TEACH-KNOWLEGY

(Grammar teaching)
Common interview question
1- What is grammar?
There is more than one definition of grammar. It can be defined as

- The way we finetune our language in a way that is conventionally accepted by native
speakers of the language. OR
- the study of what forms or structures are possible in a language. This can be at the word
level, (Morphology) or the sentence level (Syntax)

So,

2- What do you mean by morphology and syntax? And what is the

difference between them?
Morphology is the system of rules that govern the formation of words.

For example, play becomes played in the past, and becomes plays in the present simple tense with
the third person (he/she/it). It becomes (playing) if we want to use it as a noun and if we use it in
continuous tenses. All these different forms occurred at the word level, not sentences. These rules
are called ‘MORPHOLOGY’

On the other hand, ‘Syntax’ refers to the rules that govern the way words are ordered in a sentence.

Ronaldo has scored a goal. NOT Ronaldo scored has goal a.

‘Have you ever been to France?’ Is a correct question. But ‘Have ever been you to France?’ is not
correct.

This set of rules that govern the way words are ordered in a sentence is called ‘SYNTAX’

Hence, we can also define grammar as the study of morphology and syntax.

3- What do you know about the history of grammar teaching methods?

Traditionally, there were some popular methods such as the Grammar translation method, which is
a method that suggests grammar as the starting point for instruction and follows a framework that
starts with an explicit statement followed by exercises that focused only on the form involving the
use of translation. One of the problems of this method is that it focused only on written language
and controlled practice in addition to the overuse of translation.

As a reaction to the grammar-translation method, the Direct method emerged rejecting explicit
language teaching and following the natural order of acquisition. In other words, the teacher does
not teach grammar at all, but learners pick up the grammar from texts in the same way children
learn their first language. This method prioritized oral skills focusing on repetition and drilling. The
same can be said about Audiolingualism which is a development of the Direct method but even
stricter in the way it focused on listening and repetition.
Recently, and during the last fifty years, some more modern teaching methods have developed. The
most popular is THE CLT or COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING. This approach did not reject
explicit grammar teaching but emphasized the importance of context in teaching grammar. That is
we learn grammar, not for the sake of grammar but to communicate with others which means that
learners need to understand and be able to use this grammar in a real context. The activities also
need t focus not only on controlled practice that was only concerned with the form but on the
meaningful practice that involved the production of the language since the aim is actual
communication.

4- What is the difference between implicit and explicit teaching of grammar?

When the teacher draws the student’s attention to the target language, (The language he/she aims
to teach in a particular lesson such as present continuous or comparative). And tells or asks them
about its form and meaning, this is explicit teaching. On the other hand, if the teacher only gives
students texts that include the target language hoping that the students will notice the form and
meaning themselves without any support or help from the part of the teacher, this is called implicit
teaching. (NO TEACHING).

5- What is the difference between the deductive and inductive approaches to

teaching grammar?
The deductive approach is the traditional way of teaching where the teacher starts by telling the rule
and then goes on to give examples. Contrarily, the inductive approach is when the teacher starts by
giving some examples and lets students find out the rule for themselves.

6- Which is the best way of grammar teaching, inductive or deductive?

Well, I do not believe there is one best teaching method as this depends on several factors, among
which are the learners’ age, learning style, the aim of learning, etc. However, generally speaking, I
believe that the inductive approach is way more useful than the deductive since the inductive
approach is more involving and interesting to many students. When students find out the rules for
themselves, they are exerting some mental effort that makes the language more memorable.
Additionally, the teacher is freed to do other important roles such as monitoring, supporting, and
microteaching sometimes. These management roles are sometimes more important than just telling
students about the rule.

The following demonstrates how the deductive approach is applied in classroom teaching the past
perfect tense:
The following illustrates how the inductive approach is adopted in the language classroom.

The two pictures above

from, ‘How to teach
grammar. 2013. Pearson.
Scott Thornbury
 7- What do you know about guided discovery?
It is a technique that is quite similar to the inductive approach. Students are given some examples, a
situation, or a text and are asked to work out the rule for themselves through some guiding
questions. Adopting guided discovery, the teacher replaces the demonstration with questions. For
example,

Instead of saying.

