Chapter IITeaching Grammar

IntroductionThis chapter is meant to highlight different methods of teaching the modal verbs. The knowledge acquired in the previous chapter enables me to focus on presenting ways of teaching the modal verbs to intermediate and upper intermediate learners by giving some theoretical background concerning rules and methods of teaching grammar (Harmer, Ur, Neville Grant).The chapter is organized in four sections. The first section deals with the methods of teaching grammar, which are going to be used later, in the third chapter. In the second section I will focus on the principles of teaching grammar: Efficiency and Appropriacy, while the third part is divided into three subsections: first, I will present the two major ways through which grammar structures can be taught: deductively and inductively, then I will discuss how to teach grammar through speaking, listening, reading and writing, presenting details about the tasks of the teacher, principles of teaching these skills, techniques that teachers can use, etc.I will end this chapter with tests, in general, (definitions, reasons why teachers use them, types of tests) and grammar testing, in particular, providing some examples followed by a short analysis.

1. Principles of teaching grammarThe skill-based approach view grammar as a set of micro skills, including syntax, morphology, rhetorical organization, etc. Conversely the whole language approach views grammar as the use of grammatical rules and creating whole texts (cf. El- Koumy 2002: 49).Grammar teaching can mean different things to different people. A good deal has been written about grammar revival, as it is pointed out by Thornbury (2005: 23). With the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching, attention to grammar was eclipsed by an emphasis on experiential learning and purely communicative goals. The view that CLT deposed grammar may also stem from a tendency to equate grammar with accuracy.Relaxing on accuracy simply acknowledges the fact that the rules of grammar take a long time to establish themselves, and that, in the meantime, the learners wish to communicate should not needlessly frustrated. The sense that we are experiencing a grammar revival has been underlined by the emergence of two influential theoretical concepts: Focus on form Consciousness raisingResearch suggests that without some attention to form, learners run the risk of fossilisation. A focus on form does not necessarily mean a return to drill- and-repeat type methods of teaching. A focus on form may simply mean correcting a mistake. In this sense, a focus on form is compatible with a task- based approach. Related to the notion of focus on form is the notion of consciousness- raising. Together they comprise the paying- attention- to- form argument. That is to say, learning seems to be enhanced when the learners attention is directed to getting the forms right, and when the learners attention is directed to features of the grammatical system. Now it is important to draw up some basic rules of thumb for grammar teaching.The first one is The E- Factor: Efficiency= economy, ease, and efficacy. Given that dealing with grammar is only part of a teachers activities, and given that classroom time is very limited, it would seem imperative that whatever grammar teaching is done is done as efficiently as possible. If, as has been suggested, the teachers energies should be at least partly directed at getting learners to communicate, prolonged attention to grammar is difficult to justify. Efficiency in turns can be broken into three factors: economy, ease, and efficacy.When presenting grammar, a sound rule of thumb is: the shorter the better. Be economical with instructions, but, in terms of planning and resources, too. The ease factor recognises the fact that most teachers lead busy lives, have many classes, and simply cannot afford to sacrifice valuable free time preparing elaborate classroom materials. Generally speaking, the easier an activity is to set up, the better it is. Efficacy is the least easy to evaluate. We have to operate more on hunch than on hard data. Learning, like language, resists measurement. This need not undermine our faith in the classroom as a good place for language learning. We now know a lot more about what constitute the best conditions for learning.If teachers cant directly cause learning, they can at least provide the optimal conditions for it. A prerequisite for learning is attention. So the efficacy of a grammar activity can be partly measured by the degree of attention it arouses. Attention without understanding, however, is probably a waste of time, so efficacy will in part depend on the amount and quality of contextual information, explanation and checking. Finally, understanding without memory would seem to be equally ineffective, and so the efficacy of a presentation will also depend on how memorable it is. None of these conditions, however, will be sufficient if there is the lack of motivationand, in the absence of some external motivational factor, it is the teachers job to choose tasks and materials that engage the learners.The A- factor: Appropriacy refers to the fact no class of learners is the same: not only are their need, interests, level and goals going to vary, but their beliefs, attitudes and values will be different too. Thus, an activity that works for one group of learners is not necessarily going to work for another. It may simply not be appropriate. Factors to consider when determining appropriacy include: the age of the learners, their level, the size of the group, and the constitution of the group, what are their needs, the learners interests, the available materials and resources and so on.Activities that fail to take the above factors into account are unlikely to work. The age of the learners is very important. Children are more disposed to language learning, while adults may do better at activities which involve analysis and memorisation. Cultural factors, too, will determine the success of classroom activities. CLT values, among other things, learner- centredness, that, is giving the learners more responsibility and involvement in their learning process. This is often achieved through discovery learning and work- group as opposed to the traditional teacher- fronted lesson. CLT also takes a relatively relaxed attitude towards accuracy, in the belief that meaning takes precedence over form. Of course, no learning is static, and, with the right combination of consultation, negotiation, and learner training, even the most entrenched attitudes are susceptible to change. The teacher is therefore encouraged to be critical as well as adventurous.

2. Teaching grammar through language skills Language proficiency can be defined in terms of accuracy and fluency; if a learner has mastered a language successfully, that means that he or she can understand and produce it bothaccurately and fluently. Thus in planning a unit of teaching, it is useful to separate the two aspects, and define clearly the learning objective at any given point in the lesson. When the objective is accuracy, teacher and learners are chiefly concerned with getting the language right; forming correct sounds, words, sentences. When it is fluency, they are concentrating on the message: communicating or receiving content.The teaching of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar will tend to be accuracy- oriented: in these we are mainly interested in getting learners to say the sounds right, to use the words to express the appropriate meanings, or to construct their sentences in a way that sounds acceptable. In teaching of language content within the more holistic categories of topics or functions we are beginning to move over towards fluency, with more emphasis on producing appropriate language in context: equal importance is attached to form and message.In teaching the so- called four skills- listening, reading, speaking and writing- the emphasis will usually be firmly on fluency. Where listening or reading texts are used in coursebooks for accuracy, it will be found that they are in fact being used to teach grammar or vocabulary, not listening or reading communication as such. It is important for the teacher to know what is in fact being learned in any specific language task.Receptive skills are the ways in which people extract meaning from the discourse they see or hear. There are generalities about this kind of processing which apply to both reading and listening, but there are significant differences between reading and listening processes too, and in the ways we can teach them in the classroom.When we read a story or a newspaper, listen to the news, or take part in a conversation we employ our previous knowledge as we approach the process of comprehension, and we deploy a range of receptive skills; which ones we use will be determined by our reading or listening purpose.Sometimes an activity that stresses accuracy leads into one that is based on fluency, and vice versa; and in many cases activities combine both to some extent. In most classroom procedures, however, a clear orientation one way or another is evident. Lack of awareness of such orientation can lead to confusion and frustration.The productive skills of writing and speaking are different in many ways. However, there are a number of language production processes which have to be gone through whichever medium we are working in.When students write or speak in lessons they have a chance to rehearse language production in safety, experimenting with different language in different genres that they will use on some future occasion away from the classroom.When students are working on their language production, they should be operating towards the communicative end of the communication continuum. Language production means that students should use all and any language at their disposal to achieve a communicative purpose rather than be restricted to specific practice points.Skill training is not always communicative in itself, since teaching people to take turns or use correct punctuation is often fairly controlled- and may involve quite a lot of teacher intervention. One of the chief advantages of production activities is that they provide evidence for students and their teachers to assess how well things are going. The freer the task the greater the chance of seeing how successful a language learning programme has been, as Ur (2009: 103) and Harmer (2005:199) point out.

