Jardín Botánico, Bogotá, Colombia

Photo by Jonathan Acuña (2017)

Reflecting on Grammar Teaching

Grammar for Teachers

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Friday, August 15, 2019
Post 337

Grammar has been one of those areas in the teaching of a foreign language
that attracts many of us language instructors. Using grammar for communication
is probably what many of us claim we teach our students so they can use English
more effectively in communication. But the definition of what grammar consists of
is by far one of those things we really want to state in a few words. Then, what
does grammar mean?

The fact is that “the word grammar carries a wide range of connotations”
(Crawford, 2013, p. 3). Depending on what part of the teaching spectrum one is
standing, grammar can be thought in different ways. That is, a linguist’s definition
of it differs greatly from what a language learner understands by it. And what
about the language instructor or the curriculum designer’s ideas of what grammar
connotes for them? Do all these individuals conceptualize grammar in the same
way? Definitely not!

When thinking of the naming of what each persons’ conceptualization of

grammar is, what matters most here is what grammar teaching consists of. For
Crawford (2013), “grammar teaching consists of two different types of knowledge:
teacher knowledge and teaching knowledge” (p. 1). For a better understanding of
both constructs proposed by Crawford, consider the following infographic.
The idea behind this visual is to help the reader see what each one entails and
what it is expected from us instructors when dealing with one or with the other.
Both of the sides stated in the infographic highlight what a grammar teacher is
meant to be able to do to help learners become competent users of the language.

Beyond this division of knowledge made, the best way to see why this
knowledge is imperative in language teaching is linked to the reasons why native
speakers and L2 learners use grammar rules for. Are we all language instructors
aware of all these similarities and differences when these two types of speakers
are compared? Take a look!
 As stated in the visual, language is used for communication. What differs is
what we do when we stand as a native speaker of a language and what we want
to do as a L2 speaker. Both want to be able to transmit ideas that can be
understood by other individuals, whether these are native speakers or foreigners
using it for communication. And as explained in the infographic, we just want to be
skillful in being able to encode and decode messages for the sake of conversation.

References
Crawford, W. (2013). Teaching Gramamr. Alexandria: TESOL International
Association