Notice again that if the students perform well during elicitation the teacher can move straight to immediate creativity. If at that stage they perform badly the teacher may find it necessary either to return to a short accurate reproduction stage or. in extreme cases, to re-explain the new language.

    The Content of Teaching Grammar.

Before speaking about the selection of grammar material it is necessary to consider the concept “grammar”, i. e. , what it meant by “grammar”. By grammar one can mean adequate comprehension and correct usage of words in the act of communication, that is, intuitive knowledge of the grammar of the language. It is a set of reflexes enabling a person to communicate with his associates. Such knowledge is acquired by a child in the mother tongue before he goes to schools.

This “grammar” functions without the individual’s awareness of technical nomenclature, in other words, he has no idea of the system of the language, and to use all the word-endings for singular and plural, for tense, and all the other grammar rules without special grammar lessons only due to the abundance of auding and speaking. His young mind grasps the facts and “makes simple grammar rules” for arranging the words to express carious thoughts and feelings. This is true because sometimes little children make mistakes by using a common rule for words to which that rule cannot be applied. For example, a little English child might be heard to sayTwo mans comed instead of Two men come, because the child is using the plural s rule for man to which the rule does not apply, and the past tense ed rule for comewhich does not obey the ordinary rule for the past tense formation. A little Russian child can sayножов instead of ножей using the case-ending ов for ножиto which it does not apply. Such mistakes are corrected as the child grows older and learns more of his language.

By “grammar” we also mean the system of the language, the discovery and description of the nature of language itself. It is not a natural grammar, but a constructed one. There are several constructed grammars: traditional, structural, and transformational grammars. Traditional grammar studies the forms of words (morphology) and how they are put together in sentences (syntax); structural grammar studies structures of various levels of the language (morpheme level) and syntactic level; transformational grammar studies basic structures and transformation rules.

What we need is simplest and shortest grammar that meets the requirements of the school syllabus in foreign languages. This grammar must be simple enough to be grasped and held by any pupil. We cannot say that this problem has been solved.

Since graduates are expected to acquire language proficiency in aural comprehension, speaking and reading grammar material should be selected for the purpose. There exist principles of selecting grammar material both for teaching speaking knowledge (active minimum) and for teaching reading knowledge (passive minimum), the main one is the principle of frequency, i. e. , how frequently this or that grammar item occurs. For example, the Present Simple (Indefinite) is frequently used both in conversation and in various texts. Therefore it should be included in the grammar minimum.

For selecting grammar material for reading the principle of polysemia, for instance, is of great importance. *1

Pupils should be taught to distinguish such grammar items which serve to express different meanings.

    For example,
    м
    -ing н
    о
    -ed Past Simple (Indefinite)
    м
    -s (es) н
    о

The selection of grammar material involves choosing the appropriate king of linguistic description, i. e. , the grammar which constitutes the best base for developing speech habits. Thus the school syllabus reflect a traditional approach to determining grammar material for foreign language teaching, pupils are given sentences patterns or structures, and through these structures they assimilate the English language, acquire grammar mechanisms of speech. The content of grammar teaching is disputable among teachers and methodologists, and there are various approaches to the problem, pupils should, whatever the content of the course, assimilate the ways of fitting words together to form sentences and be able to easily recognize grammar forms and structures while hearing and reading, to reproduce phrases and sentences stored up in their memory and say or write sentences of their own, using grammar items appropriate to the situation.

    The Most Common Difficulties Pupils Howe in
    Assimilating English Grammar.

The chief difficulty in learning a new language is that of changing from the grammatical mechanism of the native language to that of the new language. Indeed, every language has its own way of fitting words together to form sentences. In English, word order is more important than in Russian. The word order inTom gave Helen a roseindicates what was given (a rose), to whom (Helen), and by whom (Tom). If we change the word order and sayHelen gave tom a rose, we shall change the meaning of the sentence. In Russian, due to inflexions, which are very important in this language, we can sayТом дал Лене розу or Лене дал Том розуwithout changing the meaning of the sentence, as the inflexion “e” in the wordЛене indicates the object of the action. The inversion of subject and finite verb in Are you…indicates the question form. In speaking English, Russian pupils often violate the word order which results in bad mistakes in expressing their thoughts. The English tense system also presents a lot of trouble to Russian-speaking pupils because of the difference which exists in these languages with regard to time and tense relations. For example, the pupil cannot at first understand why we mustsay I have seen him today and I saw him yesterday. For him the action is completed in both sentences, and he does not associate it in any way withtoday or yesterday.

The sequence of tenses is another difficult point of English grammar for Russian speaking pupils because there is no such phenomenon in their mother tongue. Why should we sayShe said she was busy when she is busy? The use of modal verbs in various types of sentences is very difficult for the learner. For example, he should differentiate the use ofcan and may while in Russian the verb maycovers them both. Then he should remember which verb must be used in answers to the questions with modal verbs. For instance, May I go home? No, you mustn’t. May I take your pen? Yes, you may. Must I do it? No, you needn’t. The most difficult point of English grammar is the article because it is completely strange to Russian-speaking pupils. The use of the articles and other determiners comes first in the list of the most frequent errors. Pupils are careless in the use of “ these tiny words” and consider them unimportant for expressing their thoughts when speaking English.