2.1. Teaching grammar through speakingAccording to El- Koumy (2002: 67) English is used as an international language in many fields such as diplomacy, trade and tourism. Non native speakers, therefore, frequently find themselves in many situations where they have to speak in English. Moreover, talk in the classroom can develop students thinking skills. Speaking is also regarded by some linguists as the foundation for other language skills. Ur (2009: 120) argues that of all the four skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak. Also El Koumy (2002: 68) suggests that in skill- based classrooms, speaking is taught as a set o discrete subskills through oral mechanical drills. These subskills include pronouncing the distinctive sounds of the English language, using stress and intonation patterns, using the correct form of words, putting words in the correct word order, etc. On the other hand, in whole language classrooms, the ability to speak is developed from spontaneous interaction in naturalistic situations.In the same way Ur (2009: 120) points out that classroom activities that develop learners ability to express themselves through speech would therefore seen an important component of a language course. Yet it is difficult to design and administer such activities; more so, in many ways, than to do so for listening, reading or writing. Harmer (2004: 87) says that there are three basic reasons why it is a good idea to give students speaking tasks which provoke them to use all and any language at their command.Getting students to have a free discussion gives them a chance to rehearse having discussions outside the classroom. It is not the same as practice in which more detailed study takes place; instead it is a way for students to get the feel of what communicating in the foreign language really feels like.Speaking tasks where students are trying to use all and any language they know provides feedback for both teacher and students. Teachers can see how well their class is doing and what language problems they are having; students can also see how easy they find a particular kind of speaking and what they need to do to improve. Speaking activities can give them enormous confidence and satisfaction, and with sensitive teacher guidance can encourage them into further study.Engagement: good speaking activities can and should highly motivating. If all students are participating fully- and if the teacher has set up the activity properly and can then give sympathetic and useful feedback- they will get tremendous satisfaction from it. Many speaking tasks are intrinsically enjoyable in themselves. It is important for teachers to correct mistakes made during speaking activities in a different way from the mistakes made during a Study exercise. When students are repeating sentences trying to get their pronunciation exactly right, then the teacher will often correct every time there-s a problem. But if the same teacher did the same thing while students were involved in a passionate discussion about smoking, for example, the effect might well be to destroy the conversational flow. Constant interruption from the teacher will destroy the purpose of the speaking activity.Many teachers watch and listen while activities are taking place. They note down things that seemed to go well and times when students couldnt make themselves understood or made important mistakes.When the activity has finished, they then ask the students how they thought it went before giving their own feedback. In each case, they will ask the students to see if they can identify the problem and correct it.As with any kind of correction, it is important not to single students out for particular criticism. Many teachers deal with the mistakes they heard without saying who made them. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about correcting. The general principle of watching and listening so that you can give feedback later is usually much more appropriate.Some teachers get very involved with their students during a speaking activity and want to join in too! They may argue forcefully in a discussion or get fascinated by a role- play and start playing themselves. It is probably better to stand back so that you can watch and listen to whats going on, students can also appreciate teacher participation at the appropriate level- in other words, not too much! However, teachers will have to intervene in some way if the activity is not going smoothly. If a discussion begins to dry up, the teacher will have to decide if the activity should be stopped, or if careful prompting can get it going again. Prompting is often necessary, as with correction, teachers should do it sympathetically and sensitively.

