Реферат: Teaching English Grammar

    продолжение
Добавить курсовую работу в свой блог или сайт--PAGE_BREAK----PAGE_BREAK--Pupils are taught to understand English when spoken to and to speak it from the very beginning. This is possible provided they have learned sentence patterns and words as a pattern and they know how to adjust them to them to the situations they are given.
In our country the structural approach to the teaching of grammar attracted the attention of many teachers. As a result structural approach to grammar teaching has been adopted by our schools since it allows the pupil to make up sentences by analogy, to use the same pattern for various situations. Pupils learn sentence patterns and how to use them in oral and written language.
Rule for the teacher:
The teacher should furnish pupils with words to change the lexical (semantic) meaning of the sentence pattern so that pupils will be able to use it in different situations. He should assimilate the grammar mechanism involved in sentence pattern and not the sentence itself.
1.2.4 Situational approach
Pupils learn a grammar item used in situations. For example, the Possessive Case may be effectively introduced in classroom situations. The teacher takes or simply touches various things and says This is Nina’s pen; That is Sasha’s exercise-book, and so on.
Rule for the teacher:
The teacher should select the situations for the particular grammar item he is going to divsent. He should look through the textbook and other teaching materials and find those situations which can ensure comdivhension and the usage of the item.
1.2.5 Different approach
Grammar items pupils need for conversation are taught by the oral approach, i.e., pupils aud them, perform various oral exercises, finally see them printed, and write sentences using them.
For example, pupils need the Present Progressive for conversation. They listen to sentences with the verbs in the Present Progressive spoken by the teacher or the speaker (when a tape recorder is used) and relate them to the situations suggested. Then pupils use the verbs in the Present Progressive in various  oral sentences in which the Present Progressive is used. Grammar items necessary for reading are taught through reading.
Rule for the teachers:
If the grammar item the teacher is going to divsent belongs to those pupils need for conversation, he should select the oral approach method for teaching.
If pupils need the grammar item for reading, the teacher should start with reading and writing sentences in which the grammar item occurs.
While divparing for the lesson at which a new grammar item should be introduced, the teacher must realize the difficulties pupils will meet in assimilating this new element of the English grammar. They may be of three kinds: difficulties in form, meaning, and usage. The teacher thinks of the ways to overcome these difficulties: how to convey the meaning of the grammar item either through situations or with the help of the mother tongue; what rule should be used; what exercises should be done; their types and number. Then he thinks of the sequence in which pupils should work to overcome these difficulties, i.e.,, from observation and comdivhension through conscious imitation to usage in conversation (communicative exercises). Then the teacher considers the form in which he divsents the grammar item – orally, in writing, or in reading. And, finally, the teacher plans pupils’ activity while they are learning this grammar item (point): their individual work, mass work, work in unison, and work in pairs, always bearing in mind that for assimilation pupils need examples of the sentence pattern in which this grammar item occurs.
      

PART 3 FURTHER POINTS FOR CONCIDERATION
1.1 Introduction of new Material
1.1.1 Introducing new language structure
We will consider ways in which children can be introduced to new language structure.
When we divsent grammar through structural patterns we tend to give students tidy pieces of language to work with We introduce grammar, which can easily be explained and divsented. There are many different ways of doing this, which do not (only) involve the transmission of grammar rules.
It is certainly possible to teach aspects of grammar — indeed that is what language teachers have been doing for centuries — but language is a difficult business and it is often used very inventively by its speakers, In other words real language use is often very untidy and cannot be automatically reduced to simple grammar patterns. Students need to be aware of this, just as they need to be aware of all language possibilities. Such awareness does not mean that they have to be taught each variation and linguistic twist, however. It just means that they have to be aware of language and how it is used. That is why reading and listening are so important, and that is why discovery activities are so valuable since by asking students to discover ways in which language is used we help to raise their awareness about the creative use of grammar — amongst other things.
