Why to Teach Grammar to Children

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well.

Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of non prestige forms. Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context.

Other language teachers, influenced by recent theoretical work on the difference between language learning and language acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. Believing that children acquire their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect students to learn their second language the same way. They assume that students will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know.

According to the old translation method, too much emphasis was placed on grammar. Grammar was thought to be all important and it dictated the terms of language usage. Children at very young age were made to study the complicated rules of grammar. But modern educationists are of the opinion that a pupil who is good at grammar and has studied all the rules will still make the most elementary mistakes in grammar.

Which method works the best is up to the individual teacher, but one thing is certain: "there, they're, and their" all have different meanings, and it is the English teacher's job to make sure this information is cleverly presented. If it is not presented for the benefit and advancement of the students, it must be done at least for the sake of nail-biting, socially disenchanted Grammar police everywhere who look at their news feed on the internet and shed a little tear with every non-agreeing subject/verb pair.