Grammar Teaching in the New Curriculum in Middle School英语专业毕业论文

AcknowledgementsThanks for giving me this chance to achieve this paper and to make a conclusion for my four years education. Through writing this paper, I have gained more knowledge than I supposed. My sincere thanks are due to my supervisor, Miss Du Ai Hong for helping me to clarify my thought and sharpen my thinking.Here, I also want to give my thanks to other teachers and my classmates who gave me much help. Thank you!AbstractGrammar has a long history and grammar research still has a long way to go. It is the foundation of developing students listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translating abilities. However, grammar teaching becomes more and more unimportant in the new curriculum reform. In this paper, firstly, the author has stated the current situation of grammar teaching; secondly, mainly analyzed the principles and strategies of grammar teaching in the new curriculum reform; lastly, pointed out how to teach grammar well in the new curriculum. Students will find it easy to learn English grammar well and apply grammar knowledge to the practical use of English language.Key Words: English; grammar teaching; strategy摘要“英语语法教学”贯穿于中学英语教学过程的始终，是学生提高听说读写译五项技能的基础，但随着新课改的进行，语法教学越来越不被重视，本文首先分析了当前英语语法教学现状，其次重点分析新课改下语法教学的原则和策略，最后指出新课改下如何更好地进行语法教学，最终使学生真正学好语法知识，并把它应用到英语这门语言中。关键词：英语；语法教学；策略Contents1. Introduction12. The Role of Grammar in English Language12.1 The Definition of Grammar12.2 The Importance of Grammar Teaching23. The Current Situation of Grammar Teaching34. The Principles in Grammar Teaching44.1 Practical Principle54.2 Sentence and Grammar Principle54.3 Individual and Integrated Principle65. Several Strategies of Grammar Teaching65.1 Analytic Skills and Comparative Skills75.2 Providing Plentiful, Appropriate Language Input75.3 Using Predicting Skills85.4 Limiting Expectations for Drills, Encouraging Communicative Drills85.5 The Grammar-Translation Approach85.6 Grammar Teaching in Culture Class95.7 Sentence Recombination96. Conclusion10Bibliography12IIIGrammar Teaching in the New Curriculum in Middle School1. IntroductionGrammar is the means by which linguistic creativity is ultimately achieved and inadequate knowledge of grammar would lead to a serious limitation on the capacity for communication. As we know we cannot use words unless we know how they should be put together. In China the teaching of grammar, however, is an area of some controversy and debate. In the grammar teaching classroom, some teachers excessively pay attention to the importance of teaching rules that can be clearly formulated and some are relatively difficult. These more difficult rules are not always governed by the immediate linguistic environment and thus are difficult to practice in simple contexts. So gradually the students are not interested in learning English. They are successful in mastering only small amounts of structural forms which are useless in improving their integrative communicative competence. Some other teachers excessively pursue the communicative function, and emphasize the instruction. The method of ignoring structure is as putting the cart before the horse. The result is that learners are successful but grammatically inaccurate communicators. It is not surprising that a Chinese cannot express himself fluently and accurately after spending more than ten tears in teaching English. To some extent, the lack of grammar knowledge leads to the difficulty of communications.This paper has firstly described the current situation of grammar teaching in middle school. Then the author puts forward the principles of grammar teaching which contain practical principle, sentence and grammar principle as well as individual and integrated principle. At the same time the author gives several strategies of grammar teaching including analytic skills and comparative skills, providing plentiful language input and using predicting skills etc, which give instructions to teachers in their grammar teaching. With the help of teachers, students can have a good knowledge of English grammar and they can improve their English language level. Thus the aim of English teaching in the new curriculum will be obtained. 2. The Role of Grammar in English Language Grammar teaching has a long history. Grammar teaching is very important in our daily life, because we use it every day. It is the foundation of speaking, reading and writing.2.1 The Definition of GrammarIn linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes semantics, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. The grammar is often used by non-linguists with a very broad meaning indeed; as Jeremy Butterfield puts it:” Grammar is often a generic way of referring to any aspect of English that people object to.” However linguists use it in a much more specific sense. Every speaker of a language has, in his or her head, a set of rules for using that language. This is a grammar, and-at least in the case of ones native language-the vast majority of the information in it is acquired not by conscious study or instruction, but by observing other speakers; much of this work is done during infancy. Language learning later in life, of course, may involve a greater degree of explicit instruction. The term” English grammar”, therefore, may have several meanings. It may refer to the whole of English grammar-that is, to the grammars of all the speakers of the language-in which case, the term encompasses a great deal of variation. Alternatively, it may refer only to what is common to the grammars of all, or of the vast majority of English speakers. Or it may refer to the rules of a particular, relatively well-defined variety of English. “An English grammar is a specific description, study or analysis of such rules.2.2 The Importance of Grammar Teaching Language is the tool used by us to communicate thoughts and information. And a good knowledge of grammar is essential in learning a language. The importance of the grammar can be seen from three aspectsFirstly, the purpose of developing the students communication needs grammar teaching. Students grammar skills are not in an ideal standard. Grammar is the form of a language and communication is the function of a language. Teachers should create the harmonious combination between grammar and communication. On one hand, grammar knowledge is the basic and necessary foundation of communication. We cannot talk clearly and correctly without it. On the other hand, the aim of