English Grammar

Zhong Caishun
Tel: 13699529035
Email: hokmdj@163.com
QQ: 641911103

First thing goes first!

1. What is grammar?
2. Why do we study grammar?
3. How can grammar be
acquired/learned?
4. What shall we do in this course?

1. What is grammar
Grammar is the formal study of the
structure of a language and describes how
words fit together in meaningful
constructions.
A property of brain
a specific description, study or analysis of
rules for language use

Home computers are now much cheaper.

Home computers now much are cheaper.*
Susan likes Tom.
Tom likes Susan.

operational grammar vs. analytic

grammar
We acquire a working knowledge of our
native language simply through being
exposed to it from early childhood.
You study grammar, however, if you want to
be able to analyse your language. The
analytic grammar makes explicit the
knowledge of the rules with which you
operate when you use the language.

Descriptive vs. prescriptive

A descriptive rule is one that describes how people use their

language.

Sometimes people speaking the same dialect disagree in their

evaluation of particular sentences. For example, some speakers of
standard British English find acceptable I demand that she gives her
reasons; others prefer or require a different form of the verb in the thatclause, either that she give her reasons or that she should give her
reasons.

Rules that specify which usages should be adopted or avoided are

called prescriptive rules. Examples of prescriptive rules are:
Dont use like as a conjunction, as in He speaks like his father does.
Dont use between you and I.
Dont split an infinitive, as in to actually feel.
Dont end a sentence with a preposition.

Knowing the rules in evaluative and

operational senses does not mean that
you can say what the rules are.

What makes a good rule?

Truth
Limitation
Clarity
Simplicity
Familiarity
Relevance

2. Why do we study grammar?

Read the following two reflective

comments and discuss your opinions

Reflection

A language is learned through practice. It

is merely perfected through grammar.

3. How can grammar be acquired

or learned?
Implicit or explicit
Inductive or deductive

Presentation-Practice-Production
(PPP) Models

a structured three-stage sequence:

a presentation stage

a practice stage

In the presentation stage, the new grammar rule or structure is introduced,

usually through a text, a dialogue, or a story that includes the structure. The
students listen to the text or read it out loud. The main purpose of this stage
is to help students become familiar with the new grammatical structure and
keep it in their short-term memory (Ur, 1988).
In this stage, students are given various kinds of written and spoken
exercises to repeat, manipulate, or reproduce the new forms. The practice
stage usually begins with controlled practices that focus learners attention
on specific structures and then moves to less controlled practices with more
open-ended activities. The aim of the practice stage is to help students gain
control of the knowledge introduced in the presentation stage, to take it in,
and to move it from their short-term memory to their long-term memory (Ur,
1988).

and a production stage

In the production stage, learners are encouraged to use the rules they have
learned in the presentation and practice stages more freely and in more
communicative activities. The aim of this last stage is to fully master the new
form by enabling learners to internalize the rules and use them automatically
and spontaneously.

PPP

Presentation
Present

continuous

Can any body tell me what Jim is doing?

What is Mary doing?

Practice
Repetition

in chorus or individually

Production
Describe

an ongoing activity

criticism

While there is substantial evidence that grammar instruction results in

learning as measured by discrete-point language tests (e.g., the
grammar test in the TOEFL), there is much less evidence to show
that it leads to the kind of learning that enables learners to perform
the targeted form in free oral production (e.g., in a communicative
task).
Where syntax is concerned, research has demonstrated that learners
rarely, if ever, move from zero to targetlike mastery of new items in
one step. Both naturalistic and classroom learners pass through fixed
developmental sequences in word order, negation, questions, relative
clauses, and so onsequences which have to include often quite
lengthy stages of nontargetlike use of forms as well as use of
nontargetlike forms.
Besides practice, language acquisition processes appear to be
governed by many psychological constraints (Pienemann, 1998).

Communicative approaches

the aim of language learning as acquiring

communicative ability, that is, the ability to use
and interpret meaning in real-life communication
(Widdowson, 1978), not simply learning formal
grammatical rules and structures
linguistic competence (i.e., knowledge of
grammar rules) and communicative competence
(i.e., knowledge of language use and the ability
to use language)

no established instructional procedures

notional-functional curriculums, the
procedural, process-based syllabuses,
content-based and immersion models,
task-based instruction

Integrative approaches

Recent research in second language acquisition

(SLA), however, has led to a reconsideration of
the importance of grammar. Many researchers
now believe that grammar teaching should not be
ignored in second language classrooms.
Language teaching professionals have also
become increasingly aware that grammar
instruction plays an important role in language
teaching and learning. There are a number of
reasons for this re-evaluation of the role of
grammar.

4. What to do in this course?

Course syllabus

The focus today is on entertainment to

such a degree that society expects even
learning to be fun, an attitude that
trivializes the hard work necessary to
master any subject (see Williams, 2002).

Dont forget assignment for next week!

Read

Chapter 1
Write memo
Do E.B. (pp.1-7)
Prepare presentation if it is your groups turn.