Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Grammar in Young Learners’ Classroom

【Abstract】The present essay studies the role of grammar in young learners classroom， perceived by the English teachers in China. The study gives a detailed description of what the role of grammar is like in young learners classroom， by interviewing primary school teachers both from a city in a developed coastal city and a less developed city in central China. It highlights the differences in the perceptions of teachers on the prominence of grammar in their classes. These differences may indicate regional disparity and potential factors for teachers teaching approaches to grammar instruction.

【Key words】grammar； teachers perception； young learner； regional disparity

1. Introduction

Since the early 70s， it was believed that focus on form， error correction may do more harm than good. （Terrell， 1977； Krasen， 1985）. Since then， the foreign language teachers have been encouraged to use interactional ways to teach in their classrooms.

A lot of researchers have found that grammar should be combined with communicative language teaching to develop the communicative competence in a foreign language（ Nassaji，1999； Nassaji& Cumming，2000）. In the last few years， many scholars have carried out some research regarding how to combine grammar instruction with communicative competence.

As for the perceptions of grammar instruction， Peacock （1998） suggest that learners like error correction and grammar exercises more than their instructors， while instructors see pair and group work much more highly than the learners.

In China， since English became a subject， there were some grammar books which has greatly contributed to grammar instruction in China， yet to what extent should grammar be instructed and how it is instructed currently in young learners classrooms？ This is what the present study is to research.

2. Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is examine English teachers perceptions of grammar instruction， the following questions are to guide this study：

（1）What are the teachers perceptions of grammar instruction in young learners classrooms？

（2）How do the teachers teach grammar in their classrooms？

（3）Are there any differences between rural areas and urban areas？

3. Methodology

A qualitative approach through individual interviews is adopted to address the research questions for this study. There are four participants who are state primary English teachers，namely， Xiao， Chen， Xin， and Zhou. Xiao and Chen are from Zhongshan city in southern China， which is a developed city in China； the other two are from Fuzhou city in central China， the economic level of which is below the average of China. Despite the economic difference and disparity of educational resources， the coursebook used in both cities are the same.

A questionnaire that consists of 9 open ended questions was sent to each of the four participants.The purpose of the first two questions of the interview was to focus on the participants past experience regarding learning English and teaching English. Question 3 and 4 were for the researchers to know what the teachers perceptions of grammar instruction in class are. Questions 5 to 7 were to focus on the approaches adopted by the teachers regarding teaching English. The last two questions were about teachers teaching beliefs and practice correspondence.

4. Findings

4.1 Teachers past experience regarding learning English and teaching English

Generally speaking， the ways the teachers learned grammar fall into two ways： deductive approach and inductive approach. Deductive approach means that the teachers introduce the grammar rules to the students first， ask the students to turn to certain page and read the rule and than do exercises. Inductive approach is to show some specific sentences to the students containing the same grammar structure and then make a conclusion about the grammar rule. According to the teachers experience as learners， when grammar is instructed， the class is always teacher-centered. While some enjoyed that， some do not. For example：

Chen：

I learned English both through in-class instructions and out-class reading. My teacher fed me with grammar like feeding ducks.

Xin：

I remember that I didnt start to learn English until junior middle school. At the beginning， I felt completely clueless. Later， under the guidance of the teacher， I became more and more interested in English. I gradually understand those texts in the books that I couldnt before. I felt a sense of achievement.

Almost all the four teachers revealed that they learned grammar by doing a lot of exercises. Some of them said its not difficult to learn grammar， but they didnt make it clear how. They just said its a kind of apprehension. Their experience as learners had an impact on the way they teach grammar and how they perceive grammar.

4.2 The teachers perceptions of grammar instruction in class

4.2.1 feeling about the importance of grammar instruction

Coincidentally， all the teachers considered grammar instruction important， and they think grammar should be instructed since primary school. For example；

Xiao：

Its necessary to instruct grammar， because it is the footstone of learning English. Without grammar， how can you manage a complete sentence or text.

The other teachers also agree that grammar is the foundation of learning English. They suggest teaching grammar at the fifth or sixth grade of primary school， which means the last year of primary school.

Their beliefs correspond with their teaching practice. For example， they all implement grammar instructions in class. Xin doesnt implement much grammar instruction because her students are the third-grade pupils and she suggests grammar taught in the fifth grade.

4.2.2 their current approaches to grammar instruction.

Many teachers are teaching grammar in a traditional way， i.e. “turn to page 122， listen to me， do exercises 1-8”， even most experienced teachers. Xiao is of this type.

Xiao：

I teach grammar mainly according to the the grammar list of high school entrance exam. The higher the grade， the more grammar I teach.

Zhou：

I spend 10 minutes on instructing grammar point in a lesson and let my students do relevant exercises for another 10 minutes.

The teachers who teach the English beginners do not teach grammar.Xin， a third-grade teacher，said that she barely teach grammar unless it is frequently mentioned， like the personal pronouns in third-grade coursebook. The other two teachers employ an approach in the middle， i.e. hopes students just “pick it up” as they read different texts. Like what Chen said， I teach my students all kinds of grammar through all language skill practice， such as reading， writing， speaking and listening.

4.3 The difficulties that the English teachers came across and the ideal ways of teaching in their mind

The last two questions are best answered by the teachers，and they are very much more willing to answer the last question than previous ones.

Chen stated her difficulty in teaching English lies in the vocabulary. Xiao also has the same problem and she added that its difficult to teach grammar and writing. Xin， does not attach too much attention to grammar and vocabulary， since her students are English beginners. She said her students are reluctant to speak. Zhous difficulty is about the teaching condition. She suggests more time for English class， because in primary school， students spend less time on English than on other subjects.

As for their ideal ways of teaching， they have various ideal ways.

Chen and Xiao both like teaching with games. Xiao said that its a kind of “learning in context”.

Xin stresses that interest is the best teacher， so to raise the students interest，various activities such as songs， games， contests can be used in English classes. In addition， she thinks object lessons can make students understand English in a cognitive way.

In Zhous opinion， less students in one class is ideal for her， because now in her class there are 64 students. She felt it difficult to pay attention to each student and talk with them. The ideal classroom in her eyes is that everyone talk in English.

5. Conclusion

The qualitative study examined teachers perceptions of grammar instruction of four primary English teachers， coming from two regions with different economic levels. Meanwhile， the study also looked into how the teachers implement grammar instruction in young learners classrooms. The findings demonstrate that the teachers perceptions of grammar are impacted by their own experience as a FL learner， so are their preferred teaching approaches. Their perceptions of ideal teaching methodology are influence by the students needs and interests. However， there is some mismatches between their ideal methodology and the policy. Especially in less developed regions， teachers choices of methodology are limited due to either the teaching condition or policy. The findings of this study has some significant implication on the policy making regarding English teaching programs for the government， taking into teachers preference into account. However， due to the limited number of participants of this study， especially the absence of multiple-aged teachers， this study has some limitations. `

References：

[1]Krashen，S.（1985）.The input hypothesis：Issues and implications.London：Longman.

[2]Nassaji，H&Cumming A.What is the ZPD：A case study of a young ESL student and teacher interacting through dialogue journals，Language Teaching Research，2000（4）：95-121.

[3]Peacock，M.（1998）.Exploring the gap between teachers and students beliefs about “useful” activities for EFL.International Journal of Applied Linguistics，8 （2），233-250.

[4]Terrell，T.（1977）.A natural approach to second language acquisition and learning.The Modern Lan-guage Journal，61，325-336.

作者簡介：余媛（1989-），女，碩士，助教，研究方向：英語教學。