For as long as I’ve been teaching English to individuals of various ages and backgrounds, I’ve attempted to avoid grammar classes because I realized that if it brought boredom to the class, and made the learning journey peculiar, then learners would reconsider learning the language. On the other hand, I was often obliged to teach grammar due to pupils’ questions, like the one Michael Swan asked his mother as a child: “Why do cats have tails?”
Before watching the videos, I had the impression that anyone could learn a new language without paying close attention to its grammar, but I now have a different perspective. Grammar, in my opinion, should not be mentioned at some stages of learning, at least not at the beginning, despite its importance at other stages.
Another thing I took away from his speech was the definition of grammar. Swan, in my opinion, is opposed to defining grammar. Grammar, he believes, should be explained. A definition of grammar would not suffice for students. As he said, it would be like the definition of the word “bus” in the dictionaries, where they do not mention its usage. Thus, he suggested that grammatical cells, as well as their usages, should be explained and clarified. As a result, these cells would provide a safe channel for the language to escape its complexity.
The first fact is the need for grammar. The language itself is extremely complex. As humans find or invent something new every moment, they require a language to convey their discoveries, so here we can draw the conclusion that language is expanding itself momentarily just like the universe. Its complexity stems primarily from this expansion. Language has limitations when it lacks grammar. Words alone cannot provide a straightforward purpose for what we utter. Furthermore, we are unable to determine their causal, spatial, and other connections. Another barrier to overcome in a language without grammar is modality.
I consider finding solutions to the challenges of a language without grammar as the second and third facts. As I earlier indicated, one of the issues will be ambiguity in the clauses’ intentions. Grammar will fix this problem by giving a system for word order. Furthermore, a language lacking grammatical parts or units would be flooded with words. No one would be able to process the language then. In this case, grammar can intervene and fix the problem through word alteration, like in the English language, where a verb can be changed into its past with an -ed, or we can develop new words whose sole purpose is to show the function of other words.
Click here to watch the videos.
0 Comments