ELT_methods_grammarNew nnnjhhhuhuhuhhhhh

ELT Methods and Practices
Unit 3.1:
Dealing with Grammar in a Communicative Context
Bessie Dendrinos
School of Philosophy
Faculty of English Language and Literature

2
Issues to be discussed in this unit
• What is grammar?
• Types of grammar.
• Grammar in the communicative approach.
• Teaching grammar: Main principles (form, meaning
and use, the importance of context, giving effective
explanations).
• Approaches to teaching grammar.
• Choosing grammar activities.

3
What is grammar?
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes
describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact
no language has rules. If we use the word "rules", we
suggest that somebody created the rules first and then
spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did
not start like that. Languages started by people making
sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences.
No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages
change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a
reflection of a language at a particular time.

4
Different views of grammar (1/2)
1. Grammar involves the rules of combining words into
sentences and the rules for forming words.
2. The grammar of a language consists of the devices that
signal structural meanings... that can be described in
physical terms.
3. Grammar includes the study of phonology, syntax and
semantics.
4. Grammar is concerned with how words are combined to
form utterances which function meaningfully in different
contexts.
5. Grammar involves the rules of how language operates in
text, genre and discourse.

5
Different views of grammar (2/2)
• Different theories of language entail different
ways of studying language and different views
of grammar. In essence theories of language
are theories of grammar.
• “Language is not fixed, but is rather a dynamic
system. Language evolves and changes... [it]
grows and organises itself from the bottom up
in an organic way, as do other complex
systems.” (Larsen-Freeman, 2006)

6
Dated views of language and language
learning
“To learn a new language one must establish
orally the patterns of the language as
subconscious habits”. (Lado & Fries, 1943, 1970)
“There is no boundary between lexis and
grammar: lexis and grammar are
interdependent.” (Stubbs, 1996).

7
Grammar books/grammars (1/3)
Just as there are many different views of language and
thus different views of what grammar is, there are
many types of grammar books. Each type of grammar
book represents the linguist’s description of the
language.
• Descriptive grammar: provides a precise account of
actual usage (how people use language in everyday
communication).
• Prescriptive grammar: attempts to establish rules for
the correct use of language.

8
Prescriptive or descriptive? (1/2)
Typical mistakes:
• The weather’s warmer as last week.
• I’ve been waiting longer that you.
Comparatives are followed by than:
• The weather’s warmer than last week.
• I’ve been waiting longer than you.
Which is correct: older than I or older than me?
• In informal English, we often use object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them)
after than. In a more formal style, subject pronouns (I, he, etc.) are
considered more “correct”. e.g. She’s older than me (informal). / She is older
than I (am) (formal).
• When the pronoun is used with a verb, only subject pronouns are possible, of
course. e.g. Lucy found more mushrooms than I did. (Not:*…..than me did.).

9
Prescriptive or descriptive? (2/2)
The grammar of newspaper headlines.
Newspaper headlines often follow rather different grammatical rules from other kinds
of writing.
1. Headlines are not always complete sentences. e.g. “MORE EARTHQUAKE
DEATHS”.
2. Headlines often contain strings of three, four or more nouns. e.g. “FURNITURE
FACTORY PAY CUT RIOT”.
• In expressions like this, all the nouns except the last one act as adjectives. The
easiest way to understand headlines of this kind is to read them backwards.
• ‘FURNITURE FACTORY PAY CUT RIOT’ refers to a RIOT about a CUT in PAY for the
workers in a FACTORY that makes FURNITURE.
3. Articles and the verb to be are often left out. e.g. “SHAKESPEARE PLAY
IMMORAL, SAYS HEADMASTER”.
4. Newspaper headlines have a special tense-system. It is unusual to find complex
forms like is coming or has produced; generally the simple present form.

10
The study of grammar involves the study of
individual languages and uses linguistic data as a
means of developing insights into the nature of
language. It is dependent on different theories
of language and therefore we have different
grammars (functional grammar, structural
grammar, tranformational generative grammar
etc.)

