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0PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 21ST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 mav 2004 www.in~academy.uz
TEACHING GRAMMAR IN AN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Bakhtiyor Kodirov
an English teacher of department "Foreign languages- 2''University of Tashkent for applied sciences (UTAS), Street Gavhar-1 Tashkent 100149 Uzbekistan bakhtiyorkadirov1982@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13148901 Abstract: Grammar has always been an important issue in second and foreign language learning and teaching. It is also an area of some controversy as there is much debate regarding its role in language learning and teaching
Keywords: Grammar teaching, English as a foreign language, explicit instruction, inductive method, grammatical accuracy, formal grammar instruction, error correction, form focused instruction.
1 INTRODUCTION
Some hold the view that grammar is not essential for second/foreign language learning and therefore have a 'zero position' regarding grammar teaching. On the other hand, some view that grammar is necessary for second/foreign language learning. After much debate, grammar is now reestablished in language teaching and there is now consensus among the theorists, language teachers and practitioners that some formal instruction on grammar is necessary in L2 classrooms. Teachers are also provided a number of approaches and strategies to choose in teaching grammar effectively in their classrooms. In this situation, the present study aims at finding out Uzbek university teachers' attitudes towards grammar and its teaching and learning in EFL classrooms relating to those options advocated by the researchers. It shows that this group of teachers views grammar as an essential component of language learning and believes that formal grammar instruction has a facilitative role in language learning. They regard explicit grammar instruction helpful for their students considering the reality of EFL situation. They prefer to teach grammar in context and within communicative activities, which indicates that they are aware of the limitations of both "focus on meaning" and "focus on forms" approaches in language teaching. As they are teaching English courses to undergraduate students, form-focused correction is found to be an important technique among others in teaching grammar to their students. Small class size, use of audio-visual materials and flexible approaches are suggested by them for better results in grammar teaching.
2 MANUSCRIPT REPARATION
The role of grammar in the acquisition of a second or foreign language has been the focus of a lively debate for 'thousands of years' (Giunchi, 1990), during which it has followed the changes in the different theories about language acquisition. In fact, various methodologies and approaches to language teaching have followed one another according to the different weight that grammar assumed in language teaching. In
particular, hostility towards grammar arose in the 1960s-1970s, when the traditional methods based on the exclusive teaching of grammar were criticized and new approaches that proposed full linguistic immersion spread (Fiorentino, 2009). Subsequently, positions that focused only on communication in teaching a foreign language were challenged in turn and grammar regained an important role in language acquisition (Larsen-Freeman, 1991). increased pressure on language teaching. Ewer (1983) recognized that traditional English teachers were trained in literature and language. They tended to claim English for general purposes as their specialist discipline and displayed a hostile attitude to others, such as English for science and technology, and business and economics. Widdowson (1983) presented two interpretations of learner needs. One was goal-oriented definitions of needs and related to terminal behavior. The other was process-oriented definitions of needs and related to transitional behavior, (i.e., the means of learning). In comparison with traditional linguists, revolutionary linguists have focused on methods in which languages are used in real situations. Swales (1983) indicated that most studies of lexis and ESP were centered on language, not pedagogy. Halliday, Mcintosh, and Strevens (1964) mentioned that the course design addresses learner needs, such as English for civil servants, for agriculture university students, and for others. ESP programs should focus on various learning strategies, schemata, motivations, and interests. ESP materials play an integral role in developing a successful ESP program. Nababan (1993) indicated that specific areas and learner types were the most significant elements for designing ESP teaching programs. ESP teaching materials should be based on a syllabus that covers all of the learner needs in their present studies and future professions. According to the suggestions by Munby (1978) for ESP materials, syllabus specification is directly derivable from prior identification of the communicative requirements of learners. Learner needs should be the first criteria for ESP course design. Once the content has been recorded,
PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 21ST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 mav 2004 www.in~academy.uz
