Teaching grammar

Presenting grammar

A brief guide

So,we're about to teach grammar...

But what do we teach?

01 Grammar is form, meaning and use

02

Dimensions of grammar

• Form Morphosyntactic and lexical patterns. The STRUCTURE itself.
• Meaning Semantics, lexical meaning. What does this structure express?
• Use Pragmatics, social context and linguistic discourse context. When is it appropriate to use that particular structure?

02

For example: Modal verb MUST

You must stop at the red light. (It's your duty to stop.)

FORM: MUST + MAIN VERB

MUST

USE: IT'S YOUR DUTY TO DO STH.

MEANING: OBLIGATIONDUTY

03 Now we know what to teach but...how do we teach it?

Inductive or deductive approach?

How are they different?

Deductive approach

Inductive approach

Top down approach: moves from the more general to the more specific. We start with a general rule or notion which we then narrow down to specific hypotheses. In short, we GIVE THE RULE and explain how it works through examples.

Bottom up approach: from specific to general; we make specific observations to detect patterns. We let students INFER THE RULE. by making them notice said patterns.

INFO

04 Time to practice

But how?

From Presentation to Free production

Presentation in context Extrapolation of the structure to focus on the grammar Presentation or discovery of the rule Checking understanding Guided practice Correction. and checking Guided practice without teacher intervention Independent practice Free production - fluent use of grammar

05 Time to see it in action