• idea behind this group of quizzes: that grammar can be effectively taught
• meaning: that explicit instruction concerning the syntax of phrases and clauses and the inflection patterns of the various parts of speech verb can lead to more accurate speech and writing.
• controversial among teachers of English as a Second Language and the theoreticians who guide them.
•widespread feeling that explicit grammar instruction is a waste of time
•and that the right approach is "implicit instruction" (idea that students will "pick up" correct grammar through exposure and use)
• my sympathy (based on experience of resistance of grammatical errors to attempts to cure them through explicit instruction) but also
•have learned from experience that the effectiveness of implicit method is limited:
• speech and writing of even quite advanced learners remain riddled with errors (which)
•leads to suspicion that (part of) the reason that explicit instruction has not been effective is that it hasn't been done carefully enough or systematically enough
•also struck by the possibility that more careful and systematic approach might be developed and tested with interactive software
•these tense quizzes are the first step in that direction (the first step of an attempt to discover whether this approach can lead to improved accuracy in using the eight basic English verb tenses)
-fl,