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as grammar. So, grammar is one of the variables of language teaching thatshould be taught and learnt. It is the description, analysis and formalization oflanguage pattern. Cowan (2012, p. 3) defines grammar as “the set of rules thatdescribes how words and groups of words can be arranged to form sentences ina particular language”. He emphasized grammar as the organization of words tomake comprehensible and organized sentences. It is a backbone of languageteaching. Similarly, Thornbury (1999, p. 1) says “A grammar is a description ofrules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed”. Furthermore,grammar is a connection of words to make an acceptable sentence. He furtherasserts it studies possible forms (or structures) in a language. Grammar is anattempt to explain why the sentences are in an acceptable way. In the sameway, Hagemann (2002, p. 3) defines “Grammar is the set of rules of thelanguage shared by its speakers which tells how to pronounce syllables,(phonology), how to form words, (morphology) how to structure sentences,(syntax) and what style of language to use in a given context, (pragmatics).Grammar is the rules of language which helps to produce structurally andcontextually meaningful sentences and discourse. Thus, grammar is a multidimensional word which has multiple meaning. In this a way, different scholarshave presented different ideas regarding the definition of grammar.Without teaching grammar language teaching cannot be completed. Grammarteaching is essential variable of language teaching and develops linguisticcompetence. Teaching grammar has similar history as to the language teaching.They are in reciprocal relation in the field of language teaching. In this regard,Celce-Murcia (2001 as cited in Nassaji & Fotos 2011, p. 13) explains“Language teaching was equated with grammar teaching and grammar wasused as content as well as organizing principles for developing curriculum andlanguage teaching materials”. For thousands of years, grammar teaching wasthe center of language pedagogy and curriculum development. From that timeof history of language teaching different ways and methods are being used inthe field of grammar teaching. On the basis of the context of language teaching,2

nature of the grammar lesson, level and background of the learner ways ofgrammar teaching can be adopted and sometimes generated too. Thornbury(1999, pp. 29-90) has mentioned the ways of teaching grammar as deductive,inductive and text- based method. These three are especially the ways ofteaching grammar which follows their own different ways and techniques whilepresenting the grammar lessons in the language classroom. These methodshave their own pros and cons in the field of grammar teaching.As these methods are the specified ways of teaching grammar this study tries toexplore out which of these ways are adopted or to discover any other new waysto teach each grammar lesson in the EFL context like Nepal at secondary level.1.2 Statement of the ProblemGrammar teaching is one of the variables of language teaching. We cannotdeny the role of teaching grammar in language classroom. In this regard,Pennington (1995, p. 4) says “a central goal for language pedagogy will be forthe learner to build up, over time, a grammatical repertoire and anunderstanding of the functions that grammatical repertoire in various context ofcommunication”.So, for the successful language use, the learners will also need to acquire theability to apply various grammatical structures in different grammatical contextand to develop the ability of understanding communicative meaning. Toachieve the pedagogical goal successfully instructor can use various ways ofteaching grammar on the basis of nature of grammar lesson, level of thelearner, his proficiency level and teaching and learning environment. Thesuccess of grammar teaching depends on the ways adopted in the process ofdelivering the lessons to the learners. There are different ways of teachinggrammar such as deductive, inductive and text- based which the teachers arepracticing inside the language classroom.In the context of Nepal, teaching grammar is really a challenging task for3

teachers and matter of great difficulty for learner because of teachers’ lessconcern to utilize effective ways of grammar teaching like inductive method.So, in the one hand the students are working hard to achieve expected resultand on the other hand, teachers’ ways of grammar teaching are less appropriateto address the students’ expectations. In this scenario, whether the ways ofteaching grammar being practiced are appropriate or we can use other differentways. This situation is yet to be explored and the focus of my research will belaid on the exploration of such issues.Nowadays, the syllabus in school level is designed on the basis ofcommunicative approach and the teachers are also using and focusingcommunicative ways of grammar teaching in spite of that students’grammatical competency is not satisfactory. Most of the teachers are notadequately able to bring varieties of ways of grammar teaching such asinductive, text-based, communicative methods. The teachers are practicingwith the same way i.e. GT method for all grammar lessons as a result learnersseem bored and less interested to grammar lesson. They rarely assessed withthe effectiveness of this method for each and every lesson prescribed in thetextbook.This has resulted ineffective educational achievement and produced lesscompetent learners in English grammar. Recognition of an appropriate ways isthe main problem in the grammar classes at secondary level. The ways ofteaching grammar differ according to each lesson, context and level of thelearners. We can generate our own ways of teaching grammar as to be suited inour context. This study tries to explore out the practiced ways and furthersuggest possible ways of teaching grammar for each grammar lesson.4

