Online Assignment:

Topic: Ways of teaching grammar

Submitted to: K.M. Scaria
Submitted by: Deepthy.S
St.Johns B.ed college,kayamkulam
introduction
Grammar is the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into
sentences. Grammar has dual nature it deals with the form and function of single words and construction of
sentences. In effect syntax is the more important side of English Grammar.

English grammar is notoriously difficult to learn for both native and second-language speakers. There are so
many intricacies, obscure rules, and exceptions that it comes as no surprise that different generations of
teachers have used various approaches to teaching grammar to train literate English writers. In the past,
memorization-based techniques that relied on repetition slowly gave way to more creative methods. Today, we
live in a society that prizes literacy and is willing to adapt to more effective methods to achieve the best results
in teaching grammar.

Diagramming Sentences
One of the older forms of teaching grammar, diagramming sentences, first appeared in the 19th century. This
method involves visually mapping the structures of and relationships between different aspects of a sentence.
Especially helpful for visual learners, this method disappeared from modern teaching at least 30 years ago.
Different forms of diagramming are used to visualize sentences, from the Reed-Kellogg System to dependency
grammar, but all organize the functions of a sentence in a way that illustrates the grammatical relationships
between words. More recently, diagramming sentences has had a small pop-culture resurgence in prints of
famous opening sentences and websites that allow you to diagram to your hearts content.

Learning Through Writing

This method is often used in schools in the U.S. and Canada. Students are encouraged to explore language
through creative writing and reading, picking up correct grammar usage along the way. If there are specific
problems with certain grammatical rules, these are covered in a more structured lesson. An emphasis is now
being placed upon language acquisition over language learning, as it has been observed that learning grammar
by memorization does not work well and that students are better able to recognize and understand grammatical
rules when lessons are more interactive (i.e., they have to apply these rules in their own writing). Repeated
practice is also important and easily achieved through creative or personal writing exercises. This article,
posted by The Atlantic, suggests that to better equip future adult writers, teachers in the 21st century should

consider dropping outdated grammar teaching techniques in early education and opt for learning through
writing techniques.

Inductive Teaching
The inductive method of teaching grammar involves presenting several examples that illustrate a specific
concept and expecting students to notice how the concept works from these examples. No explanation of the
concept is given beforehand, and the expectation is that students learn to recognize the rules of grammar in a
more natural way during their own reading and writing. Discovering grammar and visualizing how these rules
work in a sentence allow for easier retention of the concept than if the students were given an explanation that
was disconnected from examples of the concept. The main goal of the inductive teaching method is the
retention of grammar concepts, with teachers using techniques that are known to work cognitively and make an
impression on students contextual memory.

Deductive Teaching
The deductive method of teaching grammar is an approach that focuses on instruction before practice. A
teacher gives students an in-depth explanation of a grammatical concept before they encounter the same
grammatical concept in their own writing. After the lesson, students are expected to practice what they have just
been shown in a mechanical way, through worksheets and exercises. This type of teaching, though common,
has many peopleincluding teachersrethinking such methods, as more post-secondary level students are
revealing sub-par literacy skills in adulthood. As one former teacher states, deductive teaching methods drive
many students away from writing because of the tediousness of rote learning and teacher-centered
approaches.

Interactive Teaching
Another method of teaching grammar is to incorporate interactivity into lessons. Using games to teach grammar
not only engages students but also helps them to remember what theyve learned. This method allows teachers
to tailor their lessons to the different learning styles of students. For instance, each student can be given a large
flashcard with a word on it, and the students must physically arrange themselves into a proper sentence. Other
games can include word puzzles or fun online quizzes.
Over the years, many methods have been developed for teaching grammar and have been built upon,
abandoned, or combined, all with the same goal in mindteaching students how to communicate effectively
and understand how to use the English language. Because of the grammatical complexity of English, each
method has its pros and cons. Some lessons are less likely to be remembered, while others may require more
in-depth explanation and practice. Regardless of how grammar is taught, a well-rounded understanding of
English grammar is the most important factor in improving the literacy of students.

Some rules for teaching grammar What conclusions are to be drawn about the
teaching of grammar? Here are some rules of thumb: The Rule of Context: Teach
grammar in context. If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw
attention to it, ensure that it is re-contextualized as soon as possible. Similarly,
teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings. The choice of one
grammatical form over another is always determined by the meaning the speaker or
writer wishes to convey. The Rule of Use: Teach grammar in order to facilitate the
learners' comprehension and production of real language, rather than as an end in
itself. Always provide opportunities for learners to put the grammar to some

communicative use. The Rule of Economy: To fulfill the rule of use, be economical.
This means economising on presentation time in order to provide maximum practice
time. With grammar, a little can go a long way. The Rule of Relevance: Teach only
the grammar that students have problems with. This means, start off by finding out
what they already know. And don't assume that the grammar of English is a wholly
different system from the learner's mother tongue. Exploit the common ground.
The Rule of Nurture: Teaching doesn't necessarily cause learning - not in any direct
way. Instead of teaching grammar, therefore, try to provide the right conditions for
grammar learning. 32 The Rule of Appropriacy: Interpret all the above rules
according to the level, needs, interests, expectations and learning styles of the
students. This may mean giving a lot of prominence to grammar, or it may mean
never actually teaching grammar at all - in any up-front way. But either way, it is
your responsibility as a teacher to know your grammar inside out. Some conditions
The Rule of Nurture argues for providing the conditions for grammar learning. What
are these conditions? If the answer to this much disputed question could be reduced
to a handful of essentials, they would probably be these: The input learners get:
will it be presented in such a way that the learners are likely to engage with it, thus
ensuring a reasonable chance of it becoming intake? Their output: will it be of
sufficient quantity and/or quality to ensure that they have opportunities to develop
both accuracy and fluency? The feedback they get: will it be of the type and
quantity to ensure that some of their attention is directed at form? Their
motivation: will the content and design of the lesson be such that learners are
motivated to attend to the input, produce optimal output, and take account of the
feedback? Here are six teacher confessions. Which rule did the teacher break, in
each case? 1. I explained it and drilled it - and still they made mistakes. So I
explained it and drilled it again. 2. I taught my business class the present perfect
continuous using a fairy tale. 3. I presented the rules of adverb order, and then we
did some exercises in the book. Tomorrow I'm going to do the second conditional. 4.
They don't have any problems with the past tense, but I'm going to teach it again
because it's in the book. 5. I gave them five sentences in different tenses and asked
them to work out the difference. Then we did some sentence gap-fill exercises. 6.
The presentation took about 40 minutes. That left me ten minutes for the role play.
Whats wrong with the following example? Lesson: How not to teach the past
perfect Step 1 The teacher introduces the lesson by telling the class that they are
going to have a grammar lesson. He writes on the board 'past perfect'. He then
explains the rules of formation and use of the past perfect (as in he had worked...),
including how the past perfect is used to refer to a time anterior to an established
past reference, and how the past perfect is also used in reported speech to
transform direct speech instances of the past simple and the present perfect. He
also points out that the past perfect functions in conditional clauses to refer to
hypothetical past time

Conclusion

Grammar is a set of rules governing a particular language.Each language has its

own distant grammar. It improves quality of communication.our aim in teaching
grammar lessonsis to given useful generalizations,comments or guide lines on how
English sentences are constructed and used, and practice in the application of such
guidelines. Generalisation should follow practice in good grammatical
usage.Allgrammar teaching should be based on genuine examples and not on
constructed ones.
References
http//www.buzzles.com/articles/why-do-we-need-education.htm/
http//www.buzzles.com/articles/importance-of-edu-in-society-htm/