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This book aims to help teachers to develop their knowledge of grammar, provide a source of grammar lessons and instigate new ways of planning and organising lessons.
If you want to start an argument in a teachers' lounge, bring up the topic of how best to teach grammar. There is a wide spectrum of opinion. Traditionalists claim that we must explicitly teach grammar. Students drill the basics and diagram sentences. Sometimes their study and drills take the place of writing, but these teachers claim that good writing demands good grammar. At the opposite end of the spectrum are teachers who claim that the best way to learn grammar is to write, thereby being forced to use grammar in writing and editing. They reason that students will learn grammar in the context of actually using it, without all the drills and worksheets. They trust the writing process to instill an appreciation for grammar, instead of actually teaching it. Teachers on the write-to-learn-grammar side claim that students who are only taught grammar rules might pass tests, but since they didn't learn in the context of writing, they typically don't apply the rules when they write. Grammar traditionalists say students in writing classes never learn grammar at all, because it is not explicitly taught. In Tools, Not Rules, authors Tommy Thomason and Geoff Ward take the middle-ground position that grammar should be taught as part of the writing process. Tommy Thomason is a veteran journalist and university journalism professor at TCU. Geoff Ward is a well-known Australian professor and associate dean from James Cook University in Townsville. Both have written several books and work extensively with American teachers. Publisher's website: http: //www.eloquentbooks.com/ ToolsNotRules-TeachingGrammarInTheWritingClassroom.html
Recent SLA research recognizes the necessity of attention to grammar and demonstrates that form-focused instruction is especially effective when it is incorporated into a meaningful communicative context. Designed specifically for second-language teachers, this text identifies and explores the various options for integrating a focus on grammar and a focus on communication in classroom contexts and offers concrete examples of teaching activities for each option. Each chapter includes a description of the option, its theoretical and empirical background, examples of activities illustrating in a non-technical manner how it can be implemented in the classroom, questions for reflection, and a list of useful resources that teachers can consult for further information.
Engaging, explicit lessons using mini-excerpts from books and students’ writing show you how to teach grammar strategically. Zero in on the common grammar glitches, and model for students how to use nouns, verbs, and adjectives effectively, catch mismatched pronoun references; make prose lively with clauses and phrases, use the active voice, and more. From learning the parts of speech to the skill of paragraphing, this book covers it, and gives you what you need to teach grammar in the context of reading and writing. For use with Grades 4-8.
Offers elementary teachers advice and strategies to help them teach, apply, and understand English grammar while still adhering to state and school standards.
This is a unique book that covers innovative grammar teaching approaches and techniques for a modern generation of EFL/ESL students. It juxtaposes traditional grammar teaching methods with newer ones, and reveals the advantages and disadvantages of each. Moreover, it provides free and controlled grammar activities which offer instructors an ample variety of tasks that facilitate EFL/ESL teachers’ work to practice certain grammatical patterns.
Teaching Grammar Creatively is a practical new resource book that offers a variety of lessons and activities for everyday use in English language classes. It aims to stimulate students' imagination, humour and creativity and increase the effectiveness of grammar practice. The book offers more than 50 complete lessons covering a wide range of grammar structures, learner levels, and age groups. Each lesson is divided into two main sections: Language Awareness Activities and Creative Grammar Practice. The Language Awareness Activities are designed to introduce and provide initial practice of items that may still be unfamiliar to students. The Creative Grammar Practice section provides ideas for a deeper and more personalised familiarisation with these items, always with an element of individual creativity. Each lesson ends with the creation of a learner text - a permanent and original record of the grammar, in the form of a story or a poem for example.
The author examines the topic of grammar, suggesting ways of teaching grammar rules that should never be broken, and identifying what he calls "myth rules" that are commonly taught but infrequently followed, and that can hinder students' interest in writing.
