“Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages” (TESOL) is a phrase used to represent the teaching of the English language as a second or foreign language to foreign individuals. Going through this topic and the role of the grammar, is basically the rules that govern the art of forming clauses, phrases, sentences, and gives the content of speech, and writing a kind of magnificence. I believe knowing these rules in learning a new or even mother language is really important. The principle of teaching grammar can be viewed like signs on the road, which provide useful information for direction and navigation of the vehicle to the intended destination. Grammar provides the much needed sentence construction, without which there would be misunderstanding …show more content…
Arabic has letters quite different from the letters in English. The teacher will have to start from scratch to enable the learners have a clear foundation on the basic alphabets. As I know phonics is a major topic in English. Arabic contains the use of symbols, which could change the meaning of a word to another. This applies to English grammar as well. The tutor could use this to explain to the learners the use of the symbols in changing the meaning of some of these words. The tone reflex in English to bring up differences in the meaning of different phrases or words is the same in the Arabic intonations. They might not be completely the same but they do the exact same thing. In the same breath, some words can be used in two different contexts to give two different meanings. For example ‘Magazine “it means in English a type thin book with a paper cover that contains stories” but in Arabic it means storage. Through these methods, I have learned that I should expound more on the context of the English language. This will help me understand more with the simplest forms of writing and reading English. My teacher took the effort of moving out of his way to ease the training through Arabic in connection to grammar. As a teacher it is important to study grammar as well as determine the best methods to teach the grammar to my students, and help them to transition from the known Arabic to the unknown English
Do you know what it is like to have English as a second language, coming from a Palestinian-American family? Learning Arabic alone was a difficult task to achieve, but with the help of my parents and the Arabic classes my parents enrolled me into, I was able to master it in a reasonable period of time. My other task was to master English as I was enrolled in English- only schools. My parents pushed me through this process by putting me into multiple programs for foreign students, and they also pushed me into reading and writing at least one book and one essay a week, whether it was a paragraph, or more than one-page long. It required much patience and concentration, but it was a very attainable goal that required a satisfying amount of dedication.
In the article, “Current Developments in Research on the Teaching of Grammar” by Hossein Nassaji and Sandra Fotos two main issues had been discussed. The first one is whether grammar teaching make any differences to language learning where the questions raised are whether grammar should be taught or not. The second issue is what kinds of grammar teaching have been suggested to facilitate second language learning. If grammar should be taught, how much and should it be implicit or explicit grammar teaching? Lastly, the article discussed on the current approaches to grammar teaching in which formal instruction can be integrated with communicative activities which are processing instruction, interactional feedback, textual enhancement, task-based
As a child, I remembered walking hand in hand with my parents through my journey to learn. They started with simple Gujarati. When I entered school, I entered a new environment, where English seemed to be the only language used. What extraordinary adventures I faced with articulating vowels, spelling small words from cow to Emancipation Proclamation through my years. I give all my thanks to being bilingual. In my middle school years, we began learning Spanish. I found myself fitting in quickly, due to how accents and pace of Spanish was quite similar to the pace I used Gujarati. I was soon able to recognize points of grammar, reasons for grammar, and sentence
Taking into account the students’ background, I developed this lesson to help them comprehend the targeted grammatical features (gerunds and infinitives) and make them able to use those features in communication with others. The students, as mentioned in the lesson plan, take this class in the evening, which means that they most likely work during the day and probably need to communicate using the language in their work settings. Therefore, it is important to give as many opportunities as possible for the students to use the targeted features in interactive activities, such as interviews and group works. I expect these activities to not only promote negotiation of meaning that is useful for language learning (Long, 1996), but also push them to produce comprehensible output, which also facilitates learning (Swain, 1993).
Teaching students a language that is foreign can really be challenging for students as well as for the teachers. The dynamic rule for implementing instructing in a diverse class to English-learners is to use resourceful life skills such as diligence, hard work and patience. There are also methods that are involved in teaching English as a second language that can be creative for the teacher, yet beneficial to the student. First building a strong foundation that is essential to English learners will promote the language acquisition process. To do this teacher’s should always start with preparation. Advance preparation is essential in order to provide necessary adaptations in content area instruction and to make content information accessible for second language lear...