1.3 Objectives of the StudyThis study had the following objectives:a. To explore the practice ways for grammar teaching at secondary level interms of; teaching prepositions, tense, articles, tags, causative verbs andsubject verb agreement.b. To suggest some pedagogical implications on the basis of derivedfindings.1.4 Research QuestionsThe study was carried out to explore the answer of the following questions.a. What are the ways of teaching grammar lessons incorporated at secondarylevel English textbook?b. How the secondary level English teachers are practicing grammar lessonssuch as article, prepositions, tense, tags, causative verb and subject verbagreement prescribed in the course?1.5 Significance of the StudyEvery research study has some significance to relate the concerned individuals.Similarly, this study is beneficial and useful to those who are involved inlanguage teaching in general and English language teaching in particular atsecondary level. As the primary concern of this study was to find out thepractice ways of teaching grammar, the direct benefit will be to the teacherswho are engaging in teaching profession at secondary level. They can getdifferent ideas regarding the practiced and further possible ways of teachinggrammar to make their activities effective and meaningful.Likewise, this study will be helpful for the educationist and course designer todesign the grammar courses and methods as to be suited to the level of the5

learners and the context. Indeed, this study will be effective to the students toboost up their learning achievements. Similarly, this research will be helpful tothe researcher who wants to carry out further research in the related field ofgrammar teaching.1.6 Delimitations of the StudyThis study had following limitations:a. The sample size of the study was 30 teachers for respondingquestionnaire from different secondary schools of Parbat district.Among them 10 teachers were selected to observe their grammar classeson the basis of checklist.b. The main focus of this study was to find out the practice and possibleways of grammar teaching.c. The study was limited to survey design.d. The tools for data collection were observation checklist andquestionnaire consisting of both close-ended and open-ended questions.1.7 Operational Definitions of the Key TermsThe key terms of this study are as follows:Grammar lesson: In this research, grammar lesson refers to the grammaticalcategory (units) such as articles, prepositions, tense, tags, causative verb andsubject verb agreement that are prescribed in secondary level curriculumapproved by CDC.Secondary level: In this study, secondary level refers to a level of schooleducation where the classes run from grade nine to ten. In such classes thestudents aged fourteen to fifteen receive education.6

CHAPTER TWOREVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND CONCEPTUALFRAMEWORKThis part of the study is divided into four main subheadings. The first is reviewof the related theoretical literatures which covers theories related to theresearch area. The second one review of related empirical literatures describesthe summary of the researches which are already carried out in this area. Thethird, implication of the review of the study clarifies the contributions andimportance of the reviewed literatures for the present study. The last andfourth, conceptual framework conceptualizes the research study.2.1 Review of Theoretical LiteratureThis sub- chapter deals with the different theoretical perspectives related togrammar teaching and its ways which are directly and indirectly associated toEnglish language.2.1.1 English Grammar: An IntroductionGrammar is the study of words and the ways words work together. It is aknowledge that guides us to put words together into sentences appropriately.Grammar is multi-dimensional which has multiple meanings. Grammar isdefined differently by different scholars for some grammarians it is a set ofrules and some other see grammar as a language user’s mental system oflanguage. Regarding this, Debata (2013, p. 1) says:The word Grammar means different things to different people. To theordinary citizen, it connotes to correctness or incorrectness of thelanguage that he or she speaks. To a school student, it means ananalytical and terminological study of sentences.7

