Teaching Grammar

Instructor: Nguyễn Thu Hiền
[email protected]
Objectives of this module
After this module, students will be able to:
1. Identify what involves grammar and what to teach about
grammar
2. Recognize common methods of teaching grammar
3. Identify and analyze principles of teaching grammar
4. Identify and evaluate techniques for presenting and
practicing grammar
5. Teach grammar
Key terms
What is Grammar?
Definitions
CUP
The Grammar of a language is the Grammar describes how we combine,

description of the way in which words
organize and change words and parts
change their forms and are combined into
sentences in that language. If those rules are of words to make meaning. We use
violated, communication suffers. rules for this description
Nunan, 2003 TKT coursebook, CUP, 2005

Right or wrong?
 Everybody is ready now, aren’t they?

 You’ve got a sister, have you?
 Someone has deliberately made themselves
homeless.
Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammars
Prescriptive Grammar presents authoritative norms about the

structure of a language and determines language use correct
or incorrect, good or bad according to those sets of rules.
Descriptive Grammar tries to look at how language is actually

used by native speakers and from that draws out the rules of
language use.
Spoken and Written Grammars*
Written Grammar Spoken Grammar

1. Do you understand me? 1. Know what I mean?
2. May I help you? 2. Need a hand?
3. I want to talk with you? 3. Got a second?
What to teach about grammar?
How is it formed? What does it mean?
form meaning
use
When/Why/How is it used?
From: Larsen-Freeman, D. (2001). Teaching Grammar. (pp. 251-266).
In Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language. (3rd Edition). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Question to consider?
1. Does English grammar teaching at Vietnamese
secondary schools cover all three dimensions?
2. Which dimension receives greatest attention and
which is often neglected? What might be the
explanation for this?
I always look over a new unit in a textbook. I think it is a
good idea to teach my students all the grammar points
before we begin the lesson. When teaching a grammar point,
I often explain the rules and uses different sorts of exercises
to make my students practice it and be able to produce the
new language they have learnt on their own. In other words,
I will teach the grammar point explicitly and have them
practice it. That really helps them to be clear about what the
unit is about and they can do the activities in the unit better.
I think they learn better that way.
I don’t really need to teach grammar explicitly. More

specifically, I never say thing like, “this is the past tense, it is
formed by…… first, it is used to…, second, ...”. That is
unnecessary. Learners will pick it up for themselves and elicit
its use from the context. If they want grammar, I will give them
supplementary exercises to do at home, but not waste precious
class time teaching it. I think it is better to teach learners to
communicate, to practice as much English as possible in class
with real language. Grammar will look after itself
Explicit (Deductive) vs. Implicit (Inductive) teaching
● Explicit (Deductive) ● Implicit (inductive)

○ Start with grammar ○ Students discover the
○ Explain the rules grammar for themselves
○ Uses different sorts of through a series of steps
exercises to make the ○ “Discovery technique”
students practise
Principles of teaching grammar
 Integrate both inductive and deductive methods into your
teaching
 Start with examples vs Start with grammar rules
 Use tasks that make clear the relationship between
grammatical form and communicative function
 E.g., When teaching passive voice, provide students the
reason why it is used
 Focus on helping students to use grammar for
communication rather than helping them to know the
rules
 Knowing the rules doesn’t necessarily mean being able to use
the language communicatively
Common methods of teaching grammar
 Presentation – Practice – Production (PPP)

 Deep-end Approach (Test – Teach – Test)
 Task-based Approach
PPP: questions to consider?
 Why do you think PPP is popular in

secondary schools in Vietnam?
 What are some disadvantages of this
approach to teaching grammar?
Presentation- Practice- Production
Presentation: Teacher does the work

-T leads the students to discover the meaning and use of the new language in context
-T provides a clear model for students
Practice: Teacher & Students do the work

-T employs a variety of activities to consolidate learners’ language
-Practice is controlled and the T emphasizes accuracy
-A lot of time is spent on correction
Role: Students memorize the rules and say the target language smoothly
Production: Students do the work

