2. A Brief Overview of Teaching Grammar
Richard Rogers 1989:1 says his idea as quoted below: The changes in language methods for many centuries have
reflected the changes in the kind of the learners’ proficiency, the changes in theory of the nature of language, and or the
changes in the theory of language learning.
Cooper 1972:2 similarly states that method, the way of teaching a language, is based on the belief of what the learners want to master, what a
language is, and how the learners want to learn the language. Based on the explanation above, in this section, the researcher would like to discuss the nature
of teaching grammar and the methods of teaching grammar.
2.1. The Nature of Teaching Grammar
Teaching grammar is considered important, since grammar is the basic aspect in teaching a language. Students’ mastery of grammar will influence their
English skills, such as: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. The proper construction of structure while communicating with other is very needed. If
people get wrong in constructing their sentence, others will get no meaning from their utterances. By mastering grammar, people are capable of expressing their
meaning as fully and clearly as possible. There are also some principles in teaching grammar.
Nunan 2003:158 says that there are three principles in teaching grammar. The first principle is combining both “inductive and deductive methods”. In the
deductive methods , the teacher gives grammatical rules and gives some exercises
to apply the rules in order to help the learners understand.. While in inductive PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
methods , the teacher gives the learners some exercises and helps the learners to
find the pattern of grammatical rules. The second principle is using some exercises that make the relationship
between grammatical form and communicative function becomes obvious, since many grammar exercises still focus on the grammatical form, rather than apply
the rules into communicative context. The third principle which is stated by Nunan 2003:160 is focusing on the development of “procedural knowledge”
rather than “declarative knowledge”. As we know that declarative knowledge is the knowledge of knowing language rules, while procedural knowledge is the
capability to use the knowledge for communication.
2.2. The Methods of Teaching Grammar
Lado 1964: 92 states that there are three approaches to the teaching of grammar. The first approach is: “Grammar-Translation Method”. Lado 1964:92
states that in the grammar-translation method, the students are asked to memorize the rules and they are hoped to apply the rules on their own. Because the students
couldn’t apply the rules into the target language, they have a low self esteem about the language. Therefore, grammar-translation method is not being used
anymore today. The second approach is “Mimicry- memorization Method”. Lado 1964:93
says that the students learn some basic sentence through imitation. The meaning is given in the native language, and the learners are not allowed to translate word
by word. Furthermore, the learners practice in the form of dialogue. The third approach proposed by Lado 1964: 93 is “Pattern-practice
Approach”. Similar to Mimicry-memorization Method, the students are asked to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
repeat a pair of different sentences. Before doing the repetition, the teacher had already explained some grammatical points.
3.Dictogloss
Nowadays, there is a relatively simple technique named Dictogloss. The term Dictogloss is used in several different senses. Nunan 2003:161 states that
Dictogloss involves learners collaborating in small groups,
actively using their language, and reflecting on the way grammar works in context thus reinforcing form function
relationships.
Wajnr yb, as cited by Read 1988 says that there are four stages in the Dictogloss
procedure. They are preparation, dictation, reconstruction, and analysis. The further explanation would be as following:
1 Preparation The teacher divides the students into groups. Each group consists of five or
six students. The teacher tells about the topic of the text and some of the vocabularies. The text itself should be an authentic text, should be attractive
and should form a logical sequence. The text consists of four or five sentences.
2 Dictation The teacher reads the text twice. For the first time, the teacher reads at normal
speed and the students are not allowed to write anything down. For the second time, the students start to take notes.
3 Reconstruction PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
The students start to reconstruct the text based on their notes while writing down the passage. They collaborate with the members of their group in
reconstructing the text.
4 Analysis and correction The students start to analyze and correct their notes. The teacher asks the
student from each group as the representation to come in front of the class. The student writes down the reconstruction of the text in the blackboard. The
teacher starts to analyze the text by comparing students’ writing in the blackboard. By doing so, the teacher also gives the explanation about the use,
the meaning, and the form of simple past tense. Then, the teacher shows the original text and the students start to have the correction of their text
reconstruction. The teacher asks the students to form a dialogue with their partner about their daily communication. Thus, the students reflect on the way
grammar works in context and reinforce their function relationship.
4. The Characteristics of first grade students of SMK
Kategori