CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................2
CHAPTER I. TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR
1.1 Teaching the grammar of English for young learners...............................4
1.2 The Tendency of English Teachers in Teaching Grammar.......................7
CHAPTER II. EFFECTIVE GAMES DURING TEACHING ENGLISH
GRAMMAR
2.1 The use of games in teaching English grammar.....................................12
2.2 "National games for teaching English grammar and their Implementation
techniques"...........................................................................24
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................31
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................33
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INTRODUCTION
The actuality of the course work: Although some teachers of English see
language games as time consumers or classroom techniques for fun, games have a
special role in any foreign language teaching programme because they facilitate
foreign language learning especially for young learners. With the introduction of
communicative language teaching, English language teaching and learning has
become much more demanding for teachers and learners just like any other
innovation poses challenges for its users. Games have become crucially important
for English language learners and teachers not only because they provide
enjoyment and relaxation, but also as they encourage students to use their language
in a creative and communicative manner. Similarly, because the definition of the
term “young learners” encapsulates those children between the ages of about 5
years old to 12 years old it can be suggested that games are a natural part of young
learners’ lives.
The aim of the course work: The main reason why I have written this
course paper comes with a few purposes. First of all,
The practical value of the course work: Agatha The relationship between
games in the teaching of foreign languages has been explored in various studies.
As Topkaya and Küçük articulate, primary school curriculum for young learners’
English lessons should incorporate more games for children. Similarly,
Sungurtekin, Sezer, Bağçeli-Kahraman and Sadioğlu explain that “by playing
games, a child makes acquaintance with his environment, learns life and gains new
instructions.” Ministry of National Education’s English Language Curriculum for
Primary Education Grades 4,5,6,7 and 8 further claims that games should be a
fundamental part of primary school education because they are motivating,
contextualizing, and natural activities that make learning meaningful. It should be
born in mind that language learning is a challenging task requiring constant effort
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especially for young learners. Games encourage learners to direct their energy
towards language learning by providing them with meaningful contexts. Therefore,
it is important that teachers should not see games as time fillers or tools designed
for fun only, but integrate them into their foreign language teaching programmes.
It is possible to come up with many descriptions proposed by various researchers
about the nature of games.
The structure of the course work: The following course paper is
composed of a few chapters and paragraphs explaining.....
Firstly, the course
paper is started with some general information collected as one full paragraph
introduction. Within the introduction, I try to reveal the reasons why this paper
matters, which is followed by paper's aim, its practical value and what I am writing
now structure. In the paragraphs of Chapter I, I start with illustrate the general
information about.... During the other paragraphs of Chapter II, I try to discover....
In addition, at the end of course work conclusion and bibliography are given.
CHAPTER I. TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR
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1.1 Teaching the grammar of English for young learners
Young learners have a long time ahead of them with the language. There is no
need to rush into technical rules and labels that will confuse. It seems likely to be
far better to give children a sound basis in using the language while encouraging
curiosity and talk about patterns and contrasts in and between languages and
introducing grammatical metalanguage slowly and meaningfully. Thus, teachers
should develop internal grammar. In the beginning stages, learners seem to use
words or chunks strung together to get their meaning across with little attention
paid to grammar that would fit the words or chunks together in conversational
patterns. So how these collections of items turn into something more like a
language with patterns of grammar? If you can get your message through without
grammar, then there may be a little impulse to drive grammar learning. Paying
attention to grammatical features of a language is not something that happens
automatically in communicating and that therefore some artificial methods of
pushing attention are needed: teaching. Rote-learned chunks of language will make
up a substantial part of early learning and that learnt chunks also provide a
valuable resource for developing grammar as they are broken down and reconstituted. Ways of teaching that help learners notice words inside chunks and
how other words can be used in the same places may help with the development of
grammar. Children build hypotheses about how the foreign language works from
the data they have received from their limited experience with the language. Errors
in language use can often act as a window on to the developing internal grammar
of the learner and are signals of growth. When data is limited, learners are more
likely to use their first language to fill the gaps. So the learners may assume that
foreign language grammar works like first language grammar. If the foreign
language cues are not particular obvious, the probability of them being noticed and
used is even smaller. It is precisely these cross-linguistically different and low
profile features of grammar that need form-focused instruction. Principles for
learning-centered grammar teaching. It would not be conceptually appropriate for
grammar to be explicitly taught as formal, explicit rules in young learner
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classrooms to children under the age of 8 or 9 years. As children get older, so they
are increasingly able to learn from more formal instruction but we should
remember that grammar teaching can often destroy motivation and puzzle children
rather than enlighten them. Good learning centered grammar teaching will be
meaningful & interesting, require active participation from learners and will work
with how children learn and what they are capable of learning. The principles are:
Grammatical accuracy and precision is a matter for meaning. Without attention to
form, form will not be learnt accurately. Form-focused instruction is particularly
relevant for those features of the foreign language grammar that are different from
the first language or are not very noticeable. If learners’ attention is directed to
expressing meaning, they may neglect attention to accuracy and position. Teaching
can help learners notice and attend to features of grammar in the language they
hear and read or speak and write. Noticing an aspect of form is the first stage of
learning it; it then needs to become part of the learner’s internal grammar, and to
become part of the learner’s language resources ready for use in a range of
situations. Learning grammar as the development of internal grammar. The learner
has to do the learning; just teaching grammar does not make it happen. Grammar
learning can work outwards from participation in discourse from vocabulary and
from learnt chunks. Learners’ errors can give teachers useful information about
their learning processes and their internal grammar. The role of explicit teaching of
grammar rules. Teaching grammar explicitly requires the learner to think about
language in very abstract, formal ways that some enjoy and some find difficult.
The younger the learner, the less appropriate it is to teach explicitly. Children can
master metalanguage if it is well taught. Teaching techniques for supporting
grammar learning 1.Working from classroom discourse: Routines and classroom
contexts can serve to introduce new grammar. a) The language for classroom
management: Some very simple phrases for classroom management can be
introduced and as time goes by, these can be expanded. Pupils can use some
phrases originally used by the teacher when they work in pairs/ groups. b) Talking
with children: If a child offers a comment about a picture, for example, the teacher
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can respond with fuller sentences that pick up the child’s interests. Talk with
children as a class can also offer incidental focusing on form. 2. Guided noticing
activities: a) Listen and Notice: Filling a grid while listening to a conversation.
