DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR IN AN EFL CONTEXT 1

Online Submission, 2011

The role of grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike. Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have generally looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoidable burden at worst. The paper reports a study undertaken to investigate the difficulties teachers face in teaching grammar to EFL students as well as those faced by students in learning it, in the teachers' perception. The study aimed to find out whether there are significant differences in teachers' perceptions of difficulties in relation to their gender, qualification, teaching experience, and the level they teach in school, thus providing insights into their own and their students' difficulties. Mean scores and t-test were used to interpret the data. The main findings are reported with implications.

2015

The role of grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike. Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have generally looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoidable burden at worst. The paper reports a study undertaken to investigate the difficulties teachers face in teaching grammar to EFL students as well as those faced by students in learning it, in the teachers ' perception. The study aimed to find out whether there are significant differences in teachers ' perceptions of difficulties in relation to their gender, qualification, teaching experience, and the level they teach in school, thus providing insights into their own and their students ' difficulties. Mean scores and t-test were used to interpret the data. The main findings are reported with implications. Key Words: English language teaching, instruction, E...

Research Square (Research Square), 2024

Despite the agreement and progress made in researching the importance of teaching grammar and its role in language learning, certain aspects within this eld have not received adequate attention from experts and researchers, leading to a knowledge gap. This study aims to examine EFL teachers' perceptions of grammar interventions in their classes and how these perceptions in uence their teaching methods. The research seeks to explore the strategies and challenges faced by teachers involved in teaching grammar. To achieve this, a descriptive research design via quantitative method was implemented. Data was collected through a close-ended questionnaire to reveal teachers' beliefs and perceptions about grammar teaching and learning. A total of 102 EFL teachers, comprising of 73 females and 29 males from different universities in Tehran, Iran, participated in the study. The ndings indicated that teachers' perception of grammar is aligned with their learning experiences and understanding. The teachers employed a variety of tactics and techniques to effectively teach grammar, taking into account the factors such as learners' needs, learning styles, professional levels, and other relevant considerations based on their beliefs. Consequently, the teachers had to adapt their teaching methods and approaches based on the speci c needs of their learners. The ndings highlighted the necessity of grammar in language learning and underscore the importance of learner-centered approaches, learner involvement, and the innovation of teaching methods in grammar instruction according to their perceptions.

Science Journal of Turkish Military Academy, 2018

Teacher cognition research has provided not only a deeper insight into the choices, decisions and practices of language teachers, but also a more comprehensive insight into the specific challenges teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) face. In this framework, studies on grammar teaching has made great contribution to our understandings of how teachers teach grammar and of the cognitive framework behind their instructional practices. Correspondingly, this study reports on the EFL teachers' beliefs about and their conceptualizations of grammar instruction in teaching English and compares how novice and experienced teachers perceive grammar instruction, examining whether there is a significant difference in their perceptions. 70 Turkish EFL teachers who work at the Prep Class of state university participated in the study. For the data collection purposes, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire with 15 items was used. According to the results, participant teachers indicated that they preferred direct grammar teaching, where rules are presented explicitly prior to student production and highlighted the necessity to learn grammar rules explicitly for effective use of target language. In general, novice and experienced teachers showed no significant difference. However, novice teachers had respectively stronger tendency towards explicit and direct grammar teaching, especially in terms of presentation of rules deductively. Experienced teachers were more flexible when it comes to teaching grammar in that they reported occasional use of both direct and indirect grammar elements in their teaching.

2018

Teachers of English and other concerned educators dream to have students who never make grammatical mistakes. Therefore, in order to prepare their learners to be fluent and accurate speakers, readers, listeners, and writers, they have to make sure that students do not make grammatical mistakes frequently. EFL learners should see the difficulties, challenges, and rewards of using English accurately in addition, they ought to gain a better understanding of how language is structured and connected logically. More importantly, teachers and other educators should enhance the idea of how they can use correct English in real life as well as in their own classrooms. The main purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate four EFL teachers’ beliefs of grammar teaching, correcting students' grammatical mistakes and the challenges that they face when they teach grammar in the Omani context. Also, the study advocated some practical recommendations to EFL teachers, supervisors and curri...

