Learning and Teaching Grammar
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Analysis of Learning and Teaching Grammar for Second Language Learners
Grammar is central to teaching and learning of languages, which is also the system or
rules of a language, and is used to find ways to construct the words in sentences. It is not required
to study grammar for learning and teaching English language, because many people speak it as
their native language without having studied it. However, it is essential to learn grammar
“[R]ules for forming words and making sentences” (Oxford Learners Pocket Dictionary, 2008, p.
193) in order to utterly understand a foreign second language.
Grammar is important because it is the language that makes possible for people to talk
about languages. It names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in
English but in any languages. As human beings, we can put sentences together as even children
can. However, to be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and
word groups, we should know about grammar. People associate grammar with errors and
correctness. But knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and
paragraphs clear and interesting and precise. Knowing about grammar means finding out that all
languages and all dialect follows grammatical patterns. Therefore, the second language learners
enable to learn better grammar from the aspects of languages, psychological cognition, beliefs
and forms of teaching practices.
It is important that before commencing nature of human language, linguistic can begin to
discuss what speakers or writers are trying to communicate and how they do so by analyzing the
structure of words and sentences. In speech or writing, words are arranged in certain patterns and
on the basis of certain rule for comprehension it. For a linguist, grammar is a study of the
organization of language. It involves taking language structures apart in order to see the ways in
which we can communicate effectively in varieties of situations and for choices of purposes.
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Linguists look closely at the ways in which words and sentences are made up of different units.
“[U]sing grammar is just as important as knowing about grammar” (Baker & Westrup, 2000, p.
47). They break down words into their smallest component parts so that they can describe the
ways in which they are constructed (Morphology) and they look at the ways words are combined
to form sentences (syntax).
Nature of Human Languages
Human beings are the only creature in this world that can interact each other by using
language “[S]ystem of communication in speech and writing used by people of a particular
country, and the use of by humans of a system of sounds and words to communicate” (Oxford
Learners Pocket Dictionary, 2008, p. 247), and have the abilities to speak and understand
languages. Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams (2007) agreed that there are rules and instructions in
language such as English, Malaysian, Chinese, Myanmar and Thai, which all forms the parts of
grammatical rules to hold the languages. For that reason, grammar can be called as ‘Universal
Grammar’, which attempts to uncover the law of the languages, and gives ways to human
cognition to understand the construction of language. God has given human the capabilities to
communicate each other by using languages as well as it is also for the communication between
God and human. Therefore, the words that are produced are very important to have successful
communication. The meaning of each word in sentence is vital to pass the message across.
People travel many places, and locate their living in different places around the world.
Languages are diverse in accent or dialect, and are changed from place to place, but there is a
universal language called English language. According to Baker and Westrup (2000), English
language has become an international language, and it is also used as the main language or one of
the main languages in countries such as America, Australia, and Malay…etc. Therefore, English
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language is essential to know and understand because it becomes a most used language in order
to communicate with others in business, travels, and social events.
However, English language has many variations such as standard and non-standard
English language. Mostly because native and non-native speakers staying together at the same
place to interchange their accents and dialects of using languages, which makes English
language, has diversities in throughout the centuries. Nations are divided, and languages are
diverse, but people tend to speak and write the same international English language
(Greenbanum & Nelson, 2002). They also pointed out the variations of English language
between the native and non-native speakers in the usage of dialect. Thus, English language has
variations in usages such as standard and non-standard English for both the native and non-native
speakers. There is always a distinction between the native and non-native speakers in which the
native speakers learns the language since their childhood, but the non-native speakers need more
time to learn and adapt the language with their first language (Greenbanum & Quirk, 1990). It
does take times to learn the second languages because as English has variety in usage, people
tend to use or create their own accents in communication. That is not a disappointed thing for
human being; but it is only the colorful usages of language by different people. It is exciting and
wonderful to hear and see the differences of how people use language tones, accents, and dialects
in varieties.
People invent Languages
Loyer (2010) stated that there are 6909 used living languages, that’s one language for
every 862,000 people on this earth. In civilization, people share the same element in the same
society in which language is also included. People need rules and regulations to live and survive
in society as well as language also need to be survived with rules and instruction throughout the
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centuries. Government makes the policies of the country, which all citizens should follow. So,
the country and the civilization will harmoniously improve the different aspects such as business,
humanity, and social.
Similarly, English language also has the same methods of rule and instruction called
grammar. Which are used to construct the sentence for the corrections, and the rules and
instructions put the words to be understood meaningfully, and they also put sentences written
correctly. Not only grammar is used in the writing, but also it is used in the communication to
successfully send the message across.
Osborn (1989) stated that people are capable of inventing not only tools and materials,
but also languages which all have proved the quality of human lives. He also said that grammar is
an analysis of language which studies how language works as same as technologies. He
compared the technologies to grammar which fixes the breakdown parts of language, and shows
where to use the proper words in sentences because grammar monitors language by revealing the
problems in the speeches and writing. Grammar goes beyond the rules and definitions. It is a
study of the system that powers one of our most useful inventions – language.
