Explicit grammar instruction in the EFL classroom: studying the impact of age and gender

Abstract The long-standing emphasis on communicative language teaching has resulted in a de-emphasis of explicit grammar instruction (EGI) in favour of an implicit, intuitive approach to learning grammar that can lead to fossilized errors, which learners are then unable to correct. In terms of research, relatively little is known about how students and teachers approach EGI, especially at transition points between primary and secondary school. This article reports on an online questionnaire-based study that explored the beliefs of 405 learners and 17 teachers (including the latter’s reported practices) regarding EGI in the English classroom in primary and lower-secondary grades in Norway. The findings revealed that primary school students, as well as female participants, had more positive beliefs about EGI than those in lower-secondary schools (and male participants). Furthermore, teachers’ and students’ affective beliefs about EGI differed meaningfully sometimes, as did teachers’ implementation of EGI-related activities that the students most enjoyed.