My interpretation of grammar and grammar teaching﹠learning in the process
of language acquisition
He Xueyou
Xiuning High School
March 15th, 2011
Introduction: What is grammar? What is the role of grammar in the process of
English learning and how should it be taught to students who are learning English as a
foreign language? What degree of importance should be attached to grammar learning
and teaching? These are common questions asked by English teachers in China.
However, it is always hard to give satisfactory answers to these questions, or there
may not be satisfactory answers to them at all.
Before I started this 12-week-course in the University of Brighton, I tended to
think that grammar was a major part of the English language and thus I took it for
granted that teaching grammar was a necessary part of an English teacher’s job. I also
held the view that nobody could ever learn English really well without learning
English grammar and thus an English learner should therefore devote much of their
time to familiarizing themselves with grammar rules and learning them by heart. To
me, grammar was the backbone of English and pronunciation, vocabulary,
collocations and things alike were just like the flesh of the ‘body’ of the English
language. Though I somehow knew that learning grammar was one thing while
learning English was another, it seemed I would never be persuaded out of teaching
grammar to my students.
It was a week or two later when all my teachers, especially Gary, talked a lot
about English grammar and its role in the language that I began to reflect on my
understanding of grammar and grammar teaching. According to Gary, grammar
wasn’t important at all when our focus was fluency rather than accuracy and grammar
never really helped with understanding in realistic situations. It is a fact that the
majority of native English speakers don’t learn English grammar. Nonetheless, they
have little difficulty understanding others when speaking English. It is the same with
Chinese learning. We acquire the Chinese language without knowing much about
Chinese grammar only to find ourselves communicating with others very well. And it
was then that I began to ask myself again the same questions that I had asked many
1
times and whose answers I seemed to ‘know’ so well.
Then what is grammar and why should grammar be taught to learners?
“Very simply: grammar is everywhere and all of the time. One of the major
tasks of English teachers is to enable students of all ages, abilities and attainment to
‘notice’ (i.e. really pay attention to the fact) that grammar is not a commodity that is
turned on and off in certain lessons or learning contexts, but actually is all the
lessons-and all the other encounters –in which they constantly engage.” (Geoff Dean,
2003: p39) It is like the air we breathe, as we inevitably use grammar when we use
language which is not an isolated system of words, sentences or ideas. “We use it
simply because it becomes the material of our social relationships, our own thinking
and learning, and our overall intellectual development.” (Geoff Dean, 2003: p39) To
build and strengthen the relationship through communication, we need grammar to
ensure that what we say sounds right.
‘Grammar is the ways that words can be put together in order to make
sentences.’ This is the definition given by the Collins Cobuild New Student’s
Dictionary. The definition does make some sense in that it attempts to make people
understand the importance of grammar in forming sentences with words. But it does
not give a clear idea of how words are used to form sentences. Nor does it manage to
make us aware that having a good knowledge of these ways doesn’t equal knowing
the language well. Should we isolate grammar from language and the use of it when
learning or teaching grammar? According to Constance Weaver, ‘grammar is the
functional command of sentence structure that enables us to comprehend and produce
language.’ So in this sense, grammar is a kind of knowledge associated with the use of
language in stead of dead rules of making sentences. A good command of grammar
could help us use the English language precisely and correctly. However, we cannot
learn English well by focusing on grammar alone, or never can we learn grammar
really well without interpreting how it should be used in realistic situations where
language is happening. Grammar is not always the same in terms of different
linguistic situations, which means we may not be able to use the same grammar to
explain what is going on explicitly.
2
What is the role of grammar in the process of learning English?
According to my teacher Gary, ‘grammar is the glue that holds a language
together and grammar is the engine that drives language.’ The English language
wouldn’t be complete without its grammatical system In the process of learning
English, grammar plays the role of the high way code giving the learner directions of
where to head for. With a good knowledge of grammar and the ability of using
grammar appropriately in varied realistic situations, you will never lose your way.
Although in actual verbal communication, the focus is mostly on fluency instead of
accuracy, you tend to conduct the communication more smoothly and successfully if
you are good at grammar. Furthermore, the mastery of grammar and the ability of
using it correctly are part of a solid foundation for mastering the English language.
Grammar helps you dig deeper into the language. Whoever aspires to really master
English mustn’t neglect grammar.
How should grammar be taught to students who study English as a foreign
language?
As is mentioned above, grammar helps with not only communication but also
learning the English language in greater depths. Then how should grammar be taught
to English learners, especially those who study it as a foreign language?
I used to hold the view that grammar was no more than a set of rules that could
be ‘given’ or ‘fed’ to students. By giving the students the rules and abundant practice,
I might be able to help my students learn them by heart, and consequently, they would
be able to use grammar correctly and accurately whether they were communicating
with others orally or taking written exams. However, the result was very
disappointing—very few students were able to get their ideas across, let alone use
grammar correctly.
With these unsuccessful experiences, I began to realize that many things might
have gone wrong with my teaching and my students’ way of learning grammar.
Therefore, it might work out much better to familiarize the student with the similarity
between a child’s acquisition of its native language and a student’s acquisition of a
foreign language before the learning process begins: New second language research
3
indicates ‘that a second language or additional language may be mostly acquired in
much the same way as one’s native language—through immersion in oral and written
language—that is, through immersion in situations where one needs and wants to
listen, speak, read, and write in order to understand and be understood. This is true for
adults as well as children.’ (Constance Weaver, 1996: p48) It could easily be implied
that many English learners never really learn the language even though they make
plenty of effort to memorize vocabulary, recite grammatical rules, rehearse
conversational phrases and translate English texts as such language learning just
involves ‘knowing about’ the language instead of knowing the language. ‘Many
English learners have studied English in school, but few have acquired genuine
competence in the language through the process.’ (Constance Weaver, 1996: p49) One
acquires a foreign language entirely through exposure to it. So, in a word, language
acquisition and grammar competence are achieved through language use.
In addition, it is also important to make the student aware that learning
grammar is merely part of language acquisition and grammar competence can only be
achieved in the process of language learning and that grammar learning should never
be isolated from language use. Grammatical rules can never be learnt by heart unless
they are first ‘created’ by the learner themselves and generalized in the process of
using language. To a teacher, teaching grammar means allowing students more
chances of using English authentically where they learn it subconsciously. The teacher
is also obliged to help the student understand no grammar applies to different
linguistic situations in the same way.
Conclusion: All in all, grammar is the functional command of sentence
structure that enables us to comprehend and produce language. Grammar is not an
isolated part of the English language and it can never be learnt without the use of
language. Grammar should be learnt for the purpose of making language happen more
smoothly and accurately. An English teacher’s job as to teaching grammar should be
trying to make the student aware of what grammar is and what role it plays in the
process of language acquisition and trying to help the learner totally immersed in the
real world of English so that he or she acquires grammar naturally.
4
Bibliography
Weaver,
C. (1996).
Teaching Grammar in
Context.
Portsmouth,
NH:
Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.
Dean, G. (2003). Grammar for Improving Reading and Writing in the Secondary
School. London: David Fulton Publishers.
Gary, H. (2010). Consciousness-raising. Lecture on grammar learning and
teaching, University of Brighton.
5