Rod Ellis (2006): Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective, in TESOL Quarterly, vol.

40, Num 1, online

04/08/2011, 12h05 GMT

Eight questions relating to the teaching of Grammar in the light of findings from SLA.
A summary by

Siwou Martin Bolivar

Two opposed opinions: - On the One pole: Krashen (1982) advocates for simple rules like the 3rd person s or past form ed; complicated rules being not learnable or beyond students ability to apply through monitoring. However, this position is not warranted. - On the other pole: teach the whole of the grammar of the target language.ii Nevertheless, most teaching contexts have limited time for teaching grammar, so some selection is needed. The selection should be based on the inherent learning difficulty of different grammatical structures but how can these difficulties be determined? (a) understanding a grammatical feature or (b) internalising a grammatical structure so as to be able to use it accurately in communication. Ellis suggests two approaches to delineate cognitive difficulties: 1. Teach those forms that differ from the learners rst language (L1): a contrastive analysis approach. Focus is on known common learner errors. 2. Teach marked rather than unmarked formsiii. The general idea is that we should teach the marked features and leave the students to learn the unmarked forms naturally by themselves. 4.
1.

1. DEFINING GRAMMAR TEACHING Traditionally, grammar teaching is viewed as the presentation and practice of discrete grammatical structures. Why is this overly narrow definition? Grammar teaching can (1) Consist of presentation without practice and reversely; (2) Involve learners in discovering grammatical rules for themselves neither presentation nor practice (3) be conducted simply by exposing learners to input contrived to provide multiple exemplars of the target structure. (4) Be conducted by means of corrective feedback on learner errors when these arise in the context of performing some communicative task. Denition Grammar teaching involves any instructional technique that draws learners attention to some specic grammatical form in such a way that it helps them either to understand it metalinguistically and/or process it in comprehension and/or production so that they can internalize it. 2. SHOULD WE TEACH GRAMMAR? (Or should we simply create the conditions by which learners learn naturally?) Early research into L2 acquisition showed: (1) that learners appear to follow a natural order and sequence of acquisition (i.e., they mastered different grammatical structures in a relatively xed and universal order and they passed through a sequence of stages of acquisition on route to mastering each grammatical structure) [[[Communicative ability is dependent on acquisition]]] (2) However, instructed learners generally achieved higher levels of grammatical competence and more rapidly than naturalistic learners but instruction was no guarantee that learners would acquire what they had been taught. (3) Teaching grammar is benecial but that to be effective, grammar had to be taught in a way that was compatible with the natural processes of acquisition. [[[Many studies measure learning in terms of constrained constructed responses (e.g., ll in the blanks, sentence joining, or sentence transformation), which can be expected to favour grammar teaching. There is only mixed evidence that instruction results in learning when it is measured by means of free constructed responses (e.g., communicative tasks)]]] Grammar teaching can contribute to interlanguage development.

WHEN SHOULD WE TEACH GRAMMAR?

Emphasise the teaching of grammar in the early stages of SLA.

Two competing answers to this question: error like sin needs to be avoided at all costs (Brooks, 1960; behaviourist theory). This premise holds that once learners have formed incorrect habits, they will have difficulty eradicating them and replacing them with correct habits. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that learners develop correct habits in the rst place. - Many teachers believe that beginning-level learners cannot engage in meaning-centred activities because they lack the necessary knowledge of the L2 to perform tasks. Thus, a form-focused approach is needed initially to construct a basis of knowledge that learners can then use and extend in a meaning-focused approach. - Before implementing implicit learning processes based on massive exposure to the target language (immersion programmes), N. Ellis (2005)iv has suggested that learning necessarily commences with an explicit representation of linguistic forms, which are then developed through implicit learning. He suggests that teaching grammar early is valuable because it provides a basis for the real learning that follows. The idea here is that understanding how grammatical features work facilitates the kind of processing required for developing true competence.

3. WHAT GRAMMAR SHOULD WE TEACH?

In general, syllabus designers and teachers have not found such models useful and have preferred to rely on modern descriptive grammars, such as Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freemans (1999) Grammar Book. This resource is especially valuable because it not only provides a comprehensive, clear, and pedagogically exploitable description of English grammar but also identies the kinds of errors that L2 learners are known to make with different grammatical structures. As Van Patten, Williams, and Rotti (2004) emphasise, establishing connections between form and meaning is a fundamental aspect of language acquisition. Thus, any reference grammar that fails to describe the form-meaning connections of the target language must necessarily be inadequate. Which grammatical structures should we teach?

2. Emphasise meaning-focused instruction to begin with and introduce grammar teaching later, when learners have already begun to form their interlanguagesv.