analyzed, and organized, teachers will possess efficient learning materials to teach the learners with confidence and certainty. ESP vocabulary teaching is one of the essential components for educational practitioners to implement successful ESP programs. Nababan (1993) mentioned that the vocabulary component is the central core of numerous ESP programs. Vocabulary is the most prominent feature of a register, and words have particular meanings depending on the specific register in which they are used. However, ESP vocabulary always presents a major linguistic obstacle to nonnative English-speaking students. It is difficult to learn words in general, especially those ESP terms which are not the same in all languages, because they are low frequency words and are not encountered very often. Vocabulary acquisition is incremental in nature and this means that words are not learned instantaneously but they are learned over a period of time. The number of words learned depends on numerous exposures to a particular word. This is exactly why ESP vocabulary learning strategies and storage should be emphasized in ESP classes. Vocabulary learning strategies are an effective tactic for ESP vocabulary acquisitions. Establishing a connection between spelling and pronunciation can tremendously enhance ESP vocabulary recognition and reading ability because English is an alphabetic language. Word decoding and recognition ability are vital factors that improve ESP reading comprehension and speed. The knowledge of basic affixes, roots, suffixes, and word formation help learners decode ESP vocabulary. Decomposing an unfamiliar word into its structural components and inferring its meaning from them is called structural analysis. Several researchers (Nation, 1990; Hsueh, 1997) have mentioned that learning affixes can successfully teach students ESP vocabulary structural analysis. By becoming familiar with only a few roots, affixes, and suffixes, students can determine the meaning of very many words. In addition, teaching the word formation of ESP vocabulary can help learners memorize and recognize it in an effective manner. Word decoding instruction results in improving learners' ability to infer word meaning. Both the literature review and the survey held have shown that learning vocabulary in the process of ESP learning is essential and difficult, and the textbooks and practices that exist are imperfect from this viewpoint. They need to incorporate more vocabulary learning strategies to be more effective. The students of University of Tashkent for applied sciences who participated in the research feel the need to study, more or less proportionately, general English, general academic English, general English and narrow (according to their specialization) special English vocabulary. Either course book authors
should take this into consideration or, most probably, in the near future, it is teachers' responsibility to compensate for this disadvantage. Students do have some strategies of guessing the vocabulary meaning, however, they need more efficient strategies and they have to be purposefully developed in the process of teaching. The respondent students have very poor strategies of vocabulary memorization, which is a great obstacle to enriching their vocabulary. These strategies also have to be taught at English lessons. 3 CONCLUSIONS
The negation of the importance of grammar in language acquisition was supported first of all by Krashen (1982). A fundamental premise to Krashen's view of formal instruction is his theory on language acquisition, which has been already described in the first chapter: in Krashen's opinion, acquisition and learning are completely separate, and thus learning does not need to precede acquisition in the teaching of a foreign language. As regards grammar, Krashen (1982) recognizes that it can be useful in language learning as monitor, which can be activated only when the learner has enough time, when he/she has the possibility to focus on the form of the message and has already acquired the knowledge of the rules involved in the production. Krashen (1982) underlines the fact that only a small set of rules is learnable and thus usable as monitor, and that the ideal use of monitor occurs only when the learner uses conscious rules without interfering with communication and thus improving L2 accuracy. Furthermore, Krashen (1982) admits the usefulness of grammar for 'language appreciation', that is to say as a demonstration to students that acquisition of structures has taken place, or to allow advanced learners to render their speeches and writing more polished. However, Krashen (1982) states that the theoretical study of grammar as a subject is not useful at all, and that teaching grammar can be valuable only if the foreign language is used as means of communication; in this case, it is the input provided that leads to acquisition, and not grammar as the object of instruction, which can be seen as partly useful, but certainly not as essential in foreign language teaching. Before analysing the debate on the role of grammar in greater detail, describing the methods that have followed one another during the past decades and the two main underlying tendencies, an explanation of what is generally meant by grammar will follow. The history of grammar analysis goes back to the ancient Greeks, who transformed it from the art of writing and recognizing letters into a science of rules that govern the production of texts. Both the Greeks and Romans, who adopted the Greek analysis for Latin, used grammar to
PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 2IST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 may 2004 www.in~academy.uz
teach people how to use languages, which were then employed in many fields, such as politics, philosophy and religion (De Mauro, 2009; Celce-Murcia, 1991). Then, during the Renaissance, the study of Greek and Latin grammars spread thanks to the invention of printing, and many formal studies on language developed.
References
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