Thai teachers' perspectives on the role of grammar in English language teaching

In the Thai tradition, teaching English means teaching grammar. Grammar has become an essential part of English language teaching that it has permeated into many aspects of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) curriculum. The recent shift to communicative language teaching and the downgrading of the role of grammar has created confusion and problems among teachers. This chapter presents a study conducted with experienced TEFL teachers about their views on the role of grammar in teaching English in the Thai context. A questionnaire survey and a focus group interview were used to elicit data. The results indicate that there is confusion among teachers about the term 'grammar'. Grammar teaching is still an important aspect of language teaching, as teachers tend to believe that grammar should be both taught as a subject and taught in context. Also, knowledge of grammar and grammar theories are significant in teacher training and education. Teachers are not strongly convinced that communicative language teaching should replace grammar teaching.