Grammar lessons in the learner's own language
Explain the rule in a language the learner already knows and keep the examples in the one they're learning. What the research says, and how to make one.
By the Chasca team 5 min read
A grammar rule is easiest to learn when it is explained in a language the learner already understands, while the example sentences stay in the language they are learning. Research reviews find that explaining rules explicitly works better than leaving learners to notice them, and language teaching has moved away from the idea that a new language must be taught only in that language.
Does teaching grammar rules explicitly work?
On the evidence so far, yes. John Norris and Lourdes Ortega’s 2000 meta-analysis of 49 studies of second-language instruction published between 1980 and 1998 found that focused instruction led to large gains, that explicit instruction (where the rule is explained) was more effective than implicit instruction, and that the gains lasted. A decade later, Nina Spada and Yasuyo Tomita’s meta-analysis of 41 studies of English grammar found larger effects for explicit instruction for both simple and complex features, including in learners’ spontaneous use of them.
Explicit doesn’t mean dry. It means the learner is told the pattern, sees it working in real sentences and then uses it.
Why explain it in the learner’s own language?
Because an explanation only helps if the learner understands it. Until recently, the language-teaching literature assumed that a new language was best taught and learned only through that language. Graham Hall and Guy Cook’s 2012 review charts how that assumption has been increasingly questioned, how widely teachers around the world still use their students’ own languages in class, and the cognitive and learning theories that support doing so.
The World Bank makes the same case for schools: children learn more in a language they understand, and that also gives them the strongest start in a second language.
Who needs grammar taught this way?
A great many learners. In 2024, according to Eurostat, 89% of upper secondary pupils in the EU were learning English as a foreign language, and 49% were learning two or more foreign languages. Every one of them already speaks a language the rule could be explained in.
Where do grammar lessons break down today?
- A rule explained only in the language being learned assumes the learner already understands the explanation.
- A textbook explains the rule once, and a learner who missed it has nowhere to hear it again.
- Class time is short. One teacher can’t re-explain the present perfect to every student who missed it.
- Translated examples teach the wrong thing. If the examples are translated too, the learner hears the rule but not the language.
What makes a good grammar lesson video?
- One rule per video, named in both languages.
- What the rule is for, then the pattern, written as a short formula such as have or has + past participle.
- Two or three examples, the changing part named, read aloud in the language being learned.
- The mistake learners usually make, said out loud.
- A table when the rule is a pattern across forms, such as a conjugation.
- Practice questions solved by the signal word, such as “since” or “yesterday”, with each wrong option ruled out by name and the full correct sentence said.
- Then the learner practises alone. Our guide to making a quiz video shows one way to set that up.
What does that look like for one rule?
Take “since” and “for” with the present perfect, taught to Spanish speakers. The explanation is in Spanish; everything in English stays in English:
- The pattern: have or has + past participle, then since + a point in time, or for + a length of time.
- The examples: “I have lived here since 2019.” “She has worked here for three years.”
- The mistake to warn about: “I live here since 2019”, a word-for-word copy of the Spanish “Vivo aquí desde 2019”.
- A practice question: “He has known her ___ 2015. (A) for (B) since (C) ago”. The signal is 2015, a point in time, so the answer is “since”; “for” needs a length of time, and “ago” goes with the past simple.
What does the Grammar lessons skill do?
We make Chasca, so take our part of this with that in mind. The Grammar lessons skill teaches one rule on a teacher’s board:
- Start from the rule, the language being learned and your learners’ language, or from your own practice questions, typed or as a photo or PDF of the sheet. If you give no questions, it writes a few at the level you ask for.
- The rule comes first: what it’s for, the pattern, two or three examples with the changing part named and the usual mistake, explained in your learners’ language, with a conjugation or pattern table drawn as the rule is explained.
- Each practice question is solved by its signal word, the wrong options are ruled out by name and the full correct sentence is said.
- Two languages are kept apart: examples, gaps and options stay in the language being learned and are read in it, inside natural teacher talk in your learners’ language, in any of 30 narrators or your own voice.
- Your sentences are used exactly, and the examples your learners must learn are never translated.
- Practice answers are checked by solving each question a second time, separately; if the two disagree, the video’s page tells you which question to check.
It can also parse a sentence one word at a time, as Arabic i’rab lessons do. If you have your own analysis, paste it and it is used as you wrote it.
Who is it for?
Language teachers whose class shares a first language, tutors who teach English, Spanish, French or German to speakers of another language, and schools that want short, rule-by-rule lessons for homework and revision.
What won’t it do?
- Change a word of your sentences.
- Translate the examples your learners must learn.
- Teach more than one rule in a video. Make one video per rule.
- Replace speaking practice. A video teaches the rule; conversation and correction still need people.
How do you make one?
- Open Grammar lessons in Chasca.
- Name the rule, the language being learned and your learners’ language, or paste your own practice questions.
