Download Teaching grammar - E-Learning/An

Topic : Teaching grammar
Duration: 1 hour

This module is designed to empower the learners with methods
of teaching grammar and to provide them with sufficient information
about different issues related to teaching grammar.
Introduction:
A long time ago when education did not have to be so complicated as
must be today, the main in school were referred to as the three R’s :
reading , ‘riting , and ‘ rithmetic. These three R’s remain. Two of them,
reading an d writing , make up a large part of the school subject called
English.
If someone were to ask you the unlikely question, “ What do
you do in English?” your reply might be something like this : “ In English
we read stories and poems and stuff like that. We learn about nouns
and verbs ,and well, subject and predicates, I guess. We write our own
stories and poems and themes . And we give talks in front of the
class.”
A teacher , however, would use different terms in answering
the same question. Instead of mentioning just stories and poems, a
teacher might say you study literature. Noun , verb, subject , and
predicate are terms used in the study of grammar. Writing stories ,
poems , and themes is practicing written composition. Talks in front
of the class are a means of improving your speech . The four main
areas of English , then are literature, grammar , composition , and
speech. ( Warriner’s , English Grammar and Composition).
Intended outcomes are:
- Develop the learners’ conceptualization of
teaching grammar.
- Identify the role of grammar in ELT.
- Realize effective grammar presentation and its materials.
- Be aware of methods for grammar practice.- Deal with grammatical mistakes.

Module (6) consists of:
1. Grammar in general.
2. The place of grammar teaching .
3. The grammatical terms.
4. Presenting & explaining grammar.
5. Grammar practice activities.
6. Grammatical mistakes.
Objectives:
To give the definition of grammar.
 To be familiar with grammatical terms.
 To present grammar lesson carefully
accurately
 To be aware of the learner’s mistakes as
foreign language learners.


