Teaching English Grammar - Essay Example

Teaching grammar {Insert student’s name} {Insert professor’s name} November 1st, 2011. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Teaching grammar 3 Introduction 3 Analyzing types of difficulties experienced by Arab learners 5 Types of errors in the use of English preposition and what causes them 6 Substitution errors 6 Substitution of the preposition of with from 8 Use of the preposition on instead of in 8 Substitution of the preposition of with by 9 Substitution of the preposition by and replacing it with preposition with 9 Substitution of the preposition among with preposition between 10 The substitution of the preposition under with at 11 Errors which are as a result of addition 11 Addition of the preposition of 11 Addition of the preposition from 12 Addition of the preposition on 12 Omission errors 13 Omission of the preposition to 14 Approach of two English text books 14 Approach that should be used in a classroom setting 15 The prepositions of time 16 Teaching strategies 16 References 17 Cowan, R. (2008). The Teacher's Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Oxford: Cambridge university press. 17 Lindstromberg, S. (2010).English Prepositions Explained. London: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 18 Teaching grammar Introduction Teaching English in Arabia countries has been a matter of interest and even the Arab government introduced English teaching to be included in the school curriculum. Currently, in most Arab nations students have to be taught in English. This is because English has become the language of instruction. Therefore, as a result of this wide spread of English in these Arabic countries, the aspect of teaching English as a foreign language and teaching it in general has become a matter of concern for not only linguistics and English researchers but also for English teachers. According to Sultana & Rosenblit (2001) teaching using English as a medium of instruction has assisted in identifying grammar areas in which students experience difficulties in. Hence, this essay will examine the difficulties experienced by Arabic students learning and using English as a second language. The focus will be on university students and the goal will be to examine different types of errors Arabic students make when it comes to using English prepositions in written context. Data for this study will be drawn from the composition and assignment written by students ranging from first year to fourth year. In addition to that two texts will be examined in order to determine the most suitable one in addressing the difficulties experienced by Arabic students in learning and using English prepositions correctly. Additionally, the essay will highlight the teaching strategies used by the two texts in teaching English preposition. Aspects that are not addressed by the texts will be highlighted too. Moreover, the errors in the English syntactic elements are more evident in the written form rather than in spoken form (Velloo & Prakash , 2000). Thus, the study will focus on the use of preposition and problems that Arab speakers face when it comes to using English prepositions. Hence, the essay will examine the problem comprehensively and this will be made possible through application of error analysis. Moreover, the essay will highlight the strategies applied by the grammar teachers in teaching English language. Two books addressing error analysis will also be examined and analyzed. Moreover, errors made by students have been a matter of interest for teachers of grammar, test developers and even syllabus designers. This has resulted into educators coming up with appropriate strategies and techniques of teaching grammar in addition to formulating tests that are suitable for students at every level of learning. Using the written compositions written by university students, it is evident that Arab students commit both syntactical and grammatical errors when using English in the written form. However, it is evident that students at the university level experiences difficulty in correct use of English prepositions and it is situations that need to be addressed by English grammar teachers in general or as a foreign/second language. Linguistics and scholars has pointed that interference from the first language is one of the major causes of deviations or errors in English. Nonetheless, the errors can be due to intra-lingual interference and caused by either false use of English grammar rules, induced errors, simplification or overgeneralizations of the rules. Richards, (1974) pointed out that even though there were errors in other syntactic categories, prepositional errors were more evident and students experienced in learning the correct use of the same. Analyzing types of difficulties experienced by Arab learners In teaching grammar Zahid (2006) indicated that, teachers should be in a position to differentiate between receptive and productive learning. He further pointed out that productive learning of grammar is inevitable if the teaching is restricted on the available syllabus. However, the receptive learning is less controlled by the syllabus but more advanced in nature. When learners read and listen to a language that is foreign they are likely to come across a number of grammatical phenomenon that they cannot adequately deal with due to lack of their explicit knowledge (Rababah, 2001). Due to this teachers should be ready to provide any form of assistance whenever the learners experience any form of difficulty. Moreover, grammar teachers should be ready to respond to all questions asked by the learners. In doing so teachers