An Experimental Research Of Teaching Grammar Explicitly & Organically In High School

For decades the discussion whether or not to teach grammar to EFL students and how to teach grammar has been one of the most controversial issues in ESL pedagogy. Recently, the explicit grammar instruction has drawn attentions of linguists and foreign language teachers again because the communicative teaching approach cannot meet our expectations.At the present a task-based teaching approach is advocated in high schools. It is a teaching approach based on the use of communicative and interactive tasks according to which the units are organized. Such an arrangement results in unsystematic grammatical items, some are even omitted. It is said that this approach enables the learners to acquire grammar as a result of engaging in authentic language use. However, the learners are not able to acquire and generalize the grammar rules by themselves successfully. This poses as an obstacle in the way of learners'process of English learning.In foreign language setting, learners need to develop accurate systematic English grammar to express themselves and transmit messages. But for lack of systematic grammar knowledge, they are not sure of the accuracy of what they express and this leads to ungrammatical English. As a result, the learners can not progress beyond the early stages.Different from the linear approach to grammar instruction, David Nunan advances an organic approach, based on which he promotes to deal with grammar instruction in a new perspective and sees grammar learning as an organic process. He also insists that teachers help learners understand that effective communication involves achieving harmony between functional interpretation and formal appropriation. The experiment of the writer is supposed to teach grammar explicitly and organically in high school and to prove that it is useful in improving the learners'grammar proficiency.The writer took two groups of students from natural classes as subjects. To find out the factors that affected their English learning, a pre-interview was conducted. After analyzing the results of interview, the writer found that grammar learning has a direct effect on English learning. With consideration of these factors, the writer conducted the experiment as follows:Firstly, grammar rules were taught to learners explicitly. Then situational examples were made to achieve harmony between functional interpretation and formal appropriation. In addition to it, more opportunities of coming across some particular grammar points were offered to learners to raise the learners'consciousness and get a better understanding of the structure.Learners'attentions were also drawn to the internal relationships among each item of grammar, thus building a system of grammar, with which learners are able to understand messages and monitor their output..After the experiment, a post-interview was carried out to find out the learners'changes in English learning after the experiment. The writer chose six subjects of the two groups who represent different levels: two from top level, two from average level and two from under-achieved level. After the results being analyzed, a conclusion was drawn out that the explicit and organic grammar instruction can not only help to form a framework about the grammatical items, but also help students to understand the characteristics of the target language. It can play an important role in enhancing the learners'grammar proficiency and facilitating their English learning.