Key subject: TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Full name: Pham Thi Linh

Course date: 19th to 24th April 2021

Table of contents
KEY POINTS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR

 Defining and understanding key grammar points

 Key parts of speech
 Approaches to grammar
 Traditional grammar
 History of English grammar
 Use of appropriate grammar
 Universal grammar
 Structural grammar
 Teaching explicit grammar
 Practical conclusions
 Krashen’s Theory
 Chomsky’s Universal Language Theory
 Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
 Appropriate activities for teaching grammar
 Community language skills
 Total Physical Response
 Activities teaching grammar and incorporating other skills
 Understanding idioms and slang
 Use of idioms for grammar and storytelling
 Activities for retention of prepositions
 Controlled and free tasks
 I. KEY POINTS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR
1. Defining and understanding key grammar points
Grammar is the structure and system of a language, or of languages in general, usually
considered to consist of syntax and morphology. Grammar is frequently referred to be a
language's "rules”. When we say "rules" we mean that someone made the rules first and
then spoke the language, as if it were a new game. Languages, on the other hand, did not
begin in this manner. People first made sounds, which then developed into words, phrases,
and sentences. There is no such thing as a universal language. Every language evolves
throughout time. What we refer to as "grammar" is only a reflection of a language at a
specific point in time. Grammatical knowledge (also known as grammatical or linguistic
competence) has two dimensions that are important in second language learning and
teaching:
 Knowing how to construct sentences using a language's grammatical system
 Learning how to employ a language's grammatical resources in the creation of
spoken and written texts as part of the process
Grammar concepts are divided into five topics: Subjects & Verbs, Tenses & Verbs,
Pronouns, Active & Passive Voice and Punctuation.
 The term "subject-verb agreement" simply implies that the number of the subject
and verb in a phrase must match. They must be singular or plural in both cases.
 Tenses and verbs cannot be separated, as tenses are mainly expressed by
conjugating a verb. Verbs are divided into three tenses: past, present, and future.
Things that have happened in the past are described. The present tense is used to
describe events that are currently occurring or are continuing. The future tense is
used to express things that haven't happened yet.
 A pronoun is a term that replaces a noun or noun phrase in a sentence. Pronouns
refer to either a previously specified noun or a noun that does not need to be
named precisely.
 The active voice indicates that the activity is being performed by the sentence's
subject. The object of the sentence behind a preposition, even though no
prepositional phrase is present, is doing the action in passive voice.
 Punctuation (or interpunction) is the use of space, conventional signs (called
punctuation marks), and some typographical techniques to help comprehension
and proper reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud.

Although these grammar notes are written in British English, instructors and students of
other types of English, such as American English, will discover that most grammatical rules
are the same. In terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, set phrases, and preferences,
there are many major variations between American English and British English, although
there are less changes in fundamental grammar.

2. Key parts of speech

The parts of speech explain how a word is used in a sentence. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs,
adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are the eight major components of speech (also
known as word classes).
Noun
The name of something, like a person, animal, place, thing, or concept. Nouns are typically
used as subjects, objects, objects of prepositions, and modifiers of other nouns. A noun is a
word that identifies a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. For example: Flower, girl, boy,
house, movie, room, doctor.
To avoid repeating the noun, a pronoun is used instead of it. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we,
they etc. In a sentense: She is playing table tennis with her friend.
Adjective: An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun.
Beauitful, nice, successful, meaningfull, useful, available etc.
A verb is a term that represents an action (doing something) or a state (being in a certain
condition) (being something). Examples: Eat, live, talk, think, believe, run, discuss etc.
He went to the supermarket last night.
An adverb is a term that is used to characterize a verb, adjective, or adverb. It explains how to
accomplish something. It may also provide information about when and where something
occurred.
Examples: smoothly, successfully, fully, well, yesterday, here etc.
Bennie was extremely tired of doing his assignment.
Preposition: A preposition joins the noun to some other part of the sentence.
Examples: on, in, by, under, into, by etc.
He entered into the room.
A conjunction is a word, phrase, or sentence that connects two other words, phrases, or
sentences.
Examples: but, so, and, because, or etc.
Although his leg was broken he managed to get out of the car
Interjections are words that show passion or surprise and are frequently accompanied by
exclamation marks.
Examples: Wow! , oh no! Etc.
Oh! I am late for the bus

