Part A 1. Introduction Teaching English If-conditional sentences to Chinese students is always a challenge for English teachers. English teachers are still continuously seeking for an effective method to make the language point more understandable for students. The probability approach put forward by Mei Wu (2012) provides a clear classification of conditional sentences. Based on her theory, conditional sentences can be mainly divided into four types. In terms of probability, type 1 is the factual conditionals (zero condition) which mean the event is definitely happen to meet the condition stated in the if-clause. Type2 is the predictive conditionals which refer to the event that has high possibility to happen in the future while type 3 is the hypothetical conditionals (second conditional) which used to describe the situation which has low probability to become true. Both type2 and type 3 use past tense to express different meaning. Then, past perfect tense is used in the situation which is impossible to take place in the past in type 4. (Wu, 2012) Based upon the interview, students are confusing about the tense in the second conditional sentence. What students have learnt in the previous class is that past tense only used to describe things took place in the past. Therefore, they find it difficult to understand why past tense verb should be used in the if-clause to express something happen in the present or future in imaginary situation. Moreover, we may easily observed that Chinese people seldom change tenses and modality in verb phrase to differentiate the conditional situation because there is only one verb tense in Chinese language. (Zhang, 2005:18) The purpose of this paper is to discuss the approaches to enhance the effect... ... middle of paper ... ...e EFL classroom. ELT journal, 52(4), 301-307 Gerngross, G & Puchta, H. (1992). Creative Grammar Practice: Getting Learners to Use Both Sides of the Brain. England: Longman Group UK Limited Long, M, H. & Doughty, C, J. ( Eds.).(2009). The Handbook of Language Teaching. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Nunan, D. (1997). Teaching Grammar in Context. ELT Journal, 52(2), 101-109 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 Robert M. Dekeyser. ().What Makes Learning Second-Language Grammar Difficult? A review of issues. Wang, Q. (2006). A course in English language teaching. Beijing: Higher Education Press Wu, M. (2012). The Probability Approach to English If-conditional Sentences. Canadian Center of Science and Education, 5(5), 37-41. doi: 10.5539/ elt.v5n5p37
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1. In his chapter “On the Need of Some Grammar” found in Modern American Usage, Wilson Follett argues that we need grammar to govern our language.
These rules of language were stressed among students, with the hope that a solid grasp of abstract definitions would set them up with the tools needed to avoid errors in usage. But halfway through the 20th Century, research on the value of grammar education began to surface and there was no strong correlation between the teaching of grammar and a student’s ability to avoid usage errors, the once strict education structure was dropped. With traditional techniques abandoned, the vacuum was filled by new approaches. Structural linguistics, based around the importance of the way words form sentences, began to take the place of its predecessor but was then quickly challenged by transformational grammar, a more abstract concept than the prior two. With arguments from the structural and transformational side both pushing that the other was unscientific, the importance of grammar was abandoned. Though schools are beginning to reintroduce grammar in education, it has kept a firm separation between learning grammar and learning
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
Teaching strategies of a foreign language class have evolved from a long history of useless methods that do not fulfill the goal of language acquisition. The main goal of a foreign language class in terms of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards is that the students be able to communicate using the foreign language. Communication refers to the student’s ability to converse with a native speaker of the language that has been studied. In the past, it was assumed that students must first learn the rules of grammar and then use those rules to construct sentences and communicate, but there have been several linguistic theories that have refuted this methodology.
Grammar is one area that everybody takes for granted. First I would like to explain how these two employers feel about the importance of good grammar. Next, I will talk about what I have learned about what kind of grammar I need in my future career field. Last, I will discuss what I need to do to get my grammar up to a professional level.
Sams explained that both traditional and in-context approaches to teach grammar are unsuccessful because “they treat grammar as something that exists apart from and outside of the writing process itself” (57). When referring to grammar and writing, Sams suggests “to study one is to study the other” (57). Sams explained that she first emphasized the process of drafting and revising. Sams’s instruction included the students working together and sharing their ideas and feedback during the drafting process. However, Sams realized that this process would not be successful without first teaching the students how to revise. Sams then based the instruction on the concept that the students needed to organize their work in a reasonable order that can be understood by others. Sams explained that to organize ideas, the students needed to be able to understand “how their ideas relate to one another” and how to separate “main ideas and supporting details” (58). However, to separate main ideas from...
Based on the textbooks in Hong Kong, the students in Primary 5 get the first chance to learn conditional sentences. There are four types in all: Type 0 (any situation which is always true), Type 1(something is going to happen in the future), Type 2 (an imaginary situation which stands no chance of happening or even impossible) and Type 3 (a situation which might have happened in the past but which did not really happen) (Loo, 1996). As time goes by, students will get a better understanding about them in junior high school. Thus, it is not the first time that Miss Wong’s students get to know the target structures. However, some students find that it is hard to understand why we use simple past tense in if-clause to refer to an imaginary situation that is not a real past but impossibility.
In this essay I intend to investigate how differently one of the closed word classes, determiners, are approached in a series of pre and post corpus-based English grammar reference books, course books and practice books. And the theme of my investigation is how corpus affects the development of English teaching materials. The grammar reference books I intend to analyze and compare are “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” (ACGEL) and “Cambridge Grammar of English” (CGE). The former is an indispensable grammar reference book first published in 1985, which has been widely consulted in researches in relation to English linguistic studies, while the later offers clear explanations of both spoken and written English grammar based on authentic everyday usage.
Grammar teaching has an irreplaceable place in English language teaching because of the fact that without teaching grammar learners cannot learn the system of English language; they may not achieve to express their intentions or meaning of the messages in a well-established communicative activity. It has been seen that throughout the history, the attention of grammar teaching has differed from time to time. In the beginnings of the twentieth century, grammar teaching was considered so essential that other aspects of language were ignored as it was thought that it was necessary to know the grammatical rules in order to communicate appropriately.
Miller, T. P, & Faigley, L. (1982). College English. National Council of teachers of English, 44(6). Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-
The opinion that grammar should be taught through reading and writing is not a recent theory. In 1622 the schoolmaster and textbook writer Joseph Webbe wrote, “No man can run speedily to the mark of language that is shackled---with grammar precepts” (Wang 184). He upheld that grammar could be picked up through reading and writing, “By exercise of reading, writing, and speaking---all
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.
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.
Richards, J. C., Platt, J., & Plat, H. (2000). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.