Primary English Classroom

Professional Development Programme on

Effective Strategies for Teaching Grammar in the Primary English Classroom

Simon Chan

Faculty of Education

The University of Hong Kong

Workshop objectives…

• To let participants reflect on their current

grammar teaching practices, and on the needs of the primary learners in their respective contexts

• To introduce to participants various grammar teaching approaches and how they can be

integrated to suit the needs of the students in primary classroom context through

demonstrating sample tasks

• To make participants aware of how grammar is realised at the text level and the corresponding pedagogic implications

Warm-up Discussion

Please join the assigned breakout room and share your definition of ‘grammar’ with your group

members.

What is grammar?

Cambridge Grammar of

English

“Grammar is concerned with how sentences and utterance are formed. In a typical English

sentence, we can see the two most basic

principles of grammar, the arrangement of items (syntax) and the structure of items (morphology).”

(Carter & McCarthy, 2006, p.2)

What is grammar?

I gave my sister a sweater for

her birthday.

Principles/rules of grammar:

• Syntax – How the words are arranged enable us to interpret what the sentence means.

• I who gave the sweater, not my sister as I came before the verb.

• Morphology – concerned with the structure of words and phrases.

• gave not give as it happened in the past.

• Sweater not sweaters as only one.

• I not me, mine, or my as in the subject position.

• Text grammar – concerned with the text type and the text in which this sentence is found, and its relationship with other sentences in the same text.

Metaphor of Grammar

Grammar is the glue that holds language together.

Grammar is the engine that drives language.

Grammar is a map of the language.

Grammar is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Should we teach young learners grammar at all?

Yes? No? Maybe?

• “it seems increasingly likely that paying attention to grammatical

features of a language is not something that happens automatically in communication, and that therefore some artificial methods of

pushing attention are needed, i.e. teaching ” (Cameron, 2001, p.101)

• So if we should teach grammar, what do we need to consider and

how do we do it?

Natural cognitive processes in grammar acquisition (e.g. as in mastering L1 grammar)

• Children are exposed to meaningful language that is fully contextualised in discourse.

• They notice language patterns and how they are used.

• They hypothesise about the ‘rules’ and the system of language.

• They use language meaningfully and in the process they structure and restructure their internal grammar.

• Eventually the language patterns become automatised, i.e. they are used

accurately and appropriate with little conscious thinking or planning.

Implications of this for our classroom practice

1. Provide opportunities for learners to be exposed (exposure) to grammar in meaningful contexts.

2. Guide students to notice patterns and help students infer rules or hypothesise.

3. Provide activities that can guide students to use language and provide opportunities for structuring and (re)structuring.

4. Provide opportunities for students to produce grammar to express meaning in authentic discourse.

Exposure:

Texts as authentic exposure are

• contextualised in the social world

• reflect natural use of grammar

• have varied social purposes (text types/genres)

• should be age-appropriate and have interest-value

• should elicit meaningful and natural interaction with the text

Activity 1: Exposure to Authentic Texts/Grammar

• Think of a recipe as a procedural text:

• What are the social and communicative purposes of a recipe? – Why do people write and read recipes?

• What content do you expect to find? How might it be organised?

• What grammatical features might you find? What are the links between the grammar and the social and communicative function?

• What vocabulary might you find?

Let’s look at an authentic example of recipes. What do you think of it? Does it meet our expectations?

Analyse the key grammatical features:

• What are the links between grammar and the social and communicative functions?

• If you were to use this recipe to show grammar in context, which feature(s) might you choose to focus on and help

learners notice? Why?

Grammar analysis

Workbook example

• No clear social purpose here (Help mum with steps?)

