article+reflection+by+Betül+İlhan

**REFLECTION ON ‘HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR (EFL): ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES’ **
==== In this paper, I will reflect my ideas on the article called ‘How to Teach English Grammar (EFL): Issues and Perspectives’ by Marc Menendez. In the article, the writer aims to guide especially the new teachers on teaching grammar and presents creative ideas on the point. He looks at grammar from the point of a teacher and says it could be thought as facts, patterns, choices etc. from that perspective which was an efficient beginning, according to me. He continues with a question and the question is ‘If a student asks you a question about an area of knowledge you have never thought about it, what will you do?’. There are some possible expressions of teachers like ‘The answers are at the end of the book’ but my favorite is ‘Usually I try to avoid the whole issue, I do not want my students to lose confidence in me’. It is my favorite because I believe that a lot of teachers do that instead of teaching that topic to the students efficiently and this is a big trouble. ==== ==== Then, the writer presents very useful DOs and DON’Ts and the first thing not to do is being evasive or defensive, according to the writer. I agree with him on this point because the teacher’s being vague and aggressive makes the students more confused and discouraged. Another DON’T is to over-generalize which I totally agree with the writer on. Teachers should not present strict grammar rules without any exception and they should not teach just the general part of the rule because this is really dangerous while learning English, the students may regard an exception as a wrong expression. Also, teachers should not think loudly, according to the writer and I have the same opinion with him because that thinking process can confuses the students, the teacher should come to a conclusion and then share that conclusion with the students. ==== ==== When it comes to Dos, my favorites are planning ahead, anticipating, consulting, getting back to the students because it is significant to prepare according to possible confusions of students otherwise students get more confused and get to think that their teacher is not a knowledgeable one. Moreover, for the learning to go smoothly, the teacher should always present an answer to the students’ questions because they do not forget those questions even if the teacher thinks so. These are the points I am of the same opinion with the writer, however there is one point I disagree on. The writer claims that a teacher should have the confidence to say ‘I do not know’, but I do not think the same way due to the fact that I know especially young learners believe that their teacher knows everything and when the teacher says she does not know the answer to their question, they get disappointed and may lose their faith in their his/her. Adults also tend to not to pay attention to lessons of the teachers they think not well-informed. ==== ==== Afterwards, he gives example sentences from native speakers’ speech like ‘He asked where was the engineer’, ‘It was more clear than usual’, ‘Have you an explanation for this?’ etc. which proves that even native speakers of English make grammar mistakes but that does not mean that they do not know the language. He states that the idea in this article to provide a more realistic and creative view of language in which the most important element is meaning. He adds that there is no reason why creativity should be the privilege of native speakers and I absolutely agree with him on that point. The traditional grammar teaching is so mechanical that it does not help students learn the language at all; they learn the grammar rules by rote, get good grades in grammar based exams but they cannot use that language when it is necessary. ==== ==== Lastly, the writer offers an example grammar quiz which is an unusual one and I really like it because it is not based on memorizing grammar rules. The usage of some and any is most of the time taught the students with strict rules but this quiz has a really nice question related to that topic which is: ====

====**Question:** “Use some in positive and negative sentences and any in negatives and interrogatives”. How adequate is this rule, in the light of the following data: ==== ====Could you lend me some money? Any student would know the difference. Some people will never learn to sit still. Tell me if you have got any ideas. He did not tell some of the neighbors about the meeting. ====

==== This question is one of my beloved questions in that example quiz because it emphasizes the exceptions of a grammar rule and it does not measure the students’ knowledge checking if they have memorized the rule. These kinds of questions should really be used by teachers of English not only to teach the language efficiently but also to develop their critical thinking skills. As for its application in Turkey, I consider that there would be no problem on it, just the teachers of English would have to change their style of covering grammar and to improve themselves to deal with the questions coming from students. ==== ==== On the whole this was a very beneficial and supportive article with very creative ideas for English teachers. On most of the points I have the same opinion with the writer except the one that teachers should have the confidence to say ‘I do not know’. ====

Reference:
====[|http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Teach-English-Grammar-(EFL):-Issues-andPerspectives&id=7089500] ====