5。1。2 Implicit Instruction Activates Grammar Teaching 16

5。1。3 The Integration of Explicit and Implicit Grammar Instructions Can be Affected by the Degrees of Grammar Complexity 16

References 19

Appendix 1 21

Appendix 2 25

Appendix 3 29

1。 Introduction

Grammar is at the center of language learning, as Philip Kerr mentioned (Kerr, 2002), and it has long been a focus subject in the EFL circles since EFL teaching came into being。 The efforts to renovate grammar teaching in EFL classroom through changes in teaching method have gone on constantly from the late 19th century to present years。 There was a long period when many people consider input as a factor of great importance in effective grammar learning, especially the class teaching。 However, with the rising popularity of Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT), it is believed that EFL classroom should involve real communication rather than only focus on grammar rules。 Therefore, the hot topic at that time centered on whether grammar should be taught or not。 Nowadays, an increasing number of experts and educators argued that it was unnecessary for teachers to teach grammar in class。 But in reality, grammar errors are frequently produced by students in the classes of CLT because of merely focusing on the communicative ability。 As a consequence, many experts and educators began to rethink the role of grammar。 The present issue in grammar teaching is how to teach grammar in EFL classroom。 

1。1 The Present State of Grammar Teaching in Junior High School in China

The present state of English grammar teaching in junior high school exited two extremes: one is the Grammar-Translation Method (GTM), and the other is Communicative Language Teaching。 

Before 1960s, the Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) dominated in EFL classroom in China, with which teachers attach the language first by giving students’ grammar rules with detailed explanation and then students apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native language。 The method mainly focuses on the explicit rules of language and overly emphasizes on the accuracy of language at the expense of learners’ grammar use and grammar perception in context。 As a result, the inconsistency in grammar knowledge and grammar competence hinders the development of learner’s communicative competence, which leads to the “dumb English”。论文网

Communicative teaching method, which originated in the late 1960s, is not widely recognized and applied into real teaching until the mid1970s。 The method emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence, which includes both the knowledge about the language and the knowledge about how to use language appropriately in real communicative situations。 Teachers and students attach great importance to the communicative ability, with which the position of speaking and listening skills has been improved rapidly。 Communicative Language Teaching has a significantly positive impact on English teaching and Learning, whereas it weakens the position of grammar, as a result of which, students are unable to make sentences without grammar error even though they have learned English for many years。 The classes under communicative teaching method focus on meaning and language use rather than language form。 In other words, the knowledge of grammar was learned implicitly。 As a consequence, we get the realization that implicit teaching instruction can not guarantee the correct grammar use which can be enhanced by explicit grammar teaching。

From what are introduced above, we know that both the explicit and implicit grammar instruction have advantages and disadvantages。 Which method can help students achieve better in English learning? The explicit method of teaching grammar has been strongly endorsed by some educators and scholars over the past few decades。 Although the opinion of implementing explicit grammar instructions seems overwhelmingly popular among some scholars, there are still different voices which are in favor of implicit grammar instructions。