HOW TO CORRECT GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES OF CHINESE ESL STUDENTS IN THEIR COMPOSITONS

王谷子

【Abstract】Based on a review of the definition of grammar， and a discussion of such questions as whether it is necessary for EFL learners to learn grammar and if necessary， what kind of grammar is needed， this paper makes an analysis of the situation of EFL grammar teaching in China and sets forth the authors view on how grammar should be taught effectively in an EFL classroom in China.

【Keywords】grammar；teaching；EFL learner；teaching；China

Grammar for EFL Learners in China

I.What is grammar？How many kinds of grammar are there

It is the habitual practice of most people to get the basic definition of a concept from dictionaries. To understand the term grammar in its general sense， one can follow suit by looking it up in dictionaries. Here are some of the dictionary definitions of this term： definition 1： the study of the structure of words， and the arrangement of words to make sentences or the system of rules for making sentences in a given language； definition 2： the rules in a language for changing the form of words and joining them into sentences； definition 3： （the study or use of） the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences； definition 4： the set of rules that describe the structure of a language and control the way that the sentences are formed （Macmillan， 2005， p. 906）； definition 5： （the study or use of） the rules about how words change their form and combine with other words to make sentences； definition 6： the ways that words can be put together in order to make sentences.

From the definitions above， such inferences can be drawn about the fundamental elements contained in the concept of grammar：①Grammar is about word change in form and word arrangement for sentences；②Grammar is a set of rules of the above-mentioned change and arrangement； ③Grammar is the study or the use of the above rules；④Each language has its own grammar （not necessarily studied or written in books）. That is grammar in its general and rudimentary sense， i.e. the grammar as understood by most people：the complete package of rules about validity in word forms and sentence structures. Referring to the definition of grammar， Muncie （2002） said， “Much of what people regard as ‘grammar can be addressed relatively easily by learnable rules， which themselves are suitable matter for explicit instruction”.

Historically， the earliest grammar used to include or refer to rhetoric， i.e. the art or skill of using language effectively. Over the centuries， research of grammar has been developing side by side with linguistics， and actually remaining as the main part of linguistics， having significant influences on the scientific study of language. Academically and pragmatically， there are different kinds of grammar that have appeared to serve different purposes such as for analysis， for teaching or for use in writing and speaking. According to a website about grammar， the number of names used to term grammar has reached a dozen， namely， Prescriptive Grammar， Descriptive Grammar， Comparative Grammar， Generative Grammar， Mental Grammar， Pedagogical Grammar， Performance Grammar， Reference Grammar， Theoretical Grammar， Traditional Grammar， Transformational Grammar， and Universal Grammar. And the number is still in growth （Nordquist）. Many of them， regardless of their different names， may overlap in connotations and references. For example， the term Traditional Grammar is almost a synonym of Prescriptive Grammar because traditionally， grammar was supposed to provide a set of rules for using a given language correctly rather than describing the actual ways of using that language.

II.Do EFL learners need to learn English grammar？What kind of grammar do they need

EFL learners， just as the name EFL suggests， are those who learn English as a foreign language. To know whether EFL learners need to learn English grammar， it is a must to distinguish them from the other two groups of English learners—with native English speakers as one group， who are born in an English-only or English dominating environment and who learn English as their first language； and ESL learners as the other group， who learn English as a second language in a bilingual environment or English-only environment. It is also necessary to compare EFL learners way of learning English with their way of acquiring their mother tongue from their babyhood.

When learning English as their mother tongue， British or American people are fully exposed to the surroundings in which the English language is spoken by everyone around them. They can frequently hear how that language is used and have a great many chances to practice how to use it in tangible and meaningful interactions with other English speakers. Learning English in this way， the learners can make progress unconsciously. They do not have to pay much attention to that whole set of grammatical rules because they have endless chances both to be corrected by other speakers whenever they make mistakes and to be corrected by themselves whenever they realize their own mistakes. The same is true when a Chinese child picks up its mother tongue—the Chinese language. In both cases， grammar as a set of rules of language use is far from being systematic and explicit， and is thus unnoticed by the learners.

