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English Grammar and Teaching Strategies
Introduction
About this Book
English Grammar and Teaching Strategies – Literacy
is
a practical aid for teachers. many of whom are now faced with teaching grammar without the benefit of having been taught it in their own school days. Care has been taken over the format and presentation for easy reference.
This is not a comprehensive grammar guide, but rather a practical basis on which a teacher can build. It is developed from it simple baseline and so can he used as an initial introduction. or as a form of revision as pupils move on to more complicated structures. Each year group will need to build on the information learnt in the previous years, otherwise it would be like trying to build a house without the proper foundations. Pupils in senior schools cannot progress if they have not been taught the necessary groundwork.
Each formal grammatical term is first stated succinctly and then illustrated by a variety of teaching strategies. Many of the activities suggested are for both spoken and written language, and can be used either for the whole class or small groups. It will be at a teachers discretion to decide how much or how little of any exercise is appropriate for different levels within the class. The slower learners. children with speech and language processing problems and/or those with dyslexia will need a great deal of reinforcement in order to assimilate basic grammatical material.
The Need for Grammar
Grammar is indeed the lifeline to literacy. It is the structure of a language which we need to understand in order to be able to use that language effectively. Its correct use is essential so that people can express themselves in a way that others can understand.
One of the chief differences between people and animals is the ability to communicate fully and in many different ways. While gesture, touch, music and facial expression all play their part, our mainstay of communication is language, Different races and peoples speak different languages, but each one of these has its own conventions and structure — in other words, its own grammar. This applies equally to the spoken and written word. Inadequate and inaccurate communication skills are now commonplace. The subsequent misunderstandings may lead to problems in employment, the breakdown of friendships, and other social distress.
Although children might have their own playground language - their own code, so to speak — they also need to know and use Standard English in order for them to be properly understood in other environments. Later in their lives an employer will probably choose the candidate who impresses with well-structured language both at interview and in written application. The employee is a prospective representative of the firm and as such his or her communication skills may well be the shop window for the organization.
The reason for discarding the teaching of grammar in the 1960s was, initially, to enable very small children to write freely and creatively without also having to consider points of even basic grammar. This emphasis on free expression was extended in due course to children in primary schools, and then to those at secondary school. In time, staff at universities were complaining about standards of literacy. Languages evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of society and each generation coins new words and expressions to describe its own way of life. These changes need to be assimilated into the basic language structure, otherwise communication between generations can break down and there may be an unbridgeable gap.
It is now being recognized that knowledge of grammar is important for each generation and that it is essential that this knowledge should be acquired in school.
It is far easier to discuss language and literature with children who know the correct terminology and therefore it is better for formal terms to be taught from the outset. However. there will be some children who may well understand the grammar but will find it hard to remember the terminology, and therefore constant revision will he essential.
English grammar is particularly complex because alter the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons about AD 500, the Vikings about AD 800, and then the Normans in AD 1066, the English language that emerged in the Middle Ages had assimilated many of the grammatical structures of Anglo-Saxon. Old Norse and French.
Many Latin words and conventions have come into English through French. English is now rapidly becoming the world language. People in every continent learn English as a second language and for many too it is, in tact. their first language. They learn English grammar at school. The wish of so many people to speak and write good English is resulting in our being outclassed in our own tongue.
The call now is for the return of grammar tuition so that pupils have a working knowledge of their own language. This will enable them to think clearly and express themselves effectively. as well as develop their confidence in both speaking and writing.
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