Grammar is the study and description of appropriate use of language. Thus,grammar generally refers to the structure or pattern of language, rules oflanguage and can be called as the frame or skeleton of the language. It is hardlypossible to define grammar in a single sentence.Thornbury (1999, p. 2) defines grammar, “as the study of the syntax and themorphology of sentence”. Syntax refers to order of words in a sentence andmorphology refers to the formation of words. So, it is a study of how words areformed and are chained together in a particular order to make a meaningfuldiscourse. Grammar also studies formation of words and words into sentences.Likewise, according to Celce- Murcia (1988, p. 15) Language is the subtype ofrule –governed behavior which includes grammar having rules. And these rulesare a part of what is known automatically by native speaker of a languagewhich may or may not exist outside the native speaker. In such a way, grammaris the rules of language that are the mental system of native speaker. Whateverthe native speakers speak that is regarded as the rules of language and theserules are the grammar of language.Similarly, defining grammar Holmes (2001, p. 76) writes:The term grammar can also be used to describe the rules that govern thelinguistic behavior of a group of speakers. The term English grammar,therefore, may have several meanings. It may refer to the whole ofEnglish grammar that is grammars of all the language in which case theterm encompasses a great variation.Thus, we can say that grammar is the system of rules we use to arrange wordsinto meaningful English sentences. Especially, these rules are the mentalsystem of its native speakers. In the same way, Pennington (1995, p. 12) states“Grammar refers to the whole system of rules which makes up a language, notjust the rules for the arrangement and appropriate marking elements in a8

sentence, but all of lexical phonological and syntactic patterns which alanguage uses”. Grammar does not only include its structure it also describeswhole language syntactically and semantically. Grammar is not only a set ofstructure but a flexible frame which interexchange components that can beorganized and manipulated in different ways.Grammar is both the structure of language and its communicative use.Grammar operates in morphological, syntactic and discourse level. It is thestudy of seven (or eight) parts of speech and four kinds of sentences. In thisregard, Murcia & Freeman (1999, p. 4) says:Grammar is not merely a collection of forms but rather involves thethree dimensions of what linguistics refers to as (morpho) syntax,semantics, and pragmatics. We refer these as the dimensions of form,meaning and use. The three are interrelated – that is, a change in onewill involve a change in another. It is helpful to view the threedimensions as a pie chart.FORMMEANINGHow is It formed?what does It mean?(Accuracy)(Meaningfulness)USEWhy is it used?(Appropriateness)9

Grammatical structures have not only morpho syntactic form, they are alsoused to express meaning (semantics) in context- appropriate use (pragmatic).So, the relation between form, meaning and their appropriate use is calledgrammar.Encapsulating these all ideas given by different grammarians, grammar is thebranch of linguistic sciences which is concerned with description and analysisof rules of language patterns. Grammar is an outline and frame of any languageit describes how to produce well-formed sentences. Mainly, grammar isconcerned with how we can arrange words into meaningful discourse forcommunication. So, grammar is a framework of rules that tells how we canproduce contextually appropriate language. Moreover, grammar explains therelation between form, meaning and use of language in an appropriate way.2.1.2 Teaching GrammarGrammar is defined as the connection of word groups in an acceptablestructure. It is one of the aspects of language that should be learnt and taught.Grammar is important aspects and backbone of any language. It is the study ofwhat forms (or structures) are possible in a language. Nassaji & Fotos (2011, p.12) states “Grammar is fundamental to language, without grammar languagedoes not exist”. So, for the existence and perfection of language in meaningfulway it needs to teach grammar. Teaching of any language is automaticallyconsistent with teaching its grammar in the sense that whichever language thelearner acquires whether the mother tongue or second language there existgrammar. Without teaching grammar, we cannot produce sentencesappropriately. So, the learners expect that they know grammar when theirteachers tell them what the rule is. Grammar tells us the possible sentences of alanguage and their description. Grammar plays a pivotal role in language. Ithelps in the production of new sentences. To get mastery over any language,one needs to know its underlying grammar and structures.10