What is grammar
◦ Grammar is sometimes defined as ‘ the way words are put
together to make correct sentences’.
◦
e.g. I am a teacher is grammatical
 *I a teacher, and
 *I are a teacher are not.
* We can , however, apply the term ‘grammatical’ to
units smaller than sentences. A brief phrase said or
written on its own can be grammatically acceptable
or unacceptable . In its own right : a tall woman
sounds right ; a woman tall does not.
Grammatical structure
2
A specific instance of grammar is usually called a ‘structure’.
3
E.g. The past tense: go ( went)
2 The plural nouns : bag ( bags )
3 The comparison of adjectives . Tall ( taller than )
Question:
Do all languages have the same
structures?
Study the table
Arabic language
)markers ) ‫ الحركات‬.1
.‫ كتب الطالب في الدفتر‬: ‫* أصلية‬
.‫شرح المعلم الدرس‬
‫ ذهبت الطالبتان إلى المكتبة‬: ‫* فرعية‬
‫به‬.‫م‬+ ‫ فعل‬+ ‫ مفعول به أو فاعل‬+ ‫ فاعل‬+ ‫فعل‬.2
‫ المعلم شرح الدرس‬/ ‫شرح المعلم الدرس‬
‫ ضمير المخاطب في اللغة العربية‬.3
‫ أتنم أو أنتن‬: ‫ جمع‬, ‫ أنت أو مثنى أنتما‬: ‫مفرد‬
English language
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• 1 Vowels :
• * I sit next to my friend .
• * Huda puts her book in her
book.
• 2. Sentence arragement
• S.+V+Obj.
• 3. You / yourself /
yourselves is used for two
,three and more.
• E.g. Please, help yourselves.
• 4. (s) after the third person
singular pronoun in present
tense
These discrepancies of
languages structures
cause problems to foreign
language learner.
Question:
How difficult is the structure to learn of
the speaker of the other language?
GRAMMATICAL MEANING
Grammar does not only affect how units of
language are combined in order to ‘look right’; It
also affect their meaning.
The teaching of grammatical
meaning tends, unfortunately, to
be neglected in many textbooks
in favour of an emphasis on
accuracy of form.
The role of grammar teaching
The place of grammar in
the teaching of foreign languages
is controversial. Most people
agree that knowledge of a
language means among other
things, knowing its grammar. Do
you agree or disagree?
Give evidence.
Opinions about the teaching of grammar .
Critical reading:
Read the following extracts , and you may find it helpful to observe the
following sequence for each extract.
1. Summarize in your own words what the writer saying .
2. State whether you agree or disagree in principle.
3. In the light of your experience as teacher or learner, add further
criticism, positive or negative, of the writer’s point of view. Where you can,
quote evidence from your own or others’ experience to back up your
point of view.
Opinions about the teaching of
grammar .
1. The important point is
that the study of
grammar as such is
neither necessary nor
sufficient for learning to
use a language.
L. Newmark ’How not to interfere
with language’ in Brumfit, C.J. and
Johnson,K.(eds) The communicative
Approach to language Teaching.
Oxford University Press, 1979,p. 165
2. The student’s
carving for
explicit
formulization of
generalization
can usually be
met better by
the textbooks
and grammars
that he reads
outside class
than by
discussion in
class.
Ibid
Opinions about the teaching of
grammar .
3. The evidence seems to show beyond doubt that
though it is by communicative use in real ‘speech acts’
that the new language ‘sticks’ in the learner’s mind,
insight into pattern is an equal partner with
communicative use in what language teachers now see
as the dual process of acquisition/learning . Grammar,
approached as a voyage of discovery into the patterns of
language rather than the learning of prescriptive
rules , is no longer a bogey word.
Eric Hawkins, awareness of Language: An Introduction, Cambridge
University Press, 1984, pp. 150-1
Stages for teaching Sentence Structure
Basic Clause Structure
Clause
Phrase
The Four Sentence Types in English Writing
Zu’rob , Muneera and Kanana , Patricia,(2010). ‘English Course in Social Sciences', The Palestinian Women’s
Research and Documentation Center-UNESCO, Sharek Cultural Centre, Ramallah
Sentence Structure
in English Writing , Part 1
Basic Clause Structure
Sentences can be defined
according to their purposes
A declarative sentence
An interrogative sentence
(asks question)
Positive
Some birds
fly south in
winter.
Negative
Some birds do
not fly south in
winter.
An imperative sentence
(Gives a command)
Do these birds fly
south in winter?
Fly south this winter!
Sentences can be defined
according to their purposes
An exclamatory sentence
A subjunctive sentence
(express a strong feeling)
Oh! I just love these cute birds!
I wish these cute birds didn’t fly in winter.
Practice 1
- Define the following sentences according to their
purposes?
- Ali usually wakes up at six o’clock in the morning.
- Does Ali wake up at six o’clock in the morning?
- Open the door, Huda?
The Grammar Rules for Basic Clause Structure in
English
Pre-question:
- Is the following sentence right or wrong?
In the park a young boy yesterday a black snake bit.
The reader of the above sentence may not understand who or
what bit what or who.
In order to make sure that it is a snake who bit a
young boy, the words have to be placed in a certain order, which
in English is usually fixed. In addition , phrases describing place
and time, also follow a certain order.
The correct sentence is therefore :
A black snake bit a young boy in the park yesterday.
Grammar Rules for Basic
Clause Structure
A basic sentence
At least
One independent clause
A predicate
A subject
The verb of the sentence
Objects that are affected
The subject
A subject
A person
A place
An object
An abstract object
Types of a subject
A simple subject
A complete subject
e.g.
The lion roared
Simple
Its modifiers
subject
e.g. The big lion roared
A compound subject
A complete compound subject
Two or more nouns or pronouns
e.g. The lion and the
lioness roared
Compound sentence Its modifiers
e.g. The big strong lion and the beautiful lioness
roared
Practice 2
Read the following paragraph and classify sentences according
to structure:
Last spring some of us wanted a basketball diamond. We looked around the
neighborhood , and we found an empty lot. After we had discussed our plan with the
owner, we asked our parents about fixing it up . When the cleanup day came , some of us
cleared trash, and the rest of us worked on smoothing the turf. The project took three full
weekends.
(Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition/ Third Edition)
Writing Assignment
Write a paragraph about a project you think is important. Include at least one of each
kind of sentence. Write the kind of sentence in parentheses after the sentence.
A predicate of a clause:
Gives information on the 
subject
Describing it or identifying 
the action it performs or
that is performed.
Answers the question 
What happens ? 
What is described?

