LEOFORSTER RUBEN

Issues in the Teaching of Grammar in ESL Classroom

Grammar instruction has always been a tough cookie for both teacher and students in
an ESL classroom. There is a constant struggle faced by teachers when it comes to the
teaching of grammar. The English teacher is often portrayed as an "unattractive grammar
monger who only pleasure in life is to point out the faults of others" (Baron, 1982). For an L2
learner, learning grammar often means the learning of new grammar rules. Having to study so
many grammar rules of an unfamiliar language, this would definitely generate a fear amongst
these L2 learners to actually learn the language. What more to say when error correction is
involved, especially in writing. One of the issues in the teaching of grammar that has caught my
attention is whether to imply error correction or not, particularly in writing classes.
Basically in writing classes, it is a common sense for a teacher to point out a
grammatical error made by a student and provide them with the correct form. By doing so, the
teacher hopes that the students will understand the mistakes they have made and improve to
write better. Teachers fear that fossilization' will occur if they failed to do error correction as
soon as possible and it will become very difficult to later eliminate these errors. In my opinion,
I believe that this is not true. Studies have shown that these arguments to be incorrect (Gray,
2014).
Looking back at those years when I was still in primary school, nothing is scarier than
getting back my essay filled with underlined errors that have been pointed out using a red-inked
pen by my English teacher. From that moment onwards, I was not confident anymore to write.
I felt that I was not competent enough because I believed my grammar was not up to the
standard of the students in my class, judging from the error correction I retrieved from my
teacher. Numerous studies have revealed that grammar correction to second language writing is
actually discouraging to many students, and even harmful to their writing ability (Semke 1984;
Kepner 1991; Sheppard 1992; and Truscott 1996).
After all those years, only now that I have realized that my English teacher was more
concentrated on form over the content that I was trying to deliver. In that case, my teacher was
addressing only one part of the writing process. I believe that they should give more priority to
meaning instead of just form. Semke (1984) has demonstrated that students who received
comments from teachers only on content did much better and spent more time working on their
essays than those who received criticism only on grammar. This leads us to another issue that
I was concerned about, which is fluency versus accuracy.

LEOFORSTER RUBEN
There is a constant debate in coining with one is more important, fluency or accuracy? In
my opinion, both fluency and accuracy are equally important. The goal is simple - to get your
message across, depending on what situation and environment you are in. I happened to work
as a waiter at a bar during the holidays. Seldom have I found myself in a situation where I had
to use English with perfect grammar when dealing with customers. The same goes to my
customers; all you need is just a basic level of English. The customer will understand both what
you want? and what do you want? Here, fluency is the key. As long as the message gets
across, you are good to go. In a grammar classroom, the idea is that it should be meaningbased, and not solely focused on correctness and rules (Patterson, 2001). I believe that
students should feel free to express themselves and be comfortable enough to take risks. They
should understand that it is okay to make mistakes in the process of learning.
On the other hand, accuracy will become important when you find yourself in a formal
situation or environment such as in university and workplace. Your accuracy reflects your
professionalism. Based on my own experience, studying in a TESL course has made me
become more concerned towards the accuracy of my grammar. As a trainee teacher, I have to
do presentation and this requires a proper command of English. Not only that, we also have
deal with English lecturers every single day. Imagine how much pressure that we have to deal
with. By hook or by crook, we have no choice but to be good in our field, which is English. Being
a second language learner myself, I have to admit that when I do focus too much on accuracy,
I often get worried about making errors and mistakes whenever I wanted to say something in
campus or when speaking to lecturers. Although we have been taught and drilled with all sorts
of grammar rules in foundation years, I still find myself stumbling for words these days. Haudeck
has reported that many learners have difficulty in internalizing grammar rules, although these
have been taught intensively (1996, cited in European Commission, 2006). But in the end, what
matters is in order to be a good English teacher; we have to become a good example for our
future students so that they can model the correct form of grammar. Therefore, accuracy is very
important for future teachers like me.
In conclusion, I believe that error correction in grammar teaching may not be as effective
as most teachers might think. I also believe that both accuracy and fluency is important
depending on the environment that you are in.
(918 words)

LEOFORSTER RUBEN

Bibliography
Baron, D. (1982). Grammar and good taste: Reforming the American language.
New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.
Gray. (2004, Nov 11). Grammar Correction in ESL/EFL Writing Classes May Not. Retrieved
June 30, 2014, from http://iteslj.org/: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Gray-WritingCorrection.html
Kepner, C. G. (1991). An experiment in the relationship of types of written feedback to the
development of second language writing skills. Modern Language Journal, 75, 305-313.
Semke, H.D. (1984). Effects of the red pen. Foreign Language Annuals, 17, 195-202.
Sheppard, K. (1992). Two feedback types: Do they make a difference? RELC Journal, 23, 103110.
Truscott, John. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language
Learning, 46:2, 327-369.
Patterson, N. (2001). Just the facts: Research and theory about grammar instruction. Voices
in the Middle, 8(3), 50 55.
European Commission (2006). The Main Pedagogical Principles Underlying the Teaching of
Languages to Very Young Learners.