【Abstract】The present essay studies the role of grammar in young learners’ classroom， perceived by the English teachers in China. The study gives a detailed description of what the role of grammar is like in young learners’ classroom， by interviewing primary school teachers both from a city in a developed coastal city and a less developed city in central China. It highlights the differences in the perceptions of teachers on the prominence of grammar in their classes. These differences may indicate regional disparity and potential factors for teachers’ teaching approaches to grammar instruction.
　　【Key words】grammar； teachers’ perception； young learner； regional disparity
　　1. Introduction
　　Since the early 70s， it was believed that focus on form， error correction may do more harm than good. （Terrell， 1977； Krasen， 1985）. Since then， the foreign language teachers have been encouraged to use interactional ways to teach in their classrooms.
　　A lot of researchers have found that grammar should be combined with communicative language teaching to develop the communicative competence in a foreign language（ Nassaji，1999； Nassaji& Cumming，2000）. In the last few years， many scholars have carried out some research regarding how to combine grammar instruction with communicative competence.
　　As for the perceptions of grammar instruction， Peacock （1998） suggest that learners like error correction and grammar exercises more than their instructors， while instructors see pair and group work much more highly than the learners.
　　In China， since English became a subject， there were some grammar books which has greatly contributed to grammar instruction in China， yet to what extent should grammar be instructed and how it is instructed currently in young learners’ classrooms？ This is what the present study is to research.
　　2. Purpose of the study
　　The purpose of this study is examine English teachers’ perceptions of grammar instruction， the following questions are to guide this study：
　　（1）What are the teachers’ perceptions of grammar instruction in young learners’ classrooms？
　　（2）How do the teachers teach grammar in their classrooms？
　　（3）Are there any differences between rural areas and urban areas？
　　3. Methodology
　　A qualitative approach through individual interviews is adopted to address the research questions for this study. There are four participants who are state primary English teachers，namely， Xiao， Chen， Xin，， and Zhou. Xiao and Chen are from Zhongshan city in southern China， which is a developed city in China； the other two are from Fuzhou city in central China， the economic level of which is below the average of China. Despite the economic difference and disparity of educational resources， the coursebook used in both cities are the same.