A Comparative Study of Grammar Teaching in the Grammar-Translation, Audio-Lingual and Communicative Approaches

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the role of grammar in English language teaching. Grammar teaching has become a preoccupation among more and more language researchers and teachers. This paper sets out to compare the views of grammar teaching in the Grammar-Translation, Audio-Lingual and Communicative Approaches from the following five points, the status of grammar teaching, the different methods in the instruction of grammar, the teacher’s role in grammar teaching, the characteristics of typical teaching activities in the three approaches with detailed examples and the effect of the three approaches to grammar teaching.It is concluded that grammar teaching should subscribe to an eclectic approach, that is, to take advantage of the strong points of each approach and avoid their weak points. Moreover, grammar teaching should be conducted according to the variables of learners and teaching circumstances.