Teaching simple and complex grammar rules through explicit instruction

Abstract

While there is generally great interest in how languages are learned in the second/foreign language classroom, the question arises as to what type of grammar instruction is most effective and in learning which type of grammatical rules. This study examines the effect of explicit instruction on learning two types of grammar rules: simple and complex rules. While the target simple rule underlies the optional inversion of subject and verb following fronting of adverb of place (for example, ‘In the supermarket works Anna /Anna works’), the two target complex rules underlie the formation of pseudo-cleft sentences headed by ‘where’ and ‘what’ (for example, ‘Where the dog is is in the doghouse not in the kitchen’, and ‘What Anna does is write letters not read books’). This research work follows an experimental design including experimental and control groups. Subjects in both conditions were evaluated on their level of learning the grammar structure in question, using identical assessment measures, namely a pre-test and a post-test. Difference in the instructional condition depended on the presence or absence of explicit grammatical information about the target rules. The results indicate that subjects in the explicit grammar condition outperformed the subjects in the implicit condition in both the simple and complex rules. Although the experimental group subjects’ achievement in the simple rule was not found to be statistically significant, it suggests that explicit instruction has a more positive effect on learners in learning foreign language grammar rules than does the implicit instructional method. These results support previous findings that explicit instruction leads to gains in learning second/foreign language grammatical items. The findings seem to imply that knowing more information about grammar can provide a fertile ground for learners of English as a Foreign Language to enhance their level of accuracy