What is the point of grammar teaching?
Language is a vehicle for communicating meaning. That idea subsumes every single other definition of language that Larsen-Freeman lists in chapter 1 of "Teaching Language". I think it's ridiculous on L-F's part to treat that view as though it is limited to transactional language and in an even more reductionist idea, TPR classroom activities. Is that all that 'communicating meaning' means? No. It means everything that she lists, which can be roughly paraphrased as: using language in social contexts for all kinds of cultural, transactional and functional purposes.
And if this is what language is, then this is what language teaching should be. Using language in social contexts for all kinds of cultural, transactional, and functional purposes. Using language to communicate meaning.
But this is precisely where grammar teaching falls apart. It almost never has any purpose, other than to teach information about isolated formal elements. Attempts to 'communicate' using the grammar under study are a joke, because they do not mirror language use by real people. The contexts are fake, the discourse functions are fake, and overloading the discourse with one particular grammar point is fake. Grammar teaching does not help students communicate meaning in a second language. It merely provides them with information ABOUT grammatical objects. The Grammar Dimensions series of books is guilty of these very things.
Grammar teaching needs to begin with a purpose. What is the communicative goal? What do students want to DO with their second language? What kind of language is needed to accomplish that purpose? Where are examples of that language in use, so students can study how it's put together grammatically?
And, finally, what do grammar teaching materials that promote language use in social contexts look like?
And if this is what language is, then this is what language teaching should be. Using language in social contexts for all kinds of cultural, transactional, and functional purposes. Using language to communicate meaning.
But this is precisely where grammar teaching falls apart. It almost never has any purpose, other than to teach information about isolated formal elements. Attempts to 'communicate' using the grammar under study are a joke, because they do not mirror language use by real people. The contexts are fake, the discourse functions are fake, and overloading the discourse with one particular grammar point is fake. Grammar teaching does not help students communicate meaning in a second language. It merely provides them with information ABOUT grammatical objects. The Grammar Dimensions series of books is guilty of these very things.
Grammar teaching needs to begin with a purpose. What is the communicative goal? What do students want to DO with their second language? What kind of language is needed to accomplish that purpose? Where are examples of that language in use, so students can study how it's put together grammatically?
And, finally, what do grammar teaching materials that promote language use in social contexts look like?
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