11
• Pedagogical grammar: Designed specifically for
teaching a foreign language or developing awareness
of the mother tongue. It is inherently prescriptive.
• Theoretical grammar: goes beyond the study of
individual languages and uses linguistic data as a
means of developing insights into the nature of
language and develops categories for linguistic
analysis. It presents a theory of language (functional
grammar, universal grammar, transformational
generative grammar etc.).

To teach or not teach grammar
explicitly…

13
Arguments against
• The study of grammar promotes knowledge about
language not how to use the language.
• We acquire our first language without any explicit
knowledge of grammar.
• The natural order in which languages are learned
precludes the influence of instruction.
• If communicative competence is the goal, then
classroom time is better spent engaging in language
use (Krashen, 1981).

14
Arguments in favour (1/2)
• Without explicit instruction learners’
interlanguage often fossilizes.
• Grammar instruction may act as an advanced
organizer helping learners to notice features
of language when they are ready.
• Learning finite rules can help to simplify an
otherwise daunting and complex task by
organizing it into neat categories.

15
Arguments in favour (2/2)
• Older students’ expectations about language
learning often include grammar instruction.
• Learning grammar structures allows for more
creative applications of language. (Lightbown
& Spada, 1990, pp. 429-448).

Grammar Viewed through the Communicative
Approach to Language Teaching and Learning

17
Grammar in the communicative approach
(1/5)
• Communication is the be-all and end-all of
language learning and grammar is the by-
product of this endeavour.
• Grammar is cumulative. It should not be
presented in a linear additive fashion but
should be regularly revised and reintroduced
(cyclical/spiral approach).

18
(2/5)
• The grammatical component of a syllabus is
characterised by selectivity. Grammatical
items are not included because they have
always been taught but because they can be
justified in relation to the type of course, its
length, objectives and student population.

19
(3/5)
• Grammar instruction and activities should be
integrated within a communicative
framework.
• Language should be presented and learnt
within a context.
• The relationship between forms and their
uses should be made clear to learners.

20
(4/5)
When presenting new language items, attention should be given
to their form, meaning and use.
• Form: how the structure is formed.
• Meaning: what meaning the structure entails (autonomously
– not in context)
• Use: how language patterns operate in specific contexts of
situation, and specific discourses and texts.
– When or why does a speaker/ writer choose a particular grammar
structure over another that could express the same meaning or
accomplish the same purpose?
– When or why does a speaker/ writer vary the form of a particular
linguistic structure?

21
Three-Dimensional Grammar Framework

22
Example: the possessive
• Form: inflecting regular singular nouns and irregular
plural nouns not ending in s with ’s or by adding an
apostrophe after the s’ ending of regular plural nouns
and singular nouns ending in the sound /s/. e.g.,
dog’s / men’s /dogs’ / bus’.
• Meaning: indicates description (a debtor’s prison),
amount (a month’s holiday), relationship (Jack’s
wife), part/ whole (My brother’s hand), and origin /
agent (Shakespeare’s tragedies).

23
Example: the possessive
• Possession can be
expressed in other ways:
with a possessive
determiner (e.g., his) or
with the periphrastic of
the form (e.g., the legs of
the table).
• The of the form is used
with nonhuman head
nouns and ’s with human
head nouns.
• Native speakers prefer to
use the ’s with inanimate
human head nouns if the
head nouns are
performing some action.
• E.g., the train’s arrival was
delayed
• A noun compound (table
leg) is more appropriate
than either the ’s form for
the of the form.

24
Form, meaning or use? (1/8)
Task 1: Suppose that a teacher
had shown her/his students the
contents of the table below.
Decide if her/his intention is to
present them with:
a. the meaning of the present
continuous tense,
b. the form of the present
continuous tense,
c. a series of meaningful
sentences.
• I am sitting.
• You are sitting.
• He/she/it is sitting.
• We are sitting.
• You are sitting.
• They are sitting.

