Teaching Grammar

Picture a grammar lesson where the teacher spends 35 minutes writing complex timeline diagrams on the board and explaining the nuance between the Past Simple and Present Perfect Continuous, while students silently copy notes. When the teacher finally asks, “Any questions?”, the room is silent. Yet, in the final 5-minute pairwork, learners struggle to produce a single accurate sentence. The persistent pedagogical myth here is that detailed grammatical explanations guarantee learner mastery.

Core Theory & Terminology

1. Form, Meaning, and Use (FMU)

As Scott Thornbury (How to Teach Grammar) and Diane Larsen-Freeman emphasize, grammar is not merely a static set of rules (structure), but a dynamic skill (Grammaring). Every grammar item must be analyzed across three interrelated dimensions:

• Form: How the structure is constructed phonetically, morphologically, and syntactically (e.g., Subject + had + past participle).
• Meaning: What the structure expresses conceptually in context (e.g., an action completed prior to another past time point).
• Use (Pragmatics): When and why a speaker chooses this specific structure over another in social discourse (e.g., establishing background narrative in formal writing vs. casual speech).

2. Deductive vs. Inductive Approaches

• Deductive Approach (Rule-Driven): The teacher explicitly presents the rule first, followed by controlled practice exercises. Efficient for complex rules or adult learners who prefer explicit structure.
• Inductive Approach (Rule-Discovery): Learners study contextualized language examples first and infer the underlying rule themselves. Promotes deeper cognitive processing and noticing (Schmidt’s Noticing Hypothesis).

3. Guided Discovery Framework

Guided Discovery is a structured inductive framework where the teacher provides carefully sequenced text samples alongside targeted Consciousness-Raising Tasks and Concept Questions.

In the classroom

Teacher educators evaluate grammar presentation framework selection carefully during lesson observations:

1. In Formal Lesson Planning: Every grammar lesson plan must include a detailed Language Analysis sheet specifying Form, Meaning, Pronunciation (MFP), anticipated problems, and solutions.
2. On Observed Lessons: Avoid “teacher-fronted lecture mode” during rule clarification. Use Concept Checking Questions (CCQs) rather than asking “Do you understand the past perfect?”
3. Mentor Feedback: Observers check if CCQs effectively isolate meaning variables. For example, for “I had left when John arrived”:
   • Did I leave first, or did John arrive first? (Left first)
   • Did I see John? (No)

Practical Classroom Application

Guided Discovery Worksheet Model for the Past Perfect

Here is a practical 4-step staging sequence for a Guided Discovery grammar stage:

• Stage 1: Contextual Exposure: Learners read a short crime narrative:

  “Inspector Morse arrived at the manor at 9:00 PM. The vault was empty. The thief had stolen the diamonds at 8:15 PM.”

• Stage 2: Focus Questions (Noticing):
  • Underline the two past events in the last sentence (arrived, had stolen).
• Stage 3: Concept Checking Questions (CCQs):
  • Which event happened first—the arrival or the theft? (The theft)
  • Are both events in the past? (Yes)
  • Why did the writer use “had stolen” instead of “stole”? (To show it happened before another past time)
• Stage 4: Form Isolation:
  • Complete the rule: [ Subject ] + [ ______ ] + [ ______ participle ]

Reflection & Further Reading

Reflective Question

When designing a grammar lesson, do your Concept Checking Questions (CCQs) truly check the underlying meaning, or do they simply restate the grammar rule?

Key Reference Areas

• Thornbury, S. — How to Teach Grammar (Chapters 2, 5 & 6).
• Scrivener, J. — Learning Teaching (Chapter 7: “Grammar”).
• Harmer, J. — The Practice of English Language Teaching (Chapter 13).