Some commentators like to talk about opportunistic teaching- that is, the desirability of teaching a piece of language which only becomes apparent as a result of something going on in the class. Thus, it may become clear that students have not been able to use some language that would have been helpful during activate stage- or which might be helpful for something they are doing right now. The teacher uses this as an ideal opportunity to suddenly decide to bring forward some new language for study because it seemed like a god idea at the time. The boomerang starts to look more like a patchwork.A mistake some teachers make is to think that, once a piece of language has been studied, a good speaking activity will immediate cement it in students mind. This is not always the case. Most teachers will tell you that it usually takes a bit of time, a few lessons, before new language comes out in fluency activities. Todays speaking activity may be provoking students into using language they first learnt some time ago.Speaking activities may well form one part of a much longer sequence which includes reading or listening and, after the activity, study work. We will often use such activities simply to provide welcome relief from more formal work.According to Ur ( 2009: 129) structured task or topic based activities with clear goals are a good point for classroom in the foreign language, particularly at elementary and intermediate levels. However, the kind of talking they give practice in is in some respects limited: more advanced learners may need a wider range of activity types.Discussion tasks tend to be based on transactional talk, short turns and fairly detached argument or persuasion. The main types of interaction which tend to be neglected are: interactional talk; long turns; talk which is based on (non classroom) situations, emotions and personal relationships.Interactional talk is to some extent a matter of learning conventional formulae of courtesy: how to greet, take leave, begin and end conversations, apologize, thank and so on. But even more than this is culture- linked, and it is difficult to explain the conventions that govern it in a foreign language; it is dubious therefore whether it is worth investing very much effort in teaching and practising them. Most learners will be able to cope adequately with interactional speech on the basis of their own cultural knowledge and common sense. Some kinds of role play can give opportunities for practising it.Long turns is the ability to speak at length is one which adult, more advanced or academic students will perhaps need and therefore needs cultivating; for other types of classes it may be less important. Some activities that help students to practise speaking in long turns are telling stories; telling jokes; describing a person or a place in detail; recounting the plot of a film, play or a book; giving a short lecture or talk; arguing a case for or against a proposal.It is certainly arguable that learners will need to function in a wide variety of such contexts, and it makes sense to give them opportunities to try using the target language in simulations of at least a selection of them. Conventational task- based discussions do not provide such opportunities; which is a cogent argument for including them in a language course. The obvious classroom activities to use are those based on role play.Role play is used to refer to all sorts of activities where learners imagine themselves, and using language appropriate to this new context. Very often the role play is done in pairs sometimes it involves interaction between five or six different roles. The groups or pairs improvise their role play between themselves, simultaneously, with no audience. Volunteers may perform their role plays later in front of the class.This is virtually the only way we can give our learners the opportunity to practise improvising a range of real- life spoken in language in the classroom, and is an extremely effective technique if the students are confident and cooperative; but more inhabited and anxious people find role play difficult and sometimes even embarrassing. Factors that can contribute to a role- plays success are: making sure that the language demanded is well within the learners capacity; your own enthusiasm, careful and clear pronunciation and instructions. A preliminary demonstration or rehearsal by you together with a student volunteer can be very helpful.Harmer (2005: 275) states that as with any other type of classroom procedure, teachers need to play a number of different roles. Three have particular relevance if we want our students to speak fluently:- prompter: students sometimes get lost, cannot think of what to say next, or in some other way lose the fluency we expect of them. We may be able to help them and if this can be done supportively, it will stop the sense of frustration that some students feel when they come to a dead end; of language ideas;- participant: teachers should be good animators when asking students to produce language. Sometimes this can be achieved setting up an activity clearly and with enthusiasm. However, they have to be very careful that they do not participate too much, thus dominating the speaking activity and drawing all the attention to themselves;- feedback provider: the vexed question of when and how to give feedback in speaking activities is answered by considering carefully the effect of possible different approaches. When students are in the middle of a speaking activity, over correction may inhibit them and take the communicativeness out of the activity. When students have completed an activity it is vital that we allow them to assess what they have done and that we tell them what, in our opinion, went well. We will respond to the content of the activity as well as the language used.