25
Grammar presentation steps:
• Step 1: S/he mimes certain actions and asks
the class to tell her/him what s/he is doing,
choosing sentences among those in Column A
from the Table.

26
• Step 2: S/he hands individual or pairs of pupils
in the class pieces of paper with instructions
written on them, telling her/him to mime the
action, and asks the class to choose among
those in Column B the sentence that best
describes what the pupil(s) is(are) doing.

27
• Step 3: Now, s/he tells pupils that each will
each mime an action choosing among those in
Column C and s/he will ask them questions
about what they are doing. They have to
respond by selecting cues from Column C.

28
COLUMN A.
What am I doing?
COLUMN B.
What is [name] doing?
COLUMN C.
Are you ……ing …….?
1. You are holding a pen.
2. You are writing a
word on the
blackboard.
3. You are singing.
4. You are laughing.
5. You are showing us an
old photo of
somebody.
6. You’re just thinking.
7. You’re turning in
circles.
1. He/She is reading a
book.
2. He/She knocking on
the door.
3. They are talking.
4. They are working.
5. He/She is opening the
door.
6. They are listening to
music and dancing.
7. They’re playing
hangman.
1. No, I’m standing
next to my desk.
2. No, I’m standing
next to Maria.
3. No, I’m looking at
page 25 in my
coursebook.
4. No, I’m looking out
the window.
5. No, I’m putting my
things in my
schoolbag.

29
Grammar task 3: The teacher has presented the
present progressive to her class and is now
doing some additional work with pupils based
on the following audio text.

30
Tape-script of the telephone conversation
Mary: Hello, Joan. This is Mary. Are you busy?
Joan: Oh, Mary, hi. Yes, I’m working right now. What about you?
Mary: I’m… [doorbell rings] oops… the doorbell… Just a minute. The doorbell is
ringing [after a few seconds]… Sorry…. It’s Liz. She’s coming up. But she has a
key.
Joan: Are you coming to the cinema with us tonight?
Mary: Thanks, but no. David is coming over, and he’s cooking dinner.
Joan: That’s great. So, what are you working on?
Mary: I’m answering e-mails and looking for information on the web.
Joan: Aha, for the class project, right? Are you handing it in tomorrow?
Mary: Probably. But I’ve still got a lot of writing to do and… Oh, sorry, my sister is
calling me… I’ve got to go.
Joan: Ok, then. Have a good time tonight. Dave is a fun guy!
Mary: Thanks. You too. Bye. See you at the gym on Tuesday.

31
TABLE A T F
1. Mary and Joan are talking on the phone.
2. Mary’s asking Joan to dinner.
3. Jenny’s coming over to Joan’s house to study with her.
4. David’s going to Mary’s house tonight and bringing some take-out.
5. Joan is not watching TV right now. She’s e-mailing.
6. Mary’s sister is ringing her up while she’s speaking with Joan.
7. Joan and Mary are doing a project together.
8. Joan and Mary are not seeing each another at the gym next
Tuesday.

32
COLUMN A.
Things happening while the two
women are talking on the phone
COLUMN B.
Things happening later in the day, not
while they’re talking on the phone
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………

33
Grammar beyond the sentence level (1/2)
• Understanding how language operates at
sentence level, does not help learners
understand how language is used purposefully
on oral and written discourse.
• It is one thing to be able to understand and
create sentences and quite another to be able
to put sentences together and taking into
account features of the context to produce
socially purposeful meanings.

34
Grammar beyond the sentence level (2/2)
• Current view of teaching/learning grammar
also focuses students’ attention at how
grammar operates in context and how
discourse and genre determine our linguistic
choices.

35
Discourse, genre and text (1/3)
Discourse (talk - λόγος): Forms of “talk” (oral
and written) which are institutionally delineated
and ordered (e.g. political discourse, medical
discourse, pedagogical discourse).