Noticing the grammatical features is important to fill the grid. b) Presentation of
new language with puppets: The children listen several times to the story-dialogue:
repetition + contrast. 3. Language practice activities that offer structuring
opportunities. a) Questionnaires, surveys & quizzes: Preparation and rehearsal of
the questions is necessary to ensure accuracy; the activity must be managed so that
the questions are asked in full each time. (Do you like …?). b) Information gap
activities: (Calendar). c) Helping hands: d) Drills and chants: The dangers of overusing drills occur mostly if the children do not understand the content, and drills
are then a mechanical exercise in making a noise, rather than language learning
opportunities. Repetition drills can help in familiarizing a new form but
substitution drills are the ones that offer more for grammar structuring. 4.
Proceduralising activities: a) Polar animal description re-visited: Description of the
animal they choose the description needs some grammatical knowledge that has
already entered the internal grammar through noticing and structuring. b)
Dictogloss: the teacher reads out a text, students take notes and re-write the text in
pairs/ groups. 5. Introducing metalanguage: a) Explicit teacher talk: Useful and
possible to talk about language without using technical terms. b) Cloze activities
for word class. Provide a clear link between a piece of grammatical knowledge and
how authors use it to make meaning. So, rather than telling your child to “use more
determiners and pronouns”, show them how determiners and pronouns create
cohesion between ideas. For example: Earth turns on its axis in a full rotation.
Each takes 24 hours, and this is what creates day and night. Each of the bolded
words points back to another word (“its” back to “Earth” and “each” back to
“rotation”) or phrase (“this” back to “each rotation”) that ties the text together.
This makes the text flow. Imagine how cumbersome and confusing it would be to
read a book if words repeated themselves instead of being “pointed” back to. Use
examples and make them authentic. Grammar is abstract, so use examples rather
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than lengthy explanations. The best kind of example is one you find in published
literature. Open a book or article and highlight where the grammar exemplifies
what you want to teach. When I want to teach a student to “zoom in” on an object
using specific nouns, I open up the first page of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard
Book, which reads: There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. This
grammatical construction dehumanises the person whose hand it is, giving agency
to the hand. It’s a spooky effect cemented by the final noun— knife. Make room
for discussion. Ask your child what they are trying to write. For instance: “What
effect are you trying to create here?” Then use this information to decide what kind
of grammar will help them do that. For instance: “Try using the passive voice, like
"His eyes were drawn to the fire”, to make the character feel like they’re not in
control". Ask your child to tell you how they might use it. How could you use the
passive voice here to create this effect? Encourage language play. We saw with our
Very Hungry Caterpillar example that playing with parts of sentences helps
authors make grammatical choices. Ask your child to experiment by reordering
parts or splitting the subject and verb, and then notice what happens. You’ll be
surprised by a child’s intuitive grammatical knowledge.
1.2 The Tendency of English Teachers in Teaching Grammar.
Nowadays, although English is not included in the applied curriculum
anymore, many Elementary schools in Indonesia still have English in class. For the
success of English class, many components have been the concern of the English
practitioners including grammar teaching. According to Cameron, grammar is
necessary to express precise meanings in discourse. By having good grammar, the
language can be communicated more effectively. n young learners’ classroom,
giving grammar understanding is very important. Garrett says that it is crucial for
the development of the learners’ language ability in their early stages. By
introducing grammar to young learners earlier, their grammar-conscious awareness
can be strongly developed. It affects positively to their systematic language
production. Once they communicate, they will be aware of producing the language.
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They may make mistake but they will have the courage to revise it as they realize
that it is grammatically wrong. If grammar is taught from the early stage, children
may have little possibility of making grammatical mistakes so their language
spoken can be clear and understandable. According to Brown, grammar is needed
to produce clear and effective communication and supported by Sitorus who says
that without recognizing the grammatical rules, the language that people produce
will simply be chaotic. As a result, they might be not used to produce the language
effectively and efficiently. Therefore, some parties believe that grammar is better
to be introduced to young learners. On the other hand, other practitioners find that
grammar is not a good idea to be taught in young learners’ classroom. Brown
assumes if the grammar is taught as the main focus for classwork in young
learners' classroom, it may block the acquisition of fluency acquisition. Students
being too focused on the grammar rule while producing the language may feel
difficult to express their mind freely. Therefore, Pinter suggests avoiding explicit
grammar teaching method as he finds that young learners are those who will learn
only if they are engaged in an interesting activity which is fun yet meaningful. If
grammar teaching is considered as a burdened and boring activity, it might not
work for young learners. To make the learning works and meaningful to young
learners, the learning should be adapted based on their characteristics. Moon states
that young learners tend to go for meaning. They are experts on guessing meaning
even if they do not understand individual words. Moreover, Harmer argues that
they can respond to it once they can grasp the meaning. Unfortunately, teachers
often ask their students to make sure that they understand. If young learners do not
find it meaningful, they will not be active as planned and the goal of teaching and
learning may not be accomplished. Besides, young learners have a short span of
attention. It is easy for them to get bored and feel demotivated if their learning is
difficult, not interesting and not meaningful to them. Moreover, what they learn is
different from their mother tongue. Moon assures that the bored and demotivated
young learners will not succeed in learning. As they tend to react based on their
feelings. If they are demotivated because of experiencing a difficult situation, they
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will end up hating to learn English. It will give bad impact on their English ability
in the future. Thus, the teacher should design the learning that is not burdening for
them. Harmer states that students often learn indirectly rather than learn directly.
Thus, the more meaningful the learning they experience, the more knowledge they
gain. Reflecting on those characteristics, Cameron suggests that the teachers of
young learners should provide physical activities which deal with routines and
repetition in learning. Besides, Pinter states that full of gesture, intonation,
demonstration, action, and facial expressions to convey meaning are also needed to
concern. Additionally, Cameron also states that providing authentic ready-made
bits of language such as songs, rhymes, drama, etc., and do scaffolding can also be
listed as teachers' option to develop in class. It has also been proved by Hasanah as
she recommends having fun grammar teaching ways such as using people pictures,
creating captions, cut- off stories, partial pictures and picture dictation for the
success of grammar teaching. Therefore, the teaching grammar method should not
be direct teaching only but it should also involve activities accommodating the
young learners’ special characteristics. This fact has been a concern for those who
have an interest in researching teaching English for young learners. In one hand,
teaching grammar explicitly is good to develop the grammar consciousness of the
learners so in the future they can have the awareness on grammar mistakes. Uysal
& Bardakci find that teachers predominantly prefer to teach grammar explicitly or
to use focus on form approach. On the other hand, some find that it affects badly
on young learners' language acquisition. Ibrahim assumes that in young learners'
class, teaching grammar must be taught in different ways, not in an explicit way. It
has been also supported by Sitorus who suggests avoiding to use metalanguage
(e.g. passive verb, subject, object) and focus instead on what grammar can do to
achieve communication. Meanwhile, Garrett suggests a combination of both
explicit and implicit way to teach grammar as an effective method to promote
independent language acquisition. They find that teaching English to young
learners is very different from teaching adults, including treatment for grammar
teaching. From these various perceptions, it can be seen that there are still pro and
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contra related to the most effective way to teach grammar for young learners.