Used to is followed by the infinitive. It introduced a past habit that is no longer true now.

The teacher could ask:

Choose the correct answer:

‘Used to’ is followed by…………….(present verb+ ed/ present verb+ing/ infinitive)

‘Used to’ introduces a (present/ past) habit that (is still/ is not) true for now.

Students use the context or the examples to find out the correct answers under the teacher’s
supervision and support.

8- Why do many people opt for guided discovery in teaching grammar? How
important is it?
Well, many students have a short attention span especially young learners so listening to lengthy
presentations from the teacher would be useless and would not help students. When learners are
challenged to find out things for themselves, they become more motivated and excited to learn as
they feel that they are adults and can take responsibility for their learning. Furthermore, students
exert mental effort while discovering. This makes the language more memorable. Another point to
add is that the teacher has the opportunity to monitor and help those who are suffering.

9- What are the basic elements of grammar that the teacher should focus on
when teaching grammar?

Meaning, pronunciation, and form respectively. Students know to know what the structure means.
For example, the present simple tenses express something that is always true or something that is
repeated. This is the meaning. The form is how this tense is formed.

The pronunciation is how the target language is said or articulated. The teacher should model and
ask learners to drill the marker sentences that contain the target language. He/she also needs to
show extralinguistic features such as stress and intonation. This is pronunciation work. The form
means how the TL (target language) is formed.

For the present simple, (The bare infinitive + s in the case of the third person subject) The teacher
needs to elicit the form and highlights it on the board giving students the opportunity to copy this on
the board.
 10- In what order should you present the features of grammar, meaning, form,
and pronunciation?
As a rule of thumb, We, as teachers, should introduce meaning first, then go for pronunciation, and
finally the form. However, there are some cases where we have to start with the form such as when
we elicit the meaning from examples or through a text. In that case, students see the target
language in the examples first and then try to get the meaning.

11- How can we teach grammar?

There are several approaches to teaching grammar inductively. For example, the situational
approach and the text-based presentation.

12- What is the framework of the situational approach?

The situational approach starts with the teacher setting up a situation in class that incorporates the
target language. He elicits the meaning from the situation and starts modelling and drilling before
finally he highlights the form on the board. Then students practice in a controlled way before they
go for free practice as a final stage.
 (Situational model Lesson)
A model lesson following the situational framework. It works like this: To teach ‘I have been to
………..’ I have never been to…..’

1- Which city do you wish to visit in Egypt or abroad? And why? Tell your partner.
2- Students work in pairs discussing the question. (Teacher monitors and supports with
vocabulary when necessary.)
3- T: Two years ago, I travelled to Aswan and stayed there for a week. Last Thursday, I went
to Aswan again and came back on Sunday. I have been there for only three days. I have
been to Aswan twice.

Repeat after me, whole class

4- T: I have been to Aswan twice. (The teacher repeats two or three times)
5- Ss: I have been to Aswan twice.
6- T: Did I go to Aswan in the past?
7- Ss: Yes
8- T: Am I still in Aswan?
9- Ss: No
10- T: Repeat again I have been to Aswan twice.
11- Ss: I have been to Aswan twice.
12- T: Who can help me to write the sentence on the board? I …….. (the teacher elicits the
complete sentence and writes it on the board.
13- After writing, the teacher goes on to talk about Luxor. However, I wish to see Luxor one
day I have heard a lot about it, but I have never been to Luxor
14- Repeat after me: I have never been to Luxor
15- Ss: I have never been to Luxor.
16- Did I visit Luxor before?
17- No
18- The teacher elicits the sentence and writes it on the board.
19- T: Now I will give you a place and you tell me whether you have been to or have never
been to. Alexandria?
20- Ss: The teacher nominates students who are raising hands.
21- Yes Ahmed,
22- Ahmed: I have never been to Alexandria. (Then Ahmed suggests a city and chooses
another student to use the city in a sentence using I have been to OR I have never been to)
and the activity goes on.
23- Then The teacher gives students a Multiple-Choice Questions task. (MCQs). (The teacher
moves around monitoring and supporting.)
24- Finally, ss talk in pairs and tell each other about places they have been to or never been to.
(The teacher monitors unobtrusively without intervention. Just checking that students are
on task)
25- The teacher takes notes of serious errors related to the TL only.