learning grammar is just to learn a language well so as to speak it fluently.Secondly, grammar teaching and learning is of importance in the present learning environment. The cultural and teaching environments are different from country to country. In some countries where English is their mother tongue, English is spoken everywhere, which gives the students abundant stimulus. So the students can naturally obtain an instinctive sense for the language without learning grammar painstakingly. On that condition, they easily have a command of English. However, in our country students talk English in a non-English environment. Most students, especially those who study in remote countryside, can only come into connect with English in class. If we dont make comparison and contrast between the two languages and not have a systematic and careful learning to grasp the grammar rules, we are likely to make mistakes in understanding and expressing. Thirdly, grammar has certain importance in college entrance examination. Under the new curriculum reform, English has changed its position from dominant to secondary, which, however, doesnt mean there is no need for teachers to teach grammar and for students to learn it. If so, we will go from one extreme to the other extreme. Grammar of desalination in college entrance examination means examining grammar in an indirect way rather than rejecting it. Individual choice tests grammar mainly using the learned grammar indirectly in a sentence or discourse structure. Though comprehensive reading seems not to purely test grammar, there are many questions indeed to check students ability of using grammar to analyze the sentence structure and understand the general idea or details. Writing, needless to say, in a more direct way tests a students grammar knowledge. Can a composition containing grammar mistakes in every sentence get high marks?3. The Current Situation of Grammar TeachingIn recent years, as the English curriculum reform in senior high school goes further and further, the idea of communication teaching has been gradually accepted by those of foreign language teaching circle, and the method of communication teaching has been popular used in most middle school class all over the world. Grammar teaching once popular for a while has been desalinated step by step in nowadays. Many teachers hold that English teaching principally develops the students communication competence and grammar English is unimportant. In fact, the teaching of grammar will never be insignificant. The present conditions of grammar teaching are as follows:First, the grammar items are not arranged sequentially, systemically and directly as before, so some teachers cannot teach grammar completely and thus makes grammar hard to be a system. Second, English class really set the students as center, students speaking, listening and doing activities through the whole class. There is little explanation of knowledge and little analysis of grammar. Teachers are just like a director, giving orders to students. Students are just like actors, accomplishing their task under the instruction of the teachers. Third, most elderly teachers are experienced and skillful. They have adopted the traditional method for a long time, which makes them have no idea about what to do when faced with the new teaching material. They teach the new teaching material in the traditional teaching method, which is somewhat against the intention of the compilers. As for the new teachers, they lack of experience and it is hard to deal with the new teaching material. As their grammar knowledge is not solid, they will make some grammar mistakes when giving sentences examples, either in oral English or on the blackboard. Fourth, teachers have no grasp of the idea of new curriculum, they cannot adopt the right teaching method. They cannot deal with the relationship between the communication method and grammar teaching well. As a result, the lack of grammar knowledge causes the decline of students reading ability and more mistakes in writing, translation. Fifth, many students are always taught in the traditional way. They are used to passively receiving the language point sitting in the classroom. When taught in a new way, many students cannot understand the hidden knowledge beyond the communication teaching method. They cannot have a thorough and profound grasp of grammar, so the ability of applying it to language cannot go to a high level. From what I have stated above, grammar teaching is the necessary part of language teaching. The issue of grammars status and function in English teaching has not been whether to teach it or not, but how to teach it. The aim of English curriculum in ordinary high school is to foster students ability of comprehensively applying it to English language, including five elements, that is language knowledge, emotional attitude, learning strategy and cultural recognition. In terms of grammar, the new curriculum points out that the key point of English curriculum reform is to change the situation where English curriculum pay too much attention to grammar and vocabulary knowledge, neglecting to develop students ability to use language practically. The new curriculum reform emphasizing proceeding on the basis of interest of study, experience of life, and level of acknowledge. It also encourages the study methods of practice, involvement, cooperation and communication. By these means the process of teaching language gradually becomes the process of developing students ability to learn by themselves. So it can be easily seen that with the concept of the new curriculum, grammar teaching is not the ultimate goal, it is the effective means to learn English language. The ultimate goal of teaching grammar is to make students combine form and meaning of language with its function together, and finally they can apply grammar to the language in communication correctly, appropriately and effectively.4. The Principles in Grammar Teaching There are many principles in grammar teaching. We should follow the principles when we learn grammar. Only in this way can we improve our ability of learning English.4.1 Practical PrincipleAs the saying goes, practices makes perfect. Practice principle is a simple but effective way of improving our ability of learning. For example, you should use visual means to explain the grammar when you teach adjective, you can take three different sizes of things (apple), one is bigger than another. Answer the question when you