2.2. Teaching grammar through listening

From the skill- building perspective, listening is defined as a collection of micro- skills, including phonics, vocabulary, grammar, etc. In this respect, some language teaching theorists and researchers have constructed a number of taxonomies delineating the micro- skills needed for effective listening. From the whole language perspective, listening is defined as an active process in which the student constructs meaning from an aural text, as stated by El Koumy (2002: 62).Ur (2009: 105) suggests the objective of listening comprehension practice in the classroom is that students should learn to function successfully in the real-life listening situations.One of the main reasons for getting students to listen to spoken English is to let them hear different varieties and accents- rather than just the voice of their teacher with its own idiosyncrasies. In todays world, they need to be exposed not only to one variety of English (British English, for example) but also to varieties such as American English, Australian English, Caribbean English, Indian English or West African English. When people of different nationalities speak to each other, they often use English too, so that a Swiss flight attendant might well have to understand a Japanese womans English variety, just as an Argentinian might need to be able to cope with a Russians version.Despite the desirability of exposing students to many varieties of English, however, common sense is called for. The number of different varieties will be a matter for the teacher to judge, based on the students level, where the classes are taking place etc. But even if they only hear occasional varieties of English which are different from the teachers, it will give them a better idea of the world language English has become. The main method of exposing students to spoken English is through the use of taped material which can exemplify a wide range of topics such as advertisements, news broadcasts, poetry reading, plays, (pop) songs with lyrics, speeches, telephone conversations and all manner of spoken exchanges. Teachers can imitate these, but god tapes are far more powerful.The second major reason for teaching listening is because it helps students to acquire language subconsciously even if the teachers do not draw attention to its special features.The debate about the use of authentic listening material is just as fierce in listening as it is in reading. Listening demands listener engagement, too. Long tapes on subjects which students are not interested in at all will not only be demotivating, but students might well switch off and once they do that it becomes difficult for them to tune back into the tape. Comprehension is lost and the listening becomes valueless.Everything depends on the level, and the kind of tasks that go with the tape. There may well be some authentic material which is usable be beginners such as pre-recorded announcements, telephone messages etc. More difficult material may be appropriate for elementary students provided that the questions they are asked do not demand detailed understanding. Advanced students may benefit from scripted material provided it is interesting and subtle enough- and provided the tasks that go with it are appropriate for their level.Since listening to tapes is a way of bringing different kinds of speaking into the classroom, we will want to play different kinds of tape to them.There are a number of ways in which listening activities differ from one other classroom exercises: firstly, tapes go at the same speed for everybody. Unlike language study or speaking practice- or even reading, where individual students can read at their own pace- the tape continues even if individual students are lost. Unlike reading, listeners to a tape cannot flick back to a previous paragraph, re-read the headline, stop to look at the picture and think for a bit before continuing. On the contrary they have to go with the seed they are listening to.It is perhaps this relentlessness of taped material which accounts for the feeling of panic which many students experience during listening activities. If they fail to recognise a word or a phrase they havent understood, they often miss the next part of the tape and are soon falling behind in terms of comprehension. It is especially for this reason that students have to be encouraged to listen for general understanding first rather than trying to pick out details immediately.Listening is special too because spoken language, especially when it is informal, has a unique features including the use of incomplete utterances, repetitions, hesitations. Experience of informal listening together with an appreciation of the other spoken factors- the tone of voice, the intonation the speakers use, rhythm, and background noises- will help students to tease meaning out of such speech phenomena.When we do listening activities we have to take into account some principles regarding listening.The first one is that the tape recorder is as just important as the tape. However good your tape is, it will be useless if the tape recorder has a poor speaker or if the motor speed keeps changing and the tape goes faster or slower. You need to be sure that the tape recorder can be heard all round the classroom. Another vital feature is a tape counter that is easy to use. Remember too that if you want to use your tape recorder for music as well as speech you may need a better machine.The second principle is preparation. Teachers and students need to be prepared for listening because of the special features we discussed above. Teachers need to listen to the tape all the way through before they take it into class. That way, they will be prepared for any problems, noises, accents etc., that come up. Students need to be made ready to listen. This means that they will need to look at the pictures, discuss the topic, or read the questions first. Teachers will do their best to get their students engaged with the topic and the task so that they really want to listen.Other principle is that we will have to put the tape more then once. There are almost no occasions when the teacher will play a tape only once. Students will want to hear it again to pick up the things they missed the first time. The first listening is often used to just give students an idea of what the listening material sounds like so that subsequent listening are easier for students. The next one is that students should be encouraged to respond to the content of a listening, not just to the language. As with reading, the most important part of the listening practice is to draw out the meaning, what is intended, what impression it makes on the students. Other refers to different listening stages demand different listening tasks. Because there are different things we want to do with a listening text, we need to set different tasks for different listening stages. This means that, for a first listening, the task needs to be fairly straightforward and general. That way, the students general understanding and response can be successful- and the stress associated with listening can be neutralized. Later listening may focus in on detail- of information, language use, pronunciation etc.The last principle is that good teachers exploit listening texts to the full. If teachers ask students to invest time and emotional energy in a listening task, then it makes sense to use the tape for as many different applications as possible. Thus, after an initial play of the tape, the teacher can play it again for various kinds of study before using the subject matter, situation or tapescript for a new activity. The listening then becomes an important event in a teaching sequence rather than just an exercise by itself.Types of listening activities include no overt response, where the learners do not have to do anything in response to the listening however, facial expression and body language often show if they are following or not. Some no overt response activities can include songs, stories and entertainment: films, theatre, and video. Or short responses such as: obeying instructions, ticking off items, true/false, detecting mistakes, cloze, guessing definitions, skimming and scanning. Also longer responses like: answering questions, note-taking, paraphrasing and translating, summarizing, long gap- filling. Extended response activities mean that the listening is only jump off point for extended reading, writing or speaking, these are combined skills activities. We can include here problem- solving and interpretation.Most modern course materials include cassettes of listening texts, with corresponding listening tasks in the students book. You can use these as they stand, but you may want to supplement them. You will probably not have much time to prepare many supplementary activities of your own. Perhaps the most useful and cost- effective action is to take your-ready- made materials and, using either the text or the task as your basis, make alterations, involving minimal preparation, to make the activity more effective.A popular way of ensuring genuine communication is live listening where the teacher and/or visitors to the class talk to the students. This has obvious advantages since students can interrupt speakers and ask for clarification. Live listening can take the following forms:- reading aloud is an enjoyable activity, when done with conviction and style. This allows them to hear a clear spoken version of written text, and can be extremely enjoyable if the teacher is prepared to make a big thing of it;- story- telling where teacher can tell stories and at any stage of the story, students can be asked to predict what is coming next, or be asked to describe people in the story;- interviews are one of the most motivating listening activities, especially when students dream up the questions and really listen for answers;- conversations where students have the chance to watch the interaction as well as to listen to it.Live listening is not a substitute for audiotapes or disks, but it does offer an extra dimension to the listening experience.For listening we need to be active in creating student engagement through the way we set up tasks. We need to build up students confidence by helping them listen better rather than testing their listening abilities, so we need to focus on the following roles:- organiser: we need to tell students exactly what their listening purpose is and give them clear instructions about how to achieve it- machine operator: when we use tape or disk material we need to be as efficient as possible in the way we use the tape player. If we involve our students in live listening we need to observe them with great care to see how easily they can understand us;- feedback organiser: when our students have completed the task, we should lead feedback to check that they have completed the task successfully. It is important to be supportive when organising feedback after listening if we are to counter any negative expectations students might have;- prompter: when students have listened to a tape or disk for comprehension purposes we can have them listen it again for them to notice a variety of language and spoken features, as stated in Harmer (2005: 230) and (1998: 97).2.3.Teaching grammar through readingUr (2009: 138) says that reading means reading and understanding. A foreign language learner who says, I can read the words but I dont know what they mean is not, therefore, reading, in this sense. He or she merely decoding- translating written symbols into corresponding sounds.For many learners, beginning to read the foreign language involves learning an entire new set of written symbols. And for the teacher, some preliminary decisions need to be made about how to teach them. According to Harmer (2004: 68) there are many reasons why getting students to read English texts is an important part of the teachers job. In the first place, many of them want to be able to read texts in English either for their careers, for study purposes or simply for pleasure. Anything we can do to make reading easier for them must be good idea.Reading is useful for other purposes too: any exposure to English is a good idea thing for language students. At the very least, some of the language sticks in their minds as part of the process of language acquisition, and, if the reading text is especially interesting and engaging, acquisition is likely to be even more successful.Also El- Koumy (2002-68) argues that reading English as a foreign language is very important for several reasons. First, it is critical to success in some academic majors such as medicine and engineering. Second, it is a useful source for information that might be missed in class lectures. Third, it can improve native language reading. Fourth, it can accelerate foreign language learning and improve other language skills. Finally, it is a major means of learning both vocabulary and spelling.Harmer (2004: 68) points out that the reading texts also provide good models for English writing. When we teach the skill of writing, we will need to show students models of what we are encouraging them to do.Reading texts also provide opportunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. Lastly, good reading texts can introduce interesting and be the springboard for well- rounded, fascinating lessons.There has been frequent discussion about what kinds of reading texts are suitable for English language students. A balance has to be struck between real English on the one hand and the students capabilities and interests on the other. There is some authentic written material which beginner students can understand to some degree: menus, timetables, signs and basic instructions and where appropriate, we can use these. But for longer prose, we may want to offer our students texts which, while being like English, are nevertheless written or adapted especially for their level. The important thing is that such texts are as much like real English as possible.The topics and types of reading text are worth considering too. A lot will depend on who the students are. If they are all business people, the teacher may well want to concentrate on business texts. But if, as is often the case, they are mixed group with differing interest and careers, a more varied diet is appropriate. Among the things the teacher might want them to read are magazines articles, letters, stories, menus, advertisements, reposts, play extracts, recipes, instructions, poems, and reference material.Students, like the rest of us, need to be able to do a number of things with a reading text. They need to be able to scan the text for particular bits of information they are searching for. This skill means that they dont have to read every word and line; on the contrary, such an approach would stop then scanning successfully.Students need to be able to be able to skim a text- as if they were casting their eyes over its surface- to get a general idea of what it is about. Just as with scanning, if they try to gather all the details at this stage, they will get bogged down and may not be able to get the general idea because they are concentrating too hard on specifics.Whether readers scan or skim depends on what kind of text they are reading and what they want to get out of it. They may scan a computer manual to find the one piece of information they need to use their machine, and they may skim a newspaper article to get a general idea of whats been happening. But we would expect them to be less utilitarian with a literary work where reading for pleasure will be a slower, closer kind of activity.Reading for detailed comprehension, whether looking for detailed information or language, must be seen by students as something very different form reading skills mentioned above. When looking for details, we expect students to concentrate on the minutiae of what they are reading.One of the teachers main functions when training students to read is not only to persuade them of the advantages of skimming and scanning, but also to make them see that the way they read is vitally important.Reading is an incredibly active occupation. To do it successfully, we have to understand what the words mean, see the pictures the words are painting. If we do not do these things- and if students do not do these things- then we only just scratch the surface of the text and we quickly forget it.Students who are not engaged in the reading text (not actively interested in what they are doing) are less likely to benefit from it. When they are really fired up by the topic or the task, they get much more from what is in front of them.It is important to study reading texts for the way they use language, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses. But the meaning, the message of the text, is just as important and we must give students a chance to respond to that message in some way. It is especially important that they should be allowed to express their feelings about the topic- thus provoking personal engagement with it and the language.When we read texts in our language, we frequently have a good idea of the content before we actually read. Book covers give us a hint of whats in the book, photographs and headlines hint at what the articles are about and reports look like reports before we read a single word.The moment we get this hint our brain starts predicting what we are going to read. Expectations are set up and the active process of reading is ready to begin. Teachers should give students hints so that they can predict whats coming too. It will make them better and more engaged readers.Once a decision has been taken about what reading text the students are going to read, we need to choose a good reading tasks- the right kind of questions to read, engaging and useful puzzles etc. The most interesting text can be undetermined by asking boring and inappropriate questions; the most commonplace passage can be made really exciting with imaginative and challenging tasks.Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions etc. It doesnt make sense just to get the students to read it and then drop it to move on to something else. Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting class sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for Study and later Activation.Ur (2009: 146) concludes that getting our learners to understand a simple text is only the beginning. Reading skills need to be fostered so that learners can cope with more and more sophisticated texts and tasks, and deal with them efficiently: quickly, appropriately and skilfully.In general, more advanced language work of any kind tends to involve longer, multi-stage activities, in order to explore to the full the opportunities to engage with the language in different ways. It is therefore very likely that activity before, during and after reading itself will entail extended speaking, listening and writing.Harmer (2005: 213) says that in order to get the students to read enthusiastically in class, we need to work to create interest in the topic and tasks. However, there are further roles we need to adopt when asking students to read intensively.- organiser: we need to tell students exactly what their reading purpose is, and give them clear instructions about how to achieve it, and how long they have to do this;- observer: when we ask students to read on their own we need to give them space to do so. This means restraining ourselves from interrupting that reading, even though the temptation may be to add more information or instruction;- feedback organiser: when our students have completed the task, we can lead a feedback session to check that they have completed the task successfully. It is important to be supportive when organising feedback after reading if we are to encounter any negative feelings students might have about the process, and if we wish to sustain their motivation;- prompter: when students have read a text we can prompt them to notice language features in that text. We may also, as controllers, direct them to certain features to the text construction, clarifying ambiguities, and making them aware of issues of text structure which they had not come across previously.

