Language in content instruction - LICI Project

LICI Handbook
Why grammar?
There are those who think grammar should not be taught at all as it grows on the second
language learner like the first language grammar on the first language learner. There are
those who think that second language grammar is learnt in certain predictable phases
(Pienemann, 1984, 1988) and that teaching can only speed up the process but not change
the order of acquisition. Yet there are those – perhaps the majority - who think that
explicit teaching of grammar rules can help grammar learning especially in otherwise
meaning-oriented learning environment. There seems to be a consensus that the best
way to learn grammar is in a meaning-based and communicatively orientated
environment with brief interventions of grammar instruction embedded. This type of
instruction is promoted by task-based learning of second language (Ellis, 2003).
Teaching grammar
The two views of learning grammar introduced above presuppose different kinds of
teaching approaches. One should bear in mind, however, that the views presented here
are derived from theories and models of learning and teaching and that they are
abstractions and prototypes rarely implemented as such in classrooms (Eisenstein-
Ebsworth & Schweers, 1997; Borg & Burns, 2009). However, they will provide an overall
picture of grammar learning and teaching. It is up to the teachers to make their own
decisions as to the implementation of these ides.
Experiential teaching of grammar
The organic, implicit learning of grammar is best achieved by exposing learners to
massive inputs of language. This experiential teaching of grammar may result in
incidental and implicit acquisition of grammar rules, especially with younger students
who are more apt to holistic learning and whose level of abstract thinking does not allow
for advanced problem solving and rule transfer skills. Adults and adolescents with more
advanced conceptual skills and language learning experience are likely to benefit from
more rule-oriented explicit teaching of grammar. Earlier experience from bilingual
programmes, primarily from Canadian immersion shows that if the students are entirely
exposed to ambient language to learn language as a bi-product in content teaching,
grammar is not learned adequately. Immersion students’ language shows signs of
fossilized elementary errors.
In spite of the cons listed above, experiential grammar teaching has major advantages.
One of them is the opportunity to learn grammar in a meaning-oriented context which
provides for immediate practice and use (Mitchell, 2000).
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Explicit teaching of grammar
Rule-based, explicit teaching of grammar can take many forms. Two approaches are
typical: deductive and inductive teaching of grammar. In the deductive approach, rules are
introduced and practised first in familiar context and then applied to form new meanings
in new contexts. The goal of deductive language teaching is full transfer of the rule. Rules
can also be learnt through inferencing them from a number of examples. This type of
learning is called inductive learning and it, more than the deductive approach, deals with
problem solving and discovery processes. Both approaches - or more likely a mixture of