The importance of grammar in learning English

Prof.Grama Irina Cătălina,ȘcoalaGimnazialăGâdinți

             Teaching grammar has always been a central aspect of foreign language teaching. Grammar represents the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationships of words in a sentence. Grammar tells us how to construct a sentence (word order, verb and noun systems, modifiers, phrases, clauses, etc.).

Many students ask teachers a typical question: is grammar really important for us? The answer is clear and simple: yes,it is. Grammar is the pylon of a language and without it any single thing you know may be in a sort of jelly, without much consistency. Grammar provides students with the structure they need in order to organize and put their messages and ideas across. It is the railway through which their messages will be transported. Without it, in the same way as a train cannot move without railways, they will not be able to convey their ideas to their full extension without a good command of the underlying grammar patterns and structures of the language. 

            Grammar mechanism must be assimilated in order to understand and to express oneself correctly in English; one may know every word in a sentence and still fail to comprehend it, if one does not see the relation between the words in the sentence, and conversely, a sentence may contain one (or more) unknown word(s) but if one has a good knowledge of the structure of the language one can easily surmise the meaning of these words, or at least find them in the dictionary.

How can we teach grammar to support learning in all language skills?

            If the teacher thinks of the grammar that he teaches as a language about language, then grammar is useful any time he discusses particular words or sentences with the students. The formal term for this language about language is metalanguage,a vocabulary about language itself, one that makes it possible for us to redirect our words back on themselves so that we can talk and write about how we talk and write.

            How can we teach grammar so that students discover its rules and principles on their own instead of hearing teacher impose those rules and principles on them?

Grammaris a tricky word. On the one hand, it means the languageof language. On the other hand, you may need to remind yourselffrom time to time that all of us are grammar experts: we all knowgrammar; we all know how to maneuver words and phrases in orderto communicate effectively nearly all the time. We also are all keen observersof language. We see and hear the kinds of language that peopleuse in different situations. The teacher’s challenge is to tap into all thisexpertise. You may want to consciously practice a repertoire of a fewflexible questions and directions that can help elicit points of grammarin many different classroom discussions:

s  How would you say [or write] this in a certain situation, with a certain audience? How have you heard other people say it?

s  Find examples of [a phrase, a type of sentence, a construction, etc.] in someone’s writing or in conversation.

s  What is the pattern in these examples?

s  What could the rule or definition be? Test it out on another example.

            Teachers’ primary goal (as second language teachers) must be to create users or the language, not linguists!

            The study of the structure of the language can have general educational advantages and values that high schools and colleges may want to include in their language programs. It is obvious that examining irregularity, formulating rules and teaching complex facts about the target language is language appreciation or linguistics, not language teaching.

            The only instance in which the teaching of grammar can result in language acquisition (and proficiency) is when the students are interested in the subject and the target language is used as a medium of instruction. Very often, when this occurs, both teachers and students are convinced that the study of formal grammar is essential for second language acquisition, and the teacher is skillful enough to present explanations in the target language so that the students understand. In other words, the teacher talk meets the requirements for comprehensible input and perhaps with the students’ participation ,the classroom becomes an environment suitable for acquisition. Also, the filter is low in regard to the language of explanation, as the students’ conscious efforts are usually on the subject matter, on what is being talked about, and not the medium. This is a subtle point. In effect, both teachers and students are deceiving themselves. They believe that it is the subject matter itself, the study of grammar, that is responsible for the students’ progress, but in reality their progress is coming from the medium and not the message. Any subject matter that held their interest would do just as well.

Importanța orei de lectură în cadrul orelor de Comunicare în limba română

                                   

                       

                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Învățător: Rotaru Alice- Marilena

                        Planul-cadru pentru învățământul primar prevede un număr de 7 ore pentru disciplina Comunicare în limba română la clasa I. Dintre acestea, o oră este dedicată lecturii. Este ora în care elevii intră în lumea basmelor, fac cunoștință cu personaje care le oferă exemple pozitive de comportament. De asemenea, în cadrul acestor ore școlarii își  îmbogățesc  vocabularul cu numeroase cuvinte și expresii noi.  Este o oră în care se împletește utilul cu plăcutul, care dezvoltă dorința de a citi mai mult, cu ajutorul a numeroase metode dintre care cea principală este jocul care îi ajută pe școlarii de vârstă școlară mică să își însușească noi cunoștințe într-o manieră plăcută, atractivă.

