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Changing Approaches to the Conceptualization and Teaching of Grammar

Second Handbook of English Language Teaching

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

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Abstract

This chapter addresses the call for a pedagogic grammar that goes beyond the familiar structurally focused grammars that tend to emphasize form and syntactic correctness. Following a brief discussion of the nature of pedagogic grammars, the ensuing section sketches some of the more influential models of grammar employed in educational contexts. Acknowledging that a pedagogic grammar needs to provide more than a description of grammatical items, the rest of the chapter explores a variety of grammars that have been developing over the past several decades whose departure point is the communicative needs of students as they operate in academic, civic, and vocational contexts. A common theme is the kinds of meanings that students need to be able to make if they are to function successfully in particular contexts of use. An extensive description of an unit of instruction illustrating such an approach is provided to exemplify some of the principles informing a meaning-oriented pedagogic grammar. The chapter finishes by considering some of the issues raised in implementing a more contextualized approach to teaching grammar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Beverly Derewianka

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  1. Beverly Derewianka
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Correspondence to Beverly Derewianka .

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  1. The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong

    Xuesong Gao

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Derewianka, B. (2019). Changing Approaches to the Conceptualization and Teaching of Grammar. In: Gao, X. (eds) Second Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_43-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_43-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58542-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    A Relevant Pedagogic Grammar for Today’s Classrooms
    Published:
    13 July 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_43-2

  2. Original

    Changing Approaches to the Conceptualization and Teaching of Grammar
    Published:
    31 December 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_43-1

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