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Some difficulties and problems of teaching English
grammar the students
Gulsara ISMAYLOVA
1
Karakalpakstan Medical Institute
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received December 2022
Received in revised form
15 December 2022
Accepted 20 January 2023
Available online
15 February 2023
The article focuses on some challenges of the teaching
process of the grammar of English language in L2 classrooms as
well as the article describes some suggested procedures that
can be incorporated into the grammar teaching process. Also, in
the article, the author pays more attention to the issues related
to the study of English grammar. Furthermore, in the paper, the
positive and negative consequences of the five-step procedure
in the grammar teaching process have been discussed, and also
research works relating to the problem have been analyzed.
2181-
1415/©
2023 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol4-iss1/S-pp126-130
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
English grammar,
L2 (second language)
classrooms,
English as a foreign language
(EFL),
teaching,
learning.
Talabalarga ingliz tili grammatikasini o‘qitishdagi ba’zi
qiyinchiliklar va muammolar
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar
:
ingliz tili grammatikasi,
L2 (ikkinchi til) sinflari,
ingliz tili chet tili sifatida
(EFL),
o‘qitish,
o‘rganish.
Maqolada xorijiy til o‘qitiladigan sinflarida ingliz tili
grammatikasini o‘rgatish jarayonidagi ba’zi muammolarga e’tibor
qaratilgan, shuningdek, maqolada grammatikan
i o‘qitish
jarayoniga kiritilishi mumkin bo‘lgan tavsiya etilgan mashg‘ulotlar
bayon etilgan. Bundan tashqari, maqolada muallif ingliz tili
grammatikasini o‘rganish bilan bog‘liq masalalarga ko‘proq e’tibor
qaratadi, maqolada grammatika o‘rgatish jarayonid
a besh
bosqichli jarayonning ijobiy va salbiy oqibatlari ko‘rib chiqilib,
muammolarga oid tadqiqot ishlari ham tahlil qilingan.
1
Assistant teacher, Department of Foreign Languages Karakalpakstan Medical Institute.
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127
Некоторые сложности и проблемы обучения студентов
английской грамматике
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
грамматика английского
языка,
классы L2 (второго языка),
английский как
иностранный (EFL),
преподавание,
обучение.
В статье рассматриваются некоторые проблемы
процесса обучения грамматике английского языка в
аудиториях L2, описываются некоторые предлагаемые
процедуры, которые могут быть включены в процесс
обучения грамматике. Также в статье автор уделяет
больше внимания вопросам, связанным с изучением
английской грамматики. Кроме того, обсуждаются
положительные
и
отрицательные
последствия
пятиступенчатой процедуры в процессе обучения
грамматике, а также анализируются исследовательские
работы, касающиеся данной проблемы.
Introduction:
In the process of teaching and learning a foreign language, grammar
has always been a significant issue in second and foreign language learning and teaching.
It is also an area of some controversy as there is much debate regarding its role in
language learning and teaching. Some specialists hold the view that grammar is not
essential for second or foreign-language learning and therefore have a
zero position
in
grammar teaching. On the contrary, some view that grammar is necessary for foreign
language learning. Currently, grammar is reestablished in language teaching and there is
no consensus among the theorists, language teachers and practitioners that some formal
instruction on grammar is necessary in L2 classrooms. Teachers are also provided a
number of approaches and strategies to choose in teaching grammar effectively in their
classrooms. In case of grammar, it is deductively taught; that is, learners are provided the
grammar rules and examples, are told to memorize them, and then are asked to apply the
rules to other examples. In our context, many teachers think that teaching grammar
separately is not favorable to learners since learners only learn the way language is
constructed, and very often when they are given grammatical rules, the learners work
well on such cases. However, when the students write or speak, the learners make
grammatical mistakes or even unnecessary ones. Helping learners apply grammatical
rules into communicative tasks, for example, writing and speaking are very challenging.
Therefore, teachers, especially in the context of EFL, could benefit from learning some
alternative teaching approaches for teaching grammar so that they can integrate
grammar or structure into other language skills in such a way that the goal of learning
language is ultimately achieved.
Literature review:
According to A. Doff, it is stated that by learning grammar
students can express meanings in the form of phrases, clauses and sentences [1. P. 48].
Furthermore, M. Long and J. Richards add that it cannot be ignored that grammar plays a
central role in the four language skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks
[3. P. 31]. Also, in the teaching of grammar, learners are taught rules of language
commonly known as sentence patterns. As P. Ur mentions that in the case of the learners,
grammatical rules enable them to know and apply how such sentence patterns should be
put together [6]. The teaching of grammar should also ultimately center attention on the
way grammatical items or sentence patterns are correctly used [5. P. 47].
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Methodology:
In the context of EFL, teaching grammar has traditionally been
dominated by a grammar-translation method where the use of the mother tongue is
clearly important to elicit the meaning of the target language by translating the target
language into native languages. For example, according to Larsen-Freeman [2. P. 97] and
J. Richards and T. Rodgers [4. P. 38], in such a method learners are required to learn
about grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language. In the case of grammar, it is
deductively taught; that is, learners are provided the grammar rules and examples, are
told to memorize them, and then are asked to apply the rules to other examples. Some
teachers think that teaching grammar separately is not favorable to learners since
learners only learn the way language is constructed, and very often when they are given
grammatical rules, the learners work well on such cases. However, when they write or
speak, the learners make grammatical mistakes or even unnecessary ones. Helping
learners apply grammatical rules to communicative tasks, for example, writing and
speaking is very challenging. Therefore, teachers, especially in the context of EFL, could
benefit from learning some alternative teaching approaches for teaching grammar so that
they can integrate grammar or structure into other language skills in such a way that the
goal of learning language is ultimately achieved. Therefore, we would like to propose a
five-step procedure for teaching grammar. This procedure incorporates the notions of
practice and consciousness-raising; explicit and implicit knowledge; and deductive and
inductive approaches for teaching grammar
. These concepts will be reviewed before the
description of the teaching procedure. As a matter of fact, here we should mention some
abbreviations in order to go on with the text in a proper way.
