Different Approaches to Teaching Grammar at Lower-Secondary … · 2015-04-14 · distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive grammar. Both types are concerned with grammatical

Univerzita Hradec Králové

Pedagogická fakulta

Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury

Different Approaches to Teaching Grammar

at Lower-Secondary School Level

Diplomová práce

Autor: Michala Kruţicová

Studijní program: N7503 Učitelství pro základní školy

Studijní obor: Učitelství pro 2. stupeň ZŠ – anglický jazyk a literatura

Učitelství pro 2. stupeň ZŠ – německý jazyk a literatura

Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Olga Vraštilová, M.A., Ph. D.

Hradec Králové 2015

UNIVERZITA HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ

Pedagogická fakulta

ZADÁNÍ DIPLOMOVÉ PRÁCE

Jméno a příjmení: Bc. Michala Kružicová

Osobní číslo: P111964

Studijní program: N7503 Učitelství pro základní školy (2. stupeň)

Studijní obory: Učitelství pro 2. stupeň ZŠ – anglický jazyk a literatura

Učitelství pro 2. stupeň ZŠ – německý jazyk a literatura

Název tématu: Různé přístupy k výuce mluvnice na 2. stupni ZŠ

Zadávající katedra: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury

Zásady pro vypracování:

Práce se zaměří na zkoumání různých metod a přístupů k výuce mluvnice na

2. stupni ZŠ, zvláštní pozornost bude věnována zábavnějším aktivitám v této

oblasti, v praktické části bude realizován výzkum na základních školách ve

zvoleném regionu.

Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Olga Vraštilová, M. A., Ph. D.

Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury

Oponent: Mgr. Michal Pištora

Datum zadání diplomové práce: 23. listopadu 2011

Termín odevzdání diplomové práce: 23. února 2015

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, ţe jsem tuto diplomovou práci vypracovala (pod vedením vedoucí

diplomové práce) samostatně a uvedla jsem všechny pouţité prameny a

literaturu.

V Hradci Králové dne

Poděkování

Ráda bych poděkovala vedoucí práce, Mgr. Olze Vraštilové M.A., Ph. D., za

cenné připomínky, ochotu a trpělivost při vedení mé diplomové práce.

Anotace

KRUŢICOVÁ, Michala. Různé přístupy k výuce gramatiky na 2. stupni ZŠ.

Hradec Králové: Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity Hradce Králové, 2015. 78 s.

Diplomová práce.

Diplomová práce se zabývá výukou gramatiky anglického jazyka na druhém

stupni základních škol. První kapitola je zaměřená na definici pojmu gramatika

a její úlohu ve výuce cizích jazyků. Dále se teoretická část zabývá ţáky a jejich

specifiky stejně jako učitelem a jeho rolemi a úkoly při výuce gramatiky.

Speciální kapitola je věnována různým metodám výuky anglického jazyka a roli,

jakou v nich gramatika zaujímá. Praktická část se skládá ze dvou kapitol.

V první z nich ţáci všech ročníků druhého stupně hodnotí důleţitost gramatiky a

její výuku na své základní škole. Druhá kapitola je věnována učitelům

anglického jazyka a jejich přístupu k výuce a hodnocení gramatiky. Tato

kapitola obsahuje i hodnocení učebnic, které dotazované školy pouţívají.

Klíčová slova: anglický jazyk, gramatika, výuka, 2. stupeň ZŠ

Annotation

KRUŢICOVÁ, Michala. Different Approaches to Teaching Grammar at Lower-

Secondary School Level. Hradec Králové: Faculty of Education, University of

Hradec Králové, 2015. 78 p. Diploma Thesis

The Diploma Thesis deals with the teaching of grammar at lower-secondary

school level. The first chapter is focused on the definition of the term grammar

and its position in the foreign language teaching. It describes also learners and

their specifics as well as teachers and their roles and task by the English

teaching. The special chapter is devoted to the different methods and

approaches of English teaching and the position of grammar in them. The

practical part consists of two chapters. In the first one pupils of lower-secondary

level evaluate the importance of grammar and its presentation and practising at

their school. The second chapter is focused on teachers and their attitudes to

teaching and evaluating grammar. This chapter also contains an evaluation of

textbooks that are used at the questioned schools.

Keywords: English language, grammar, teaching, lower-secondary level

Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 9

2 Theoretical part .......................................................................................................... 10

2. 1 Grammar and its role ........................................................................................... 10

2. 1. 1 Grammar ....................................................................................................... 10

2. 1. 2 Types of grammar ......................................................................................... 10

2. 1. 3 Role of grammar ........................................................................................... 11

2. 1. 3. 1 Role of grammar in foreign language teaching .................................... 11

2. 1. 4 Difficulties with grammar ............................................................................. 12

2. 2 Learners and their specifics .................................................................................. 14

2. 2. 1 Age of learners .............................................................................................. 14

2. 2. 1. 1 Young children ..................................................................................... 14

2. 2. 1. 2 Adolescents .......................................................................................... 15

2. 2. 1. 3 Adult learners ....................................................................................... 15

2. 2. 2 Learning styles .............................................................................................. 16

2. 2. 2. 1 According to Keith Willing .................................................................... 16

2. 2. 2. 2 According to Tony Wright .................................................................... 17

2. 2. 2. 3 According to Neil D. Fleming ................................................................ 17

2. 2. 3. 4 Individual differences ........................................................................... 17

2. 2. 4 Motivation .................................................................................................... 18

2. 2. 4. 1 Affective filter....................................................................................... 18

2. 2. 4. 2 Types of motivation ............................................................................. 19

2. 2. 4. 3 Motivation influenced by teacher ....................................................... 20

2. 3 Teachers and their tasks ...................................................................................... 22

2. 3.1. Teacher's Role ............................................................................................... 22

2. 3. 2 Language in the classroom ........................................................................... 23

2. 3. 3 Teaching grammar ........................................................................................ 26

2. 3. 3. 1 Presentation of grammar ..................................................................... 26

2. 3. 3. 2 Practice of grammar ............................................................................. 28

2. 3. 3. 3 Production of grammar ........................................................................ 30

2. 3. 3. 4 Testing grammar .................................................................................. 30

2. 4 Approaches and Methods .................................................................................... 32

2. 4. 1 The Grammar-Translation Method ............................................................. 32

2. 4. 2 The Direct Method ....................................................................................... 33

2. 4. 3 The Audio-lingual Method ........................................................................... 33

2. 4. 3. 1 Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP) ...................................... 33

2. 4. 4 Total Physical response Method (TPR) ........................................................ 34

2. 4. 5 The Communicative Language Teaching ..................................................... 34

2. 4. 6 The Eclectic Approach................................................................................... 35

2. 5 Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education ............................ 36

2. 5. 1 Receptive language skills .............................................................................. 36

2. 5. 2 Productive language skills ............................................................................. 36

2. 5. 3 Interactive language skills ............................................................................. 37

2. 5. 4 Subject matters ............................................................................................. 37

3 Practical part .............................................................................................................. 39

3. 1 Aims and methods ................................................................................................ 39

3. 1. 1 Characteristics of schools ............................................................................. 40

3. 2 Questionnaire for pupils ...................................................................................... 42

3. 2. 1 In your opinion what is "grammar"? How would you describe it? .............. 42

3. 2. 2 Do you think the grammar is an important aspect of English lessons? ....... 44

3. 2. 3 How do you evaluate the presentation and exercising of grammar? .......... 46

3. 2. 4 Which aspect of English grammar is for you the most difficult? ................. 47

3. 2. 5 What do you like about learning grammar? ................................................. 49

3. 2. 6 What do you like about your English lessons? ............................................. 50

3. 2. 7 What do not you like about your English lessons? ....................................... 52

3. 2. 8 Summary of pupils' questionnaire ................................................................ 54

3. 3 Questionnaire for teachers .................................................................................. 55

3. 3. 1 In your opinion is it important to present grammar by funny way? ............ 55

3. 3. 2 Which method do you use the most often? ................................................. 56

3. 3. 3 Which teaching aids do you usually use for the teaching grammar? .......... 57

3. 3. 4 What is for your students the most problematic aspect of grammar? ........ 58

3. 3. 5 How important is for you grammar by the evaluation of pupils? ................ 60

3. 3. 6 Which textbook do you use? ........................................................................ 61

3. 3. 6 Are you satisfied with the interpretation of grammar in your text book? .. 63

3. 3. 8 Summary of teachers' questionnaire ........................................................... 64

4 Summary .................................................................................................................... 65

Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 67

Attachments .................................................................................................................... 70

9

1 Introduction

When I was choosing the topic of my master thesis, I was looking for something

what would help me in my future teaching career. As a beginning teacher I had

the biggest respect for the teaching grammar. I consider grammar a very

difficult aspect of English language. It is not easy to learn it and it is even more

difficult to explain it in an understandable and interesting way. As a pupil I met

with teachers who were not able to present grammar topics in a suitable way

and therefore their pupils lost the motivation for learning. I do not want to be this

type of teacher. Therefore I decided to look into the problem of teaching

grammar in detail.

The aim of the theoretical part of the thesis is to define the term grammar and

its role in the foreign language teaching as well as to describe various methods

of its presentation and practicing. The thesis also deals with the role of teachers

and their tasks by teaching grammar and with learners and their characteristics.

A special chapter is also devoted to the Framework Education Programme and

its role in English teaching.

The aim of the practical part is to examine current situation of teaching grammar

at the lower-secondary level. The research is divided into two parts. The first

part is focused on pupils and their attitude to learning grammar. The data will be

collected from a short questionnaire. I would like to gain responses of two

hundred and fifty pupils at three schools in Mělník Region. The second part

deals with teachers and their attitude to teaching grammar. A short part of this

chapter will be devoted to textbooks and their evaluation. The teachers'

questionnaire will be completed at least by ten teachers from the same three

schools. Pupils' and teachers' answers will be analysed and continuously

compared to each other. I expect that on the basis of all the answers I will be

able to describe which methods and tools are used by English grammar

teaching at schools near my residence.

10

2 Theoretical part

2. 1 Grammar and its role

Grammar is a significant part of language curriculum at all levels of our

educational system. Pupils always have a struggle with grammar and their

teachers have grown frustrated over mistakes in their writing and speaking. But

what is actually grammar and what is its role in foreign language learning?

2. 1. 1 Grammar

The term "grammar" comes from the Greek expression grammatike tekhne

meaning "art of letters". The modern meaning is a narrowing of the original but

it is still closely associated with writing.1 Today there are many definitions of

grammar. According to Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary, grammar means

"The rules in a language for changing the form of words and joining them

into sentences"2 . The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines

grammar as "The study and practice of the rules by which words change their

forms and are combined into sentences. There are two basic elements in this

definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules"3. But

teaching and learning grammar, which is known from elementary school, focus

on the practice rather than the study of grammar.

