Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo

First University of América

Human Science School
Post- grade Division
Languages School

Master:

Applied Linguistic on English Teaching

Subject: Grammar

Research Paper:

Grammar Teaching at Public and Private Educational Institutions of the

Dominican Republic

By:
Roxana Benite
Nicolasa Rosario
Kerlina Suarez
Regina Ortiz
Gilberto Mañón

Professor:

DR. Miguel Arturo Mariñez

Date:
Santo Domingo, D. R.
June 22th, 2019

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 INDEX

Introduction

Chapter I: General Introductory Aspects.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

1.2 Research questions (4 open questions)
1.3 Objetives: General and Specifics
1.4 Justification: Say the importance and relevance of the work

Chapter II: Review of the Literature

Chapter III: Methodological Framework

3.1 Type of Investigation
3.2 Approach
3.3 Population and Sample
3.4 Instruments and Techniques four Data Collection
3.5 Procedures

Chapter IV: Presentation, Discussion and Interpretation of Results

Conclusion
Recommendation
References
Appendix

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 Introduction

Grammar is the backbone of any language. It is the womb that gives birth to sentences. These
sentences are fertilized using grammar to form correct and appropriate speech. Teaching grammar
requires numerous skills and different activities. Grammar teaching can either consist of the
presentation and practice of grammatical items or might consist of presentation by itself without any
practice. Further, grammar teaching can be conducted simply by exposing learners to input contrived
to provide multiple exemplars of the target structure. Additionally, grammar teaching can be
conducted by means of feedback on learners’ errors when these arise in the context of performing
some communicative tasks. We can say that grammar teaching involves instructions, techniques,
skills and activities that can help learners to understand process and produce grammatical sentences
and utterances.

Different teachers use different models. They might either use structural, generative or functional
grammar. Structural grammar focuses on form. Functional grammar gives more attention to functions
performed by grammatical forms. However, syllabus designers and teachers prefer to rely on modern
descriptive grammar, such as: Celce-Murcia and Larson-Freeman’s (1999) grammar book. This
resource is of great value because it provides both comprehensive and clear descriptions of English
grammar. It also identifies the kinds of errors that L2 learners are make with different grammatical
structures. This work contains four chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction, statement of the problem, research questions, objectives, justification .

Chapter II:Review of literature

Chapter III: Methodological framework which give the details how this research was carried out.

Chapter IV: Presentation, Discussion and Interpretation of Results Conclusion, recommendation

,references and appendix

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 Statement of the Problem

Recently, researchers have discussed teaching grammar or not. Many second language
teachers do not teach grammar because grammar is there in context. Other teachers
continue teaching grammar in isolation. Grammar teaching has been introduced in the
language curriculum because grammar counts. Grammar deserves more attention and
should be seen as rational, dynamic system that is comprise of structures characterized by
the three dimensions of form, meaning, and use, instead of simply focusing on grammatical
form, Mariam Celce Murcia.

Grammar is essential for understanding English as a second language as well as for

learning a new language, since all languages follow grammatical patterns. Grammar is vital
in all aspects of life from education to leadership, and social life to employment
opportunities. Without grammar there in any real meaning or sense. Grammar knowledge is
necessary in order to be able to speak a language to some degree of proficiency and to be
able to say what we really want to say.

Another major issue in teaching grammar have been related to whether grammar should be
taught deductively where students are given the rule and they apply it to examples to
produce language and inductive in which students infer the rule or generalization from a set
of examples. Corder 1973 in Rutherford and Sherwood Smith 1988, p. 133. suggests that a
combination of induction and deduction produces the best result. There is no doubt that a
knowledge-implicit or explicit—of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a
language. DeKeyser (1995) points out that while induction can be either implicit or explicit
(and explicit induction can happen with or without help from a teacher or textbook),
deductive learning is necessarily explicit (even though the degree of explicitness - or
elaborateness.

Many language teachers have different attitudes to grammar.

Grammatical competence is one of communicative competence. Communicative

competence involves knowing how to use the grammar and vocabulary of the language to
achieve communicative goals, and knowing how to do this in a socially appropriate way.
Communicative goals are the goals of learners’ studying English language. So, grammar
teaching is necessary to achieve the goals. We have heard many students complaining about
how difficult is to memorize grammar rules and they do not enjoy learning grammar also
they cannot use it for communication.

Based on those observations we decided to do this research.

