Teaching Grammar – Discussion Answers
1. Why is grammar important? What is the role of grammar in language
learning?
Grammar teaching helps learners understand how language is constructed and used in real
communication. Grammar allows students to recognize and produce correct structures,
making their speaking and writing clearer and more accurate. It also supports
comprehension — when learners study language in texts they read or listen to, they see
how grammar functions in context. The role of grammar in learning, then, is both structural
(providing rules) and communicative (supporting meaning and fluency).
2. Name the grammar content that you know.
The document includes a variety of grammar content areas through examples and tasks,
such as:
• Tenses: present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, past perfect
• Modal verbs: can, should, would, might
• Passive voice with modals
• Conditionals (first, second, third, mixed)
• Reported speech
• Adjectives (-ed / -ing forms)
• Articles, question forms, and word order (syntax)
• Auxiliary verbs (“to be,” “have”)
3. In what order should grammar concepts be taught to build from basic to
more complex structures?
Based on the examples in the text, grammar teaching often follows a progressive sequence
— from concrete, familiar forms to more abstract and complex ones. A suggested order is:
1. Basic tenses and sentence patterns (present simple, “be,” subject–verb–object)
2. Negatives and questions
3. Present continuous and past simple
4. Comparatives, adjectives/adverbs
5. Perfect forms (past perfect, present perfect)
6. Modals and conditionals
7. Passive voice
8. Reported speech
9. Complex sentence structures and discourse-level grammar
The book emphasizes that grammar can be introduced through context and practice,
following the PPP model (Presentation–Practice–Production) or discovery-based
approaches.
4. What are the differences between explicit and implicit grammar teaching
approaches?
Aspect Explicit Teaching Implicit (Discovery/Focus-
on-form) Teaching
Definition Teacher explains the rule Students observe examples
and gives examples and infer the rule
Examples in text Example 1 (PPP sequence: Example 5 & 6 (students
teaching 'She gets up early') work out conditionals and
adjective rules themselves)
Learner focus Conscious understanding of Natural recognition through
rules use
Activities Drills, sentence practice, Reading texts, problem-
repetition solving, guided discovery
Goal Accuracy and awareness Fluency and communicative
competence
5. What are some common grammar errors that Vietnamese learners of English
make? How can teachers address them?
Although the file doesn’t focus on Vietnamese learners specifically, it suggests ways to
handle grammar difficulties that apply well to them:
Common errors:
• Misuse of tenses
• Missing plural “-s”
• Confusion of verb forms
• Omission of “to be”
• Wrong word order
Solutions drawn from the text:
• Use contextualized examples (stories, dialogues, tasks)
• Encourage discovery learning (let students notice and correct patterns)
• Provide controlled and communicative practice (e.g., games, “Find someone who…”
surveys)
• Give immediate feedback and chances to repeat or reformulate sentences
• Integrate grammar into meaningful activities like role plays or board games