2. 1. 2 Types of grammar

According to Richard Nordquist, a professor at Armstrong Atlantic State

University and author of grammar and composition textbooks, the linguists

distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive grammar. Both types are

concerned with grammatical rules but in different ways. Descriptive grammar

refers to the structure of language that is used by speakers and writers in

common communication. Perspective grammar lays down the rules for English

1 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grammar

2 HORNBY: 2000, p. 516

3 HARMER: 1991, p. 1

11

language usage. It determines which use of grammar is correct or incorrect

regardless of the fact they can be usually used by native speakers.4

Closely related to the descriptive and prescriptive grammar is a classification to

written and spoken grammar. Jeremy Harmer, a popular author of books

about English language teaching, explains that people usually use the written

and spoken language in a different way because grammar of speech has its

own constructional principles and therefore it is organised differently from

writing, e.g. use of interjections (ah, oh, wow) or hesitators (er, umm, erm) is

usual and acceptable in spoken language but in written discourse are these

word unsuitable.5

2. 1. 3 Role of grammar

The article The Importance of grammar explains that grammar forms the basic

structure of any language. Languages make no sense without using grammar

rules. If everyone uses language without any grammar, the language would

have too many variations and would be ambiguous and full of contradiction, e.g.

using of wrong tense or punctuation can change the meaning of whole

sentence, which causes problems in mutual communication. It can have the

effect that the speaker is not understood. In that case the whole point of

communication is lost.6

2. 1. 3. 1 Role of grammar in foreign language teaching

Grammar was originally at the forefront in foreign language teaching. In the

past, teachers usually used the grammar-translation method. This method puts

emphasis on the correct use of grammar in translation exercises. According to

Jack C. Richards, a specialist in foreign language teaching, it refers to

knowledge of building blocks of sentence (e.g. tenses, phrases clauses) and

how sentences are formed. Students learned grammatical rules and then

applied their knowledge of language in translation between the target and native

4 NORDQUIST: 2006, http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/f/descpresgrammar.htm

5 HARMER: 2001, pp. 14-16

6 http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/importance-of-grammar-10946.html

12

language. As a result, people often knew the theoretical aspects of language

very well but they were not able to use it effectively in everyday communication.

Current foreign language teaching has the opposite tendency.

In recent years the emphasis has shifted away from the teaching of grammar.

Many teachers follow a new way of looking at teaching called the

communicative approach. The communicative approach is based on the

communicative competence including the following aspects of language

knowledge:

how to use language for different purposes and functions

how to produce and understand different types of texts

how to vary our use of language according to the setting and the participants

Main emphasis is not put on grammar but on its function in specific

communicative situations. This approach uses various communicative activities.

They are enjoyable, they give students a chance to use their language and the

teacher can hear the student language abilities. Grammar is no longer the goal

of teaching but has become the tool to achieve this goal.7

2. 1. 4 Difficulties with grammar

Grammar of Czech and English differ in many ways. Therefore students of

English should expect difficulties of various kinds. According to J. Harmer the

most common difficulties for students learning English grammar are:

Mismatch between form and function – Many grammatical forms are used to

perform several different functions. (E.g. present continuous describes

actions taking place now but it can also refer to a future.) On the contrary it

is possible to find that several different forms are available in English to

express what seems to be a single function. (E.g. The variety of verb forms

which can be used to refer to future time)

7 RICHARDS: 2006, pp. 2-3

13

Contrast between English and mother tongue – When the English grammar

system works different from the learner’s native language difficulties arise

very easily. (E.g. Structure of tenses in English and other languages).

English is full of exceptions of grammar rules – Probably in every language

exist exceptions to the normal grammar rules and so it is also in English.

(E.g. past tense is usually created by adding –ed to the base form of the

verb but there is see → saw, drink → drank...). 8

Also teachers have difficulties with grammar. Teachers unlike the students do

not have problems with using of grammar rules but especially with their

explanation. G. Henrici and C. Riemer summarize 3 most common problems in

the following points:

Explanation of grammar in the interesting and motivating way

Understandable explanation of the grammar

Formulation of grammatical rules without unnecessary exceptions 9

From my own experience I can say that I have the biggest problem especially

with the interesting and motivating way of grammar presentation. However I

think it is not an invincible problem. The contemporary school equipment

enables to use computers, interactive smart boards and other tools popular

among pupils and so increases their motivation for grammar learning. This topic

will be described in detail in the practical part of my thesis.

8 HARMER: 1987, pp. 9-16

9 HENRICI; RIEMER: 1994, pp. 163-165

14

2. 2 Learners and their specifics

There are two main participants of the grammar learning process, teacher and

pupil. Pupil and teacher are in a close relationship and influence each other

every day. Pupils go to school to learn, cultivate and gain new knowledge and

experience but the cooperation with them is not usually easy. They are a big

challenge for teachers because they have a tendency to resist to learning

grammar from various reasons. In the following chapter some of their

characteristics are mentioned:

2. 2. 1 Age of learners

The main factor in the teacher's decision about how and what to teach is the

age of pupils. Students of different ages have different needs, competences and

cognitive skills. I use for the following short description of each age group of

learners the characteristic of Jeremy Harmer.

2. 2. 1. 1 Young children

Young children learn indirectly rather than directly. It means they learn from

everything around them, from games and various different types of activities.

They are curious and enthusiastic for learning, have a limited attention span

and need for individual attention. They are keen to talk about themselves and

appreciate if their personal lives are used as main topic in the classroom.

Therefore the teacher should use variety of sources, individual approach to

each pupil and use variety of activities for a given time period. The lessons

should be in bright and colourful classes and there should be various materials

and equipment to keep children interested by English learning.10

I have my own experience with teaching of young learners. My youngest pupils

are six years old. When I start to teach them they usually cannot even write and

read. Therefore the work with them is very specific. These children are very

often excellent at learning vocabulary when they have the right motivation, but it

is difficult to teach them using English in whole sentences. They are not yet able

10

HARMER: 2001, p. 38

15

to understand the rules in language therefore they cannot learn about language

as the oldest students. I teach them straight the whole phrases without their

deeper understanding. But these pupils have a huge brain capacity and they

are able to remember whole sentences or even the songs without explanation

of grammar.

2. 2. 1. 2 Adolescents

According to Harmer the second age group of learners are adolescents. They

are the most important group for this thesis. Teenage students are usually less

motivated and humorous than adults, often with discipline problems. Typical

adolescent property is searching for individual identity and resistance to the

authorities. They struggle for the classmates' not teacher's attention. That is one

of the reasons why the adolescents may be so disruptive in class. Other

important factors can be also boredom or personal problems. Adolescents often

push teachers to their limits, but they appreciate if the teacher is able to

manage the situation and control the class. On the other hand teenagers have

great capacity to learn, creativity and a commitment to the things which interest

them. Teachers should work with relevant and involving materials and support

self-esteem and identity of their students.11

Considering the teaching grammar adolescents differ from young learners a lot.

They already understand the rules in their mother tongue and know the basic

linguistics principles and terminology. Therefore their English teacher uses it

and applies their knowledge about mother tongue to foreign language.

Therefore pupils do not learn the grammar in foreign language straight but they

learn more about language rules and principles. The measure of the

explanation depends on the method of teaching.

2. 2. 1. 3 Adult learners

The last group of learners are adults. They are able to work with abstract

thoughts, they are disciplined and mainly they have a clear understanding of

why they are learning and what they want to achieve. Therefore they are often

11

HARMER: 2001, pp. 38-39

16

prepared to struggle on despite boredom or other difficulties in learning process.

Also they usually have their own set patterns of learning. But on the grounds of

their previous experience they can be critical to teacher's methods. Teachers do

not have to apply so many fun activities to their lessons. They can use

conscious learning more than by young children or adolescences but the

indirect learning is still very important.12

Adults learn grammar in the same way as adolescents, they learn about

language. I have taught also this age group of learners and from my point of

view this is the easiest group for grammar teaching. As mentioned above adults

usually have specific goals and a very strong motivation for learning. They are

concentrated and therefore they are able to learn grammar quite quickly.

2. 2. 2 Learning styles

Even if pupils are the same age, they are not able to learn in the same way.

Everybody has his/her own concept of learning called a learner style. It involves

natural and habitual patterns of acquiring and processing information in a

learning situation.13 There are a lot of theories of dividing students, some of

them follow:

2. 2. 2. 1 According to Keith Willing

The most logical typology seems to me the one based on personalities of

students. This kind of typology was created e. g. by Keith Willing. He divided

learners into four groups. The convengers are solitary, prefer to avoid groups

and rely on their own abilities. They are usually analytic and pragmatic. The

conformists prefer learning about the language. They are happy to work in non-

communicative classes. These learners do all the required exercises but they

have no need to really use the language. The concrete learners are interested

in language use and language as communication. The communicative learners

prefer the social interaction with other speakers. They enjoy the using of

language instead of analysis of how the language works and are able to use

12

HARMER: 2001, p. 40

13 JAMES; GARDNER: 1995, p. 67

17

language without the guidance of a teacher. This typology was used in the book

written by Jeremy Harmer.14

2. 2. 2. 2 According to Tony Wright

As a contrast to Keith Willing I chose a completely different typology created by

Tony Wright. He distinguishes learner styles according to students' learning

goals. The enthusiasts understand teacher as the centre of reference and are

orientated to the goals of learning group. The oraculars are also orientated to

the teacher but they try to achieve especially their own personal goals. The

participators tend to concentrate on group solidarity and goals. And the rebels

tend to satisfy just her or his own goals regardless of the teacher or the rest of

class.15

2. 2. 2. 3 According to Neil D. Fleming

As the third typology I decided to use probably the most common and widely

used categorization created by Neil D. Fleming. He divided learners according

to their preferred way of receiving information. Visual learners have a

preference for seeing. They need for successful learning pictures, charts or

symbols. Auditory learners learn especially through listening, they appreciate

tapes, songs or just teacher's oral explanation. Tactile/kinesthetic learners

prefer to learn via experience, e. g. by moving, touching, and doing.16

2. 2. 3. 4 Individual differences

According of Jeremy Harmer teacher must deal not only with different learners'

styles but also with individual differences of each student. All the English

students are different therefore the teaching is a very complex activity. The

teacher should start with recognition of students as individuals as well as being

members of a group. He should find out their language level and organize them

into groups to satisfy their social needs. The teacher must provide different

stimuli for the different learning styles. It is good for the teacher to keep the

14

WILLING in HARMER: 2001, p. 43 15

WRIGHT: 1987, pp. 117-118

16 HAWK, SHAH: 2007, pp. 6-7

18

records of what works and what does not work during the professional

experience. The teacher can use his own experience or the feedback from the

students. Teachers should try to find a compromise between the interests of

their students and curriculum they have to teach. It is not easy and lot of them

fail.17

2. 2. 4 Motivation

Pupils need for learning grammar also certain motivation. I consider motivation

one of the most important aspects of learning English grammar because

grammar itself is difficult and boring schoolwork therefore pupils need to find

some reason to learn it, they must be motivated. Bilanová, Lorencvičová and

Netolička write that motivation is necessary to reach given goals and it is a

relevant assumption for successful learning. Therefore it is important for

students to want to learn. If students do not want to learn, their learning is

inefficient and they do not learn much or even they learn nothing. According to

above mentioned authors motivation for pupils can be e. g.:

the feeling of success and good grades

Facebook or other type of social net on the Internet, where pupils want to

find friends from other countries

listening to English speaking singers and desire to understand them

computer games played online and the need to speak with other players

family travelling a lot and the need to communicate abroad

pressure from the parents to a pupil 18

2. 2. 4. 1 Affective filter

The influence of positive motivation to the effectiveness of learning was also

studied by an American linguist and author Stephen D. Krashen. He described

a phenomenon called affective fitter. Krashen defines the affective filter as "a

mental block, caused by affective factors e. g. high anxiety, low self-esteem,

low-motivation … that prevents input from reaching the language acquisition

17

HARMER: 2001, p. 48

18 BILANOVÁ; LORENCOVIČOVÁ; NETOLIČKA: 2010, pp. 17-18

19

device."19 The article published on eldstrategies.com explains that the affective

filter is an invisible psychological filter that can either facilitate or slow down

language production in a second language. Affective filters can be raised or

lowered as a result of the environment that learners are in and it is individual for

everyone. The example is a situation when somebody has to stay in front of

class to present a paper. Many people might naturally have a low affective filter

in this type of situation because of their personal disposition. However, many

people might have the affective filter extremely high. These people will sweat

and become nervous and it will be extremely difficult for them to give a good

performance. In other words nervous students may not learn as well as relaxed

students. 20

2. 2. 4. 2 Types of motivation

Motivation can be classified by several ways. The most famous classification

was described e. g. by American psychologists Rod Plotnik and Haig

Kouyoumdjian. They distinguish between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform behaviour or

engage in an activity in order to earn a reward or avoid a punishment.

