Recent
Research in Teaching Grammar
How important is grammatical knowledge? How
can we balance grammatical accuracy with communicative fluency? Can
grammar even be taught? These questions have been debated for as long
as language has been taught. Two recent articles provide new insight on
the role of grammar in language classrooms.
Grammar
Can Be Taught (Without Hurting Fluency)Â
Research conducted by Mochizuki and Ortega
(2008) revealed that teaching grammar to students results in more
accurate speaking in communicative tasks. Furthermore, the students who
studied grammar performed as well as the control group in measures of
fluency. This groundbreaking study offers hard evidence that studying
grammar will help students improve their English
significantly. …
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Grammar
Should Be TaughtÂ
It is not enough to know that grammar can be
taught. The question remains whether it should be taught. Shiotsu and
Weir (2007) found in their study that grammatical knowledge is more
important than vocabulary size for understanding English. These two
studies show that a well-rounded curriculum must have a grammar
component. This is critical both for students ability to understand
English and for their ability to use the language.
What This Means for You and Your StudentsÂ
Two approaches to grammar textbooks logically
follow from these findings. Either a streamlined and flexible “direct
grammar” approach like that in the Azar Grammar Series, or a robust 4-skills approach like that in Focus on Grammar will result in the biggest improvements in student accuracy and fluency.
References
Mochizuki, N. & Ortega, L. (2008) Balancing
communication and grammar in beginning-level foreign language
classrooms: A study of guided planning and relativization. Language Teaching Research. 12 (1): 11-37.Â
Shiotsu, T. & Weir, C. (2007) The relative
significance of syntactic knowledge and vocabulary breadth in the
prediction of reading comprehension test performance. Language Testing. 24 (1): 99-128.
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