2.4.Teaching grammar through writingUr (2009: 159) argues that one of the reasons that teaching writing is so different from teaching speech is that the two types of discourse differ in some basic characteristics. Harmer (2004: 79) points out that the reasons for teaching writing to students of English as a foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style and. Most importantly, writing as a skill in its own right. Some students acquire languages in a purely oral/ aural way, but most of us benefit greatly from seeing the language written down. The visual demonstration of language construction is invaluable for both our understanding of how it all fits together and as an aid to committing the new language to memory. Students often find it useful to write sentences using new language shortly after they have studied it.The actual process of writing helps us to learn as we go along. The mental activity we have to go through in order to construct proper written texts is all part of the ongoing learning experience.Some students are fantastically quick at picking up language just by looking and listening. For many learners, the time to think through, to produce language in a slower way, is invaluable. Writing is appropriate for such learners. It can also be a quiet reflective activity instead of the rush and bother of interpersonal face- to face communication.Writing as a skill is by far the most important reason for teaching writing, of course, is that it is a basic language skill, just as important as speaking, listening and reading. Students need to know how to write letters, how to put written reports together, how to reply to advertisements- and increasingly, how to write using electronic media. Part of our jobs is to give them that skill.Ur (2009: 159) points out that written discourse is fixed and stable so the reading can be done at whatever time, speed and level of thoroughness the individual reader wishes. The written text is explicit; therefore it has to make clear the context and all references. The content is presented much more densely in writing. In speech, the information is dilute and conveyed through many more words.The writing of a text is detached in time and space from its reading; the writer normally works alone, and may not want to be acquainted with his or her readers. Speaking usually takes place in immediate interaction with known listeners, with the availability of immediate feedback.A written text is usually organized and carefully formulated, since its composer has time and opportunity to edit it before making it available for reading. A written text conforms more to conventional rules of grammar, and its vocabulary is more precise and formal. Also it uses a generally standard variety of language. According to Harmer (2004: 80) like many other aspects of English language teaching, the type of writing we get students to do will depend on their age, interests and level. Its all a question of what language the students have at their command and what can be achieved with this language.We will try to get students writing in a number of common everyday styles. These will include writing postcard, letters of various kinds, filling in forms such as job applications, writing narrative compositions, reports, newspapers and magazine articles etc. We may also want to have students write such texts as dialogues, playscripts, advertisements, or poems- if we think these will motivate them.Another factor which can determine our choice of writing tasks is the students interests. There is no limit to the kinds of texts we can ask students to write. Our decisions, though, will be based on how much language the students know, what their interests are and what we think will not only be useful for them but also motivate them as well.The objective of the teaching of writing in a foreign language is to get learners to acquire the abilities and skills they need to produce a range of different kinds of written texts similar to those an educated person would be expected to be able to produce in their own language.Ur (2009: 163) concludes that the purpose of writing, in principle, is the expression of ideas, the conveying of a message to the reader; so the ideas themselves should arguably be seen as the most important aspect of writing. The writer needs also to pay some attention to formal aspects: neat handwriting, correct spelling and punctuation, as well as acceptable grammar and careful selection of vocabulary.Harmer (2005: 261) says that even though the teacher needs to deploy some or all of the usual roles when students are asked to write, the ones that are especially important are as follows:- motivator: one of our principal roles in writing tasks will be to motivate the students, creating the right conditions for the generation of ideas, persuading them of the usefulness of the activity, and encouraging them to make as much effort as possible for maximum benefit;- resource: especially during more extended writing tasks, we should be ready to supply information and language where necessary. We need to tell students that we are available and be prepared to look at their work as it progresses, offering advice and suggestions in a constructive and tactful way;- feedback provider: giving feedback on writing tasks demands special care. Teachers should respond positively and encouragingly to the content of what the students have written. When offering correction teachers should choose what and how much to focus on based on what students need at this particular stage of their studies, and on the tasks they have undertaken.

