In this post I
will talk about arguments for and against teaching grammar in schools, clear up
some vocabulary and state my own opinion on grammar teaching.
Descriptive grammar is a set of rules based on how a language is actually used. Linguists describes it as subconscious rules. It’s the systematic study and description of a language.
Prescriptive
grammar is a set of rules based on how most people thinks a language should be
used. Most people follows prescribed rules of standard English and it is the
prospective behind every day conversations about grammar
The movie
has both arguments for and against teaching grammar in schools. The most common
argument they used against teaching grammar seemed to be about the students
feelings when it comes to grammar. Grammar confuses and frustrates the students
and it brings low self-esteem to the students who cannot grasp the concept of
grammar.
The
arguments for teaching grammar in schools were about being able to make
themselves understood. Grammar empowers them to feel like they can be clear, articulate
and communicate effectively. It gives the kids a conceptual vocabulary to talk
about language and to know the grammatical structure of your language can help
you be more articulate.
One for the
reasons one of the teachers in the movie had about why the grammar teaching has
faded away in schools is the fear of taking down the students self-esteem by
telling them their grammar is wrong. The schools have free writing, prewriting,
everything that doesn’t help on their grammar because so many people thinks
that it’s wrong to correct on the students grammar.
In my
personal opinion about teaching grammar in schools I think it’s important to do
so for the students, not only while in school but also when they graduate and
move into the work environment. I think it’s important to teach grammar for the
reasons they stated in the movie about how grammar empowers the students to be clear,
articulate and communicate effectively. For me who has English as a second
language finds English grammar to be exciting and educational as I use English more
for writing than speaking. My theory is that the language you speak and the
grammar according to that language is harder to grasp because of different
dialects used. When it comes to learning a new language, where you focus on
grammar in the beginning, it’s easier to understand the language and learn the
grammar.
Good post Ann-Karoline. I agree with your statement about the way grammar helps students be clear articulate and communicate effectively.
SvarSlettHi Ann-Karoline.
SvarSlettYou make a good point when you say that a lot of English learners in Norway will be using the written language to a large degree. When using written media we don't have the possibility to use our body language or to correct ourself if the reciever doesn't understand our message. It is a good reason for beeing thourough with grammar when teaching English as a second language.
Denne kommentaren har blitt fjernet av forfatteren.
SvarSlettHi Ann-Karoline! You have a nice and clear summary of the film, and I like the way you point out how grammar instructions are important for students and what benefits it could bring in the future.
SvarSlettGood point about teachers being responsible for preparing pupils to be a competent English user for the future. Your point reminds me of a news article I recently read in iTromsø where an English professor at UiT criticizes the English version of an election brochure by one of the political parties which was full of grammatical errors. I thought the English brochure might represent a current situation among Norwegian learners of English, who appear to be fluent in spoken English but present rather weak skills in written English, esp. grammatical skills. If we imagine what kind of impression the English brochure might have given to the international voters, some of who might be native speakers of English, that party wouldn't have gained so much respect due to the quality of the language they presented as the medium of communication. As you point out, we may tolerate incomplete or ungrammatical utterances in oral communication since meanings can be retrieved from contexts, gestures, body language, etc. but written communication doesn't get accompanied by secondary expressive cues, which means we would want to focus on producing clearer and more articulate sentences in order to avoid misunderstanding. How can we achieve that? Grammar! :)
SvarSlett