Vol. 2:2 (2021) ► pp.175–199
The conceptual importance of grammar
Knowledge-related rationales for grammar teaching
Knowledge about Language (KaL) is an important part of L1 language education around the world. A controversial part of KaL is grammatical or syntactic knowledge, i.e., knowledge about the form, meaning and use of sentences and phrases. In the current international discourse on L1 grammar teaching, grammar is principally motivated by the desire to enhance students’ literacy development, befitting the communicative turn in mother tongue education and following high quality research which has shown that contextualized grammar teaching can impact on students’ writing development. However, there are also other potentially meaningful reasons to teach grammar, which remain underresearched and underdiscussed in curriculum discussions: (1) the general importance of language justifies that L1 speakers understand how their language works; (2) grammar teaching provides more insight into the workings of the human mind; (3) grammar teaching can be used to facilitate students’ reasoning and stimulate their critical thinking abilities. These reasons for teaching grammar do not necessarily relate to literacy development; rather, they pertain to a general conceptual importance of knowledge about grammar. This paper explores these arguments and argues, partly based on empirical evidence from recent research, that knowledge-related rationales deserve a more prominent place in curriculum discussions about grammar teaching.
Article outline
- 2.Knowledge-related rationales for Grammar teaching
- 2.1The General Importance of Language Justifies that L1 Speakers Understand how their Language Works
- 2.2Grammar Teaching Provides More Insight into the Workings of the Human Mind
- 2.3Grammar Teaching Can be Used to Facilitate Students’ Reasoning and Stimulate their Critical Thinking Abilities
- 2.3.1Grammatical Metaconcepts and Grammatical Reasoning
- 2.3.2Metaconcepts and Grammatical Reasoning at the University Level
- 2.3.3Metaconcepts and Grammatical Reasoning in Secondary Education
- 3.Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Declaration of Interest
- Note
-
References
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.