The Effectiveness Of A Discourse Approach To Grammar Revision For Secondary School Graduating Classes

The present paper tries to find a more effective approach to the teaching of grammar in secondary school ciassrccms. it first analyses the existing problems in current grammar reaching in secondary schools. Then it reviews the theory of discourse teacnirg and relevant research in this area both at home and aorcad. In order to verify the effectiveness of teaching grammar in discourse, the author designed and carried out a project research, in which atterncts were made to use a discourse approach to grammar revision.The paper falls into four parts.Part One first emphasizes the role which grammar plays in English teaching, and then analyses the existing problems and their causes in grammar teaching to graduating students in senior high schools.Part Two first gives a definition of the discourse aporoacn, describes its characteristics, and reviews relevant research at home and abroad. It then explains how this approach can be applied to grammar revision and what new demands this approach may make on teaching materials, ciassroom practices, and assessment procedures.Part Three is a research project, in which the author makes a contrastive study by using a discourse approach and a traditional approach respectively in two graduating classes in the senior high school where the author works. Results of ere- and pest-tests snowthat the discourse approach is more effective than the traditional approach to grammar revision.The last part, Part Four, summarizes the whole paper and at the same time points out the limitations of this approach, with suggestions for further research and improvements.