TESL 0100: Unit 3 Reflection - Everything in Moderation

TESL 0100 Unit 3 Reflection: Everything in Moderation 

                                                                                                                      (Source:https://www.flickr.com/photos/61056899@N06/5751301741) 

As I went over this week’s assigned readings, I was interested to learn a little about the history of grammar instruction over the past hundred years. What especially stood out to me was how language education went through several “fads”, where views shifted from one extreme to another.

During the first half of the 20^th century, two methods were particularly popular; the Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Method (Brown & Lee, 2015). The first of these two approaches was centered on the memorization of grammar rules and the translation of various passages. It focussed heavily on reading and writing skills and only involved explicit instruction, where students were simply given rules without any context for their usage (Brown & Lee, 2015). As for the Audiolingual Method, it’s approach to grammar instruction emphasized learning through repetition and memorization of language forms via oral drills (Brown & Lee, 2015). Both of these methods put an emphasis on form with little, if any opportunities for creative communicative language production.  

However, in the latter half of the 20^th century, a new take on language instruction gained popularity; one that strived to counter the Audiolingual and Grammar Translation Methods (Brown & Lee, 2015). Two methods that adhered to this ideology were the Direct Method and the Natural Approach.  Unlike their predecessors, they incorporated little, if not any focus on form. (Brown & Lee, 2015). Rather, such approaches focused more on teaching language the way a child learns their L1, by acquiring language forms without any real formal grammatical analysis; the focus was more on communication than studying rules. (Brown & Lee, 2015).

Fast forward to today, and current approaches to teaching grammar take from both camps. There is focus on form that takes place, all the while within a communicative framework (Brown & Lee, 2015). What this means is that students are still learning grammar rules but also have opportunities to apply these rules to communicate with one another in relevant ways.  

This is where I feel the expression “everything in moderation” comes in. I think that a balanced approach to teaching grammar is best. In order for students to fully understand a grammar rule, there needs to be some explanation so that they know how to use it and why they are using it. However, it’s also important that students learn how to use these rules within authentic communication activities. I really liked Brown and Lee’s suggested approach to teaching grammar by first starting with an abductive approach, then moving on to an inductive approach, and finally ending with a deductive approach (Brown & Lee, 2015). I find this approach gives students a chance to discover grammar forms, while still ensuring at the end of a lesson that they are learning them properly. Furthermore, it incorporates opportunities for authentic communication to take place that incorporate the grammar rule in question.

Anyway, to conclude this blog post, I find it fascinating how far grammar instruction has come along. While previous methods may not have been perfect, the discoveries and contributions they made to language education have been invaluable.

References

H. Brown, H. L. (2015). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. .