What is the Spirit of the English Grammar Teaching

WhatistheSpiritoftheEnglishGrammarTeachingAbstract：InChina，Englishisaforeignlanguage，notasecondlanguage.Chinesestudentscan’tlearnEnglishwellwithoutlearningitsgrammarfirst.AsforEnglishteachers，themostimportantistohelpthestudentstograspthespiritofEnglishgrammarlearning.Keywords：Spirit；Englishgrammarteaching；ForeignLanguage；SecondLanguageInChina，Englishisaforeignlanguage，notasecondlanguage，soitisabsolutelyimpossibleforstudentstolearnthislanguagewellwithoutlearningitsgrammarfirst.So，grammarteachingisaninfluentialandsensitiveproblem.InteachingEnglish，IfoundthatmanystudentsarestillnotgoodatgrammareveniftheyhavespentfiveorsixyearslearningEnglish.Formoststudents，thenon-predicate，theattributiveclauseandthenominativeabsoluteconstructionareverydifficulttolearn.Infact，theEnglishgrammarisnottoodifficulttolearn.Theproblemisthatthestudentscan’tgraspthespiritofthegrammarlearning.SoanEnglishteacher’sdutyisnotjusttoteachstudentstheruleofgrammar，butmainlytohelpthemtograspthespiritofEnglishgrammarlearning.AndwhatisthespiritoftheEnglishgrammarteaching？Inmyopinion，wemustproperlyconcentratetimeonteachingeveryitemofthegrammarandweshouldfollowtheprincipleofproceedingfromthesimpletothemorecomplex，graspingtheessence，teachingonlytheessentialandensuringplentyofpractice.Takethenominativeabsoluteconstructionasanexample，I’dliketointroduceaproperwaytoteachit.Asweknow，mostteacherswillwriteontheblackboardthestructure“logicalsubject+adjective/participle/infinitive/prepositionalphrase”beforegivingorlistingrelevantsentencesasexamples，whichisapopularandtraditionalway.Thismethodwillsurelymakestudentsunderstandthenominativeabsoluteconstruction，butcan’tmakethemuseitthemselvesinanactualsituation.Iadvocatebeginningwithexercisessuchasthefollowing：Whenhehaddonehiswork，hewenthome.――Havingdonehiswork，hewenthome.――Whenhisworkhadbeendone，hewenthome.――Hisworkhavingbeendone，hewenthome.――Hisworkdone，hewenthome.Theteacher’sexplanationaboutthissentencepatterntransformationmustbeclearenoughforthestudentstounderstand.Afterbeingexplainedto，studentswillhavemoresimilarexercises.Forexample：1.Hesatinthearmchair.Hefixedhiseyesupontheceiling.――……2.Whenthey（had）finishedthetest，theybegantheirholiday.――……Attention，eachsentencemustbelistedwithoneormore“=”perpendicularlyunderit，whichmotivatesthestudentstodothesesentencetransformations.Thismethodisinaccordancewiththeprinciplesoftask-basedteachingandstudyexploring.Ofcourse，notallthestudentswillperfectalltheseexercises.Thentheteacherguidesthestudentstothecompletion，summarizingmainpoints.Againtheteacherwillgiveafurtherexample.Hestoodthere.Heputhishandsinthepockets.――Ashestoodthere，heputhishandsinthepockets.――Hestoodthere，puttinghishandsinthepockets.――Hestoodthere，withhishandsinthepockets.――Hestoodthere，handsinpockets.Asabove，thestudentswilldomoresimilarexerciselike：1.Theteachercameintotheroom.Hetookabookunderhisarm.――……2.Astherewasnobusgoingthere，wehadtowalkaboutonehour.――……Notice，thereisnoexplanationofthegrammarrulesinthestudents’activitiessothattheyneedtothinkhowtoexpressthemeaningoftheexamplesentenceinanotherway.Whenthestudentsareengaginginthetaskstheymaynotrealizethattheyarepracticinggrammar，buttheyarefocusingonthemeaninginsteadofthegrammarform.Inthiskindoftask，insteadofpresentingthegrammarrulesorusingthemetalanguagetoexplaintherules，alotofexamplesentencesarelistedanddonebythestudents.Bycomparingthemeaningoftheexamplesentencesthestudentsareguidedtounderstandthestructuresandthegrammaticalpointsfromthesentences.Bymeansoftheadverbialclauses，theattributiveclausesandtheparticipialphrases，especiallybycomparingandanalysingtheconnectionsanddifferencesbetweenthem，thestudentswillsurelygraspthenominativeabsoluteconstruction.Thisgrammarteachingbasedontheinductiveapproachusuallybringsaboutabetterresultthanthedeductiveapproach.SoIthinkwhatismostimportantofallinteachingEnglishisthatteachersmustgraspthespiritofEnglishgrammarteachingfirst.Otherwisewecouldn’thaveagoodteachingresultandthestudentscouldn’tgrasptheknowledgeofthislanguage，letalonehavetheabilitytouseitfreelyinactualsituations.