E.g. The lion roared 
E.g. The lion is beautiful 
E.g. The lion was hunted 
Practice 3
In the next sentences , underline the predicate:
-
The dog smelled the thawing roast.
-
The motor sounded good.
-
She is healthy and full of vigor.
-
The food was eaten.
-
Niagara Falls are visited every Summer .
Objects
A direct object
An indirect object
A typical word order for an English one-clause-sentence would
be therefore
Subject – Verb – Direct Object – Indirect Object
e.g. The teacher gave an assignment to the students.
To expand the basic one-clause-sentence, you can add manner
How?, place (where?) and time ( when? How often?) modifiers.These
usually appear in the above mentioned order.
An easy formula to help
you remember the basic
word order for a basic
English sentence is:
Subject-Verb-Object-Manner-Place-Time, or
the acronyms SVOMPT (pronounced as
swamp)
e.g.The teacher gave an assignment to the
students quickly in class yesterday.
Sentence Structure
in English Writing , Part 2
pra
Phrases
Right or Wrong? Is the following a grammatical sentence?
- The amazingly beautiful old city zoo in the western side of the capital city of Berlin
Wrong! It is merely a complete subject without a predicate and therefore cannot stand alone as a sente
This “ piece of sentence” is a phrase.
A phrase:
is a group of words that does not contain both a subject
and a predicate and therefore cannot stand alone as a clause or
sentence.
The Grammar Rules for Phrases in English
Visiting the Berlin zoo was a great experience.
[ gerund phrase functions as a noun = subject of the sentence]
A gerund phrase
A noun phrase
The old Berlin zoo was
established back in 1844.
[ noun phrase functions as
a subject]
Types
of
phrases
A verb phrase
The old Berlin zoo was established
back in 1844.
[ verb phrase functions as verb in
sentence]
A prepositional phrase
During my last visit ,to Berlin, in 2002, I took the
train to the Berlin zoo.
[ prepositional phrase always starts with a
preposition and functions as a modifier]
Practice 4
- In the next sentence , underline the phrase and then mention
its type.
-
A black snake bit a young boy in the park yesterday.
Sentence Structure
in English Writing , Part 3
Clauses
Right or Wrong?
Consider this, is the following a grammatical sentence?
Because we visited both the Paris and Berlin zoos?
Wrong! 

The reader of the above line may mistake it for a sentence, but in fact it is
not .Even though it answers to the basic requirement for a sentence, which
is having both a subject and predicate , it does not stand on its own; it
presents the reason for something else. It is in fact a dependent clause.
Dependent clauses modify independent clauses and
therefore must appear beside them.
The Grammar Rules for Clauses
in English
A clause : is a group of words that contains both a subject and
a predicate but cannot always be considered as a full grammatical sentence.
(a)- An independent clause ( main clause
Clauses :
Contains both
A subject
both
(Simple sentence)
A predicate
Coordinating conjunctions (fan boys) are used to connect elements of equal
weight such as two independent clauses, using comma before the conjunction.
E.g. (1): We visited Paris last September. ( simple sentence)
E.g. (2):We visited Paris in September, and then we visited Berlin in October
fan boys
for
Clauses
and
nor
but
or
yet
so
(B)- A dependent clause ( subordinate clause)
Contains a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as a
sentence. It must be a part of a sentence, on which it
depends for meaning.
Reading a dependent clause on its own leaves the reader
wondering where the rest of the information is.
Kinds of dependent clauses:
is: An adverb clause or adverbial clause ( subordinate clause) (1
a type of dependent clause which starts with a subordinating
conjunction ( e.g. because, although, when , if , until, as if etc.)
Adverb clauses are similar to adverbs, usually answer questions such as
: Why? How? When? Under what circumstances?
E.g.1- We wanted to go to the Louvre (as early as we could).
[ The adverb clause modifies the verb phrase wanted to go; it explains when?]
**** We (wanted to go) to the Louvre early.
[ the adverb modifies the verb phrase wanted to go; it explains when?
E.g. 2- We ate dinner (where all the locals usually go to) .
[ The adverb clause modifies the verb ate; it answers the question where?]
2) An adjective clause: ( A relative clause) , just like an adjective,
modifies the noun or pronoun preceding it . It starts with a relative
pronoun ( e.g. who, which, that , where, when whose, whom , whoever etc.)
E.g. 1- This is a great museum. [ the adjective great modifies the noun museum]
E.g. 2- This is a museum that we visited last year.[ the adjective clause modifies the noun
museum]
E.g. 3- In Paris, we met good friends.
[ the adjective good modifies the noun friends]
E.g. 3- In Paris, we met friends whom we haven’t seen for years.
[ the adjective clause modifies the noun friends]
Use who, whom, whoever and whomever when the
adjective clause refers to a person or an animal with a
name. Use which or that when the adjective clause
refers to a non-person (thing) or an animal that is not
a pet.
E.g. (The French lady) who was our guide turned out to be a distant
relative of ours.
[ the French lady is a person , who is used]
Sentence Structure
in English Writing , Part 4
The Four Sentence Types
in English Writing
Clauses of different types can combine to form the four of sentences in English writing. Good
writers use a variety of sentence types at varying lengths to make their writing more
interesting and dynamic. Remember to use proper punctuation and a variety of connectors to
make logical connections both within and between sentences.
A simple sentence
We had a great visit to Paris and Berlin last September
A compound sentence
We visited Paris last
September, but my sister
Visited Berlin last summer
Types of
a sentence
A complex sentence
While we were walking through
The Louvre, we suddenly met
Our neighbour John an his
family.
A compound complex sentence
While we were walking through the Louvre, which is one
of the most famous museums in the world, we suddenly
met our neighbor John with his family, and all of us went
out for lunch at a splendid restaurant.
Presentation and explaining
grammar
Question:
Is it easy to present and explain a foreignlanguage grammatical structure to a class
of learners?
To present and explain a foreign-language grammatical structure to a
class of learners is surprisingly difficult for the following reasons :
First, you need to understand yourself what is involved in ‘knowing ‘ the
structure ( its written and spoken forms, and in particular what is likely
to cause difficulties to the learners ; and second you need to know how
to present examples and formulate explanations that will clearly convey
the necessary information. Thirdly, it is important to know how to
present the structure’s form and meaning yourself in a way that is clear ,
simple , accurate and helpful. The further problem of grammar
presentation is to find the appropriate balance between simple and
accurate.
An activity:
A common Problem of Practice