• Grammar features

• Adverbs of sequence/ connecting adverbs (First, then)

• Determiner – ‘some’

• Imperatives – heat, put, cut

• Conjunction ‘and’

• Pronouns – ‘it’

• Preposition ‘into’

• Adverbs – ‘out’ ‘after’

• Vocabulary

• Verbs showing action – heat / wash

• Food Nouns – butter / sugar / apple

• Utensils – bowl/ oven

• Specific words – mixture

Authentic example

• Social and communicative purpose – clear and precise procedures on how to make pancakes

• Grammar features

• Adverbs of sequence / connecting adverbs, ‘then’

• Imperatives, ‘sift’, ‘pour’

• Conjunctions, ‘when’ ‘and’ or’ ‘but’

• 2^ndperson pronouns, ‘you’ ‘your’

• Auxiliary verb ‘will’

• Use of commas

• Quantifiers – knob of / lashings of

• Abbreviations – tbsp, tsp, g, oz

• Vocabulary

• Adjectives – large

• Food words – milk, flour, caster sugar, baking powder

• Specific cooking words – batter, mixture

Implications for learning and teaching grammar

• Grammar is a tool for expressing meaning.

• Grammatical features in texts are intimately connected to the social function and communicative purpose of the text.

• Textbook texts are often contrived in the following ways:

• Social context and purpose of the text are lacking.

• Content and organisation may not be typical.

• Language used is over-simplified, aiming to exemplify one particular

structure.

Implications for learning and teaching grammar

• Teachers need to critically analyse textbook texts and their grammar treatment, and compare them with authentic examples.

• Teachers can encourage students to notice and hypothesise about

language used in authentic texts, based on their understanding of the

meaning of those texts.

Implications of this for our classroom practice

1. Provide opportunities for learners to be exposed (exposure) to grammar in meaningful contexts.

2. Guide students to notice patterns and help students infer rules or hypothesise.

3. Provide activities that can guide students to use language and provide opportunities for structuring and (re)structuring.

1. Provide opportunities for students to produce grammar to express meaning in authentic discourse.

Features of good

‘noticing’

activities

• The grammatical feature has already been encountered in discourse, and responded to meaningfully.

• The noticing activity draws from students’

discourse experience.

• It helps learners isolate the feature for focused attention.

• It requires active participation (and thus attention) by the learners.

• It makes the learners think about both form and meaning.

• It requires thinking and reasoning; cognitive processing and construction of understanding.

• It is at a level of detail appropriate to the learners.

• The learners notice: they do not use or produce

• Noticing for the learner

• Learners are presented with explicitly formulated information about forms and their functions often in a decontextualised

way.

• Teacher centered,

transmission oriented

• Noticing by/with the learner

• Learners are guided to pay

attention to and work out for themselves information about forms and their functions IN CONTEXT .

• Student-centered, discovery

oriented

Noticing and hypothesising processes in textbooks: for or by/with the learner?

What are the problems with this approach?

• Students don’t have to be engaged with or pay much attention to the grammar point.

• They don’t have to think deeply (cognitive depth).

An example chosen from a textbook

Noticing and hypothesising

• If we use the authentic recipe in Activity 1 to show grammar in

context, which language features /

patterns might we guide students to

notice and help them infer rules or

hypothesise? Why?

1. Use of imperatives

e.g. Peel and remove seeds from the pumpkin and cut into small cubes.

e.g. Pour the milk mixture…

2. Use of quantifiers

2 tbsp / 130ml / ½ tsp / 2 tablespoons 3. Use of the conjunction – when

e.g. When melted, add the pumpkin and the cream.

Language features / patterns might you guide students to notice and

help them infer rules or hypothesise

Activity 2: A grammar noticing activity

• Look at this activity. Which grammar point is focused on?

• How does it help learners notice the meaning and form of the grammar focus in context?

• How does the social purpose of the text impact on this grammar focus?

How could you make learners aware of this?

In promoting noticing for beginners and younger learners…

• We may need to simplify the grammar (and even vocabulary) for learners at the beginning stages—But still ensure a level of

authenticity! (i.e. authentic Vs authentic-like texts)

• Children will only have partial understanding.

• We should help them ‘notice’ regularities and patterns and let them

‘grow their own grammar’ – this is called ‘consciousness-raising’ .

• We do this through tasks and games – rules of the language are gradually raised. (Nunan, 2005)

• If we do it too fast, we will kill motivation!