Language is realized through grammatical structures (morphology and syntax). The

grammar of a language exists whether we notice it or not. Language is a set of rules as
union of words in the sentence is not carried out through an arbitrary combination, but
according to a regulatory system that has any language. Our aim is to present students’
views on the importance of grammar in second language acquisition. It is noted that
teaching of foreign languages in favor of the development of communication skills leads to
a lack of students’ knowledge on grammar.
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General Objective:

To investigate what sort of methods or techniques the teachers employ for teaching grammar.

Specific Objectives:

To identify how teachers apply grammar in the classroom.

To determine what sort of methods or techniques the teachers employ for teaching
grammar.

To describe the teacher’s actual classroom practices of teaching grammar.

To determine what are the student’s attitudes on grammar

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 1.4 Justification

The use of teaching grammar in EFL classroom research represents a very important study

because grammar teaching is crucial in English language teaching field. Grammar is the

head of English language; it needs be instructed. Grammar operates at the sentence level

and governs the syntax or word orders that are permissible in the language.

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 Chapter II

Review of the Literature

Knowing grammar can improve our ability to think analytically and communicative

confidently and affectively. It also helps us understand the language that shape our world

our personal identities. If you just started learning English, you first need to know some

basic rules of the language. Developing a solid foundation in English grammar will not

only help you create your own sentences correctly but will also make it easier to improve

your communication skills in both spoken and written English. According to Fromkin et

al.(1990:12): "The sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of meaning such as words and

the rules to combine them to form new sentences constitute the grammar of a language.

These rules are internalized and subconsciously learned by native speakers". In brief,

grammar represents one's linguistic competence. Grammar, therefore, includes many

aspects of linguistic knowledge: the sound system (phonology), the system of meaning

(semantics), the rules of word formation (morphology), the rules of sentence formation

(syntax), and the vocabulary of words (lexicon). With the great impact of linguistics on

language teaching, the past twenty-five years has seen a change in people's traditional

attitudes and approaches towards the teaching of grammar. The evolution in language

pedagogy from audiolingual towards a more communicative approach in teaching has also

brought with it a great change in the way grammar is viewed and taught. Traditionally,

grammar was considered solely as prescriptive. With regard to the type of grammar

instruction or grammar activities appropriate for ESL or EFL learners and when or how to

teach grammar, teachers need to consider the following factors proposed by Celce-

Murcia(1991). Firstly, each learner has his or her own learning style. Some learners have an

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analytic learning style preference and often feel completely adrift unless they are given

analytic grammar activities. Many EFL learners at the university level also find systematic,

analytic exercises and teacher explanation of grammar appealing. Secondly, the age of the

learners helps teachers to determine the extent to which they should focus on form. If EFL

or ESL learners are children, they should be given little explicit grammar instruction. By

contrast, adolescents or adult learners need some explicit focus on form. Thirdly, the

proficiency level of learners is another factor to be considered. For advanced ESL learners,

the instruction becomes more individualized and content oriented. Teachers review those

specific features that learners lack. Fourthly, the learners' educational background is also

influenced by culture. Some learners demand grammar instruction because it meets cultural

expectations. Fifthly, the educational objectives assist the EFL or ESL teachers to decide

what to focus on. The main goal in grammar teaching is to enable learners to achieve

linguistic competence and to be able to use grammar as a tool or resource in the

comprehension and creation of oral and written discourse efficiently, effectively, and

appropriately according to the situation.

Different Methods of Teaching Grammar

Diagramming Sentences

One of the older forms of teaching grammar, diagramming sentences, first appeared in the

19th century. This method involves visually mapping the structures of and relationships

between different aspects of a sentence. Especially helpful for visual learners, this method

disappeared from modern teaching at least 30 years ago.

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Learning Through Writing

This method is often used in schools in the U.S. and Canada. Students are encouraged to

explore language through creative writing and reading, picking up correct grammar usage

along the way. If there are specific problems with certain grammatical rules, these are

covered in a more structured lesson. An emphasis is now being placed upon language

acquisition over language learning

Inductive Teaching

The inductive method of teaching grammar involves presenting several examples that

illustrate a specific concept and expecting students to notice how the concept works from

these examples. No explanation of the concept is given beforehand, and the expectation is

that students learn to recognize the rules of grammar in a more natural way during their own

reading and writing. Discovering grammar and visualizing how these rules work in a sentence

allow for easier retention of the concept than if the students were given an explanation that

was disconnected from examples of the concept. The main goal of the inductive teaching

method is the retention of grammar concepts, with teachers using techniques that are known

to work cognitively and make an impression on students’ contextual memory.

