Grammar is a pivotal part of teaching and learning language in Bhutan. It is also the most difficult aspect of language to teach effectively and meaningfully. In the Bhutanese curriculum, teaching English grammar has always been a challenging issue and raised a big concern among the curriculum officials. As per a BCSEA analysis, every year the students fairly do well in English compared to other subjects, and it indicates the standard of English among students in Bhutan. Teaching learning English grammar in the classroom could be one of the reasons for the fair performances of the students. Besides, a few urban students, others hardly communicate in English in the schools. It is difficult to gain mastery over the language without constant …show more content…
First of all, teaching and learning English grammar in the classroom plays a fundamental role in improving the spoken English skills of the students. Many students equate being able to speak language as knowing the language, thereby taking learning language as learning how to speak a language. The students should be provided enough opportunities to communicate in English; otherwise, they would be de-motivated and lose interest in learning. To intensify the confidence level of the learners to communicate in English as a second language, teaching and learning English grammar has become an important part among the learners and the educators. Students are usually reluctant to communicate in English when they have inadequate vocabulary or are not confident of grammatical rules. Otherwise, students with a sound knowledge of grammar do not hesitate to communicate in …show more content…
It claims, “The best grammar instruction includes extensive reading and writing” (“Curriculum and Instruction, 2012, para.7). The teacher must extensively read aloud to all age group of students. This will help the learners to hear and see what is appropriate and can incorporate in their writings. The precise instructions for any type of activities will lead to carry out the works without confusions and difficulties. Furthermore, Caplan, (2017, para. 3) states that learners should read for the meaning first and then grammar next. He added that there are limited resources that gain the attention, so it is natural for the learners to read first for the meanings. However, as they gain some ideas about the different usage of grammatical applications, reading becomes more easy and enjoyable. The functions of different part of speeches help to clear the doubt of the readers. For example, Her beauty mesmerised Dorji . Here, readers are supposed to know what ‘Dorji’ is, which one is the ‘verb’, ‘subject’ and ‘object’. As the readers become familiar with these terms and functions, they can shift their attention to more complex terms such as ‘noun phrases’, ‘adjective phrase’ , ‘forms of conjunctions’ and other grammatical features. The more the learners get used to with grammatical usage, the more excited they become from their reading, as they understand the depth of the concept from
As a professional and as a college student; using correct grammar is very important. It is important because, as a professional you want to look “professional”. Correct grammar in college is important to because you want to achieve worthy grades and enhance your knowledge. The one thing that could set you apart in an interview is your use of correct grammar. The use of correct grammar makes you look professional, smart, and trustworthy. Correct grammar will help you to be successful as a professional and a student.
Children were taught to speak in a proper manner and because they were taught to speak correctly they wrote in a proper way as well. As technology evolved and texting came more profound grammar was becoming a lost art. In Dana Goldstein’s article ,‘Why Kids Can’t Write’, she talks about what teachers are doing about grammar. The teachers are not doing much about the grammar issue in schools.
It might be necessary to weigh the worth of grammar in proper English. The world for those who speak it is becoming smaller. Proper English is becoming part of an elitist group which is also becoming smaller. Possibly less stress should be put on grammar. Few people understand perfect business language but a growling cat is understood quite well. English grammar is a created language, having both seperatist powers and anglocentric values. Voice is universal and quite older than grammar. Standards within English speaking areas must be questioned soon for it is becoming smaller and less powerful everyday. A rising population will require social skills. Seperating these from educated grammar will lead to greater problems.(One country under God...)
Good grammar shows how others feel about and respond to each other, which carries a lot of importance in the business arena. Making an impression on customers and colleagues through the usage of proper grammar can help an employee maintain an air of professionalism and can help show others that he really cares about his job and his company's products or services. The fact
Sekelj and Rigo (2011) stated that there are three phases of learning the English language. The first phase is the pupils of Year 1 to Year 4, where in this phase, pupils are preferably do a lot of mechanical drilling and practicing some patterns of grammatical features which occur in the context of dialogue that are related to their real-life without any metalinguistic explanation in order to allow them to participate orally and physically as much as possible in dialogues, role playing and dramatizing. It is because, in this stage, it is important to make them conscious of their progress and increasing their motivation to use the language. Teacher should use a variety of activities to teach grammar such as by using songs, riddles, games and stories because it could be very helpful and an efficient ways in teaching grammar as what had suggested by Long (2000) where this FonF approach is effective because it is learner-centered and tune to the learners’ internal syllabus. According to Sekelj and Rigo (2011), Vilke (1977) said that, at the early age, the unconscious acquisition process is superior to the learning one due to the child’s cognitive development. Next, the second phase is Year 5 to Year 6 where in this stage, grammar start to be taught explicitly but with simple and clear explanation and awareness of accuracy of grammar structure should be
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.
