Teaching Grammar in the ESL Classroom

by Whitey | Feb 13, 2008 | Thoughts

Today’s post is another paper from the correspondence TESL course I was taking back in the Fall. This assignment was on the question of whether or not grammar should be taught explicitly in the ESL classroom. Any thoughts? Feel free to comment, especially if you’re a language teacher — or student, for that matter.

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Grammar is an unavoidable part of teaching English as a second language. In any language, grammar is the “code” that helps us understand each other. It ties words together so that we can make sense of what someone is saying. If one is going to help another person learn English, grammar must be taught. The questions are, “How?” and “How much?”

Should ESL students be taught grammar explicitly? That is, do they need to know the names of all the different parts of the sentences and tenses? Do they need to learn all the rules of English grammar by heart? Or can grammar be picked up implicitly? Can students simply become aware of the patterns and rules of grammar through practice?

The answer, I think, lies somewhere in the middle. As Jim Scrivener points out in Learning Teaching, the kind of grammar an ESL teacher needs to teach is not the informational kind but the practical kind: “Scott Thornbury, in his book Uncovering Grammar, has suggested that we could open up our concept of ‘grammar’ if we start thinking of it as not just a noun (i.e. the information), but as a verb as well (i.e. the active skill of using language). It’s probably this ‘verby’ kind of grammar that we most need to help our learners work with in class.” (Scrivener, p. 253)

Our students don’t necessarily need to know all the names of the different tenses and sentence parts. If we are honest, most native English speakers – even ESL teachers — don’t know all of these aspects of grammar. For example, let’s look at this sentence: “Bob will already have taken the test when I arrive tomorrow.” Before I started taking this TESL class, I couldn’t have told you (without looking it up) that it is in the future perfect tense. However, I could have hold you what it means: Bob will take a test tomorrow. After that, I will arrive. Bob will be finished taking the test before I arrive.

That is the kind of practical grammar learning our ESL students need. They need to be able to hear or read a sentence and understand it. They need to be able to speak or write and be understood. How do we teach them this kind of “verby” grammar?

I would suggest what I would call “situational” grammar teaching. In other words, given a certain language context, certain grammar points naturally come up as teaching topics. For instance, a lesson in which you talk about “How I spent my summer vacation” would be used to talk about past tenses. Depending on the skill level of the class, you could talk about a number of different past tenses, in a situational, conversational context instead of a list of names and rules.

In part, what I’m talking about is teaching by example. Students learn a grammar point by seeing it “in action”. But it’s not enough to just hope that they pick up the pattern. There needs to be some explanation as well – but it needs to be practical and geared toward the skill level of the class. And it needs to be followed by a lot of practice.

In short, a brief explanation followed by plenty of practice would be preferable over a long, explicit explanation. Language is meant to be used.

Talk Time

by Whitey | Feb 6, 2008 | Thoughts

This week and next I’m continuing my series of writings on Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), using more material taken from assignments I did for my TESL course. Today’s post was written back in mid-December, and is about teacher vs. student talk time in the language classroom. I should add that there’s quite a bit of student talk time in the Japanese class I’m taking now. This is a good thing.

There is a big difference between accuracy and fluency. This is an idea I have thought about frequently during both my private Japanese-language studies and my teaching English course.

I have studied Japanese off and on for a few years now. If tested, I would probably discover that I have a fairly large vocabulary. I also know the basics of Japanese grammar and pronunciation fairly accurately. However, I am far from fluent. In fact, it is a struggle for me to carry on even the most basic of conversations in Japanese.

So what’s missing? It is true that I could (and should) spend a lot more time studying. But probably the thing I need the most is more practice actually using what I already know; I need more talk time. I heard someone point out recently that in real, every day conversations, it’s actually more important to be fluent than it is to be accurate. In other words, getting an idea or message across to the person we’re speaking to should be our concern, rather than making sure we get every word and grammar use exactly right. I think this is true. Of course we should always aim to improve, but real communication can still take place even while we’re still learning. And in the process of trying, failing and trying again, we learn more than we could have without trying at all.

If practice is so important in learning a second language, then in ESL conversation classes it is important that we as teachers give the students ample opportunities to put into practice what we have been teaching them. If we’re going to do this, we need to be willing to talk less. Teacher talk time is important, especially as we introduce new concepts. But without actually putting these new language items to work, students are less likely to remember them when the class is over. If the students do not get talk time in class, they will not improve in their ability to actually communicate in English. This is especially true if we are living in a non-English speaking country, where students don’t get many opportunities to use English in their lives outside the classroom.

For these reasons, I think it is important for teacher talk time to be limited so that student talk time takes up a large part of each lesson. As for an exact ratio, that it would depend on the size of the class. In smaller classes, there can be more teacher-to-student interaction without any students being left out. In larger classes, students will have to talk to each other more and to the teacher less. In either case, though, the teacher should err on the side of speaking less (20-40% of class time). Teacher talk time should always be less than half of the lesson, with that percentage being lower the more students there are.