Meanings and definition of grammar

Grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a languages sentences are f
ormed.
Fluency
A fluency-oriented activity such as extensive reading and information gap aims t
o develop the students' spontaneous communications skills in using what they hav
e already learned
Purpose:
the primary purpose is to help students practice language in Listening, Speaking
, Reading and Writing activities to so develop fluency in using the language in
spontaneous communication.
Material:
the texts are usually whole pieces of discourses: conversation, stories, etc.; t
exts are usually authentic and used as they would be in real life.
Activities:
students' attention is focused on communicating information and expressing ideas
; their output may not always be predictable; their performance is assessed on h
ow well ideas are expressed or understood; students' errors are not corrected un
less it interferes with communication; tasks often simulate real-life situations
.
Accuracy
An accuracy-oriented activity such as pattern drills is usually used in the teac
hing of a new target item
Advantage:
produce students who can reproduce accurately sentences learnt

Disadvantage:
May not be effective in communicating the language in real life situations
Purpose:
the primary purpose is to help students achieve accurate perception and producti
on of a target item which can be a sound, a word, or a sentence structure.
Material:
the texts are usually composed of separate items; the target items are usually p
ractised out of context or situation;
Activities:
students' attention is focused on a particular target item; their output is usua
lly predictable; their performance is assessed on how few language mistakes are
made; students' errors are corrected; tasks do not usually simulate real-life si
tuations.
Grammar for Young Learners
They respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words.
They often learn indirectly rather than directly taking every information around
them rather than focusing on the precise topic being taught
Their understanding comes from explanation as well as from what they see and hea
r and interact with.
They find abstract concepts such as grammar rules difficult to grasp
They have a limited attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging, th
ey can get easily bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so
Descriptive grammar
Descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used
by speakers and writers. Descriptive grammars describe how people use spoken an
d written language, and the knowledge that they use to decide whether something
is grammatically correct.
Prescriptive grammar
Prescriptive grammar is a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and
word structures of a language, usually intended as an aid to the learning of tha
t language. It refers to the structure of a language as certain people think it
should be used. Prescriptive grammars prescribe the rules of a language
Covert Approach
In this approach, the teacher uses the structure without drawing attention to gr
ammatical rules. The focus is on the activity and not the grammar rules. Erro
rs should be tolerated during the course of the activity but should be noted and
dealt with at a later session
Overt Approach

In the overt approach, teacher explicitly explains the rules when presenting the
new language. There are two options available to the teacher; the deductive ap
proach and the inductive approach
Deductive approach the teacher presents the rules/patterns/generalizations and t
hen goes on to provide practice in the application of these rules.

Inductive approach - also known as discovery method. The students are first giv
en a number of sample sentences containing the target forms and then the teacher
guides the students into deriving the rule for themselves.
The two approaches should not be seen as separate but rather as complementary
Grammar in Isolation

Teaching of grammar in isolation involves learning grammar which is presented ou
t of context. In this approach of teaching grammar, learners are given isolated
sentences, which they are expected to internalize through exercises involving r
epetition, manipulation, and grammatical transformation. These exercises are de
signed to provide learners with formal, declarative mastery of the language in w
hich they are able to explain rules of using the form of the language
Grammar in Context

Teaching of grammar in context involves teaching grammar in relations to the co
ntext of the situation the utterances are usually used. When learners are given
the opportunities to explore grammar in context, it will make it easy for them
to see how and why alternative forms exist to express different communicative me
anings. For instance, getting learners to read a set of sentences in the active
voice, and then transform these into passives following a model, is a standard
way of introducing the passive voice. Nevertheless, this needs to be supplemente
d by tasks which give learners opportunities to explore when it is communicative
ly appropriate to use the passive rather that the active voice (Nunan, 2000). G
rammar is therefore contextualized in meaningful language use.
Meaning, Use, Form (MUF) framework
MEANING
There are two aspects of meaning.
First, what is literal or essential meaning of the word, phrase, functional expres
sion or grammar structure?
Second, what does it mean in the context its being used in?
USE:

When or why is the vocabulary, functional expression or grammar structure used?
The words, functional expressions, grammar structures we choose to use are dete
rmined by the situation we are in and/or what we want to communicate to our list
ener(s). Use is interconnected with meaning
FORM:

How is the vocabulary unit, functional expression, or grammar structure formed?
Form refers to the visible and audible parts of vocabulary, functional expressio
ns and grammar units: the spelling, phonemes, syllable stress, words in a phra
se, prefixes or suffixes, syntax (word order), choice of noun or verb, etc for
a particular place in a sentence, and/or punctuation
Integration with the teaching of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills
.
Three ways in which grammar can be integrated with the other language skills lik
e, listening, speaking, reading and writing;
i. by a systematized mapping of the grammar syllabus within a thematically c
onceived series of units. How this is done is explained in detail below.

ii. by a unit-by-unit mapping of grammar. In this system, mapping of grammar th
at comes after the texts and situations for the four language skills have been d
etermined. The grammar element is then built in to support the skills-based act
ivities. The activities in turn, provide the grammar lesson with models from wh
ich to derive grammar rules. This way of working out the grammar makes grammar-
learning appear more interesting to the students as the need for grammar arises
out of the immediate context.
iii. through the specific ways in which grammar supports and is supported by eac
h language skill.
Issues in grammar teaching
To teach of not to teach grammar
Should grammar be presented inductively or deductively
Should grammar be taught in context or in isolation
Should teachers correct grammatical errors