EFL

Importance of Grammar in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Importance of Grammar in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Introduction

Whereas previously considered being comprising of relatively ideational theories, language teaching has now become applied in its nature. Aristotle deduced the famous triad of teaching ethics, which could not have been better correlated with the current requirements:

Logos - the quality of presentation

Pathos - contact with the audience

Ethos - attitude towards others

These teaching ethics apply to an individual who assumes the role of a speaker, an actor and teacher of foreign language, and goes through the first two hypostases. The functions of the teachers in the educational process have changed considerably (Barnett, 1988, pp.156). Teachers can not give students the freedom to choose and provide the necessary information in understanding such a subtle matter, as the language of "freedom of teaching." Therefore, the negative image of the teaching professionals is gradually becoming a thing of the past. The negative teacher & dictator or teacher & mentor image was replaced by the teacher-observer, teacher-mediator, teacher-"pacifier" and director image. Although the identity of the teacher in this case is secondary, their influence on the audience has become a primary factor of concern.

Discussion & Analysis

In recent times the question of the role and importance of grammar, directly in the process of teaching foreign languages, has been repeatedly raised. It is well known in the history of foreign language instruction that the role of grammar has resolved in various ways numerous barriers to language teaching, ranging from allegations that foreign language can be learned only through grammar (so-called grammar-bill or a purposeful method), and ending with the opposite assertion that the teaching of foreign languages at all should not engage in grammar (direct training method).

Obviously, these extreme approaches to the study of foreign languages have meaningful drawbacks. The first method exaggerates the role of consciousness in learning and does not pay enough attention to automation, and the fact that one should seek not only knowledge but also skills, which overestimates the role of grammar by placing it as the factor of primary importance in the training material and in the classroom. This method is widely used by the old Soviet school and, according to final results, shown to be ineffective.

On the contrary, the other method exaggerates the role of one-sided grammar and automation which tends to eliminate the importance of the learning process, including the rules of grammar only in speech patterns, which are assimilated through repetition, practice exercises and analogies. Thus, the learning process typically consists of the acquisition of motor skills by imitation and routine training, while ignoring the role of the conscious knowledge of foreign languages and the problem of unconscious learning of a foreign language (McDonough & Shaw, 1993, pp.78). This method is probably only possible in learning a foreign language in early childhood. However, one can consider it an ideal or sufficient situation for those who begin to learn a foreign language in a mature age. The question, which can be raised here is, whether language be acquired on the basis of native ...