            Ca și aplicație la cele spuse mai sus, vă propun un model de proiectare didactică:

Clasa:  I                                                                

Unitatea tematică: Lumea vie             

Subiectul: Cântec de George Topârceanu

Forma de realizare: Activitate integrată(C.L.R.+M.M.+A.V.A.P.)

Tipul lecției: mixt

Scopul lecției: îmbogățirea vocabularului elevilor cu cuvinte noi

Competențe specifice: 

2.1. Formularea unor enunțuri proprii în diverse situații de comunicare

2.3. Participarea cu interes la dialoguri simple, în diferite contexte de comunicare 

3.1. Citirea unor cuvinte și propoziții scurte, scrise cu litere de tipar sau de mână

3.4. Exprimarea interesului pentru lectura unor texte simple, susținute de suport imagistic

Obiective operaționale:

            La sfârșitul activității elevii vor fi capabili să:

            C.L.R.:

            O1:  să utilizeze în enunțuri proprii cuvintele: huceag,adie, străbat, cărare;

            O2: să găsească cuvinte cu sens opus pentru urâtă,rară,veștejit,grea;

            A.V.A.P.

            O3: să deseneze obiecte care să se poată asocia cuvintelor cu sens opus găsite;

            M.M.

            O4: să interpreteze în colectiv cântece cunoscute, asociind mișcarea sugerată de textul

 cântecelor

            O5: să participe activ și afectiv la lecție

Strategii didactice:

Metode și procedee: conversația, explicația, exercițiul, munca independentă, jocul didactic

Mijloace de învățământ: imagini referitoare la anotimpuri, portretul lui George Topârceanu, caiete auxiliare, fișe de lucru, creioane colorate

Resurse umane: 28 de copii

Resurse procedurale:

            - temporale: 45 minute

-        locul desfășurării: sala de clasă

Resurse bibliografice:

            Hobjilă, Angelica, Metodica predării limbii și literaturii române, curs e-learning

            Programa școlară pentru disciplina Comunicare în limba română, clasa pregătiroare, clasa I și clasa a II-a, Aprobată prin ordin al ministrului Nr. 3418/19.03.2013, București, 2013

             Suport de curs „Organizarea interdisciplinară a ofertelor de învățare pentru formarea competențelor cheie la școlarii mici”, 2012

           

Secvențe didactice	Obiective operaționale	Conținutul instructiv-educativ	Strategii didactice			Evaluare
			Procedurale	Materiale	Forme de organizare
1. Moment organizatoric  1'		Asigur condițiilor optime pentru desfășurarea orei de comunicare în limba română: aerisirea clasei, stabilirea liniștii.	conversația		frontal
2. Verificarea temei 5'		Solicit elevilor să prezinte tema pentru acasă. Aprecia modul de lucru.	conversația		frontal și individual	aprecieri verbale
3. Captarea atenției 2'		Solicit elevilor să interpreteze un fragment din  cântecul Carnavalul animalelor, le  explic faptul că textul care urmează să îl studiem se referă la pădure.	conversația explicația		frontal	aprecieri verbale
4. Anunțarea subiectului lecției și a obiectivelor operaționale 1'		Prezint elevilor,  pe scurt și pe înțelesul lor, subiectul lecției și obiectivele operaționale.	explicația
5. Dirijarea învățării 26' 6. Obținerea performanței 5' 7. Asigurarea retenției și a transferului 5'	O1 O2 O3 O4 O5	Prezint elevilor portretul lui George Topârceanu și imagini cu zânele celor patru anotimpuri, explicându-le că bătrânul an le-a făcut o surpriză trimițându-și cele patru fiice ale sale la lecția noastră; fiecare dintre ele îi privește și, la final de lecție, cu ajutorul doamnei învățătoare, vor premia elevul cel mai atent, cel mai cuminte și cel mai activ din clasă. Citesc textul Cântec de George Topârceanu. Le solicit elevilor să citească textul. Solicit elevilor să lucreze independent exercițiile din auxiliar; pe măsură ce termină o sarcină, aceasta este discutată cu întregul colectiv. Solicit elevilor să explice se sentiment le transmite poezia, apoi să precizeze starea opusă acestui sentiment. Indic elevilor să interpreteze cântecul If you are happy, asociind melodiei mișcarea adecvată. Cer elevilor să explice cuvintele noi și să alcătuiască propoziții cu acestea. Indic elevilor să găsească ordinea corectă a cuvintelor de la exercițiul 6 din auxiliar și să transcrie forma corectă a propoziției. Solicit elevilor să găsească cuvinte cu sens opus pentru urâtă, rară, veștejit, grea,apoi să deseneze câte un obiect care poate fi caracterizat de cuvântul găsit. Pe parcursul lecției, în funcție de starea elevilor,  solicit să realizeze exerciții de mișcare, să interpreteze cântece cunoscute. Împart elevilor fișe cu un copăcel care are pe trunchi lipită o porțiune de scoarță de frasin și o frunză de frasin.  Prezint elevilor faptul că jucăm un joc de atenție și de mimică. Prin acțiunile realizate, elevii trec, imaginar, prin toate cele patru anotimpuri.(Sugerez elevilor să mângâie copăcelul, să își imagineze că zâna primăvară îl încălzește și îi deschide floricelele, presărând petale deasupra lor, apoi că zâna vară îi coace fructele și presară fructe decupate pe băncile lor, apoi că zâna toamnă îngălbenește frunzele și le presară deasupra băncilor și, în cele din urmă, că zâna iarnă presară deasupra băncilor fulgi de nea).  Explic elevilor tema pentru acasă- au de citit poezia și de ilustrat anotimpul favorit. Cel mai cuminte,cel mai atent și cel mai activ elev primește calificativul maxim și o carte-premiu. Primesc calificative și alți elevi care au participat activ la lecție.	explicația exercițiul munca independentă exercițiul exercițiul munca independentă jocul didactic	Portretul lui George Topârceanu Imagini cu zânele anotimpurilor caietul de lectură caietul de lectură fișe de lucru	frontal individual frontal frontal individual individual frontal	aprecieri verbale aprecieri verbale aprecieri verbale aprecieri verbale aprecieri verbale