Deductive Teaching

The deductive method of teaching grammar is an approach that focuses on instruction before

practice. A teacher gives students an in-depth explanation of a grammatical concept before

they encounter the same grammatical concept in their own writing. After the lesson, students

are expected to practice what they have just been shown in a mechanical way, through

worksheets and exercises. This type of teaching, though common, has many people—

including teachers—rethinking such methods, as more post-secondary level students are

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revealing sub-par literacy skills in adulthood. As one former teacher states, deductive

teaching methods drive many students away from writing because of the tediousness of rote

learning and teacher-centered approach.

Interactive Teaching

Another method of teaching grammar is to incorporate interactivity into lessons. Using games

to teach grammar not only engages students but also helps them to remember what they’ve

learned. This method allows teachers to tailor their lessons to the different learning styles of

students. For instance, each student can be given a large flashcard with a word on it, and the

students must physically arrange themselves into a proper sentence. Other games can include

word puzzles or fun online quizzes.

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 Chapter III

Research Design and Methodology

3.1 Type of Investigation

Qualitative

3.2 Methodology

The methodology of the present research lays on the use of different strategies and

approaches for teaching grammar.

In this research it will be investigated the teaching grammar methods in different level

students at both public and private institutions, by the observation of five groups.

Analyzing the ways the teachers introduce grammar in their classes, the sources they

use, the time they spend doing it, and the attitude of the students in the learning grammar

process.

3.3 Population and Sample

The population is integrated for students from different Dominican

educational institutions: Extracurricular courses at UASD, Autonomous University

of Santo Domingo, National Evangelical University, Calazans School, and San Jose

Public School.

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Instruments and Techniques for data collection:

This investigation was based on observation technique which involves the researchers

immersing them in research setting, and systematically observing dimension of that setting

interaction, relationship, actions, events, etc.

Procedures

Permission from the Academy Authorities.

Once we had the permission, we talked and coordinated with the professors. We

agreed the dates of the observation and we explained them in details what we were going to

do and how long it would take to us:

Calasanz School of Santo Domingo

Level: 1st of High School (intermedium)

Total of Student: 20

Male: 8

Female: 12

The teacher goes into the classroom and greets the students. After that, she asks questions

about what they did during the weekend, plays an interactive game with them, explains the

topic, and begins to work on the books.

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 At the beginning of the class, as an ice breaker, all the students were speaking English

through the participation and taking turns, about how their weekends had been like. They

look very interested about sharing their experiences and all of them had the chance to do it.

Additionally, they were emphasized in using the simple past and the past progressive

tenses. Moreover, the teacher also asked some questions to those speechless students. Little

corrections were made for the teacher by elicitation.

In the other hand, the second activity they did was a group activity. The teacher asked

the students to create 5 groups of four participants in order to play a kahoot. Only one

electronic device per group was allowed. Then, the teacher suggested four topics for

choosing one to play. They were technology, movies, geography, and American literature.

Next, most of the students chose technology by votes raising their hands and they began the

group game in silence using electronic tablets. At the end, the winner group just clapped.

Furthermore, there were not extra points for the activity; it was apparently just for fun,

however, after the game the students had to speak briefly about some movies presented

through the activity.

Finally, the teacher wrote the class topic on the white board, which was Adverbs of

Manner and four sentences as examples. Before reading the sentences she explained the use

of the adverbs of manners and had the students to write it down on the notebooks as a

dictation. Then, she wrote the grammar form of those adverbs and asked the students to

write it down. A couple of minutes later the teacher read the grammar again to focus the

students’ attention. After that, they could complete some exercises in their student books

and were assigned to write five sentences using adverbs of manner.

It was a 45 minutes class, divided in the following way:

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 Greetings and ice breaker 10 minutes.

Kahoot and speaking 15 minutes.

Explanation of the topic and dictation 5 minutes.

Students writing grammar points and assignments 15 minutes

Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo

Level: Elementary (level I)

Total of Students: 38

Male: 18

Female: 20

The teacher greets his students very politely. The teacher introduced the class by talking to

them about the issue of cardinal numbers, topic that had already seen the class before.

Students completed some exercises from the student book and checked those

exercises orally guided by the teacher.

In one of the exercises there was a question about the birthday date. The answer

provided by the student was wrong because he used the cardinal numbers and the reposition

was wrong too. After hearing the wrong answer given by the student the teacher explained

the use of the ordinal numbers, wrote the ordinal numbers on the board from the first to the

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thirtieth. Then, use repetition drills in order students get the pronunciation. Besides, the

teacher explained too, the correct use of the preposition on. He focused on dates.

