In my previous post, I reflected on my lack of experience learning grammar in my formal schooling and how that lack of experience did not absolve me of my responsibility to teach grammar when a curriculum mandated it. In this post, I’ll share the strategies I used to close gaps in my grammar knowledge so I could better support students in developing their knowledge of grammar and some critical insights that I’ve gained from the experience.
While living abroad, my work as an English as a Foreign language teacher involved using a school mandated curriculum to support students in developing their English language skills in the domains of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and all the areas that support becoming proficient in those domains such vocabulary knowledge, pronunciation, and grammar among others. To support students in developing their grammar skills I had to name then explain the grammatical structures found in the English language then model how to use them and finally put scaffolds in place to support students in becoming proficient users of the structures. The only problem was, I didn’t have an explicit knowledge of grammar, so I was unprepared to teach it. I remember feeling foolish telling students their oral and written sentences didn’t sound right but being unable to explain why.
Weeks into my new role and tired of feeling foolish from my lack of grammar knowledge, I committed to studying grammar so I could better teach it. I remember returning home each evening after work to watch videos, consult websites, and read excerpts from books on grammar to build my knowledge and support my lesson preparations for the following day. I began by learning tenses because the students in my classes often had questions related to this area.
From my studies I learned that English like other languages uses tenses found in verbs to communicate the time of an action or actions. The three primary tenses that the emergent and developing English language learners needed to know were the past simple, present simple, and future simple. During my studies I learned that we use the past simple to communicate completed actions. We use the present simple to communicate things happening now, routines or repeated actions, facts or general truths, and it can be used to communicate future events. We use the auxiliary verbs will or going to plus a verb in the infinitive form to communicate future actions or plans. As I began working with students who possessed more advanced English language skills, I studied addition tenses. Some of them included the past continuous, the past perfect, the past perfect continuous, and the past passive. The website englishpage.com became an invaluable resource that supported my learning.
The more I learned about grammar, then applied to practice, the smaller the gap in my grammar knowledge became and the more confident and competent I became in my ability to teach grammar in meaningful ways that impacted student learning. Additionally, studying grammar also led to an improvement in my own written and oral communication skills.
I share this story to remind myself and others of three things. First, an explicit knowledge of grammar is needed to teach it for the simple reason that is I/we cannot teach what we don’t know. Second, when writers possess an explicit knowledge of grammar, they can better construct and communicate their ideas to intended audiences. Also, we as teachers must make explicit connections between grammar knowledge and writing compositions for students to understand the relationship between the two because they may not intuitively make the connection. Third, learning precedes teaching.
I/we must identify gaps in our knowledge then fill those gaps by setting aside time to learn what we don’t know to support implementing our curriculums with fidelity. This third point can be challenging especially when we have so many personal and professional responsibilities demanding our time, energy, and attention. Consider beginning by identifying one area of need in your own professional knowledge emerging from an assessed area of need from your students, then commit to taking intentional steps to reducing the gap in your knowledge in small meaningful ways.
What I find motivating is remembering that my continuous professional learning is what helps to ensure that I remain current and relevant in my professional practice. Further, my ongoing professional learning helps me to honour my commitment to being a lifelong learner which for me involves being open to continuous growth, change, and development. The value and importance of lifelong learning is a message I strive to share in my work with both students and teachers.
In my third and final post in this series, I’ll share insights and critical considerations for teaching grammar using a culturally relevant pedagogical approach.