Mr. Khalifah is trying to teach his class about subject-verb agreement in
English. He is explaining the concept to the whole class, using examples
from the textbook. Several students begin talking to each other. Mr.Khalifah
tries to ignore this and go on with his presentation, but a moment later
even more students begin to talk. Mr. Khalifah says,‘Would everyone please

be quiet and listen. You’re going to be doing some exercises and , I you
don’t listen, you won’t know what to do ’. The class becomes quiet, and Mr.
Kalifah continues his explanation . Within two minutes, the noise level
begins to rise again, and Mr. Khalifah reminds the class to be quiet.
Directions
Dear learners, at your table ,review the case and respond to the following
questions:
•
What is the teacher trying to do ?
•
What is the problem?
•
What additional information does Mr. Khalifah need to help him plan?
•
How will he collect it ? And what will he do with it?
* What will approach will he develop to try out?
* What data will he gather as he tries this new approach?
* Will he need a ‘critical friend’?
* What does he learn?
* What will be his next step?
Guidelines on presenting and explaining a new grammatical
structure.
1. In general ,a good presentation should include both oral and
written forms, and both form and meaning.
2. It is important for learners to have plenty of contextualized
examples of the structure and to understand them .Visual materials
can also contribute to understanding.
3. The answers to this will depend on your situation and learners. On
the whole older or more analytically-minded learners will benefit more
from the use of terminology.
4. Again , this very much depends on own your situation and
judgment .
5. This is the problem about striking the right balance between
accuracy and simplicity .Your explanation should cover the great
majority of instances learners are likely to encounter ; obvious
exception should be noted , but too much details may confused. As a
rule, a simple generalization is more helpful to learners than a
detailed grammar –book definition.
Task
Present and explain a grammatical structure
to a class ; the presentation should not take
longer than five minutes .
( You may or may not wish to consult a
grammar book to help you prepare.)
Awareness
Meaningful drills
Controlled
drills
Grammar practice activities
Guided meaningful practice
Free sentence composition
Discourse composition
More about The definition of
grammar:

Grammar is a description of the way a language works. It explains many things. For
example, grammar tells us the order in which sentence parts must be arranged. It
explains the work done by the various kinds of words – the work done by the
various
References:
- Teaching grammar: Series Editors : Williams ,Marion and Wright ,Tony .Cambridge Teacher
Training and Development . Cambridge University Press (A Course in Language Teaching - Al
Najah University).
- Introduction : Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition- Second Edition
- Opinions about teaching of grammar:
* Approach to language Teaching. Oxford University Press, 1979,p. 165
* Eric Hawkins, awareness of Language: An Introduction, Cambridge
University Press, 1984, pp. 150-1.
* Ibid
- Sentence Structure Recognition Practice:
Zu’rob , Muneera and Kanana , Patricia,(2010). ‘English Course in Social Sciences',
The Palestinian Women’s Research and Documentation Center-UNESCO,Sharek
Cultural Centre, Ramallah
- Practice 2 / 3 : Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition- Third Edition
Videos: Effective learning for rapid English Language Learning
* English Grammar Teaching : Many , Much and a lot of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu4b5Gjl2JQ
* Countable & uncountable nouns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v92p3zSsR08