English grammar must begin, therefore, with pupils’learning the meaning of these structural words, and with practice in their correct use. For example: This is a pen. The pen is red. This is my pen and that is his pen. Correct selection of grammar teaching material is the first step towards the elimination of mistakes.

    Some General Principles of Grammar Teaching
    and How to Use Them.

Teaching grammar should be based upon the following principles: Conscious approach to the teaching of grammar.

This means that in sentence patterns teaching points are determined so that pupils can concentrate their attention on some elements of the pattern to be able to use them as orienting points when speaking or writing the target language. For example, I can see a book. I can see many books. The teacher draws pupils’ attention to the new element in the form of a rule, a very short one. It is usually done in the mother tongue. For example: Помни, что во множественном числе к существительному прибавляется окончание–s [s, z] или –es [IZ]. Or: Помни, что в отрицательных предложениях ставится вспомогательный глагол “do not” (“does not”)The rule helps the learner to understand and to assimilate the structural meaning of the elements. It ensures a conscious approach to learning. This approach provides favourable conditions for the speedy development of correct and more flexible language use. However it does not mean that the teacher should ask pupils to say this or that rule, Rules do not ensure the mastery of the language. They only help to attain the practical goal. If a pupil can recognize and employ correctly the forms that are appropriate, that is sufficient. When the learner can give ample proof of these abilities we may say that he has fulfilled the syllabus requirements.

Conscious learning is also ensured when a grammar item is contrasted with another grammar item which is usually confused. The contrast is brought out through oppositions. For example:

    I get up at 7 o’clock.
    It’s 7 o’clock. I am getting up.
    He has come.
    He came an hour ago.
    Give me a book (to read into the train).
    Give me the book (you have promised),
    I like soup (more than any other food).
    I like the soup ( you have cooked).
    Rule for the teacher:

The teacher should realize difficulties the sentence pattern presents for his pupils. Comparative analysis of the grammar item in English and in Russian or within the English language may be helpful. He should think of the shortest and simplest way for presentation of the new grammar item. The teacher should remember the more he speaks about the language the less time is left to practice. The more the teacher explains the less his pupils understand what he is trying to explain, this leads to the teacher giving more information than is necessary, which does not help the pupils in the usage of this particular grammar item, only hinders them.

    Practical approach to the assimilation of grammar.

It means that pupils learn those grammar items which they need for immediate use either in oral or written language. For example, from the first steps of language learning pupils need the Possessive Case for objects which belong to different people, namely, Mike’s textbook, Ann’s mother, the girl’s doll, the boys’ room, etc. The teacher masters grammar through performing various exercises in using a given grammar item.

    Rule for the teacher:

The teacher should teach pupils correct grammar usage and not grammar knowledge.

Structural approachto the teaching grammar, i. e. grammar items are introduced and drilled in structures or sentence patterns.

It has been proved and accepted by the majority of teachers and methodologists that whenever the aim to teach pupils the command of the language, and speaking in particular, the structural approach meets the requirements. Pupils are taught to understand English when spoken to and to speak it from the very beginning. This is possible provided they have learned sentence patterns and words as a pattern and they know how to adjust them to them to the situations they are given. *1

In our country the structural approach to the teaching of grammar attracted the attention of many teachers. As a result structural approach to grammar teaching has been adopted by our schools since it allows the pupil to make up sentences by analogy , to use the same pattern for various situations. Pupils learn sentence patterns and how to use them in oral and written language.

    Rule for the teacher:

The teacher should furnish pupils with words to change the lexical (semantic) meaning of the sentence pattern so that pupils will be able to use it in different situations. He should assimilate the grammar mechanism involved in sentence pattern and not the sentence itself.

    Situational approach to the teaching of grammar.

Pupils learn a grammar item used in situations. For example, the Possessive Case may be effectively introduced in classroom situations. The teacher takes or simply touches various things and saysThis is Nina’s pen; That is Sasha’s exercise-book, and so on.

    Rule for the teacher:

The teacher should select the situations for the particular grammar item he is going to present. He should look through the textbook and other teaching materials and find those situations which can ensure comprehension and the usage of the item.

5. Different approachto the teaching active grammar (grammar for conversation) and passive grammar (grammar for reading).

Grammar items pupils need for conversation are taught by the oral approach, i. e. , pupils aud them, perform various oral exercises, finally see them printed, and write sentences using them.

For example, pupils need the Present Progressive for conversation. They listen to sentences with the verbs in the Present Progressive spoken by the teacher or the speaker (when a tape recorder is used) and relate them to the situations suggested. Then pupils use the verbs in the Present Progressive in various oral sentences in which the Present Progressive is used. Grammar items necessary for reading are taught through reading.

    Rule for the teachers:

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