Can Grammar Be Taught Through Games
Can Grammar or Phonetics be taught through Games?
What is Grammar? Before starting to talk about the place of games in the grammar description and whether it can contribute effectively to the mastery of a language, it is suitable here to start with a definition or two of grammar: I. Grammar is the rules of a language set out in a terminology, which is hard to remember, with many exceptions appended to each role (Rivers, 1968, p. 56). II. Grammar is the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning (Penny UR, 1988, p. 24).
What, then, is grammar? Batstone (1994: ix) remarks that grammar is ‘an immensely pervasive phenomenon’. People used to accord the rules of grammar a very special position. These rules have been taught since schools began and may not be questioned. They describe ways, in which people can write and say, and anyone who had sufficient knowledge of these rules means that he has learned the language.
The Place of Grammar in Language Teaching To many people, language learning and teaching is essentially a question of grammar. Hence, language teaching should concentrate on linguistic units or forms or language structure, which is the trend of the day. Despite the fact that the mastery of a language entails a very knowledge of the rules of grammar, some attempts of a new description of the language have arisen. The goal is to shift the emphasis in the area of grammar from the formal study of grammatical structures to the more actual use of a language. Consequently, the interest in the language description, which has been keen during the last few decades, results in the emergence of several new approaches to language description. It is therefore more appropriate at the present time to speak of multiple grammars of a language rather than of the grammar: formal grammar, functional grammar, transformational grammar and the minimalist grammar. The newer
What is Grammar? Before starting to talk about the place of games in the grammar description and whether it can contribute effectively to the mastery of a language, it is suitable here to start with a definition or two of grammar: I. Grammar is the rules of a language set out in a terminology, which is hard to remember, with many exceptions appended to each role (Rivers, 1968, p. 56). II. Grammar is the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning (Penny UR, 1988, p. 24).
What, then, is grammar? Batstone (1994: ix) remarks that grammar is ‘an immensely pervasive phenomenon’. People used to accord the rules of grammar a very special position. These rules have been taught since schools began and may not be questioned. They describe ways, in which people can write and say, and anyone who had sufficient knowledge of these rules means that he has learned the language.
The Place of Grammar in Language Teaching To many people, language learning and teaching is essentially a question of grammar. Hence, language teaching should concentrate on linguistic units or forms or language structure, which is the trend of the day. Despite the fact that the mastery of a language entails a very knowledge of the rules of grammar, some attempts of a new description of the language have arisen. The goal is to shift the emphasis in the area of grammar from the formal study of grammatical structures to the more actual use of a language. Consequently, the interest in the language description, which has been keen during the last few decades, results in the emergence of several new approaches to language description. It is therefore more appropriate at the present time to speak of multiple grammars of a language rather than of the grammar: formal grammar, functional grammar, transformational grammar and the minimalist grammar. The newer
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