4.2 Grammar teaching practice
4.2.1 Proportion of grammar instruction
4.2.1.3 Frequency of grammar work
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Typically, Jane began a new grammar point by telling students the terminology about it. For example, “Today we’re going to talk about something new called present perfect tense.” If the new grammar point was based on the knowledge they had acquired, she would then lead them to do some review. Then, rules about the new grammar point were presented and were exemplified with Jane’s example sentences and the sentence pattern charts in the textbook. As extra input, she would then show them the “Grammar PPT” in the e-book. “Some of the content in Grammar PPT was too complicated, so I don’t explain all of it. I only picked some key points to talk about,” said Jane in one stimulated recall. Once the lecturing part came to an end, students were asked to do the sentence practice section in the textbook. Jane usually guided them to do the first two questions in class and assigned the rest as homework.
4.2.1.3 Frequency of grammar work
For each unit, Jane usually allocated one period in particular to introduce new sentence pattern of a lesson. However, if we take the whole lesson into consideration, she actually spent a substantial amount of time on grammar.
This phenomenon was particularly evident in vocabulary, reading and dialogue section in which Jane regarded as perfect chances to review and synthesize old knowledge for students. An example like this can be found in the following excerpt.
When teaching new words, she told students:
In addition to the Chinese translation and explanation, I want you to know how the words are used in real contexts. This is why you may notice that I spent more time in vocabulary than in dialogue and reading. (J-obs-4-150-152)
This statement was proved to be true based on the classroom observation later
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on that day. In that class, Jane first gave students a quiz in fifteen minutes, and then she spent the rest thirty minutes teaching only six vocabulary items. For each item, she brought in a great deal of related grammar points to refresh students’ memory.
Take the word “paper” for example. She first reviewed the concept of countable/uncountable distinction through the use of realia:
T: Here, have a look. This is paper, right? Now I tear it into half, do you still call it paper?
S: Yes.
T: What if I tear it apart once again? Is it still called paper?
S: Yeah.
T: So, does paper have fixed size or shape?
S: No.
T: Now think about this, if a person was cut in half, you don’t call him a person, right? How about cutting a chicken in half? Is it still a chicken?
S: Yes.
T: Well, not really. You should regard it as a kind of meat. So, is “chicken” the animal countable?
S: Yes.
T: How about the meat of a chicken?
S: Uncountable.
T: Exactly. Now let’s go back to the word “paper.” It’s uncountable, which means you can’t use “a” or plural suffix “–s”. We have to use some other way to count it. (J-obs-5-167-187)
As shown in the excerpt, Jane not only helped students review the definition of
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countable and uncountable nouns. Also, she brought in another word to remind students the multiple meanings and usages of nouns. In fact, her explanation did not end here. She continued,
T: …in Chinese we say “一張紙,” and in English we say “a piece of paper.” This is a very useful expression. You can say “a piece of cake” when someone ask you for help. What does it mean?
S: Something that is very simple.
T: That’s right. In Chinese we say “小菜一碟,” but in English, they think it’s as easy as eating a piece of cake. You can also combine “a piece of ” with
“news,” which means 一則新聞. Now look at this. (The teacher held a piece of chalk in her hand.) How do you say it in English?
S: (No reply.)
T: Chalk. This is called “a piece of chalk.” It’s uncountable because no matter how long or how short it is, you still call it chalk. This is why sometimes you see something with fixed shape but are still categorized as uncountable.
Chalk is chalk, regardless of its length. (J-obs-6-191-200)
Through teaching one new word “paper,” Jane transferred the focus from countable/uncountable nouns to the usage of “a piece of,” and finally back to uncountable nouns. She was at the same time giving a brief review of what students have learnt in seventh grade.
The proportion of grammar remained huge in reading and dialogue section as well. Take one episode for example. It took her about ten minutes to play the dialogue animation in the e-book and ask students to repeat after the CD. Then, she went directly into the lecture. In the lecture, she explained the meaning of each sentence by
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offering equivalent Chinese translation. Student participation was encouraged, but was only limited to individuals who answered the teacher’s questions. No group work was observed. A huge body of this class centered on sentence analysis and grammar review. The following excerpt provided an example about how she analyzed the content in dialogue:
T: Look at the sentence. “Amy is that girl with glass.” What kind of phrase is this?
S: Adjective [phrase].
T: That’s correct. You got one extra point for your correct answer. (The teacher pointed to the word “with” on the screen and asked) We also have another name for adjective phrase because of the word “with”. What is that?
S: Preposition.
T: Yes. Prepositional phrase, the key grammar item in this unit…(the teacher underlined “the girl” and circled the word “with”) Here, “the girl” is modified by “with glasses.” If you skipped “with glasses,” the adjective phrase, the whole sentence becomes easier. Which girl? The girl who wears glasses. Remember to use “with” when it comes to accessories.
(J-obs-11-415-424)
The way Jane reviewed grammar in dialogue section was very close to how she did it in vocabulary section:
T: “Let’s talk to him” in Chinese is “我們去跟他說說話。”What word can you use besides “to”?
S: With.
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T: Yeah. But “to” is better. Let’s have a look at the word “her” here. What case is it?
S: Possessive case.
T: No, not possessive.
S: Objective case.
T: Yes. I found that when you were asked to specify the case of pronouns, it was really common for you to categorize them as possessive. Although “her” can be both possessive and objective, it functions as an objective case in this context. Another question, what parts of speech should be put behind objective case? There are two of them.
S: Prepositions.
T: Correct. How about the other one?
S: Verbs.
T: Right, verbs. Like the word “me” in “talk to me.” And in our dialogue, the word “to” works as a preposition here. (J-obs-12-452-472)
As the excerpt illustrates, Jane first explained the meaning of “Let’s talk to her”
by giving them the equivalent Chinese translation directly. She then put more
emphasis in analyzing the grammar points in this sentence, such as the objective case of “her” and the parts of speech of “to.” Within the time of this dialogue instruction, Jane spent over half of it talking about the usages of grammar items.