are required to draw from their adverse knowledge on grammar. Furthermore, teachers need to filter or mediate on their knowledge by putting into concentration what satisfies and suitable for students learning process. According to Salebi (2004) teachers should apply discovery learning method while teaching grammar in which use of examples is encouraged in teaching grammar rules. However, even though the traditional method of teaching which involves moving from generalization to using specific instances, discovery learning should be applied more by grammar teachers. Computer corpus data is another learning method that grammar teachers need to use. In this regard teachers should apply concordness by putting more attention on certain lexical or grammatical items (Rababah, 2003). Thus teachers should present their learners with wide range actual text occurrences as is likely to assist learners in understanding how grammar is applicable in practice in a communicative manner that the way they are represented in the books. More importantly, grammar teacher should be in a position to discover that native speakers of a language make use of language in unforeseen ways and in some situations they even contradict the rules of the standard grammar (Leech, 1990). Types of errors in the use of English preposition and what causes them Substitution errors Analyzing the compositions written by university students indicated substitution of prepositions. The substitution of one preposition with another can be attributed to either intra-lingual or inter-lingual. In addition to that the errors were majorly as a result of substitution. For instance Arab students in most cases substitute the English preposition at with in and therefore they construct sentences such as: *At the summer the weather is unbearable *At the winter everyone caught a cold *At the last five years a number of students graduated. *I heard noise and woke up at the middle of the night. The above errors made by the Arab students learning English as a second or a foreign language is not as a result of mother tongue but due to intra-lingual interference. This is because if it were as a result of first language interference the Arabic preposition fii which means in will be produced leading to correct use of the preposition. From the examples above it is also evident that, it is evident that the errors are due to overgeneralization of the use of the preposition at. This is because the learners are not certain about the correct form of the preposition to use in addition to circumstances under which at is used. This makes them to over-generalize the preposition over and over again. Another illustration draw from the students’ composition is on the use of the preposition by *American is famous by its economy *And I paid the client by the train *The thieves must be taught a lesson the eye by the eye *Her name is Emily but they call her Emmy by short *The country is great and known by its mountains and hills *She had difficulty by forming new pals in school *They work every time by money From the above highlighted examples it is evident that the preposition for is substituted by the preposition by. It is evident learners in this case cannot use the preposition for correctly and they tend to confuse it with other prepositions such as by. This is due to interference of the first language. In addition to that learners tend to over generalize the preposition over and over again. Substitution of the preposition of with from From the students’ composition it is evident that student use the preposition from instead of of. For instance the following sentences were noted in the compositions (Mohammed, (2005). *In the developing countries we find that billions from people live in poverty *We can learn that thousands of people especially children die from hunger. The above errors made by the students are as a result of mother tongue interference. The preposition from is drawn from the Arabic preposition min which are correct in the first language of the learner Use of the preposition on instead of in Arabic students tend to use the preposition on instead of in in their sentence constructions. The examples below were got from the some of the students compositions. *Life on the forest is not easy. *Citizens who live on the southern part of the country are disadvantaged. *Millions of tourists come every year and live on the coastal beaches to enjoy the sun. *Government officers on this office are of great help. In the above sentences it is evident that students confuse the preposition on and in. however these errors cannot be attributed to mother tongue interference but rather as intra-lingual errors. This is because there is no correspondent preposition in the learners’ first language. From the examples above it is evident that students tend to over generalize the preposition on as a result of existing faulty analogy. Thus, it can be pointed out that the substitution process is caused by the faulty analogy factor which makes learners to misuse the preposition on. Substitution of the preposition of with by Arab students experiences difficulty with the preposition by and of and they tend to use preposition by rather than of in constructing English sentences as noted in their written composition. Below are examples drawn from their compositions illustrating the same. *My mother takes care of herself *She dreams by the day she will graduate from the most famous university From the above examples it is evident that the students use preposition by instead of the preposition of. This error can be attributed to mother tongue influence. In Arabic language, the preposition