On the other hand, teachers prefer using L1 for a more effective approach to teaching grammar and checking students’ understanding. Macaro (1997) commented that teachers often lack enthusiasm in using the target language for grammar explanation. Many students have difficulty in learning grammar, especially for those whose L1 system is entirely different from the TL. L1 can be more efficient, particularly when a teacher wants to discuss the learning contract with students, or tries to explore the needs of his/her students, especially those in the lower level (Harmer, 2007). Evidence provided by Harmer (2007) also indicates that the classroom environment can be enhanced through the use of L1 to establish a positive social relationship with students, which ultimately leads to a more effective teaching process.
According to Hudson, a variety is ‘a set of linguistic items with similar social distribution’ . Since the term dialect has acquired a negative connotation throughout the years, academics have started to use the term variety, which is considered more neutral, instead.
In the past and present day in Libya, learning English has been free to all students at all levels. Students start learning English as one of the main subjects from the age of 12 until the university stage. Libyan teachers followed the old traditional system, which was the grammar translation method. This method was based on analysing the grammar rules followed by translating of sentences and texts into the students’ target language and memorizing large amount of vocabulary, which was selected from the reading texts. Moreover, several of vocabulary items presented with their translation equivalents. As Larsen-Freeman points out, “students are given lists of the target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalent and are asked to memorize them”. Otherwise, reading and writing were a major focus whereas no systematic attention was paid to speaking and listening. For that reason, teachers tended to use the grammar translation method by focusing on these features. “In Libya, the teaching was by using a translation method, which emphasized the acquisition of vocabulary through reading” (Barton, 1968). As a result, teachers ignored all the communicative approach and techniques inside the class, for instance using different interaction activities such as games to attract learners’ attention and keep them interested in the topic.
Over the last decade, it has become very normal to hear English terms during Arabic discourse, or to read Arabic words written in Latin/English script amongst the young people, this type of Arabic has been named ʻArabiziʼ or ʻArabishʼ.
I have been learning English for more than 10 years, but have never realized that there are so many different techniques and approaches to teach English as a second language. While studying, I have noticed that I had experienced some of them at the primary and secondary school. In this essay I would like to present my personal opinions and reflections about the approaches I encountered, the ways they were presented and exploited by my English teachers.
A large part of an English teacher’s job deals with helping students find their own voices amidst the many teachings of their parents and peers. A student’s voice can be their values, their interests, and their perspectives of the world in which they live. Their voice can be their critical questioning of the many situations they face, whether in a text, the school cafeteria, or a park after school. It is the job of an English teacher to aid in finding this voice through their writing. It is by putting words and thoughts down on paper that a student can sometimes feel comfortable enough to take risks and find their true voices. Although traditional grammar instruction has long been thought to improve this skill, this is no longer the case. Instead, by providing a classroom environment in which students are immersed in classic literature from many genres including poetry, short stories, and novels, students will learn how to harness grammar for their own purposes of finding their voice in their writing.
Arabic is a language that is an example of a language that is spoken with rules and regulations that govern it, these rules come from the holy Quran. When Arabic goes through grammatical alteration, the language loses its richness, and no longer sounds the tough language that makes it special worldwide. Currently, with all the westernization occurring in the Arab world, many have diverted from the standard Arabic. Families have changed their first language to English; from my point of view, ...
...006). Current issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 83-107.
Syntax is the study of how words are combined to create phrases and causes in the sentences of a specific language (Freeman and Freeman, 2014). Syntax helps us to make clear sentences that “sound right,” where words, phrases, and clauses each serve their function and are correctly ordered to form and communicate a complete sentence with meaning. The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. Not only does it focus on the correct word order for a language, but it also helps show the relationship between the meaning of a group of words. Without proper syntax, a sentence can be meaningless. It is key to understand that while every language does have certain syntax, the syntax does vary from language to language. It
Languages may change and develop and with language grammar does too. I am aware that no one can completely know grammar, but I would like to know I want to be able to motivate my students to learn more on their own and ask questions. George Yule explains ‘good English’ in his book Explaining English Grammar (2014), “There will be observations on what sounds typical (in a context), what is more formal, more stuffy, more casual, or more frequent, but we will avoid the issue of what is better” (Yule, 2014, p.3). I support Yule’s statement because English is always changing and is imperfect. When teaching grammar I want my students to know that it is not perfect, but that there are different settings where a different language may be more appropriately applied.