Having various beliefs on grammar teaching methods may result in confusion that
may hinder the success of language learning. Hence, this paper aims to investigate
the facts of grammar teaching happening in the real young learners’ classroom.
Here the setting is focused on six graders’ class. In elementary school, six graders
are considered as an advanced one compared to the lower grades in primary
schools. Some say that six graders are ready enough to have explicit grammar
learning. While others still consider them as young learners who may have
difficulty in processing explicit grammar learning. These two perspective leads to
curiosity on how the teacher treats them in grammar learning. Another curiosity is
whether the English teachers apply grammar teaching while considering the young
learners’ class principles. One of the principles is the important role of teaching
resources for the success of grammar teaching in young learners’ class as stated by
Ummah. Therefore, this paper will analyze how teaching grammar is done in six
graders. It is expected that this investigation can result in the real description of
grammar teaching in young learners. Later, it can be reflected whether it is in line
with the principles of grammar teaching and young learners’ characteristics. Based
on the observation, the teachers emphasized the urgency of grammar learning for
the sixth graders’ English class. Before the activity of practicing language skill, a
teacher even advised the students to pay attention to the grammar explanation and
asked them not to take notes first. She started explaining the grammar in class and
gave written exercises to the students. It seemed that grammar had been a burden
for the learners. At the end of the grammar explanation, they still did not
understand and requested the teacher to explain the grammar in the Indonesian
language. Unfortunately, the teacher confirmed the difficulty of learning grammar
that should be faced by the sixth graders. She stated that they should pay attention
to the explanation. If they did not understand about the simple present tense, they
would not get the idea of simple past tense. Unfortunately, the teacher concerned
too much on the importance of understanding the grammatical rules in her
teaching. Moreover, she tended to use technical terms such as subject, verb 1, verb
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2, adverbial time, and pronoun. It is not in line with Sitorus who does not
recommend the technical term usage in English learning. Although the six graders
are in the highest stage in Elementary school, it does not mean that they can learn
as fluent as adults in learning grammar. Pinter has suggested that ‘grammar is
better taught only if young learners grow older and begin to show interest in
language analyses. It is suggested that the explanation about grammar can be done
only if the learners are curious to know the reason behind the rule. In fact, the
teacher deliberately taught grammar without acknowledging and getting the
students’ interest first. Although sixth graders can be considered as older children,
the teacher cannot consider them as same as adult learners who can learn grammar
explicitly. Grammar should help young learners to deliver a meaningful language.
As has been stated before, Brown believes if grammar becomes the main focus in
the teaching and learning process, it may hinder the learners to acquire the
language. Besides, young learners have a short span of attention. If there is too
much grammar explanation during teaching, they will get bored. Thus, the teacher
should be wise in designing the activities for teaching grammar. Forcing young
learners to focus on form too much will make them bored and demotivated. Moon
assures that the bored and demotivated young Grammar can be taught using
various methods. Based on the observation in the sixth graders’ classes, it was
found that the teacher taught the grammar to the students separately or in isolation.
Once she came up to introduce the tenses, she began her talk by teaching the rule
first and finally discussing a passage as the context. It seemed that the students
found difficulty in comprehending what the teacher explained. They looked
confused once the teacher asked whether they understood her explanation. They
felt demotivated and requested the teacher to explain in the Indonesian language.
Their confusion ends when a smart student explained her understanding in the
Indonesian language. Pinter states that ‘teaching grammar in isolation can be a dry
and boring activity’. In fact, the activities in the class were mainly covered by the
teacher talk aimed for explaining the grammar. The students were only asked to
pay attention to. According to Moon, it was not suitable with young learners who
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are active verbally, physically, and cognitively. Besides, students like to have fun.
Logically, if they have fun and enjoy the learning activities, they will develop a
positive attitude towards English. It will lead to greater participation to practice
English and continue to achieve the learning goals. Moreover, young learners are
those who react based on feeling. If they are happy and secure, they are more likely
to enjoy and benefit from their language learning. In fact, those requirements were
not found during the observation. They were confused and demotivated. Thus, it is
reasonable if the learners did not understand the teacher’s explanation. A
phenomenon of having demotivated students in young learners’ classroom may
happen anytime. It might happen because the activities are not meaningful for the
learners. It has been proved during the class observation. The students of the two
participants showed their confusion. Other students sitting at the back chose to be
busy with their stuffs. There were only smart students who sat down in the front
line who participate actively during the explicit grammar learning. They may get
excited as their competence is good enough to understand. Others were confused
and ended up with feeling uninterested as they found that explicit grammar
learning is boring and not meaningful to them. Thus, teaching grammar in young
learners’ classroom should not be in isolation. Pinter suggests that grammar should
be taught in a holistic way. Rather than teaching grammar in isolation, it might be
better to introduce grammar using meaningful activities. Meaningful activities
work on young learners since Moon states that one of the young learners'
characteristics is going for meaning. In each activity, they will investigate the
meaning first so it can make sense for them. Actually, it had been good already that
in the pre-activityy, the discussion of the topic which was about public places went
well. The students were so enthusiastic to answer the questions from the teacher as
they were familiar with the topic. Besides, there were supporting materials such as
pictures that were drawn in the textbook. It leads to an interesting topic to discuss.
It proves Moon who states that if young learners are engaged in interesting
activities, they will have a powerful desire to communicate. It had been meaningful
for the learners. Unfortunately, the teacher did not link that meaningful discussion
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to the next activity which was the introduction of simple past tense. She ended up
the discussion about public places and continued to teach grammar in isolation
without bringing the context (public places) that they had discussed before. She
directly compared the tenses they wanted to learn that day (simple past tense) to
the tenses they had learnt before (simple present tense). Although they had known
about Present Tense, it does not guarantee that they will understand Past Tense
easily. The technique of comparing tenses did not seem meaningful to the learners.