Extracurricular English Courses (Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo)

Level: 3th (intermedium)

Total of Student: 17

Male: 6

Female: 8

In this section, the teacher was teaching simple present and past simple, but before

he did a review of the previous lesson (the use of there is and there are).

The topics were developed through different activities: the teacher wrote a sentence in

simple present and asked to the students to write it in simple past.

The teacher did a brief description about the city where he was born, explaining how

many businness establishments there was there when he was a child and how much this

situation have changed. After the he did it, 4 students do the same related to their place of

birth. All students used the given grammar topics in their presentations and written

sentences.

After this activity, the students completed exercises from the book, using simple

present, simple past.

While they were working, the teacher made sure that all of them were doing the

excersices and clarified questions of the students on the board.

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 Evangelical University of Santo Domingo

Total of Students: 25

Male: 9

Female: 16

This is a 2nd elementary level English. The teacher introduced the topic (present

continuous) with a short story, students listened then they read the story and explain

what happened to the class.

Second: the teacher explains the grammatical rules on the board.

Third: students complete the exercise on the book.

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 San Jose Public School

Total of student: 30

Male: 12

Female: 18

The topic was the use of vocabulary related food. The teacher explained the importance of

this topic and then, he begum to teaching grammar and vocabulary through dialogues. The

dialogue also had a cultural context, such as shopping and food.

The teacher read each line of the dialogue that he wrote in the board. The students repeated

each line of the dialogue after teacher.

After the section, he played the role of students and the students played the role of the

teacher. When this activity end, the student were organized in pair and practiced the

dialogue.

After that, the teacher asked the students to write a dialogue without altering the

grammar. For example, the teacher repeats a said "I ate an apple." then, the students

supplies a prompt by saying "banana" or showing a picture of a banana. Students should

respond, "I ate a banana." The exercise continued with other foods, such as "pear," "orange"

and "hamburger." Using the same sentence, another practiced different. For example, the

teacher says, "Pedro," and students respond, "Pedro ate an apple."

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 Chapter IV

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation

Of Results

Through this research, we have noticed that 58 % of the students are female and 42% are

male in the educational institutions we visited. We have determined too, that only 40% of

the institutions have the ideal number of English students and that percentage belong to the

private sector, others belonging to the public sector are crowded. We observed that only 20

% of the institutions use technology in their classes. In the area of grammar, 60% of the

teacher explain grammar deductively, while 40 percent do it inductively.

The use of teaching techniques:

Repetition drills 40%

Reading Aloud 20%
Questions and answer 40%
Role Play 20%
Gamification 20%

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 Conclusion

We have presented the findings about the methodological practices adopted by primary and

secondary English teachers in public and private schools and universities in Santo

Domingo, Dominican Republic. The information was analyzed with the understanding that

what is usually known as "methodology" involves considering approach/method awareness

and instructional design whose main components are objectives, learning tasks and

evaluation activities, among other aspects.

Under this perspective, it became apparent that teachers' choices concerning the

methodological orientation for their English classes have more to do with institutional and

class conditions than with their conceptual grounds, which are rather weak and associated,

for instance, with grammar-translation, pre-communicative views and empiricist actions.

This means that the practice overrules the theoretical principles. The grammar teaching in

the studied context seemed to be shaped mainly by situational conditions.

Teachers are conscious of the existence of different theoretical methodological options,

which could be the support for their grammar teaching practices. Some of them are also

aware of their own limitations and those generated by the working conditions in the

institution or in the classroom.

The teachers recognize the importance of changing their practices, but these changes need

to be made real. For these changes to be fulfilled, the gap between theory and practice must

be overcome. It is necessary for teachers to be able to tell methods (TBL, PBL, CBLT, etc.)

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apart from activities (composition, dialogues, research, projects and presentations) and that

they are able to recognize the fundamental principles of methods and methodological

approaches.

Recommendations

• The professors and teachers should emphasize the use of technology during the
teaching of grammar.

• The students should learn more using games in the classroom.

• The professor should motivate the student during the grammar teaching.

 Different activities and dynamics can be added to the classes.

Appendix

1-What sort of methods or techniques do the teachers employ for teaching grammar?

2-How do the teachers apply grammar in the classroom?

3-What are their actual classroom practices of teaching grammar?

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4-What are the student’s attitudes on grammar?

References:

https://www.teylj.org/service/course_E/modules/2/s3_tast10_6_TheTeachingOfGram

mar.htm

https://www.teyl-

j.org/service/course_E/modules/2/s3_tast10_6_TheTeachingOfGrammar.htm

https://www.inklyo.com/methods-of-teaching-grammar/

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/editorrachael/how-teach-grammar

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