TEACHING GRAMMAR IN GE AND ESP CONTEXT: A CASE STUDY OF CHEMISTRY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Teaching grammar of a foreign language has always been a matter of controversy. One of the most prominent, yet unsettled issue is whether grammar should be taught explicitly or implicitly. To that end, the study aims to investigate relation between contextualizing grammar teaching and students’ achievement at the end of the course. The study has been conducted among the first year students of Chemistry at the State university of Novi Pazar. Research instruments include a questionnaire administered to 25 students, as well as classroom observations. Students of chemistry have to take two courses in English language during their studies; the first course is in General English (GE), where grammar is taught explicitly, and the second course in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), where grammar points are contextualized. After the analysis of students’ achievement at the end of each term, it can be concluded that the students scored better results in the ESP course than in the GE course. Moreover, the questionnaire results revealed that students’ preferences go in favor of teaching grammar in context, which is indicated as more efficient than giving isolated examples. Another result highlighted a significant change in students’ attitude towards learning English language at the end of the ESP course. Keywords: General English, English for Specific Purposes, Chemistry students, achievements, preference