LITERATURE REVIEW

Grammar can be defined as the rules of a language, governing the way in which words are put together to convey meaning in different context (Nsamalar, C., Saratha, S. and Teh, S. C., 2001). The importance of grammar here is to enables the language users to put words together in the correct order to communicate ideas and intentions efficiently. However, a person who is able to use grammar correctly does not mean the person is able to explain the rules of grammar. Due to a person may learn grammar rules implicitly, without knowing they are learning the grammar rules or explicitly, learning grammar in a formal way like a teacher teaching his or her students on grammar rules.

Harmer (1988) describes, there are two ways of teaching grammar; covert and overt teaching. In covert grammar teaching, the teacher gets the students involved in using the structure without drawing their attention to grammatical rules. Here, the students will focus on the activity and not the grammar rules. While in overt grammar teaching, the teacher will explains the rules of grammar when presenting the new language. Teacher are given two approach in teacher the rules, first, deductive approach. Teacher will present the rules or patterns and then provide all the practice like exercises. Secondly, teacher may use inductive approach or discovery method, where the students are given a number of samples of sentences containing the target forms and then the teacher guides the students into discovering the rules itself.

There are some who proposed of teaching grammar by itself such as the behaviourist. This can be seen through its drilling technique. In this technique, the teacher will give loads of practice until the students remember the answer due to its repetition. This technique was used during the war to educate the soldier to speak in the enemy’s language in a short period of time. However, this idea was not accepted by some educationist who belief students should learn grammar in meaningful way. In other words, students should know the rules and should be able to apply in their conversation or language usage and not just based on the repetition of usage in sentences.

Grammar is not a simple subject or to be teach. There will be a lot of repetition and rules, which will bore the students. Students will find this a burden and most of the time, students will ignore this topic. Thus, students will find it hard to master the language and this could cause frustration among the teacher. Therefore, it is important for teacher to come up with ideas to make the lesson interesting. This is where games play its role.

Game is a fun way to learn something. For example, in Suggestopedia Method, where a lot of activities are involved, students will enjoy the lesson. Thus, giving an effective input towards the students. Cognitivists view language learning as an active process in which learners are constantly required to think and make sense of new information they receive, to seek to discover the underlying rules or apply them to make original sentences. It also believes errors as a sign of learning (Nsamalar, C., Saratha, S. and Teh, S. C., 2001).
In the game chosen, students will be taught simple grammar rule, part of speech; nouns, verb and adjectives. These are the basic part of speech that speaker should know. For this game, teacher or facilitator will have to recall or to have short period of time to discuss with the students of these three parts of speech. Some students may not realise they have known this topic. Students will be let to discuss in groups for answers since we believe students will learn better if they are let to communicate or interact with each other. They will get better input by working together rather than learning and doing the activity by themselves, individually. The goal of this game is for the students to be able to name and differentiate nouns, verb and adjectives. It also to help the students to apply this knowledge in their everyday language usage.

By the end of the game, the goal of the game should be achieve. Students should be able to name and differentiate these categories. The game is suitable for the beginners and can be played in and outside the classroom.

References:
Brown, H. D. (1994) Teching By Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents
Lightbown, P. M. and Spada, N. (1999) How Language are Learned. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press
Nesamalar, C., Saratha, S., and Teh, S. C. (2001) ELT Methodology: Principles and Practice. Selangor: Penerbit Fajar Bakti