Is Grammar REALLY Important for a Second

Language Learner?
By Julio Foppoli

Most students ask this question simply because in their own experience they have
always been presented with two main scenarios, and nothing in between. In this article
we will find out more about the role of grammar in a second language class.
This is a typical question that I receive from many new students and website visitors. My
answer is clear and simple: indeed. Grammar is the backbone of a language and
without it any single thing you know may be flux, in a sort of jelly without much
consistency. In a nutshell, grammar provides you with the structure you need in order to
organize and put your messages and ideas across. It is the railway through which your
messages will be transported. Without it, in the same way as a train cannot move
without railways, you wont be able to convey your ideas to their full extension without a
good command of the underlying grammar patterns and structures of the language.

I understand that many students ask this question simply because in their own
experience they have always been presented with two main scenarios, and nothing in
between. They want to know where they are going to be standing as regards their
learning.

Which are those two scenarios? Well, in one extreme we have those language courses
that teach grammar almost exclusively, as if preparing the students to be grammarians
of the second language rather than users. in the other extreme we have those
communicative courses in which the only thing that is done is to talk about something
or to read an article and comment on it. In many cases, what is seen in one class has
no resemblance to what is done in the next.

In my experience, both scenarios may seem good for very specific purposes but I
personally feel both are inappropriate for most language learners. For starters, by itself,
a good command of the grammar of a language does not imply that the person is able
to communicate effectively, as we usually see with students who have only been
exposed to an all-grammar-oriented approach sometimes for many years. Many could
recite the grammar by heart but if asked to express basic information, they would
hesitate too much and browse through all the grammar rules in their heads before
making an utterance or simply dry up.

Secondly, just talking in class without anything else done in order to learn from the
actual conversation is not good enough either. It may be helpful of course, but up to a
certain point. This approach may be more useful for very advanced students who just
need to brush up their second language but for those in need of building up the
foundations of a new language, it is certainly too vague and flux, without any
consistency.

So then, when asked: is grammar really important for a second language learner? I
always say yes, but, the real question, or issue here is not whether grammar is
important or not but rather how we should present grammar to our students. You may
be surprised to hear that most of my own students, even advanced ones, have very little
awareness of grammar jargon and terminology, in spite of the fact that they can make a
pretty good use of the second language. How is that possible? you may ask. First and
foremost, teachers need to know precisely what they are trying to prepare their students
for. I do know that what I want is to create users of a new language.

I want to prepare people to actually engage in communicative situations using
appropriate language and patterns. I am not definitely interested in their explaining to
me or making a mental list of all the grammar uses that a certain pattern has.
For example, think of your own native language. Name all the tenses that you can find
in your own native tongue with their corresponding uses and structures. Unless you are
a teacher, a translator or someone who needs to have a very good grasp of this meta-
language, more likely than not you may feel at a loss to answer that question. And that
does NOT mean in any sense that you are not a terrific user of that language. After all,
you can understand and express whatever you want with ease. What is more, by being
able to do so, you show an awesome command of the internal grammar of the
language. If you knew no grammar patterns you would not be able to make a single
sentence but you can. This means that although you may lack the conscious ability to
describe how your language works (i.e. its grammar) you can use it perfectly. You are a
user of the language. You make a perfect use of the grammar of your native language
intuitively or unconsciously.
Again, our primary goal as second language teachers must be to create users or the
language, not linguists! It escapes the aim of this article to describe how we can achieve
this but basically we are going to name the main elements to consider to create
language users.

To begin with, it should be noted that whatever we present our students with should
follow a progression from the very general meaning to the very specific pattern or
structure we want them to learn (or that they need to learn of course) I would like to
highlight that all this takes place within the same class
Before we start to use the material we have selected, it would be good to introduce the
students to the topic you are going to work on. They can have them guess or infer what
the material will say about it, they can make predictions and when they fail to use
appropriate language, you may provide it. This is good to elicit vocabulary that may be
necessary for them to know in order to understand the topic. After you have created
curiosity in the topic and provided students with key terms on the topic, make sure you
follow a progression such as the one that follows:

1) Provide them with exposure to real language and real situations IN CONTEXT.

2) Initial focus on gist, not form

3) Focus on more specific meaning.

4) We can then focus on very specific meaning

5) Analysis and systematization: after we make sure the students have a good
understanding of the whole material, you can have them focus on particular items or
patterns that may be important for them to learn at their stage (i.e. grammar) You can
systematize it more formally and teach them how it works. After all, they have already
seen it in practice and they have also worked around meaning, now it is time for them to
learn how to use it.

6) Give them exercises for them to practice the new structure. Do not be afraid of using
grammar drills and patterns. They could be VERY useful for them to fix the new
structures in their brains.

7) Give them homework to force them to revise this at a later time. The homework does
not necessarily need to be communicative in nature. Profit from the time in class to
communicate and interact. If possible, avoid drilling activities while you are with them in
class. However, the time they are on their own could be very well used to do all the
drilling and rote practice that may prove useful for them to gain a good command of the
grammar form you are trying to teach them. Personally I feel that the time in class must
be used for providing learners with as many communicative situations as possible,
rather than making them focus on drills and patterns that they could easily practice on
their own.

8) Provide them with ample opportunities to practice what they have learned in REAL or
REALISTIC communicative situations. Create situations so that they can make lots of
mistakes and encourage them to improve on them by reminding them of what they have
studied.

9) Recycle and mention the topic again as many times as necessary, time and again.
This is essential for them to finally acquire the new structures in a natural way.

As you can see, I am not condemning grammar at all as some readers may feel when in
my articles I complain about teachers working almost exclusively with a grammar-
oriented approach. On the contrary, I feel it is essential in order to master a language.
However, how grammar is presented to the students is what really matters. I utterly
disagree with those teachers who come to class and tell the class: open your books.
Today we will learn the Simple Present Tense.

In the suggested steps to follow in any class, you will have noticed that I have used a
quite eclectic approach, starting from a communicative situation (steps 1-4) with the
focus on understanding the message from the gist up to very detailed info and later, and
only later, once meaning is clearly understood, we reach the grammar item we may
need our students to learn at their stage. The obvious advantage of this approach is that
while dealing with grammar, the students will have a clear idea of the context in which it
was used and the communicative need it satisfied.

For more articles like this visit: www.esaudio.net/spanish-articles