Rather than teach grammar initially and hope that students connect their drilling exercises of subjects and verbs to the poem they’re working on, teaching the varieties of literature first allows students to gain first-hand experience and familiarity with grammar already in practice. This is not to say that grammar lessons and terminology should be lost altogether. A student will not be better off if they never learn subject-verb agreement. However, their exposure to examples of these uses should come first, leaving the labeling and grammar jargon to a time when their minds have already seen how these nouns and verbs can be used. That’s the key phrase: can be used. Students need to understand that they have control and authority over their work. They should have space enough to understand that although a sentence should be written in a certain way, it does not always have to be straightforward grammar if they’d like to change something stylistically. For example, while teaching a lesson on the poem "l(a" by E.E. Cummings, students might be confused and puzzled as to the form of this unusual piece. However, they should then be invited to challenge Cummings’s lack of traditional grammar and stylistic choices. Some may be angry at its unique appearance, while others may grasp the significance of the form and its effect on the reader.
Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2011). The role of context in focus on grammar: Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classroom (pp.121-134). New York and London: Routhdge
It is not uncommon to say that grammar instruction plays an important role in language teaching. Regarding the status and importance of grammar teaching, a variety of opinions have been made. Batstone (1994) states that “language without grammar would be chaotic: countless words without the indispensable guidelines for how they can be ordered and modified” (p. 4). More vividly, Wang (2010) makes two similes. She compares grammar to the frame of a house, which is a decisive factor to ensure the solidness of it. Additionally, she regards grammar as a walking stick, whose function is to help and support students to learn English. Thus, the nature of grammar instruction manifests its own significance as it helps students enhance their overall language proficiency by integrating grammar into other aspects of learning, like listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Brown (2007) expresses “just as language ego, self-esteem, empathy, and motivation undergird the [learning] of spoken discourse, reading is subject to variability within the affective domain. The love of reading has propelled many learners to successful [learning] of reading skills” (p.36). Reading takes an important role at the time to learn and acquire a language because it provides useful elements that will help the comprehension and production of students. Nowadays, reading is considered as an important language skill in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) since it lets learners to acquire vocabulary and grammar throughout different strategies such as inferences, implicit and explicit information, facts, opinions, rhetorical
Good reading skills are very important in learning languages. Reading improves spelling because as students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier. It helps to expand the vocabulary, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read. Students learn new words as they read and put them in their mind for later use. . They also unconsciously absorb the information about things like how to structure the sentences, how words are used in different contexts, and it gives a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary. It improves a person’s vocabulary and knowledge without the person even knowing it. Even if students do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. Krashen (2004) found that reading is extremely important in learning English, since it is the only way to “become a good reader, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar” and the only way to “become a good speller”.
Intensive reading will provide a basis for explaining difficulties of structure and for extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms. It will also provide material for developing greater control of the language in speech and writing.
There is a certain level of humility involved in teaching and being a student. Providing students with the confidence to ask questions is important. This means making sure the appropriate tone is taken when presenting fact and answering questions. Teaching grammar only works if there is open communication between teacher and student. There will be questions because grammar and language can be messy. It is important for teacher to remember that there is no correct way to teach grammar and students should know that there it is okay to let the teacher know when they do not understand
Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication and a language is any example of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language is called linguistics. The twelfth century records reveal that spoken Dzongkha was used as the language of the royal court, the military elite, and erudite scholars. It is spoken by a majority of people as their native language in the eight of the twenty districts viz. Thimphu, Punakha, Paro, Wangdue Phodrang, Gasa, Haa, Dagana and Chukha.
English has been grown as global language. It has been used widely in every sector such as in the field of science, technology, commerce and international relation. The English language has been taught for many years in Nepal. To glance it’s history, started when Rana people established durbar high school at Dakhchowk, Thapathali. At that time, they had invited two English teachers to manage the school and the curriculum design. Since then, though there were no strong government policy documents regarding teaching of English. The school level curriculum includes English as a subject. It has been taught as compulsory subject in the school from grade one.