An Integration Of Explicit And Implicit Grammar Instruction In Junior High School

In the field of English grammar teaching, there exist several teaching approaches, among whichexplicit grammar teaching and implicit grammar teaching are two representative approaches.These are twogrammar teaching systems which are not mutually independent and exclusive, but complementary andpromote each other. In order to make teachers to combine the form, meaning and use of grammareffectively in the teaching process to enable students to fully grasp the knowledge of grammar and reallylearn how to use language to communicate, the present study centers on the following questions:(1)Canstudents’achievements of English grammar be improved more effectively by the integration of explicit andimplicit grammar teaching than by explicit grammar instruction?(2)According to three dimensions ofgrammar:form, meaning and use proposed by Larshen-Freeman, what are the results between explicitgrammar teaching and integration of explicit and implicit grammar teaching on the two grammatical items?This thesis is contriving to integrate explicit and implicit grammar teaching effectively,which is basedon three theories:the general mode of information processing, Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and Bruner’sCognitive Learning Theory. First, the study selected two ninth-grade junior high school classes (30students in each class) as the experimental class and control class through conducting an Englishproficiency test in pretest, in which integrative grammar teaching is adopted in the experimental classwhile explicit grammar teaching is used in the control class,then two grammar items－attributive clauseand passive voice are selected to make a three-month teaching practice, after that subjects are tested againin post-test, in which two grammar items are involved in the test that are concerned with three aspects ofgrammar: form.meaning and use; Finally the data of tests in two classes are analyzed by using SPSS14.0.The results show that the experimental class is higher than the control class from the overall scores,,and according to three dimensions of grammar (form, meaning and use)proposed by Larshen-Freeman,theauthor make a further analysis,which indicates that scores in the experimental class and the control classare not significantly different when the test emphasizes on form and meaning of grammar, when the testemphasizes on use of grammar,scores in experimental class are significantly higher than control class. Sostudents’ achievements of English grammar can be improved more effectively by the integration of explicitand implicit grammar teaching than by explicit grammar instruction.In the process of teaching andlearning,the roles of teachers and students get a good balance;students learning activity and initiative areraised.Students can have a full and correct understanding about the grammatical rules,and also they can use the target language to communicate fluently,which is the real unity of form,meaning and use. The thesisholds that teachers should adopt integrative method appropriately in grammar teaching process in order toachieve effective promotion of students’ grammar knowledge and proficiency of communication inpractice.