Although ESL learners and EFL learners may share some similarities in their acquisition of their mother tongues， the ESL learners are immersed in an English language environment while the EFL learners are not. Ellis（1994） also mentioned the significant distinction between second and foreign language learning settings that may affect both what is learnt and how it is learnt. ESL learners can acquire skills and knowledge of how to use English without having to learn the specific course of English grammar whereas EFL learners can only organize their sentences in a word order similar to their mother tongue unless they are trained to express their ideas in an English way. Therefore， learning English in a Chinese speaking context is really a great challenge to Chinese EFL learners. Badly lacking opportunities to interact meaningfully with other English speakers who can provide interminable examples of correct use of English and who can correct their mistakes， how can they be sure whether or not the English sentences they compose are organized well enough to express themselves clearly？ Without criteria of what is right and what is wrong， and with strong negative transfer from Chinese， can they learn to use English in a way as correct as native speakers do？ The answer is “No”， as suggested in the words of Bandpay （2013）： “Due to the existence of L1 grammar negative transfer， EFL learners will make mistake in producing L2 sentences”.

In the debate about whether grammar instruction is a useful means of improving language ability， Ellis was one of the supporters of grammar teaching， whose studies showed a positive effect of grammar instruction on learners ability. He argued that explicit instruction can help learners notice features in the input and the input can then fossilize as their own knowledge.

EFL learners learn English for the purpose of using it， that is， for effective communication in English. Without a natural environment for acquisition of this language， some explicit rules about how this language should be used are really indispensable to helping such learners. Therefore， the kind of grammar that EFL learners need is what is called Prescriptive Grammar， which provides a wide range of dos and donts， cans and cants about word transformation and sentence construction. Of course， Prescriptive Grammar may take the form of grammar in other names， for example， Traditional Grammar as against Transformational Grammar， which is a more modern school of grammar， and Pedagogical Grammar for foreign learners. For some advanced EFL learners—those undergraduates or graduates who major in linguistics， for example， they are also required to find out about Descriptive Grammar， Transformational Grammar， Universal Grammar， etc for the purpose of linguistic research.

III.What is the situation of EFL grammar teaching in China

In this paper， EFL grammar teaching may refer to the teaching of an English grammar course of some kind for English majors in colleges or the teaching of grammatical rules in regular English classes for average English learners in high schools and colleges.

In the realm of English teaching in China， pronunciation， vocabulary and grammar were once deemed as the three equally important elements for learning English well， especially in the second half of last century. There was a metaphor about the relationship between vocabulary and grammar： With words as bricks and grammar as framework， various sentences as buildings can be easily built. In light of such recognition， English teachers in China used to attach great importance to grammar and would fill the whole English lectures with sentence analyses from grammatical perspectives. Through sentence translation from English to Chinese or otherwise， they compared the English word orders and sentence structures with those of Chinese and tirelessly explained the part of speech and function of each word. In the last few decades in the 20th century， the most popular English teaching methods were such as the ‘grammar-translation method， the ‘direct method， and the ‘a(chǎn)udiolingual method， which were actually introduced from the West. Without exception， all these methods， when practiced， involved discussion and explanation of grammatical issues. Grammar was so frequently discussed in English classes from high schools to colleges that English learning was almost synonymous with learning of English grammatical rules. Admittedly， some Chinese students taught in this way became sensitive to accuracy and could produce grammatically correct sentences in speaking and writing. But they were too scrupulous with correctness to express them fluently. Others， who were somehow not good at learning rules or did not work hard enough on grammar lessons at the very beginning and hence fell behind later， got weary of English learning with a feeling of frustration after repeated failures in grammar study. To them， grammatical rules were a jumble of confusing conundrums.

With more and more complaints being voiced about college graduates inability to speak English for effective communication， the effectiveness of traditional method of teaching English was questioned not only by human resource personnel and education authorities， but also by some scholars in the English teaching field， who attributed the inefficiency in English teaching to a plethora of attention paid to grammar instruction. Therefore， at the turn of the century， new methodologies such as communicative language teaching （CLT） method and task-based language teaching method began to be introduced in English education in China.

In a paper elaborating on the need for communicative language teaching in China， Liao reviewed how CLT was introduced：

In 2001 SEDC required all secondary school teachers to use task-based language teaching， and the relevant task-based textbooks have since been introduced in some schools…

The Chinese government feels that the use of CLT will be advantageous to China. By introducing CLT， teachers can keep up with developments in English teaching methods outside China. If not， teachers will return to the traditional way of teaching， where the process of language learning is reduced to the mere mastery of grammar and vocabulary. In addition， introducing CLT will assist learners to develop greater competence in the use of English for communication. They will no longer be ‘communicatively incompetent.

