Teaching grammar and bilingualism

The bilingual sentence-wise translation in learning English tenses always remains elusive for the students of English as a second language. I frequently quote sentences to expose the incompatibility of syntax and grammar of two languages: 'Wo 1980 se mujay janta hey.' As per the formulas of tenses ingrained in students' minds, the Urdu sentences ending with 'ta hey, tii hey, tey hein' belong to the first tense, present indefinite, while the time marker '1980 se' seduces the young learners of English to translate it under the rules of present perfect continuous. However, the sentence belongs to neither. It is translated according to the present perfect tense. Mechanical search for a single Urdu marker cannot make grammar learning easier. Urdu markers become a misleading compass when learning of tenses is targeted.

Such disparities perplex the students because they have been taught grammar as a separate entity. In early classes, teachers don't have sufficient time to explain which tense and why it has been used in the text they are teaching. Or, they have to teach the language for exam preparation. Surprisingly, from middle to graduation level, only five to fifteen marks are allocated to Urdu to English translation. As learning of tenses requires a long concerted effort, they are deprioritised as per marks allocation and segregated to be taught as a separate entity.

Another fallout of bifurcating the teaching of grammar and reading of text is that students find it near impossible to grasp the passive voice of the English verb. At almost all levels of education in Pakistan, students are asked to change the voice of given English sentences from active to passive and vice versa. That's why students fail in specifying the voice of the Urdu sentences.

Today, students don't consult a dictionary to find the word's meanings. The dictionary also shows the part of speech the word falls under. Students can learn much grammar through osmosis. Then, when they are tutored in grammar, they cringe at the very words adjective, adverb or conjunction.

In lesson-planning the teaching of tenses, teachers must focus on the meaning to be expressed. A simple timeline must be used to represent the time of the action: present, past and future. Further, students must be asked whether the action is habitual, continuing, completed or expected to occur. Sentences like 'Ossay bhook lagi huii hey' should be quoted to illustrate the illusive nature of Urdu action markers. As the sentence alludes to the continuity of action, that's why it is translated according to the present continuous tense. Therefore, contrastive teaching can turn bilingualism into an advantage.

Similarly, a generalisation can be quite handy in teaching grammar in general and tenses in particular. The present simple is used for general truths and habitual actions. Modal verbs help express recommendations. Conditional constructions are used to show outcomes. Passive voice can shift the focus from who is doing it to what is being done.

Grammar is not difficult to learn; it is made difficult by misteaching it. Errors in learning grammar are of two types: the errors that distort meaning and the errors that are self-corrected through gradual refinement over time. Tenses fall in the first category, while articles, prepositions and spellings fall in the second. Students must also welcome corrections, as a 2015 meta-analysis by Eun Young Kang and Zhaohong Han finds that 'written corrective feedback can improve grammatical accuracy in second language writing.'

A two-pronged practical strategy requires x-ray reading first and then extensive reading. I always go for English newspaper reading for x-reading and classics for extensive reading. How grammatical constructions are employed to enhance the impact of expression and communication of thoughts can be learned by reading editorials, while the flow and rhythm in writing are acquired through osmosis by reading classics.

The linguist Richard Schmidt proposes in his 'noticing' hypothesis that darting close attention to both the form and meaning of language items contributes immensely to one's language learning. The input of the text must be converted into the intake of the learner.