According to Thornbury (1999, p. 15) “Grammar, after all, is a description ofthe regularities in a language, and the knowledge of these regularities providesthe learners with the means to generate a potentially enormous number oforiginal sentences”. It asserts that teaching of grammar offers the learners themeans for potentially limitless linguistic creativity. Grammar teaching helps tocheck the language forms and makes the language understandable andmeaningful. It means, with the help of grammar we can arrange morphemesinto words, words into phrases, phrases into clauses, clauses into sentences andsentences into meaningful paragraphs using rules and principles of language.On the other, acquisition of grammar refers to acquiring the ability to practicethe language or to make use of language grammatically correct without anyconscious attention of any of grammatical facts.Grammar is one of the most controversial variables of language teachingbecause some has argued in favor of teaching grammar with the logic that itprovides clear guidelines for language usage. On the other hand, some opinesagainst teaching grammar and tells it is less useful to develop communicativecompetence. So, it is often misunderstood in the field of language teaching. Inthis regard, Zhang (2009, P. 1) states “Webbe was one of the earliest educatorsto question the value of grammar instruction, but certainly not the last. In fact,no other issue has so preoccupied theorists and practitioners as the grammardebate, and the history of language teaching is essentially the history of theclaims and counterclaims for and against the teaching of grammar”.Whatsoever a sound knowledge of grammar is essential for the mastery oflanguage because of which pupils are going to use language creatively andappropriately. The history of language teaching shows that grammar occupiedthe prominent position within the old tradition of language teaching whereLatin and Greek were dominant. The oldest method of language teaching i.eGrammar Translation Method was the primary method of language teaching. Inthis regard, Greenbaum (1996, p. 39) writes:Traditional grammar adopts the approaches and descriptive category11

used, particularly in school grammars in the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies. Traditional grammar describes solely or chiefly the writtenlanguage and are indebted to Latin grammar for some of their analysisof English. Traditional grammar typically makes use of notional criteria.In the early part of the twentieth century, grammar formed an essential part oflanguage instruction, so much so that other aspects of language learning wereeither ignored or downplayed. It was believed that mastery over grammaticalrules of language makes the learner able to communicate effectively. It wasargued that grammatical competence is only one part of communicativecompetency. In recent year educationists, theorists, researchers andpractitioners have shown their interest in teaching grammar. They have alsopointed out that in the absence of formal instruction learners learn the risk offossilization. Therefore, we are not in the position of rejecting the teaching ofgrammar.In this context, it is worth quoting Celce- Murcia and Hilles (1988, p. 14). Theysay “In any case, it is clear that no one should dismiss grammar instructionaltogether because there is no empirical evidence that to do so is ultimatelymore beneficial to second language learning”. This shows that the debateregarding the role of grammar in language teaching never stops. Nothing in thefield of language pedagogy has been as controversial as the role of grammarteaching. For that, Nassaji & Fotos (2011, p. 11) presents “The controversy hasalways been whether grammar should be taught explicitly through a formalpresentation of grammatical rules or implicitly through natural exposure tomeaningful language use”. Therefore, it seems more plausible to present thearguments for the teaching of grammar.Thornbury (1999, p. 15) gives the following seven arguments for puttinggrammar in language teaching. They can be presented briefly as below:12

a. The sentence machine argument: According to this argument grammarworks as a kind of sentence making machine for the learners. Grammarhas finite set of rules which are used to generate infinite numbers of newsentences.b. The fine-tuning argument: This argument suggests that knowledge ofgrammar helps the learners to express meaning clearly and explicitly.Knowledge of grammar is required to increase intelligibility as well asappropriacy in the use of language, and to avoid ambiguity.c. The fossilization argument: Grammar counters the risk of fossilization.Learners who do not receive instruction are at the risk of fossilization. So,grammar teaching is necessary.d. The advance - organizer argument: According to this argument if thelearner’s formal system of language develops from the ve

2.1.1 English Grammar: An Introduction 7 2.1.2 Teaching Grammar 10 2.1.3 Importance of Teaching Grammar 14 2.1.4 Approaches of Teaching Grammar 16 2.1.5 Methods of Teaching Grammar 20 2.1.6 Techniques of Teaching Grammar 25 2.1.7 A brief Introduction of Secondary Level English Textbook 27