DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2014.v02i02.003

Pages: 165-170

The role of grammar instruction in an ESL/EFL context has been for decades a major issue for students and teachers alike. Researchers have debated whether grammar should be taught in the classroom and students, for their part, have generally looked upon grammar instruction as a necessary evil at best, and an avoidable burden at worst. This paper reports a study undertaken to investigate how far the presently using methods of teaching in an English classroom is helping the secondary school students of Kerala to understand and use grammatical concepts. The study also focusses on the difficulties English teachers face in teaching grammar to ESL students as well as those faced by students in learning it, in the teachers' perception. The study aimed to find out whether there are significant differences in teachers' perceptions of difficulties in relation to their gender, qualification and teaching experience, thus providing insights into their own and their students' difficulties. Percentage analysis and t-test were used to interpret the data. The main findings are reported with implications.