Teaching grammar to students, particularly EFL students, should be in an interesting and fun way. Grammar instruction is often associated with teaching sentence structure and grammatical rules. In Indonesia, English teachers mostly teach grammar to their students by using a traditional approach. It is often seen as an outdated and ineffective approach since the teacher teaches the students traditional grammar which emphasizes on the teaching of the parts of speech or word classes and the grammar is often taught in large classes. According to Ellis (2006, p. 84), grammar teaching is broadly defined as an instructional technique that attracts students' attention to some specific grammatical form that aims to help them understand it metalinguistically and/or process it in comprehension. This notion indicates that it doesn't need to teach grammar in the traditional way where grammatical items are presented and practiced. Hence, the teachers should select a new and interesting approach to grammar instruction for EFL students which is associated with communicative skills, namely integrative grammar teaching. Although traditional grammar teaching is still widely used, integrative grammar teaching becomes an alternative grammar teaching model due to its benefits for EFL students.
Firstly, integrative grammar teaching helps learners to develop their writing performances. The integrative grammar teaching method which consists of three stages (Exploration, Explanation, and Expression), helps students to clarify misunderstandings and uses of grammatical rules (Chaouki & Sara, 2018, p. 106). The students can use grammar correctly in their writing and overcome grammar problems. This study proves that integrative grammar teaching helps students to develop their writing. It is also in line with Ouwpuly's study that "by using integrative grammar, students are brought to write in a good sense of the use of their writing which is influenced in their grammatical pattern" (Ouwpoly, 2015, p. 140). The aforementioned method can be applied to teach Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) as well. LFG which not only focuses on the syntax but also its relation to morphology and semantics can equip EFL students with good writing skills. LFG proposed not only syntactic structure (like in traditional grammar) but also the representation of grammatical functions since it deals with functional grammar. Thus, introducing LFG to EFL students through integrative grammar teaching will further develop students' writing skills.
Secondly, integrative grammar teaching is more interesting and stimulating. Both teachers and students feel that grammar is a tedious lesson to teach and learn. To avoid students' boredom, grammar teaching should be delivered interestingly. Since English is a foreign language, teachers should attract students' interest in learning English, especially grammar which is an essential component of a language. Based on the research conducted by Dkhissi (2013, p. 254), students give feedback that they found grammar class using an integrated approach is more challenging and interesting. It is such a success to break the traditional view of grammar classes as dull and immensely structured. In accordance with Murtisari et al. (2020, p. 23) study, some Indonesian teachers at a private university's English language program admitted that integrated grammar is more interesting than the isolated one (traditional method). It is also more stimulating because it teaches grammatical items that are relevant to students' needs. The students become more motivated and stimulated when the teachers' grammatical inputs are related to their language tasks. Grammar instruction which is usually considered a scary thing becomes less stressful when the learning is related to the context. By applying integrated grammar, students' participation can be stimulated by teaching grammar implicitly through language use.
Thirdly, integrated grammar is suitable to be applied in online learning for example amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. It is such a good idea to implement integrated grammar teaching in EFL classrooms amidst the covid-19 outbreak. A study conducted by Laura et al. (2021, p. 102) revealed that the English teacher applied to teach grammar in context, inductive and deductive approach and integrated grammar with language skills through distance learning at SMAN 1 Samarinda. Furthermore, Dwipa (2021, p. 63) proved that teachers successfully implemented integrated grammar teaching in EFL classrooms amidst the global pandemic. In implementing integrated grammar teaching, the teachers should use several methods or techniques through online learning. They mainly used teacher demonstrations such as reading activities and drilling. They have used videos and PowerPoint presentations in teaching grammar as well. Another teacher has applied several exciting techniques namely song and quiz. Those techniques are required in online learning since the students mostly get bored in online learning. Using quizzes in EFL classrooms give a positive impact and significant improvement for their grammar. Furthermore, it will foster students' motivation to get involved in the class. They stated that that integrated grammar teaching was vital to be taught to EFL students. It will broaden their grammar knowledge to be used for communicative purposes.
The integrated grammar approach offers grammar instruction that is delivered integratively and associated with communicative skills such as reading, writing, and speaking. In conclusion, by applying this approach, it is expected that students can communicate effectively in spoken and written English. Moreover, integrated grammar is an approach to teach grammar in interesting, challenging, and fun way. Teachers use several methods or techniques and media to assist them in teaching grammar. Thus, it will foster students' motivation and attract their interest to get involved in the class. This approach is also suitable to teach other grammar subjects including Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG). This subject is closely related to integrative teaching grammar since they have the same learning objectives. Functional grammar serves the communicative purpose of EFL students because it concerns with relating grammar to its function in society.
References
Chaouki, H. A., & Sara, L. (2018). Developing learners ' writing performance through an integrative grammar teaching model. Journal of Translation & Languages, 17(2), 90--110.
Dkhissi, Y. (2013). An integrative model of grammar teaching: From academic to communicative needs. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 4(1), 239--256. www.awej.org
Dwipa, B. B. (2021). Efl teachers' perception toward the implementation of integrated grammar teaching amidst the global pandemic. RETAIN (Research on English Language Teaching in Indonesia), 09(02), 56--65.
Ellis, R. (2006). Current Issues in the teaching of grammar: An SLA perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 83--107.
Laura, A. M., Iswari, W. P., & Ping, M. T. (2021). An investigation of teaching english grammar through distance learning at sman 1 samarinda. Educational Studies: Conference Series, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.30872/escs.v1i1.858