Research on immersion programmes shows that learners in such programmes are able to develop the prociency needed for uent communication without any formal instruction in the L2. Why then bother to teach what can be learned naturally? Early interlanguage is typically agrammatical (e.g.: Me no; Me Milkman; Dinner time you out) which rely on context and the use of communication strategies. embedded communication. this lexicalised knowledge provides the basis for the subsequent development of the grammatical competence needed for context-free communication. This, then, is a strong argument for delaying the teaching of grammar until learners have developed a basic communicative ability. Ellis favours the second position in that:
Task-based language teaching is possible with complete beginners if the rst tasks emphasise listening (and perhaps reading) [reception

tasks] and allow for nonverbal responses. However, it is possible that such an approach can be usefully complemented with one that draws beginners attention to some useful grammatical features (e.g. Past tense ed in English) that they might otherwise miss.

that some structures may require before they can be fully acquired.

practise that some structures may require before they can be fully acquired.

7.

IS THERE ANY VALUE IN TEACHING EXPLICIT GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE?

5.

SHOULD GRAMMAR TEACHING BE MASSED OR DISTRIBUTED?

Explicit vs implicit grammatical knowledge Explicit knowledge

Consists of the facts that speakers of a language have learned. They concern different aspects of language including grammar. Is held consciously, is learnable and verbalisable,

Collins and colleagues (1999) report their own study of three intensive ESL programmes in Canada, one (the distributed programme) taught over the full 10 months of one school year, one (the massed programme) concentrated into 5 months but taught only to above average students, and the third (the massed plus programme) concentrated into 5 months, supplemented with out of class opportunities to use English and taught to students of mixed ability levels. The main nding was that the massed and especially the massed-plus students outperformed the distributed programme students on most of the measures of learning, including some measures of grammatical ability, although this nding might in part be explained by the fact that the massed programmes provided more overall instructional timevi.

Implicit knowledge
Is procedural

Is held unconsciously, and can only be verbalized if it is made explicit.

6. SHOULD GRAMMAR TEACHING BE INTENSIVE OR

EXTENSIVE

- Difference between intensive and extensive grammar teaching Intensive grammar teaching refers to instruction over a sustained period of time (which could be a lesson or a series of lessons covering days or weeks) concerning a single grammatical structure or, perhaps, a pair of contrasted structures (e.g., English past continuous vs. past simple). Extensive grammar teaching refers to instruction concerning a whole range of structures within a short period of time (e.g., a lesson) so that each structure receives only minimal attention in any one lesson. It is the difference between shooting a pistol repeatedly at the same target and ring a shotgun to spray pellets at a variety of targets. Instruction can be intensive or extensive irrespective of whether it is massed or distributed. - Difference between massed/distributed and intensive/extensive The massed-distributed distinction refers to how a whole grammar course is staged, while the intensive-extensive distinction refers to whether each single lesson addresses a single or multiple grammatical feature(s).
The intensive approach Grammar teaching is typically viewed as entailing intensive instruction. The present-practise-produce (PPP) model of grammar teaching assumes an intensive focus on specic grammatical structures. Thus the idea that practice makes perfect is the primary justification of the intensive approach. Practise, however, must involve both drillsvii and tasks (i.e., opportunities to practice the target structure in a communicative context). Teaching a marked structure intensively can help learners learn associated, less marked structures even if it does not result in acquisition of the marked structure. --Intensive instruction also helps learners to use structures they have already partially acquired more accurately. Intensive grammar teaching
Time-consuming: thus, time (and learners stickiness) will constrain the number of structures to be addressed

is typically accessed through It is accessed rapidly and easily controlled processing when learners and thus is available for use in rapid, experience some kind of linguistic uent communication. difficulty in using the L2. NB: A distinction needs to be drawn between explicit knowledge as analysed knowledge and as metalinguistic explanation. Analysed knowledge entails a conscious awareness of how a structural feature works, while metalinguistic explanation consists of knowledge of grammatical metalanguage and the ability to understand explanations of rules.

Most SLA researchers agree that competence in an L2 is primarily a matter of implicit knowledge.

Krashen argues that learners can only use explicit knowledge when they monitor, which requires that they are focused on form (as opposed to meaning) and have sufficient time to access the knowledge. teaching explicit knowledge by itself (i.e., without any opportunities for practising the target feature) is not effective. explicit knowledge becomes implicit knowledge if learners have the opportunity for plentiful communicative practice.
Is explicit knowledge best taught deductively or inductively? In deductive teaching, a grammatical structure is presented initially and then practised in one way or another; this is the rst P in the presentpractise-produce sequence. In inductive teaching, learners are rst exposed to exemplars of the grammatical structure and are asked to arrive at a metalinguistic generalisation on their own; there may or may not be a nal explicit statement of the rule. A number of studies (see Erlam, 2003, for a review) have examined the relative effectiveness of these two approaches to teaching explicit knowledge. The results have been mixed but simple rules may best taught deductively, while more complex rules may best be taught inductively. Learners skilled in grammatical analysis are likely to fare better with an inductive approach than those less skilled. 8. IS THERE A BEST WAY TO TEACH GRAMMAR FOR IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE?