3. Classroom interactionAccording to Harmer (2005: 114), (2004: 20) and Ur (2009: 224) there is no real limit to the way in which teachers can group students in a classroom, though certain factors such as over-crowding, fixed furniture, and entrenched student attitudes may make things problematic. Nevertheless, teaching a class as a whole group, getting students to work on their own, or having them perform tasks in pairs or groups all have their own advantages and disadvantages; each is more or less appropriate for different activities.When people think of teaching and learning they frequently conjure up a picture of students sitting in rows listening to a teacher who stands in front of them. For many, this is what teaching means, and it is still the most common teacher-student interaction in many cultures. However, this does not always mean the class sitting in orderly rows; whatever the seating arrangement, the teacher can have the students focus on him or her and the task in hand.At the opposite end of the spectrum from whole- class grouping is the idea of students on their own, working in a pattern of individualised learning. This can range from students doing exercises on their own in class, to situations in which teachers are able to spend time working with individual students, or when students take charge of their learning in self- access centres or out-of-class environments. Such individualised learning is a vital step in the development of learner autonomy. This can have many advantages: it allows students to work at their own speed, allows them thinking time, and allows them, in short, to be individuals. It often provides welcome relief from the group- centred nature of much language teaching. For the time that individual work takes place, students can relax their public faces and go back to considering their own individual needs and progress.Group work and pair work have become increasingly popular in language teaching since they are seen to have many advantages.In pair work students can practise language together, study a text, research language or take part in information- gap activities. They can write dialogues, predict the content of reading texts, or compare notes on what they have listened to or seen. We can put students in larger groups too, since this will allow them to do a range of tasks for which a pairwork is not sufficient or appropriate. Thus students can write a group story or role play a situation which involves five people. They can prepare a presentation or discuss an issue and come to a group decision. In general it is possible to say that small groups of around five students provoke greater involvement and participation than larger groups. They are small enough for real interpersonal interaction, yet not so small that members are over-reliant upon each individual. Because five is an odd number it means that majority view can easily prevail. However, there are occasions when larger groups are necessary. The activity may demand it, or we want to divide the class into teams for some game or preparation phase. Both pair work and group work give the students chances for greater independence. Because they are working without the teacher controlling every move, they take some of their own learning decisions, they decide what language to use to complete a certain task, and they can work without the pressure of the whole class listening to what they are doing. Decisions are cooperatively arrived at, responsibilities are shared.The other great advantage of group work and pair work (especially group work) is that they give the teacher the opportunity to work with individual students. Neither group work nor pair work are without their problems. The students may not like the people they are grouped or paired with. In any one group or pair, one student may dominate while the others stay silent. In difficult classes, group work may encourage students to be more disruptive than they would be in whole- class setting, and, especially in a class where students share the same first language, they may revert to their first language, rather that English, when the teacher is not working with them.How much teachers use group work, pair work or individual work depends to a large extent on teacher style and student preferences. Good teachers are able to use different class grouping for different activities. While they do this, they will monitor which is more successful and for what, so that they can always seek to be more effective.All teachers, whether at the start of their careers or after some years of teaching, need to be able to use different new activities and techniques. It is important to be open to such new ideas and take them into the classroom. But such experimentation will be of little use unless we can then evaluate these activities. One way of getting feedback is to ask students simple questions such as Did you like that exercise? Did you find it useful? and see what they say.Another way of getting reactions to new techniques is to invite a colleague into the classroom and ask him or her to observe what happens and make suggestions afterwards. The lesson could also be videoed. It is a good idea to get students reactions to lessons, and their aspirations about them, clearly stated. Many teachers encourage students to say what they feel about the lessons and how they think the course is going.Good teachers managers also need to assess how well their students are progressing. This can be done through a variety of measures including homework assignments, speaking activities where the teacher scores the participation of each student, and frequent small progress tests. Only if teachers keep such kinds of progress records can they begin to see when teaching and learning has or has not been successful.

