| Linguists consider that grammar is the core of language, and language can’t be constituted without grammar. Hymes who is the founder of communicative competence theory also points out that the ultimate goal of foreign language learning is to cultivate communicative competence and the communicative ability. Learners should master grammar, social culture, discourse and strategy. Grammar competence is the foundation among these four communicative abilities. Therefore, it is obvious that grammar plays an important role in English teaching. However, at present, there are two blind spots of grammar teaching in junior middle school. The first one is that teachers overemphasize grammar rules and students are asked to memorize grammatical terms after class. The second one is that inadequate attention is paid to teaching English grammar.In order to change this present situation, motivate students’ learning interest and improve students’ confidence and the English grammar ability, anchored instruction is introduced into English grammar class by the author. The anchored instruction model is based on the theory of constructivism. Anchored instruction is developed by the Cognition & Technology Group at Vanderbilt(CTGV) under the leadership of John Bransford.The application of anchored instruction appears in the fields of elementary language arts and mathematics skills.But the research on the application of anchored instruction hasn’t been widely carried out, especially in English grammar teaching in junior middle school. The present paper is intended to show whether the application of anchored instruction has a positive effect on English grammar. The author intends to solve the following two questions:(1) Can anchored instruction help to raise the students’ interest and self-confidence in English grammar learning?(2) Can anchored instruction to English grammar help to improve students’ grammatical competence?The period of the study lasts two months: from September, 2014 to November, 2014. The experiment is carried out in two classes of Grade Eight in Hei Shichuan Junior Middle School—a rural middle school. The anchored instruction was implemented in experimental class, while the traditional model is implemented in control class. Firstly, the researcher conducts a pre-test to test the students’ English grammar ability in two classes. The purpose is to show whether there is significant difference between experiment class and control class. After that, students in experiment class are asked to finish the pre-questionnaire in order to know attitude and opinions about the grammar teaching model of students in experiment class. Secondly, the researcher implements the anchored instruction to teach grammar in the experimental class for two months. Thirdly, theresearcher testifies the effect of the anchored instruction to teach grammar by analyzing the post-test scores, the results of post-questionnaire and interview results.The pre-test is clearly shown that there is no significant difference of two classes. After analyzing the data of the post-test, it is seen that students in experiment class make great progress of grammar competence. The results of pre-questionnaire show that students in experiment class do not have interest and confidence in learning English grammar before the experiment. In addition, the results of post-questionnaire and interview in experiment class show that anchored instruction to teach grammar improve students’ interest, confidence and grammar competence in learning English grammar.However, to make full use of the potential of the anchored instruction model, the English grammar teacher should update their teaching ideology and change the way of teaching; Students should get rid of the dependence on the teacher and be capable of autonomous learner. |
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