Extensive grammar teaching

Affords the opportunity to attend to large numbers of grammatical structures. Many of the structures will be addressed repeatedly over a period of time (involving a response to the errors each learner makes) It is not possible to attend to those structures that learners do not attempt to use (i.e., extensive instruction cannot deal effectively with avoidance). It does not provide the in-depth

The present-practise-produce (PPP) model of grammar teaching assumes an intensive focus on specic grammatical structures. Practise, however, must involve both drillsviii and tasks (i.e., opportunities to practice the target structure in a communicative context).
It does provide the in-depth practise

To answer this question it is necessary to identify the instructional options for teaching grammar. Ellis will consider just two: the difference between input-based and production-based instruction and between different types of corrective feedback. - The input-based option (Ellis, 2002b) or input processing instruction (Van Pattern, 2003) is based on a computational model of L2 acquisition, according to which acquisition takes place as a product of learners comprehending and processing input. Such approaches, when directed at grammar, seek to draw learners attention to the targeted structure(s) in one or more ways: simply by contriving for numerous exemplars of the structure(s) to be present in the input materials, by highlighting the target structure(s) in some way (e.g., by using bold or italics in written texts), or by means of interpretation tasks directed at drawing learners attention to form-meaning mappings. - The output-based option or production option can be seen in both skill-building theory or a sociocultural theory of L2 learning according to which learning arises out of social interaction which scaffolds learners attempts to produce new grammatical structures.

differentiated approach involving sometimes deductive and sometimes inductive instruction may work best. 8. An incidental focus-on-form approach is of special value because it affords an opportunity for extensive treatment of grammatical problems (in contrast to the intensive treatment afforded by a focus-onforms approach). Corrective feedback (i.e., teacher responses to learner errors)

- Implicit feedback occurs when the corrective force of the response to learner error is masked, for example, a recast, which reformulates a deviant utterance correcting it while keeping the same meaning: NNS: Why he is very unhappy? NS: Why is he very unhappy? NNS: Yeah why is very unhappy? (Philp, 2003) Or, as in this contrived example, a request for clarication: NNS: Why he is very unhappy? NS: Sorry? NNS: Why is he very unhappy? - Explicit feedback takes a number of forms, such as direct
correction or metalinguistic explanation. There is some evidence that explicit feedback is more effective in both eliciting the learners immediate correct use of the structure and in eliciting subsequent correct use, for example, in a post-test. 9. SHOULD GRAMMAR BE TAUGHT IN SEPARATE LESSONS OR INTEGRATED INTO COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES?

9. Corrective feedback is important for learning grammar. It is best conducted using a mixture of implicit and explicit feedback types that are both input based and output based. 10. Should grammar be taught in separate lessons or integrated into communicative activities? In accordance with these beliefs, grammar instruction should take the form of separate grammar lessons (a focuson-forms approach) and should also be integrated into communicative activities (a focus-on-form approach).

One of the greatest needs is for research that addresses to what extent and in what ways grammar instruction results in implicit knowledge.

Ellis stance is that grammar should be taught in separate classes Instruction needs to ensure that learners are able to connect grammatical forms to the meanings they realise in communication Grammar has held and continues to hold a central place in language teaching.

ROD ELLIS answers the above questions: CONCLUSION 1. What grammar should we teach? The grammar taught should be one that emphasises not just form but also the meanings and uses of different grammatical structures. 2. Which grammatical structures should we teach? Teachers should endeavour to focus on those grammatical structures that are known to be problematic to learners rather than try to teach the whole of grammar. 3. When should we teach grammar: Grammar is best taught to learners who have already acquired some ability to use the language (i.e., intermediate level) rather than to complete beginners. However, grammar can be taught through corrective feedback as soon as learners begin to use the language productively. 4. A focus-on-forms approach is valid as long as it includes an opportunity for learners to practise behaviour in communicative tasks. 5. Should grammar teaching be massed or distributed? Consideration should be given to experimenting with a massed rather than distributed approach to teaching grammar. 6. Is there a best way of teaching grammar for implicit knowledge? Use should be made of both input-based and output-based instructional options. 7. Is explicit knowledge best taught deductively or inductively? A case exists for teaching explicit grammatical knowledge as a means of assisting subsequent acquisition of implicit knowledge. Teaching explicit knowledge can be incorporated into both a focus-on-forms and a focuson-form approach. In the case of a focus-on-forms approach, a

VanPatten, B., Williams, J., & Rott, S. (2004). Form- Meaning connections in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. It is not possible to specify the whole grammar of a language. Quirk and colleagues'(1972) A Grammar of Contemporary English ran to 1081 pages, excluding index and bibliography iii Markedness has been dened in terms of whether a grammatical structure is in some sense frequent, natural, and basic or infrequent, unnatural, and deviant from a regular pattern. iv Ellis, N. C. (2005): At the interface: How explicit knowledge affects implicit language learning. In Studies in Second Language Acquisition, vol. 27, 305352. v Crystal (2003) defines interlanguage as the linguistic system created by someone in the course of learning a foreign language, different from either the speakers L1 or the L2 being acquired. It reflects the influence of those languages (rules) on each other. vi Collins, L., Halter, R., Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). Time and distribution of time in L2 instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 655680. vii A drill is an activity which practises a particular skill and often involves repeating the same thing several times. ** What is the drill for sth? INFORMAL used to ask what is the usual, correct way of doing sth
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