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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Teaching grammar in L1
Teaching grammar in L1
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colibrita
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Teaching grammar in L1
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Hi Everyone
How about a little debate to spice up Monday?
TEACHING GRAMMAR IN L1 IS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN USING ENGLISH
(Monolingual classes of course!)
Looking forward to hearing your views........
Colibrita
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20 Sep 2010
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PhilipR
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In my opinion reverting to L1 in order to explain grammar will have a negative knock-on effect on the rest of the lesson as students might feel it is okay to speak L1 in the classroom. I prefer giving the students example sentences (or a short reading text) and let them figure out the rules themselves.
Also, it shouldn �t be that difficult to explain most if not all grammar rules in plain and basic English. If the explanation is so difficult that explaining in L1 seems absolutely necessary, the grammar point is probably inappropriate for the students anyway.
BTW, according to Michael Swan, many (non-native) English teachers focus heavily on grammar because 1/ that is what they can do best 2/ that is what they are used to doing 3/ that is easy to test 4/ by doing so in L1 they can avoid speaking English 5/ it is there
Some more reasons were given, but all these reasons are clearly wrong.
Edit: I wouldn�t mind teachers using L1 occasionally, but where I teach L1 often ends up being used during 90% of the lessons. BTW, I�m not fluent in the L1 where I teach, speak English only and this has never been a problem.
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20 Sep 2010
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Zora
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I honestly agree with that. I have taught English tutorial groups as well as "normal" classes and spending 5 minutes using L1 to explain a grammar point - and making damn sure that it is understood - before moving on; is a a lot better than spending 20 minutes "trying" to make yourself understood.
To me it is a case of being efficient and not wasting time. I would rather move on to a talking, vocabulary, reading or listening point than spend 20 minutes playing charades with my students and hoping to high heaven that they understood what I was explaining.
Also, being a learner myself of a Second Language, I found that teachers/friends that could explain a little to me in English, made my life a heck of a lot easier when I was learning Spanish. (I moved to Spain when I was 14 and started school immediately with very little Spanish under my belt.) So I understand the value of using L1 at times in a classroom.
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20 Sep 2010
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douglas
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I �m with Linda on this one. For example: Beginners need to understand the concept of auxiliary verbs or they have lots(!) of trouble learning. Spending five minutes explaining it in L1 and knowing they understand the concept the way they are supposed to (versus the way they think they are supposed to) saves a lot of valuable classroom time and confusion. Especially with beginners, I usually explain the grammar concepts in L1 with a mix of English. |
20 Sep 2010
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baiba
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I am definitely FOR using L1 if necessary, mainly to explain grammar items which students do not have in their native language.
If the 2 languages have a similar structure or concept, then I just give an example in L1 and they understand. If not, it �s a waste of time to use English because eventually I have to explain it in L1 anyway.
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20 Sep 2010
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