Teaching Grammar In Language Teaching

“Teaching grammar in the english foreigner language classroom: An analysis of grammar in 2 books” Abstract

Why, then, should grammar be taught? For some teachers, the only driving force is ‘because The Boss says so’, where The Boss could stand for various figures ranging from Head of Department, through Head Teacher, to the Secretary of State for Education. This is to be expected, given the powerful campaign that finally removed grammar from the curriculum. For decades, teacher-trainers have been telling trainee teachers that teaching grammar is a waste of time, or worse, and it is common to hear grammatical analysis described

The misconception lies in the view that grammar is a collection of arbitrary rules about static structures in the language. Further questionable claims are that the structures do not have to be thought, learners will acquire them on their own, or if the structures are taught, the lessons that ensue will be boring. This thesis on comparative approach tries to make a brief analysis of necessity of grammar teaching before it gives a relatively objective description of its function and significance in language teaching. It argues that, grammar teaching is necessary in language teaching.

Keywords: Grammar, English language teaching, Necessity Table of Contents

The research shows that grammatical rules should be taught explicitly, using what is called ‘form-focussed instruction’, rather than left implicit in the hope that learners will figure them out for themselves. Just as in first-language English, explicit grammatical analysis encourages both noticing and understanding:

Why is metalinguistic activity [including grammatical analysis] on the part of learners apparently so valuable? One reason can be found in [the] claim that while awareness at the level of noticing is necessary for learning, awareness at the level of understanding will foster deeper and more rapid learning.

This does not, of course, mean that grammar is all we need, and it is certainly not a reason to turn the clock back to the 1950s. We also know that learners need high-quality input and high-quality interactive practice in order to turn this explicit knowledge into the implicit knowledge that counts as skill in using a foreign language. But it does mean that grammar can and should play a much larger part in foreign-language teaching than it does