The Common Mistake in Teaching Grammar and How to Fix It

Language is a tool for human to communicate each other. Just like another tool, if it is used properly it will be very useful for the user, in this case is the speaker. In term of language, one of the rules of its usage is grammar. As we know that Indonesia is an EFL country with hundreds of its variety languages. With that fact, teaching grammar in this country takes a big role in English learning to introduce the rule of English usage to the learners. Unfortunately, some teachers make some mistakes in teaching it unconsciously. In this writing, I would like to state the common mistakes in teaching grammar and the way how to, at least, minimalize those errors.

            The first mistake which is done by the teacher is using the same method over and over for many different classes. They are not aware that actually there is some point where a class needs different grammar consumption with other classes. By using the same method over and over, the teaching and learning process will not be effective for the learners. What could be done by the teachers is consider the objective of the learning for each class first. Whether the class is prepared for facing the examination or maybe the classed is for the students that want to acquire English as their second language. It’s clear that the need of grammar for those classes is different. Therefore, by considering the goals in the first place, teacher could decide which proper method is appropriate for which class.

            The next mistake is many teachers often to use only one resource to teach. Moreover, in teaching tenses many teachers only use one book and write the formula in the board and ask students to understand that. That way might be understandable for only a few students, but it could be very difficult for others. Teachers should use variety of resources to accommodate the different students’ learning style. Teacher should allow students to use any media they want to as long as that help them to understand the given lesson. Obviously, the more varieties of learning opportunities the better your chances are that each student will be able to learn the grammar point well (Beare, 2012)

            Next, speaking about tenses there is a big common mistake that always done by teacher, only give students the pattern/formula of the tenses. This mistake is a crucial thing to avoid actually, but unfortunately almost all teachers do it and think that this is the right way to teach grammar, tenses in this case. Teachers should collaborate the tenses teaching with 4 language skills- reading, writing, listening, and speaking- to make a better teaching process and boost students’ understanding. By doing that way the learners can be paying attention to the one  language input  and trying to incorporate new forms into one’s developing communicative competence (Richards, 2006) so they will be more understand the grammar.

            The fourth mistake is teacher often to use first language in teaching grammar. A good second language teaching classroom is the one that is not intervened by the oral first language because by using the target language along the learning process could develop learners’ communicative skill (Kalivoda, 1990). It means that every language teacher should encourage their learners by using the target language during the learning process. By doing that, learners will not only get the knowledge about grammar, but the will also unconsciously acquire the target language.

            The last is teachers’ paradigm that by mastering grammar, students will automatically master the language. With that paradigm, teachers often to spend their teaching time only to teach grammar and forget the other aspects of the target language. Some teachers think that grammar is the “security blanket” of learning language and force their students to be more concentrate to it (Swan, 2008). Well, grammar is an important thing to be concerned in learning a language but that does not mean by mastering grammar, learner could master the language as well.

            In the conclusion, grammar is an important and crucial thing to be mastered in learning a language. Therefore, the teaching of it should be conducted carefully in order to avoid the mistakes I have stated above. If the grammar teaching conducted properly, it will help learners to master it easier and they could master the target language easily.