-Ss are asked to produce the new language
-Practice is not controlled by teachers.
-T do not correct Ss’mistakes directly because this will stop them from becoming fluent.
Role: Ss learn by doing and not just copying the model
Test – Teach –Test (TTT)
Test: Production 1
-Ss do the required activities
-T finds out how much Ss can do
Teach: Presentation
-T provides Ss with new language
Test: Production 2
-Ss do the activities again
PPP vs TTT
PPP: TTT:
● A linear ● A circle
progression ● More learner-
● Teacher-centred centred
● More interesting
and motivating
● A good method for ● Difficult for novice

novice teachers teachers
Task-based Approach
● Involves the use of tasks that engage learners in
meaningful interaction and negotiation focusing on
completion of a task rather than on the language being
used
● Learners’ grammar needs are determined on basis of
task performance rather through a predetermined
syllabus
● Only at the end is there a specific focus on grammar
 Pre-task (introduction to topic and task)
 Task cycle (task-preparation, task-realisation)
 Post-task (analysis and practice – language focus)
Learning activities (traditional vs com)
Grammar-focused: Task-focused:
● Reflect typical classroom ● Reflect natural use
use of language of language
● Focus on correct form of ● Call on implicit
language knowledge
● Call on explicit knowledge ● Reflect automatic
● Reflect controlled performance
performance ● Produce language
● Practise language out of that is not always
context predictable
● Donot require authentic ● Require real
communication communication
Techniques for presenting grammar
● Presenting rules and examples
● Presenting visually
 T tries to touch the ceiling and asks students “Can I touch
the ceiling? (Sts would say: ‘No, you can’t’)
 T says ‘Yes, you’re right. I can’t touch the ceiling because
it’s too high to touch’.
 T then writes the structure on the board ‘The ceiling is
too high to touch’
● Presenting through situation
 Yesterday, I got up late and I was late for school.
 If I hadn’t gotten up late, I wouldn’t have been late for
school.
Comparative lesson
1. Form:
1. Short adjectives
 short
 tall
 high
 cold
Adj + er + than E.g. Mai is taller than Minh.
 cheap
2. Long adjectives
 beautiful
 interesting
 exciting more + adj + than
 boring
 intelligent
E.g. HCM is more exciting than Hanoi.
2. Compare two people, places or things

Video analysis
Practising grammar
Controlled Less controlled Production

practice stage practice stage stage
 We should:
 Get students to say things that are real, and relevant to
themselves
 Give them situations that imply the target structure but
leave them to decide what to say
 Let them add their language beyond the target grammar
Application
● In your groups, choose a grammar item to introduce for

the first time.
● Make a plan to teach that item. Post the plan in the padlet.
 PPP
 TTT
 Task-based
More information
● TTT - This extended approach can be good for those
students who have specific real-life reasons for learning. It
would, for example, be useful for the business learner who
needs to develop presentation & negotiation skills. Let the
learners show what they can do, develop them in the light of
this present knowledge & then show them how much more
successful they are. A summer course in the UK could
revolve around this as the teacher helps the learners
survive outside of the class. This can all be very much
related to a task-based approach to learning.
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gw2pKlG2gw&list=PL
uVn0ZLzOKtWsPiFSTiMSsWdz9_4FE12y&index=8
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNaG1uN40gI
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Re-FWcA03I
Thank you!

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Instructor: Nguyễn Thu Hiền

The Grammar of a language is the Grammar describes how we combine,

Nunan, 2003 TKT coursebook, CUP, 2005

 Everybody is ready now, aren’t they?

Prescriptive Grammar presents authoritative norms about the

Descriptive Grammar tries to look at how language is actually

Written Grammar Spoken Grammar

How is it formed? What does it mean?

I don’t really need to teach grammar explicitly. More

● Explicit (Deductive) ● Implicit (inductive)

 Presentation – Practice – Production (PPP)

 Why do you think PPP is popular in

Presentation: Teacher does the work

Practice: Teacher & Students do the work

Production: Students do the work

● A good method for ● Difficult for novice

2. Compare two people, places or things

Controlled Less controlled Production

● In your groups, choose a grammar item to introduce for

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