Teaching English Grammar Penny Ur 2015

Teaching English Grammar

Penny Ur

2015

This session

A. Some background research and theory

• What is ‘correct’ grammar?
• The importance of grammatical accuracy
• ‘Implicit’ and ‘explicit’ grammar teaching

B. Classroom practice and materials

• Explanations
• Learning by heart
• ‘Focus on Form’
• Practice

What is ‘correct’ grammar

Would you correct it?

• She ain’t here.
• There’s a lot of people out there.
• He come.
• The people which …
• I am waiting here for hours.
• It was an interesting research.
• The girl who I met….
• Less ideas…

Native-speaker usage

• She ain’t here.
• There’s a lot of people out there.
• The girl who I met…
• Less ideas …

Make no difference to meaning

• He come.
• The people which …
• I am waiting here for hours.
• It was an interesting research.

Would you correct it?

• She ain’t here.
• There’s a lot of people out there.
• He come.
• The people which …
• I am waiting here for hours.
• It was an interesting research.
• The girl who I met….
• Less ideas…

‘Native / Local variants’, not errors

• Thus, what NS English teachers employed in NNS countries tend to label as language ‘errors’ might not really be errors, but simply examples of ‘authentic’ or ‘real’ language use rooted in the social and cultural framework of their learners.
• Tan, 2005: 129