How people learn, theories of learning, grammar learning technique

Grammar is central to teaching and learning of languages, which is also the system or rules of a language, and is used to find ways to construct the words in sentences. It is not required to study grammar for learning and teaching English language, because many people speak it as their native language without having studied it. However, it is essential to learn grammar "[R]ules for forming words and making sentences" (Oxford Learners Pocket Dictionary, 2008, p. 193) in order to utterly understand a foreign second language.

Teaching grammar has been regarded as crucial to the ability to use language. For this reason, this article introduces a five-step procedure for teaching grammar. I have developed this procedure, which incorporates the notions of practice and consciousness-raising, explicit and implicit knowledge, and deductive and inductive approaches for teaching grammar. This procedure has been derived from my great interest in innovative grammar teaching and my teaching experience in grammar. The proposed steps are expected to be an alternative pathway for English teachers to teach grammar, particularly teaching tenses and modals at college-university levels or even in secondary schools. Grammar gains its prominence in language teaching, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL), inasmuch as without a good knowledge of grammar, learners' language development will be severely constrained. Practically, in the teaching of grammar, learners are taught rules of language commonly known as sentence patterns. According to Ur (1999), in the case of the learners, grammatical rules enable them to know and apply how such sentence patterns should be put together. The teaching of grammar should also ultimately centre attention on the way grammatical items or sentence patterns are correctly used. In other words, teaching grammar should encompass language structure or sentence patterns, meaning and use. Further, grammar is thought to furnish the basis for a set of language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In listening and speaking, grammar plays a crucial part in grasping and expressing spoken language (e.g. expressions) since learning the grammar of a language is considered necessary to acquire the capability of producing grammatically acceptable utterances in the language (Corder, 1988; Widodo, 2004). In reading, grammar enables learners to comprehend sentence interrelationship in a paragraph, a passage and a text. In the context of writing, grammar allows the learners to put their ideas into intelligible sentences so that they can successfully communicate in a written form. Lastly, in the case of vocabulary, grammar provides a pathway to learners how some lexical items should be combined into a good sentence so that meaningful and communicative statements or expressions can be formed. In other words, Doff (2000) says that by learning grammar students can express meanings in the form of phrases, clauses and sentences. Long and Richards (1987) add that it cannot be ignored that grammar plays a central role in the four language skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks.

In the field of language teaching, especially in second language teaching, teachers and researchers are constantly concerned with the most efficient ways to provide knowledge to learners leading to acquisition. This article aims to reflect form-focused instructional options regarding grammar teaching, in light of the computational model for second language acquisition, and discuss if there is a best way to teach grammar and what it is. For that, firstly, the instructional possibilities are presented, in their macro and micro-options. Secondly, discussions on whether we should select an option or not and on whether we could balance different options throughout a lesson are carried. Finally, sample material is provided in order to present possible ways to conduct a grammar lesson.

There are many arguments for putting grammar in the foreground in second language teaching. Here are seven of them: 1) The sentence-machine argument Part of the process of language learning must be what is sometimes called item-learningthat is the memorisation of individual items such as words and phrases. However, there is a limit to the number of items a person can both retain and retrieve. Even travellers' phrase books have limited usefulness -good for a three-week holiday, but there comes a point where we need to learn some patterns or rules to enable us to generate new sentences. That is to say, grammar. Grammar, after all, is a description of the regularities in a language, and knowledge of these regularities provides the learner with the means to generate a potentially enormous number of original sentences. The number of possible new sentences is constrained only by the vocabulary at the learner's command and his or her creativity. Grammar is a kind of 'sentence-making machine'. It follows that the teaching of grammar offers the learner the means for potentially limitless linguistic creativity.

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well. So, to teach about a set of forms and rules and then drill students on them depends greatly on how we manage to put that information across in the best way to suit the age and stage of the students. This will require a full explanation of the definition, which can be done with practical demonstrations. Often the mistake is made of assuming that grammar can be taught only in a dry unimaginative way. But this is far from the truth.

La Ogi : English Language Journal

This study sought to identify the various types of learning techniques used by Muhammadiyah Sidenreng Rappang University students enrolled in the English education study program. Seventy-five first-semester students who were enrolled in a basic English grammar course served as the study's subjects. Data collection and analysis were conducted using descriptive quantitative. The study's findings indicated that metacognition (20, 93%), cognitive (18, 49%), social (17, 83%), affective (16, 48%), memory (15, 97%), and compensatory (10, 25%) were the learning strategies that students used the least when studying grammar. Additionally, the ability to focus on a specific grammar pattern, attempt to grasp it, and make connections to previously learned material is another reason why students frequently employ metacognitive strategies when studying grammar. As a result, it is recommended that teachers should be aware of the various learning strategies and then assist the students as th...

The Asian EFL Journal, 2019

Facilitating students to succeed in learning grammar has received a lot of critical attention from teachers. Grammar mastery is perceived as a determining aspect for the students to communicate accurately in a written form, yet they often encounter problems to acquire it. Students may have basic knowledge of the rules or of sentence structures, but most of them still make frequent mistakes as well as errors in their subsequent writing although teachers have provided adequate feedback. This notion attracts the writers to propose an alternative model, called Constructing and Analyzing Model (CAM). Substantively, this model comprises five major steps; composing sentences, peer review, self-review, teacher's feedback, and concluding the concept. It is asserted that CAM is one of the communicative ways in teaching grammar that facilitates students not only to learn it effectively but also assist them in constructing their own understanding, making use of their knowledge in an acceptable context, and developing their writing skill. Engaging students in various grammar activities using CAM enables them to be able to (a) integrate the concept of grammar into writing, (b) become interactive and collaborative learners, and (c) sharpen high-order thinking skills. The writer’s two-valuable-semester experiences have shown that CAM is appropriately applied in a grammar class for it increases students’ scores in grammar quizzes and learning involvement. In this regard, the current article is intended to overview the concept and theoretical framework of the teaching of grammar using CAM, the five major steps to implement it, the model, and its benefits.

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well.

International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 2017

Every language has its grammar. Whether it is one's own mother tongue or second-language that one is learning. The grammar of the language is important. This is because acceptability and intelligibility, both in speech and in writing within as well as outside one's own circle or group depend on the currently followed basic notions and norms of grammaticality. A knowledge of grammar is perhaps more important to a secondlanguage learner than to a native speaker has intuitively internalized the grammar of the language whereas the secondlanguage learner has to make a conscious effect to master those aspects of the language which account for grammaticality. It is, therefore, necessary for us, to whom English is a secondlanguage, to learn the grammar of the language. So, without the knowledge of the grammar of a particular language, we cannot properly use the language in communication. But question may arise what should be the method and approach to the study of grammar. Several approaches have been followed through the ages for the study of English grammar. The major approaches are the traditional approach, the structural approach, the notional-functional approach and the communicative approach.

There are many arguments for putting grammar in the foreground in second language teaching. Here are seven of them: 1) The sentence-machine argument Part of the process of language learning must be what is sometimes called item-learningthat is the memorisation of individual items such as words and phrases. However, there is a limit to the number of items a person can both retain and retrieve. Even travellers' phrase books have limited usefulness -good for a three-week holiday, but there comes a point where we need to learn some patterns or rules to enable us to generate new sentences. That is to say, grammar. Grammar, after all, is a description of the regularities in a language, and knowledge of these regularities provides the learner with the means to generate a potentially enormous number of original sentences. The number of possible new sentences is constrained only by the vocabulary at the learner's command and his or her creativity. Grammar is a kind of 'sentence-making machine'. It follows that the teaching of grammar offers the learner the means for potentially limitless linguistic creativity.