by and of mean fii and they can be used interchangeable (Rababah, 2003). Thus, it is this factor that makes students to transfer the same into English language. Substitution of the preposition by and replacing it with preposition with Arab students experiences difficulty in the correct use of English prepositions with and by in which the preposition by is used instead of with in sentence constructions. For instance *She did cut the onions by the sharp knife *As we travelled we did not have a bottle opener and hence we had to open the bottles of cold drink by our teeth. In the above sentence it is evident that students used the preposition by instead of with and this can be attributed to the impact of the learners’ first language. In Arabic, the preposition by means making use of something and thus learners transfers the same in English constructions and as a result the students produce incorrect sentences. Substitution of the preposition among with preposition between In the students’ composition it is evident that Arabic students use the preposition between instead of using among. For example: *There are many beliefs between Amman populations *English language is a way of communication between people *The teacher distributed the books between the students. From the above sentence constructions it is evident that most Arab students used the preposition between instead of among. This is because in Arabic the prepositions have a similar meaning. But in English between is used when two items are involved whereas among is used when more than two items are used. But due to the fact that the preposition between is used frequently, learners tend to over-generalize it and use it over and over. Due to the fact that in English there is application of two selectional restrictions unlike in Arabic, use of the two prepositions interchangeable results into errors above. The substitution of the preposition under with at Arab students also experiences difficulty in the correct use of English prepositions at and under. From the students’ written compositions the following sentence constructions were evident. *She is under the request of the teacher. *She confirmed to her that he was under her service. *The secretary said that she was under her boss’s disposal. The above incorrect usage of English preposition under is as a result of mother tongue interference. Arabic version tahta is the same as the preposition under in English. Therefore the students tend to use under instead of at hence the same resulting into the identified errors above. Errors which are as a result of addition In the selected composition, it is evident that some of the errors are as a result of adding English prepositions where they should not be. However, the added prepositions were either as a result of first language or target language interference. Below are some of the sentences that were drawn from the students’ compositions. Addition of the preposition of *I have performed excellently despite of being away from school most of the time. This error is as a result of target language interference (Khodabandeh, 2007). This is because even Arabic language does not require a preposition in the above context. Therefore, students in this case tend to over-generalize the preposition of and use it in instances where it is not required. This is due to either rote learning of the English grammatical rules or due to analogy. Addition of the preposition from Arab students at their university level of learning still experienced difficulty with the preposition from whereby they tended to add it where it is not required. For instance: *When you finish from washing the dishes. The error exhibited in the sentence above is as a result of first language interference (Mourtaga, 2004). The use of the preposition is as a result of literal translation of the Arabic preposition min which means or denotes proximity of something (Obeidat, 1986). Addition of the preposition on From the students written compositions it is evident that the English preposition on is added in situations where it is not required. *We can go on shopping the whole day. *The troops decides to defend on it on the international level *It is important for every young personal to get on a new career. The errors in the above sentence constructions are as a result of first language interference. It seems the students translated the verbs directly from their mother tongue to English language (Zughoul & Hussein, 2003). Moreover, it can be pointed out that the ill-formed sentences are as a result of overgeneralization. The overgeneralization could have been possible caused by rote learning of English grammatical rules or due to analogy. Additionally, the errors could have been as a result of the learners ignoring English restriction rules on the use of prepositions. Omission errors Apart from the errors being as a result of unnecessary addition and substitution some errors made by the Arab learners are due to omission of prepositions in cases where they are required. For example *In order to communicate with a foreigner you should have an adequate knowledge ^ native language. *It is the beginning ^ last month of the year *The means ^ communication is good listening skills From the above illustrations it is evident that the learners omitted the preposition of where it is required to be (Mahmoud, 2002). This type of error can be attributed to interference of the first language. This is because in Arabic constructions there is no insertion of the preposition of in the constructed sentence and hence learners apply the same when constructing English sentences and thus resulting into production