
Agnes Strandberg.
4 October 2023
How grammar can become more meaningful for the pupil
What happens if pupils in upper secondary school were taught grammar by exploring and experimenting with authentic texts, such as fiction, instead of prepared examples? Researchers and school teachers have now explored this method together with pupils. Opportunities and challenges with teaching that can make grammar more meaningful are presented in a recent doctoral thesis.
“When working as a subject teacher in Swedish for the upper secondary school, I experienced that grammar is handled as a separate element, isolated from actual use of the language. Teaching is often based on prepared example sentences, where pupils struggle with grammatical concepts that they don’t understand the purpose of. I became curious about how using authentic material could spark pupils' interest and understanding of grammar,” says Agnes Strandberg, who recently defended her doctoral thesis at Luleå University of Technology.
Together with six upper secondary school teachers in Swedish, Agnes Strandberg designed, tested and evaluated a different way of teaching – contextualized grammar teaching. For example, the teachers alternated between lessons in which they read and discussed a novel, and lessons in which the language of the novel was scrutinized. The goal was for the pupils to be able to identify grammatical structures and connect them with function and rhetorical effect in the text.
”Grammar came alive”
“There were active and engaged discussions in the classroom about how you can and cannot say. It brought engagement and motivation and made the grammar more meaningful. The grammar came alive, but it also became large and difficult to control,” says Agnes Strandberg.
The integration created a holistic perspective on the language and increased the opportunity to learn in depth. At the same time, the authentic texts were sometimes so complex that they could make it difficult to clearly show different grammatical structures. In exercises where pupils experimented with grammar, they built their understanding, but it could also create uncertainty when there was no clear answer.
“Based on the results, I can recommend teachers to combine prepared material with authentic texts. The traditional way of teaching grammar provides a basic structure, while teaching grammar based on authentic texts creates engagement and meaning.”
Use of colour codes for structure
Something that proved to facilitate teaching was using color codes and breaking up grammatical structures graphically. Visualizations made the grammar more concrete and helped pupils recognize the structure of the language.
“It has been extremely valuable to conduct research in close collaboration with teachers. Together, we have been able to increase knowledge about grammar teaching and how practical teaching can be developed on a scientific basis,” says Agnes Strandberg.
- Read full doctoral thesis
External link, opens in new window.
Contextualizing grammar in Swedish L1 education: A design-based research project in upper secondary school
Contact
Agnes Strandberg
- Associate Senior Lecturer
- 0920-492311
- agnes.strandberg@ltu.se
- Agnes Strandberg
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