What is grammar?

Abstract

What do we mean when we talk about grammar? What exactly is grammar? And how should it be taught? This chapter begins with a discussion of why the concept of grammar teaching is problematic, outlining the attitudes that often emerge when the topic is broached. Next, it highlights the various types of grammar that exist—prescriptive, academic, pedagogical, and instructional—focusing on the needs of scholars, learners,and teachers.The later sections of this chapter are geared toward teachers and suggest various options for integrating grammar teaching into the communicative classroom.Teaching grammar does not necessarily signal a return to traditional pedagogical methods. On the contrary, consciousness-raising and input-rich techniques for teaching grammar can lead students to make form-meaning connections within a highly developed linguistic context. Guidelines are provided for TA trainers to make TAs aware of the importance of teaching grammar as connected discourse and not as a sentence- level phenomenon.