Rewrite the sentences according to the example：

Model： I am swimming now. （tomorrow）

I am going to swim tomorrow.

1） Jack is dancing now. （tomorrow）

2） Mary is drawing now. （tomorrow）

Such exercises only allow students to practice the grammar items， and provide no opportunity to let them understand the language situation. It is easy to make students be out of line with the context of language use， language form and meaning learning. The ultimate goal is to help improve students' language communicative ability to reach the grammar teaching objectives.

In addition， students show great passions in the classes which they are interested in. Mechanical practice cannot arouse their enthusiasm for learning. Therefore， we should abandon the direct and mechanical practice to provide more meaningful， interesting language environment for students in learning grammar. We can use stories， playing games， TPR， singing English songs to help them consolidate grammar. By far the best ways to teach any type of grammar is through the use of real life settings and contexts.

During my teaching， I try to explain the English grammar in an easy and humorous way. For example， in order to explain the subordinate clauses， such as object clause and adverbial clause of time. I wrote down a poem of Shakespeare on the blackboard. In his poem “I Am Afraid，” Shakespeare expressed love in a very easy words and sentences.

“You say that you love rain，

but you open your umbrella when it rains.

You say that you love the sun，

but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines……”

Firstly， students are required to find the subordinate clause in this poem. Then there will be a competition. Each group will choose one to read this poem aloud with good expression， and the winner will get a prize for their excellent performance.

“Explicit grammar teaching” needs the use of abstract thinking ability while implicit grammar teaching method is more appropriate.

Our goal in class is to enable our students to carry out the grammar points that we are teaching for communicative purposes. Even though grammar involves a lot of rules and forms， there are still many ways to make teaching grammar fun.

References：

[1]Martin Hewings.English Grammar in Use Elementary.Beijing：Foreign Language and Research Press，2001.

[2]Raymond Murphy.English Grammar in Use Supplementary.Beijing：Foreign Language and Research Press，2001.

[3]Martin Hewings.English Grammar in Use Upper-intermediate and Advance.Beijing：Foreign Language and Research Press，2001.

[4]Mansheng Zhang.New Perspective Grammar.Qunyan Press，2002.