Abstract

In Japan, despite Ministry of Education guidelines, use of the grammar-translation method is still common in most secondary schools.  Many teachers are interested in learning alternative methodology but few make much use of these ideas in the classroom.  Unfortunately, there is confusion over what constitutes ‘communicative’ teaching and how it is possible to match English for communication with English for examination. This paper outlines the arguments against traditional grammar teaching and then examines other approaches to the pedagogical treatment of grammar together with the factors influencing their use.

Keywords

grammar-translation, communicative language teaching, pedagogic grammar, consciousness-raising