World Journal of English Language, 2021

This study explores the perspectives held by English teachers around the world regarding the role of teaching grammar in EFL/ESL classrooms and whether the divergence in these perspectives is influenced by variables such as gender, country, seniority, or educational background of the participants. To accomplish these objectives, a comprehensive questionnaire survey from literature comprising 46 items was carried out on a group of 304 participants from 22 countries who were voluntarily involved in this study using the snowball sampling method. Descriptive statistical methods were deployed for accurate data analysis. The findings revealed that the participants had a positive and constructive attitude regarding the importance of grammar instruction and were in unanimous agreement that good grammatical skills enabled the faster acquisition of proficiency in the target language. The participants agreed that grammatical mistakes" immediate correction was detrimental students" self-confidence levels and considered unnecessary interruption. These views highly influenced teaching methods and classroom practices. An overwhelming majority preferred an inductive and explicit approach to grammar teaching. It was concluded that while statistical differences in age, gender, and educational background did not influence the participants" perspectives, seniority and country of origin played a vital role in these beliefs. After due consideration of these findings, a comprehensive discussion of the pedagogical implications and recommendations has been presented in this study.

Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) , 2020

In language, meaning is conveyed and received through words and grammar. A phrase or a sentence is not a random collection of words. In the absence of grammar, words hang together without any real meaning. Thus, grammar plays an essential role in language teaching. With adequate grammar explanations in meaningful contexts and practice, some serious errors in learners' language can be avoided. This study aimed at examining the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of grammar teaching and their actual practices in a Saudi EFL context. Questionnaires and classroom observation checklists were used to gather information about teachers' perceptions of grammar teaching and to compare that with their practices. The paper sought to find answers to these questions: 1) What are teachers’ perceptions of grammar teaching? 2) Do teachers’ perceptions of grammar correlate with their actual teaching in EFL classes? 3) What are teachers’ perceptions of problems, if any, hindering their practice of grammar teaching? The sample consisted of 23 teachers who completed a questionnaire discussing their perceptions of grammar teaching and practice. Six of these teachers were observed teaching grammar in classes. The findings revealed that there was a negative correlation between teachers' perceptions of grammar teaching and their perceptions of their grammar classes. Also, there was a negative correlation between teachers' perceptions of grammar teaching and the observed classes. However, teachers' perceptions of their classes were mostly reflected in observation cards, and they were positively correlated. Further, the study revealed teachers' tendency towards traditional methods of teaching where the meaningful practice was overlooked.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

This paper investigates grammatical difficulty from the perspective of Saudi university students, of EFL as well as from the perspective of university teachers. It aims to find out which English grammar features are more difficult/less difficult than others. Furthermore, it attempts to determine the reasons and causes that account for such grammar difficulty. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were the two research instruments used in this study. A total number of 103 students and 85 university teachers took part in the questionnaire, while only 20 teachers and 25 students responded in the interview. All the participants were from Aljouf University (males and females). The results showed that some English grammar features were more difficult and some were less difficult than others. The obtained difficulty order determined by EFL learners and the one obtained by the teachers’ perceptions were compared. Some similarities and differences were found to exist in the rank orde...

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH

Teachers of English and other concerned educators try hard to make their students be fluent and accurate users of English. In order to achieve that aim, they should ensure that they have students who rarely or never make language errors. During their studying period, students must see the difficulties, challenges, and rewards of using the language correctly and accurately. They have to obtain a better understanding of how language is structured and interconnected logically. More importantly, EFL teachers and other educators should enhance the idea of how students can use correct English in their lives inside and outside classrooms. The main purpose of this study is to investigate EFL teachers’ perceptions pertaining to grammar teaching, correction of students’ grammatical mistakes and the challenges that are prevalent when teaching grammar in the Omani context. In addition, the study advocates some practical recommendations to EFL teachers, supervisors, teacher trainers, curriculum ...

2022

English is the most widely used foreign language which is taught from primary to tertiary levels of education in Bangladesh education system. The secondary level is very much important for the young EFL learners to learn English language, especially grammar, as it prepares them and builds their foundation for the next levels of education. However, this study attempts to assess the practices and problems of teaching English grammar in our country, especially the teaching approaches and techniques, the roles of teacher and learners, the perception of needs of English grammar, the learners’ preferences about the learning strategies etc. The data, which was collected through the teacher and student questionnaire, interviews of the teachers and classroom observations, has unveiled the issues in teaching English grammar to the students of class IX-X. The findings of the study suggest that the teachers prefer applying the memorization techniques rather than the communicative approach. It suggests specific measures to solve the problems of teaching grammar at the end of the paper.