Behaviours that are the result of extrinsic motivation are e. g.:

studying because a learner want to get a good grade

competing in a contest in order to win a scholarship

participating in a sport in order to win award

Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in a behaviour because it is personally

rewarding; essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than the

desire for some external reward. Behaviours that are the result of intrinsic

motivation include e. g.:

participating in a sport because a child finds the activity enjoyable

solving a word puzzle because it is challenging and interesting

19

KRASHEN: 1985, p. 100

20 http://eldstrategies.com/affectivefilter.html

20

playing a game because a child finds it exciting 21

Psychologists also distinguish between long-term and short-term motivation.

Long-term motivation lasts for several weeks, months or even years. Short-term

motivation is more intensive and powerful but it works only for a short while.

2. 2. 4. 3 Motivation influenced by teacher

I can say from my personal experience that motivation is not determined only by

goals but also by a type of teaching. Every teacher has his/her own way of

teaching. Also pupils are different and therefore every student prefers other type

of learning. Some students may learn one way but have difficulties learning

from another way of teaching. Therefore teacher should use various techniques

and methods to gain the interest of as many students as possible. Teacher

should create a connection between the English and interests of his/her

students. Everybody likes something else, but all learners should know that they

will need the English in their future.

Success and good grades are the main motivational aspect for the majority of

young students. It fills all learners with the feeling they have reached something.

Therefore successful students have bigger motivation for learning grammar.

There are several ways how teachers can support their pupils and increase

their motivation. The following list is borrowed from Bilanová, Lorencvičová and

Netolička:

Teacher should use the praise and other kinds of appreciation a lot. Each

pupil wants to feel the success and the success increases the interest.

Pupils should exactly know what their task is und how much time they need

to finish it. However everybody should have enough time. It is not good to

appreciate only the fastest students.

Teacher is in the class for students. He should be willing to help them if they

need it, in the class or in the after-school consultation.

21

PLOTNIK; KOUYOUMDJIAN: 2011 in CHERRY [online]

21

Teacher must not make fun of students because of their bad performance or

making a mistake. He can never use sarcasm or irony.

Teacher should use sentences and examples close to students, e.g. typical

sentence for practising present perfect is: ―Have you ever been in England?‖

Most of pupils have not been there, so it is better to ask e. g. ―Have you ever

had something broken?‖

Teacher may connect English with personal interest of pupils. Pupils must

be in touch with English out of the school to be persuaded about the

meaningfulness of English. It is good to use their favourite music, serials or

photos from holiday.

Teacher should use different types of activities. It is possible to prepare the

lesson aimed to grammar, but it is not effective for learners to work in the

grammar exercises all the time.

Teacher should use illustrative nature during the explanation. Pupils like

pictures and other aids used in the lesson.

Especially, teacher must be enthusiastic! A bored teacher moves his bad

mood to his students.22

With this chapter we moved to the other participant of educational process, to

the teacher.

22

BILANOVÁ; LORENCOVIČOVÁ; NETOLIČKA: 2010, pp. 21-25

22

2. 3 Teachers and their tasks

Teacher is the necessary participant of educational process. He/she is the

person deciding about structure of lessons and so about the way of grammar

presentation and practicing. The good grammar teacher must choose

appropriate methods and tools to the age and other specifics of his/her pupils

but teacher has a lot of other tasks and roles.

2. 3.1. Teacher's Role

According to Jeremy Harmer teacher of each subject changes a lot of roles

every day. Every teacher is e. g. an organiser of activities in the classroom,

controller of learners and their work, assessor and observer of pupils'

knowledge, resource of information, prompter, motivator etc.23 But which role is

typical for an English grammar teacher?

I think that the role of English grammar teacher is closely connected with the

role of grammar in English lessons. It has been already said that English

teachers used especially grammar-translation method in the past. Teacher

explained the grammatical rules and learners received them passively. The

teacher was an authority and controller with knowledge-giving role.

But the role of the teacher has changed in last few decades. In recent years

great emphasis has been put on "learner-centred" teaching. Pupils do not

receive information passively anymore. Their needs and experiences are the

centre of modern teaching. The measure of a good lesson is the student

activity, not the performance of the teacher. The new teachers' role can be

described as a facilitator. He is a guide and helper.

Chyi-ching Kao, a professor of Applied English at Yuanpei University, compares

in his work different approaches of English teachers to grammar teaching. He

says that not all methodologist agree with the learner-centred teaching,

because the old-fashioned teacher's "knowledge-giving role" has worked for

23

HARMER: 2001, p. 57

23

many centuries very effectively. A lot of students are even convenient with this

attitude, but the learner-centred classes with communicative approach are

required from the teachers of these days.

According to Kao the syllabus of an English lesson is not organized around

grammar any more, but around subject matter, tasks, projects or semantic

notion. The teacher's role is primarily to facilitate language use and

communication. There is a little or no place in a communicative classroom to

teach grammar. This approach supposes that pupils absorb all the grammar

they need from communicative activities. But researchers point to the fact that a

lot of learners are not able to use the language correctly without some focus on

form. Grammar teachers are confronted with a paradox. On the one hand they

should use the communicative approach of which nature is not teaching

grammar separately; on the other hand pupils are often not able to understand

grammar principles without separate explanation. The role of English teacher

varies with changes of English teaching approaches.24

According to my opinion language teachers can be divided into two groups. The

first group believes in grammarless communicative approach, the second group

in grammar integrated communicative approach. In both approaches is the role

almost identical. The most accurate description is probably a facilitator. As an

English language teacher, I agree that grammar should be integrated in the

communicative approach.

2. 3. 2 Language in the classroom

The basic question for many teachers is the language in the English lesson.

Radka Břenková mentions in her thesis that the classes in the Czech Republic

are usually taught by a non-native English teacher but some schools employ

also native speakers especially to practise conversation with pupils. Czech

teachers have to decide between monolingual principle and using the mother

tongue and translation in classrooms.25

24

CHYI-CHING KAO: 2009, pp. 256-258

25 BŘENKOVÁ: 2007, p. 19

24

During their studies teachers are usually led to use only foreign languages

during their classes. There are several reasons for this principle described by

Jayne Moon, an author of books about learning and teaching English:

It increases the amount of situations when pupils are in touch with English.

It provides real reasons for using English to speak, e.g. in giving instructions.

It can motivate pupils to want to learn.

Much classroom language has a repetitive pattern and pupils can adopt it

without knowing they are learning.

Pupils are encouraged to think in English from the early stages.26

A lot of linguists support this concept. In connection with this topic I would like to

mention the statement of David Atkinson, a lecturer at University of Limerick,

who said: “Every second spent using the mother tongue is a second not spent

using English! – And every second counts” 27 But this monolingual principle has

also a lot of disadvantages, the following ones are mentioned by Jayne Moon

again:

It can take a long time to explain something and pupils can lose interest or

concentration.

Teachers may have limited English and they may give pupils incorrect

models.

It can take longer time to cover the syllabus.

Some activities can be too difficult for pupils because they have limited

English.

For pupils who are not highly motivated, it may involve too much effort to try

to understand.28

26

MOON: 2000, p. 63

27 ATKINSON: 1993, p. 12

28 MOON: 2000, p. 63

25

Most of the English teachers fail in their effort to speak only English sooner or

later, especially because of the above mentioned reasons. Some of them feel

ashamed of using mother tongue in their lessons and they understand it as their

personal failure. On the other hand a lot of linguists and teachers disagree. One

of them is e. g. Wolfgang Butzkamm, a professor of English as a foreign

language in Aachen. He argues that having the ability to speak the first

language of learners is a gift to be valued. He says: „Using the mother tongue,

we have learned to think, learned to communicate and acquired an intuitive

understanding of grammar. The mother tongue opens the door not only to its

own grammar, but to all grammar, in as much as it awakens the potential for

universal grammar that lies within all of us. For this reason, the mother tongue

is the master key to foreign languages, the tool which gives us the fastest, most

sure, most precise, and most complete means of accessing a foreign

language.“ 29

I agree also with a statement of Peter McKenzie-Brown who writes: "This

practice is essentially a product of the twentieth century. In no other age have

language teachers been forbidden as a matter of principle to communicate with

their students in their native tongue." 30

Both principles have their supporters and opponents. I cannot unequivocally

decide for just one of them but I can say that English should be the main

language in the classroom. To finish this topic I would like to mention the

opinion of Radka Břenková that I agree with. She wrote that maybe the question

of language is not so important, because the aim of teachers is not to prepare

lessons where pupils speak only English, but such lessons where an adequate

usage of both languages leads to the greatest effect on children’s ability to use

English.31

29

BUTZKAMM: 2003, pp. 30-33

30 http://languageinstinct.blogspot.cz/2006/11/using-mother-tongue-to-teach-another.html

31 BŘENKOVÁ: 2007, p. 23

26

2. 3. 3 Teaching grammar

Teachers usually divide grammar lessons into three phases: Presentation,

Practice and Production. One of the best ways of helping students to reach the

objectives of the lesson is to introduce the new language well in the first phase

of the lesson: the presentation phase. Then, students need to have plenty of

activities to help them to practice the new language. This is the practice phase.

Lastly, the students need time to use the new language they have learned in

order to communicate with each other. This is the production phase.

2. 3. 3. 1 Presentation of grammar

Jeremy Harmer says about the first phase that presentation is the stage at

which students are introduced to the form, meaning and issue of a new piece of

language. Students learning a new grammar should apply this new rule to

themselves. This experience is known as personalization. Presentation should

be clear, efficient, lively, interesting, appropriate and productive. To achieve all

these characteristics the teacher can use various teaching aids e.g. charts,

dialogues, mini-situations, text for contrast or for grammar explanation etc.32

According to Claudia Riemer and Gert Henrici, the German linguists and

authors of books about teaching of foreign languages, teachers can choose

3 different ways of grammar presentation.

The inductive method = Students must first meet with a specific example

from which they derive a new grammatical rule. The benefit of this method is

the fact that students must think actively about the language, it is motivating

and this way of presentation leads to independence and self-activity of

learners. But on the other hand, it takes a long time and sometimes it is

difficult for students to derive the new rule without any help.

The deductive method = The teacher formulates at first a grammatical rule

that students practice then on examples. This approach is faster than

inductive method. It is more systematic and therefore easier to implement.

32

HARMER: 2001, pp. 17-19

27

But the students are passive, they have only a little motivation and therefore

it is not an effective way of teaching.

The analytic-deductive method = At first, students work with example

sentences and then formulate and analyze the grammatical rule together

with their teacher. This rule is then practiced in different exercises. The

analytic-deductive method is very creative, interesting and effective for

pupils but it requires very careful preparation of teachers and for starting

teachers it can be difficult. 33

The first and third method use so called discovery techniques. Jeremy Harmer

explain them as those where students are given examples of language and told

to find out how the language works – to discover grammar rules rather than to

be told them. Students can be asked to look at some sentences and say how

the meaning is expressed and what are the differences between the sentences.

