Approaches and procedures for teaching grammar
HANDOYO PUJI WIDODO
The English Program, Politeknik Negeri Jember (State Polytechnic of Jember)
East Java, Indonesia
ABSTRACT: Teaching grammar has been regarded as crucial to the ability
to use language. For this reason, this article introduces a five-step procedure
for teaching grammar. I have developed this procedure, which incorporates
the notions of practice and consciousness-raising, explicit and implicit
knowledge, and deductive and inductive approaches for teaching grammar.
This procedure has been derived from my great interest in innovative
grammar teaching and my teaching experience in grammar. The proposed
steps are expected to be an alternative pathway for English teachers to teach
grammar, particularly teaching tenses and modals at college-university
levels or even in secondary schools.
KEYWORDS: Practice and consciousness-raising, explicit/implicit
knowledge, deductive/inductive approaches, English grammar, teaching
procedures.
Grammar gains its prominence in language teaching, particularly in English as a
foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL), inasmuch as
without a good knowledge of grammar, learners’ language development will be
severely constrained. Practically, in the teaching of grammar, learners are taught
rules of language commonly known as sentence patterns. According to Ur (1999), in
the case of the learners, grammatical rules enable them to know and apply how such
sentence patterns should be put together. The teaching of grammar should also
ultimately centre attention on the way grammatical items or sentence patterns are
correctly used. In other words, teaching grammar should encompass language
structure or sentence patterns, meaning and use.