36
Genre (κειμενικό είδος) particular categories of texts
with relatively stable structural forms (e.g. particular
beginnings, middles and ends) and with well-established
names which encode the functions, purposes and
meanings of various social occasions of a particular
culture (e.g. news report, letter, interview, promotional
leaflet, novel, office memo, political speech, editorial,
etc.). The rules that determine genres are institutionally
bound and determine what kind of language
(lexicogrammar) is appropriate in each instance and how
language is organized into text.

37
Text (κείμενο): A piece of writing of a particular
discourse and genre which is intended to convey
an overall message and particular bits of
information, feelings, attitudes etc.

38
Activity (1/2)
Look at the two different
texts. They are related
discourse-wise, but they
lexicalized/
grammaticalized
differently because each
text is of a different genre.
Guess what is which and
explain what helped you
decide.
Welcome to Sunset !
We’re delighted to have you here.
Our staff is at your disposal to make
your stay comfortable and pleasant.
Ring us if you need us. Dial 0 for the
information desk. For all other calls
and for Internet connection look at
the directory on your bedside table.
Other services and facilities in your
room: TV, mini-bar, room-service,
cleaners upon request.
The flowers and wine are
compliments of the manager
Ms Olivia Sukiyama

39
Activity (2/2)
A luxurious, five-star hotel in
Honolulu, conveniently located
near one of the most beautiful
beaches in Waikiki, not far from
the centre of town. With its own
shopping centre, two swimming
pools, conference rooms and
more services than you can
imagine, with staff to please and
service you, and prices to surprise
you, watching the Hawaiian sunset
in Paradise is a must!
[1]

40
Presenting language in context (1/3)
• Grammar is not an abstract system detached
from contexts of use.
• Context is the situation or the linguistic and
non-linguistic information surrounding the
new grammatical form and results in the new
language being used.

41
Characteristics of context:
• The context should show what the language means
and how it is used.
• It should be interesting to students; something that
students can relate to.
• It should be simple enough to show the form and
rich enough to show the meaning and its use. Too
many new words will distract students; a poor
context will not be able to reveal meaning and use.

42
Types of context:
• The classroom.
• Situations.
• Formulated information (tables, graphs, maps
etc.).
• Dialogues and texts.

43
The importance of context (1/2)
How will students react to this?
• Teacher writes ‘I went shopping yesterday’ on
the board.
• Teacher translates.
• Teacher explains the Past Simple form and
meaning in L1.

44
The importance of context (2/2)
How about this activity?
• Fairy tale – Little Red Riding Hood.
• Adapt story to suit age/language ability.
• Students listen and understand the story by
sequencing pictures.
• Students listen and act out story.
• Focus on the past simple used to sequence the
events in the narrative.
• Teacher checks meaning and highlights form.

45
Present- Practice – Produce (1/2)
• Presentation: The teacher selects new
materials, presents new language
items/information in a meaningful context
(dialogue/text), explains new language and
makes sure students understand it. This stage
helps students assimilate new facts about the
language and produce language for the first
time. Focus is on accuracy.

46
Present- Practice – Produce (2/2)
• Practice: This stage falls between the two
extremes. Students are given opportunity to
practise new language for themselves in
meaningful contexts.
• Production: In this stage students are engaged
in free, uninhibited communication. Focus is
on fluency, on getting messages across.

47
Characteristics of a good presentation (1/2)
A good presentation should be:
• Efficient: The aim is to get to the accurate
reproduction and practice stage as soon as the
students can manipulate the new language.
• Lively and interesting: Students must be
interested and involved in the presentation; if
they are they will remember the new
grammar more easily.

48
Characteristics of a good presentation (2/2)
• Appropriate: However interesting, funny or
demonstrative a situation is it should be
appropriate to the language being presented.
• Productive: The situation should allow
students to make sentences and/or questions
with the new language. (Harmer, 1987:18)

49
Characteristics of effective explanations
• The explanation should be clear.
• The explanation should include simple vocabulary.
• The explanation should encourage the active
involvement of students.
• The explanation should relate new information to
old.
• The explanation should be sequenced clearly and
signposted.

