There are many purposes for teaching grammar in school. One can be confident in speaking a language and they can also learn how to write it accurately. Teaching grammar is something which can effectively enable children to control grammar in order to express complex ideas. If grammar of a language is taught well then it can make a very prominent difference to any child’s literacy development.
But before teaching grammar in a class the teacher needs to be well aware of they should teach them. They can learn the techniques and nuances at teacher training institutes. There are certain principles that are should be followed:
Here are 7 key principles to bear in mind when teaching grammar:
- First of all, in order to teach grammar, one will need both implicit and explicit knowledge of it. The teachers need to be really confident about the usage of correct terms and they should know how to explain it well. One has to relate to new learning and be more aware of other features along with the texts as a whole. The teachers need to remember that communicating with the students should be a high priority in the classroom.
- One has to remember the purpose of teaching grammar. When one is trained to be a teacher, they should also learn that grammar is not simply naming the parts of speech as a part of teaching rules of English. It has to be very much embedded in the classroom talks, reading and writing. Teachers need to introduce their students to grammatical features and language as per context so that they can easily internalise the principles. Text book learning will not help the children to learn proper use of language and hence the teachers need to make them think in abstract ways. The teachers must encourage their students to read extensively to learn more about the toolbox of structures, rhythms and patterns.
- In a proper teacher course, one learns how to be systematic. After learning it there, a teacher has to be systematic in their classrooms. They need to make sure what classes they are working with, what those students have already learned and what do they need to learn.
- The teachers need to make learning grammar fun. Teaching grammar should involve problem solving, investigation and language as a part of children’s awareness development and how their interest in language increases.
- By observing children, one can understand their processing capacity and how they internalise a language differently. This is also related to cognitive development and the teacher needs to know this better. They can use that as a part of their learning language program as well.
In a proper teachers training program, one learns how communication is a key to converse with a young learner in a classroom. Then the teacher can go ahead and analyse the form and grammar of a language. This can be quite a challenging task in a classroom and they tend to deviate from any traditional teaching approaches. It is true that young learners love to do different tasks and so the teacher needs to introduce grammar to them by some meaning driven tasks which also needs to be age appropriate.