Learning theories

Prof.Grama Irina Cătălina,ȘcoalaGimnazialăGâdinți

            In Psychology and Educational Sciences, learning is defined[1] as the process that integrates cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one’s knowledge, skills, and values.

Learning as a process focuses on what happens when learning takes place. Explanations of what happens constitute learning theories.

A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people learn, thus helping us understand the inherently complex process of learning. Learning theories have two chief values: one is to provide us with vocabulary and a conceptual framework for interpreting the examples of learning that we observe, and the other is to suggest where to look for solutions of practical problems. The theories do not give us solutions, but they do direct our attention to those variables that are crucial in finding solutions.

          Learning theories can best be described as conceptual or philosophical orientations about ways that human beings learn. These include behaviorist, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives.I summarized that in Tabel 1. Behavioral learning theory views learning as a response to stimuli in the environment; the student is a creature of habit who can be manipulated, observed, and described[2]^,[3]^,[4]. Behaviorist influences in second language teaching can be observed in methods such as the audio-lingual approach and situational language teaching.

Learning theory	Origination	Definitions and instructional implications
Behaviorist	US c. 1914; influenced by European empiricism	Learning as a response to environmental stimuli and that can be manipulated, observed, and described[5],[6]. Teaching is through practice, repetition, and rewards.
Cognitive	1950s to Present	Learning can be explained as deep, complex psychological phenomena such as motivation, schemas, and processes for learning[7],[8].Teaching occurs in phases with gradual complexity.
Sociocultural	1970s to Present	Learning is influenced by social, cultural, and historical factors. Learning takes place within social interactions[9],[10]. Teaching occurs through meaningful interactions between experts and novices.

Table 1.          Overview of Learning Theories and Teaching Implications

            Behaviorism was primarily developed by B. F. Skinner. It includes the work of Thorndike, Guthrie, or Hull. Essentially, three basic assumptions are held to be true: learning is manifested by a change in behaviour, the environment shapes behaviour, and the principles of contiguity (how close in time two events must be for a bond to be formed) and reinforcement (any means of increasing the likelihood that an event will be repeated) are central to explaining the learning process. For behaviorism, learning is the acquisition of new behaviour through conditioning. There are two types of possible conditioning: classical conditioning (where the behavior becomes a reflex response to stimulus) and operant conditioning (where antecedents follow a behavior which leads to a consequence such as a punishment, or reward). The first one works like a reflex response to stimulus, but the second works like something that is learnt, as a lesson, and the consequences are already known-if you do that ,you will get that-a punishment or a reward. 

