Grammar Teaching in the Communicative Classroom Based on Focus on Form Theory

Abstract

Grammar teaching is debated a lot related to its being taught or not in the field of second language teaching. 'Focus on form', suggesting that attention to form should be encouraged in communicative language classrooms, has aroused an increasing interest in the field of second language teaching methods. However, no systematic explicit grammar instruction is included in form-focused instruction. On the basis of the features of the EFL setting in China, two patterns of grammar teaching, which are divided into inductive and deductive approaches, are advocated as the adapting of 'focus on form' from ESL (English as a second language) setting to an EFL setting. Meanwhile, systematic explicit grammar instruction by the teacher is combined with task-based language teaching.