Hypothesising

Principle: By and with the learner , i.e. involving

students to form their own grammar rules actively Strategies:

• Highlight grammatical form on the board through tabulation, colour coding, arrows, etc.,

• Check understanding of concepts through concept questions (yes/no, short answer), eliciting further examples, applying the rule to a few examples

• NB: Asking students to correct wrong examples is also a strategy for checking concepts, but it may confuse students!

• Avoid complex metalanguage and explaining the

language or providing lengthy grammar ‘rules’

Rules by the Learner

Quantifiers presented in textbook

What rules might they hypothesise?

Quantifiers in an authentic recipe

What rules might they hypothesise?

Implications of this for our classroom practice

1. Provide opportunities for learners to be exposed (exposure) to grammar in meaningful contexts.

2. Guide students to notice patterns and help students infer rules or hypothesise.

3. Provide activities that can guide students to use language and provide opportunities for structuring and (re)structuring.

4. Provide opportunities for students to produce grammar to express

What is a Restructuring Activity?

Features of (re)structuring activities

• They require students to actively use the grammar point (as opposed to noticing it) to express meaning i.e. form and meaning are interconnected.

• They involve problematising i.e. giving students choices in content and form which compel the learner to make selection and adjustments in grammar to express meaning.

• They push students to ‘out-perform their competence’ i.e. they are producing or understanding language which is a notch more complex than what they

would normally produce or understand, and in this way restructure their internal grammar.

• They involve sufficient scaffolding i.e. finely tuned support so that students

can focus on grammar and meaning.

Teaching Grammar

“The purpose of a pedagogic grammar is to provide the learner with useful insights into the language under study.”

(Willis, 1996)

Possible restructuring tasks for YLs

• Game task:

Children are asked to use the grammar point in a game

setting, which will make grammar use fun and spontaneous.

• Experimental task:

Children are asked to apply their knowledge of grammar by

producing, for instance, a dialogue or written text.

(Lewis and Mol, 2006, p5-6)

Exploring (re)structuring activities

Activity 3:

Instructions for students:

1. Play the card game in groups, as an example of a restructuring activity for ‘quantifiers’.

2. Now do the worksheet focusing on ‘quantifiers’.

Discuss the quality of language use and practice in the two activities.

What are the similarities and differences? Which activity facilitates the

process of restructuring?

(Re)structuring activities

• Importance of context and importance of choice

• “In actual contexts grammar is not a static object: it is a resource

providing us with options from which we choose in order to express

our meanings effectively and appropriately.”

Implications of this for our classroom practice

1. Provide opportunities for learners to be exposed (exposure) to grammar in meaningful contexts.

2. Guide students to notice patterns and help students infer rules or hypothesise.

3. Provide activities that can guide students to use language and provide opportunities for structuring and (re)structuring.

4. Provide opportunities for students to produce grammar to express meaning in authentic discourse.

Authentic use of grammar in discourse

• Once you have provided exposure, noticing, hypothesising and the chance for learners to practise the language in restructuring tasks, you can then give learners the chance to produce grammar in

authentic discourse.

• This can be the task in our TBLT curriculum.

The Power of Text Grammar

What is it?

• Teaching grammar through texts enables students to

see how the choice of language items is affected by

the context and how it shapes the tone, style and

register of a text. (CDC, 2017, p.68)

Text grammar

Activity 4 (Nine-second reading challenge):

- Read the start of a text below for three seconds. Can you guess what the text type is?

- Now read what comes next in the text for another three seconds. Would you change your mind?

- Read the final part of the text for three final seconds. Your final comment on the text type?

References

• Batstone, R. (1994) Grammar. Oxford: OUP.

• Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Curriculum Development Council (2017). English language education: Key learning area curriculum guide (primary 1- secondary 6). Hong Kong: Government Printer.

• Thornbury, S. (2001) Uncovering Grammar. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann.

• Willis, J. and D. Willis (1996). Consciousness - raising activities. In Willis, J. and D. Willis (eds.) Challenge and change in language teaching, Oxford: Heinemann. pp 63-73.