Didaktika cizích jazyků - přednášky

Covert grammar teaching – teaching to a communicative syllabus, dealing with grammar questions when they arise in the course of doing communicative activities.

Basic principles for grammar teaching

E-factor- economy, ease, efficacy

• How time-efficient is it? (its economy)

  • Presenting grammar: the shorter the better

• How easy is it set up? (its ease)

  • The easier an activity is to set up, the better it is

• Is it consistent with good learning principles? (its efficacy)

  • Try to exclude any distracting or irrelevant details

  • Understandable and easy to remember

A factor – appropriacy

• How appropriate they are

• Age, level, size of the group, monolingual x multilingual, Ss’ needs (examination), Ss’ interest, available materials, previous learning experience, cultural factors, educational context (private school, home, abroad)

How to teach grammar

Deductive - starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which is the rule applied ( rule-driven).

Inductive – starts with examples from which a rule is inferred (rule – discovery).

Texts and contexts – language is context-sensitive

Deductive teaching

Advantages:

• Gets straight to the point, time-saving, rules can be quickly explained.

• It respects the intelligence and maturity of many.

• It confirms students’ expectations about classroom learning.

Disadvantages:

• Grammar explanation encourages teacher fronted teaching.

• Starting a lesson with grammar presentation can be off putting, dull, over technical, demotivating.

• Implies learning language is simply a case of knowing the rules, small children may react negatively

• Ss may not have sufficient metalanguage (language used to talk about language such as grammar terminology).

Inductive teaching

Advantages:

• Rules learners discover for themselves are more likely to fit their existing mental structures

• Mental effort involves greater degree of cognitive depth, which ensures more memorability

• Ss are more actively involved in the learning process, rather than being passive

• Increases learner‘s autonomy

Disadvantages:

• Time consuming

• Some student may hypothesise the wrong rule, or too broad

• Difficult for the teacher to prepare

• Frustrates students who would prefer deductive teaching

Example of inductive learning:

1. Walk from one side of the classroom to the other, and, while you are walking, say two or three times to the class: I am walking. I am walking. I am walking.

2. Select a student. Tell him to walk across the room. Indicate that he must say the sentence as you did.

3. Tell him to walk across the room again. Indicate that he must be silent and you say to the class: He is walking

4. The class can next say it in chorus.

Texts and contexts

Layers of context

Co-text

Context of situation

Context of culture

• Grammar is best taught and practised in context

• Use whole texts as contexts for grammar teaching

Advantages:

• Provide co-textual information, allowing learners to deduce the meaning.

• If texts authentic they offer examples of real communication.

• If students bring their texts, they will be more motivated.