It merely led into confusion. It can be seen at the practice. At that time, the teacher
asked the students to change the past form in the passage of report text into the
form of present tense. As a result, the students who were pointed to do the task
could not do it successfully. In fact, there was a student who was confused about
the difference between present tense and past tense. He did not get the point so he
only changed the verb without changing the adverbial of time. According to Moon,
young learners tend to go for meaning. Thus, instead of paying attention to the
form, it is better to focus on meaning first. Therefore, rather than comparing the
grammatical rules between past and present tense, it may be better if the teacher
designs meaningful activities. She can make the use of the discussion about public
places to introduce simple past tense. According to Cameron, talking about
something meaningful, with young learners can be a useful way to introduce new
grammar. Thus, it is suggested for the teacher teaching grammar to work from a
discourse. It can be in the form of language of classroom management and/ or
talking with children. As an example, a teacher can lead the discussion about
which places they had visited before and when it was. She might highlight the
learners’ answers about where and when they had visited and revised them into
past form to introduce how to say something that had happened in the past. Here,
she can introduce the importance of simple past tense by using the model that she
made with the learners. In fact, instead of applying meaningful activities for
teaching grammar, both of the participants chose to have explicit grammar learning
in class. Based on the interview, having explicit grammar teaching as one of the
focus of discussion in class was their decision as the final exam was approaching.
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They should have a better understanding of grammar pattern so they can do the
exam successfully. Besides, that understanding may be useful for them to perform
better in Junior High School, as there would be many exercises on tenses discussed
further. Thus, the participants wanted to give the students a basic understanding.
At the same time, they should realize that young learners' grammar teaching
method is different from the adults' one. The teacher should connect the grammar
to the real-world first to ease them understanding the grammar. Thus, it could not
be done by discussing the grammar pattern and practicing grammar exercises.
Pinter says regarding to Piaget’s theory, young learners can only use the rules of
formal logic if it is applied to concrete examples and objects in real life. It is also
supported by Brown who suggests that grammar should be contextualized in
meaningful language use. That is why grammar can not be taught explicitly in
young learners’ class. As the result, confusion happened when the teacher
explained the grammar pattern in class. Therefore, it can be concluded that having
explicit grammar teaching in young learners’ classroom is not a good idea. Based
on the observation, the grammar was taught directly. Meanwhile, Batstone in
Cameron proposes to have a noticing stage as the first stage in grammar teaching.
In this stage, the students focus on meaning and take a view on its grammar. It is
expected that the students are aware of the structure and they may notice a
connection between form and meaning. Based on the observation, the teacher did
not proceed the noticing stage effectively. Whereas, there was a reading passage
which is very good to be used in noticing stage. Unfortunately, the teacher used the
reading passage as a practice for the learners. Due to the interview, the teachers use
an interesting topic to discuss in the first as a source for the students to learn the
vocabularies. They did not really notice that the context available can be explored
further and used as the modeling to notice. As Cameron emphasizes the importance
of noticing stage as the first stage in grammar learning, the teachers should make
the use of the context to teach grammar. They may build a fun atmosphere first and
make the students notice the modeling. According to Pinter, in this noticing stage,
besides working from the discourse, the teacher can introduce the form using
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puppet songs, stories, reading passages and other inputs which are fun for young
learners. The ways the participants of this research promote explicit grammar
teaching here should be concerned. Based on the observation, the teacher only
focused on practicing the form. She asked the students to modify some sentences
of past form into present form. Thus, the learners might get bored with the activity
which was not meaningful. According to Batstone in Cameron, this kind of
activities actually belongs to the structuring stage. It is the second step after the
noticing stage. In this stage, the teacher brings the new grammar pattern into the
learners’ internal grammar. Cameron states that it can be done by having controlled
practice around the form and meaning such as questionnaire, survey, and quizzes,
information gap activities, helping hands, and drills and chant. It is good for the
learners so they can be accustomed to the verb used in the past form. Fortunately, it
was noted that during the teaching and learning in class, the teacher gave drilling
about verb mastery. Moreover, there was one teacher who applied rewards system
during the drilling. Children like competition so it was fun for them. By having
these fun activities, they did not realize that they learn from the play. In fact, it is
still not enough yet if the learners have not got chance to produce what they learn.
They may learn to understand the pattern but they may not know how to use the
language. On the day of observation, it was found that the teachers were running of
time since both of them spent a lot of time to keep explaining the material to those
who had not understood. Whereas, according to Batstone in Cameron, there should
be a procedural stage as the last step in young learners’ grammar teaching. In this
stage, it is suggested to have a procedure in which the learners use the form to
express meaning. It can be done by designing fun activities through having role
play, making crafts, and other meaningful output. In fact, it was not found during
the observation. Due to the limited time, the sixth graders only experience the two
first stages. Unfortunately, those two stages did not seem to work smoothly on the
learners. No production stage in grammar teaching may hinder the process of
achieving its goals. According to the Nation in language learning, an input should
be balanced with output. The grammar they have learned should be practiced and
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spoken out too. It has been proven by Renanda by recommending the students to
have a production stage as the last phase of learning. What the students learn
should be expressed in spoken and/ or written form to see how far their
understanding. It is expected that the students can know how to use the language
that they have learnt before. The students will not be able to speak in good
grammar if they just simply do the written grammar exercises in class without
practice to speak.
CHAPTER ll. EFFECTIVE GAMES DURING TEACHING
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
2.1 The use of games in teaching English grammar
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Today teaching has changed a lot over the past years. Once it was all about
learners being passive and listening in the classroom, but today learners are usually
much more active in the classroom, and what better way to be active than by
playing games.
The national curriculum in foreign languages in Uzbekistan talks about the
importance of keeping teaching methods diverse in order to light and sustain
interest among students. Teachers can help sustain diversity in a variety of ways,
for example by using activities that require learners to be creative in thinking and
emphasizing individual learning and cooperative learning equally. A more specific
way that teachers can use in order to keep diversity within the classroom is to not
be afraid of using games as a teaching method along with other methods.
According to the national curriculum games can be a good teaching method
and games, such as role playing games, imitation games, theatrical expression and
problem solving activities are especially fitting for all stages of language learning.
