Hello ExamSeekers,

There’s been a while since I post something about the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT). If you do remember my last posts, you know that I wrote an overview of it called: What is the TKT? Then I wrote about the three core modules: TKT: Modules 1, 2, and 3. And finally, I wrote about The Bands – how the TKT is assessed. If you didn’t read any of them, do it before you start reading more into the modules and samples.

Today, I’m going to talk about:

• MODULE 1 – Language and background to language learning and teaching
• PART 1 – Describing language and language skills
• UNIT 1 – Grammar

As a teacher, you probably know that methodology is not the only important thing in a lesson. You need to know what you are talking about; you need to know the content you are teaching. Therefore, by taking the first TKT, you will be assessed in relation to the amount of knowledge you have about the language you are teaching. This is the aim of Module 1.

If you go well, you can go after Proficiency Exams (such as B2: First, C1: Advanced, or C2: Proficiency). On the other hand, if you don’t get well, maybe you should study a little more.

The first thing TKT assesses is your English grammar knowledge. Keep in mind that grammar describes how we combine, organize, and change words and parts of words to make meaning. So take a look at how Cambridge assesses your grammar knowledge at the TKT:

As you can see, you need to show that you know the grammatical aspects of the language. So you need to study what conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, superlative adjectives, object pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, demonstrative adjectives, and possessive adjectives are.

I believe it’s quite easy to know some of them, like

• CONJUNCTIONS are words such as ‘and‘, ‘but‘, ‘while‘, and ‘although‘ that connect words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. 
• PREPOSITIONS are words like ‘to’, ‘for’, ‘in’, and ‘from’ that are used before a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word.
• ADVERBS are words such as “quickly”, “fast”, “loudly”, and “too” that describe or give more information about a verb, adjective, adverb, or phrase.
• SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES are adjectives – a word that describes a noun or pronoun – in their superlative format, like “the best”, “the worst”, and “the fastest”.

Many teachers (especially students) have some difficulty with differentiating pronouns from adjectives. Take a look at the table:

They might also get confused by DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS and DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES, so remember that demonstrative pronouns have the same form as demonstrative adjectives: “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those“. Demonstrative pronouns are also used to identify specific people or things but are used as pronouns, without the nouns that they refer to.

So, now that you know what to look for, why don’t you try and answer the task above?

Keep in mind that grammar rules also describe grammatical structures, i.e., the arrangements of words into patterns that have meaning (e.g., countable/uncountable, nouns, and intransitive/transitive verbs). There is also the use of grammar to describe how words are formed, i.e., the affixes. The sample above is a type of grammar exercise that they will use to assess you.

It’s essential to know grammar because it makes it easier when teaching your students. Moreover, learning some grammatical rules and terms makes language learning easier for some learners.

Well, I do hope I have helped! 🙂 If you still have questions about the first item of the TKT Module 1, please comment in the comment section below.

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Have a great week,
Patricia Moura

PS: All samples are provided by Cambridge. And here are the answers:

1. D
2. G
3. A
4. C
5. E
6. H
7. F