First of all, I’d like to thank for other groups’ participation and cooperation. Without your participation, we won’t have the opportunity to present what we have prepared for grammar lesson, and review our teaching procedures and styles from your feedbacks.
We presented grammar both based on PPP model (Presentation, Practice, Production) and inductive approach. It seems quite successful to learn imperative through PPP model since it is not a complex grammar pattern. However, when it comes to complicated grammar rules, such as relative clauses, it is difficult for students to learn grammatical rules merely through PPP model. It takes more time for teachers to tailor materials that can match students’ learning stages. No matter what kinds of grammars to teach, the better way for students to learn is inductive approach, that is self-discovered and learner-cantered approach.
For me, it is hard to learn grammar through memorizing grammatical rules because I seldom have chances to exercise these grammatical patterns. Rather, learning grammar by means of reading is better way since I can discovery the grammatical usages from contexts by myself.
In sum, grammar teaching should involve form, meaning, and use rather than focus on discrete rules.
I agree that grammar should be taught in the inductive way; however, teachers might find the deductive way helpful especially when it comes to comlicated or abstract patterns. That’s why we need to be flexible when we choose different teaching strategies.
When teaching grammar, it’s inevitable that we give students drills or practices. The following link gives a good example: http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/grammar/main/index.htm
Besides drills, it works better when students know how to use the learned rules in their daily life. However, since English is taught as a foreign language, it’s quite a challenge to design practices that are close to their lives to raise their interest and encourage participation. Then, choosing teaching materials that can make grammar learning fun and effective is quite important.
With your successful presentation, I believe you can make grammar teaching meaningful and interesting.
Comment by Alice Chiu — April 5, 2007 @ 10:12 am