3. Approaches to grammar
Some approaches that are recommended for teaching grammar in the TESOL classroom:
The Communicative Approach: Listening and Speaking activities to demonstrate or prastise a particular
grammar point. English lessons have become a master class where students listen to the teacher and
repeat grammatical constructions or practice with their partner. They can use that grammar point in a context
and understand it better.
The Task-base Approach: Student work together on a tassk, perhaps making up a dialogue and ass a result
are praticing a grammar form.
The Student Centred Approach: The lesson is based around the students needs and the grammar points that
are covered are requested by the students or arise naturally through activities students complete related to
their needs.
Another general approach to teaching grammar in a Tesol context is to first do an activity based on a
particular grammar point. Model the form but do not explain in detail at this stage. After the student have had
fun with tasks prastising this grammar point, then the specific rules of the point can be explained..

4. Traditional grammar
Some people aren't convinced, believing that conventional grammar instruction is obsolete. We'll look at
what conventional grammar is, the benefits and drawbacks of traditional grammar instruction, and possible
alternatives in this article.

A grammar was created in Sanskrit as early as the fifth century BC, but Traditional Grammar was devised by
the early Greeks, who were also the first to construct an alphabetic writing system. As a result of this
invention, we now had literary works, and the necessity for a grammar arose so that people could better
comprehend and enjoy what was written. Dionysius Thrax, a Greek, described grammar in the first century
BC as "anything that allows a person to either speak a language or to speak about that language and how its
components connect to one another."
Traditional types of grammars lay out rules for the formation of what grammarians and linguists saw as
principles for the right use of the language, rather than the grammar being a description of how the language
was actually used.

5. History of English grammar

The history of English grammars begins late in the sixteenth century with the Pamphlet for
Grammar by William Bullokar. In the early works, the structure and rules of English grammar were
based on those of Latin. A more modern approach, incorporating phonology, was introduced in the
nineteenth century.
The first English grammars were modeled on Latin grammars. It made English appear falling
short in a number of ways. It was an unhappy fact that not a single one of the best writers could
be relied upon to write correctly.With the publication of Dr Samuel Johnsons Dictionary of the
English Language in 1755, it may be said that the rules for a Standard English Grammar had
been established. By 1800, the rules of English grammar had been established with authority;
English Grammar has changed its form almost every three hundred years, and it appears to be
going through one of its evolutions even as we use it today.

6. Use of appropriate grammar

Correct grammar, regardless of the language you speak or write in, not only helps you
communicate more effectively and accurately, but it also helps you avoid humiliation. Grammar
errors can indicate that you are not focusing on your words or, worse, that you do not understand
the mechanics of your own language. Correct grammar is an indication that the speaker or writer is
an educated person who understands the nuances of the language around the world, whereas
grammar errors can indicate that you are not focusing on your words or, worse, that you do not
understand the mechanics of your own language.

English is a dialect-rich language that is continually changing. Even within the same English-
speaking country, spoken English can sound extremely different from area to region.

However, English authors and educators have come to an agreement on most features of English
grammar through time, producing "Standard English" or "Standard Written English." This is the
version of English that is deemed "proper" for official writing and speaking.

7. Universal grammar
Universal grammar is a hypothesis that proposes that people have intrinsic abilities to learn
languages. Since it was initially proposed and, additionally, since the 1940s, when it became a
focus of modern linguistic research, the concept of universal grammar has changed significantly. It's
linked to generative grammar studies and is based on the concept that some parts of syntactic
structure are universal. Universal grammar is made up of a collection of atomic grammatical
categories and relations that serve as the foundation for all human language grammars, and upon
which syntactic structures and restrictions are established.

The Universal Grammar (UG) hypothesis—the idea that human languages, despite their superficial
differences, share some fundamental similarities that are due to innate principles unique to language: that
there is only one human language (Chomsky, 2000a, p. 7)—has sparked a flurry of research in linguistics,
psychology, philosophy, and other social and cognitive sciences. For over 50 years, it has been the
dominant method in linguistics (Smith, 1999, p. 105: characterized it as "unassailable"), but it is currently
facing growing criticism from a number of sources.