4. Testing grammar Ur (2009: 33) argues that a test may be defined as an activity whose main purpose is to convey how well the testee knows or can do something. This is a contrast to practice, whose main purpose is sheer learning. Learning may, of course result from test, just as feedback or knowledge may be one of the spin- off of a practice activity: the distinction is in the main goal.It is often conventionally assumed that tests are mostly used for assessment: the test gives a score which is assumed to define the level of knowledge of the testee. But in fact testing and assessment overlap only partially: there are other ways of assessing students and there are certainly other reasons for testing.Testing grammar is the last important part in the grammar teaching process.Learners do tests in order to demonstrate to themselves and to the teacher- how well they have mastered the material they have been learning. The main objective of tests within a taught course is to provide feedback, without which neither teacher nor learner would be able to progress very far. We have to know where we are in order to know where to go next. Formal examinations, usually preceded by revision on the part of the learners, and followed by written evaluation on the part of the teacher, are only one kind of testing, useful for immediate teaching purposes. Most testing, however, is done automatically and almost unconsciously by teacher and learners as the course proceeds, the most valuable feedback on learning being supplied by the learners current performance in class and in home assignments. Often practice exercises are used to supply such informal feedback, in which case they may function virtually as tests.According to Harmer (2005: 321) and (2004: 141) there are four main reasons for testing which give rise to four categories of test:Placement tests are usually placed on syllabuses and materials the students will follow and use once their level has been decided on, these test grammar and vocabulary knowledge and assess students productive and receptive skills.Diagnostic tests can be used to expose learner difficulties, gaps in their knowledge, and skill deficiencies during a course.Progress or achievement tests are designed to measure learners language and skill progress in relation to the syllabus they have been following. Achievement test only work if they contain item types which the students are familiar with. Achievement test at the end of the term should reflect progress, not failure. They should reinforce the learning that has taken place, not go out of their way to expose weaknesses.Proficiency test give a general picture of the students knowledge and ability. They are frequently used as stages people have to reach if they want to be admitted to a foreign university, get a job, or obtain some kind of certificate. One of the attractions of these kinds of test is that they are relatively easy to design and they are very easy to set and mark: they are practical. And, importantly, they meet learners expectations as to what a test should be like: they have what is called face validity. They also fulfil another criterion of test effectiveness in that they are reliable. That is, the results are consistent, regardless of who marks them, and the same students tend to get the same results on similar tests. They are also valid tests if all we want to test is the learners knowledge of a specific area. Apart from anything else, they will motivate learners to go back and review what that they have been studying. Finally, they have positive spin- off. As tests of overall language proficiency, however, such tests leave a lot to be desired. They do not really provide the kind of information necessary to make a rounded assessment of the learners abilities. They do not give any information as to the learners ability to communicate, including how well the learner can cope in situations of real- life language use. While it is useful to know what the learner knows, to test only for knowledge is like setting a driving test that consists only of a written test of the Highway Code.The language testing equivalent of a valid driving test would be performance test. Performance testing is not as practical as competence testing. One particular advantage of performance testing, however, is that it reminds teachers that language teaching is more than simply teaching grammar- it is also teaching the ability to use the grammar. From this point of view, performance testing has a useful backwash effect- that is to say, in preparing for this kind of test, as much classroom time will be spent on communication as on grammar.While there are very good reasons for incorporating performance tests into a teaching programme, there are also good- if more pragmatic- reasons for sticking to discrete item competence tests. Ideally, both kinds of test could be used, either in conjunction, or at different stages of the learning cycle.A test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test, and also a good test should give consistent results. Whatever purpose a test or exam has, a major factor in its success or failure as a good measuring instrument, will be determined by the item types that it contains.A test is direct if it asks candidates to perform the communicative skill which is being tested. Indirect test items, on the other hand, try to measure a students knowledge and ability by getting at what lies beneath their receptive and productive skills.Another distinctions needs to be made between discrete- point testing and integrative testing. Whereas discrete- point testing only test one thing at a time, integrative test items expect students to use a variety of language at any one given time- as they will have to do when writing a composition or doing a conversational oral test. Although there is a wide range of indirect test possibilities, certain types are in common use: Multiple choice questionswereconsidered to be ideal test instruments for measuring students knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Questions and answers can be used to test almost anything. The more closed the question is the easier the item will be to mark. It is fairly easy to compose and grade closed- ended questions; more open, thought provoking ones are more difficult, but may actually test better. True/false does not directly test writing or speaking abilities: only listening or reading. It may be used to test aspects of language such as vocabulary, grammar, content of a reading or listening passage. It is fairly easy to design; it is also easy to administer and to mark. Matching usually tests vocabulary, and is rather awkward to administer orally: thus it is best presented written on the board or on paper, though responses may be either oral or in writing. Dictation mainly tests spelling, perhaps punctuation, and, perhaps, surprisingly on the face of it, listening comprehension. It may supply some information on testees passive knowledge of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Cloze procedures seem to offer us the ideal indirect but integrative testing item. They can be prepared quickly and if the claim made for them are true, they are extremely cost- effective way of finding out about a testees overall knowledge. Transformation and paraphrase is a common test item which asks candidates to rewrite sentences in a slightly different form, retaining the exact meaning of the original. In order to complete the item successfully the student has to understand the first sentence, and then know hoe to construct an equivalent which is grammatically possible. Translation is a technique which, at the time of writing, is for various reasons rather unpopular. In a monolingual class whose teacher also speaks the learners mother tongue, the translation of a bit of language to or from the target language can give very quick and reliable information on what the testee does or does not know, particularly when it involves entire units of meaning within a known context.Translation items are relatively easy to compose, marking may sometimes be more difficult, but not prohibitively so. Essay is a good test of general writing abilities. It is relatively easy to provide a topic and tell the class to write an essay about it but marking is extremely difficult and time- consuming. It must be clear in advance how much emphasis you are going to lay on language forms, such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and how much on aspects of content, such as interest and originality of ideas, effectiveness of expression, organization. Monologue tests oral fluency in long turns- something not everyone can do in their mother tongue! It also tests overall knowledge of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.There are many other indirect techniques too, including sentence fill- in, choosing the correct tense of the verbs in sentences and passages, finding errors in sentences, and choosing the correct form of a word. All of these offer items which are quick and efficient to score and which aim to tell us something about a students underlying knowledge.

5. Material writing As Ur (2009: 176) and Harmer (2004: 111)/ (2005: 295) point out the courses that we teach, or intend to teach, are very likely, to be based on some kind of written syllabus. A syllabus is a document which consists, esentially, of a list. This list specifies all the things that are to be taught in the course(s) for which the syllabus was designed: it is therefore comprehensive. The actual components of the list mai be either content items (words, structures, topics), or process ones (tasks, methods). The item are ordered, usually having components that are considered easier or more essential earlier, and more difficult and less important ones later.The syllabus generally has explicit objectives, usually declared at the beginning of the document. Another characteristic of the syllabus is that it is a public document. There are other, optional, features, displayed by some syllabuses and not others. A time schedule is one: some syllabuses delimit the time framework of their components. A preferred approach or methodology to be used may also be defined. It may list recommended material- coursebooks, visual material or supplementary materials- either in general, or where relevant to certain items or sections.The term coursebook means a textbook of which the teacher and, usually, each student has a copy, and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course.In some places oursebooks are taken for granted. In others they may not be used at all: the teacher works according to a syllabus, or according to his or her own programme, using textbooks and supplimentary materials as the need arises. A third, copromise, situation is where a coursebook is used selectively, not necessarily in sequence, and is extensively supplemented by other materials.Author Neville Grant[footnoteRef:2] suggests four alternatives when the teacher decides the coursebook is not appropriate. Firstly, he or she might simply decide to omit the lesson. That solves the problem of inappropriacy and allows him or her to get on with something else. [2: Grant, N., Making the Most of Your Textbook, Longman, 1987]

