English Academic Practice

 
English Academic Practice
To teach grammar or not to teach grammar, that is the question. This question has been
plaguing the community for years. Grammar teaching has been in and out as the trend of fashion
has fluctuated back and forth. Research shows that grammar is the only substance in language
teaching. They would equate language learning and teaching with grammar. Learning a foreign
or second language is learning the grammar of that language. The traditional grammartranslation method is a typical example. If you can translate the target language according to its
grammar into your own language, you are learning that language. So the debate about teaching
or not teaching grammar is really about the purpose of teaching grammar. Do we use grammar to
teach about language? Or do we use grammar as a means to enable our students to use language
effectively?
What approaches and methods should we adopt in teaching grammar? Should we just
prescribe the rules for second language learners to follow? Or should we use a descriptive
approach in dealing with the target language grammar? I argue that we should present all the
options available, be they prescriptive or descriptive in nature. The advantage for so doing lies in
the fact that second language learners have the options to exercise. They will learn the prescribed
usage rules and the descriptive grammar rules so that they can understand target language use in
a variety of situations. Of course, this is an important pedagogical issue. I believe that any
pedagogical grammar should be "eclectic" in nature since we may not know exactly which
pedagogy works for whom. Therefore, flexibility is an important consideration for a sound
pedagogical approach.
How then do we teach grammar? Do we want to teach about the language or do we teach the
language learners to be able to use the language to become proficient communicators in the 
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target language? We are familiar with the past failures of grammar teaching in schools and some
traditional methodologies that are obsolete in language teaching. In this regard, I am strongly in
favor of Celce-Murcia and Hilles' suggestion that "grammar should never be taught as an end in
itself but always with reference to meaning, social factors, or discourse - or a combination of
these factors" (Celce-Murcia, 1991, pp. 466-7). Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman view
grammar teaching as "a communicative end" and as consisting of three interrelated or
intertwined dimensions of "form, meaning, and use." In linguists' terms, these three dimensions
refer to "(morpho) syntax, semantics, and pragmatics" (1999,p. 4). Meaning, social function and
discourse are the purpose of grammar teaching. Grammar teaching for the sake of it will
definitely lead us to the old path of "teaching about the language." As professionals, we ought to
know the audience, the purpose, and the appropriate approaches and methods to teach grammar
for the maximum benefit of enhancing language learners' linguistic competence. Any grammar
teaching that deviates from these general guidelines in teaching practices is likely to repeat the
past failures, which will give grammar teaching a bad name.
As part of the communicative competence grammatical or linguistic competence serves as a
catalyst for accuracy and fluency in second or foreign language learning. Since adult learners
cannot always physically attain accuracy in communication through a natural setting or exposure
as children do, grammar, as a means of improving speech or written communication, can be
utilized to compensate for this loss. Larsen-Freeman (1991,p. 280) noted:
We claim that linguistic accuracy is as much a part of communicative competence as being
able to get one's meaning across or to communicate in a socio-linguistically appropriate manner.
Thus, a more satisfactory characterization of teaching grammar, harmonious with the above 
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assumptions, is that teaching grammar means enabling language students to use linguistic forms
accurately, meaningfully and appropriately.
In recent years, we may often have encounters with non-native English speakers almost
anywhere in our society. When they speak, we can detect the foreign accent and a few grammar
mistakes that are typical of a non-native speaker. For some adult learners, the foreign accent may
be improved with time; for others, it will stay with them for the rest of their lives. While accent
cannot be eradicated in most of the cases for adult language learners, grammar can be utilized to
improve or correct some imperfect speech patterns as many adult learners may have acquired or
learned their English through different means and under different circumstances. For example,
some adolescent refugees first came to the United States at the age around puberty