8. Structural grammar
Structural grammar is a method of studying grammar, particularly syntax, by examining the links between
words in a phrase. Students acquire structural grammar when they are taught to recognize phrases, clauses, or
even elements of speech, or when they are taught to draw sentences.
Structural grammar in this sense is characterized by the procedure known as substitution, by which word
class membership is established and by which smaller structures are expanded to larger ones. The procedures
and results of this structural grammar have been absorbed into Transformational Grammar where they appear
in base components especially the branching rules.
Since its introduction in the early to mid-1900s, the idea has been used in a number of settings, including the
classroom and linguistic study. It had mostly been merged with or incorporated into transformational
grammar in elementary and secondary education by the end of the twentieth century, but it remains a helpful
tool in linguistics, the scientific study of language.

Students acquire structural grammar when they are taught to recognize phrases, clauses, or even elements of
speech, or when they are taught to draw sentences. However, it is no longer often utilized as the primary way
of teaching grammar in the United States, and sentence diagramming in particular has gone out of favor.
Most schools in the United States merged the structuralist method with transformational grammar, in which
students are challenged to change the structure of a phrase, by the late twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries.

This method to grammar was commonly used in contrastive analysis, which is the study of the grammatical
structures of two distinct languages, in the mid-twentieth century. The goal was to apply the findings to the
field of second language learning. Researchers anticipated that speakers of one language would have a
particularly difficult time acquiring a new language in places where the structures of the two languages are
quite dissimilar. Contrastive analysis was widely abandoned once this showed to be considerably less
accurate than predicted.
In the early twenty-first century, structural grammar was frequently adopted as part of various efforts in
linguistic study. Structural linguists' work is likely to be used in any field of linguistic study that incorporates
syntax. A linguist studying sentence processing, for example, could apply structuralist ideas to diverse
phrases in order to better understand how people comprehend them.

9. Teaching explicit grammar

Explicit teaching may be defined as a method of instruction that focuses on the presentation
of language forms, the explanation of grammatical principles, and drill practice. It equates
language to mastery of grammar and precise use, resulting in bored, disgruntled students
who can generate perfect forms on exercises and examinations but frequently make errors
when attempting to use the language in context. Learners in explicit instruction are aware
that they are learning something, and they make an effort to comprehend the rules on
purpose.
Explicit grammar education includes the presentation and explanation of language rules in
order to address specific language structures. Students should make an effort to study
grammar consciously while learning it directly. Because it necessitates intentional learning,
it is better suited to adult learners of all levels. This is likely due to adult learners' need to
understand clear rules in order to compare them to those in their mother tongue.

10. Practical conclusions

When studying naturally occurring language, people can discover that we can make systematic differences in
choices. Some options are related to the communication's meaning as well as its context. We've focused on
the distinctions in mode between grammar in speech, particularly conversation, and writing.
You may already be aware of the concept of linguistic variety. For example, distinct dialects of English are
spoken in various regions of the world. India, the United States, and Australia, for example, all speak various
dialects of the English language. Within countries, however, regional dialects may be distinguished by
distinct vocabulary and grammatical choices. People frequently have the option of communicating in their
native tongue or in what has become known as standard English.
Exploring English grammar may let us see a far more nuanced degree of variety — in this free course, we've
utilized a fairly basic difference between written and spoken modes. Grammar is a tool for modifying our
communications in ways that portray ourselves and our message in new ways, and it is influenced by a
variety of contextual variables.

11. Krashen’s Theory

Over the previous three decades, Krashen's studies and writings have gotten a lot of attention.
Thousands of research papers, scientific publications, and books based on Krashen's work attest
to his significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in linguistics
and education. Krashen's views have influenced a large number of instructors across the world, to
the advantage of the students in their classes.
Stephen Krashen is a Second Language Acquisition researcher and professor at University of
Southern California who has been publishing and speaking since the 1980’s. 
"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does
not require tedious drill." Stephen Krashen

"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in

which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are
conveying and understanding." Stephen Krashen

"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations,
containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early
production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready',
recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input,
and not from forcing and correcting production." Stephen Krashen
Krashen’s theory has five main hypotheses:
 the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis,
 the Monitor hypothesis,
 the Natural Order hypothesis,
 the Input hypothesis,
 the Affective Filter hypothesis.
Only when students are engaged in the topic and the target language is utilized as a medium of
instruction can the teaching of grammar result in language acquisition (and competence). When
this happens, both instructors and students are usually satisfied that formal grammar study is
necessary for second language acquisition, and the teacher is capable of presenting explanations
in the target language so that the students comprehend. In other words, the teacher's discussion
satisfies the requirements for understandable information, and the classroom may create an
atmosphere conducive to learning with the students' participation.

