Post 428: Book Review: The Teacher's Grammar of English by Ron Cowan

 Post 428: Book Review: The Teacher's Grammar of English by Ron Cowan

 

 

The Teacher's Grammar of English by Ron Cowan is an excellent ESL/English Grammar resource. I loved this book because it was simple to read, had the latest research on teaching English grammar, and has excellent teaching suggestions for teaching any grammar topic. The format of the book is easy to follow. In the introduction, Cowan lays out syllabus plans for a 6-week class, 10-week class and a 16-week class. Cowan tells the teacher what chapters the class should read for a 6-week, 10-week or a 16-week class making this an ideal textbook for teaching teachers how to teach English grammar. If you are a writing teacher, Cowan tells you which chapters to focus on too.

Each chapter has a section with Teaching Suggestions for Teachers, which is the favorite part of the book for me because it gives tired teachers fresh and innovative fun ideas on how to teach an otherwise boring grammar point. For instance, in Chapter 4, Cowan talks about how to teach ESL learners how to ask questions in English. Fun ways to teach students how to ask questions in English is for students to play games like Jeopardy, Twenty Questions, and What's My Line.  Cowan offers even more suggestions and resources for busy teachers such as extra reading and research at the end of each grammar chapter so that teachers can read up on the latest trends in teaching English Grammar.

In Chapter 3, Cowan gives an excellent literature review and synopsis of all the ways you can teach grammar and he goes over the history of how English Grammar has been taught from the beginning of the 20th century until now. As Cowan sums up his Chapter 3, "In this chapter (3), we consider evidence that supports the usefulness of teaching grammar to learners of English, and the debate over how this should be done. We summarize some current methods and techniques of teaching grammar and also examine issues related to the treatment of learner errors." (Cowan, 2021, 28). I highly recommend that the reader read Chapter 3 first, because it gives a broad overview of how teachers have taught English Grammar in the past and how teachers will be teaching English grammar in the future. 

Therefore, I highly recommend that the Teacher's Grammar of English book by Ron Cowan should be on every English teacher's bookshelf. I also recommend you buy the hard cover version of the book because the paperback version of this book fell apart the moment I opened the book. So, take the plunge and spend the money on that hard cover version! As for me, I will keep scotch taping my paperback version since I don't have the money for the hardcover version :)

Cowan, Ron. (2008) "The Teacher's Grammar of English" Cambridge University Press.