Theres nothing wrong with omitting lessons from coursebooks. Teacher do it all the time, develping a kind of pick and choose approach to whats in front of them. However, if they omit too many pages, the students may begin to wonder why they are using the book in the first place, especially if they have bought it themselves.Grants second option is to repalce the coursebook lesson with one of the teachers own. This has obviousobvious advantages: the teachers own material probably interests her or him more than the coursebook and it may well be more appropriate for the students. If the teacher is dealing with the same language or topic, the students can still use the book to revise that particular language/vocabulary. But the same comments apply here asa ommision. If too much of the coursebook is replaced, both students and teacher may wonder if it worth bothering with it at all.The third option is to add to what is it in the book. If the lesson is rather boring, too controlled, or if tit gives no chance for students to use what they are learning in a personal kind of way, the teacher may want to add activities and exercises which extend the students engagement with the language or topic.Addition is a good alternative since it uses the coursebooks strenghts but marries them with the teachers own skills and perceptrions of the class in front of him or her.The final option is for the teacher to adapt what it is in the book. If a reading text in the coursebook is dealt with in a boring or uncreative way, if an invitation sequence is too predictable or if the teacher simply wants to deal with the material his or her way, he or she can adapt the lesson, using the same basic material, but doing it in his or her own style.Using coursebooks creatively is one of the premier teaching skills. However good material is, most experienced teachers do not go through it word for word. Instead, they use the best bits, and to some exercises and adapt others. Sometimes, they replace coursebook material with their on ideas or ideas from other teachers and book- and occasionally they may want to omit the coursebook lesson completely.The assessment of a coursebook in an out-of-class judgement as to how well a new book will perform in class. Coursebook evaluation, on the other hand, is a judgement on how well a book has performed in fact.We need some basis for choosing which books to use or pilot, whether we use checklists prepared by others or whether we make them ourselves. We can then see whether our out- of class judgements are borne out in reality.A potential difficulty for successful post-useevaluation of a coursebook, on the other hand, is that teachers see no need for systematic and principled post- programme evaluation. In part this is because teachers tend to feel that they know whether a coursebook worked or not, and they are reluctant to give time to a more formal evaluation once a course has finished. Yet we need to evaluate material in a reasonably structured way if we are to properly see if our pre- use assessment was accurate, and whether to continue to use the coursebook.Whether assessing or evaluating coursebooks, we should do our best to include student opinion and comment. Their view of layout, design, content and feel should inform our pre- assessment and our post-course evaluation.For years methodolists have been arguing about the usefulness of coursebooks, questioning their role, defending thier use, worrying that they act as methodological straitjackets or promoting their value as agents of methodological change.Strong points for coursebooks:- good coursebooks are carefully prepared to offer a coherent syllabus, satisfactory language control, motivating texts, tapes and other accessories such as videotapes, CD- ROMs, extra resource material, and useful web links;- provide teacher under preassure reassurance, using material which they have confidence in;- come with detailed teachers guides which offer suggestions and alternatives, extra activities, and resources;- students like coursebooks too since they foster the perception of progress as units and then books are completed;- coursebooks also provide material which students can look back at for revision, and at their best their visual and topic appeal can have a powerfully engaging effect.Weak points against coursebooks:- coursebooks, used inappropriately, impose learning styles and content on classes and teachers alike appearing to be faits accomplis over which they can have little control;- many of the rely on Presentation, Practice, and Production as their main methodological procedure;- units and lessons often follow an unrelenting format so that students and teachers eventually become de-motivating by the sameness of it all;- and in their chice of topics coursebooks can sometimes be bland or culturally inappropriate.One solution to the preceived disadvantages of coursebooks is to do without them altogether, to use a do-it-yourself approach. Such an approach is extremely attractive. It can offer students a dynamic and varied programme. If they can see its relevance to their own needs, it will greatly enhance their motivation and their trust in what they are being asked to do. It allows teachers to respond on a lesson- by- lesson basis to what is happening in the class. Finally, for the teacher, it means an exciting and creative involvement with the texts and tasks.Even with an excellent coursebook and a wide variety of other materials available, there comes a point at which many teachers find they have to make their own occasional supplementary workcards or worksheets: because they can find what they need nowhere else, because they want to provide for the needs of a specific class, or simply for the sake of variety.Good teachers made materials are arguably the best there are: relevant and personalized, answering the needs of the learners in a way no other materials can.A worksheet is a page of tasks, distributed to each student to do either in class or at home, intended to be written on, and usually taken in by the teacher to be checked. Teacher- made tests can be seen as a specific kind of worksheet. Workcards are made in sets, each card offering a different, fairly short task. They are not written on: a student does one card, writing answers on a separate piece of paper or in a notebook, and then exchanges it for another, working through as many of the set as there is time for. Answers are often available for self- checking at some central location in the room, or on the back of the card itself. Workcards are permanent and re-usable: worksheets are disposable- though of course further copies can be made. Workcards take more effort and time to produce, but they are also more attractive to look at and students have a choice as to which cards they do, and in which order; and the range of tasks available can be much more varied. In fact, the workcards lesson is a rudimentary self- access session, and can be developed into a fully individualized programme by varying the number and type of tasks provided.

Conclusion

To summarize, this chapter has provided an account of the main methods of teaching grammar to adolescents.These are some of the methods used by teachers today, when teaching grammar. Then I have highlighted the principles of teaching grammar (Efficiency and Appropriacy), discussing them in detail. In the third section of this chapter I have focused effectively on how to teach grammar explaining how grammar structures can be taught in two major ways: deductively and inductively. I continued focusing on teaching grammar in relation to the four language skills. I have presented them separately, in turn, showing the importance of each of them when teaching a grammar problem. For these skills I have provided theoretical background concerning sub-skills, procedure and principles for teaching grammar, types of activities, techniques used to teach sub-skills, tasks of the teacher, etc. Finally, I have given some definitions of a test, then some reasons why teachers use tests in class followed by types of elicitation techniques in which I have defined and described them these types of test tend to evaluate students knowledge of grammar. In addition to this, I have reached the conclusion that the initial aim of providing theoretical background on methods to teach the modal verbs has been achieved and I continue my research in the following chapter with specific activities and exercises to teach the modal verbs starting with a short analysis of the textbooks used when teaching English to high school students.

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