50
Approaches to teaching grammar
• Deductive– teaching through rules (the rule is
provided followed by the provision of
examples in which the rule is applied).
• Inductive– teaching through examples
(students are provided with several examples
from which a rule is inferred).

51
The deductive method relies
on reasoning, analysing and
comparing.
The deductive method is
criticized because:
• Grammar is taught in an
isolated way.
• Little attention is paid to
meaning.
• The practice is often
mechanical.
The deductive method
1
• Presentation of
an example
2
• Explanation
3
• Practice with
given prompts

52
Sources of inductive instruction
• Realia/Actions.
• Worksheets (can often be structured to inductively
lead students to a grammar rule).
• Authentic texts (after listening to a dialogue or
reading a text, students can answer questions to
highlight certain grammatical structures– these may
then be used to derive rules).
• Dialogues.
• Recorded Conversations.

53
Inductive grammar teaching
• In the inductive method, the teacher induces
the learners to realise grammar rules without
any form of explicit explanation.
• The rules will become evident if the students
are given enough appropriate examples.
• The inductive method is more effective in that
students discover the grammar rules
themselves while engaged in language use.

54
Effective grammar instruction (1/2)
Noticing:
• Paying attention to grammar as it occurs in
different contexts, e.g. grammar input in
lessons, structures in texts and listening
material, language practice activities and
spoken interactions.

55
Effective grammar instruction (2/2)
• Noticing the gap: Learners become aware of
differences in their performance and L1
competence. For example, you read something,
or hear something about a grammar item which
seems to be new to you and sticks in your mind.
In fact, it is probably not new, but you are
‘noticing’ it for the first time. Having ‘noticed’ it
you will see it or hear it regularly and wonder
how you could have failed to notice it before.

56
Noticing
• Is necessary for learning.
• Intake is that part of the input which has been
noticed.
• Incidental learning is possible, provided that
noticing takes place.

57
Noticing tasks (1/2)
Two friends bump into each other
in the street. Read their
conversation then answer the
questions which follow.
• In lines 1-4 and 6, they use the
present continuous form.
Why?
• In lines 5 and 7 Sara uses the
‘will form’. Why?
• Is it possible to reverse this, ie,
use will in lines 1-4 and 6 and
use the present continuous in
lines 5-7? What would the
effect be?
1. Sara: Hi Jane, where are you going?
2. Jane: The gym – I’m trying to get fit
for my holidays, Sara.
3. Sara: Oh good for you Jane. Are
you doing a class?
4. Jane: Yes – aerobics twice a week
and I’m taking swimming lessons
too.
5. Sara: Oh, that’s a good idea. Listen,
I need to get fit. I’ll come with you.
6. Jane: That’s great Sara. By the way,
I’m dieting too.
7. Sara: Really? I won’t join you on
that!

58
Practice is necessary
• Teaching through practice:
–Drills: activities that are structured to allow
only one correct answer.
–Exercises: Open-ended grammar activities
• Practice leads to the creation of a continuum
ranging from text manipulation activities to
text creation activities.

59
Text manipulation activities (1/2)
• Provide students with sentences that they will
be required to operate on in some limited
manner such as:
–fill-in-the blank,
–make a choice from items provided,
–substitute another item, or
–transform into another pattern.

60
Text manipulation activities (2/2)
• Provides opportunities for focused practice
(restricted to a main grammar area) after
language has been contextualised and
form/meaning established.
• Should be enjoyable, meaningful, give
students a reason to use the language, full of
practice.

61
Examples
1. Focus on meaning, but controlled form.
Find someone who...
...has slept in a cave.____________ .
... has eaten caviar ____________ .
... has visited India ___________ ____________ .
... has been in a car accident ________ .

62
Text creation activities
• Require learners to produce language creatively
using the target structure (these activities are not
truly communicative because the students are aware
that the purpose of the activity is to practice a
specific structure).
• They offer semi - controlled and freer practice.
• Chance for learners to experiment a little, integrate
new language with old and personalise the language.
Students will use the grammar in focus and also
other language they know.

