English teachers' view on grammar teaching in Norway

Abstract

Teaching grammar has always been a much-debated issue in the field of language studies. In this study, I have investigated what English teachers in Norway think about grammar teaching, and what learning methods appear to have influenced their opinions. In order to investigate this, I have used a quantitative approach where a questionnaire was sent out to different primary and lower secondary schools as well as posted online for reaching out to other English teachers. The teachers in the study claim to favor, and use, a wide range of teaching activities and methods in teaching English grammar. Some of the teachers seem to be heavily influenced by behavioristic learning methods and others by cognitive learning methods but most of the teachers appear to be influenced not by a single learning theory but by aspects of behavioristic, cognitive, and socio-cultural learning theory. As the participants in this study do not represent a random sample, it is uncertain how generalizable the results are; however, they suggest that teachers’ practices and beliefs in the area of grammar teaching are diverse.