From word class races to exploring language:

Teachers of Norwegian as L1’s beliefs about teaching grammar

Abstract

In this article, we investigate how a selection of Norwegian teachers from primary school to upper secondary school report that they practise grammar teaching. The data material is texts written by teachers who participated in continuing education courses in Norwegian at two different higher education institutions. We ask two research questions: Which parts of grammar do the teachers report that they teach, and which teaching methods do they report that they use? Our findings show that word classes dominate their grammar teaching, both at primary and lower secondary level, while syntax is given more attention by the upper secondary teachers. At primary school, movement and play are the most used teaching methods, while the comparative perspective features somewhat more at lower secondary and especially upper secondary school. There seems to be a lack of progression between the primary and secondary levels. We argue that our findings show that one should strive to give students a more descriptive view of grammar so that they understand grammar as something that can be discussed and explored.