Grammar
is important in communication. With the correct grammar, we can express our
ideas clearly and meaningful. Therefore, schools do not only focus in
communication teaching, but also grammar. According to Pekoz (2008), “grammar teaching,
like teaching the four skills, should involve pre-, while-, and post stages in
attempt to provide integrated learning environments”. Teaching method which involves
those stages is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).
The
first stage is pre-grammar stage, which the teacher introduces the topic by
giving the students some examples based on the real life, such as telling the
students about phenomenon that usually happens in life, or experience in the
past time. It is important to stimulate students’ curiosity. The teacher had
better use teaching aids like pictures, videos, or things in the classroom. It
will attract students’ attention and make them easier to catch the point.
Subsequently, the teacher tells the students about the aim of studying the
topic.
The
second stage is while-grammar stage, which “the teacher tells them [the
students] they are going to learn a new structure (for the purpose of noticing)
but does not mention the name of structure (for motivational purposes)” (2008).
Then, the teacher tells them about the topic by using the teaching aids
(pictures, videos, etc). However, the teacher doesn’t tell the topic directly.
The teacher should give examples or clues to stimulate students’ curiosity,
because the students must construct the knowledge by themselves. When teaching,
the teachers should ask the students about what he/she has taught repeatedly.
It is helpful to ensure that all students have understood the lesson.
The
last stage is post-grammar, which the teacher gives an exercise to the students
about the material. In this stage, the teacher should divide the students into
some groups and give a role play. It is useful to train students to apply the
knowledge in the real life.
In
conclusion, CLT gives opportunities to the students to construct their
knowledge by themselves. Agree with O’Neill’s (2000) statement that “good communicative teaching is
learner-centered, not teacher-centered”. The teacher only stimulates the
students to construct the knowledge by giving example or clue. In addition, “the classroom and the behavior of teachers and
learners in the classroom should be as similar as possible to the behavior of
people in the ‘real world’ outside the classroom” (2000), because what
the students learn will be applied in their real life.
References:
O'Neill, R. (2000, March 23). Communicative
Language Teaching. Retrieved May 5, 2012, from Ted Power English Language
Learning and Teaching: http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/esl0404.html
Pekoz, B. (2008). Integrating Grammar
for Communicative Language Teaching. The Internet TESL Journal , 1-5.