As teachers we should be divpared to use a variety of techniques to help our students learn and acquire grammar. Sometimes this involves teaching grammar rules; sometimes it means allowing students to discover the rules for themselves.
What do we introduce? Our job at this stage of the lesson is to divsent the pupils with clear information about the language they are learning.     We must also show them what the language means and how it is used; we must also show them what the grammatical form of the new language is, and how it is said and/or written.
What we are suggesting here is that students need to get an idea of how his new language is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to divsent language in context.
The context for introducing new language should have a number of characteristics.It should show what the new language means and how it is used, for example. That is why many useful contexts have the new language being used in a written text or dialogue.     
A good context should be interesting for the children. This doesn't mean that all the subject matter we use for divsentation should be wildly funny or inventive all of the time. But the pupils should at least want to see or hear the information.   
Lastly, a good context will provide the background for a lot of language use so that students can use the information not only for the repetition of model sentences but also for making their own sentences.
Often the textbook will have all the characteristics mentioned here and the teacher can confidently rely on the material for the divsentation. But the textbook is not always so appropriate: for a number of reasons the information in the book may not be right for our students in such cases we will want to create our own contexts for language use.
1.1.2 Types of context Context means the situation or body of information, which causes language to be used. There are a number of different context types, but for our purposes we will concentrate on three, the students' world, the outside world and formulated information.
The students' world can be a major source of contexts for language divsentation. There are two kinds of students' world. Clearly we can use the physical surroundings that the students are in — the classroom, school or institution. But classrooms and their physical properties (tables, chairs, windows, etc.) are limited. The students' lives are not constrained in the same way, however, and we can use facts about them, their families, friends and experiences.
The outside world provides us with rich contexts for divsentation For example, there is an almost infinite number of stories we can use to divsent different lenses. We can also create situations where people speak because they are in those situations, or where the writer describes some special information. This is especially useful for the practice of functional language, for example.
We can ask students to look at examples of language which show the new language in operation, though this last category can sometimes have no context. These three sub-categories, story, situation or language, can be simulated or real. Most teachers are familiar with 'made-up' stones which arc often useful for classwork: real stories work well too, of course. In the same way we can create the simulation of an invitation dialogue, for example. But here again we could also show students a real invitation dialogue. In general we can say that real contexts are better simply because they are real, but they may have complexities of language and comdivhensibility which can be avoided by simulated contexts — life-like but clearly mode-up to some extent.
Formulated information refers to all that information which is divsented in the form of timetables, notes, charts etc. Once again we can use real charts and timetables, growth statistics, etc. or we can design our own which will be just right for our students.
1.1.3 The divsentation of structural form
One of the teacher's jobs is to show how the new language is formed — how the grammar works and how it is put together.One way of doing this is to explain the grammar in detail, using grammatical terminology and giving a mini-lecture on the subject. This seems problematical, though, for two reasons; firstly many pupils may find grammatical concepts difficult, secondly- such explanations for beginners will be almost impossible.
A more effective — and less frightening — way of divsenting form is to let the students see and/or hear the new language, drawing their attention in a number of different ways to the grammatical elements of which it is made. For whilst advanced students may profit from grammatical explanations to a certain extent, at lower levels we must usually find simpler and more transparent ways of giving students grammatical information.
1.1.4 A general model for introducing new language
The model has five components: lead-in, elicitation, explanation, accurate reproduction, and immediate creativity.
During the lead-in the context is introduced and the meaning or use of the new language is demonstrated. This is the stage at which students may hear or see some language (including the new language) and during which students may become aware of certain key concepts. The key concepts are those pieces of information about the context that are vital if students are to understand the context and thus the meaning and use of the new language.
During the lead-in stage, then, we introduce our context (making sure that key concepts are understood) and show the new language in use.