The teacher can use preview, matching techniques, text study, problem-solving

etc. as a discovery technique. 34

Whether the teacher chooses any method, his presentation should include

following structure. The structure is inspired by a material on web pages of

Institute of American and English Studies at University of Debrecen.

building up an appropriate context in which the grammar rule can be better

understood

explaining target structure in a marker sentence

drilling target structure

focusing on form, demonstrating how structure is formed

focusing on meaning, check understanding of meaning through concept

checking question

providing written model on board 35

33

HENRICI; RIEMER: 1994, pp. 163-165 34

HARMER: 2001, p. 30

35 http://ieas.unideb.hu/admin/file_1402.pdf

28

2. 3. 3. 2 Practice of grammar

After presentation teacher needs to plan the second or the practice phase of the

lesson. The aim of this stage is to give pupils thorough practice of target items,

so that they will be able to use them correctly and fluently. The practice stage

usually starts with fully teacher-controlled activities and continues with less

controlled ones to relatively free communicative tasks. The activities can be

divided into two groups. The following types of exercises are borrowed from

Adrian Doff, an experienced teacher trainer.

Mechanical Practice – At this stage of the lesson the teacher gives students

practice in forming the structure. It should be a controlled kind of practice that

will be done very quickly. The teacher can use e. g.:

Repetition – The teacher presents different examples and the students

repeat them.

o Teacher: I am sitting.

o Pupils: I am sitting.

Substitution – Student repeat what the teacher said, but they replace some

specific element in each sentence.

o Teacher: I am sitting.

o Pupils: I am speaking. I am learning....

Single word prompt: Teacher gives a word as a prompt and the students

give examples.

o Teacher: playing

o Pupils: We are playing.

o Teacher: sitting

o Pupils: We are sitting.

Picture prompt: The teacher shows pictures and pupils create sentences

about what are they seeing, e.g. teacher shows a picture with a sitting man

and pupils make sentence “He is sitting.”

Free substitution: Pupils create their own sentences based on the model

presented by the teacher.36

36

DOFF: 1990, pp. 32-42

29

In my opinion these types of exercises are necessary for practicing of any

grammar aspect. I use it in all my classes and I think it really helps students to

make a new rule automatic. Considering the number of pupils in one class there

is not always time for oral exercising but I use especially printed materials at

this stage. It is quite surprising for me that not all textbooks use the mechanical

practice. I work with three textbooks at my current school and in this respect all

of them are different. One of them uses it minimally, the other contains quite a

lot these exercises of this type and in the last one it is an inseparable part of

every lesson. The textbooks will be mentioned in detail in the practical part of

my thesis.

Meaningful Practice – It is the second stage of practice following the

mechanical type of activities. At this stage pupils not only create the form but

they also have to work with content. Learners have to think and understand

what they are saying. At this stage teachers can use e. g. following activities

borrowed from Adrian Doff again:

True sentences – Teacher ask students to say real information about

themselves by using specific structure, e. g.:

Teacher: I like chocolate, but I don't like vegetables. What about you?

Pupil: I like music and movies, but I don't like sport....

Situation – Teacher creates specific situation in which the pupils have to use

the new grammar structure, e.g.:

Teacher: You are a stranger asking about places in the town.

Pupil: Is there a café near here?

Teacher: You want to see a film.

Pupil: Is there a cinema near here? ...

Adding something – The teacher can ask questions and let the students add

something of their own, e. g.:

Teacher: Where are you going?

Pupil: I am going to the station.

Teacher: Why? ...

Choosing the best sentence – The teacher describes a situation and gives

pupils an opportunity to choose from two or more forms the one most

30

suitable for the context. The contrast between two options may sensitize

pupils to the differences, e. g.:

Teacher: I am in the middle of teaching, what should I say? ―I am teaching

English.‖ or ―I teach English.‖

Imaginary situations: The teacher asks pupil to imagine a situation that is not

real, the pupil talks about it, e. g.:

Teacher: Imagine you are at home in the middle of doing something. Tell me

about your activity.

Talking about real life – It works as the previous activity, but the pupil talks

about real life.

Teacher: Tell me what are you doing?

Pupil: I am sitting and learning English. I am listening. I am taking note. ...37

2. 3. 3. 3 Production of grammar

It is the communicative phase with the aim to use the grammar structures pupils

have been practicing in a natural way. Communicative activities which are

possible to use are:

A reply to a letter

Report

Discussion

Role-play

Guessing game

Interview

2. 3. 3. 4 Testing grammar

Some linguists mention also the fourth part of grammar teaching, testing.

Jeremy Harmer says that the main aim of tests is to see if pupils have learnt

and acquired the new language and to provide feedback for the teacher as well

as for the learners. Teachers usually use a written test for testing grammar. The

use of oral test would be definitely more effective but no one has come up with

a solution to the problems of time and organisation with oral tests for large

numbers of learners in the class. But also a preparation of good written test is

37

DOFF: 1990, pp. 32-42

31

very difficult and demands skill and patience. Learners can fail the test, not just

because of their lack of knowledge or preparation, but also because of the test

itself. 38 Therefore teachers should keep in mind several basic rules. Scott

Thornbury writes about six important features which should be involved in every

test:

Practicality = Possibility to design, administer, mark and interpret a test very

easily.

Reliability = Degree to which an evaluation gives consistent result each time

it is used.

Validity = Degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.

Face validity = Ability to convince learners that the test is fair.

Backwash = Ability to positively influence the teaching.

Spin-off = Possibility to use the test later on for review. 39

Teachers can use various types of exercises for testing. Jeremy Harmer

suggests e.g. multiple choice. In multiple choice tasks learners have to choose

the correct answer from a number of alternatives. Fill-ins are types of tests

where students usually fill a blank with only one word. They are not difficult to

write even though it can be complicated to assure that only one answer is

possible. Fill-in items usually ask for only one word. But students can complete

a sentence with more than one. This type of exercise enables more than one

solution and is called sentence completions. Teacher can test knowledge of

syntax by sentence reordering. Test of learners’ knowledge of syntax and

structure is sentence transformation. Transforming sentences requires a lot of

grammatical knowledge and learners should be prepared beforehand for this

type of exercise. For testing the ability to write the teacher can use sentence

writing or parallel writing. Sentence writing is usually used for describing a

picture; parallel writing requires imitating some piece of text.40

38

HARMER: 2001, p. 57 39

THORNBURY: 1999, p. 143 40

HARMER: 2001, pp. 60-67

32

2. 4 Approaches and Methods

In this chapter I would like to describe which approaches teachers can choose

for presentation and practising English and what role is played by grammar in

these approaches. At first it is important to specify the main terms. Jeremy

Harmer distinguishes in connection with this topic two terms, approach and

method.

An Approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the

language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote

successful language learning.

A Method is the practical realisation of an approach.41

Both terms are closely connected to each other and the border between them is

very thin. During my studies and teaching experience I have met with different

classifications of approaches and methods. In the following pages I use the

classification according to Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson because

with this conception I have met the most often.

2. 4. 1 The Grammar-Translation Method 42

The goal of this method is to prepare students for reading literature in the target

language and to give them complete knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.

The ability to communicate in the target language is not as important as reading

and writing. Therefore almost no attention is paid to speaking and listening

skills. The main activities are translation and doing grammar exercises. Teacher

controls all activities, he has the superior position. The main language in class

is the mother tongue.

Grammar: Grammar has in this method very important position because the

grammar translation method is based on it. Grammar rules are presented

and studied deductively. Pupils have to memorize grammar rules and should

be conscious of them to be able to translate correctly.

41

HARMER: 2001, p. 78

42 LARSEN-FREEMAN, ANDERSON: 2011, p. 13-24

33

2. 4. 2 The Direct Method 43

This method was developed as a response to the grammar-translation method.

The goal of this method is to communicate and think in the target language. No

translation is allowed; therefore students use only the target language. Teacher

should demonstrate new vocabulary, not explain or translate it. Language in the

classroom is primarily spoken, not. The teacher is not such an authority; he/she

is more a partner of students.

Grammar: Grammar rules are not taught or explained in any way, everything

is learned inductively. Pupils gain grammar knowledge unconsciously

through speaking and reading.

2. 4. 3 The Audio-lingual Method 44

The goal of this method is to use the target language communicatively. The

method is focused on developing listening and speaking skills. It uses the

assumption that language learning is the gaining of a set of correct language

habits. The method is based on drill exercises – pupils repeat grammatical

patterns until they are able to produce them spontaneously. Teacher controls

the lesson, he/she has the superior position. The only language in the class is

the target language.

Grammar: Grammar is learned from models. It is taught by drill to support

speaking and listening although no specific grammar rules are given.

Everything is simply memorized in form. The method supposes that after

some time the grammar will become automatic.

2. 4. 3. 1 Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP) 45

Jeremy Harmer speaks in connection with the audio-lingual method with so

called PPP. It is a variation on audio-lingualism used especially in British-based

teaching. In this method the teacher introduces a situation which contextualises

the language to be taught. The students practise the language using accurate

43

LARSEN-FREEMAN, ANDERSON: 2011, pp. 25-34

44 Ibid 35-54

45 HARMER: 2001, p. 82-83

34

reproduction techniques but in contrast to Audio-lingualism all the sentences

are specified by the situation and context.

2. 4. 4 Total Physical response Method (TPR) 46

The goal of this method is to provide an enjoyable learning experience with

minimum stress. Students do not have to speak before they are ready for it.

Meanings of words are made clear through actions. Teacher gives the

commands and students follow them. Students can respond physically at first

(e. g. by gestures) or they can respond to the instructor in their native language.

If they are ready, they start with speaking. While the majority of class time is

spent on listening comprehension, the goal of the method is to develop oral

fluency.

Grammar: Lessons are organized around grammar, and in particular around

verbs. The teacher gives commands based on the verbs and vocabulary to

be learned in that lesson. Grammar is not explicitly taught, but is learned

from the imperatives of the teacher. The learning is inductive. Students are

expected to subconsciously acquire the grammar rules.

2. 4. 5 The Communicative Language Teaching 47

The goal of this approach is to prepare students for various types of

communicative situations in given social context. It is the reaction against the

grammar-translation and the audio-lingual methods. It emphasizes the learner's

ability to use language appropriately. The emphasis is put on the using of

authentic language, it is language used in a real context. Teacher is not an

authority but a facilitator creating a relaxed class atmosphere and adviser

during the activities. Typical activities are games, role-plays, and problem-

solving tasks.

Grammar: Teachers use inductive explanation of grammar. Knowledge of

grammar rules is not the goal of this approach; therefore teachers do not

correct every mistake. All the grammar and vocabulary that pupils learn

follow from the function and the situational context.

46

LARSEN-FREEMAN, ANDERSON: 2011, pp. 105-115

47 Ibid 115-130

35

2. 4. 6 The Eclectic Approach

I have also met with a specific approach that is based on all the previous ones.

This approach allows language teachers to absorb the best techniques of all the

well known language-teaching methods into their classroom according to the

fact what of is the most suitable for specific situation and group of pupils.

36

2. 5 Framework Education Programme for Elementary

Education

An English lesson in the Czech Republic is not determined only by the choice of

appropriate approach or method, a teacher and his/her pupils, but also by the

conception of Ministry of Education. This conception is explained in the

Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. This programme

specifies general goals of education and key competences important for

development of pupils' personalities, defines expected results of education and

determines rules for creation of School Education Programmes including

Educational plans for specific subjects. FEP determines what specifically all the

learners should know when they leave the elementary school. The outputs for

foreign languages are based on Common European Framework of Reference

for Languages. All school-leavers should handle following skills. The list of

outcomes is borrowed from Jaroslav Jeřábek and Jan Tupý, persons

responsible for the Framework Education Programme.

