‘Teaching Grammar: from Rules to Reasons’. An Auto-review
Danny Norrington-Davies, UK
Danny Norrington-Davies is a teacher and teacher trainer at International House London and an Associate teacher at King’s College London, where he works on the MA TESOL/CELTA course offered collaboratively by the two institutions. He is a keen conference speaker and has published articles in HLTmag, the Teacher Trainer (the elder sister of HLTmag) and Folio magazine. His first book and the subject of this review, Teaching Grammar: from Rules to Reasons, was published by Pavilion in November 2016. You can get a copy via the English Teaching Professional (ETP) bookshop at www.etprofessional.com/etp/default.aspx or through the Bournemouth English book Centre (BEBC) Modern English Teacher (MET) or Amazon. E-mail: danny.norrington-davies@ihlondon.com
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Why I wrote this book
Can you give an example of a reason?
Basic facts about the book
Who is this book for and how will it help?
An example of student generated reasons
Over to you
If you gathered together a group of language teachers and asked them to choose a list of issues they wanted to discuss, I think the subject of grammar would come up fairly quickly. Should we teach grammar and if yes, how should we do it? What kinds of materials and approaches can we use? These are common questions, so I wanted to write a book that tried to answer them. More importantly though, I wanted to write a book that looked at grammar differently.
Over the years I have grown dissatisfied with the pedagogic rules of thumb often found in course-books and grammars (e.g. state verbs cannot be used with progressive forms) as these rules can be abstract, vague and hard to apply. In fact in the worst instances, some rules can even be untrue. I therefore felt that rather than analysing rules, students should be encouraged to work out why a writer or speaker is using a specific form at a specific moment in time instead. In other words, students should look for reasons rather than the rules.
We all know the common pedagogic rule for state verbs, which says that they cannot be used in the progressive form. However, this is not entirely true, as we can see in the example below.
I’m loving my job
So why is the writer or speaker able to ‘break’ the rule? It’s because they are talking about an unusual or temporary situation. It sounds like they don’t usually love their job and they are telling the listener that things are different right now. This enables them to use a progressive form. Therefore, rather than studying the rule, the students can be guided to find the following reason.
The speaker is using a progressive form because this situation is unusual. It isn’t normally like this.
The book is divided into 3 sections. In Part 1, I discuss why it is important to include a focus on grammar in the language classroom and outline ways in which teachers can do this. I then explore some issues with the way that grammar is often presented in course-books, grammars and other ELT materials and outline why it is a good idea to explore reasons instead.
Part 2 includes 18 text and task based lessons for a variety of levels. These lessons come with a detailed procedure, teaching tips, and examples of the reasons that L2 students have generated during the lessons. I also give guidance on how teachers can design their own lessons using this approach.
In part 3, I outline the principles underpinning the ideas found in the book and answer questions that readers might have about using the approach in different teaching contexts.
The book is for both experienced and inexperienced teachers. For experienced teachers, it offers an alternative way of looking at grammar and different ways of doing things in the classroom. For inexperienced teachers, the book can also help you develop language awareness and gives tips on how you can create and design your own lessons. The materials in the book can also be used by both experienced and inexperienced teachers at a variety of levels.
There is also a section for teacher developers which looks at ways of helping new and inexperienced teachers create and plan their own lessons and tips on how they can develop better language awareness.
The following text can be used at B1 and A2 and is designed to enable students to talk about school rules in their country and to develop awareness of the use of modal verbs of obligation.
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What were the worst rules in your school?
Following the news that a UK school has banned high fives and fist bumps for safety reasons, we wanted to hear about some of the rules in your schools. Were any of them as strange as this one?
Your comments
In my school we had to shine our shoes every evening or we were hit on the back of the hand with a ruler. I suppose they weren’t so worried about us getting hurt. Emma, Sheffield.
When I was in school, girls weren’t allowed to wear make-up or earrings. Yasmin, London
We had to stand up whenever an adult entered the room. Shahid, Herts
In my boarding school we were allowed to wear our own clothes in the evenings and on the weekends. However, we weren’t allowed to wear black for some reason. Jake, Brecon
I went to a mixed school but the boys had to sit on one side of the room and girls on the other. Steve, Lancs
We couldn’t undo our top buttons anywhere in the school. That’s why I never do my top button up today. Danny, London
In my school, all the boys had to have same haircut and your hair couldn’t go past your eyebrows or collar. It was like being in the army. Stephan, Belfast
The teachers in my school were still allowed to use the cane. I remember being hit for really small things, like eating crisps in the hall and for having my socks rolled down. Jo, Amsterdam
In my school you didn’t have to wear a uniform, but you couldn’t wear trainers, jeans or caps either. In other words, nothing we actually wanted to wear. Kate, Brighton
I got sent home for wearing black make-up. I don’t think there was a rule about this though. I just think the teacher didn’t like me. Aniya, Bucks
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After the students have read and discussed the text, they then have to work out why the writers are using had to, couldn’t/weren’t allowed to and could/didn’t have to. Here are the reasons they came up with.
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They got a punishment if they didn’t do it. (had to)
They got a punishment if they did it. (couldn’t/weren’t allowed to)
It’s ok so there is no punishment. They choose to do it or they don’t choose. (could/didn’t have to)
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These are very simple and effective reasons and it is interesting to see that there is no complex metalanguage involved either. Once the teacher has gone over these reasons and explored other examples, the students are now ready to use the forms to share stories about their own school rules.
I would love to hear how teachers who have used the approach have got on and I would especially like to hear the reasons your students generated. If you try out one of the lessons or create your own, please email me at danny.norrignton-davies@ihlondon.com to let me know how it goes. Remember though that like any new skill, the students will need support, guidance and time to create their own reasons, but once they get going, I think they get very good at it. I hope you find this too.
Please check the Methodology & Language for Secondary course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the British Life, Language and Culture course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the English Improvement course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.
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