CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
2. English Grammar Learning Strategies
English is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch and the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries. It is used internationally and studied by many
people all over the world. While, grammar is defined by Ur (1996) as a set of rules that define how words (or parts of words) are combined or changed to form acceptable units of meaning within a language. Similarly, Thornbury (2004) defines grammar as a description of the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed. In addition, Refnita (2007) mentions that grammar is the system, rules or forms of acceptable utterances which belong to sound, words, sentences, and the meanings of a language
Based on the opinions above, it can be concluded that English grammar is rules or system used in the language of the people in Britain, United States and most commonwealth countries and studied by many people internationally. The use of English should be structurally appropriate in sentences or utterances to carry out the intended meaning. As it is learnt, learners have different opinions about it. Some learners are very interested in finding out or learning grammar rules and doing many grammar exercises.
Others hate grammar and think it is the most boring part of learning a new language.
However, learners cannot escape from grammar; it is in every sentence they read or write, speak or hear. Grammar is simply the word for the rules that people follow when they use a language, without rules, learners or not anyone would be able to communicate with other people. The disconnect between knowing the rules of grammar and being able to apply those rules automatically in listening, speaking, reading, and writing make language learners often frustrated. In order to avoid such condition, learners need practical strategies in learning English, especially the grammar. Eventhough learners do not have to
have an overt knowledge of grammar or grammatical terminology of English in order to speak it; they have to have enough knowledge of the grammar.
In learning the grammar, consciously or unconsciously, learners apply strategies which can be one or some strategies at the same time. The strategies used in learning grammar are then named grammar learning strategies. Oxford, Rang Lee and Park (2007) describes grammar learning strategies as “actions and thoughts that learners consciously employ to make language learning and/or language use easier, more effective, more efficient, and more enjoyable.” This grammar learning strategies theory, as mentioned by Pawlak (2009) were elaborated by Oxford, Rang Lee and Park (2007) from the general learning strategies in Oxford (1990). These can be seen from some strategies in grammar learning strategies which resembled the strategies in cognitive strategies, for instance taking notes and recognizing and using formula.
Furthermore, there are some also resembled the social strategies such as asking question and cooperation with others (classmates).
Similar to general learning strategies, grammar learning strategies also possess distinctive characteristics which Griffiths in Pawlak (2009) summarizes as follows; (1) they are what learners do, which indicates an active approach, (2) their application is at least partly conscious, (3) they are optional means learners choose, (4) their use entails goal-oriented, purposeful activity, (5) they are applied to regulate and control the process of learning, and (6) their use is intended to facilitate the process of learning. Besides having the characteristics, grammar learning strategies also have their own types. Different experts have different theories of grammar learning strategies.
The first theory of grammar learning strategies is from Oxford, Rang Lee and Park (2007). They consist of two main parts; implicit language learning and explicit language learning. Implicit language learning consisted of strategies in purely meaning oriented, implicit learning situation and strategies in implicit learning that included form. Meanwhile the explicit language learning consisted of explicit-inductive learning and explicit deductive learning. But as the first part of implicit language learning are strategies that purely meaning oriented, it will be excluded in this research. It is because theoretically there is no place for grammar strategies here and learners should not be focusing on form in this type of learning (Oxford, Rang Lee and Park, 2007). Therefore, there were only three groups of strategies used as the following: (1) implicit grammar learning strategies which focused on forms, (2) explicit-inductive grammar learning strategies, (3) explicit-deductive grammar learning strategies.
First, implicit grammar learning strategies which focused on forms are the strategies of learning English grammar that involve an element of attention and noticing of grammar patterns and rules of English language. The examples of sub-strategies for the implicit grammar learning strategies are noticing grammatical structures that cause problems with meaning or communication, paying attention to how more proficient people say things and imitating, and noticing correction of erroneous utterances.
Second, explicit-inductive grammar learning strategies are the strategies of learning English grammar that involve starting with a specific fact or instance then moving toward a general principle and using conscious
operations to make and test hypothesis in search for an understanding of structure of English language. The examples of sub-strategies for this group of strategies are participating in rule-discovery discussions in class, creating and testing hypotheses about how target structures operate, and checking with more proficient peers whether a given rule interpretation is correct.
The last, explicit-deductive grammar learning strategies are the strategies of learning English grammar that involve learning a rule supplied by the book, the teacher or by some other means and then apply the rule to specific instances. The examples of sub-strategies for this group are previewing the lesson to identify the key grammatical structures to be covered, paying attention to rules provided by the teachers or the course books, and memorizing how structures change their form.
The second theory of grammar learning strategies is from Bade (2008) who proposes two micro strategies of learning grammar; cognitive strategies and self-monitoring strategies. Cognitive strategies consist of; modeling sentences, utilizing rules and also examples, consulting a dictionary, analyzing form and meaning, revising grammar points, and coping with variations in sentence structure. Meanwhile the self-monitoring strategies consist of;
students recognizing own errors, critiquing/ accepting teacher’s feedback, learning to be reflective, students setting their own grammar goals, and seeing grammar as an active process.
The third theory of grammar learning strategies is from Shoebottom (2007) who states that there are some strategies or ways of learning English grammar, they are: (1) noticing the aspect of English grammar that are similar
to and different from the learner’s first language, (2) reading a lot of English books, (3) concentrating on the aspect of grammar that the learners personally find most difficult, (4) trying to work out the patterns and rules of the English language, (5) doing grammar exercises and writing out own sentences that follow the same rules that learners are practicing, (6) learning the common irregular verbs, (7) using online concordance program that can help learners in learning how words are used and how grammar works.
The fourth theory of grammar learning strategies is from Green (2006), who proposes five strategies of learning grammar namely deduction, recombination, writing one’s own grammar book, using new grammar, get a grammar book and read and listen. The first one, deduction means using rules to work out the answer or how to do something, for example to change normal speech to reported speech. The second, recombination means joining together things one already knows to make new things, for instance to make a sentence that use simple past tense and present perfect tense. The third, writing one’s own grammar book means owning a book which contains rules (for example from newspaper or magazine), notes on things one does not know and or list of exception in English rules. The fourth, using new grammar which means after learning some new grammar, use it in conversation or writing and see what the listener’s or reader’s reaction is. The fifth, getting a grammar book which means making use of grammar books which can be gotten from a bookshop and look at the different grammar book and choosing the one that easily to be understood. The last one is reading and listening which means seeing how writers and speakers use English grammar to communicate their ideas.
The fifth theory of grammar learning strategies is from Lee (2006).
The strategies are; (1) reading some useful grammar books, (2) doing exercises to gain more practice, (3) using exam preparation course books, (4) reading newspapers articles and good readers, (5) listening to good speakers, watching films, videos and TV programs and (6) visiting some good grammar websites.
Those are the theories of grammar learning strategies from the five experts. For this research, the researcher adapted the theories by combining similar strategies from different theories, for instance, the strategies in Shoebottom (2007), ‘doing grammar exercises and writing out sentences that follow the same rules’ with the theories from Lee (2006) ‘ doing exercises to gain more practice’. In addition, the researcher also adapted the theories by excluding a part of them from this research. For example the strategy of ‘using online concordance program that can help learners in learning how words are used and how grammar works’ in Shoebottom (2007) since it is considered not applicable to the students at the English department of University of Bengkulu.
The result of the theories adaptation is the three grammar learning strategies, namely; implicit grammar learning strategies which focus on forms, explicit- inductive grammar learning strategies and explicit-deductive grammar learning strategies.