Howard Gardner, whose theories that humans have eight intelligences, claims
that when exploring a certain topic in school it can be approached in 6 different
ways in order to maximize the chances of reaching all students in the classroom.
One of these ways is “thepersonal way”, where the ultimate goal is to see if it is
possible to approach a specific topic by using, for example, role play, or other
interactions In addition, Armstrong suggests board games as a teaching strategy
that might suit learners with interpersonal intelligence because they provide an
excellent setting for interaction between students.
There are a number of reasons that games deserve a place in the language
classroom. First of all, they are fun, which is extremely important, because they
can help activate learners who may have been inactive before, due to lack of
interest. Keeping learners active is vital because teachers will never be able to
actually teach learners anything unless they can get them to participate in their own
learning process.
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Second, games also play a big part in helping participants build relationships,
and to feel equal. Playing games in the classroom can also help create a friendly
and positive atmosphere where seat arrangement can differ from game to game,
and thus cause diversity from the norm which can be extremely helpful in keeping
an exciting learning environment.
Third, the reason most people want to learn a language is to be able to use it
in real situations, for example when travelling. Games can be a very good way to
practice this skill because they can easily be used to reenact various situations from
real life and provide students with practice in their fluency. Also, by using games
in the classroom the teacher is giving his learners a bigger role, and he himself is
stepping out of the frontline which is a positive thing because it allows learners to
take on more responsibility. Also that allows learners to do more on their own, and
that can very well result in an increase in their confidence level.
Fourth, language students need to be exposed to the language in a variety of
situations, which is a need games can fulfill. Language learners also need to be
ready to take on the experience, keeping their minds open and being willing
participants again, games make this possible.
Fifth, language learners need to be emotionally involved, meaning they need
to feel something while they are exposed to the language. Strong emotions, such as
happiness, excitement, amusement and suspense allow students to feel positively
about their learning situation and are therefore likely to have a positive effect on
language learning.
Sixth, games are good for shy learners and learners with low confidence, and
that applies specifically when playing takes place in smaller groups because then
they get a chance to speak in front of fewer audience instead of having to express
themselves in front of the whole class. Also it is sometimes easier to open up and
forget the shyness when playing a game because the atmosphere is not as serious
and more emphasis is put on fluency rather than grammatical correctness.
18
Seventh, games can be a good strategy when teaching various subjects
because they are very likely to spark interest amongst students. They can be used
with learners of all ages, and when they are used with other teaching methods they
create diversity which is ideal for school work. A study that was undertaken in
Iceland in 2006 shows clearly the need for diversity in schools. Many participants
in that study complained about the lack of diversity, and that they wanted more of
it in order for their learning to become more fun and progressive in their school.
Finally, using games in the classroom is important because many children do
not get enough opportunity to play during their free time, which can be traced to
the rapid changes in our society. Cities are getting bigger and traffic is getting
heavier which means that more and more parents are hesitant to let their children
play outside. Also passive activities such as watching television, or the computer
screen are seen as being more exciting than actually physically playing, so today
the sight of children playing various games in groups outside is becoming much
more rare than it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago. This is not a good development, and
it can have several bad consequences for our society. One possible consequence is
that the lack of movement can cause health problems because even though not all
games are physical some certainly are another consequence this change might have
is decreased social skills because, according to Piaget, children’s games reflect
society and that by playing games children learn many of society’s rules and
regulations.
Even though games are usually started with the aim of having fun, they can
sometimes end badly, for example if someone gets carriedaway with all the fun
and says or does something that hurts someone else or his feelings. When games
are used in the classroom the teacher must keep this in mind and control the game
in the right way. Also he or she must make sure that every participant has a
positive experience because the classroom must not become a place where students
feel vulnerable or picked on in. Another thing that is important to acknowledge is
the fact that not all games fit the classroom environment, or all groups of students,
19
and that it can be hard finding the right game. In fact, it is good to keep in mind
when selecting a game that a recipe for a good educational game is one that
balances both fun and challenge.
Another point teachers need to keep in mind is to choose wisely when it
comes to selecting a game to use in the classroom because; although one game
might be perfect for one teacher or a particular group of learners it can be terrible
for another teacher or group of students.
There are numerous techniques concerned with grammar presentation.
However, there are a few things that have to be remembered irrespective of the
way new lexical items are presented. If teachers want students to remember new
grammar it needs to be learnt in the context, practiced and then revised to prevent
students from forgetting.
Teachers must take sure of that students have understood the new words,
which will be remembered better if introduced in a “memorable way”. Bearing all
this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ a variety of techniques for new
grammatical presentation and revision.
We suggest the following types of grammar presentation techniques:
(1) visual techniques. These pertain to visual memory, which is considered
especially helpful with the grammar retention. Learners remember better the
material that has been presented by means of the visual aids. The visual techniques
lend themselves well to presenting concrete items of grammar. They help students
to associate the presented material in a meaningful way and incorporate it into their
system of the language units, and
(2) verbal explanation. This pertains to the use of illustrative situations
connected with the grammar material studied.
A lot of experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued
that games are not just time-filling activities but they have a great educational
value. We hold that most grammar games make learners use the language instead
20
of thinking about learning the correct forms. The grammar games should be treated
as central, notperipherical to the foreign language teaching programme. Games, as
Richard Amato thinks, are to be fun, but he warns against overlooking their
pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language teaching programmes.
There are many advantages of using games in grammar:
(1) games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely,
(2) games are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy
students more opportunities to express their opinions and feelings,
(3) they also enable learners to acquire new experience within the foreign
language that are not always possible during a typical lesson,
(4) games add diversion to the regular classroom activities, break the ice and
introduce the new ideas,
(5) in the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games the
students remember things faster and better,
(6) grammar games are a good way of practicing the language, for they
provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in future,
(7) grammar games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency.
If not for any of these reasons they should be used just because they help
students to see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems, and this is the
main reason to use games when studying English grammar.
There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is
appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to
make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results,
they must correspond to either the students’ level, or age, or the materials that are
to be introduced or practiced. Not all of the games are appropriate for all students
irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various topics, materials and
modes of games. For example, children benefit most from games which require
21
moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups, and the like.
Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical
aspects of language have to relate to students’ ability and prior knowledge. Games
become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the students’
experience.
Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time
necessary for its completion. Many games have time limits but according to Siek
Piscozub, the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending of the
students’ levels, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of
a game, etc.
Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time
left at the end of the lesson. As Mr. Lee observes, a game should not be regarded
as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have
nothing better to do.
Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Mr. Rixon
suggests that games should be used at all stages of the English lesson, provided
that they are suitable and carefully chosen.
At different stages of the lesson, the teachers’ aims connected with a game
may vary:
(1) presentation. It presents and provides a good model making its meaning
clear,
(2) controlled practice. It elicits a good imitation of the language and
appropriate responses,
(3) communicative practice. It gives to the students a chance to use a foreign
language.
Grammar games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping
learners to recall a grammar material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors
22
referred to in my report agree that even the grammar games resulted only in noise
and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing
in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote the communicative
competence, and generate the fluency. However, can they be more successful for
presentation and revision than other techniques? My teaching practice proves that
the answer to this question is absolutely affirmative.
2.2 "National games for teaching English grammar and their
Implementation techniques"
First of all, the teacher has to look at the group that will be participating in the
game and he or she then has to set out a goal for thegroup which the game should
aim towards.Selecting an appropriate game for a specific group of students who are
working towards a specific goal can be tricky because, for example, they need to
make sure that the game is relevant to the subject, that it fits their students‟ age
and, teachers must remember not to select a game that is too complicated because
that might result in a loss of interest amongst the students, or even defeat. Also
teachers must make sure they explain the rules of the game in detail and that all
instructions are clear before starting the game. During the game it is important for
the teachers to observe and be ready to help, but without unnecessarily interrupting
the flow of the game because that might affect the fluency, which could result in
discouraging students from participating. After the game, it is a good idea to have
some sort of a follow up activity planned because it gives the learners’ time to
reflect upon the game and how it turned out. It is important for teachers to know
that augmenting a game is allowed and can certainly be necessary in some cases.
More difficult games can be made easier so they become a challenge instead of too
hard for less skilled or younger students and vice versa. Although games can
usually be modified to suit learners of various ages, there are certain characteristics
in games that appeal to children within specific age groups. For children age 68
repetition is very common in games, rules are often few, and the games usually do
not take a very long time. When it comes to children age 9-11 they have patience
23
for longer games, which often include much more suspense. Also when children
reach this age they start to be able to augment the games themselves, for example
to bend the rules to make the game more suited for their group. For children older
than 12 games are often much more planned and they often emphasize teams and
teamwork. Games are used in teaching can be divided into categories in many
different ways. One way of dividing educational games is by categorizing them
into groups depending on their model. Ingvar Sigurgeirsson has divided games into
the following categories: games for dividing larger groups into smaller groups,
introduction-games, group games, physical games, scavenger hunt games,
educational games, theoretical expression games, drawingand coloring games,
educational card games, word games, story games and question games. Another
way of dividing educational games is by categorizing them into cooperative games
and competitive games. Although competitive games can be a useful way to get
some students interested and to maintain their focus, co-operative games, which
revolve around working together towards reaching a specific goal, can be an
excellent way to foster the skill of working with others. In co-operative games the
emphasis is not on winning or losing, and as a result nobody should have to suffer
trauma to his or her self confidence which could lead to better results in the
learning process. Educational games can be categorized in many other ways, for
example dividing games into groups depending on which age group they fit could
be convenient, also a division into writing-, reading-, speaking-, and listening
games could be a good idea. Some games will always fit into many categories,
which can make categorizing games a complex project. Games for dividing larger
groups into smaller groups within the group: games for dividing larger group into
smaller groups, there are games that can be used prior to some group activity in
order to divide the whole group into smaller groups. A great game that fits into this
category is the game “Group dividing by miming” and it goes like this: The teacher
has prepared notes with a certain role written on them. If the teacher wants to have
4 students in a group he has made 4 notes of each role, for example 4 notes that say
“teacher” or “clown”. The second step is to give each student a note and remember
24
to tell the students that they have to make sure that nobody besides them sees their
note. Once everybody has gotten a note then they can begin acting out their roles
and while they are doing so they must watch the others in order to figure out who
is acting the same role as them. Once they have figured that out they will have
created their groups. An activity like this can also be very good because it “breaks
the ice” and prepares the students for the group work. This category might include
games like: “Searching for people” where students have to walk around the
classroom and find students that have for example lived on a farm, been to Spain
or eaten Mexican food and of course they would have to use the target language in
order to get the necessary information. Also a good game in this category is the
game “Stating the names” where students sit in a circle and one by one they
introduce themselves, but the only catch is that before saying their own name they
always have to repeat the names of the students who have already introduced
themselves, and as the game progresses it gets harder and harder for students to
memorize all the names. In order to make this game more fitting in a language
classroom the teacher could ask the student to add something they like that starts
with the same letter as their name, for example “my name is Anna and I love
apples”. Another idea could be to have students add adjectives with the same letter
as their names, for example “Sigga super” or “Anna awesome” and that way it
teaches adjectives as well. For kids whose names begin with special Icelandic
letters, the rules would have to be adjusted to some degree. A good idea could be
to allow them to find adjectives that begin with the same letter as the second, or
even third one in their name. Group games- an example of a group game is the
game “Fruit basket” which emphasizes listening, memory and reflexes, all of
which are good and necessary skills to possess. The rules of this game are that
participants sit in a circle and they all get a name of a certain fruit to “be”. One
participant does not have a chair and has to stand in the middle. He then calls out a
name of a fruit, for example an orange, and then all the students who are oranges
have to stand up and switch seats. The one in the middle has to try and “steal” a
seat while the others are switching and if he succeeds someone else will be left
25
alone in the middle and gets the task of calling out the name of a new fruit. This
game could easily be augmented to suit different situations or to train some other
vocabulary just by using other categories of words, for example clothes, names of
relatives, or different types of food instead of fruits. Physical games - an example
of a physical game is “Walking the line” where participants have to walk a line and
perform various types of tasks at the same time, for example walking backwards,
or balancing a book on their heads. In order to make this game more fitting in a
language classroom the teacher should give the instructions in the target language,
for example “everybody has to walk backwards”. Another example of a physical
game could be the game “Simon says”, where someone plays Simon and gives the
others orders, for example “Simon says jump” or “Simon says clap your hands”. I
categorize this game as a physical game because of the fact that the Simon’s orders
are usually physical. Activities like “Simon says” fits into ateaching method called
Total Physical Response (TPR) in which languages is taught by allowing students
to observe and take their time to understand the language before having to speak it.