63
Other examples
2. Focus on meaning, semi-controlled form
(sentence completion): e.g. Since this time last
year, I have ….
3. Focus on meaning, free sentence-making.
e.g. Think of a situation (using the present perfect)
that would produce the reaction:
Oh dear! / Wonderful! / What a surprise! Help!
Congratulations! / What a relief! / What a pity! /
Thank you! / I’m sorry! / Oh no! / (sigh).

64
Meaningful practice
• Happens when the focus is on the production,
comprehension or exchange of meaning,
while the students “keep an eye on” the way
newly learned structures are used in the
process.

65
Sample Exercise
Look at the
table. Rank the
items on the left
column
according to the
criteria listed on
the top. (After
the presentation
and mechanical
practice of
adjective
comparatives
and
superlatives.)
Items Cheap Healthy Tasty Fattening Important
Beer
Water
Fruit
Cigarettes
Alcohol
Milk

66
Tasks for meaningful grammar practice (1/2)
• Jigsaw: learners combine different pieces of
information to create a whole.
• Information-Gap: learners have different
information. They negotiate to find the other
individual’s information.
• Problem-Solving: students must find a
solution for a problem (typically there is one
resolution).

67
Tasks for meaningful grammar practice (2/2)
• Decision-Making: students solve an open-
ended problem by discussing multiple options
and choosing the best
• Opinion Exchange: learners exchange ideas
without needing to come to a consensus

68
Focus on meaning
Full paragraph writing:
Today is picture B.
What has happened
since yesterday
(picture A)?
[2]

69
References (1/2)
Davidson, D. M. (1978). Current Approaches to the Teaching of
Grammar in ESL (Vol. 5). Harcourt.
Fries, C. C. (1952). The structure of English: an introduction to the
construction of English sentences. New York: Harcourt, Brace
& Company; London: Longmans.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975). Learning How to Mean--Explorations in
the Development of Language.
Harmer, J. (1987). Teaching and learning grammar. Longman.
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second
language learning. Oxford University Press.

70
References (2/2)
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). The emergence of complexity,
fluency, and accuracy in the oral and written production of
five Chinese learners of English. Applied linguistics, 27(4),
590-619.
Levinson, S.C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge textbooks in
linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (1990). Focus-on-form and
corrective feedback in communicative language
teaching. Studies in second language acquisition,12(04), 429-
448.
Stubbs, M. (1996). Text and corpus analysis: Computer-assisted
studies of language and culture. Oxford: Blackwell.

72
Financing
• The present educational material has been developed as part of the
educational work of the instructor.
• The project “Open Academic Courses of the University of Athens” has only
financed the reform of the educational material.
• The project is implemented under the operational program “Education
and Lifelong Learning” and funded by the European Union (European
Social Fund) and National Resources.

74
Note on History of Published Version
The present work is the edition 1.0.

75
Reference Note
Copyright National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Bessie Dendrinos.
Bessie Dendrinos. “ELT Methods and Practices. Dealing with Grammar in a
Communicative Context”. Edition: 1.0. Athens 2015. Available at:
http://opencourses.uoa.gr/courses/ENL4.

76
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NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license or later International Edition. The
individual works of third parties are excluded, e.g. photographs, diagrams etc. They are
contained therein and covered under their conditions of use in the section «Use of Third
Parties Work Note».
[1] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
As Non-Commercial is defined the use that:
• Does not involve direct or indirect financial benefits from the use of the work for the
distributor of the work and the license holder.
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(e.g. advertisements) from the viewing of the work on website .
The copyright holder may give to the license holder a separate license to use the work for
commercial use, if requested.

77
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Any reproduction or adaptation of the material should include:
 the Reference Note,
 the Licensing Note,
 the declaration of Notices Preservation,
 the Use of Third Parties Work Note (if available),
together with the accompanied URLs.

78
Note of use of third parties work
This work makes use of the following works:
Image 1: Hotel, CC0 Public Domain, Pixabay.
Image 2: Driver and Hospital, CC0 Public Domain, Pixabay.

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