Then the situation turned from one extreme to another. Grammar tended to be ignored in English teaching. Even the national College English Test （CET） reduced its weight on the test of grammar. As a result， most students can not write properly， though some of them are seemingly able to talk in English freely. This author once asked the students in an English major class to write something about their future career within one page and found that not a single sentence out of twelve was correct in a piece of composition handed in by a girl who had performed well in orally answering the teachers questions. Among others， most problems were related to word order （some actually in Chinese order）， verb agreement， singular and plural forms， tense of irregular verbs and so on.

Fortunately， this new situation as a result of indifference to grammar teaching is becoming a concern of many scholars and English teachers， such as Li（2001）， who appealed educational authorities to resume their attention to the role played by grammar teaching in English education （pp.62-64）.

IV.How should grammar be taught effectively in an EFL classroom in China

Although it is important for EFL learners to command the grammatical rules of the English language， for various reasons known and unknown， the effect of English grammar teaching in China has been unsatisfactory on the whole. To improve the situation， it is necessary to probe into all those factors affecting the effectiveness of grammar teaching. From the point of view of this author， apart from exploring the effectiveness of various grammar teaching methodologies such as Corpus-Based Lexicogrammatical Approach and context-based approach， the main focus of study should still be placed on the one object and two subjects involved in EFL English grammar teaching and learning per se， namely， grammar， teachers and learners.

One object—grammar. As defined at the beginning of this paper， grammar is a set of rules for using correct form of words to make meaningful sentences. In nature， grammar can be deemed as a tool. Therefore， the purpose of EFL grammar teaching is not to instruct students to memorize all those rules only， nor to make students grammar experts， but instead， to enhance their grammatical awareness and develop their grammatical proficiency for the sake of using the rules effectively in actual oral and written communication. To this end， the rules to be taught in class should be adapted to suit the needs for use， and should be as concise， specific and useful as possible， so that the students can understand and command them. Introduction of too many jargons in lectures and inclusion of too many new words in sample sentences may discourage students from learning. To consolidate what has been demonstrated， relative exercises should follow. The exercises should be compiled with easy and interesting materials.

Two subjects—teachers and students. As in the teaching of other courses or subjects， both the teacher and the students play a significant role in producing the effect of grammar teaching， with the teacher motivating and guiding the class with his/her well-designed teaching plan and the students being the dominators of themselves. It should be noted that although plausibly it is the students who pay money for learning， not all of them are really ready to take the initiative in learning because the money is actually paid by their parents. For those who are ready to learn， the teacher should provide them with tasks that are more challenging. As for those who are in a passive state， the teacher should do something to attract their attention and then shift their attention to what they should learn. The content for this group of students should be easy but useful. Praise should be given to encourage students whenever they make progress—even a little bit progress. When students are kept busy with what they should do and like to do， greater progress can be made.

V.Summary

Although the term grammar has been endowed with different meanings and functions in the development of linguistics and may serve different purposes as its various derivative terms imply， for EFL learners who need to know how to express themselves with correct and meaningful English sentences， the kind of grammar to be taught should be grammar in its broad sense， i.e. the set of prescriptive rules about how to construct sentences in appropriate word forms and word order. This is because EFL learners do not have chances to acquire grammatical rules naturally in a real English environment. Realizing the importance of grammar in EFL learning， English teachers in China used to value grammar teaching as a key part in English teaching. With the overemphasis on grammar in English teaching drawing more and more criticisms in China for its conspicuous disadvantages in developing students English speaking proficiency， more and more emphasis was then placed on development of students communicative abilities in language teaching. Now with the communicative teaching method and modern teaching methods predominating in the field of English teaching in China as a megatrend， other problems as side effects of ignoring grammar teaching are standing out. While students are making progress in their English communicative skills， their accuracy in speaking and writing is falling in disfavor. For the purpose of achieving better effects in English teaching in general， and in grammar teaching in particular， this author proposes that among other important things， the essence of EFL grammar， the role of an EFL teacher， the motivations and characteristics of EFL students should be studied in particular. In a nutshell， EFL grammar lessons should be well-designed to look useful and helpful to EFL students and should be taught in an interesting way.

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