TPR is thought to be a good teaching method for learning a foreign language for
two reasons. The first one is that it is thought to reduce the stress level of learning
a language and therefore making the learning more enjoyable, and the second one
is that it resembles the learning of children’s native language, where children are
exposed to the language for many months before starting to talk. Scavenger hunt
games- savage hunt games are especially fitting in the language classroom because
the clues can be written in the target language, which forces the participants to read
and fellow team members to listen and test their understanding. Also within the
scavenger hunt could be puzzles, which the students would have to solve, such as
crossword puzzles, word searches and questions. The possibilities are almost
endless and teachers are only bound by the limits of their own creativity.
Educational games - the “mail game” where participants have to deliver “mail” and
make sure it gets to the right places works as an excellent example of an
educational game. For languages a good idea would be to work around a theme of
a certain place, such as the home. The first thing the teacher has to do is to make
26
the envelopes and the “mail”. The envelopes should be labeled with a specific
genre, which in this example would be “kitchen”, “bedroom”, “bathroom” etc. The
mail should then be letters with words on them that fit into specific envelopes, for
example the word “knife” or the word “refrigerator” would match the envelope
labeled “kitchen”. Each student should then get a certain amount of “mail” that he
has to write his name on and then get to work delivering. The first one to deliver
all of his mail would win if it turned out he delivered correctly. Theoretical
expression games - the game “who am I?” fits perfectly into the theoretical
expression category. In this game the class is usually divided into two teams and
then one by one students stand in front of the whole class and act out a specific
profession, which the teacher has given them. The teams take turns in guessing or
asking questions, but the actor can only reply to questions by answering yes or no.
The scoring can then be managed in a way that one point would be given to a team
that asks a question, which is replayed with a yes answer and 5 points would be
given to the team that figures out who the actor is playing. Drawing- and coloring
games- an example of a game from the category: drawingand coloring games can
be a game called “drawing in a foreign language”. That game is very similar to the
“who am I” game from the category above but the only difference is that the
students have to draw on the blackboard instead of acting, and they could be
working with other types of vocabulary than professions, for example nouns, verbs
or adjectives. Educational card games- one educational card game is Bingo, which
is an excellent activity to use in language teaching because the teacher can draw
words and the students only have pictures on their bingo cards or vice versa. That
way the students have to understand the words to be able to match it to the right
picture. Word games - word games can be especially good for language teaching.
Included here are crossword puzzles and word searches where students get the
words in their native tongue but they are hidden in the word search and only match
the crossword puzzle in the target language. Also it is easy asking students to use
the target language in the game “Filling in a chart” where participants have to find,
for example a country, a city, an animal, or a type of food. Story games - an
27
excellent example of a game from the category: story games, is the game “to tell a
story”. The participants sit in a circle and one of them gets the role of the story
teller. The teacher whispers one word into the ear of each student and asks him or
her to remember it. Then the storyteller begins telling a story and every now and
then he stops and points at a student who then has to say the word the teacher has
whispered to him. The storyteller then has to incorporate this word into the story,
and that usually has amusing consequences. This game fits into language teaching
perfectly because the story would be told in the target language and the words
would also be in the target language. Question games - a good game in the
category: question games, is the game “riddles about European countries”. The
students get divided into pairs and each pair gets assigned a specific country and
the task of preparing a small riddle about it, such as “It has many horses, it is
surrounded by sea, and there you cannot travel by train” Answer: Iceland After
each pair has made their riddle they would be asked to come to the front of the
class and ask the other pairs to solve the riddle. The other pairs then have to write
down what they think the right answer is and when all pairs have asked their
riddles all the answers are collected and the pair with the most correct answers
wins. Games have four areas: 1. Writing is a skill that, even in the native language,
is learnt and not acquired. That fact could explain in part why writing is often
considered to be difficult, or even boring in the target language. Another
explanation could be that it is often assigned as homework, and many students
don’t like homework. One possible reason why writing can be viewed as being
difficult is because the writer does not get an immediate feedback similar to what
happens during conversations, and as a result the writer could feel more insecure
about his work. Some teachers also unwisely use writing as punishment: “Ok, just
for that Bobby, I want to see an essay on my desk tomorrow on the dangers of
smoking!” Writing also demands a completely different language than normally
used in conversations. For students in school this must not become their experience
of writing because that can lead to their loathing of writing. Games can be a good
way to prevent this because not only are games fun but they can provide writers
28
with a reason to write and it is obvious that writing will become easier when there
is a clear reason instead of just having to write because the teacher said so. Another
thing that games can provide for writers is an audience. In many games other
students will play the reader’s part and therefore provide the writer with the
necessary feedback that writing often lacks. A variety of interactive writing games
can be found on the internet and teachers can, without much effort, create a game
that practices writing. For example, when teaching students how to write a formal
letter a game where participants would have to rearrange sentences to position
them correctly, so they make a formal letter, could be a good game. 2. Listening most people remember training their listening skill mainly by doing listening
activities when they were in school. Listening activities might very well be an
effective way of training that particular skill but teachers need to remember to keep
the activities versatile or their students might get bored. By combining listening
with games, teachers might prevent their students from getting bored, and by
keeping them interested they are increasing the chances of the students achieving
their goals. An example of a good listening game is the famous game “Simon
says” where one participant plays the role of Simon and gives the others directions,
for example by saying:”Simon says jump”, or “Simon says stop jumping” and then
everybody would have to do that. If Simon only says “everybody jump” and does
not attach the phrase “Simon says” at the front then the other participants are not
be supposed to follow the direction. Because of this, students need to listen
carefully in order to know when to follow Simon’s directions and when to ignore
them. This game can also be used to train any vocabulary. 3. Speaking - according
to the national curriculum, teaching communication is very important because of
the fact that it plays such a big part of knowing a language. The curriculum also
claims that since communication is unpredictable in real life, students must get the
chance to practice exactly that and not just to read premade conversations. In order
to achieve this, the curriculum suggests games as a good method. Even though the
importance of teaching communication is stressed in the national curriculum, some
teachers seem to be lacking when it comes to actually teaching students to
29
communicate. According to a study made on English teaching in elementary
schools in Iceland in 2006 only 10% of English teachers, who teach 9th and 10th
grade, always use the target language in the classroom, 66% of them use it often or
sometimes, and 24% seldom uses it in the classroom. The same study showed that
students did not use English much either. In fact 39% of students said they seldom
answered their teacher in English and an astonishing 75% of students said they did
not use the target language to communicate with their fellow students. Students
look up to their teachers and when they do not use the target language inside the
language classroom it should not come as a surprise that many students do not use
it either. Games could be helpful in solving this problem because they call for
communication, and they emphasize fluency instead of accuracy, which should
encourage students to communicate because when the emphasis is on fluency
students usually do not receive much criticism although they might make errors.
