By: Maja Berntsen
A
lot of students cringe when the word ”grammar” is mentioned in class because
they know what is coming. Endless rules for when to use ”is” and ”are”, lists
of glossaries that needs to be read at least a thousand times before they stick
to the brain and not to forget the huge bible of grammar, how do you even find
a single word in the beast that is also known as Oxford dictionary?
Yes,
grammar can be super boring and seem meaningless at times, but without it it is
impossible to become fluent in English both on paper and when communicating
face to face. Grammar is the backbone for learning English and yes, we need to
learn it to a certain extent. I do think that the pupils understand the
importance of grammar, but they find it hard and complicated.
Grammar
does not have to be super hard and complicated. The reason why pupils often
find it that way might be because their teachers have made it hard and
complicated. It is the teachers job to make it less boring and change the
pupils’ attitudes towards grammar. You could probably walk in to any 7th
grade on a Wednesday and find the same type of grammar tasks being used. When
the teachers are making grammar hard for the students, they will not understand
it which makes the pupils think it is boring. It is boring because the teachers
make it too hard.
Therefore,
there should be more focus on how teachers can make grammar fun and how to get
the pupils to see the importance of it. Drop the old traditional ways of
teaching it, try new ways and most importantly, keep it positive! The pupils
will find grammar boring and hard if you as a teacher give the impression that
grammar is boring and hard.
I
always hated grammar in primary school because I could not get my head around
it. After I started watching series and reading books in English, I suddenly
mastered grammar which was a huge step for me, because suddenly English was fun
and it soon became my favourite subject.
Because
of this personal experience, I think that there is a lot of pupils who will
benefit from learning grammar unconsciously in addition to learning it the
traditional way. Obviously, it is impossible to find a way that works for
everyone, but having more than one way to teach grammar will always reach out
to more pupils.
great post Maja! You make some really good points. - Runa
ReplyDeleteVery good point about the role of teachers to make learning grammar "an interesting/fun experience" for pupils. I also agree that it is important to make them understand the importance of learning grammar and give them the purpose of every grammar lesson. If they do not understand the purpose and benefit of learning grammar, they may easily lose the interest. Very good point about improving your grammatical knowledge through extensive reading and listening/watching series in English but you also need to provide pupils with explicit grammar teaching. (Hope this is what you meant to express?) If I add something more to your point, research has shown that extensive reading/listening may help improve vocabulary and comprehension of the text but we still need to provide explicit instruction of grammar in order to improve accuracy in pupils´ oral/written production.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you forgotten to write about the second task?
ReplyDelete