2. 5. 1 Receptive language skills

Expected Outcomes

The pupil shall:

read texts of appropriate length aloud fluently and with correct pronunciation

understand the content of simple texts in textbooks; find familiar

expressions, phrases and answers to questions in texts

understand simple and clearly articulated statement and conversation

deduce a probable meaning of new words from the context

use a bilingual dictionary, find information or the meaning of a word in a

suitable explanatory monolingual dictionary

2. 5. 2 Productive language skills

Expected Outcomes

The pupil shall:

create a simple (both oral and written) expression concerned with a situation

related to family, school life and other common thematic areas

37

create simple sentences and short texts using correct grammar

retell briefly the content of a text, statement as well as conversation of

suitable difficulty

request simple information

2. 5. 3 Interactive language skills

Expected Outcomes

The pupil shall:

make himself/herself understood in a simple manner in common everyday

situations

2. 5. 4 Subject matters

simple messages – addressing someone and reacting to being addressed,

welcoming greetings, saying good-bye, introductions, apologies, reacting to

apologies, expressing thanks and reacting to being thanked, requests,

wishes, congratulations, requests for help etc.

basic relations – existential (Who?), spatial (Where?), temporal (When?),

qualitative (What? Which? How?), quantitative (How many/ much?)

thematic areas – home, family, housing, school, leisure time and hobbies,

personal letters, forms, questionnaires, sport, healthcare, eating, town,

clothing, shopping, nature, weather, man and society and other topics

related to the everyday life

vocabulary and word formation

grammatical structures and sentence types, lexical principles of

orthographyl48

It is obvious that grammar is mentioned only in the last line and this mention is

really unspecified. Every school can specify the grammar curriculum in its

School Education Programmes. It is not specified in which grade e. g. "present

continuous" must be taught or if it actually must be taught. School has great

autonomy in connection with grammar presentation, but nothing written in the

48

JEŘÁBEK; TUPÝ: 2007, pp. 23-25

38

School Education Programme can be in conflict with Framework Education

Programme.

The Ministry of Education created only a recommendation how the School

Education Programme could look like. It was supposed to serve as a support for

teachers by the creation of School Educational Programmes. According to this

material the suggested level of grammar knowledge e. g. for pupils at the end of

the 9th grade is following. Pupils can use:

the definite and indefinite article

the present simple and continuous

present perfect and using of "since" and "for"

the past simple and continuous

particles "too" and "enough"

modal verbs

punctuation49

However it depends on the decision of each school if its teachers create similar

curriculum or use a completely different one. According to my opinion it is a

good idea that the curricula are not standardized for each school and each

grade. It enables to adapt presentation and practising English to specific needs

of pupils.

49

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports: 2011, pp. 42-43

39

3 Practical part

3. 1 Aims and methods

The practical part of my master thesis is focused on teachers' and pupils'

relationship to grammar. As a tool for gaining information I chose questionnaires

intended separately for teachers and for their learners. By means of these

questionnaires I tried to find out:

how learners understand the term grammar

what is the pupils relationship to learning grammar

if learners consider grammar an important part of English learning

what is the most difficult grammar phenomenon for pupils

what they like about learning grammar and English generally

what pupils do not like about learning English

In the second part of my research I concentrated on the similar topic but from

the teachers' point of view. Teachers were supposed to provide me following

information:

how important is grammar by the evaluating of pupils

what they consider the most problematic grammar aspect for their students

which methods and tools they use for teaching English

which textbook they use and how satisfied they are with this book

I expect that on the basis of all the answers I will be able to describe how

English grammar is taught at schools near my residence and how their pupils

are satisfied with methods and tools used in English lessons. I also would like to

suggest some ideas for improvement and add commentaries based on my

teaching experience.

I gained sources for the practical part of my master thesis at three schools. All

of them are in the Central Bohemian Region and they are located near my

residence. I looked for different types of schools, therefore my schools differ in

location, size, number of pupils or concept of teaching. The important aspect by

40

choosing the schools was also willingness of the headmaster and English

teachers to cooperate with me. Finally I found following schools:

3. 1. 1 Characteristics of schools

ZŠ Pšovka - It is a smaller school in the periphery of town Mělník with the

school educational programme called "Man, think of other people!", and with no

specialization. It has only one class in each grade. The school has 244 pupils

taught by 17 teachers. Only two of them are English teachers. The current

English teachers are not qualified but they teach only temporarily. The original

qualified teachers are at the maternity leave right now. Pupils in each grade are

divided into two language groups, therefore there are on an average only 14

pupils in one English class. In the English lessons pupils use Project textbooks.

Pupils start with English already in the first grade.

The school has very good equipment used in classes. Interactive white boards

are in every class and teachers use them regularly. The school owns interactive

text books for every subject and teachers use them also on a daily basis. Pupils

can choose from a lot of after-school activities and the school organizes besides

others things tours to England regularly. In recent years, the school has gained

a good reputation among parents.

ZŠ Václava Havla – It is a medium-sized school in town Kralupy nad Vltavou.

The name of the school educational Programme is "The school of cognition"

and it is focused especially on science subjects. The school has two classes in

each grade. It has 365 pupils, especially from the near housing estate, and 26

teachers.

The school needs three English teachers but currently has only two, both of

them are qualified. However there are two outside workers who teach three

English lessons a week. Pupils are usually taught English in groups of 23, only

in the eighth grade there are less learners. Pupils use different types of

textbooks in their English lessons. In the previous years the English teachers

have changed a lot and each of them preferred a different conception of

41

education. As the result there are disunited editions of textbooks - Angličtina

written by Marie Zahálková, English Plus and Project. Children started with

English in the third grade.

The school is not equipped as well as ZŠ Pšovka. The interactive white boards

are in seven classes and they are not used by all teachers. The school has no

interactive textbooks. There are only a few after-school activities and the school

does not organise any tours.

ZŠ Veltrusy – Veltrusy is a very small town between Kralupy nad Vltavou and

Mělník. The local medium-sized school is attended especially by the children

from surrounding villages. The name of the school educational Programme is "I

learn for my future life" and it is focused on science subjects.

The school has 404 pupils and 27 teachers, four of them are English teachers -

not a single one has a teaching specialization for this subject. Pupils learn

English in groups of at least 17 and at most 23 learners. They start with English

in the third grade. Pupils use textbooks from the edition Way to Win.

The equipment is comparable with ZŠ Václava Havla but pupils have a really

big choice of after-school activities. The school organizes among others things

tours to England and cooperates with a native speaker on the daily basis.

42

3. 2 Questionnaire for pupils

The questionnaire for pupils was anonymous. It is focused on children at lower-

secondary school level. Total number of pupils answering the questionnaire is

282 in the age range 11 – 14 years. Boys and girls are represented

approximately in the same proportion.

The questionnaire contains seven questions. It attempts to find out what pupils

think about grammar and its importance and which aspect of English grammar

is the most difficult for them. Pupils were also supposed to evaluate the positive

and negative aspects of their English lessons.

On the following pages there are particular questions analyzed in detail. Each

question is accompanied with a graphical illustration.

3. 2. 1 In your opinion what is "grammar"? How would you describe it?

This question is open and it is probably one of the reasons why it was the most

difficult one from the whole questionnaire for the majority of pupils. Most of the

children tried to answer but not all of them were able to explain it or at least give

an example. 28% of pupils explained grammar as writing without mistakes or

correct writing. It is interesting that almost everybody from this group of 80

pupils connected grammar with the written language. Only three children

mentioned that it could be also "speaking" without mistakes. 15% of pupils tried

to explain grammar with an example. The most frequent answer was: Grammar

is, e. g., use of correct tenses, forms of verbs or prepositions. 11% of children

described grammar as a system of rules used in language to be

understandable. 8% of pupils used for explanation just one word – orthography.

3% of respondents explained grammar as word order or sentence structure.

20% of pupils did not answer this question at all or their answer was: I don´t

know. The rest of students wrote an answer, but it was far from the truth. They

described grammar as pronunciation, reading, writing, exercises,

communication, notes in notebook, important part of language or vocabulary.

43

In the theoretical part the grammar was defined in two ways. According to

Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, grammar means "The rules in a

language for changing the form of words and joining them into sentences.50"

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines grammar as "The

study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are

combined into sentences. There are two basic elements in this definition: the

rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules.51"

It is obvious that the best answer given by pupils is Grammar is system of rules

in a language. These students understand the meaning of word "grammar" very

well. I consider correct answers also orthography and writing without mistakes.

These learners probably understand that the language has its rules and it is

unwanted to break them by doing mistakes.

I decided to consider other answers incorrect. Students giving example as using

tenses, articles or prepositions pointed to only a small part of grammar. I had

the same problem with learners who answered that grammar is correct word

order because it is also only very specific part of whole grammar.

50

HORNBY: 2000, p. 516

51 HARMER: 1991, p. 1

44

The answers in each class were very specific. There seems to be no similarities

among the pupils of the same grade. Pupils seem to have their own ideas about

grammar regardless of the age, but I found out an interesting thing when I

compared answers divided according to schools. Pupils at schools in Mělník

and Veltrusy have almost the same ratio of correct and false answer and the

false answers have the strong superiority in numbers. Pupils at school in

Kralupy have the ratio of answers reversely. There are noticeably more correct

answers than the false ones.

It is difficult to say what could have influenced the answers so much. It could

have been the qualification of the teachers or textbooks used in lessons. The

way of grammar presentation by teachers may also influence the results. But

there is no evidence for these theories. It is also a question if the understanding

of the term grammar says something about real knowledge of learners. Maybe

pupils do not know what exactly grammar is but yet they might speak English

better than pupils who answered that grammar is system of rules in a language.

3. 2. 2 Do you think the grammar is an important aspect of English

lessons?

Learning grammar is not popular among pupils. English tenses or prepositions

are absolutely incomprehensible for some students. The goal of today's English

lessons is communication. Teachers should focus especially on speaking and

grammar should be only a marginal part of English supporting the

45

communicative competence. The results of this question are therefore quite

surprising. The question was closed and children could choose from three

answers "yes", "a little" and "no". 86 % of pupils wrote that grammar is

important. 13% of respondents think that grammar is important only a little. And

only 1% of respondents (2 pupils) chose the possibility, that grammar is not

important at all. The ratio of answers a, b and c was almost the same in all

classes at all three schools. The answers were not influenced by age or place of

living.

It is interesting that so many pupils consider grammar so important. They

probably gained this opinion from their teachers and it could mean that the

communicative approach in English classes is not as common as it should be in

these days.

This conclusion is also supported by the research called "Europeans and their

languages" published by the company Eurobarometer for European

Commission at the end of 2012. The research explored the ability of all nations

in European Union to use English in everyday life. The results of this research

show that Czech young people are the third worst from all explored countries.

Only 19% of people at the age of 15-35 are able to use English actively.52 One

of the reasons of this sad result could be the already mentioned demand of

grammar knowledge and lack of communicative tasks during lessons.

52

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf

46

3. 2. 3 How do you evaluate the presentation and exercising of grammar in

your English lessons?

This question is closely connected with the previous one related to the

importance of grammar. It tries to find out the relationship of pupils to learning

grammar. They question is closed therefore pupils were supposed to choose of

four possibilities. 13% of children wrote that grammar is boring for them. 62% of

respondents gave an answer that they do not mind the grammar and for 21% of

respondents is grammar in their English lessons even interesting and they like

it. 4% of pupils chose the option "other answer". Most of them gave the

explanation that they do not like grammar but they think it is important, so they

do their best to learn it.

As well as in the previous two questions, the ratio of answers was almost the

same in all the classes. In each class there was the most common answer "b"

followed by the answers "c" and "a".

