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141THE ADVANTAGES OF TEACHING GRAMMAR USING
GAMES Annayeva L.R.
Annayeva Lola Rasulovna - Senior Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, INSTITUTE OF TRAINING AND RETRAINING, KARSHI CITY, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the article deals with questions of using of the grammar games as one of the main aspects of teaching methods in teaching foreign languages. In the article the author gives the definition of techniques and advantages of using games in teaching grammar. Keywords: grammar, methods, game, technique, level, studying, foreign languages.
Grammar becomes exciting and dynamic when you bring the real world into your classroom and bring your class out into the world. To study the structure of the simple sentence, to make the process of learning grammar understandable [3, 12-36]. Grammar acquisition is increasingly viewed as crucial to language acquisition. However, there is much disagreement as to the effectiveness of different approaches for presenting vocabulary items. Moreover, learning grammar is often perceived as a tedious and laborious process. From some experts' experience they have noticed how enthusiastic pupils are about practicing language by means of games and the grammar games are not only fun but they help pupils learn without a conscious analysis or understanding of the learning process while they acquire communicative competence as second language users.
There are numerous techniques concerned with grammar presentation. While teachers agree that games are excellent learning activities for children, a lot of experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but they have a great educational value. We hold that most grammar games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms [2, 132].
The grammar games should be treated as central, not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. There are many advantages of using games in teaching grammar.
1. Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely.
2. Games are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy pupils more opportunities to express their opinions and feelings.
3. They also enable learners to acquire new experience within the foreign language that are not always possible during a typical lesson.
4. Games add diversion to the regular classroom activities, break the ice and introduce the new ideas.
5. In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games the pupils remember things faster and better.
6. Grammar games are a good way of practicing the language, for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in future.
7. Grammar games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency.
If not for any of these reasons they should be used just because they help pupils to see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems, and this is the main reason to use games when studying grammar.
Choosing appropriate games is also very important. There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond to either the pupils' level, or age, or the materials that are to be introduced or practiced. Not all of the games are appropriate for all pupils irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various topics, materials and modes of games. For example, children benefit most from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups, and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical aspects of language have to relate to pupils'
ability and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the pupils' experience.
Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time necessary for its completion. Many games have time limits the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending of the pupils' levels, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of a game, etc.
Teachers should know when to use games. Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of the lesson but a game should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do. Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages.
Grammar games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners to recall a grammar material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in my report agree that even the grammar games resulted only in noise and entertained pupils, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote the communicative competence, and generate the fluency.
Ways of getting pupils involved in the grammar explanation stage include: getting them to give you example sentences from their imaginations, previous conversations or the textbook; eliciting the names of grammatical forms; getting them to match grammatical names, example sentences and meanings; getting pupils to prepare grammar presentations for the class for homework; using guided discovery tasks they work through in pairs; and deliberately making mistakes they can correct you on.
References
1. Конышева А.В. Игровой метод в обучении иностранному языку. СПб.: КАРО, МН.: Издательство «Четыре четверти», 2008. 192 с.
2. Marianne C. Sharon H. Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar. Oxford Press, 1988.
3. Мухин А.М. Структура предложений и их модели. Л., 1968.
