Teaching Grammar Communicatively - Reflections

Ss should not be explained grammar items explicitly but through models, patterns, short stories, anecdotes, or ‘at the point of need’, either way, Ss can work out the rule themselves if guided properly. Russian textbooks are exorbitantly packed with grammar rules; Ss just learn nothing but lop-sided grammar. Russian students are advised to resort to reference grammar books or take up English private classes where tutors scrupulously explain grammar encounters to the Ss. This reminds me of a ‘brickwall approach’, where we put isolated bricks one by one and that results in ‘broken English’.

Sometimes we as teachers are prone to follow the segregated-skill approach forgetting about the rest of the skills as speaking, listening, reading and writing. The more Ss practice the language and not ‘beat about the bush’, the more they start acquiring the language; to my mind, acquiring may lead to the internalization.

Almost all teachers were concerned that they have to follow strictly the textbook sequence or state/national curriculum. Should we teach grammar in a certain order? How should we make grammar encounters more memorable to our students? There was one more concern among the colleagues that some learners who were immersed in communicative language classes at schools still make grammatical errors. Shall we really teach grammar or Ss shall pick it up through the language naturally?

The idea of SARS was not new for my fellow teachers, though not many really consider using it in the future. The reason of that is not many teachers are ready to experiment and apply something new. I believe we should focus on the student-centered approach and give Ss multiple opportunities to practice grammatical FMU through meaningful and engaging contexts or situations. As Rebecca Oxford stated ‘…all the language skills might nevertheless be present in the tasks in each book. In this way, students have the benefit of practicing all the language skills in an integrated, natural, communicative way, even if one skill is the main focus of a given volume”.

I may conclude that as a teacher I always strived to make my Ss aware that grammar should not be learned in isolation but interwoven into a certain context.