In my opinion this answer is very surprising. I hear from my pupils quite often

that the grammar is so difficult. Now I can see that 62% of them do not mind

English grammar and 21% of them even like it. However results of this question

are very closely connected with the results of the previous one. I suppose that

pupils who consider grammar important have high or at least average

motivation to learn it. And it has already been said in the chapter about

motivation that if learners understand importance of the schoolwork and know

47

that it is useful also in everyday life, their motivation is higher and study results

are better.

3. 2. 4 Which aspect of English grammar is for you the most difficult?

This answer was open and pupils were asked to write one or more grammatical

phenomenon. It is probably no surprise that the most difficult aspect of English

language is considered grammar tenses. Some students mentioned one

specific tense, other students answered that they fight with English tenses

generally. Other common answers were passive voice, prepositions, articles,

pronouns, formation of questions, conditional clauses and formation of negative

sentences. A lot of students also answer that they do not have a problem with

anything. Some of pupils wrote a completely different answer, they have a

problem with everything.

For 91 students the biggest problem is the structure of English tenses, this

opinion makes 28% of all answers. Some students wrote one of them, other

students answered that they have problems with English tenses generally.

According to my questionnaires the most problematic tense is the present

perfect. "Tenses" was the most common answer in all grades at all three

schools. This answer was also mentioned by teachers in the second part of my

research but it was not as common as in the pupils' questionnaires. I can

48

confirm that my students also struggle with tenses quite often. They are usually

able to distinguish between present simple and present continuous as well as

between past simple and past continuous without big problems but the

frequently mentioned present perfect is problematic in all my classes.

Considering the difference between Czech and English system of tenses is

quite understandable that pupils consider English tenses so difficult.

More surprising than the first answer is the second one. Thirty-seven children

answered that English grammar is not especially difficult for them; this answer

makes 12% of the total number. It is interesting that this reply was frequent in all

grades at school in Kralupy nad Vltavou. Some pupils from other two schools

also answered this way but not so often. It is a question if pupils in Kralupy are

really better in English than pupils at other two schools or if they just have

greater confidence in their abilities. Anyway both options are definitively

positive. I can only guess why the school in Kralupy differs from other two. It

could be influenced by the qualification of teachers or the way they present

grammar in lessons but I cannot confirm this statement by any evidence.

The third most common answer is the passive voice. It was mentioned by 27

people, it is 8% from total number of answers. The passive voice is problem

especially for students in the eighth and ninth grade. It is interesting because

the passive voice is already presented in the sixth grade but the six graders

mentioned it only three times. For me this answer is surprising because I do not

see any problem with this grammar in my lessons. My pupils use it right in tests

as well as in speaking; nevertheless they considered it a problem. The same

conclusion follows from the teachers' part of my research. Teachers did not

mention this option once. I did not expect this answer also because passive

voices in Czech and English are made identically.

Twenty-five pupils have the biggest problems with articles and the same

number of children fights with prepositions, both responses make 8% of the

total number. Articles and preposition are problematic for all groups of pupils in

my research regardless of the age or school. I can confirm that especially use of

49

articles is a never-ending fight in all my classes. My pupils do not have such a

problem to distinguish definite and indefinite articles, they completely forget to

use them. Some teachers also mentioned in their questionnaires that their

students have problems with articles. To the contrary the answer "prepositions"

was not given once.

Other positions in my research took pronouns and formation of questions. Both

answers were given by 24 pupils and constitute 7% of the total number of

respondents. Conditional clauses and formation of negative sentences were

mentioned by 19 pupils and they take in the graphical illustration 7%. Twelve

pupils also answered that everything in English grammar is especially difficult

for them; they constitute 4% of all answers.

Other answers were represented only by one, two or three people and in the

graphical illustration are depicted as "others". This group include answers like

world order, irregular verbs, answering with whole sentences, relative clauses

and comparison of adjectives. Three pupils also described their biggest problem

is use of grammar rules while they are writing or speaking.

3. 2. 5 What do you like about learning grammar?

This question was closed. Pupils could have chosen from seven options –

games, interactive smart board, cards and pictures, worksheets, songs and

videos, anything except of working with text book and other option. Pupils who

marked the "other option" should have shortly described a specific example. In

this question pupils were allowed to mark more than one answer. Most pupils

marked at least three options therefore I decided to use numbers instead of

percentage in the graphical illustration.

50

Not surprisingly 218 of 282 students like playing games, 138 pupils appreciate

lessons with use of songs and videos and 132 pupils consider an interactive

smart board the best tool for practising grammar. The possibility "worksheets"

was chosen by 74 pupils and "cards and pictures" had almost the same number

of votes, 71. Everything except working with the book is satisfying for 101 pupils

and 13 respondents also suggested other options. Among these possibilities

belong e.g. work in groups, translating, listening, movies, conversation or

learning out of classroom.

The answers to this question correspond with the theoretical part of this thesis. I

mentioned in the chapter about learners that adolescents tend to be bored and

critical. However they appreciate if their teacher is willing to use funny activities

and interesting materials. Songs, videos and information technologies are very

popular among adolescents therefore they enjoy working with them in their

classes as well. These tools are great for increasing the extrinsic motivation.

Pupils do their best while they are playing a game because everybody wants to

win. They also concentrate in listening to a modern song because they listen to

it on the radio and want to know what about it is.

3. 2. 6 What do you like about your English lessons?

In my questionnaire I also wanted to know what learners think about English

generally. In this question pupils had the biggest space for expression of their

51

opinions. They named over twenty different aspects of English lesson. I used for

my graphical illustration only answers common for five or more people.

It is pleasing that the most frequent answer was: I like everything. This answer

was given by 82 pupils and was the most common in almost all classes. The

most satisfied pupils seem to be at school in Kralupy nad Vltavou, especially in

the eighth grade. This answer was the least often at school in Veltrusy but the

difference among all three schools was minimal. I would not expect from

adolescents that they are able to appreciate work of their teacher in so large

extent.

The second position in my research took the answer with 33 votes: I like my

teacher. or I like my teacher's behaviour to pupils. This answer also appeared in

all classes. It demonstrates importance of teachers' role and their attitude to

learners. I was surprised that so many pupils can appreciate their teacher. I

would expect such popularity among young learners but obviously also

adolescents have good relationships with their teachers.

According to my expectation one of the most favourite aspect of English lessons

are games, this answer took the third position with 36 votes. The benefit of

games has been already mentioned. The fourth position is probably unexpected

52

because 21 children answered that they like learning new things. This answer

was most frequent by the younger pupils.

Other answers had less than 20 votes. Pupils appreciate use of movies and

videos, understandable teacher's explanations, songs, practicing of listening or

speaking and facts, they are good at English. 16 pupils answered that they do

not like anything about lessons and several children wrote that they like English

because it is useful for their future to. It is satisfying to see that already children

at school think about their future.

Among rarely represented answers appeared e. g. working with smart board,

use of English magazine, worksheets, training of pronunciation or writing,

atmosphere in the classroom, good workbook and exercise book (ZŠ Pšovka),

homework, tests and two pupils even answered that they like English because it

is fun.

3. 2. 7 What do not you like about your English lessons? What would you

change?

Answers to this question were even more various than to the previous one.

Pupils named over thirty different unpopular aspects of English lesson. Also in

this question I used for my graphical illustration only answers common for five

or more people.

The most frequent answer was mentioned by 123 pupils who would not change

anything or at least they do not have any suggestion for improvement. Thirty-six

children would appreciate more games and twelve pupils miss more fun during

the lessons. Other twelve respondents wrote that they do not like tests. Five or

six people wrote they would appreciate more speaking, movies and working

with smart board. Five pupils think they should not write so much. Six children

complained about behaviour of their classmates during the lessons.

53

Among less repeated answers were a lot of interesting suggestions. It is

obvious that different pupils have different preferences, because some of the

answers were contrary to each other, e. g. somebody wants more individual

work, somebody else would appreciate more group work. A pupil complained

about a chaotic explanation of his teacher but at the same time five of his

classmates wrote that they like it. Other suggestions were e. g. new English

classroom, more vocabulary tests or songs, more information about colloquial

English, use of movement activities, writing no notes or learning out of the

classroom.

One pupil from Kralupy was unsatisfied with the number of pupils in the class. I

was surprised that this answer appeared just once because this topic is very

current at our school. Pupils and their parents sometimes complain about the

number of pupils in one language class. I must agree that 23 pupils in the class

are too much for effective English lesson, especially when the lesson is focused

on speaking. For comparison there is the table with number of pupil in every

class:

6. 7. 8. 9.

Veltrusy 22/23 21/22 18/17 17/18/17

Mělník 14/15 13/13 14/15 14/15

Kralupy 23 22/24 18/17/17 23/23

54

I find interesting one more answer. One pupil from Veltrusy wrote that she

would cancel the division of pupils according to their language skills. Pupils at

Veltrusy School are in Czech, English and Math lessons divided into groups

according their skills. This practice is used there over thirty years and therefore

pupils and parents consider it normal and have no objections. In recent years

this practice has gained a lot of opponents among educationalists, they argue

that it decreases the self-confidence of the "weaker" pupils and creates a gap

among better and worse pupils.

At our school in Kralupy we tested this dividing last year in the seventh grade.

This school year pupils should have returned to the normal "classes" but pupils,

parents as well as teachers did not agree. From my teacher's point of view it

has a lot of advantages. I teach the third (=below-average) group and I think:

Every group can choose a different speed of learning. The weaker pupils

have enough time for understanding as well as practicing.

The weaker students have to work and think about everything because there

is nobody who would have done it instead of them.

Even the weaker students can be very successful and experience the feeling

of success.

3. 2. 8 Summary of pupils' questionnaire

I am surprised by the answers of pupils in a positive way. Most of pupils seem

to be satisfied with English lessons. They like lessons; appreciate their teachers

and understand the importance of learning English as well as the importance of

grammar in the learning process. The conditions at schools also seem to be

good. The only big negative aspect is the number of pupils in one language

class but this thing can be influenced neither by teachers nor by pupils.

However despite the positive result of this questionnaire Czech people, even

the younger ones, are in the international researches devoted to foreign

languages evaluated below-averaged.

55

3. 3 Questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire for teachers was also anonymous. Teachers were only

supposed to write how long they teach English. For my research I gained 10

teachers, 9 women and 1 man. Because of the strong superiority of female

respondents I decided to refer to teachers in the following pages as "she". The

less experienced teacher teaches the first year, the most experienced one has

taught for seventeen years.

The questionnaire contains seven questions. It tries to find out what the

teachers think about grammar, how they present it and how an important part of

their lesson it is. Two questions are also focused on textbooks and their

evaluation.

On the following pages there are in detail analysed particular questions and

rarities. Each question is accompanied with a graphical illustration.

3. 3. 1 In your opinion is it important to present grammar by funny way?

It was a closed question therefore teachers were supposed to chose from three

options "Yes, it is.", "No, it is not." and "It is a positive aspect, but it is not

necessary." Nobody answered that fun is not important at all. But two remaining

answers were balanced. Fun is important by the grammar presentation for five

teachers and for other five it is a positive aspect but not necessary.

56

Both answers were represented at all three monitored schools. It follows that in

this aspect the schools do not differ. It is obvious that teachers try to focus not

only on grammar itself but also on fun aspect by its presentation and practising.

They respect the fact that an effective learning must be based on materials and

methods interesting for their learners. In their questionnaires pupils mentioned

that they do not mind learning grammar or that they even like it. Therefore I can

assume that teachers are successful in their effort and obviously children can

appreciate it.

3. 3. 2 Which method do you use the most often?

