Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 3 1

Article Review 3

Jeremia Christian Alexander

International Teachers College Universitas Pelita Harapan

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Teaching Grammar to the Undergraduate Bangladeshi EFL Learners: A Rethinking

Summary

While some linguists believe that grammar instruction is useless to the acquisition

process of language, the author Azad (2012) agrees with other linguists that teaching

grammar to EFL learners is beneficial. The author begins by presenting some reasons

language teachers should focus on the subject of the study, the undergraduate Bangladeshi

EFL learners. He continues by arguing that language teachers should teach some selection of

the grammar. Finally, the author discusses effective methods to teach grammar to

undergraduate EFL learners.

Firstly, language teachers should focus on the undergraduate Bangladeshi EFL

learners because they are cognitively able to understand and analyze the complex system of

language. It is more useful to teach grammar to learners who have understood a portion of the

language rather than to learners who just began learning the language. Therefore,

undergraduate Bangladeshi EFL learners are suitable for formal grammar instruction.

Moreover, undergraduate Bangladeshi EFL learners are expected to be grammatically

accurate and fluent in English for their future professional needs.

Secondly, language teachers should teach some selection of the grammar instead of

the whole of the grammar because Bangladeshi undergraduate EFL learners have studied

English intensively from grade one to twelve. The selection should be based on the errors

produced by learners. The study on the errors using error analysis will help the teacher

identify the pattern of errors.

Lastly, language teachers should incorporate explicit grammar instruction in

communicative activities instead of implementing Grammar Translation Method or purely

communicative-oriented pedagogy. Language teachers could use grammatical

consciousness-raising to expose undergraduate learners to the grammatical and

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ungrammatical sentences so that they become aware of the correct grammar. Azad (2012)

concludes the article with a statement that he does not investigate further the success of

different techniques on grammar instruction.

Evaluation and Connections

Azad (2012) is right that grammatical conscious-raising method is beneficial for

undergraduate EFL learners. In indirect conscious-raising method, the learner is to judge

the grammaticality of sentences. This method relates to what I learned in Instructional

Alignment class that teachers should promote higher-order thinking skills. This method

proves to be effective because students learn better when the task requires of them higher-

order thinking skills. Azad (2012) is also right that grammar instruction should be

incorporated in communicative activities. Similar to Bangladeshi undergraduate EFL

learners, I had a student who was able to pass the exam, but he could not speak English

fluently. It was because I did not engage my student in conversation. Now I am encouraged

to apply grammatical conscious-raising method and incorporate communicative activities

in my teaching. Grammar should be taught in the first place because it reflects the orderliness

of God.

Though the subject of his study include 10 students of BBA, 15 students of Law, 5

students of Pharmacy and 13 students of English, Azad (2012) should not assume that in

future, the learners will function as an academic, a diplomat or a business executive (p. 121).

Students of BBA may become a business executive, but he does not even mention a

pharmacist for pharmacist students. His assumption implies English is needed only for such

prestigious jobs. He seems to neglect the main purpose of being accurate in English is to

communicate with clarity. Since human beings refused to fill the earth, but gathered in one

place instead, God confused the language. This is our job as Christian teachers to redeem

the brokenness of language, not because we want our students to be a rich businessman who
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can speak English, but because we want our students to become social beings who can

understand other people.

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References

Azad, A. K., & Shanta, S. A. (2012). Teaching Grammar to the Undergraduate Bangladeshi

EFL Learners: A Rethinking. ASA University Review, 6(2), 117-128.