Notice that the red colour represents the teacher’s turn while the green colour represents the
students’ turn.

Now let’s do some analysis of what happened in the class.

In number 1 turn: The teacher prepares students for the lesson.

He asks a question about the best city. The teacher asks this question to set the context. (Cities).
Notice that the question is personalized. This aims to activate students’ schemata about the topic
and generates interest. While students discuss the question, their minds become well-prepared to
listen or read about the same context. The teacher is monitoring and feeding in some language for
learners.

In number 3 turn: The teacher sets up the situation in which he incorporates the target language.

This is the most essential part. Through the situation, the meaning of the target language should be
clear. It is quite important to emphasise here that the situation should be clear to students and does
not include challenging words. (If there is a difficult word that could interrupt understanding, the
teacher should pre-teach it).

In turns 4 and 5: Modelling and drilling (pronunciation work)

Modelling is when the teacher repeats the word or sentences for students to listen. Drilling refers to
students repeating the words or sentences.

In turns from 6 to 9: The teacher asks some Concept checking questions. (CCQs)

CCQs are questions the teacher asks to check students understanding of the meaning of the target
language and focus their attention on the areas of meaning so that it is clear for students what
exactly the target language means.

What does the structure ‘Have been to ……’ mean?

If you look at any good grammar reference, you will find out that it means (Went somewhere in the
past time but is no longer there now.)

If you look at the CCQs presented in the lesson presented above, you will find that they focus on
those two areas.

Did I go in the past? YES (I went in the past.)

Am I still there? NO (I am no longer there.)

Notice also that the questions are short, concise and to the point. I am not asking about anything
else. (Only the core meaning). For example, if you ask, ‘How long did you stay there?’ This is not a
good CCQ as the length of time is not part of the meaning.

The CCQs elicit short answers (Yes, NO questions for example)

The CCQs should be easy and do not contain any unfamiliar words.

In turns 10 and 11 the teacher models and drills again to reinforce the TL and get students tongues
round it.

In turn 12 the teacher highlights the form on the board. Then he goes to the next sentence and
repeats the sequence.

In turns from 19 to 2:

The teacher and students play a game that aims to do oral practice of the target language. This is
called. Word prompts. The teacher or one student say a word, and other students use the whole
sentence with the new word. This can be replaced by pictures of cities students know. This is called
Picture Prompts.

In turn 22 The teacher gives learners a controlled practice task.

- This aims to provide students with opportunity to practice the target language in a
controlled way and under the teacher’s intervention.
- The focus of this stage is on the form. That is, the teacher ensures that learners are
confident using the form. That is why the teacher should monitor effectively providing help
and support since the aim of controlled practice is on accuracy.

Examples of the controlled practice are MCQs, fill in the gaps, and correct the mistakes

In turn a23: The teacher provides an opportunity for freer practice.

- The aim of this stage is to improve fluency and to give students an opportunity to practice
the target language freely.
- The teacher’s monitoring should be only to check students are on task, and not interfere
even if students are making mistakes. Error correction should be delayed till students finish
the activity.

The situational approach framework goes like the following:

1- - lead in /To activate schemata and generate interest.

Students work together to answer a personalized question about the topic. Or watch aa short
video and discuss it in pairs. Or they comment on a picture related to the topic.
2- Situation/ to contextualize the TL
The teacher sets up a situation that incorporates the target language to elicit the
meaning.

3- Pronunciation work/ to get students familiar with the features of pronunciation

The teacher models and drills the TL. He shows stress and intonation.
4- CCQs/ to check and test understanding of meaning
The teacher asks some easy to the point question that target the core meaning of the TL.