The different views of grammar will help to establish the understanding on how language
is analyzed, and its extent of influences in the teaching of grammar. The discussions on the
different methods of language teaching which have emerged from the different views of learning
a language will help to establish the understanding of the role of grammar in language teaching
and learning. Grammar is “[R]ules for forming words and making sentences” (Oxford Learners
Pocket Dictionary, 2008, p. 193). To understand more about grammar, it is basically divided into
two parts such as descriptive and prescriptive grammar in the usage. Nordquist (n.d.) said that it
is necessary to know grammar, but it is better to write language grammatically. He explained
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about how grammar was described during Middle Ages as learning in general, such as magic
which associated with the scholars. According to him, grammar can be defined into two which
are the systematic study and description of a language, and a set of rules and examples dealing
with the syntax, and word structures of a language.
Greenbanum and Nelson (2002) discussed that descriptive grammar is the structure of a
language which is used by speakers and writers, and this is related to the rules and patterns of
grammar such as words, and structure. Then they also mentioned that prescriptive grammar is a
set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than
describing the ways in which a language is actually used. By knowing the structural foundation
of grammar in language, we can express ourselves. The more we are aware of how grammar
works, the more we can monitor the meaning and the construction of words in sentences. There
are some specific norms to use languages for specific people such as teachers, or editors.
However, it will become an easy process after knowing and understanding the structural
foundation of grammar.
Approaches to Grammar in Language Classrooms
There has been a current debate about grammar in ESL teaching. The uncertain debate
about the best way to teach grammar has significant influence on the development of language
teaching practice. As a result, the teachers have to choose their own approaches and
methodologies to grammar teaching which suits their students and classroom environments.
Teachers’ personal theories are formulated and reformulated as they experience through the stage
of teaching development. Their personal theories become the basis for their personal knowledge
about teaching, and they have more influences in their teaching planning, instructional decision,
and classroom practices.
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Gardner (2008) said that teaching grammar methods are changed through years. He
mentioned that the three levels of changes which are always happened in the teaching such as
materials, approaches, and beliefs. Then he explained that materials are the text book, and
syllabus which are changed years after years; approaches are the teaching behavior of teachers in
order to have good interaction with the students, and teachers will not only use teaching
activities, but they will feel like to be a student in classrooms.
The Psychological Cognition of Human Languages
Children psychology is influenced by the imitations, experiences, comparisons, and
similar processes which they encountered in their early life (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2007).
Fortunately, children do not need to learn languages very hard because they imitate from the
adults. According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2007), children imitate languages at some
point, but they could not imitate fully the adult’s words and sentences. Children have the
capabilities to understand or imitate the adult’s action, words and attitude. Even though they
could not understand the meanings, and could not produce as the adults, they do have the
development of linguistic knowledge in their early childhood.
Children do not need to be taught the rules of languages though they are taught to follow
the rules of environment. They know the meaning of the words, and put them into sentences. As
they grow up, the linguistic knowledge also becomes more specific on one main language to use
or communicate with each other. Therefore, it is always called as universal grammar because of
the similarity in all human languages.
Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams (2007) stated that knowing language is not only speaking
the language, but language has to be understood by others who know that language. “Part of
knowing language means knowing what sounds (or signs) are in that language, and what sounds
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are not” (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2007, p. 4). Different countries speak different languages,
but there is always the same meaning in words such as knife or blade. It is easy to communicate
with the people who know the same language but the communication will not be successful if the
language is not the same. However, English language has become one main universal language in
21st century. It is used in many different places such as business, politic or communication.
Therefore, many people have been starting to learn English language in order to do business in
different countries.
Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2007) stated that children are not given any information
about the rules and instruction of languages but they only try to figure out the rules of grammar
from the language they have heard around them. As an English native speaker, a child does not
need to learn the basics rules of sentences. Children always imitate languages, behaviors, and
characters of the elders, thus they have innate psychological understanding of languages in the
cognition. Children have an excellent receiver of coping languages; they can sense the languages
which are spoken around them. “Changes in a language are changes in the grammars of people
who speak the language and are perpetrated as new generations of children acquire the altered
language and make further changes to the grammar” (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, 2007, p.
462). Languages are changed throughout the centuries as well as grammar also changed. An early
people used different words, rules, and instruction in sentences, but nowadays, the modern
people use different words such as slang, jargon, in communication, which reveals languages also
have the revolution through centuries.
Beliefs and Forms of Teaching Practices
Many adult language learners place a high value on learning grammar. Teachers of the
second language learners’ view on how, and to what extent they have to use teaching or
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methodologies skills. Debating grammar instruction has played a dominant role in the history of
language teaching and it revolves whether grammar instruction really helped the second language
learners gain proficiency in a second language. Hinkel (2002) provided a concise history of
grammar instruction in language teaching. He said that the historical approaches to grammar
instruction are long, though certain approaches are noted for their influences. Then he explained
that one of the earliest instructions was the grammar translation approach characterized by rote
learning of rules and an absence of legitimate communicative activities. The early people
believed that rote learning or memorization was the best of learning languages in which people
learnt the rules and regulations by memorizing them, and practiced them in communicative
activities.