In this question I tried to find out if teachers prefer inductive or deductive

method of presentation grammar. The question was closed, teachers could

choose from three options – deductive method, inductive method and other

option. The first two answers were characterized by short descriptions. Two

teachers gave an answer that at first they explain a new grammatical

phenomenon and then their pupils practice it in exercises and other activities, in

other words they prefer the deductive method. Six teachers prefer bigger

activity of children. Their pupils try to derive a new grammar rule on the basis of

working with text or other types of exercises. The teacher just guides the pupils,

in other words they prefer the inductive method. Two teachers wrote to the

questionnaire that they combine both methods in their lessons.

According to my questionnaire the preferred method is not dependent on the

number of years that the teacher spent in education system. However both

teachers using the deductive method are from the school in Mělník. I can only

57

guess why they prefer this method in contrast to other teachers. It can relate

with their missing approbation. It can be also connected with the fact that both

of them are beginning teachers. Both teachers are young and unqualified so

probably this method is easier for them. However according to pupils'

questionnaires pupils in Mělník were even more satisfied with their lesson than

pupils in Veltrusy. The difference in children answer was minimal so the chosen

method seems to have no influence to satisfaction of pupils with their lessons.

3. 3. 3 Which teaching aids do you usually use for the presentation and

practising grammar?

This question was closed. Teachers were supposed to choose from eight

answers – textbook and workbook, games, interactive smart board, cards and

pictures, worksheets, videos and songs, audio recordings and the last option

was other option. Teachers who marked the other option were asked to shortly

describe a specific aid.

Nine of ten teachers answered that they regularly use books, workbooks and

worksheets. This is not surprising because a book and workbook usually build

an outline of grammar and vocabulary for the whole school year. Almost every

teacher uses it at least sometimes to follow the thematic plan. Worksheets

usually refill the book, especially if there are not enough grammar exercises. In

my opinion the regular use of textbook in lessons is all right, especially when

pupils use an edition with current topics and modern graphical processing.

58

Pupils like working with this type of books but of course it must not be the only

material in lessons.

Seven teachers wrote that they use games on the daily basis. It is in contrast

with pupils' answers. I found out from their questionnaires that they miss more

games in English lessons. It is true that some pupils would like to play games

every lesson all the time and it is not possible. It is also question how pupils and

teachers understand the term game. I have met with situation when I consider

some activity as a game but for some student it was just practising. Therefore it

is difficult to decide if there are enough games in English lessons or not.

Five teachers use for presentation and practicing grammar cards, pictures or

listening. Only four teachers used smart board even though the research among

students showed that they would appreciate more work with smart board in their

lessons. Using smart board is an everyday practice especially at Pšovka. The

school is equipped with interactive textbooks for every subject and teachers

have to use them regularly. Using of smart boards at schools in Kralupy and

Veltrusy is just voluntary.

Three teachers wrote that they use songs and videos for practising grammar. It

is not enough especially considering the fact that pupils like it. I have very good

experience with using modern songs in English lessons. Pupils are always

attentive and lessons are very effective. Also the preparation for these lessons

is not so difficult. It is a question of several minutes to download lyrics and

prepare a worksheet.

Only one teacher added her own idea to the column other option. She

mentioned using tables and practicing on PC.

3. 3. 4 What is for your students the most problematic aspect of grammar?

This question was open and teachers were supposed to write one or more

grammar aspect. The most frequent answer was question formation. Other

59

answers were not represented by many teachers. These answers are e. g. word

order, present perfect, past simple, irregular verbs, articles or the third person.

Five of ten teachers answered that their students have problems with questions

formation. This answer gave teachers of all three schools. It is interesting that

pupils do not consider it as their biggest weakness. According to the learners'

answers it is only the seventh most frequent answer. It was the only frequent

answer among the teachers, the other answers were represented only by one

or two teachers.

Two teachers answered that the problematic aspects are word order and the

third person (-s ending in present simple), but these answers were among

pupils also very rare. There were also several answers twice, namely present

perfect, past simple, irregular verbs and articles, but these grammar aspects

were named also by pupils. Teachers answered also progressive tenses,

negative sentences, pronouns and a teacher answered everything. It is

interesting that no teacher mentioned passive voice even though it was the third

most often answer given by pupils.

There is a question why the answers of teachers and pupils differ so much. I

supposed that answers in the teachers' questionnaire will be almost identical

with the answers given by children, but obviously they are not. Pupils have a

60

different opinion about their grammar weaknesses. But who is right? I think that

many pupils cannot evaluate themselves objectively. Some of them

underestimate their knowledge, the others overestimate them. I consider

teachers more objective and believe that they can better evaluate pupils'

knowledge.

3. 3. 5 How important is for you grammar by the evaluation of pupils?

This question was closed. Teachers were supposed to choose from four options

related to the importance of grammar by evaluation of their pupils. They could

mark that the grammar makes approximately 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of final

evaluation. The answers were quite diverse. Nobody chose the last option but

the other three were represented at least by one teacher.

Five teachers answered that the grammar comprises approximately 25% of the

final grade. In the evaluation of four teachers the grammar is more important

and comprises about 50% of final grade and one teacher mentioned that in her

evaluation it is even 75%. It is interesting that all teachers in Veltrusy chose the

first option, 25%. Teachers in Mělník wrote 25% and 50%. Teachers in Kralupy

evaluate grammar the most strictly. Three of them answered that grammar

comprises 50% of final evaluation and one teacher mentioned even 75%. It is

obvious that all schools have different demands on grammar knowledge of their

students. Teachers in Kralupy are the strictest ones but at the same time their

pupils mentioned most often the answer that they do not have problem with any

aspect of English grammar. These two facts probably relate to each other but

they do not say anything about ability to use English in everyday life. Maybe

61

pupils in Kralupy are good at grammar but they are not so good at listening or

speaking but maybe they are. It could be a question for another thesis.

3. 3. 6 Which textbook do you use?

All three schools use different types of books. The School in Mělník uses

textbooks from the edition Project. The school in Veltrusy has the Czech edition

Way to Win. Pupils in Kralupy use different types of textbooks in their English

lessons. In the previous years the English teachers have changed a lot and

each of them preferred a different conception of education. As a result there are

disunited editions of textbooks - Angličtina written by Marie Zahálková, English

Plus and Project. During my teaching experience or at my current job I have

had the opportunity to teach according to all mentioned textbooks. Therefore I

have added a short characteristic of each textbook. It is my personal opinion;

other teachers could evaluate the textbooks in a different way.

ZŠ Pšovka (Mělník) – All pupils learn according to Project edition (Oxford

University Press). In lessons they can use written as well as interactive version.

Grammar in the book is presented inductively and in an adequate amount. The

explanations are very understandable and there are enough exercises in

workbook, therefore teacher does not need many other materials for the lesson.

The choice of topics for every lesson is also very good. Reading and listening

are interesting considering the age of pupils and the texts are followed by other

tasks and speaking activities. For me it is the best book I have taught according

to.

ZŠ Veltrusy (Veltrusy) – Pupils of all grades use textbooks from the Way to

win (Fraus) edition. These books are written by Czech authors. Grammar in the

book is explained in Czech and usually by deductive method. There is not

adequate amount of grammar, but the explanations are very understandable

and there are enough exercises in workbook. The choice of topics for every

lesson is also very good. Reading and listening are short and interesting

considering the age of pupils. I have only one problem with the book, it is a

62

chaotic arrangement. There are a lot of things written and drawn on every page

and for some prople it can be difficult to orientate there.

ZŠ Václava Havla (Kralupy) – It has been already said that at this school

pupils use 3 different types of textbooks:

Angličtina pro 6. ročník ZŠ (Marie Zahálková, SPN) – Pupils in the sixth

grade use the book written by Marie Zahálková. Grammar presented in the

book is a little chaotic. In some lessons there is almost nothing new, in other

lessons there are three new grammar rules. Grammar is explained in Czech

and by deductive method. Besides that exercises in workbook do not

correspondent with the curriculum in the book. Therefore teacher must use

other materials for practising. The choice of topics for every lesson does not

respect the interests of pupils every time. The book does not involve much

speaking activities. To the negatives belongs also visual arrangement, which

is not very "cool" for teenagers. On the other hand the exercises following

texts are often good.

English Plus (Oxford University Press) – Pupils in the seventh and eighth

grade use books from the edition English Plus. Grammar in this book is

mostly presented inductively. The explanations are intelligible and there are

enough exercises for practising in the book as well as in workbook. The

advantage is exercises divided into three groups according to their difficulty.

In comparison with other books this one does not contain so difficult

grammar. It depends on the teacher if it is understood as positive or

negative aspect. It is obvious that the book puts emphasis especially on

speaking and written language. It contains a lot of interesting tasks and

projects. The topics correspondent with pupils' everyday life and the visual

arrangement looks very modern. However the book seems to me a little

chaotic.

Project edition (Tom Hutchinson, Oxford University Press) – This text book

is used by the pupils in the ninth grade, see ZŠ Pšovka (Mělník)

63

3. 3. 6 Are you satisfied with the content and interpretation of grammar in

your text book?

Teachers were supposed to choose among these five answers about evaluation

of grammar in the text book:

I am satisfied and I often use the textbook for the presentation and practising

grammar.

There is too much grammar in the textbook, I choose only specific grammar

aspects.

There is too little grammar in the textbook; I must also use other materials.

Grammar is presented in adequate range but there are few exercises.

Other option

ZŠ Pšovka (Mělník) – Both teachers at Pšovka are satisfied with their textbook

Project. They chose the answer: "I am satisfied and I often use the text book for

the presentation and practising grammar."

ZŠ Veltrusy (Veltrusy) – Teachers in Veltrusy are not satisfied with their

textbooks Way to Win. It is interesting that their opinions differ a lot. One

teacher answered: "There is too much grammar in the textbook, I choose only

specific grammar aspects." Other teacher said: "There is too little grammar,

therefore I must use also other sources of information.” The third teacher

mentioned that there is enough grammar but few exercises and for the last

teacher the book is only a thematic guideline and therefore she creates other

material on her own.

ZŠ Václava Havla (Kralupy) – Teachers in Kralupy have even more different

opinions to their textbooks but they work with different types of books. One

teacher teaches only in the ninth grade and therefore uses only Project. She

wrote that the grammar is presented in an adequate extent but there are few

exercises. Another teacher teaches only in the eighth grade und uses only

English Plus. She is very satisfied with the book and uses it for presentation and

practising a lot. The third teacher teaches in all grades and uses all three types

of books. She answered that she does not like any book very much and

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therefore uses different types of exercises from a lot of books, magazines and

internet sources. The last teacher teaches also in all grades and she prefers

Project and English Plus. The books from Angličtina edition she considers as

bad in all aspects.

It is obvious that every teacher has different expectation and therefore prefers

different textbooks editions. It is difficult to unequivocally decide if a textbook is

good or not but according to my questionnaire textbooks of English publishers

Project and English Plus were better evaluated than Czech textbooks Angličtina

and Way to Win.

3. 3. 8 Summary of teachers' questionnaire

The teachers' answers were different in all aspects. Teachers in my research

use different methods of grammar presentation, they attach different value to

grammar, they work with different aids and textbooks and they have also

different opinions about these books. There is only one thing that seems to

connect them. All of them realize that funny and interesting activities and

materials should be a part of grammar presentation and practising. And in my

opinion this is a very positive finding out.

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4 Summary

Grammar is an inseparable part of foreign language learning. Although its

position in the learning process has weakened in recent years and it is not the

goal of language education any more, the language makes any sense without

using grammar rules and therefore it is necessary to pay enough attention to

grammar teaching. Teacher can choose from various methods and approaches

by grammar presentation although currently the communicative language

teaching is considered to be the most effective one. Teaching grammar must be

adapted to learners, their age and way of learning. It is influenced also by the

Framework Education Programme.

