EFL teachers' conceptions of teaching grammar

Teaching grammar is one of the most important aspects in language education because it affects the learners' appropriate use of the target language. The ways that teachers use to present structural patterns and practices come out of their experiences, ages, genders, or the language teacher education that they have gotten as well as many other aspects. Another important factor that has an effect on the ways the language teachers use in teaching grammar is their personal beliefs as to how best to teach the languages. Despite many studies that have been implemented on this field up to now, the beliefs of EFL teachers about presenting and practicing grammatical structures have not been revealed clearly especially in Turkey. The aim of this study was to discover EFL teachers' conceptions about grammar teaching and its practices. This study also aimed to show to what extent EFL teachers give importance to teaching of grammar as part of English language teaching. This study was conducted with 49 EFL teachers working at Preparatory School of Zirve University. A belief questionnaire was used to collect information about teacher beliefs on presenting and practicing grammatical structures. The questionnaire used in this study was an adapted version of Nemah Abdullah Ayyash Ezzi done in Yemeni by him in 2012. The data was subjected to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). This study showed teachers believe that grammar has a part in English language education, but it does not have primary function. The classroom practices they used in teaching grammar also showed it is an integral part of the target language, and it must not be regarded, as a separate skill from the language even if they do not think grammar is the chief goal of the language learning. Key words: Teaching Grammar, Teachers' Conceptions, Grammatical Structures.