You can't learn language just through doing verb drills

Don't just teach and use verb drills... How to teach deductive grammar successfully! 

To what extent can a learner use a grammatical rule in speaking and writing after practising with just verb drills? The answer is... very little! So often, teachers TEACH a grammatical concept to a class and provide grammar drills for practice and then expect learners to be able to use it. 

Sik (2015) found that teachers "feel better" when they teach grammar deductively and we're not wrong, the same study showed slightly higher academic success through deductive grammar teaching. However, in the same study, it is suggested that teachers need to be more aware of the needs of their students. How can we ensure that they can USE these new concepts? If we want students to build towards using these elements to communicate, what is the best approach?

Get the verbs off the page!

There are so many issues with only relying on grammar drills prior to productive use. 

Here are some scenarios:

- the grammatical rule may be too high order thinking at that time. For example, asking a student who hasn't yet accurately used present tense indicative to use the subjunctive. 

- students haven't identified this grammatical concept as something they need for their own production

- the student feels overwhelmed by the amount they feel they have to learn because the teacher is telling them they should know it

But, using grammar drills through deductive grammar teaching is not an incorrect practice! So how do we get the balance right for our students?

What is deductive grammar teaching? 

It's when learners are given a grammar rule, which is then applied to specific language examples and narrow exercises. 

When is it a good idea to use deductive grammar teaching?

• To increase awareness of grammatical concepts
• To show linguistic diversity between languages
• When students identify a gap in their own grammatical knowledge
• When students want to further their use of a particular grammatical concept
• When students wish to increase in linguistic sophistication
• To understand a grammatical form that they read or hear

Ideally, verb drills are only a small drop in the ocean and their purpose is for students to gain an understanding of the rule. 

Here are the steps you can take in teaching with deductive grammar -  a focus on form with a communicative goal:

Understanding phase

1. Understanding the concept - provide students with the grammar rule

2. Study Grammar Drills - give students varied ways to practice and understand the grammar rule. Provide them with plenty of listening input, as I do through my verb drill worksheets

Students create their own flash cards for understanding, accountability, assessment and use. 

3. Build Cue Cards - ask your students to create some cue cards to identify the 'chunks' that they want to learn. E.g., if they are learning the passé composé, they can create a few cards with high-frequency verbs and common scenarios: J'ai mangé, tu as vu, il a pris, je suis allé(e), tu es rentré(e), il est parti...

Ask them to only make enough cue cards for their learning. For example, 10 to begin should be enough.

Memorisation phase

4. Memorisation - students use the cue cards to memorise the spelling and speaking of the verb chunks. 

Assessment phase

5. Self-Assessment - the student tests their memory through spelling and speaking and only move on when they have 100% passed stage 5.

6. Peer-Assessment - the student hands their cards to a partner and they spell and say the verb chunks aloud.

Production phase

7. Oral Production - the student now has a goal to use the chunks in any upcoming speaking task, either informally in class or in speech or in an upcoming oral assessment.

8. Written Production - Also, the student must aim to use these chunks in writing, in either formative or summative assessment.

Remember, not all of your students need to learning the same grammatical concept at the same time. Why not let your students identify their own gaps through a productive task (speaking and writing) and ask them what they want to develop next? Just make sure that you see that they have arrived at the productive stage! You could provide your students with a tick list to stick in to their books. Which grammatical construct are they currently focused on? Which phase are they are up to? What should the teacher be looking out for when the student speaks and writes?

I have used this technique with my students and it works! Think more guided practice for your juniors and more independant study for your seniors.

Do you teach grammar for communication? What do you find are the elements that work and don't work in your French classroom?