The Current Situations Of English Grammar Learning And Teaching In Senior Middle School

Grammar has always been the focus in the field of FLT from Grammar-translation Method back in the 18th century to the prevailing Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) today. The controversy over the issue of grammar, however, has been very keen up till now. Some researchers advocate the grammar teaching in class while other linguists hold the opposite view. Meanwhile, the changes of attitudes towards grammar fluctuate with the dominant pedagogical approaches of a certain period. Recently for years, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) are prevailing in China. Under such circumstances, the present author thinks it a worthy issue to probe into the attitudes of students and teachers towards grammar, thus carried out a survey in order to find out the current situations of grammar learning and teaching in senior middle schools in Guilin.The survey is carried out among the teachers and students from three senior middle schools of Guilin. The instruments are questionnaire and classroom observation. The survey in this study intends to find out: 1) The attitudes of the students and teachers towards grammar and grammar teaching; 2) The understandings of students and teachers on the grammar distribution in the textbook; 3) Teachers'practice in grammar teaching; 4) Students'practice in grammar learning.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter I is the introduction, which introduces the background and aims of the research.Chapter II focuses on the review of literature, which firstly presents the concepts and types of grammar; secondly, reviews the fluctuation of grammar in different historical periods and the status of grammar in different teaching methods; thirdly, shows different opinions on whether the grammar should be taught consciously in class and how grammar should be taught in class; finally, makes comments on the literature.Chapter III is concerned with the research and classroom observation of grammar learning and teaching in Guilin. The survey was carried out among 30 teachers and 328 students. There are 337 questionnaires which are valid, 22 of which are for teachers and 315 of which are for students. The questionnaire for students mainly handles several parts: 1) Students'attitudes towards grammar; 2) Students'reflection on teachers'practice in class; 3) Students'grammar learning strategies. The questionnaire for teachers consists of the following information: 1) Teachers'attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching; 2) Teachers'practice in class. The results show that: 1) Most of the students and teachers think that grammar plays an important role in the process of mastering a foreign language; 2) Teachers emphasize the grammar instruction and often use deductive teaching approach; 3) Most of the teachers are satisfied with the new textbook while some of the students have the opposite view; 4) Students tend to use deductive way to learn grammar and their oral English proficiency needs improving. Based on these questions, the present author has a serious analysis and finds out that: 1) The emphasizing of grammar by students and teachers has a close relationship with the foreign language context; 2) Teachers'preference of deductive teaching approach is closely related to their foreign language proficiency; 3) Students'dissatisfaction with the new textbook has something to do with teachers'overemphasis of the grammar instruction; 4) Students'grammar learning is related to many factors such as language context, teachers'influence, age, etc.Chapter IV is enlightenments to the ELT in China. This chapter shows the enlightenments to the education authority & schools, teachers, and students. Firstly, education authority and schools should improve the teaching staffs'foreign language proficiency especially their oral English; provide high-quality textbook; improve the test system and add oral English test. Secondly, the teachers should improve their professional level constantly; do classroom-based action researches in order to find out the solutions to the problems existing in their teaching; apply different teaching methods flexibly so as to achieve the maximum effectiveness of classroom practice. Finally, the students should gain a balanced view of form and function; enhance their confidence in grammar learning; find out the most suitable grammar learning methods; try to consult the teachers for advice.Chapter V is conclusion. This chapter presents the findings and limitations. Since the study is carried out on a small scale, there remain some questions for further research, such as: 1) How should the teachers apply grammar teaching methods flexibly? 2) What is the students'real grammar level? 3) What is the relationship between students'grammar level and their English proficiency?...