            Cognitive learning theories attempt to explain deeper, complex psychological phenomena such as motivation, schemas, and other processes for learning. This orientation can be described as comprising two branches, developmental cognitive learning, from the work of Piaget (1974)[11], and socio-constructivist, based on the work of Vygotsky (1978)[12] and Bruner (1996)[13]. Developmental approaches propose that learning occurs in stages and follows a sequence, whereas socio-constructivist approaches propose that development occurs because of learning and because it is scaffolded (Bruner, 1996) or supported through interaction of some kind. The knowledge and the meaning in this case are generated through sequential cognitive abilities. First he or she recognizes, then recollects, analyses, reflects, applies, creates, understands and in the end evaluates. To develop prior knowledge and to integrate the new knowledge, the students need assistance, and the teacher’s role is to manage the content of the learning activities.

             Constructivism is based on psychological studies of cognitive development of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner, and it emphasizes the importance of the active involvement of students in constructing knowledge for themselves, and building new ideas or concepts based upon current knowledge and past experience.

            Constructivism tries to justify how knowledge is constructed in the human being when information comes into contact with existing knowledge that had been developed by experiences. Constructivism has implications for the theory of instruction. Discovery, experiential, project-based, collaborative, and task-based learning are a number of applications that focus teaching and learning on constructivism.

The learning theories of John Dewey and Maria Montessori serve as the foundation of constructivist learning theory.  Active learning, discovery learning, and knowledge building are three varieties of it, but all versions promote, within a given framework, student’s free exploration. The teacher is a facilitator who encourages students to discover principles for themselves and to form knowledge by working to solve practical problems.

              Sociocultural views of learning, which build upon constructivist approaches, are often linked together in the psychological and pedagogic literature, and they include the premise that second language teaching and learning take place within the social interactions of students and more capable others and seek to understand the cultural and historical influences on learning[14]^,[15]^,[16]. A sociocultural theory of learning begins with the assumption that action is mediated and that it cannot be separated from the social milieu in which it is carried out[17]. I summarized the basic tenets of sociocultural theory in Table 2  .

v  Learning precedes development.

v  Language is the main vehicle (tool) of thought.

v  Mediation is a central concept of learning.

v  Social interaction is the basis of learning and development. Internalization is a process that transforms learning from the social to the cognitive (individual) plane.

v  The Zone of Proximal Development is the primary activity space in which learning takes place.

Table 2.          Tenets of Sociocultural Theory

            Informal and post – modern theories

            In theories that make use of cognitive restructuring, an informal curriculum promotes the use of prior knowledge to help students gain a broad understanding of concepts. New knowledge cannot be told to students, it believes, but rather the students’ current knowledge must be challenged. By using this method students gain the broad understanding they are taught and later are more willing to learn and keep the specifics of the concept or theory.

Other informal learning theories look at the sources of motivation for learning. Intrinsic motivation may create a more self-regulated student, yet schools undermine intrinsic motivation. Critics argue that the average student learning in isolation performs significantly less well than those learning with collaboration and mediation. Students learn through talk, discussion, and argumentation.

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[1]Ormrod, J. E., Educational Psychology: Principles and Applications, Englewood Cliffs,  NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995.

[2]Brown, H. D., Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 3^rd edition.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994.

[3]Gass, M. S., Selinker, L., Second Language Acquisition, Millsdale Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1994.

[4]Skinner, B.F., Verbal Behaviour, Copley Publishing Group, 1957.

[5]Watson, J.B., Psychology – From the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, , J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia and London, 1919.

[6]Skinner, B.F., TheBehaviour of Organisms, D. Appleton – Century Co. New York- London, 1938.

[7]Bruner, J., The Culture of Education, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996.

[8]Piaget, J., The Grasp of Consciousness (trans. S. Wedgood), HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA,  1974.

[9]Vygotsky, L.S., Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA,1978.

[10]Wertsch, J.V., Voices of Mind – A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991.

[11]Piaget, J., The Grasp of Consciousness (trans. S. Wedgood), HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1974.

[12]Vygotsky, L.S., Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1978.

[13]Bruner, J., The Culture of Education, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996.

[14]Faltis, J. C., Hudelson, S. J., Bilingual Education in Elementary and Secondary School Communities: Toward Understanding and Caring, Boston-Allyn and Boston, 1998.

[15]Lave, J., Wenger, E., Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation,CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge ,1991.

[16]Wertsch, J.V., Voices of Mind – A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,MA, 1991.

[17]Idem, p. 18.