Grammar in Isolation

vs Grammar
in Context

Praveen Naidu S/O Kalai Selvem
Grammar in Isolation
Teaching separately in a lesson
Focus on form and meaning only
Language learning
Exercise : repetition, manipulation, grammatical
transformation
Prescriptive/descriptive approaches

To understand grammatical forms and be able to
use them
Cover the ability to understand grammatical
forms
Cover the ability to use these grammatical forms
for communicative purpose
The purpose for using grammar in
isolation
To identify students own performance
It helps teacher to set the level and make
improvement on the next lesson
To make sure pupils recognize the rules and
regulation of grammar
Ex : past tense, present tense, irregular verbs.
Teacher can selectively choose which grammar
items to cover in this grammar course, so that
the instruction can be effectively focused on
items that are more important.

Give teachers as well as learners plenty of time
to understand the grammatical forms and
produce them in communication tasks
Issues
Confusing
Grammar is about rules of language : pupils
become bored and stress (they have to
memorize directly)
Not enjoying
Students could not connect the grammar with
their language or the lessons with their lives
How to overcome
Fun activities
Choose effective methods
Make discussion
Activities related with daily situation
Grammar in context
involves teaching grammar in relations to the
context of the situation the utterances are
usually used
Focus on forms, meaning and usage
Language acquisition
Requires commitment to teach
Specific instruction would be given to individual
students
Applicable while teaching other skills
Eg: listening, writing, reading, speaking and
language arts.
Teaching grammar in context provides a
meaningful framework that connects to reality
in the targeted language (Anderson, 2005).
An approach through which learners can learn
how to form structures correctly, and also how
to use them to communicate meaning (Nunan,
1998, p.103)
Learners will use grammatical conventions more
effectively in communication if they learn them
in context.


HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR IN
CONTEXT
Example : using dialogues --> the use of
dialogues generally matches learners
expectations of how language is used in the real
world: people use language primarily to talk to
each other (Thornbury, 1999, p.76).
reference
http://prezi.com/w8fgmvng-a8k/grammar-in-isolation/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136927500/tsl-3108-TOPIC-2
http://workpurpose.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/grammar-in-
context-vs-grammar-in-isolation/#jp-carousel-119
Teaching Grammar in Context: Why and How? By ar Turul
Mart http://www.project-read.com/teaching-grammar-in-
context/