12. Chomsky’s Universal Language Theory

Avram Noam Chomsky(born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive
scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. 

Chomsky was unconvinced by other thinkers, by produced a theory of Universal Grammar, like John
Locke, who argued that people are born blank slates. Instead, Chomsky argued that children
learning to speak cannot possibly start as blank slates because they simply don't have enough
information to perform many of the complex grammatical maneuvers he observed them making.
According to Chomsky, our proverbial slates cannot be completely blank when we are born; we must
be hard-wired with structures in our brains, or what he called language acquisition devices (LADs).
The LAD is a hypothetical tool hardwired into the brain that helps children rapidly learn and
understand language.

One of the most useful outcomes has been the notion that there is an ideal age for children to
learn a language.

The general consensus is that the younger the person, the better. Learning a second language
in early infancy may be more effective since young children are primed for natural language
acquisition.

In schools where children are learning second languages, the universal grammar idea has had a
significant impact.

Rather than memorizing grammatical rules and vocabulary lists, many teachers now employ
more natural, immersive techniques that mirror how we learn our first languages.

Teachers who are familiar with universal grammar may be more equipped to focus specifically
on the subject.

13. Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory

The central concept of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social contact is crucial to cognitive
development. Vygotsky (1978) states: “Every function in the child’s cultural
development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual
level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child
(intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory,
and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual
relationships between individuals.” 
The concept that the capacity for cognitive growth is dependent on the "zone of proximal development"
(ZPD), a level of development achieved when children participate in social activity, is a second component
of Vygotsky's theory. Full social contact is required for the ZPD to mature fully. With adult direction or peer
cooperation, the breadth of skills that can be gained far outnumbers what can be achieved on one's alone.
Vygotsky uses the example of pointing a finger to illustrate his argument. This behavior starts off as a
meaningless grabbing action; but, when individuals react to the gesture, it evolves into a meaningful
movement. The pointing motion, in particular, symbolizes an interpersonal connection between people.

14. Appropriate activities for teaching grammar

When language learners can use grammar in a pleasant way, they have a greater chance of remembering
everything. Rather of memorizing a lot of rules, they'll be able to practice and absorb grammatical
phenomena in depth.

Fill-in-the-Blanks - Give students phrases that only employ ONE of the structures. They aren't ready to
decide which is proper just yet. They do, however, need to practice writing the forms, and doing so within
the context of a sentence is preferable to doing so alone.

Divide the class into two teams and divide the board in half. Have students go to
the board and write as many related terms as possible as you call out a topic or
category for acquired vocabulary words.
Using Videos to Teach English Grammar. Dramas or interviews containing instances of
the precise grammatical topic you're teaching, such as a certain modal verb, can be
found. Allow pupils to watch the video and write down any occurrences of this exact
item they hear. It's an excellent end-of-class review activity.
Make funny examples or practice sentences. Writing your own grammatical practice
sentences, in my opinion, is well worth the effort. If I'm on top of things enough to be
planning lessons ahead of time, I'll occasionally summon a rotating list of students to my
computer to ask if they'd be willing to be featured in my practice worksheets and to
double-check that what I've written about them is correct. Because every student is
waiting to hear who's next, these phrases produce a record-high level of student
involvement for modeling and individual practice.

https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/2541/WilcoxK04.pdf?sequence=1

 Greenbaum, Sidney, and Nelson, Gerald. An Introduction to English Grammar. 2nd

ed., Pearson, 2002.
 http://nnkt.ueh.edu.vn/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/30-015.pdf
 https://cte.univsetif2.dz/moodle/pluginfile.php/24956/mod_resource/conte
nt/1/1.%20Structuralism.pdf
 Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and Practice in Second Language
Acquisition. Prentice-Hall International, 1987.
 https://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/