The practical part showed that the learning of grammar is not among learners

as unpopular as I expected. Surprisingly most pupils understand the importance

of grammar learning and they do not mind or even like it. It follows from the

research that the most problematic grammar aspects for students are tenses,

passive voice, articles and prepositions but surprisingly a large number of pupils

mentioned that they do not have a particular problem with anything. It is

interesting that teachers have a different opinion about weaknesses of pupils'

knowledge. They mentioned as the most difficult grammar questions formation,

word order, the third person and tenses. On the contrary it is not surprising that

pupils appreciate a grammar presentation and practicing especially using

games, videos, songs and interactive smart board. Although they think that

these tools could be used more often. An unexpected result of the research is

the fact that most of pupils like English lesson the way they are and also

appreciate their teacher.

The teachers' questionnaire brought also surprising results. Teachers'

responses were very diverse. They use different textbooks and aids and they

attribute grammar different importance. However I found several common

features of their lessons. All the teachers try to present grammar by a funny and

interesting way. It seems they realize an affect of interesting and funny teaching

to the effectiveness of learning. Most of them try to use today popular inductive

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method and bring a lot of materials to their lessons. Although it seem that using

of inductive or deductive method has no influence to the satisfaction of pupils

with grammar presentation. I also find out that teachers do not use the most

popular pupils' aids – videos, songs and interactive smart board – as often as

their learners wish. As the most often used aids teachers marked workbooks,

worksheets and the third position took games. Very disunited are teachers in

the evaluating of grammar importance. Teachers usually mentioned that the

final English grade is from 25% or 50% comprised by grammar, although for

somebody it is even 75%.

At the all three observed schools pupils use different types of textbooks. They

work with English editions Project and English Plus or with Czech editions

Angličtina and Way to Win. It seems that the English editions tend to use more

the inductive method; the Czech editions prefer the deductive method. English

textbooks also strongly support the communicative approach, Way to Win use

this approach only partially and Angličtina not at all. Czech textbook follow more

grammar-translation method. The evaluation of textbooks by teachers was more

positive for British editions than for textbooks written by Czech authors.

Although the most popular approach in teaching English is the communicative

one and teachers try to put speaking into lessons on a regular basis, the

grammar-translation method has still its place in English lessons. It seems the

English lessons at Czech school are quite diverse but it is in my opinion a

positive thing. As I already mentioned in the practical part pupils are very

various with different learning styles therefore each student prefers different

methods and tools.

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Bibliography

ATKINSON, David. Teaching monolingual classes. Harlow: Longman group UK Limited, 1993. ISBN 9780582061101. BETÁKOVÁ, Lucie; DVOŘÁKOVÁ, Kateřina: Angličtina 7: Učebnice pro základní školy a víceletá gymnázia. Plzeň: Fraus, 2006. ISBN 80-7238-389-2. BETÁKOVÁ, Lucie; DVOŘÁKOVÁ, Kateřina: Angličtina 8: Učebnice pro základní školy a víceletá gymnázia. Plzeň: Fraus, 2007. ISBN-13 978-80-7238-399-3. BILANOVÁ, Markéta; LORENCOVIČOVÁ, Eva; NETOLIČKA, Jan: Metodika výuky anglického jazyka na 2. stupni základních škol a středních školách z pohledu pedagogické praxe. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita v Ostravě, 2010. ISBN-13 978-80-7368-881-3. BŘENKOVÁ, Radka: Teacher's Usage of The Mother Tongue Versus English at the Level of Young Learners. Brno, 2007. Thesis: Masaryk University in Brno. Faculty of Education. BUTZKAMM, Wolfgang: We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL classrooms: death of a dogma. Language Learning Journal. Winter 2003. No 28, 29-39. DOI: 10.1080/09571730385200181 CHYI-CHING, Kao: The Role of Grammar Teaching in College EFL. Yunanpei, 2007. Thesis: Yunanpei University. Language Center. DOFF, Adrian: Teach English. A training course for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press in association with The British Council, 1990. ISBN-13 978-0-521-34863-8. HARMER, Jeremy: Teaching and Learning Grammar. London: Longman, 1987. ISBN-13 978-0-582-74623-7 HARMER, Jeremy: Teaching and Learning Grammar. 6th ed. London: Longman, 1991. ISBN 0-582-74623-X. HARMER, Jeremy: The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed. London: Longman, 2001. ISBN 0-582-40385-5. HAWK, Thomas F.; SHAH, Amit J.: Using Learning Style Instruments to Enhance Student Learning. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. Utah State University, 2007. No 5, 1-19. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4609.2007. 00125.x HENRICI, Gert; RIEMER, Claudia: Einführung in die Didaktik des Unterrichts Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, 1994. ISBN 3-87116-954-42

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HORNBY, Albert Sydney: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 6th edition. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN-13 978-3-464-11541-1 HUTCHINSON, Tom: Project 3 – Student's book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0-19-436532-8 HUTCHINSON, Tom: Project 4 – Student's book. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0-19-436541-7 JAMES, Wayne B.; GARDNER, Daniel L.: Learning styles: Implications for distance learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Wiley Periodicals, 1995. No 67. 19-31. DOI: 10.1002/ace.36719956705. JEŘÁBEK, Jaroslav; TUPÝ, Jan: Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. Praha: Výzkumný ústav pedagogický, 2007. ISBN 80-87000-02-1 KRASHEN, Stephen D.: The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New York: Longman,1985. ISBN 0582553814. LARSEN-FREEMAN, Diane; ANDERSON, Marti: Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching. 3rd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 2011. ISBN: 978-0-19-442360-1 MOON, Jayne: Children Learning English. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers, 2000. ISBN: 9781405080026. RICHARDS, Jack C.: Communicative Language Teaching Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN-13 978-0-521-92512-9. THORNBURY, Scott: How to teach grammar. Edinburg: Pearson Education Limited, 1999. ISBN 0582 339324 WETZ, Ben: English Plus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0-19-474856-8. WETZ, Ben: English Plus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0-19-474857-5. WRIGHT, Tony: Roles of Teachers and Learners. UK: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN-13 978-0-521-44994-6. ZAHÁLKOVÁ, Marie: Angličtina pro 6. ročník základní školy.—Hello, kids! 2. vyd. Praha: SPN, 2008. ISBN-13 978-80-7235-431-3

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Internet resources CHERRY, Kendra: What Is the Difference Between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation? [online]. 2015. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/difference-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation.htm EUROPEAN COMMISION: Europeans and their Languages. [online]. 2012. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, YOUTH AND SPORTS: Doporučené učební osnovy předmětů ČJL, AJ a M pro ZŠ. [online]. 2011. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://www.vuppraha.cz/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Doporucene-ucebni-osnovy-predmetu-CJL-AJ-a-M-pro-zakladni-skolu.pdf NORDQUIST, Richard: What Is Grammar? [online]. 2015. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/grammarintro.htm McKENZIE-BROWN, Peter: Using the Mother Tongue to Teach another Tongue [online]. 2006. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://languageinstinct.blogspot.cz/2006/11/using-mother-tongue-to-teach-another.html UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN: Teaching Grammar [online]. 2015. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://ieas.unideb.hu/admin/file_1402.pdf Grammar [online]. 2015. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grammar What is the Affective Filter? [online]. [cit. 2015-02-17] Accessible from: http://eldstrategies.com/index.html

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Attachments

Attachment A: Questionnaire for pupils

Dotazník k diplomové práci Data získaná z tohoto dotazníku jsou anonymní a budou použita jako podklad pro zpracování diplomové práce na téma „Rozdílné přístupy k výuce gramatiky na druhém stupni základní školy“. Děkuji za tvůj čas věnovaný tomuto dotazníku. V jakém jsi právě ročníku? 6. 7. 8. 9. 1) Co je podle tebe gramatika? Jak bys jí popsal(a)? 2) Myslíš si, že je gramatika při výuce cizího jazyka důležitá? a) ano

b) jen trochu

c) ne

3) Jak hodnotíš výuku gramatiky v hodinách AJ? a) Je to nuda.

b) Gramatika mi v hodinách nevadí.

c) Gramatika je docela fajn, zajímá mě.

d) Jiná odpověď………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4) Jaký gramatický jev je pro tebe nejtěžší? (např. některý z časů, zájmena, předložky, členy, trpný rod, podmínkové věty, tvoření záporných vět, otázek …) 5) Co je podle tebe při výuce gramatiky zábavné? /Můžeš zakroužkovat více odpovědí./ a) Hry

b) Interaktivní tabule

c) Použití kartiček a obrázků

d) Pracovní listy

e) Využití písniček a videí

f) Cokoliv, hlavně když nemusím vyplňovat cvičení v učebnici.

g) Další možnosti (napiš např. konkrétní aktivity)…………………………………………………………..

5) Zamysli se nad současnými hodinami AJ.

a) Co na výuce gramatiky hodnotíš kladně? b) Co se ti naopak nelíbí? Co ti v hodinách chybí? Máš nějaké návrhy na zlepšení?

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Attachment B: Completed questionnaires for pupils

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Attachment C: Questionnaire for teachers Dotazník k diplomové práci Data získaná z tohoto dotazníku jsou anonymní a budou použita jako podklad pro zpracování diplomové práce na téma „Rozdílné přístupy k výuce gramatiky na druhém stupni základní školy“. Děkuji za Váš čas věnovaný tomuto dotazníku. Kolikátým rokem vyučujete anglický jazyk? ………………………………………. 1) Je podle Vás důležité, aby výuka gramatiky probíhala zábavným způsobem?

a) ano

b) ne

c) Je to sice plus, ale není to nezbytně nutné.

2) Jakou metodu nejčastěji využíváte při výuce gramatiky?

a) Učitel nejprve vysvětlí nový gramatický jev, žáci jej poté procvičí v příkladových cvičeních a dalších aktivitách.

b) Žáci si na základě prací s textem nebo s jinými typy cvičení pokusí sami přijít na určité gramatické pravidlo. Učitel žáky pouze navádí tím správným směrem.

c) Využívám jiný postup. Prosím, stručně popište jaký.…………………………………………….…..

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3) Jaké pomůcky obvykle využíváte k prezentaci a procvičení gramatiky? Zakroužkujte jednu nebo více hodících se odpovědí.

a) Učebnici a pracovní sešit

b) Hry

c) Interaktivní tabuli

d) Kartičky a obrázky

e) Pracovní listy

f) Písničky a videa

g) Zvukové nahrávky

h) Další možnosti ………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….

4) Jaké gramatické jevy dělají vašim žákům největší potíže? Uveďte prosím alespoň jeden.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5) Jakou důležitost přikládáte gramatice při celkovém hodnocení žáka? /Pokud Vám kvantifikace procenty připadá málo výstižná, vyjádřete prosím Váš postoj vlastními slovy./

a) Gramatika tvoří zhruba 25% z celkového hodnocení žáků.

b) Gramatika tvoří zhruba 50% z celkového hodnocení žáků.

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c) Gramatika tvoří zhruba 75% z celkového hodnocení žáků.

d) Gramatika tvoří zhruba 100% z celkového hodnocení žáků.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6) Jakou učebnici a pracovní sešit v hodinách používáte?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7) Jak jste spokojen(a) s obsahem a interpretací gramatiky v této učebnici?

a) Jsem spokojený/á a k prezentaci a procvičení gramatiky učebnici hodně využívám.

b) Gramatiky je v učebnici až moc, vybírám pouze určité jevy.

c) Gramatiky je v učebnici málo, proto musím často využívat i jiné zdroje.

d) Gramatika je prezentována v přiměřeném rozsahu, ale obsahuje málo cvičení.

e) Jiná možnost ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Attachment D: Completed questionnaires for teachers

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