Marianne Celce-Murcia & Sharon Hilles: Techniques and resources in teaching grammar

Of the many issues surrounding the teaching of grammar, perhaps the most controversial is whether to teach it at all" (p.1).In providing the background to the consideration of this issue, the writers note that there are no studies that provide evidence of the need for overt grammar instruction.However, certain studies suggest that "the prognosis (for the achievement of high level proficiency) in the long run is better for those with overt fonnal instruction than for those with none".Comprehensible input, rated so highly in the communicative approach to language teaching, is in itself considered insufficient to attain mastery of a second language.A strong case for not abandoning grammar teaching is the acknowledgement that different people respond to different learning styles, e.g.analytical (as opposed to holistic) learners would require grammar input in order to form and test hypotheses and to extract rules from examples (p.S).Furthermore, student needs constantly change in the course of the language learning process.This book addresses the major issue of how to integrate grammatical principles into a communicative framework.As traditional methods of teaching grammar clearly need to be improved, the authors propose a matching of structure, language factors (social, semantic, and discourse), technique and resources as a basis for the presentation of effective language lessons.Chapter two, entitled "Getting ready to teach grammar", distinguishes between prescriptive and descriptive grammars.The focus is on choosing and sequencing material for a grammar lesson.This chapter describes one such lesson in detail, incorporating four phases: presentation, focused practice, communicative practice, and feedback and correction.The second section of this book (there are four in all) focuses on techniques of grammar teaching, such as listening and responding, telling stories, and drama and roleplay.Listening and responding are well suited to the presentation and focused practice of grammatical structures with a semantic challenge, and help the L2 learner match meaning and form in context.A wide variety of simple and complex listening exercises is suggested.Story-telling provides a realistic and enjoyable context for presenting grammatical point~, while roleplay facilitates a match between structure and social functions, and can also be used for focused grammar practice.The many activities described in this section provide meaningful contexts for integrating writing, reading, pronunciation, listening, and grammar.The section on resources comprises three chapters filled with practical ideas.Pictures are suggested as a resource for teaching of grammar that require a structure-meaning match.Realia are recommended for the same purpose, as well as for stimulating the communicative

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