5- Modelling and drilling/ to reinforce pronunciation

The teacher models and drills again to reinforce pronunciation.
6- Highlighting the form/ to visualize the target language and keep a record of it in their
notebooks.
7- Controlled practice/ to give students an opportunity t practice the TL in a controlled way.
Ss answer a task that focuses on the form and aims for accuracy, Eg, MCQs
8- Freer practice/ to give students the opportunity to practice the TL freely.
Ss do a role play or write a story or do any activity that focuses on fluency.
9- Delayed error correction/ to deal with errors
The teacher writes some of the students output and asks learners whether they are
correct or not and discuss together.
 13- What is the framework of teaching grammar through a text and what is this
framework called?
When we use a text as a base for presenting a new structure, we call it, a ‘Text-based presentation’.
It puts the text at the centre of the presentation. During the planning process, the teacher thinks
about his target language and finds a text which contains frequent examples of it. In class he exposes
learners to the text helping them to understand it globally. Then he draws learners’ attention to the
sentence that contains the target language. (Marker sentences). Next, He/she designs a discovery
task where students work individually or in groups to find out the rule for themselves. Th teacher
models and drills, asks CCQs to ensure understanding and highlights the form on the board.

The framework is quite similar to the situational approach with a few changes.
 Model lesson following the text-based approach
Look at the following which is part from a grammar lesson following the text-based approach

from (Cambridge Face to face pre-intermediate.) And notice

- There are three activities before activity 4.

- Activity 1: Warm up (recycling previous class) optional

- Activity 2: Lead in (Students answer a question in pairs about the best holiday they had.)
optional
- Activity 3: Pre-teach vocabulary: ss check the meanings of 4 words from the text in a
dictionary. Optional

- Activity 4 a: Exposure: The task is asking students to listen and answer two comprehension
questions.
Although the aim of the lesson is grammar, the task asked learners to listen and gave them
a gist task (The two question)
There are many benefits of this stage:
1- The TL is contextualized. This means that students can see the TL in a context which is
useful. Students might notice how they are used.
2- 2- the text is the base on which the next activities will be focussing. So, it is important to
ensure understanding of this text before going on to analysing language.
3- Notice that the questions are not very detailed. The aim is global understanding of the
text not a lot of details.

Activity 4 b:
- Notice that the six sentences are in the present continuous tense.
- The six sentences are extracted from the text.
- These are called the marker sentences.
- The aim of the activity is to draw the students’ attention to the marker sentences. (That
contain the target language.)

Activity 5:

- This activity is the guided discovery task.

- The activity aims to elicit the meaning and form of the target language.

What do you think activities six and seven should aim for?

Yes, controlled and freer practice.

Questions about practising grammar:

14- What is meant by practising grammar? And what are the different types of
practice?
- Practising grammar is what comes after the Presentation stage. It refers to the activities we
give students to reinforce the target language and enable them to use the language either
under the teacher’s supervision or freely.
- There are three types of practice. Controlled practice, semi controlled practice, and freer
practice.

15- What is the difference between controlled, semi controlled, and freer
practice?
The main difference between the three types of practice is in the level of support provided by the
teacher depending on the aim of each activity. For example,

- In controlled practice activities, the aim is accuracy, and the focus is on the form rather than
the meaning. Hence, the teacher should monitor actively and provides as much support as
he could. He interferes if students make mistakes, guides and leads them to the correct
forms. Sometimes he will need to give some tutoring to those learners who could not
understand in the presentation stage. The tasks are usually discrete items questions such as
gap-fill and MCQs. The task does not require students to produce the target language but
only to recognize it and know the correct form.
- In semi-controlled practice activities, the focus is the still on the form together with the
meaning, and the aim is accuracy. The teacher can interfere and corrects mistakes. However,
this may involve some production, not only of the TL but other language too. For example,
Write Five sentences about yourself using the past simple tense.

When students write (I went to the mall last weekend). The practice was not exclusive to the
past form of the verb, but he produced a complete sentence.

- In freer practice activities, the aim to fluency. That’s why the teacher should not interfere
and interrupt the flow of communication. No interference from the part of the teacher
should be allowed unless students stop talking or writing and can not do the task at all. The
teacher can support at this point.