Investigating Controversies in Teaching Grammar: A Case for the Iranian High School Students
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| Title | Investigating Controversies in Teaching Grammar: A Case for the Iranian High School Students |
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| Abstract | The fact that L2 learners need to learn grammar is now a well- established fact (Celce- Murcia, 1991; Foto, 1994; Sheen, 2003; Davies, 2006; Ellis, 2006; Borg and Burns, 2008; Cullen, 2008). What has remained controversial is ‘how to teach grammar to help L2 learners acquire it. The present study was designed on a qualitative-quantitative survey basis using a semi-structured interview and questionnaire on the effectiveness of different approaches in teaching grammar which was administered to 128 students and 5 EFL instructors in four high schools in Isfahan province, the city of Falavarjan. The results of the study revealed that the students and instructors preferred ´focus on form (FonF)´ instructional method. The results also demonstrated that some of the participants favored a teacher fronted classroom with an emphasis on explicit grammar instruction. The results of the study is in line with the related literature in grammar teaching approaches that ´focus on form´ (FonF) acts as a middle-way between the two extremes of (FonFs) and ´focus on meaning (FonM)´. Moreover, the role of L1 in the grammar instruction cannot be stigmatized as unworthy of consideration without providing enough empirical evidence. The overall results suggest that the treatment of grammar with a ‘one –size -fits- all’ methodology instead of utilizing a balanced perspective based on the needs and context of the learners is not expected to yield sufficient result in any language teaching contexts. |
| Publisher | ACADEMY PUBLISHER |
| Date | 2012-08-01 |
| Source | Theory and Practice in Language Studies Vol 2, No 8 (2012) |
| Rights | Copyright © ACADEMY PUBLISHER - All Rights Reserved.To request permission, please check out URL: http://www.academypublisher.com/copyrightpermission.html. |