Grammar Teaching Approaches: Exploring Current Practices and Techniques for Improvement

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate teachers' practices and improvement techniques in relation to grammar teaching. This paper aims to answer these two questions: 1) What grammar teaching approaches do English and Arabic teachers use in preparatory and secondary public schools in Misurata? and, 2) What are the most practical techniques to improve language teachers in grammar teaching and in teaching skills in general? Twenty-one Libyan language teachers from 5 different public schools participated in the study (11 teachers of English & 10 teachers of Arabic). All participants are females teaching preparatory and secondary female students. One-to-one semi-structural interviews were conducted. SPSS was used to analyze data. The results show that traditional approaches to grammar teaching are common among Libyan teachers. However, the deductive approach is more common among teachers of English than among teachers of Arabic. This situation demands improvement. The most practical techniques to improve language teachers' practices are: providing training courses, improving instruction in teacher-preparation programs, and teaching potential instructors how to reflect on their teaching.