put up the questions.A: Whats this?B: Its an apple.A: Which is bigger?B: The first one is bigger.A: Which is the biggest of all?B: The second one is the biggest of all.After this repetition, the teacher can allow students repeat several times until they can perform it independently, then the teacher should write the sentences on the blackboard to enhance students understanding. Finally you can give some examples and there will be a more profound understanding through repeating practices.4.2 Sentence and Grammar PrincipleSentence is combined with words with correct grammar principle. It is a wrong way to sentence or grammar alone. When you repeat the sentences, you remember the grammar at the same time. If you want to memorize the grammar point forever, it is a better way that you put grammar point into a sentence. Only in this way can we learn grammar in a vivid way. Grammar and sentence should be taught together. Structure sentence is sentences structure. It is summarized from a large number of typical sentences. Grammar principle is the teaching of grammar. It can be used in the sentence structure practice.The teaching of grammar and sentence can be beneficial to each other. First let the students master a certain amount of sentences which are provided for students to learn grammar emotionally. Then, students can learn English morphology and syntax based on the practical sentence. Also, they should have capacity of English grammar knowledge. Sentence practice should be practiced by repetition, imitation, substitution, conversion, expansion and utilization. Take there be as an example, it is a grammar point, but we can use different forms to express it. Such as: making up a sentence, filling in the blanks with correct grammar form and sentence transformation exercises.There is a river near a house.There are two boats in the river.There is some milk in the bottle.There are some apples on the tree.There was only a student in the class yesterday.There were some apples on the tree last year.There is a book and two pencils on the desk.Then fill in the blank form:There_ (be) an apple in the bag.There_ (be) two cups of tea on the table.There_ (be) a pen and some books in the bag.There_ (be) a meeting last Wednesday.There _ (be) a meeting tomorrow. 4.3 Individual and Integrated Principle Individual exercises, such as the plural noun form practice, practice of prepositions, articles practice, possessive practice, the individual filling, empty exercises, etc. These exercises are mechanical exercises, we learned little in the learning stage, but we use this practice very often. With the increase of knowledge, we can use a more flexible practice form of exercises to increase students interest in study. Read and act in the textbooks, the dialogue in the form of reading and performance practice in grammar project. Grammar learning can not just stop at the individual practice stage because individual practice can not change language knowledge into language skills. Listening, speaking, reading and writing ability are all grammatical knowledge. Listening, speaking, reading and writing should involve any comprehensive language knowledge. Exercises of individual practice are the foundation of integrated exercise practice. The forms of exercise should be closely integrated, complementary.In short, the teaching of English grammar is not simply explaining the grammar structure, but basic sentence expression in language learning. We can master the grammar point when we understand the meaning of the sentence.5. Several Strategies of Grammar TeachingTo address the declarative knowledge of procedural knowledge dichotomy, teachers and students can apply such following strategies.5.1 Analytic Skills and Comparative SkillsWe recognize that the development of declarative knowledge can accelerate development of procedural knowledge. Teaching students on how the language works and giving them opportunities to compare it with other languages will make them draw on critical thinking and analytical skills. When we teach and learn English grammar, we compare the English rules with relative Chinese grammar ones. These processes can support the development of the innate understanding that characterizes procedural knowledge. When we fully understand the rules, we will use them as a custom. For example: In teaching the simple structure of a sentence, we compare concepts of subject, verb of a sentence, to the related concepts of subject, verb, sentence in Chinese. After using this method we will find the students can understand the concepts better and even more quickly.5.2 Providing Plentiful, Appropriate Language InputAs we know, there are general and specific grammar rules in English grammar. So in English grammar teaching course, we must give students more examples of the input, for it is useful for students to understand and use the rules. If teachers give more examples or data, students will understand the rules more easily. The following are some examples given by a teacher to help students to understand and master the grammar rules more easily.This class is to learn “ there be” . In this class, the teacher goes on his plan by four steps. The first step: The teacher takes out a picture of a house, and say , in this house, there is a bottle on the table, and there is some milk in the bottle. There are some apples on the table too. Let us look at some other things, ok ?” Then the students try to make sentences about the picture. The second step: The teacher take out another picture of a river, and divides the students into three groups to make sentence, then each group chooses one student of them to speak out the sentences they made. The third step: The teacher asks each student to make three sentences about the classroom. There are some examples made by students. “There is a river near a house.” “There are two boats in the river.” “There are some apples on the tree.” “There was only a student in the class yesterday evening.” “There is a book and two pens on the desk.” The last step: The teacher gives students some more exercises to practice. (The students will do the practice correctly.) At last, we do a test. We will find the students who are given more examples will get more marks. But if the teacher just only took one or two steps and fewer examples, the students do worse. So in a grammar class, an English teacher must provide plentiful, appropriate language input for our students.5.3 Using Predicting Skills Analyst Douglas Biber has demonstrated that