Why learn grammar?

Why learn grammar? Four great reasons

Hi and welcome to another great lesson with New English Academy. My name is Giles Parker and I'm your host for this podcast. Today I'm going to answer a question from one of our listeners who asked me, "Why do you talk about grammar so much? Why do you have to use all those difficult words and ideas?" And she got me thinking - why DO I spend a lot of time talking about grammar? About half of each podcast focuses on grammar while the other half focuses on comprehension and vocabulary. Why do I think it is so important to learn - and teach - grammar? Well today, I'm going to get on my soapbox and explain why I think learning grammar is important. This isn't aimed at any particular level. I think most English learners will find something useful here. You can get the full course with the comprehension and vocabulary lessons and a guidebook with free hints and ideas on how to use this and other podcasts, at the website, www.newenglishacademy.com. Don’t forget, if there is anything special YOU want to practice, let me know and I’ll design a podcast and some online interactive lessons for you.

So, why do I think grammar is important? First, I should make sure you know what I mean when I say 'grammar'. For me, grammar is a combination of 4 different things: 1) knowledge ABOUT language, 2) ability to USE language, 3) a special language that helps us talk about language, and, 4) a special attitude, mind-set or way of thinking about language. Grammar is something we all 'do' or use when we communicate. There might even be a grammar of body language, facial expressions, intonation and other non-verbal communication that we don't really know about yet but that we still use to communicate. Most native speakers of any language have a little knowledge of grammar, but they can certainly 'do' grammar extremely well. Â They don't really need to know the rules, the special language or develop the questioning attitude, because they can usually intuit the correct results of the rules and communicate just fine without really thinking about it.Â

One reason to learn grammar is better communication. Grammar describes or talks about the structure of language. It shows us the rules and exceptions that we need to use to do what we want to do in communication. If we have a better knowledge of and ability to do grammar we can communicate more accurately - i.e., we can say what we really mean, better. We can also communicate more efficiently, i.e., help the other person to understand us better without taking lots of time and energy. If our grammar ability isn't so good then we make mistakes and the other guy won't be able to understand us so well and we don't want that. Also, if our grammar ability is weak then other people will make decisions about us that might not be correct.

This leads me on to another good reason to learn grammar:Â Professionalism. This is how you look to other people in your profession or work-place, which is kind of important. If your ability to do grammar is good and you communicate efficiently, then your colleagues and employers will believe and trust you more. This usually brings good things like promotion and better salary and improved chances. Having said that, please beware of prejudices. Some people make decisions about us foreign or second language learners based on our ability to use grammar and they might be wrong. We are learning grammar, which means that (we hope) it will get better and that our current ability and knowledge is just a place in the process, not the end of the process.Â

One of my favorite reasons to learn grammar is that is develops an attitude or a way of thinking about language, and perhaps about the world. Learning grammar means we can ask questions about language and then look at the evidence of language to find out the rules. We can make theories and hypotheses and test them. If the evidence shows a theory is good, we can make that a rule. To be able to do this we need to share a standardized language that describes language: that is, grammar. Grammar gives names to real things - it tells us what are nouns and verbs, for example, or how sentences and questions and tenses can be formed. So we can use this language about language to investigate the world of language. For me, this ability to ask questions and find answers ourselves, on our own, is quite wonderful.Â

Lastly, a good reason to learn grammar is that it improves our ability to learn languages. We can learn more and improve our ability to use language if we can describe it and ask questions about it. We can use teachers, other native speakers or textbooks and the internet to help us, but we have to know how to ask the questions and what the answers mean and that is where knowledge of grammar as a language to talk about language will really help us. It is so much more efficient to be able to learn the target language by USING the target language rather than by translation. So, if you're learning English, use English to learn English.  Learn the grammar rules in English to develop your understanding and ability.Â

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What do YOU think about learning grammar? Do you think it is important? Or is it a hassle? Did you notice that I’m talking about learning? That is very different from being taught which is often the death of learning. In a couple of weeks I’ll talk about different ways to learn grammar. If there are any techniques that really help you learn grammar let me know and I’ll feature them. Cheers!