In 20th century, linguists combined structural descriptions with behaviorist psychology,
which emerged the direct method. They believed that students should learn a second language in
the same way that they learned their first language; in which grammar was acquired through oral
practice, and repetition, not through memorization and written manipulation of explicit rules
(Hinkel, 2002). Teachers encourage second language learners to focus on form of learning
grammar in several ways. Rodriguesz (2009) explained that focus on form may be planned and
focused on preselected structures, or it may be incidental, arising spontaneously at any point in a
communicative activity. Teachers might design a task to encourage learners to notice forms in
the input or they might explicitly teach these forms and provide opportunities for meaningful
practice. Focus on forms is most frequently teacher-initiated, but it is also initiated by learners
through questions and requests for explanation (Poole, 2005). Although second language
acquisition research has not definitively answered many important questions regarding for-
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focused instruction, studies have provided the evidence that focus on form is correlated with
more an acquisition of new grammar and vocabulary than non-form-focused approaches.
Research on teacher’s beliefs and the relationship of those beliefs with educational
practice was originated in America in the early 1970s. It is obvious that the innovations in the
context, practices, and technology of teaching to be mediated through the minds and motives of
teachers. Therefore, the relationship between teachers’ thinking and the impact of their
knowledge and beliefs on educational practices has attracted to their teaching in classrooms.
Borg (2006) reviewed 64 studies of language teacher cognition, of which all but twelve appeared
after 1994. He divided his reviews into five parts, according to whether these studies related to:
prior language learning experience, teacher education, classroom practice, teaching grammar, or
literacy instruction. The belief of teaching grammar is vital to the teachers-students relationship,
because the teachers’ belief on students make the students believe in themselves at learning
languages. Basically, teachers have the understanding of their students’ levels, so they have to
uplift the students’ linguistic knowledge by guiding, supporting and encouraging them.
Mckay and Tom (1999) agreed that adult learners have already known their first or
mother language well. So, they suggested the teachers that students’ abilities of understand their
first languages and the capabilities to adapt it with the second language were essential in teaching
grammar to the second language learners, which will make the adults language learners to learn
and use the second language flexibly and easily. Teachers have to show their honesty, kindness,
and empathy to the second language learners. Then they share their previous knowledge and
experiences in teaching the languages because languages do not end in times, but it is validated a
lifetime of learning. And the teacher-student relationship shows the understanding of teachers
about their students’ background which will help them better in their teaching. Teaching
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languages is not like simple teaching about something. It is more complex than learning by selfstudy.
Language can be viewed in four skills such as listening, writing, speaking, and reading in
which the relationship of words cannot be separated, because language is an interrelated and
meaningful whole combination of words (McKay & Tom, 1999). They commented that learning
language is not something that can be done in few times, but it’s a long process. Harmer (2007)
declared that the language we use for communication and writing are governed by rules,
instructions, and restrictions. In order to have successful communication, he suggested using
correct rules and styles in the sentences such as tenses, phrases, or clauses. Learning languages,
specifically learning grammar is not simple for everyone. Some native speakers can not use
correct grammatical usage, but some non-native speakers can be more expert of using
grammatical usage in writing, or speaking. Therefore, teachers have to encourage the students to
believe in themselves in their learning languages and grammar.
In conclusion, nobody knows how to speak language and how to use grammar instantly
after they are born. However, language and grammar can be learnt from the environments where
they live in, and they imitate the surrounding languages which finally becomes their native
language. Human beings can not stay in one place, we like to travel, communicate with different
people in which it is the best to know the universal language called English language. It is used
as main language or one of the main languages in some counties but more countries use it as
second language. That’s why it is difficult for some people to learn and to understand English
language. However, this research paper addresses the psychological understanding of languages
in human cognition and it gives the forms of teaching practices for teachers who are trying to
help the second language learners. Vocabularies and grammar will be the main list in learning
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and teaching English languages as every languages have the same grammar (rules and
instructions). There is a great saying that “[U]sing grammar is just as important as knowing about
grammar” (Baker & Westrup, 2000, p. 47). It not only points out the knowing of rules and
instruction of words in the sentences to use speaking, and writing skills but also the personality
of the person who use the correct grammatical structure. They are at higher standard level among
the society, and they are respected in the community by using the correct grammatical sentences,
and by giving the meaningful sentences. I believe that this research paper shows the aspects of
learning and teaching grammar from the different analyzed views for the second language
learners. And it encourages the second language learners through the beliefs and form of teaching
practices of the second language teachers.
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References
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Continuum.
Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London:
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Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2007). An introduction to language. (8th ed.).
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Gardner, S. (2008, winter). Changing approaches to teaching grammar, 11. Retrieved on 6
March, 2011, http://www.elted.net/issues/volume-11/6%20Gardner.pdf
Greenbanum, S., & Nelson, G. (2002). An introduction to English grammar. (2nd ed.).
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Greenbanum, S., & Quirk, R. (1990). A student’s grammar of the English language. Hong
Kong: Longman.
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). England: Pearson.
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McKay, H., & Tom, A. (1999). Teaching adult second language learners. New York:
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Cambridge University Press.
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