A speaker’s experiences of
languages may typically embrace a first language, a second language, and a foreign
language [3. P. 78].
A first language (LI) is the speaker’s native language (NL) or mother tongue (MT)
whose learning normally begins in the speaker
’
s earliest experience of language
acquisition as a very small child. Speakers in the world understand at least one language
other than their own. L2 is any other language that the speaker learns to control, at any
time, to a level of near native-like proficiency. Typically,
immigrants acquire it in LI’s
natural environment. A foreign language (FL) is any language spoken by the speaker to
less than L2 level. In the case of English teaching and learning different terms applicable
to different groups of non-native speakers are in use: ELT
–
English Language Teaching
–
teaching English to learners of all types; TEFL
–
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
–
where learners are neither native speakers, nor immigrants; TESL
–
Teaching English as
a Second Language
–
where learners addressed are often immigrants to an English-
speaking culture; TESOL
–
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
–
which is a
slightly more neutral term encompassing both TESL and TEFL, but avoiding the labels
such as foreign
–
mainly used in American English.
Results:
On the basis of the rationales above, we would like to propose a
procedure for teaching grammar in which the activities involve five steps:
1. Building up students’ knowledge of the rule or rule initiati
on;
2. Eliciting functions of the rule or rule elicitation;
3. Familiarizing students with the rule in use through exercises or rule practice;
4. Checking students’ comprehension;
5. Increase students’ knowledge or rule enrichment.
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For instance (step 3): Task 1. Written question input. Answer the following
questions in complete sentences.
1. How many essays has Saltanat written this month?
2. Where have you put my glasses?
3. How long have you studied in Samarkand?
4. How many times has Farida been to the old city of Khiva?
5. With whom has Malika spoken?
6. How long have they prepared the traditional dish?
7. How many years has your brother lived in a village?
Task 2. (Step 5). Inter-pattern comparison in meaning. Differentiate a couple of
sentences based on aspect of meaning below:
1. A. Jaynagul has had breakfast.
B. Jaynagul had breakfast.
2. We have visited Bukhara four times.
B. We visited Bukhara four times a year.
3. A. My parents have lived in a remote area.
B. My parents lived in a remote area.
4. A. Asan has broken the cup.
B. Asan broke the cup.
5. A. I have studied German for six years.
B. I studied German for six years.
6. A. Azima has had breakfast.
B. Azima had breakfast.
7. A. Gulnaz and Timur have waited for you for three hours.
B. Gulnaz and Timur waited for you for three hours.
8. A. Saparbek has washed his motorbike.
B. Saparbek washed his motorbike.
9. A. Marina and Shirin have seen this movie.
B. Marina and Shirin saw this movie.
And now we will describe the advantages and disadvantages of this procedure
below. The advantages of the proposed procedure are the following:
1.
The procedure helps to encourage the students’ involvement in communicative tasks;
2. Learners are trained to be accustomed to rule discovery that can lead to
enhanced learning autonomy and self-reliance;
3. Learners have a chance to apply their greater degree of cognitive depth;
4. The procedure respects the intelligence and maturity of many adult learners and
acknowledges the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition;
5. Learners are more active in the learning process rather than being simply
passive recipients of exercises;
6.
The procedure involves learners’ pattern recognition and
problem-solving;
7.
The procedure attempts to measure the learners’ progress in mastering the rule
through an individual evaluation as part of the learning process;
8. The procedure tries to reconnect what the learners already know with
something new.
However, we should acknowledge some disadvantages of the proposed procedure
below, the procedure is:
1. an intense activity that is time and energy consuming;
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2. places an emphasis on teachers in designing data and materials;
3. requires the teacher to have extensive knowledge of the
The grammatical rule being taught since she or he not only tells her or his students
the formula, but she or he also attempts to lead the students to have comprehensive
knowledge and application of the rule taught;
4. may frustrate learners who would prefer simply to be told the rule.
Conclusion: In summary, the purpose of teaching grammar is to provide the
students with knowledge of the way language is constructed so that when they listen,
speak, read, and write, they have no trouble applying the language that they are learning.
Language teachers might be, therefore, sometimes challenged to use creative and
innovative attempts to teach grammar [8, 9] so that such a goal can successfully be
achieved. In other words, whatever exercises are given, it is vital that the teacher
provides students with a chance to be able to produce the grammatical item by making
use of syntactically and semantically correct examples of sentences comprised of
appropriate and relevant words.
REFERENCES:
1.
Doff A. Teach English: A training course for teachers.14th (ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 2000.
–
PP. 44
–
56.
2.
Larsen-Freeman D. Techniques and principles in language learning. 2nd (ed.).
Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000.
–
PP. 90
–
99.
3.
Laver J. Principles of Phonetics.
–
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1995.
–
PP. 31
–
82.
4.
Richards J., Rodgers T. Approaches and methods in language teaching. 2nd (ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001.
–
PP. 37
–
40.
5.
Thornbury S. How to teach grammar. Harlow. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
1999.
–
PP. 45
–
54.
6.
Ur P. Grammar practice activities: A practical guide for teachers. 12th(ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1999.
–
PP. 36
–
78.
7.
Сарсенбаева
З. Лингвокультурологический анализ культуры каракалпаков
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Т. 3.
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