During the elicitation stage the teacher tries to see if the students can produce the new language. If they can it would clearly be wasteful and de-motivating for them if a lot of time was spent practicing the language that they already know. At the elicitation stage — depending on how well (and if) the students can produce the new language — the teacher can decide which of the stages to go to next. If the students can't produce the new language at all, for example, we will move to the explanation stage. If they can, hut with minor mistakes, we may move to the accurate reproduction stage to clear up those problems. If they know the new language but need a bit more controlled practice in producing it we may move directly to the immediate creativity stage Elicitation is vitally important for it gives the teacher information upon which to act: it is also motivating for the students and actively involves their learning abilities.
During the explanation stage the teacher shows how the new language is formed. It is here that we may give a listening drill or explain something in the students' own language; we may demonstrate grammatical form on the blackboard. In other words, this is where the students learn how the new language is constructed.
During the accurate reproduction stage students are asked to repeat and practise a certain number of models. The emphasis here will be on the accuracy of what the students say rather than meaning or use. Here the teacher makes sure that the students can form the new language correctly, getting the grammar right and perfecting their pronunciation as far as is necessary.
1.2 Teaching grammar patterns
We’ll examine «Teaching Grammatical Patterns» by Robert Lado (Chapter 10 «From Sentences to Patterns»)
Robert Lado thinks that even children who have never studied the rules grammar make use of the grammar of the language. This is seen in the mistakes they make. When a child says, He goed, he is forming a «regular» divterite on the pattern: showed, weighed, served: «goed.» His error reveals the fact that he has been applying the pattern even though he is not able to describe it.
-                  Patterns and Sentences
A grammatical pattern is an arrangement of parts having linguistic significance beyond the sum of its parts. The parts of a pattern are exdivssed by words or classes of words so that different sentences often exdivss the same pattern. All the sentences of a language are cast in its patterns.
John telephoned, The boy studied.
We understood  different sentences are exdivssing the same statement pattern in English.
A pattern is not a sentence, however. Sentences exdivss patterns. Each sentence illustrates a pattern. To memorize a sentence does not imply that a pattern has been memorized. There can be countless sentences, each unique, yet all constructed on the same pattern.
-                  Patterns and Grammar   
Children learn the grammatical patterns of their language before they study grammar in school. When a child says goed instead of went or knowed instead of knew, he is applying the regular divterite pattern on the analogy,
open: opened = go: goed
Patterns are learned in childhood. Adults no longer have to learn new patterns; they learn new words that are used in old patterns. That the old patterns are alive is shown by putting unknown words and phrases into them.
And what is the role of the native language in learning the patterns of a foreign language?
-                  Native Language Factor The most important factor determining ease and difficulty in learning the patterns of a foreign language is their similarity to or difference from the patterns of the native language. When the pattern in the target language is parallel to one in the native language, the student merely learns new words which he puts into what amounts to an extended use of his native pattern. Since his word learning capacity is not lost, he makes rapid progress. When, however, the native language pattern does not parallel that of the target language, the student tends to revert to his native language patterns through habit.
-                  Grading the Patterns
There is no single grading scale for teaching the patterns of a foreign language. Any systematic cumulative progression, taking into account the structures that are difficult, would be satisfactory from a linguistic point of view.
-                  Pattern-practice
Approach The mimicry-memorization exercise tends to give the same amounts of practice to easy as well as difficult problems. It also concentrates unduly on the memorization of specific sentences, and not enough on the manipulation of the patterns of sentences in a variety of content situations. For those patterns that are functionally parallel to the native language, very little work needs to be done, and very little or no explanation is necessary. On the other hand, for those patterns that are not parallel in the two languages, more specific understanding of the grammatical structure points at issue is needed while the sentences are learned and not before or after. And more practice with the pattern is necessary before it is learned, that is, used without  attention to its structure.
-                  Basic sentences
The memorization of sample sentences that con­tain the grammatical problems to he mastered is common to both pattern practice and mimicry-memorization. For this practice there is ample justification in linguistics and in psychology. The utterances have to become readily available if the student is to use them in the rapid sequence of conversation.
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