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Students’ reactions to grammar-focused lessons seem to be typically one of three kinds. Some students find grammar very appealing, some find it intrinsically boring, and some find it useful but really hard work.
There might be a number of reasons for these reactions. For example, some students’ brain chemistry might be more (or less) pre-programmed for learning grammar. If this is the case, the teacher has limited power to promote the enjoyment of grammar. But it’s also possible that students have had a negative learning experience with grammar – they might be used to listening to long lectures about grammar (yes, even today) and doing long, esoteric exercises on one particular area of target language.
In order to make grammar more interesting for students, I’d recommend a more inductive approach, i.e. students should be allowed to work out the meaning and the rules of the grammar for themselves. I also think that the teachers’ ‘metalanguage’ (i.e. the language used to talk about the target language) should be kept to an absolute minimum. Furthermore, it’s crucial to get learners to use the target language in an authentic way about their own lives. And, in addition to such communicative work, I think that students can be encouraged to do some analytical work, particularly where communicative outcomes are affected.
n order to elicit the target language, get the students really interested in, for example, a character, a situation (this process will vary according to the profile of each class). Use language that is easy for the students to understand. Make the situation clear enough for the students to hazard a guess about the target language. And do make it clear that you want the students to come up with the target language! Finally, be sure to spend enough time on the ‘tease’ – don’t jump in too early with providing the target language yourself.
Make a point of actually asking the students to say something (rather than just listen to you)! Make it clear what the target language is (it can be confused with instructional language). Give the students enough time to ‘get their tongues round’ the target language. And make sure that you get each individual student to say the target language – in a ‘comprehensible’ way.
Make a point of putting up (on the board) the written record directly after initial oral work. Make sure that the students write the written record down (and in a particular section of their notebooks). Write legibly and big enough for all the students to see. Write as concisely as you can, and be sure to include both the target language itself, the stressed syllables (including the tonic one) and a mini ‘concept statement’.
Encourage the students to manipulate the new grammar (e.g. by asking them how to construct more difficult sentences using questions, negatives, or question tags). If they are struggling to guess, provide them with assistance by referring to other (known) patterns.
it’s surprising how well-intentioned teachers can make learning grammar a miserable experience for their students. After a poorly taught grammar-focus lesson, students will come away feeling blinded by science, cheated, and disempowered. After a well taught grammar-focus lesson, students will come away feeling not only both proud and confident, but they will also know that they have learned some new item of language that they can genuinely use for their own purposes.