Fluency is an important skill to practice because it is what is needed in the real
world, and in that sense it could be said that games provide a necessary connection
between the classroom and the real world. Although games in general might
emphasize fluency the category speaking games can be divided into two main
categories. Those categories are: linguistic games and communicative games. Even
though they both aim towards teaching speech in the target language they put
emphasis on very different things. While linguistic games emphasize speaking
correctly the goal when playing communicative games is fluency. Reading is an
important skill to possess especially when learning the English language. First of
all it is important because of the fact that to be able to write people need to know
how to read. Secondly it is important for people if they plan to visit the country
where the language is spoken because then they will have to be able to read, for
example, various directions, menus, and tourist brochures. Thirdly, knowing how
to read is important if students are planning on getting an education beyond
elementary school because that requires reading. This last point applies especially
in Iceland where the majority of textbooks for university are in English. Because of
how important the skill reading is it is crucial that teachers seek appropriate means
30
in order to keep students interested. As with the other skills, games can provide
diversity and help keep subjects fun and interesting. National games are a great
way to engage students and make learning grammar more interesting. These games
can be played in the classroom or online, and can be adapted for different ages and
levels of proficiency. In this article, we will explore some popular national games
for teaching English grammar and provide implementation techniques to help
teachers make the most of them in their classrooms.
1. Scrabble. Scrabble is a classic board game that has been popular for
decades. It is a great game for teaching English grammar because it requires
players to create words from a set of letters. This helps students to practice their
spelling and grammar skills, as well as their vocabulary. Scrabble can be played in
groups of two or more, and can be adapted for different levels of proficiency by
adjusting the difficulty of the words used. Implementation technique: To make the
game more challenging, teachers can require students to use certain parts of speech
or tenses in their words. For example, they could ask students to only use past
tense verbs or adjectives in their words. Teachers can also provide a list of
vocabulary words that students must use in their game.
2. Hangman. Hangman is a simple game that can be played with any number
of players. It is a great game for teaching English grammar because it requires
players to spell words correctly and to use their knowledge of grammar to guess
the correct letters. Hangman can be adapted for different levels of proficiency by
adjusting the difficulty of the words used. Implementation technique: To make the
game more challenging, teachers can require students to guess the part of speech or
tense of the word before they can guess a letter. For example, they could ask
students to guess a verb in the present continuous tense before they can guess a
letter. Teachers can also provide a list of vocabulary words that students must use
in their game.
3. Pictionary. Pictionary is a drawing game that can be played in groups of
two or more. It is a great game for teaching English grammar because it requires
31
players to draw pictures to represent words or concepts. This helps students to
practice their vocabulary and grammar skills, as well as their creativity. Pictionary
can be adapted for different levels of proficiency by adjusting the difficulty of the
words used. Implementation technique: To make the game more challenging,
teachers can require students to draw pictures that represent a specific part of
speech or tense. For example, they could ask students to draw a picture that
represents a verb in the past tense. Teachers can also provide a list of vocabulary
words that students must use in their game.
4. Charades. Charades is a game that can be played in groups of two or more.
It is a great game for teaching English grammar because it requires players to act
out words or concepts without using any words. This helps students to practice
their vocabulary and grammar skills, as well as their creativity. Charades can be
adapted for different levels of proficiency by adjusting the difficulty of the words
used. Implementation technique: To make the game more challenging, teachers can
require students to act out words that represent a specific part of speech or tense.
For example, they could ask students to act out a verb in the present perfect tense.
Teachers can also provide a list of vocabulary words that students must use in their
game.
5. Taboo. Taboo is a game that can be played in groups of two or more. It is a
great game for teaching English grammar because it requires players to describe
words or concepts without using certain words. This helps students to practice their
vocabulary and grammar skills, as well as their creativity. Taboo can be adapted
for different levels of proficiency by adjusting the difficulty of the words used.
Implementation technique: To make the game more challenging, teachers can
require students to describe words that represent a specific part of speech or tense.
For example, they could ask students to describe a verb in the present continuous
tense without using the words "is" or "are". Teachers can also provide a list of
vocabulary words that students must use in their game.
32
CONCLUSION
In short, national games are a great way to engage students and make learning
English grammar more interesting. Scrabble, Hangman, Pictionary, Charades and
Taboo are all popular games that can be adapted for different ages and skill levels.
By using implementation techniques such as prompting for specific parts of speech
or tenses and providing word lists, teachers can make these games more
challenging and effective for teaching English grammar. according to the results of
this study, it can be clear that games are very important tools in language teaching
33
classrooms in terms of providing a relaxed environment for students and for both
teachers and students. Games are most useful if they are educational rather than
entertaining. They believe that grammar is important for young learners' language
development as it increases students' grammatical awareness. Teachers expect
students to be able to produce language effectively. Recognizing the importance of
introducing young learners to grammar, teachers directly instructed learners by
focusing on form. As a result, students did not perceive the learning as meaningful.
As a result, the students were confused as to what was found in the sighting. In
fact, teachers should design the materials carefully, taking into account the
characteristics of young learners. They should have realized that teaching young
learners is different from teaching adults, especially teaching grammar. Although
six pupils are considered to be logical thinkers because they are older than students
in other grades of elementary school, that does not mean they are ready to learn
English grammar on their own. For grammar teaching to be worthwhile, it must
first of all be meaningful. It should not be taught in isolation, but holistically. It is
suggested that the teacher can explain the grammar rule if the students are
interested in knowing the grammar rule more deeply. Ideally, there should be three
significant phases in teaching grammar to young learners, namely the notation
phase, the structuring phase and the creation process. These stages should be filled
with fun and meaningful activities that will help students develop a positive
attitude towards English. Therefore, they are ready to participate in achieving the
goals of teaching grammar. Knowing this, teachers should review their method of
teaching grammar. Moreover, the particular characteristics of young learners
should always be included in grammar lessons. Hopefully, teachers can consider
this information when planning their classroom lessons in the future. Schools can
also support learning by providing training for teachers to conduct different
classroom activities to combine both grammar instruction in explicit and implicit
methods.
34
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