of ill-formed sentences (Kharma & Hajjaj, 1997). Omission of the preposition to From the compositions of the Arabic students it is evident that the learners experience difficulty with the preposition to whereby instead of using it they tend to omit it completely from their constructions. For instance *I got ^ bus station *I saw the woman who I sent ^ a mail The errors above are as a result of interference from the first language. In Arabic, verbs can either use or fail to use certain prepositions. The errors can also be as a result of simplification strategy that is usually employed by some learners. Approach of two English text books This essay will examine two text books that is the teachers grammar of English: a course book and reference guide written by Ron Cowan and English prepositions explained authored by Seth Lindstromberg. English prepositions explained approaches teaching English preposition by moving from known to the unknown. The text begins by explaining what English prepositions are. In addition to that there are extensive examples illustrating how various English prepositions are used. It is the most preferred book for teaching English preposition and an essential handbook for students. This is because the book explains the basics of English prepositions. Using simple English the book explains how English prepositions are used. This book is not only suitable for advanced learners of English but also for English beginners. However, this particular text focuses on prepositions meaning rather the way they pattern grammatically (Lindstromberg, 2010). The text also explains the thematic roles of the preposition but fails to define every preposition that is the circumstances under which they should be used. The language used in this particular text is complex and it is not recommendable for English beginners. In this particular text, the English prepositions are explained on the basis of their functional roles. For instance the preposition besides is explained as being associated with images that are schematic (Lindstromberg, 2010). On the other hand the text grammar of English: a course book and reference guide, explains the particular order in which children learn English prepositions. This concept is essential for grammar teachers in correcting the mistakes made by Arab learners. The book further explains the influence of first language on the use of English prepositions. For instance it explains that Japanese speakers have problems with prepositions at, on, in and even besides. but both texts fail to provide exercises at the end of every topic so that students can actively take part in the learning process. Approach that should be used in a classroom setting English prepositions are functional words. It is essential for English teachers to explain that prepositions are short words that becomes after nouns or even in front of gerunds. There are different types of prepositions that will be examined and discussed. In examining the same, type, usage and example of each preposition is provided. At is used to indicate weekend, a particular point of time and night for example at night, at half past seven, at the weekend. Since is used when refereeing to a specific point of time for instance since 1984. The two books could have given the type of preposition, their usage and example as illustrated above before asking the learners to construct more examples pertaining to the same. Exercises should also be provided covering all the prepositions taught in a given lesson. The prepositions of time The prepositions of place include: in, at, on, under, and before among others. The prepositions of place need to be defined for Arab learners for example, the preposition in is used with streets, buildings, pictures, world, taxi, train etc. examples explaining the same should be provided and students requested to construct more examples regarding the same and exercises given covering all the prepositions of places. This approach should be used in all the areas that Arab learners have problems as a mentioned in the first part of this essay. Teaching strategies In regard to this, it is important for teachers to select the best mode of teaching in order to attain teaching objective thus deductive strategy is recommended in this particular situation. The aforementioned texts advocate for deductive teaching. According to Ulijin & Strother (1995), teachers need to employ direct instruction while teaching English grammar. In addition to that content that is highly structured results into optimal learning to the students involved. Moreover, the books apply the strategy by presenting a concept that is general for instance the concept noun by defining it. This mode method of teaching also encourages teachers to provide students with necessary guidance in addition to giving feedback and examples using immediate concepts until learners have a good mastery of what they are being taught (Lightbown & Spada, 1999). However, the book titled English Prepositions Explained is recommendable for teacher. This is because it provides illustrative description of the types of preposition, their usage and even meaning. In conclusion, it is argued that the achievement of teachers determines the performance of students in grammar. Therefore it is important for teachers to employ teaching strategies that will enable the learners to grasp the rules of grammar in addition to being able to apply the same in their daily lives (Leki, 1991). Teachers should also use relevant texts that are easy to understand. Simple and illustrative language is the key to teaching grammar. 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