- Set the video’s language to your learners’ language, pick a voice and a black board or whiteboard, then make the video.
- Watch it once as a learner would, and check the video’s page before you share it.
Your first two videos are free, up to a minute each, watermarked and with no card required. Plans start at $9.99 a month (pricing).
Sources
- Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50(3), 417–528.
- Spada, N., & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60(2), 263–308.
- Hall, G., & Cook, G. (2012). Own-language use in language teaching and learning. Language Teaching, 45(3), 271–308.
- World Bank (2021). Teaching young children in the language they speak at home is essential to eliminate Learning Poverty.
- Eurostat (2026). Foreign language learning statistics. Statistics Explained.
Video transcript What the narrator says in the 4:38 explainer above.
Aprenderemos a usar el present perfect en inglés y resolveremos cinco preguntas de práctica.
Pregunta número uno. ¿Cómo se forma y cuándo se usa el present perfect?
El present perfect conecta una acción pasada con el presente, por su resultado actual o como experiencia. Se forma con have o has más el participio pasado del verbo.
Con I, you, we y they usamos have. Con he, she e it usamos has. En inglés, el participio puede ser regular, como finished, o irregular, como eaten.
Veamos una afirmación con un resultado presente: ya desayuné y ahora no tengo hambre. I have eaten breakfast. Aquí have acompaña a I, y eaten es el participio de eat.
Para negar, colocamos not después de have o has. She has not finished. Esto significa que ella no ha terminado; también podemos contraer has not como hasn't.
Para preguntar, colocamos have o has antes del sujeto y mantenemos el participio. Have you visited London? Preguntamos por una experiencia hasta ahora, sin indicar una fecha pasada concreta.
Ojo: no usamos este tiempo con un momento pasado ya terminado, como yesterday. Con yesterday, normalmente necesitamos el pasado simple, no el present perfect.
Pregunta número dos. She ____ finished her homework. Opción A: has. Opción B: have. Opción C: having.
Fíjense en She: es tercera persona del singular y necesita el auxiliar has. Descartamos la opción B, have, porque no concuerda con She. Descartamos la opción C, having, porque no funciona como auxiliar conjugado del present perfect.
La respuesta correcta es la A: has.
She has finished her homework.
Pregunta número tres. We have ____ breakfast. Opción A: ate. Opción B: eaten. Opción C: eat.
La pista es have: para formar el present perfect, necesitamos después un participio pasado. El participio de eat es eaten. Descartamos la opción A, ate, porque es pasado simple, no participio.
Descartamos la opción C, eat, porque es la forma base. La respuesta correcta es la B: eaten.
We have eaten breakfast.
Pregunta número cuatro. She has worked here ____ March. Opción A: for. Opción B: during. Opción C: since.
La pista es March: indica cuándo empezó a trabajar aquí, y la situación continúa hasta ahora. Usamos since para señalar el punto inicial de una situación que continúa. Descartamos la opción A, for, porque introduce una duración, como tres meses, no el mes de inicio.
Descartamos la opción B, during, porque significa durante y no expresa desde cuándo continúa esta situación. La respuesta correcta es la C: since.
She has worked here since March.
Pregunta número cinco. Have you ____ visited Canada? Opción A: ever. Opción B: ago. Opción C: last.
Fíjense en Have you: estamos haciendo una pregunta sobre una experiencia hasta el presente. Usamos ever para preguntar si algo ha ocurrido alguna vez. Descartamos la opción B, ago, porque acompaña una cantidad de tiempo y sitúa algo en un pasado terminado.
Descartamos la opción C, last, porque aquí no puede modificar visited ni significa alguna vez. La respuesta correcta es la A: ever.
Have you ever visited Canada?
Pregunta número seis. He ____ finished the report yet. Opción A: haven't. Opción B: hasn't. Opción C: doesn't.
La pista yet, al final, indica aquí que algo todavía no ha ocurrido. Además, He necesita has; para negar usamos has not, cuya contracción es hasn't. Descartamos la opción A, haven't, porque no concuerda con He.
Descartamos la opción C, doesn't, porque forma el presente simple y necesitaría el verbo base finish. La respuesta correcta es la B: hasn't.
He hasn't finished the report yet.
Questions people ask
Explicitly, on the evidence so far. Meta-analyses of 49 studies (2000) and 41 studies (2010) found larger gains from explicit instruction, where the rule is explained, than from implicit exposure alone.
It can help, especially for beginners, because an explanation only works if the learner understands it. Language-teaching research has moved away from the assumption that a new language must be taught only in that language. Keep the example sentences in the language being learned.
One rule: what it's for, the pattern, two or three examples with the changing part named, the mistake learners usually make, then a few practice questions solved by their signal words.
Yes. Name the rule and say your learners speak Spanish. The Grammar lessons skill explains in Spanish and reads the English examples in English.
No. Your sentences, gaps and options are used exactly as you write them, and the examples your learners must learn are never translated.
